Because laughter is the best balm for a soul…. Here are ten signs that you’re homeschooling a teenager!
You have an intimate relationship with YouTube.
Gone are the days of stepping on Legos and math manipulatives. These days, if you want to help your teen figure out how to solve a math problem, you have to YouTube how to do it and hope that it rings even the teensiest of bells from your own schooling so that you can help your teen…or just let them watch and explain it to you. Check out – Should You be YouTube Schooling?
Your children have turned into Hobbits.
They require second breakfast and Elevensies. They have their days and nights mixed up. Granted, some kids start this as early as birth, but it becomes a real issue when they’re teens. Maybe they’ll work second or third shift when they graduate. Or maybe their rhythms will even out. Time will tell. Got kids who love the Hobbit? Check out The Hobbit & Writing Fantasy Fiction.
The dreaded question has changed.
Remember how often you got asked about socialization when your kids were younger? Now you’re getting asked about things like dating, prom, and graduation. Won’t they miss out on it? Think back to your high school days…some folks loved those events, others tolerated them, and others skipped out. The homeschool community has evolved such that, if you want to participate in these events, you’ll be able to find them (unless you live in a superbly remote area). No one is missing out!
Arts and crafts are less cute and more functional.
Sure, you can’t put a dissected sheep eye on the refrigerator (and who would want to?), and it’s difficult to show off your kid’s vocational skills (which saved you quite a bit on that refrigerator repair), but just because you can’t pin these images doesn’t make them less worthy. These life skills, fostered in their teen years, can really pay off in the long run when they help you out in the future. Check out Career-Based Electives for Teens.
Photos become much more unique.
Whether because they’re adding stickers and emojis to digital photos, or just because they can’t seem to pose without making a face, sticking out their tongue, or putting rabbit ears behind a sibling, you haven’t had a decent photo of your kid in a couple of years. Hold out for those holiday photos – Christmas and Mother’s Day are sacred, and you deserve a smiling photo on these. Stay strong!
The expensive Legos have been replaced by expensive musical instruments / car parts / insert hobby or sport equipment here.
Gone are the days of kvetching over spending a hundred dollars on a Lego set. Those are the good ol’ days. Sporting equipment, car parts, new technology, and musical instruments….these are the things that have replaced those simple building toys. Check out Should Your Teen Have a Job?
Home Economics, Homesteading (if you have a farm), Auto Mechanics, Shop…all of these are elective credits that you can give you child now that s/he is actively contributing to the household management and chores. Cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, meal planning, and shopping all count toward Home Economics. Check out A Self-Sufficient Life.
Field trips become a little bit scary.
It’s not so much because they’ve run off at the zoo…again…as it is because they actually drove you to the field trip. I believe that teaching teens to drive shaves a full year or more off of parents’ lives. Especially when they nearly miss their turn and take a 90-degree turn at 45 mph, going up on two wheels. Not that I’m speaking from experience or anything.
The house is suddenly very quiet.
It’s not like when they were toddlers, however, and you knew the silence meant that trouble was just around the corner. Which is not to say that there isn’t trouble around the corner, but it’s most likely happening outside of your home where you won’t know until later. But then the house is loud at night when everyone is together for dinner again. Think of this as a transition period for when you become an empty nester.
You become sentimental.
Suddenly you understand what people meant when they were babies and you were told, ‘The days are long, but the years are short.’ We only get eighteen summers, and then they spread their wings and fly. Savor these four years of high school. Transition your relationship from parent-child to more of a mentorship, and know that there may be bumps along the path to independence, but you’re supporting them, love them, and will miss them dearly once they graduate. (Even if they don’t realize it.)
Field trips are just as important now that your students are teens as they were back in elementary school. There’s no need to stop taking them, but you’ll want to change how you approach them…and you can do some pretty interesting things!
Here are some field trip ideas for middle and high school students. There are both local and travel options, ranging from free to need-to-plan-ahead. What are your teens favorite places to visit, and would you add to this list?
After the field trip, take time to debrief. This may be an art project, an essay comparing or contrasting different aspects of the topic, or even a lab report, timeline, or research paper. These last few ideas are perfect for high schoolers doing virtual/simulated science labs, deep-diving into history, or creating a senior thesis or research project. Talk about:
The results or outcomes of the field trip.
What did they know before they went on the field trip? What did they learn?
What new insights can they take from the experience and apply to daily life?
What connections can be made between anything at the field trip with other aspects or topics they’re learning about?
What was the most interesting or fun? Why?
What else would they like to learn about this topic?
Finally, even though these aren’t free, educational subscription boxes are a great way to bring the field trip into your home. Here are some of our favorites!
Need some field trip inspiration? Here are a list of adventures from across the United States – find one for your next local or vacation journey!
For the last few generations, the collegiate years have been a crucial part of the growing up experience. The system has changed, however, since my generation attended college, and it’s failing. Inflated costs have driven up student debt so high that many cannot fathom how to escape it upon graduation, even with a good job lined up.
Also, because so many students are still being funneled into colleges, even with the prospect of crippling debt, there are too many graduates for the available jobs. Students are either going on to graduate school, in the hopes of getting a job in their chosen field, or taking whatever job they can find. Simply put – there are too many professionals being graduated, and not enough professional jobs.
Or as Mike Rowe put it — “America is lending money it doesn’t have to kids who can’t pay it back to train them for jobs that no longer exist. That’s nuts.”
Rowe continues, “Schools have done away with vocational training to focus on academic learning, creating a one-size-fits-all model of college-to-workforce that doesn’t recognize the real opportunities in the workplace and the real needs of society.” And while it’s true that there are many careers which do require advanced training, such as those in the medical field, but not every career will require that four-year degree, and companies are just now starting to respond to this realization.
See the four traditional paths from high school – university, technical college, military, and career – in this article on ways to cut down on the cost of college.
General High School Help
As the homeschooling community continues to grow, one of the biggest concerns we hear from parents is that they don’t know what to do for high school…
Before this homeschooling life, I worked with eighth, ninth, and tenth graders…and loved it! Teens are so exciting. They are old enough to have a real, heavy conversation with (and it’s really fun to explore the basis for their opinions), but young enough to still need and want guidance (even if they won’t admit it). From those years of experience, my experiences with my own children, and just the sheer memory of being a teen myself….here are five suggestions for motivating your student.
The Homeschooling the Upper Grades e-book is a collaboration project with bloggers from around the world, covering a wide variety of topics and issues facing the homeschooling parent of teens. Twenty-two topics spanning special needs learners to academically gifted, and college to career-oriented students, are covered in this free download.
Worried you’re going to miss one of the pieces for moving from homeschool to college? Here is the help you want with transcripts, scholarships, and making the transition! In Through the Door, you and your teen will work through thirty-three modules to smooth the way from homeschool to college life.
Looking for high school help? It’s not the academics for high school that are nerve-wracking so much as it is all of those ‘special things,’ like testing, applications, and deadlines that must be met for a smooth transition into college.
Career Exploration
Maybe your teen knows exactly what s/he has wanted to be since childhood. Maybe they have no idea. A little career exploration is good for both scenarios, as it helps to better understand what those jobs truly entail…
Career-focused electives can be a good way to make high school fun, to bring some moments of levity to a day crowded with the intense courses found in these upper grades, particularly in a college prep scenario.What is your child interested in?Which hobbies does s/he gravitate toward?Are there any career interests yet?This is a good way to let colleges know more about your student, as they see which electives made the cut and ended up on the transcript.
Career Exploration guides seventh through twelfth grade students to discover their career path or college major. This eight-week elective course provides possible directions to the next step. Each lesson includes informative articles, self-inventory worksheets, relevant links to additional information, and inspiring true stories.
The Career Center offers a whopping fifty-five different courses, ranging from eight weeks to full-year, to help your student further explore their interest and see if it is a good fit.
Parents can also pull together resources to create a year-long, career-based course for their student’s interest – such as this one on Architecture. For technical or hands-on careers, check with your local community college to see if they have dual-enrollment high school programming.
Maturity / Relationships
Teens are navigating a tricky time of life, caught between the worlds of adolescence and adulthood. Now is the time to talk about all those hard things…before they take the next step.
Explore the clarity of intent, connecting through rapport, creating openness, reflective listening, and empathy. How can we explore the space between ourselves and others, and exchange meaningful perspectives? Just ask—powerfully.
The fourteen essential conversations to have with your tween and early teenager to prepare them for the emotional, physical, and social challenges ahead, including scripts and advice to keep the communication going and stay connected during this critical developmental window.
Read Prior to Graduation
Gender-based lists — Obviously you can read from either list, but they are sorted by traditional interests
This book list is designed for 8th – 12th grade college-bound students, and includes many classic pieces of literature as well as more modern day stories. The books represent a range of historic eras, and include elements from both American and World Literature courses.
Organizational Skills
Whether it’s a bedroom, an office, or digital life, having a good system of organization can save your student time and trouble down the line…
A good planner works for you and your needs. What is right for one person may not be the best option for someone else, so take a moment to investigate several options and find the one that works best for your student.
There are as many different forms of note-taking as there are students. Follow these four rules for note-taking, and you should see marked improvement in your academics!
You probably began writing essays in middle school, and started writing longer ones in high school, but as you enter the collegiate field, you’ll be required to write more complex and effective essays. It’s important to understand how to clearly communicate.
Life Skills
Resources for a wide range of students and their needs…
After eighteen years of caring for your child, it can be alarming to realize that on that magical birthday, they suddenly take on ALL the responsibilities of adulthood, whether they are equipped or not. There are ways, however, to have some legal protections in place ahead of time.
New hire paperwork, your first W-2, and all the financial basics in between…your teen needs to understand the ABCs of taxes.
Whether you’ve experienced troubles or enjoyed something, a business letter or follow-up to a phone call is a life skill that all teens should learn. These letters aren’t just for expressing displeasure — they’re also a great opportunity to point out what’s right with your product / service.
It can daunting to think about what post-graduation brings for the special needs student, but s/he is in a great position as a homeschooler! In the upper grades years, homeschooling allows students the time to explore passions and career interests. Take some time to examine your special needs student’s strengths, combining those and their interests to find a career exploration starting point.
Thinking Skills
Critical thinking is something every parent should help foster, age-appropriately, from the earliest years. We want our teens to go out into the world with eyes wide open…
Looking to focus on critical thinking skills? This Guidebook Set features four books, each with multiple lessons that are direct, concise, and help students relate concepts to their daily lives. Two of the books are designed to make students think about thinking and thought processes. The other two books are motivational and inspirational in nature, showing examples of people who trudged through difficult times to make a difference in the world.
Literary Adventures for Kids is a language arts curriculum that fosters both writing and critical thinking skills. There are five different year-long classes to choose from, each including a blend of classic and modern books and encouraging students to ‘think beyond the book.’
Regardless of the path, all students need to become familiar with the Microsoft Office family. This elective curriculum uses project-based learning to teach critical thinking, problem-solving, research, and out-of-the-box thinking skills. It celebrates students’ creativity and innovativeness and allows students to learn by creating solutions, all while introducing learners to a full range of Office skills.
Using short, online unit studies, this site introduces your student to apps, online programming, and other ‘new tech’ being used currently in both educational and on-the-job settings. Students develop skills and practice through short, fun projects.
The Guide to Digital Student Projects is an excellent starting point for learning how to organize via computer (as opposed to the old-school, paper method).
Test Skills
We all know that test skills are a must for college entrance exams, plus academics in general, but many careers require occasional training and testing as well. It’s good to brush up on those skills…
Do you have high school students who are considering college? One of the steps they’ll need to take is standardized testing. This is especially important for homeschooled students as it helps to provide outside validation to the grades on their transcript.
Even if you know the material and are prepared for your test, it’s completely normal to experience test anxiety. In fact, to a degree, anxiety helps you perform better on the test! However, too much can prevent you from doing your best…so what test skills do you need?
Does the following conversation sound familiar to you:
-Child: “I hate school! I don’t want to do school today!”
-Parent: “Well, at least you don’t have to be in school for 7 hours every day. You should be glad that I let you have so many breaks and give you the opportunity to bring your favorite things to the school area…”
I have had these conversations with one of my children (on several occasions!), and I have not always said the above part in the most patient of ways. I am a work in progress.
One of my children has Sensory Processing Disorder. School can be hard, frustrating, angering, and discouraging for this elementary-aged child.
The Understood Teamwrites that Sensory Processing problems involve:
“…Trouble managing information that comes in through the senses. These issues, sometimes called sensory processing disorder or sensory integration disorder, can have a big impact on learning and on everyday life.” [1]
No matter if your child struggles with this sensory need or with any special need that directly affects all-things life and school, I hope you can find encouragement from the Understood Team. Online, this team makes it their mission to guide those who think and learn in ways other than “the norm.”
Encouragement for Special Need Families
If you have a child who has special educational needs, please take hold of the following:
YOU are the best person to help guide your child through his or her different adversities. Whether in educational hurdles or life challenges, you know your child best. You are your child’s greatest cheerleader and support system. YOU are just what your child needs!
Home Educational Goals for Special Need Families
When it comes to homeschooling goals for special needs families, here are some “goal traps” that may creep up unexpectedly. By “goal traps” I mean homeschool goals that may accidentally be given too high of a priority for a child with special needs.
That your child stays at grade-level in each subject
That your child goes through the same amount of material each year as your other child
That your child needs to learn basic math facts or phonics principles in the “correct year”
That you as the parent must cover everything on your child’s daily school checklist
Hopefully, removing these “goal traps” will open you up for these “out-of-the-ordinary” homeschool goals.
*Here are three “out-of-the-ordinary” homeschool goals to think through:
For your child to not hate learning—as much as possible!
I know—you have the right to say, “Wait! At the beginning, you said that your child hates school. Why is your own homeschooling goal not being met?”
My child would honestly tell you how much he hates school. That is why I included the phrase, “as much as possible.”
Hard school will be hard for your child. Your child’s special needs will be hard, and understandably, you cannot remove all hardships from your child. However, throwing out the above “goal traps” will immensely help your child not to hate school more than necessary.
It is okay if your child is not on “reading level” or cannot start learning multiplication facts during the same year as other age peers. You know your child best, and a slower pace may be necessary AND be just what your child needs to have personal educational success in your child’s right educational timing.
In my case, I need to not overly push my sensory child beyond what my kiddo is capable of in that moment, resulting in needlessly causing my child to hate school even more. I must give priority to my child’s sensory needs before any educational goals can be met.
For your child to learn to persevere!
I view it as more important that your child have experience and practice in what true perseverance looks like than to learn division rules in the “right” year.
Your precious kiddo has more opportunities to stretch in this area of perseverance than many other children. Look for any (even small!) examples of your child having a persevering attitude and highlight these in a special way.
You can keep track of perseverance moments in a special-to-you way and review these with your child often. Encourage your child that he or she is doing great at doing hard things!
Perseverance examples do not have to only happen in school. Your child may show perseverance in a big way outside of school time. These can be highlighted, too! (In the picture, you can see how we document perseverance moments through our “perseverance notebook” filled with example pictures.) [Insert Picture]
For your child to learn to self-regulate!
Having your child be the top speller is not nearly as important as he or she learning to deal properly with frustrations.
I like the book, The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires. The main character in the story learns about the importance of breaks when her anger gets too strong. With this book as a springboard, you and your child could work through ideas to help when your child feels the anger boiling inside.
The Takeaway
Home education is a beautiful way to work with your special needs child at the right pace, to take the right breaks, and to reach more than just the traditional school goals.
I cheer you on! There is nothing more exciting than seeing your special child succeed. Plus, “success” may look different but be just as extraordinary!
Although the people we study in history lived decades or even centuries ago, their actions impacted how we live our lives today. Names, dates, facts…these are some of the things that I hear students complain about when they talk about disliking history. It’s too confusing…they can’t put it into context. A visual display, however, can help tie everything together in an easier-to-digest format! Our two favorite, visually-appealing ways to link historic events include this book (fantastic for those with small spaces) and this wall chart (for those with a dedicated homeschool area).
But it’s not just faceless names and random dates; history is full of transitional events that have altered the world’s story. By learning about different eras, you start to see what changes might happen in the future and what would drive that change. For example, learning about the fall of Rome teaches you that even the most powerful society can fall apart—and what happens to cause that crumbling.
By studying history, humanity has a chance to learn from its mistakes, theorize about alternative options based on correcting past mistakes as it moves forward with future events. After all, history rhymes…so it’s likely that there will be a chance to act differently in the future.
There are five concepts – or 5 Cs – of history. These are at the heart of every question historians ask as they seek to better understand the past, and they include (from most easily understood to the more complex): change over time, causality, context, complexity, and contingency. The strangeness of the past enables us to step back and look at our society and ourselves from a new perspective—indeed, we might start to look a bit strange to ourselves! (Think not? Check out Motel of the Mysteries)
Factory tours are a fun and frugal way to add unique field trips to your homeschooling year! You get an educational glimpse into the inner workings of companies and how products are made, and you never know what is going to spark an interest in your kids! Always be sure to check if there is a minimum age requirement to visit, to make reservations if required, and see if there is a nominal fee. If the tour is free, and their store sells inexpensive items, consider purchasing something as a thank you and to help support the company in their educational outreach.
We don’t JUST go to food factories…though it may seem like it. What can I say? When you’re driving all day, roadschooling, you want to stretch your legs and eat at the same time! Here are some non-food factories. Be sure to use the Field Trips Planning Pack for all your factory tours, and make those school days count!
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