The Homeschool Highschool Podcast

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Encouragement for Homeschool Moms with Jessica Anderson.

Need a little homeschool encouragement? We invited our dear friend, Jessica Anderson from Intentional in Life, to come share some homeschool goodness with us.

When you talk with Jessica, you usually feel like you are in the presence of wisdom and intentionality. (Of course, that’s why her work is called Intentional in Life!) She is one of those wise guides through the ups and downs of homeschooling.

Jessica is the mom of three boys. She is living in all stages of homeschooling: a high schooler, an almost-middle-schooler, and an elementary-aged child.

Vicki, Sabrina, and Kym met Jessica at their beloved 2:1 Conference when the elementary-aged son was in a baby carriage. We have warm memories of our 7Sister Kym on hands and knees chatting with the baby!

One thing we appreciate about Jessica is that she doesn’t pretend every day of motherhood or homeschooling will be perfect.

In fact, perfect might be boring for year after year.

Jessica and her family have navigated a lot of changes and chaos in their world. Jessica calls these years the Messy Middle.

The Messy Middle is all part  of the process of it all!

Jessica has learned some things to help her hold onto encouragement:

As Jessica says:

“They can’t fly without faith.”

Jessica’s family has experienced some deaths in the extended family. They have also moved between states several times. It’s not easy when you’re homeschooling and going through hard things.

Jessica echoes a desire many of us share: when our children grow up and start their own families, they will still want to call us, have friendly conversations, or ask for advice.

Most importantly, remember this: You CAN do this! (Hey, if you want an online parent’s course from 7SistersHomeschool on homeschooling high school, check out You Can Do It!)

Intentional In Life (Be sure to sign up for her encouraging newsletter.)

Visit 7SistersHomeschool Facebook group if you haven’t done that yet. Lots of 7th Sisters are there to encourage you and share homeschooling advice. (BTW- there are 6 of us 7Sisters: Vicki, Kym, Marilyn, Sara, Allison, and Stacey. So who’s the 7th Sister? YOU are! So, join us on the Facebook group!)

Thank you to Seth Tillman for editing.

How to help a friend in crisis: Encouragement for homeschool moms

The post Encouragement for Homeschool Moms with Jessica Anderson appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: How to Have Good Conversations with Your Teen.

Communication is key with teens! Join Vicki for tips on strengthening relationships with your homeschool high schoolers by having meaningful conversations.

We homeschool moms wear multiple hats, from teachers to mentors, referees, and counselors, and naturally, we want to have those kinds of connections with our teens. But let’s be real – some teens open up like books, while others need a whole invitation to get past “fine” when you ask them how their day was.

First things first, it’s important to remember that not every teen is the same. Some are natural-born chatterboxes, while others are more introspective and observers. 

It’s important to recognize that each teen has their own personality and preferred way of communicating  

If your teen is not the type to pour out their thoughts right away, try not to take it personally. It does not necessarily mean they do not want to talk. It might just means they might need a different approach.

We at 7Sisters had all kinds of teens. Here are some of the different approaches that we found worked with various teens.

That leads to the first strategy – pick your time and place. For instance, trying to engage a night owl teen at 7:30 AM is a recipe for disaster. And if your early bird is ready for a chat, 10 PM might not be the best time. 

Likewise, sometimes a neutral setting, like grabbing a coffee or taking a car ride, can make all the difference. Car rides, in particular, can be magical because no one has to make eye contact, and the movement seems to ease the pressure. Vicki found car rides were the number one location for deep and meaningful conversations with her teens.

Another helpful tip? Let food facilitate a fun conversation!

It’s funny, but sometimes sitting down with snacks creates an atmosphere where teens feel more comfortable. It’s like sharing food levels the playing field and makes even tough conversations feel less formal. 

You do not have to go all out – a simple snack at the kitchen table or a stop at a drive-thru can help facilitate a smoother exchange. 

Plus, if it’s an especially challenging conversation, food can offer a little comfort to both of you.

When talking with teens, it’s crucial to make them feel safe in expressing themselves without fear of judgment. 

Sometimes teens may assume we already have all the answers or are not genuinely interested in their thoughts, but a simple question like, “What did you think about that?” or “I wonder why you feel that way?” can unlock deeper conversation. 

It’s essential to approach these talks with an open mind, giving them the space to share, even if their perspective challenges your own. Remember: relationship is the emphasis!

If your teen has an opinion that you do not fully agree with, resist the urge to jump in and “fix” it. Let them talk it out, and then ask follow-up questions that show you are genuinely curious. 

Encouraging them to explain their thought process not only makes them feel heard but also helps develop critical thinking skills. 

And hey, sometimes they might surprise you with a new perspective you had not considered. Remember, adolescence is the time our offspring need to try on different ideas and goals. The more you listen and hold back from quickly jumping in, the more they can grow under your loving, watchful and prayerful eyes. (Also, let them make some mistakes… unless those mistakes are too dangerous, of course.)

Lastly, do not underestimate the power of using shared experiences as conversation starters. Whether it’s discussing a book, a movie, or even something seen on social media, these external sources can be gateways into deeper topics. 

They take the pressure off the teen to come up with something to talk about on their own and can make tricky subjects feel more approachable.

The bottom line is this:

Conversations with your teen are not just about exchanging information; they are about connection. It’s about creating a space where your teen feels seen, heard, and valued. 

So next time you’re facing a conversation that feels complex, take a deep breath, grab some snacks, and remember—it’s all about heart. BTW- Also, we can extend conversations into the way we homeschool- check out Sabrina’s talk on conversational homeschooling. 

Thank you to Seth Tillman for editing this podcast and to Richie Soares with Homeschool and Humor for writing this blog post!

The post How to Have Good Conversations with Your Teen- Special Replay appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Felice met the 7Sisters team at a blogging conference and invited them to bring homeschool high school to the network. Years and hundreds of episodes later, they are still the ones parents come to when the teen years arrive.

For the network’s thirteenth birthday, every host answers a single real question. This one is theirs.

Their question: “Your oldest is about to hit high school, and you are quietly terrified you are going to wreck their transcript.”

Their answer starts with a joke and ends with a reframe: there is no cookie-cutter homeschool high school, because there is no cookie-cutter kid — and yet the transcript is exactly a cookie cutter, one that admissions officers know how to read. Your job is the translation. The clip comes from Transcript Basics.

Also in this episode: Felice Gerwitz on whether to homeschool at all · Hal and Melanie Young on boys who will not sit still · Dr. Melanie Wilson on why you are already behind · Sue Myers on a fever and a two-year-old · Meryl van der Merwe on teenagers and AI · Meredith Curtis on getting the joy back · Lisa Nehring on life skills before they launch.

The Sweet 13 Giveaway is open. More than $1,500 in prizes, four drawings across October, and a free party favor for everyone who enters. Enter at ultimateradioshow.com/sweet-13 — October 1 through 29. No purchase necessary, US residents 18+, official rules here.

Presented by Eden’s Table, a Bible-rooted herbalism unit study for K–5. Get Week 1 free, or use code EDEN13 for 10% off through October 31.

The post Sweet 13 Bonus: Will I Wreck the Transcript? appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Celebrating Our Just-Average Teens.

Let’s celebrate  our just-average teens!

There is joy when we appreciate the fact that our teens are exactly who they’re supposed to be, exactly the teens that God created them to be.

Vicki is from Florida. She married into a backwoods Florida farming family. Her mother-in-law was from a farming family that had been on the land for generations. On the family farm, some areas had rich soil, some had sandy soil, and some were a little damp down near the creek.

Her mother-in-law’s father had to know which crops would grow best in which soils. A wise farmer paid attention. Up near the farmhouse, there may have been some beautiful corn growing. You could watch it grow and get bigger and bigger from the farmhouse steps.

Further out towards the back 40 acres, there may have been things like mustard greens, okra, or potatoes that would grow best in the soil there.

The corn up near the house was more visible. However, it didn’t mean it was the most important crop. Each crop was important. Each was growing the way it grew best.

We have some teens in our families or in our community who were born to be more visible. Perhaps they look like the ones that are the best at something, or they are outstanding at something, or they are award-winning at something.

Then we have teens that are like a lot of our teens: they are average at something.

In fact, most of our teens are average at most things.

If you ever had to take statistics in college, you may remember the bell-shaped curve of populations. For instance, perhaps you obtain a large population of almost anything: humans, cats, or trees. When you measure the way that population is behaving, you will end up with a graph that looks like a bell.

The largest numbers of that population are under the top of the bell. That means that most of the population is there. That is a simple explanation of the word “average”.

Average teens are going to live what looks like an “average life”. This is good!

God makes each of our teens exactly who they should be: an average person doing normal things in life. As long as they learn to fulfill who God made them to be and stay faithful to what God called them to do, living an “average life” is a good and beautiful thing!

So, if God called them to learn to be a family person, invest in that family, and pay the bills by being a plumber or a mechanic, but they don’t make the big, big bucks, that’s not wrong. It’s the right thing for them.

It is the right thing: doing anything that glorifies God as an average person. It is good when teens learn to make life good and glorify God in their faithfulness to what God has called them to do.

Our average teens may not love math or their literature classes, but they are doing them. They don’t need to do honors-level work; instead, they can learn through an average-level curriculum.

Then they can spend more time on real-life preparation that will help them faithfully do what God made them to be.

So, if you have just-average teens, you can help them to understand that the important thing in life is to understand themselves, who God made them to be, and to fulfill that with joy and faithfulness.

You can make sure that your teens are concentrating on:

In her years as a licensed professional counselor, Vicki has often heard teens criticize themselves because they think they are not good at anything. But yes, they are. They are good at what God made them to be good at.

If we can help teens to relax and explore, have experiences, and just be faithful to the little things they know, whether that’s making their bed, “Okay, I’m faithful to that,”

or,

“I’m learning how to write this code on the computer,” they will be building who they will grow up to be.

They should not be criticizing themselves but recognizing that God made them to be who they are, and that is the right thing.

Our average teens are not ever less than. They are who they are supposed to be. It is not their job to be famous; it’s to be faithful.

And as homeschool moms, we need to remember that as well. Our success is not bragging about a kid who got a full-ride scholarship to college. What makes us a successful mom is doing what God gave us to do.

On the hard days and the glorious days, our job is to help our teens develop self-awareness, character, and academic preparation that’s right for them. So that when they graduate, we’ve done what we can.

You can do this!

Thank you to Seth Tillman for editing!

The post Celebrating Our Just-Average Teens appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Teaching Teens to Avoid Plagiarism.

Sometimes, parents will request a topic for the podcast. Recently, a parent asked us to talk about plagiarism.

It is so easy these days for young people to be tempted to throw a prompt into ChatGPT or another AI tool and get a paper produced for them. This might seem like a logical time-saver for teens; however, it is a kind of plagiarism. If an AI tool writes their paper, they did not!

One of my sons is a teacher at a university in Korea. Last year, one of his freshman-level courses required students to write a paper. When the students turned in their papers, he found that half of his students handed in AI-produced research papers.

The students had the theme of the assignment. They gave it to the AI tool, and the tool wrote their paper for them.

Unfortunately for the students, it was easily identifiable. Fortunately for the students, he was able to talk to the students and require them to rewrite the paper themselves. Because it was a freshman class and they were learning skills, with the university’s permission, my son could give them a second chance.

On the other hand, when one of my other sons was in graduate school, he was teaching undergraduate students. One of his star students was very busy, so she bought her research paper from a website that writes papers for students. Unfortunately for her, teachers were required to use plagiarism trackers to catch those “bought papers”.

My son was required to report her plagiarized paper, and she lost her full-ride scholarship.

Plagiarism is tempting for students, but it is a problem. Therefore, it is wise to teach our teens to develop the skills so that they do not need to plagiarize.

Let’s talk with teens about how to avoid plagiarism, whether mistakenly or on purpose, in research papers (or any high school writing projects).

When you are writing your paper, you should have a clearly defined topic. For instance:

This topic is going to guide you. It’s easier not to copy and paste somebody else’s work because it probably will not stay on theme as well as when you write your own paper.

When you are taking notes, do not copy and paste. It’s tempting. If you have cut-and-pasted notes from online resources while doing your research, it is easy to cut and paste directly into your paper.

According to the circumstances, this might be plagiarism. Or it simply might look like laziness. Several of my teacher friends have told me about teens who cut and paste sections of their papers from online sources. The font type, size, and colors have differed from the rest of the paper. Oops!

Instead, it’s better to take notes in your own wording or type quotes yourself directly into your document. (Or use flashcards and handwrite your notes!) Remember to keep your citations with your notes.

Remember: if you copy and paste your notes, you are not learning the material, and you are not learning how to write a research paper. The point of a research paper is to:

Now you are ready to write your paper. Remember, you are not cutting and pasting something right out of your notes into the paper. Instead, you are interpreting what you learned and digesting that into your paper.

You do need quotes in your research paper. However, do NOT cut and paste. Type out each quote. Follow the guidelines for the style of paper you are writing (APA, MLA, or Chicago). Remember to include the citation for the quote.

Tip: It is a good idea to include at least one citation in every paragraph, except the introduction and conclusion. Even if you are not using a quote but putting what you learned into your own words, citations prove that you did not plagiarize.

Guidance: NEVER buy your paper or give a prompt to ChatGPT, Grok, Claude, or any other AI platform and have the AI tool write your paper. Your teacher has plagiarism trackers. (Your teacher may even know your writing style and recognize when a paper does not have your “voice”.

You are not writing papers because your teacher is bored and needs something to read. Rather, you are writing papers to:

Writing papers by format, by the rules, in your own words, not plagiarized, is so good for you.

It’s not that hard. Just don’t copy and paste. Put things in your own words.

If you have trouble putting things in your own words, practice with your parents. Say, “Hey, I’m trying to figure out how to say this,” and then maybe they can brainstorm some ideas with you. That is a perfectly valid thing to do.

I have so many homeschoolers who have written good APA, MLA, and Chicago research papers; tell me that when they attend freshman composition classes, that they are way ahead of many of their classmates.

Thus, they get good grades and impress their professors. That’s a cool thing!

Even young people who are not college-bound build good communication and thinking skills by writing their own research papers.

Thank you to Seth Tillman for editing.

The post Teaching Teens to Avoid Plagiarism appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Organizational Tool for Homeschool High Schoolers with Rebecca Farris.

Working on getting organized now that the year has started, and you are finding out what is working and what is not? Congratulations! Today we are talking to Rebecca Farris, whose planners have been organizing homeschooling families for years!

Our 7SistersHomeschool meets Rebecca Farris story

When we 7Sisters were new in the entrepreneurial business, we decided to participate as vendors at several homeschool conferences. At one of them, right across the walkway from us in the vendor hall, was a lovely, gracious, kind woman named Rebecca Farris, the Well-Planned Gal.

Rebecca and her kids were the most welcoming people ever. The memory of their kindness to the new vendors on the block has stayed with me for well over a decade.

That’s why Vicki was so excited to finally have a chance to talk to Rebecca on the Homeschool Highschool Podcast!

Rebecca was a first-generation homeschooler. Unfortunately, she did not have the best experience. In fact, as she grew up, she did not even want to get married or have kids. She said to herself, “I am just gonna go my way!”

From childhood, Rebecca was business-minded, so she planned on a career in corporate America. However, Providence had different plans for her!

Rebecca often says, as the Well Planned gal, her life did not go as planned, and that’s okay. She ended up getting married and having children after all. She had Jenny, my first child, followed by five kids within seven years.

When her youngest was four years old, Rebecca started thinking about preschool for her oldest. She had already taught her to read through playtime. So, she decided to wait another year.

Then kindergarten came, and she said, “Well, I’ll just wait one more year.” And so on.

They homeschooled one year at a time until suddenly, all five are grown, and she’s an empty nester.

As a grandmother of five grandkids, Rebecca has had time to reflect on what she did right, what she did wrong, and what she wishes she had done. One of her key takeaways from her reflections is that she learned more than her kids through homeschooling.

I learned more than my kids through homeschooling. -Rebecca Farris

Rebecca also feels called to help other homeschool moms now that she is on the other side of it. She loves sharing the gifts God has given to her through homeschooling with homeschooling moms.

Rebecca receives questions from moms such as, “My teens haven’t learned how to organize their lives and their time.” Another frequent question is, “How can I get myself organized?”

Because Rebecca did not have a great homeschooling experience as a child, she decided to make sure her own kids had a wonderful time homeschooling. One way to do this is to make sure she was prepared and planned.

One of the tools she developed was a set of assessments to help homeschooling moms understand where their children were academically, as well as their personal achievements. This series is called Well Planned Start.

Rebecca reminds homeschooling moms that every single high schooler is different:

“The best thing you can do as a parent is to understand your teens.”- Rebecca Farris

She helps moms appreciate each teen’s uniqueness and leverage what they know about them to motivate them to :

Some of the tools that Rebecca makes available are chore charts and planners for teens, so that teens and moms can find the best fit for that unique homeschooler.

One benefit of training children and teens to use charts and/or planners is helping them build a neural structure of daily routines and rhythms.

Rebecca remembers working with her oldest daughter, who was not a naturally organized child, to understand the routines of daily and school-year life. She would work with her to help her understand the end goals for every school year. At a young age, Rebecca also worked with her daughter on internalizing daily rhythms and routines such as:

Rebecca remembers the day that her daughter got married. She went up to her daughter’s bedroom and asked, “Hey, what are you doing?”

Her daughter replied, “I’m almost finished with my five.”

She is an adult and still doing the same practice! It was internalized.

One of Rebecca’s daughters was “super smart but super quiet, very introverted”. She did not need to long-term plan. Rather, she just needed to know the plan for today. So, Rebecca would help her each morning assess what happened the day before and make the plan for the day.

This daughter’s planner was a tactile way to help her keep her “boots on the ground”, as Rebecca called it. She could keep an eye on and celebrate each day’s progress.

One of Rebecca’s sons needed to move freely to learn. Rebecca photocopied his planner and posted it on the wall. He would walk around and occasionally, throughout the day, check his progress on his own planner on the wall.

A planner is a tool no different than a hammer. How do we use a hammer? There are a thousand ways to use a hammer. You must read the situation, and then you adjust how you use it. However, in the end, hammers are used to hit a nail in some way.

Planners are tools. There are lots of ways to adapt planners to our kids’ needs. In the end, when you use a planner, you write down what needs to be done. Then you acknowledge what was completed.

Teens are not simply completing their academic credits. They are preparing for life. Planners can reflect this by including:

By using a well-rounded planner, teens learn self-management and build practice for life success.

Rebecca has many homeschooling-related projects. She dropped a little teaser about some new federal legislation. This legislation provides a way for homeschooling to be 100% funded by our taxes. Rebecca is part of a team that is building the infrastructure right now. She hints that in 2027, every single homeschooler will have the opportunity to have their curriculum, enrichment, supplies, and technology fully funded. To find out more, check out the latest information at her Curious Mind Network.

Visit Well Planned Gal for resources and how-tos for teens and moms

Come join the 7SistersHomeschool Facebook group, where you can share questions or cool things that you have learned.

Thank you to Seth Tillman for editing.

The post Organizational Tool for Homeschool High Schoolers with Rebecca Farris appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Homeschoolers Who Learn Differently: Empowered Strategies with Ashley Barta.

We love meeting new people with cool resources. That’s why we are excited to introduce you to Ashley Barta, who helps empower parents of homeschoolers who learn differently. Ashley is a consultant at Empowered Strategies and Consulting. She is also a military homeschool mom (and comes highly recommended by our friend and 7Sister Cousin, Natalie Mack).

With over twenty years of experience in education, Ashley is committed to bringing the joy of learning back into the lives of families, educators, and children. Her work is really cool because that’s why we’re homeschooling! We want our families to enjoy education!

Ashley’s story actually started in public school. She got her dream job as a kindergarten teacher in a small town in North Dakota. Those were the early days of No Child Left Behind, and there a huge push for all those kindergartners to be doing first-grade work.

Ashley remembers talking to the superintendent and saying, “I just want a play kitchen. I just want a kitchen in my classroom.”

Fewer people understood the importance of play in education. However, Ashley held onto the joy of playful education and brought that joy back into that classroom. Her young students experienced lots of imaginative play and learning through play.

When her oldest son was born, he was diagnosed with epilepsy. They tried to manage care while she worked full time. (And as military spouses know, the spouses run a lot more than their own job and their children.)

She found that all the running around was too much. Her mom-heart was calling her to stay home with her son. Ashley got my first master’s degree in early childhood special education during that time.

She opened her own preschool, and somehow managed to get all of her son’s PT, OT, and speech. Not only that, she ended up having a special education preschool full of children like her son.

Then her husband got orders. Ashley calls it, “The magic sauce of being military”. She had to close the preschool down, and they moved. In fact, the military moved them five or six times in fifteen years.

When the family moved to Nebraska, Ashley thought, “Let’s try homeschooling kindergarten. Let’s just try it.”

So she got all of the “how to homeschool” books. She soon found that homeschooling was fun. They had lots of zoo days and “school on the deck”.

Ashley and her husband decided, “We’ll just homeschool one year at a time, one year at a time.” And now she has a just-finished eighth grader and a just-finished sophomore. Her son is thriving. He might not do algebra and chemistry like his peers, but he is happy, healthy, and thriving. He is doing great for a severely medically complex child.

Soon, mothers with children who had health issues or learning disabilities started coming to her for advice, saying, “Well, you’re homeschooling! How do I do this?”

Ashley understood their struggles. It is easy to think that homeschooling means you have to buy a boxed curriculum and do what other homeschoolers are doing.

She always encourages them, “You know you’re your child’s best teacher. You are completely equipped to figure it out. And get help from other homeschooling people and resources when you need the support.”

Ashley gives homeschool moms the example of working with her son. He is non-verbal, but he uses his talker. For the longest time, everybody said, “Well, he can’t read if he’s not using his talker.”

However, she found a book: Structured Literacy.  The authors of the tool believe that literacy is possible even if you use a speaking device.

Ashley was able to add buttons to her son’s talker that were relevant to him. Now he demands shows that he wants to watch and then wants to talk about it. He can ask Alexa for different things. Through homeschooling and resources like this, Ashley has given him a world that we didn’t think was possible.

Besides being an excellent education choice for her children, the family loves being able to take time off when Dad is home. They can school through the summer if they need to. This is especially valuable for military families. They want to make the most of their time together.

Ashley Barta’s advice for homeschooling moms with homeschoolers who learn differently: Just breathe. Breathe. Every day is a new day in homeschooling, and if your first day stinks, the second day will be better.

Ashley frequently reminds nervous parents that homeschooling is totally doable. If you are a parent who is thinking about homeschooling and has a child who has some medical complexities or special needs, or if you are a military family with different rhythms, it is easy to feel intimidated.

That’s okay. There are resources to help. One of those resources is Ashley Barta and Empowered Strategies.

When Ashley begins to work with a family, she starts with a consultation. Every consultation is free. It’s a conversation to figure out what each family needs to go forth on their homeschool journey.

Sometimes she advises exhausted families to take a little time for de-schooling if they have been in a frustrating school situation: Enjoy the family, re-learn your relationships. Then Ashley helps them decide on the academic goals, strategies, and resources to help their specific needs

One thing that homeschooling moms with children who have learning struggles or the unique needs of military families need is encouragement, and a little “hold your hand and walk that path with you” attention. Also, if students come from a traditional school setting with an IEP, she can help the parents translate it into what it would look like at home.

You can get in touch with Ashley Barta at her Facebook page: Empowered Strategies and Consulting

Thanks to Seth Tillman for editing.

The post Homeschoolers Who Learn Differently: Empowered Strategies with Ashley Barta appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: The Youth Speak Magazine with Houston Wrona.

One of our favorite things is talking to homeschool graduates who are doing cool things. That is why we were so excited to have homeschool graduate Houston Wrona, about his homeschool youth magazine, The Youth Speak.

Houston’s homeschool journey began at preschool and continued through graduation. He has found homeschooling to be a great experience and is thankful for it.

The family’s homeschooling style changed over the years. In his younger years, the family employed a much more curriculum-based approach. However, in high school years, they moved to a “basically no curriculum” approach with more problem-solving, exploration, and skills development behind all his learning experiences.

The Youth Speak is a magazine by homeschoolers for homeschoolers. It is a glossy, professional magazine with high-quality articles on a variety of topics. (You can read digital editions of the magazine for FREE here.)

The Youth Speak is a magazine by homeschoolers for homeschoolers.

The magazine came out of a homeschool group that Houston attended during high school. He and his peers created a newsletter-style newspaper. The teens in the group wrote the articles, printed it, then mailed it to the families in the group.

As they neared graduation, Houston and his friends were enjoying their journalistic adventures so much that they wanted to continue and level up their publishing efforts. They decided to create a glossy magazine and open it up to any Christian homeschooler for submissions.

Today The Youth Speak is run by a core team. The team shares writing, editing, layout, and design responsibilities. Any Christian homeschooler can submit an article for consideration through email. (The staff does not charge writers to have their work published in the magazine.)

After an article is accepted, the staff handles the rest of the production process.

The team creates an attractive, professional magazine. They try to follow instructions in the Bible, “Whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord, not to men.” To The Youth Speak’s team, this means to create an attractive, professional journal at a reasonable subscription price. (The cost is $9 per issue in the contiguous 48 states. The rest of the production cost is covered by advertisements and corporate sponsors.)

Some recent articles have covered:

Submitting an article for publication can be an exciting experience for high schoolers. Here are some criteria from Houston and his team:

You can find details for submissions to The Youth Speak here.

How to subscribe to The Youth Speak

You can find a link to subscribe to The Youth Speak here. While you wait, check out the free digital editions!

Join Vicki and Houston Wrona for an inspiring conversation about a magazine by and for homeschoolers: The Youth Speak.

Thank you to Seth Tillman for editing.

Learn more about cool things that homeschool graduates are doing with these fun Homeschool Highschool Podcast episodes:

The post The Youth Speak Magazine with Houston Wrona appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: How Oxford Style Tutorials Work with Trinity House.

Many of us homeschoolers are fans of C.S. Lewis’ writings. For those who have followed his biographies, you know that his most impactful educational experiences were with his tutor, William Kirkpatrick. We Americans do not often have the opportunity to experience tutoring of this style. However, it still exists. That’s why we were excited to have our friend Justin McGeary of Trinity House on the podcast again.

Justin McGeary founded Trinity House, where he offers Oxford-style tutorials. He is no stranger to homeschooling! His mother started homeschooling him in sixth grade. He graduated from homeschooling and headed to college.

When Justin taught at the college level, he had a number of homeschool students that came through his classrooms. He found that these students transitioned well to college because there are many similarities between the kind of education you get in high school homeschooling and at the college level.

Growing up, Justin learned to love the classics by both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. During college, he had the opportunity to study at Oxford as part of his school’s study abroad program. He was at Oxford for the Hilary Term (January through March), and loved experiencing the full tutorial experience.

Justin loved his time at Oxford. He rode my bike around the city and attended evensong with its beautiful choral evening hymns.

In the college, he met with his tutors and attended lectures. One of his favorites was a lecture series on Tolkien and Old English literature. The lecturer had not expected it to be very popular. However, on the first day of the lecture, the tiny room was jam-packed. The lecture series had to be moved to a larger lecture hall.

Justin attended lectures on modern British literature and 19th-century American literature, as well as some side courses on British culture.

The tutorial system is an intensive kind of education that cultivates learners and develops critical thinking skills. There are three main features of the tutorial system:

For example, C.S. Lewis would have his tutorials with a handful of assigned students. He would give lecture series that any student could attend. Then the students used Oxford’s amazing library system for reading, studying, and preparing for major exams at the end of several years of college study.

Justin’s tutor would meet with him regularly. Each meeting, the tutor would give him a sheet of paper with several questions written on it. Underneath those questions would be several resources. Justin’s responsibility was to read through those questions and decide, “Which question do I wanna tackle? Which question do I want to answer?”

Then he would go to the library and do his own independent learning using the resources list that tutor had provided. For example, in literature, he might be looking at a particular poem or a particular section of a novel. He would answer essay questions on a key section or theme in the book being discussed.

Justin would take a week or two to write an essay based on the questions his tutor had given him. He would read the completed essay out loud to the tutor. Then the tutor would give him feedback on that essay. He would then rewrite the essay. This process helped him to hone his writing and critical thinking skills.

He remembers that his first few essays were really terrible. However, his writing improved rapidly because he was getting help right away. He also liked that he was not graded on every single essay.

Trinity House evolved as Justin was teaching college students. A number of his students were struggling with college-level requirements. He remembered author Dorothy Sayers asking, “Where are the tools of learning? Where is the kind of careful thinking, and the ability to write well?”

One evening, when he was having a conversation about this with his wife, she asked, “What about the Oxford tutorial? Might that not be a thing that you can bring to high schoolers to help them prepare for college success?”

That’s when Trinity House Oxford-Style Tutorials was formed.

Working with Trinity House’s Oxford-style tutorials is like educational learning coaching.

Each week, students answer questions assigned by their tutor. Then they come back with an essay and say, “Here’s how I thought about this question.”

The tutor is sort of this personal trainer coach. He does not say, “And here are all the right answers.”

Instead, he says,  “This is a good argument here, here, and here. What about here? Have you thought about this? Explain to me more about this.”

In Trinity House tutorials, students engage in a conversational relationship where they are continually honing their thinking with a seasoned tutor.

Students learn how to learn and think independently. Their essays are not simply regurgitating what “so-and-so” thinks, but rather, “what do they think”?

Doesn’t that sound inspiring?

Sign up for their newsletter or email me for a sample tutorial: [email protected]

Thank you to Seth Tillman for editing, and we’ll see everyone next week.

The post How Oxford Style Tutorials Work with Trinity House appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: College Safety and Fun for Homeschool Graduates with Seth and Caroline Tillman- Replay.

This is a replay of a favorite episode. We feel like it is useful information for our grads who are heading to college soon.

Vicki’s five homeschool high schoolers are all graduated from college now, even her youngest, Seth, and his newlywed wife, Caroline. Seth and Caroline loved their years of homeschooling. College was a big change for them both, but they loved it and made the most of their experiences there by getting involved in college activities and mentoring relationships. They also made lots of friends.

From the many experiences they or their friends had, Seth and Caroline offered to share some safety tips for homeschool high schoolers who will head off to college (or anywhere in the big, wide world).

Seth and Caroline Tillman, photo used with permission

Seth is a elementary music education teacher in a local public school. Caroline first worked in the retirement industry but recently transferred to the University of Delaware as academic advisor and assistant to the UD Health Professions program. Both of them have had the adventure of spending part of their year teaching or advising remotely. (Check out Seth’s videos for his music students.) They believe in paying the things they have learned forward to current homeschoolers to help them prepare for college or employment situations.

As often as you can, especially at night. If you will be late at the library, call a friend and talk to a friend while walking and use “Find My Friend” app on your phone. (Predatory people tend to prey on lone individuals, so groups are best when possible.)

You would think this is not something you really need to tell teens. But Caroline shared that she saw the poor outcome of roommates or friends not locking doors a number of times. (Keep a key on a hair tie if you find keychains are too cumbersome.)

Ask the driver what YOUR name is. Make sure they and their car look like the descriptions you were told when ordering the ride. Also look for the lit sign in the windshield of the car (Uber or Lyft have signs). If you can, ride with a friend on the ordered ride.

This makes you more aware of your environment, especially for crossing roads but also for unusual things that might need your attention.

But only share that with close, safe friends. It is not a social media app!

If you have car trouble, are locked out of your apartment, or are in an uncomfortable situation, phoning a friend can be a lifesaver.

For example, at the University of Delaware, there are safety blue lights regularly around the campus for calling for help. It is so important for schools to be considering the safety of their students!

Let there be an understanding that if things get uncomfortable, you can say to your friend, “I need to go” and they will actually leave with you.

Okay, now for some uncomfortable topics. Sometimes we homeschool parents try so hard to shelter our teens, that we find it extremely difficult to discuss “adult” topics with our young adults as they leave for college. (As Seth says, your kids are not kids anymore when they leave for college, they are adults…young adults but adults, so need to be prepared for an “adult” world.) Naivety will not work for new adults.

Be aware of your surroundings. If you see someone who is not okay, call the university police or 911. If it is someone you know and you feel safe, help them get back to their dorm. When calling 911, remember it’s better to have folks mad at you about it than have someone die from alcohol poisoning. Also, there is usually a medical amnesty policy that protects you from getting in trouble when you call 911.

From Mayo Clinic’s website: confusion, vomiting, seizures, slow breathing, irregular breathing, blue-tinged or pale skin, low body temperature, passing out and cannot be wakened.

Seth and Caroline graduated from a state college. Seth points out that alcohol is common in state colleges, so they were not surprised to see these kinds of things. He also has lots of friends who went to small private or Christian colleges. In the smaller schools, these things happen, too (but mostly in secret).

This is difficult to talk about but important. No matter where you are whether restaurants, parties or get togethers. Vicki jumped in on this to add that, as a counselor who works with college students, she has worked with a number young women who have been “roofied” (a date rape drug slipped into their drink) while at a public gathering. So:

Some are stronger than others. Learn about it ahead of time.

Of course, keep boundaries (some people might think you are an endless free ride) and remember that you can offer but not everyone feels comfortable accepting rides.

Of course, only if you know they are safe friends

If you see someone who appears uncomfortable, (and you are safe) walk up to the person who looks uncomfortable and talk right to that person. If you do not feel comfortable, feel free to call 911. Don’t just walk away, err on the side of keeping people safe.

If you are in an uncomfortable situation and do not feel safe, it is okay to lie in order to stay safe, as in: “Sorry, I can’t go with you, I have to meet my roommate here.” Or give out a fake phone number. Remember that actually if you find you are making someone feel uncomfortable, stop and walk away.

It is a genuinely valuable investment of time

Teach them to be gentlemen. Teach them no means no. Teach them the value of all God’s creation. Teach them good manners.

Join Vicki, Seth and Caroline Tillman for an empowering discussion. Also check out the college success tips interview with their friend, Kendall Smythe.

Watch one of Seth’s digital classes for his elementary music students (his school was online during COVID-19). And his fun project with friends, Newbit.

The post College Safety and Fun for Homeschool Graduates with Seth and Caroline Tillman Replay appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.