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Coffee and Chat with the Special Needs Consultants | Q: Pass/fail vs. letter grades?

Do you sometimes feel alone in your unique homeschooling situation? Ever wish you could just grab a cup of coffee and come over for a cozy chat with your HSLDA Special Needs Consultants? Please don’t think we are too busy to take your calls and emails! We are here for you every step along the […]

2 Words of Advice for My Younger Self

If I could give my younger homeschooling self some advice, it would be this: Pace yourself. I’ve been officially homeschooling for 11 years, and this year we’re teaching elementary, middle, and high school. While I have some of the biggest hurdles in front of me, I can at least say that I successfully navigated preschool […]

Kids and the Internet: 7 Tips to Help Cultivate Discernment

The Internet is here to stay. How do parents help their children use technology wisely and appropriately? This is the question all 21st-century parents must answer. They say there is nothing new under the sun, but parenting challenges associated with the Internet certainly feel new. Previous generations have had to grapple with their fair share […]

There Is Hope for Artistic Maturity

One of the long-term homeschooling goals for our family is to help the girls develop a mature artistic taste (in the good sense!). We don’t want to micromanage their media consumption as teens and young adults, because hopefully they’ll choose good things themselves at that point. And by good things, I mean more than the […]

5 Ideas for Homeschooling with Preschoolers

I like the idea of my preschooler having endless unstructured time to happily play alongside our homeschool activities. But let’s keep it real. Sometimes homeschooling with preschoolers—not to mention adding a baby and/or a toddler in the mix, if you have them—can seem like you are trying, unsuccessfully, to supervise a three-ring circus. While small […]

They Have Energy, You Have None: 7 Outlets for Your Active Child

No one ever accused me of being a boring kid. Just the opposite—nothing could stop me from playing an impromptu game of hide-and-seek at the local Walmart. I can only imagine my parents’ panic each time I disappeared to frolic in the folds of clothing. Had my parents simply crossed their fingers, fervently prayed that […]

Sticker Charts and Fidget Spinners: How My Distracted Child Improved Her Focus

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past six months, “fidget spinners” have hit the market as the Next Big Thing among kids. These toys first entered my consciousness this spring when I saw a child on the playground playing with an unfamiliar device. Suddenly, articles started popping up on my Facebook […]

Apples to Apples

‘Tis the season…of apples. During the 16 years we’ve lived in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, where orchards cover hundreds of acres, apples have become a gala event in the Jones household. It started with an accidental tradition, albeit a delicious one. One year I discovered a dozen varieties of apples at a local farmers’ market. I […]

Music to Our Ears: Help in Your Homeschool Journey

Susan can’t figure out how to academically engage one of her four children. Just like many of us, she has that one child that just doesn’t learn as easily as the others and struggles to stay focused and on task. She tearfully asks me how she can be such a failure when her heart’s deepest […]

Listening and Validating the Feelings of My Kids

I have a confession. I am not a very compassionate person. I try to be, but it doesn’t come naturally. I struggle. I am currently reading a book that is hitting me over the head like a ton of bricks. The book is How We Love: Discover Your Love Style by Milan and Kay […]