​"Soon you'll be driving a big black truck," I said to my fourteen year old friend.

"Not a truck. I'll be driving a jeep," he replied, grinning from ear to ear.

"A jeep?"

"Yes, I'm going to buy a jeep."

"But first you'll learn to drive in your daddy's truck, right?"

"No. My mom's going to help me get a loan so I can learn to drive in the jeep," he assured me.

"Oh, no! Please don't go into debt!" I explained to him the the perils of debt and the wisdom of living debt-free.''

The teenage years are a time of idealism and hope. Most teens believe that they will grow up to have lots of money to be able to enjoy all the things they want in life. They don't realize how expensive life is and expect their money situation to get better and better as they age.

The opposite is true. Teens who work have more disposable income than young married couples with children. Teenagers have free rent, food, clothing, gas, books, supplies, television, computers, I-pods, electrical appliances, trips, toiletries, vacations, movies, and use of the family car whenever they want to drive. So, they are free to spend money they earn however they want to spend it.

Teens & Car Payments

Don’t be worried about homeschooling during the high school years!  Florida is a great state to homeschool in! After graduating three homeschoolers and sending them to Stetson University on Florida Bright Future scholarships, I have had the privilege of dealing with college administrators, state government bureaucrats, and local country officials. I have not had one negative experience. Everyone has been kind, helpful and supportive. Many people took time to help me through the maze of the college application process and the grand scholarship hunt. 
         
Academically, high school is the transition between basic education and college. Practically it is the zone between childhood and adulthood. It is complicated by hormones that fling emotions into unknown regions of agony and ecstasy.  [How thankful I am that those years are over in my life—now I just have menopause to look forward to!] There is a need for prayer planning to make these years successful.        

Eighth grade is a good time to plan the high school years with your husband and teen. I recommend reading a few books on homeschooling the high school student and talking to other moms who have (or are!) successfully homeschooled teenagers. Other homeschooling moms can lead you by the hand and help you through the questions and decisions.            

Realize that your plan will change over the years, but it is good to have a rough idea of what you want to accomplish. Here are the graduation requirements from the state of Florida:

High School Graduation Requirements

First, read Off to a Good Start This Year I. We have already covered these topics:
Put God First
Read Aloud Together
Go on Walks Together
Fill Your House with Laughter
Celebrate!
School Hours & Scheduling

Now, let's move on to the rest of the ingredients in getting off to a good start this year!

Checking Schoolwork & Lesson Plans & "Catching Up"

Check their work every day or at least once a week. Children are wasting their time doing math, grammar, and spelling workbooks if they are doing their work wrong. Practice doesn't make perfect; practice makes permanent. If they keep doing the same type of math problem or grammar skill practice wrong it will cement in their brain incorrectly. Set aside an hour a day or one night a week to check work. When children get things wrong--let them correct it right away, explaining why they got it wrong and how to correct it. Sometimes, we put aside the scheduled math and work on a particular skill that is difficult. We do extra problems and spend lots of time until they "get it." Yes, we are now a week behind in math, but we can catch up later (see next paragraph!); the important thing isn't that they are completing their work, but that they are doing their work correctly and LEARNING!

Schedule "make-up" or "catch-up" weeks in your yearly schedule.  I schedule a whole week in the fall and another in the spring for "catch-up." This is because I am a stickler about finishing every book we do and ending the school year on time (I need my summers to plan for next year!).  But life happens and "the best laid plans of mice and men..." I plan for the unexpected.  Then, if the week arrives and we don't have anything to catch up on, we can play games, go on field trips, bake, watch movies, or go to the beach every day!

If you haven't done it yet, make lesson plans for the whole school year. Let the children have a movie day or send them to a friend's house for the day. Get out everything (books, unit study ideas, workbooks, literature, projects)you want to accomplish for the year. Divide the work into months; then weeks; then days. Schedule two or more weeks for "catch-up." You can always make changes, but if you have a game plan for the entire year, life goes smoother. Also, you won't feel like you're flying by the seat of your pants.

Health & Energy!

A brand new year! I love new beginnings and the start of a new school year is much more fun than the end of a school year!  By the end of the school year, I am struggling with spring fever, but starting something new excites me!  I want this school year to be easier than the one before.

Put God First!

This year, put God first. Open up your school day with a praise song, prayer and Bible reading (it can be short!).  Remind the children (and yourself!) that the most important thing is that the way you teach and they learn glorifies and pleases Jesus. It is all about Him, pleasing Him and loving Him.  When, someone has trouble understanding school work, stop and pray. Ask the Lord for help!  When you feel overwhelmed and grumpy, ask the children to pray for you! Talk about Jesus and the Word of God all the time--like you talked about your husband all the time when you first met him!

Read Aloud Together!

Set aside time each day to read aloud together. This is best when it includes snuggling and cuddling! You might read a chapter of a good book (Swiss Family Robinson or Tom Sawyer--unabridged, please!) each day after lunch. We always read history together--all ages! We've always done history more of a unit study style and if we use a textbook, we read it aloud. We read two volumes of Mystery of History aloud in one year! I read science and history aloud to my children, even though they were great readers, until they were in middle school. It was just more fun to read aloud and then discuss it together. When I was pregnant, the children would read aloud and I would fall asleep.

Go on Walks Together!

Most of us love food.

Happy memories often involve delicious memories and good fellowship includes eating! We all want to eat healthier, but healthy food is so expensive.

How can we enjoy food, try to eat healthy, and save a little money at the same time? Let's look at some practical ways to cut our food budget.

Cook at Home

Cooking at home instead of eating out is the number one way to spend less on food. Pack your lunch instead of eating at a restaurant or hitting the drive-through.

​If you must eat out, use coupons and take advantage of specials.

Eating at home for dinner each night will not only provide a healthier, less expensive meal, but will foster closer family relationships.

Shop the Sales
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​I love summer: the beach, the sunshine, the lazy days, vacations, and chilling out. We do NOT homeschool during the summer, except for reading books. Here it is the beginning of August and it's almost time to gear up for the next school year.

Evaluate the Past Year

​"The best part of this past year was history day," Shine shared enthusiastically. "I liked the Diana Waring tapes."

"I thought history was boring," Jimmy interrupted. "But I liked the food. (We had eaten our way through history with some delicious lunches at history co-op)

Look back over the past school year. What went well? What do you hope will go better next year? Pray about these things. Thank the Lord for all the great things that happened. Focus on the positive, not the negative. But, ask the Lord to show you how to be more effective in your homeschooling this coming year.

Choose Priorities for the Coming Year

Jimmy really grew as a reader this past year, but I still want that to be a priority next year. Shine grew so much in the Lord and now I want her to start passing on what she's learned.

If reading was a weakness this past year, you might want to make reading a priority next year. If there was a lot of rebellion in one or more of the children, then relationships and child training should be a focus in the school year coming up. 

Choose What You will Study and How

 What do you want your children to learn this coming year? One year we decided that we wanted to learn about England and British history. Though I had been homeschooling for 12 years, we had never studied English history in an in-depth way. We were excited to learn about our "mother country." What do your children want to learn about? What are their interests?

How do you want to teach these subjects? Do you want to use traditional textbooks or on-line classes? Do you want to do a unit study with lots of time for open-ended studies?

Choose Curriculum

"What are you doing?" my husband asked. "Are you coming to bed soon?  You've been on the computer all night."

"And all day too. I'm making room on my hard drives. They are both full. I deleted 4,000 emails today. Now, I'm deleting duplicate picture files. My camera is 10 megapixels and the files are large. Also, there are a lot of video files from Shine and Phoebe..."

"Okay, Honey. It's fine. Don't explain. I'll see you in the morning."

I had 600 somethings on my computer. My computer friends told me that my computer has enough space that I will never fill it. Hah! Little do they know!

Clutter in my Life

I can fill anything--an empty drawer, an empty bookcase, an empty room, and an empty hard drive. I create piles of papers and books wherever I go. If I walk into a room, I will leave behind a pile of books.

But, filling up my hard drives was a wake-up call to me. I have a problem with clutter. There is clutter in my homeschool room and clutter in my computer. I might join a support group.

"Hi, I'm Meredith Curtis and I'm a pack rat. I hate to get rid of anything because one day I just might need it. How do other people live without collecting piles of things?"

There is just one thing to do. I told my husband that I need to buy a computer with a bigger hard drive and we need to buy a bigger house. He's not buying it. He suggested a family project. My family is not thrilled about the Curtis De-Clutter Adventure.

My problem runs deeper than filling up space. This is a problem that only God can handle. I need wisdom from Heaven on what to keep, what to give away, and what to throw away. There are many things that I should hold on to or I will just need to spend money to replace them in a few months. Homeschooling requires many books, file folders, and computer files.

My Plan for Clutter

They were back in Israel after a long journey. There was no money left and enough food for one more meal. Ruth tried not to think of her hometown in Moab, but she felt a little scared. She had promised her mother-in-law, Naomi, that she would never leave her, she had chosen to follow the God of Israel, and had trusted Him to take care of the two of them. Had God brought them this far to die?

"I will go get a job," Ruth announced the next morning. She was putting on a brave front, but inside she doubted that anyone would hire a foreigner.

That morning, Naomi patiently explained the gleaning laws to Ruth. Ruth relaxed and set off for the field of Boaz, a member of Naomi's family. She would glean in his field and there would be plenty of food for both women. 

What is Gleaning?

"When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen.Leave them for the poor adn the alien. I am the Lord your God," (Leviticus 19:9-10 NIV).

The gleaning law fascinates me! It is so creative and makes so much sense. What a great way to take care of the poor and unemployed.  

Imagine that you are a farmer or a vineyard owner. You are gathering in your harvest, trying to get every piece of fruit, grain, or crop that you can. You end up missing some. And, some of your harvest falls while you are transporting it to the storehouse.

What should you do? It would be a lot of work to go back over the field, especially because you just went through the whole field or vineyard. So, you LEAVE it for the poor.

The poor, unemployed, and foreigners can now come through and gather what is left. The poor people follow behind the workers and pick up what is left behind.

Here is what is so wonderful about the gleaning law.

• The poor are given food
• They work to provide it (it is not getting something for nothing)
• The poor are required to work
• The farmer doesn't have to collect the food for them
• There is no paperwork or forms to fill out
• The field or vineyard is left clean and tidy

What a great idea that the Lord had when he made up the gleaning law. It fulfills all His commands ("He who doesn't work doesn't eat" and "Take care of the poor"). God is so wise and amazing.

Fruit of the Gleaning Law