When you are a geographically challenged mom, teaching geography becomes laborious and often finds itself on the back burner .

When you realize your third grader is still asking if her grandma lives in the same world as her, you start to think maybe geography should be given more attention.

I first took stock of my on-hand geography resources.

• WonderMaps from Bright Ideas Press
• two laminated wall maps
• printed notebooking pages
• an amazing Internet connection

The possibilities for fun were endless if I was willing to get creative.

I’m cheap and not willing to print a ton of color pictures online. I checked my local Freecycle group to find if anyone had any science, geography, or travel magazines that we could cut up for school. The response was amazing. We now have a rather nice stack of beautiful color pictures on dozens of different subjects.

It seemed Scotland was the top of choice for a couple of magazines, and since it was a country I could locate on a map, I decided to start there.

To set the mood, we set the laptop up in the kitchen where we were doing our work, and found Scottish music videos on YouTube. We started with traditional folk music and ended with popular rock songs!

I used WonderMaps to print out maps of Scotland. We colored them first.

Then we compared the maps to our laminated map and added in the cities that we couldn’t find.

I don’t have a formal geography curriculum, but I used Google search to find interesting facts on my own.

Some of the best information I found was on official websites for Scotland and for tourist sites. They had printable brochures and concise country demographics.

We found a brochure on Scottish Castles which the girls cut apart and then matched pictures to descriptions. They glued them on to pieces of construction paper for our binder.

The girls went back to their colored map and added in the cities where the castles could be found.

Every geography lesson needs some flag coloring.

The girls took a long time to color in this pretty simple flag. Maybe it was because mom found two Scotsmen in kilts singing I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) on YouTube and just had to listen to it. Maybe she danced.

When we finished getting our wiggles out, I fixed a snack of veggies and passed out notebooking pages. They set out to find the fun information like population and industries while I prepped a brand new binder for our first country study.

I printed out more WonderMaps showing full continents and used them for dividers. I let the girls decorate their papers with images cut from the magazines.

Once all the hard work was done, hole punched, and put in our fancy new geography binder, I surprised my girls by pulling out the paints. They both asked to paint pictures of Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster!

While they painted, I went to YouTube again and found them a few videos along the lines of Is Nessie Real?

Maybe teaching geography won’t be so hard after all.

*The link to the Castles pdf is not the one we used. After our project was done, my daughter found a better brochure. This one has more castles.

The thought of homeschooling through high school seems to put our fears under a microscope like magnifying a dust mite.  We can do something about dust mites when we keep them in their natural perspective and we can do something about high school.  Here are 10 high school fears typically magnified far out of proportion to their real life size.

1.  Terrifying Transcripts

A piece of paper with your child’s personal information, courses taken, and grades received.  That’s about it.

2.  Distressing Diploma

An optional (in Florida, at least) piece of paper declaring the deed is done.  Again, pretty easy.  It can be handmade, printed on the computer, or ordered from a diploma company.  It’s just paper.

3. Woeful Work

Work is what is behind the transcript and the diploma.  The planning is your work; the course work is your child’s.   Nearing adulthood, a high schooler should be taking on more and more of the responsibility.  Be sure to include delight-directed electives to make the work less woe-inducing.  And remember the students should be working; you should be planning and recording.

4.  Cruel Consequences

Enforcing – or allowing – natural consequences can be hard on a mother.  But enabling our children now will only intensify the problem further down the road.  Consequences need not be cruel, but they should be real.

5.  Resentful Relationships

This is optional.  Ending up loving each other deeply is a possibility.

6.  Stupid Fears

This is the old I’m Not Smart Enough fear.  Think of the dumbest high school teacher you ever had.  See?  You can do it.

7.  Aversion to Adversity, or I’ll Have to Teach Hard Stuff

Again, this is optional.  Your student needs to learn hard stuff, but you don’t necessarily have to teach it.  Self-study textbooks, unit studies, self-directed research projects, co-ops — the options are many. 

8.  Shortage of Socialization

Assign the topic as a research project.  Have your child define socialization, then analyze their behavior as a comparison.   They may come back to you saying, “I’m socialized, but adults out there are something else!”

9.  Fearing Fearlessness

Fear is optional.  If you are confident going into the homeschool halls of high school and look forward to it, embrace the joy of the journey!

10.  Effete Electives

Trust your children on this one.  Find out what they are interested in and create a plan with their input to develop their passions.  If they need structure, provide it.  If they need guidance, give them ideas.  If they need independence, offer it, recording what they did rather than what they are going to do.

Now, what’s so scary about high school?

I remember the year my husband and I were fortunate enough to be able to take our first cruise. Homeschool Adventures asked Maggie to be a speaker at the homeschool conference they were holding on a Carnival’s cruise ship. I had long before thought of having a homeschool conference on a cruise ship, and I told Maggie that she and Bob weren’t allowed to go without us!

I was pretty desperate for a vacation, and I loved every moment of it. In Mexico we saw ruins. We snorkeled for the first time. The whole thing was a blast. Of course, even if we’d just sailed around the water on the ship, I’d have been happy. Everything you’ve ever heard about the never-ending, yummy food on a cruise ship is true. Because I was in my first trimester of pregnancy, I took full advantage of having great food and not having to prepare it.

This was a homeschool cruise, and there were many great speakers–Jim Weiss, Cathy Duffy, Dinah Zike and our very own Maggie Hogan. But did I go to more than two workshops? No–let’s get real, folks–I was on my very first cruise! We did get to sit at the speakers’ table, though, and hob-nob with the celebrities. Picture my saying in a high, excited voice, “Dinah Zike? You’re THE Dinah Zike? Cathy Duffy? THE Cathy Duffy?”

I truly had the time of my life. However, I spent most of it trying to figure out how I was going to stow away and stay on the ship or how our lives could be rearranged so that we could sell all our stuff, get jobs on the ship, and homeschool on the ocean. As you read this, you probably laugh, thinking I’m kidding.

I was not kidding. I was desperate. I did not want to go home. I did not want to face those whiny children. I did not want to play the “Do we have to do school today?…Why do I have to do math?…But I hate science!” game again. Fortunately, I could never figure out how to pull off my stow-away plan, and I ended up back at home, homeschooling again the next week.

Fast forward to March. I began planning a trip to our state homeschool conference, four hours away. My friends had never been and weren’t sure they wanted to go. I had to beg. Hard. I had to pray. Hard.

I thought I was going to end up going by myself. But a couple of weeks before the weekend arrived, we had eight gals going. And from the get-go, we had a blast. Even the drive was invigorating  We shared our issues, our struggles, and our successes. We reminded each other why we homeschool. We reassured and suggested. We comforted and commiserated.

Then we arrived and saw more vendor booths than you can imagine. Going to CHAP would be enough for me if I bought nothing, heard nothing. Just to sit and watch that many people who are like-minded, so committed to going against the establishment, would be enough. Seeing so many families willing to walk in faith and commit themselves fully to training not only their children’s minds, but their character, on an on-going basis, always brings me to tears at some point during the weekend. But I also got to look at curriculum, buy fun books at one of my favorite vendors, Good Steward Books, and hear fabulous speaker. (I especially loved the main speakers, but I enjoyed Diana Waring and Tammy Duby, as well.)

We all went out for a yummy dinner where we had a huge table and shared our favorite moments of the day. we went back to the hotel and stayed up late, sharing our purchases and bargains and coming up with a game-plan for the next day. After eight more hours Saturday, I was ready to go home. I couldn’t wait to see my children, to hug them, to tell them I loved them, and remind them that we love them so much that my job is to stay home and teach them.

Why was my state homeschool conference better than a week-long cruise?  I came home with a plan. I came home with ideas for how to make next year (next month and next week) better. I came home with the reminder that it is only by God’s daily grace and by continual leaning on Him that I can get up each morning and spend the day trying to stay a step ahead of my kids–be witty, take advantage of teachable moments, discipline appropriately, and enjoy these precious gifts that God has bestowed on us. I came home with hope.

My best spring advice? Plan now – even if it’s last minute – to get to a homeschool conference this year.

No one told me 16 years ago when I started homeschooling our oldest child that I’d still be homeschooling 16 years later, with 13 more years to go. I’m thankful they didn’t because I’m pretty sure I would have doubled over laughing until I crumpled into a crying heap.

I love homeschooling, but I did not intend to make a career out of it. Guess I should have thought of that when we had 8 kids, huh?

I speak to a lot of brand new homeschoolers at conventions every year, and my blog offers a smorgasbord of help to those just beginning their school-at-home journey. They are a bright-eyed, enthusiastic crowd, soaking up the vocabulary of homeschooling, from Charlotte Mason to Singapore Math, asking a hundred questions and leaving with bags full of catalogs and notes feverishly scrawled on the back of the conference program.

I love those novice homeschoolers, but clearly I am not one of them. I no longer get excited by the red bins of discount colored pencils at Target each August, and I delete most curriculum companies’ emails as they hit my inbox, yawning as my finger taps the keyboard.

What’s a homeschool mom in a mid-career slump to do? I’ve really had to dig deep these past two years to propel myself along, and this spring I finally embraced the fact that I have a major case of homeschool meh. Admitting I’m less than excited about homeschooling has helped me to create some direction.

5 Ways to Combat a Mid-Career Homeschooling Slump

1. Admit you don’t want to do this anymore, or at the least aren’t as excited about it as you once were. Acknowledgement is the first step to recovery.
2. Scale back to the academic non-negotiables and forget the cute things other (younger, newer) homeschoolers are executing, photographing, and pinning on Pinterest. Good for them! A fairy garden topographical to-scale map of Budapest is not for you right now.
3. Feed your brain something other than educational material. Read a mystery novel or learn to surf. I’m not kidding about that last one; I learned to surf two years ago, and now I read Surfer magazine in my spare time. What have you always wanted to learn about and do? Do that.
4. Make the household stuff even simpler than before. I’m willing to bet that it’s not the All American History or Christian Kids Explore Science that’s pulling you under. It’s the laundry that never goes away and the three meals a day plus snacks. I made a breakfast and lunch menu in September last year that has us serving the same meals made by the same kids each week. We’re on auto-pilot now, and I stepped out of the kitchen cockpit for two-thirds of our daily food preparation. Score!
5. Get as much help as possible. If you can afford a housekeeper every week, awesome. Once a year? Fantastic. She’ll bail you out. Join a co-op, sign up for online classes, use a pre-planned curriculum (Illuminations = awesome). Outsource.

And of course, I do a lot of praying. I see our homeschool as a vibrant, living place for young people to grow and get the gospel, to launch from and make a big impact on their world. When I remember why we started this whole thing in the first place, I get a renewed excitement about the years ahead of us.

The end of the school year is near.  How do we finish everything and still love our families and they still love us?  Here are a few tips to get you through the final weeks.

Procrastinate

But only if you like that sort of last minute stress.  And only if you are singularly responsible for the final result.  If someone is waiting for you to do your job so they can do theirs, see the next point.

Don’t Procrastinate

You may enjoy the stress, but do your children?  Does your husband?  Do others to whom you are accountable?  Out of love for them, remember that not everyone thrives on the last minute.

Make a Plan

Write down everything that needs to be done before you close the books for the summer. Not that we ever close all books for the summer – in fact, we get to open some we’ve been waiting all year for!

Dream About Summer

Take time to think about the fun things you’ll do with your children this summer, things like reading

curriculum catalogs in the backyard while they play in the sprinkler.

Think on These Things

“Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy–meditate on these things.”  Philippians 4:8

Finish the Textbooks

Or don’t.  If you just can’t leave a book unfinished, scan through to the end with your children.  Teach them how to look for key words and concepts.  Discuss the illustrations.  If something piques their interest, hang out for a few extra moments on that page or in that chapter and then continue scanning.

Invite Exploration

A child’s curiosity may lead her to learn more about the edu-appetizer offered in your scanning.  Let them explore the topic.  Plan a library trip during the last weeks of school and let them browse the non-fiction shelves.  Let all ages – young and old – pick out picture books on current fascinations.  You, too, Mom!

Underschedule

Saying no is a gift to your family.  You may feel the need to run and go, but do they?  Some children need time to process, to be still, to be listened to, to choose their own downtime interests.

Enjoy your children

There are three times homeschooling can distract us from enjoying our young ones: the beginning of the year, the middle of the year, and the end of the year.

Listen to Your Children

They may be saying more than we are hearing.

Be Thankful for the Acronym A.N.Y.

Always Next Year.  Until graduation, that is.

Then and now, be thankful there is still motherhood to enjoy.

Raise your hand if you are ready for winter to go away.

*raises hand*

The weather in Virginia finally broke a couple of days ago, and we took full advantage of the change. I let the kids leave their math books inside, their reading on the shelf, and the history DVDs in the cases.

Lucky for me, science is a take-a-long activity– especially physics.

After doing some of the hands-on activities in our Christian Kids Explore Physics book, the girls wanted to keep “playing,” so I went on a search for fun demonstrations of motion, force, friction, and energy.

Here are ten of their favorite demonstrations from the Christian Kids Explore Physics book:

1. Color, Light, and Absorbing Heat: The children put on different colored t-shirts and sat in the sun.  Then we discussed who had the warmer back– the one in the white shirt or the one in the darker shirt.
2. Color, Light, and Absorbing Heat: We used rocks to hold a white and a black piece of paper to our driveway. After a while, we felt under the paper to see which piece of driveway was the warmest.
3. Density: Will it sink or will it float?  This was fun for our preschooler. She didn’t understand the density discussion, but she enjoyed coloring her observations. We took a small tub of water outside, and they gathered items to test.
4. Balloon rockets: Blow up balloons and let them go.  Discuss thrust and air pressure.
5. Car races: Push toy cars along various surfaces: grass, driveway, sidewalk, deck board, etc.  Discuss friction, force, and energy.
6. Motion: We calculated average speed by walking a set distance. Then we tried it while running, riding bikes, and riding scooters.
   
7. Friction: Box Buggy slide each other down the street in a cardboard box. The children discovered that  pushing the 2-year-old was considerably easier than pushing the tween.
8. Sound: After a nice picnic in the front yard, we closed our eyes and listened to the springtime sounds around us.
9. Static Electricity: Separating salt and pepper – mix salt and pepper on a plate. Blow up a balloon and rub it on your hair to create static. Now hold it next to the plate and watch the pepper jump onto the balloon.
10. Make A Rainbow: Use a spray bottle or water hose to create a fine mist. Observe how the droplets of water create a rainbow from the sunlight.

I am certainly appreciating the way Christian Kids Explore Science presents scientific information to children. Even complicated topics with  fancy words are easy to understand. When we were outside, we were able to discuss the physics principles of our games with ease.

Have you ever moved your classroom outside during nice weather?

May 5-12, 2013

For National Music Week, take 15% off A Young Scholar’s Guide to Composers with coupon code haveabucket.

May 19 -24, 2013

Use coupon code circumnavigate to receive 15% off  The Ultimate Geography and Timeline Guide or Hands-On Geography.

May 27-31, 2013

May 27 is Memorial Day, and we’re keeping the armed forces in our prayers. Read about one serviceman’s experience in Basic to Baghdad, available at 15% off the rest of the month when you enter coupon code honorableservice at checkout.

Use of all discount codes is subject to the official coupon policy. Coupon codes are not case sensitive.

How many times have you uttered to yourself the sentiment in these words of Dr. Seuss?

How did it get so late so soon?

You were going online only to research a project for school, to see if today’s blog post published, or to check email. Ninety minutes later, you realize your one-minute task side-tracked your entire day.

What is the answer to time management that really works? One solution is a lowly kitchen timer. This low-tech gadget can be a life-saver in a variety of situations.

Timer Ideas for Homeschooling

• Everyone take a fifteen minute break to get out of the chair. This is especially important for high school students who find themselves sitting for long periods of time.
• Journal the highlights of the school week. Take a moment to reflect on triumphs.
• Set the timer for 10, 15 or 20 minutes and spend it one-on-one with a child. Shut off all distractions and listen to them. If you have more then one child, you may need to think creatively on how to do this, maybe even rotating each child through out the week.

Timer Ideas for the Computer

• Work on filing and categorizing tax information. Come April, you will be very thankful you invested this.
• Read one or two blogs and leave a grateful or encouraging comment.
• Pick one social media platform and engage for a limited amount of time.

Timer Ideas for Personal Use

• If you are on the second re-heat of your coffee or tea, set the timer for 15-minutes and drink this cup while its still hot. Let your mind rest while you enjoy the hot beverage.
• Take a nap, have a few moments of quiet, or read your Bible –refuel your mind. For me, fifteen minutes of afternoon quite recharges my brain.
• Do one thing that you keep putting off– balancing the checkbook, returning a phone call or cleaning the bathroom. Sometimes accomplishing that one thing that keeps bugging you can make the rest of the day more enjoyable.

We would love to know how you use a timer! Add your ideas in a comment, or write an entire blog post and join the link-up below. (If you are reading via email, please click over to see the link-up.)