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Homeschool Highschool Podcast Ep 141: Handling Difficult People at Holiday Events

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast Ep 141: Handling Difficult People at Holiday Events. This post is running concurrently on Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network.

Homeschool Highschool Podcast Ep 141: Handling Difficult People at Holiday Events

Dreading those tough moments at holiday gatherings when someone makes everyone tense, irritated or embarrassed? It’s not just you. There are obnoxious people everywhere. However, we don’t need to sacrifice our family’s health (mental or otherwise), to appease the folks who make life tense. Join Sabrina, Vicki, Kym and Eagle (the Seeing Eye Puppy) for a comfortable chat about uncomfortable people.

When planning for that big get-together, but stressing because you know Irritating Uncle George is going to be there, here are some valuable questions to ask yourself:

What’s the goal of the gathering?

If it’s the goal to have a picture perfect event, we might need to downgrade that goal when there are difficult people in the mix. Better to be realistic and unsurprised than to simply wish he’d behave and be miserable. Listen to this episode on Realistic Expectations.
If the goal is to honor the traditions of the family, how can you discuss with each person ways to keep that tradition-honoring time pleasant?

What are the deal breakers for you and your family?

Ask your family members, what are their deal breakers? Those are the places you need to work together to come up with a creative, Christlike boundary or solution.

How flexible are your family members with their deal breakers and expectations?

Ask your family members what they can and are willing to adjust.

What are your internal Rules for the Universe?

We all have a set of Rules for the way the Universe should run. If we stubbornly try to cling to our Rules for the Universe, and the universe isn’t running by our rules, we will make ourselves sick.

Take for instance, Vicki’s Rule: *Everyone I care about should be okay all the time*. Unfortunately for Vicki, she can’t control that. She has to leave everyone’s okay-ness in God’s hands. (He going to run the universe the way He sees best, anyway- regardless of our Rules.)

What are YOUR Rules for the Universe? Some of our favorites are (and we must give up on):

Everyone I care about must be part of our traditions, so everyone must be present with me.
Everyone should behave like a Norman Rockwell painting.
Everyone should be upbeat and happy all through the holidays.

What do we do when there is a difficult people present in our family, so will make the gathering difficult?

Ask yourself: Is it necessary for that person to attend if they are dangerous to the well-being and safety of the rest of the group? If the person is not a safe person, must they come? Think about that seriously. The idea that all people must be present at important holiday events is simply one of those internal Rules for the Universe.

Is it necessary for us to suck it up and say nothing difficult people or do we confront at that time of behavior?

For people with Predictable Obnoxious Behaviors (POBs).
- Discuss those with the person ahead of time.
For people with Unpredictable Bad Behaviors (UBBs).
- Gently pull that person aside and let them know the way things go at your house.

Remember your own stress points, ask yourself: Can I download/delegate any of them?

Remember to:

Be loving. Make loving a goal.
Be healthy. Make health a goal.
Make social skills a goal. Listen to this episode for Holiday Social Skills for Teens.

Gathering with folks is important at Christmas but we are healthier when we have addressed questions about the ways we’ll handle trouble-making people at the events.

Do your teens need to vent about those obnoxious folks? Give them a cathartic writing assignment: Holiday Family Narratives.

Holiday Family Narrative 7SistersHomeschool.com Write a fun story based on a favorite family holiday event.

Click image for full description.

Enjoy this empowering chat with Sabrina, Vicki, Kym and Seeing Eye Puppy, Eagle. And enjoy these posts:

https://7sistershomeschool.com/perfect-time-to-write/

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Homeschool Highschool Podcast Ep 141: Handling Difficult People at Holiday Events

Homeschool Highschool Podcast Ep 90: Handling Holiday Homeschool Hassles

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast Ep 90: Handling Holiday Homeschool Hassles! This episode is running concurrently on The Ultimate Homeschool Network.

Homeschool Highschool Podcas Ep 90: Handling Holiday Homeschool Hassles

What is the Christmas break supposed to look like in homeschool highschool?

Are we supposed to do NO homeschool lessons?
Are we supposed to catch up on all the lessons we’re behind on?
Are we supposed to work right through and get ahead?

The Christmas break can get to feeling like a homeschool hassle! Join Sabrina, Vicki and Kym for ideas on handling holiday homeschool hassles.

How can we respect everyone’s:

Expectations
Needs
Wants

Then plan wisely for your Christmas break!

Communicate with teens your expectations
Work together to set holiday goals
Respect need for some change
Balance competing needs and activities

How to run a *Homeschool Triage* to decide what to do when.

What is most desperate, most pressing, most important?
What do your teens like and they’ll get caught up on their own?
What do you just need to toss?

Learn how to juggle and memorize our friend Colleen Kessler’s quote (Raising Lifelong Learners blog): Every morning you have to get up and decide which ball you need to drop!

Face the need to manage your own perfectionism. As Kym quotes: Perfectionism is NOT a good role model.

How to manage the need for your own self-care:

Sharing the carpool with other homeschool moms so everyone can get a little rest
Take a *silent retreat* after Christmas*

How to face the fact that there’s not ONE right way to homeschool or not during the Christmas break.

There are some hassles. That’s okay. Face it and then give yourself a break!

Homeschool Highschool Podcast Ep 90: Handling Holiday Homeschool Hassles

Read-Aloud Learning Guides for Building Multi-generational Bonds

Here are educational read-aloud learning guides for building multi-generational bonds.

Read-Aloud Learning Guides for Building Multi-generational Bonds

Elementary homeschool years are the perfect time for building cultural values into your children. One cultural value that many homeschooling families hold is *multi-generational bonds*.

Want to find 2 wonderful read-alouds that are great learning guides AND help elementary kids begin to build strong multi-generational bonds? These read-alouds are:

Just in Time for Christmas by Louise Borden
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Aunt Flossie’s Hats by Elizabeth Howard

One of the advantages of homeschooling is the opportunity to bond with people of multiple generations. We love that our homeschooled children easily bond with people of all ages!

Our culture tends to emphasize same-age relationships, however:

Traditional schools are age segregated, so our kids with friends from those settings may be surprised to see their peers’ discomfort with various ages.
Our culture is so transient, it can be difficult to have meaningful relationships with family members from older generations.

Two of our favorite books featuring warm, lively interactions between generations are Aunt Flossie’s Hats by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard and Just in Time for Christmas by Louise Borden

Read-Aloud Learning Guides Building Multi-generational Bonds study guide

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Aunt Flossie’s Hats provides young readers an opportunity to enjoy the special relationship between the aunt and her grand nieces while glimpsing images of a bygone era and opens the door for discussion of your own family’s past.

Just in Time for Christmas features a favorite holiday tradition enjoyed by members of several generations of an extended family. A great topic of discussion would be the anticipation of a cherished family activity.

Check this post for ideas for using 7Sisters’ Elementary Literature Activity Guides at your homeschool co-op! A great place to start teaching mult-generational bonding.

Be sure to read this post about how 7Sisters’ developmentally appropriate, fun Elementary Literature Activity Guides work!

Read this study about the benefits of reading aloud to children.

Read-Aloud Learning Guides for Building Multi-generational Bonds

Homeschool Highschool Podcast Episode 37: Creative Credits at Christmas

Homeschool Highschool Podcast Episode 37: Creative Credits at Christmas.

Homeschool Highschool Podcast Episode 37: Creative Credits at Christmas

It’s December and the family has Christmas thoughts and activities. It would be fun to take the month off but that’s not possible for homeschool highschoolers! They must get those educational hours logged and earn their transcript credits.

What if your teens could have the best of both worlds? What if they could have special Christmas activities AND log transcript credit hours?

That’s exactly what we’re talking about this week on The Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Creative Credits at Christmas!

Here’s one creative idea: Log some baking hours for Home Economics with 7Sisters’ Freebie Favorite Holiday Recipes.

Or how about logging some social skills hours for Life Preparation, Home Economics, Psychology or Health credits. Take a look at this post:

Homeschool Highschool Podcast Ep 38 Holiday Social Skills for Teens

Click here to listen.

Or log other social skills hours with 7Sisters’ Social Skills for Kids (teens are definitely not too old for basic skills).

Social Skills for Children 7SistersHomeschool.com

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Or how about logging some Ancient History hours with a map study of the Holy Land at the time of Christ. Do a web search for key events in the area of the day as well as key political figures (like Augustus Caesar).

Join Vicki, Kym and Sabrina for a lively discussion about ways to log honest educational hours and still have Christmas celebrations.

Homeschool Highschool Podcast Episode 37: Creative Credits at Christmas

Christmas-related High School Learning with a MOVIE? Bah! Humbug!

Christmas-related high school learning with a MOVIE? Bah! Humbug!

Actually, not a humbug at all, Mr. Scrooge.

Cinema Studies for Literature Learning: A Christmas Carol take teens on a no-busywork journey into the literary elements of a beautifully-told story on the silver screen.

Christmas-related high school learning with a MOVIE? Bah! Humbug! christmas carol

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Some teens are natural bookworms.
Some aren’t book-lovers, but they grab onto the ideas of literary analysis pretty easily.
Other high school students struggle with reading comprehension to the degree that analyzing what they’ve read feels overwhelming.

But learning to move beyond simple comprehension is an important part of literature learning in high school, and all teens need to be given tools that will help them master these skills.

Using a Cinema Studies for Literature Learning guide is a great idea for any teen, but struggling readers, in particular, find the freedom to think below the surface of the story when they aren’t having to work so hard to simply read and comprehend the material on the page.

Good movies tell good stories and tell them well. The same literary elements present in a work of literature (foreshadowing, character development, setting, tone, motif, dialogue, etc.) are present in a good movie as well. This cinema studies guide series from 7SistersHomeschool.com helps teens take note of elements they would otherwise likely miss, and encourage them to talk about and write about the ideas these elements inspire.

Our first Cinema Studies for Literature Learning guide was written to accompany the 1984 version of A Christmas Carol starring George C. Scott. We’ve been using these guides with teens in our local community and seeing great success! The teens think deep thoughts and share what they are thinking…and they have fun doing it!

Here’s how you use Cinema Studies for Literature Learning Guide: A Christmas Carol:

Read the introductory material (just a paragraph or so).
Look up the definitions of a few vocabulary words from the movie.
Watch the movie with the study guide at your side. Make notes that answer the questions as you go. You may want to pause the movie from time to time.
After the final credits roll, look back over your notes and move on to the deeper questions that call for a few sentences of thoughtful response.
Watch the movie a second time on another day, and then write an essay or short personal response paper from one of the writing prompts offered.

We have a number of these guides in the works and will be publishing them in the coming months, but why not get started NOW with George C. Scott and Cinema Studies for Literature Learning: A Christmas Carol? Real literature learning, no overkill, and no humbug!

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Christmas-related high school learning with a MOVIE? Bah! Humbug!

A FUN way to Preserve Your Family Legacy and Log High School Hours

Here is a FUN way to Preserve Your Family Legacy and Log High School Hours!

A FUN way to Preserve Your Family Legacy and Log High School Hours

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Do you have a high school student who hates to write…or maybe, just hates to write if there seems to be no purpose in the assignment? How about that student who is very creative, but still procrastinates getting writing assignments done? A writing project that offers a fun way to preserve your family legacy earns high school credit and may be read for many years – perhaps even by many generations!

Starting with Guide to Short Story Writing: Holiday Family Narrative by Sabrina Justison, teens create a piece that can serve as a gift for those hard-to-buy-for relatives. There are so many ways to give this idea a try; choose the one that fits you best and have some fun with writing!

Holiday Family Narrative is designed to be a one-week short story writing curriculum. While it can easily be completed in that doldrum time right before Christmas, you will need to start earlier if you wish to have a completed product that you can give as gifts. The writing can be accomplished in a week, but the editing, formatting, printing, and binding will take longer – just how long depends on the options you choose.

The goal of this project is to have a written copy of a family story, preserved in a form that is suitable to give as gifts. Once the story is written, the student will need to:

EDIT: Editing can be a tedious process for some students. This really tests the student’s knowledge and application of grammar. It is strongly recommended that the student read over the story several times over at least three days. It is also strong recommended that this process be followed by some help from a trusted adult who will read it over as well.

FORMAT: The formatting process will be influenced by the choice of binding. There are many options available.
Simply printing (with a cover) and stapling the story
Placing the story in a report cover (the kind you can buy at any office supply store)
Having a printer bind it with a comb or spiral binding
Having a printer bind it into a soft or hard cover
Including the story in a book of pictures and bound (there are many online options for this)

Ready to think about a fun way to preserve your family legacy in more detail? Here are things to consider.

EDITING:

Editing requires more than simply re-reading the story. It requires careful attention to detail. It is nearly impossible to edit your writing directly after its completion. Coming back to it later (preferably at least a day later) will allow you to catch more of the errors.

At 7Sisters’, we use a team approach to editing the ebooks we create. Our products are edited by a team of three, and that helps us to find most of the errors (although a few minor errors sometimes find a way to slip by!). We strongly advise teens to let someone else edit their stories after they have been over the piece themselves two or three times. An objective third party won’t already know what you were trying to say and will see things that you might not notice.

Editing requires a thorough understanding of grammar – applied grammar! However, it is more than just checking for spelling and punctuation. It requires looking at the sentence as a whole and making sure it makes sense. If you want this story to become a treasured gift, don’t skimp on the editing process.

FORMATTING:

Some basic formatting decisions will be based on the binding style you choose. If the story is only a page, you could choose to frame it. For a slightly longer story you could simply staple or place the finished product in a report cover.

For a crafty way to “finish” your book using an upcycled book cover, see Sabrina’s simple how-to on her Pinterest board here:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/401875966720340451/

If the story is longer, or you are combining stories from several family members, you might want to choose a more professional look. Most printing establishments have some binding options in-house. Two of the ones available from our local print shop are the comb binding and the spiral binding. The comb binding is the least expensive, but the spiral binding will lie flat when open and does not add significant cost. It comes in several colors.

If you use one of these options, you will probably be able to choose printing your story in a different size. The most common are the typical 8 1/2 by 11 sheet and the 5 1/2 by 8 (basically a half-sheet). If you choose the latter option, you will need to set your margins for the smaller size. Don’t forget to add at least 1/2 inch all around so that the writing doesn’t go all the way to the edge of the page. (You will also have to adjust your headers and footers if plan to have them.)

Most printers can also do a soft or hard binding, but that is more expensive and usually requires additional time. (Our local printer sends these out to another facility for binding. This adds a week or two before you have the finished product.)

ILLUSTRATIONS:

Pictures will really help your story to come alive! If you have digital pictures (or can scan printed pictures) of the main character(s) or the actual event, these will make a great addition. If not, you can create or scan-in illustrations, choose appropriate pictures from stock photos, or add some clip art. Maybe a few scrolls will make the page more interesting. These are also available from stock photos. Keep in mind that colored copies are more expensive, so you might want to reserve color solely for the cover page.

Are you excited about this idea yet? We think this fun way to preserve your family legacy might be just the thing for a special writing project for teens this holiday season. If you have other ideas for making a book like this work well, share them in the comments!

Download your copy today!

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A FUN way to Preserve Your Family Legacy and Log High School Hours

Homeschool Highschool Podcast Episode 36: Teens and Complicated Christmas

This week on The Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Teens and Complicated Christmas! This post is running concurrently on the Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network (as well as the audio).

Homeschool Highschool Podcast Episode 36: Teens and Complicated Christmas

Challenging years bring challenging holiday seasons. Did your family or a family you know experience some difficult times this year?

Hardships like illnesses, financial loss, death of a loved one, or divorce can steal the joy of Christmas.

What can you do to help your teens (and the rest of the family) cope with tough times during the holidays?

One thing you can’t do when things get complicated for teens and you notice that they are struggling is to ignore them and hope the *phase* will go away. Even though the holidays are busy times, homeschool moms (or any mom) needs to stop, take the teen out for a drive or for coffee, and have a chat. Give them some space to talk. Then offer to get them a counselor or a time to chat with their youth pastor.

Listening is the most important thing teens need. Listening without judgement (which can be hard). Listen to this episode for more tips and check out these posts:

Here’s a post on helping young people during a crisis.

Here’s an episode of the Homeschool Highschool Podcast where we discuss helping teens during a crisis.

Join Vicki, Sabrina and Kym for an encouraging discussion.

Homeschool Highschool Podcast Episode 36: Teens and Complicated Christmas

Homeschool Highschool Podcast Episode 34: Realistic Holiday Expectations

Join us for The Homeschool Highschool Podcast Episode 34: Realistic Holiday Expectations. This post is running concurrently on Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network.

Homeschool Highschool Podcast Episode 34: Realistic Holiday Expectations

Ready for a perfect holiday season? Perfect kids, perfect events, perfect gifts…even perfect cookies? Perfect ulcers from the stress of nothing being perfect?

Many of us homeschooling moms wish we could pull of perfect holidays for our families. We want them to have happy memories of each holiday, even each day of the holiday season. We have the best intentions!

But holidays don’t usually live up to perfect expectations. So how can we handle holidays happily and still hold onto realistic expectations (we’ll run out of something important, we’ll forget to buy something important, our kids will come down with colds, the relatives will be snarky…)?

The simple answer is prayer, of course. We all knew that but we don’t always remember…or we’re too busy. John Wesley once said something about being so busy he had to pray more in order to get everything done.

The next answer is be gracious to yourself and your family members. Grace. Grace. Grace…and more grace. When things go wrong, take a breath, lower your voice, and speak with grace.

Grace will be followed by laughter. Find something to laugh about. Either laugh at what just happened or quick: go find a funny YouTube to watch. Either way, laughter makes a merry heart and a merry heart does good like a medicine.

HSHSP Ep 90 Handling Holiday Homeschool Hassles

Click here to listen.

Here’s an encouraging post about handling holiday hassles.

Let’s have some fun instead with some REALISTIC expectations for the holiday season! Join Sabrina, Vicki and Kym for an encouraging chat!

Homeschool Highschool Podcast Episode 34: Realistic Holiday Expectations

Defeating Christmas Funk: Intentional Expectancy

Sometimes the holidays can be difficult. Here is Sabrina’s post on defeating Christmas Funk: Intentional Expectancy.

Defeating Christmas Funk: Intentional Expectancy

“Advent” means the coming of something extremely important. Among Christians, it refers to the coming of Christmas, looking expectantly to the celebration of Jesus’ birth.

Everything tends to sneak up on my family. Suddenly, SURPRISE! There it is! That can happen with Christmas really easily. So many activities (parties, choir concerts, church events), preparations to make (shopping, anyone?), and suddenly we look at the calendar and say, “Oh my! It’s Christmas!”

But aren’t all those activities and preparations a way of awaiting, expecting and seeing Christmas coming? I think they are only if we actively choose to make them expectant. Some people do this easily, automatically. Some have to work at it.

Intentional Expectancy is something I began working on many years ago, when I struggled with holiday depression. I dreaded the “Christmas Funk” that would descend on me just after Thanksgiving. I felt Grinchy, and I was ashamed for feeling that way, but I didn’t know how to change it.

Being intentionally expectant was a big part of the answer for me. I began to make simple choices that I knew, in the privacy of my own heart, were ways of choosing to anticipate the celebration of Jesus’ incarnation.

I wore a pair of earrings that said “Joy,” even though I didn’t feel joyful. It was my intentional way of agreeing that the fruit of His Spirit is joy. I painted my toe-nails bright red. Nobody saw them but me since the weather in MD is too cold for open-toed shoes in December, but every day in the shower I was reminded to plead the blood of Jesus over myself and my family as we went about our day’s busy-ness.
I asked my kids what their personal favorite Christmas activities were, and we found ways to do those things even if it meant getting help from someone else because I didn’t have enough “Christmas spirit” to do it myself. A baking-
day tradition started 7 years ago because making cookies was important to my kids, I dreaded doing it, and I enlisted Kym and her kids in the endeavor. I could celebrate the unity that comes through Christ as I spent time with my dear friend and her kids…even if I hated the mess that accompanies colored sugar!

Slowly, I began to see the traditional holiday activities with new eyes. Things pointed me to Jesus in a personal way, and events that were once a drain on my emotions became a source of private anticipation instead. I wasn’t a fan of Christmas shopping, but every price I paid was a reminder of His sacrificial love for me. I didn’t get excited about wrapping presents the way many people do, but I could remind myself that God’s word is wrapped up in my heart.

If you’re a Christmas Person, you probably think this post is nuts! But if you’ve ever fought the Christmas Funk, I’ll bet you understand!

We have put together a BUNCH of ideas for REAL PEOPLE who are dealing with REAL STRESSORS to help have a REALISTIC Christmas. Download our Real Christmas for Real People today ($2.99 for this season).

Homeschool Highschool Podcast Ep 141: Handling Difficult People at Holiday Events

When planning for that big get-together, but stressing because you know *Irritating Uncle George* is going to be there, here are some valuable questions to ask yourself:

What’s the goal of the gathering?

What are the deal breakers for you and your family?

How flexible are your family members with their deal breakers and expectations?

What are your internal Rules for the Universe?

What do we do when there is a difficult people present in our family, so will make the gathering difficult?

Is it necessary for us to suck it up and say nothing difficult people or do we confront at that time of behavior?

Remember your own stress points, ask yourself: Can I download/delegate any of them?

Remember to:

7Sisters email subscribers receive periodic practical encouragement, special offers and NO SPAM EVER.

Homeschool Highschool Podcast Ep 141: Handling Difficult People at Holiday Events

7Sisters email subscribers receive periodic practical encouragement, special offers and NO SPAM EVER.

Read-Aloud Learning Guides for Building Multi-generational Bonds

Read-Aloud Learning Guides for Building Multi-generational Bonds

Christmas-related high school learning with a MOVIE? Bah! Humbug!

7Sisters email subscribers receive periodic practical encouragement, special offers and NO SPAM EVER.

Christmas-related high school learning with a MOVIE? Bah! Humbug!

A FUN way to Preserve Your Family Legacy and Log High School Hours

7Sisters email subscribers receive periodic practical encouragement, special offers and NO SPAM EVER.

A FUN way to Preserve Your Family Legacy and Log High School Hours

Homeschool Highschool Podcast Episode 36: Teens and Complicated Christmas

Homeschool Highschool Podcast Episode 34: Realistic Holiday Expectations

Homeschool Highschool Podcast Episode 34: Realistic Holiday Expectations

Defeating Christmas Funk: Intentional Expectancy

Defeating Christmas Funk: Intentional Expectancy

When planning for that big get-together, but stressing because you know Irritating Uncle George is going to be there, here are some valuable questions to ask yourself: