Children often have a lot to say but we don't seem to have a lot of time to listen. Sure, we can smile and nod along as our 5 year old talks about their day or throw out a few deftly placed but insincere "Uh huh's" while our 12 year old attempts to convince us that they'll never actually use math in the real world. But our mind is often elsewhere, preoccupied with matters of true importance. How mistaken we are. If we can't find the time to truly listen to our children when they're young and thereby show them just how important they're concerns are to us, then they'll most likely deprive us of the privilege of listening to them when they're older. A world of meaning and significance is caught up in everything our children say, it's just a question of whether or not we care to listen.

Find our character and habit training program for children here!

Find handmade, educational chalkboards for children here!

Find our homeschool planner here!

We place a lot of expectation on our children and issue a lot of commands. But have you ever stopped to think about what's behind those expectations and commands? This episode will ask you to do the difficult and perhaps even painful work of exploring the true motivations behind the directives you give your children. For as important as the "laws" in your home are, they have little to no lasting effect without the proper spirit bringing them forth.

Find our Character and Habit Training Program for Children here.

Find our handcrafted, educational chalkboards for children here.

In this episode we talk about the thing that children want the most but that we seem to have so little to give - time. It's much too easy to allow other activities and pursuits, including necessary ones, to get in the way of us spending time with our children. We count on there always being a tomorrow (which is usually the case) but what we don't count on is the nearly imperceptible loss of unique moments and seasons in the midst of waiting for tomorrow to arrive. Let's make sure it doesn't happen in our homes. Let's give ourselves to our children while there's still time.

In this episode we talk about the prevalence of technology in our children's lives and how we can minimize its ability to negatively influence them. Also we offer some advice to first time homeschoolers and talk about the one activity that's more important than learning in your homeschool.

This is part two of a series of episodes on preparing to parent during one of the most formative periods in your child's life - their teen years. Whether you have children distant from, nearing, or in the middle of their teens, these episodes are for you.

What's the best way to talk to your teenager? Talk to them for the 12 years they're not a teenager. In part one of this series, we'll focus on the groundwork that needs to be laid so that when your child arrives at the pivotal teen years, they won't just listen to you, they'll actively seek your counsel. It all starts by building trust and communicating a genuine message of love all throughout their younger years so that, when real life comes at them hard and fast, you'll be the first person they turn to for guidance and a listening ear.

Links mentioned in this episode:

⁠⁠The Well Ordered Homeschool Planner ⁠⁠

⁠⁠Chalk Full of Design⁠⁠ - Handcrafted, Educational chalkboards for children! Enjoy screen free learning!

Parents are fond of using force. Whether it's yelling or threatening or whatever it might be, we're often convinced that the only way to curb misbehavior is to intimidate or frighten our child into compliance. And while some sort of force may initially be necessary at times to get our point across, it's never capable of truly reforming our children's behavior. Why? Because it's terrible at achieving understanding and our children ultimately need to understand why an action or behavior is right or wrong. So while force, properly applied, may get a child to the place where they're open to instruction, it cannot be the vehicle that delivers it. That must come from us with all the love we can muster.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Character Badges: https://thewellorderedhomeschool.com/products/character-badges-laminated-set-ages-5-13

Raising children can be frustrating - terribly frustrating. Often we feel the need to unburden our frustrations on others. "Can you believe they said that?!" or, " Who do they think they are?" or, "You wouldn't believe what I'm going through," and on and on. But we rarely stop to think about the degree to which our actions are responsible for their actions. We don't have to look very far to realize that many of the struggles we see in our children's lives are there as a result of our unwillingness to sacrifice for them. Or more specifically that there's a particular level of sacrifice that we've deemed a road too far. This begs the question - just how far are you willing to go?

I'm not sure that you would characterize this generation as aimless. It's just that so many of our aims are wrong. Mainly, the one that directs us to serve ourselves exclusively. That's not why we're here. Nor is it why your family is here, together, at this particular time. You and your family have a mission - you just might not know it yet. But that mission needs to be discovered and it needs to be communicated to your children so they can take part. The truth is, children actually like work as long as they can sense the purpose in it. And there's no more purposeful work than the work you engage in, together, for the benefit of others.

Links mentioned in this episode:

⁠The Well Ordered Homeschool Planner ⁠

⁠Chalk Full of Design⁠ - Handcrafted, Educational chalkboards for children! Enjoy screen free learning! 

This episode is dedicated to mothers and the inestimably valuable sacrifices they make on behalf of their families. We cannot thank you enough for all that you do.