This week on HSHSP Ep 159: How to Enjoy Being Mom of a Just-Average Homeschool Teen. This post is running concurrently on Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network.
How to Enjoy Being Mom of a Just-Average Homeschool Teen
Your teens don’t have to go to Harvard to be exactly who God created them to be. Most teens are “just-average” in the ways that get big attention like academics, sports or arts! But God has given each teen gifts. Join Sabrina and Vicki for celebration of average homeschool teens with their giftedness from God!
It is easy to fall into the trap that our homeschool high schoolers must perform extraordinarily in some area that gets big attention…or full-ride scholarships to college. Sometimes moms find themselves almost embarrassed if their teens don’t go to college or don’t do anything news-worthy. It’s an accidental thing in “American mom-ness” that we moms feel that we are failures if our teens aren’t famous.
SO let’s debunk this myth of the idea that only those teens who are gifted in academics, sports or arts are gifted.
NO, all teens are gifted in God’s eyes! God gives each person a gift of something in order to bless His kingdom.
AND let’s debunk the myth that average is bad. If average is bad, then God goofed up because statistically MOST teens are average. That’s what “average” means.
How can you enjoy being a mom of a just-average teen?
Help teens discover the things in them that are a blessing to the kingdom of God.
- All teens have some gift(s). It may be a simple gift, like the gift of a smile, or of being kind. It might be the gift of working with their hands. All gifts are good gifts and teens need to know this.
- This is where a good Career Exploration curriculum can help them identify gifts.
- And they can have some fun with personality tests. Here are some freebies from Vicki Tillman Coaching.
Help teens learn to be thankful for those gifts.
- Teens are often going through identity crises and feel poorly about themselves. Moms can help them look at their gifts and respect that God placed those gifts in them to bless the kingdom of God. Not for themselves, to make them “great”, but to be a blessing.
- It is important for teens to understand that they do not have to be the best at something to have and use their giftings. Our American culture puts a lot of emphasis on being the best or earning attention for something people are good at. However, teens need to know that we have gifts not to earn attention but to be a blessing!
- If God gave them gifts, He has a plan for their lives. So they can be thankful and accept the gifts.
Help teens develop those gifts.
- Give them experiences in serving, learning life skills, exploring new interests, learn new things. Teens can use volunteer opportunities and service hours for sharing their gifts (be sure to capture service and volunteer work on their transcripts). They can also look for apprenticeship opportunities for some gifts. However, simple day-to-day helping around the house, doing good deeds for a friend or neighbor or even being kind to a stranger are all good ways to develop gifts.
- BTW- 7Sister Kym and her homeschoolers raise service puppies as volunteer work. Enjoy this Homeschool Highschool Podcast episode on raising service dogs.
- Give them experiences in serving, learning life skills, exploring new interests, learn new things. Teens can use volunteer opportunities and service hours for sharing their gifts (be sure to capture service and volunteer work on their transcripts). They can also look for apprenticeship opportunities for some gifts. However, simple day-to-day helping around the house, doing good deeds for a friend or neighbor or even being kind to a stranger are all good ways to develop gifts.
Help out the transcript by capturing teens’ learning experiences on the transcript.
- Call it an elective like: Career Exploration, Life Skills, Soft Skills, Business Skills, Trade Skills, etc. Here are a few ideas in this post for capturing jobs on a homeschool transcript.
- Check out this HSHSP Episode on Career Exploration for Teens who Love Everything and this HSHSP Episode on Career Exploration for Teens who Don’t Have a Clue.
- ALSO, Moms: remember all our teens are awesome in God’s eyes. Here’s an interview with Vicki on Mommy Jammies Night with a story about a homeschool co-op that discovers their teens’ gifts.
- Spend time with your teens, just being there. (More tips for talking to our shy teens in this Homeschool Highschool Podcast episode.)
- Enjoy some encouragement from our friend, Ann Karako, discussing homeschooling for real people on Homeschool Highschool Podcast.
Join Vicki and Sabrina for a passionate discussion about enjoying being the mom of an average homeschool teen! We love our average teens. God loves them, too.
