This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Homeschooling College-Bound Teens with Kat Patrick.

Feeling a little nervous starting the high school years with homeschoolers bound for college? That’s okay. We have all felt that way. However, our friend, Kat Patrick, has some encouragement and tips to help!

This fall has been momentous for Kat. Her youngest graduated from homeschooling and just left for college. All of her children homeschooled through graduation. Today, some are college graduates already, as well.

Although Kat was born in Texas, all her kids were born in England. In England, children start secondary school in sixth grade. (BTW- we interviewed Kat about homeschooling in England.)

While she was thinking about what would be best for her oldest as she prepared for secondary school, Kat wrestled with whether they were going to follow the English journey of secondary school or go back to her roots of liberal arts studies and Charlotte Mason.

Kat knew that the British approach gradually narrows a student’s focus down more and more over the next years. Then, at age 16, they take a series of ten subject exams. From there, they narrow down their studies to three subjects. After that, if they go to university, they study one subject for three years.

Kat had gone to the University of Texas in her youth. As an undergraduate, she started off with pre-med and realized in her junior year that she actually liked history and English better. She was able switch majors and graduate on time because of the rich liberal arts background in her studies.

If she followed the British track with her homeschoolers, they would not have the easy flexibility to change interests after a point. Having homeschooled for a long time, she knew that even if they went to college and changed majors, there is never wasted time in education because all of learning is useful.

Several years ago, Vicki interviewed Kat’s oldest daughter, Lauren, about how she prepared for a competitive college.  Lauren originally planned to double major in English and Entrepreneurship. She graduated with a double major in English and astrophysics. This change of major happened when she was approached in her very first semester by the Astronomy department. One of her professors asked if she would be interested in doing a major in Astrophysics after her general education Astronomy class. They could could tell that Lauren had a real passion for that science.

Lauren was concerned that she did not have enough math background for Astrophysics. Her department was so encouraging that they gave her additional math support to get her started. It turned out to be the right-fit career for Lauren.

After graduating four homeschoolers with four kinds of interests and personalities, Kat has some good ideas and experiences.

You probably will not know everything your teens need to learn. There are lots of ways to learn alongside your teens. Kat learned this openness to lifelong learning from Charlotte Mason (which is all about curiosity and love of learning).

Kat found that she wanted her teens to have some group-learning experiences based on the ideas of Charlotte Mason. Her teens were aiming for more competitive colleges, so she new this format would help prepare them.

Because there were few online Charlotte Mason-style classes, Kat started her own: Dreaming Spires Home Learning. At Dreaming Spires, her teens learned alongside students from around the world! Their studies included Literature, History, and Science.

Dreaming Spires Home Learning is unique in that it is accredited and also standards for several international organizations. Kat has found that her students grow in confidence in their writing and overall academic skills with the group setting and individual mentoring.

The motto of the school is:

We want you better in May than you are today.

Whether students need to grow in grammar, use of words and thoughts, or learning to be concise, Kat believes they can love their studies using Charlotte Mason techniques at Dreaming Spires Home Learning.

Some of her teens wanted a taste of college while still in high school, so these high schoolers did dual enrollment courses at a local college. This gave them a taste of the college-learning experience. However, dual enrollment would not have been the best fit for all of her teens. That’s why we always say: There’s not ONE right way to homeschool high school.

Kat has found with the tools like Grammarly and other AI platforms, that students can sometime get lazy on their own editing skills (or even their writing skills if they have AI write their papers for them). She makes sure that she talks with her homeschoolers and those at Dreaming Spires about protecting their own agency and use of their own minds when writing.

At Dreaming Spires, homeschool high schoolers start the year with a module on integrity in learning.

Help your teens explore interests and gifts. This takes some time management but is worth it. Kat’s teens have enjoyed swimming. Three out of four continued their competitive swimming in college. One of her daughters was recently on the National Championship relay team. Preparation for this level of sports takes time in high school! (Here’s a Homeschool Highschool Podcast episode on preparing teens for NCAA sports.)

Even in high school, a little shared family time with read alouds is good. Teens can work on art projects, tinker, or just listen. It is good family time.

Kat’s family kept up the Bible memory activities together as well. (It’s interesting how many adults tell me how they appreciated the Bible memorization they did as kids and teens.)

Of course, this is not always an option. Kat’s family had the blessing of having Spanish au pairs when her kids were young, so they got some basics with good accents while they were young. BTW- for folks looking for high school Spanish taught by native Spanish speakers, check out Homeschool Spanish Curriculum with our friend and Cousin, Karim Morato.

Try not to limit your high schoolers by lowering expectations. Kat always kept really high expectations for academics of her college-bound teens. However, she knew that advanced students are not always advanced in everything. For instance, some of her teens were good in English, but not very good in math. It is good to adjust curriculum and plans up or down according to teens’ needs.

High schoolers do not know what all of their life interests will be. However, most of them are beginning to discover some of their interests. When Kat’s teens voiced an interest, she helped them explore that interest.

For instance, one of Kat’s daughters told her that she wanted to be a writer. Kat made sure her writing curriculum built those skills. Then Kat helped her publish her books on Kindle. That led to opportunities for her daughter to start editing and publishing books for other people on Kindle. Her daughter started a creative writing club while in college. Now she has a career writing website and other content for NASA.

While teens need to stay open and flexible, Kat also believes that need to explore and begin defining direction. She recommends that homeschool high schoolers complete a Career Exploration curriculum, such as the textbook from 7Sisters.

Periodically, chat with your teens about college. Ask them what they want to get out of college (an internship, sports during college, or singing in college choir, for instance). If you gently talk about it over the years, it will not feel so intimidating during junior and senior years.

Going on college tours is an excellent way help your teens:

Kat holds onto Psalm 23. It reminds her that God, her shepherd, leads her beside still waters and green pastures. She has discovered that being a homeschooling mom is being a shepherd, too:

You take your sheep into the pasture of wonderful green grass, and beautiful clean water. However, you cannot force them to eat and drink. Your job is to take them there and to protect them, and that just. This keeps a lot of pressure off Kat to just keep giving them the good food and the good drink and, and just trust the process.

Join Kat and Vicki for encouragement for moms of homeschooling high schoolers.

Thank you for Seth Tillman for editing.

The post Homeschooling College-Bound Teens with Kat Patrick appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: CJ’s Tips for Homeschooling High School- Replay!

Vicki was SO excited to chat with her new friend, CJ of Homeschooling Through High School! CJ has a wonderful YouTube channel full of helpful, fun and authentic posts about homeschooling high school. She (and sometimes, her delightful family) have so many cool ideas and insights on resources.

The teenage years are often thought of as tumultuous and unpredictable, making the idea of homeschooling a teenager seem like a daunting one. There can be an initial skepticism about homeschooling in the high school years – from both newer homeschool parents and teens – regarding its potential to meet the educational needs of teenagers. Many parents worry that their children will miss out on social interactions and opportunities for growth.

Well, as today’s special guest, CJ shares her personal story of how she went from being skeptical about homeschooling to becoming a passionate advocate. Join us as we explore the reasons behind her decision and discover some valuable tips for homeschooling high school successfully!

CJ begins her story by admitting that she used to think homeschooling was only for weird folks. I think we’ve all been there at this point, right? However, fate had other plans for CJ when she met a homeschooled young man who would later become her husband. 

But as time went on, she found herself pregnant with our first child and that’s when things started to change for her. The world seemed to be getting out of control with schools cutting out art and music and prayer – all the values she grew up with were slowly disappearing. 

Despite her initial resistance, CJ found herself reconsidering homeschooling as a viable option. She realized the importance of instilling Christian values and character into her children’s education. She wanted to give her future kids a solid Christian education, and paying for private school for each child was just not feasible. 

“Yep, the one who swore she’d never do it became a homeschooling mama.” – CJ

When her oldest hit middle school, the reality of high school started to sink in. CJ noticed a trend where many parents throw in the towel at middle school and would send their kids off back to public school during the high school years. A lot of reasons for this is due to the lack of confidence in themselves for teaching high school material as well as the overabundance of oppressive doubt in doing a job well done. 

And if this is the way that’s best for your family – going to pubic school high school when it’s time – there is nothing wrong with this if that’s what fits your family. However, for CJ, she had gained so much confidence during the middle school years that she just knew she could handle high school too. And she knew that she could always look for the very many homeschool high school resources available these days so she didn’t have to do it all alone. 

It’s through these CJ’s researching, experiencing, and others’ resources that she learned so much about homeschooling during the high school years. From planning out the classes to teaching (or not teaching!) certain classes, there are so many incredible ways to homeschool your high school – it’s not all cookie cutter! 

CJ emphasizes the importance of fostering a healthy parent-child relationship. This is key. Sometimes, it’s essential to prioritize bonding over academics. Taking a break from algebra to enjoy a fun outing or simply spending quality time together can do wonders for both the child’s well-being and the homeschooling experience.

“The relationship you have with your child is more important than any subject you’ll ever teach.” – CJ

Treat yourself as the mentor and guidance counselor for your high schooler. Have regular check-ins to discuss their progress, address any challenges, and provide support. These meetings encourage open communication, help identify areas that require improvement, and allow for spiritual growth. 

You don’t have to do it all. CJ dispels the misconception that homeschooling through high school requires mastering every subject. There are numerous resources available, including free curriculum options, co-ops, enrichment programs, and knowledgeable individuals within the community who can supplement your teaching. Outsourcing subjects that may be outside your expertise ensures a well-rounded education for your child.

And hey, if your neighbor happens to be a surgeon and wants to teach biology, why not take advantage of that? It’s all about finding what works for you and your child.

Consider dual enrollment in local community colleges or online schools for your high schooler. This option allows them to earn both high school and college credits simultaneously. 

However, it’s essential to evaluate whether your child is ready for the challenges of college-level coursework and if it aligns with their goals and maturity level.

Remember what we said at the beginning of this blog post? About how most parents refer to the “dreaded teenage years” as doom and gloom? CJ encourages parents to shed that negative chatter surrounding the teenage years. 

Despite the stereotypes, she found the high school years to be a blast – some of the most enjoyable and rewarding years of her homeschooling. Why? Because teenagers are capable of engaging in meaningful conversations, exploring their identities, and building strong connections with their parents. 

Surrounding you and your teen with like-minded individuals who are uplifting and supportive can make these high school teen years even more fulfilling.

Homeschooling through high school may seem daunting, but CJ’s story proves that with determination, support, a few well-utilized resources, and running with the confidence you built over the younger years, it can be a truly enriching experience. By prioritizing relationships, maintaining open communication, and embracing the unique opportunities homeschooling offers, you can guide your high schooler to success!

Remember, you don’t have to do it all alone. Reach out to the homeschooling community, tap into available resources, and enjoy the journey of homeschooling through high school. You can make the high school years a rewarding and memorable experience for your children. 

If you’re considering homeschooling your high schooler or are already on this exciting journey, be sure to check out CJ’s Homeschooling Through High School YouTube channel for more tips, inspiration, and encouragement on homeschooling through high school.

Also, you’ll love her review of 7Sisters Animal Farm Literature Study Guide.

The post CJ’s Tips for Homeschooling High School- Replay appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: 5 Ways to Earn Credits in Homeschool High School.

One of Vicki’s favorite topics is earning credits in homeschooling high school. Having graduated her five homeschoolers and advised many others through the local homeschool umbrella school, she has had lots of practice helping homeschooling parents and their teens find the best-fit ways to earn credits for the transcript.

We know that many parents feel stressed when they think about how their high schoolers will earn all the required credits! However, once you get used to it, earning credits is a fun game. Remember, there’s not ONE right way to homeschool high school, so you can do what is best for you and your teens!

We know that in homeschool high school, as in all high school programs, our teens are earning credits to prove that they are ready to graduate and be successful in the next part of life. Whether that’s going into a:

Earning credits builds a transcript that shows that teens have the knowledge needed to graduate.

They did this by establishing the idea of earning credits. They suggested that there should be about 120 hours of study in one subject. So, for each credit that was earned, there should be 120 hours of instruction, of study, of some kind of educational activity. That idea caught on, and schools have been using that then ever since.

These days, the idea of 120 hours per credit varies from state to state (some states require 180 hours per credit). Also if you are in a supervising organization such as a homeschool umbrella school, your teens may be required to show more hours per credit.

You can check your state’s Department of Education or Homeschool Legal Defense Association for requirements for graduation in your area.

Remember, there’s not ONE right way to earn credits. Choose what is best for your teen’s needs and goals.

Much of the high school curriculum that is available is designed to meet requirements for a credit. The text will explain whether it is a full-credit or half-credit textbook. Remember: for your record keeping, you want proof of education. Thus, you hold onto tests, papers, assignments, and projects that are related to that textbook and credit earned.

Note that most high school textbooks are written at a college-prep level. If you have a teen that is an average learner, you can look for some that are for more average students or curricula that are aimed towards students with learning challenges. Note: 7SistersHomeschool’s Introduction to Psychology and Human Development textbooks are written at Level 2 (average) with enrichment for leveling up to Honors.

The second way earn high school credit is to log the hours of educational experiences. The Carnegie Foundation had set up the idea that around 120 hours of education per credit (or whatever your state or supervising organization is looking for).

Some teens learn best by experiences, by hands-on, such as:

If your teen is learning credits in this way remember your record keeping. Keep logs with hours completed and what work was time each hour! If you didn’t write it down, it didn’t happen.

Another way our teens have earned their high school credits is by reading real books on a topic of special interest. With special interest electives, they have read:

For record keeping teens should

These activities demonstrate that they have interacted with the readings.

We have found that if they read around sixteen real books and complete the study guides or some written summaries or essays, they will have earned at least 120 hours (thus, a credit).

These days, dual enrollment is a popular choice these days. Dual enrollments are available at many:

These courses are sometimes in person and sometimes online courses. These courses should only be chosen teens who are ready for  college-level work.

For record keeping and the transcript: a one-semester dual enrollment course equals a one high school credit on the transcript.

Online courses are enormously popular these days. (Teens are always asking 7SistersHomeschool for more digital courses!)

These courses can be:

Teens can also take local classes in their co-ops and umbrella schools. These can be a good way to earn credits for their homeschool transcripts.

There are so many ways to earn credits for homeschool high school. Choose what is best for each teen and each credit/course.

Thank you to Seth Tillman for editing and Stacey Clendaniel for all the VA support.

The post 5 Ways to Earn Credits in Homeschool High School appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: How and Why to Write Poetry in High School ELA.

One of Vicki’s favorite topics is poetry. What she knows is that writing poetry is good for teens!

Teens benefit from several kinds of writing in their homeschool high school years:

Each of these types of writing requires different thinking and communicating skills. Variety of experiences creates a strong ELA credit for the transcript.

For instance, in normal life we communicate in sentences. Each sentence has a beginning, middle, and end…a subject and verb.

In poetry, we communicate with words that build imagery. The sentence structure may or may not be there. It’s a whole different way of communicating. When communicating through word images, poetry ignites imagination.

Over the years, Vicki has advised hundreds of homeschool high schoolers. Many reconnected with her during their college years to share about things that helped them in their college courses. Often, these college students shared that poetry reading, memorization, and writing prepared them for strong speaking and writing skills in college.

For example, in Freshman Composition class in college, teachers are grading hundreds of papers each semester. Many of these papers are excruciatingly boring. (Vicki has heard this from college teachers.) However, if a student that uses some poetry skills in their papers (such as a little bit of alliteration or an image-bearing word), it makes the paper more interesting and teacher’s life that teacher’s life so much better!

Teens benefit from journaling and writing poetry. Research has found that emotional health improves journaling poetry is a tool for better health.

The ancient Greek physicians, Soranus believed that poetry was part of the healing process. Today there are branches of psychotherapy that employ poetry-writing as a healing tool.

For more on poetry for health and healing, check out this post.

There is lots of poetry in the Bible.

So, God obviously likes poetry.

When teens read poetry, and especially if they memorize it really does help improve their vocabulary. And what we’re finding is that the better vocabulary a person has, the better they’re able to think in problem-solving, forward-thinking, healthy-living kind of thoughts ways.

Sometimes teens just need som fun. They can have fun with poetry! For instance:

A few years ago, Vicki was teaching a group of homeschool high schoolers through the poetry components in their English/Language Arts. Some of the teens told her, “Next year, we want a full ELA credit in poetry!”

So, she created a class for them where they could earn a full credit in poetry (check out this post with the syllabus and guidelines).

Teens can make an entire Language Arts credit covered by a single topic such as poetry. This takes a little creativity since a full Language Arts credit requires some books and papers. The number of books to read and papers to write will vary by teen’s age and goals (the highlighted posts will help you decide).

The workbooks in this course will be counted as books for the booklist:

Traditionally, an English/Language Arts credit includes: Poetry, Short Story, Essays and Research Paper.

For more on teaching poetry, check out this Homeschool Highschool Podcast episode.

For instance, in year one of our homeschool group ELA classes, one young man told Vicki he did not like to write, especially poetry. Vicki told him to hang on, that maybe he would find out that he does like poetry writing! The poetry section of the high school class, started out with couplets (couplets are just two lines of poetry, each line ending in a rhyme). When this young man realized that he could write couplets, his confidence increased.

Then he commented to Vicki, “I didn’t think I could do poetry, but I did this couplet.”

He kept building on that growth mindset and by the end of the school year, he was churning out poetry with all the rest of them. Now, he did not need to grow up and be a great poet because he wanted to be a firefighter, but he built more confidence with his ability to communicate with words.

Btw- he grew up to be a firefighter well-versed firefighter. Poetry was a little part of building his confidence!

Poetry is an awesome part of ELA credits! Join Vicki for a discussion on how and why to write poetry.

Thank you to Seth Tillman for editing!

The post How and Why to Write Poetry in High School ELA appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: 5 Tips for Making Spanish Learning Fun with Karim Morato.

Most homeschool high schoolers need some World Language credit for their graduation requirements. Our friend and Cousin, Karim Morato, is a Spanish subject matter expert and favorite of many homeschool high schoolers. She joined Vicki for this chat about making learning Spanish fun and meaningful.

Karim is originally from Guatemala. Her husband is from Bolivia. He came up to me with a “crazy idea” to homeschool before they had kids. Uh, we got married and I was so excited and, you know, dreaming when we have kids and we gonna send them to private schools.

Karim has a Master’s degree in Education and taught in schools for sixteen years. However, when they had kids, she started visiting homeschool conferences. She loved all the curriculum choices and learning opportunities. Not only that, she loved watching the interactions of the homeschooling parents with their homeschoolers.

So they began homeschooling their three kids. At first, she was the only one in her community who was homeschooling but it caught on! She and her family led the way.

Now her homeschoolers have graduated and in college. In fact, one recently graduated with a degree in Industrial Engineering. Her second homeschool graduate is studying Business in college. Her youngest is a homeschool high schooler.

Karim started a Spanish-learning online platform years ago at Spanish Homeschool Curriculum. She and her teachers make learning Spanish fun and meaningful. All her teachers are native Spanish speakers, so teens learn to speak authentically.

Karim also serves as Spanish-speaking community liaison for Homeschool Legal Defense Association.

There are lots of ideas for a fun and meaningful Spanish program. Here are just a few.

Teens and parents love the Becoming Bilingual podcast. Spanish speakers or Spanish learners join Karim each episode to share encouraging and fun ideas and adventures. Vicki suggests that even if you are not learning Spanish, you will still love the podcast because of the interesting people on it.

Karim her teachers make learning Spanish fun and meaningful. They provide instruction for Spanish learning for high schoolers, and also for elementary and middle schoolers as well.

Not only that, Karim shares FREE 5-Day Parent Courses to help parents understand Spanish language and earning credits. It addresses throughts like:

If that’s you, you’re not alone—and you’re exactly who this course was made for.

Karim learned long ago that teens sometimes experience anxiety when they are speaking Spanish in group classes (even online classes). She notice that they would often turn their cameras off during speaking times. One of the gifts Karim brings to her students is addressing the stress and helping teens overcome the fear of “public speaking” Spanish. Once teens address the stress, they are free to enjoy learning!

Karim also realized that some teens will feel less stressed when they take self-paced classes instead of live classes, so she offers both formats.

The Becoming Bilingual podcast has a wonderful episode on “When Spanish Makes You Anxious: Breaking the Pressure Triangle“.

Our teens are living in a bilingual world. Learning Spanish is an asset when applying to jobs. Knowing Spanish is also helpful for traveling the world, which many teens do on missions trips or studies abroad. When teens know there is a useful life purpose for learning Spanish, they can enjoy the course more deeply and find it more meaningful.

We are used to seeing our teens’ potentials and we focus on their potentials, not our limitations. One of the values Karim has for her classes is the commitment to helping students believe in the potentials, values, and abilities that God has given them. It helps them move forward in their studies and even, in their lives outside their studies.

Learning Spanish can be fun and meaningful for teens and younger homeschoolers. (For more ideas on making learning World Languages fun, check out this post.)

Join Vicki and Karim Marato for tips for making Spanish learning fun.

Thank you Seth Tillman for editing.

The post 5 Tips for Making Spanish Learning Fun with Karim Morato appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: ASVAB and Homeschool High Schoolers with Natalie Mack.

One of the most interesting career-oriented tests for young people is the ASVAB. Our friend and Cousin, Natalie Mack, works with the military to offer the ASVAB to local high schoolers. We asked Natalie to share about ASVAB.

Natalie Mack is a homeschool leader, military homeschool mom, Tedx speaker, HSLDA staff member, and more!

Natalie and her husband (a retired Navy chaplain) have five children. The youngest just graduated from homeschooling high school. (Our listeners met Nathaniel Mack when we interviewed him about his inspiring conservation project.) The other four have all finished college.

Natalie is keeping busy with her service to the homeschool community.

ASVAB is the acronym for Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery. Besides the test itself, ASVAB offers a career exploration program.

There is no cost to the test. Teens can take the test digitally or in the old fashioned, paper and pencil format. The results help teens know what careers in the military might be a good fit for them.

This year, Natalie hosted two ASVABs. Mm-hmm. One with Northern Virginia Community College, the Alexandria Campus (with the help of the Alexandria Recruiting Battalion); the other at Baltimore MEPS.

It is always going be a free opportunity. Most homeschoolers finish in an hour and a half.

Recruiters cannot administer the test. (This is because parents have been concerned that their teen would be targeted or would be constantly hounded by texts or phone calls from recruiters trying to pull them into the service.) However, that is not the way it works.

The goal is to offer free career assessments! You also get real in-person interpretations of your scores. These scores for your student mean they are likely to be good at these type of careers.

Recruiters will come to the testing in case there are homeschoolers who want more information.

Teens can talk to recruiters at the time they take the ASVAB or drop by a recruiting location in their local area.

Natalie likes to remind homeschooling parents that serving our nation in the military is an honorable career. Those who serve are helping fulfill the promises in the United States Constitution of securing the common defense. An in the military there are many, many kinds of jobs. The ASVAB is useful in helping match service member to the best-fit job.

Also, check out these Homeschool Highschool Podcast episodes on:

As Vicki says, Natalie Mack is pervasive. She is involved in so many things around the nation. However, you can find her at:

Join Vicki and Natalie and learn about ASVAB and your homeschoool high schooler.

And check out our many chats with Natalie Mack about all kinds of homeschooling high school topics:

Thanks to Seth Tillman for editing.

The post ASVAB and Homeschool High Schoolers with Natalie Mack appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: How to be a Sports Mom.

Lots of homeschool high schoolers are not just busy with academics; they are also engaged athletes! This week Kym and Vicki talk about what it’s like to be a sports mom (a healthy version of being a sports mom, that is).

7Sister Kym and her husband have four now-adult children. Her youngest are twins. When they were young, Kym had lots of mom-friends who worked at our local YMCA. The kids of those mothers to play in the gym and swim in the pool at the Y. Kym’s kids were buddies with those the kids. One day at a play date, the kids all came up to her and said, “Mommy, you should work at the YMCA, so we could go play there too with our friends.”

The moms at the play date heard and answered, “Well, there’s an opening.”

At the time, Kym had zero interest in working at the YMCA. She was doing other things that were taking up more than enough time, but out of love for her kids, she started working at the YMCA. She found that one of the great benefits was all of the sports that her kids could to try there.

At the time, Kym’s youngest were about four and her oldest was ten years old. Her eight year old son began playing playing roller hockey at the Y.  Her twin daughters wanted to try every single sport.

There were so many skills Kym and her kids learned over the years. Kym was not passive about learning the skills. She discussed with her kids about:

Kym’s family had always enjoyed watching hockey on television, along with fun hockey movies like Mighty Ducks. When the twins were old enough, they joined a local youth hockey team and that was that. They convinced their parents that they wanted to go all in on hockey. Kym and her husband decided to make it happen.

They played women’s youth travel team hockey all through high school. These adventures took the family to games in many places around the U.S. (One of their best friends on their team was Emily Hockey who is now an astrophysicist. Keep your eyes open soon for an interview with her on the Homeschool Highschool Podcast!)

Kym and her husband invested in the twins’ dreams. It took faith and budgeting, but the family was committed. They often found that when a need arose, they could pray and something would come for help. For instance, one of the twins became a goalie but needed new equipment. They prayed. Kym randomly ran into another mom whose son had been a goalie for a short time but hated it. The mom sold Kym the equipment at a price that fit the budget!

Being willing to budget and to pray is key!

The twins graduated from high school and went on to play club hockey at the University of Delaware.

The family had to drive all over the country! Kym and her husband prayed before they made this commitment to their twins’ hockey team. She says,

“I can’t tell you how many prayers I prayed, not like please let this work out, but please just make it clear.”

As high school progressed, Kym and the twins had to discuss college search and choices. Should they look for colleges with women’s club hockey or NCAA hockey? It was a tough decision and needed lots of prayer and wisdom. They decided on club hockey because they wanted to make certain that they had time to prioritize academics. NCAA-level sports might not give them enough academic study time.

Today, both twins have graduated and have sports-related careers. They still love hockey and are pleased with the choices they made in personal development, academics, and sports.

Thank you Seth Tillman for editing.

The post How to be a Sports Mom appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Seven Ways to Earn High School Credits, Special Replay.

Some parents who are homeschooling a high schooler may be wondering how in the world they can earn a high school credit? Is there just one way or are there other ways? Well, you may or may not know this, but there are in fact seven different ways to earn high school credits! Your child will be building a valuable transcript for their high school years before you know it.

Because there are seven different ways to earn credits in high school, that means there is not one “right” way to homeschool your high schooler and therefore not one right way to earn credits as well.

You can choose from a variety of different topics. For instance, you might have a textbook you would like to use for math, and then you might want to do independent study for history. These would count for your credits. 

You can use all these different, creative ways to earn credits for different subjects, for all kinds of learners, and to meet your family needs.

The classic way to earn credits for homeschool high schoolers is with a textbook. If you read the textbook description, it will usually tell you how much credit is earned when teens complete the work of that textbook. 

And usually with textbooks, there’s associated tests or assignments that they do. When they’ve completed all that work, they have either earned half a credit or a full credit.

Another way to do that is to do some online courses. There are two kinds of online courses:

You can find a few places online right now that have online course academies for teens! Places such as True North Homeschool Academy, Funda Funda Academy, and Dreaming Spires Home Education are just a few of them.

Also, our 7Sisters course, Psychology, is self-paced which is perfect to go on a high school transcript. But keep your eyes open for more!

Another way to earn credits is with college classes. So very often local areas, like community colleges, will make teens wait until they are juniors or seniors. And sometimes teens can do online courses through a university a little bit younger than that.

Just check with the different schools around your area. If you get to something that you just don’t want to teach, or that your teens have outgrown the information you have available for them, then they may be ready to take a course college level. 

Another way to earn credits for our homeschool high schoolers is independent study. We very simply call that logging hours because it’s just so clear what teens are going to do. 

For example, let’s say you have a teenager who loves history. They just want to learn everything they can about a specific topic in history, like maybe the World Wars or the Colonial Era fashion. They can simply just study and learn everything they can from valid websites on the internet and library books and field trips and crafts and cooking, and just all kinds of online and in-person experiences. These make rich electives on the transcript.

And your teen will log the hours down. They will write down what they did on a certain day and how long they did it until they reach a Carnegie unit credit.

If you go to the Carnegie website, generally they’ll say it is 120 hours of instruction, but each state has adapted that to their own wish. Like in our area, a Carnegie credit for teens is 135 hours of education or instruction, which is about average. But some states need 180, so make sure you look at your state’s Department of Education site or check HSLDA. Both should tell you how many equals a credit, but you should aim for at least 120. 

The good thing about that is teens can earn a credit in anything that is meaningful to them. The tough thing is they have to remember to log that. Sometimes you may need to meet with them regularly and go over their progress by having them show you what they’re doing so that you’re sure they’re actually logging it down.

As the saying goes, if you didn’t write it down, it did not happen!

Here are some more tips from Carol Anne Swett in this Homeschool Highschool Podcast discussion about practical credits for reluctant learners.

Another way to earn credits for high school is to take co-op classes or umbrella school classes. These are like live in-person classes, and they’re usually so much fun to do because:

Your kids can learn about so many topics that you just don’t have the talent nor knowledge – nor energy – to teach about. For example, your kids can learn all about poetry or how to cook.

Generally, you know how much credit a teen is earning in a co-op class or an umbrella school class because it will be in the course description. If it’s not, you can ask and work with whoever the teacher is to clarify how much credit is being earned. Because you don’t want to shortchange your teen, but then you don’t want to exaggerate either.

Another way to earn credits that is actually quite popular among the teens who love to read is…reading! Some of teens are bookworms and love to read. They will explore an area of particular interest by reading real books of historical novels, biographies, nonfiction, and so on. 

And as they read real books, they are accumulating hours of knowledge. Generally, teens will have them do a study guide, book summary or a reaction paper to show they had read it and interacted with the material in order to show they’ve learned from it. Because you don’t want them to passively read something. You want them to engage it and think about it and write it. You can have some kind of written interaction for them to do. 

And for a Carnegie Credit, usually around sixteen books will be pretty close to one Carnegie credit, but it varies. Also, if you have a monstrous book, you may count that as a couple of books, like an anthology book you could count as several books. 

Have teens keep a book list and their interaction papers or study guides that they have completed, so you could count those as a credit in that interest area.

The final way to earn high school credits is through life experiences. Teens sometimes get opportunities to do a variety of things, like traveling or mission trips. These could easily count as an immersion experience because of seeing different cultures, hearing different languages if they are out of the country. This is experience and education that you can get in no other way!

When teens are having an immersive experience, you could count a week’s activity or a week’s travel as a quarter credit, so your teen could get a quarter credit for missions if they were headed for a Christian college. If they are headed to a secular college, a week would be a one-quarter credit called cross-cultural.

If your teen is going to do an apprenticeship, this experience looks incredibly valuable. Generally, teens will put a lot of hours in there, and it will really inflate what their transcript could look like. They might get two Carnegie units worth of hours done. 

As you can see, there are so many ways a teen could earn credits in high school. As a recap, they could earn from:

Also, you  can combine credit styles to earn credits, check out this episode for details. Here is information on leveling up the credits to Honors.

And all of those go together to make a credit on their transcript. So sit down with your teen and discuss with them about how they can have a really awesome educational experience and a mighty transcript for their homeschool high school!

Thanks to Richie Soares with Homeschool and Humor for transcribing this episode.

The post 7 Ways to Earn High School Credits- Special Replay appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: C.S. Lewis Literature & Composition Full-Year ELA Bundle.

We get so excited when we get to talk about something new! This week on the podcast, we share about our new Full-Year CS Lewis Literature and Composition. If you are like Vicki (whose favorite author is C.S. Lewis), you are going to be SO excited!

Click image for full description.

As you know, 7Sisters full-year literature and composition courses are downloadable bundles of literature guides, study guides, and resources. In this full-credit bundle are concentrating on the novels by (and about) Lewis. Even in a lot of the writing is based on the myth-fantasy writing of Lewis (and his friend, J.R.R. Tolkien).

Lewis said that the imagination is the organ of meaning. Our creativity and the imagination that God gave us is the generator of the meaning and the purpose that God has created us to have as individuals (and as people altogether created in his image).

After all, God is a creative God and he made us in his image to be creative and to enjoy creative things. So when we do creative reading or  creative writing, we are actually creating some meaning in our lives, even if it’s just fun (because fun can be meaningful too).

So, this is this full year C.S. Lewis literature and composition bundle is about creativity and meaning.

Remember, all 7Sisters curriculum is NO-busywork, and levelable to various goals and abilities of each teen.

C. S. Lewis Literature & Composition is chock full of classic favorites from Lewis, plus a delightful graphic novel about C.S. Lewis and his friend, J.R.R. Tolkien.

(You will need to buy copies of these books for your teen to read, or borrow a copy from the library. You might want to purchase from Amazon; if so, we are Amazon associates, and will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you if you visit Amazon using our link in our sidebar to the right.)

Your teens will have fun with these movies and unique study guides:

(You will need to buy or rent these movies; many are available on streaming services like Amazon Prime, Hulu, or Netflix, or borrow them from a friend or from the library.)

If your teen has already completed these Cinema Studies Literature Guides in the past, see information below about how to adapt this ELA bundle.

Download the Full Year of High School English/Language Arts: C.S. Lewis Literature and Composition for an inspiring and empowering academic year!

We love having you as a 7th Sibling. (After all, there are only six of us 7Sisters, so who is the 7th Sister? YOU are!)

Meet us and all your 7th Sisters on:

Thank you to Seth Tillman for editing.

The post Introducing C.S. Lewis Literature & Composition Full-Year ELA Bundle appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Staying Calm in Times of Imminent Stress and Natural Disasters with Teresa Wiedrick.

If you watch the news or social media, you might be noticing lots of stressful events, it sometimes feels like stress is a looming, imminent presence! That’s difficult enough for us parents, but even more so for teens, who are just developing their self-awareness and stress management skills. With that in mind, I asked our friend, Cousin, and Homeschool Mama Self-care coach, Teresa Wiedrick, to help us work out some skills we can all use for staying calm in these times.

Teresa often works with homeschool moms who are dealing with periods of time when there is significant stress at the moment or coming soon.  In those times, homeschool parents have to put on their good skills in order to lead the family in a possibly dangerous time.

Teresa homeschooled her four kids for almost two decades four kids. They are all graduated, and as Teresa says, she now as a graduated homeschool mom.

She felt called to help her fellow homeschooling moms and gradually moved into the homeschool coach role. She officially launched her coaching practice at Capturing the Charmed Life in 2019, after she had written the wonderfully helpful book, Homeschool Mama Self-care.

Next, Teresa started the Homeschool Mama Self-Care podcast and started connecting people around the world from my home. She absolutely loves this work of empowering women to be all that they were meant to be in their homeschool lives and in their lives in general.

She live in mountainous British Columbia where she homesteads outside of a small town. One of her big, yearly-imminent stressors is fire season. When we recorded this episode, there were fires within a one-hour drive from her home. At the time, one of the fires had been generally suppressed about a mile away! SO, there’s a lot of imminent stress going on!

The news in the US showed pictures of airplanes dumping the fire retardant chemicals on the fire. That was the fire just a mile or so from her house! That fire is what you could call an imminent stressor, especially for the many evacuees in her area. The government was trying to find new places for people to move to because so many homes had been lost.

The biggest thing that Teresa has learned is that we are not in control of everything that happens. We stress ourselves out more when we do not accept that truth. For instance, she could not control the Park Forest fire that burned thousands of acres of land, including a small town of 15,000 people. She cannot control the fact that all those people were left homeless.

We have homeschooling friends who live in areas that have seen more tornado activity in the past few years. Our families on the East Coast and Gulf Coast see hurricane activity some years.

So there are these times where we can’t “make it better”. We can’t say, “there won’t be a fire, there won’t be a hurricane”. However, as parents, we must still keep some measure of mental health in the family.

However, we can give our teens, younger children, and ourselves, some stress-coping skills, so that they are more resilient and positive (and not simply waiting in fear for a natural disaster).

Teresa teaches her family meditations or somatic mindfulness kind (such as yoga or tai chi practices). These calming activities help ease the body and soul when they feel anxious.

Identifying big emotions is truly helpful. You ask teens (and yourself) what you are feeling and where in the body we are  feeling it. (You noticed, there are probably places in your body that carry your stress, like a tense jaw or neck.) In a way, identifying the feeling helps to almost bring it outside of us, like we are observing it. It lessens the feeling of stress for our bodies and souls.

Then, importantly, you say (and teach your teen to say), “I feel this but I’m still okay.”

I think that there’s certain breath work activities that stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system that really do help to slow down what’s going on inside of us.

When we do slow, deep breathing, it helps all the systems in our body will slow down, just like you’re putting a foot on a brake in the car. (You can add this to your teens’ health credit by explaining that slow, deep breathing will stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, which calms the body. We know also that oxygen reduces the stress hormone.)

There are many types of deep breathing. One of Vicki’s favorites is called progressive relaxation (it combines tensing and relaxing muscle groups as you breath. Here’s a how to for progressive relaxation.)

Teresa enjoys “box breathing”. In this deep breathing you breathe in for four beats breath. Then you holding it for four beats. Next exhale for four beats, and then hold for four. Repeat the exercise three times.

When teens (or adults) feel stress, it can help to have a go-to person to talk to. For instance, when the fires were raging in her region, and Teresa was watching the helicopters fly over their homestead with huge water buckets. She was alone on the homestead that day, and knew that she was feeling anxious. Teresa’s go-to person is her husband, so she called him.

She asked for his help in getting grounding (feeling less anxious). Although she knew how to do box breathing, it felt good to her to breathe over the phone with her husband. The breathing calmed her, and connecting with him calmed her.

People are made to connect, to look out for each other. Thus, during times of imminent stress, it is important to do simple things together, like talking and breathing.

It helps to lower anxiety if we are prepared ahead of time. Recruit your teens to help create an emergency plan and emergency kit. (Remember fire drills at school when you were a kid?)

Create an evacuation plan if your family faced fire or natural disaster. Create an emergency kit with medical, first aid, emergency radio, and copies of important documents. Teens feel empowered if they have completed the Red Cross first aid and CPR classes.

There are many ways to teach the body and mind to be calmer. These are good to practice every day.

Teresa enjoys guided meditations (one of the many things she talks about in her Homeschool Mama Self-care Support Group on Facebook).

Somatic meditations are good self-awareness practices (also called a body scan meditation). In this meditation, teens breathe, then notice each part of their body and identify what those parts are feeling (stress?, pain?, just-fine?). Respect the feeling, then remind yourself: “I feel this but I’m still okay.”

It’s a nice thing for us homeschool moms to have a calm, wise person to talk to before and/or during times of imminent stress. Teresa has helped so many of her coachees grow in self-awareness, manage stress, feeling empowered to enjoy their homeschool work.

You can find Teresa at:

Join Vicki and Teresa for a discussion on helping the family to stay calm during times of imminent stress and natural disasters.

Thank you to Seth Tillman for editing.

The post Staying Calm in Times of Imminent Stress and Natural Disasters with Teresa Wiedrick appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.