Have You Become More Relaxed With Each Child in Parenting?

There is something I have noticed about parents, myself included. It seems that with each child you have, you tend to become more relaxed. Now that can be a good thing but it can also be a negative. I think the day I realized I had become more relaxed by my third child was several years ago at church. I was in a church service, taking advantage of the childcare we have available. Our children get a number and if you saw your child’s number on the screen, it meant you were needed. My number went up. It was for … Continue reading

Self-Paced Learning When Your Nerves Are Shot

In a previous blog post I had mentioned how I home schooled my kids using the Charlotte Mason method. I found it to be very thorough yet relaxed at the same time. It also gave me the opportunity to let my kids do a lot of the assignments on their own without me hovering over them every moment or answering a long list of questions that I knew they could answer on their own if they thought about it for awhile. Each weekend I would simply make a curriculum schedule for the week, get them started in the morning, then … Continue reading

Scripture Study & Learning Styles

Have you ever felt as though you weren’t getting the most you could possibly absorb from your scripture study? I’m not talking about the nights you skim over one verse and call it a day. Do you really apply yourself to your scriptures and can’t seem to comprehend them the most possible? Perhaps the problem comes from the fact that your learning style doesn’t mesh with your scripture study technique. There are three basic learning styles: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic/tactile. When we think of scripture study, we usually envision a person reading and perhaps pausing to ponder the words they … Continue reading

2006 in Review: Homeschooling Blog at a Glance

As a new homeschooling blogger at Families.com, I wanted to know everything that has been discussed to date. In response to my own curiosity, and in an effort to make perusing our articles easier for you, our readers, I have compiled all of the blogs for the year 2006. Deciding to Homeschool Why homeschool Am I qualified for this? Reasons that Homeschooling Works! My Most Important Advice for Homeschoolers. The Cost of Homeschooling Instead of standing up for their own kids, why not stand up for all kids? Disclaimer: I am hardly an expert in education. Did You Know? ‘Empirical … Continue reading

Sunday Evening Review: December 24th

Merry Christmas to you all! I’m sure with the busy holiday schedule, you missed some blogs this week–I certainly did. So now we have our week in review and you can catch up on what you’ve missed. Are You Taking a Holiday Break? Except for of course Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we aren’t and neither is Andrea’s family. Something that I see as a real benefit of homeschooling is that we are offered unlimited flexibility. On that same note, Andrea shares with us Homeschooling and the Freedom to Live. Did you know that there are Schools for Your Homeschoolers? … Continue reading

A Day in the Life of a Highly Regulated Relaxed Homeschooler

It was Andrea’s great suggestion that we compare our days side by side. Like she said, many people want to know what a “typical day” looks like. Like Andrea’s family, we would also consider ourselves “relaxed”. However, our state mandates that starting in first grade kids spend 6 hours per day in school for 180 days. They ask that you complete 80% of your IHIP (which is basically a big long list of what you‘re going to teach for the year). Anything that we do to deviate, warrants at the very least an explanation on my quarterlies, if not an … Continue reading

So what Exactly is Relaxed Homeschooling?

Yesterday as I described my day, I realized that we are relaxed homeschoolers, and so I titled my posts appropriately. Before then, I had never given much thought to our homeschooling style or philosophy. Your style of homeschooling will stem from your beliefs toward homeschooling. If believe that Latin is an important base to English education and that history should be taught in the order that it happened, then you may lean toward classical homeschooling. If you think that your child should learn what they are led to learn, then you lean toward unschooling. If you feel like education should … Continue reading

A Day in the Life of a Relaxed Homeschooler, Part III

It is 9:30 and the kids are in bed. My daughter is listening to a book on tape, and my son has his laptop in his bed playing with html codes. While they are in bed, they are trying to stay awake until Daddy gets home from the airport. He travels a lot. The concert was short and sweet, and the kids enjoyed the buffet afterward (cheese, fruit, chips, brownies) so when we got home, I just had to reheat last night’s dinner. One piece of corn on the cob, and one chicken wingette was plenty. I never did get … Continue reading

Five-finger relaxation technique

Interested in a fast, yet effective way to relax? Like all methods of relaxation, this exercise is simple. But, of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it will, by definition, be easy for you to relax immediately. Any skill, including learning to relax, takes time and input, but the more you put into it, the more you get out of it. So what are you waiting for? 1. Close your eyes 2. Place your thumb on your index finger As you do this, go back in your mind to a time when your body felt pleasantly exhausted. A time when … Continue reading

Why Regular Exercise is Important for Kids

Many of us realize that it is a good idea to get some exercise. Adults tend to think of exercise as a way to lose weight or tone up muscle. It turns out that getting regular exercise is more beneficial than randomly exercising done every so often. This is true for both adults and children. Are your kids getting the regular exercise? Regular Exercise is Important for Children The Mayo Clinic points out that the health benefits of getting regular exercise and physical activity are “hard to ignore”. Of course, some exercise is better than none at all. However, if … Continue reading