One day at work, I (Jerry) passed a co-worker and she asked absently, “How’s it going?” It was clear that she was in a bit of a hurry to get wherever it was she was going and wasn’t really looking for a detailed answer. She was just trying to be polite. But feeling a bit…
We need to prepare our children to stay strong in an ungodly world, and to possibly even face persecution. It saddens me to even have to put this among the list of parenting advice/suggestions. Five years ago, I never would have thought that there would be a need to write something like this. But sadly,…
I have found this particular tip, by far, to be the hardest one to try to put into words, but I’ll do my best. I also know that this one may be rather controversial. As with everything I am posting, please make your parenting decisions in light of Scripture. What’s wrong with self-righteous attitudes? The…
This one is short (surprise!!) and simple. A lot of things can be really cute at age three, or even up to about age eight or ten, but they are downright annoying and disrespectful at age twelve, twenty, or forty. Just to be clear, I am NOT talking about normal childish behavior in areas where…
We want to instill in our children a desire to be grateful for the many blessings that God has given them. Not only will they have a more joyful life, but contentment pleases God. God hates complaining. To know how much He hates it, all we have to do is observe how God responded to…
Pray for your children, and pray for them often. Not only do Jeff and I pray for our children during our personal devotion time, but also as the Lord brings them to mind, throughout the day. When I catch myself worrying about one of my children, I try (key word) to pray about the specific thing…
It is important to help and encourage our children to become each other’s best friends. Next to their future spouse, ideally their siblings will always be their best friends. When your children get into an argument or fight, help them work through their disagreements. Ask them questions like: “How could you have responded in…
Parenting Tip Number Six Guard your children’s friendships carefully. If you see that every time they spend time with a certain friend they are disrespectful to you, mean to their siblings, more prone to gossip, and are drawing away from the Lord instead of closer to Him, perhaps it is time to end that friendship….
When I saw the title Never Say No: Raising Big Picture Kids, I thought, “Oh, great. A book about child-centered parenting, where the kids run the home.” But then I saw it was written by Mark and Jan Foreman, who are parents of Jon and Tim Foreman, of the Christian band Switchfoot. I don’t know…
Parenting Tip Number Four As parents, we will sometimes make mistakes (gasp!!). In fact there will be times when we outright sin against our child. We can lose our tempers, be impatient, say hurtful things and sin against our children in various ways. (Ephesians 6:4 – And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath:…
Parenting Tip Number Three We need to really, truly listen to our children and teenagers. Obviously, they should speak respectfully, but our children, of any age, should feel free to come to us and share anything that is on their heart. They should be able to share any doubts, any fears, any worries, any joys…
I have my very first guest post in a series! I’m super excited! It’s on Sarah’s My Joy-filled Life. I’m thrilled that Sarah has graciously allowed me to post on her site for her third year of The ABCs of Homeschooling Series. I chose the letter “J” (imagine that?!) and came up with “Just do…
I hope you were able to read Tip Number One from yesterday. It lays the foundation for this tip. Parenting Tip Number Two Make the Bible the center of your family’s life. Simple ways to incorporate it: Read the Bible and pray every day together as a family. As soon as your children can read,…
Introduction Hi, I’m Kim. I’ve been married to my best friend, Jeff, since 1987. We have five children, Joshua (1992) who has been married to Alissa since 2013, Joseph (1995), Josiah (1997), Jessica (1998), and Jennifer (2001). I’m a full time stay at home, homeschooling mom. I need to preface these parenting tips I’m posting…
April marks Autism Awareness month. When I told my oldest that, he asked what I meant. “Doesn’t everybody know about Autism already?” I tried to explain to him that it exists so people can keep it in their minds, and not forget about it. There are people who don’t know and love someone with Autism,…
It had been a really exhausting day, and it was only 3pm. The doctor for my son’s surgery had been running almost an hour behind, so we’d been out much longer than we’d planned. My hungry boy wanted pizza, and Earth Fare was the only fast place I could think of. As we pulled into…
What’s so great about CTC Math? Have you ever heard of it? It’s an Australian math site that is amazing! For years, math for my 11 year old meant tears. Lots of tears. Lots of whining, crying, balking and complaining. Hours and hours just to get through a couple pages of problems. So I looked….
Disclosure: As a member of the Parenting UnChained Launch Team, I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review and promotion. No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC Guidelines. Bear with me here – this is my…
I’ll Do Better Tomorrow, I Promise ~ Giveaway Read the words of this delightful book and tell me if you’ve ever had similar experiences: I’LL DO BETTER TOMORROW, I PROMISE Dear God, are you still awake? Have you got a minute or two? You’re pretty good at understanding, and I really need to talk to…
In honor of my youngest’s fifth birthday today (crazy!), a list of ways to show your child that you love him. There are as many different ways to show love as there are different kids. And that’s a lot. So this is obviously not an exhaustive list. Please note that since I have four…
Being a mom of four boys (currently 11, 9, 7 and 5), I hear things like, “So you gave up trying for a girl, eh?” “Are you trying to go for a whole team?” “Um, they’re all yours?” “Just kept trying for that girl, didya?” the old “You know where babies come from, right?” and…
I can’t remember the last time I’ve written a poem! Today, while snuggling and kissing my almost five year old (how is that possible?!), I had to stop to write this down, because it just hit me. I love hearing their giggles and laughter. I love that they still love kisses (well, at least he…
Homeschool Day is September 12, and to mark the occasion, Dolphin Tale 2 opened in theaters. I had heard of Dolphin Tale, but had no idea there was a homeschool connection with it. It turns out that the people who run Winter’s aquarium are a homeschooling family!
Disclosure: I did receive a complimentary copy of this unit study / curriculum, in exchange for an honest review. We are a homeschooling family consisting of Mama, Papa, 4th-almost-5th grade boy (Jeremiah/Jerem/JT/J1), 2nd-almost-3rd grade boy (Josiah/Joe/JB/J2), Kindergartner (Jamin/J-bug/JZ/J3), and preschooler (Jace/Jacey/JIP/J4). The big boys and I have recently been using the first Homeschool Unit Study in the…
