Homeschool conventions are places of encouragement and fun!

Strolling through the vendor hall was also a treat. I was able to finger through many of the curricula I only saw online. I could talk with the vendors and ask questions that were specific to my children’s needs. I was also able to take advantage of the many convention specials they offered, too!

But the best thing that these events provide is a face-to-face element that just cannot be met virtually. Believe me, I have homeschooled for 21 years. I have also worked in those vendor booths and have spoken at homeschooling events all over the country. The things that happen in those booths bless my heart. The conversations quickly go from asking about a lesson plan, to potty training, to how to build a relationship with your spouse. Many times, I find myself hugging a mama after we have shared some deep things with each other. And that happens all through the conference. One-time strangers become fast friends. Someone standing next to you will strike up a conversation and offer helpful suggestions, share hints on local field trips, or even recommend homeschooling groups in your area. It is truly a convention for YOU!

And Great Homeschool Conventions play a wonderful role in bringing these amazing events to your area. These well-organized conventions offer something for every stage of the homeschooling journey, from helpful how-to-homeschool workshops, to mom encouragement and big picture topics, to working with littles, or helping your teens launch well.

I will personally be speaking at these upcoming GHC events:

• March 19-21: Greenville, SC
• April 16-18: Cincinnati, OH
• June 25-27: Jacksonville, FL

I would LOVE to see you there!

~Sherri

The post The Benefits (and Blessings) of Homeschool Conventions first appeared on Sherri Seligson.

To help you understand all the science-y stuff, let me give you an example from a (hypothetical) kitchen. Let’s say a person once spent lots and lots of time baking bread. This was in an effort to produce a good, healthful, relatively inexpensive food for her family. She went a little overboard and bought stoneware loaf pans, a grain mill to grind multiple grains, and lots of yeast and vital gluten to make the bread come out soft and fluffy. These tools were used to feed her family for a few years. But then things got super busy. She found herself not having much time to devote to baking. The family became busier and busier, and the kids were growing and moving out. Two of them identified that they had an intolerance to gluten.

Thus this (hypothetical) mom stopped baking bread. Yet if you go into her kitchen today, you would find remnants of this once-used activity. There’s a neglected grain mill and some baking pans stored in the back of the cabinet collecting dust. They once served a purpose in this kitchen but they now no longer do. They are a vestigial part of the kitchen body.

They’re like our appendix.

People think some parts of the human body, like the appendix, are no longer useful. They think it is a vestigial organ. By definition, a vestigial organ or body part is something that once served a purpose within the body but is no longer useful.

According to evolutionary theory, unnecessary parts are a negative thing for organisms, hindering their ability to survive. That’s because it takes precious energy to maintain something that serves no purpose. So any organisms that happen to be born with smaller unnecessary parts will better survive as compared to those with larger ones. As they pass on the genetics for smaller unnecessary parts to their offspring, the next generation will do the same, and eventually that non-useful part is no longer there.

But living organisms are NOT like that hypothetical person’s kitchen!

It turns out that the structures in the human body that are considered non-useful actually serve important purposes. The appendix was once embraced as a vestigial organ – thought to be a remnant of a time before people evolved when the diet our “ancestors” had was filled with rough, leafy foliage. But thanks to scientific advances, we know the human appendix has lymphatic tissue which indicates it has a job in the body, serving important roles in the immune system.

Similarly, the coccyx – or tailbone – is sometimes called a vestigial structure, suggested to have been a tail in an evolutionary human ancestor. The coccyx is located at the lower end of our backbone. Scientists now know that it serves an important purpose for humans. Several ligaments and muscles are attached to it in order to provide structural support for the body to work well.

Evolutionary scientists like the idea of vestigial organs. They think these organs once served a use, but through the evolution of creatures that came before humans, these organs lost their purpose. Since they were no longer “needed” as organisms evolved, those organs started to decrease in size. Eventually, as humans continue to evolve, these organs would disappear. It seemed to make sense to them and fit their purpose.

However, thanks to scientific research, we are seeing that there is indeed purpose for all these structures. Of course we can survive without them, but we wouldn’t survive as well. For example, I can live without my pinky on my hand, but my grip would not be as strong without it. These organs can be removed and the person survives, but that is not a measure of function!

As more and more “unimportant” structures in nature are being found to have purpose and function, the idea of vestigial organs as a support for evolutionary theory is becoming less and less valid in the scientific community. Indeed, everything created by God is useful. God, in His infinite wisdom, is the perfect designer and everything He creates is important!

The post Everything Created is Useful (In Praise of Vestigial Organs) first appeared on Sherri Seligson.

Folks. We have to shift our thinking about this. Let me start by giving you a bit of my story.

Before I had children, I had a pretty fun job. I worked at Walt Disney World. I was a marine biologist with the responsibility of collection, transport, and care of over 100 different ocean species living in a 6-million-gallon aquarium. I regularly swam with dolphins. I published scientific research on shark behavior. They sent me to the Florida Keys each summer to fish and dive at their satellite facility.

Yeah, it was fun. My career was starting to expand as I wrote for scientific journals and magazines.

But then I had our first child. Both my husband and I really believed that God was calling me to stay home and be there full time as our family grew. So to the amazement of several of my co-workers, family, and friends, I quit my job and came home full time to be with our son (and in the next few years, more children).

I considered it a promotion to motherhood.

But I had to keep reminding myself of that. After all, it definitely was not as glamorous or mentally exciting as what I did before. Some days I felt like my “job responsibility” mainly consisted of cleaning up bodily fluids coming out of tiny humans.

I have to be honest. Those days weren’t very “fulfilling,” at least on the surface of my thoughts. With four children ages 6 and under, I was in full-on Mom mode: messy hair, sleep-deprived, and fueled by peanut butter and jelly crusts.

Yet, when I really thought about it, I knew it was the best thing I could be doing and was ultimately the most fulfilling occupation for me. Today I cherish those sweet reading times on the couch with all the children snuggled around me. *I* wanted to be the one who bandaged their scraped knees or scolded and encouraged them when they were learning to share.

And THEN… if we weren’t weird enough in this culture…we really felt God directing us to homeschool our children.

So my “career” changed a bit more. I added curriculum to my days. I had to learn how to teach proper writing and grammar skills. I studied all I could about learning styles, scope & sequences, and transcripts.

Today, after 21 years of homeschooling, all of our kids have graduated and are out of the home.

You might say, then, that I can finally get back to my career.

But I would answer you by saying that I never left it.

What do I mean? Well, granted, I didn’t remain working as a marine biologist once we had kids, but I continued in my skills and career-building as I faithfully (sometimes not-so-faithfully) did what God had before me.

During those days of homeschooling, I actually gained an education in areas that I had been lacking. Although my grammar skills had been OK before, let me tell you that after teaching elementary- and middle-school-level grammar four times through, I can now hold my own with the grammar-Nazis!

Looking back from the vantage point I have today, I can see how God placed me in various positions and gave me certain skills in order to prepare me for what He had for me right now.

You see, working at Disney put me in front of hundreds of people at a time, so I had to learn rather quickly how to speak to large groups. That job also gave me career experience and exposure. Coming home gave me an education on how children learn and grow. Each of my four children has different learning styles and unique needs. When I began homeschooling, there was little available curriculum so we often had to create our own (I can pretty much write a unit study on anything…I mean anything… Yep, even dirt…I can do it…).

I gained more skills in my academic field, too. Because of my science background, I offered to teach science to other homeschooled students as well as my own. In these little informal co-ops, I gained more skills as I began to understand the best ways to explain scientific principles, using examples and hands-on demonstrations.

And I loved it!

So what am I doing today? Well, I am speaking at homeschool conferences, science camps, and ladies’ retreats to encourage families. I am also writing curriculum for middle school and high school. And I am filming instructional DVDs to accompany science courses, enabling me to use hands-on examples to explain scientific concepts.

But I could NOT be doing this if I hadn’t gone through the skill-building pathway God had for me. In those early days of being home with my children, I had no idea what was ahead. The technology to do what I am doing today had not even been invented yet!

However, God knew.

He knew what would be the best “career path” for me. And as I have the blessing to look back with today’s perspective, I am grateful to be able to see that what I did was not a side-track or putting my career on hold. Indeed, it was EXACTLY what I needed to do and experience so that I could build the skills necessary to do what I am doing right now (even the grammar!).

So if you are wondering about the spot God has you in right now, know that it is not a Plan B for your life. Raising and training children in itself is one of the BEST things we can do with the ministry of our lives. It is the MOST fulfilling. In the long run, it is more fulfilling than ANY other career.

And know that your external career is not being put on hold. We all have to think of it as another step in God’s plan for our individual journeys. Each journey will look a little different, because we each play a different role in the body of Christ.

But EACH ONE is a vital role. EACH ONE is worthwhile. And EACH ONE is made up of a pathway that God will use for His good.

The post Is Your Career “On Hold” As a Mom? first appeared on Sherri Seligson.

How To Write a Lab Report – Apologia

Over the years, many parents have asked me exactly how their students should be doing lab reports when they complete a science experiment. There are several helps out there, but I am so excited that we have just completed a very helpful YouTube video that goes through each of the sections of a lab report (both for middle/high school and even college).

It walks you through each step and explains how to include information in each of the sections. Additionally, you can download a written explanation along with THREE sample lab reports, showing how to do a report on different types of experiments.

Here is the video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR28zf2Aiwo 

And here is the link to the downloadable PDF: http://homeschool-101.com/write-lab-report/ 

Happy Science!!

The post How To Write a Lab Report first appeared on Sherri Seligson.

The earth rotates on its axis at a speed of 1,000 miles per hour at the equator!

So even though you might think you’re not moving right now as you are sitting to read this, you are actually moving at great speed in relation to our solar system.

Now the earth’s rotation is critical to the survival of every living thing on the planet. You see, our sun radiates visible and invisible energy.  Some of that energy is necessary to power all forms of life on earth, while other portions of that energy can harm life. Thankfully, our atmosphere protects us from much of the harmful solar rays. But the energy that is important to sustain life actually makes up a small part of light’s spectrum. And it is interesting that this useful energy is the portion of light that is visible to the human eye.

Visible light is necessary for the chemical reactions of life. It drives photosynthesis, which is the foundation of nearly every food web on earth.

But life cannot tolerate continual solar energy. Too much sunlight and the harmful radiation of gamma rays, x-rays, and other wavelengths can kill living tissue. Too little light and there is not enough to drive the required food production in plants and algae. We need a specific amount…kind of like baby bear’s porridge. It cannot be too hot or too cold, but just right.

Well, it turns out that the speed of the earth’s rotation is just perfect to create an ideal environment for life.

In fact, if the earth spun at 1/2 of its present rate, daylight hours and nighttime darkness would each be twice as long as they are now. That means during the excessively long days the plants would burn up from too much exposure. At night, the temperatures would drop so low that anything surviving the daylight hours would freeze.

So you can think of our planet as being on a rotisserie spit…like a chicken…slowly turning around and around as it is evenly heated.

What a perfect design to support life!

The post The Earth’s Rotation and Rotisserie Chicken (a Testimony to God’s Perfect Design) first appeared on Sherri Seligson.

Most of them are in their early 20s.

That’s right, they are big-boys and big-girls doing big-people stuff. Were you surprised to hear that? Aren’t they too young to have things like a mortgage? After thinking about that, I realized something.

In our Western culture, we are getting things backwards.

When our children are young, we do everything to get them to grow up quickly. We feel pressured to have them reading by 3 or 4. They should start a second language soon; they need to have that new computer game that teaches how to program; they need a plan for when to start SAT prep courses; they have to begin music lessons so they have time to excel.

We even want them to LOOK grown up. Cool clothes. Trendy hairstyles. Professional manicures and pedicures.

And don’t even get me started on the movies they are allowed to watch. Some parents have no problem taking their young children to PG-13 movies (or even R-rated ones!). All in this desire to help them grow up faster…to be prepared…to excel.

But what happens when they become 17, 18, and enter their college years? We make excuses for them to take several years to “find out what life is all about.” We let them stay at home for years and years, even if they have full time jobs and are bringing in a decent income. We buy them their first car, pay for their insurance, do their laundry, and even make their doctor and dentist appointments.

Now don’t get me wrong. It is good to prepare our children well when they are young and to encourage them to excel. I even think those trendy little toddler outfits can be adorable! And it is also good to help our older children as they navigate early adulthood. But I think in our culture we are taking these two seasons of life a bit too far.

The little ones are suffering because they feel too stressed out. They have no time to be bored, to make up games, to play outside. They aren’t allowed to develop at their own pace for fear of them falling behind. They don’t have opportunities to dream and imagine. As they are pushed to do more and more, filling their days with soccer practice, music lessons, and hours of homework, their little minds are overwhelmed. Some children are plagued with headaches. Others develop stomach issues. And still others will melt down.

The older ones are suffering because we do everything for them. We make excuses for them, allowing them to continue to behave immaturely. We do the hard tasks so they don’t have to, and they fail to rise up to do those tasks for themselves. They feel entitled and expect the world to give and do for them. I believe a lot of that is because deep down inside, they really don’t believe they can do much for themselves.

Well, like much of everything in this life, there needs to be a balance. I encourage you parents to carefully weigh everything your young one is doing. Believe it or not, boredom is a productive thing in young children. We shouldn’t feel like we have to provide every possible experience for them before they hit puberty. We just need to love them. Spend time with them. Have experiences with them.

Sometimes that can happen while they are taking a painting class. And other times that can happen while you’re sitting on the couch at home, reading a book together.

And it is our responsibility to teach our older ones to be self-sufficient. They need to learn how to cook, clean a house, wash their clothes, and even change a tire. We need to instill in them a hard work ethic and teach (and model) character. We need to let them make the phone calls and do their taxes once they get their first job.

In our “enlightened” society today, our twenty- and thirty-somethings are having a hard time trying to grow up, but a hundred years ago a couple might get married at age 14 or 15 and start to run their household.

Let’s rethink how we see our children. As more and more research affirms that little ones need to slow down in their “growing up” and teens and twenties need to speed up, we need to revisit how we do things…for the benefit of our children and our world!

The post We’re Raising Them Backwards first appeared on Sherri Seligson.

It really didn’t matter what the subject material was…what time does the pizza place close; do they play rugby in Canada; which state has the coldest temperature forecast today; when did Renaissance architecture reach its heights (We have eclectic conversations!)… they provided an almost instant answer as a result of being in the digital age.

Now, I am not against technology, but often we use this ready-made access as a crutch, and it can hamper our children’s education.

Here are some issues we have to think about.

1. Digital natives, or people under 40 years old, are less likely to store information in their minds. That’s because they know they have ready access to the Internet and see it as a free vending machine of information. They have less experience using libraries or texts to gather information and therefore don’t appreciate the vast store of information contained on the web. (Need to know how many teaspoons in a tablespoon? Just speak into your phone. No need to memorize that.)
2. They tend to shorten their writing, using snippets of information and abbreviations. Heaven forbid that proper punctuation is used when writing a text to someone!
3. Their dependence on spellcheck and word correction as they type actually makes them less likely to know proper word usage and spelling. Of course, they can get away with it when they text their friends or post tweets, but it is a poor presentation of themselves when they send an email or correspond with a potential employer.
4. They aren’t reading as many books, and they have less of a desire to. With YouTube videos on practically any subject, streaming movies, plus informational snippets like TED Talks, why take the time to read anything? The idea of being “well read” is lost to many students.
5. They gather their news and information about the world as it is parsed out to them. This means they are being actively cut off from the complete stories, relying on the media to let them know what is important, what is not, and how to think about it all. It’s so much easier!

All of these things contribute to dependence on technology which dulls the mind and creates individuals who don’t know how to reason or think for themselves. As a nation, we are losing the art of information gathering and appreciation of knowledge (not just looking stuff up). We are allowing our children to think less and click more.

How do we change that? Encourage reading…even if it is Peanuts comics. Have conversations more. Walk into a brick and mortar library and let them experience the joy of the information it contains. Teach grammar and spelling. Play word games together. Act out plays. All of this helps to build communication and thinking skills which will benefit them no matter what career direction they take.

Now let me be clear. I am NOT against using the internet, technology, or social media. (After all, I have a blog, don’t I?) I am just concerned that we are taking it for granted and relying on it too much.

Balance, friends.

Watch a funny You Tube video together and then follow it up with reading a short story out loud.

Purpose to provide your kids the educational balance they need, and they will be able to THINK!

The post How (Not) To Build Deep Thinkers first appeared on Sherri Seligson.

But I never actually took the time to intentionally make sure we were including DOING NOTHING in our schedule. I DID try to capture down-time when we could so that the kids had opportunity to go outside and play, but I really didn’t consider it a critical part of their development and education.

You see, we feel the pressure to use their time wisely. We don’t want them lazing around when they could be more industrious, like taking Russian lessons, or learning computer code, or any other “very good” activity.

Don’t worry. I am not saying that those are bad things. In fact, they are very good ways to use one’s time. But if you stare at a blank spot on your child’s weekly calendar and feel the need to fill it up with something that will “help them do better on the SAT,” you may actually be preventing them from one of the best things they can be doing.

Nothing.

A recent study completed by Kim John Payne, showed that when he simplified the lives of children with ADD, 68% of them went from clinically dysfunctional to clinically functional within 4 months. Over a third of them increased their academic aptitude, too. These are startling findings.

It is no secret that contemporary society, with its advanced teaching methods and highly technological opportunities, has enriched education even down to kindergarten levels so that students are primed and prepared for college and beyond. Every moment of their day is planned, including their play time so that there is no missed opportunity for an educational boost.

Play Mozart’s concerto while finger-painting a replica of van Gogh’s “Starry Night.” Teach them their colors at age 2…and not red, blue, and green, but crimson, turquoise, and celadon. Read “A Tale of Two Cities” out loud while they are in the womb.

You get the idea. We make sure everything has an academic element. There should be no WASTED time. And that thinking spills over into our lesson plans.

But Payne discovered that with too much going on, children actually build up stress, and when stress is added to normal personality traits in children, it can push those traits into the realm of disorder. So a child who may be inherently organized, liking to line up their toys in rows and place things into and out of baskets may start to develop obsessive behaviors. Dreamy children can lose the ability to focus. Normal behaviors, when combined with the stress of always having to do something productive, can quickly grow out of control when they are placed under the burden of doing too much.

Children today are being constantly bombarded with a flood of information that they are unable to process. We are forcing them to grow up too quickly by placing high expectations on them well before they have the mental ability to deal with those expectations. Sure, they may be able to recite the periodic table or they might be able to read at 1 ½, but are they ready to process what they are taking in? If that is all we are throwing at them, are we giving them too much educational material in their arsenal without the practical skills to wield it?

Of course, we want our children to do well. We want them to have the best possible start in life. But too much designated play and not enough down-time can be dangerous. If we want them to develop well, believe it or not, we need to give them less. Less toys, less structure, less designated time. They need time to become lost in their imaginations. With fewer toys, they can imagine that their car becomes a boat and it sails on the ocean in order to fight sea monsters. They can take those empty paper towel rolls and convert them to musical horns, periscopes, or whatever their minds are dreaming up.

In our great desire to enrich our children, we are removing their creativity. It is suggested that providing as little as two hours a week of unstructured play time will significantly enhance a child’s creativity. Are we as a society not even giving our children two hours to themselves??

So when we feel the need to add extra soccer practices to their schedules or add in three playdates and a field trip to their week, perhaps it is a good idea to step back and think about saying “No” a little more so that you relieve some of the tension on them (and on YOU!).

Maybe it’s time to weed through their toys and eliminate some.

You see, young brains are not able to process the things that adult brains can. Childhood has a purpose. It is a time for a little one’s brain to take in information bit-by-bit and chew on it for a while, turning it over and over in his or her mind until it is fully grasped. By providing our children the time to do that, we are giving them the opportunity to build the skills they truly need so that when they are grown, they can truly thrive.

The post One Important Thing You Need to Add to Your Child’s School Schedule (and it’s not what you think!) first appeared on Sherri Seligson.

You see, my husband and I share all our finances. When we first got married, I was working full time and he was finishing up school. Two years later, within the time frame of about a month, he graduated, began working full time, I quit my job, and I had our first child. So our financial transition was a quick one — going from MY single income to HIS single income. And it has been that way for much of our married life.

Slowly, as our children grew, I began generating some income by writing books and speaking. Now that our children are all grown (though some still live at home while in college), I have more time to do a little more writing and speaking and am adding to our budget.

But he still provides the lions’ share. And, believe me, I am grateful.

However, throughout our marriage, I struggled with giving him gifts that were bought with money he earned.

I know. I know. We work as a unit, in a covenant, as one. What I do for our household while I care for, train, and educate our children is beyond dollar value. Even if I never, ever was given a paycheck, I am contributing to our family in critical ways.

So why do I sometimes struggle with this? Why did I feel like little Lilo this weekend, asking for money so she could be the one to pay?

Frankly, it is because I let the enemy whisper to me that what I do isn’t important. That motherhood is “less than” what any woman could do. That I am kept and paid for, just like all of our children.

This is just not true. Our culture may give lip service at Mother’s Day to all of us moms, but it really makes all mothers feel like we are sub-par if we are JUST moms.

Sweet mama. If you are feeling like that today, I want you to know that you are doing one of the greatest endeavors you can do. You are training and raising the next generation. You are the glue who keeps your household together. You help them eat better and sleep better. You can give hugs and console little ones in a way no other person on earth can.

As our culture thinks it is becoming more “enlightened,” it is forgetting the importance of some of the foundational relationships and roles given to us by our Creator. What a blessing it is when we carry out what God has for us to do. It may be tedious at some times. And it may not be glamorous. But you need to constantly remind yourself you ARE valuable and you do valuable work.

Even if it means that you have to pay for things from a joint account. That income was made not just because of your husband’s hard work but also because of the support you are giving to your husband so that he can DO his work.

It is both of yours together, and you shouldn’t feel like it is just his.

And neither should I. 🙂

The post Why I Felt Like a Cartoon Character This Weekend (or The Value of Being a Mom) first appeared on Sherri Seligson.

If we see what we might think is an educational gap, we are tempted to find yet another online course to help fill it.

Well, all those things are good. Of course we should work to make sure our children are given a solid education. But if we let ourselves worry too much over this, we might be missing one of the best opportunities to build our children’s brains.

Go take a hike.

No, I really mean it. There are plenty of new studies that show how hiking in the outdoors builds our brains. Time outside is good for education. In fact, just taking a walk outside can affect our brain physiologically, which benefits our mental health and our ability to process information.

That might be common sense to many of us, but researchers are looking into this connection because children are spending less time playing outdoors and more time working (and playing) indoors.

One study has shown that the average child in the U.S. spends half as much time outside as compared to 20 years ago. Screen time has grown on average to almost 8 hours a day, which includes television, video games, computer, tablets, and phone use.

All of us, for that matter, are spending more of our time inside. And it isn’t good for us.

Walking outside reduces stress.

Just walking in a park or even in your neighborhood for 90 minutes will benefit your state of mind. A study showed that being outside in natural environments lowers stress levels and worry, but walking in a city environment didn’t have the same impact. In fact, brain scans showed that those who walked in a natural environment had less blood flow to a specific area of their prefrontal cortex that is associated with bad moods. So a nature walk basically deactivates your brain from sadness, worry, and depression.

And you don’t have to hike for very long to reap the benefits. A 2010 study in the Journal of Environmental Science and Technology showed that even a five-minute walk boosts your emotional well-being. You just feel better about things.

Walking outside builds problem-solving skills and creativity.

In a 2012 study, participants who took a four-day wilderness hike scored 50% higher on a creative assessment test. That means taking technology breaks and going outside helps build creativity. This makes sense. When the brain is constantly being filled with digital stimuli, it doesn’t need to work on creative thinking. Colors, music, and other details are already present in a video, TV show, or computer game, so we don’t have to come up with our own ideas.

Walking outside can build focus.

Being active outdoors has been shown to reduce symptoms of ADHD. You see, the brain has to focus on what the body needs it to do as it is hiking on a path. It is busy, then, working on maintaining physical balance, watching the trail ahead, and listening to surrounding sounds as the muscles of the body have to navigate the requirements of motion.

Walking outside boosts your memory.

As you go on a hike, your body burns extra calories. This aerobic exercise increases blood flow, bringing more oxygen to the brain which builds neuron pathways. The more a neuron pathway is traveled, the easier it is for the brain to take that pathway again. So it is easier to remember things.

So as you plan your summer activities, consider boosting your child’s education by taking them outside on a nature walk. It will reduce stress, build creativity, improve memory and focus, exercise the body, and help their overall countenance! I can’t think of any computer game that can do all that!

The post One of the BEST summer enrichment activities you can do with your children first appeared on Sherri Seligson.