This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Modeling Gratitude for Our Homeschool High Schoolers.

Thanksgiving: ‘Tis the season of gratitude! We are so grateful to be part of your lives!

In this episode, Vicki, Sabrina, and Kym talk about what they have learned about modeling gratitude for our homeschool high schoolers. As we all know, character and habits are more easily caught than taught. So, if we homeschooling parents would like for our teens to be more grateful, we can help that along by modeling a mindset of gratitude for them.

Gratitude is part of a healthy lifestyle. Homeschooling goes better when we are in a healthy mindset, and gratitude helps with that. Not only that, but research is finding that practicing gratitude can be healthy to our bodies as well. Hey, Health is a high school core subject, so practicing gratitude can be part of that credit!

7Sisters Health curriculum talks about gratitude.

The Billy Graham Library tells us that, “more than 150 times, the Bible either calls men to thank God or tells them how to give thanks”.

Scripture it does not tell us to give thanks because it is  good for our health. It simply says give thanks because that’s the way God works. When we develop a lifestyle of gratitude, we are being faithful to Scripture and God’s instructions. However, isn’t it interesting that when we are grateful, our bodies, minds, and spirits become healthier?

So, why not think about ways to model gratitude for your family?

There are SO many ways to create a grateful lifestyle. Here are a few:

Laughter lightens the mood and helps us to think more positively. Laughter is also good medicine. (A merry heart does good like a medicine. – Proverbs 17:22.)

This is an old practice, developed by Ignatius, a monk back in the 1500s, where you examine your day to see where God was working and to be grateful for His work. There are several ways to practice an Examen. This is how Vicki practices a daily examen.

Notice three things that God was doing that day:

Here’s a freebie download from Vicki’s coaching website that gives how-to on the Ignatian Examen.

A few years ago, our homeschool umbrella school experienced a season of tragedy when one of our teens’ classmates passed away. It was very, very hard on a lot of the kids. We did a lot of supporting the kids and griefwork. One of the tools that helped them get through the hard times was encouraging the idea of noticing and being thankful for the little things. It gave them some grounding while they did the hard grieving.

This is simply a notebook where teens (this works for moms, too) and write down something(s) they are thankful for. Here’s post from Vicki’s coaching website with how-to do a gratitude journal.

Sabrina’s advice on journaling: “If I could go back and talk to younger Sabrina, I would say make sure this doesn’t feel like a five-paragraph essay that you’re assigning to yourself or your teens!”

In fact, here are a couple of freebie downloadable journaling pages to keep it from turning into an “academic assignment”!

Kym practiced gratitude in her homeschool Spanish classes. During each class, she had the teens share a high and a low. This practice respected hard things but taught teens to notice and be grateful for the blessings.

Have you shared your gratitude for your kids with them lately? It is SO good for them to hear that their parents appreciate them!

At some point on Thanksgiving, it is a delightful and meaningful practice to ask everyone to share something they are grateful for!

We are grateful for all of our listeners, and for all of you 7th Sisters and 7Siblings who join us over at our 7SistersHomeschool Facebook group.

See you next week! Thanks to Seth Tillman for editing.

The post Modeling Gratitude for Our Homeschool High Schoolers appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.