encouragment

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year! Isn't it wonderful to be gifted with a fresh new year stretched out in front of you? As you are diving back into the rigors of teaching high school classes and corralling your teens from all those days of vacation, remember I Thessalonians 5:24: "Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass" (NASB). Let's trust God in this new year to provide the wisdom, strength, and resources necessary to teach and mentor your children.

Homeschooling through high school is a big job--but it is manageable. Some practical ways to remain committed to the task and remain sane while doing so are:

• Make a New Year's resolution to schedule a regular time alone or with friends. This will reorder your perspective to see that your circumstances are similar to others'; your child's behavior is "normal"; your teaching challenges are understood by others. How refreshing to know you aren't the only one experiencing these feelings and fears!
• ...

Dear Friends,

A new year is a wonderful opportunity to get a fresh start and a renewed perspective on your homeschooling. Although most of our newsletters provide practical input about academics and the "how to's" of teaching high school, this newsletter will focus on nurturing hope in the midst of "tending the souls" of your children. Tending souls is often a workout for the heart--it can be heartwarming or heart-wrenching! Dads and Moms, you may become physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted. So this month, we want to share some thoughts from our hearts and extend to you something that all of us need no matter what season of life we are in--HOPE. Even if you are currently experiencing a time of joy and peace in your homeschooling, this message of hope may be timely for you to share with friends who will benefit from an infusion of hope.

The hope we are speaking about is that comfort, expectation, confidence, or trust that God's promises are true. We could define hope as looking towards...

Dear Friends,

Welcome to another edition of the HSLDA Homeschoooling Thru High School email newsletter. It's hard to believe this issue begins the third year of the high school newsletter. To those of you who have been receiving the newsletter since the beginning, we are blessed by your readership. We love hearing from our readers, and we enjoyed meeting many of you as we traveled during this past homeschool conference season.

September is a month of new beginnings--the start of a new school year, new books, and perhaps a new baby or a new high schooler! The beginning of a school year is a great time to be reminded of the precious blessings our children represent. They are all different; they are created in the image of God, and they have each been given specific talents.

We promised you last month we would be on the hunt for average homeschoolers. Of course, average means different things to different people. We define average as those students who generally score in the mean when taking tests or those students who...

Dear Friends,

We hope your school year has gotten off to a good start, and you've settled into a routine--although "routine" may not be a word that is in your vocabulary during these hectic yet precious teen years. Our prayer is that you will hit your stride and find just the right mix between the seriousness of high school academic preparation and the fun times of experiencing and enjoying life with your young adult.

As part of your homeschooling activities, we want to encourage you to consider the benefits of carving time out of your busy schedule to take advantage of mentoring and being mentored. A mentor is an experienced teacher who nurtures and fosters a younger and usually less experienced person. As you've seen your child reap the rewards of one- on-one tutorial style teaching, you can also profit from spending time learning firsthand from a mentor who may be another homeschooling parent, relative, teacher, or someone the Lord brings to you. We know how busy your days are and how little time you have...

Dear Friends,

Christmas is coming! Carols are in the air! Your children are busy making up their Christmas wish lists. The planning of parties, family holiday dinners, and Christmas cookie swaps may be crowding out the thoughts of English, history, and math. It's that time of the year! If you are already overwhelmed by the holidays, don't feel any obligation to add one more item to your plate. Instead, schedule down time on your calendar and spend some quiet moments meditating on the wonder and gift of Christmas, specifically, Immanuel, God with us.

BUT...if you would like to introduce the idea that "it's more blessed to give than to receive" as part of your Christmas traditions, this month we want to suggest ways you and your children can bring hope and God's love to those near and far away who are less fortunate. Of course, we are not saying each family must incorporate all of these ideas, but you may elect to choose one to try, or come up with your own idea to give a blessing. As homeschooling...

Dear Friends,

For many parts of the U.S., February is the snowiest, coldest month of the year with many days without sunshine. That may mean lots of indoor, togetherness time! Homeschool families often consider this a positive since one of the reasons for homeschooling is to build close family relationships. So this month we want to focus on how to dispel the dreariness of the dark days of winter while encouraging family unity. (For our readers in sunny California, Florida, and Hawaii--we are now accepting invitations to come for a visit!)

KEEPING IT LIGHT

Interjecting creativity into your teen's day will spice up his life, and you will be surprised at how it will deepen your relationship with one another. Don't let the academics obscure the necessity of spending quality time with your teen and getting to know him better through times of fun, times of open communication, and times of "being there." For most of us, the tendency will be to emphasize the academics--but often it is during...

Dear Friends,

With the beginning of a new school year, we reflect back on our personal homeschooling days with a variety of emotions. We remember the "thrill of victory and the agony of defeat!" Can anyone relate?

As we traveled to homeschool conferences and had the opportunity to meet many of you, some of you shared with us, "You two are so real--you're just like us." It's true, we are. That's how we know that September may be a good month to share with you an encouraging word.

More than likely, there will be days over the next school year when you may feel discouraged, weary, fearful, or depressed. When you do (notice we didn't say "if you do"--are we pessimists or realists?), we hope you keep in mind some basic truths that will reorient you and keep you going. The following thoughts are based on familiar hymns and choruses.

In His Time

Beginning the year lifting your voices in prayer and praise will definitely cause your family to rejoice in...

Dear Friends,

With Christmas festivities immersing you this month, we thought it would be an excellent time to step away from providing practical high school tips. Instead, we've asked Elizabeth Smith, wife of HSLDA President Mike Smith, to give you some words of encouragement to finish this year strong and look towards 2009 with hope.

Elizabeth takes over from here.

For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect [at peace with or loyal] toward him..." II Chronicles 16:9 KJV

I find this verse one of the most personally inspiring verses in the entire Bible. Let me share how it became such a powerful life verse for me in the hope that it will bless you as well.

I have been speaking about homeschooling teens for over 20 years. I have a list entitled "Ten Reasons to Homeschool Teens" that has been shared at conferences and in magazines across the country. Several years...

Dear Friends,

As we promised last month, our goal for this newsletter is to get your noses out of the books, the lesson plans, and the activity calendars! We know it's only September, and you probably have fresh inspiration for another school year, but is it enough to last through the end of the school year, the end of next month, or just until the end of this week?

As former homeschool moms, we know that the day to day work of homeschooling and all of the details and deadlines you must deal with can be overwhelming. You may already be tempted to take your focus off of your long-term goals for homeschooling. We'd like to stop you in your tracks and concentrate for the rest of this newsletter on...eternity.

For readers who share our Christian beliefs, we hope the rest of the article serves to encourage and spur you on in your homeschooling. For other readers who do not share our views, we graciously ask that you consider reading on and gather the nuggets of truth that resonate with you.

Let's look at...

Dear Friends,

This edition of the high school newsletter is most likely reaching your inbox during your first or second week of school. For some of you...so far so good. For others, you may be thinking that it is going to be a very long year! Regardless of how your school year has begun, we'd like to share some tips that hopefully will keep you going strong throughout the year.

Practice Flexibility

We encourage taking time to plan everything from lessons, to field trips, to science experiments, and more! But, we caution you against rigidly adhering to those plans if circumstances suggest that something should be changed.

For example, although most students will include physical education (PE) during the early years of high school, you may elect to delay adding PE to your teen's high school plan until the later years if time is short due to the arrival of a new baby in the family or an unexpected illness. Or, it may prove helpful to delay teaching a co-op class right now because extra time...