Teens
The first night of Boot Camp 9-12 is always so entertaining. We start off by describing the early signs that your child is entering puberty (and no, peach fuzz and a cracking voice are actually late signs). We talk about how kids in that stage start having huge emotional swings, from rage to tears, get…
Nearly thirty years ago, we had what was in many ways an unusual relationship compared to many of our friends. For us, it grew rather naturally from a friendship between two people who were rather analytical about things—even affairs of the heart. But we’re getting ahead of our story. When it comes to marriage or…
This has been a pretty sobering week for many homeschool families. A very prominent leader and speaker in Christian homeschool circles confessed to an inappropriate relationship with a woman and resigned from his ministry and speaking engagements. As speakers ourselves, we and our children know most of the other families on the speaking circuit, so…
This weekend we were at the HINTS Conference in Charlotte and I happened to have the most interesting conversation with Caryn Hommel of Excelerate Language. I thought I'd come back over and interview her so you guys could hear from her, too. Hi Caryn, tell me again why you believe the way most language programs work…
Most boys at some time or another think they want a career in science or technology. Sometimes that’s what God’s calling them to, but other times, it’s what they think that kind of career would bring. That’s the way we were. Hal majored in engineering and Melanie in the hard sciences, though it’s become clear…
When we were thinking about high school and preparing for college with our first, we were worried about academics, but now that we’re graduating our third, we’ve realized there are other things, sometimes even more important, that you need to pay attention to along the way. Teach your young adults to be responsibly independent. It’s…
There's an old saying that it takes a real Christian to leave his parrot with the town gossip. A test of real virtue is what we do when no one's looking. And evidence of our true self is left behind in the places no one is expected to go. I read that Tim Tebow decided to get rid…
We had an interesting discussion with one of our elders after church on Sunday. We’re all concerned about understanding and strengthening the relationship between parents and their young adult children, particularly those still at home. Melanie and I were talking about it later with one of our own, and we had an insight – we…
"I just don't understand! My sweet son is so temperamental lately." "It's like he's a different kid." "I don't understand the anger. What's that about?" "School used to be fun, but now it takes forever." "He acts so addled. Can't remember what I tell him for one minute." We hear it all the time. We've said it ourselves. We…
A few weeks ago, our son Matt came in and said, "Mom, you know it makes a guy feel good to take responsibility - to meet a need, to do something that matters. I had no idea how much fun it could be to be the one to take care of something." I think there…