Homeschooling Outside the Box – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Thank you for joining me for my 100th episode!

This is one of my favorite weeks of the year.

It's the "already, not yet" week. We have already experienced most of the year — we've made it through Christmas morning, decking the halls, singing carols, and slowly, slowly, we are emerging from our cocoa coma to realize a new year is upon us. This new year is a gift full of anticipation and though there are no guarantees, we make our plans, say our prayers, set our goals, and hope for a tomorrow better than yesterday, as good as yesterday may have been.

Yet those of us who have lived enough years know that there will be trouble; dashed dreams, broken hearts, sickness, mourning, and disrupted plans. Goals will be unmet. Plans will change. And oh, among this hurt and sadness, joyful surprises will nurse our hearts and encourage us to hope once more.

Already, not yet.

For believers, we know that means we live in a world where Jesus has already rescued us, and yet…He has not returned for good. We still live in a broken world. So we wait in joyful hope. And sometimes in trembling fear, humble remorse, patient (or impatient) longing. We wait, but we live in the meantime. We strive to thrive and not merely survive. We look with longing and the longing leads us upward toward ideals of living not necessarily a great life, but a good one.

This week captures that feeling better than any week of the year. It is full of reflection; it is full of expectation. Anything is possible…for better or for worse.

So we make our plans. We lay them out like an offering. We hope that He multiplies the good and tosses out the bad as far as the east is from the west.

We prepare to restart our homeschool year. We look upon it with fresh eyes after a long break. Things look clear — we wonder what in the world we were thinking adding that curriculum in the fall and we throw it out without looking back. We see with renewed confidence which books need to be read, which skills need to be honed, which habits need to be practice, which activities can get cut, which holes need to be filled, which branches need to be pruned.

We pray and consider what this season of our life looks like as the mother, the homeschooler, the wife, the friend, the ________. We feel confident we will be able to wear all the hats and look great in them.

The new year is a blank slate in some ways — a day (rather, a year) with "no mistakes in it yet," in the words of Anne. And yet, He has seen every day already. He knows our story; it's in the book. But we have the privilege of playing our part. It's a mystery in so many ways.

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Christmas is no ordinary time of year. It intoxicates our senses; the air smells of pine and sugar. The days are filled with music and stories. The soft, warm sleeves on our arms and thick mittens on our hands and hat on our head triggers our mind to think cozy thoughts despite the biting cold. Our taste buds crave cocoa and peppermint. Our children's eyes glow with the sparkle of twinkle lights reflecting in them. And our hearts yearn for something…something more…something transcendent…something that seems just beyond our reach yet simultaneously living inside us. The "Christmas spirit"…or rather, The Spirit of Christmas. Christ incarnate. Immanuel. God with us.

If you're just at the beginning of the high school years, it may feel like the end is still far off but I warn you, the ball sure does start rolling quickly once it starts.

The end is nigh, my friend. You've been working yourself out of a job and when you make it to the high school years, and you should begin to feel that change. It sounds somber to call it "the end," but remember it's just the end of a chapter and not the whole book. You're still your teen's parent, after all ;).

As I said in a past article, the high school years are a different animal in many ways, the lens often focused on the future. More complex subject matter, heavier work loads, afternoon jobs, driver's license, friends, formals, sports, hobbies, dual enrollment classes, prep for the ACT, and post-high school plans disrupt what was previously a lovely and semi-predictable homeschool routine. All of these things require the same thing: more time.

A wise woman once told me when our kids were young that you really only have until they are fifteen. To do what, I was never quite sure, but now that we're beyond that benchmark I know what she meant. Your role as a parent and educator changes. Your impact, though still felt, is felt in a different capacity. Your child's world broadens and though you are likely still the most prominent voice — and should be — you are not the only one. There is a definite shift around this age as teens grapple for autonomy and understanding of who they are and how they fit in this world. They begin to look for purpose outside of your home.

While it's a good, healthy, and necessary thing to grow, the bittersweet truth is your homeschool will begin to feel different as you have less control over everyone's schedule. The long, leisurely days of family read alouds and afternoons spent on nature walks may start to disappear from your schedule if you're not intentional. And let's be honest, even if you are intentional, there just won't be as much time for them as there used to be.

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I am not doing interviews right now, but I want to bring you some great talks from past seasons. Enjoy!

Stories have been a part of human history from the very beginning and have been used as a powerful teaching tool throughout the centuries. Teaching through stories is a wonderful way to approach lessons in your homeschool, as well.

Jim Weiss is a household name among many homeschoolers. He made his mark by doing this very thing – teaching through stories. His seamless delivery and enchanting ability to tell a great tale allows him to weave important character development and historical fact into wonderful stories that listeners are happy to enjoy. Jim and his wife, Randy, were pioneers in the field when they began the journey of bringing stories to children via audio. It's hard to remember, but there was a time before Audible ;).

Join us today as Jim talks about why oral stories matter so much and are worth including in our homeschool. Listening to stories is such a beautiful benefit for our outside-the-box kiddos. his storytelling, Jim makes these timeless tales accessible to kids who might not otherwise be able to enjoy them independently.

• why stories matter so much
• how you can include Jim's audios into your homeschool teaching
• why teaching through stories is so powerful
• how storytelling makes these great lessons and tales accessible to our outside-the-box kiddos
• an example of Jim's storytelling ability as he performs one of my family's favorite poems, "Jabberwocky" (You know how I love poetry)
• why these timeless tales are so important to us today

While I am not able to do interviews right now, I want to bring you some great talks from past seasons.

Join me for the replay of a fantastic interview with Bryn Hogan.

Are you ready to see autism in a new light?

So often the conversation about autism is surrounded by a list of limitations. And let's face it, living the daily grind as a parent of a child on the spectrum sometimes really highlights those limitations.

Join us today as Bryn Hogan, Executive Director of the Autism Treatment Center of America® talks about how the program came to be and what makes it is so radically different (in a fantastic way) and why that makes this therapy program so effective.

Bryn is a breath of fresh air in what can be a very overwhelming environment when you have a child with autism. She will free you of the pressure and guilt that often come hand-in-hand with being an autism mom and set you on a path to move forward in a positive and uplifting way to help your child.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• what autism really is and why it's not the enemy
• why your attitude is so critical to your child's growth
• why you can't train a child not to be autistic and what you can do instead
• how to have a beautiful relationship with your child no matter where they are on the spectrum
• what you can do immediately (as soon as you finish listening!) to help your child

• Autism Treatment Center of America®
• Finding Your New Normal
• What is the Son-Rise Program®?
• Autism Breakthrough: The Groundbreaking Method That Has Helped Families All Over the World  (affiliate link)
• Son-Rise Miracle of Love DVD
• The Son-Rise Program Social Curriculum (Developmental Model)
• How to Get Started 
• Autistic Logistics (affiliate link)
• The Son-Rise Program® Online

While I am not able to do interviews right now, I want to bring you some great talks from past seasons. 

Join me for the replay of a fantastic interview with Melissa McMahan.

Homeschooling High School…what is it about this phrase that makes even the most confident homeschool mama shake in her boots a little? The expectations seem to go through the roof. The pressure from the elusive yet always present critics "out there" seems to double. And the group of moms who've gone ahead of you who have the credibility to cheer you on seems to thin out drastically the longer you homeschool.

Melissa McMahan – YouTube host and mother of five lovely daughters – has homeschooled from the beginning and is still going strong with high schoolers in the mix and she's here to tell you…don't give up. High school can be a really wonderful and rewarding time with your children despite the extra weight that it brings.

Join us today as Melissa encourages us to find the joy in homeschooling our children during high school and use it as a time of connection and preparation for their launch into the world.

• Why you should take the high school years seriously…but not in a fearful way
• How humility is the secret trick to homeschooling high school
• How mom's role shifts in the high school years
• How to have a "together time" in the high school years
• How the high school years look when you have younger ones
• The value of car time
• Why homeschooling high school is ideal for OTB kids
• Why you shouldn't quit before the harvest
• All about the coolest field trip Melissa ever took her girls on
• How to get prepared to launch your kids into the world

This is the crux of it all.

When you are homeschooling kids in the K-8 range, you are in the sweet spot, my friend. The pre-school years are largely spent cleaning up messes and putting out fires (hopefully only theoretically ones, but you never know), and trying to get a handle on how to run a home with littles running underfoot. You're building your philosophy(whether you realize it or not) and coming up with routines to create a (mostly) well run home. While I would argue that Kindergarten is really part of the early years and doesn't need to be lumped with the school years, I understand that's a pretty counter cultural opinion. For the sake of this article let's agree that we're talking about kids who have started formal schooling, around age 6 or 7, or Year 1 in Ambleside-speak.

The high school years are a different animal in many ways, the lens often focused on the future. More complex subject matter, heavier work loads, afternoon jobs, friends, formals, sports, hobbies, dual enrollment classes, prep for the ACT, and post-high school plans disrupt what was previously a lovely and semi-predictable homeschool routine. While it's a good, healthy, and necessary thing to grow, the bittersweet truth is your homeschool will begin to feel different as you have less control over everyone's schedule.

Don't get me wrong; I love both the precious moments of the pre-school years and the independent nature of the high school years but when most people think of homeschooling — at least the homeschool of Instagram reels — I'm sure images from the K-8 years are what come to mind. And not without good reason.

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Check out my Website for archives and more

While I am not able to do interviews right now, I want to bring you some great talks from past seasons. 

Join me for the replay of a fantastic interview with Andrew Pudewa.

Are you raising effective communicators?

Andrew Pudewa is a well-known name in the homeschool world and for good reason. His ideas on effective communication and the arts of language - listening, speaking, reading, and writing - have helped to shape our homeschool over the years.

I'm excited to share with you today some practical and thought-provoking ideas on how to help your child - no matter what his challenges - to become a more effective communicator and to understand why it's so important.

In This Episode You'll Hear: 

• how you can help your children to grow in their thinking and communication skills
• how the Four Arts of Language will make you think differently about Language Arts
• why age and ability have little to do with each other
• why IEW's products work so well with all children, no matter what their challenges

• Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW)
• Suzuki Method
• Andrew's "Nurturing Competent Communicators" Talk
• Sarah Mackenzie and the Read-Aloud Revival
• "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll
• "Trees" by Joyce Kilmer
• The Arts of Language Podcast

Isn't this the best month of the year to talk about this?

It seems like January is the time we all want to finally get our lives together and give a valiant effort to do so.

Despite our best efforts, though, somehow the new of the year wears off over the months and by the time the weather warms, life is in its lovely, unavoidable spiral once more.

So why bother?

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In case you missed it...

Join me for the replay of a fantastic interview with Ainsley Arment.

Childhood is a unique growing time for our children; educators, parents, and experts have known this for years and yet childhood often gets swept under the rug at the expense of rigorous academics and a schedule full of structured activities. Children are, for the first time in history, busy. Schedules have largely replaced curiosity. Organized programs have taken priority over free play. And if we're really honest, I think us mamas can admit...it's just too much. What would happen if we embraced a more "wild and free" approach to childhood in our homeschools? What type of atmosphere might we be able to create for our families?

The Wild + Free movement had its humble beginnings about six years ago when Ainsley Arment started an Instagram account to gather and inspire other moms in quest of this "wild and free" type of childhood for their children. What began as a few moms sharing experiences and tips on the internet has grown into an online and in-person community of over 177,000 mamas strong. Wild & Free is not a method; it transcends - and therefore welcomes - many homeschool philosophies and makes room for all mamas to educate their children in a way that works best for their family.

Join us today as Ainsley and I explore the benefits of living Wild + Free in your homeschool.

In this episode you'll hear:

• Ainsley's journey to becoming a Wild + Free homeschooler
• What a Wild + Free education looks like
• Why childhood matters & how we can preserve it
• Ainsley's favorite parts of homeschooling, as well as the most challenging
• What we're reading right now
• How to balance it all...or not ;)
• How to be a Wild + Free mama

Show Notes

• Wild + Free Website
• Wild + Free Holidays
• The Call of the Wild + Free Book