Last Friday we took the kids to the Medieval Fair in Norman, Oklahoma. We had been studying The Middle Ages earlier this year, so the kids were excited to go. When I was researching which fair we wanted to attend, I quickly discovered the difference between a Medieval Fair and…
When you are faced with major decisions regarding your homeschooling, your family, your own personal role and relationships, seeking God’s direction can be challenging. Even daily decisions can get bogged down with the opinions and advice of others, self doubt, and conflicting messages from our culture. As I shared in…
Last week we took a few days off for a spring garden prep “field trip” at the home of my in-laws in Kansas. Grandpa and Grandma Gotcher are “firstgen” homeschoolers: They began homeschooling my husband and his two sisters in the early 1980s. They needed help getting their orchard and…
“Ask a NextGen Homeschooler” is your turn to ask our authors — formerly homeschooled moms who are now homeschooling our children — to weigh in on your homeschooling questions. We welcome all of your questions, whether you’re looking for practical tips or support and encouragement! This week’s question was brought…
Last night I had the pleasure of meeting 20-year homeschooling veteran Lori Lane, founder of Artios Academies and The End in Mind, a Christian homeschooling encouragement blog. As the guest speaker for my local homeschool support group, Lori shared her personal homeschooling journey and its connection to the foundation of…
Welcome to “Ask a NextGen Homeschooler.” It’s your turn to ask the authors of NextGen Homeschool — formerly homeschooled moms who are now homeschooling our children — to weigh in on your homeschooling questions. From the practical to the personal, all questions are welcome! This week’s question comes from a…
Every journey requires times of rest to regroup and restore physically and mentally. As homeschoolers, we know this all to well: It’s easy to burn out when we don’t pace ourselves and take necessary breaks. It’s no different with our spiritual journey. If we’re running full steam ahead ourselves and…
This year our family is planning to attend the Teach Them Diligently Convention in Washington D.C., taking place May 15-17. As residents of Oklahoma, this is a huge thing for our family. My husband and children have never been to the East Coast, and I was only 16 years old…
Recently a good friend of mine surprised me by asking if we could get together to talk about homeschooling. I wasn’t surprised that she might consider it, but I was surprised by the timing and eagerness to get it all figured out right now — months before the school year’s…
Last week we kicked off our fourth semester of girls book club with ten other homeschooling moms & their daughters. The girls book club is a homeschool “co-op” (cooperative education group) that I started two years ago and have continued to coordinate since then, chronicling our journey here at NextGen…
Our family decided to attend this year’s Oklahoma Homeschool Capitol Day. I took our two daughters to this event seven years ago, when our son Joel was only a year old. Hannah had made homemade apple pies for our Representative and Senator. We hadn’t attended since then because the girls…
Today we’re finally celebrating my eldest daughter’s thirteenth birthday with her friends (two weeks late!), and as we prepare to welcome her guests, I’m reminded about how blessed we are to have made such wonderful friendships with other families of “tweens” in our local homeschool support group. This year we…