This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Homeschooling Several Ages at Once with Natalie Burton.

Many of us homeschool more than one young person at a time. It CAN be done! That’s why we were excited to talk with our friend, Natalie Burton, again. We had Natalie on the podcast earlier, talking about homeschool and life balance. She is always a giver of wisdom and encouragement!

Natalie has four homeschoolers ranging in age from four to eleven. This year is her official first year homeschooling all four of them. However, even though her four-year-old is just starting his official education, he has always been with his sisters at the table when they are doing their lessons. He has always been in the mix of everything homeschool!

Natalie is married into a ministry family. Her husband is a worship leader at Macedonia Baptist Church in Southeast Washington DC. With the busy church life and homeschooling, Natalie has learned to be flexible and open to God’s leadings.

Natalie and her family homeschool year-round. She uses the summer to map out the upcoming school year. Year-round homeschooling works well for her family. One reason is that her oldest child is neurodivergent. For her, the timeline of a traditional school year felt like too much pressure. The year-round format helped her relax and opened up with her education.

Natalie found that the year-round format allowed for intermittent breaks, so that they never truly get to the place of burnout. Her homeschoolers are mostly always excited to do school.

The beautiful thing about homeschooling is that you can make it fit the rhythm of your family!

One thing Natalie has learned is to be adaptable and open to the Lord’s guidance throughout the year. Here are some of her tips:

Natalie has learned that her homeschoolers work much better when they have some time doing one-on-one core-subject lessons with her. The personal time gives her students focus and excitement. To pull this off, Natalie has special activities that her younger ones can do. The special activities generally keep the young ones’ attention until they arrive at lunch, recess, or a family/group activity.

The Lord put on Natalie’s heart to get up early in the morning. She felt that God showed her that He blessed her with multiple children, and with that comes more responsibility. It helps her to get up forty-five minutes earlier than she did when the kids were younger. This gives her extra prep time and time to get centered and ready for the day.

Natalie searched for two years to find the right homeschool co-op for her family. She loves this co-op because it is a dynamic, Christ-centered, and all of the moms there make it a safe place for all the homeschoolers to learn together. Her kids love it because they have a great time. The co-op families feel like family for Natalie and her kids.

All the homeschool moms help out at the co-op. For instance, Natalie serves as treasurer. When looking for a co-op, she highly suggests finding one where the moms are involved (as opposed to the ones where parents can drop kids off and leave). The relationships formed by serving together are important for homeschool-mom support and encouragement.

There’s no such thing as an all-the-time, picture-perfect homeschool (or anything). Natalie has instituted “immediate breaks” for herself and her homeschoolers. When anyone is feeling their calm slip away, they are allowed an immediate break to stop, breathe, and self-regulate. After all, it’s hard for moms to teach or students to learn if they are too stressed. A little calm-down time helps everyone to get back on track.

Natalie has found that God has used her prayer life and homeschooling her kids to develop the fruit of the spirit of self-discipline. This can look like taking an immediate break and breathing for a bit. It can also look like staying on task (and helping her kids learn to do so) when they need to complete their lessons.

Natalie’s oldest child has been a teacher of flexibility for her. When her daughter becomes overwhelmed, they have learned to take that immediate break. Natalie is naturally a Type A, so educating her daughter has helped her moderate that style and be more adaptable to the needs of her child in the moment.

One of Natalie’s closest friends and role models is Anita Gibson. Our listeners know Anita through our interviews with her, including:

Anita and Natalie’s mother started homeschooling their kids when Natalie was a young child. They went to church together. Anita has served as a mentor and support to Natalie for her entire life.

Natalie also helps Anita with the Simply Homeschool Facebook group.

Homeschooling is a process for the whole family, so let the process be the process. Give yourself over to it. Learn with your children. Allow yourself to change as the years go by. Homeschooling is a growth process, a learning curve. You can do this!

Natalie has learned to remove the lens of trying to be perfect. When you let go of that, things get a lot easier, the pressure comes off, and you can actually inhale!

Remove the lens of trying to be perfect.

Natalie spends some family-learning time reading the Bible, literature, and poetry with her homeschoolers. This gives them shared experiences and builds their listening skills. This is one of her favorite times of the day!

The most important thing that Natalie wants you to know is that with God’s help, you can do this!

Join Vicki and Natalie Burton for tips for homeschooling several ages at once. Thanks to Seth Tillman for editing.

How do you teach your kids to make wise decisions in a world that feels increasingly morally gray? As homeschool parents, many of us worry about striking the right balance. We don’t want to be too controlling on one hand, but we also don’t want to just let our kids “figure it out” on their own. So how do we help them develop godly wisdom without micromanaging every choice?

In this episode, I talk with Dean Zuleger—a father of four, grandfather of seven, and someone who has spent decades mentoring kids through coaching, teaching, and ministry. Dean homeschooled his own children in Wisconsin, and now his son and daughter-in-law are homeschooling their five kids in Minnesota. Dean has developed a biblical framework for teaching decision-making to children that gives them structure and security in an uncertain world.

His approach? Use classic literature and powerful questions to help kids move from observing characters’ choices to owning wisdom themselves. Whether you have wiggly elementary boys, decision-averse teens, or kids somewhere in between, this conversation is packed with practical tools and biblical wisdom for raising wise decision-makers.

Sponsored by CTCMath.com

Have a happy homeschool week!

In this episode of Vintage Homeschool Moms, we explore why giving children time to think is one of the most important—and most overlooked—skills parents can nurture.

In a fun flip of the interview seat, Lisa Nehring interviews Felice Gerwitz, founder of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network, about how slowing down our responses helps children develop independence, confidence, and strong critical thinking skills.

Felice explains why constantly rushing to give answers, solve problems, or fill silence can unintentionally limit a child’s ability to reason, process information, and trust their own judgment. Instead, she encourages parents to create space for curiosity, reflection, and thoughtful decision-making.

Why children need time to process before responding

How open-ended questions support critical thinking

The role patience plays in raising independent learners

How homeschooling naturally supports deeper thinking

Why “thinking time” is not neglect—but intentional parenting

This episode is especially helpful for homeschooling parents, educators, and families who want to raise thoughtful, capable kids prepared for real-world problem solving. Whether your child is young or nearing adulthood, learning when not to step in can make all the difference.

Homeschool Lifestyle

Thank you to our sponsor, CTC Math.

In “Teens on the Pony Express,” episode #249, Meredith Curtis continues celebrating America’s 250 Birthday celebration with the Pony Express. Grab the entire family and meet 15-year-old Bill who discovers a Job Poster. Wanted: Riders for the Pony Express. Young Skinny Wiry Fellows. Riders willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred. Wages $25 per week. If you’re a teen, would you apply? If you’re a parent, would you let your teen apply. The Pony Express captured the imagination of the American people and still does. Teens can do anything. God bless the USA. 😊

Bringing Homeschool Joy to Families Everywhere!

Pretend you’re job hunting and see a poster at Chick-fil-A. Interested?

I want to take you back in time to Fort Laramie in present-day Wyoming. A teenager is in the US Post Office in the fort when he sees a poster. The poster reads:

Wanted:

Riders for the Pony Express

Young, Skinny Wiry Fellows

Riders Willing to Risk Death Daily

Orphans Preferred

Wages $25 per Week

The Interview

Hard to get mail from East to West and back again.

Solutions.

A new solution.

Stations, Station Masters, Ponies, Riders

Kickoff April 3, 1960

Bill’s Home Station

Bullets Whizzing

Riding On

Wolves

Buffalo Bill Cody

Teens can do anything God calls them to do.

Sign up for our updates and get your copy of US Living Books & Movies List (57 pages) and Sons of Liberty FREE. Sign up here.

Thank You to our Network Sponsor – CTC Math!

Melissa is a longtime homeschool mom of four, a licensed teacher, and the founder of Curio. She shares five free homeschool resources her family still uses regularly today—resources that have stood the test of time and continue to work well for real homeschool families.

These aren’t just quick links. Melissa explains how her family actually uses each tool, from self-paced science lessons to gap-filling math, audiobooks for reluctant readers, gamified learning for younger kids, and leveled current events for middle and high schoolers.

Nearpod – Interactive, student-paced lessons with VR, activities, and assessments  Also listen to episode 293 where Melissa goes into more detail about Nearpod.

Khan Academy – Free courses for gap filling, mastery, and exploration. And listen to episode 317 where Meryl shares more ideas about Khan Academy

Libby – Using library audiobooks and ebooks to support reading and spelling

Freckle – Gamified math and reading practice for younger learners

ENGOO Daily News – Leveled current events with discussion and writing prompts

If you use any of these resources, join the conversation in the Homeschooling with Technology Community on Facebook and let us know which ones your family enjoyed most!

Subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss any episodes!

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Great Books and Literature Guides for Middle Schoolers.

Our middle schoolers will be high schoolers before we know it. So, we want to invest well and make the most out of middle school.

One of the things we 7Sisters wanted to think about when we were homeschooling our tweens was: how do we make middle school useful, but  not take all the joy out of learning? Middle school years are the last years when kids can just have fun with education without having to earn credits. Therefore, we want to invest well, prepare them for high school, and have some fun.

There is a group of six of us moms who homeschooled our 20-some-odd kids in co-ops for years. (That would be Sabrina, Kym, Vicki, Marilyn, Allison, and Sara.) After a few years, we started an umbrella school, as well. We enjoyed functioning together in educating our kids.

As we saw the end of our homeschooling with our own kids coming to an end, we decided to start sharing the curriculum that we created with other homeschool families. We wanted others to know that there is no-busywork curriculum out there!

We had created lots of no-busywork curriculum because our teens had told us that many textbooks are boring because each chapter has a uniform number of pages, whether there is anything to say necessary to say or not.

Our teens loved doing Language Arts and electives together. There were lots of kinds of learners so, we made sure the curriculum was adaptable to different levels of rigor. If they were interested in the topic or wanted to add rigor, there were meaningful activities to earn honors credits.

So, we started publishing the curriculum online. We like the name 7Sisters, because we realized that’s because we’re all in this homeschooling thing together. Everyone who was part of the homeschool community is our seventh sister, so, or a seventh sibling for all those dads out there.

There are lots of wonderful books for middle schoolers to read! Remember: there’s not ONE right way to homeschool middle school, so choose books that fit your tween’s needs and interests, such as:

7Sisters literature study guides provide an introduction to literature analysis skills. These guides are not supposed to be exhaustive because that’s exhausting. Instead, the guides cover one or two literature analysis skills in each guide. Over the year, young people develop literature analysis skills, and still enjoy reading.

We 7Sisters like to create no-busywork literature study guides that do not take the fun out of the book. Here are our favorites:

Esperanza Rising is the story of a young girl who comes from Mexico and is working on a farm. It is a gentle, attention-catching, and precious book.

This is an empowering, true story of a young man in Africa who builds a windmill for his village.

This is one of 7Sister Vicki’s favorite stories of all time! It is a fabulous, classic book to cover if your middle schooler is learning American geography. Students learn about the wild pony roundups on the Outerbanks of North Carolina.

This is a good read-aloud for the whole family! If you wish, your middle schooler can listen and then do the literature study guide.

The true story of a Jewish boy and Oskar Schindler during World War II. It is compelling but not overwhelming for young people.

Isn’t this a wonderful story? This classic is another good read-aloud for the whole family. If you wish, your middle schooler can listen and then do the literature study guide.

This is a very important book that is very gently and wisely presented. It is a great addition to American history studies.

This classic book is based on the true story of the Nazi occupation of Norway and the legends about the children saving the national gold.

Every homeschooler is unique! We want to introduce writing skills that will prepare them for high school, but not take the joy out of learning. We 7Sisters created writing guides that give middle schoolers the basics without overwhelming them.

The Middle School Guide to Essay Writing covers the topic over a series of weeks: step by step. Middle schoolers learn the basics of writing the five-paragraph essay that they will be doing a lot of in high school. It is a gentle, user-friendly, success-oriented, but not cheesy guide.

It is wise to make sure that every year, there are some fun writing assignments. In middle school, this is a great time to just have some fun writing a fairytale. This guide will take you step by step, week by week for several weeks, one little assignment at a time, to write an absolutely delightful fairytale.

This is a freebie for homeschool parents. If you have young people who have not written a report, this can get you started. It is instructions on working together as a parent and middle schooler on writing that first report, so that your young person feels encouraged.

If your middle schooler likes to explore interests, they would like a step-by-step guide to help them understand the process of writing a research paper. This is a good guide to get them started on the research-paper writing adventure.

Homeschooling middle school is so rewarding! Enjoy these years.

Join Vicki for a discussion of good books and guides.

Feeling overwhelmed, isolated, or like you’re the only one struggling? This conversation will remind you that you’re not alone.

Annette Vaughn, author of Dear Homeschool Mom, shares early warning signs of burnout, the difference between healthy reflection and unhealthy guilt, and practical ways to refuel your tank before you hit empty.

The best part? Her book features encouragement from 50+ ordinary homeschool moms who’ve been there—written specifically for different struggles and seasons you’re facing.

Learn:

✨ Warning signs you’re heading toward burnout

✨ How to tell the difference between a bad day and burnout

✨ Why feeling isolated is normal (you’re doing something countercultural!)

✨ Practical ways to fill yourself with encouragement

✨ Why you have value to offer other moms (even if you’re brand new)

Book: Dear Homeschool Mom

Connect: @DearHomeschoolMomBook (Instagram/Facebook)

You’re doing better than you think. Your kids will be okay. You don’t have to have it all figured out.

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Movies for Educational Purposes in Homeschool High School- Special Replay.

Need some fun in your homeschool high school? Think: movies!

Can movies and reading books BOTH count as English/Language Arts assignments?

Movies alone cannot count as literature for teens’ ELA booklists, but they can be used to learn:

In fact, we 7Sisters have always allowed our teens to count some movies as books for their ELA booklist as long as they complete an accompanying study guide that emphasizes literature analysis skills. That’s why we have made sure they had good resources for studying movies as if they are books (like 7Sisters Cinema Studies for Literature Learning Study Guides).

Join Sabrina and Vicki for an enlightening discussion of movies for educational process.

There are lots of reasons to add some movies to homeschool high schoolers’ literature analysis lessons. Let’s start with another of Sabrina’s famous quotes:

Stories are stories.

So, a story in a movie is still a story.

Of course, teens need to read lots of good books during their homeschooling high school years. Some teens like to choose literature topics for a year, such as:

Other high schoolers prefer a mix of genres and authors (which is why 7Sisters offers the popular “One-Year” ELA series).

Either way, reading books, books, books can be cumbersome, so liven things up by learning literature analysis skills through movies!

Learning story analysis skills by watching movies is good for all teens, of course. However, learning some of these literature analysis skills while watching a movie simplifies the educational process and adds a layer of multi-sensory learning.

Teens love watching movies together and the literature analysis skills are great discussion material.

Face it, it’s fun to watch movies! So why not have some educational fun!

First off: We recommend that you do not overdo it! Just choose one or two aspects of the story to discuss and analyze, even if the movie has lots of outstanding features that could be explored. In other words, don’t kill the movie (or a book, for that matter) trying to analyze everything that could be analyzed! Instead, allow teens to concentrate on just a couple of outstanding facets to analyze! Then they can actually learn and hold onto their learning- and still have positive feelings and inspiration from the movie. We suggest 7Sisters Cinema Studies for Literature Learning Study Guides for this.

When teens learn some concepts from a film story, they can then find those concepts when they read books. Making these connections is a necessary facet of education (and an important life skill).

They can use their brains and think about what they are consuming. In other words, when given tools for analysis in a gentle way, most teens will have more critical thinking skills for watching movies any time.

All 7Sisters curriculum is level-able (adaptable for Average- through Honors-level studies.) Homeschool high schoolers who are college-bound Honors level cinema studies will find interesting and meaningful leveling-up activities in 7Sisters Cinema Studies for Literature Learning Study Guides.

As an aside, Vicki and Sabrina rabbit trailed onto the topic of audiobooks for books and poetry. They noted that Benedict Cumberbach is one of their favorite readers. Vicki has several pins on her Pinterest Poetry board with him reading a poem.

Join Sabrina and Vicki for a “moving” talk about movies!

For more creative Language Arts ideas, check out this episode!

Sponsored by CTCMath.com

What is the one thing you can’t get back? Time. In this episode, we talk about time management for kids and how to learn to take charge of your time. You will be surprised how much time you gain! Another episode just for kids.

Check out this episode just for kids! 

Books for tweens – Truth Seekers Mystery Series. 

Are you on time? Always? Sure, it is hard to be on time especially when you think you have lots of time and why should you hurry. Besides everyone will wait for you, right?

Well, surprise! I bet you will get in trouble if you are late or make your family wait. So, today we are going to discuss time. This is time you can never get back.

Punctuality means being early or on time. In fact, some people think if you are on time that means you are late.

What do you think? Do you like being late?

Do you like waiting for other people?

So, the first thing I want you to do is to look at your time. How do you manage your time? Most kids don’t manage their time because they don’t have to. You have parents who tell you when to get up or when it is time to eat. When it is time to do your schoolwork or go to church. We are managed by a family that loves and supports us. But, at some point we need to be responsible for our own time.

Look at what you like to do. If you could have a day that is all yours to plan what would you do? What does your dream day look like? This may be a topic you want to think about. You may include some of these points: sleeping in or getting up early, eating your favorite foods, watching a movie or reading a book, playing with your friends, going to a park, or maybe a trip to the zoo. Your time would be spent on the things you enjoy. So, let’s look at that list and go to a hobby. A hobby is something you like to do in your spare time. How can you fit this in when your day is filled with the things you have to do? That is what time management is all about. You manage your time so that you can fit in some fun things.

But, you might say you are busy with school work and chores and you have not time. Hmm… let’s look at this. What do you do when you are busy with school and chores? Are you doing them well and quickly or are you wasting time? If you look at how you spend your time you will earn that while it may be fun to laugh at your brother or sister, or lose a book and have to spend time finding it, or forget that you have an assignment…in the long run you are only hurting yourself.

So, let’s go through a list:

Another surprise is that I am sure your mom or dad will definitely help you to gain more time in your day, because you know what? If you are more productive–that means you get more things done well and quickly, that gives your family more time as well. This means you respect each other, you respect each other’s time and you are happy to get your chores and school work done because you have a goal at the end, and that is spending time doing the things you enjoy!

Good work and good effort is often rewarded. It is rewarded by the knowledge that you did your best and it is practice for the future. I really wish someone had taught me how to manage my time when I was younger. I will have another session on time management for teens upcoming. I am excited about your future because with more time it will allow you to explore things that you are passionate about. Think about all of the amazing inventors such as Thomas Edison, The Wright Brothers and Benjamin Franklin to name a few. As kids, they were constantly experimenting and thinking about new ideas and look at what they did as adults. Now is your time and I hope you use it wisely!

The Winter Olympics are almost here, and if your family will be watching, why not turn that excitement into meaningful learning? In this episode, I share a collection of fun, engaging, and mostly free Winter Olympics resources you can use with elementary through high school students—before and during the Games.

These resources cover history, geography, science, music, critical thinking, and more, with very little prep required.

Official Olympics Website – Milano Cortina 2026
Explore schedules, events, host locations, and track the Olympic torch as it travels toward the opening ceremony.

Athlete365 Stories
Behind-the-scenes articles and videos featuring athlete preparation, Olympic Village life, and what happens before competition begins.

15-Minute Olympics Music Lesson – Music in Our Homeschool
A free mini-lesson exploring Olympic music and official songs—short, engaging, and easy to use.

Science of the Winter Olympics (NBC Playlist on YouTube)
Short, engaging videos explaining the physics and math behind Winter Olympic sports like bobsledding and aerial skiing.
Best for middle and high school, but fascinating for all ages.

Olympics History & Culture Unit Study (Grades 4–8)
A low-cost mini unit study covering Olympic history, culture, and the differences between the Summer and Winter Games.
Web-based, hands-on, and reusable for future Olympics.

Free Digital Olympics Breakout (Escape-Room Style Activity)
A fully online breakout activity where students solve clues to unlock the Google Form and “win” the challenge.
Great for families or small groups. Estimated time: ~45 minutes.

FanSchool Olympics Medal Prediction Game
Students predict medal counts by country and learn geography along the way.
Free to play, with possible prizes for top predictions.

Winter Olympics Bingo (Free Printable)
A fun way for the whole family to stay engaged while watching events, learning about flags, countries, and sports.
Use code WINTER (free through February 22).

If you use any of these resources, come join the conversation in the Homeschooling with Technology Community on Facebook and let us know which ones your family enjoyed most!

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