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You Are Seen: A Mental Health Check for Homeschooling Moms with Littles

Mon, 19 May 2025 23:58:11 GMT

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Hey Mama,
If you’re reading this, let me say it loud and clear: You are seen. You matter.
In the chaos of homeschooling older kids , nursing a newborn, trying to function on interrupted sleep, and keeping up with the house, it’s easy to forget yourself. But if you’ve recently had a baby and you’re feeling off, depleted, or deeply overwhelmed… this is a gentle nudge: it may be more than just “mom exhaustion.”

Recognizing the Signs of Postpartum Depression

Postpartum depression (PPD) doesn’t discriminate. It affects moms from all walks of life — yes, even the organized, faith-filled, always-busy homeschooling moms .

Here are some common signs of PPD to look for (Sources: Mayo Clinic , National Institute of Mental Health ):

Ongoing sadness or mood swings
Crying more than usual or without a clear reason
Difficulty bonding with your baby
Losing interest in activities you once enjoyed
Extreme fatigue or insomnia (even when the baby sleeps)
Feelings of guilt, shame, or worthlessness
Irritability or anger
Withdrawal from loved ones
Changes in appetite
Intrusive thoughts , including thoughts of harming yourself or your baby

If you recognize yourself in several of the signs above, please know: you are not alone . Postpartum depression in homeschool moms is more common than you think — and it’s not a reflection of your strength, your faith, or your love for your children.

According to the American Psychological Association, about 1 in 7 women will experience postpartum depression .

What to Do if You’re Struggling

1. Speak Up

You don’t have to power through it. Talk to someone — a trusted friend, your spouse, a midwife, a therapist, or your doctor. You deserve support and care too.

2. Loosen the Reins

Homeschooling with a newborn doesn’t have to be perfect. Read aloud from the couch. Watch a history documentary together. Let your older kids journal or do independent work. It all counts.

3. Simplify Your Days

It’s okay to clear your calendar. Focus on nourishing food, slow mornings, and short to-do lists. Learning doesn’t have to be flashy, or structured, to be meaningful.

4. Rest Is a Need, Not a Luxury

If you have an opportunity to nap, take it. If the house stays messy one more day, so be it. Your healing is priority right now.

5. Let Others Help

Accept the freezer meal. Let a friend or grandparent take the kids to the park. Say yes when someone offers to help — not because you’re weak, but because you’re wise enough to know you can’t do it all .

This Is a Season

This tender, tiring season won’t last forever. But how you care for yourself in it matters deeply. Your children don’t need a perfect mom. They need a present one. And that means you need tending to, too.

It’s okay to grieve the loss of how things used to feel. It’s okay to admit this is harder than you expected. And it’s okay to need more than prayer and coffee — you are worth real help.

You Are Needed Here

Mama, your presence in your children’s lives is irreplaceable. But so is your peace. The world doesn’t just need what you do — it needs you . And the best gift you can give your family is a version of you that feels safe, stable, and supported.

Now, this is where I’d usually find a creative way to tell you about our educational letters for homeschooling and how they can help take a little pressure off your plate — and honestly, they really can. They were created by a mom who understands what it’s like to homeschool with little ones and juggle everything else life throws your way. But even more important than any product or plan is you. If you never bought a single thing from me, I’d still want you to hear this: you are important, you are not invisible, and your wellness is worth fighting for.

If you're in need of support, here are some trusted resources:

Postpartum Support International – Call or text 1-800-944-4773 (Free, 24/7)
BetterHelp – Online therapy and counseling for moms
Local homeschool co-ops , churches, and mom support groups

Final Word to the Homeschool Moms with Newborns

You are seen.
You are loved.
And you don’t have to walk through this alone.
This is not the end of your story. It’s the middle of a hard chapter — and you are still the hero in it.

Happy Easter Around the U.S.A.

Wed, 09 Apr 2025 19:42:05 GMT

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When I was young, my mother made a point of exposing me to all kinds of older movies, books, and music so that as an adult I would have an appreciation for all of the different genres and styles. As a result, every year when Spring arrives, I get a certain song stuck in my head and can't get it out until I see the movie it came from or Easter passes (which means I would have had the song in my head for a month at least. The Song (as well as the movie it is from) is called "The Easter Parade" and it is performed by Fred Astaire and Judy Garland. Both the song and the movie are in keeping with the style of the time - lighthearted and a little corny - but that is what make them lovely and worth revisiting each Spring.

With that song in my head I began researching Easter traditions around the U.S.. A couple of months ago I took you on a state-by-state adventure of the most interesting Fall traditions and I thought a similar Spring adventure would be appropriate - We are, after all, The Adventure Letters and state adventures is what we do! So put on your seatbelt, get out your license plate bingo cards, and prepare for a fun Easter trip around the country !

The New York City Easter Bonnet Parade - This festive tradition Started back in the 1870's. It takes place on Fifth Avenue, from 49th to 57th Streets, in Manhattan from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Easter Sunday. Anyone may participate, and dressing up is highly encouraged. One of the most popular accessories are bonnets of all styles and shapes.
The White House Egg-Roll Easter Egg Hunt - The White House Easter Egg Roll officially dates back to 1878 and the presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes, but first-hand accounts suggest that informal festivities began with egg-rolling parties under President Abraham Lincoln. In 1878, a group of bold children walked up to the White House gate, hoping to be allowed to play egg-rolling games there. President Hayes told his guards to let the children enter, and soon Easter Monday on the White House grounds became an annual tradition. The planning of the event is the duty of the first lady. White House Easter Egg Roll tickets are free and will be made available via an online lottery. To enter, visit Recreation.Gov and create an account.
Lincoln Park Zoo Egg-stravaganza - At the Lincoln Park zoo in Chicago Il. they have set up some serious Easter Fun! There are egg hunts, music, crafts and activities, rides on the train and carousel, the Easter Bunny shows up, and there are animal interactions!
The Easter Feast - HAM - In looking up regional traditions I discovered at the Easter feast is pretty consistent all around the U.S.. From the North East corner to the South Western states you will find ham as the centerpiece for most Easer dinners. However, as a diverse nation, the United States has seen various regional and cultural influences shape its Easter ham traditions. For example, in the Southern states, hams are often glazed with a mixture of brown sugar, mustard, and bourbon, reflecting the region’s love for bold flavors. Meanwhile, in the Midwest, hams are frequently cooked with a pineapple glaze, adding a tropical twist to the dish. These regional variations showcase the unique ways in which Americans have embraced and adapted the tradition of serving ham on Easter.

These are only a few of the fun options available this spring for celebrating Easter. I am sure that your local communities and churches all have something exciting planned for this wonderful holiday. I pray that you and your family enjoy your own Easter Adventure this Spring !

https://tynerpondfarm.com/blog/the-american-easter-feast-how-ham-became-the-celebrated-centerpiece/

https://www.whitehouse.gov/white-house-easter-egg-roll/

https://www.nyctourism.com/events/easter-parade-and-easter-bonnet-festival1/

https://www.lpzoo.org/event/spring-egg-stravaganza/

Spring Is In The Air!

Thu, 20 Mar 2025 14:45:00 GMT

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Spring is officially here!!

Time to get out in the fresh air and breath deeply.

Time to go on adventures, move our stiff bodies and learn about the wonders of nature!

At the end of the summer, when fall sets in and things begin to 'tuck in' for the winter, fifty-eight degrees seems so chilly. When Spring arrives, after months of being frozen in place, Fifty-eight degrees is gloriously warm - I am ready to take off my shoes and run barefoot through the newly emerging grass! Spring helps us to appreciate all of the best that the reborn world has to offer. Spring is the best opportunity to discover all of the hidden treasures you forgot were to be found if only you left the beaten path.

Yesterday, being such a perfect day, was one of those days that we discovered some treasure, and that treasure was the life inside my own children's imagination. We went for a walk in the woods behind our library (shout out to every local library everywhere!). In these woods we found a creek with a fallen tree that created a primitive bridge! We balanced our way across, trekked on in search of who knows what, found a ancient car, gave ourselves 'adventurer' names (mine is Sarah Dragonmaster, btw) and bivouacked deep in the wilderness so we would have shelter from unpleasant weather (of which there was none, lol).

The value of such a day is beyond measure. There was the physical benefit of the hike - balancing, walking, lifting heavy branches to build our shelter - but there was something even better than that: JOY.

My boys were loving being out in the natural world. They were finding flowers and thorns and butterflies and green algae. They were learning and thinking and solving problems. They were making up stories and playing pretend. They didn't have one thought for phones or video games. They were anxious to be able to go back and bury a treasure box in our fort.

Getting our kids out in Nature doesn't have to be complicated. Even when our family lived in the inner city there were places to go that took you into "the wild". Most cities have an arboretum or a public garden. A short drive will often take you outside the city to where green spaces are more prevalent. Even a picnic blanket on a small patch of grass close to home has it's merit - you can take your books (or Adventure Letter) outside to read. Give your child a fork and spoon and allow them to dig around in the grass and dirt to find what might be living there. Study what you find.

We sometimes take for granted how fortunate many of us are in having such ready access to the unadulterated world of Nature. I used to work at a camp that would host week-long learning sessions for children who spent little no time outside of the concrete jungle. The camp would bring the kids on paths through the woods and to study micro habitats at the edge of a lake. The would look at bugs and plants and lifecycles. It was a wonderful program but in a way it was also sad because these kids had never experienced nature up close until then. When we have the ability to expose our children to natural world we should not neglect it.

Spring is officially here!!

Time to get out in the fresh air and breath deeply.

Time to go on adventures, move our stiff bodies and learn about the wonders of nature!

Education for the Littlest Learners - Try This Plan!

Thu, 06 Mar 2025 15:00:02 GMT

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It is Spring, which means cleaning is underway! Spring cleaning has earned a reputation for being deep and thorough so I chose to accept the challenge and live up to the standard which has produced an interesting result. While sorting through some old papers I came across a series of lesson plans from years ago, when my children were younger (and fewer!). It was handwritten and covered several weeks worth of curriculum geared towards my, then, three and five year-olds.

In several of the many online homeschool community groups that I am a part of, I have seen moms ask for advice with beginning their little one’s education and ask what is appropriate material for such young ages. I would love to offer a bit of help to those just starting out - I have decided to share with you some of my own home-spun educational plans, along with notes I took about the success of plans when used with my own children. Hopefully, by reading through my own trial-and-error experiences, you will find inspiration for your own homeschool journey as well as get an idea of the things that worked and the things that didn’t.

One of the first things I would like to share is a bit of encouragement. My children are quite a bit older now but those foundational days of their education were so important in their development and growth. There were many days that could be called successful by every standard, but there were also days that were a complete flop! Even with those days (and with how I felt on those days… like I was failing my children as their teacher!) I would not change a thing. We all learned a great deal during those early days and my children are incredibly well rounded and intelligent individuals because of it.

The first entry in my lesson plan looked like this:

First week lesson plan : Settle In and Acclimate

Monday

Class 1 : Work books

Craft : Painting

Snack : Nuts and raisins

Activity (P.E.) : Walk around the block (weather permitting)

Class 2 : New puzzle

Notes : For class 1, Just go over the new books, looking at the pages and maybe doing one or two of them in different books.

Wednesday

Class 1 : Math - counting and number recognition

Craft : Make number signs to hang up

Snack : Graham crackers and grapes

Activity (P.E.) : Dance off

Class 2 : Science - Look through observation jars and discuss

Notes : Class 1 should include basic addition for the oldest.

The “observation jars ” were specimen jars of various sizes containing a wide variety of items that could be compared or studied.

Friday

Class 1 : English - Letters and reading

Craft and Snack : Make and enjoy Banana-peanut butter-caterpillars

Activity (P.E.) Charades

Class 2: Animal Studies

No notes

Notes for the week

Both kids responded well to the schedule format, set class times, and are adjusting to the new roles of student/teacher (that last one is still in the works).

Youngest matched numbers with corresponding tiles, oldest put numbers in sequence.

It is important to recognize that, for children that young, having a schedule is good but it should not be too strenuous. They did well with set class times but only had two classes a day and the classes were not that long. The classes were also separated by an activity and food, as well as a craft project. Starting children’s education at a young age can be great as long as it is more like play than work. When focused work is required (and it should be at some point) make it short enough to be “a good brain game” and not a chore.

In following weeks, we went from three school days to five, and those included a regular library day and periodic field trips. Each new week had a different theme (i.e. “a bug’s life”, “All about me”, or “Learning in the kitchen”) and all of the lessons fit into that theme. As we moved through the weeks, I would make adjustments to the schedule and note needed improvements or how well the new things worked - I will write follow-up blog posts that will go into these more. Being willing to be flexible is important, and if you ask me, it is one of the greatest benefits of homeschooling!

Below, I will copy out one more week of our class plans for you to see how the second week went.

Second week lesson plan : Review things learned last year

Tuesday

Class 1 : The four seasons

Craft : Four seasons graph

Snack : Rice cakes and blueberries

Activity (P.E.) : Exercises

Class 2 : Letters and Letter sounds

Notes : Craft - have a poster with the four seasons labled in four squares. Paste symbols of the seasons in the correct squares.

Wednesday

Class 1 : Math - counting to twenty

Craft : Make paper fans

Snack : carrot sticks and animal crackers

Activity (P.E.) : walk around the block

Class 2 : Science - weather

Notes : Class 1 uses abacus, dot-to-dot, counting stories, and toy animals. Class 2 act out different weather patterns or draw pictures and see if they can guess

Thursday

Class 1 : Animal categories - wild/domestic, mammals, birds, etc.

Craft : Coloring page

Snack : Yogurt and granola

Activity (P.E.) : Jumping and tumbles

Class 2: Rhyming, opposites and things that go together

Notes : Class 1 use pictures, books, sounds, acting out, etc.

Friday

Class 1 : Work books

Craft : Game - Gerald Mc Boing Boing

Snack : Crackers and peanut butter

Activity (P.E.) : Dancing

Class 2: Work books

Notes for the week

Tuesday is now library day from 10-11:30am! Also, ballet class at 5:30.

Thursday was a good day but I need to incorporate more movement into the class time when I can.

Friday will be “work book” day.

New Idea! Play a game instead of doing a craft on some days!

As you can see, I learned a couple of things, implemented new ideas, and made room for a regular outing. My children have an in-bred love for the library now because of the many happy hours we spent there for story time, or for them picking out their favorite books to bring home and read. We also included outside classes when we could afford it - extra classes aren’t necessary but they can be good if the child is into it.

You will also see that I try to incorporate as many different learning methods as possible - stories, toys, acting, manipulatives, puzzles, work books, games, etc. Each child has a unique learning style - utilizing all of them will help the child retain as much info as possible.

I look forward to sharing more of my own experiences with you in future blog installments! Let me know what you think!

It Takes All Kinds - 4 Ideas To Make Working Together Easier

Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:00:02 GMT

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While in conversation with one of my children I found myself explaining why both my way of doing things and their dad’s way of doing things was important. Said child had discovered their own likeness to the paternal figure and was shocked. It wasn’t a negative realization, just, apparently, a surprising one (not to me of course - I have been aware of the similarities for years - but to the child it was hard hitting news!).

My husband is exceptionally practical. His goal is, and has always been, the physical wellbeing of our children and myself. Money should be spent on food, rent, utilities and gas for the car. He must (and does) work hard so we will have the money to spend on such necessities. If taking a sick day or vacation causes a loss in our income it is not worth it - our children must have shoes. All of these provisions are, indeed, vitally important.

I am more driven by the emotional/mental health aspect. I want to raise well adjusted children who know they are loved and valuable, who are confident and capable, well rounded in knowledge and experience, and are exposed to beauty and art. The kinds of things that produce these traits can, at times, cost money but I consider it money well spent. Family time and the strengthening of blood-ties is essential. I am willing to be broke for a time to ensure a healthy inner-self for my family because emotional and mental health is also vitally important.

We are very different people with very different perspectives - and we are both right. If our children knew they were loved but had nothing to eat and no heat in the winter, their quality of life would be pathetically miserable. If they had all of the physical comforts and no concern over hunger but were neglected and uncared for, their quality of life would still be miserably pathetic. Both aspects of care are needed for a well developed person. The trick is working out a balance, and having an appreciation for someone else's perspective. We must also be able to say, “your way is better than mine right now”. This is a very hard but very helpful thing to do. None of us, by nature, like giving another the preference. None of us, by nature, like saying we are wrong and someone else has the right answer. But, like it or not, our own way is not always the right way. Let’s look at a couple of ways that we can be more effective at working together to achieve the best results;

Take a moment to look at things from the other person's point of view.

Does their thought process make sense? Are they seeing things you are not? Are you accounting for all of the same repercussions they might be considering? What is the goal behind their perspective and is it a good goal? Trying to see something through another's eyes often helps us understand things in a new way and can help us treat the other, and their ideas, with respect.

Consider what values are motivating the differences of opinion.

My husband values physical security and provision. This is a good thing! He wants our children to have what they need because he loves them. He is not a villain because he doesn’t want to spend a large sum on a weekend trip - he is merely trying to provide something he thinks is important. If i can demonstrate that what he is valuing will not be compromised (i,e, I have saved up money in a separate account so we can afford the trip without missing a bill payment) then I am not disregarding what he finds important and we have worked together to achieve something!

Be flexible.

Regardless of what the disagreement is about, both parties involved are people. People require respect and like to be given the “dignity of self” - the recognition that they are intelligent human beings, capable of making wise decisions for themselves and for contributing to the whole. When we insist on always having our way we are saying that we are the only ones who can make the right choice. We are invalidating the other party telling them to serve us. We must take our turn serving, following, and respecting the other if we want teamwork to happen.

Children are still learning to be people, while at the same time being people.

Children need direction and guidance in all aspects of life. We can expect them to behave with each other in the same way they will need to behave as grownups. They do, however, need to see teamwork modeled for them and part of that modeling is the interactions we have directly with them. If there is a disagreement between child and parent, the parent can model good teamwork by applying most of the same principles as they would with an adult, but with a little modification. We show them respect by hearing their ideas and asking why they think it is important. We require respect from them by not accepting rude or demanding behavior (like a tantrum - do not give them their way when they ask like this). We can be flexible by allowing things that will do no harm and are appropriate to the situation (i.e. play on the playground with them when asked). Be aware of what is motivating their perspective and work with that need or value directly (if a child asks to sleep in your bed are they trying to control you and stay up longer or are they in need of comfort or additional affection? Your answer to their request should be based on their motivation for asking).

I hope these four ideas help you deal with disagreements, and solve problems a little better. Let me know if you have any ideas to add!

Teenager in the house

Thu, 06 Feb 2025 15:15:00 GMT

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This week marks a big shift in my home - as of Tuesday, I will officially have three teenagers in my house. I still have one more coming up but by the time he makes it, my oldest will be twenty, so three is the maximum I will have (and that should be plenty!).

I am at a loss... the norm of society says teenagers are a headache and that the only thing to be happy about is that it means your children will be out of the house soon and you will be free. These are lies! My kids are amazing and, while there are certain challenges that come with hormones and attempts at independence, I am loving this stage! I am here to encourage you - you don't need to dread the teenage years! If you have done all of the ground work in the elementary years, the teen years will be a breeze! That is also a lie.

Nothing about raising children is a breeze but it also does not need to be dreaded. You may find that the teen years may be your favorite yet. You are now able to hold deep and intelligent conversations with your children. Their attention span is longer so you can take them to more mature events - like plays and concerts. You can play more complicated games with them - think Catan instead of Shoots and Ladders. You can go on a trip to the beach without being the pack-mule, snack monkey, or lifeguard. A world of opportunity is opening up in front of you and is can be wonderful!

I have found that their relationship building is at a critical stage here. Learning to respect them as an individual with a brain while still being aware that that brain is not fully developed can be tricky. We are parents, but parents to people not just children. There is also a balance to keeping strong the ties of family while simultaneously letting them discover the world outside the family.

Let me share with you some things I have learned:

Know when to force something and when to let it go.

This can be a hard one but consider if your action will create resentment or reinforce security. Consider also if the thing you are forcing or not is for their safety or wellbeing.

The last thing to consider is the physical situation and mental temperament of the teen.

For example, at least once a month we try to have a game time as a family. If my daughter says she doesn't want to but has no good reason I will force her to participate and she usually ends up laughing just as hard as the rest of us. If she doesn't want to because she is physically feeling unwell (for female reasons) I will not force her - no one would have fun and it would not serve to build up our family. If she would like to invite a friend to join us I will allow it - even though it is not strictly family, we are enjoying each others company and I would rather she bring her friends here than she leave to be with them, and I am grateful she likes bringing her friend around.

Give as much attention as required. Let them be the guild.

With this one, I started to write 'Give as much affection as required' but realized that ALL affection is required - it is how you show it that is guided by your teen. One of my children is a huge fan of hugs and other physical demonstrations of affection. He communicates his love so much through touch it is overwhelming for me at times. I have been teaching him to respect others personal space, and ask before hugging (I even tell him no sometimes so he can learn to respect that) but I also realize that this form of attention only lasts a few short years and in the process established his sense of belonging and value. He knows he is loved.

Another child does not like hugging at all (except when they are extremely low) but builds that relationship and sense of value through conversation and one-on-one time together. Even if that means late nights followed by early mornings, I make time to spend with this child in conversations and just-us time.

" Because I said so " isn't all it takes anymore. Respect their intelligence and give them reasons.

This phrase is one I support fully for little children who don't want to listen. Young children - if they are too young to understand the reasons, or have been given reasons they can understand and only want to have their way - need to be taught about authority and respecting it (we all, after all, are under authority that we must respect). Teenagers have, hopefully, learned those lessons in their younger years and need to know why there are rules about things. My oldest drives, and is a very good driver, but I won't allow her out driving after 9:30pm. She must be off the road by that time. She is old enough to understand that most drunk driving accidents occur between the hours of 10pm and 4am and, although she doesn't drink, it isn't safe to be on the road with those who do. I have told her this, she understands, and complies. If I had only said " because I said so" she would have though I was being unfair.

Don't try to be friends. Be parents and friendship will come.

Something someone wise once said has stuck with me for years - "they have plenty of friends, what they need is a mom". Children have not fully developed. Even when their body if full grown, their brain is still maturing and developing. Their prefrontal cortex (the part responsible for making decisions and exercising self control) is not done developing until they have reached twenty-two or twenty-three years old (later for boys). Teens need the guidance of parents to make wise choices, not the support of friends to make dumb ones. Helping our children to use wisdom will benefit them their whole lives and they will appreciate it far more than momentary allowances for fun that will hurt them. On top of that, teenagers are still at a place where boundaries equal security. They associate a parent that gives them reasonable rules with one who cares about them and wants to keep them safe. knowing they are loved is crucial - a friend who allows then to do something stupid can not care as much for them as a parent who will not let them.

Last but not least, Let them grow up.

This one is so hard and I am still struggling with it myself. At the right times they need to be allowed to make their own choices and deal with the results themselves. Train them to make good choices and then give them the chance to make those choices themselves.

We have a big family and I make dinner every day for them. I do not make separate meals for those who have different tastes and there is no room for pickiness. I try to avoid dishes I know my children don't like but with six separate pallets sometimes someone is made unhappy. When my children turn fifteen they are given the privilege of choosing to eat what I have made or make their own dinner but there are stipulations:

You must have both a veggie and a protein
You must make it yourself - I am still cooking the family meal
We eat at a certain time and your food must be ready at that time
You must use what we have available - no asking for me to buy special ingredients.

I am giving them the freedom and responsibility to make some decisions within boundaries. As they get older still, I give them more freedom with less boundaries - they can choose if they want to come to a family event, they can make decisions about where they work, they can borrow the car and go out to see friends, etc. By the time my oldest graduates high school, I will be serving as her mother in mostly an advisory capacity - because I have been her parent and given her boundaries, been available to show her affection how and when she needed it, and trusted her to make wise choices, she asks my advice and usually listens.

Teenagers in the house is a whole new ball game - but it is a good game and you should enjoy every minute of it!

How to Teach ELA to a Math Kid

Thu, 23 Jan 2025 15:00:01 GMT

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This past week, while checking in with my different homeschool groups and discussing the best places and times to meet up with other parents of antsy twelve year old boys so our off-spring could get their energy out with minimal destruction to the environment, I came across a question from a sweet mama who was trying to help her math/science child become engaged with his reading/writing coursework. She had tried several different curriculums and the child was becoming so disconnected and frustrated that she was afraid he would never learn the necessary skills.

Knowing this woman's struggle, and having worked with different learning types myself, I reached out to her and suggested she get creative - think outside the proverbial box. One of my favorite things about homeschooling is the fact that if something isn’t working for your student you have the freedom to change it. If your student is not responding to a certain method, change it! If they are frustrated by the curriculum's style, change it! If they work better with a different time schedule, change it! Homeschooling gives the parent the ability and freedom to meet the child where they are and create the best learning environment for that child.

This particular mama was asking for new curriculums to try but I suggested she try making her own, one tailored to her son. Here are a few things I suggested to help get her math-minded child engaged in language arts:

Try taking a weekly trip to the library and allowing the child to choose the book that he will be reading that week. Let them pick topics that interest him such as scientific discovery, math and science heroes of the past, or even fiction books that align closer with his interests.
Have the child compose spin off stories of the books they have chosen so you can work in spelling and grammar stuff. Use science and math to encourage reading and writing. You can even begin by having the child orally present a made up story based on something they read - writing is a small motor skill that, when not as developed as the imagination, can slow the process and be frustrating. If the child is allowed to tell the story and then write it down incrementally it may help.
And while we are talking about it - libraries are a treasure trove and the librarians can be your best friend if they are good ones (which most are). They know all the resources and educational opportunities, even free-bees and discounts!
For a child 5-9 you can do things like write his assignments in code (alpha-numeric substitution) and have him decipher it before he completes the assignment. When he completes it he must re-encode it! If you want him to write a paragraph, have him choose the topic (space? chemistry? An important scientist from history?) and together you can do a whole study project to learn about that topic - make it fun by including tactile stimulation as well as writing and reading (like recreating an experiment in the field of study or building a play rocket or stomp rocket). It will make it fun and engaging, all the while he is learning to read/write/ spell/etc.
If you want to try alph-numeric substitution you could start with a simple "A=1, B=2, C=3" code (or go in reverse and start with "Z=1, Y=2," etc.) Once the child gets the hang of it you could add symbols or math equations to arrive at the correct letters or words. Only encrypt some of the words in the assignment and see if he can guess the words before solving the code to see if his mind is retaining the proper sentence structure and grammar schemes. Absolutely you can use google to come up with new codes! The more ways you challenge his mind the more he learns - and in more than one subject!

These are just a few ideas of mixing up the way you teach to match the way a child will learn. You can go the other way as well and use stories to teach Math! Here at The Adventure Letters we use Stories and puzzles to teach Geography and inspire a love of adventure! There are so many imaginative ways to create a love of learning in our children in any and all subjects - even the ones they are not naturally inclined towards!

Tips for Getting Back to Normal Life

Thu, 09 Jan 2025 19:13:05 GMT

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I am sitting here, in front of my computer with a cup of chai, drawing a blank. Christmas and New year were a whirlwind of life and the last few days have been an attempt to get back to the regular routines that define our normal lives. I have spent hours sitting in my kitchen, surrounded by piles of clean laundry and dirty dishes, thinking “I need to do something about this” but not really sure how to start. Then a child will come in and ask about dinner which will snap me into enough action to create more dishes to wash. The child is fed but the day is over and I am still in a bit of a fog.

I realize I am not the only mom in this daze so, working with that assumption, I will help both you and myself - let’s get back to the daily grind and do it with panache! The regularity of school is a fantastic way to reestablish our routines after the holidays. In our home, today was the day we started back. But if you are going to get back to the normal ways of life you will have the greatest success if you prepare the day (or two days) before. Kids always need help with transition so start getting them ready mentally and emotionally before the actual shift. I had each of my children prepare the night before by picking out clothes to be worn the next day and letting them know they will be expected to be dressed in those clothes by a certain time. Another way to help prepare them for a normal routine the next day is to reinstate the normal routine at bed time. I’m sure that I am not the only one who lost track of how late dinner was served, when kids went to bed, stories that were supposed to be read, and who had baths on what night. Getting back to the right bedtime routines will make the whole next day smoother.

Another thing that makes the shift back to regular life easier for the kids is seeing Mom do the things she regularly does. I know we are talking about how challenging it can be for us to get back into it but helping our children to do so is a powerful motivator - at least for me! All of our lives will be easier if the kids are comfortably walking out their daily duties so if I can aid that by doing it myself count me in! I know my kids will get up, dress, and be ready for breakfast on time if I have set my alarm and am in the kitchen preparing food. I may be walking in a fog but I’m walking! What do I do every morning? I get up at six. I wake up my kiddos with the same words everyday - “Time to rise and shine!” - I turn on all the lights and tousle hair or kiss a forehead. I go to the kitchen and start prepping food. “Have some breakfast”, “Feed and water the dogs”, “did you brush your teeth?”, “Did you brush your hair?”. I can do all of this with half a brain.

Next big hurdle is finding our way back to paying attention to academics. This might be best accomplished incrementally. Don’t expect a child to be able to go from no structured learning to hours of structured learning overnight. It would even be hard to go from all free play to all structured play without a buffer period. I would recommend starting your first school day with a set (short) amount of time (depending on the child's age) for some scholastic focus and then giving some time for the student to choose an educational activity - a book they want to read or a puzzle they are interested in. Give time for movement and then, again, some scholastic focused work. Even with a teenager, you may have the most success if the work that requires physical self control and mental attention is interspersed with something less restrictive or something personally engaging for the student. Having something that is a regular and predictable part of their scholastic life will help - like knowing your Adventure Letter will be coming and can be enjoyed as part of your normal routine! If you have a regular day for curtain activities be sure to use that to your advantage. When I was a kid, Thursday was “my day” and I got to check the mail, help fix lunch, ride up front in the car, or whatever unique task my mom had for me to perform. Each of my siblings “had a day”. That was something I could count on as part of my routine.

For you, the mama/teacher, set reasonably attainable goals. Don’t try to plan the rest of the year, start with the rest of the week. What needs to be accomplished this week? A return to normal life! What do the kids need to be able to do by the end of the week? For my kids, they need to feel they are back in the flow of things. They need to get back on their regular sleeping habits. They need to readjust to no screens on school days. They need to eat at their regular intervals. They need to be able to focus during class time. If I can help them do that then I have reached my goals for this week and am ready to plan the next week (or month).

Take a deep breath Mama’s - You got this!

And Just like that, It's over

Fri, 27 Dec 2024 17:00:00 GMT

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And Just like that, it’s over.

Christmas has come and gone again. After Christmas has passed I often find myself looking at my tree and counting the days until I move it out on New Years Eve. This is so peculiar considering how, only three days earlier, I would sit and gaze on my tree with peace and joy, lifted up in spirit by the warmth and beauty of the lights and sparkle.

Christmas is one of my very favorite holidays. I love it so much that, out of respect for the season, I am adamant about not engaging in Christmas until Thanksgiving day ends - at which point we inaugurate the holiday by watching our chosen Christmas movie while eating pie. I know that if I started Christmas earlier than that I would be over it by the time it actually got here. I love it too much for that!

By New Years I am ready to take down the tree and decorations but I would encourage you (and myself) to take a few more peaceful moments to sit and enjoy what has just happened. For those of us who are so blessed to have our family close to us, let us not take it for granted. Say a prayer of thanks before moving on to the new year. For those of us who have good food to enjoy, let’s appreciate our bounty and realize how fortunate we are. Say a prayer of thanks before moving on to the new year. For those of us who are able to give and receive gifts, Let us recognise the real gift of that ability. Say a prayer of thanks before moving on to the new year.

The New Year is a wonderful time in and of itself - opportunity to start fresh, begin with a clean slate, set new goals - but as you look forward to tomorrow don’t forget to look back and see the value of yesterday. We must not be in such a hurry to get on to the next thing that we disregard the last thing that we were so eager to get to.

“I can’t wait for Christmas!” is heard often in homes where children reside but how often do we hear “Wasn’t that a fun day? What was your favorite part?” shortly after it has passed? Like Black Friday following on the heels of the day we declare our gratitude for what we have, the days just after Christmas seem to suggest we have forgotten what we were so excited about to begin with. All of the best and most important things about Christmas don't stop or go away once the clock strikes twelve. As we march into this New Year, let us do so knowing we have been blessed.

From all of us at The Adventure Letters , Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

And Just Like That, It’s Christmas Time!

Thu, 12 Dec 2024 16:45:00 GMT

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Here at The Adventure Letters we know that Christmas is not about the presents - As they say in WhoVille, Christmas doesn’t come from a store. The gift of family and friends around us, and celebrating the birth of Christ is what brings us joy during this holiday season. But there is also joy in being able to give a gift as a demonstration of our love and we at The Adventure Letters also know that finding the right present at a price we can afford can be a challenge. So this week’s blog is going to try to help you solve that problem! I have compiled a short list of affordable gift ideas that are either free or inexpensive and will inspire the imagination of the recipient! I hope I can help you find just the right something for just the right someone ♥️

FREE - Over the last few years a practice has emerged in the area of gift-giving that i think is simply wonderful - giving an experience instead of an item. I love this for so many reasons - great memory making, less of both clutter and materialism in the home, more together time, and it is a suitable gift for any budget! There are so many options for this that you could easily spend a small fortune or nothing at all. In the “nothing at all” category, plan an outing like a hike or a picnic. You do all of the foot work of choosing a great location, making sure you have all the supplies, setting aside sufficient time, transportation to and from the chosen spot, and activities to do while there. QUality time with someone you love can be a fantastic gift!
INEXPENSIVE - Make food! Now, this is not strictly free but can be made with ingredients you have on hand so it is cost-effective. For the last couple of years I have given some dear family friends of ours a subscription to what I call the “Treat of the Month” club. I gift-wrapped a pie I had made and then, for the whole next year, once a month, whenever I would make a dessert for my family I would make extra and give it to these friends! It was a great way to show them I cared for them all year long, not just at Christmas, and it was pretty easy on a limited budget!
FREE - The personalized coupon book may not be a new idea but it is a good one. This one can be free or have an attached cost but that is up to you. Design something festive and be sure to include at least 10 - 12 coupons. Depending on who the gift is for, you can add almost anything… if it is for a kid you can have things like “I'll do your chore”, or “extra piece of desert” or “good for one ice cream outing”. If it is for a grown up, again the doing of their chore is good! The right to hold the remote, or a back-rub might be a good option.
INEXPENSIVE - Now that we have touched on the idea of a subscription, The Adventure Letters subscription letter is a fun and educational gift that your child can enjoy for months! Twice every month they will get mail with their name on it and fun things inside! If you are looking for a gift that lasts longer than the time it takes to tear off the wrapping paper, and one that encourages learning and imagination then The Adventure Letters is just the thing! Check out our subscription options in the “Shop” tab!
FREE - The hand-made gift is a cherished tradition in many homes - it is even something that can be done by someone who is not “crafty” if you think outside the box - fill a cute notebook with favorite recipes; fill a decorated box with photos and mementos of life together; make/design a picture frame and add the perfect photo! If you want to try something next level you can go on YouTube, find art videos for beginners, and make that special person on your list some wall art! Everyone loves a gift that you put thought and effort into.

If you have any other good gift suggestions, please feel free to share them! All of us could use a little inspiration this time of year ��

The Beauty of Traditions

Thu, 28 Nov 2024 14:00:02 GMT

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This blog gets published every week on Thursday but since Thursday, this week, is Thanksgiving Day I'm writing the blog early. Today is the day I begin prepping for Thanksgiving. My house got cleaned. I made sure I had all of the ingredients I needed for the main feast and all of the sides. My husband put lights out on our back porch. And today was the day I bake bread.

The bread I baked is not just any bread. This bread is a very special family recipe that was handed down from my great-grandmother to my grandmother to my mother to me, and someday I will hand it off to my children. For nearly 20 years now they have been watching me make it and, if armed with the recipe card, could probably make it themselves - but it is not their turn yet. They will be making pies, and quick bread, and Chex mix. They will even help with the Turkey itself. But this special bread is my job. It's tradition.

As the story goes, my great grandmother sampled some of this delightful bread at a bakery and was so taken with it that she went back and bought it frequently. Then one day, when she learned that she would be moving away, she asked the Baker for the recipe. At first he would not give it to her because this special bread was his best selling item, but when she explained that she would be leaving the state and no longer able to come purchase the bread he agreed to give her the recipe on one condition; She must give her word not to share the recipe with anyone except family. The promise was made and my great-grandmother's honor has been upheld ever since. The recipe has been handed down from mother to daughter but no one outside of our family has had the privilege of seeing it.

Every Thanksgiving, and every Christmas, It is my job, as mom, to make this bread, as it was my mother's job before me. I make a lot of it so I can share it with our dearest friends. Every holiday, my kitchen smells of this sweet bread - a beautiful reminder of my loving home and family history. It ties me together with those I love most. This is a precious gift, and one I am giving to my own children by carrying on the same tradition with them. They all know about (and can't wait for) the bread each holiday season.

Traditions are very valuable and important tools for building family connections. They are special and hold significance. They even provide security in their reliability, helping establish identity as a part of the family structure. I have found that even the smallest kinds of traditions (like making a special bread) are deeply cherished by my children. They even, when they were younger, would make mention of an anticipated tradition in advance to make sure I didn't forget!

These actions don’t need to be elaborate or expensive - one of our family favorites is the simple statement of the things we are thankful for, each in turn, as we enjoy our Thanksgiving meal. What are some traditions you have? What are some small but meaningful things you might be able to establish as a tradition in your home going forward?

Training Our Children to Give

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 12:30:01 GMT

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As we enter the season for giving thanks I would like to share my thankfulness for giving. Generosity is a big way that we can demonstrate our appreciation for what we have. The fact that we have something to give - that we have the ability to give - shows that we have something to be thankful for and when we act in that ability our eyes are open to see it. Giving also elevates our spirits, bringing joy. Giving helps us to be compassionate and makes us think about others rather than ourselves. Giving makes us feel like (and truly be ) an important part of our community. It makes us better aware, more understanding, a better friend, a better human.

Something as valuable as the practice of giving needs to be a regular part of our lives but interestingly, despite its benefits, giving is not something that comes naturally to most people. It is not only a conscious choice, it is a hard thing to choose if the habit is not developed early (and even then it can be an exercise of the will). Like every healthy habit - brushing teeth, eating veggies, avid reading, good manners, plenty of exercise - giving should be trained into a child early and often. A child as young as two or three can be involved in cheerful giving and volunteering (which is giving of your time).

Several years ago we moved away from everything that we had known as home and transferred our family to a new state. It was a challenging season for many reasons, one of which was financial hardship. We moved into our new apartment but had no money to furnish it. Our church provided us with some mattresses to sleep on and directed us to a woman who ran a charity that supplied families with home needs and clothing. She helped us get a couch, bunkbed, a table and chairs… even clothes for our kids. Because of the generous giving of others in our new community we had the things we needed.

I wanted our children to know and appreciate what giving can do so within a week of receiving that gift we began volunteering at this woman's charity. We couldn’t give money but we had time that we could share. My youngest child at the time was only four and my oldest was twelve. Each child was given an appropriate job - sorting clothes, checking to see if a toy worked or had all the parts, matching a teddy bear with a blanket. We help people who were worse off than we were by finding them needed items for their homes or family. My children got to be a part of the community that serves and is served - people helping people so we all can live better. They got to see that everyone can help and that even small jobs are important.

My four year old could do things like color matching and carrying small things to their correct box, but one of the most beautiful things he did was not even technically a job. There was an older lady (in her 70’s at least) who worked there. She would sit and fold clothes all day, using her time to love others as best as she could. My little boy would often go sit with her and just talk her ear off. Whatever was rattling around in his little noggin would come out his mouth - spiderman, the tag in his shirt, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, the toy he had just tried out, his left shoe… if he thought about it he would tell her about it! I’m fairly sure she could only hear half of what he said, and make sense of even less, but she absolutely loved having him there. She would nod her head or ask him questions, fully engaged with him and invested in the wandering thoughts of my sweet baby. He gave that woman a plethora of precious gifts; He let her know she mattered, he gave her joy, companionship, and childlike wonder! And she gave him a gift too. She listened and let him know he mattered as well.

We are in a better place in our lives now. My husband has a good job and we have established our home. We are not in as much need now as we were when we first arrived but we still make room in our lives to give our time to this charity because giving is not about what you can get out of it. There are perks and rewards but the best reward is letting someone else know that they are valuable and cared for. It made all the difference to my family when we needed it. It will make that same impact on someone else.

I am so thankful that I can give

Never Stop Learning

Thu, 31 Oct 2024 14:45:00 GMT

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Over the last couple of weeks I have been taking on a few more responsibilities for The Adventure Letters company, which include social media marketing and reaching beneficiaries of state funded homeschool resources. I am not a born salesman so this has been a learning curve. More like a hairpin turn, really, but learn I have. I have learned quite a few things actually - How many homeschool support groups there are out there (in both my immediate area and in the country at large). I learned how ready and willing other homeschool families are to share any helpful info and, because of that fact, how easy it is to ask for help. I learned that there are many states that offer funding for homeschoolers to access higher quality resources for their kids. The Adventure Letters is proud to be an approved vendor for several of those state programs and we are applying for more!

When I was a child being homeschooled, the only resource available to my mother, outside of what she could make herself or what our tiny homeschool group could work out together, was the right for our family to take advantage of elective classes offered through the public school. When my own children were young there was a bit more available. Several museums had special programs available to homeschooling families and, of course, weekday admission to many places was reduced. Libraries were (and are) great at knowing what was available for homeschoolers education. There were even homeschool sports leagues!

Today, the things available to the homeschool community are so numerous I couldn’t even begin to list them all. A cursory search will turn up a plethora of options for any type of homeschooling. It was really encouraging to see how full and functional the community is and how readily available help and resources are! I challenge you to do a search of your own and find groups in your community. Who knows, we may even end up in some of the same circles!

Something else I learned through this addition of responsibilities was that learning, in itself, is a beautiful gift, and it keeps on giving for the entirety of your life. I can’t say I think I will ever be a world class salesman - it is not my passion or my purpose - but I can say it is good to add another ability to my resume. It is good to have acquired a valuable skill set.

Many years ago I ran a charitable organization that required me to speak in front of people. With a microphone. And an audience. It was terrifying. So I joined a group called ToastMasters. If you have never heard of them, they are a large organization of small groups where people practice speaking in front of the group. All the members are assigned speech topics and a time limit, then each person in the small group takes a turn presenting. I went for months and developed the ability to speak in public.

Never take for granted the gift of learning. We, as homeschoolers, pour our lives into our children’s education, but our own education is also something t be prized and it doesn’t need to stop when we graduate.

One Day At The Park...

Thu, 17 Oct 2024 14:49:15 GMT

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Some years back, after my youngest had been born but my oldest had not turned ten yet, I decided to take my children to the playground. It was a lovely day and we all needed the fresh air. I packed up the stroller, the diaper bag, the playground toys, the snacks, the waters - anything and everything we might need for the next hour and a half - and got all my little kiddos dressed and in shoes. The playground was a literal seven minute walk from our house but forgetting something would still mean that play time was over for everyone; we would have to leave and once we left we wouldn’t get to come back so I wasn't taking any chances.

I felt rather proud of myself for having the presence of mind to get everything in order and all of us out the door without any breakdowns or arguments. My children get along with each other very well on most occasions but they are still humans and siblings so rarely did one day pass without incident. The weather was perfect, the air was invigorating and I was feeling good about myself until we got to the actual park and I realized what I had forgotten… I had forgotten how to socialize with other adults.

On most weekdays, around 11am, the playgrounds are fairly empty (what with most children over 5 being in school). My family was the only one in the neighborhood who homeschooled so, unless we invited friends to join us, we got the park pretty much to ourselves. There were, sometimes, moms or nannies with children too young for kindergarten and this day was one of those days. There was a mom there with a baby about the same age as my next-to-youngest child. We both put our babies in the baby swings and this is when my brain totally fell apart.

I thought in my head, “I should say hi. I should make a friend. I’m Always telling my kids to make friends on the playground.” But I couldn’t, for the life of me, remember how it’s done! I couldn’t think of anything to say for the longest, most awkward time. Then I realized she had a baby like mine and I blurted out “What’s it named?!?” and I smiled in a way that I hope wasn’t creepy (but I'm not confident about that). Then it got super quiet again. For a long time. She may or may not have told me her child’s name. Then I took my kid and walked away.

As you may have guessed, she and I did not become besties.

What is the moral of my little piece of embarrassing honesty? I want you to know that it is OK - that You will be OK - because all of us (particularly moms, even more particularly homeschool moms) loose our brains in public and forget how to be people around other people. So that lady and I didn't hit it off - so what? It’s not like that was my only hope of ever having a friend. It’s not like I ever even saw her again! It's also not like she never made herself look like a crazy person (and if she hasn’t yet, she will… I did say she had a baby so her days are numbered).

We, here at The Adventure Letters, are moms still very much in the world of "where's my brain" and "I'm so embarrassed". That day at the play ground was not the first (and I'm sure will not be the last) time I have forgotten how to interact with people over the age on 20. Fortunately, there are so many wonderful and understanding people in our community of moms and homeschoolers that I can still say I have some really good friends and a great support system.

I guess I’m just saying “take a breath, it’s gonna be fine, we are all on this crazy ride together!

Books, Books, And More Boooks!

Thu, 03 Oct 2024 14:45:00 GMT

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Here is a loud and proud shout out to all the bookworms (or as they are now sometimes called “book dragons”) out there!

A love of books is foundational for nearly all education. Obviously for literature studies, but books also play a vital role in learning history, science, geography… even Math! The simple act of reading is educationally beneficial as well - according to one study “Reading will increase your knowledge and vocabulary (which increases your crystallized intelligence), and it’ll help you detect patterns and solve problems (which increases your fluid intelligence). Reading also helps you understand and manage emotions (which increases your emotional intelligence).* According to another study, there is a direct correlation between the number of books you own (just own , not even read) and your educational outcome - “Growing up around books promotes a foundation of “scholarly culture,” .**

All kinds of books hold educational value. We all can understand why a textbook or biography can teach us something but would it surprise you to learn that even fairy tales are hugely beneficial to a developing mind? Reading stories that engage the imagination exercises our minds in a variety of ways. While researching this topic I came across this information (unsurprisingly, at a library): “Fairy tales spark imagination and offer moral lessons. Children learn from the mistakes of characters in these stories, which helps them with their critical thinking skills. Fairy tales also model behavior for children and provide a context in which children can evaluate their own emotions and decision making. Fairy tales aid in emotional resilience by helping children connect stories to real life. Fairy tales show that people face adversity, but, if they believe in themselves, they can overcome obstacles. Stories can help children confront real-life fears and anxieties in a fantastical setting. They expose children to different cultures, as they are often set in different parts of the world. Choosing fairy tales from around the world helps children appreciate the customs and value systems of others. Fairy tales improve vocabulary, demonstrate the structure of stories, and, most importantly, create a love of reading.”***

I went, recently, to volunteer at an educational book fair and, while there, I picked up a book that looked interesting. There was a teenage girl in uniform, with a forties hairstyle, facing a large machine with many gears and wheels on it - it was called “ The Enigma Girls” . I picked it up and started leafing through it. Before I knew what I was about, I had read 8 chapters! I guess sometimes you can tell a book by it’s cover!

It was a fantastic story about the young women who helped to break the Nazi codes during WWII. It was a non-fiction book but written almost like a novel. I bought the book and brought it home. I couldn’t put it down! I finished it by the next day and handed it off to my kids to read. I learned so much from reading it and shared that knowledge with my children - we were all educated through the power of a well written book!

Reading of all kinds can be very good for intellectual growth - true stories, fairy tales, comic books, even Letters! Whether you are subscribing to an education letter like The Adventure Letters, or just have a pen-pal that keeps you in the know about their life, this simple form of exchanging information is invaluable in the growth and development of a young (and old!) mind that is hungry for knowledge.

* https://irisreading.com/does-reading-increase-iq/#:~:text=Reading%20will%20increase%20your%20knowledge,which%20increases%20your%20fluid%20intelligence ).

** https://nypost.com/2018/10/13/having-more-books-as-a-kid-makes-you-smarter-study/

*** https://fairfaxcounty.gov/library/branch-out/importance-fairy-tales-preschool-development#:~:text=Fairy%20Tales%20Do%20More&text=Children%20learn%20from%20the%20mistakes,own%20emotions%20and%20decision%20making .

Pies, Pants, and Personal Planning

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 13:30:03 GMT

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I would like to begin this blog by making a very clear and honest statement: I DID NOT MAKE THIS UP. This is not even a new idea - it has been used for years and is, therefore, tried and true

I am freely admitting that I had chaos in my home until this little trick became a part of my life and now I am passing it on to you. It’s not super hard. It doesn’t cost a cent. All you need to do is follow through - and I recommend you do!

If yours is a homeschooling family (or an American family - or a family of humans for that matter!) then multitasking is a necessary way of life. This article is called Pies, Pants, and personal planning because today I found myself trying to handle laundry while simultaneously writing this blog and baking two banana cream pies. After getting the pies in the oven I looked at my to-do list and tried to pick out the most important items that could be done in the thirty minutes it took to brown my meringue. Trimming the shrubs was out; painting the bathroom trim would need to wait; I would fix the crock-pot lid if I could find the blasted super glue (but I can’t so that’s not getting done); Laundry is forever going in, getting moved over, being folded, and (if I'm lucky) getting put away in the never-ending stream of clean and dirty clothes that are needed to cover the six bodies in my home.

In order to complete everything you need to accomplish in a day there must be a system in place. That little thing I mentioned just now - the to-do list - is the key to it all!

My list is an ever-evolving, constantly changing way for me to keep track of what has been done, what needs to be done, and what can get done eventually. It holds everything from specific house cleaning assignments to reminders to refill the mayonnaise bottle. Whether it is a big task or a little one, if I need to do it during the course of the day it goes on the list. I will even include my shower on the list! I am sure to pick the most pressing items (or the ones I am sure I have time for) to do first and if it doesn’t get done in the course of the day I don’t sweat it, I simply leave it up to tackle the next day.

The method that I found works best for me is keeping a small dry-erase board on my refrigerator. There is room on it for 10-12 items. I fill it in at the beginning of the day and as I work through the tasks I erase them from the board. If I think of more things throughout the day I can add them to the list but still focus on the most important things first. Do I need to call the dentist about that appointment now or can it wait until after I have defrosted the meat for dinner? Does each child have clean underwear for tomorrow? Can the lawn go one more day or should it be trimmed now?

Having an organized list of tasks helps immensely when trying to accomplish work in a timely manner. When your thoughts are scattered your efficiency is compromised. I have found myself starting one job only to get distracted by the recognition of a different job needing my attention and never finishing either one because my brain jumped to a third responsibility. When all of the jobs are written down, your mind is free to focus and complete the job at hand. When a job is finished you can cross it off your list and know you have accomplished what you set out to do (a very rewarding feeling!)

Whether you are organizing your school day or your spring cleaning, A list that you can refer to for directions will always be a wonderful aid for the busy lifestyle of the multitasking mom (or dad!)

Educational Resources for the Homeschooling Family

Thu, 19 Sep 2024 12:31:42 GMT

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Have you ever been to a homeschool convention? My mother used to bring us to the book store’s annual sale - not a convention but definitely an experience! The goal of both events was to supply families with resources for education. At these kinds of events you can find complete curriculum sets, add-ons to augment what you have, art supplies, office supplies, games, puzzles, Sunday-school lessons, tactile learning implements, Audio and video lessons - pretty much anything you might need to teach any subject ever invented. And every year there is something new. It’s almost like Christmas!

Something new that has been added to the available resources for homeschooling families is the subscription letter! These can be a great supplementary tool for any topic, making a subject interesting, giving a sense of anticipation to the child, and utilizing the beneficial strategy of recalling attention to a topic many times over the course of a year. The Adventure Letters subscription, for example, is a wonderful companion to any U.S. geography curriculum. Our family has been receiving these letters for a few months and every two weeks a new letter arrives in the mailbox addressed to my son. He loves getting his own mail so whenever one arrives a smile arrives with it.

Geography can be a dry subject if not handled well. Each letter contains information about a different state but it is presented as if a friend is sending you a personal letter - it is like reading a story instead of a textbook. I have even learned some things I didn't know before! Along with the informational element the letters contain some fun items as well - stickers, puzzles, coloring pages, jokes, and mini-games!

A great resource for math is a series of books called “The life of Fred”. This is a math resource for children who are better with words than they are with numbers. It starts in kindergarten and works all the way up through college level math, following a character named Fred as he deals with life and the world as a three-foot tall math professor. I have children who think in terms of stories rather than equations so I am grateful for a math tool that helps them grasp concepts in a way that will stick with them.

Another math supplement that helps story-based learners (and everyone else for that matter) is Kahn Academy videos for the younger grades. They are free on Youtube and they also cover math from kinder up through college. The younger age videos are cute and story-like but as the ages grow the math teaching style also grows (so as not to be patronizing, I imagine) and becomes less story-like. It is still very helpful and does a good job of communicating concepts clearly.

A little good research will turn up a varied and vast array of educational aids - both in the “free” and “affordable" categories! The ones I have presented here are excellent options to start with but I encourage you to keep looking for more. Your local library will be invaluable in a search like this - I am always impressed with how much information our librarian has a finger on. You will be sure to find all kinds of good things if you keep your eyes open and ask the right people!

Fall In Love With Fall

Thu, 12 Sep 2024 15:15:00 GMT

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This morning when I awoke, before the sun had even begun it’s assent, I pulled myself out from under my warm blankets and reveled in the chilled air coming in my window. It was a perfect 58°. I have been waiting months for a morning like this one and, frankly, was a little surprised that I didn’t have to wait longer. Fall comes a bit late in Texas but no matter where you live, the autumn season is one of the best. It reminds me of a line in a movie - “Don’t you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to go buy school supplies. If I knew where you lived I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils.”

Yes, fall is a favorite; Colorful foliage, scarves and boots, apple cider and pie and donuts, pumpkin picking and pumpkin spice - I don't even like pumpkin but the idea of it brings me joy! I wonder what kind of interesting fall adventures Greyson and Sophia will be going on in the next few Adventure Letters… I'm sure wherever they go, they will find something unique in the way people of that state celebrate the season! Let’s explore a few special customs from around the country;

In Hudson, New York, during the months of September and October you can take a half-mile evening walk through an arrangement of over seven thousand hand-carved pumpkins as part of The Great Jack-O-Lantern Blaze . The pumpkins are set up in themed displays, some even reproducing well known city locations!

In Ketchum, Idaho, this fall you can celebrate the season with The Trailing of the Sheep - a festival honoring the history of the Idaho shepherding trade, that was once the largest in the world. There are sheep-themed meals, wool crafts and workshops, sheepdog trials, and a parade down main street that is made up of fifteen hundred sheep being driven to their winter pastures.

Albuquerque, New Mexico, holds it’s annual Hot Air Balloon Festival in the fall - the largest of its kind in the world! The festival lasts for several days and offers many fun activities outside of balloon rides (which even by themselves sound fantastic!). There is, of course, food, music, and shopping, but you can also enjoy fireworks or participate in chainsaw carving contests!

One of my personal favorites in this list of unique fall celebrations is the West Coast Giant Pumpkin Regatta in Tualatin, Oregon. This is one of the most entertaining things I have ever heard of! According to the travel section of U.S. News, “The centerpiece of this weekend-long event is a series of rowing races – but replace the boats with enormous, partially hollowed-out pumpkins supplied by a local organization of farmers who specialize in gigantic vegetables. Oh, and many of the rowers are wearing costumes.” There are other things to do, such as Pumpkin bowling and crafts for all ages, but boy would I love to see a guy in a silly costume rowing a pumpkin boat for all he is worth!

Nothing says “Fall” like family fun in the beautiful outdoors! Wherever you live, find something fun to do as a family this season and simply enjoy the beauty and bounty we have available to us.

Educational Opportunities at Home

Thu, 05 Sep 2024 15:16:03 GMT

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This past weekend my daughter asked me a very interesting question. We were on our way home from a local store after purchasing some motor oil, a filter for the car, and a few other items. This was the day my seventeen year old girl was going to learn how to change the oil in the car.

“Why don’t they teach these kinds of life skills in regular schools anymore?”

Her question was a bit of an exaggeration, and a blanket one at that, but there was also legitimacy to it. Many schools don’t teach everyday life skills - how to cook, how to sew, how to change the oil on your car, how to do your taxes, or balance a budget. There are still schools that teach consumer math rather than trigonometry, but I have discovered that the class has become more of an elective intended for those students who don’t plan to attend college rather than a required course for everyone.

I tried to explain to her that as mankind progresses our base of knowledge broadens. With the limitations of time and classroom environments, they need to choose what things to teach and what things to let go of. As we (people in general) learn and develop we gain greater understanding of the various sciences and maths, as well as the ever-lengthening history we leave behind us. Many schools have chosen in favor of classes that will lend themselves to a variety of higher education studies rather than basic life practices.

My daughter thinks they chose wrong. In many ways I think she is right.

A person who can do calculus but can feed themselves will have a hard time surviving. A person who can balance matter at an atomic level but can’t balance a budget will struggle in the day-to-day business of life. Not everyone needs to be a mechanic but knowing a few things about how your car works, and it’s routine maintenance, will serve you well whether you are a professor at Harvard or a grocery store clerk. My daughter found out that, for $25 and ½ hour of her time, she can do something that would have cost her well over $100 minimum to have someone else do. She also discovered why mechanics are sometimes referred to as ‘grease monkeys’ but that is beside the point.

Food preparation is another skill many children are not learning. I spent some time working in a school kitchen and have seen with my own eyes what some kids bring to school for lunch - and not because of financial difficulties. One child would regularly bring packaged cookies and a bag of microwave popcorn as her lunch. I can’t count the times when she would show me her lunch and it consisted of mini-doughnuts and left over Halloween candy. She was happy with it and had packed it herself… this girl was 15.

Another valuable skill is knowledge about how to use tools. Simple home repair is exceptionally useful. Fixing a cupboard door or replacing an air filter on an AC unit are not difficult jobs and only require the ability to handle a screwdriver. Painting an interior wall is even fairly simple if you know what to do with a paintbrush and some painters tape. It is important that our children learn how to do the things that are part of living self-sufficiently.

I am not saying these things merely to be critical. I am pointing out that if our children are to learn basic life skills it is up to us, as parents, to teach them. Homeschoolers have an advantage of time and consistency, since they are at home more and have the freedom to choose what things to include in the curriculum, but parents of traditional school children have the same responsibility. These things don’t take that much time and are highly valuable for your child. Involve your children in preparing the daily meals. Teach them to change to oil on your car over a weekend. There are some kids who have made it all the way to high school and don’t even know how to address a letter to be sent through traditional mail (having them receive mail, like the Adventure Letters, might be a good way to help in this department!).

What are some other things you believe are important for our children to learn? I would love to hear your suggestions - maybe it is something I have left out of my child’s education!

The Strengthening Homeschool Community

Thu, 29 Aug 2024 16:06:28 GMT

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When I was young, the homeschool community was a small one. Twenty years before that it was positively miniscule. According to the National Home Education Research Institute the number of homeschoolers has grown from only ten thousand in the 1970’s to over 2 million by 2010.* Today that number has ballooned to over 3.1 million. That is an insane rate of growth! I can’t say I’m surprised considering the current trajectory of the public education system but still, the numbers are staggering.

One of the most prevalent arguments against homeschooling your child is that the child will not be properly socialized. Without regular interaction with others their own age, the child will fail to flourish, being incapable of handling themselves in the many necessary social interactions of adulthood. While it is possible that this may have been a legitimate concern back when the movement began, it is obvious that argument has become outdated. Because of those families that ignored the detractors and pursued what was the best for their children, it is no longer valid to suggest that homeschoolers will not have enough access to social training. There are now homeschooling communities all over the country that do life together - everything from organized math classes to competitive sports teams are available to those who choose an alternative method of education. All of the needed courses - English, science, math, history, etc. - are, of course, taught but the vast myriad of elective choices puts the traditional system of education to shame. Simply because of time constraints, lack of resources, and the need to educate a large group versus an individual, there is no way the public system can tailor education to each student's gifting and interests.

Now that we have addressed the erroneous claims of poor socialization for homeschoolers in light of the more current data, let's take a quick peek at the social climate of public education institutions. According to the National Center for Education Statistics** the reported rate of schools that experienced violent crimes in the 2021-2022 school year, Including elementary schools , is at 67%. If you narrow it down to just middle school the number skyrockets to 90%. And this is only reported violent crimes. If you take into consideration the non-violent crimes, the 71% of high schools that reported Drug use or distribution, as well as the schools that may or may not be reporting incidents at all, it doesn’t paint a very good picture for the socialization that is available through the traditional school route.

I would like to point out two things here: First, I know many teachers in traditional schools who are excellent teachers and they are fighting tooth and nail for their students. Teachers aren’t, necessarily, the problem. That said, those same teachers are meeting opposition from many, and unexpected, sources that make it harder and harder for even the best teachers to do much in the way of helping the children in their classroom. I know of teachers who have ended up in mental facilities with severe PTSD from abuse at the hands of the public system and it doesn’t show any signs of getting better. Secondly, I should point out that Homeschool is not the is-all-end-all for education. I have homeschooled my own children but also gone through seasons when I put them in regular school because a traditional classroom was more in line with what they needed. Private school, although potentially quite costly, can be an excellent option - many of them do offer financial aid. Homeschooling may not be possible for some families. Homeschooling may not be desirable for some. For some families, homeschooling would not be beneficial to the child. It is important to consider all the possibilities.

The growing strength of the homeschool community is a blessing to so many because it is taking something that was good and making it completely amazing. Homeschooling families helping each other provide what is best for everyone, making resources available that might not otherwise be attainable, builds strong and healthy communities of successful people. The creator of The Adventure Letters saw a need that she could meet in her own homeschool community and that resource is now available to you and your children in your own community! Check out what she has created and see if it would be good for your family!

* https://www.nheri.org/home-school-researcher-explaining-the-change-in-homeschooling-1970-2010/#:~:text=Only%2010%2C000%20to%2015%2C000%20children,Ray%2C%202005%2C%202011 ).

** https://nces.ed.gov/whatsnew/press_releases/1_17_2024.asp

Fitness for the Non-Athletic Child

Thu, 22 Aug 2024 14:20:52 GMT

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It is a truth, universally accepted (in Texas anyway), that organized sports are the “is-all end-all” of a young person's life. The most important thing a child can do to secure the pride of their parents is to bring home a trophy that says they beat the other guy. If that trophy happens to be in football the child is positively idolized. Imagine my dismay when I discovered this belief, and compared it to my own ideas of whole child health.

I have never been entranced by sports and not one of my children is athletically-inclined. I am not a native Texan - obviously - so I am really not bothered by it and my children are my pride and joy for many reasons that don’t involve a ball. That said, the fact remains that it is still important for my children to be physically active to have healthy bodies… So what can I do? There was a time when soccer was something they loved but playing outside in the heat of a southern summer is not an option for my temperature sensitive littles.

We had to get creative.

It is useful to know that an activity does not need to be “organized” in order to burn calories. It does not need to be done as a team to build muscle. It doesn't need to be during certain hours to count as part of their school. In trying to find ways for my children to get their "phys ed” class, I have discovered many excellent exercising options!

Option number one; Bicycling. This is both my ten and twelve year-old’s favorite thing to do right now. They will ask every day if they can go ride up and down our street (which is on a hill!). Because, right now, the heat is still in the triple digits, they have to wait until the sun has gone down and they ride until it is time for bedtime routines to start. They love every minute of it.

Option number two; Swimming. We do not own a pool but we do have a YMCA membership and all four of my kids love swimming. It is a good exercise for hot days because the water, naturally, helps the body stay cool. Even in temps over a hundred, my kids will stay in the pool for over an hour splashing and racing. The water provides an excellent resistance workout and is great for core muscle strength. Many YMCAs (or similar clubs) have indoor facilities so you can still enjoy them after the weather turns chilly.

Option number three; A trip to the arboretum or museum. If you don’t have a free option for either of those a trip to Ikea or the mall will do just as well - the goal is to go somewhere that requires a good deal of walking but keeps you entertained while you are there. You can easily meander ten-thousand steps in any of those places and BAM! You just walked a mile!

Option number four; Bowling. Granted, it is not a high-calorie-burning activity but it is a sport and a lot of fun. It is something that children as young as three or four can enjoy and it teaches balance, control, patience, and focus. You can even build up your biceps a little! It is good for when the weather is too hot or too cold to be outside. It is also something that can be done as a family. There is a fantastic nation-wide program called “Kids Bowl Free” that allows for exactly that - kids get two free games, every day, all summer long! There are no requirements to sign up and bowling alleys all over America honor the program. My family has been doing it for years and it is wonderful.

Option number five; Go on an adventure like Sophia and Grayson in The Adventure Letters ! There are places all over your home state to explore and many of them will get you active. When our family first moved to Texas we discovered a place called “Dinosaur Valley” and we spent hours outside, walking in the footprints of real dinosaurs, exploring both nature and history!

There are so many good options for getting your kids active even if they don’t enjoy organized team sports. I would love to hear some of your ideas and suggestions for keeping kids healthy and moving on days that are too hot or too cold to be outside! Please share some of your thoughts in the comments below!

Let’s Play A Game

Thu, 15 Aug 2024 16:32:08 GMT

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If you lived life long enough to be a grown-up you’ve probably heard the phrase “You shouldn’t mix work and pleasure.” I understand the sentiment behind the statement but I can’t say I agree with it… especially when it comes to education. Children (and adults too for that matter) are most productive when they are enjoying what they are doing. I could get scientific and talk about the effectiveness of Dopamine and Serotonin in triggering positive responses and increasing rewarding activity, but I’d rather just show you.

So let’s play a game!

This Game is called Animal Train. Here is how the game will go; I will name an animal and you tell me three things you know about that animal. Then you will name an animal that has one trait in common with my animal. It will then be my turn to come up with two more traits and a new animal that shares one trait with your animal. We will keep connecting animals until we have a train of five animals. We will win the game if we can find a connection between the last animal and the first! Are you ready?

Giraffe
Eats plants
Tall
Yellow
Canary
Bird
Sings
Whale
Is really big
Swims
Beaver
Builds his house
Has big front teeth
Squirrel
Can jump really far
Eats plants just like a Giraffe!

Great Job!! We won the game!!

You see, by playing this simple game, we won in multiple ways. We learned to classify animals, sort things by what they had in common, learn about animal traits, (maybe even learn what the word “trait” means!) make connections and differentiations, work together to solve a problem, use our memory recall, ect. And we did all of that while having fun. I’d be willing to bet my bottom dollar that while I was listing the animals you had others in mind that also connected!

For children, particularly younger children, the best way to learn is through play. Try this game with your own child and see how engaged they are! See if you can connect more than five animals. Draw and color pictures of animals and see if you can find ways to connect the ones you just colored. Try it with something besides animals in order to make it more challenging for older children. Get creative!

There are many games you can play that allow for both work and play . Don’t be afraid of having fun while engaging the mind - the mind is much more receptive to what it likes! One of my favorite games that we used to play, back in my homeschooled childhood, was called Masterpiece (it is, sadly, out of print). The game contained a large stack of cards - each one a printed copy of a famous painting - that the players bought and sold at auction in an attempt to make a profit. I learned so many artists and paintings through that game (not to mention the math and reasoning skills of conducting an auction for profit). By ten years old I could identify paintings by Edward Hopper, Picasso, or Vincent Van Gogh. I developed a taste for what I liked in art and what I didn't care for.

There are other things besides games that can make learning exciting: play-acting a skit, doing a related craft, hands-on experiments, getting something fun in the mail like The Adventure Letters , or making a food that might tie in somehow. Sometimes you will learn the favorite foods from the states in The Adventure Letters . You could try making that food together and talk about what you learned that week in the Letter you got!

I encourage you to mix work and pleasure in your homeschool life! It will make your lessons that much more effective.

Starting Smart So You Can Finish Strong

Fri, 09 Aug 2024 00:24:29 GMT

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One thing I have learned from experience is that the enthusiasm you have at the beginning of the school year is barely holding its head above water by the time you get past the winter holidays and, as you enter February, ‘enthusiasm’ has died and you are in survival mode until the first signs of spring show up. There are several ways to combat this; co-ops, scheduled classes outside the home, memberships to various educational platforms. But one of the things that I think is a big help in keeping the positive attitude alive during the longest stretches of winter is having a Unit Study.

Unit Studies can last a month, a semester, or a whole year and they serve to give you a purpose and a goal in your teaching - they are, if you will, a skeleton that holds up, and holds together , everything! Let me give you an example to illustrate:

My family lived in Maine for a few years and the winters there are long and dark. I love the snow, and don’t mind the cold, but even I was over it when we were still having blizzards in March. During this time our homeschooling family chose to divide our year into semesters and make our unit studies appropriate for the season at hand. During the fall semester we did a study centered on lighthouses . We trekked all over the state visiting the wide variety of specimens available. For English classes we would read books, and write reports, about lighthouses. For history we would visit lighthouses that still operated in the same way they did two-hundred years ago, without running water or electricity. For social studies we learned about the fishing and lobster industry (that relied heavily on those lighthouses).

When the winter semester started and we couldn’t travel about as easily we started a unit study on weather. The library was filled with books on air patterns and low pressure systems. We organized a group of local families and invited the T.V. weatherman to come teach us about how he predicted what would happen. That winter, Maine was struck with a brutal ice-storm that knocked out the power for two weeks solid, so we learned about ice storms. We took advantage of the natural phenomenon to learn science! With everything covered in six inches of ice, we lived like pioneers and that was a learning experience too!

By the time spring rolled around and the ice started to melt we were ready to move on to our next unit study. Years start to blur together in my memory so I don’t know if we studied art that spring or did a dive into a history unit (drawing, perhaps, on our pioneer winter experience). Although the units are jumbled in my mind now they served to keep us organized then . They helped us keep going when we needed to. Knowing what you are supposed to be working on always helps you stay focused.

A unit study can be built around almost anything. It can be a point in history, a culture, a person, an object, a subject of any kind! If you decided on a geography unit or a United States unit, The Adventure Letters would be a wonderful asset to help in that study! The Adventure Letters would even be useful in a unit that focuses on communication, letters, or the mail system! I would love to hear what kind of units you are considering for your new year of school! Sharing your plans can help others in your homeschool community who may be having a hard time coming up with ideas, and I would be happy to post some of the things you come up with!

An Educational Experience: Learning in the world around you

Thu, 01 Aug 2024 21:47:45 GMT

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When I was a kid, my homeschooling mom would find every possible way to engage us in learning. Whatever we did and wherever we went it was an “educational opportunity”. My cousins, who were also homeschooled, would join us on some of our learning experiences and we would laugh at our shared circumstance of a ‘field trip to the supermarket’. We thought it was silly but after I grew up, had a family, and began homeschooling my own kids I began to see the brilliance of my mother's plan. As children, we were learning all the time and didn’t even know it! Learning was fun because it was interactive, we were not just sitting with a textbook trying to cram useless facts into our brains, we were experiencing those facts applied.

Don’t get me wrong, we did have some textbooks, but my mom wanted to know we understood what we were learning so she gave us ways to apply it. Household activities were intentional. She would have us prepare meals or bake cookies - That’s fun but it’s also math and science (not to mention the valuable life skill of being able to feed oneself). Playing a board game was developing cognitive skills and the ability to follow directions. Yard work was phys-ed. Creating our own game or building a treehouse was engineering, teamwork, and problem-solving. Even over our school holidays or snow days the learning didn’t stop; spending all day figuring out how to build an igloo was a series of trials and errors in mechanics .

We lived in a rural area of Massachusetts but the big city of Boston was not more than an hour away. We would take trips into town and watch street performers - that was a lesson in physics applied! We would take walks down Mass Ave. and Newbury St. and compare the old and new architecture. We would go to the waterfront to learn about ocean tides and urban sea life. Boston is rich in history and steeped in the arts - museums are everywhere and if you were fortunate enough to have a Boston library card (or knew someone who did) you could get free passes to many of them… but those museums were not where we did most of our learning.

We had a large family and a small income so my mom needed to get creative. A trip into the city with five kids was expensive (even if you had a free museum pass) so those trips were “special” field trips. But they weren’t the only field trips. There were paths in the woods behind our house so we would go on ‘nature hikes’ to learn about the local flora and fauna. A run to the grocery store became a lesson in consumer math; comparing unit prices and keeping track of our grocery bill as we added things to the cart. Figuring out the sales tax was a tricky one!

One of the most important things I learned from my mother was that learning could be fun and the opportunity to learn was everywhere. As it turns out, it can even be found in your mailbox! Fun mail is a great way to incorporate learning into daily life. Adventure Letters is an educational resource but it makes learning fun by incorporating stories, puzzles, jokes, pictures, and more! Because of the way my mother taught me - because learning was part of everything we did - I became a life-long learner (it didn’t end at graduation) and I am able to pass that on to my own kids.

Nurturing a Well-Rounded Homeschool Experience

Wed, 15 May 2024 02:36:15 GMT

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Being a homeschooling parent, I know that giving my kids a broad education is key. Homeschooling lets us, as parents, shape our child's education to fit their unique needs and interests. A "well-rounded" homeschooling experience covers more than just getting good grades. It's about loving to learn, growing as a person, and sparking our child's interests. By including Interest-Led Learning in our homeschool, we help our child lead their education. This fosters a lasting delight for discovering new things.

For our family, staying fit is important. I've struggled with physical health most of my life and don’t want that to be an issue for my children. So, we've been intentional about giving the kids space to play sports, work out, and stay active. I didn’t prioritize this for a few years, and I regret it. Now, we are back to growing healthier as a family. It's clear that being physically active boosts their mind, body, and spirit.

But it's not all about sports for us. We also encourage our kids to try all sorts of things, like playing music, participating in scouting programs, creating art, and writing. This personalized learning style has sparked their love for learning and helped them discover their passions and talents. Well-rounded homeschoolers get an awesome education. They have time to think deeply about what they learn, follow their dreams, and make friends. They also connect well with people of all ages because of their maturity and social skills.

One resource that has truly spiced up our homeschooling journey is The Adventure Letters. This site sends us letters each month, full of cool facts, stories, and conversation ideas. The cost, $12.99 a month or $120 a year, is a great deal for the learning boost it gives us. After 19 years of homeschooling, I wanted to add something to our monthly routine that was both fun and educational. The letters come twice a month, keeping our geography and child-led learning moving along. We read the letters together and talk about each state. As the creator of these letters, I’ve added questions and conversation starters to each letter to have meaningful discussions with my children. For us, the letters are about spending quality time together as a family. We laugh, we learn, and we have great conversations because of the content.

FAQ

What makes The Adventure Letters a unique subscription for kids?

The Adventure Letters are special because they take kids on engaging adventures through letters. Each month, a new set of letters arrives, leading kids into new discoveries about our great nation. They're challenged to solve puzzles, discover new places, and enjoy exciting adventures.

How does The Adventure Letters curriculum support a well-rounded education for homeschooled children?

The curriculum of The Adventure Letters helps homeschoolers learn in a unique way. It covers many subjects and helps them develop skills like writing and thinking creatively. The stories mix in history and geography, making learning fun and full of adventures.

What types of activities and experiences do The Adventure Letters provide for homeschooled children?

The Adventure Letters offer more than just stories. They inspire kids to explore nature, create art, solve puzzles, develop emotional insight, and enjoy outdoor activities. The activity pages and collectible stickers are very well received.

How does The Adventure Letters help homeschooled children develop important life skills?

The Adventure Letters help kids develop essential life skills such as problem-solving, communication, and resilience. Through engaging stories and challenges, kids become more confident and creative, preparing them for their future. The safety tips and conversation cards are excellent tools for building children’s confidence and emotional maturity.

Embracing a Diverse Educational Journey

Homeschooling's magic is showing kids a wide range of experiences not often found in schools. These experiences could be from community activities, outdoor adventures, to personalized learning and online educational resources. For example, our family might have had a great homeschool week filled with jujitsu, reading, history studies, and social events.

A well-rounded homeschool experience gives kids more than just book smarts. It prepares them for the real world, helping them gain skills and confidence. Enjoy the journey of homeschooling. Appreciate the freedom and custom approach it offers. And see your kids grow into curious, well-balanced individuals.