Homeschool Heartbeat Radio Program

Mike Smith:
My guest this week is Mary Schofield, veteran homeschool mom and author.

Your book, The High School Handbook, is designed to guide parents when homeschooling through the high school years. However, Mary, are there some special considerations for teaching junior high children?

Mary Schofield:
Yes, actually, Mike, there are. First of all, while the title of the book is The High School Handbook, it does cover junior high. And that's because there are some special considerations for teaching a junior high student. The age from about 11 to 14 is a unique time of life that includes both physical and spiritual maturity. Kids at this age are going through a lot of changes.

And I think it's easy for parents to get sidetracked into worrying about the students' distant future, like high school or even college, when what absolutely matters the most at this age is keeping them on track spiritually. Of course academics are going to be taught, but parents have to keep Christian discipleship at the center of everything they do, and that's especially important during junior high.

Mike:
Mary, I couldn't agree more. And thank you for bringing us back to the essential building block of Christian home education—that's discipleship of our children. Thank you again, Mary. And listeners, join us next time as we continue our discussion of The High School Handbook. Until next time, I'm Mike Smith.