Tag: FaithfulParenting

An Earnest Summer: Keeping Homeschool, Light, Fun and Faith Filled.

An Earnest Summer: Keeping Homeschool, Light, Fun and Faith Filled.

by earnestmomblog ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Because learning does not stop when the sun comes out. Free printables below.

When summer rolls in, many of us homeschool parents face the same obstacle. We long to keep our learning rhythms built throughout the school year. However, we also want the freedom and rest of summer. The good news? We do not have to choose between learning and rest, we can do both!

In our home, we follow a gentle yet simple, heart-led summer rhythm to keep learning alive but not overwhelm. Join me as I share how we will make a meaningful summer and avoid burn out. There are even FREE printables to help us get started. Cheer’s to a summer of love, learning and grace!

Summer does not mean an end to learning for the homeschool family. What we do is shift our approach to the summer months. We bring in more reading time – be sure to check out your local libraries for their FREE summer reading programs (Erie County Residents, here is ours). Copy work or scripture readings for each week, just once a week is easy as pie. Real world mathematics, whether through baking, grocery store visits or budgeting for a new bike – get them involved. Another fun idea is nature journaling – keep it easy, just a clipboard, paper and pencil. We can sit outside together and draw what we hear, or write words describing sounds, smells and textures. Let’s be creative and explore different spaces around our towns or cities. At the end of the summer, compare and choose all the favorite spots. Long drives? Listen to audiobooks or interesting podcasts. Choose some that relate to what we learned last year so there are familiar roots to build on. This heart-lead approach has a light touch while we build deep roots.

Summer time can be a time for delightful discovery. Instead of formal lesson plans, we can follow our children’s interests. Want to learn about birds? Let’s grab a birding book from the library, download a birding app and put out some bird feed! Sit in our own window and watch or head to a local park and see what we can see! Have a kiddo curious about baking? We can roll up our sleeves, pull out the flour and print some recipes to do together. Or maybe our child asking some big God questions. Grab a notebook and the bible. See what we can glean together. Summer gives freedom to be wonder-led, something that is easily carried into the coming school year too.

Be sure to make room for the extras in the summer. This is a special time that we can lean into things we may skip through the year. Say YES to handicrafts and creative play, bible memorization, music/nature studies, service projects. Choose more family traditions or vacation time. Consider spontaneous field trips. Let our kids choose something within a 1-hour drive away. Take the bus to the library and donate books we are not using. These extras can become the essence of learning being lead by the heart.

Finally, let’s remember that rest is not laziness, it’s sacred. Our families do not need to “keep up.” We need to take time to refresh, slow down and sit back a little. Let’s let summer be marked with slow, long mornings. Barefoot afternoons with books and tea. Popsicles on the porch and sliced watermelon in the lawn. What our kids will remember most will not be what they completed. They will remember how they feel, with us, right where they belong.

Mama, our summers do not have to be busy to be beautiful. Let’s allow this season to be one of connection, peace and gentle learning. Low in pressure, high in family time. Ask the Lord to guide our days, and trust He can do more with our small offerings than we could even imagine.

We are not just getting through, or surviving summer – we are planting seeds that will bear fruit for a lifetime. Remember mama, we are in this together, one Earnest MOMent at a time.

Love, Earnest Mom

Earnest Mom’s FREE Summer Printables – click to print:

Heart-led Summer Checklist

Summer Scripture Memory Cards

Navigating Parenting in a Digital Age: Let’s Earnestly Talk Teens and Cellphones

Navigating Parenting in a Digital Age: Let’s Earnestly Talk Teens and Cellphones

by earnestmomblog ♥ 1 Comment

Cell phones. We all know them, most of us have them, some of us love them, some of us hate them. Some days I feel tethered to this tiny pocket computer. It has me wanting to throw it away. Then I realize how much I depend on it. We are self employed and every call is potential income – this pressure can be a lot. Then there is the scrolling, listening, reading and mindless games that I use it for to. As a 40 year old adult with a fully formed brain, there are times I struggle to regulate on my phone. So when it came to the decision to introduce a cell phone to our oldest, we were weary and hesitant.

The first requests for a cell phone came as early as 8 years old. We shrugged them off with the answer, “You can have a phone when you go to college.” We were certain about one thing. We were not going to consider a phone before the age of 13. Once 13 came around, our now teen was asking for a phone. We home school, and he spends most weeknights at karate. Otherwise, we spend most of our time together. He was asking for a phone mainly for entertainment and talking to friends. We decided to revisit it in one year.

In that year, I did research. Brain development and behavior related teen and child phone usage. The findings were worrisome at best. The dopamine-driven feedback loops (or dopamine hits that our brain gets from digital stimulation) was most alarming. This happens every time we get a notification or find something new and exciting, our brains gets a small dopamine hit. This reward comes to us at unpredictable intervals and our brains get hooked on the need for more. As an adult, I have concerns about what this is doing to my brain. Yes, I do have social media. Yes, I do struggle and use phone limits as reminders to stop scrolling. With this in mind, a big question I had was, how will this impact my teen’s growing brain? This kept me in the no camp for sure on cell phones. There of course are many other concerns but this one, on a developmental level was once of my biggest.

A year later, he was now 14 and asking again and again for a cell phone. So my husband, our teen and myself had a discussion…actually we had many discussions about getting a cell phone. We came to a resolve that our 14 year old would have to write us two 5 paragraph essays. One essay had to tackle the negative effects of cell phones and social media on teens today. The second essay needed to be persuasive. It should explain, with references, why he should still get a cell phone after all he had learned. This was early 2024. By Christmas, we had received 2 papers. They had been written, revised, and rewritten a few times. After more discussions around what his findings here, we decided to get him a cell phone.

The influence of social media was another concern, and on this topic we have decided no social media until 18. Our son actually came up with this plan. He decided not to be on social media. He made this decision after doing the research and learning about how social media is affecting his peers. He could not believe the way social media interactions was negatively impacting teens his age and even people he knew. He decided that all social media was not good until you are an adult and maybe even after that.

Once we decided to get the phone, we had lots of discussion. We talked about how the phone will be used. We also discussed why, when, and where it will be used. Who will be on his phone, who can have access to him. I am still uneasy at how intimate texting can be, something I struggle to balance too. We installed an AMAZING parental control app (Aura). We then talked about time limits, safe apps and what we expect. I have heard of some parents having a written contract. We decided, however, to build an experience around ‘being a man of your word.’ We honor all we commit to, even verbal agreements. Ground rules for every family will be different. I will not be explicit here. However, we lean more towards conservative usage than liberal.

The phone has been in our teen’s hands for 6 months now and it has not been without its hiccups. I am thankful for those times though. As parents, we are still able to guide and coach our teen. We help him through life situations that some teens may hide or feel alone in. He still has mom and dad in his corner. No matter what he is facing, we are thankful to be alongside him in this space. We have many discussions on appropriate language and behavior on text. We emphasize using manners with friends and respecting boundaries. We also focus on establishing boundaries early and often for healthy friendships. These friendships are important even if they are mainly through text and digital spaces.

There are many resources available about cell phone and social media effects on teens and children. One resource I love is Wait Until 8th. The site is full of resources. It supports families dealing with phones and social media. It also has a pledge. Wait until the end of 8th grade (or later) before giving our children a smart phone. We learned about Wait Until 8th at the end of last year. I have already taken the pledge for my youngest earnest kiddos. By default, our oldest was in 9th before he got his smart phone. Looking for a community waiting on smart phone use with kids? Take the pledge with me and get the support you need as a parent. Let’s wait until after 8th together.

Let me know if you are taking the pledge!

And remember, we are getting through motherhood together, one EARNEST MOMent at a time – you are not alone mama.

Love, Earnest Mom