I love talking with different families about how they chose to homeschool. One family we spoke with recently told us about their missionary adventures. The young girl being homeschooled was learning about things most adults don’t understand. She knows how to eat a meal she doesn’t recognize in order to honor the culture and those who made it. She knows what it’s like to sleep in less comfortable conditions than home. She knows how to pray for people in need and wants to share Christ the best she can to help others come to know Him. This young woman is so confident in herself. She knows who she is. She knows her value and has no doubts about being loved by her parents and the God who made her.

he moment you begin homeschooling, you encounter a critical truth: every child learns differently. Every child has his own way of understanding information and connecting it to what he has already learned.

When you discover the best way for each of your children to learn, you will see better results, experience less frustration, and enjoy a lot more fun in your homeschool.

If you’re new to exploring learning styles, the vocabulary can seem a bit confusing. We’re going to break down some learning styles and dig into how you can best use notebooking with your unique learner.

re you feeling pressured to do all the things with your littlest learners? Maybe it’s time to step back and ask, “What do they really need?”

We need to be aware of the way God made our young children to grow and develop and take this into consideration as we teach them. Unfortunately, we have a real lack of understanding of child development in our society, and this is reflected in the way we chain children to desks earlier and earlier—to the great detriment of children and their development.

When Lesli’s son had a brain injury at eighteen months old and lost his ability to walk and talk, she had to become an amateur neurologist. The doctors told her he would never speak and would most likely be in an institution by the time he was ten. They gave him no hope for a normal life. That was not acceptable to her. She set to work researching and developing a plan for her son to rewire his damaged brain.

Ahhh, it’s time for autumn nature study. With the crisp, cool air rustling the changing leaves, it’s as if we’re being invited to watch winter’s slow approach.

There are so many different things you can do and see and experience in the fall.

In the spring issue, we talked about choosing one thing to focus on to build a habit of nature study.

Ahem… my bag of inspirational homeschool metaphors lacks that certain charm and beauty you might find elsewhere. In short, they are slightly repulsive. Which is precisely why they are memorable.

These revelations are plucked from the real-world experience of raising and homeschooling only boys. A world where specimens of possible wisdom must be spotted in the rough, poked at with a stick, lit on fire, and/or collected for dissection. The memories preserved for mom’s retrospection when the excitement and nausea have worn off.

s determined as I was to counteract it, my son developed an attitude of entitlement. As soon as each “gift-giving” event was cleaned up and the gifts put away, I inevitably heard, “What’s next?”

arenting and homeschooling are journeys filled with unexpected twists and turns that can bring excitement, motivation, challenges, and loads and loads of stress. And, if we’re worried about all the ups and downs, imagine what our kids are feeling…

Stress is a natural part of life. It’s, quite simply, the body’s response to changes and challenges. Life is full of those things—even when you’re a kid! Most of the time, we think of stress as a bad thing caused by trauma, challenges, or hard things that happen. The truth is, though, that stress can be caused by good things as well. Upcoming events like a party, holiday, new activity, time with friends, or a new baby are exciting and good but can also cause stress.

People feel stress when they need to prepare or there’s something they need to adapt to, guard against, or look forward to. When something matters, a person feels stress. When there’s change coming—even a wanted or exciting change—a person feels stress.

n the early 80’s, there was a perfume commercial on TV that went viral when the only things going viral were… viruses. The name of the perfume was Enjoli, an eight-hour perfume that was supposed to take you through the day.

I’m pretty sure I never smelled the perfume, but the jingle stuck with me all these years. A woman sings to the camera while acting out the different lyrics. “I can bring home the bacon… Enjoli… fry it up in the pan… Enjoli… and never never… let you forget you’re a man… ‘cause I’m a wo—man… Enjoli.”

Since then, the jingle has been locked in my brain and released at random times… like now.

The unrealistic message behind the song was that women can be it all and do it all. Of course, that’s a lie, Mom. No one CAN DO IT ALL OR BE IT ALL. That’s especially true of homeschool moms who put huge pressure on themselves to be responsible for EVERYTHING and EVERYBODY.

There are plenty of great articles in this edition encouraging you to stop trying to do it all… so this article is written for dads. So Dad, can I talk to you for a moment? The only thing worse than putting all those pressures on yourself is when a homeschool mom’s husband heaps generous amounts of guilt and expectations onto her.