10 Keys to High School Success for Homeschoolers

When I started homeschooling 15 years ago, I knew about a dozen other moms who were launching too. We all had preschoolers or kindergarteners. With high hopes and big plans, we stepped into the role of homeschool mom with relative ease. Sure we were fearful. But only because we were venturing into something new and quite meaningful. 

Since we were only teaching four and five-year-olds, what harm could we do? we asked ourselves.

That first year was a success for all of us. For the most part, we loved it and so did our kids. But as the years went on, I began to notice a sad trend: more and more of those original homeschool mom-friends began to bow out. One by one, they decided that homeschooling had been great in the little years, but would surely be a slog in the upper grades.

What We're Reading in August 2021

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All month, I've been sorting through and vetting titles for the tween/teen book club I host. I was especially focused on one title, A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban. It was a new-to-me book from a new-to-me author. But I'd heard good things and wanted to give it a quick once-over to see if it might make a good selection for our group. 

10th Grade Homeschool Curriculum 2021-2022

"I've never seen a teenage boy work so hard." 

I hear these words all the time with regards to my oldest son. At the home renovation of a family friend, at his lawn mowing job, at a landscaping gig of a fellow church member, at local and national Civil Air Patrol events--wherever and whenever he's tasked with responsibility, he receives audible praise for how hard he works. 

This will serve him well in the military someday. He has hopes of becoming a Navy SEAL after homeschool. Regardless of where God leads him, I know without a doubt, that he'll put 110% into the job. 

8th Grade Homeschool Curriculum 2021-2022

Before our homeschool journey even began, my husband and I committed to crafting curriculum options that would meet the needs of our individual kids. After seven years of teaching in a traditional classroom, I knew the pitfalls of one-size-fits-all learning. It erroneously assumes that every child is exactly like all the others and that they excel and/or struggle in all the same areas of academics and at the same rates. But the truth is, just as kids learn to walk and talk at different ages, they learn to do other things with their own timetable too. That's why we've never really homeschooled with grade levels.

7th Grade Homeschool Curriculum 2021-2022

My nature-loving son has spent most of his summer in the woods next to our house, wading around in the stream, using his metal detector to find treasures, and bottle hunting for antique glassware that's been buried there for over a hundred years. 

The woods are always a steady source for him to learn through play. It's inspired him to make catch-and-release traps in order to study the many species of squirrels, raccoons, and rabbits that live near the stream, has provided him with clay that he's used to mold into earthen pots, and has given him dozens upon dozens of metal scraps with which to forge into new creations.