As a homeschooling mom, sometimes I can finish one school year and then jump right into planning mode for the next year. While this isn’t bad, I realized that I need to take some time to refuel, evaluate where I am emotionally, physically, and spiritually— and rework daily routines to help make my day run smoother before busying myself with school preparations. In a nutshell– I need to take care of me!

Mom self-care is not selfish. Self-care is stewardship. It is critical to functioning well as a mom. But self-care isn’t only manicures, time-away and coffee-shop dates. It’s developing daily habits and routines that nourish you, that help you function well and foster joy in your motherhood journey.

Areas to Refuel

While there are many ways to refuel and care for ourselves, I have found that there are 7 key areas I make sure are never on empty.

1. Evening routines and sleep.
   Sleep is not a luxury! Fight for your sleep Mama! If you are struggling— work on the source. Is it the season you’re in with babies and young children? Is it hormones? Is it thinking about stressful stuff before bed? Don’t settle in this area. Sleep deficiency will catch up with you. It affects your mental clarity, your emotions and your energy levels. Do all you can to get adequate sleep. And Mamas of young children— you do not have to get all the things done during this season! If nursing and sleeping are all you do— that is good! Some things have to slide when you have littles needing so much of you— but please make sleep a priority.
   
2. Morning routines and waking up with intention.
   Make your routines work for you. If you’re not in a season of nursing and caring for littles— get up before your kids. If you wake up with the kids or after the kids (like I used to do) you will feel behind all day. You need time to set up some good routines that fuel you!
   
   
   Chocolate Chia Seed Parfaits
   
3. Fueling my body— eating with awareness and food that helps nourish, give energy and support mental clarity.
   Yeah, I used to eat for emotional support, reward myself for making it through the day or because I was stressed. I’ve had to learn to eat with awareness. Why am I grabbing those chips? Is this going to cause me to have a sugar crash? Am I supporting my mental clarity and energy with what I eat? This is not about diets. This is about eating foods that nourish you, help you think and give you energy. We need this as moms!
4. Time with friends.
   We need time with friends. We also need the right friends in our life. Search for goalmates — people moving in the same direction as you. And carve out some time to keep in touch– whether it is a playdate, a video chat/message, a card or Girls Night Out.
   
5. Fun.
   I can be a task master and forget to add fun into my day/week/month! For me, I have to be intentional about adding in spotenaity and fun. And it’s not only for me, but fun outings with my family. It doesn’t have to be elaborate or expensive either. It can be eating dinner on the fancy china, playing a video game with my kids, going to the park etc.
   
6. Thoughts, scripts and proclamations.
   This is a big one. And this little blurb does not even touch all that I can say on this subject. We need to know what we are thinking. We need to listen to those little recordings going on in our head that say, “You’re not a good enough mom, ” “If you would just be like her, then your home would run efficiently,” “You’re not smart enough” “You don’t deserve this” etc. What we think matters. For me, I need to figure out what I’m thinking and see if it lines up with the Word of God.
7. Growing skills.
   Being a mom is a profession. We’ve got to have skills. Any other job gives you training and job shadowing. Moms— well, when we gave birth, those skills weren’t automatically downloaded into our brains (I wish!) We’ve got to keep on learning. We’ve got to seek out other wise moms who have learned a thing or two. If we’re struggling in an area, look for moms who have those skills. I’m so thankful for my mom mentors!

Mom Self-Care Tips to Help Avoid Burnout

This video about emotions and self-care was part of a online series I did. There are great nuggets there! I have experienced total burn-out and it is not fun! I don’t want you, mama, to go through it.

I go in more depth on these 7 areas listed in a 7 day Mom Reset challenge. You can get it right from your inbox! To get the challenges sent to you, fill out the information here:

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Or another issue I ran in to was fitting in the actual teaching of each individual math lessons. While I try to group kids together when possible, I found myself teaching 3-4 different levels. And I felt that all my time was teaching one math level after another— and nothing else!

For our large family, we have found that Teaching Textbooks has been a great solution. We have used the cd curriculum and books over the years, and last year we switched to the online subscription service.

This post contains my referral link which helps support this site. Here’s my full disclosure policy.

Teaching Textbooks for Large Families

At the beginning of the school year, we set up a daily routine that allowed my 4 children using Teaching Textbooks to have time on the computer to complete their lesson. If you have a tablet, chromebook or even phone– you could use Teaching Textbooks on those devices too by downloading a special browser. Our goal was for each child to work on math for a minimum of 30 minutes a day. This allowed me to be working with other children while math was being completed. Yay for maximizing my time!

With Teaching Textbooks, the children go through a lecture, practice lessons and quizzes. The program walks them through problems they missed and is self-grading. This is a big perk for me! This doesn’t mean that I just leave them at the computer and don’t keep tabs on their work or understanding. Each child has a notebook where they work problems out on paper. I check their notebooks, and check the Teaching Textbooks Parent Gradebook to make sure they are understanding what they are learning. The nice thing is there is a “delete a lesson” option, where if my student doesn’t attain what I have set as a passing lesson percentage, I can delete the lesson and have them redo.

Parents also have the ability to print or read the lessons out. This is helpful if you need to see where your child might be getting stuck or to plan ahead.

Another big perk is that you can put your Teaching Textbook subscription on pause. As homeschool moms, we sometimes have other events, vacations, special projects that fill a week or two out of the year. Putting your subsciption on pause extends it out.

Check out my previous post, 5 Reasons Teaching Textbooks is Awesome for Large Families for even more math pointers.

Will Teaching Textbooks Work for You?

While I can’t really answer that question since every family and homeschool is different, I can let you try Teaching Textbooks out for free! You can sample as many courses as you like simultaneously (each up through Lesson 15), and there is no limit on how long each trial lasts.

Then, if Teaching Textbooks is a fit, you can transfer your trial over to the subscription without losing the work your child completed. If you use the same email and password you used to set up your free trial, your grades and progress will all be automatically transferred!

Large Family Discount

Oh, and I don’t want to forget to mention the special option for large families. This discount plan caps the total and allows you to have 4-8 students on the plan, each subscribing to their own math level.  Depending on the levels of your children, this can be very helpful!

Make-Ahead Breakfast

This post contains my referral link which helps support this site. Here’s my full disclosure policy.

When I started to look for heathlier breakfast ideas for my family, I came across lots of chia seed pudding recipes. I thought that was so weird! But I decided to try a few. And guess what? I liked them

My family’s favorite is a twist on a chocolate chia seed pudding recipe from Real Food Whole Life.

I knew I’d have a little difficulty getting my kids to be on-board for this new breakfast option so I switched it up and made individual parfaits. It was a hit!

Ingredients

1 can full-fat coconut milk/coconut cream
your favorite non-dairy milk
chia seeds
cacao or cocoa powder
honey
graham cracker crumbs (or your healthy equivalent
cherry pie filling (or make your own fruit compote)
Greek vanilla yogurt

Directions
The night before make the chocolate chia seed pudding following the recipe from Real Food Whole Life.

The next day layer the following in 8oz canning jars

1. Graham cracker crust
2. Chocolate chia seed pudding
3. Greek yogurt
4. Cherry Pie filling (or fresh fruit)

I like to make these up and store in the fridge for quick and easy breakfasts and snacks! It’s one of my mom hacks to get through busy weeks.

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This post contains my referral link which helps support this site. Here’s my full disclosure policy.

Homeschool High School Grade 11

When it comes to high school, most of the actual teaching is off my plate. We use classes from our local co-op, online classes, and independent study. My role changes to more of a facilitator and guidance counselor. Since I do also teach some of the co-op classes, my kids always have me for at least 1 class as their primary teacher.

Fall Semester

Math: Teaching Textbooks
Science: Apologia Advanced Anatomy
Foreign Language: Spanish
English: Speech
History: Mystery of History and Trick Geography
Economics: Economics for Everybody; Whatever Happened to Penny Candy; Uncle Eric Talks About Personal Career and Financial Security by Richard J. Maybury
Electives: Advanced Art

Spring Semester

Math: Teaching Textbooks
Science: Apologia Advanced Anatomy
Foreign Language: Spanish
History: Mystery of History and Trick Geography
Government
Electives: Advanced Art and Entreprenuership
SAT (Spring)

Our Homeschool High school Core Classes

We are fortunate to have a great local co-op where we work together to come up with a good high school plan each year. This year my student will be taking Advanced Anatomy, Economics, Government, Speech, Geography and Art all at co-op.

We are also fortunate that a homeschool mom offered to teach Spanish 101 this year. This is a local drop-off class. The teacher has chosen BJU Spanish as her main source.

High School Economics

I’m teaching Economics at our co-op this year. It will be the second time teaching this class. I never thought I’d enjoy teaching Economics but I really do— and I’m not an expert on economics! The reason I enjoy the class is because my role is more like a facilitator. We use Economics for Everybody by R.C. Sproul. Each student is required to watch the videos prior to class (they can get the dvd, digital download or digital subscription. Tip: Sign up for Compass Classroom newsletter or follow them on FB. They almost always have a significant discount on curriculum during the summer.) Then we discuss in class. In addition we have a couple other required books– two Uncle Eric books: Whatever Happened to Penny Candy; Uncle Eric Talks About Personal Career and Financial Security by Richard J. Maybury.

I also like to bring in games, current events and movies that tie in with economics. Having the core teaching done for me though, is a lifesaver. I learned just as much as the kids did when I taught this the first time!

Homeschool High School Entrepreneurship

All my highschoolers have done some sort of entrepreneurship class. In the spring semester, my student will be doing a modified version of a high school entrepreneurship class I taught previously. Two additional books I like to pull in with this study are Your Always Being Interviewed by Ron Brumbarger and The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. The first book covers topics such as networking, how to make a good impression at an interview, and other great business life skills tips (click the link for a more detailed review.)And the second bookThe Compound Effect by Darren Hardy is one of my favorite books. If my students can grasp the concepts of this book at a young age– they will accomplish much. This is one book I wish I would have read when I was a young adult.

Homeschool High School Art

While my student doesn’t need any additional fine art electives, this is one class she always takes because she’s good at it and it is  challenges her creativity. The pastor at the church where we host our co-op is an artist and loves to teach. He volunteers to teach an advanced level acrylic painting class each year. I am always amazed at the projects the students in this class produce.

Homeschooling High School Is Nothing to Fear

I remember when all my kids were in elementary school, I heard moms stressing out about high school. That made me kind of dread entering that phase of our homeschool. I’m here to tell you that you can homeschool high school. It will look different for every family (different state regulations, different goals, different children) but you can do it. There are so many resources such as online classes, complete DVD curriculum, and tutoring all available online. You’ll also be surprised at how many local resources are available too.

I think the biggest fear at that time was how was I going to teach xxxxx subject (fill in the high school subject you hated most or felt the most unqualified to teach). At this age, you really aren’t their primary teacher. They are able to learn independently. So my tips for the highschool years are:

1. Pray for the right resources, classes and mentors.
2. Know your state’s requirements.
3. Ask moms who have already graduated homeschool students what resources are available.

My friend Kris has a great round-up post all about homeschooling high school if you need more ideas.

If you’re new to homeschooling or thinking about homeschooling, check out my post Starting Your Homeschool Journey:

This post contains my referral link which helps support this site. Here’s my full disclosure policy.

 Giveaway at the bottom of the post!

1. Teaching Textbooks allows me to be a math facilitator not the teacher.

Currently I have 5 students at home. I was struggling teaching math to five children at different levels–let alone getting all the grading done. On a good math day, I felt like that was all I did— teach math! And since math is a subject I personally have had to overcome negative mindsets with, teaching math was draining to me.

Teaching Textbooks on the other hand, lets me be a math facilitator. That means Teaching Textbooks does the teaching, I do the checking up, review and reteaching a concept if necessary, but that’s it! This role-switch has allowed us to actually get math done consistently and has freed up my teaching schedule.

2. Teaching Textbooks 3.0 Streamlines Math Materials

I used Teaching Textbooks for awhile years ago with my older two. At that time all the lessons were on discs. While I tried to make sure nothing happened to those discs— one would get scratched or lost.  And the textbooks were so thick! For multiple children, this took up a lot of bookshelf space.  This doesn’t happen anymore with Teaching Textbooks 3.0.  This new version is an online subscription so no more discs and no more bulky books! Yay!

With each math subscription, the corresponding ebook is included. You can read it online or even print it off if needed. (You can still purchase the printed math book too.) What I have done is given my children a spiral notebook. They take notes during the lecture (many times what they need to write is underlined in the lecture) and then they write the problems in their notebook to show their work. So at this time we are not utilizing the ebook, but I like that if needed, it is available.

The ebook is found in the Parent Launch Page.

3. Teaching Textbooks Provides Easy Record Keeping

Oh my goodness I love this feature of Teaching Textbooks! I can log in to the Parent’s page and see what all my kids have completed, what they struggled with and how they are progressing. This is huge! One spot for all of this information! Not only is this saved online, but I can print it out too. With multiple children to track, this makes it so easy!

The other convenient feature is that if your student doesn’t do well on a lesson, you can delete the scores and have them redo it. In our home, you must obtain a 90% or above to move on to the next lesson. I want to make sure that my kids aren’t just doing a lesson to get it done, but rather understand what they are learning. And since math builds on concepts learned, I really want them to have a solid foundation.

4. Teaching Textbooks is Affordable

I appreciate that they offer a large family discount plan! This discount plan caps the total and allows you to have 4-8 students on the plan, each subscribing to their own math level. What we pay for the year is what I used to pay for one level of a high school disc version of Teaching Textbooks.

5. Teaching Textbooks is Flexible

If needed, you could do math on the go! If you have a tablet or phone you can download the Puffin browser and complete math wherever life takes you. And as a mom of a large family, there are days where I have to be driving older kids places (or vice versa) and now our math can come with us.

Also, the online subscription is good for 1 math level for 1 year for each student. What happens if you go on vacation? Or take a month off during December? Teaching Textbooks allows you to pause a subscription. That is a huge perk!

Teaching Textbooks 3.0 Subscription Giveaway

Yes! You can give Teaching Textbooks 3.0 a try right now for free! Not only is there no limit to the number of free trials you can sign up for at once, there is also no time limit for completing each trial. You can try any level up to lesson 15, then if it is a fit for your family, you can actually get those grades transferred to your new subscription! If you’re not sure what level to place your child, follow the placement test instructions.

Teaching Textbooks is giving away a 3.0 subscription level of your choice! Simply follow the directions in the rafflecopter widget below…

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This post contains my referral link which helps support this site. Here’s my full disclosure policy.

Starting Homeschooling

We have been homeschooling for over 16 years. (Putting that in writing makes it seem like such a long time! Can I really be that old?) At the time of this writing, I have graduated two children and have 5 more in our homeschool. Even though I’ve been doing this awhile, I too sometimes question what I’m doing. Am I doing enough? Did I make the right choice? Is xyz curriculum what this child needs? And sometimes I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing. All of this is normal.

The advantage I have as a veteran homeschool mom is perspective. I can look back at our homeschooling career and see the different seasons we’ve walked through and the outcomes— and that has given me confidence to keep going.  I’ve homeschooled with a newborn, and toddlers— and my older kids still thrived. I’ve gone through seasons where I was totally on the ball with academics and other seasons where we did the bare minimum. I’ve seen curriculum trends come and go.

What I’ve learned is:

• Everyone’s homeschool journey is different. Your children have different temperaments, talents, gifts and struggles. Looking at Pinterest and Instgram might be helpful— but can also lead to comparison and feeling inadequate. Be the horse with the blinders on– focusing on your path ahead instead of getting distracted.
• Curricula is a tool to utilize in your homeschool. You control the tool.  (Here are 5 Tips for Choosing Homeschool Curriculum)
• You are accountable to God for your children.  He gave them to you to raise and nurture — not  (insert anyone who questions your homeschooling decision.)
• You are more than equipped to do this. If you have grit, determination and a willingness to learn— you have all you need to get started.
• Focus on the foundation of your homeschool. For my family, our three main educational goals are: help my children walk with God, teach and model good character and stewardship, and teach them how to learn and to become independent learners.

Help I’m Homeschooling

Over the years I’ve had many homeschool mama friends encourage me along the way. One of these friends is Tricia Hodges. We met as bloggers and even got to hang out in Florida together one year. Several of our kids are around the same age, so many times I would hop on over to her blog to see what they were doing. She also shares such practical wisdom– especially with her routines or homeschool habits as she calls them.

She recently wrote a little book Help! I’m Homeschooling!: Helpful Habits for the Heart of Homeschooling If you ever wanted to peek into the life of a homeschooler– this is it.

I have found that with homeschooling, it’s not the curriculum, the books, the arts and crafts projects that make your homeschooling  successful—- it’s the routines. I’ve always admired her for diligently establishing these habits because it truly does make your homeschool life flow better. Her habit of morning room time is genius! And we have incorporated her habit of one more thing after lunch.

And this is where I suggest you start with starting homeschooling. Build routines that will become the foundation of your homeschool.

I am here to tell you that a firm foundation and an arsenal of habits help hold things together and bless the whole family. There’s a sense of freedom and security with habits. Be encouraged my fellow homeschool mamas! You will see the fruits of your efforts and prayers. ~ Tricia Hodges

This summer my children and I joined a creeks and waterfalls nature study group. It was a win-win for me because it got us outside, it got us exploring our state and my friend Julie planned all the road trips! This was a great way to have scheduled, outdoor learning time during the summer. Here’s a few tips and resources that we utilized during our various creeks and waterfall outings.

This post contains my referral link which helps support this site. Here’s my full disclosure policy.

Planning a Creeks and Waterfalls Nature Study

I am so blessed that my friend Julie loves to plan nature study field trips. What I like is that she plans a theme that lasts anywhere from 6-13 weeks, and then schedules nature study field trips each week. Our group is willing to drive 1 – 2 hrs. for a nature study. This allows us to explore our state and see so many natural resources that we weren’t even aware where in our area!

• Check with local nature centers and museums for hands-on activities and nature talks. If you have a group, many of these agencies will provide a resource person to give a presentation or even lead a nature walk.
• Check with state parks and federal parks in your area.
•  Check online reviews. This is how Julie came up with her first list of creeks and waterfalls to visit in our area. We were surprised how many awesome opportunities there were within an hour of us!

Helpful Supplies to Have on Hand

I have four children who went on these nature study trips will me. I did not want to be the Momma pack mule, so I got nylon travel backpacks for each of my kids. In their back packs they are in charge of carrying their water bottle, water shoes and a towel. This has worked out great because it gives them all ownership and helps them know what they are in charge of getting ready before each trip.

Other items to consider bringing along would be a walking stick, a net, a hat and a pen. We also did a little geocaching while on our nature hikes.

I also carry a backpack and in addition to my water shoes and water bottle, I have a few other supplies too.  I have:

Insect repellent and mineral sunscreen that is plant-based, natural and safe for my children and the environment. (I put some of the insect repellent in a spray bottle and a roller bottle for quick applications.)

Seedling baby wipes. I put these in a small baggie and carry with us. These have come in very handy! (I love these because they are formulated without chlorine, alcohol, sulfates, parabens, phthalates, mineral oil, animal-derived ingredients, synthetic preservatives, synthetic fragrances, or synthetic dyes)

Essential Oils: R.C. to support our respiratory system if needed, Owie oil well for owies, lavender (not pictured)

Arnica: great for any bumps or bruises

Thieves Waterless Hand Purifier: I love this because there is no yucky stuff in it! This is a key item– it comes in handy when the kids pick up crawdads, frogs or dead fish

Lipbalm: I don’t like to travel without it!

Thieves Spray: great for port-a-potties, spraying shoes after being in a creek etc.

Flashlight: one of our adventures had a cave. You never know when you need a flashlight!

Waterproof band-aids

(Note: Did you know I have a naturally-living community? If you’re interested in any of the products in the picture above, you can get them through my oily community. You can find more information here: Get Started in the MOST Living community I’d love to help you get started!)

Creek and Waterfall Outings

For most of our creek stomping adventures, we just explored. A few of our trips we had a short presentation by naturalists. While part of me wanted to bring drawing supplies to sketch– I just knew it would get wet. 

If you live in central Indiana, here are the creeks and waterfalls we visited:

• Mounds State Park in Anderson, IN
• Falls Park in Pendleton, IN
• Turkey Run in Marshall, IN
• Cave River Valley in Campbellsburg, IN
• Thistlewaite Falls in Richmond, IN
• Anderson Falls in Hartsville, IN
• McCormicks Creek in Spencer, IN
• McCloud Park in North Salem, IN
• Cool Creek Park in Carmel, IN

Creek and Waterfall Resources

To add a little more structured learning, here is a great nature study unit study: Incredible Creeks. You’ll cover rocks, erosion, fresh water animals, creek health and more!

We also love to add in some art. I also think art and nature studies go hand-in-hand!

Way back when (I’ve been homeschooling for awhile now) I used to do Morning Time with my children. We had gotten out of that practice, but after reading a post from Pam Barnhill, I was excited to implement this again. So I grabbed a copy of her Spring Morning Basket plans (aff) and started a new routine. The nature study focus for our spring unit was Rocks and Minerals— and ended up being so much fun!

We gathered many books on Rocks and Minerals for our Morning Basket. It is very helpful to have more than one rock identification guide. We used a variety of books to help us set up our own Rock and Mineral collection. Our favorite for younger elementary is My Books of Rocks and Minerals.

To jump-start our rock collection, I purchased a box of rocks from Dancing Bear on Amazon. We were very pleased with the variety and spent several days sorting them and trying to identify them. Included in the box was a color sheet of all the rock names. I made a copy of this sheet, and my kids cut it apart and glued each rock name in an egg carton space. Then we sorted all the rocks to start our formal collection. We’ve been steadily adding to our collection as we find little treasures on nature hikes or museum gift shops.

My five-year old got his own little paper bag journal. It’s just the right size and has content that is perfect for his attention span and abilities. This printable is available in the Nature Study Printables 2 e-book.

Sometimes when you least expect it, going on a rabbit-trail, doing a unit study, going outside your normal day-to-day routine breathes life into your homeschool. This unit did that for us. We all were learning and exploring together— having a reason to find treasures to add to our collection and our nature display box. It’s been fun for all of us! And it ties in to our painted rock and painted rock hunting hobby too.

What have been some of your favorite unit studies or books that helped spark an interest in your child or bring an excitement back to your homeschool? I’d love to hear your experiences.

I got this craft idea from Elise’s Totally Tot Craft article and used it for our Letter C is for cupcake lesson (be sure to scroll down to download the free letter C printables.)  With a few craft staples, you can make your own delectable cupcake too!

Easy Preschool Valentine’s Day Craft

Supplies:
paper cups
construction paper
glitter glue
white glue
decorations
toothpicks

First I had my daughter decorate her heart toothpick with glitter glue. We sang Cookie Monster’s song while working–modifying it a little:

C (make the sound  for hard c) is for cupcake
that’s good enough for me (repeat 3 times)
Cupcake, cupcake, cupcake starts with C.

Then I had her crumple up a piece of construction paper. I then arranged it in the cup so that it looked like the top of a cupcake. (I trimmed a regular sized paper cup so that it looked more like a cupcake liner. You could probably use Dixie cups or smaller cups.)

Then my daughter glued some glitter hearts onto the cup. Once the toothpick heart was dry, we added that to our no-bake cupcake! A simple, cute craft! This would be cute to use in a pretend play bakery.  For a twist, you could add wrapped candy in the bottom of the cup and then add the “cake” topping. Decorate and then give as a gift!

Letter C is for Cupcake Printables

For our Letter C is for Cupcake unit, we read If You Give a Cat a Cupcake and then did several cupcake and cat-related activities. You can download the free printables here:

>>>C is for Cupcake Printables<<<

Thanksgiving Scripture Coloring Pages

Click photo to download coloring pages

We will be memorizing Psalm 100:4, Philippians 4:6, 1Chronicles 16:34. You can download the free coloring pages by clicking on the image above.

In addition to using our coloring pages, we will be using Seeds Family Worship song  Do Not Be Anxious (Philippians 4:6-7) to help us memorize Philippians 4:6.

I have several more scripture coloring pages available:

Proverbs 1:7, Psalm 4:8, and Matthew 6:26

Bible Bugs Coloring Pages

More Thanksgiving Printables

I have several more Thanksgiving-themed printables on SpellOutloud. You can download a banner template, mini-Thanksgiving cards and a Thanksgiving place mat here: Thanksgiving Printables and Resources.

Need Ideas for a Christ-Centered Christmas? Check Out….