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High School Elective:Peek at Principles and Precepts of Economics

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

High School Elective. A Peek at Principles and Precepts of Economics Homeschool High School Curriculum @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus
I was given this product for free and I was paid for my time. However, paid for my time does not mean paid off. All opinions are my own and for sure I will always tell you what is on my mind. Not every product will get a positive review. Too, because I carefully sort through numerous offers for reviews,  it usually means that I’m giddy about the product when I do accept it. Read my full disclosure here.

After just graduating high school, one of my most memorable adventures was staying with friends who lived in Belize. They had just purchased a house and planted trees, which produced the most delicious avocados and mangoes. When night came though, they would have to guard their new orchard as some of the Belizeans would jump the fence and raid their fruit. One local man justified the actions of his fellow countrymen by saying, “The fruit was for the whole of we.” Knowing the history of British influence on the dialect, we all understood the meaning of his reply. Whatever work you did in that country was to benefit the whole country. My friends and I got schooled that night about economics from one local view which was very different than what I learned about high school economics. Economics is about learning the history of what shaped people to think about their system of trading. So I was thrilled when I had the chance to teach my high school teen about economics using Principles and Precepts of Economics from Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum. 

When I learned that Principles and Precepts of Economics course is taught through history, I was hooked. Isn’t that what really affects how people from different countries view the economy? The past history and the present and future goals of a country shape today’s modern world. Look here at the scope and sequence of what each book covers so you can get an overview.

Understanding economics then at the high school level needs to begin with the ideas of the founding fathers and Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum (PAC) has done a solid job in presenting a foundation for a country’s trading system while presenting both good and bad ideas.

The course has three components: three soft-cover texts (chapters), three student activity books and a teacher resource book, which we put in a binder for ease of use.

The ease of use for PAC is one of its strongest features for a homeschooled home school teen | Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Look at the 15 topics that come in each chapter (soft-cover text) so you can see the key teaching points and how Principles and Precepts of Economics unfolds.

 15 TOPICS STUDIED IN EACH SOFT BOUND (Chapter) TEXT BOOK.
Chapter 1

►Introduction to Economics
1. Defining Economics
2. An Economy Based on Biblical Principles
3. A Bad Experiment
4. Economics and the American Colonies
5. Tyranny of the Crown
►From Revolution to Prosperity
1. Liberty or Death!
2. War!
3. The Constitution and Bill of Rights
4. Land of Opportunity
5. Prosperity vs New Ideologies
►Modern Economic Issues in America
1. The Progressives
2. Change Comes
3. New Economies Part I
4. New Economies Part II
5. Return to Greatness

Chapter 2

►The Early Years – Seeds of Economic Liberty
1. Fleeing Tyranny in England
2. An Economy Based on Biblical Principles
3. A Bad Experiment
4. Economics and the American Colonies
5. Tyranny of the Crown
►From Revolution to Prosperity
1. Liberty or Death!
2. War!
3. The Constitution and Bill of Rights
4. Land of Opportunity
5. Prosperity vs. New Ideologies
►Modern Economic Issues in America
1. The Progressives
2. Change Comes
3. New Economics Part I
4. New Economics Part II
5. Return to Greatness

Chapter 3

►Family Economics
1. Budgets
2. Banking
3. Insurance
4. Investing
5. Government Considerations
►Starting a Small Business
1. Freedom vs. Punching a Clock
2. Personal Interest + Demand = Profit
3. Resources (Help Is Available)
4. Profit and Loss
5. Use It Wisely
►Education and Economic
1. Considerations
2. College
3. Trade Schools
4. Military Service
5. Other Options

As you can see the Chapter 2 book builds on the history of Chapter 1. The Chapter 3 book we really liked too because it gave practical value to learning economics. For example, Mr. Awesome and I had to make some decisions about a 401K in his upcoming job. After covering Chapter 3, Tiny knew what we were talking about because he really liked the sections about family economics and business ownership.

Let me back up first though because Chapter 1 is a fast and surprisingly comprehensive overview of world history including some religious views and some about the background of the Bible.

This was unexpected by us at first because I’ve used curriculum from PAC before and prefer to add in our own worldview. It is easily done by this curriculum.

Too, we understood the context in which those ideas were being introduced. For example, to understand capitalism is to view it through the eyes of the founding fathers. It was based on individual liberty and belief in inalienable rights bestowed by a Creator.

Through the course it was clear that principles, precepts and different theories were going to be introduced. At this age, I’m wanting to be sure Tiny is introduced to other worldviews.

Chapter 1 covers from Ancient history, including Rome to the Awakening to the Middle Ages. As each world power is introduced, vocabulary words and ideologies are explained.

The layout of the book is what makes the books so easy for a middle or high school student to do independently.

Look below at one 2 page layout.

Self-teaching is promoted because everything the student needs to learn is right on the page without researching a lot of external resources.Vocabulary words are clearly defined through simple, but not busy illustrations which makes the teaching points or message memorable.

Another feature Tiny really enjoyed was the use of video throughout the book.

If you don’t know what QR codes are, I know your teen probably does. That was another unexpected very useful interactive tool we liked.

How to Easily Teach High School Economics

You can download the free QR reader scanner here at iTunes. Note this one is for an iPhone. You can also get one for an iPad which we already had downloaded.

Look at these easy directions below.

High School Elective. A Peek at Principles and Precepts of Economics Homeschool High using QR codes | Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Find the QR code links in the books, use your device to scan the code (tell your teen to clean his screen for the fifteenth time, okay, okay) and then wait for the video to load on your device.This video was one learning about different types of business structures and it was my business-minded teen’s very favorite.

10 Things You Should Know About Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum

Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum (PAC) may be a good fit for your family:

►If your high school student prefers to work independently.
►If your middle school student is ready for high school level work.
►If, like me, you need to keep up with high school credit then this is one-half credit (.5) or semester long program.
►If you have a middle school or high school teen that loves history, then he’ll appreciate covering economics from a history slant.
►If you want to use this as an elective or a required course in social studies.
►If you don’t want to use an online high school. Simply choose which subjects you want your child to do and form your syllabus. Grade and track your child’s grades.
►If your teen gets easily overwhelmed with all the clutter in digital only formats, then the clean and simple black and white illustrations keeps the points being taught straightforward and challenging but clear.
►If you want something affordable and prefer to use consumable products.
►If your teen prefers activities like fill in the blank, matching concepts, marking answers true and false and circling the correct answer.
►If you want to still feed your teen’s mind with character building concepts, he’ll savor the tiny nuggets of motivational sayings or Life Principles at the end of each section.

I do have to let you know about a part I didn’t agree with. Understand too that I realize at the high school senior level parents vary about how much control they want over their young adult’s content.

I still very much feel it’s my job to shape my child’s thinking and I’ve always preferred secular resources so that I can instill my own Biblical content.

One the other hand, I’ve never objected to my teens being exposed to conflicting thoughts and views because my job is to prepare my teens for other views. But I want views to stay as that, just opinions or perspectives.

The authors write on the left side column of the page:

Evolution, as it is taught today, has itself evolved since Darwin published his tome; but the book inspired collectivists to promote their theories. While the intention of this course is not to delve deeply into scientific matters, we need to examine the evolution perspective so you can see its impact on public policy, including economics and politics. (Chapter 1, page 43. Bold emphasis mine.)

Then on the right side column of the same page the authors write:

Evolution’s counterpart, creationism, or intelligent design, was (and is today) ridiculed by collectivists as unscientific, and thus unworthy of inclusion in modern science text and classrooms. However the success of capitalism is a strong argument in support of economics based on individual liberty and belief in inalienable rights bestowed by a Creator.

In reality, both evolution and creationism are unprovable, from a purely scientific standpoint. Science observation and experimentation are necessary parts of the scientific method, neither evolution or creationism can be proved scientifically. If creationism is true, nobody alive today was around to watch it happen, and if evolution is true, no one can live millions of years to observe it happening. Likewise if God created everything in the distant past, we cannot recreate that in the lab. Neither can one recreate evolution in science labs. (Chapter 1, page 43. Bold emphasis mine.)

Whether I agree or not if evolution or creationism cannot be proved scientifically, I would have preferred that the second paragraph on the second column above not be included.

I feel this would have been more in line with the authors’ intention of not delving deeply into scientific matters because I want to be the one helping my teen determine our scientific standpoint.

Overall it was an excellent course for the number of lessons covered and that part didn’t hold us back from covering the rest of the very useful and practical information.

Too, I think you’ll love how all of their courses are useful and practical to use. We’ve had an overall positive experience using them. Look at my post where we used Paradigm Accelerated World History Curriculum.

Then don’t forget to use the coupon code below for such a well-laid out course.

Follow Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum.
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How to purchase it.

►Product Name: Principles and Precepts of Economics. Full course kit which includes texts, activities and teacher’s resource kit.
►Website: Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum – Principles and Precepts of Economics.
►Suitable for grades: 7th to High School.
►Formats: Print version, audio enhanced and digital download.
►Worldview: Secular friendly and easy to implement your own worldview.
►Cost: $59.55 print version.

Also, check out 14 Fun and (maybe Frugal) Homeschool High School Electives, Successful Entrepreneur-3 Best Homeschooled Teen Resources and Homeschool High School–How to Log Hours for High School.

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

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.

How to Easily Add Poetry to Your Homeschool Subjects

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

How to Easily Add Poetry to Your Homeschool Subjects @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool PlusPoetry has always been important to me during my homeschooling journey. Expressing emotion through artfully contrived words though, I feel, can be a lost art in homeschooling because of the sheer number of subjects that creep up into our day. We have savored every lesson as we used The Art of Poetry Bundle.

Beautiful words have a way of painting a conversation with so few of them. I have always admired such clear thought that can be dwindled down to a few lines of poetry. The Art of Poetry captures not just the common elements like rhythm and meter, but can lead you step by step to understanding and skillfully teaching poetry.

I have added a snippet above of the table contents for you to peek at. By breaking each element of poetry down into a chapter, you and your children have more than enough time to relish each word, line and punctuation.

Poetry unlike reading prose calls for an unhurried pace so that all the parts are analyzed for beauty and hidden meaning.

Using figurative language and metaphors is not something we always use in everyday writing. At first, studying poetry can feel strained until you realize that writers have to write with their hearts and not just their minds. So The Art of Poetry  begins by helping you to understand the importance of paying close attention to reading, then covers the elements of poetry and gives you a history and timeline of poetry.

A very useful feature and one we enjoyed  is the short biographies of poets that is in the back of the book. Helping your children to appreciate that poets are real people and their lives, their environment and opinions influences their emotions and enriches our understanding of each word. 

Whether a poem is silly, happy or sad, our children see that other poets may have experienced some of the things that we do.

When we received The Art of Poetry, both the Student Text and Teacher Editions were bound beautifully. You know my obsession by now though. I need books that lay flat on my table. So I coil bound both the Teacher’s Edition and Student Text and began our lessons.

I heeded the suggestion given right away and that is to begin by reading Chapter 8:Putting it All Together.  Using this with both Mr. Awesome who was high school level at the time and Tiny who was elementary level, helped me to get an overall pulse of their understanding of poetry up to this point.

After each poem there is a set of questions in the Student Text for you to consider. The Teacher’s Edition is a must have because of the sheer volume of teaching tips and answers to the questions. It is more than an answer sheet. More on that in a minute because I certainly want to give you more details on it.

At the end of the chapter there are activities that vary anywhere from reading a poem of your child’s choosing, to hands-on activities to writing a poem.

There were more than enough activities to choose from at the end of each chapter so that I could mix and match for both levels.  Also vocabulary words and their definitions are provided throughout the Student Text.

It did not take long for Mr. Awesome and Tiny to understand that poems are about laughter, enjoyment and they can also bring tears. They are about unveiling emotion that we only thought oral conversation could do.

We did several of the activities suggested in each lesson plan. As suggested in one of the activities, I found free emotion facial cards online so that Tiny could pick the emotion he was feeling as Mr. Awesome read the poem.

I also received Disk 1 from the DVD. The quality, sound and clarity of the lessons was superb.

I think one of the parts Mr. Awesome enjoyed the best about this program was watching the DVD as Christine Perrin teaches four students.  Mr. Awesome gave up his normal DVD laptop player and confiscated my computer with the bigger screen. Because he is high school level, he does get to use the Teacher’s Edition too if he needs it but just followed along in the Student Text as he watched her conduct the class. He felt a connection with the other kids there realizing they didn’t have all the exact words to express their feelings about each poem.

I have not forgotten to tell you about the comprehensive Teacher’s Edition. Just in case the homeschool world decides to start nominating candidates for the top of the line teacher’s editions and gives them a 5 star award, I will already have The Art of Poetry Teacher’s Edition nominated.

Previously I mentioned the timeline in the Teacher’s Edition, but I have to admit that some swooning was involved when I saw it. In our unit studies and everyday learning, I am always looking for ways to connect language arts to a history timeline.

In the Teacher’s Edition, there is a timeline that has time periods with the following four sections, except for the postmodern period: forms and genres, writers, literary value and historical context. It is a nice visual aid to enriching your language arts.

A Teacher’s Edition should equip any teacher, not just the ones who have a background or degree in that area, to explain clearly what is being taught. A teacher can’t do this if she is only given an answer sheet. Background information to edify the educator is a must too.

The Art of Poetry Teacher’s Edition contains gray bordered pages immediately following the lesson that gives detailed explications and background information where needed. That means this section clarifies and breaks down the process of teaching into the most minute pieces. We need that when we don’t know what we are doing or like me, if you want to pick up the curriculum and teach with minimum preparation time.

Here is what this Teacher’s Edition includes. I took this from the website so it is finely tuned.

  • Detailed and fascinating explications of thirty-nine poems from the student text
  • A complete answer key to accompany Anthology exercises
  • A poetry time line showing the different periods of poetry, including the period’s forms and genres, writers, literary value, and some historical context
  • A quiz for each chapter, a cumulative book quiz, and answers keys for all quizzes
  • An introduction for the teacher with tips and suggestions for teaching poetry
  • The entire The Art of Poetry student text

I have to add one more point though that is particularly valuable to me in using many, many teacher’s editions and that is how the student text page and teacher’s edition page numbers align. Though the table of contents lists the Teacher’s Edition last entry on page 271, there are well over that amount of pages in the Teacher’s Editions. However, because they retained the same page number alignment, you can easily tell your student which page you are on because you start on the same one. A small thing not so small in keeping me organized and saving time flipping through student texts and teacher’s editions that have different page numbers.

Effort counts in poetry. Turning thoughts into creative words is not an easy task, but any reader of poetry appreciates thoughts that are composed in an artistic way. Both Mr. Awesome and Tiny enjoyed the activities of not only writing their own poetry but sharing it with each other as well as their drawings illustrating figurative language. Closing our eyes and mentally reflecting on the sight, sound, feel, taste and aroma of each poem we read as we were guided along by The Art of Poetry has been some of our most pleasurable lessons so far this year.

I know you’ll love teaching poetry easily with The Art of Poetry .

Also, you can grab some free Ancient Greece Poetry, 24 Borderline Genius Ways To Relieve Language Arts Boredom and How To Teach Your Homeschooled Children Shakespeare.

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

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.

Successful Entrepreneur-3 Best Homeschooled Teen Resources

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

No form of schooling, whether it’s self-education, college or supplementary guarantees that your homeschooled teen will be successful in professional life. And a high score in college doesn’t necessarily equate with a high-paying job.

Maybe that is what entrepreneurs figure out while they are in high school; college should be a training for real life and not about earning the highest grade point average. But this isn’t a post about the pros and cons of college, but it is about preparing your teens to be successful entrepreneurs.

While teaching my sons the skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur, I cheated. I had help.

Habits of Successful Entrepreneurs

3 Best Homeschool Resources to Prepare a Teen to be a Successful Entrepreneur @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

You know I told you that my husband is a true entrepreneur.

What do I mean by true entrepreneur? True and wannabe entrepreneurs were applying for one of five positions within a large company who specifically listed true entrepreneurs as a qualification.

My husband, along with hundreds of applicants went through a series of tests, which had multiple steps.

In other words, they didn’t want to hear that you called yourself an entrepreneur because you had a start up business or that you are an out of the box thinker. They wanted proof of your mindset.

And yes, my husband was one of the 5 called for the position after a few weeks of testing. At first, I chuckled silently because I thought there is no way you can test those type of personality traits let alone prepare for a test like that.

Then I realized that the many years of running our successful business prepared my husband for the tests.

Before  I continue, I need to share a shameless plug. I’m so proud of my husband because he wrote a book.

Entrepreneur: Born or Made by Fire is his life story of how a boy felt unfit for public school and felt like he was in prison built a successful million dollar company through his creative thinking and hard work.

Being molded by my husband’s thinking, I want to share three homeschool resources in subjects my husband wished he would have taken more seriously.

And no, they are not dazzling business courses or secret marketing or money making strategies though it certainly won’t hurt your teen to learn those business tips.

They are basic subjects that help a teen to build a way of problem solving and help him to connect with the real world.

Look at these 3 best homeschool resources to prepare a teen to be a successful entrepreneur and how they help your teen. Also, you’ll love this fun “business in a box” so your kid can get his feet wet in business.

ONE/Key to Series.

This supplementary math series is solid and time tested. At the time of using it with my sons, I had no idea how this seemingly basic and not so fancy looking math series helps build solid math skills.
Through the years, I used these series of books to shore up math weaknesses.

If a budding entrepreneur doesn’t like math, is struggling with one or two concepts or is rebelling at the thought of a math course where he feels his time is wasted, this straight to the point series helps him move quickly through concepts he doesn’t understand.

Key to Math Series. It's solid and time tested @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

The workbook series goes from about a fourth grade to high school level and covers individual areas of math like key to decimals, key to percents and key to measurements to name a few.

Solid math is the backbone of any successful business. And being able to quickly work out a math picture in his mind of a profit margin, percentages or commissions are necessary. Start off at the basic level within the pack and then work up until mastery and mental recall are immediate.

Key to Math Series @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

A money making entrepreneur has to be quick on feet when it comes to mentally deciphering numbers because math means money. And if you can’t figure money correctly and quickly, it could mean less of it.

That is a big deal to an entrepreneur.  Make math count by shoring up his weaknesses with the Key to Series.

Every Day Entrepreneurs Make Mundane to Monumental Decisions

TWO/James Madison Critical Thinking Course.

Nourishing a entrepreneur’s skill set means teaching him how to make meaningful decisions. The business world is full of gray and not so gray areas.

Teaching him to identify correct information and more important making a decision in keeping with his values is vital.

Besides making a novice feel like he has to make a choice between morals or money (he does not), the business world is full of shortcuts and ways for a new entrepreneur to utilize his curiosity.

James Madison Critical Thinking Series equals teaching critical thinking skills in a fun way @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

The way for him to do this is to learn to effectively and critically manage the huge amount of information that can be amassed in an industry.

I was delighted when Mr. Awesome 2015 used James Madison Critical Thinking Course.

Written in a fun form, each scenario in this thinking course is about solving crimes.

Your teen takes an investigative hat. This appeals to an entrepreneur’s problem solving skill set.

The book is 534 pages but more importantly through a fun and not babyish or cartoon way it goes teaches critical thinking – a vital skill set in the business world.

James Madison Critical Thinking Series @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Did you know that it’s used by adults to prepare for tests? Like real life business where you sometimes are not sure if you made the right decision, the problems are not about getting a correct answer.

It’s about teaching your teen an approach to problem solving.

Three/Building Historical Literacy While Engaging the Whole Child (Just 14 Lesson for Broad Strokes of History)

Then next, I never dreamed my husband would be endorsing a history curriculum, but I understand why now.

First, I need to explain what happened to us one year in business.

We had business acquaintances coming from Asian countries that were coming to meet us after we had partnered up the year before.

My husband kept quizzing me about Asian culture and what to expect as far as how to entertain them respectfully and interact with them they arrived.

The visitors we learned would be traveling with an interpreter. My husband took the liberty, though he felt uncomfortable about reaching out to the interpreter to ask about certain business traditions and culture in their home country.

In the end, we were prepared when we met our business acquaintances in person and exchanged gifts.

Why does this matter? My husband felt like if he had a better grip on understanding some of the basic history and values of other countries, he would’ve felt more prepared for that encounter and future ones too.

The impatient entrepreneur can benefit from going through a history program that covers the broad strokes of history.

In 14 lessons, he can have a framework on which to build his understanding of other countries and their values. We can respect and honor accomplishments and achievements of other countries.

Relationships in business are everything and nothing promotes relationships more than being able to talk meaningfully about the achievements of another culture. It enriches business relationships.

Also, look here at my post How to Teach History in 14 Lessons (From Daunting to Doable) where I give you more details about it.

Raising successful homeschooled teens is a challenge worth pursuing.

As part of my high school course for my sons they also read my husband’s book, Entrepreneur: Born or Made by Fire because we wanted them to understand the value of hard work.

There are no easy ways to prepare business-minded teens to learn how to take charge, make decisions in the face of obscure answers or how to interact with a world that is more global then ever before, but self-education is a passion worth pursuing.

Also, look at my post Digital Homeschool Curriculum – Big Ol’ List and Teach Your Homeschooled Teen the Art of Studying (without nagging).

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

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

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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3 Unique Things a Homeschooled Teen Learns From a Teacher’s Manual

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3 Unique Things a Homeschooled Teen Learns From a Teacher's Manual @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

When your kids are middle school or high school level, beginning to homeschool can be tough. For many years they have been away from you and have been conditioned to learn one way.

And though homeschool moms who’ve homeschooled their teens from the beginning may find it easier to hand over the teacher’s manual to their teens because they know what standard they have set day to day, they can still find it challenging to teach study skills.

Regardless of whether you’ve homeschooled from the beginning or jumped into homeschooling with teens, there are 3 things a homeschooled teen learns by you handing over the teacher’s manual.

One/ A teen learns that you won’t control them. This may not seem important to you, but to a maturing teen it’s everything.

This is not as paramount as they grow older, but in the early teen years with my boys, it was important for them to see me as a confident, not controlling teacher.

Hear my whisper and feel my gentle nudge, failure is a good teacher for your teens. More on that in a minute.

As my sons grew older and became more confident, we didn’t clash about control. However, when they were entering the teen years, I tried to not it let it get to that point. I simply handed over the teacher’s manual so they could dig in it on their own.

Giving them the teacher’s manual is not about a power struggle, but empowering them to learn.

Two/ Forget independent learning skills, they need to learn how to study first.

I’m not against independent learning skills, but at this time in their life is when a teen learns how to study. In the rush to prepare our teens for adulthood, we expect independent learning skills without teaching them how to to do it.

You can’t expect your teens to be independent until they have practiced how to study or have a few trial runs.

Now, I know you may be thinking that your teens will look straight at the answers and write them down without studying. They may.

Lessons I Learned From My Homeschooled Teen

My teens tried it a few times with some problems they couldn’t solve in math and language arts.

Let them think they are getting away with something if that is how they feel. However, here is the secret!

They have to be able to tell you back what they learned.

If a teen can’t tell you back what he has learned without looking at the book or the material he has studied, he hasn’t mastered his material.

So if my boys chose to look at the answers first and work back from that how to solve it, I didn’t care.

At first, I was apprehensive letting them have that freedom, but too I have never spoon-fed my boys or thought the only way to learn was a question answer format. I’ve always allowed them to learn, even in reverse if necessary.

I learned that if they were to be independent learners, I had to quit being the teacher and be the coach to guide them.

Three/ Problem solving skills are learned in middle school or high school where they should be and not in college or on the job.

Whether your teen chooses a college or career track, the ability to solve problems when an answer isn’t correct is critical to flourishing in the real world.

It can be easy to identify a problem, but solving it is another skill set.

Learning how to attack a problem with a plan or order for determining importance, finding the right and wrong assumptions and then determining a solution is something that even adults struggle with.

Here and now when your child is a teen is when they learn such a valuable skill that will boost their college or career track.

I mentioned before failure is a good teacher. Your mom voice doesn’t have to be brittle or harsh when your teens don’t want to listen to you. I’m not talking about tolerating a disrespectful attitude but allowing your teen to disagree with the way you teach.

You have nothing to prove.

Give your teen the manual and if he can’t explain back what he learns without constantly opening the book, then the material needs to be reviewed. Learning is that simple.

Don’t try to be confrontational. If they don’t get the point that they have to redo the material if they don’t understand it, then encouraging them to do it again with the teacher’s manual teaches them to not give up.

After a few times of doing it that way, my boys would work many times without cracking open the teacher’s manual. After they completed their work, they self-graded and reviewed from the teacher’s manual.

How to Stay Motivated While Homeschooling Teens

They can surprise you too when you gently guide them. My boys, without my prompting, would rework their problems or redo their work to be sure they understood it.

They need to understand that this is their education and they have the right to learn in a way that benefits them the most.

Fast forward many years now, I recently asked Mr. Senior 2013 if that was the right thing to let him have the teacher’s manual. He absolutely agreed and added that if he didn’t get the problem correct after checking the teacher’s manual, it made him rethink how he solved his problem. I loved what he said because that it was what every homeschool parent wants – to equip their child for the real world.

Do you have a teen that you’re butting heads with? Try this and let me know if he or she flourishes.

Also, look at these other helpful articles. Homeschool High School–How to Log Hours for High School, Homeschool High School Readiness and Homeschool High School The Must Cover Subjects Part 2.

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

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.