Had another great meeting tonight - (I think there were 16 of us present - I know my living room was packed and I had to go looking for chairs!).

The question of the night was:
What is the best thing that works for you HSing your children?

Some answers were:

- From a mom of eight (soon to be nine) - Giving everyone some individual attention each day.

- Getting a good night's sleep

- Having a family meeting regularly and discussing things

- Another mom shared that praying regularly gives her grace for her children

- Flexibility - HSing on the go during everyday life

- Reading works -  lots of readalouds

- HSing in the afternoon works for one family (She also mentioned that they are enjoying listening to audiobooks together

- Stay at least one step ahead of the kids

- Give your children more credit for what they have learned and yourself more credit for what you have taught them

- Some children need structure - they want to know when they need to study and when they can play

-Using a daytimer - one child has learned to do more scheduling over the years and is getting very good at it

- Their children love to write - their family tries to get as much out of everything they do - to learn from everything

- Try to talk about what the kids want to learn - try to model a love of learning

And the second question was:
What is your best tip for parenting teens?

- Continue praying - don't give them too many decisions to make.  Parents are still the ones in charge.

- Parenting teens?  Let dad take charge.

- Be there for your teenagers

- Don't treat children as teenagers - everyone grows and changes.  Give children reasns for family rules

- Either a person is a child or an adult - no grey zone.  They either are a child with a child's rights and responsibiliities or an adult with adult rights and responsibilities.  (There was a bit of debate with this comment - interesting discussion)

The Show and Tell's were:

_Do Hard Things_ by Brett and Alex Harris The Rebelution Blog  Looks very good.

- One mom is thinking of doing a kid's book club (elementary) with mom and child involved

- Another mom recommended _ Games for Learning_ by Peggy Kaye
Games for Learning

- One mom reviewed Sonlight Curriculum - her older daughter (high school) is loving the books

- One mom brought the entire set of Uncle Eric books  Uncle Eric books Wow - they look good for high school. I've got a couple, but will be buying more to read and discuss with my older children.

- A young HS mom brought a homemade learn to read game to share - (blends, ends, and rules)  Fish with paper clips and a magnetic fishing rod.  Her son (6) fishes for one and that one is put on the frig - they look for the blend in the books they read and much more.  He loves it.  (If you need the list, she will share it)

- Another mom brought her HS scrapbook.  She takes pictures of their HSing AND the kids do the journaling.  Great job.

- One mom reviewed _A History of Britain_ (BBC Dvd)  History of Britain   Great.

- The Drive Thru History dvd's were mentioned again - great for jr and sr high HSers.
Drive Through History

 

One mom commended another mom for staying cheerful and positive during a hard time. 

A pretty full, busy, fun meeting with lots of support and ideas.  Even some giveaways for those who attended.  Smile 

Hope you enjoyed some of our meeting and thoughts shared.....