The teenage years are a crucial time in a child's life. They are not children anymore, but they are also not adults. During this time the choices they make may have an effect on them for the rest of their lives. It is the parents' responsibility to guide their teenagers in the right direction by helping them make responsible choices and building their character to the point that when their teenagers move out of the house they are on the road to being responsible adults and have the tools they need to succeed in life.

There are a number of ways that parents can help teenagers build their character. One way is through part-time employment. Having a job provides many learning opportunities for teens.

• It teaches them what it takes to make a living, and that it is hard work to earn money to pay bills.
• They have the opportunity to learn to manage their own money and make choices of how they will spend it.
• If parents gives their teens the responsibility of paying for some of their own bills (e.g., car insurance, gas, clothing, cell phone, lunches out, etc.), then teens will realize they will only be able to have these things if they pay for them and will have to decide if it is worth it to them or not. Their priorities suddenly change when it is their money they are spending. They don't necessarily have to pay all their own bills, giving them a couple of expenses to take care of will teach them to pay their own way and make responsible choices with their money.
• Working is one way for teens to learn to get along with and work along side other people, a very crucial step in character development. How many adults do you know that can't get along with other people! Teens learn that you won't always like everyone you work with, but that it doesn't matter. You still do your job and have a good attitude about it, treating others as you wish to be treated.
• The process of looking for a job requires teenagers to take a good look at themselves and their abilities, helping them to see what kind of people they want to be and what they ultimately want to do with their lives.
• Job experience is the first step to building a successful resume. Any jobs a teen has will look good on college applications and be a stepping stone to future employment.

Of course, all this sounds great but in reality can be difficult to put into practice. The first job our daughter had she got laid off from because she and her boss could not come to agreement on the hours she would work. After she started working there he changed the hours he said she could work and it conflicted with other activities she had. It was very hard for her to feel like she was "fired" from her first job. We had to talk through a lot of the feelings she had towards her boss and some of the experiences she had at that job. But because she chose to honor her boss by showing him respect when he didn't necessarily deserve it, he gave her an excellent reference for her next job.

A couple of months later she did find another job that was much better than the first one, and she had many great learning experiences of working with others and learning to serve others even when it was very hard work.

Parents can't just throw their teens out into the workplace and expect everything will go great. Issues will arise that need to be worked through with the parents' help, but this is where the learning occurs, and character development begins!

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of five. For resources for the Christian family, including parenting, toddler and preschool activities, homeschooling, family traditions, and more, visit http://www.Christian-Parent.com

The end of my first year of homeschooling was a wonderful and frustrating experience. My dear daughter had learned wonderfully growing in manners, physical abilities, and math. However she did not grow in reading. I was stumped. Why? Was I a bad teacher? Did I not get the right curriculum? What had I done wrong?

These fears were held close to my heart. I didn't want to share with other homeschooling moms thinking they would give me 'the look'. You know the 'who let the weird lady in' look. I didn't want to tell them that despite repeated efforts my child just couldn't grasp the basics of reading.

I went on a quest spending extra money to find the perfect book, or program that would teach my child reading. I quietly began reading books about late readers. I reread the books on perfect homeschooling families that I was desperate to be like. I looked outside the home for any help I could find, except asking those around me because I was embarrassed.

Years later I look back at myself and want to hug myself. I want to say, calm down. Quit looking away from home and look to your home for the answers. I needed to stop and see my daughter, all her lovely strengthens and weaknesses. I needed to understand that children grow and develop understanding on God's time table not mine and not the school board's.

My daughter needed time. In fact she needed years of persistent, gentle help reading. She is dyslexic like several members of the family. I also discovered that my daughter would move ahead in fits and spurts not aligned with an age/grade level system. Along the way we turned a corner from struggling for every word to a slow halting reading. We are now working on fluency so she will be more at ease with reading.

My joy however is not her reading ability. My joy is she still enjoys the written word. It may come harder for her than most but if she is interested she will read for pleasure. If you find yourself in this situation here are a few tips that might make your journey easier.

• Look to your child for signs of reading readiness, do not get stuck on their age. They know their alphabet. They can hear rhyming words. They can hear the first sound in a word.

• Find a support group of special needs homeschoolers, either near you or online. You are not alone! Many kids start off slower than we have been lead to believe is "normal" for reading. It's the joy of reading that we need to carefully guard from overly pushing time-lines.

• There are special programs available to help with reading learning disabilities. If you feel your child has a learning disability and you don't feel comfortable working with it there are options available. I would ask an educator or evaluator that is familiar with your child. You might only need some focused help for a couple of months to start off on the right path.

• As you are working through strengthening your child's reading skills adjust their other material to a more audio based learning. Work everyday on your child's weaknesses to strengthen them. In other subject areas don't let weak reading skills hold your child back. Use audio versions of textbooks, read aloud the material to your child, allow your child to draw the science experiment rather than write the whole thing out.

• Time is your best friend not a clock to be raced. Make reading part of everyday life. You read. You read to your child. You help them read. Think of it as every step brings you closer to your goal of an independent reader!

It is hard to stand against the pressure of making your child read at age 5. If you child is not ready than all you are doing is starting their learning career off on a frustrated foot. Focus on the foundations of reading, keep reading aloud to your child and you will get there!

Volunteering in the community is a great way to serve the people in the area where you live. Many non-profit organizations are run by people who give a lot of their own time and money to make your community a better place, and volunteers help these services to continue.

In addition, community service is a great way for teenagers to become aware of needs outside themselves. Don't wait until your teenagers are required to perform mandatory community service to help them get more involved in your community.

Our first experience with volunteer work came about when our daughter was about 12. I was working full time, and we were looking for something for her to occupy her time during the summer. We contacted our local "volunteer center" to find out about available volunteer opportunities in our community. Through that center we found out about a local day camp for disabled children. It is administered by adults but almost completely run by teenagers. The older kids (ages 16-21) are employed by the organization as camp counselors, and the younger teens (ages 12-16) are volunteers. Each disabled child has a teen "pal" for all activities. They go to the park, go swimming, and a variety of other activities for about 4 hours a day. Volunteers sign up for 1 week at a time, and can volunteer all summer if they want.

This kind of volunteer work isn't for everyone, of course, but our daughter had a great time volunteering for this organization and worked there every summer for four years. A lot of the volunteers come back as paid counselors when they turn 16. The younger teens also love hanging out with the older teens, and the disabled kids love all the attention. This service gives the parents of these kids very needed time off and is a wonderful resource in our community, while also offering a unique experience for the volunteers.

There are many other types of volunteer work. Other types of services our daughter has been involved with:

• Your local humane society is a great place to volunteer as a family. My daughter and I used to go to our humane society and play with the cats and take dogs for walks. They called this "pet socialization", so that the animals would have an easier transition into new homes. We had a great time doing this together. Our daughter also organized her own yard sale and published a newsletter for kids to raise money for the humane society.

• When our daughter was 16, she became involved in a teen "suicide hotline" program sponsored by our community. She went through an intensive training program to teach her how to talk to teens who are considering suicide. Teens volunteer to man a phone line in 4-hour shifts.

• Local churches are great resources for volunteer opportunities. For several years I was a youth group leader in our daughter's high school youth group. One year we spent a week in Billings, Montana, working in their homeless shelter and food bank. To me this was quite an eye-opening experience, especially talking to and sharing experiences with the people who work at these places every day. Last year our daughter spent a week in Idaho fixing up and updating several schools, and this year she is traveling to Honduras for two weeks.

The services performed through volunteer work are only a portion of the benefits of volunteering time in the community. Teenagers by nature are very often self-focused and need to be offered opportunities to reach out of themselves and help others. The earlier they learn to do these things the more natural it will become for them later in life. Other benefits of volunteer work are valuable experience for applying for jobs and college scholarships.

Share fun and giggles with your children. These engaging ideas will captivate and stimulate your child’s senses and ignite your child’s thirst for learning.

1. Finger Painting with a Twist. Try different finger paints besides the traditional store bought kind. For example: Chocolate pudding paint. Just buy a can of ready-made pudding from the grocery store. Or Jello finger painting: Mix together 1 package of Jello and 2 Tbsp hot water in a small bowl being careful not to overmix. Let cool 5 to 10 min. before using. Paint on tin foil for a neat effect. For some more edible food craft ideas visit create-kids-crafts.com.
2. Play Dough. Play dough is fun to squish, squash and create with. No need to go out and buy some, there’s a great recipe below. Make an easy playdough rose for an idea: 1. Roll out a thin, long snake and press it flat. Loosely roll it up like a rug from one end to the other. Spread and press each layer out a bit. 2. For the leaves, flatten a piece of play dough with your hands. Cut out 2 leaf shapes with a plastic knife and press them onto the bottom of the rose. For a photo of the playdough rose and other cool playdough creations for kids (little and big), visit Discover-Preschool-Activities.com.
3. Bubble Blowing without Tears. Here’s a great recipe that uses “tearless” baby shampoo that won’t sting eyes if bubbles get splattered in little eyes. 3 cups water, 1 cup baby shampoo, 1/3 cup light corn syrup. Mix all together in a large bowl.
4. Oobleck. Who says small children have short attention spans? This alone fascinated my 2 yr. old at the time for 45 minutes. Recipe: 1 cup cornstarch, 1/3 cup water, 5 to 7 drops food coloring(optional). Mix water and food coloring together. Slowly add cornstarch.  Do not stir. Let the mixture stand for 1 to 2 minutes. Pick a handful of the oobleck up and squeeze it until it forms a hard ball. Open your hand and the oobleck will turn from a solid back into a liquid. If it gets too dry after awhile, just add a bit more water.

Kool-Aid Playdough Recipe (Adult assistance and supervision required)

1 cup flour
½ cup salt
1 small pkg. unsweetened Kool-Aid (6 g pkg)
1 ½ Tbsp cooking oil
1 c boiling water

Mix flour, salt, oil and Kool-Aid. Add boiling water; stir and knead until cooled and smooth. Store in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. This playdough will be the color and scent of the Kool-Aid  you used.

Remember to supervise little kids with these ideas to ensure that with some of the ideas they don’t put things in their mouth.

Homeschooling has many rewards when parents are confident about their conviction of individualized learning.  The concept of individualized learning allows the student to work at a level that is customized to their learning levels.  There are other considerations to take into account when deciding if homeschooling is the best option for your child.  Let’s discuss a few of these considerations:

1) Diagnostic Testing: Is your child being pushed through the educational system?  Could there be some learning gaps in their educational foundation?  Are they mastering the basic skills of Math, English, Social Studies, Reading, and Life Applications?

As a Certified Administrator, I offer State-of-the-Art Diagnostic Testing to evaluate educational concepts. Successful completions of the tests indicates readiness for appropriate grade levels. Just like a doctor or therapist diagnoses a patient’s problems before offering a prescribe method of healing – your child’s academic needs must be evaluated before an accurate curriculum can be prescribed. This step is vital for your child’s success.

2)  Customized Curriculum: With the five areas of academics (Math, English, Social Studies, Science, and Reading), I customize a curriculum especially designed to meet your child’s needs and degree of difficulty.  When gaps are identified,  curriculum is prescribed to strengthen the concepts.  Once the gaps are completed, your child will continue progressing through the curriculum.

3)  Extended Curriculum: Your child’s education plan should utilize therapist to continue proper treatments. Partnering with independent therapists,  I offer services virtually through proper technology.  Students utilize hands-on learning with manipulatives, complete goals or tasks, and tests.  All goal sheets and tests are compiled and sent back to me via email  for grading and record-keeping.  For the benefit of your child’s social needs, I will be offering a homeschool community through SKYPE, as well as, social networks.  Follow me on Facebook (homeschoolingdisabledkids), and Twitter (homeschooling1).

4)  Support Services: Another unique addition I offer is qualified staff available during weekday school hours for conferences as well as consultations.  With other skilled teachers available, students receive individual tutoring to assist with difficult tasks.  High school diplomas are granted several high school diplomas upon levels or grades of requirement completion.

With these concerns mention, I strongly suggest that both parents be in agreement and willing to make the personal sacrifices.  Time management, if discussed, will allow parents to establish a well-structured learning environment.  The financial arena must also be explored.  Parents must be willing to make short-term investments to receive long-term rewards.

Mindi Willett is dedicated to helping children reach their fullest potential. She believes that many children need an individualized structured workspace and curriculum. They need extra time, compassion, and encouragement to complete tasks. Mindi has taught in the classroom and home using the principles of individualized learning. Her eBook is compacted with 12 years of experience spent in an educational laboratory - the classroom or her homeschooler's academy. Visit her website at MindiWillett.com.

One of the most frequently asked questions I receive is “why should I teach my baby sign language when he/she is not deaf?”

Well that is a good question. Even if your child is not deaf, there is scientific research that has been done to show the benefits of sign language for hearing babies.

Drs. Acredolo and Goodwyn, founders of Baby Signs program, have spent a lot of time and energy into research before they developed the program Baby Signs. In their research they focused on hearing babies and the benefits of using signs.

They wanted to make sure that if they made a product for hearing babies that they were not going to cause problems for them in the future.

One myth is that using sign language slows down the baby’s ability to speak. If they can communicate using signs then they will never talk, right? No… research actually proves the opposite.

Results of the study were amazing!!!

The tests revealed at 11-30 months signing babies had a three-month advantage over the non-signers. The babies using baby sign language were also putting together significantly longer and more complex sentences. At 36 months, signers were almost a FULL year ahead of their non signing age mates!!!

Test results at 8 years old, showed those who had used sign language as babies scored an average of 12 points higher in IQ tests then their non-signing peers.

Not only does using baby signs with your baby increase their IQ, it also has other benefits as well.

Some other benefits are:

1. Using sign language with your baby can reduce the frustration levels for both baby and mother alike. Have you been in a situation that you could not tell what your child wanted? The only thing that your child could do was drag you to the kitchen, and then point. Well does he want a drink, food, or something on the counter? You could not help him, and after many attempts to figure it out you get frustrated and so is he. Sign language comes in very handy.
2. Using sign language with your baby builds trust between the baby and you. Imagine the above situation again. Your child drags you to the kitchen (actually this would not happen if you were signing with them). You are in the kitchen and your baby signs “drink”. You know exactly how to help them, and you give them a drink. Not only does your child walk away with new confidence about himself, he also walks away with the trust that you know how to help him when he needs you.
3. Using sign language allows babies to share their world to you. Babies are able to communicate at a very young age. But unfortunately their verbal skills fall far behind, and they are not able to communicate things with us. If they know sign language and have the confidence that you understand them, they will show you what they are thinking and looking at, what they want to know more about, what their interests are, what they don’t like, the list goes on and on.
4. Using sign language boosts their positive emotional development, confidence, as well as self esteem. They know what they want, and they have to figure out a way to communicate to us before they can speak. Sign language “bridges” the gap before they can verbalize it to us.

In conclusion, the evidence shows that using sign language with your baby is good for baby as well as for you, the parents. Now you know that signing with your baby increases their IQ throughout their life, decreases the frustration level, builds trust, allows you to share in their world and understand what they are thinking, and boosts confidence and self esteem. The better question to ask would be “Why not use sign language?”

Mandy McCollum has been passionate about sign language since she was young. She is one quarter away from receiving her sign language interpreting degree and has taken classes at the Chicago Deaf Center. She has also taught children sign language as part of a homeschool curriculum.  For more sign language resources visit http://www.hands4sign.com.

The question, “Can my homeschooled child attend University?” is a perpetual one for homeschooling parents. The fact of the matter is that yes, a homeschooled child can absolutely attend university, and some institutions even lay aside spots in their freshmen classes for homeschooled students.

Many homeschooling families report that their friends and families tell them that, by homeschooling their child, they are depriving their child of the possibility of attending tertiary studies. Fortunately, this is not the case. All it takes is a little research into the way your preferred universities work, ahead of schedule, and you can tailor some of your homeschooling activities toward achieving university entry. In fact, you may be able to do so much more effectively than the strained school system.

Let’s think about your local school system. They are busy teaching various subjects but do they provide any extra help for national college exams? How can you make sure that when your child sits for college exams that they will be ready for all the material? If you ask your teen to devote more time to studying after the hours of homework they are already taking on, you are most likely going to get some resistance unless they are particularly academically oriented. Both you and your child have worked hard so that they can be the very best, and do and be whatever or whoever they want to be. If you have decided to take your child’s education into your own hands by homeschooling you can still get into any institution in the country.

College Preparation

When your child gets to high school level, this is the time to start scoping out potential college institutions and their requirements. This way, if you need extra years of a certain subject, you can plan the secondary coursework accordingly. You will also want to look at their entrance exam requirements and prepare accordingly for those exams. After the freshman year of high school (or beginning of the 6th form in the UK) you will want to start doing research on potential institutions, building relationship with admissions offices, and taking stock of testing requirements and coursework.

High School Diplomas

When it comes to the question of “Do you have a high school diploma?” the answer to that question varies. There are three ways to deal with the highschool diploma situation.

1. You can issue one yourself, sign it yourself, and let that be the end of it.
2. Private schools may issue you one with the appropriate records and materials.
3. Your child can take the GED and have that certification as their testament to their secondary education.

One last thought

In conclusion, please keep in mind that there will be an adjustment period for your child between the homeschooling environment and the college environment, especially interaction in the classroom. This will be minimized if they have already taken some subjects at community college, however. They will however, be able to manage their time effectively, interact with all kinds of people, and have a well-rounded learning experience.

If the idea of home schooling is something that you and your family are considering there are a couple of important things to make sure to decide before you make any decisions. This decision is something that will affect your children for years and needs to be taken seriously and not on a whim or when you are upset with a current situation. Following are a couple of do’s and don’ts when making the decision if home schooling is right for you and your family.

Do’s:

• Learn the laws for home schooling in your state. The home school legal defense group is an important stop to make while you are making your decision on home schooling. Another great support system to find is local home school group in your area, visit some and find one that you feel comfortable in. One last stop in helping you make a decision is to find and visit a home school conference, there will be a lot of information presented to you and lots of different schooling options. Just don’t bring your checkbook, make no purchases. You will be tempted but that is not what you are there for, its education for you to make a decision you need to seek right now.
• Make sure you and your spouse both agree on your decision. For the most part if you make the decision to home school there will be only one income coming into the home. Even if only one of you does the teaching you will need the support of your spouse. There will be naysayers about your decision so you will need to present a united front.
• This can be a very exciting time for you and the kids. But before you do anything else write down a mission statement. What are your personal reasons for deciding to home school? What are some goals you want to accomplish the first year what are your long range goals for your home schooling. You will need this statement to fall back on when you are having rough days. There will be times when you doubt yourself and the decision you made to school at home. Believe me, there were times that if I hadn’t of had that paper to look at I would have quit many times.

Don’ts:

• Decide to home school and work outside of the home. This is the education of your child; they deserve your attention and leadership for their education. This will be especially important the first year of home schooling no matter what grade your child is in they will need your help in knowing how to adjust to this new phase in their lives. And mom and dad this will be new for you and you will need to do some learning about how to home school yourselves.
• Jump right into textbooks. I know this sounds like I’m now giving you conflicting advice but as you will soon learn on your home schooling journey there is so much more to education then textbooks. If you have little ones play games that will teach them, read books and play. If the kids are older and been in public school they may need some down time, some time away from textbooks, maybe some educational computer games or sports. Some free reading time, spend some time connecting with them and forming a relationship. Find their learning style so you can use it to help them love learning again. Warning: this is not permission to let the kids turn on the TV and zone out all day.

So I hope that these tips will help you and your family in making the right decision about home schooling. It will be a wonderful experience if you make the decision to do this. But if you can’t honestly say that you can make this the most important thing in your life, before your job, what others say about your decision or anything else, then maybe home schooling is not for you.

Home schooling during the high school years can be a fun and rewarding time for both the child and parent. This time can be used to keep, maintain and even deepen a relationship with your child during a high stress time of their lives. This can be a time to build a trust with your child so that they are willing to listen to council that you would like to share with them during this time of their lives. Also, as a Christian parent it can be the time to guide your child in their Christian walk and to help with any questions that they have so that their relationship with the Lord is their own; which will help them as new choices and decisions come their way in the upcoming years.

As your child enters the high school years record keeping becomes very important. You will want to start recording the things that your child accomplishes so that you can report them for college admission considerations. This is the time to start looking at the requirements of the top three college choices that your child is thinking about attending. This will help in knowing what they require from incoming freshman. Also, check your state requirements in what they recommend a high school student to have before graduation. Some things that we learned along the way is to start a record writing down every book read during the high school years either for school or free reading. Keep up to date with your records; this will help if you need to present them for scholarships or grants.

Keeping track and recording your child’s extracurricular activities are just as important as recording the grades of the academic classes. For homeschoolers this is important because sports can also be counted as physical education credit as well as extracurricular. Colleges are interested in a child’s outside activities only to show that they are a well rounded person, sports, 4-H, part time job it isn’t important to a college what a student is involved in just that they have a well balanced life and are active in academic as well as extracurricular activities.

During this time of your child’s development it is important for them to start learning life lessons while they are still in a safe environment and still have you as a sounding board to hear from them and have some input towards their dreams and decisions. This is a great time to teach about finances, if they have a vehicle its time for them to pay for the bills that occur from that vehicle; hopefully there isn’t a payment on it; but there will be insurance that has to be paid, gas, maintenance such as new tires and oil changes. All of this is to teach them that as they get ready to step out on their own there are financial things that they will be responsible for and this is a step towards learning this responsibility.

This is a busy, exciting time for your teen. They still have their school work to keep up with; they are busy with extracurricular activities as well as many of them having jobs to help them earn the money they need for their special purchases. Its also a time for teen parents to start paying more attention to record keeping to help our teens take the next step in their educational process as well as being there to listen and give sound advise as your kids contemplate what they will do next in their lives.

Cutting with scissors is a learned activity.  By three years old your child should have no problem holding a pair of child-sized scissors.  It takes them awhile to master this new skill, however, so be patient with them while they begin to show an interest in learning how to do it.

Purchase your child a pair of his own scissors.  If your child is left-handed, make sure the scissors can be used by left- or right-handed children.  Many scissors can be used by both.

Let your child try to cut with the scissors, and encourage him to cut the best he can.  It may take awhile for him to get the hang of it.  My boys were four years old before they could hold a pair of scissors correctly and cut with them.

After your child has learned to cut with his scissors, it's time to practice cutting shapes and lines.  This activity helps your preschooler master his cutting skills so he can move on to cutting out shapes for his own craft projects.

Have your child start cutting lines.  Simply use a ruler to draw several lines on a piece of paper, and then have your child try to cut on the line.  It will probably take awhile for your child to get the hang of it, but after he catches on he will be so proud of his new accomplishment.  After lines, he is ready to move on to wavy lines, then ovals, and, finally, circles.

Preschoolers love this cutting activity.  One of my sons spent at least an hour two days in a row cutting out shapes I had drawn for him.  He was so excited he could cut on the lines that he wanted to cut them out over and over again.

Another skill that can be practiced with this activity is tracing.  Before your child cuts out the shapes, have him first trace them with a pencil.  This is also a skill that takes time to learn and that your child will enjoy trying to master.

Children enjoying learning things.  Open up a whole new world for your child by teaching him something as simple as using a pair of scissors.