Homeschool Encouragement from Moms for Moms

If you are joining me as a part of  The Big Book of Homeschool Ideas Blog Tour, I’d like to say “Welcome to Great Peace Academy.” As you may already know, I was privileged to join with 54 other homeschooling moms to write over 100 chapters in what is a treasure trove of homeschool encouragement. It’s like sitting down and exploring the best homeschooling ideas, advice and encouragement on the planet in one complete eBook. 

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I want to tell you a bit about the book and why I was thrilled to participate in the creation of such a marvelous homeschooling resource. I was able to write 3 of the 103 chapters and I’m excited to share with you why I chose to write on each of these topics. 

My Three Chapters in the Book

• Encouragement for Moms of Gifted Learners

I was that mom. The one who had a child who was quite the enigma. No doubt he was smart, but other people kept insisting that he was more than smart, he was gifted. A word that used to terrify me.  

When I started out homeschooling, I had little knowledge of either homeschooling or gifted education. I fumbled around to find some kind of balance for him that never seemed to come. I was stunned in the first year, his Kindergarten year, when he completed a pre-packaged 1st grade curriculum in about 6 weeks, and went on to complete 2nd grade rapidly as well. I didn’t really know what to do.

He had a drive, a hunger to be fed, more. More information, more challenge, more knowledge. So I determined to just do that. He read a lot, explored numbers a lot and drew pictures a lot. Science was fun for him, math was easy for him and information was limitless for him. 

As that mom, I found myself trying to learn about his unique needs and coming up short. I struggled to find information that could help me to provide for the needs that my son obviously had. I kept hitting walls because I didn’t really have an understanding for what it was I was looking for and research seemed impossible.

Until I learned the words. Every field of study has it’s own set of terms and once I understood the terms used in gifted education, I became more knowledgeable about the resources available to parents.

When I began to write for The Big Book of Homeschool Ideas, I knew that I needed to share with other parents how to find resources for gifted homeschooling. So their discovery would not be as difficult as mine was. 

In the chapter I share with you the research that helped me to begin to understand the unique individual that my son is. I also share a large list of resources for gifted education and direct links within the ebook for accessing the websites associated with each source. 

• Encouragement for Homeschool Moms During Job Loss 

It’s a scary prospect isn’t it? The idea that a homeschooling family could suddenly find themselves in the midst of unemployment. Most often a homeschooling family consists of one stay at home parent (usually the mom) and one working parent. So when the one income family loses the only source of income it’s unnerving, to say the least.

That’s the exact position I found myself in just a little over 2 years ago. My husband lost his job through no fault of his own. He remained unemployed for two full years and in fact just started his new job about 2 months ago. 

As a result I’m able to share information, encouragement and ideas for homeschooling through job loss, from a very personal perspective in my chapter How to Homeschool During Job Loss. I share tips, ideas and resources for finding free materials for a homeschooling education. I also gently offer encouragement during what is a truly difficult life struggle. 

Unemployment for any reason is scary. During the homeschooling years it can cause panic. Finding the ability to overcome regardless of the circumstance can lead to a stronger more loving family unit.

• Marriage Encouragement for Homeschool Moms

This is an area of life that I am truly passionate about. Looking around at friends and family I am overwhelmed and saddened by the number of marriages that end in divorce. Having been married to my husband for more than 20 years I’m quite aware of the stresses that can rock the stability of a marriage. My husband and I have been through many difficult and overwhelming trials.
After celebrating my 20th year of marriage knowing we had survived a lot of struggle and yet seeing so many others whose marriages ended. I realized that maybe I could offer encouragement through my blog. So I began writing a feature called Marriage Moment.  

• Yesterday  on the blog tour Jennifer Janes shared her story of why she wrote the Special Needs Homeschooling and 25 Ideas for Ministry and Volunteering in the Community with Kids. Tomorrow, October 19, Adelien Tandian will be sharing her story of how the chapter How to Start Resarch with Your Logic Stage Kids came about. 

One thing you can be sure of, you will be encouraged and inspired by this dynamic group of homeschooling mamas. We each have a passion for homeschooling, protecting our families, and strengthening others in our roles as homeschool moms.