Encouragement

I posted recently on my own personal blog about homeschooling families needing to be willing to change. After homeschooling for 16 years, I still find myself planning to do things differently next school year than I’ve done in previous years. Even after all these years (and all these years of change), I still find myself…

I had my first real homeschool convention experience in early April when I attended the Great Homeschool Convention (GHC) in Cincinnati. I’d considered going to a convention before – to GHC, Teach Them Diligently, or any one of several mid-sized regional events – and I did help at a vendor booth for a very small…

As the school year is winding down, many mothers I know who have children in public school are coming to me and asking me one question, “What are the benefits of being a homeschool family?” Most of them are asking me this out of frustration and disappointment in their child’s school. Others have young children…

“I had a terrible nightmare last night……” my oldest son answered in response to my standard morning inquiry into the boys’ nightly sleep. “Uh-oh, what happened?” I asked, absolutely sure my nearly 11 year old son’s version of a ‘terrible nightmare’ looks something like a monster under the bed, falling off our bridge while fishing, or…

We wouldn’t start our day without breakfast. After all, our kids need fuel to participate in school and stay on task. For many of us as adults, we wouldn’t think to start our day without coffee. At least I wouldn’t! But how often do we fail to start our school day in prayer? One morning…

One of my very favorite things about homeschooling is the ability to tailor our methods and materials to fit our children’s unique needs and interests. My children aren’t forced to sit in a classroom for hours on end using books and materials that might not appeal to them at all. And if they come upon…

This morning I wanted to put on a tennis outfit, get in my BMW, drop the kids at private school, and head to the gym. Problem is, I don’t play tennis, own a BMW, or have anyone enrolled anywhere. For the gym membership? I quit this past year on New Years Day ( a story…

Recently, while I was on Facebook, I clicked through to a link to a blog post entitled, 18 Reasons Why Doctors and Lawyers Homeschool Their Children. A doctor, who also happens to be a mother, wrote the post and began it by saying, “I’m going public today with a secret I’ve kept for a year…

“What do I have to lose?” she asked herself as she handed her son a pen and paper. After months of butting heads, months of frustration, months of battling the strong will of her resistant learner, my friend was exhausted.  As a homeschool mom, she wanted nothing more than to teach her son and ignite…

I think it is odd that I am a homeschooler and such a strong advocate of it no less. Why you ask? Well, I was one of those anti-homeschooling people who thought that it was the height of arrogance to think that anybody could give her child a better education than someone with a four-year…

  With winter coming to an end and spring upon us we are also entering a new season in our homeschools. It’s time to recognize the progress we have made. Perhaps we are a little behind and have not been able to accomplish all that we have planned.  But does that mean that we have…