homeschooling boys

Q&A: My 16yo Won’t Grow Up! How Can I Get Him to be Responsible?
A mom asks, "My 16yo is driving me crazy! He won't do his schoolwork. He argues with everything we say. He blames someone else for everything that happens. He's not obeying and he's disrespectful. If we say he can't use the internet, he does anyway and says we don't trust him. He just won't grow…
Q&A How & When Do You Share Disturbing News with Your Children?
After the Oregon shooting this week, a reader asked, "How and when do you share news like this with your children? I haven't shared much "news" with my children but I have older ones and I want to expose them to more. What sources do you use or do you just pass the news to…
Helping Boys Love to Read
"How do I get my son to read???" is a common question when we speak about homeschooling boys. Here's what we've done: Be patient when you are teaching them to read. Earlier is not better when it comes to boys. The average boy five years old has the same developmental reading readiness as a girl…
Spring Fever
A mom approached us at a conference, "I just can't get my son to concentrate!" she said. We asked her to explain. "Well, he does pretty well until about half-way through the morning, then he just loses focus! I tell him, 'Look, we only have three more subjects! Buckle down and concentrate and we'll be…
Passing on the Faith: Mere Christianity Literary Analysis Journal
To enter these giveaways, join us for our free LIVE webinar, Ballistic Parenting: Surviving and Appreciating Boys on Monday, January 27th at 3pm Eastern OR download the workshop and listen any time before February 3rd. Register free here! "Stacy Farrell hits another home run with the Mere Christianity Critical Analysis Journal. With insightful questions and thoughtful…
Announcing Our New Radio Show – and an iPad Mini Giveaway!
We are thrilled to announce that we'll be hosting an hourlong weekly streaming radio show on the new Ultimate Radio Network! Our new show, Making Biblical Family Life Practical, will be the Hal & Melanie you guys know and love -- there will be lots of back and forth and humor, but also pointed, principled…
Doing What’s Most Important
This week we're seeing another one of our (not-so) little birds leap out of the nest and try his wings on his own. It's time to take another young man to college for the first time. It's times like this that make me so thankful we homeschool. He and I have both struggled with our…
Boy Secrets: School – What to Do About the Wiggles?
  This is one of the hardest lessons for a mother of boys to learn. We just think, Buckle down for a little while and we'll be done. Why can't you just concentrate for a few more minutes? What we've got to remember is that after a certain point, it's taking all his energy and…
Preschool and Thirty-Three Classic Picture Books
This series of articles is in response to the question, "What curriculum do you use?" which we're freqently asked. Read the first in the series here. Don't miss the freebie at the bottom of the post! Preschool is a time when you can really hardly fail. You have years and years and years to make up for…
So, What Curriculum Do You Use?
Folks ask us all the time, "So, what curriculum do you use?" Let me begin to answer by telling you a story. Many years ago, one of my dear friends asked me the same thing as she began homeschooling her children. I was happy to tell her because I believed I'd found the very best…