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3 Ways to Choose the BEST Writing Curriculum (for a Growing Homeschool Family)

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It’s a scary feeling choosing a writing curriculum when you don’t have a professional background in education. Also, look at my page The Dynamics of How to Homeschool Easily and Smarter.

Knowing that thousands of parents embark on teaching their children each year, I too made the leap to choosing the perfect writing curriculum.

But you and I both know that perfect writing curriculum doesn’t exist, or does it?

3 Ways to Choose the BEST Writing Curriculum (for a Growing Homeschool Family)

Looking back now that two of my sons are graduated, there were some things I did right although I didn’t feel that way at the time.

WRITING CURRICULUM

Hoping to spare you the same agony I went through because of my aversion to teaching writing, I learned 3 ways to choose the best writing curriculum for a growing homeschool family.

1. There is a right way to teach writing. No smoke and mirrors are involved.

A writing program needs to give you and your children structure and sentence variety.

Short and compound sentences are only two sentence types, but a beginner writer needs plenty of practice developing them.

Moving from basic sentence writing to a paragraph is foundational to strong writing skills.

As your child matures, he widens out in his ability to write creatively, but the foundation is first.

Does your writing curriculum give numerous subject topics, practice with sentence variety and instructions to the non-professional educator?

2. As the moods of your children change, your writing environment can’t.

When it comes to scheduling, I could easily be known as a Nazi mama.

I’ve been hard on myself through the years so that I don’t push too hard.

But years later, I’ve learned my structured environment was key to my boys learning how to write well.

I fully appreciate now that relaxed homeschooling is not lazy homeschooling. Finding balance is key to being a good writing teacher.

A well-rounded writing curriculum should give you guidance through each step of the writing process and tips to accommodate your kids changing needs and moods.

For several years, my sons needed to write about boy topics.

Easy Writing Curriculum Tips

Getting them in touch with their warm and fuzzy feelings didn’t work for them. An excellent writing curriculum really needs to serve the needs of both girls and boys.

In my inexperience, I learned a valuable nugget which is that a structured writing environment nurtures creativity. It worked opposite of how I thought it would be in the beginning.

Instead of focusing on the grade level, a writing curriculum needs to give you a clear picture of the process.

For example, does it move from planning, prewriting, drafting, revising to editing/publish? Does it help you to teach each step clearly?

If the writing curriculum is written for multiple ages, then you can teach to the writing ability for each child.

It’s a costly mistake to buy a writing curriculum that does not give you abundant teaching tips at each stage of the writing process.

For example, just because a child is in middle school doesn’t mean he is ready to write high school essays. After all essays are just a lot of practice in paragraph writing combined to make a lengthy paper.

Practice in paragraph writing can span many grades and it’s more about maturity than age.

When you’re given clear short-term goals and long-term goals of the writing process, your child can advance based on his maturity or simmer at one level for a while.

Again, teaching writing from the novice to the accomplished is about giving kids a structured environment which should be one of the important details in your program.

Writing, like math, is a skill that needs to be practiced each day. Skipping writing for numerous days and then asking your kids to write 5 paragraphs in one setting is pure torture.

Like other skill subjects, writing quickly becomes boring if a child is not writing about what interests him.

Does your writing curriculum give you writing prompts or ideas, encourages your child to write about topics that interest him and remind you to give praise for your child’s good communication skills? It should.

3. Lessons must be geared toward ensuring writing success.

Writing programs aim for writing success, but many miss the mark.

Not having a teaching background makes me require more of a writing program than just telling me about the writing process.

Look at these key bullet points to help you gauge a top-notch writing program.

Writing Structure Gives Kids a Strong Edge

  • Equipping teachers with scripted lessons is the start to creative writing. Like cooking, not everybody needs a recipe but sometimes you need exact measurements. However, in the beginning an inexperienced cook starts with a pattern or recipe and adjusts a recipe as she hones her skill. She adjusts a recipes to fit her family’s needs. Teaching writing is similar. Learn from seasoned writers by carefully following a script and then adjust it to meet your family’s needs.
  • Providing detailed instructions for budding writers is an essential component. New writers seem to have no fear when it comes to ideas. They need structure and guidance daily. The challenges are quite different for a more mature writer.
  • A program should ensure writing success for older writers who have more experience in life but may have experienced many writing failures. They may lack confidence. If a writing program fails to ensure that each writing adventure is a success, why would you choose it?
  • Ample ideas for editing, revising and giving feedback are necessary. My boys never responded to the red pen marks on their paper. It didn’t take many times for me to do that until I realized that writing is very personal. Tips in my curriculum like discussing topics beforehand, having my child explain his thoughts to me prior to writing and having my child listen and watch me as I thought outloud while writing were key teaching points I learned.

Teaching Kids to Write Clearly and Creatively Without Crushing Them

One year when one of my sons was in middle school, I thought he was a very creative writer. At least more so than I was at his age. What I was helped to appreciate from teaching writing was that my son needed to make a point with his writing while entertaining readers.

Having eight pages of words which sparked his imagination was beautiful and creative, but honing it for meaning is equally important.

As a mom of bright boys, I refused to believe that just because boys came later to the writing table that it meant they were delayed.

They were not, they just needed more entertaining than girls. A boy’s need to wiggle, move, and use up their energy had to be incorporated into the lesson plan.

I’m not telling you that teaching writing is easy, but it can be less intimidating when you choose the best writing curriculum. Take your time choosing one and ask a lot of questions.

3 Ways to Choose the BEST Writing Curriculum (for a Growing Homeschool Family)

What is working and not working for you right now?

More Writing Curriculum Tips

Also, look at how to teach writing with these other tips.

It’s a scary feeling to choose a writing curriculum when you don’t have a professional background in education. Knowing that thousands of parents embark on teaching their children each year, I too made the leap to choosing the perfect writing curriculum. But you and I both know that perfect writing curriculum doesn’t exist, or does it? Looking back now that two of my sons are graduated, there were some things I did right although I didn’t feel that way at the time. Click here to grab the 3 tips on how to choose the BEST writing curriculum.

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

Teach Your Homeschooled Teen the Art of Studying (without nagging)

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How to Teach Your Homeschooled Teen the Art of Studying (without nagging) @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Teaching your homeschooled teen the art of studying is a bit like not having a parent’s manual that comes with your kids when they enter the world. Well – almost.

Resources exist overwhelmingly for teaching teens study skills in public schools, but teaching our kids at home can give us a slight edge.

However, it only becomes an advantage if we tap into teaching them how to study along the way. Teaching a teen study skills can be frustrating if you don’t begin when they are young.

How to Spoon-Feed a Homeschooled Teen

Learning should be active and not passive. Spoon-feeding and hovering over our teens won’t propel them to learn the art of studying.

Look at 3 things I learned when teaching a teen to study.

One/ Self-instruction is a must.

Many kids do not do well in public school because they feel trapped with confinements on what they should learn. Avoiding the popular notion that teens need a lot of supervision gives teens a chance to experience independence.

Raising independent and self-taught learners means bucking the current system period.

I learned as I have homeschooled longer to give up the control while supervising them. It begins with self-instruction in what your child is interested in.

Starting out, this doesn’t mean a child guides himself completely because not all children are inclined to even attempt learning the boring things.

Many days teaching my three teens has been more difficult and mentally taxing then when they were toddlers because you have to talk with them not at them as they learn self-governing independence.

And yes there should be sanctions when a teen is not self-studying and is wasting time. But there is a reason a teen is wasting time and it’s called unmotivated.

Two/ Motivation is a GREAT incentive.

Motivation for studying what interests a teen comes first, then self-instruction, not the other way around.

In other words, you can’t expect a teen to be self-taught and independent without him having a compelling reason to be. You can’t just heap subjects onto him, like when he was in elementary grades and then expect him to do them. That was your job then, but it’s not when he is a teen.

Micromanaging in the teen years breeds rebellion and you may end up having an adult child that won’t speak to you. Don’t let that happen.

And don’t make the mistake of swinging to the other end of the pendulum and give him total self-governing.

Teen Study Skills

Don’t stress over it, but look at these sanity-saving tips to gradually dole out independence, which then teaches your teen the art of studying.

  • Choose a topic in a subject. As soon as your child demonstrates a bit of independence, recognize it by allowing him to choose a topic in a subject that you require. Don’t ask him to cover science, but require it. But give him the choice, for example, of studying about rocks, magnets or a bird. For us this happened close to second grade for one child, close to sixth grade for another and closer to middle school for another son.
  • Then, choose subjects. After you have exposed your child to well-rounded out subjects, then give him the choices of which subjects to cover. This normally happens around middle and high school.
  • Give him checklists, organize drawers and student planners to gauge progress. Give him a checklist or some way of knowing what he is doing for the day and when he is finished. The art of how to study can be diminished when your expectations are not clear. Not only are you giving your child clear expectations, but you are doing something VERY important lasting him on into adulthood, which is teaching him how to create expectations, goals and standards for himself. How to study includes setting incremental goals and meeting them. He needs accountability to you first, then next to himself. Early on I set up drawers for each child and in the order I chose for him to cover the subject. That model morphed into choices they made later on as to which subjects they wanted to cover first. I also created student planners and my oldest son enjoyed that the most. My youngest son enjoys taking notes on his iPad. And another son likes picture doodling and part words as he note takes. Each child is different.

organized-drawers-promotes-self-teaching-and-independence-tinas-dynamic-homeschool-plus

  • Listen. More importantly, teens want to be heard. Listen and back him up by letting him try his idea. The best place and time to fail from an idea he had is while he is living with you so he can learn.
  • Take him with you to choose curriculum. My boys made a trip with me to the convention fair each year. If they didn’t have a preference in curriculum, they got a chance to look it over anyway.
  • Teach him his learning style and then help him learn that way. Don’t push your way of learning. I know, I’m probably one of the caring pushiest moms ever, but not all of my boys learn the way I do. Use color coding markers, use a written planner, use an online planner, use an iPad, music in the background works for one son (not me), quiet space for another son, flashcards, index cards and writing in a book (yes allowed). Be willing to move from your comfort zone to the learning zone your child works best in.

Teach Consequences But Evaluate Consequence Too

Three/ Consequences is a must.

Learning how to learn means that your child needs consequences, both bad and good for his habits. Shielding our child or always telling them everything not matter how well-intended can turn to nagging.

When I was a teen, I did learn by example. Not all teens learn that way and some have to experience pain.

Teaching my boys that learning by example is more preferable than learning always by experience was important to me, but my boys have to be willing to accept that mindset.

Teaching teens is not always a two-way street, so be prepared for times when they have to suffer bad consequences.

A bad grade worked for one son, but it didn’t for another one.

Telling my son to think about what others will think about him and the example he set worked for another son. He didn’t want to hear my opinion, but teaching him to evaluate what he was going to do or not do when applying himself to how he studied made him think how he would appear to others.

I’ve found that clear consequences, even writing them down has been a useful guide in prodding my teens in the right direction.

After all, college, life and career are full of on the job rules, regulations and earning respect. Don’t forget to teach them at home.

This is the tip of the iceberg of things I’ve learned as two of my sons have now entered the adulthood.

And when your adult sons tell you often how much they deeply value what you taught them about how to study, you won’t be able to hold back tears.

When you take time to teach your teens how to study, you teach them for a lifetime.

Grab my Free Student Planner, 3 Unique Things a Homeschooled Teen Learns From a Teacher’s Manual and I found this book, The Art of Self-Directed Learning: 23 Tips For Giving Yourself an Unconventional Education very inspirational.

Hugs and love ya,

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Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


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3 Biggest Problems with Homeschooling an Auditory Learner (And how to solve them)

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3 Biggest Problems with Homeschooling an Auditory Learner (And how to solve them) @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

(Even when Tiny was little, he would have to set things to music to learn.)

Tiny was my first baby I had while homeschooling and I spent many days on the couch with morning sickness when I was pregnant with him. While resting on the couch, I used music to teach my older sons because they were preschoolers. I am convinced that hearing me read books to his brothers and playing music for them while he was in my womb made Tiny an auditory learner.

Homeschooling An Auditory Learner

It didn’t stop there. The Mr. loved carrying each son in his arms; he spent many days and nights with each son on his chest, humming to them directly in their ear. Like me, the Mr. loves all kinds of music, but you wouldn’t want either one of us to sing to you. But we have music at some time in our day.

Do you know to this day Tiny hums while he does his school and while he does other things?  I knew early on that I had a strong auditory learner and it’s not easy to school him when your other kids need quiet as they work.

On top of all that, I am a visual learner and need silence when I work. That wasn’t going to work as I taught Tiny.

Look at a few of the problems I’ve encountered and a tip or two to help you.

Problem One: They need to work with you one-to-one longer in a subject they struggle with. For us, it’s spelling.

The most important thing to remember is that your child advanced as fast as he did (or if he hasn’t) because your voice made all the difference. Your child’s strength is that he needs to listen to learn and if it’s been your voice, you need to be careful to not take that away so fast, like I did.

Don’t be quick to let him work independently on all things even if he is in middle or high school.

I learned this the hard way when I tried to let Tiny do his spelling independently too soon.

With auditory learners, pitch and pause modeled by you are everything whether it comes to spelling or reading.

Because I let Tiny do spelling independently at the same age I did my other two boys, he has struggled with it.

I have had to go back and work with him on it because he got use to the way I called out the spelling words when he was younger.

It made a difference in how he advanced in spelling. Unknowingly, my teaching method for spelling was spot on for his auditory need.

Here is one way I teach spelling to my sons. I call spelling words out by saying the name of the word first and give a definition of it. Pretty normal there.

But animated teacher that I am, then I hold my hand up in the air and bring it to the right side and say the first sound of the word, then I move my hand to the center and say the second sound and then to the left and say the last sound. Each sound is over exaggerated and very clear and distinct.

I taught all of my boys this way to show them how to break words down into sounds or their smallest part.

But this is exactly how an auditory learner learns and it lines up with his strength. When he hears me say the word broken down into sounds, his spelling is solid.

Problem Two: I call this a problem or a challenge at the very least, which is reading aloud.

The reason it’s a challenge is because if you have younger children, reading aloud with your auditory learner is not just about pleasure but they need your help to get the meaning from text.

Now, this is one thing I’ve done right.

I have never been a fan of reading aloud to my children only when they are little. The rewards change at they grow older because it’s now about discussing with boys the different view of the characters in the literature.

We still read aloud through to high school.

In addition, I haven’t realized until this year that I have been strengthening his reading ability further because he is an auditory learner. He is still learning from me as I read. I know this because as I change the pitch and power in my voice, he gets the point in the literature. This teaches him how he needs to read to himself.

My other two boys just got it when they read alone. The challenge here is that when you have younger kids and an older auditory learner they may not necessarily find delight in the same material.

I’ve learned that if you keep the younger kids interested, the auditory learner can learn from any book as long as he hears your voice.

In addition, audio books for the older learner fills that need they have because it can be exhausting to read each day with a lesson in mind. I try to focus on the enjoyment of reading aloud.

Problem Three: Along with being an auditory learner, there may be a need to wiggle, which can be a distraction.

This is also a challenge because it can make teaching them seem like a 3-ring circus, which I don’t have a problem with now, but may have been a problem in my earlier days of homeschooling.

For example, even in middle school, Tiny would throw a football while spelling a word out loud.

Also, Tiny turns grammar rules that he needs to memorize into musical jingles. If I’m not looking, he will add in a dance move.

He also has a need to recite things more to me than my other boys. He is constantly interrupting me with what he is learning or thinking.

Before I understood about his learning style, I thought he was just not putting effort into something. For example, he wouldn’t study his vocabulary very long or spelling before he brought the book to me to go over with them.

Instead of being lazy about it, it was quite the opposite. He was doing his school and applying his strength of learning out loud and with others.

He learns best by discussing things he learned with me and moving around. At first, it was very distracting for me, but having another son who learns by moving, I recognized the behavior.

When he exhausts me, he is more than willing to go into another room, shut the door and read out loud.

I’m still discovering new ways for Tiny to learn while listening, but to also teach him how to absorb information when others are not around to listen to.

Do you have an auditory learner? Have you recognized the signs? And what do you do?

Also, look at these articles: Homeschooling: Learning Styles – What’s the Difference anyway, Day 16: Practical Tips for Learning Styles and Day 15: Discovering Learning Styles.

Hugs and love ya,

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Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for more AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

Linking up @ these awesome places:

Ten Best Tech Gifts for Teen Boys

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Ten Best Tech Gifts for Teen Boys @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Today I rounded up ten best tech gifts for teen boys.

I love to buy gifts for my boys. But when it comes to techie things, I sometimes have them meet me halfway money wise.

I’ve learned when they put a few bucks in of their own money, tech things get taken care of better. But then other times I prefer to jump out there and gift them with something really special.

So here is the list of things my boys love, some they have and others are still on their wish list.

ONE/ ASTRO Gaming A50 Wireless Dolby Gaming Headset

My boys have these earbuds and like this brand. They seem to hold up better than others.

TWO/ Skullcandy Method In-Ear Sweat Resistant Sports Earbud


Unique Teen Boy Gifts

This is the microphone that Mr. Awesome uses for gaming. For the money, it’s a great value and he has really liked it.

THREE/ Blue Microphones Snowball


FOUR/ Holy Stone HS170 Predator Mini Helicopter Drone


These bluetooth speakers we took with us to South America and really like the quality and the small size.

FIVE/ Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker


SIX/ Apple Watch Series 1 38mm Smartwatch


This is one of the laptop backpacks the boys used when we traveling because it can fit a larger laptop.

SEVEN/ Swiss Gear Swissgear 17″ inch Laptop Notebook Outdoor Backpack


EIGHT/ 7 Button LED Gaming Mouse


This photo printer is something I wish they wanted more so it would give me a chance to use it too.

NINE/ Wireless Color Photo Printer


This is the tablet that Mr. Senior 2013 has and has used for a few years. He really likes the simplicity of it.

TEN/ Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8-Inch Tablet


Let’s just face it, tech gifts can be expensive especially when you have several teens. And tech items sometimes can’t keep up with fast moving technology, but a lot of these gifts last several years.

I hope they give you some ideas for your list.

Also, look at these ideas. Gifts For Kids Who Are Wild About History.

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for more AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

Linking up @ these awesome places:

Top 10 Tips for Homeschooling Boys (They Do Grow Into Men)

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Top 10 Tips for Homeschooling Boys @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

When I was pregnant the third time, my husband told me to not find out the sex of our third child because I had been so very sick this time around. You know the kind of sick where you barely open your eyes in the morning and nausea sets in. No, it wasn’t pretty each morning so I just knew I was blessed with my first girl.

As things turned out, that was not the case. My third precious son arrived soon thereafter.

Embracing the term boy mom was not something I was prepared for, but in some ways I don’t feel that I was perfectly prepared for homeschooling either. It was just laid on me.

So I am not only grateful to be able to homeschool, but realize things turn out just the way they should be.

Reviewing these past 16 + years of homeschooling, I have learned a lot about homeschooling only boys.

Sharing my top 10 tips for homeschooling boys, I hope to arm you with some tips and encourage you embrace this course for the long haul.

1. Recognize the differences.

Though it’s true that boys are more wiggly than girls, it is not always true that every boy is that way.

I have two sons that don’t mind sitting still and learning and one that fits the idea that boys are more wiggly.

Recognize that each son is unique when it comes to how they prefer to learn. Look at my articles, Treasure the Moments of Homeschooling Testosterone Armed Boys and Shocking Things that Homeschooled Boys Want to Write About.

2. Use boy-friendly homeschool curriculum.

I wish at times that homeschool curriculum would have a boy-friendly label, but they do not.

However, some curriculum is easier to tweak for boys’ preferred way of learning.

Key to getting boys excited about learning was not just using curriculum that fit their learning style, but using curriculum that had male teachers.

The teaching examples used by a male teacher connects with boys. Female teachers may tend to use topics, for example, in writing, that only girls will understand.

Curriculum that we had a lot of success with has varied, but IEW with its Student Writing Intensive DVD Course with Andrew Pudewa was a huge hit with my boys.

The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, was also a favorite hit with my boys with their myriads ideas of hands-on activities.

Living books like those in Five in a Row,were also ones that fed my boys desire to read and Growing with Grammar kept  grammar short and easy to understand.

3. Friends are Important – Just Later On.

When the boys were real young, they use to joke among themselves about some girls they knew that were going back and forth spending the night with their other girl friends and having pen pals.

My boys had no desire to have to spend the night at a friend’s house. Play over yes, but night over no.

Only moms of girls ask my boys about being pen pals with their sons too.

Boys have another “language of communication” when it comes to being with each other and I recognized this early on.

Challenges and Blessings of Raising Sons

And though there were some of their friends that had pen pals, friends really mattered more as they hit the junior high and high school years.

Whatever easy time I had when the boys were little as far as not having to deal too much with “play dates” was made up when they wanted to get together every week and sometimes numerous times during the week with other teens.

I would often worry that they may be too introverted, but they quickly made up in the later years – in their own time.

4. Hands-on learning matters.

Maybe it is because they will become men, but all of my sons learned better with hands-on activities.

I do feel girls benefit with hands-on learning too, but boys especially do.

This was a lesson I had to learn the hard way because I would rather just read something and be on to the next topic that interested me.

It was so important to me that I switched my approach from a classical approach to a unit study approach so that subjects could all be focused on a topic my boys chose and to include hands-on activities.

5. Disciplining in love.

Many times it is hard to separate parenting from homeschooling because they are intertwined.

I learned that boys though not as sensitive as girls still need a mom who disciplines in love.

Berating a child never works, but especially if they are boys, it can backfire.

Parenting boys is different because I do believe in Bible principles and feel that boys need to be well equipped to lead a family. This is completely different than a supportive role that a wife will take in a relationship.

If I don’t discipline with love and especially with respect, then instead of boosting their self-confidence for weightier decisions they have to make later in life, I could be crumbling their foundation.

6. Male role model is important.

There are many single parent homeschooling families and I still feel that you can find valuable male role models for your sons.

Dad is best. That is if he is a proper male role model. My husband has played a huge part in influencing my sons to put their best foot forward, so to speak, when homeschooling.

However, a loving grandfather, caring uncle or even close friend can mentor your sons.

There can come a time, that even when you’re a super terrific mom that a son may slightly (okay, maybe an understatement because he could resist it a lot) resist your authority.

Though it can be normal, it doesn’t mean it’s right.

If your son doesn’t know how to accept authority from his mother, it’s pretty hard to accept it from other people.

A good male role model sets an example of how to treat woman with respect and vice versa.

7. Responsibility from an early age equals a strong work ethic.

I think it’s the ultimate payoff when your son is no longer under your roof, but you see that all you taught him for the past 18 years or so he learned well and is thriving.

Nowadays, I have seen plenty of pampering boys.

I don’t think it is always on purpose, but I feel it may come from not appreciating the huge differences between girls and boys.

I am not talking about being brutal when it comes to expecting more from a son, but simply put, boys need a huge measure of responsibility early on. This allows them to flex their decision making ability early on.

By letting them exercise a measure of responsibility whether it’s just around the house or out finding a job, it teaches them a strong work ethic.

A strong work ethic now teaches them to not only take care of themselves, but it teaches them the leadership role in a marriage later on.

Lessons Learned from a Boy Mom

Boys need to learn the art of sound decision making. They can’t do that when they are pampered at home and not allowed to make any significant decisions.

Tiny decisions start with where they want to homeschool and it expands to them giving input about their high school academic load.

Give them some power to make decisions. For example, if they want to get a job, make clear expectations about what you expect them to complete for their school each day.

Allow them a chance to manage their time and learn to work hard when they are still at home.

8. Recognize the “sparring” stage. Apply it to learning.

I never felt comfortable with this stage, but have learned to recognize that it is part of the male persona and can be a male bonding ritual if kept under check.

For a mom of all girls, it almost seems like boys are fighting.

When my boys were all very little, I recall one year where my sister, who is mom to all girls, was the first one to be concerned over the fact that my boys were in the yard sparring with tree branches.

They were all fully engaged, laughing uncontrollably and letting off some male steam.

What I realized early was that a competitive streak was part of the natural male makeup.

It doesn’t necessarily mean that it is competitive with other boys, but boys spar because they enjoy the challenge of pushing themselves.

I utilized their need to push harder, be better and rise above to their every day learning.

One day, my middle son was working hard on memorizing basic math facts, a subject he struggling with at the time.

Instead of learning math facts by sitting in the chair, I challenged him to race around the house as he said the math facts and to try to beat his time from before. I would holler his time out to him as he rounded the corner of the house again.

Not only was this a terrific way to fully engage his need to move and be challenged, but it was a fun way to get him to memorize math facts. He never forgot this lesson.

9. Angry outbursts can equal emotional vulnerability.

Being raised in a home with three girls, it wasn’t hard for me to understand when one of my sisters had a problem or felt vulnerable.

Boys, however, respond to problems with what seems like a need to be aggressive.

I have seen this in each one of my sons. When confronted with a situation they were unsure of, they didn’t react in a way that I thought was “normal”.

Learning through those experiences, I realized that boys get overloaded too. Unlike girls, their need for emotional support is not as easily detected and it can take the form of aggression.

After I knew this spark to watch for when teaching them every day, I had to learn when to step back and cut school assignments into bite sized pieces.

Sometimes, their aggressive behavior was a sign of the changes in their growing bodies and that they needed extra rest or extra exercise.

Understanding that boys have needs that can be masked as angry outbursts helped me to avoid explosive situations.

10. Love them unconditionally! Let them love you too.

There are extremely tender moments with my sons and one of them is when they want to take care of me.

I know their father has been a huge influence on them by modeling how he cares for me, but I never knew the depth of closeness I could have with each of my sons.

Never comparing one son’s quality to another son’s gentle qualities is a must. Each boy is different, but allow each one of them to love you on their terms and love them unconditionally.

Homeschooling boys has been of the greatest challenges about homeschooling, but it has also been one of the most rewarding.

I am proud of the men my boys are becoming.

What about you? Do you value the privilege of homeschooling boys?

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Ten Best Tech Gifts for Teen Boys, Shocking Things that Homeschooled Boys Want to Write About. Should We Let Them?, and Teaching Homeschooled Boys How to Read – When to Panic!

Hugs and love ya,