Vintage Homeschool Moms

Everyone wants productive children, but let’s face it most are unmotivated. They say “I don’t care,” even about things they should care about. This episode of Vintage Homeschool Moms is about the planning that goes on behind the scenes to create structure, motivation, and yes, even productivity.

Why are some children unmotivated, bored, or like they don’t care about anything? They will even answer, “I don’t care,” when asked about something — even something they should care about.

Hey friends. Thanks so much for joining me. I believe unmotivated children lead to unproductive children who do not have any goals or ideas about what they want to do, because there is no structure and no “ask” of them. These children are the floaters. They either cause mischief, because they are bored and need entertainment, or they wander aimlessly just because.

Thanks so much to our sponsor for helping keep this show on the air.

Notes: http://vintagehomeschoolmoms.com

Keywords: unmotivated homeschool children, productive kids at home, homeschool routine vs schedule, how to motivate homeschoolers, family planning dinner, children who say I don’t care

At a homeschool conference one year I met highly motivated children who had a vision. Some wanted to write books. Others wanted to create or invent. Others? They could not wait to leave the crowded halls and get to the pool.

What is a parent to do?

One thing is to brainstorm together as a family — but first with your spouse.

My husband and I would go to dinner that was essentially a planning dinner before every school year. We discussed our children, in a good way, and what areas we hoped to see improvement in. Sometimes this was mid-year or at the end of the year, usually because of some type of problem or mini-crisis.

Why does this work? Because, well, dinner out. Enough said. If the budget will not allow it, have dinner after the children are in bed. Or take a mini-retreat into a spare room or a corner for dessert. Make it work. Do not look at the obstacles first.

We discussed the good things first — why we were thankful. I often thanked my husband for working so hard. Sure, we owned the construction company, but he worked extremely hard each day. Did I get thanks for being home with the children and homeschooling them? No. But my husband showed his thanks in different ways.

Not to minimize being thanked. You and I know we do what we do because of our love for our children and our families — not because of praise. If I only focused on what is not said instead of what I know to be true in my heart, I would have pity parties more often.

This is analysis with an end goal. It will not finish in one evening. A school year is a good amount of time to work a plan without it overwhelming you.

Gains. What have they gained over the last year, the last months, or even the last weeks if you are meeting sooner? Name the real progress out loud so the problem does not swallow the child.

Strengths. What already works in this child? A struggling learner in our house was often frustrated because he was so smart. The strength was there. The work had not caught up to the mind, or the mind had not been asked the right thing.

Weaknesses. What is the issue at hand? Is it an attitude, or is it deeper? Do not guess in the hallway. Say it at the table when you are both calm.

Plan. What are we going to do about this, and how are we going to tackle the difficulties? Who owns which piece — Mom, Dad, the child?

Sometimes the answer is we do not know what to do. That is when we would pray and seek the Lord. The answer came when we least expected it.

The attitude did not happen overnight. Or maybe with a tween or teen it did. Letting it go as “just a growing stage” was not acceptable in this household.

Do your children know what is expected of them? Do they have a routine, a schedule — something they can hold onto, so they know that in the morning the same things are going to happen? For some children, routines are what drive them. For others it is a schedule. A routine says, after breakfast we begin. A schedule says 8:42. Many houses need the routine more than the clock.

What do you do about sullen behavior? In this home we asked for respect, and we gave them respect in turn. Did voices ever rise? Of course. But no discussion came afterward until all parties were calm.

Take the child aside. Name what happened. Name what is required. Then come back to the work. The work still has to get done. I have said for years that the difference between an adult and a child is that an adult does what needs doing whether or not they feel like it. That applied to school pages. It applied to chores. It applied to me.

How do you motivate children? The biggest way is to find out what gets them excited. A friend. An event. A movie. A book they read. Something else. In previous episodes my focus has been on giving children time to think. That does not mean in front of a screen. It means time where they are bored. Being bored is okay. The quiet lets a child listen.

For some time I could not be alone in the car or at home without putting on music or the television. There actually was a time before YouTube. That time allowed a person to think. Try going back to that time, even if just for a half an hour a day. Tell your children you are trying this, and see where it takes them.

My children have been motivated to finish school because they had other interests and hobbies. Reading. Writing. Sports. Repairing small engines. They cooperated with lessons so they had time to do what they enjoyed. If that is missing, find that thing.

I know. Video games are a thing, and a source of entertainment for many teens. In my opinion they can be a useful tool, but they also need to be limited. It is your family, and you know best.

Just like invention came out of need, so does motivation. There has to be a reason to fuel the flame, and that reason is buried somewhere deep inside each person. Taking the time to find it is often the only thing holding you back.

This is what I would actually do in a week, not a wish list for next August.

“Whatever your task, work heartily, as serving the Lord and not men.”

Work heartily is for the child at the table and for the parent who would rather scroll. Attitude sets the tone. Every day is a fresh start.

More at https://mediaangels.com.

If this helps, share it with a friend. Until next time, be blessed. Have a happy homeschool week.

The post Productive Children: How to Motivate Kids Who Say “I Don’t Care” appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

You can listen to every “hack” video on the internet and still run out of time. Productivity as a homeschool mom is not another bottle of peroxide and a clever trick. This episode of Vintage Homeschool Moms is for any mom who wants more productivity in their life.

Do you like to listen to the “hack” videos? Five ways to use baking soda. Hidden treasures in a bottle of peroxide. They make us think we found the answer in something that costs pennies, and the millions of downloads prove the point. Everyone wants a short cut.

Hey friends. Thanks so much for joining me. I am here to tell you there is a way, and it costs nothing but a little bit of time. Can I talk about time? We say we do not have one spare second. Then a glass jar breaks, or some other unavoidable interruption happens, and somehow we have time. I have lived this. Ask me how I know.

This show is proudly sponsored by Eden’s Table — a Christ-centered herbalism curriculum for K-5 homeschool families. One plant a week, woven through Bible, science, history, art, and Latin.

Try a free week →

Notes: http://vintagehomeschoolmoms.com

Keywords: homeschool mom productivity, five things to-do list, homeschool time management, busy homeschool mom routine, stop scrolling start working, household habits that save time

The other day my assistant sent me a meme. It said:

Me: I have zero free time and I’m exhausted.

I sent her a picture of the finished bottle I had bottled the previous day. I wish I was joking.

Some of us, when we are overwhelmed, turn to the easy things. The things that take the fewest brain cells. That is where the scrolling comes in — YouTube, Facebook, Instagram. It is mindless. It is entertaining. If we are honest, it helps us forget the bigger goals of the day.

This is not a lecture. It is the truth. Here is the way most people who are actually productive work. I have seen it over and over. There are two versions. I will give you the least painful first.

At the end of the day, when you are exhausted — I know — write down the five things you need to get done tomorrow. It can be what did not get done today, an appointment you have, or something that cannot be put off another day. Just five. Not ten. Not twenty. Make it manageable.

After the list is done, put it in priority. One through five.

The next day you look at that list and do the first thing first. Not the second. Not the third. Number one. Then work through the list. That is it. The next evening, the same thing.

It gives you a structure, and the thinking is done the day before. If you are too tired before bed, do it after the children are in bed, or in any down time you have.

It also gives you something to hold when the glass jar breaks or the children are unruly. You already know what comes next. You are not inventing the day while the floor is wet.

One of my friends would call me consistently one day a week. I jokingly asked if I was on a list. The answer was yes. She was one of the most productive people I knew.

This next advice is something I watched a friend do who was neat and tidy. She worked while she was on the phone. When she saw something that needed to be done, she did it. No stepping over a pile of fluffy dog hair. Pick it up. Shoes one of the children left in the way? Ask them to pick the shoes up and put them where they belong.

Habits are actions we do consistently. We can train ourselves.

As a young married woman I left the dishes in the sink overnight, because that never was allowed in my home growing up. It did not take me long of waking up to a messy kitchen to realize there was a reason we did dishes after a meal.

Look around. What needs to be accomplished? Do it five things at a time. Enlist your children, of course. Everyone needs to help. Chores build responsibility and character. But this list of five is just for yourself.

You will feel so accomplished just doing the five things. The warning: do not make it six or seven the next day. If you must add something, do not count an appointment or homeschooling the children. Those sit at the top of the to-do list no matter what.

These are not tricks. They are the same habits, said plainly, for the afternoon when the five feel too thin.

Me: Excuse.

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil.”

Making the most of the time is not packing twenty items onto a page. It is knowing the next right thing and doing it. Attitude sets the tone. Every day is a fresh start.

More at https://mediaangels.com and https://mediaangels.com/store/.

If this helps, share it with a friend. Until next time, be blessed. Have a blessed homeschool week.

The post Productivity as a Homeschool Mom: The Five-Thing List That Works appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Kids are sponges. They absorb the good and the bad, and sometimes an entitled attitude creeps in because we work so hard to protect them from the hardships we went through ourselves. In this episode Felice Gerwitz argues that gratitude isn’t a personality trait. It’s a taught skill, practiced the way we practice math facts and manners, and it gets built every day, not only on the fourth Thursday of November.

We can’t expect gratitude we don’t show. Children copy what they see, so the thank-yous start with us.

“Thank you for…” “I appreciate the time you spent…” Give kids the actual phrases and let them use them for the little things as well as the big ones. The goal is sincerity, not gushing. Over-the-top thanks rings false.

Some families stop giving gifts at birthdays and Christmas because opening presents turned into a feeding frenzy. Felice has raised two families, two children in the early ’80s and three more between 1995 and 2000, and her view is that extremes don’t work. Having the children make gifts for each other, setting a gift budget, or pairing your family’s gifts with giving to the poor does far more good than taking the gifts away.

In Felice’s house everyone sits down first. Gifts are opened one at a time, and the child gets up right away to thank the giver with a hug or a sincere thank-you. Then the family thanks God, the giver of every good gift.

Jesus heals ten lepers and only one comes back to say thank you. He’s a Samaritan, an outsider (Luke 17:12–19). It makes a great discussion with your children.

Pray before every meal, thanking God for the food and for the people who cooked it and earned the money to buy it. Start the morning by praising Him for the day, the sky, even the rain. Ask at dinner, “What are you most thankful for today?” Close the day with evening prayers. Felice also keeps a praise journal, with praises in the front and prayer requests in the back.

Too many options can teach a child to be unhappy with whatever they end up with.

Have the child write a thank-you note, or trace the words “thank you” if they’re little. Pray about the root cause, then set boundaries: fewer gifts and no choices until the attitude turns around. Keep the consequence age-appropriate and immediate. Kids don’t connect a consequence to something that happened long ago.

Felice took her older grandchildren shopping for the one-year-old, and it was eye-opening. Responsibility teaches thankfulness fast, whether that’s helping with a neighbor’s toddler or serving in the church nursery. Experience gifts like museum or nature-center memberships help too.

Too much TV means too many commercials aimed straight at children. Infomercials work on adults, too.

Felice closes on praise. It’s a weapon against the enemy, and gratitude can become a habit and a way of life. Look at David in the Psalms, praising God through hardship and triumph alike.

Scriptures mentioned: Luke 17:12–19 · Psalm 107:1 · Psalm 100:1–5 · Psalm 9:1

Vintage Homeschool Moms is hosted by Felice Gerwitz and is part of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network. This episode is brought to you by CTC Math — ctcmath.com.

The post How to Teach Kids to Be Thankful (Not Just at Thanksgiving) appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Why homeschooling works is simple: do you realize that the worst day of homeschooling beats the best day of traditional school? In this podcast, Felice Gerwitz shares the advantages and disadvantages of homeschooling.

I began homeschooling in the early 90’s, and it was not as popular and well-known then. In fact, the children and I rarely went to do errands before 3:00, or we’d be asked many questions such as, “Oh, do the kids have the day off?” When I said I was homeschooling, some people asked, “What is that?”

Thanks to our sponsor! Eden’s Table

Eden’s Table is a Scripture-rooted homeschool herbalism curriculum built around a simple rhythm: one healing plant a week. It comes from The Eden Institute, founded by Camila Johnson in Clarksville, Tennessee, and it is the first Bible-rooted herbalism curriculum written for children rather than adapted down from adult herbalism training.

The weekly pattern is easy to picture. As Camila puts it, the study is “scripture-anchored on Monday and hands-on at the kitchen table by Friday.” One plant. Five days. Then the next plant.

Vintage Homeschool Moms Episode One ~ Homeschool Lifestyle

How to Begin Homeschooling

Perfect Homeschool

Greatest Homeschool Tips

Creation Study Guides

Science Fair Review

Teaching Science Review

Why does anyone care if a parent decides to homeschool? Consider this… I believe parents are the best teachers for their children based on the simple premise that parents love their children more than strangers in a classroom. As a single woman and teacher, I really liked my class. I cared about the kids, but if you asked me if I loved them, I’d answer, “Probably not!”

I wanted my students to excel because, selfishly, it reflected on my ability to teach. There are great teachers who care, but no one cares as much as a mom or dad cares for their kids.

Why was there such a block to homeschooling? I believe (this is my opinion) because it would be a loss of state and federal dollars and spending. Believe me, the teachers were not the recipients of these funds!

There were horror stories of neighbors calling social services or reporting children as truant when they went outdoors to play after they finished their school work. Not only that, but some states made it extremely difficult to homeschool. While I was blessed that the laws were already in place legislatively when I began, it was still disheartening that there were other battles to fight, such as the ability of homeschooled kids to play sports in public and private schools.

I feel like an old soul recounting a better time in my life, but truthfully, the beginning of my homeschool journey was a bit stressful. I had a learning-challenged child, and it took a long time to teach some of my children to read well and independently. I had different types of learners, all very bright, but some took educating outside of the box. The upside is that I homeschooled for thirty-two years, and all five children benefited.

Praise God, homeschooling is legal in all 50 states. Here is an interactive map detailing each state’s laws and regulations.

I have advocated for homeschooling, speaking for many years at state and local conferences and writing homeschool books, but I didn’t truly believe that all people had to homeschool. It was and should be a personal decsision made by the adults in the family. Lately, however, I think homeschooling is more important than ever.

Instead of fighting for the right to homeschool, we watch as some of the parents who have chosen public or private schools fight for the right to be parents with authority. Parental rights are in jeopardy, and it is just beginning. I believe a society that does not care about our faith, values, morality, or sovereignty is pushing for the hearts and minds of our children.

I’ve heard some horror stories within the space of a week. These horror stories included unruly kids in the classroom who went unchecked. Discipline in the classroom works to an extent, and if a student is sent out to the office and nothing is done, it is a detriment not only to the teacher but also to the other kids. It got so bad that my friend told me her husband wanted her to resign.

If you are wondering if it was a public or private school, she said it was a private Christian school. She took the job because the website said there was zero tolerance for bad behavior.

The other was tremendously worse. It was a mother in a hearing saying that her twelve-year-old was… (listen for details on air.)

I know that parental permission is not required in some states. That is horrible and dangerous to families and children, but that is the issue at hand. Some bad actors in some states want control of our children, and often, it is blamed as a failure on the part of the family. The true blame lies in all of us doing nothing and sitting back while our rights are destroyed.

Parental rights are at the forefront of the battle for homeschool families, with the idea of vouchers and schools that accept them. I’m happy there are options out there for parents who can’t afford to homeschool and must work, but we did without for many years so that we could continue to homeschool our children.

If I had to create a list of reasons why homeschooling works, it would look something like this, and you are welcome to add to it.

What would you add? Years ago, in fact, one of the first podcast topics was on the homeschool lifestyle. The topic revolved around the fact that homeschooling was more than what we did, it became a lifestyle that my five graduated and now adult children believe was well worth it.

It was okay that they didn’t know the latest movies, the latest songs, or what the “stars” were doing at any given moment. It was okay that they dressed comfortably but were not swayed by what was currently at the peak of fashion. It was okay if we were joining a prayer vigil or combatting a bill that was before our legislature that we disagreed with. It was okay if we celebrated the fall harvest vs. Halloween or celebrated All Saints Day or each child’s patron saint.

Our homeschool journey had ups and downs, and that was also okay. We worked out our differences as a family. No one went to bed angry, and “I’m sorry” and “Will you forgive me?” were often verbalized. Our home was a safe place, as my husband often reminded our children, where they could grow up with parents who loved and cared for them and surrounded by family.

I could go on for another hour about the merits of homeschooling. I’ve spent the last eleven years first creating this Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network and, in particular, this podcast teaching you the merits of homeschooling—all for free! So friends, if you have a minute, I hope you stop by and share why homeschooling works in your family on this post, and I pray you continue your journey successfully!

Resources from Media Angels: Go deeper with the complete Creation Science for Homeschoolers guide — or explore the Creation Science Bundle.

The post Why Homeschooling Still Works appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Have you heard of herbalism? What about Biblical Herbalism? If you’ve ever wondered whether herbs belong in a Christian home—or worried that “natural remedies” somehow tip into New Age territory—this conversation is for you. Felice Gerwitz sits down with Camila Johnson of The Eden Institute to talk about reclaiming plant knowledge for the glory of the Creator. Learn about the curriculum she built so moms can learn right alongside their children, one plant at a time.

I raised five kids across a wide age span. I’ve reached for simple kitchen remedies when medicine made me feel worse. And I’ve watched too many science videos that never once named the Designer. Camila’s approach puts the glory back where it belongs. It is important to teach our children that they are important to and the world they belong to has so much to offer.

Camila is a former middle-school English teacher, a mom of four (two still at home), and the creator of a K–12 biblical herbalism curriculum. She grew up with Brazilian grandmothers who reached for peppermint tea and honey-lemon without calling it anything fancy. Later, she spent years studying plants on her own because the formal courses she found either ignored spiritual health entirely or leaned heavily into Far Eastern mysticism.

She decided to build something different: a curriculum that names the Holy Spirit, honors the Designer, and treats plants as provision rather than objects of worship.

Most of us were never taught how our bodies actually work or how the plants growing nearby can support them. Schools aim at tests. Life requires stewardship. Camila’s curriculum starts with that gap.

Each week focuses on one plant. The history lesson shows who used it and how. Geography shows where it grows and why the climate shapes its “energetics.” Science is pure observation—smell it, draw it, label the parts. Bible opens the week (sometimes a short original story about the Eden family, sometimes straight Scripture). Character grows through waiting for longer preparations, such as glycerites and tinctures. Art, language arts, and even a little Latin show up naturally because everything circles the same plant.

Younger children (Sprouts, K–2) make same-day teas and cold infusions. Third through fifth (Seedlings) begin the slower medicines. Middle and high school levels go deeper into constitutions and matching plant patterns to people patterns. The whole thing is designed so mom learns too. You do not have to arrive as an expert.

Camila has turned her backyard into a food forest, but she is clear: you can source every herb in the curriculum from reputable suppliers. She partners with Mountain Rose Herbs. The lessons work whether the plant is growing in a pot on your windowsill or sitting in a mason jar on the pantry shelf.

Start with one plant. Smell it. Ask what the scent might tell you. Read the short history. Draw it. Make a simple tea together. By the end of the week the children (and you) know that plant well enough to recognize it again. That is how real knowledge sticks—not through five disconnected subjects, but through one living thing studied from every angle.

Camila’s online foundations course and her book Back to Eden: A Biblical Foundation for Herbal Healing (available on Kindle) lay out the same framework: five basic tenets of healing that Scripture already names—rest, nutrition, hydration, and so on. A fever is not the enemy; it is the body doing what the Creator designed it to do. A headache can be the body asking for salt and water. The curriculum teaches children to notice those signals and respond with wisdom rather than automatically suppressing them.

A free first week for both elementary bands and a simple body-pattern quiz are available at her site so families can try before they commit. Pre-orders for Sprouts (K–2) are open; Seedlings (3–5) follows closely. She is also an approved ClassWallet vendor for families who can use education dollars.

Visit edeninstitute.health and the homeschool page at edeninstitute.health/homeschool.

Eden’s Table is Camila’s Bible-rooted herbalism unit study for elementary students (Sprouts, K–2, and Seedlings, 3–5). Every subject runs through one plant a week. Start with the nine-week Starter Unit as an instant download, or get the full year in three printed books.

Try one week free first. Camila will send you the complete first week — five lessons on lavender for Sprouts (K–2) or elderberry for Seedlings (3–5). Print it, teach it, see how your children respond before you spend anything. Get Week 1 free →

Listener gift: use code EDEN13 for 10% off the $39 Starter Unit or the $249 printed set, either level, through October 31, 2026. Shop Eden’s Table at edeninstitute.health/homeschool.

The Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network turns 13 this October, and Eden’s Table is our presenting sponsor. We’re celebrating all month with more than $1,500 in prizes for homeschool families, including a CTCMath annual family membership and $250 to spend at Media Angels. Drawings happen on four Fridays, and your entries carry forward, so one sign-up keeps you in every drawing. Earn bonus entries by following a show, leaving a review, or sharing the birthday page with a friend.

Enter the Sweet 13 giveaway here

More at MediaAngels.com/store.

Have a happy homeschool week.

About the Guest

The post Biblical Herbalism for Kids: Teaching God’s Design One Plant at a Time appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Do you already feel behind? It doesn’t matter if this is week one, week three or even week twenty-three. Sometimes we feel like we’ve accomplished nothing when, in reality, homeschooling is so much more. Tune in for this episode of Vintage Homeschool Moms.

I hear this every fall. A mom writes me, or it happened to me more often than I care to admit… It is week three and the school year does not look like the plan I made in the summer!

Life happens. Sometimes unexpected company (I live in Florida) or someone was sick. Math books were lost more times than not or took forever. A well-meaning person at church asked how school was going, and I looked at my husband and thought, help! When he asked me what was wrong, I told him, we are already behind!

Hey friends. Thanks so much for joining me. I homeschooled five children for more than thirty-two years. Some weeks were peaceful, and some not so much. There might be the threat of putting them on the next shiny yellow bus that stopped at the end of our street, and I am not proud to admit that. But, even that day was a good day. I’m looking at this from a long lens now, but building character is not just for our kids but for ourselves as well.

Thanks so much to our sponsor for helping keep this show on the air.

One-page printable: http://vintagehomeschoolmoms.com

That is what I had to ask myself, after enough years of doing this. Behind the week I wrote when I planned my six week unit study, when I felt hopeful. Behind a close family friend with older kids and no toddler. Behind an imaginary goal I had for myself that didn’t account for my father, who moved in the year my daughter got married?

I used to treat the planner like it was the boss. If I wrote math at a certain time and we missed it, I felt like I had failed. That is a hard way to live. And it is not how a home school works.

I am more routine rather than a rigid schedule. I have said that for years. After breakfast, we start school, and sometimes school in the form of a Bible story or a continuation of a read-aloud takes place. Then we do chores, the ones that take little time, and then school starts. If breakfast is late, we still start. If math happens after lunch because the morning fell apart, math still happened.

Our goal was to get the kids’ check-off sheets completed in a week’s time, but if it took longer, the subject and page went to the following week.

If you prayed, or you opened the Bible. If somebody read. If math got done even once. If you had a conversation with a child that was not about a missing pencil. Then you had school. It may not look like the week you planned. Yet it was still a week of school.

I used to try to make up every page we skipped. All that did was make everyone miserable. If a skill matters, come back to it. Don’t invent extra work just to feel better. The shortcuts that worked for me were a selection of math problems. If the child had mastery, they could move on. Sure, practice makes perfect, and sometimes they need more practice, but we used math books that had a spiral approach; skills were retaught lesson to lesson, so if it was something they knew, we skipped those problems or added more if it was something that didn’t make sense to them or they found difficult.

If you use a Morning Crate (I did a podcast about what to pack in it for multi-aged students), then pack it for the week you are in – if it is going to be a very busy week, make it short. Take things out or leave them in for another day. Ten minutes is still a start. Do not skip the activity just because you cannot do the long version. Consistency is important.

I think that is the key. Skipping things makes us feel guilty, and truthfully, skipping is okay as long as it isn’t chronic. Tackling the hard subjects first is always a good thing, and my older teens did this before breakfast on their own! My second oldest and co-author on the Truth Seekers Mystery Series would rather write than do math. So, she did Math first thing in the morning before she came down for breakfast so that later in the afternoon she could devote herself to writing. Finding your child’s passion is another key.

Take a minute, with a nice cup of strong coffee if I have it, and reanalyze your curriculum. Look at what you are doing and ask, what is worth keeping? What can wait two weeks, and what may get tabled until the new year? What did I buy in August that is making it hard to complete my school day? One year I purchased a composer’s curriculum. I love Classical music, but I am not musical. I had grand ideas for teaching my children the classics: letting them listen to the music, pick out the instruments of the orchestra, and identify composers from their most notable pieces.

A great idea, but the wrong time to implement. I decided this would be a great unit for Christmas break. Let’s just say it wasn’t. I ended up keeping this for an end-of-year activity when things were winding down, and it was the perfect lesson for when the math books were completed for the year and projects were finished.

At different times, we had a four-day week. This shorter week was wonderful! It was a goal we could keep with one day to “make up school” or have an outing if we were caught up. Four days instead of five is a stretch; it made things go so much better, and yes, some days it was just three.

The thing is, school still got done, and my kids learned differently than most. I had the high achievers and the high achievers who struggled to read, to spell, or to do math. Yet all my now-adult children are successful. Three graduated from college with top honors and my math-before-breakfast daughter graduated college in three years. The other two own their own business.

I wish someone had told me that it was more important to spend time with my kids than to chase an elusive curriculum that isn’t going to get them to heaven!

Thankfully homeschooling is here to stay (please, Lord) and no one is as shocked about it like they were when I got started. You don’t owe anyone any details about how things are going, not at church or in the grocery line. I would say something like: we are covering what my child needs this year. We keep records. Thank you for caring.

I was with my daughter, who had four little ones, and someone rudely asked if they were all hers. I closed my eyes, waiting for her to say something snarky like, “No, there is a sale on aisle five.” Instead, she smiled sweetly and said, “Yes, all mine, and we homeschool, too!”

Friends, you homeschool for your kids, and it is a decision you and your spouse made together; it is no one else’s business. If you must, write down what your kids learned at the beginning of the year and what they know now at different times of the year. This is not for anyone but you.

Every year I thought we accomplished nothing was a year we did the most ever. We compiled a sampling of the children’s work one time a year – and when we did I couldn’t believe all we’d done – the next year we saved special papers or pictures from events during the year so I didn’t feel that way again!

Your life, your homeschool is your own. If that goal is weighing you down, move it back, you have my permission. Get rid of the busy work. Sometimes it is wonderful to have copy work, but other times it gets in the way. Focus on the most important things, family, relationship and God the rest will come into place.

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.”

God’s love never ceases, and our love for our children is why we, as homeschool parents, make sacrifices. The blessings way outweigh anything we put into it. Just watch: week four will be amazing, and the next day and the next? Why? Because you have a new attitude. Attitude sets the tone. It starts with you and with me.

Join the Sweet 13 Birthday Giveaway

Resources from Media Angels

More at https://mediaangels.com.

More Listening

If this helps, share it with a friend. Until next time, be blessed. Have a blessed homeschool week!

The post Already Behind in Your Homeschool? What to Do When the Plan Falls Apart appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Thirteen years ago this network did not exist. There was an idea, a spare room, and a handful of friends from the homeschool conference circuit who said yes.

This bonus episode is the birthday party. One question at a time, every host on the network answers something a real homeschool mom actually asked — and you will hear the show that started it all twice: once at the top, and once at the end.

Felice’s question in this episode: “Should you consider homeschooling?”

It is the question that has never stopped arriving in her inbox, from the mom who is scared and hopeful in equal measure. If it is speaking to someone you know, send them the full episode.

Felice closes the show too, with the part she does not usually say out loud: what it actually cost to keep this thing on the air, and why the podcasters here are unsung heroes.

Also in this episode: Hal and Melanie Young on boys who will not sit still · Dr. Melanie Wilson on why you are already behind · the 7Sisters on the high school transcript · 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: Should You Even Homeschool? appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

It’s been thirteen years walking alongside homeschool families, and this idea of a website that hosted great, vetted homeschool podcasts became a reality. I contacted some of my friends, and many said, “What is a podcast?” Once I explained, the enthusiasm caught on, and we started our “network” in 2013. Today I share a little about those past years and promises of what is to come.

Be sure to subscribe, follow, and download this episode. Our Sweet 13 Birthday Celebration launches October 1st & you don’t want to miss it!

We have a month-long party planned with giveaways, special episodes, and more.

The Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network turns 13 — and Felice shares how it started, why it stayed, and who it was always for.

Hey friends. Thanks so much for joining me. Today we celebrate thirteen years of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network. I started this as a way to reach homeschool families without leaving home. My husband and I had agreed early on that it was important to be here with our family. He is a builder. His work could have taken him around the state. He chose us instead, and he became a major homeschool advocate.

Thanks to our sponsor for helping keep this show and this network on the air, CTCMath.com

Show notes: VintageHomeschoolMoms.com. Network home: UltimateRadioShow.com.

Over the years we have had forty-plus shows. Not all of them are still on air. It takes time, effort, and a real love for homeschool moms. We are not here as a focus to sell a product or narrate our week. Or even giggle with our friends over somethign outlandish that leaves you feeling out. We care deeply about our audience and we want to walk alongside you in support with real help.

The network was not a template. Audio outgrew servers. We upgraded year after year. A hosting-company developer once went into our backend because we were one of a handful of podcast networks and he wanted to see how it was built. When things broke, we fixed them for the podcasters. I hired help when it made sense. There were years I broke even and called that a win — especially if a mom who could not spend hundreds on a conference still got the help she needed.

I remember staying up until two in the morning to correct a newsletter. My husband came and made me go to bed. Family and a home business collide at times. That is the truth. I have felt like quitting more than once. The love for what you and I do as homeschoolers is what kept me moving onward but on a different schedule.

For a time it was the Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network. We were afraid the word “podcast” was proprietary. When we started, people at conferences asked how much it cost. I said it was free, and their eyes lit up.

One of my favorite notes: a mom wrote that she and her children were listening while they painted a spare bedroom. Even the kids were getting something out of it. That is why a phone in the backyard, or in the car on errands, still matters to me.

Media Angels curriculum sales fueled the network for years until podcasters joined and paid a small monthly fee. Sponsors now help us keep growing. I no longer do the newsletter or the social media. I record, I upload, and a wonderful administrative assistant (thank you Gina, you are a blessing) takes it from there. That is grace, and good help.

I do this not because of the numbers — though the downloads are now in the millions — but because of the people and the hearts behind them. Moms and dads who want to do what is right for their families.

If this network has blessed you, reach out. If you are a homeschool mom with a passion to share what works, I am always looking for new talent. And if you are still listening after all these years, thank you for being part of what started in my own little kitchen, in my own little town, in my own little home.

“Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.”

More at MediaAngels.com/store.

Until next time, be blessed. Have a happy homeschool week.

The post Thirteen Years Walking Alongside Homeschool Families appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Spark the Fire even when your child (or you) would rather do anything else! In this episode Felice Gerwitz shares real, actionable tips that you can implement in your daily homeschool life.

Hey friends. Thanks so much for joining me. This episode is for the morning when nobody wants to start. I homeschooled five children for more than thirty-two years. The age gap in our house was wide. What looked like laziness was not always laziness. Sometimes the book was wrong for that child. Sometimes they were tired or hungry or embarrassed. Sometimes it really was an attitude. Those are not the same problem.

Thanks so much to our sponsor CTCMath.com for helping keep this show on the air.

I used to jump to character first. Do the work. Stop complaining. And sometimes that was fair. Work is part of life. I told my children that an adult does what needs doing whether or not they feel like it. That is still true.

But I also learned to look before I pushed.

Is the book too hard? They feel stupid, and they will do anything to get away from the page. Is it too easy? They feel managed. Is it a story or a method that does not fit how they think? I have pulled a book that looked excellent on paper and watched the same child come alive in something simpler. The child was not the flop. The match was.

Has this child slept? Eaten? Had a chance to move before the hard subject? Some of my children needed to move first or they were going to move during the lesson, and it was not going to be pretty. That is not rebellion. That is a body.

Are they carrying too much? School, a sport, a co-op, and the weather in the house. Teens will look lazy when they are overloaded. Eight-year-olds will too.

Start smaller than you planned. If you use a Morning Crate, begin there — prayer, a little Scripture, one page of something living. Then give them a short piece of the hard work. One set of problems. One paragraph to tell back. One page copied well. A small thing finished is better than a big thing fought over and left undone.

You can keep the standard and change how it looks today. They can talk the answer while you write. You can walk and talk. They can teach a younger sibling the fact they just learned. I have watched a child who would not do the page gladly explain the page to a brother. That still counts.

What I would not do is turn every lesson into a show. You are not there to entertain them. Bored is allowed. Hard is allowed. Talking back is not.

Deal with the respect. That is not a curriculum problem. I was firm about that. I tried not to give a speech in front of the whole table if I could help it. Handle it. Then come back to the work. The work still stands.

If they are afraid they cannot do it, sit closer. Lower the amount on the page. Tell them what they actually did. “You finished three. That is three more than yesterday.” I stopped saying “you’re so smart.” Smart became a trap. Finished was a path.

I tried sticker charts that turned into negotiations. That did not last. I tried “because I said so” with no kindness in the room. That worked for a day and cost me a week. What I kept was this: be close when I could, keep the work real, and say we can do hard things without a nasty spirit.

“Hence I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you.”

Rekindle means it is already there. Sometimes it needs a smaller page and a calmer room. Every day is a fresh start. Attitude sets the tone — yours first.

There is a one-page reminder with this episode at VintageHomeschoolMoms.com. Use it if it helps. Ignore it if it does not.

More at MediaAngels.com/store.

The post Spark The Fire appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Felice has been homeschooling since 1986. Meredith has written close to a hundred books, most of them because her own kids needed something that didn’t exist yet. In this episode they each bring three things — six in all — that separate a homeschool year that works from one you survive.

(Felice) Before the books, before the schedule: the attitude check. Felice tells her kids the difference between an adult and a child is that an adult does what needs doing whether or not they feel like it. But she’s honest that her own house got to the point where everyone dreaded the start of the school day — and what turned it was daily prayer together, on their knees in the schoolroom, naming the specific thing somebody didn’t want to face that morning. Meredith adds the anchor underneath it: whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord. We’re not homeschooling because our children are so precious — some mornings they don’t feel precious — we’re homeschooling for the glory of God.

(Meredith) Lay out the year’s lesson plans in general terms, not in detail: enough to know in November whether you’re behind, so you’re not still doing school at the end of May. Clear last year’s books onto the high shelf. Get the room in order. Get your heart in order — what does the Lord want for each child this year, what should keep going, what should change. Then do the same thing daily: know your agenda and your priority before the day starts, so when something comes up you know what can be dropped and what can’t. Preparation is what keeps you proactive instead of in survival mode, and survival mode is where discouragement lives.

(Felice) Her method, and it’s the most practical thing in the episode: a two-year calendar with the whole year on a page. Print the holiday list. Grid out the weeks you already know you won’t be schooling. Then circle school days until you hit your state’s required number — Florida’s is 180 — and fill in the subjects afterward. Meredith’s addition is worth stealing: build a catch-up week into the fall and a catch-up week into the spring. If you don’t need them, you have a week for field trips and educational movies you never otherwise get to. And the counterweight to all of it — don’t be a slave to the schedule. When Felice’s daughter’s all-star team made the softball World Series, the SAT prep they’d planned all summer moved into the school year, and the trip was the right call.

(Meredith) Television teases the nine o’clock show at eight. Do that with your school year. We’re reading this book in March. Later in the year we’re writing and filming a commercial. Give the kids the coming attractions — the fun parts and the hard parts — instead of just announcing the plan. There will be drudgery and there will be discipline, and there will also be delight and memories. Meredith’s discovery: when she promoted school as something positive in her children’s hearts and minds, she promoted it as positive in her own.

(Felice) She had children who struggled to read, and reading trouble bleeds into spelling and writing and everything else. What she did: kept reading aloud to them, chose easier books so reading stayed a pleasure, worked remediation from the side, and leaned hard into science because it pushed deeper thinking without requiring fluent reading. And she gave them language for the struggle — if it’s easy, that means you already know it; if it’s difficult, that means you’re learning it — repeated until they could say it back. Once the reading clicked, those same kids were in trouble for reading the wrong book during school.

(Meredith) Three layers. Provide a Christian worldview — she has watched too many families bring the public school’s assumptions home with the curriculum. Provide what this child needs: every one of her children did fine on Saxon, until Shine, who couldn’t learn higher math that way and needed something else entirely. And most of all, provide yourself. Too many parents hand a child a book and expect the book to do the teaching. You are your child’s teacher; curriculum is one of your tools. Be willing to learn alongside them, trade subjects with another mom, or write the thing yourself — which is how most of Meredith’s books exist. And don’t let “I’m not enough” stop you: God is the provider; you only have to have the heart to provide.

Felice and Meredith close where the whole conversation was headed. Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. The years go fast. Do what you need to do, enjoy what you can, and keep the relationships in view.

Scriptures mentioned: Colossians 3:23 · Psalm 90:12 · Psalm 127:3-5

Also mentioned: Meredith’s Joyful and Successful Homeschooling and Quick and Easy Unit Study Fun · Felice’s Truth Seekers Mystery series and science curriculum from Media Angels · The Brain Trainers (brain-training remediation) · College Prep Genius (SAT prep) · Meredith’s show on the network, Finish Well, for teens and their families

Vintage Homeschool Moms is hosted by Felice Gerwitz and is part of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network. This episode is brought to you by CTC Math — ctcmath.com. Find more from Meredith Curtis at meredithcurtis.com.

The post Homeschool Planning: 6 Keys to a Year That Actually Works appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.