Well here we are, a new year almost upon us, and the old one waving goodbye!  

Homeschoolers tend to view the "new year" as beginning in September, as we embark on the next grade level, bring on new curriculum, and thrust a unique project or two into the mix.  January is often our mid-point, and as we take a breather from the prior semester, sometimes we look back at the previous fall and early winter months and reassess.  

But you know what?  Sometimes, we find ourselves too married to the materials or path we chose.  Sometimes we are reticent to take time for reflection to discern whether or not  we are heading where we wanted to, and then we will kick ourselves later on when the end of the year arrives and we didn't attain all we had hoped for.

And that is because we continue to think that old ways will open new doors.  We think that if we just do more of what we did, if we work harder, if we measure it more, magically we will end up with the result we desire.

Nope.  It doesn't work that way.  

In order to open new doors of learning, we need to do it differently.  We need to switch it up!  We need to infuse our teaching with something unusual, exciting, and out of the ordinary, because ordinary gets us...well...an ordinary education.  We have the gift of choice, we need to take advantage of it!

So, right now, this very moment, let me urge you to take just ten minutes to do a little reflecting.  Grab a piece of paper...go on now, go get it!  Humor me! :-)  Then, create three columns, one titled "Things We Do Well", one titled "Things We Can Improve On", and one titled "Teaching Skills to Improve".  Start writing.  What works for you and your family?  Where do you excel?  No false modesty here, we all rock at something, so write it down!

Look at that column, applaud yourself, it is well earned!

Now the second column.  Is there a subject where your curriculum is just "so so"? Maybe it gets the job done, but it isn't really doing much for anyone and there is an attempt at hiding eye rolling when it is time to work on it.  Maybe you sense there might be a better way.  Or perhaps it isn't even half bad, but you know it could be more engaging and you aren't quite sure what to do.  

In the third column, I want you to look at one other thing beyond the curricula.  I want you to do an honest assessment of yourself and your teaching skills.  What might you improve on?  Does grading writing stump you?  Do you wish you knew how to lead better discussions with your kids?  Do you struggle with helping them make connections?  Is your own vocabulary in need of a tune up?  There is no shame in admitting there are areas for improvement, after all, I am betting there are is an overwhelming majority of homeschooling moms who never planned to become in home teachers and never took courses explaining how best to educate someone!  

As 2018 dawns, don't make a bunch of major resolutions, just take one thing on that list from either the second or third column, and vow to make one change.  No, don't attempt to change every item you have there, changing just one thing will be enough to celebrate, and will take enough work to achieve.  If you don't have a clue how to change it, ask someone!  Post to our Facebook group that you need help thinking about you Change for 2018.  There is a 'brain trust' there that is like no other.  Or ask your husband, or other homeschool moms you know face to face.  Heck, ask a teacher how to better approach teaching a certain subject or improving a skill!  

Most important though, is understanding that if you want to open new doors, you gotta throw out the old ways of doing things and embrace new ones.

Happy 2018!  May the year blossom for you in wonderful ways!

One of my biggest pet peeves is the "Teen Bashing" that occurs with great regularity on social media these days, but also happens in face to face social situations as well.

When did it become acceptable for grown, supposedly mature adults to feel it is within their right to be disrespectful to an entire age group?  When did we decide that "dissing" teens was appropriate?  Why is this one particular group attacked and ridiculed on a daily basis, and when do we figure out that we are doing nothing more than unfairly stereotyping?

If we turn this around to reflect upon it for a moment, if we were making similar comments of those of a different race, different sexual orientation, or hey...let's hammer this home... SENIORS, etc. we would be lambasted immediately.  However, we have been given societal permission to be disrespectful of our teenagers, for reasons I can't quite fathom.

I can't begin to count the number of times that friends and acquaintances have rolled their eyes in mock sympathy with me when they learn we have five teens, four of whom are a year and four months apart.  There are the comments about how can I possibly stand it, how great it will be because soon they will all leave the nest, and comments about raging hormones and attitude problems.

You know what?  I don't EVER let that go unchallenged.  My kids would back me up on that (and it is important that they have heard me repeatedly counter those statements with positive affirmations).  When someone makes a derogatory comment, even in jest, I always state how wonderful this age is, how we honestly don't deal with attitude, smart assery, or sibling rivalry.  I say with great enthusiasm and honesty that I am the luckiest mom in the whole world to parent the particular teens I parent, and my days spent with them, though sometimes hard due to other things like disabilities, etc, are still lovely, warm, pleasant, and some of the best of my life.

I believe it is important for our kids to catch us saying wonderful things about them!  I believe that how our teens act is, in large part, how I choose to perceive them.  I believe that by speaking negatively to others of them on a regular basis can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy, and frankly, a deserved one that will have been earned by my disrespect.  If I want my teens to treat me with appreciation and consideration, I darned well better be treating them the same way.

Teens are not awful, terrible, selfish, aliens from another planet who magically turn into normal human beings around age 22 or 23!  They are inexperienced people, taking tentative steps to explore their world, practice independence (sometimes successfully, sometimes less so, but it is called "practice" for a reason!), and discover new things about themselves.  They will make mistakes, much as we did at their age, and much as we still do.

But by pigeonholing them as a stereotype, we fail to see the uniquely wonderful qualities of each individual.  We fail them, we harm them, and like drops of water that eventually fill a bucket, our constant negative language about their stage of life has the capacity to bring out those characteristics we dislike, and we never realize how we ourselves pointed so much to the negative that we created a sense of self-defeat in these remarkable young men and women, leading them to begin to act exactly as we predicted.

So why don't we turn this around?  If your kids are on social media, let them catch you saying kind things about them, stop talking about how they drive you to drink too much wine, share their little daily acts of maturing and applaud them publicly for it.  Stop thinking the worst, and get ready to spot the best in them.

We must stop treating our teens and young adults as second class citizens.  At a mere 18 years old they vote for our future, they can fight for our future, and they are our future.  

Let's treat them with the same dignity we would treat any adult.

Recently I "met" someone online whose life experience in automotive mechanics screamed out to me that this was someone fascinating to interview!  Let me allow Rankin Barnes to introduce himself below.  I think you will find his advice and thoughts on mechanics as a trade to be quite interesting!

Rankin's Bio:  My interest in cars must’ve started at age 4 or 5. I remember taking my toys apart and begging my dad to let me go to a junkyard. I hung out at repair shops when I was a kid.  I joined the Navy at 18 and started my formal mechanical education. Opened International Auto Sport at 23 after working at a Porsche dealer and several independent import repair shops and moonlighting during the Navy years.  Started teaching at the community college level at age 30 and continued for 32 years.  Opened Crankin Auto Care at 56.  Authored Crankin Engines at 64. Currently serving as a consultant for secondary and post-secondary school automotive programs.

Blue Collar Homeschool (BCH): What led you into teaching?  
Rankin:  Quite frankly I think it was the Lord. I had reached a dead-end due to drugs and alcohol and was presented with an opportunity to teach by my one of my customers. I like to explain how things work in simple terms and I believe that my customers appreciated my straightforward explanations.
 
BCH:  What do you like best about teaching a Blue Collar trade?
Rankin:  Teaching people how to work with their hands and earn a living excites me because I am able to pass along the skills that I learned from other mechanics and this perpetuates quality the trade.  We, who work dirty jobs, are often seen as ignorant because we are often not articulate.  
 
BCH:  What qualities do your best students exhibit? 
Rankin:  Perseverance and patience are good qualities for everyone. Often the best mechanics do not test well but their logic is way above average. Of course a high mechanical aptitude will enable automotive, aviation, heavy equipment, and marine propulsion students to solve disassembly and assembly problems.  Higher math skills will aid in solving electrical and electronic concerns. That is where the logic plays a huge role.
 
BCH:  What high school courses and areas of study most benefit a young person who desires to move into mechanics as a career?
Rankin:  I will move away from mechanics for a moment.  Collision Repair courses require a great deal of artistic ability. Body repair people are basically sculptors and painters so art courses in clay and paint will help those aspire to that profession.
 
Applied physics is theoretical mechanics. Studies in leverage, friction, vector force, electrical theory, pressure, and electro magnetism are examples of applied physics and these are easily demonstrated at home.

 I think that we are stuck on Biology in the sciences but I never did think that taking a frog apart was as interesting as taking a bicycle apart. The taking apart venture is fun but putting the thing back together is tougher. Small engine courses are really beneficial especially if the engine starts when you finish the course.
 
BCH:  Is it fairly common for graduates to easily find good employment opportunities?
 
Rankin:  Are you kidding?  ;) How many good mechanics do you know? A good mechanic can find a good job paying $30K-$70K in any area of the country. Dealers, independent shops, trucking companies, governmental agencies, and delivery companies all rely on mechanics.  We as a nation have told our kids, “Don’t work with your hands.”, for three generations,  Now there is a shortage of skilled blue collar workers. And wages are going up.
 
BCH:  Do you think it is wiser for someone to open their own shop, or work for someone else as a mechanic?
 
Rankin:  I think that everyone should start working for someone else.  But if there is a lot of family help then the chance of  success in a small business is better, The cost to open a shop, even a small operation, is probably $250,000-500,000.  The skill set to operate a business is very different from that of an automotive technician.  I was very fortunate in my last auto repair business.  I had already built a garage building, I already had  been blessed with three streams of income, and we were debt free.  
 
BCH:  Is mechanics better to go into than auto body repair?
 
Rankin:  Auto mechanics is probably more profitable than body repair. The insurance companies set all of the prices of insured collision repair and few body shops can survive without doing insurance work. Restoration work pays well but a good reputation for high quality restorations takes time to establish.
 
​BCH:  If a student learns auto mechanics, does that training prepare them for careers in other forms of mechanics, such as motorcycles, boats, or other engines?  Or do they need a lot of specialized training to move into other areas?
 
Rankin:  Almost all engine work is similar enough to allow cross over. But only 10% of the repairs involve engine work. Maintenance, brakes, electronics, suspension, alignment, and climate controls are the systems needing the most repairs. Boats obviously don’t have brakes or suspensions but they do have specialized cooling systems and those systems are different from wheeled vehicles. Most good mechanics can fix about anything. The automobile is a complex machine with many systems. And there is no end to learning those ever changing systems. 
 
BCH:  In your opinion, is there a big difference in the quality of training available at a local Vocational school versus a "big name" trade school such as Universal Technical Institute (UTI)?
 
Rankin:  All “big name” schools are set up to crank out a lot of students in a short time. The high cost of tuition allows them to buy expensive advertising and pay their recruiters well. The classes cover a lot of subject matter and the class size is pretty large. Conversely, community colleges use state and federal funding to operate their programs. Thus the tuition is a lot less. Usually classes are smaller and there is more individual attention. All of that said, the quality of the material covered is pretty close to equal. But in my opinion an automotive education over a two year span will result in more student learning than the same material covered in 9 months. Admittedly, I am biased toward community colleges. I did choose to make a career of teaching auto tech in community colleges for 32 years.
 
BCH:  As a homeschooling Dad, how did your approach to teaching in your career influence how your family homeschooled?
 
Rankin:  I felt compelled to teach my kids all that I could about the trades. My boy was more receptive than my daughter. But we worked as a family to build a 900 sq. ft. home and then add 900 sq. ft. on to the existing structure, We were the carpenters, plumbers electricians, and roofers.  When our son was 16 He welded a 4’X8’ trailer. He then started a lawn care business and used the trailer to tow the lawnmowers. Our daughter  went to the Community College during the 12th grade and earned a nursing certificate.  I tried to instill a good work ethic in the kids and the same was true for my students. I preached honesty, safety, and pride in a job well done to my students and kids alike.

I hope you learned as much from Rankin's sharing here as I did!  Auto mechanics is a lucrative, varied, interesting career option for young men and women to consider!  

One of the hardest things that I had to fight our first few years of homeschooling (Oh who am I kidding, I give myself a pep talk every few months!) was the idea that homeschool had to "match" the public school experience.  I had to let go of their standards, their ideas of what subject has to be taught in which grade (Who says state history ALWAYS has to be taught in 4th grade???), and their practices.  What cracks me up was how desperately I clung to public school practices when the reason we left state education in the first place was because it wasn't working for our kids!! Hahaha!  Yes, sometimes we can even be very clear we are being diverted from our path and still feel powerless to stop.

It is easy to understand why, and that is because the overwhelming majority of us were educated in the American public school system, and we came out all right, didn't we?  The truth is, the system has changed since we all went through it, and learners arrive at graduation day less prepared for the real world, careers or college.  More students than ever who do go on to college are taking remedial reading, writing and math courses, and middle to lower range high school graduates are, in ever increasing numbers, unable to read and write proficiently.  

And yet, we feel the need to copy that system, or we will somehow fail our children and are "doing it wrong".

Oh, how hard it can be to let go!  But as the lovely quote above reminds us, when we let go we create space for something better, and in this case, something more customized for your specific learners.

Now, if you plan to re-enter your children into the public school system someday, it might be wise to more carefully follow your local public school's "scope and sequence", which is what skills and classes are taught in what grades.  But if you are fully committed to homeschooling all the way through?  Throw scope and sequence away!!!  Better yet, tuck it aside and glance at it from time to time, if that makes you feel better ;-)

So, how exactly do you go about all of this?  Well, first of all, with subjects like math and reading, if you find a program that works for your child, buy it and work your way through all the levels.  Easy, right?  If it takes longer to understand Algebra 1 and you are working on it for 2 years, who cares?  Master it, then move on!  Read easier books, then gradually harder ones, or find a textbook series that works for you and do each grade level, reading it until you are finished.  Easy peasy!  This isn't rocket science, folks, and we don't have to kill ourselves figuring it out.  Do you do Algebra 1 and 2 THEN Geometry?  Who really cares??  Do what works for your kid!!  Oh, the agonizing hours we spend so concerned that some specific grammar skill wasn't taught in the second half of fourth grade!! As if that really matters in the grand scheme of things.

And speaking of grand scheme, create one!  I wrote a bit about this in another post but not specifically about how you do this.  Start with an end goal in mind, then work your way back.  Is it really important to you that your children learn American History?  Do you think one year in high school is too little?  then teach two!  We did two and a half years, one time through, very solidly, and I discarded the idea of bits and pieces along the way in earlier years.  I wanted it learned in time order, connected and thoroughly, and we did it exactly that way and it worked really well for us.  We are spending three years on World History, one era at a time.  We prefer deep and wide, not shallow and narrow.  We don't check boxes to say we covered something.  Most public schools don't teach life skills in any meaningful way, but you sure can!  If sciences are where you feel more emphasis should be based on your kids' interests and skills, who says you can't do a LOT more science than public school does? There is no real "Sequence" that sciences must be taught in, other than considering where a teens math skills are for some subjects, so teach it in whatever order makes sense for your family!  

But, oh, dear moms, let go...

Let go of the need to match a system that wasn't what you wanted in the first place!

Let go of beating yourself up by comparing your homeschool  to "public school" ...they are not the same and not intended to be.

Let go of the fear that you will fail!

You love your kids with all your heart.  Be diligent, work hard, take it seriously, but whatever you do...

Let go so the richness of the customized homeschool experience can seep into the marrow of your bones.

Don't miss out on the flexibility.

Don't miss out on the ability to adapt as needed.

Don't miss out on the fact that learning comes in all kinds of ways that have nothing to do with textbooks, classrooms, or test scores!

Don't miss out on the joy of your own growth and learning as you gain skills right alongside your kids!

Don't miss out on the fact that maybe...just maybe...you are creating something different and better!

Homeschooling can be anything you want it to be.  Teach the core subjects with consistency and care, throw in interest led learning, and recognize that you are the best teacher they will ever have.