In 2019, I started a monthly podcast series I called the Trust Project. I wanted us to focus on how to trust God in multiple areas of our lives.
Today, though, I’d like to check in with you–not by asking whether you’re trusting God in your homeschool, for your kids, for your health, and so on–but by asking you WHAT you’re trusting in. Life can be very difficult when we trust in something other than God. We may live in constant fear. We don’t have peace or joy. And we are unlikely to be successful in what we undertake.
I want to begin our discussion of trusting God with the account of King Asa from 2 Chronicles 15. If you end up believing that you’re like Asa and not putting your trust in God, I’ll have a suggestion for changing that.
2 Chronicles 15:1 reads, “The Spirit of God came on Azariah son of Oded. 2 He went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. 3 For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach and without the law.”
The Israelites were not following God at this time. Homeschooling also became popular again at a time when fewer people were following God. Certainly fewer were following God in public education. And parents like me were distressed about it.
2 Chronicles 15 continues…4 But in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them. 5 In those days it was not safe to travel about, for all the inhabitants of the lands were in great turmoil. 6 One nation was being crushed by another and one city by another, because God was troubling them with every kind of distress. 7 But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.”
When we first begin homeschooling, we need that encouragement to be strong and not to give up because it rarely goes the way we hope and expect. Those of us who persevere believe that our work will ultimately be rewarded.
Continuing with 2 Chronicles 15:
8 When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of[a] Oded the prophet, he took courage. He removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the towns he had captured in the hills of Ephraim. He repaired the altar of the Lord that was in front of the portico of the Lord’s temple. 15 All Judah rejoiced about the oath because they had sworn it wholeheartedly. They sought God eagerly, and he was found by them. So the Lord gave them rest on every side. 17 Although he did not remove the high places from Israel, Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life. 18 He brought into the temple of God the silver and gold and the articles that he and his father had dedicated. 19 There was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.
When we made the decision to keep our kids home, where we could teach them God’s Word, I was relieved. Like Asa, I felt a lot more secure because of God’s blessing of our family. But as time went on, a temptation entered.
2 Chronicles 16 reads: In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the territory of Asa king of Judah. 2 Asa then took the silver and gold out of the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of his own palace and sent it to Ben-Hadad king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus. 3 “Let there be a treaty between me and you,” he said, “as there was between my father and your father. See, I am sending you silver and gold. Now break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so he will withdraw from me.”
King Asa had to deal with a rebellious king of Israel. Sometimes when we have a rebellious child or another challenge that God doesn’t seem to be handling, we think we have to take control. We need to lean on our own understanding. We are willing to let go of what should be sacred in our homes. Continuing with 2 Chronicles 16:
4 Ben-Hadad agreed with King Asa and sent the commanders of his forces against the towns of Israel. They conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim[a] and all the store cities of Naphtali. 5 When Baasha heard this, he stopped building Ramah and abandoned his work. 6 Then King Asa brought all the men of Judah, and they carried away from Ramah the stones and timber Baasha had been using. With them he built up Geba and Mizpah.
It seems like King Asa succeeded in his efforts. And often when we rely on something other than God to help us, we see initial success. But what’s the long-term implication? We read in 2 Chronicles 16, beginning in verse 7.
7 At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: “Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. 8 Were not the Cushites[b] and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen[c]? Yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand. 9 For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.”
Uh-oh. It honestly didn’t seem like a foolish thing at first, did it? And so often our choices in response to trouble seem wise. But if we aren’t trusting in the Lord, we will likely live to regret it.
Like Asa, we may trust in political power rather than God. We may put our trust in our country’s bill of rights, our state’s favorable homeschool laws, or a pro-homeschooling leader. But even though these are blessings we want to support, they are not what we want to put our trust in. This election season, we want to remember that God is ultimately in control. Romans 13:1-2 reminds us: “There is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God” and Proverbs 21:1 explains, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.”
Politics aren’t the only foolish choice for our trust. We can place our trust in classes in curriculum. We may believe if we just choose the right ones, our kids will be sure to succeed. We want to consider the options and pray over them, of course, but there is no class, curriculum, or college that will guarantee our kids’ success. Deuteronomy 8:18 says, “But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth.”
We may also trust our alternative healthcare approach, our money, or our prepping for our health and safety in these tumultuous times. Yet Psalm 4:8 encourages us: “In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.”
Despite the truth that we should trust God with every aspect of our lives, we are constantly being tempted to trust in other things. From the beginning, our enemy Satan has questioned whether we can trust God. Now we are bombarded by media with the same message.
When what we are truly trusting in is gone, we may panic as Asa did. That’s how we know we were trusting in it. Ask yourself what besides God gives you security for the future. Of course, we don’t have to eliminate these things! But we do need to put more trust in the One who can truly deliver us from any disaster.
How can we do that? My number one tip is what I’ve already demonstrated in this episode: spend time in God’s Word. Asa quickly forgot how the Lord had delivered him despite being outnumbered. Had he often reviewed God’s character and actions, he likely would have sought the Lord first and avoided war in the future.
How much time do we need to hear from God? Consider the ratio. How often are you hearing from the enemy? I know for me it’s constantly. Here are some practical tips for increasing your time in the Word.
Read or listen to the Bible in short sessions throughout the day. Start by reading Titus 3. It’s a wonderful reminder for such a time as this.
Meditate on and memorize Scripture as you drive or drift off to sleep.
Write out Scripture with your kids for handwriting practice.
Follow social accounts that share Scriptures.
Sing hymns and Scriptural songs.
Read devotionals as a break after completing a task.
Do Bible studies online or with family and friends.
Listen to sermons and biblical podcasts as you cook, clean, or exercise.
Attend church regularly.
Tell others about God’s faithfulness in your life. I always want you to know that every blessing I’ve had in my homeschooling life is from the Lord. It’s certainly not my doing.
This single approach of spending more time in God’s Word is simple to implement, but we will experience resistance to it. We will be interrupted, too tired, or just bored. But at these times, pick up a dollar bill and read our country’s motto that is still In God We Trust. We must fight the good fight to keep living that motto out.
Hey, homeschoolers! I love systems. When I started my series for A Year of Living Productively, I thought I would come up with the perfect productivity system for me and my readers. I have also looked for homeschooling systems, parenting systems, and cooking systems to make my life easier.
I know I’m not the only one who loves systems. They sell. If you search for system and its synonyms like approach and program, you will find thousands and thousands of options that promise to deliver a blissful life of ease.
But I recently read an article that changed my mind about systems. In this episode, I want to share why we search for systems, why they so often fail, and what we should do instead.
First, we want to change or improve. We want an easier way to homeschool. We want a meal-planning approach that takes less time. We want a step-by-step plan for getting into shape that guarantees success.
But what drives us to want to change or improve? The same thing that drove me to beg for an epidural for my first labor: We have some kind of pain that we want to do away with. We are struggling to motivate ourselves or our kids. We feel like we’re failing. We or our family members are unhappy. Or we feel that we lack in comparison. Our friend’s child got a college scholarship. Comparison may lead to fear of the future if we don’t change direction. If we don’t increase the rigor of our high schooler’s courses, study prep, or extracurricular activities, they not only won’t get a scholarship, they won’t be accepted, we fear.
So we seek out a system that promises to help us change or improve and alleviates the pain or our fear for the future.
But systems often fail—not always but often.
We think it’s the system’s fault. And sure, some systems aren’t realistic or sustainable. I’m thinking about the 75 Hard system that has you working out twice a day (once outside), eating clean, and drinking a gallon of water for 75 days in a row. Most systems we attempt, however, are not this obviously unrealistic. We’re pretty sure the system will work for us. But therein lies the problem.
As soon as we contemplate using a new, shiny system, we feel better. The pain decreases. That’s true even for my system—The Organized Homeschool Life. When you think about using the plan to get your homeschool and life in order (15 minutes at a time), your stress level goes down. You know what to do. And you can easily organize for an hour a week. Whew! You buy the book and that’s one more stressor you can cross off your list.
You don’t need to buy anything to make The Organize Homeschool Life system work for you. But many systems require products. You need the equipment, the apps, the books. When you purchase or acquire products, your anxiety goes down. You not only have a plan; you are putting it into action.
Sometimes when we choose a system, we feel we need to spend time planning how to implement it. We need to decide when and where to work out and with whom. We need to decide which area needs the most organizational help. We need to get the new curriculum lesson plans entered into our planner and our kids’ planners. We may spend time thinking about this and even working on it, with more stress relief as a result. Or we may wait for the perfect, uninterrupted time to work on our implementation time. I’ve had moms tell me they need to make time to read The Organized Homeschool Life at some time in the future.
The problem with this as with any system prep is that it isn’t meant to be read in one sitting. In our effort to eliminate pain by choosing a system and planning to use a system, we may find that we never actually use a system. Of course, no system works if we don’t use it. The bottom line is we decreased the stress of our situation without taking action.
Eventually though, the problem will reoccur and is likely to be worse. We look for a new system that will work this time and we begin the cycle all over again.
Before I share what we should do instead, I want to thank CTC Math for sponsoring this podcast.
The lessons are taught the traditional way, not to a “test”.
Each one of the video tutorials is taught by an internationally acclaimed teacher, Pat Murray, who is renowned for teaching math concepts in a simple, easy-to-understand way (and in only a few minutes at a time). Using a multi-sensory approach having the combination of effective graphics and animation synchronized with the voice of a friendly teacher together with practical assessment. This three-pronged attack makes learning so much easier and more effective. Even students who struggled with math are getting fantastic results! And ones who were doing OK before are now doing brilliantly.
I’ve shared why we look for systems and why they don’t tend to work. Now let’s talk about what we should do instead.
Let’s do that with some examples. If you want to get into shape, you can start researching fitness systems. That Couch to 5K one sounds interesting, you think. Off you go to the app store and to running shoe reviews. You can spend hours watching YouTube videos on the topic. OR you can go for a walk now. Today. As soon as possible. Perhaps you can only go 10 minutes. Maybe you won’t be able to fit it in tomorrow. But it sure felt good.
If you want to get organized, you can order The Organized Homeschool Life and look through the challenges to determine the very best place to start. You can look for the best bins to organize your school room and kitchen. OR you can look around you right now at something that could be decluttered and organized. Use Dana White’s approach and set a timer for 5-15 minutes. The gist is to throw away trash and put things away in our spaces as you pull them from the space. Don’t wait and make a mess. Maybe you’ll declutter again tomorrow or this weekend. But either way, you made an improvement.
If you want to prepare your child for college, you can sign up for a webinar on college prep to discover a system. Or you can have your student spend 15 minutes taking some test practice questions online or in a book you’ve likely already purchased. Maybe your student will practice again tomorrow or later this week. But either way, they are more prepared than they were before.
These examples bring up yet another reason we seek out systems that don’t work: perfectionism. We don’t think a 10-minute walk, a 5-minute declutter, or a 15-minute test practice session is enough. In order to succeed, we have to dedicate more, uninterrupted time. Of course, we have to wait to find the perfect system and the perfect time to do it. We wait, and we wait, and we wait and we have done nothing. Meanwhile the person who does 10 minutes here and 15 minutes there has run circles around us.
Conclusion
In conclusion, you don’t have to give up on your systems. You may have invested in one that will work for you if YOU work on it. Start today. Set a timer and spend just 5 minutes making an improvement in an area of your homeschool life that is causing you pain. If you do that, screenshot this podcast episode and tag @homeschoolsanity on social media. I would love to cheer you on.
Thanks again to CTC Math for sponsoring the podcast.
A homeschool mom posted on Facebook, “I bake homemade bread … but not enough.” I saw in her what I so often see in myself and other homeschool moms: the tyranny of not enough. Whatever we accomplish is immediately invalidated, whether we say it out loud or not.
We might think it’s no big deal. Maybe our “not enough” is just being humble and recognizing that we’re works in progress. But there are three negative side effects of “not enough” thinking that I want to share with you. Then I want to tell you how we can break free from this kind of thinking.
The lessons are taught the traditional way, not to a “test”.
Each one of the video tutorials is taught by an internationally acclaimed teacher, Pat Murray, who is renowned for teaching math concepts in a simple, easy-to-understand way (and in only a few minutes at a time). Using a multi-sensory approach having the combination of effective graphics and animation synchronized with the voice of a friendly teacher together with practical assessment. This three-pronged attack makes learning so much easier and more effective. Even students who struggled with math are getting fantastic results! And ones who were doing OK before are now doing brilliantly.
The first problem with “not enough” thinking is that it’s discouraging.
I shared in a previous episode about two kinds of coaches. There’s the “not enough” coach who is always yelling at you to do better and then there’s the coach who looks for any positive actions and praises them. If you’re familiar with the movie Karate Kid, this is Sensei Reese coaching. Some personalities will respond to a “not enough” coach. They will push themselves outside of their comfort zone in response and may believe that this is the best kind of coaching. My husband is one of the people who responds to this.
However, what some people don’t realize is that you can get the same results with a positive coach. Mr. Myagi was a positive coach. Although he had Daniel working hard, he never told him he wasn’t doing enough. Positive coaching also motivates and pushes people outside of their comfort zone. I will work for hours and hours for the positive feedback of a coach I respect.
If you work harder and still hear the “not enough” coach in your head, you might do even more. But if the only feedback you get for giving more is repeatedly negative, you’re going to be discouraged. You are likely to quit.
Let’s use an example. You might decide that to get your schooling done by your chosen quitting time that you need to start school earlier. You manage to start school 15 minutes earlier with your elementary students, which I know from experience is amazing. But you think about what you accomplished and you still didn’t get it all done. “It’s not enough,” you tell yourself. You might decide to start another 15 minutes earlier or go another 15 minutes longer. Under the tyranny of not enough, you will find yourself in a negative spiral where you either burn the candle at both ends or end up defeated in your homeschooling.
Of course, the tyranny of not enough doesn’t just affect us. It also impacts our kids. Without realizing it, we can communicate to our kids that their efforts aren’t enough. They didn’t get their work done quickly enough, accurately enough, or agreeably enough. We don’t even have to say the words. We can frown or sigh or give them a backhanded compliment like “Well, at least you did better than you did before.” Colossians 3:21 references this: “Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.” I believe this is speaking to fathers who have a “not enough” attitude. God is an encourager. Psalm 94:18-19 reads “When I thought, ‘My foot slips,’ Your steadfast love, O LORD, helped me up. When the cares of my heart are many, Your consolations cheer my soul.”
Not enough thinking is discouraging. But a second side effect is that it’s perpetual.
We will never get to a place where we feel that we’re enough. Sometimes that’s because of past experiences. We may have had a parent or a boss or another person in our life who was never pleased with our efforts. Even if that person is no longer in our lives, we may have taken on their role in saying “not enough.”
Another reason it’s perpetual is because we always compare ourselves to people who are doing more than we are. Social research tells us that we sometimes compare ourselves to people who aren’t doing as well as we are. We might compare ourselves to a brand-new homeschooler so we feel more competent. But much of the time we compare up. We choose the homeschool mom we know who seems to have it all together. She has more kids than you and makes healthy meals and runs the co-op. You lack in comparison. You don’t understand why, so you default to you’re just not trying hard enough.
This is especially destructive when we compare our kids. Her kids are readers who excel in sports, win at Bible bees, and have published novels. You may decide your kids could do the same, but they’re just not trying hard enough. Again, even if we don’t say it out loud, our kids can feel the tyranny and end up being discouraged.
A third reason not-enough thinking is perpetual is because it’s a marketing strategy. If we felt that we were and had enough, sales of all kinds of things would plummet. Beauty products, clothing, supplements, cars, home goods, and more are sold on the premise that we are currently not enough. In order to avoid this marketing, you would have to be off the grid. But unless we deal with not-enough thinking, we will always be bearing the burden of it.
Not-enough thinking is discouraging and perpetual. It’s also identity theft.
I hope you’ve never experienced true identity theft. Whether you have or have not, you know that it’s expensive, time-consuming, and emotionally draining to correct.
My husband has to have his ID scanned to enter some public schools for his job. There is a man with his same name who pops up on the scan every time. The man has been charged with numerous felonies. Because they share a name and the scanning program the schools use is very basic, the administrators take lots of time to verify my husband’s identity before they let him in–even when they have screened him before!
We have an identity theft problem too. The enemy tells us we are someone we are not. And when we think we have made our true identity known, back he comes to question us. 1 Corinthians 6:11 talks about the sinners we used to be–the not enough person we were. And every time that former identity comes back up, we may be discouraged. We might be motivated to clean up that past identity by being better and working harder. But working for a tyrant is always exhausting, even when we are the tyrant.
Imagine how much trouble my husband’s ID problem would be if he wasn’t sure he was not the man convicted of crimes. If he lacked confidence or acted ashamed, the school administrators would probably throw him out. Yet we often lack confidence and have shame about our identities.
Breaking Free from the Tyranny
I hope you’re motivated to break free. First, we can go from discouragement to encouragement by giving up on “not-enough” coaching. Using a What’s Better List as I shared in a recent episode can be a great antidote. I had gotten away from using it and so my “not-enough” coach decided to fill in.
Be intentional about finding and praising yourself and your kids for any steps in the right direction. Praise is a more powerful motivator than punishment. I started a new and challenging home workout. The instructor has us clap for ourselves at the end and I gladly do it. I am worthy of praise for doing a hard thing. Give yourself a little applause for your efforts. Then envision Hebrews 12:1: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” I like to see my brothers and sisters in Christ literally cheering me on. I and many other retired homeschoolers are cheering you on too. Finally, with respect to discouragement, correct yourself every time you think or say the equivalent of ‘not enough.’ Replace it with “I’m making progress.” When someone compliments you, simply say thank you.
We can break free from the perpetual nature of not-enough thinking by focusing on our own work. Kids who take tests in a classroom are told to keep their eyes on their own paper. In the same way, our eyes need to be on our own work. I love what Galatians 6:3-5 says: “For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load.” We each have our own work and circumstances chosen by God specifically for us. It’s silly to compare when only God can review our efforts.
When it comes to marketing, many times we are drawn to the promise of a product or approach to make us happy. Watching videos on minimalism has helped me with this by reminding me of the psychology marketers use to convince us we are not enough. When you know the manipulation is coming, it’s much easier to resist. We can also avoid the marketing that really pushes our buttons by unsubscribing and getting offline. I used to love watching HGTV. But I noticed that I started to think that my house was horrible and had to be completely remodeled. Now that I don’t watch those shows, I am content. Do you need to stop watching homeschool influencers who have you feeling like your homeschool needs a complete makeover?
With respect to identity, we want to remember who and Whose we are. We can never be good enough through our own efforts. This doesn’t mean we don’t work. I think of it like playing a game that’s already been won. Many times when I played tennis on a league, my partner and I won the match, but there was more time to play for fun. I found that because I was so relaxed, I played even better when it didn’t count. That’s how we can homeschool. God has already ensured our success by giving us His power. He already has a plan to give our children a hope and a future. Now we can relax and enjoy the process without fear.
When the voice within us or outside of us says we can’t relax or we’ll fail, we must meditate on the truth. Write Scriptures that speak to you like Romans 8:31-39: What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The truth is that without the grace of God, my husband could be the convicted felon. And you and I are NOT enough without the power of Christ in us. But if Jesus is your Savior, you are a new creation and you were created to do good works. He is the strength in our weakness, so we can boast about being not enough as Paul did. I hope this encourages you as it does me to break free from the tyranny of not enough.
The lessons are taught the traditional way, not to a “test”.
Each one of the video tutorials is taught by an internationally acclaimed teacher, Pat Murray, who is renowned for teaching math concepts in a simple, easy-to-understand way (and in only a few minutes at a time). Using a multi-sensory approach having the combination of effective graphics and animation synchronized with the voice of a friendly teacher together with practical assessment. This three-pronged attack makes learning so much easier and more effective. Even students who struggled with math are getting fantastic results! And ones who were doing OK before are now doing brilliantly.
View homeschool retirement as a new season, not a sad one Continue teaching and mentoring your children even after homeschooling Invest in your marriage and spend time developing the relationship Cultivate non-homeschooling friendships and maintain a social circle Consider different options for work after homeschooling Explore new hobbies and continue learning for personal growth
Is Online Learning An Option For Your Homeschool?
Aug 20, 2024
Hey, homeschoolers! Are you incorporating online learning into your homeschool this year? Should you? That wasn’t even an option when I started homeschooling in 1999. But now it is, and I’m so excited to share an interview I did with online learning platform founder Amir Nathoo.
The lessons are taught the traditional way, not to a “test”.
Each one of the video tutorials is taught by an internationally acclaimed teacher, Pat Murray, who is renowned for teaching math concepts in a simple, easy-to-understand way (and in only a few minutes at a time). Using a multi-sensory approach having the combination of effective graphics and animation synchronized with the voice of a friendly teacher together with practical assessment. This three-pronged attack makes learning so much easier and more effective. Even students who struggled with math are getting fantastic results! And ones who were doing OK before are now doing brilliantly.
Online learning provides choice and personalization for homeschooling families.
Outschool offers a wide range of classes taught by diverse teachers.
The flexibility of Outschool’s schedule allows families to engage as much or as little as they want.
Outschool is a suitable platform for learners with different abilities and learning challenges.
The pay-per-class model of Outschool provides families with control over their education expenses.
I forgot to ask Amir about where prospective teachers should go if they’re interested for the recording, but he told me you would go to Outschool.com/teach.
Please let me know if you enroll in a class or decide to offer one after hearing this episode.
Hey, homeschoolers! I’ve always been fascinated by life change, thus my pursuit of a career in psychology. But psychology alone didn’t produce the changes I desired in my life. And what’s funny to me is that I can only share steps for how to change your homeschool life in hindsight. I didn’t have a plan. So if you’d like some things to change in your homeschool life, stay tuned for what I learned along the way.
The lessons are taught the traditional way, not to a “test”.
Each one of the video tutorials is taught by an internationally acclaimed teacher, Pat Murray, who is renowned for teaching math concepts in a simple, easy-to-understand way (and in only a few minutes at a time). Using a multi-sensory approach having the combination of effective graphics and animation synchronized with the voice of a friendly teacher together with practical assessment. This three-pronged attack makes learning so much easier and more effective. Even students who struggled with math are getting fantastic results! And ones who were doing OK before are now doing brilliantly.
I took the first step in changing my homeschool life before I even began homeschooling. I made a daily appointment with the king and worked to believe Him for the changes I wanted to see in my life.
The second step was added to that cornerstone: building routines. You’ve heard me say it many times, but if there is something new you want to do, pair it with a routine task.
The fourth step was self-care. The first three steps are part of self-care. But I had to prioritize time for exercise and hobbies and unscheduled time. Women who feel burdened by obligations are most likely to overeat. I don’t have research, but I believe they’re also most likely to be angry.
The fifth step was self-talk. Still working on this. If we silently tell ourselves that we’re lazy, unlovable, or undisciplined, our minds will seek to fulfill this prophecy. Whatever it is you want to change (even if it’s your kids behavior), change the way you talk to yourself about it first.
If God can change my homeschool life, He can change yours too. With daily devotions, routines, relationships time, self-care, and positive self-talk, you may wonder at that the changes just as I do.
Thanks again to CTC Math for sponsoring the podcast.
Should You Add Dance To Your Homeschool Activities?
Aug 06, 2024
Hey, homeschoolers! I grew up in a rural area where no one I knew took dance classes. Dance was confined to occasional, awkward PE classes. Our nieces were into competitive dance and acro, however, so when I had a preschool-aged daughter of my own, I was excited to enroll her in dance.
She enjoyed it, but it was an expensive, time-consuming activity for what amounted to a photo op that I could have set up for free. She ended up more interested in gymnastics, soccer, softball, swimming, and volleyball. So she certainly wasn’t bored.
My son also learned how to tap dance in weeks for a role in a high school musical. He practiced on a piece of plywood in our living room. Everyone was impressed with the results.
You now have the extent of my dance background. So I hadn’t thought much about the value of dance to a homeschool education or how to incorporate it until I touched base with Courtney Sabin, a homeschool graduate herself and founder of YouDance.com. If you’re curious about dance, I think you’ll enjoy our conversation.
The lessons are taught the traditional way, not to a “test”.
Each one of the video tutorials is taught by an internationally acclaimed teacher, Pat Murray, who is renowned for teaching math concepts in a simple, easy-to-understand way (and in only a few minutes at a time). Using a multi-sensory approach having the combination of effective graphics and animation synchronized with the voice of a friendly teacher together with practical assessment. This three-pronged attack makes learning so much easier and more effective. Even students who struggled with math are getting fantastic results! And ones who were doing OK before are now doing brilliantly.
Incorporating dance into homeschooling can enhance cognitive development, emotional well-being, and physical fitness.
Providing a safe and wholesome environment for children to learn and enjoy dance is crucial.
Flexible scheduling and access to a variety of dance styles are advantages for homeschoolers.
YouDance.com offers a membership model with all-access to dance classes and focuses on bringing more movement, creativity, and joy to homeschooling families.
Teaching Media Literacy In High School
Jul 23, 2024
Hey, homeschoolers! I think media literacy is a course we should consider including in our high school curriculum plan. When I learned that friend Nate Noorlander was teaching a class on it, I asked him to rejoin me on the podcast to discuss it. Nate gave me a new perspective that I hope blesses you as it did me.
3 Motivational States For Homeschoolers
Jul 16, 2024
Hey, homeschoolers! Whether you are interested in motivating yourself or your children, understanding the three motivational states described in Mark Forster’s book How to Make Your Dreams Come True will help you achieve your goal.
The lessons are taught the traditional way, not to a “test”.
Each one of the video tutorials is taught by an internationally acclaimed teacher, Pat Murray, who is renowned for teaching math concepts in a simple, easy-to-understand way (and in only a few minutes at a time). Using a multi-sensory approach having the combination of effective graphics and animation synchronized with the voice of a friendly teacher together with practical assessment. This three-pronged attack makes learning so much easier and more effective. Even students who struggled with math are getting fantastic results! And ones who were doing OK before are now doing brilliantly.
– Push mode involves pushing ourselves and our kids to achieve goals through scheduling, planning, consequences, and accountability. – Drift Mode occurs when we reject Push mode and seek downtime and freedom, but it can lead to feeling sluggish and demoralized. – Pull Mode is about using inspiration and connecting goals to personal interests and passions. – Strategies for push mode include scheduling, planning, using consequences, and accountability. – Strategies for pull mode include describing and visualizing goals, connecting goals to personal interests, and consuming motivational content. – Finding a balance between Push Mode, Drift Mode, and Pull Mode is important for maintaining motivation in homeschooling.
The lessons are taught the traditional way, not to a “test”.
Each one of the video tutorials is taught by an internationally acclaimed teacher, Pat Murray, who is renowned for teaching math concepts in a simple, easy-to-understand way (and in only a few minutes at a time). Using a multi-sensory approach having the combination of effective graphics and animation synchronized with the voice of a friendly teacher together with practical assessment. This three-pronged attack makes learning so much easier and more effective. Even students who struggled with math are getting fantastic results! And ones who were doing OK before are now doing brilliantly.
Developing a devotional habit can provide wisdom, focus, and peace of mind. Creating routines can help homeschoolers stay organized and reduce stress. Developing an exercise habit can increase energy levels and improve overall health. Planning your week and day can help you stay on track and avoid feeling overwhelmed. Envisioning your day and using loop scheduling can increase motivation and productivity. Randomizing tasks and using truth journaling can help overcome procrastination and negative thoughts. Stopping worry and trusting God can reduce stress and improve mental well-being.
In this conversation, Melanie Wilson discusses anxiety in homeschoolers and provides a three-part framework for managing anxiety. The first part of the framework is prevention, which includes ensuring regular sleep and wake times, engaging in exercise, and limiting caffeine intake. The second part is recognizing the symptoms of anxiety, such as muscle tension, headaches, stomach aches, and insomnia. The third part is substitution, which involves teaching children to calm themselves down through deep breathing and changing their thoughts. Wilson emphasizes the importance of faith in managing anxiety and suggests using scriptures and truth journaling as tools. Overall, she emphasizes that anxiety can be overcome with practice and offers her curriculum, Training Aliens, as a resource.
Hey, homeschoolers! I am excited about today’s episode, not only because of the topic that I think addresses a real need we have as parents, but also about my guest.
I experienced the pain of feeling different as a child and so did my kids. There’s different good and different bad, right? But kids don’t often like any kind of difference that makes them feel alone. How can we help our kids through that? That’s the topic of the conversation I had with Ali Gilkeson.
Ali is a member of the popular Christian folk band Rend Collective. If you’re like me and you aren’t good with band names, you’ll likely recognize their hit song “My Lighthouse.” A gifted communicator, Ali began to travel around Ireland speaking to young people in her early twenties. She is the mother of three children she has raised partly on the road, starting when each one was six weeks old. She and the other members of Rend Collective, including her husband, Gareth Gilkeson, are the founders of Rend Co. Kids, a platform dedicated to creating music that children under the age of thirteen can sing and find hope in. She currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her family.
Ali is down-to-earth and relatable and her new children’s book My Lighthouse is absolutely beautiful. I will be adding it to my library for future grandchildren. Here’s my talk with Ali.
In this conversation, Melanie Wilson shares a life-changing strategy for homeschoolers to have a better homeschool year. She introduces the ‘What’s Better’ strategy and explains its benefits for self-image, mood, and behavior. She provides examples of how to implement the strategy and offers tips for dealing with negative experiences. Melanie also discusses using the ‘What’s Better’ list with various resources and encourages listeners to start implementing the strategy today.
Protecting Kids From Explicit Material
May 21, 2024
Hey, homeschoolers! This is one of the topics I have been asked to talk about over the years but I’ve frankly avoided. Not only can it cause problems with website and social media platforms that flag the posts but there are strong opinions about the issue. I don’t like wading into controversial waters if I can help it.
But then I met Kristen Miele at the Great Homeschool Conventions who was speaking about this very issue. I was so impressed with her background and her message that is grounded in research AND the gospel, that I invited her to be a guest on the podcast. We will discuss how we can protect our kids from the harmful effects of pornography with sex education. This is an earbuds episode, though the content is not graphic.
Kristen Miele has been educating youth on the topic of sex for nearly 15 years. She has experience teaching ages 3 and up on content related to sex and sexuality. She is the founder and owner of Sex Ed Reclaimed and has a Bachelor’s and Master’s of Science in Community Health from the University of Illinois. She is also a Certified Health Education Specialist. Kristen has one daughter, Emma Joy and has been married to Anthony since 2012. They live in Columbus, Ohio. Here’s my chat with Kristen.
Kristen Miele shares her journey into sex education and discusses the challenges of protecting children from pornography. She emphasizes the importance of starting early and having open conversations with kids about healthy relationships, puberty, and the dangers of pornography. Kristen has created resources, including age-appropriate videos and workbooks, to help parents educate their children about sex in a God-honoring way. She encourages parents to reclaim sex education and be proactive in teaching their kids before the culture does.
Helping Daughters Deal With Comparison
Apr 23, 2024
Hey, homeschoolers! If you have a teen daughter, I think this episode is a must-listen. I interview Shannon Popkin and Lee Niehuis, authors of Comparison Girl for Teens, and I haven’t been able to stop talking about it. There is so much wisdom here about our girls and how to help them manage comparison and friendship in a God-honoring way.
Shannon Popkin invites you to drink deeply of God’s story, and live like it’s true. Shannon’s books include Control Girl, Comparison Girl, Comparison Girl for Teens (2024), and Shaped by God’s Promises(2024). Shannon also hosts the Live Like It’s True Bible podcast and has been featured on Revive Our Hearts, FamilyLife Today, The Gospel Coalition, and Proverbs 31. She’s happy to be sharing life with Ken, who makes her laugh every day. Together, they have the joy of watching their three young-adult kids become the amazing people God created them to be.
Lee Nienhuis is an author, speaker, and Bible teacher. She cohosts the Martha & Mary Show and the You Can Tell the Children podcast with Bible2School. Lee’s books, Brave Moms, Brave Kids and Countercultural Parenting are a clarion call for parents looking to raise wholehearted Christ followers. Lee and her husband, Mike, have four kids and live in West Michigan.
In this conversation, Shannon Popkin and Lee Nienhuis discuss the topic of comparison and its impact on teenage girls. They share personal experiences and insights on how comparison relates to anxiety and depression. They also discuss the role of family and church background in shaping a girl’s self-perception. The conversation highlights the importance of parents in helping their daughters avoid the pitfalls of comparison and offers practical advice on how to do so. The speakers also introduce their book, ‘Comparison Girl,’ and provide additional resources for further exploration.
Hey, homeschoolers! Have you considered learning robotics in your homeschool? I don’t have an engineering brain so I enrolled my kids in in-person and online classes. My youngest is now majoring in computer science in college. His classes had a major impact on his career direction.
Today on the podcast, you’ll hear about the advantages of including robotics and programming in your homeschool from my guest, Francie Black. I met Francie at the Great Homeschool Convention last year. She is the founder of HomeHackerCamp.com and is passionate about teaching. She and I are traveling to the IDEA conferences in Alaska this month. If you’ll be there, be sure to come by and say hello. Now here’s my chat with Francie.
Francie Black, a former tech professional and homeschooling parent, shares her journey into robotics and programming and the importance of STEM education for kids. She explains the scope of robotics and the skills it develops, such as critical thinking and problem-solving. Francie offers online classes for homeschoolers, teaching software, hardware, and electronics. She also discusses the upcoming speaker at her program, her son who works as a Starship engineer at SpaceX. Francie and Melanie Wilson discuss their upcoming conference in Alaska and where parents can find more information about Francie’s classes.
Teaching Social Skills In Your Homeschool
Apr 02, 2024
Hey, homeschoolers, we know we aren’t weird and unsocialized as a popular blog implies, but you might wonder if we are weirder than kids in public school. I was relieved when my oldest son, after having been in a public high school for a few weeks, told me that he thought that the public school kids were just as weird as homeschoolers.
We know that our kids can benefit from having good social skills. Here’s why we should teach social skills directly in our homeschool and here are some practical tips for doing just that.
In this conversation, Melanie Wilson discusses the importance of teaching social skills to homeschoolers. She addresses the misconception that homeschoolers are weirder than public school kids and emphasizes the benefits of good social skills, such as reduced anxiety and future success. Melanie provides reasons why social skills should be included in the homeschool curriculum. She also suggests creating a plan, teaching in a family or group setting, and using multiple modalities. Melanie introduces her Training Aliens curriculum as a story-based approach to teaching social and emotional skills.
How To Help Your Child Manage Emotions
Mar 26, 2024
Hey, homeschoolers! How to help an anxious, frustrated, or bored child is the most common question I get. In this episode, I’ll share a three-step approach you can use to help your child manage any negative emotion.
In this episode, Melanie Wilson addresses the common concern of homeschooling parents regarding their child’s ability to manage emotions. She emphasizes that emotional struggles should be seen as skill deficits rather than character flaws. Melanie highlights the lack of emotional management education in schools and the need for explicit teaching in this area. She introduces a three-step framework for teaching emotional skills: prevention, recognition, and substitution. The chapters cover topics such as the importance of sleep, diet, and environment in preventing negative emotions, teaching children to recognize signs of frustration, and finding constructive responses to boredom. Melanie encourages parents to provide practice and grace as children learn to manage their emotions and emphasizes the role of prayer and faith in this process.
Special Replay: 3 Reasons To Attend A Homeschool Conference In Person This Year
Mar 19, 2024
Hey, homeschoolers! If you’ve ever considered attending a homeschool conference, this is the year to do it. If you’ve attended in the past, I have three reasons you should attend again.
In short, you should attend for the curriculum, the speakers, and the fellowship with other homeschoolers.
What Will You Teach Your Kids About Human Evolution?
Mar 12, 2024
Hey, homeschoolers! I had the opportunity to talk with my good friend, Dr. Carl Werner, for this episode. He is an expert in evolution who has devoted decades of his life to examining the evidence for evolution. His most recent book is about human evolution. The evidence he has amassed is stunning. Now more than ever I believe we have to share his work with our kids. Here’s my chat with Carl.
There is a tale over 4,000 years old, preserved in ancient writings from every major culture around the world. Many thought it was only a myth, but evidence supports what the Bible has said all along. Sevenfold Films and Genesis Apologetics present: The Ark and the Darkness. In theaters March 20-21! Visit http://noahsflood.com
Episode Summary
In this episode, Melanie Wilson interviews Dr. Carl Werner about the topic of human evolution. They discuss the assumption of human evolution and the evidence presented in museums and educational institutions. Dr. Werner shares his personal journey from believing in evolution to skepticism and the research he conducted to uncover the truth about ape men fossils. He exposes the fraud and errors associated with famous fossils like Neanderthal Man and Lucy. Dr. Werner emphasizes the importance of educating children about the flaws in the theory of human evolution and provides resources for further exploration.
Hey, homeschoolers! I never thought I would have five boys, but I am so glad I do. I love them to the moon and back and judging by the response my episode on homeschooling boys got, so do you.
That’s why I was excited to read Durenda Wilson’s new book on the topic and to hear her thoughts on why it’s so important to think about how we are raising our boys. In Raising Boys to Men: A Simple, Mercifully Short Book on Raising and Homeschooling Boys, Durenda shares her almost three decades of experience raising and homeschooling her five boys. She brings wisdom and perspective that will inspire moms to see their sons in a fresh and hopeful way, so they can raise the next generation of boys to be courageous men of faith and action. I know you’ll love our conversation.
Durenda Wilson, a homeschooling mother of eight boys, discusses the importance of raising boys and the challenges they face in today’s culture. She emphasizes the need for understanding and appreciating the unique characteristics and nature of boys, while also setting clear boundaries and instilling a strong work ethic. Wilson shares personal anecdotes and insights from her book, which aims to equip mothers with a better understanding of their sons and provide practical guidance for homeschooling and parenting boys. In this conversation, Durenda Wilson discusses her book ‘Raising Boys to Men’ and shares her insights on motherhood and parenting. She emphasizes the joy of raising children and the satisfaction that comes from hard work. Durenda also highlights the importance of shared responsibility in parenting and the role of fathers in raising sons. She concludes by providing information on how to get a copy of her book and hints at future conversations on homeschooling.
Hey, homeschoolers! You’ve been there. You’ve blown it with your kids. Maybe you lost your temper or disciplined in a way that you’re not proud of. In this episode, my guest and I will discuss how to redeem those parenting failures. Before I introduce Andee Martineau, I want to be clear about my perspective on discipline. It is first of all grounded in God’s Word.
But whether families share my faith or not, I believe they have to determine which discipline approach is right for them. I do think there are challenges that come with extremes in discipline — too hard and too soft. But there is a lot of room between the extremes to find what works for you. Parents who discipline in the middle of the extremes want a strong relationship with their kids because they know their influence is most likely to result in happy, successful kids. Andee Martineau and I share that perspective. We have a different philosophy on correction, but I appreciate that her approach has worked for her and may work for you, especially if you’ve had a too-hard discipline approach.
Andee Martineau is a parenting coach who specializes in helping parents raise their kids without yelling, ultimatums, or bribes. Using her Connect Method Parenting techniques, she has taught thousands of parents to feel more in control of family life, stress less, get their kids to listen, and more.
Girls will discover the power of faith in this beautiful Bible that features women of the Bible!
Here is the ideal Bible for girls on their journey of faith! This special Bible is specifically crafted to highlight the stories and lessons of the inspiring, famous, and sometimes infamous women of the Bible.
With over 400 engaging features, colorful illustrations, and helpful notes, this Bible is perfect for girls ages 8 to 12 as they learn about the strong and faithful women who came before them. From Eve to Ruth, Esther to Mary, this Bible brings the stories of these women to life and shows how their faith and strength can still inspire girls today.
Featuring a beautiful design and easy-to-read text, this Bible is a great resource for girls as they grow in their own faith and learn about the women who have impacted the world.
Features include:
Her Story – Character sketches of 75 good and not-so-good female role models of the Bible
Action Plans – Prayer, art, outdoor activities, and music are examples of some actions suggested in this fun-filled feature
Take It to Heart – Great verses to memorize
Step Into the Story – Solid advice on how to live a godly life in today’s world
Meet ______ – Meet 50 lesser-known women of the Bible and discover ways to help build character and godliness
A Letter to Myself – A place for a girl to make a commitment about who and what she wants to be, and, even more important, who she wants to follow
Book Introductions – An overview of each book of the Bible
Subject Index – Find features written about specific topics like courage, kindness, or joy
Beautiful illustrations and full color throughout
Presentation page for gift giving
Satin ribbon marker
Print size: 9
Exclusive Zondervan NIV Comfort Print typeface
Podcast Summary
In this conversation, Andee Martineau shares her experiences and insights on parenting and homeschooling. She discusses the reasons for choosing homeschooling and the challenges and learning experiences that come with it. Andee also talks about examples of parenting failures and the patterns that can lead to these failures. She emphasizes the importance of understanding and challenging thought patterns to break free from negative cycles. In this conversation, Andee Martineau shares valuable insights on parenting and building strong relationships with children. She emphasizes the importance of understanding our own triggers and nervous system, investing intentional time in the relationship with our children, and balancing quality attention and connection. Andee also highlights the significance of connecting with our children for connection’s sake, creating safety and maintaining connection during conflict, and redeeming parenting failures with curiosity and compassion.
In this conversation, Melanie Wilson addresses the question of whether chaos is normal in homeschooling. She defines chaos as unexpected and unplanned interruptions and explains that it is common for homeschooling moms to experience chaos, especially when starting their homeschooling journey. She emphasizes that chaos can be frustrating but often leads to unexpected and better outcomes. However, she also acknowledges that there is a type of chaos that is not just a phase and requires specific actions to regain control. Melanie provides advice on establishing routines, implementing structure in child discipline, and prioritizing planned self-care to break free from negative chaos.
Girls will discover the power of faith in this beautiful Bible that features women of the Bible!
Here is the ideal Bible for girls on their journey of faith! This special Bible is specifically crafted to highlight the stories and lessons of the inspiring, famous, and sometimes infamous women of the Bible.
With over 400 engaging features, colorful illustrations, and helpful notes, this Bible is perfect for girls ages 8 to 12 as they learn about the strong and faithful women who came before them. From Eve to Ruth, Esther to Mary, this Bible brings the stories of these women to life and shows how their faith and strength can still inspire girls today.
Featuring a beautiful design and easy-to-read text, this Bible is a great resource for girls as they grow in their own faith and learn about the women who have impacted the world.
Features include:
Her Story – Character sketches of 75 good and not-so-good female role models of the Bible
Action Plans – Prayer, art, outdoor activities, and music are examples of some actions suggested in this fun-filled feature
Take It to Heart – Great verses to memorize
Step Into the Story – Solid advice on how to live a godly life in today’s world
Meet ______ – Meet 50 lesser-known women of the Bible and discover ways to help build character and godliness
A Letter to Myself – A place for a girl to make a commitment about who and what she wants to be, and, even more important, who she wants to follow
Book Introductions – An overview of each book of the Bible
Subject Index – Find features written about specific topics like courage, kindness, or joy
Working And Homeschooling? Yes, You Can!
Feb 13, 2024
Hey, homeschoolers! I was a stay-at-home mom when I started homeschooling. I did freelance writing and speaking and premarital counseling at my church. But I wasn’t spending even twenty hours a week on work until my last two kids were teens. Because of that, I assumed that it simply wasn’t possible to work and homeschool too.
My guest Dr. Celia Zamora changed my mind. Dr. Zamora has a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics and was a teacher for 15 years before homeschooling her son. She is now a full-time director of a nonprofit who is also passionate about multilingual education and encouraging the Latino community to consider homeschooling. If you’ve wondered about working while homeschooling, prepare to be inspired by Celia.
In this conversation, Melanie Wilson interviews Celia Zamora about homeschooling and working at the same time. Celia shares her background as a director of a nonprofit organization and a homeschooling mom. She explains her decision to homeschool and the challenges she faces as a working mom. Celia emphasizes the benefits of homeschooling for working moms, such as developing important life skills and creating a personalized education. She provides tips for success, including outsourcing tasks and prioritizing self-care. Celia also addresses misconceptions and fears of Latino families regarding homeschooling and encourages them to consider the advantages of homeschooling for their children’s language and cultural development.
Takeaways
Homeschooling can be a viable option for working moms, as they have the skills to balance multiple responsibilities and can prioritize what is important to them. Outsourcing tasks and finding support from family and community can help working moms manage their time effectively. Self-care is crucial for working homeschool moms to maintain their sanity and well-being. Latino families may have misconceptions and fears about homeschooling, but it can provide opportunities for language and cultural development for their children.
Resources from Dr. Zamora
https://www.actfl.org/ (World Language Org on the teaching of languages. Working on a platform for homeschool language educators as well!)
Teach Truth ~ with Dr. Melanie Wilson and Elizabeth Urbanowicz
Are you ready to teach truth? Join as as we explore the topic.
Thanks to our sponsor, A Fanthom Presents Film – The Ark and The Darkness – Movie Trailer here: NoahsFlood
Hey, homeschoolers! Any time a teacher uses a story to teach children, I am all for it. Stories are not only the most enjoyable way to learn something but the most powerful.
When former guest Elizabeth Urbanowicz told me she had created a picture book to help children discern what truth is, I asked her to join me on the podcast again. In a culture obsessed with identifying misinformation, we want to equip our kids to separate truth from falsehood, using a Christian worldview.
Elizabeth has such a beautiful spirit. I know you’ll appreciate hearing her teaching tips.
Elizabeth discusses her ministry updates and the release of a children’s book on truth. The conversation explores the difficulty of defining truth and the impact of the Fall on our perception of truth. Elizabeth provides insights on teaching children a biblical definition of truth and shares the motivation behind creating a children’s picture book.
Special Replay: Is Self-care A Snare?
Jan 30, 2024
Hey homeschoolers!
Recently, a woman on my Psychowith6 Facebook page, made a comment on the self-care movement. I wasn’t aware that self-care was a movement, but she got me thinking. Previously on this podcast in an episode called How to Be Happy and Homeschool, Too, I discussed the importance of what could be called self-care. In fact, I frequently talk about the importance of it during my sessions at Great Homeschool Conventions. I suddenly found myself wondering if I had been teaching wrong things. So I wanted to address the topic in today’s episode. Is self-care a snare? I am tempted to tell you the right way to think about this issue. But instead, I am going to give you some considerations for you to take to the Lord.
[button link=”http://ultimateradioshow.com/selfcare” type=”big” color=”orange” newwindow=”yes”] Listen to the podcast[/button]
Sponsor
Before we do that I want to think my sponsor for this episode, FabuLingua.
Helping your child learn a second language, especially when you don’t speak it, can seem intimidating!
The vocabulary lists, the grammar drills… there’s a better way. The magic of children’s stories makes it fun and easy for your child to learn a second language like Spanish.
The most important factor in learning a new language is how much ‘input’ of that new language gets absorbed. It doesn’t have to be perfectly understood – just comprehensible.
That’s where FabuLingua comes in. Their app provides a huge amount of written and spoken ‘comprehensible input’ through beautiful, interactive children’s stories.
FabuLingua was created for families who are seeking a convenient, effective tool to support their language learning goals – in a fun and effortless way. FabuLingua kids don’t ask to ‘learn’ with the app – they ask to ‘play’ with it!
Their mission is to make it fun and accessible to children, so that learning another language is something they are excited to do!
New stories are released each month and you can explore your first story free. Look for FabuLingua on the App Store or Google Play Store. That’s F-A-B-U-L-I-N-G-U-A. FabuLingua – magical stories that teach kids Spanish.
Hey, homeschoolers! As parents we often feel ill-equipped to talk to others who are grieving. I’ve discussed this in a previous episode that I will link to the in show notes.
When our teens are grieving, we can feel particularly helpless in knowing what to say or do. I’m thankful that my guest, Sarah Arthur, has practical advice for us. Sarah Arthur is a fun-loving speaker and the author of a dozen books for teens and adults, including Once a Queen and the bestselling Walking with Frodo: A Devotional Journey Through The Lord of the Rings. Among other nerdy adventures, she has served as preliminary fiction judge for Christianity Today’s Book Awards, was a founding board member of the annual C. S. Lewis Festival in northern Michigan, and co-directs the Madeleine L’Engle Writing Retreats.
Introduction: In this episode, the host engages in a fascinating conversation with author Sarah Arthur about her upcoming book, “Once a Queen.” The discussion explores the therapeutic aspects of writing and reading fiction, particularly in helping teenagers process grief.
Key Points:
The Power of Writing and Storytelling:
Arthur shares personal experiences of using journaling and storytelling to navigate through trauma.
Recommends these methods as effective tools for emotional expression and healing.
Encouraging Teens to Write:
Discusses creative ways for parents to encourage teens to write, including shared journaling experiences and creative writing sprints.
Highlights the importance of providing a creative space for expression.
“Once a Queen” – The Fantasy Novel:
Arthur introduces her upcoming book, “Once a Queen,” as a young teen fantasy novel.
Draws influences from classic fairy tales, Chronicles of Narnia, and other literary works.
Themes Explored in the Book:
Explores themes of family relationships, faith, and the fear of losing childlike wonder as one grows up.
Emphasizes the avoidance of explicit content despite being labeled as young adult.
Pre-order Bonuses:
Details exciting pre-order bonuses for “Once a Queen,” including digital downloads and a printable journal with creativity prompts.
Directs listeners to Sarah Arthur’s website for more information.
Conclusion: The episode concludes with gratitude for the insightful conversation and anticipation for the release of “Once a Queen.” Listeners are encouraged to explore the therapeutic aspects of literature and engage with the upcoming fantasy novel with their families.
The Most Underutilized Homeschool Resource
Jan 16, 2024
In this episode, Melanie Wilson discusses the underused resource of people in homeschooling. She shares personal stories and examples of how family members, church members, homeschool community members, neighbors, and friends can enhance a child’s education. Melanie encourages listeners to take advantage of the knowledge, skills, and experiences of the people they know, not only for educational purposes but also to bless and witness to others. She concludes by reflecting on missed opportunities and encourages listeners to involve more people in their homeschooling journey.
Hey, homeschoolers! If you’ve ever considered raising chickens, you’ll love this episode. I live in a suburb where chickens aren’t allowed, but we had chickens for several years when I was in elementary school. I absolutely loved what my guest, Dalia Monterroso had to say about raising chickens as a homeschool family.
Dalia Monterroso is a chicken keeper and a popular teacher on the basics of backyard chicken keeping. She speaks and teaches classes on the joys of chicken keeping. She is the creator of the website and YouTube channel “Welcome to Chickenlandia”, podcast “Bawk Tawk”, and an online course called “Chickenlandia’s Backyard Chickens 101”. She also hosted a TEDx talk titled “I Dream of Chickens”. Dalia is the author of the book, “Let’s All Keep Chickens! The Down-to-Earth Guide to Natural Practices for Healthier Birds and a Happier World”, a comprehensive guide for both beginners and experienced chicken keepers. The book has also gained popularity among homeschooling families, who appreciate its educational value as part of their learning curriculum. Dalia lives in Bellingham, Washington with her family, continuing her mission to share the joy and simplicity of chicken keeping to the world.
Introduction: In this episode, host Melanie Wilson explores the world of chicken keeping and its unexpected connections to homeschooling. She engages in a fascinating conversation with Dalia Monterroso, founder of Chickenlandia, a resource hub for chicken enthusiasts. Dalia shares insights into the joys of raising chickens and the valuable life lessons they offer.
Part 1: The Intersection of Chickens and Homeschooling The discussion kicks off with Dalia explaining the intersection between chicken keeping and homeschooling. She highlights the parallels between caring for chickens and educating children, emphasizing the importance of simplicity and staying true to one’s instincts in both endeavors.
Part 2: Mindful Chicken Keeping and Life Lessons Dalia introduces the concept of mindful chicken keeping, sharing her six rules that translate into valuable life lessons. Listening to intuition, learning from mistakes, and trusting one’s heart are emphasized as crucial skills not only in chicken keeping but in life as well.
Part 3: Bridging the Gap with Chickens The conversation takes an interesting turn as Dalia discusses how chickens help individuals connect with nature and each other. She delves into the therapeutic aspects of caring for these animals, promoting a deeper understanding of one’s roots and fostering compassion for others.
Part 4: Spreading Peace and Joy Through Chickens Dalia shares her vision of chickens as a common denominator across cultures, promoting unity in a world often divided. She emphasizes the simplicity and universality of chicken keeping, encouraging listeners to focus on shared experiences and find joy in the commonality of caring for these feathered friends.
Part 5: Resources and Courses by Chickenlandia To wrap up the episode, Dalia directs listeners to Chickenlandia’s resources, including her online course, book, YouTube channel (Welcome to Chickenlandia), and podcast (Bawk Talk). She invites individuals to explore the wealth of information available on welcometochickenlandia.com.
Conclusion: Melanie expresses gratitude to Dalia for sharing her insights, wisdom, and passion for chickens. The episode serves as an eye-opener, illustrating the unexpected connections between chicken keeping and homeschooling, fostering a deeper appreciation for both pursuits.
Hey, homeschoolers! I am happy with the personal finance curriculum I used with my kids. And I’m pleased to say that my kids are much better at managing their money as young adults than I was! But when I heard about Charla McKinley’s real-life approach to teaching kids personal finance, I was intrigued.
Charla graduated from the University of Texas with a degree in Finance. She went on to become a Certified Public Accountant with over 25 years working in both the corporate and private sectors. While homeschooling her two children, Charla was inspired to write an interactive personal finance curriculum that opens the student’s eyes to the high costs of being an adult. After retiring from homeschooling, Charla continues to teach teens living in Raleigh, NC, and across the country using her Beyond Personal Finance curriculum. Charla’s passion is teaching teens that their choices matter. She is a firm believer that in order to prepare teens for the road ahead they must be given the opportunity to practice making good (and not so good) choices using real dollars before they get out into the world and have real regrets.
Teaching personal finance to teens is important to prepare them for real-life financial decisions. Giving teens real-life financial experiences, such as managing an allowance, can help them learn financial responsibility. Parents should allow their teens to make financial mistakes and learn from them. Beyond Personal Finance provides budgeting suggestions and resources for teaching kids about money management. The website offers self-paced and group options for parents to learn and discuss financial topics.
Special Replay: Productivity Tips For A New Year
Dec 19, 2023
Hey, homeschoolers!
It’s a new year and time for a renewed focus on our priorities as homeschooling moms. God has taught me a lot about managing my time this year. One thing I’ve learned is that I don’t have to look for the productivity holy grail. It’s normal for me to search for a new tool, a new schedule, and even a new book to read to inspire me. Newness almost always inspires action!
Now on to the productivity tips you can use this year. My guest today is Amy Michaels. Amy is a teacher turned homeschooler and coach, who has been on the podcast before. I really like her planning and prioritizing strategies and I know you will too.
We discussed:
how to determine your priorities as a busy homeschool mom
how can we maintain margin in our lives?
how can business moms in particular keep family life in focus?
Special Replay: The Most Important Areas To Organize This Year
Dec 12, 2023
Hey, homeschoolers!
Soon, we’ll be in a new year. It’s that time when many of us think of goals like getting organized. You know you’re unlikely to organize everything in a year, so what are the most important areas for homeschoolers to focus on? My answer may surprise you.
Organize Your Homeschool Life All Year
Before we jump in, I want to offer you the digital version of my book, the Organized Homeschool Life for just $7! This year, you can organize more than just the most important areas of your homeschooling life. You’ll be given 15-minute missions that will help you in curriculum planning, preparing for seasons and holidays, and special areas like organizing a business or hobby.
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The Most Important Areas to Organize This Year – Resources
Special Replay: 6 Christmas Stress Mistakes to Avoid
Dec 05, 2023
Are you already beginning to experience stress this season? The busyness can get to us. But we can make things better by avoiding the six mistakes I’ll discuss in this episode.
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Mistake #1: Not Planning A Homeschool Break
What we typically do is get busy with other things this time of year. There is more shopping and cooking and even chatting going on. After all, it’s Christmas! Somehow in the midst of all the extra activity, we end up not doing school. But it isn’t a planned break. We just sleep in, do some Christmas shopping, or watch Christmas movies instead of homeschooling. We aren’t doing a Christmas unit study. That’s different. We find ourselves falling into a Christmas break. The result is we feel guilty. We really wanted to get a lot done before Christmas. But we didn’t. And we don’t feel refreshed like we should from a planned break. Instead of falling into a Christmas break this year, decide whether you really are going to do a Christmas unit study. Plan what to do. If you don’t have time to plan, try the Christmas Traditions or Christmas Around the World online unit studies from Techie Homeschool Mom. They’re done for you.
If you don’t want to do a Christmas unit study, plan when you are going to take a break and for how long. If you feel behind on your regular studies, decide what you want to accomplish before Christmas. Make a realistic list for yourself and your children. Give your children the option of finishing early if they finish their work early or you finish your family work early. This is the process I used to create the most motivating homeschool planner ever. Continue reading here.
Special Replay: How To Have A Saner Christmas This Year
Nov 28, 2023
Hey, homeschoolers!
I don’t know anyone who wants to have a crazy Christmas–the kind that leads to exhaustion, sickness, and dread of the new year. Instead, every homeschooler I know wants to have a meaningful, peaceful, and joyful Christmas. Of course, we can’t control every part of our Christmas holiday. But I believe there are things we can do to make a saner Christmas more likely. We’ll chat about that in just a minute. But first, I’d like to thank our sponsor for this episode, Kiwi Company.
Have you ever been stuck on how to bring your lessons to life? My kids have enjoyed Kiwi’s monthly subscriptions of hands-on projects that make learning fun. Their core offering is projects that make learning about STEAM — science, technology, engineering, art, and math — accessible and they are designed to spark creativity, tinkering, and learning. Some recent favorite crates are the Slime Lab, Physics Carnival, and Paper Circuits. Kiwi Crate was founded by engineer and mom of three, Sandra Oh Lin. She created these kits out of her deep desire to raise kids with the creative confidence needed to become the next generation of problem-solvers and critical thinkers. I couldn’t agree more with their mission and am excited to be able to offer you the chance to try them for FREE. To learn more about their projects for kids ages 2 to 16 AND to redeem this exclusive offer, visit www.kiwico.com/homeschool to get your first month free today (just pay $4.95 for shipping). These kits make amazing gifts! Join me on Facebook on December 5th at 4E/3C/2M/1P for an inside look at one of the crates that my son can’t wait to get his hands on.
Which of these tips will help you the most? Let me know in the comments.
Special Thanks to our Network Sponsor, Kiwi Crate!
We’d like to thank our Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network sponsor, Kiwi Crate!
KiwiCo has monthly subscriptions of hands-on projects that make learning fun! Their core offering is projects that make learning about STEAM — science, technology, engineering, art, and math — accessible and are designed to spark creativity, tinkering, and learning. Some recent favorite crates are the Slime Lab, Physics Carnival, and Paper Circuits.
Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network is excited to be able to offer you the chance to try them for FREE. To learn more about their projects for kids ages 2 to 16 AND to redeem this exclusive offer, click here to get your first month free today (just pay $4.95 for shipping)
Helping Our Daughters Develop Style Confidence
Nov 21, 2023
Hey, homeschoolers! Many of you know that fashion is a hobby of mine. I’ve stopped and started a fashion Instagram account numerous times. In the past year I’ve been listening to the Everyday Style School podcast with Jennifer Mackey-Mary and loving it. She talked about how she deals with the topic of fashion with her daughters and I thought you would love to hear more. If you don’t have daughters but would like to improve your own fashion confidence, you’ll want to listen to the first part of this episode for sure. As Jennifer is not a homeschooling mom, I wanted to share a couple quick thoughts after the interview. Here’s Jennifer.
Jennifer introduces herself as a personal stylist and shares her journey into the world of fashion.
The conversation touches on the challenges women face when it comes to style and dressing.
Jennifer emphasizes the importance of aligning your personal style with your lifestyle and values.
The discussion includes insights on the role of mindset in developing a positive relationship with one’s appearance.
Helping Daughters Develop Style Confidence
The conversation delves into the dynamics of mothers guiding their daughters in matters of style, especially during the crucial middle school and high school years.
Jennifer shares her experiences as a mother and stylist, highlighting the balance between allowing personal expression and maintaining family values.
Both hosts discuss the significance of proportion in outfits and how allowing kids to figure out their style can lead to valuable insights.
The importance of avoiding criticism of trends and staying open to communication with teenage daughters is stressed.
Debunking Style Myths
Jennifer challenges the idea that style has to conform to a specific minimalist or neutral capsule wardrobe, advocating for more creativity and fun in fashion.
The conversation touches on the Style Circle, Jennifer’s membership program, which offers a holistic approach to style, covering body shape, wardrobe selection, and personal style.
Jennifer discusses the Everyday Style School podcast, aiming to debunk myths around style and empower women with the tools to make getting dressed easy.
The interview concludes with Jennifer expressing her mission to inspire women to love the way they look and make the process of getting dressed enjoyable.
Throughout the interview, Jennifer emphasizes the individuality of style, the importance of practicality, and the joy that can be found in expressing oneself through clothing.
Conclusion
I know Jennifer has seen mothers try to overpower their daughter’s style and understandably, she wants to guard against that. I do think we want to avoid saying, “You’re X body type” to our daughters because even grown women can struggle with the labels. However, I think fashion is something you can enjoyably explore with your daughter just as you would explore art or music.
One of my friends has read books on fashion with her daughters and the girls have developed great confidence in their unique style. It’s been so much fun to see their choices. My daughter has always seemed confident in her style. She changed outfits multiple times a day before the age of 2! I started off shopping with her when she was little by giving her a few options to choose from. As she matured, she chose the options to try on herself. We haven’t had any disagreements about her choices. If you do have disagreements, consider asking someone you both respect to weigh in. I was called upon to help mediate a fashion disagreement once and a compromise was made.
One thing my daughter and I did that was so much fun is she picked out an outfit for me to try on and I did the same for her. I think we both thought the outfits were hideous on us, but we shared a lot of laughs over it.
I highly recommend Jennifer’s style membership for us as homeschool moms. The included classes are excellent and the capsule wardrobes have everything from athleisure to church-appropriate looks. Be sure to check out her Black Friday sale!
My guest is going to help us find the truth about feelings of inadequacy. Sharla Fritz is a Christian author and speaker who weaves honest and humorous stories into life-changing Bible study. Author of eight books, including Measured by Grace: How God Defines Success, Sharla writes about God’s transforming grace and unfailing love. Sharla lives in the Chicago suburbs with her amusing pastor husband. I met Sharla many years ago at a women’s retreat where we were both speaking. Chatting with her encouraged me and I know she’ll encourage you too.
Introduction:
Melanie reflects on when she first met Sharla, and her daughter was moving to China 10 years ago.
Sharla shares her homeschooling journey and how her husband’s suggestion to homeschool surprised her.
The advantage of homeschooling for a pastor’s family—more time for family activities.
Melanie and Sharla discuss their initial reluctance to homeschool, despite its eventual positive impact.
Believing You Have Adequate Time:
Sharla acknowledges struggling with time management during homeschooling.
The challenge of wanting to do everything recommended by homeschooling experts.
Emphasizes the importance of seasons and seeking God’s guidance for what is needful in a specific season.
Quotes 2 Corinthians 9:8 about God’s ability to provide grace and sufficiency, even in time management.
Believing You Have AdequateSkills and Expertise:
Melanie asks if Sharla ever felt inadequate in certain subjects while homeschooling.
Sharla admits feeling inadequate in areas like math, science, and teaching reading.
Encourages homeschoolers to lean on God’s strength and emphasizes expertise in understanding and loving their own children.
Self-Worth and Comparison:
Sharla discusses societal expectations and criticism of homeschoolers, especially women.
Talks about signs of unworthiness, such as negative self-talk and unhealthy comparisons.
Encourages combatting feelings of unworthiness with scripture, particularly Isaiah 43:4.
Melanie and Sharla discuss the importance of celebrating smallness and doing the next thing God has given with love.
Conclusion:
Sharla’s book recommendation: Enough for Now a Bible study
Special Replay: How to Be Happy and Homeschool Too
Nov 07, 2023
Hey homeschoolers!
This week our topic is how to be happy and homeschool too. Wait a minute. Are you wondering if I’m suggesting that happiness and homeschooling are mutually exclusive? Yep. That’s exactly what I’m suggesting. I’m thankful my friends Andy and Kendra Fletcher were the first to be honest about it, saying that homeschooling can be a buzz kill.
Before we dig in, I want to thank our sponsor for this episode, the movie Ice Dragon: Legend of the Blue Daisies. I also want to invite you to meet me at a Great Homeschool Convention in Cincinnati in April or St. Louis in July. If you want to stalk me at both conferences, go ahead! I’ll be speaking about motivating your students, managing parental anger, and managing frustration in your child. Find my booth by looking for Fun to Learn Books. Register for the conference today by going to greathomeschoolconventions.com.
This is the time where most podcasters make a shameless plug for a product they’re selling. My plug isn’t shameless at all. In fact I think it’s shameFULL if you don’t already own The Organized Homeschool Life Planner. My planner was designed to create happiness. Each day the planner directs us to spend time with the Lord. We thank Him for the blessings we have (which is proven to create happiness, by the way). We read the word He has for us and write it down so we can remember it. We can then write any worries we have as a prayer. I use this space for truth journaling. I hear from so many of you who struggle to make time for the Lord. I love that The Organized Homeschool Life Planner makes it easy! Learn more by going to Psychowith6.com/TOHL planner.
Time for a word from our sponsor. The animated feature, ‘ICE DRAGON: LEGEND OF THE BLUE DAISIES,’ blooms on big screens nationwide for a two-day family-friendly adventure. Take an amazing journey to an enchanted world that holds a secret…where hope is in a song! In select cinemas nationwide March 24th and 26th only. Tickets are on sale now at fathomevents.com. If you missed the live event, purchase a copy for your home library on Blue Ray, Digital or DVD. Visit IceDragonMovie.com for free resources for the kids.
The animated feature, ‘ICE DRAGON: LEGEND OF THE BLUE DAISIES,’ blooms on big screens nationwide for a two-day family-friendly Adventure. Take an amazing journey to an enchanted world that holds a secret…where hope is in a song! In select cinemas nationwide March 24 and 26 only. If you missed the live event, purchase a copy for your home library on Blue Ray, Digital or DVD.
Hey, homeschoolers! I intended to publish this episode last week but ended up giving you a chance to practice patience in waiting for it. I want to share what I’ve learned about being a patient mom, but first, I want to thank the Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network. They are celebrating their 10-year anniversary, which is amazing to me. I can’t believe it’s been that long since the kind and generous Felice Gerwitz offered me the chance to have my own podcast.
Some weeks (like last week), it’s challenging to get the content out, but most of the time I love sharing encouragement with you, some of the most committed moms on the planet. The network has some special plans to mark our anniversary, so I hope you’ll check out the website or my social media to participate. Finally, I want to thank you for giving me the honor of listening to this podcast and other podcasts on the network. I don’t take it for granted.
Now let’s jump into the topic of the week: patience. I was surprised to learn that I haven’t done a podcast on this topic when a mom asked me for resources. I’ve done episodes on anger (Anger episode 2Anger episode 1). But impatience is the precursor to anger. If we can manage our impatience, we are much less likely to lose our cool.
Just as with anger, I believe that only Jesus can rescue us from a real stronghold of impatience. That rescue usually isn’t immediate. When I started homeschooling, I learned I was an impatient mom. I had this image of what homeschooling would look like. My son didn’t share that image. My impatience in response was a nasty surprise. Many moms would have said I had no business homeschooling with that kind of impatience. But I’m glad I persevered. Homeschooling was the fire that God used to refine my patience.
Practice to be PATIENT
I think we can cooperate with God to develop patience. I’m using the acronym PATIENT to share how.
The P is for process. When we don’t process our emotions, it’s like letting trash accumulate. Soon it will overflow the container. We’ll have a blow up.
Not processing our emotions looks like this: Our homeschool friend announces at the last minute that she will not be coming to the co-op party. She is getting her hair done. You are not happy about that. But you push aside that unhappiness because you have a party to get ready for. You also didn’t sleep well because your husband says there is a chance he will be laid off. You’re tired and you’re worried. But it’s too upsetting to think about, so you focus on the party. If you don’t process those emotions, where will your patience be if another friend forgets to bring the paper goods, or your child drops a jar of pickles on the floor?
Processing our emotions doesn’t have to take a lot of time and is unlikely to make us feel worse. It can simply be a matter of praying about how you’re feeling, truth journaling, or talking it out with someone. In a household of eight, we had to take out the trash daily. If you’re working to overcome impatience, I recommend processing your emotions daily too. As we process, we realize that there are steps we need to take to deal with the things that are bothering us that can prevent negative emotions from occurring in the future.
The A in Patient is for Asking Yourself If It’s Important. Is it important that your friend forgot to bring the paper goods? Maybe not. You can either cobble together something else or she can run home or to the store to get them. I often find myself feeling like I’m in a hurry when I’m really not. When I ask myself if it’s important that the cashier is behaving like a sloth, I have to answer no. But what if it is? What if the subject of your impatience is truly important? You have a loved one needing medical attention or you could be late for something critical? In this case, we don’t have to be impatient. We can be assertive. We can say that we need something to happen in a timely fashion and why. We can’t expect others to know that we’re in a rush if we don’t tell them.
The first T in Patient is for Tell Yourself the Truth. In situations that can lead us to impatience, we tend to awfulize. We make the situation much worse in our minds than it is. I’ve shared the example before of walking into a messy house after being gone for a while. I can tell myself it’s a disaster of epic proportions! It looks like a tornado hit. It’s going to take all day to get the house back in shape. Or I can tell myself the truth that I can set a timer for 10 minutes and with all of us working, the house will be back to normal. When we haven’t processed our emotions or asked ourselves if something is important, we may have difficulty telling ourselves the truth. It’s a good time to talk to someone who can talk you down. They will tell you the truth. Before we’re in a challenging situation, we can also renew our minds with God’s truth. We can meditate on not only scriptures having to do with patience but on who God is. When we’re thinking about our awesome, holy, loving God, the broken jar of pickles doesn’t seem like such a big deal. We can also recall the truth that we have an enemy actively working to make us impatient. That truth annoys me enough that I stubbornly refuse to become impatient!
The I in Patient is just what it sounds like: I. In other words, we’re more likely to be impatient when it’s about me, myself, and I. We are doing the JOY acronym backwards as YOJ (first you, then others, then Jesus). It’s the mistake impatient Martha made. Martha was impatient because she wasn’t getting the help she wanted from Mary. She wasn’t focused on Jesus either. Perhaps she hadn’t processed her emotions, asked herself if getting the meal on the table quickly was really important, or hadn’t told herself the truth that it was not a fact a nightmare if Mary wasn’t helping. Back to our co-op party example: Who is the party about anyway? If it’s not your birthday party, you didn’t plan it for yourself.
The E in Patient is for Expect More Challenges. Much of our initial feeling of impatience is related to our expectations. Your co-op friends have probably skipped out or forgotten things before. Your kids have certainly dropped things at inopportune times, as have you. Pretty much every time I was away from home without the kids, they made a mess. And once one thing happens to hit our impatience button, we can count on more. With the party example, expect something to break, someone to get hurt, or someone to have a conflict. You’re more likely to remain calm and you can rejoice if all goes well.
The N in Patient is for Neglect the Upsetting Memories. Just because you should have known your friend would no-show the party doesn’t mean you should ruminate on that. Doing so will create more negative emotions that need to be processed or they can lead to impatience. Every day is a fresh start with new opportunities to experience joy. We can choose to forgive ourselves and others with the power of the Holy Spirit. One powerful way of neglecting the negative memories is to see the humor in the situation. Your friend bailed on your long-planned party to get her hair done? That’s hilarious! When I’m in the middle of an impatience-provoking situation, I often think about how I can later tell it as a funny story.
I recently went to the DMV to get my license renewed. I tried to get an appointment online but my office doesn’t have that option. When I got to the office, it took me a number of attempts to get the screen to allow me to check in. Once I did, it said to go ahead and leave and I would get a text message when it was my turn. The room was full, so I thought it could be a while. But I was just about out of the parking lot when I got a message that it was my turn. As I quickly drove back, I got a message that I had missed my turn. When I got back into the office, the clerk was helping someone else. She noticed me though and said that she was going on lunch break for half an hour but I would be the first person she helped when she came back. I did plan to meet someone after getting my license, but I thought I would be okay even waiting half an hour. I went across the street to a thrift store for 15 minutes, figuring that I would go back a little early, just in case. As I got into my car, I got a text message that it was my turn. As I pulled into the parking lot, I got a message that they had gone on to the next customer. I went back to the office and sure enough, someone else was ahead of me. But in a few minutes, the new clerk explained that she had taken over for the woman on lunch break and would be helping me next. I am so glad the Lord gave me patience in this situation and a sense of humor. The new clerk was delightful and I was on my way in plenty of time for my get together.
The T in Patient is for Thankfulness. It’s impossible to be impatient when we are grateful. When you’re in a situation that is provoking you to impatience, find something to be grateful for. If you’re really struggling, start going through the alphabet. A, I’m grateful for our automobile. B, I’m grateful for this healthy body. By the time you’re through the alphabet, you will likely be much calmer. Of course, we want to thank the Lord for helping us resist the temptation to be impatient and for a humorous perspective as well.
I pray that this episode has given you some encouragement and some tools the next time you’re provoked to impatience.
Special Replay: Christian Parenting Practices With Israel Wayne
Oct 10, 2023
Hey, homeschoolers! Today we’re going to talk about how to parent as a Christian homeschooler. We are spending more time than ever parenting as we shelter in place. There’s nothing like a quarantine to show you what needs your attention.
Great Homeschool Conventions
Before we jump in and I introduce my guest, I want to tell you about Great Homeschool Conventions online, April 16th-18th! VIP access is free. You’ll have access to two popular parenting sessions from me: “How to Outwit, Outthink, and Outlast the Strong-Willed Homeschooler” and “How to Negotiate Sibling Conflict Like an FBI Pro.” Both of these sessions are going to be especially helpful to you when you’re staying home full-time. To register, go to GreatHomeschoolConventions.com.
Christian Parenting Practices
Now let’s talk about parenting with my guest Israel Wayne. Israel has a podcast on The Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network, but we hadn’t met until we both attended a BJU Press conference. We got to talking about parenting and realized that we share similar views.
Israel desires to point parents to raise their children with a biblical worldview. As a nationally known speaker and author, he captivates audiences with enthusiasm for bringing the Word of God to bear on all aspects of life. His messages, from education to theology to current events take him across the country to challenge and encourage families. As the pandemic has left him unable to speak at in-person conferences, I’m thrilled to be able to chat with him on the podcast.
We discussed:
the difference between secular and Christian parenting
what Gospel-Centered parenting looks like
effective discipline for young children
how parenting should change in the teen years, and more!
Hey, homeschoolers! Even in an age of enlightenment, there is still stigma and misunderstanding about mental health. As homeschoolers, we don’t want to neglect to teach it to our children–especially to our teens. But before I introduce my guest, I want to thank you sponsor: Reading Eggs.
Sponsor: Reading Eggs
With Reading Eggs, your homeschoolers will enjoy a highly personalized learning journey, designed to support them at every stage. Plus, you’ll get four programs in one with your subscription – Reading Eggs, Reading Eggspress, Reading Eggs Junior, and Fast Phonics. Our interactive lessons are based on scientific research and feature colorful animations, fun music, and exciting rewards to keep your children motivated to learn.
“My kids are homeschooled and this is the best reading and math site that I have ever found. My son started not knowing all the letter sounds and within a few months he was reading at a first grade level.” – Mehdi C.
Watch on YouTube
Tiffany Jones is a Greenville, SC native. Raised in a Christian culture that shamed mental illness, she fought to understand what God’s Word had to say about her struggles. Tiffany battled depression for many years and looking to her community for help brought more shame. Her upbringing led her to believe that she wasn’t good enough to fight off attacks from the evil one, and that is why she was never free from her burden. When years of practicing their solutions was not working, she began looking for other possible answers. That led to a pivotal moment in her healing journey: naming her true enemy in 2015. God’s love and tender mercy overcomes all our wickedness. The death of Jesus paid our debt. While we are still fully capable of making mistakes, Jesus offers forgiveness, comfort and peace. Tiffany hopes to encourage others by sharing these truths. I pray that encouragement is just what you find in our conversation.
Interview Summary
Melanie starts by asking Tiffany to introduce herself and share a bit about her family. Tiffany talks about her three children, her experience of adopting her oldest child, and her initial reluctance to homeschool due to negative childhood experiences with it.
Tiffany explains that she decided to homeschool her oldest child when the school suggested holding her back due to behavioral concerns. She emphasizes the flexibility and enjoyment she found in homeschooling, despite initially being hesitant about it. She also shares that she believes parents should choose the best educational path for each of their children individually.
Melanie and Tiffany discuss the topic of in and out of homeschooling, with Melanie sharing that one of her own children attended public high school for their last two years of education, and it worked well for that particular child.
The conversation takes a deeper turn as Tiffany talks about her interest in mental health. She shares that her mother had bipolar disorder, and her family’s church community did not respond well to mental health issues. This led to feelings of shame and secrecy around mental health problems. Tiffany eventually sought therapy and began her mental health journey.
Later on, Tiffany discusses her involvement in a church-based group, where she participated in a Bible study called the Armor of God by Priscilla Shrier. This experience helped her understand her inner struggles and the importance of self-compassion.
Throughout the conversation, Melanie and Tiffany touch on various aspects of homeschooling, mental health, and personal growth, providing insights and reflections on these topics.
In this podcast episode, Melanie Wilson interviews Chanel Miller, a homeschooling mom, about her journey and her new cookbook for kids called Kid De Cuisine. Chanel shares that she homeschools her three daughters and explains how the idea of homeschooling began during the pandemic when her daughters were in pre-K. She wanted to be more hands-on with their education and spend quality family time together.
The conversation then shifts to discussing Chanel’s cookbook, which is designed to teach kids to cook independently. Chanel’s cookbook is unique because it comes with measuring cups and spoons that are color-coded to match the recipes, making it easy for young children to follow along. The cookbook also includes stories before each recipe to facilitate parent-child interaction, review sessions, fun tidbits, and activity pages.
Melanie and Chanel discuss the importance of allowing kids to be in the kitchen and start with simple tasks before gradually adding more complex cooking skills. Chanel emphasizes the value of creating memories and spending quality time with kids in the kitchen. The cookbook includes recipes that can be completed in about 30 minutes, including setup and cleanup, making it accessible for busy parents.
Chanel mentions that the cookbook is available for pre-order on their website, them3andme.com, and offers various incentives for pre-orders. She also shares that she plans to release two more children’s books after this one, each dedicated to one of her daughters, with a focus on breakfast, lunch, or dessert recipes.
The podcast episode ends with Melanie expressing her appreciation for Chanel’s cookbook and its potential as an educational and memorable gift for children. Chanel thanks Melanie for the opportunity to share her work and hopes that listeners will enjoy the cookbook as much as she enjoyed creating it.
What To Do When Your Day Is A Dumpster Fire
Sep 19, 2023
Hey, homeschoolers! Do you ever have days that go so badly that you just want to throw your hands up in surrender? I know I have. In this episode, we’ll discuss a better approach than surrender for a day that’s a dumpster fire.
There are a lot of reasons we want to give up on a day. Perhaps it’s personal. We might have a personal goal of eating better. But we get up and instead of having that egg white omelet packed with protein, we reach for the Pop Tarts that somehow made it into the pantry. After snarfing them and a chocolate milk laced with coffee (better known as a frappacino) down, you commit to having a salad with chicken breast for lunch–only you end up at Sonic for an impromptu family picnic and there is no way you can order a salad when the cheese curds, chili dog, and slushy are just the reward you need after a stressful morning. Now you want to surrender and wait until the next day or week to eat well.
Social Dumpster Fires
Or maybe your day is more of a social dumpster fire. You prayed for patience and you were determined to be the meek and quiet mother that you’ve read about in books. But then your child couldn’t find his shoes before you had to be out the door. A fight broke out between that child and the one he was sure intentionally moved his shoes just to aggravate him. Another child is complaining about how tired they are, how bored they are, or how hungry they are, and your patience commitment is gone.
Homeschool Dumpster Fires
Or perhaps your day is truly a homeschooling dumpster fire. You had your lesson plan that was going to have you on track. You were finally going to get caught up. And then a toilet backed up, the dog escaped the yard, or your kiddo had a meltdown over the math lesson. Suddenly it’s noon and you’ll be lucky if you make something for lunch let alone get any school done. You may as well give up for the day, right?
Wrong! I have given up on dumpster-fire days more times than I care to admit. I have even felt helpless in the face of them, as though the failure that follows is inevitable. I was having one of these days recently and I was feeling discouraged. I was going to have to wait until the next day to get back on track, right? That’s when I remembered something I learned as a child about fires. You may have learned it too. Instead of running away in a panic and surrendering to the flames when you are on fire, you stop, drop, and roll. You may have said it with me! How does this short set of instructions apply to dumpster-fire days? Allow me to explain my thinking here.
Stop
First, stop. The day does NOT have to continue on the same path. Stop what you’re doing. Stop panicking and don’t give up. This day can be salvaged. I promise!
If you’re in the middle of the chili cheese dog, ask yourself if you’re satisfied. If you are, stop eating. Don’t continue eating in despair or as a punishment. If the cheese curds are long gone, forget about them. What’s done is done.
If you are in the middle of yelling at your kids, stop. Put yourself in time out. Take some deep breaths. If you finished ranting this morning, ask your kids for forgiveness now. Then give yourself grace so you can start fresh.
If no school has been completed, stop what you’re doing instead if you can. Collect the kids and let them know that school will be back in session shortly.
Drop
After we’ve stopped, the next step is drop. For our purposes, we are going to physically or metaphorically drop to our knees in prayer. We’ve been doing this day in our own strength. Now it’s time to let God help us. Wherever you are, pray. Remind the Lord that you can’t do these things without Him. Ask Him for self-control and freedom from overeating. Ask Him for supernatural patience with your kids through the Holy Spirit. Ask Him for wisdom to know which lessons are the most important to focus on as you return to your homeschool day. Then believe that He will answer that prayer. Psalm 32:8 says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.” I love this image of God seeing exactly what’s happening with us and responding to our requests.
Roll
The final step to take when our day is a dumpster fire is to roll. For our purposes, it means to get on with the day. Philippians 3:13 tells us to look forward in our journey with God rather than back. When we have made poor food choices, we can start fresh. Wait for hunger or plan a healthy dish for your next meal. When we have lost our cool, we can say “Serenity now!” and laugh when the kids misbehave again and play with them to blow off steam. When we haven’t followed our homeschool plan, we can create a new plan for the rest of the day or we can use our original plan. I tell families using The Organized Homeschool Life planner to either jump in where they are in their loose schedule for the day or start where they left off when you were interrupted. Either approach will help you get more done than if you give up.
Surrendering
Are there days that it makes sense to give up? If your neighbor invites you over for a lasagna dinner and you risk offending them if you say no, maybe it is. If your kids’ behavior doesn’t improve all day, maybe they need to see they’ve pushed Mom too far. If you’re spending the day waiting in urgent care for stitches when a kid sliced his knee open, you might want to try again tomorrow. However, when we string dumpster-fire days together and regularly give up, waiting for things to improve, I think we’ll all have more sanity when we choose a stop-drop-and-roll approach instead.
Conclusion
I used this approah when I felt I’d wasted a good part of the day online. I stopped and went for a walk. I returned and dropped for some prayer time. I asked the Lord for wisdom on how to spend the rest of the day and I rolled with what He said to do. And the amazing thing is I ended up feeling good about the day–so good that I wanted to share this approach with you on the podcast.
If the Organized Homeschool Life Planner would help you stop, drop, and roll on dumpster fire days, here’s the link. If you give this approach a try and it works for you, would you let me know? Screenshot this episode and share it on social media.
Melanie begins by recounting the biblical story of Joseph and how he overcame numerous challenges. She emphasizes that life can be filled with adversity, but we are not in control of the plot; God is. She encourages listeners to take on the roles of both protagonist and editor in their life’s journey.
Melanie delves into the hero’s journey, explaining that it often begins with a desire for a peaceful life or an unexpected call to adventure. She stresses the importance of acknowledging Jesus as a constant mentor and companion during life’s trials.
The podcast highlights the significance of the mentor phase in the hero’s journey, emphasizing that Jesus is always present, even when it feels like we’re facing challenges alone. Melanie references Scripture to illustrate God’s guidance during tough times.
The ordeal phase is discussed, where allies and enemies are developed. Melanie encourages listeners to focus on their allies rather than obsessing over obstacles and adversaries. She uses Joseph’s life as an example, showcasing allies like Potiphar (in the beginning) and the prison warden.
In the return phase, Melanie explains how the hero returns transformed after enduring hardships. She discusses Joseph’s growth in humility and his capacity to forgive. Melanie also emphasizes the rewards of a successful hero’s journey, including witnessing God’s work and positively impacting others.
Listeners are encouraged to reflect on the hero’s journey in their own lives and their children’s experiences. Melanie underscores the importance of changing perspectives to live a happier life.
This episode invites listeners to reconsider and reshape their life stories, finding inspiration in the journey of Joseph and the guidance of faith along the way.
Teaching The Underground Railroad With Danika Cooley
Sep 05, 2023
Introduction
In this episode of the Home School Sanity Show, Melanie Wilson welcomes back Danika Cooley to discuss her latest additions to the Who What Why series, which is designed to teach Christian history.
With Reading Eggs, your homeschoolers will enjoy a highly personalized learning journey, designed to support them at every stage. Plus, you’ll get four programs in one with your subscription – Reading Eggs, Reading Eggspress, Reading Eggs Junior, and Fast Phonics. Our interactive lessons are based on scientific research and feature colorful animations, fun music, and exciting rewards to keep your children motivated to learn.
“My kids are homeschooled and this is the best reading and math site that I have ever found. My son started not knowing all the letter sounds and within a few months he was reading at a first grade level.” – Mehdi C.
Danika Cooley introduces the Who What Why series, which focuses on God’s hand in history.
The series releases three titles at a time: “Who” (biographies), “What” (historical events or inventions), and “Why” (theology and history).
The new titles in the series are centered around the abolition movement, a significant historical event heavily influenced by Christianity.
Segment 2: Why Abolition and the New Titles
Danika explains why she chose to focus on the abolition movement for the new titles.
Abolition was a movement that affected millions of people and was primarily spearheaded by Christians, making it crucial for children to understand.
The new titles include Who Were the Abolitionists?, What Was the Underground Railroad?, and Why Did Slavery End?.
Segment 3: Impactful Stories and Lessons
Melanie asks Danika about the stories and lessons that made a significant impact on her while researching and writing these books.
Danika discusses the incredible stories of abolitionists, their journeys to faith, and their contributions to the movement.
She emphasizes the importance of understanding what Scripture says about slavery and the application of Scripture in history.
Segment 4: Modifying the Content for Younger Audiences
Melanie and Danika discuss the challenge of addressing slavery for a younger audience and how to modify the content.
Danika explains how she focused on calling slavery a sin, showing how it broke families, and using appropriate language for younger readers.
The importance of not shying away from history but presenting it in a way that young readers can understand and engage with is emphasized.
Segment 5: Teaching Slavery and Abolition to Children
Melanie asks for advice on how parents can effectively teach their children about slavery and abolition.
Danika suggests bringing everything back to God’s Word and discussing biblical principles while using historical context.
She recommends reading aloud with children, discussing real-life examples, and addressing abstract concepts concretely.
Danika emphasizes the importance of having discussions about biblical worldviews with children.
Segment 6: Additional Materials and Activities
Danika mentions that she has created lap books and crafts to complement her books, which are available for free.
She suggests reading additional books and narratives about figures like Olaudah Equiano, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Tubman, depending on the age and maturity of the child.
Some of these books may be suitable for older children but should be approached with care.
Segment 7: Encouraging Critical Thinking and Applying Scripture
Danika shares the importance of teaching children about civil disobedience from a biblical perspective.
Melanie and Danika discuss the relevance of this topic and how it can lead to deeper conversations about faith and action.
Danika emphasizes the need for children to know what the Bible says, apply it to their lives, and think through issues biblically.
Segment 8: Future Titles in the Who What Why Series
Danika reveals that future titles in the series will explore the Exodus movement, Jesus in the New Testament, and continue to cycle through history.
There are discussions about expanding the series to cover even more historical events.
Conclusion
Melanie thanks Danika for joining the show and discussing her latest books and the importance of teaching children about Christian history and biblical worldviews.
For more information on Danika Cooley’s books and the Who What Why series, visit whowhatwhyseries.com.
Melanie introduces the topic of dating philosophies and their extremes. Discusses the “too strict” philosophy born out of fear of negative consequences and wrong partners. Mentions the extreme position of advocating courtship instead of dating, involving parental involvement and no kissing. Highlights challenges of implementing the “too strict” philosophy, especially with strong-willed teens. Shares examples of success stories and failures within this philosophy.
Explores the “too lax” philosophy rooted in fear of losing the parent-child relationship. Discusses lack of enforced rules, including premarital sex and sleepovers. Presents examples of both successful and unsuccessful outcomes within this philosophy. Points out potential consequences such as broken homes and strained relationships.
Finding the “Just-Right” Approach
Melanie encourages listeners to avoid extreme approaches and seek a balanced perspective. Advocates teaching through fear of natural consequences rather than punishment. Shares personal story of the power of fear of consequences. Recommends using resources like the video Sex Still Has a Price Tag to illustrate real-life consequences. Suggests sharing examples of well-adjusted couples who adhered to biblical principles. References Tommy Nelson’s Bible study on courtship from the book of Song of Solomon.
Advocates coaching approach by asking open-ended questions and guiding discussions. Emphasizes that rules should be tailored to each family’s values and dynamics. Discusses the importance of maintaining open communication and dialogue with teens. Advises parents to prioritize their relationship with their children while discussing dating. Highlights the need for affection and attention, even in the teenage years. Reminds parents to show humility and be willing to adapt their approach. Discusses the significance of prayer in shaping a child’s dating experiences. Shares the historical example of Augustine’s mother’s prayers influencing the faith of her son and the church. Encourages listeners to find the right dating philosophy and make changes when needed. Emphasizes the value of humility and flexibility in parenting. Have a happy homeschool week!
3 Keys To Staying Sane While Homeschooling Strong-Willed Kids
Aug 26, 2023
Introduction:
In this episode, we’re addressing a common challenge among homeschoolers: homeschooling strong-willed children. While strong-willed kids have potential to be world changers, homeschooling them can be overwhelming. Tune in to discover three key strategies to maintain your sanity while homeschooling strong-willed kids.
Strong-willed children tend to rebel against rules, especially when rules seem arbitrary. A poorly conceived rule can trigger defiance and disrespect. Suggested solution: Limit the number of rules and make sure they’re essential, connected to safety and values. Focus on rules that truly matter, and eliminate those that trigger unnecessary conflict. Seek a balance between respecting authority and avoiding nonsensical rules.
Step 2: Provide Constructive Challenges:
Strong-willed kids thrive on challenges; without them, they may challenge parents. Offer avenues for constructive challenges to redirect their energy. Allow competition: Engage in sports, games, self-competition, or challenges related to various subjects. Provide leadership opportunities: Let them supervise younger siblings or teach a subject, fostering responsibility. Assign passion projects: Engage in ambitious endeavors like starting a business, writing a book, or pursuing a skill.
Step 3: Express Unconditional Love:
Assure your strong-willed child that your love is unwavering. They might assume you prefer easygoing children over them. Make an effort to show appreciation and approval for their unique traits, including their strong will. Lovingly address defiance, disobedience, or immoral behavior – discipline is a form of love. Discipline, combined with love, nurtures a healthy parent-child relationship.
Conclusion:
Homeschooling strong-willed children is a journey filled with challenges and rewards. By limiting arbitrary rules, providing constructive challenges, and expressing unconditional love, you can maintain your sanity and build a strong parent-child bond.
In our next episode, we’ll delve into finding a dating philosophy for your family. If you found this episode valuable, don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow homeschoolers. Until next time, have a wonderful week of homeschooling!
Homeschooling options have exploded over the years, leading to overwhelm.
Three steps to escape overwhelm and make confident choices.
Sponsor
With Reading Eggs, your homeschoolers will enjoy a highly personalized learning journey, designed to support them at every stage. Plus, you’ll get four programs in one with your subscription – Reading Eggs, Reading Eggspress, Reading Eggs Junior, and Fast Phonics. Our interactive lessons are based on scientific research and feature colorful animations, fun music, and exciting rewards to keep your children motivated to learn.
“My kids are homeschooled and this is the best reading and math site that I have ever found. My son started not knowing all the letter sounds and within a few months he was reading at a first grade level.” – Mehdi C.
Introduction: In this episode, I address the common concern of homeschooling parents trying to juggle too many tasks, curriculum, and activities in their homeschooling journey. I outline six telltale signs that indicate you might be taking on more than you can handle and provides valuable insights for finding a healthier balance.
Sponsor Message: This episode is sponsored by Grammar Galaxy, an elementary language arts curriculum designed to make learning engaging and enjoyable for kids. With short, story-based lessons, Grammar Galaxy ensures that your children won’t even realize they’re doing schoolwork. Visit funtolearnbooks.com/samples to try a free lesson and discover the joy of learning with Grammar Galaxy.
Signs You’re Trying to Do Too Much:
1. Worried Overload: If you find yourself constantly worried about how everything will fit into your homeschooling plans, it’s a clear indication that you might be trying to do too much. Trusting in your ability to manage your schedule is important.
2. Friends’ Reactions: When you share your homeschooling plans with friends and their reactions involve raised eyebrows, laughter, or exclamations of disbelief, it’s time to reconsider if you’ve taken on more than you can handle.
3. Lack of Margin: Having every moment of your schedule accounted for without any unscheduled time can lead to stress and burnout. Allowing room for unexpected events is crucial for maintaining a healthy balance.
4. Neglecting Self-Care: If your plan doesn’t include time for essential self-care activities, such as adequate sleep, hobbies, exercise, and quality time with your spouse, you’re likely trying to do too much. Prioritizing self-care ensures your well-being and effectiveness as a homeschooling parent.
5. Falling Behind: Not being able to complete your planned tasks, lessons, or activities consistently is a sign that you’ve overcommitted. Struggling to keep up can lead to frustration and dissatisfaction.
6. Resistance from You and Your Kids: Feeling resistance or reluctance to start your homeschooling routine indicates that your expectations are too high. If both you and your kids are resisting, it’s time to reevaluate your approach.
Finding Balance and Solutions: To regain balance, reflect on your motivations and goals for each activity in your homeschooling plan. Seek guidance from trusted friends or family members who can provide honest feedback. Embrace the idea of trusting in God’s plan for your homeschooling journey and prioritize the essential aspects that align with your purpose.
Conclusion: Remember that homeschooling is a unique journey, and finding the right balance between curriculum, activities, and self-care is essential for a successful and fulfilling experience. By recognizing and addressing the signs of overcommitment, you can create a homeschooling routine that brings joy, growth, and meaningful learning to your family.
Homeschool Freedom With Connor Boyack
Aug 08, 2023
Hey, homeschoolers! For me and for so many of you, homeschooling is about freedom—the freedom to educate our children ourselves, the freedom to teach our values. It’s a freedom that we often take for granted. Sometimes it’s a freedom that feels at odds with government education and programs.
I am happy to have Connor Boyack join me for an enlightening discussion of freedom in homeschooling. Connor is a popular speaker at the Great Homeschool Conventions, but we have not had a chance to connect there. He is founder and president of Libertas Institute, a free market think tank in Utah. Named one of Utah’s most politically influential people by The Salt Lake Tribune, Connor’s leadership has led to dozens of legislative victories spanning a wide range of areas such as privacy, government transparency, property rights, entrepreneurship, education, personal freedom, and more.
Author of over two dozen books, Connor is best known for The Tuttle Twins books, a children’s series introducing young readers to economic, political, and civic principles.
Connor lives near Salt Lake City, Utah, with his wife and two homeschooled children. I hope you appreciate his perspective as much as I did.
How To Make The Most Of A New Homeschool Season
Aug 01, 2023
In this podcast episode, Melanie Wilson discusses her 25 years of teaching her six kids and helping other families with their homeschooling journey. She reflects on her journey as a homeschooler and talks about her passion for speaking to homeschoolers, creating curriculum, and writing. She encourages listeners who are entering a new season of homeschooling, whether due to their child going off to college, starting a new job, or other life changes.
Melanie shares some tips for making the most of this new season. She suggests looking back and appreciating how far one has come in their homeschooling journey, considering the goals they had when starting homeschooling and whether they’ve achieved them, and reevaluating the curriculum, approaches, and activities they are using in their homeschool. She also emphasizes the importance of taking time to rest, evaluating priorities, and trying something new to keep homeschooling exciting and engaging.
Melanie wraps up the episode by inviting listeners to share their plans and experiences for the new season and highlights her upcoming video version of the podcast on YouTube.
Special Replay: How To Handle Your Tween Daughter’s Emotions
Jul 25, 2023
Hey, homeschoolers!
This week I am creating a podcast based on a very popular guest post I wrote for LikeMindedMusings.com. Specifically, how to help your tween daughter handle her emotions. I’m looking forward to sharing some tips with you if you have a tween daughter, who also seems to have emotions, if you know what I mean.
But first, I wanted to share two things with you. I am going to be speaking at five Great Homeschool Conventions this year. I am so excited to meet you. I’ll be in Texas, South Carolina, Ohio, California, and Florida. Make sure you get registered at GreatHomeschoolConventions.com so we can chat!
The second thing I wanted to share is that I have begun answering reader questions on my YouTube channel. If you have a question you’d like me to answer, email me at Psychowith6@gmail.com or message me on social media. I won’t share your name or identifying details, but I can share the information with others who have the same question.
Sponsor
I want to thank the sponsor for this episode, Change in the Air. Change in the Air is a new film releasing Oct 19th that you won’t want to miss! A peaceful community is forever changed when a mysterious young woman moves in. As the quirky locals embrace her, their lives soon improve. But, they can’t help notice that their strange new neighbor has a secret…Change in the Air will release in select theaters, and digitally on Oct 19th. Go to ChangeInTheAirMovie.net to see if the film is playing near you, or purchase or rent it the day it comes out! Change in the Air – in theaters and digitally on Oct 19th.
Special Thanks to Our Network Sponsor – Change is in the Air Movie
This story embraces the imperfections that make us human, offers a way to set ourselves free and asks us all to take a good, long look at the wild birds in the sky.
Special Replay: 6 Back-to-Homeschool Mistakes Veteran Homeschoolers Don’t Make
Jul 18, 2023
Hey homeschoolers! I hate to be the bearer of bad news for those of you who don’t homeschool year round. But yes, back to school is right around the corner. I have wise advice for making back to school the best it can be, whether you are a new or veteran homeschooler. This episode we will discuss six mistakes that veteran homeschoolers don’t make when it comes to back-to-school.
Sponsor – Truth Seekers Mystery Series
But first I would like to thank our sponsor– Truth Seekers Mysteries– for sponsoring the podcast.
Let’s face it, Christian kids are leaving their faith in droves despite all our best efforts. Until now! With the Truth Seekers Mystery Series, your children will become engrossed in a wonderful story that teaches about justice and how to defend their beliefs. Now you can spark your child’s interest in God’s wonderful Creation without even trying! Using a “novel” approach your children will race through hundreds of pages of heart-pounding mystery, suspense, and edge-of-your-seat adventure! There are three novels and study guides in the series. Visit the TruthSeekersMysterySeries.com.
1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers drained
1 bag tortilla chips
1 bag shredded cheddar cheese
1 container light sour cream
Directions
Open the cans of corn, chicken broth, chunk chicken, black beans, and diced tomatoes with green chilies. Pour everything into a large saucepan or stock pot. Simmer over medium heat until chicken is heated through.
Amount Per Serving (6)
Calories: 214
Protein: 17.2g
Sugar: 2.7g
Carbohydrate: 27.2g
Fat: 4.9g
Cholesterol: 32mg
Sodium: 1482mg
Fiber: 6.7g
Powered by
If you’d like to make cooking a part of your homeschooling this year, consider the excellent Kids Cook Real Foods curriculum.
If you avoid these six back-to-school mistakes, you are well on your way having a peaceful and blessed back to homeschool. Have your curriculum, school space, special back-to-school surprise, meal plan, reasonable goals, and maintenance plans ready. That is my prayer for you.
Special Replay: Habits of the Organized Homeschool Mom
Jun 27, 2023
Hey homeschoolers!
This week we are discussing habits of the organized homeschool mom. If organization doesn’t come naturally to you as it doesn’t for me, I think you’ll enjoy this episode. First, if you haven’t listened to the last two episodes I did on planning, you’ll want listen to them first.
Organizing didn’t come naturally to me. I’ve had to learn it the hard way. But today I feel like I’m organized enough to do everything God has called me to do as a homeschooling mom. If you’d like to take a shorter journey to organization than I took, this article is for you. These are the habits of an organized homeschool mom.
Resources for Habits of the Organized Homeschool Mom
Where once it was challenging to find curriculum that worked well in a homeschool setting, now we’re tearing our hair out trying to decide what to buy and what to use once we buy it.
I attended a kindergarten graduation with my second son and was wowed by the kindergartners who performed musically for the ceremony. These children seemed so advanced. My son sat at the graduation, clearly not paying attention to the ceremony at all. It’s so ridiculous now, but I thought he and I were lacking something. That son ironically grew up to be an advanced student and a part of our church’s worship band. I didn’t begin pressing him to do more after that kindergarten graduation, but I could have. I could have let fear about not measuring up add to the burden of homeschooling instead of the joy of it.
I asked Diona to talk about The Organized Homeschool Life, which is a plan for helping us to be the organized homeschool moms God has called us to be. Listen to what she said on the podcast.
The Organized Homeschool Life book and planner will help you to create the habits of an organized homeschool mom. First, every day your planner will direct you to spend time with the Lord. Rather than having long lined pages to complete that aren’t realistic for busy moms like us, you’ll have a few lines on which to write your gratitude to God, the word you heard from God, and your response to Him in prayer. Even if all you do is just complete that part of your daily plan, you’ll feel connected to the Lord.
The next habit The Organized Homeschool Life helps you develop is routines. Each day you’ll create a basic schedule for your day. You’ll be guided in the process of creating a routine with a helpful printable. Once you’ve created a workable routine, creating a loose schedule of specific tasks for the day will be easy and gratifying.
The third habit The Organized Homeschool Life helps us develop is decluttering. You’ll be challenged to declutter after Christmas, to declutter bedrooms, clothing, used curriculum, and the places in your home that tend to collect clutter. In the Organized Homeschool Life Facebook group, you’ll receive prompts to remind you to keep up your decluttering habit.
The Organized Homeschool Life also helps you have realistic expectations. Each challenge is made up of four steps that take just 15 minutes each. You’ll be amazed by how much you can do in such a short period of time. The Organized Homeschool Life Planner includes space for your organizing task of the day, so you’re reminded to stay on track with these missions or other organizing tasks you need to do.
In studying my own productivity for a year, I found that on average I completed just six tasks a day, aside from my routine tasks. That’s why there is space for just six tasks on your daily planning page. It feels amazing to complete your task list for the day and not feel like a failure because you haven’t done all 30 of the items on your overly long list.
Finally, The Organized Homeschool Life is a plan. You can develop your own plan for organizing your homeschool life or you can save yourself time and use or tweak mine. The Organized Homeschool Life gives you a starting point. Each week, the four steps of the challenge for the week are outlined for you in a very short read in the book. The weekly planning page in the planner lists the steps for the week, allowing you to plan when to do them. The planner is organized into months and weeks but isn’t dated, so you can start organizing your homeschool life at any time.
I want homeschooling moms have the peace and joy that I have in planning an organized homeschool life. That is why from now through November 17th, 2018, you can gift yourself both the book and planner at launch pricing. Whether you prefer digital books and planners or you love having a printed book and beautifully spiral-bound planner to use, you’ll find both here.
[button link=”https://grammargalaxybooks.com/product-category/Homeschool/” type=”big” color=”orange” newwindow=”yes”] Organize me![/button]
Not sure you can keep up the organizing habit? Be sure to check out How to Keep the Happy Planning Going. You can also give The Organized Homeschool Life book and planner a try with the Christmas Planning challenge. You’ll receive sample pages that will tell you if the The Organized Homeschool Life is for you before the sale is over. Click the image at Homeschool Sanity to sign up for it.
Which of these habits has been the biggest struggle for you? Comment and let me know.
Special Replay: How To Make The Most Of The Rest Of Summer
Jun 20, 2023
Hey homeschoolers! We are already well into July, and if you’re like me, you feel like summer is slipping away. Fortunately, we can still make the most of it. I’ll explain how.
Before I do, I want to thank my sponsor for this episode CTC math.
The lessons are taught the traditional way, not to a “test”.
Each one of the video tutorials is taught by an internationally acclaimed teacher, Pat Murray, who is renowned for teaching math concepts in a simple, easy-to-understand way (and in only a few minutes at a time). CTC Math uses a multi-sensory approach, having the combination of effective graphics and animation synchronized with the voice of a friendly teacher together with practical assessment. This three-pronged attack makes learning so much easier and more effective. Even students who struggled with math are getting fantastic results! And ones who were doing OK before are now doing brilliantly.
If your homeschooler is going to be taking a standardized test soon, do you know the best way to prepare? This is The Homeschool Sanity Show, the episode where my guest shares some lesser known insights and tips to put you and your student at ease.
Hey, homeschoolers! I had the chance to interview one of my favorite people for the podcast again–Dennis DiNoia of Mr. D. Math. We first became acquainted when my son enrolled in his ACT Math prep course. My son was so impressed with his teaching style and so was I. I then ended up meeting him at Great Homeschool Conventions, where in one instance he came to my rescue with his audiovisual equipment. He is not only a brilliant math teacher but one of the nicest people on the planet. Here’s a link to a previous podcast episode:
Why Charlotte Mason Would Love Grammar Galaxy
Jun 06, 2023
Do you love Charlotte Mason’s approach to education? This is the Homeschool Sanity Show, the episode where I explain why I think Charlotte Mason would approve of my unique approach to teaching language arts and why you might want to consider adding it to your studies this year.
If you love a Charlotte Mason approach to homeschooling, I’m not surprised. Charlotte thought education should be a lifestyle that should engage the whole person. She wanted children to appreciate nature and fine arts. And she wanted them to have a love of learning.
I wasn’t acquainted with Charlotte Mason’s approach when I created Grammar Galaxy, but I believe she would approve. I was motivated to create a new approach to teaching language arts, and grammar in particular, because my kids hated it. They begged me not to teach it. I didn’t understand this because I’ve always loved English. I started paying closer attention to the curriculum I’d used over the years and discovered the main reason my kids were so bored with it: it was taken out of the context of story.
Grammar Galaxy uses story to teach
The first reason I believe Charlotte Mason would approve of Grammar Galaxy is because it uses story to teach. Rather than a dry, textbook approach of stating that a noun is a person, place, or thing, the nouns in Grammar Galaxy begin disappearing. The king is able to get the nouns returned to planet Sentence, but they need help getting back to their homes. Students are guardians of the galaxy who help return the nouns to Person, Place or Thing Street where they live.
The stories in Grammar Galaxy hold students’ attention and are far more memorable than textbook material. It is what Charlotte called a living book written by someone who is passionate about the topic. That’s me!
Grammar Galaxy encourages fiction reading
The second reason I think Charlotte Mason would approve of Grammar Galaxy is related. Charlotte wanted students to read fiction. Grammar Galaxy encourages daily reading in multiple genres and does not dictate which books are read. The emphasis is on developing a love of reading through print and audiobooks that appeal to students. We now know that reading fiction for enjoyment is the key to expanding students’ vocabulary—the best predictor of school and life success.
Grammar Galaxy can be used with narration
The third reason I believe Charlotte Mason would approve of Grammar Galaxy is how well it lends itself to narration. At the end of each story are some questions to check for comprehension. A great follow-up for Charlotte Mason homeschoolers is for students to retell the story orally. This rehearsal will allow you to check for thorough understanding and will allow your student to better retain the information.
Grammar Galaxy includes copywork, dictation, and journaling
The fourth reason I think Charlotte Mason would approve of Grammar Galaxy is its inclusion of copywork, dictation, and journaling lessons. These practices are known to improve students’ handwriting, grammar, spelling, and even enjoyment of writing. Free, monthly language arts calendars sent to subscribers frequently include additional copywork and writing exercises.
Grammar Galaxy uses short lessons
The fifth reason I believe Charlotte Mason would approve of Grammar Galaxy is its short lessons. Charlotte wanted children to have time to play and learn outside. She didn’t want them spending the day at a desk. Each step in a mission of Grammar Galaxy takes just 10-15 minutes to complete on average, allowing students time to read a book in a hammock, sketch what they think the Gremlin looks like, or write their own funny stories. I’ve also included active mission steps whenever possible like going on an adjective hunt.
Grammar Galaxy encourages a love of learning
The sixth reason I think Charlotte would approve of Grammar Galaxy is her desire for children to love learning. That was my top goal for the curriculum because I know if students enjoy reading, writing, and even grammar, they’ll do more of it. As they do more of it, they’ll improve their skills and grow in confidence. My favorite comment to get from Grammar Galaxy families is that their child’s new favorite subject is language arts and they beg to do it!
Conclusion
Of course, Charlotte can’t weigh in on Grammar Galaxy, but you as a Charlotte Mason homeschooler can. You can download a complete lesson of any volume to try with your student for free at FunToLearnBooks.com/samples.
If you’re attending Great Homeschool Conventions this summer, stop by the Grammar Galaxy books booth to see the books in person. I’d love to chat with you.
Your Top Parenting Questions Answered
May 30, 2023
Do you wish you could ask a Christian homeschooling psychologist a parenting question? This is The Homeschool Sanity Show, the episode where I answer the most common parenting questions I receive.
Hey, homeschoolers! Most of the questions I’ve received in my personal and professional life center around parenting. As a parent myself, I understand that. We live in an age that has parents terrified of making mistakes and being blamed for any and everything that can go wrong in their children’s lives. Apart from that fear, we have the earnest desire to love and teach our children well.
While I didn’t begin this podcast or my time as a speaker thinking I would focus on parenting, I have found that I enjoy answering these questions. My prayer is that you’ll have some of your questions answered in this episode. If you have other questions, please don’t hesitate to send them my way via email (melaniephd@gmail.com) or on social media messages (@homeschoolsanity). I am happy to respond individually.
So, let’s jump in to six of the most popular questions I’ve answered over the years.
#1 Am I disciplining the right way?
This question comes after an explanation of a child’s problem behavior and a description of what the parent has done to address it that has improved the behavior.
The short answer to this question is YES. If you are responding to a child’s behavior problem in a way that is working, albeit imperfectly, then yes, you are disciplining the right way. I haven’t had to say no to this because no parent has ever described an abusive response with this question and no parent has said, “And I just ignore the problem behavior.”
The other reason my answer is yes is because you’re the authority on whether or not a disciplinary approach is working and appropriate for your family. I once fell for the lie that I couldn’t be trusted to know the best approach for each of my kids, just as I thought I couldn’t be trusted to know the best way to homeschool my kids. I thought I needed an expert to tell me. I didn’t and you don’t. If what you’re doing is working and it feels right to you, continue on. If it’s making things worse or you feel guilty about it, try something new.
#2 How can I discipline when my spouse isn’t on board?
The truth is most parents don’t phrase this in the form of a question. They say, “I CAN’T discipline because my spouse isn’t on board.” My answer is that it’s ideal to have you and your spouse on the same page with discipline. But it isn’t necessary for you to discipline in a way that works and feels good to you. Any time our kids aren’t with us and under our authority, they will likely be dealing with a different disciplinary approach. Outside teachers, coaches, grandparents, babysitters, and divorced or separated parents are probably not going to be on the same page with discipline. Of course, that doesn’t mean we throw up are hands in despair and drop discipline entirely.
It is always worthwhile to discuss discipline with your spouse when you have different ideas about how to approach it. But in these discussions our number one focus has to be humility. That is true even when your spouse is making what you think are obvious mistakes. Let’s consider a common scenario. You want to calmly use specific consequences for misbehavior, but when the kids act out, your husband yells instead. Instead of lecturing your husband about the negative effects of yelling and his need for self-control, dig deeper during a quiet discussion. Find out what is driving his frustration.
It’s possible it has little to do with the kids’ behavior. Is it a desire for quiet when he gets home from work? Is it being met with a mess or dinner being delayed on a regular basis? It could be problems at work, with extended family, with finances, or with his health driving his frustration. But it could also be as simple as his feeling out of control when the kids misbehave. Many disciplinary problems come from lack of options. If your husband doesn’t know exactly what to do or say, he will go for what has worked in the past–yelling.
If your spouse doesn’t have a disciplinary plan, you can humbly describe what you’re trying to do and the results you’ve seen with it. You can ask your spouse how you can support him in disciplining so you can be a team. I’ve heard from more than one father that they are frustrated when their disciplinary efforts are undermined by mom with excuses for the child or telling the child that the consequences Dad gave won’t stand. If you have a problem with Dad’s discipline in a specific instance, go to him privately and humbly ask him to reconsider. When he calms down, he may change his mind about consequences. I’m going to offer a disclaimer here that I am not talking about abuse. If your spouse is abusing your children, get legal and professional help to protect them. That is a parent’s responsibility.
But apart from that, if your spouse still doesn’t agree on discipline, carry on. You will do more to influence him by modeling your approach to discipline than debating him. And your children will benefit far more than if you give up on discipline completely.
#3 My child has special needs. How can I discipline?
This is the hardest question I get because I don’t know. I have given options that will work for most neurotypical children but could backfire with some children on the spectrum. But even if I had an approach for kids on the spectrum, kids with ADHD, kids with sensory processing disorders, and more, your child would likely be unique. As much as I’d like this to be easy, it’s not. You’re going to have to be a student of your child. Experiment. What works? What doesn’t? What are the circumstances when things go well and when they don’t? I have every confidence that you are the perfect person to find a discipinary approach that’s a good fit for your child.
But there’s a variation of this question that I want to address too. I get the “My child has OCD, ADD, and ODD and I’ve taken them to all these specialists and nothing works. I can’t discipline this child.” I’m going to be straight with you on this question. I don’t think that particular parent wants me to offer up a magic strategy because when I do give suggestions, I immediately hear why they won’t work. I think this question comes from a place of frustration, exhaustion, and fear of being blamed. There is no doubt that there are children who are very difficult to discipline. They have iron wills and don’t seem to care about punishments. The run-of-the-mill strategies will not work. I have compassion for these parents. But I also know that it can get worse–much, much worse. If there is no discipline, this child (who likely already feels out of control) will believe that not even his parents can get him under control. Children see discipline as love and all of them need it. When we withhold it, they feel unloved and will act out.
My advice is to keep loving, keep disciplining, and keep studying your child. The book The Defiant Child is an excellent help as well. Consider professional help as an adjunct to what you’re doing.
#4 My child doesn’t understand or agree with my plan or discipline. What do I do?
My answer to this question is to imagine an adult authority asking this. Would a police officer complain that people don’t understand the law or agree that they should be ticketed, so there’s nothing they can do? Would an IRS agent complain that people just don’t understand or agree with the tax law and can’t be audited and fined? No. We don’t have to understand and agree to be under authority and neither do our children. They just have to respect and obey. That doesn’t mean that we don’t explain our rules, particularly to older children, and it doesn’t mean that we don’t hear them out if they offer their opinion respectfully. But ultimately, we decide. We are the ones accountable to God for their upbringing. If we allow our kids’ obstinance to dissuade us, we lose our kids’ respect. Stay strong and you will reap a harvest of righteousness.
#5 I keep having to take things away from my misbehaving child. There’s almost nothing left!
This is a common problem with strong-willed children. We get into a cycle of punishing misbehavior. The strong-willed child wants to prove that she won’t be broken, so she misbehaves again. The trouble is this cycle can convince a child that she is a problem child and she will begin to live out of that identity. A deep-seated fear of being unloved and rejected adds fuel to the fire.
We want to interrupt that cycle. We will not change a child’s strong will. But we can help our child see that strong will as a blessing. We can love and affirm our child in that strong will. If we are caught up in the punishment cycle, we want to develop a praise and reward cycle instead. Affirm your child’s positive behaviors, no matter how small. Give this child responsibility and tell her you know she will do a great job with it. Give this child physical affection if they are open to it. Make goals easily achievable at first. Instead of asking your child to exhibit positive behavior for a day or a week, ask for 15 minutes. Give a desired reward and be excited about this positive step. When you do have to give consequences for misbehavior, make it clear that you know your child will learn from it and will get back on track. There is a lot more to say about parenting strong-willed children, but I’ll leave it with this short answer for now.
#6 Why is my child behaving this way?
It could be misbehavior, a strong will, reluctance to learn, anxiety, depression, or sibling conflict that drives the question. Unfortunately, once again I don’t have an answer for you. You’ll have to study your child, and it will take time. But I can give you some of the most common reasons for childhood behavior problems for you to explore.
First, deal with the marriage. If there is a problem in the marriage, children’s behavior will often be a reaction to it. Children are understandably afraid of their parents getting divorced. They feel anger at one or both parents whom they perceive to be the source of the problem. And they will mirror any disrespect they see on display between mom and dad. If you’re having problems, be honest about it and tell your kids what you’re going to do about it. Denial of difficulties does more harm to a child’s mental health than divorce, in my experience. As far as it depends on you, honor your spouse in your communication. Get help with or without your spouse.
Second, deal with your own mental health. An anxious or depressed parent can prompt anxiety or hopelessness for their kids. Once again, what’s most important is to be honest about what’s happening. Don’t deny it and tell your kids what you’re doing about it. Get professional help if self-help approaches haven’t worked.
Third, be open to feedback about your parenting from others. Ask another homeschool mom or another trusted friend or family member who loves you what they notice about your parenting and your kids. This is incredibly challenging to do, but it may be the most valuable thing you can do if you’re struggling. If you’re brave enough to do it and what they say hits hard, take time to pray about it before deciding if it’s legitimate or not. If you don’t want to do this, consider parents you know who are struggling and what you see as the obvious problem and solution. They don’t ask you and you don’t tell them, or you dance around the issue. Alternatively, see a professional for family therapy.
Fourth, consider a professional evaluation for your child. Undiagnosed physical or learning challenges can contribute to behavior problems. Children often choose to seem defiant rather than unintelligent. Getting a diagnosis may seem limiting for your child, but it can actually be liberating. You’ll then have tools and support to help your kids maximize their potential.
Even without a professional’s help, you can seek to understand your child’s beliefs. We all act in accordance with our beliefs. For example, if your child believes that an older sibling is the smart one and there is no point in trying to achieve, you can address that. If your child believes a sibling prefers playing with another sibling over her, she will cause conflict in the relationship. The kinds of discussions that can uncover these limiting beliefs require time and patience and prayer, but you can build a healing bond with your child in the process.
Conclusion
I hope this Q&A has been helpful to you. If it has, I’d love to have you share it with a homeschooling friend. I have great confidence in you to overcome any challenges in your parenting with God’s help. I still rely on His help as I seek to coach six young adult kids.
How To Get Your Kids Interested In Missions
May 23, 2023
Do you hope that your kids will be involved in missions? This is the Homeschool Sanity Show–the episode where my guest shares practical ideas for inspiring even young children to serve as missionaries to a hurting world.
Hey, homeschoolers! With a full-time missionary in the family, we had plenty of mission inspiration in our homeschool. Between my sister-in-law and church-sponsored trips, our kids have served and ministered to people in Kenya, Tanzania, Mexico, the states, and locally and they have been blessed in the work.
Wayne graduated with a PhD in New Testament from the University of Pretoria in South Africa, where he served until 2008 as pastor and teacher with a passion for youth, retreats, and missions. Since 2009 he has served in the States as pastor, an adjunct professor of Indiana Wesleyan University, and an instructor of Perspectives on the World Christian Movement. His passion for missions led to the founding of One Plus God Ministries in October of 2013. He has been married since 1993 to his wife Somari, and they have two children, Shana and Nicky. Wynand believes that Christ-centered marriages, families, and businesses can leave strong spiritual legacies behind, and that partnership with the Lord and one another is our strength to bring about global, transformational change to God’s glory.
I hope you are inspired by our conversation.
How to Get Your Kids Interested in Missions Recap
In this episode of Homeschool Sanity, Melanie Wilson interviews Wayne de Wet, a missionary and founder of One Plus God Ministries. They discuss the importance of teaching children about missions and practical ways to do so.
De Wet shares an analogy of attending a baseball game with a friend who loves the sport but failing to enjoy it himself. He relates it to the challenge of teaching children about missions, a commandment of Jesus that is often taught but not fully implemented. De Wet suggests that understanding and experiencing missions is the key to making it a part of one’s life.
He offers several practical ideas for homeschooling parents, including using resources like the Joshua Project, Operation World, and Wycliffe Bible Translators, reading missionary stories with children, and going on mission trips. De Wet also introduces a new resource developed by his organization, One Plus God Ministries, called OpieG, which uses four missions principles to teach children about missions.
Wilson and De Wet discuss the importance of contentment and how it can be modeled and taught to children. De Wet also shares his daughter’s experience of going on a mission trip and how it impacted her life.
The podcast episode ends with a prayer for parents to catch God’s heart for missions and teach their children to do the same.
Can Your High Schooler Homeschool Themselves?
May 16, 2023
Have you ever wondered if it’s possible (or legal) for your high school student to homeschool themselves? This is The Homeschool Sanity Show — the episode where guest Karla Marie Williams answers our questions about self-directed homeschooling.
Karla Marie Williams has been a guest on this podcast before. She’s the author of multiple books, an international speaker, and a global advocate for children and families. She is also the President of BeBold Publishing, a publishing company that launches inspirational books, journals, and courses to impact moms around the world. I was curious about one of her recent titles Unschool Urself 4 Teens, so invited her back to chat about it. I was newly inspired and I know you will be too.
Unschooling for Lifelong Learning
Unschooling is a type of homeschooling that emphasizes student-led learning and learning through everyday life experiences. In this podcast episode, Melanie Wilson interviews Karla Marie Williams, an experienced unschooling parent and author of several books on homeschooling and unschooling.
Williams emphasizes the importance of setting annual goals for unschooling children and building a deep, layered understanding of topics through a variety of resources such as books, online classes, mentors, and real-life experiences. She also recommends keeping a journal to record a child’s learning journey and using pictures as evidence of their learning. This journal can be an excellent resource for creating transcripts when it comes time for college applications.
Williams encourages parents to be confident in their child’s learning, reminding listeners that learning does not have to look one way and that unschooling does not look the same way for each child. She also emphasizes the value of unschooling education for post-secondary education, as colleges and universities are recognizing the value of an unschooling education, especially for students passionate about specific areas.
Overall, unschooling is a lifestyle of lifelong learning that allows children to pursue their passions and interests while building a broad, deep understanding of various topics. With the right resources and mindset, unschooling can lead to success in post-secondary education and beyond.
Why You Don’t Have To Homeschool The Best Way
May 09, 2023
Have you spent a lot of time trying to determine the best way to homeschool like I have? This is The Homeschool Sanity Show–the episode where I will argue that trying to homeschool the best way may not give you homeschool sanity.
Hey, homeschoolers! Last episode, I talked about why you don’t have to get caught up. This episode I’ll share why you don’t have to homeschool the best way.
Trying to homeschool the best way may not give you the homeschool sanity you crave. Instead, assess the options in light of:
Why You May Not Need To Get Caught Up
May 02, 2023
It’s the end of the traditional school year here and you may be trying to get caught up before summer. This is The Homeschool Sanity Show–the episode where I’ll give you permission to stop trying.
I cover three key steps to abandoning the quest to get caught up:
Ask yourself how behind you really are
Ask yourself how important it really is to get caught up
How To Teach Leadership Skills At Home
Apr 25, 2023
Have you intentionally taught leadership skills in your homeschool? Have you wondered how to do that as a homeschool parent? This is the Homeschool Sanity Show, the episode where my guest shares practical tips for training young leaders.
This Week’s Homeschool Sanity Guest
Hey, homeschoolers! My guest for this episode is Clara Stacko. Clara is a homeschool mom and bilingual native Spanish speaker who has taught Spanish to homeschoolers for more than a decade. She offers Spanish classes on her website SimplyTeachingSpanish.com.
Clara and I discussed the importance of teaching leadership skills, how we should think about teaching these skills to kids who aren’t natural leaders, and some practical ideas for learning leadership as homeschoolers. I hope you come away with new inspiration.
Special Replay: Homeschool Gone Wild: A Fresh Look at Unschooling
Apr 18, 2023
Hey, homeschoolers!
I’ve done a lot of reading on unschooling and I’ve experimented with it in the afternoons with my kids over the years. But I was forced to take a fresh look at unschooling when I read the book, Homeschool Gone Wild. I invited the author, Karla Marie Williams, to be a guest on the podcast and I posed some challenging questions to her. Whether you’re all about unschooling or think it’s not for you, I know you’ll enjoy my interview with this fascinating homeschool mama.
But first, I’d love to invite you to join our Homeschool Sanity Facebook group. I am enjoying your answers to the daily discussion questions. I am happy to give my answers to your burning questions along with allowing the rest of the group to respond, and I consider it a privilege to pray for your requests.
I’d like to thank our sponsor, the Christian Standard Bible. Listen for more about this fresh version of God’s Word.
Homeschool Gone Wild: A Fresh Look at Unschooling
Karla Marie Williams is a speaker, writer, and global child advocate. As the founder of iSpeak4KidsGlobal, her work has touched multple countries and cultures. She is a homeschool conference speaker and a mentor to parents through social media – Unschooling the Senational Six. Karla is a wife of 21 years and a mom of si inspired learners. She and her family reside in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Karla responded brilliantly to several criticisms of unschooling, including that it’s:
Special Replay: Homeschool Your Way: Finding Freedom In Your Christian Homeschool Journey
Apr 04, 2023
Do you long for more freedom in your homeschool? More of the peace and joy you thought you’d have as you taught your children at home? If so, this episode of The Homeschool Sanity Show is for you. In our time together, I’ll share why a grace-based approach to home education may be just what you’re looking for.
Hey, homeschoolers! Today’s episode is about what homeschooling looks like when we seek a truly customized approach to home learning. I am passionate about this topic but I didn’t have a label for what I believed until I joined a scrapbooking community this summer. I’ll tell you about it after this message from my sponsor: CTC Math.
Sponsor
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The Idea Behind Homeschool Your Way
If you once scrapbooked but have given it up, you may be as surprised as I was to learn that there is still an active community of women pursuing the hobby. This particular community’s leader, Jennifer Wilson, is also the author of The New Rules of Scrapbooking. In her book and messages, Jennifer communicates that it is more than okay to let go of scrapbooking rules. Scrapbookers know the old rules well–like having to start with your current photos and then get caught up; feeling pressure to create beautiful, artistic pages; or needing to choose between paper and digital scrapbooking. With her support for tailoring the hobby to meet individual goals and preferences, members are finding a renewed passion for their craft.
The parallels to homeschooling were clear to me. As with scrapbooking, rules can steal the joy of home educating, leading to burnout, and eventually to giving up.
It is not my contention that every scrapbooker must continue her craft, nor is it my belief that every homeschooler must continue to teach every child through high school. But I am convinced that homeschooling parents will enjoy teaching at home more if they pursue the occupation in a way uniquely suited to them and their children in this season of their lives.
Encouragement to Homeschool Your Way
The blessings of teaching my six children at home have been more than I could have asked for or imagined. I started because I believed God wanted me to homeschool. And though reluctant and thoroughly unprepared, I ended up loving it. I love:
Having the time to teach my kids about God in depth
Learning alongside my kids
Watching my kids grow and make discoveries
The flexibility of a homeschool schedule
The closeness of our family relationships
I could go on, but these things I share with you to remind you of the some of the reasons you started homeschooling.
Obstacles to Homeschooling Your Way
I had enough obstacles in the way of homeschool success without adding unnecessary rules. Extra, homeschooler-created rules weren’t an issue when I started teaching my oldest son more than 20 years ago. But more and more I hear rules homeschoolers are following like:
“You shouldn’t use textbooks as a homeschooler.”
“You can’t use state curriculum if you want to be a real homeschooler.”
“You can’t use creation science curriculum if you want your child to go to college.”
I’m sure that together we could come up with a long list of homeschool rules that have been developed as homeschooling has become more popular. This propensity to create more rules reminds me of the Israelites, who were set free from the slavery of Egypt, only to enslave themselves by adding hundreds of laws to the ten commandments.
This rule-making behavior is obviously part of our human nature. When we have been set free from so many rules around education as homeschoolers, why do we create more than what we are required to follow in our state?
First, I believe we create homeschool rules because of fear. Rules and a dedication to following them can provide structure, order, and security. If we follow the rules that our homeschool organization, our curriculum provider, or our favorite homeschool influencer gives us, we can feel confident that we aren’t going to ruin our kids’ lives.
That makes sense. When we are just starting our homeschool journey, we don’t know what to teach, how to teach it, or for how long. So we gladly accept the rules as we establish our school at home. I read a lot about homeschooling in my state and what various leaders said we had to do to comply with the law, so I could feel confident. I was afraid of having Division of Family Services knocking on my door and following rules calmed me down.
But there’s a problem with this fear-based approach to rules. Some of the people involved in your homeschool organization, curriculum, or social media feed have their own fears that may not be appropriate for you and your family. For example, a leader in a homeschool organization may have met with a family who had family services visit. Although the visit had nothing to do with homeschool documentation, this leader adopts stringent documentation rules to allay fears. However, an influencer in a state with no documentation laws and no fear of state interference may promote not keeping records when that wouldn’t be wise in your state.
A second reason we create unnecessary homeschool rules is because of pride. Although at first I didn’t want to homeschool and had no idea how to go about it, I became proud and comfortable with what we were doing. I thought every Christian parent should homeschool and definitely shouldn’t use boring textbooks! I quickly found other homeschoolers who held up other rules for me to consider–rules around which subjects to teach, which books we should and shouldn’t read, and what we had to do for our kids to be accepted into college. Add in a bunch of rules around parenting, socializing, and technology, and we were overwhelmed.
I don’t think these rules get developed only from arrogance. Homeschoolers (like all people) look for the root causes of success and failure so they can get the best results for their kids. But successes and failures almost always have multiple causes. We like to think we have control over all the variables, but the Bible tells us that God is the One who grants success. Here is just one example from 1 Samuel 18:14:
And David had success in all his undertakings, for the Lord was with him.
Pride can also lead to more rules because we assume other homeschoolers are like us. If we’ve had great success doing school in the morning, throwing out the textbooks, or doing nature study instead of experiments, we think everyone else could benefit too. But the Bible tells us that we are all different parts of the same body. 1 Corinthians 12:17-19 reads:
If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be?
Where would homeschooling be if we were all doing things the same way? The beauty of it is that we are all unique homeschoolers just as God wants us to be. Does that mean we can’t grow and improve? The body does and so can we.
When we trust God to train us up in the way we should go in our homeschooling and recognize that our journey isn’t exactly like anyone else’s, we can experience freedom and joy.
Principles for Homeschooling Your Way
The silliest thing I could do right now is tell you exactly HOW to homeschool your way. But I can share some principles that have helped me find freedom in my own homeschooling journey.
The first principle you might not expect. That is to follow the spirit of the law for homeschooling in your state, if not the letter. In Titus 3:1 and elsewhere, God tells us to obey our authorities because He has established authority for good. That doesn’t mean we can’t work to create more freedom with homeschooling in our state. We should! But while the law is in place, we can have peace of mind by following it. Then we don’t have to live in fear of the authorities knocking on our door. But note that I said the spirit of the law. If you’re supposed to provide 600 hours of education in core subjects a year, I’m not suggesting you have the stopwatch out, stopping it every time junior needs to use the bathroom. I mean to look at the number of days you are learning and the percentage of time you are studying core subjects like language arts, history, science, and math vs. drawing, listening to music, and shooting hoops. If your curriculum plan will provide that number of core hours without a major, unexpected event, I consider you to be following the spirit of the law. While your requirements will vary, I think it’s a good practice to be obedient without being legalistic.
The next way to homeschool your way, in my opinion, is to try it. Trying new schedules, new approaches, and even a new educational lifestyle is how we learn what works for us in this season of our homeschooling. I say “this season” because as soon as you find a good rhythm, something will change. It takes energy and time to keep forging ahead, but these changes are also what makes homeschooling so engaging. If it was the same-old, same old, we would probably want to quit.
We obviously don’t want to try something immoral or downright dangerous. But even if our experiments put us behind on our educational plan, I think that experimentation is worth it. Years ago, I met a blogger at a conference who intended to homeschool her kindergartener with an all-day video curriculum. I don’t think I said what I was thinking: That’s crazy! But I shouldn’t have said it anyway, even though that plan was highly unlikely to work for her. The discovery of the limits of her daughter’s attention span needed to be hers. She may have discovered that some aspects of the video curriculum she was interested in were captivating and a perfect fit for her daughter. If I had given her my opinion, she would miss those lessons.
I have spoken before about my fondness for eclectic homeschooling–taking aspects of many different approaches and curricula to create your own approach. But here’s what I’ve realized lately: Your way may be using one approach strictly. You may be loving your weekly Classical Conversations group, your Instagram-worthy Wild & Free days, or your boxed curriculum. That isn’t wrong. In fact, it’s an amazing blessing that you have the freedom to do what works for you!
But if something isn’t working as well as you’d like, I urge you to try something new for as long as you like. Write down how you and your students feel about it and why, so you can track your progress. This is the process I used to significantly improve my productivity. I write about it in A Year of Living Productively.
My third encouragement to you is trust God when you don’t see a clear path ahead. I’ve written about the lessons I learned sending my oldest to public school for his last two years of high school. Those lessons were so valuable for both of us that I would make the same decision again. But if it had been a bad experience, we could have easily changed directions. Many parents take their kids in and out of school and put them back again without their lives being ruined.
I shared recently that I initially planned to have my kids do college while they were in high school. That plan changed except that they attend community college as juniors and seniors. My daughter also wanted to attend public high school. I didn’t want her to, but I approach homeschooling with an open hand. I see it as a gift the Lord gave me and can retrieve at will. I prayed about it and she changed her mind. My kids’ career plans have also changed with time. My son who wanted to be a lawyer works for an IT staffing company. My son who wanted to be a physical therapist is in PA school. My daughter who has wanted to be a teacher since she was a little girl just messaged me that she wants to be a nurse instead.
Conclusion
The beauty of homeschooling is that it’s not a destination. It truly is a journey that prepares you and your children for obstacles and changes that will come. No one has a straight path to success. There are a few straight paths to failure, but you’re not likely to to be on them if you’re listening to this episode.
If you trust God to guide and direct you and your children, you don’t have to be afraid of the unschooling police busting you for buying curriculum. You don’t have to force your kids outside for six hours a day to please Charlotte Mason. And you don’t even have to keep homeschooling to stay on God’s path.
Thanks again to CTC Math for their sponsorship. Have a happy homeschool week!
Do you have a high school student who struggles with grammar? Or do you have a soon-to-be high school student and no idea how to approach grammar at this stage? This is the Homeschool Sanity Show, the episode where I share a sane approach to teaching grammar in high school.
Hey, homeschoolers! If you’ve struggled to help your high schooler use correct grammar in writing or if the thought of teaching it in the high school years gives you the heebie geebies, I have good news.
The high school years are the perfect time to learn grammar.
First, high school students have the abstract reasoning ability required to truly understand and implement grammar. As I’ve explained to parents of elementary students many times, these younger students simply aren’t developmentally prepared to master the abstraction of grammar. It’s similar to the abstract reasoning ability required to master algebra. Sure, some students develop this reasoning ability earlier, but most don’t. Up until this point in their development, they were working hard to decode and pronounce words and determine the meaning of words given the context of the sentence. Asking them to determine the role of the word in a sentence as well is extra challenging.
That’s why I made Grammar Galaxy a fun, confidence-building introduction to grammar and other language arts in the elementary years. I didn’t want them avoiding grammar once the were developmentally ready to use it in their writing.
The second reason high school is the perfect time to learn grammar is because they have begun to care about it. When students are in classes with other students and sharing in speech or writing, they will want to avoid the embarrassment of poor grammar. I capitalized on this peer pressure with my own kids with great results. In the English classes I taught, students read their writing aloud and passed it to a friend to read aloud. This performance pressure rapidly improved my students’ grammar and spelling. High school students also begin to use messaging and email and do not want to have poor grammar and spelling for their friends to see. Some of them will be interested in learning grammar for the first time as a result.
Finally, high school is a great time to teach grammar because these students can learn independently. With the developmental ability and new motivation, students can use grammar curriculum to learn more quickly than they could have in elementary school. With instruction, they will learn to make better use of automatic editors like Grammarly. Like all writers, they will still require another human editor–whether that’s you, an outside instructor, or a friend with good grammar. I have found high school students learn from this editing feedback very quickly.
I hope I’ve convinced you that your teen isn’t behind or incapable of growing as a writer if they still need to master grammar.
But now the question becomes how to teach it.
The first step is to encourage your student to continue reading for pleasure. Studies indicate that high school students tend to spend more time with friends than reading as much as they did in their earlier years. They also tend to use reading time for study instead of leisure. But reading for enjoyment is the key to developing your student’s vocabulary, grammar, and writing. Invest time helping your student find enjoyable books and making time to read them in their schedule.
The next step in teaching high school grammar is to reinforce the purpose of it. Reluctant students want to know why they should care. Using prescreened, funny grammar memes and examples is a great way to do this. Because I write grammar curriculum, my high school student loves pointing out grammar errors he finds. You can have fun with this, too. Consider having a competition to find grammar errors.
Many of the principles of teaching high school grammar are the same as teaching younger students.
First, keep grammar instruction short. I think of grammar like a tennis drill. When I take a tennis lesson, I enjoy doing a short drill on volleys. But doing an hour of it without playing the game would be a buzz kill.
Make grammar memorable. When grammar concepts are taught using relevant humor, multimedia, games, and with adequate repetition, students will remember it. (Grammar teaching podcast).
Limit the corrections to a student’s writing. Correcting all the grammar and spelling mistakes at once can be demoralizing for a budding writer. Tell your student ahead of time which grammar issues you’ll be looking for. Consider limiting your first review to the content. Give as much positive feedback as possible. Then go over the specific grammar skills you’re working on. If your student asks for more feedback, then give it. But otherwise limit your editing to those skills.
How to Choose a Grammar Curriculum for High School
When choosing a grammar curriculum for high school, you haven’t had many options. There are worksheet drills indistinguishable from elementary and middle school curriculum. There are the thoroughly dry English curricula that have sentences unrelated to story or to teens’ lives. And then there are brief reviews that are optional. My students didn’t learn anything from these.
The number one request I get from Grammar Galaxy booth visitors at Great Homeschool Conventions is a curriculum for high school. I knew that the Grammar Galaxy story line wasn’t well suited to older teens, so I created a new fictional curriculum. Kirk English, the programming whiz kid in Grammar Galaxy, has developed a program to deal the failure of autocorrect. His Fast Grammar training is for human autocorrectors. These trainees will get to know clients’ intentions so they can correct their grammar in real time through the power of science fiction.
The client in the training is a high school student who has typical teen troubles as well as high school writing assignments. Students who use Fast Grammar correct the client’s grammar while learning it themselves. Trainees will look forward to getting the client’s updates in each lesson.
Fast Grammar is a supplemental, secular curriculum that can be used with any high school literature or writing program. The brief lessons can be completed in one sitting or preferentially, spread out over the week. Like Grammar Galaxy, much of the lesson can be completed with a highlighter. Homophone graphics are included each week because choosing the wrong homophone is a common and embarrassing problem for writers.
The curriculum is completely independent, with the solutions at the back of the student book. At the end of each unit, teachers can administer a test that is available in a separate PDF download. The solutions will help you score the test and give a grade that can contribute to the English grade for the year.
Click here to download a complete lesson. If you’ll be joining me at the Great Homeschool Conventions this year, you can see it in person. The week of this broadcast, the curriculum is 20% off in print or digital.
Whether you try Fast Grammar or not, I hope I’ve given you hope that high school can be the time that your student grasps grammar. Give some of these strategies a try, and I feel confident that you’ll see your high schooler’s writing improve.
Special Replay: How To Make Grammar Fun Regardless Of Your Curriculum
Mar 21, 2023
Hey, homeschoolers!
Does grammar get groans at your house? That’s how grammar lessons taught in the traditional way are usually greeted. And we can’t blame our kids for dreading grammar. It can be dry and tedious.
Skipping it isn’t a good option, however. Grammar is important because it comprises a significant part of college entrance exams. It also determines how our kids will be viewed by peers and potential employers.
Fortunately, there’s another way. Grammar can be fun! When it is, it helps make grammar lessons stick. I have six easy steps for making grammar engaging in a minute.
But first, I’d like to thank my sponsor for this episode, BookShark.
Visit My Sponsor
BookShark homeschool curriculum is literature-based, 4-day, and faith-neutral.
Amber Reed Davis, a busy homeschool mom, says,
“We can’t say enough good stuff about BookShark. We’re doing Levels 3 and 5 this year. My kids are hooked. Through the amazing books, we’ve traveled to fascinating places and learned so much! And we’re only on week 13! Who knew a middle schooler would ask if we could still do school on our 5th day because he wanted to find out what happens next in the books we’re reading? Also, I’ve been amazed at how much I’ve learned through reading along with them. Oh, and the 4-day schedule is perfect. We use our 5th day to catch up or just for fun field trips, experiments, and messy art projects.”
Amber is right! BookShark’s fully planned, 4-day homeschool curriculum flexes to match your busy lifestyle. The detailed Instructor’s Guides lay everything out so clearly that you are prepared to teach in mere minutes each day—open your guide, gather your resources (which are all included in your package), and go! Curriculum for ages 4-16 is available in All-Subject Packages or by individual academic areas: Reading with History, Language Arts, Science, and Math. WithBookShark’s literature-rich programs, your children will read (or have read to them) 35-50 engaging books each year! Visit BookShark to browse curriculum, download samples, or request a catalog.
SPECIAL REPLAY: Curriculum Paralysis: How to Decide Which Curriculum to Teach This Year
Mar 14, 2023
Hey homeschoolers! This week I had a reader question about curriculum that I just had to respond to with a podcast episode. It was essentially this. I have so many curriculum options. How do I choose which to use this year? We’re going to chat about that in just a bit!
If you are interested in a fun language arts curriculum for your elementary students, I would love to have you follow me on Facebook in the grammar guardians group or on Instagram at Grammar Galaxy Books. I occasionally share language arts helps on both platforms and guardians share their mission progress. It’s so much fun and can be motivating to your kids. I choose a guardian of the month from those who share in the group, who tag Grammar Galaxy Books, or who use the hashtag #grammargalaxy. I send them exclusive motivational stickers, writing instruments, and bookmarks.
Teaching Tip of the Week
Watch a video review to make decisions on curriculum. When I started using Periscope two years ago, I found the video reviews on the platform so helpful. If I watched live, I could not only see inside the books or online program, but I could ask questions of experienced users. Since then, I have been doing my own curriculum reviews on Facebook Live at my Psychowith6: Homeschool Sanity Facebook page. I would love to have you join me each week for these reviews and other tips you can use regardless of the curriculum you’re using. You can also search for video reviews on YouTube. If you have a question that hasn’t been asked, comment and you’ll get the information you need to make a decision.
This week (August 15th at 4 E/3C/2M/1P) I will be reviewing Grammar Galaxy live on the Free Homeschooling 101 Facebook page. You’ll have the chance to ask questions and to win a copy for free! The review will be added to YouTube and I am happy to answer your questions after the live video is over.
I developed a serious shopping habit. I’d like to pretend it didn’t happen now that I’ve found freedom. But this is The Homeschool Sanity Show — the episode where I explain how I stopped shopping too much and how you can too.
There is a debate in our culture when it comes to using shame in parenting. The first camp says that we are reaping the immorality of having no shame in our culture. That view is described in Philippians 3:19: Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. The second camp says that shaming itself is inappropriate for believers. Romans 10:11 reads As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”. This is The Homeschool Sanity Show — the episode where we will consider shame in parenting.
Hey, homeschoolers! My desire with this episode is not to tell you what to do as a parent, but to give you principles to consider with respect to shame in parenting. Prayerful consideration will help you avoid pitfalls and point kids to a merciful Savior who doesn’t want them to bear the shame of unrepentant sin.
Parenting Resources
2 Samuel 12 This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’
11 “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”
13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for[a] the Lord, the son born to you will die.”
Anger in Parenting
The best chance we have of having a good homeschool day is to plan it. This is The Homeschool Sanity Show–the episode where I’ll explain how to plan the day using the 3 R’s.
The number #1 complaint I hear about planning is that it’s impossible with so many interruptions–husbands, pets, kids. But my experience is that planning is essential BECAUSE of the interruptions. The benefits of planning the day include having peace of mind and getting more done than you would without a plan.
How To Develop Your Child’s Biblical Worldview
Feb 07, 2023
One of the greatest challenges we face as Christian homeschoolers is teaching our kids a philosophy based on the Bible. This is The Homeschool Sanity Show, the episode where guest Elizabeth Urbanowicz gives us easy-to-implement ideas for imparting a biblical worldview.
Hey, homeschoolers! One of the things that surprised me about homeschooling was how challenging it can be to teach a biblical philosophy. There are no other subjects that have so many competing teachers. When I teach my child that 7 times 8 is 56, I can be confident that she won’t read a book or see a show that denies it. Yet when I teach my child that people are born into sin because of the fall of humanity in the Garden of Eden, I know that he will encounter numerous voices that say not only is that not true, but it’s child abuse for me to teach it.
I have addressed this topic on the podcast before. But I found Elizabeth to be equally delightful and practical. She is the founder of Foundation Worldview–a wealth of information for Christian adults as they equip kids to live out their lives for Jesus.
We discussed:
What defines truth
Discussing other worldviews with our kids
The importance of kids studying the Bible for themselves
Does organizing or staying organized seem hard? It did for me. This is the Homeschool Sanity Show, the episode where I share the easy way to get and stay organized.
Hey, homeschoolers! If you’ve heard any of my organizing episodes before, you know that I was so disorganized that I felt I couldn’t homeschool without having division of family services come in. Not only was my house a mess but I wasn’t actually teaching my preschooler. He was my proving ground and I proved to myself that I could not do it!
That was when I found FLYLady online and discovered the power of routines. Routines changed my life and gave me the confidence I needed to keep homeschooling and even have three more children. Routines–a string of habits regularly done in the same order–provide the structure that we need to keep up our homes, care for our kids, and homeschool. They also make organizing possible.
But organizing, even with routines in place, can seem hard. Perhaps you have a part of your routine dedicated to organizing. But instead of decluttering and making access to things easier, you choose to do something else. You might decide to fold the laundry, clean a window covered with fingerprints, or scan Pinterest for organizing hacks instead of actually organizing. Why do we do this and how can we fix it?
Before I share the easy way to get organized, I want to admit that I can easily fall into the hard way of getting organized, too. When I do, I don’t want to organize. At all. Allow me to describe the hard way that has me wanting to do anything but get organized.
Organizing the Hard Way
The hard way requires a decision on every item in the space. Have you ever had to complete one of these long, legal documents for an expensive product or service you’re purchasing? It has a dozen options that you haven’t researched. So you have to look to the sales rep for an explanation and a recommendation for each. The worst is when the sales rep shrugs and says it’s up to you. This is how we can feel when we’re faced with a space full of items. Should you get rid of it? Move it? Buy an alternative to it? Ask someone if they want it? Sell it? Take a picture of it or record yourself explaining the significance of the item before you let it go? What kind of organizing system should you use for storing it? What options are available for that? Will you use it again? When? How often will you use it and does that frequency justify keeping it? That decision fatigue plus any emotion the item brings up can be exhausting with just one item. I feel stupid for buying it. I feel guilty for buying it. I remember the person who gave it me and I feel sad or angry. I wonder if that person will ask about it if I let it go. No wonder we want to avoid this process! Therapy would be easier.
The hard way also means perfectly following the plan. I love the decluttering missions from Home Storage Solutions 101. So many times I’ve started the new year telling myself that I’m going to do the missions on the day they’re planned. Then I get to “create tax organizer for current tax info.” I see the word tax and I’m more interested in cleaning the toilet. I tell myself I can do tax stuff later. What I really mean by that is when my husband says our accountant needs all our tax stuff this week or else. So I skip it for now.
Then when I’m supposed to take decluttered food to the food pantry according to the plan, I think, “I don’t even know where to take it! Is this a big enough donation to drop off? Shouldn’t it be better food than the lima beans I didn’t eat? Should I buy some food to add to this? And it’s raining. Hard. I don’t know where my umbrella is. I’ll do it another day.” Then I’ve already failed. I didn’t do the tax system or the food donation, so now I can’t win in the game of “do everything in my decluttering plan when scheduled this year.” I quit using the plan because it’s simply a reminder that I’ve failed. Again.
The third way to make organizing hard is by doing it alone. If I’m alone when I make the decisions, I don’t know if my husband needs something in the space. I’m stuck. If I ask him to join me, he will likely just say “keep!” without considering the 25 options I described earlier that are clearly required before making a decision. When you have young kids, you can declutter their toys and clothes without them, while fretting that they will describe this trauma to their therapist one day. “My mom threw out my prized possession, the object I would take with me in case of fire, without even thinking to ask me. And this is why I can’t take care of myself today.” We compare this nightmare scenario to the certainty of asking your child about an object and knowing the answer will be “keep!” when it should be tossed or “Get rid of it” when it should be kept. We default to doing it alone in response and feel frozen, so we don’t do it at all.
We also default to doing it alone because we are too embarrassed to ask for help. We won’t let anyone see how much stuff we have or how much a mess it’s left us in. We don’t want to see the shock on a friend’s face or to be gossiped about. Better to just handle it ourselves. Doing it ourselves is also a punishment. “You’ve made your bed, now lie in it.” We’ll have to do it all ourselves, though we have likely had help from others in creating the clutter. But when it comes time to do it, we’d rather delay that punishment. Of course! Asking for professional help in terms of an organizer or therapist is out of the question. We don’t think we’re bad enough to need a professional; we can’t afford it or don’t want to spend the money on our own failure; or we want to do the work ourselves first. Then the professional won’t think we’re so bad.
The hard way is deciding on every item perfectly and alone. Have you tried organizing the hard way? I have. So what’s this easy way I speak of?
Organizing the Easy Way
Only make the easy decisions now. I love that Dana White advises us to eliminate the trash first. If you have difficulty parting with trash, you must consult an expert on hoarding. This advice won’t help you. But apart from that, make decisions on the obvious items. If you have some principles to guide you, you’ll have more easy decisions. For example, my guideline is that clothing that needs repair goes. Why? Because my history is that I don’t repair clothes. I just buy new. What if I have an exception? I do have one right now. The sleeve of a favorite top has come loose and can be easily stitched up. I’m not deciding on it now. It’s not an easy decision. I intend to stitch it. But when I am decluttering in the future, I will see if I’ve stitched it and if I am still wanting to wear it. If no is the answer to both, the shirt will go. If I gave the shirt away now, I would have some angst about it. So it stays. Easy decisions on decluttering or locations or organizing schemes shouldn’t give you anxiety or have you waffling. The decision should be quick and unemotional. Again, if every decision is lengthy and emotional, you’ll need help from a professional. But most people can make quick decisions on some items.
When making easy decisions, you can either leave the questionable items where they are (as I did with my shirt in my closet), or you can put them in a maybe box. The option you choose should not make you anxious. If putting something in a box stresses you out, keep it where it is.
The next easy way to organize is to see the plan as a buffet. Take from it what you want, without even considering that you’ll take it all. You’d be hospitalized trying to eat every item on a buffet. Instead, you’d likely choose some things from the salad bar, a main dish option or two, a side or two, and a dessert or two. If it’s a really good buffet, you’ll go back for seconds. But you don’t consider yourself a failure for not eating every item.
Let’s apply this analogy to an organizing plan. I have an organizing plan in The Organized Homeschool Life. There is an area of your life to organize each week. Within that area, there are four 15-minute missions. If you tell yourself that you will do every mission every week, that’s the hard way, and you will fail. The easy way is to choose the areas that would make the biggest difference to your life. The easy way is to choose one area a month to focus on. The easy way is to choose one mission in that area to complete a week. The easy way is to do just 5 minutes instead of 15.
But won’t that be pointless, you may ask? No. It’s amazing what you can accomplish in just 5 minutes that would improve your life. I have cleaned out many a drawer that was giving me fits in just 5 minutes. Even if you do no more than 5 minutes of organizing a week, you’ll have more sanity. But the odds are good that you’ll see the benefits of decluttering and organizing and want to do more–more than you’d want to do if you told yourself that you have to follow the plan perfectly.
When you are making the easy decisions and treating your organizing plan like a buffet that offers small samples to enjoy, you are organizing the easy way. But you can also do it the easy way by organizing with others. Before you object and say that you have no one who would want to come over to help you, let me tell you about how I decluttered a huge stash of books. I know, letting go of books is heresy. But I’m married to a book salesman and I was keeping a mental health library for eternity. It needed to be trimmed. While I was decluttering, I was on the phone with a friend who lived out of town. I have no idea if she was even listening to me, but as I told her why I was keeping a particular book, the answer became obvious to me. “A friend gave this to me…and I haven’t read it and don’t want to, so why am I keeping it?” It was so much easier to trim my book collection this way. It was almost fun!
I can guarantee that you also know people locally who love organizing. They not only love it but would be energized by helping you and would not judge you or gossip about you. Pray about this and talk about one of your organizing dilemmas. See who says they would love to help you. If you would feel better about it, offer one of your gifts in return. You could teach her child a skill, babysit, make her a meal, etc. You can also ask someone to be your accountability partner. My friend and I are doing one thing a week to get organized and are reporting it to each other when we get together.
There are also professional organizers who are worth paying. They are really no different than hiring a carpenter to work in your home. These people have seen it all and will likely tell you that you’re not as much of a disaster as you think. Consider the value of having an objective, experienced person help you simplify your life. Ask your friends for a referral.
Then realize that there is tremendous value in working through the family issues that keep you working alone. Things got very testy when I organized the garage with my husband. But we needed to resolve the conflict instead of ignoring it. One of the best ways to do that is to be clear about what you need instead of attacking the other person’s character.
Kids also have to be taught to declutter their belongings. If we don’t teach them, it can become a lifelong struggle with marital conflict of their own. The container concept is an easy way of teaching kids. They can keep as many toys as comfortable fit in a box or a closet and no more. Instead of starting with the trash with this kind of organizing, have them choose their favorite belongings. Whatever space is left is available for second-tier belongings.
I had the biggest challenge decluttering toys with kids of different ages. I solved it by putting blankets on the floor–one for giveaway, one for trash, and one for keep. As an older child put a toy he enjoyed when he was younger on the giveaway blanket, a younger child could rescue it for the keep blanket. As we continued going through toys, I was amazed to see my kids move things from keep to giveaway. They needed time to let go and they had the modeling of the kids who weren’t as attached to toys. If you have just one child, you can do this with them. Put the items on the giveaway blanket that you think should go and let your child put it on keep. Once it’s on keep, let it be your child’s decision to let it go. Another time it may be an easy choice but it isn’t now.
Yet another option is to have your child sort items to a maybe blanket. Those items can be boxed up and kept. If your child asks for an item within a certain time frame, retrieve it. Otherwise, let them go without mentioning it to your child.
Conclusion
If you make the simple decisions about what to declutter, use an organizing plan your way, and you get help from friends, family, or a professional, you’ll be organizing the easy way. I hope you’ll let me know how it goes.
How To Have More Confidence As A Homeschool Mom This Year
Jan 24, 2023
Do you lack confidence as a homeschool mom? A number of moms on the Homeschool Sanity Facebook page have commented that they do. This is The Homeschool Sanity Show, the episode where we discuss how we can have more confidence as homeschool moms this year.
Hey, homeschoolers! Before we dive into the topic of mom confidence, I’d like to thank CTC Math for sponsoring this episode.
Sponsor
Finding a math curriculum that works for your family can be a challenge! With CTCMath, all of your kids from K-12 can learn at their own pace with one family subscription. That’s right! With a CTCMath membership, you have access to all grades and lessons, which means your children can work at whatever level is best for them. Whether your kid needs to catch up, keep up, or move ahead, with CTCMath they can finally understand math and work at their own pace. CTCMath is offering listeners a half-price discount plus a bonus 6 months when you register for a 12-month membership. Yep. That means you have access to a complete online homeschool math curriculum for all your kids for 18 months!
Why We Lack Confidence
Before we can talk about building confidence, let’s talk about why we lack it in our homeschooling.
The first reason is fairly obvious: we haven’t homeschooled before. Even classroom teachers can be intimidated by the prospect of teaching all subjects to multiple students–especially their own. It’s normal to lack confidence without experience.
The second reason we lack confidence is we are aware of our shortcomings. I was keenly aware of my lack of organization–something I’ve written and spoken about extensively, and which troubles many a would-be homeschool mom. And it wasn’t just messiness I was worried about. I’d been excited about a lot of projects in the past that I’d lost interest in. What if I did that with homeschooling?
Many homeschooling moms didn’t get good grades in general or in particular subjects, causing them to worry about their ability to teach their own children.
The third reason we lack confidence is because of messaging from other people. We may have family members or friends who disapprove of homeschooling and tell us about homeschool horror stories. From childhood, we may have heard about our shortcomings repeatedly. Or we were mistreated, causing us to wonder who we are to take on this important responsibility. Finally, other homeschoolers can make us feel less than confident by presenting an unattainable picture of homeschooling. Engineers in your support group who lead a championship robotics team. Homeschoolers who pay for expensive private tutoring and classes to ensure their child’s success. Mothers with supportive family who have lots of time to plan and implement an enriched education. You may feel like you’re not qualified.
How to Homeschool with New Confidence This Year
Inexperience, shortcomings, and others’ messaging can make us feel ill-equipped to homeschool successfully. But here is how we can overcome and take on homeschooling with a new confidence this year.
First, we can begin seeing ourselves as co-learners rather than professors. I learned more about child development and education by homeschooling my kids than I ever did in school or my work as a psychologist. We don’t want to fail in our homeschooling and parenting, but failing is the only way we learn. There are no homeschooling parents who haven’t made mistakes. There are also no classroom teachers who have been perfect.
The only way to grow in confidence as a homeschool mom is to do it. If we are so terrified of making mistakes with our kids that we never try homeschooling or quit at the first sign of challenge, that is the real failure. I’m not saying that everyone is called to homeschool. But if you feel called and you don’t take that call because of fear of messing up your kids, I think you will live to regret it.
These are the things I was afraid of when I began homeschooling: being too disorganized to follow through; having a child who couldn’t read; having an impulsive, immature child who would get hurt; choosing the wrong discipline strategy; having a child behave inappropriately online; having a child who couldn’t write well; having a child rebel; having a child embarrass me. I experienced ALL of these things. And praise God that I did. I’m not afraid of them anymore. The Lord got me through every single one of them.
The second way we can grow in confidence is to focus on our strengths. Organization wasn’t my forte’, but making learning fun and exciting was. As long as our homeschool was reasonably organized, my kids would focus on the fun unit studies, field trips, and co-op activities we did. And that’s what my kids remember.
I disliked gathering the supplies needed to do experiments only to discover that something didn’t work. What I loved doing was teaching literature, writing, and speaking. So my friend and I swapped those responsibilities based on our strengths. She was organized with the labs and I was organized with language arts. Teach your kids from your strengths and share responsibilities with a friend or co-op in your weaker areas.
We also focus on our strengths when we pursue our passions. Teaching world history wasn’t my strength because I had no background in it. But that’s why I was so excited about the topic. I would have read the lessons even without my kids. Even if you’ve struggled with a subject in the past, you can be an exceptional teacher because you’re passionate about learning and teaching it now.
The third way we can grow in confidence is to make the right comparisons. You’ve probably heard that when we feel we are falling short, it’s because we are comparing the inside of our homeschool (and what’s really going on) to the outside of someone else’s homeschool (where it’s carefully curated to present the best image).
But don’t get me wrong. There will be areas that another homeschool mom is further ahead than you are. She’s been doing it longer, has different abilities, has a supportive family, or kids with different strengths. Before you wish you were her, realize that she has made choices that you wouldn’t make. I used to feel inadequate with a mom who was constantly planning fun outings for the kids down to healthy snacks for them to enjoy afterward. But I couldn’t be her and didn’t want to be her. I placed a higher priority on academics and cleaning at home. Yet, what a blessing it was to enjoy her gift for planning activities that my kids enjoyed!
The Bible describes the kinds of comparisons we make as being as foolish as a foot comparing itself to an eye in importance. We are all part of the same body. We can all help one another as homeschoolers so we can achieve our unique goals.
When a friend or family member who doesn’t approve of homeschooling questions your ability to homeschool because of some shortcoming, you can say, “Oh, there are bigger issues than that to prevent me from doing a good job at homeschooling.” You’re likely to surprise a homeschool hater that way.
We can stop worrying about what another mom we know or what a social media influencer is doing because that’s not our role. But we can also stop the comparisons by comparing ourselves to Jesus. Are we as loving and faithful and just as He is? No? Then we should give up. Really. We can stop trying to be great homeschool moms and realize that we can’t do it. Instead, we need Jesus to take over. We need Him to use our unique combination of weaknesses and strengths to be the homeschool mom He planned all along.
Instead of worrying about whether we are going to ruin our kids for life, we can give the responsibility back to Jesus, trusting that He will work everything together for their good and ours. In that sense, we can be confident as homeschool moms because we are confident in Him. What a relief it is for me to know even now that I don’t have to worry about what I did or didn’t do. God had it under control and He still does. Philippians 1:6 is a verse we can hold on to: “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Conclusion
We can grow in confidence this year as we continue to homeschool, focusing on our strengths, and making the right comparisons. Ultimately, we can be confident that we don’t have what it takes to homeschool our children successfully, but Jesus working through us does. Amen?
I pray this episode has been a blessing to you. Thanks again to CTC Math!
The teaching tip of the week is Shining Dawn Books’ Nature by the Season: Winter. This preschool/kindergarten curriculum will help you and your younger learner appreciate winter and have fun learning. With 40 Nature Walk ideas and colorful worksheets, you’ll find yourself warming up to learning this winter. Click here to view more details
If we will change our attitude about winter, take care of ourselves and the kids physically, and do something new, we can definitely homeschool through the winter blahs. Make a plan right now and let me know what you’re going to do on the Homeschool Sanity Facebook page.
The New Thing for Maintaining Homeschool Enthusiasm
Jan 10, 2023
Is it hard to be enthusiastic about homeschooling this time of year? It usually is for me and it’s hard to be enthusiastic about life in general when the winter blahs set in. This is the Homeschool Sanity Show, the episode where I’ll share an idea for maintaining your homeschool and life enthusiasm–an idea that’s already changed my life.
Why We Lose Our Homeschool Enthusiasm This Time of Year
January doesn’t drag me down the way it did in my childhood. I grew up in South Dakota where the cold and snow had a profoundly negative effect on my mood–an effect I didn’t understand until spring when I felt like someone had changed my batteries. Winter where I live now involves regular breaks from the cold and gloom. The occasional 60-degree days keep me going.
But winter isn’t the only thing that can make us meh about homeschooling. It’s also back to the regular routine. The excitement of Christmas break is over. There is a lot of school left before spring. So what do we do?
I used to make curriculum and routine changes for the new year. And these changes helped. But soon the enthusiasm I had for those changes waned too, and we were all fairly bored, hoping to muddle our way through to spring. The seasonal change can make symptoms of depression worse. (Help a son or daughter with depression.)
The Power of Novelty
If you can relate to any of my experience, you may be someone who enjoys novelty as I do. In fact, research suggests that many of us with attention-deficit traits are high in novelty seeking. But it turns out that God created all of us to seek new experiences. When we encounter something new, we get an increase of the reward neurotransmitter dopamine. Dopamine not only improves symptoms of depression but helps us learn. There are clear benefits of novelty, but we also benefit from the structure of a homeschool routine. I’ve discussed this on the podcast many times. If we tried to homeschool in a completely unpredictable fashion, we’d be stressed and our kids would be unhappy.
So, how can we enjoy the benefits of both novelty and structure? Recently our local Christian radio station mentioned a woman whose resolution is to do something new every day this year. Wow! I was instantly sold on this idea, but I had no idea how life-changing it would be from the get go.
Let’s break it down. Something new. In Isaiah 43, God proclaims that He is doing a new thing. If God does new things, why shouldn’t we? We can enjoy newness in curriculum and schedules and our school space, but as I pondered this woman’s resolution, I realized that newness can be so much more.
New Activities
We can try new activities–especially once. It’s low commitment and easier to fit one class or activity into the schedule than a six-week class. I signed up for a one-time, online Native American cooking class and an in-person bookmaking class with a friend this month. I found these activities by searching for class offerings in my area. With YouTube and free online classes and apps, you could try dozens of new activities with your kids. If you find out they’re not for you, you’ve still benefitted from the novelty.
New Options for Activities
We can also try new options for an activity we already enjoy. I like to cook, exercise, and go out to eat. I made scalloped potatoes and ham in my Instant Pot and was astounded that the potatoes need just two minutes cooking time! I am signed up to do a free workout at Row House this week. It’s a gym with a guided rowing and strength training workout. I have been to two new restaurants since starting this challenge. I liked one of them a lot and had a delicious dessert at the restaurant I wasn’t as crazy about.
If you love music, listen to new genres. Like foreign language learning? Try out another language for free on an app like Duolingo. Enjoy art? Try a new technique.
New Places
We can go new places. I started walking outside in colder temperatures this winter for the first time. I am cold phobic, but friend Barb Raveling told me that I just wasn’t dressing warmly enough. She was right! I’ve maintained a positive mood by walking outside even when the temps are in the 30s. This positive experience got me to agree to play tennis with my family in these same cold temps. And I loved it.
When I thought about doing something new daily, I realized that my walks are always in my neighborhood. I started searching for walking trails that aren’t far from me. I was surprised to learn that there is a walking trail in a park I’ve been to dozens of times. But my jaw dropped when I walked the trail and discovered the beauty of a flooded mine. Check my story highlights on HomeschoolSanity on Instagram to see it.
I looked up the popular attractions near me and I’ve been to most of them during my 20+ years of homeschooling. But there are some I’ve missed that I can’t wait to check out. There are also many events I’ve never attended. And even before I was seeking out new experiences, I have wanted to take time to go to new hole-in-the-wall places, new shops, and new parks. Now I will make the time to do it.
You can play a sport you already enjoy in a new location. Take a new route to church or co-op. See what Yelp recommends for your area and check out a new place.
New People
Doing something new can also mean new people. The same old activity feels fresh when someone else joins you. My husband agreed to go with me to Row House early in the morning this week. He has never worked out early before and I’n excited to have him join me. Friends of ours who have never played pickleball would like to join us this winter. It will make it a new activity for us, too. I just read about a couple who restored a 305-year-old farmhouse and has been inviting people over. Their guests have raved about feeling welcomed and connected. I realized that inviting new people over for dinner would be a blessing for all of us through the ministry of hospitality.
New Attitude
But new doesn’t have to take up more of your time or money. It can also be an attitude. I used to dislike shipping books to customers after my kids were employed elsewhere and couldn’t help. Then I started playing funny shows that I’ve already seen while I shipped. The laughter became associated with shipping and now I enjoy it.
As I walked along the trail that had been right under my nose all these years, I wondered what else I was overlooking. I was reminded of the sign my late sister-in-law had that now hangs on my wall. It says “Some people live like nothing is a miracle and some people live like everything is.” My sister-in-law was the latter and I want to be, too.
You’ve done the laundry a million times, but have you ever done it while praising God for the blessing of family and clothing and laundry machines and hot, running water? Have you done it while singing your heart out to your favorite praise song? Have you gotten up and danced? Have you turned it into a game with your kids? If not, that can be your new attitude. Are there things you’ve been afraid to try? It can be as small a matter as being willing to try anchovies or as major as speaking or performing in public. Either way, your new attitude will slowly chip away at your anxiety, giving you a new enthusiasm for life.
Daily, Weekly, Seasonally
That’s the new–new activities, new options for old activities, new places, new people, and a new attitude. But what about the every day part? A couple of my friends said it would drive them crazy to come up with something new to do every day. Me? I love it. It’s a challenge which also motivates me as a strong-willed person. I have something to look forward to every day, which improves my mood significantly. I have a list of options on my phone that I add to daily. If one option doesn’t work out, I have plenty of others to choose from.
But you don’t have to do something new daily to enjoy the benefits. What if you had a goal of a new activity every week? If you choose that approach, my advice is to plan it early in the week or early in the weekend, so you’re more likely to do it. Or have a set day of the week for the new activity with backup options.
Yet another approach is a seasonal bucket list. I recommended creating a Christmas bucket list on an Instagram reel and advised posting it where your kids could see it. I took my own advice and posted mine on the fridge. My kids who were home for Christmas are 17 and up and they were all interested in the list and wanting to check off the activities. They were more excited about it than I was! Whether you do something new daily, weekly, or seasonally, get your kids involved. They will look forward to it, be more enthusiastic about school, and will make memories with you that you’ll all treasure.
I have some guidelines for my approach. I won’t count new clothes, books, or exercise routines in the usual places. You’ll want to create your own guidelines. I plan to do something new every day in 2023. I don’t know if I will continue in 2024, but I may not have to. I’ve already noticed a new curiosity and enthusiasm for life that I think will be a lasting result of this challenge. I would love to have you join me. I’m posting in my Instagram stories daily with the hashtag #neweveryday. I would love to see the new things you’re doing and be inspired by your ideas.
If you’re interested in a new curriculum, a new approach to productivity, or a new organizing plan, I can help.
How To Protect Your Homeschool From Hijacking
Jan 03, 2023
Right before Christmas my HomeschoolSanity Instagram account was hacked. You may wonder what that has to do with you. This is the Homeschool Sanity Show, the episode where I explain what happened and how my experience can help you protect not just your social media accounts but your homeschool and life from hijacking.
Sponsor
Finding a math curriculum that works for your family can be a challenge! With CTCMath, all of your kids from K-12 can learn at their own pace with one family subscription. That’s right! With a CTCMath membership, you have access to all grades and lessons, which means your children can work at whatever level is best for them. Whether your kid needs to catch up, keep up, or move ahead, with CTCMath they can finally understand math and work at their own pace. CTCMath is offering listeners a half-price discount plus a bonus 6 months when you register for a 12-month membership. Yep. That means you have access to a complete online homeschool math curriculum for all your kids for 18 months!
Protect Your Homeschool Life from Hijacking
If you clicked on my stories for Homeschool Sanity for Instagram during Christmas week, you may wonder why I’m obsessed with cryptocurrency, bragging about the Mercedes I bought with my profits, and using a lot of y’all’s in the captions. My account was hacked. There appeared to be no way for me to get it back. Instagram does not have email, chat, or phone support. Instead, a broken autoresponder was my only option for restoring access, and much to my disappointment, I did not get a Christmas miracle of suddenly getting it back by the 25th.
How I Was Hijacked
How did this happen? I wish I could say that I did everything right. But I did not. In fact, that’s why I’m sharing this episode. Because there are a number of things I did wrong. I made some embarrassingly stupid moves. I’m sad to say it isn’t the first time. It was the first time I lost a social media account to a hacker, yes. But not the first time I’ve made choices that made it easy for the enemy to hijack my life. I have learned a lot from these experiences, however, that I want to share with you in the hopes that your social media and your homeschool will be safe from hijackers.
Unmanaged Emotions
The first reason my Instagram account was hijacked is because I had emotions I hadn’t managed. In my case, it was guilt. I had contacts with two people the day my account was hijacked who wanted money from me. My family and I had been generous with them in the past. I owed them nothing. In fact, they have a history of manipulation. But because they are still poor, I felt some guilt about not helping them. Later that day a woman, who had wanted to sell me makeup in the past, direct-messaged me on Instagram. I looked at her request that I vote for her as an ambassador as well as the fact that I had never purchased makeup from her and guess what I felt? Guilt. If I had done some truth journaling or some chatting with my husband about the guilt I was feeling earlier in the day, it would have been managed. I never would have been vulnerable to this request. Guilt isn’t the only unmanaged emotion that can result in a hijacking, though. Fear and anger are two others. Moses let anger at an Egyptian who was beating a fellow Israelite lead him to kill the man. He then had to leave Egypt in fear for his life. We can all think of foolish things we’ve done out of fear and anger that were not managed properly.
Distractions
The second way I opened myself up to the hijacking of my Instagram account is that I was distracted. I was helping my son make Christmas cut-out cookies and what was I doing? Looking at my Instagram messages. Had my phone been put away first, I wouldn’t have lost my account. Or had I looked at the message and set my phone aside until I could focus, I wouldn’t have been hijacked. We can be following an exercise and eating plan that works, when staying up late to watch a show causes us to sleep in and miss a workout. We can be talking to a family member and trying to read at the same time, resulting in a loss of connection. Distractions make it easy for the enemy to get to you. King David was supposed to be with his army in the spring. Instead, he was watching a married woman bathe on the rooftop next door. As a result of this distraction, King David’s reign was hijacked.
Ignoring Red Flags
The third way I opened myself up to hijacking is that I ignored the red flags. The requests this person I supposedly knew were as fishy as a salmon pan left in the oven overnight, yet I went along with them likely because of my guilt and distraction. I honestly still can’t believe I did it, but I wanted to get the request over with. Sometimes we ignore red flags and get hijacked because we are in a hurry. Whatever is the quickest, easiest way to get a time demand out of the way is typically what we choose. That’s what I chose anyway. I wanted this person to leave me alone so I could get to the cookies. We notice the negative influence someone is on us or our kids, but we blow it off. We see the anxiety that watching or reading the news creates for us, but we rationalize it. We have a bad feeling about the co-op we joined, but we tell ourselves we have no other options. The hijacker didn’t have to explain why things seemed so fishy. I explained it for him. My account security is keeping me from voting for her. That’s what I thought. Why would I ignore that red flag? One reason is because I forgot God’s warning in 1 Peter 5:8: Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. I was like Hezekiah in 2 Kings who showed the Babylonian envoys the treasure. Not smart.
Denial
The fourth way I opened myself up to hijacking is denial. Even though the signs that I’d been hijacked were undeniable, I denied them. I just forgot my password. That’s all. I’ll get right back in. Only I couldn’t. Denial is based in fear and pride. I was afraid to face the fact that someone in Nigeria had just taken over my account. I was too proud to admit that I couldn’t quickly fix it. I was like the Israelites who refused to enter the Promised Land until they were rebuked and punished by God. Then they tried going in without Him. It didn’t go well. It didn’t go well for me either when I panicked and initially thought that text messages I received were from Instagram trying to help me regain access to my account. Instead, they were from the hacker. We are in denial when we ignore the signs that our husband has become distant, our child is struggling, or our debt is increasing. The answer isn’t to keep trying to solve the problem on our own. We need help!
Recovering from Hijacking
After trying to regain access to my account for several days with no success, I gave up. I created a new account and started telling people to unfollow and block my homeschoolsanity account. Giving up is the first step in being free. It’s what I did many years ago when I couldn’t get my eating under control. I admitted to God that I couldn’t do it. That’s when He took over. Admitting powerlessness is the first step in 12-step programs. It doesn’t mean you don’t care. It only means you can’t fix it in your own strength. The day after I gave up, I heard from a connection who learned about my account problem. He sent me this message: “You have to know someone.” He pledged to help me after the holidays. That was great news for me. But what about you? What if you don’t know someone who works for Instagram? What if you don’t know a counselor, a doctor, or a loan officer? The thing is, you know Someone better. Giving the problem to God will either result in success the way you define it or success the way He does. You cannot fail. Deuteronomy 30:1-3 reads: “When all these things come upon you—the blessings and curses I have set before you—and you call them to mind in all the nations to which the LORD your God has banished you, and when you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey His voice with all your heart and all your soul according to everything I am giving you today, then He will restore you from captivity and have compassion on you and gather you from all the nations to which the LORD your God has scattered you.” Even when we’ve been hijacked as a the result of our own foolishness, God will help us and restore us.
Conclusion
After being assured that help was coming, I figured there was no harm in using the automation to try to regain access to my account. I went through the steps as I had so many times before without success. But this time, boom. I was back in control of my account. I quickly took steps to ensure the hacker could not regain access. When we recover from any kind of hijacking, that’s what we have to do, too–fortify our lives so we can’t be hijacked again. We want to manage our emotions, avoid distractions, pay attention to red flags, and ask for help from the One who can restore us. After I was logged in, I realized a blessing from this experience. The hacker had direct-messaged many of my followers, asking them to vote for me as an ambassador. Most of these people said yes. They didn’t even know what I was wanting to be an ambassador for! But they said yes. They were kind and generous with their time. I pray I can be as kind and generous with mine going forward. If you use social media, I would love to have you follow me at homeschoolsanity on Facebook and Instagram. Either way, I’d love to communicate with you via email. Go to homeschoolsanity.com/subscribe. Thanks again to CTC Math for sponsoring the podcast. Have a happy homeschool week!
A homeschool mom wrote to ask me where my episode on gamifying your homeschool was. The problem is I don’t have one! But I thought it was a fantastic idea. This is The Homeschool Sanity Show, the episode where we talk about making our homeschooling more like a fun, motivating game.
Sponsor
Finding a math curriculum that works for your family can be a challenge! With CTCMath, all of your kids from K-12 can learn at their own pace with one family subscription. That’s right! With a CTCMath membership, you have access to all grades and lessons, which means your children can work at whatever level is best for them. Whether your kid needs to catch up, keep up, or move ahead, with CTCMath they can finally understand math and work at their own pace. CTCMath is offering listeners a half-price discount plus a bonus 6 months when you register for a 12-month membership. Yep. That means you have access to a complete online homeschool math curriculum for all your kids for 18 months!
Gameschooling
You might have heard of gameschooling. There are some excellent online influencers who share games for teaching just about every topic. I’ve shared games for teaching language arts as well as holiday games. I’m a huge fan of games as a break from traditional teaching. Kids love them and depending on the games, we parents do too. Not only are games fun learning, but they can create family memories you will cherish.
I incorporate games into Grammar Galaxy as well. I particularly like active games because they’re a welcome break for active kids. The fun involved in a game releases dopamine in the brain which aids in retention of the material.
Gameschooling is great. But there is more to gamifying your homeschool than simply adding educational, fun games to your curriculum.
Gamifying Your Homeschool
Gamification means adding game principles to your homeschool life so that you and your family are more motivated.
Let me share an example to explain. Imagine that you were invited to play a card game. There are many rules: you must play certain cards for points but there are other cards that will cost you points. You begin trying to play to earn points. But you forget and play some cards that cost you points. There aren’t any written rules to refer to.
After some time goes by, you ask how you’re doing in the game. Are you ahead, behind, winning, or losing? You’re told to just keep playing the game and you’ll figure it out. New rules seem to be added to the game every turn that cost you points. When you make what you think is a play that will earn you lots of points, you’re told that you can’t make that play now.
My kids have had me play a card game just like this. I reminded them of this game over Thanksgiving and asked them for the name of it. They couldn’t remember. Maddening! I hated the game and never wanted to play it again.
Sometimes our homeschooling is just like this. Our kids do some schoolwork. They feel good about it. But they made some mistakes. They didn’t show their work. They didn’t put enough effort into it. And we let them know. We make them redo the work. We may even give them extra practice work if they didn’t understand a concept.
Or they did very well. They did the work so quickly that we worry we aren’t challenging them. So we ask them to do more advanced work. We ask them to read more or to move on to another subject. We might even add a curriculum to their workload.
The same process can happen with chores. Didn’t do them well enough? Do them again. Get extra chores added on. Do them well but fast? You can handle more chores.
Are you getting the picture? Our kids may feel like they’re playing a game where the rules aren’t clear but what is clear is that there’s no way to win. That isn’t motivating. For anyone.
So how can we fix this to properly gamify our homeschools?
First, the rules for winning at school and chores need to be limited, clear, and preferably posted. We aren’t motivated by a game that tells us to “play cards,” so our kids won’t be motivated to “do school.” They need to know exactly what must be done to earn credit.
If you’re worried that what I’m sharing contradicts with getting kids to take initiative, please don’t. When kids know exactly what is expected of them, they’ll be more likely to take initiative to learn or help more.
But for that to happen, the rules have to be limited and winning has to seem possible. If there are so many rules to remember that I don’t know who to do first, I’m going to want to quit the game before I even get started. If our students have so many assignments that they can’t remember them all, they will feel defeated before they begin.
In addition, winning has to seem achievable. I have started to play video games where the high scorers are listed as motivation for us to compete. I just have to play once and get a paltry score to realize that I will never reach that level, nor would I want to spend the time necessary.
When we have students who are underperforming, our tendency is to want to fill up their lesson plan with work to help them catch up. What happens instead is they feel hopeless and don’t want to even try. Instead, we want to help our kids see that they are winners in school and life. We want to do what we are good at–even if that thing requires time and effort.
In my How to Motivate Any Student class, I share that the first time I played on a part-3 golf course, I hit a flag with my ball on the drive. I was convinced I was a great golfer, and I wanted to keep playing. That was true even though golf is a time-consuming game. We see people spending consider time and effort developing skills in all sorts of areas of life, most likely because they initially believed they had some talent or ability in it.
We can give our kids that initial confidence by making the work easy enough and quick to complete. We know this when it comes to habits and life changes for ourselves. We know we can’t run a 5K without first walking and jogging short distances. We won’t be motivated to organize if it’s going to require weeks and hours of effort. That’s why we work in short, timed bursts.
To use that gamification strategy of making winning possible for our kids, we may have to do some experimenting. Keep cutting down the workload or reducing the level until your child is agreeable. Grammar Galaxy‘s mission steps take just 10-15 minutes each to complete. Some homeschool parents are concerned that this just isn’t enough time. But what happens when you require just 5 minutes of reading a day or 10-15 minutes of language arts a day is kids think it’s doable, so they’ll start. They’ll keep reading because they enoy it. They’ll want to do a second and even a third step in their mission because it was easier than they thought.
Third, a gamified homeschool requires visible progress. Imagine playing a board game where you can’t see how close you are to winning. You have no idea where your marker is. Sometimes our homeschooling is like that. We’re just “doing school” and not even a calendar date indicates the end of the work because Mom feels we need to continue into the summer. I am not suggesting there is a problem with schooling year-round. I AM saying that kids need a finish line to be motivated. I’ve mentioned before how my kids became super motivated to finish their work at the end of the school year when they had a list of everything needed to do before having a long break.
Have a chart posted in a visible spot (like on the refrigerator) that shows progress in books read, math lessons completed, or chores done. Research shows that without any rewards (even without praise), public progress charts improve performance.
Kids also need to know that their work is meaningful and can’t be minimized in an effort to get them to do more. Here’s what I mean. The games of Sorry and Candyland can be so frustrating to play specifically because all your forward progress can be wiped out in one turn. Homeschooling shouldn’t feel like that for our kids. To that end, we should avoid having them redo a whole curriculum. Instead, we might consider switching to a new curriculum or adding supplementary work to shore up the learning. The only reason I would ignore this advice is if your student is on board with redoing the curriculum. We also don’t want to add chores for a student who finishes work quickly and thoroughly.
The final thing a gamified homeschool requires that I’ll discuss today is the unexpected. If you knew you would never win or would win at Solitaire every time, you would not want to play. Variety is the spice of life and it’s what makes games fun. I’m a big believer in routine. We do our best work and are likely to be well rested with a predictable schedule.
But we all need some spontaneity too. Instead of having a regular game day, you could announce that you’re going to spend the afternoon playing board games. Cut your student’s workload in half after assigning it. Go on a surprise field trip. Watch educational movies instead of doing the scheduled lessons. Do fun science experiments. Invite friends over to play. Do your school routine backwards. Even have kids put their clothes on backwards if you like. Put one of your students in charge for the day. Use shopping and cooking as school. Turn your chore list into a randomized game. Roll the dice and do the chore with that number. List some topics your kids are interested. Roll the dice and study the subject that comes up for the day. Have slips of paper with surprise activities or breaks in a jar and let your child choose one when the mood strikes. You can also use a randomizer app on your phone for this purpose.
As long as these surprises don’t become routine, kids will feel like they are playing a game in being homeschooled. Of course, learning is its own reward. But some of our habits can minimize the natural motivation of homeschooling.
Conclusion
When we make the rules for winning clear; when winning seems achievable; when kids see visible progress; and when they regularly experience the unexpected, we have gamified our homeschools and will likely have more homeschool sanity.
Thanks again to CTC Math for sponsoring the podcast.
Have a happy homeschool week and a very merry Christmas to those listening this third week of December.
Motivating Learners With Dr. Lyle Lee Jenkins
Dec 13, 2022
Is your student less than motivated when it comes to reading or math? This is The Homeschool Sanity Show, the episode where Dr. Lee Jenkins shares creative ideas for motivating learners.
Hey, homeschoolers! As a psychologist, mother, and now a guide for homeschool parents, I have a great interest in motivation. Before I introduce my guest, I want to thank my sponsor for this episode: 5000 Blankets.
Sponsor: 5000 Blankets Movie
It’s incredible what can happen when you transform your heart to serve the people around you.Catch 5000 BLANKETS exclusively in theaters for two days only! December 12 & 13. Tickets at https://www.fathomevents.com/events/5000-Blankets
Motivating Learners with Dr. Lyle Lee Jenkins
I was happy to have Dr. Jenkins join me for the podcast to share creative ideas for engaging our kids in the learning process. Lyle Lee Jenkins is an author, speaker, consultant and a recognized expert in improving educational outcomes. The author of How to Create a Perfect School, All About Henry, his newest release How to Create a Perfect Homeschool, and 15 other books, Lee has spent the last 50 years learning from world-class experts while working as a teacher, principal, school superintendent and university professor. Lee’s speaking career has taken him across the U.S., Latin America, Europe and Asia, and he has taught online courses to educators from more than 25 countries. His mission is providing innovative solutions for the most perplexing education problems.
I hope you enjoy our chat as much as I did. We discussed:
Tips for motivating reading
Tips for motivating math
Why Dr. Jenkins talks about the “perfect” homeschool
Why You’ve Fallen Behind In Your Homeschool Plan
Dec 06, 2022
Have you fallen behind in your homeschool plan? Do you want to avoid looking at your lesson planner because it’s so depressing? If that’s you, I have good news. This is The Homeschool Sanity Show, the episode where we’ll get back on track.
Sponsor: 5000 Blankets Movie
It’s incredible what can happen when you transform your heart to serve the people around you.Catch 5000 BLANKETS exclusively in theaters for two days only! December 12 & 13. Tickets at https://www.fathomevents.com/events/5000-Blankets
The Planning Fallacy
Now the good news: There’s nothing wrong with you! You’ve just fallen victim to a human thinking error that’s characteristic of some of the smartest people. It’s called the planning fallacy. It means we tend to underestimate how much time projects take, even when we have experience that has taught us better.
So you tell yourself you can get the science experiment part of your curriculum done in half an hour, even though they’ve taken you at least three times as long in the past. Why are we irrational this way? Because we also have an optimism bias—especially when it comes to our own abilities.
I’ve been watching a baking show, a baking competition in which bakers make elaborate baked goods in a very short amount of time. Even though a baker will admit to never having made the recipe at home under the time limit, she hopes that she will for the competition. She hopes. It’s a kind of magical thinking that we’re all guilty of at times. You’ve never made it to co-op in under ten minutes, but you hope you will today—somehow.
Why do we have this optimism bias and this magical thinking about the future? Researchers have a number of theories:
First, we use the best-case scenario in our planning. For example, we tell ourselves we can get to church in six minutes because of that one time when every light was green.
Second, we plan this way because we want to believe that our scenario will happen. We avoid the disappointment of admitting that there is no possible way we can complete two foreign language curricula in one year.
Third, we honestly don’t remember how long a similar project took. We think the math lesson took ten minutes to complete when it actually took 20.
Fourth, we emphasize the differences between the current project and a past one. Yes, science experiments took forever last year, but now you’re organized. And your kids are more mature.
Fifth, long-term deadlines promote poorer time estimates. We do worse in realistically planning for a full school year than we do for this week.
Sixth, we focus on the variables that we can control, forgetting that much of the most time-consuming parts of our day are unexpected and out of our control. We don’t know that our printer will stop working right when we go to print the lab worksheets or that the dog will get out of the yard as we’re about to start the art lesson.
How to Overcome the Planning Fallacy
I don’t know about you, but I’m getting depressed. Maybe we should scrap our homeschool plan and just see what happens? Depending on your homeschool laws, you might not have that choice. Or you know that you get far less done without a plan. So you’d still like to plan in such a way that you don’t fall far behind. How can we do that?
Second, we can admit to ourselves that we can’t do everything we want to do this year. But the good news is we’ll have something exciting to look forward to next year! It might help you feel less disappointed to make a list of the great activities and curricula you’ll take on another time.
Third, start timing your activities. Don’t rush through the science experiment. See how long it really takes you on average.
Fourth, consider the similarities between your current plan and what you did last year. If you still have a tendency to start school later…if your kids still dawdle over the lesson…if you don’t like dragging out the supplies any more this year than last, think again about what you can realistically accomplish.
Fifth, consider planning for the short-term if you’re a yearly planner. Plan for the quarter, the month, the week, or even the day if you feel more in control of your time. One way to increase your motivation for completing the plan is to use the free quarterly planner I’ve created. When you and your kids finish their work for the quarter, they get the rest of the time off. This worked like a charm for my kids!
Finally, think about the obstacles that got in the way of your homeschooling last week. Was someone sick? Did the washing machine leak? Was a family member or friend in need of help? One of the best ways we can accommodate the unexpected is to have margin in our plan. Just as the margins of a page have nothing on them, our plan or schedule should have spaces where nothing is there. We can keep an hour of our day, a day a week, or even a week a month unplanned to manage those times when we get behind. The key to making this work is not to treat the unplanned time like a tax refund. What I mean is, we shouldn’t put our schoolwork off, thinking that we’ll just use our unplanned time to do it. Even though the time is unplanned, we should treat it as reserved for emergencies only. If nothing comes up, we have time to relax or have some spontaneous fun!
Although it’s human nature to overestimate what we can accomplish and then be disappointed, we can do better. We can estimate using the worst-case scenario. We can plan some of our activities for next year. We can time our activities to have better estimates. We can consider the similarities between our ideas for the future and what we’ve done in the past. We can plan for the short-term and put margin into our plans.
Thanks again to 5000 Blankets for their sponsorship.
How To Get A College Degree Debt-Free
Nov 29, 2022
If your student wants to attend college but doesn’t want to be loaded down with debt, I have a treat for you. This is The Homeschool Sanity Show, the episode where guest Kara Walker shares uncommon but practical tips for saving money on a college education.
Hey, homeschoolers! I absolutely love chatting with homeschoolers. That’s just one reason I wanted to interview Kara Walker. Kara graduated from college debt-free, and is now on a quest to help other students do the same with her podcast, “Money and Mental Peace,” and her online course “The Debt-Free College Blueprint”! She is a twenty-something Christian entrepreneur, amateur snowboarder, and recovering over-achiever. Kara enjoys goal-setting, budgeting, and living a debt-free lifestyle, and wants to help YOU do the same!
Kara is absolutely delightful. If you have a college-bound or finance-interested teen, have them listen to this episode with you. You won’t be disappointed.
Special Replay: How To Level Up Your Gratitude
Nov 22, 2022
Hey, homescoolers!
I’ve written and spoken about gratitude a lot because it’s important. God’s Word reminds us to give thanks 173 times. Giving thanks is the Lord’s admonition to His people, but even secular leaders recognize the benefits of expressing gratitude. Gratitude journals are all the rage.
But I had an experience recently that helped me see that my gratitude needs an upgrade. What’s exciting about this recognition is not that I have another reason to feel guilty. On the contrary, I have another reason to be encouraged. And so do you!
In this episode, I want to share some ideas for taking our own and our family’s gratitude to the next level. And it doesn’t require you to go on a foreign mission trip.
Before I share those ideas, I just want to say thank you. I have been so blessed to have you listen to this podcast, to chat with me at Great Homeschool Conventions, and to write and tell me that my work makes a difference in your life. It’s easier to keep running this race with your encouragement. I thank God for you and I pray for you.
Last month, my son woke us up to tell us that our basement was flooded. We thought he meant that some water had come in along one wall. That had happened before and my husband had a plan for solving the problem. So I was shocked when I walked downstairs, only to have my feet sink into sopping wet carpet. Water had come in from every wall, leaving only the center of the rooms dry. Our sump pump had failed in the midst of a heavy rain. We didn’t know that the pumps have to be replaced regularly. If you haven’t replaced your pump, let our experience be a warning to you.
Before I entered our sopping wet basement, my gratitude list would have sounded something like this:
Lord, I’m thankful for my family. I’m thankful for my home. I’m thankful for my business.
I’ve matured enough in my faith that I wasn’t grumbling to God about the mess the water had made, but it was definitely a damper on my day. I became hyper focused on solving the problem. More rain was in the forecast later that day. I was ready to turn to Google for help when I felt the sense that I needed to stop and let my husband help me. Because my office is in our basement, I was feeling that I needed to be in charge. But I heeded the call to stand down. I just worked on cleanup.
Then my husband announced that our plumber was coming in a couple of hours to install a new sump pump. That was very good news! But the rest wasn’t. “I asked how he was,” my husband said, “and I could tell something was wrong. He has cancer and starts chemo in a few days.” I wasn’t shocked because of the large number of people we know who have been diagnosed with cancer or a recurrence in the last two years. But I was in awe of how the Lord used our flooded basement to give us the opportunity to minister to a man at just the right time.
Yes, I was grateful that we suffered so little loss with the water damage. I was grateful, too, that the flooding hadn’t occurred after installing new carpeting. Instead, I had been wanting the carpet replaced anyway. But what I was most grateful for was the love of our God. He loves our plumber so much that He used a heavy rain combined with our failure to replace a sump pump to bring him to our home, where we could pray for him and witness to our faith. What’s incredible to me is that He didn’t just work this together for our plumber’s good but for ours.
God is more than able to use every circumstance to make His plan a reality. I’m so grateful that He is trustworthy! His will will be done, even if we make a mistake. Even if someone we love makes a mistake. What a comfort!
I decided after that experience that I needed to upgrade my gratitude. I needed to go beyond making a list of all the standard-issue reasons to be grateful. I needed to start looking for how God was going to use the disappointments, the disasters, and even the dumb things we do for His glory and our good. Then I would thank Him for His love and care, even in advance of seeing them in reality.
Here is how I’m going to do that. I recommend that you and your children join me.
First, make a list of every worry, disappointment, and upset that is troubling you now.
For each entry, thank God that He is going to make you more like Jesus through that. He is going to use the circumstance as fertilizer to grow the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. Who doesn’t want more of that fruit? I know I do. Thank God that He will give you wisdom. He promises to give us His wisdom when we ask in James 1:5.
Next, knowing that You will grow, thank God that He is going to use the circumstance for your good and the good of those you love.
Even though you don’t know how or when, even if it’s not in the way you prefer, you know that He will do this because He promises us this in Romans 8:28.
Finally, thank God that He will be glorified and His plans will be fulfilled.
Every situation will be used to demonstrate the power, the love, and yes, sometimes the patience of God. We agree with God that His ways are higher than our ways.
We can also level up our gratitude by putting it into action.
We can and should spend more time in prayer and Scripture reading–especially more than we spend time reading the news and others’ opinion. We can worship God in music, spending time in nature, creating, serving, and giving. Our love for Him overflows into worship.
We can remind others that God is at work. He hears our prayers but is waiting for the perfect time, when we and the people we love are most ready. We can preach to ourselves and others that this is not our home. Even if this life is not as we wish, we know that our eternal life offers more than we could ask or imagine. We can offer a listening ear and a hug to those who are waiting on God, offering the comfort we ourselves have received from Him.
And finally, we can share the Gospel. We can witness to our faith in the One who raised His Son to life and will raise us, too. We can share the real reason we suffer that has little to do with a person, politics, or particulars. Our sin led to a decaying world full of suffering–failed sump pumps and cancer. But God provided the solution to sin. I’m so thankful that solution isn’t dependent on you or me. Then we’d be sunk. Instead, we know the end of the story and it is victory. In that we place our hope and we rejoice with gratitude.
Conclusion
We are human, so when you walk onto sopping wet carpet, your initial response is unlikely to be gratitude. But if you stop and consider how you can become more like Christ, how God will work it together for good, and how God will be glorified, you’ll be likely to put your gratitude into action.
Next week my guest Carol Barnier and I will discuss how to help distractible, struggling readers. Have a happy homeschool week!
How To Change Your Parenting In The Teen Years
Nov 15, 2022
A homeschool mom wrote to ask me if it’s true that you shouldn’t expect the same kind of obedience from your teens that you do from younger kids. This is The Homeschool Sanity Show, the episode where I address how to change our parenting in the teen years.
Sponsor
Finding a math curriculum that works for your family can be a challenge! With CTCMath, all of your kids from K-12 can learn at their own pace with one family subscription. That’s right! With a CTCMath membership, you have access to all grades and lessons, which means your children can work at whatever level is best for them. Whether your kid needs to catch up, keep up, or move ahead, with CTCMath they can finally understand math and work at their own pace. CTCMath is offering listeners a half-price discount plus a bonus 6 months when you register for a 12-month membership. Yep. That means you have access to a complete online homeschool math curriculum for all your kids for 18 months!
How to Change Your Parenting in the Teen Years
Conflicting advice around parenting is so confusing, isn’t it? If you have teens and wonder how to parent them, my first encouragement is to trust your judgment.
Our parenting shoudn’t change around disrespect. This is a soap box I climb onto all the time and with good reason.
While we want to have a coaching approach, this doesn’t mean that we abdicate our authority when it comes to dangerous or immoral behavior. I wouldn’t allow my kids to drive when they’re under the influence or let their girlfriend sleep over because that’s the choice they’ve made after coaching.
Coaching also takes your child’s personality and circumstances into account.
Coaching is a response to your child, not a set program. If something isn’t working, try a new approach in a collegial, experimental atmosphere.
When I had six young children, strangers warned me of the nightmare of teen years that lay ahead of me. I did have some challenges with a strong-willed child that I’ve talked about before, but all in all, these years have been a joy. The young adult years have been a joy, too.
Conclusion
One final encouragement I want to give you is to surrender these children to the Lord. They are His. Believe that He wants the best for them even more than you do and you will have peace. Your teens will sense this and will respond accordingly.
How To Combat Loneliness As A Homeschool Mom
Nov 08, 2022
Do you wish you had more friends as a homeschool mom? Over my two decades of homeschooling, loneliness was a recurring problem. This is The Homeschool Sanity Show, the episode where I discuss how to combat loneliness as a homeschool mom.
Hey, homeschoolers! I’m going to confess that I have sometimes envied moms who have dozens of homeschooling friends through their church, co-op, or activities. Although I had several close friends for the majority of my homeschooling, they graduated their students, moved, or quit homeschooling–leaving me lonely. I struggled more than once with loneliness in these latter years. But I have learned a lot that I want to share with you if you’re in a similar situation.
First, I want to say that if you’re lonely it’s not you.
-work
-co-ops, activities
-smart phones
-pandemic
Second, be open to unexpected options.
-retired homeschool moms
-older women not homeschooling
-friendships through activities
Third, remember that it’s not about you.
-God wants to meet your needs
-But your purpose is to be a friend to others
-God may be using your loneliness to get you out of your comfort zone
Action Steps to Combat Loneliness
-Start a group or Bible study
-Take a class
-Ask people about themselves, even if they’re staring at a phone
6 Lessons About Homeschooling I’ve Learned Through Podcasting
Nov 01, 2022
This is the 300th episode of The Homeschool Sanity Show! I have really enjoyed podcasting for a number of reasons. One of the unexpected reasons is it’s taught me a lot about homeschooling. This is the episode where I share homeschool encouragement from eight years of podcasting.
Hey, homeschoolers! The Ultimate Radio Show Network has been producing podcasts for 9 years. I took a year’s leave in there, so that means I’ve been podcasting for 8 years. I often talk with homeschooling moms who have not only listened all these years but followed my blog before that. I know from asking on my Facebook page that there are many of you who, like me, have been homeschooling a long time. I love having the company.
I’ve learned a lot from podcasting that applies to us as homeschooling moms as well.
The first lesson is that it’s not always fun.
We need to make the schedule work for us rather than working for the schedule.
It’s not about the tools; it’s about the content.
We can learn from others even when we think we have it all together.
We need to let others help us.
Success comes when we stick with it.
Conclusion
I’m so grateful for your support of me and this podcast. Many moms approach me at Great Homeschool Conventions to say they feel like we’re friends. And we are. I don’t know as much about you, but I would like to. Email me, message me on social media, or stop by to chat at a convention.
Have a happy homeschool week!
You Can Homeschool With Carrie Strong
Oct 18, 2022
Do you ever worry that you aren’t cut out for homeschooling? This is The Homeschool Sanity Show, the episode where my guest and I make homeschooling doable, even if it’s been a struggle in the past. I’ve asked about insecurities on the Homeschool Sanity Facebook page, and I know many of us have them. I know I did! Just because I had a PhD didn’t mean that I knew how to teach or even parent my kids to adulthood.
Sponsor
Finding a math curriculum that works for your family can be a challenge! With CTCMath, all of your kids from K-12 can learn at their own pace with one family subscription. That’s right! With a CTCMath membership, you have access to all grades and lessons, which means your children can work at whatever level is best for them. Whether your kid needs to catch up, keep up, or move ahead, with CTCMath they can finally understand math and work at their own pace. CTCMath is offering listeners a half-price discount plus a bonus 6 months when you register for a 12-month membership. Yep. That means you have access to a complete online homeschool math curriculum for all your kids for 18 months!
You Can Homeschool Guest
Carrie Strong is an experienced homeschooling mom with four children. She spent two years after college in the Dominican Repbulic teaching French, music, art, and BIble during her first year and second-grade during her second year. After returning to the states, she taught K-12 Spanish at an academy in Kalamazoo, MI before getting married and having kids of her own. She and her family now reside in northern Michigan where she enjoys teaching her children, writing books, blogging, being outdoors, singing, and hobby farming. I know you’ll appreciate Carrie’s relaxed approach to homeschooling. You Can Homeschool book Thanks again to CTC Math for their sponsorship.
Special Replay: How to Homeschool Where Strivings Cease
Oct 11, 2022
Have you been trying to be a Proverbs 31 Homeschooling mom as I described in previous episodes? If you have, you’ll want to listen to this episode in which I’ll share what I’ve learned about the problem of striving and how to find a place in your homeschool where strivings cease. But first, I’d like to thank our sponsor, Sony Pictures –Sony Pictures Animation along with Affirm Films. Their sponsorship helps make it possible for the Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network to provide free audios for our listeners.
The Teaching Tip of the Week
Share with your children what God has been teaching you during your Bible time. There was a time when I realized I was writing and speaking about truths God had revealed to me in His Word with other Christian women, but was not sharing with my own children. No curriculum or even Bible story book is more important than teaching our kids these things. When we teach this way, we show our children that our time in the Word is important to us. We model that faith isn’t just a school subject. It’s life. Second, we show our children that we struggle. I’m so thankful my children have few and mild struggles in their young lives. But one day the struggle will be real. They need to know how we cope with trials by example. Finally, there is no more powerful way to share our mother’s heart with our children than to share what God is teaching us. Our children see our love for God, our love for them, and our desire to follow Christ. If you find it challenging to find time in the Word, pray for wisdom for this. Perhaps you can listen to the Bible as you walk. Your husband may offer to give you time or to read with you. The amount of Scripture we read is not the priority; it’s that we are seeking God.
We’d like to thank our Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network sponsor Sony and their new movie, The Star, the Story of the First Christmas – Coming in Theaters November 17th!
Special Replay: Your Homeschooled Teen Has ADD? Help is Here
Oct 04, 2022
A homeschooling mom on Facebook.com/motivatedhomeschooler asked for advice for her homeschooled teen and I thought other parents might have the same question. If you or your homeschooled teen is forgetful, distracted, or disorganized, listen to this episode of The Homeschool Sanity Show.
Teaching Tip of the Week
This week’s teaching tip is to make room for Christmas activities in your homeschool. Use my funny winter writing prompts for writing. Above all, allow Christmas to be a peaceful, joyful time in your homeschool, rather than a stressful one.
Say Goodbye To Emotional Eating With Barb Raveling
Sep 20, 2022
Do you ever eat because you’re bored, anxious, or excited? The is the episode where we learn how to say goodbye to emotional eating so we can stay focused on homeschooling.
Hey, homeschoolers! The problem with emotional eating for homeschooling parents is two-fold. We hate the consequences for ourselves and we hate even more the example it sets for our kids. But how can we get past it?
My guest for this episode will help us! Barb Raveling has joined me on the show before. I’ll put links in the show notes. She is a retired homeschool mom, now a prolific Christian author you can learn more about at BarbRaveling.com. She has a soon-to-be-released book on this topic called Say Goodbye to Emotional Eating.
Barb and I discussed:
the definition of emotional eating and its effects
strategies for overcoming emotional eating
whether it’s possible to really break free from emotional eating or whether it’s something people will struggle with for the rest of their lives
Barb has shared on previous episodes you can listen to:
The Whole & Healthy Family With Jodi Mockabee
Sep 13, 2022
We hear a lot about health these days, but what does it mean to have a healthy family? This is episode where my guest and I talk about pursuing healthy families with respect to the mind, body, and spirit.
There is so much more to our families than the bodies they inhabit. They have minds and spirits that need to be cultivated, too.
Sponsor
Finding a math curriculum that works for your family can be a challenge! With CTCMath, all of your kids from K-12 can learn at their own pace with one family subscription. That’s right! With a CTCMath membership, you have access to all grades and lessons, which means your children can work at whatever level is best for them. Whether your kid needs to catch up, keep up, or move ahead, with CTCMath they can finally understand math and work at their own pace. CTCMath is offering listeners a half-price discount plus a bonus 6 months when you register for a 12-month membership. Yep. That means you have access to a complete online homeschool math curriculum for all your kids for 18 months!
Healthy Familes Guest
Jodi Mockabee is a photographer, writer, blogger, speaker, social media influencer, and homeschooling mother of five living in the Black Hills of South Dakota. With a passion for health, wellness, parenting, and more, Jodi blogs her family’s journey and shares tips for a healthy and active lifestyle. She also writes curriculum for creative and artistic learning in a homeschool environment.
I found Jodi’s vision for family health to be quite inspiring. I hope you will, too. We discussed:
Special Replay: How To Know If You’re Doing Enough In Your Homeschool
Sep 06, 2022
Hey homeschoolers!
I frequently hear this worry from homeschoolers I talk with at the great homeschool conventions: I don’t know if I’m doing enough. In a time when homeschoolers have an abundance of curriculum options for teaching their children and an abundance of philosophies of education to consider, it’s no wonder that many homeschoolers are concerned that they are doing too little. I’ll address this concern with ways to know if you’re doing enough in just a moment.
Join our community
But first I would love to invite you to join to join Homeschool Sanity Circle on Facebook. This is the perfect group for new homeschoolers who have all sorts of worries like these. It’s also a fantastic place to build friendships no matter where you are in your homeschooling journey. I’m looking forward to getting to know you there.
Thanks again to 7 Sisters Homeschool for sponsoring the podcast. Join me next time when we discuss how to trust God with our parents. Have a happy homeschool week!
Does your student struggle with handwriting? In this episode my guest will help us with handwriting.
Sponsor
Finding a math curriculum that works for your family can be a challenge! With CTCMath, all of your kids from K-12 can learn at their own pace with one family subscription. That’s right! With a CTCMath membership, you have access to all grades and lessons, which means your children can work at whatever level is best for them. Whether your kid needs to catch up, keep up, or move ahead, with CTCMath they can finally understand math and work at their own pace. CTCMath is offering listeners a half-price discount plus a bonus 6 months when you register for a 12-month membership. Yep. That means you have access to a complete online homeschool math curriculum for all your kids for 18 months!
Help with Handwriting
I wish I’d had Sarah’s help when my kids had a hard time with handwriting. Sarah joined me for a previous epsiode on occupational therapy. Sarah is an occupational therapist with a background in both pediatrics and home health, and a homeschooling parent. Sarah was first introduced to homeschooling in 2016 while working as an OT in a client’s home; she was amazed at the learning atmosphere and opportunities within the home. Now as an OT homeschooling her own family, she noticed that parents, though experts on their own children, were invariably asking the same questions and needed resources. As a result, Collins Academy Therapy Services was established with the dual purpose of educating parents on how to create homeschools specifically designed for students’ needs and training occupational therapists to best serve the homeschool community, together guiding children towards their specific purpose in life.
You can play this episode for your kids and see how many different sounds besides our voices they can recognize. It became comical but I don’t think it was too distracting.Sarah and I discussed:
Whether handwriting is still a necessary skill to learn
Why some kids struggle with handwriting (it’s not necessarily what you think!)
How To Teach Our Kids That Everyone Belongs
Aug 23, 2022
How can we teach our kids that everyone belongs? In this episode, my guest and I discuss how to empathize with and welcome families who are different than our own.
Sponsor
Finding a math curriculum that works for your family can be a challenge! With CTCMath, all of your kids from K-12 can learn at their own pace with one family subscription. That’s right! With a CTCMath membership, you have access to all grades and lessons, which means your children can work at whatever level is best for them. Whether your kid needs to catch up, keep up, or move ahead, with CTCMath they can finally understand math and work at their own pace. CTCMath is offering listeners a half-price discount plus a bonus 6 months when you register for a 12-month membership. Yep. That means you have access to a complete online homeschool math curriculum for all your kids for 18 months!
Everyone Belongs with Heather Avis
Heather Avis is founder and chief visionary officer at The Lucky Few, a social awareness brand on a mission to make a more inclusive and loving world with an emphasis on shifting the Down syndrome narrative. The author of Everyone Belongs and the New York Times bestselling children’s book Different—A Great Thing to Be! she runs The Lucky Few’s hit Instagram account and is the author of a book and co-host of the podcast by the same name. A former education specialist teaching high school students, Heather is a popular speaker and a mother to three adopted children (two with Down syndrome). She lives in Southern California with her husband, Josh, and their three kids Truly, August and Macy.
I was touched by my interview with Heather and I think you will be, too.
We discussed:
How her parenting and adoption journey changed her
How we can reinforce our kids’ God-given value
How her faith helped her in her parenting journey
How we can better empathize with families different than our own and how can we foster inclusivity
How We Prepare For College As Homeschoolers
Aug 16, 2022
Do you wonder how to prepare your kids for college? If so, I’m not going to tell you what to do. I hope that’s a relief. Instead, in this episode, I’ll share our experience with college, so you’ll have more information to make the best choices for your family.
Hey, homeschoolers! This week I am taking child number five and my only daughter to college. Even though I have three college graduates who have had good experiences, I don’t imagine that I’ve done everything the right way, or that I have the right to tell you what to do.
Every family and every student and even every year is unique as the pandemic has taught us. But I do want to share our story with you because it may help you in college choices and preparation. The other reason I want to share our story is because so many people (including homeschoolers) have been surprised by a particular aspect of our decisions around college.
I’m going to jump right in as though we’re having a chat at a coffee shop. I’m not going to give you six simple tips as I often do, but I’m going to tell you how we got to the place of sending homeschooler #5 to college. If we were actually in a coffee shop, you could stop and ask me questions. Using this format, though, you’re going to have to comment, email, or message me with questions instead.
I will start with a disclaimer: College isn’t for everyone.
We are sending our children for their goals at this time in our culture
I didn’t originally intend for the kids to attend college in person
Homeschoolers can and do get an excellent education outside of college classes
In this episode I share:
Factors that affected our college decision
Our kids’ college choices
The advantages of having our kids attend the same in-state university
Some issues we have discussed with our kids as they begin their college years:
Our expectation that they will study and be focused on keeping a high GPA
Pros and cons of fraternities/sororities
Travel plans for breaks
Which expenses are our kids’ responsibility
Conclusion
Has everything been perfect with our kids’ college experience? No. But we are satisfied with the choices we have made for our particular kids at this time.
I pray that something I shared helps you as you consider college for your homeschoolers.
When Friday comes, do you feel like you’ve won your homeschool week and can celebrate? Or are you thinking about all the things you didn’t do well? In this episode, I’ll share tips for winning your homeschool week through proper planning. Before we dive into the topic, I want to thank CTC Math for sponsoring this episode.
Sponsor
Finding a math curriculum that works for your family can be a challenge! With CTCMath, all of your kids from K-12 can learn at their own pace with one family subscription. That’s right! With a CTCMath membership, you have access to all grades and lessons, which means your children can work at whatever level is best for them. Whether your kid needs to catch up, keep up, or move ahead, with CTCMath they can finally understand math and work at their own pace. CTCMath is offering listeners a half-price discount plus a bonus 6 months when you register for a 12-month membership. Yep. That means you have access to a complete online homeschool math curriculum for all your kids for 18 months!
Winning the Week by Demir Bentley
I recently finished reading Demir Bentley’s book Winning the Week. I feel newly inspired and also feel validated in the planning process I teach to homeschool moms.
The key to winning your week is simple: It’s planning it. Most homeschoolers know that they should plan their week for success, just as most of the staff and entrepreneurs Demir Bentley is addressing know they should plan. But only a small percentage of us do.
Why is that?
• Don’t have time
• Afraid of the past
• Afraid of the future
But planning the week is a powerful way of decreasing anxiety and improving motivation. Because it has negative affect associated with it, though, we avoid it. Demir advises us to make planning a pleasant experience.
How to Plan a Winning Homeschool Week
Once you have a pleasant experience planned, start with prayer.
Then review your:
• Calendar
• Email
• Mail inbox
• Messages
• Purse
• Task list
Use the weekly planning page from The Organized Homeschool Life Planner.
Choose leveraged task (The One Thing by Gary Keller)
Choose one goal for the week – specify on weekly page
Now plan these must-do tasks for the week. If you have the Organized Homeschool Life planner, you can put them on the daily planning pages. I would suggest listing no more than 3 tasks per day to leave room for tasks that pop up. You can plan in more detail each day.
The other way to plan your weekly tasks is with a calendar or agenda. You can see visually that you will not have time to do math on Friday because you have a co-op meeting and a park day following. You won’t expect things to magically get done. You’ll put math on your day at home.
Schedule your tasks with as much detail as you like – in the morning, afternoon, or evening boxes in the Organized Homeschool Life planner, or at set times in Google calendar or an hourly agenda.
Be sure to leave time for what I call walk-in tasks.
Demir advises us to schedule our goal-related and priority tasks at the beginning of the week. I like keeping Fridays for easy tasks and for catch-up time if needed.
If you’re ready for more advanced weekly planning, you can plan your leisure activities, too. Put a dinner party with friends, a game night, or a hike on the schedule, so it is a lot more likely to happen.
Next week during your weekly planning session, ask yourself what went well so you can do more of that. Give yourself credit for it and thank God for the blessings.
Ask yourself what didn’t go well, so you can use leverage on it and improve 1% the following week.
Conclusion
With proper planning, you can have less anxiety, more motivation, and a happier homeschool.
Thanks again to CTCMath for sponsoring the podcast.
Have a happy homeschool week!
How To Help A Child Break A Bad Habit
Aug 02, 2022
Does your child have a bad habit? If so, you want to help them. For example, a dad at The Great Homeschool Convention approached me for help in getting his four-year-old daughter to stop sucking her thumb. In this episode, I’ll share tips for helping a child of any age break a bad habit.
What To Do When You And Your Spouse Disagree About Discipline
Jul 26, 2022
Do you and your spouse disagree on discipline? If so, you’re normal, but your homeschool happiness is at risk.
A sweet couple came to my booth at the Great Homeschool Convention and asked me what to do when they didn’t agree on discipline in the moment, as in, in front of the kids. I shared a few thoughts with them but realized that this is a great topic to dig into.
I address:
the importance of agreeing
what to do if you just don’t agree
the attitude we should have in discussions about discipline
what to discuss during a meeting about discipline
With good communication, a willingness to try new approaches, and some patience, I believe that most couples can come to some agreement on discipline. For those who cannot, being consistent with your own approach will still pay more dividends than giving up.
At a recent Great Homeschool Convention, a mom asked me for the best way to have her son’s books published. This is the best time in history to become a published author. That’s because you no longer have to convince a publisher that receives thousands of manuscripts a year to choose your book. Neither do you have to pay thousands of dollars to publish the book yourself.
My guest today is Grace Walker, a homeschooled student who self-published her first book, Stardust, at just 14. You’re going to want to get your copy of this space-themed adventure novel that’s perfect for teens. But if you are interested in self-publishing for yourself or your student, you’ll want to listen to our conversation.
Sponsor
Hey, homeschoolers! Before we dive into the topic, I want to thank CTC Math for sponsoring this episode of The Homeschool Sanity Show.
Finding a math curriculum that works for your family can be a challenge! With CTCMath, all of your kids from K-12 can learn at their own pace with one family subscription. That’s right! With a CTCMath membership, you have access to all grades and lessons, which means your children can work at whatever level is best for them. Whether your kid needs to catch up, keep up, or move ahead, with CTCMath they can finally understand math and work at their own pace. CTCMath is offering listeners a half-price discount plus a bonus 6 months when you register for a 12-month membership. Yep. That means you have access to a complete online homeschool math curriculum for all your kids for 18 months!