The Joy-filled Homeschool - Making the Most of Middle School

Making the Most of Middle School

By: Stacey Wolking

As children grow out of the elementary years, many parents wonder how to make good use of the middle years. When they were younger, no doubt most of our time was consumed with teaching them to read and early language and math skills. We also likely did crafts, singing and reading.

But as they head into the middle school years, we are often at a loss how to keep them engaged. Many of us remember spending lots of time romping outdoors at this age, but sadly today, tweens spend less time outdoors and more screen time than ever before.

Suggestions for getting off screens and living real life:

Try an evening (or a week!) with no screens. (Yes, that means parents too.) Spend some family time reading together, playing games, baking cookies, doing puzzles or crafts, writing letters to distant family, or looking at photo albums and reminiscing.

Take a walk together while gazing and talking about the clouds or the stars. Ride bikes. Head to the park and play the blindfold game by having them rely on your voice to find a “treasure.”

And speaking of treasures, have you heard of geocaching? Your kids will be excited by this high-tech version of a cross between scavenger and treasure hunting! People all over the world hide little treasures and register the coordinates on Geocaching.com.

Roast marshmallows or make s’mores over a fire pit or a grill. If you’re a real adventurer, pitch a tent in the backyard and sleep under the stars. And if you are less of an adventurer, pitch a tent in the family room!

And lastly, be sure to make plans for some fascinating day trips and field-trips near you!

As they emerge from the elementary years, it is exciting to see our children’s unique individuality start to show. This is their opportunity to start pursuing special interests and building productive life-long habits.

Parents usually desire to instill independent thinking and self-motivation in their kids. Unfortunately, the high school years can often be fairly structured with specific required courses which often doesn’t leave a lot of time for the “extras.” So, let’s take advantage of the middle years by engaging in some mind-opening pursuits. Here are a few ideas to get you started; keep in mind, this list is by no means exhaustive:

1. Public Speaking – “Public Speaking for Kids, Tweens, and Teens - Confidence for Life!” (written by a homeschool dad), Toastmasters International Youth Programs, Speech and Debate

2. Adventure/Leadership/Service – Trail Life USA, American Heritage Girls, Navigators USA, Boy Scouts (BSA), Civil Air Patrol

(Despite the controversy, many years ago, our personal experience with BSA was excellent. Not only did our boys grow in wisdom and experiences through their BSA experiences, the earned rank of Eagle Scout was also a prestigious addition to their resume that opened doors as they pursued higher education, internships, and careers. Of course, it all depends on your local troop dynamics and leaders. We were very blessed that our troop was led by some amazing and Godly men and had a lot of homeschooled kids.

Our son (an Eagle Scout) and his wife have launched and are pouring their hearts and efforts into running two very popular Trail Life and American Heritage Girl troops in NM. It is exciting to see the focus on learning new skills, character, and service while having so much adventure and fun! Our grandchildren are having the time of their lives!)

3. Civic Involvement/Leadership - Generation Joshua, and TeenPact are both excellent programs.

4. Worldview and Current events - College Prep America, God's World News, worldview curriculum

5. STEM and Problem Solving - FIRST LEGO League, Odyssey of the Mind, Supercharged Science, Robotics, Technology Courses, Digipen offers unique courses in video game programming, art and animation, music and sound design, etc., Computer Coding Courses

6. Bees – No, not the insect kind, (hmm, actually that could be fun and interesting too.) There are soo many competition options – Geography, Natural Science, History, US History, US Geography, Academic, Political Science, Intro to Model United Nations and more:

Scripps Spelling Bee, International Geography Bee, International Academic Competitions, International Math Bee, Bible Bee, Math Competitions

7. Foreign Language and FREE online Piano lessons

8. Home Life Skills – Take the time to teach cooking, cleaning, sewing, decorating, finance, time management, AND home management – yes, even to our sons. There was nothing sweeter than being thanked by my beloved daughters-in-law for teaching their husbands (my sons) to cook, clean and do laundry.

9. Building sibling and family relationships. This is a great time for some planned activities, field trips or game nights.

10. Delight Directed Learning could be just the key you need to unlock the joy of learning! Don’t wait till high school to dig into your child’s special interest! - What gets them excited?, A Day in the Life

11. To explore a budding OR advanced interest, consider having your tween shadow or volunteer to assist someone who is in that business. Utilize your friends, neighbors, church, and homeschooling networks to find an eye-opening or fulfilling opportunity for your child.

It’s exciting to see our children’s individuality start to emerge around the middle school years. This is the time they tend to start pursuing special interests and building productive life-long habits.

Also read the companion article, “What to Expect of Your Middle School Student”, to learn more about evaluating your child for traits and skills he/she should be exhibiting at this stage of development.

If you would like to be inspired, check out this video. Make the World Your Classroom by HSLDA.

Helping Our Teens Transition to Adulthood

Permission granted to reprint article in its entirety with credit given to Stacey Wolking and TranscriptReviews.com.