Hate Homework Time? You’ve got that knot in your stomach, anticipating the battle over homework that consumes your emotional energy and entire evening. Your child is really smart. He can verbalize everything, but when you ask him to write, the tears flow. In that moment, you would give anything for it to be different. Here… Continue Reading ›

After speaking to almost 200,000 parents, I will be blunt and tell you that working with Christian families wrecks me emotionally sometimes. We are the ones who should have the most peaceful homes and the best relationships with our kids and spouse. And yet the opposite is often true. We have the best INTENTIONS and… Continue Reading ›

A Mom named Becky posed a really great question in response to an earlier post: I have 2 children who thrive with a structured, classical approach and 2 children who would thrive in an unschooled, relaxed atmosphere if I could let go of my personal expectations. It is so hard to wrap my head around… Continue Reading ›

I am sure you have seen the study demonstrating that homeschooled children with a structured curriculum outperformed their peers in public schools, and those who use an unstructured homeschool experience. The basis for the results was standardized testing. It is easy to assume from these findings that a structured homeschooling curriculum is better than an… Continue Reading ›

Caveat here first: Casey has attended every type of school possible. Public. Private. Montessori. Good. Bad. And he’s been homeschooled. It’s ironic that we probably train more school teachers than anyone else in America each year. And we love that. So we have a unique perspective. I do not think homeschooling is inherently better than… Continue Reading ›

I know lots of you guys are anxious about starting the new school year. School work isn’t always a ton of fun so if you can figure out ways to think better, you can do it more quickly. Here’s one of my favorite ways to do work. I exercise first, then do my most difficult… Continue Reading ›

Today’s newsletter asked an important question: is there a right way to homeschool or parent your children? The only right way is the way that works for your individual children and family. We get in trouble when we try copying other people or compromising what we know to be best. What do you think? What… Continue Reading ›

Moms, before you rush headlong into the day as mother, teacher, principal, judge, negotiator and referee (exhausted yet?!), you must take time for yourself first. Why? because if you don’t take care of yourself emotionally, physically and spiritually first, you will become needy…and then your kids will have to manage YOUR emotions. The greatest gift… Continue Reading ›

How many of you instinctively respond with an emphatic NO to this question? It could be that you can’t concentrate while listening to music. But did you know that science and research confirm that some children process information more effectively when listening to music? That’s because the rhythm in the music helps create rhythm in… Continue Reading ›