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Easy Survival Tips for Living with a 12-Year Old Boy

Inside: The secret to surviving life with your hormonal 12-year old son, 3 must reads if your raising boys and {Free printable: Raising Godly Men}

My son almost died today.

That’s right, I almost killed him.

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New to Homeschooling? Here are Mistakes to Avoid!

Inside: 9 Secrets of Successful Homeschooling from me to you.

I was a new homeschooler once.

I had a 5th grader, a kindergartener with major medical issues, a toddler and I was pregnant.

Ah, those were the days.

Besides trying to manage two of different grades of school I was also trying to keep the baby safe and get dinner on the table all at the same time. Throw in the fact that I had a very difficult pregnancy and voila!

I was a mess. A pregnant hot mess.

I was so concerned about the academic part of homeschooling that I almost buried my poor 5th-grader in schoolwork.

I stressed, I worried, and I panicked a bit.

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Mitosis: Cell Cycle Flip Book

I remember the first time I wore my contact lenses to bed. Everything was fine and dandy until I woke up the next day. I was dumbfounded.

I could see every leaf on the tree outside my bedroom window!

I had been wearing glasses since forth grade and never could see clearly without my glasses.

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Despite What You May Think, Writing Doesn’t Have to be Boring

Inside: 3 Writer’s Skills that Students should learn long before heading to college.

3 Important but “Unfun” Skills Every Writer must Know

1. Paraphrasing

2. MLA Citation

3. Plagiarism– How not to get caught. {See the answer at the end of this article}

I told you they were unfun. But they are necessary skills, just like driving defensively, CPR and cooking homemade pizza.

We want to raise up writers, not thieves.

Right now two of our five sons are chopping wood with their dad.

They were driven to a dark scary piece of land with a borrowed trailer attached to our SUV. Once they were far off the beaten path they were directed to the freshly cut giant. My husband enthusiastically wielded a chainsaw and cut the trunk into manageable 500 pound pieces.

Maybe, they were lighter.

I couldn’t tell you for sure.

I was delegated to watch the boys “hump the logs” out of the wood.

(That’s men talk)

Those very heavy logs were carefully brought home.

Enter my hero: My husband. He takes the boys to the hardware store and buys a couple of axes. While my husband looked the other way, each son looked at me with pleading eyes. “Save me mommy.” I said nothing. I trust that my husband, a manly man, is much more equipped to teach

I trust that my husband, a manly man, is much more equipped to teach boys how to be men than I am.

Plus, I had a cup of coffee to enjoy with my bon-bons.

An hour later, the door bursts open and my wood-chopping sons walk in with a very distinct swagger. Lumberjacks in training. They were all wearing sawdust covered jeans, work boots and flannel shirts. You could taste the testosterone in the air.

“Mom, that was AWESOME!”

Funny how being taught to do something challenging and dangerous leaves a “lovely glow” on the face of a growing boy. Our young men need to swing axes. Even if it’s metaphorically speaking.

I wish it were that same for basic writing skills.

Writing is one of those skills that many of us have been forced into against our wills.

But we shouldn’t group writing into the same category as forcing our 11-year old sons to shower daily. (I swear my kid believes that water will melt his manliness.)

Just like forcing our kids to bathe is good for their health, their appearance and our nose, writing is good for their education, life preparation and is often our final exam as homeschoolers.

How embarrassing is it when our kid shares on facebook, “I be so exsited! I git to go to diz-knee-land!”

40+ Types of Writing to Teach Your Kids

Believe in yourself. You can teach your kids to write.
Believe in your kids. They have it in their hearts to become excellent writers.
Believe in fairies. Because fairies make life magical.

So what is the trick to plagiarizing and avoiding getting caught?

Easy- do not plagiarize in the first place. Almost every child can write.

Take them by the hand, expose them to something amazing, and teach them how to capture that moment on paper. Join me in raising writers, not thieves.

Things for you to add to your teaching tool belt.

These also make great additions to your emergency file. (Also known as “mom is sick and needs you to work independently today”)

Download your 44 Writing Ideas {Printable}
Download your guide to teaching Kids to NOT be thieves (MLA Citation)
Grab your “Friendly Letters to Me” Pack
Thanksgiving Writing Prompts worthy of making their way to the “keep me” pile.

The GOAL of all writing is clear communication. Here are some of my go-to creations to help your kids embrace their writing journey.

5 Free Recipes to Empower Your Kids In the Kitchen

Inside: Teaching kids to cook the easy way, {5 free recipes- Printable}, and Cooking Camp for Kids

Mama, Picture this.

Onions being diced by an 11-year-old.
Broccoli being steamed by a 13-year-old.
A mouth-watering, oh my goodness I cannot believe he just made that, sauce being whipped up by an 18-year-old.
All to the soundtrack to your favorite movie playing in the background.

Recently, I had minor surgery on my foot that has required me to be off my feet for about three months. Three painfully slow months of no standing, no driving, no walking. And you guessed it, no cooking. Did you know you need to stand to cook?

My husband wisely decided that each of our five boys would take over one meal each week to help feed our wonderful family. Yes, he’s a brilliant man!

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Inside: Simple Secrets to teaching kids to write plus 44 Writing Ideas and a tool to help take the guesswork out of grading writing.

There I was, trapped in the back of the car, seatbelted and wind-whipped.

I was terrified because the teenage jerk behind the wheel thought it was hilarious to speed down the road at over 100 miles an hour.

Out of control, scared and trapped, I tried everything but couldn’t get him to slow down.

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Should I Homeschool: Am I a Good Enough Teacher to Homeschool My Kids?

I wrestle with feelings of insecurity when it comes to homeschooling our boys.

Sometimes I wonder if I am the best teacher for my children…
Am I alone?

Last week I picked up the novel my son was reading to help him with comprehension. He is reading Call it Courage. As I read the first chapter I realized that this book was not about a boy’s struggle with war. (That’s right! I never even noticed the cover)

Good Lord, help my children!

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5 Hands-on Hobbies for Your Sons That Will Make Your Heart Race

“Don’t go too high!”

“Slow Down!”

“I don’t care that he has a helmet on, you may not push your baby brother down the hill in the wagon.”

Boys.

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Inside: everything you need to teach your kids their math facts!

When our oldest son was in 5th grade my husband tricked me into homeschooling. “Just give it a year“.

That was ages ago, and I’m still teaching my younger kids around the kitchen table.

I remember our first real day of homeschool. I arrogantly sat across the kitchen counter from my son and ran a quick “teacher like” math fact drill.

photo by aaron burden

He didn’t know his math facts!

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Astonishing! What Does a Spoon Have to do with Science?

Inside: How simple household items can be the breakthrough you need to teach science.

My son was staring at his spoon.

It was strange.

“Mom, I’ve always wondered why my reflection is upside down in my spoon. What’s even more confusing is that when I turn it around, my reflection is right-side-up.”

I laughed aloud.

Not at him.

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