

ou’re probably opening this magazine and thinking, “It’s not fall anymore!” I’m sorry this issue is so late. We have experienced some major challenges the last few months and while this issue is late, to us, it is a triumph.
In October, we were hit by two hurricanes. We’re in the Tampa Bay area of Florida and the first one didn’t come too close in the end, but we still had to prepare for it and clean up afterwards. The second one, Milton, was a major hurricane and the worst one we’ve seen in our area for 100 years. A street lamp in front of our house toppled over. Several trees in our yard came down from the wind, and one fell on our back patio enclosure, causing significant damage. The power was out for four days and we were oh so grateful for the wonderful invention of electricity (and air conditioning) being restored by the hard working power company employees.
While we were supposed to be completing the magazine before leaving for a trip up north to be with family during a health crisis, we were preparing for, surviving, and cleaning up after hurricanes.




- Healthy relationships provide a strong foundation for all home learning.
- Children were designed to learn from the day they are born.
- Each child has a unique blend of learning preferences, talents, and passions.
- There’s no one-size-fits-all education—including what they should learn and when they should learn it!
- The more ways kids interact with concepts, the better they understand them.
- Different seasons of life may require different approaches.
- Education should be an adventure!
- YOU are the best teacher for your children.
That’s why we bring you a variety of resources from trusted sponsors and recommended companies we choose to partner with. We hope you’ll check them out!









shley mentioned in Encouragement for Your Soul, that you may be thinking, “It’s not fall anymore.” But strangely enough as I write this mid-December, the autumn colors are in full array here in Texas. That’s the funny thing about seasons… They look different for everyone. So yes, some of you are experiencing winter, while others of us are sitting in a late fall—but hopefully we can all find beauty in the season we are in right now, because God is with us.
Much like nature, we all experience different seasons in our homeschools as well. You may be in that sweet spot right now, or facing transitions (check out The Family Man by Todd Wilson!), adjusting how you teach, or needing a good, long rest.
Sometimes we look up and realize our homeschools don’t look like we envisioned they would. Durenda Wilson shares how to get back to the basics in Mom to Mom by asking ourselves some key questions. While in Faith Filled Family, Steve Demme continues his current series with a very different question, How is Jesus Loving Us?
I veer off path a bit from writing about fun natural learning tools this year and explain a powerful way to connect children’s understanding with what they experience in The Natural Learning Home. Which just so happened to be fleshed out in a different way in Connie Albers’ article titled Experience Leaning. And our guest columnist Michelle Brownell, gives us very practical support with her article Structured Learning vs. Natural Learning.
You’ll find a lot of variety in this issue! Discover the power of music in your little learners lives in Cultivating Little Learners with Kathy Eggers, the science of composting in Backyard Science with Michelle Moody, and how you can support your teens struggling with executive functioning skills in Raising Lifelong Learners with Colleen Kessler.














Enhanced – Listen: to the audio article

hen we begin the school year, most of us homeschooling moms are excited about the potential for a fresh start and hopeful that all the planning and praying will yield enthusiastic children and effective results. These are good things to hope, plan, and pray for, but many times we find ourselves burnt out within a short time. We’ve miscalculated the sustainability of our plans.
Children don’t always cooperate with all the good things we think they should learn or experience and, as many seasoned homeschooling moms can attest, children often have their own timeline for learning.
This is especially challenging when you consider that every homeschooling mom struggles with the question, “Am I doing enough?” We often think this question can be answered by finding “the perfect” checklist and then accomplishing those goals—believing that if we could figure this out, we would finally be at peace. We need to recognize that the questions we are really asking are, “Am I going to fail my children?” and “Will they be prepared for life?”

One great thing to remember is that God’s principles remain the same for all of us, but the methods or ways we live those out can look different from each other. So we search God’s Word, pray for wisdom, and live out those convictions in the sustainable ways that He leads because conviction gives us courage and confidence.


with Steve Demme

n our first three articles we focused on the question, “How Jesus has loved us?” For He is the divine example of how we are to love each other. Not only has Jesus loved us well, He is ever loving us well. For when He ascended to sit at the right hand of the Father, He did not sit back with His arms folded, but committed Himself to pray for us.
Consider these two passages from Romans and Hebrews:

Join the growing movement of parents who set aside comparisons, take control of their children’s education, choose courage over fear, and let God lead. Parents who homeschool boldly.


Wherever you listen to podcasts or at:





with
Ashley Wiggers
iving thanks tends to be our focus one month out of the year. The other eleven months we seem to do our best to just get through, don’t we?
But I don’t want to just survive.
These are nice words and even seem somewhat doable until trials and difficulties come up. We think to ourselves, “Life is already hard enough and now this?!”



n the first two issues of 2024, we’ve talked about how LEGO bricks and board games can teach our children more than most curriculums in their early years. I had a path planned to continue, a theme of highlighting those things our children already love as a part of their natural learning process.
But as I said, sometimes you just have to take the scenic route. The scenic route is often inspired “in the moment,” and in this case by something I personally experienced recently.


aking time to travel can seem like an overwhelming task. You wonder if all the effort and chaos thrown into your schedule will be worth it. Not to mention, being able to afford a family trip can seem insurmountable these days. But with some determination, a good amount of planning and perhaps time to save up, these trips end up becoming a priceless experience your family will never forget.
I still remember when we went to Colonial Williamsburg as a kid. We had just finished studying the Revolutionary War (my favorite time period), and it made our studies come alive! Things we had read about were suddenly real and right in front of us. I marveled at the women walking down the streets in their big hoop skirts and listened with fascination as the horses clip-clopped during our horse-drawn carriage ride.




omeschooling provides the wonderful opportunity to customize your children’s education to fit their unique strengths, interests, and potential. One of the most effective approaches in homeschooling is experiential learning. This hands-on method teaches children in a way that engages them and prepares them for real-world challenges.
As a Strengths Mastery Coach and a homeschooling mom who taught my children using this principle, I’ve seen firsthand the power of tailoring education to children’s strengths. The traditional approach often left my children uninspired or frustrated. I remember those moments clearly—trying to force them to sit still and memorize facts when they wanted to get their hands on something, to explore, to create.


by



t is often said that music is a universal language that transcends cultures and generations. For young children, its benefits extend far beyond our imagination. Engaging with music can have profound and multifaceted effects on a child’s development, laying a foundation for cognitive, emotional, social, and physical growth. Personally, music is intertwined with so many of my favorite childhood memories. It is hard for me to pinpoint when my love for music began. Maybe that’s why I am such a fan of introducing music at a young age!





avigating the homeschool journey can feel like a balancing act. On one side, we have the comforting structure of lesson plans and curriculum. On the other, the thrilling freedom and flexibility of child-led exploration. But who says we can’t have the best of both worlds? I’ve spent over a decade homeschooling my children, and I can attest to the challenges and rewards of blending these two approaches. It’s a journey of discovery, not just for our children, but for us as educators and parents. Did you know that 68% of homeschooling parents combine multiple educational approaches? Let’s explore how we can create a learning experience that embraces both structure and flexibility.
Enhanced – Activity: available to download



with
Kay Chance



eading aloud as a family is one of the foundational strategies for creating an atmosphere conducive to learning naturally. Simple, but effective, reading aloud provides so many more benefits than you might think. Reading aloud:
- Increases attention span
- Grows vocabulary
- Develops reading comprehension
- Models reading with expression
But maybe most importantly, it gives you the chance to build family relationships through a shared experience. In her book, For the Children’s Sake, Susan Schaeffer Macauley explains it this way:
bestselling author

bestselling author



with
Stacy Farrell


It’s time for us all to get back to basics!

How to Start Filling Your Pantry with Dehydrated Foods
ntire books exist solely for dehydrating and providing recipes for the process. I’ve invested in a couple of them myself. In hindsight, it was money down the drain. Trust me on this—put that money toward a quality dehydrator or some Mason jars for storing your dried goods.
Dehydrating food is a simple, straightforward process. You don’t need to follow recipes, and you don’t need to use a different temperature setting for every food. Let’s talk about what you actually need to know to get started.


Enhanced – Listen: to the audio article



Jennifer Cabrera

here I was, anxiously gawking at a book entitled What Your 3rd Grader Needs to Know. I wasn’t sure if I had found the checklist of absolution I was looking for, or proof I had bitten off more than I could chew with my hasty, spite-fueled, and hifalutin decision to homeschool. Drifting naively, I combed the learning materials (at a bookstore that shall-not-be-named but rhymes with yarns and global). New homeschool mom fantasies and foolery coursed through my caffeine spiked mind, flailing for freedom but grasping for guidance.
Of course, new homeschool parents must start somewhere. And often they search out the security of a helpful, guiding, directional, but possibly harmful, handicapping, misleading, and addictive …checklist.
Checklists… checklists… checklists… Collect enough and you can stitch them into a quilt of contrived comfort and aimless assurance. But…How do I know what to teach them? reverberated in my head. Did I hold the answers here in this book? Had the good Lord led me to this series of self-asserted authority, just as He led me to the exit of our elementary school?

From Trash to Treasure:

hen we were selecting a lot on which to build our current home, our builder asked why we chose the one we did. We answered, “Because of the woods behind the house.” While only the first fifteen feet were our property, it was enough space to start a yard waste compost area.
After battling crazy drainage areas and horribly compacted red clay soil the first year in our home, we decided to build garden boxes for growing native plants, fruits, and vegetables.
We started our first year of raised bed gardening with much zeal and enthusiasm. We hauled our utility trailer two miles down the road and brought backfill dirt for the boxes. Plants were placed using a little 10-10-10 fertilizer, our homemade drip system was implemented, and we waited.
Unfortunately, our abundant harvest never arrived. The first year, our yield was abysmal. Despite using some “organic” fertilizer granules and consistent watering, the plants were stunted, and the fruit never grew large enough to ripen.
With the end of the summer season approaching, we realized the topsoil we had purchased lacked nutrients—lots of them! Applying fertilizer granules every three to four weeks was just a band-aid. We needed to build a nutrient-rich base in the boxes to enjoy a better harvest the next growing season.


Colleen Kessler, M.Ed.
Colleen Kessler, M.Ed.
My seventeen-year-old is fully entrenched in the college application process, and to make things even tougher for this homeschool mama, she’s planning to pursue a BFA in musical theatre. Like most performance-based degrees in conservatory-style programs, there are the traditional academic applications, along with artistic applications and auditions. It’s a lot.
Throw in all the normal senior year stuff like classes, time with friends, work, social events, and more, and it’s a nightmare for anyone who struggles with executive function skills.


onfession time. I admit it. I am that homeschool mom. In seven years of homeschooling, we have tried a total of five different core curricula. We have experimented with four different approaches to math. I have a library of resource books on my shelf that “look so good!” and “would be so much fun!” But there they sit, dousing me with a cold bucket of failure every time I walk past them. I am sure they are so good, but, this busy mama of four never really had time to try them out past the first lesson or two. So now, instead of shopping the used curriculum sales, there I sit at my selling table, trying to pass curriculum off to the next naive and insecure homeschool mama pushing the stroller and wrangling a preschooler or two and maybe passing back a few of my wasted dollars in the meantime.
About a year and a half ago, I began to ask myself, “Why?” Why can’t I seem to find the curriculum “niche” that I fit into? Why am I consistently frustrated and frazzled with how our homeschool is going? Why are we lacking peace and joy in our home when I know this is what we are called to as a family? Why do my kids keep putting up with me when I teeter-totter between the sweet sit-on-the-couch-and-read-with-you-and-isn’t-learning-fun mommy to the beastly, bug-eyed, don’t-you-dare-get-out-of-your-seat-again-until-you-finish-your-entire-mathbook-and-you’re-not-eating-til-it’s-done-monster mom? This is when the Lord impressed clearly into my heart these words:




How do I help my high schooler prepare for a job interview?
remember my first job interview. My hands were shaking. Questions ran through my mind. Am I answering appropriately? Will they hire me?
Interviews can be intimidating. However, with preparation, the probability of our teens being hired increases, as does their confidence.
Be Prepared


Curriculum Consultants
Gina Burmeier & Amber Garcia



re you new to homeschooling? Maybe you have a friend who is asking questions. Think About Homeschooling [1] by Sensible Life Publishing is a great resource to have in your library. Sandy Glenn discusses the what, why, and how of homeschool life. Anyone considering homeschooling for their families will walk away from this book with the confidence to step forward and the tools to put a plan in motion. This is also a great resource for understanding a friend or family member’s decision to homeschool. Homeschooling is a rewarding, life changing adventure, and it just might be the best choice for your family!

Gina Burmeier & Amber Garcia




re you new to homeschooling? Maybe you have a friend who is asking questions. Think About Homeschooling [1] by Sensible Life Publishing is a great resource to have in your library. Sandy Glenn discusses the what, why, and how of homeschool life. Anyone considering homeschooling for their families will walk away from this book with the confidence to step forward and the tools to put a plan in motion. This is also a great resource for understanding a friend or family member’s decision to homeschool. Homeschooling is a rewarding, life changing adventure, and it just might be the best choice for your family!

pause and reflect on your homeschool year in progress. Set aside time to look at your school schedule, evaluate your curriculum, and consider a general plan for the rest of your school year. Is your current daily schedule working? Are you noticing any gaps or struggles with your current curriculum? If you think you may need a supplemental resource to support your curriculum or are looking for suggestions on modifying your curriculum to make it fit your family better, talk with a curriculum consultant. They are here to help make your curriculum










don’t like change. I like to find a sweet spot and stick with it until I die! But that’s the thing with sweet spots… They’re just spots along the journey of homeschooling, parenting, and life.
The early years with my family and homeschooling was one of those sweet spots. Oh, to be sure, it was hard. My wife and I were pretty much exhausted all the time. I know I started counting down the days until my Sunday afternoon nap on Monday!
But life was simpler. We could control things. The kids got up when we said, did school when we asked, took naps and went to bed when we told them to.
Ad Index
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Answers in Genesis
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The Billy Graham Library
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Celebrate Simple & Cheryl Bastian
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Connie Albers/Parenting Beyond the Rules
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Homegrown Preschooler
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Homeschool Boldly Podcast
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Homeschool Essentials
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Math Mammoth
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Northwest University
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Notgrass History
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Rainbow Resources
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Spelling Power
www.thespellingpower.com
The Smiling Homeschooler & Todd Wilson
www.thesmilinghomeschooler.com
Ad Index
www.americanheritage.org
Answers in Genesis
www.answersingenesis.org
The Billy Graham Library
www.BillyGrahamLibrary.org/students
Building Faith Families
www.buildingfaithfamilies.org
Celebrate Simple & Cheryl Bastian
www.cherylbastian.com
Christianbook
www.christianbook.com
Connie Albers/Parenting Beyond the Rules
www.conniealbers.com
Dianne Craft: “Right Brain” Learning System
www.diannecraft.org
Durenda Wilson
www.durendawilson.com
Evangel University
www.evangel.edu
Focus on the Family
www.focusonthefamily.com
Folly Beach
www.visitfolly.com
Harding University
www.harding.edu
Hifalutin Homeschooler
www.hifalutinhomeschooler.com
Hip Homeschool Moms
www.hiphomeschoolmoms.com
Homegrown Preschooler
www.thehomegrownpreschooler.com
Homeschool.com
www.homeschool.com
Homeschool Boldly Podcast
www.homeschoolboldly.com
Homeschool Essentials
www.homeschoolessentials.net
Math Mammoth
www.mathmammoth.com
Moody Publishers
www.moodypublishers.com
Northwest University
www.northwest.edu
Notgrass History
www.notgrasshistory.com
Rainbow Resources
www.rainbowresource.com
Spelling Power
www.thespellingpower.com
The Smiling Homeschooler & Todd Wilson
www.thesmilinghomeschooler.com

Co-Executive Editors
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Ashley Wiggers
Kay Chance
Alex Wiggers
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advertising@homeschoolingtoday.com
www.homeschoolingtoday.com
Co-Executive Editors
ART & DESIGN DIRECTOR
COPY EDITOR
Subscription Inquiries
ADVERTISING
WEBSITE
Ashley Wiggers
Kay Chance
Alex Wiggers
Cindy Wiggers
Greg Strayer
info@homeschoolingtoday.com
advertising@homeschoolingtoday.com
www.homeschoolingtoday.com
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