Episode 82: When Teenage Hormones and Homeschooling High School Collide

In today's episode with guest podcaster Dachelle from Hide the Chocolate and Literary Adventures for Kids, we are treated to a humorous look at how teenage hormones affect homeschooling high school.

You will laugh, you will cry! Well, maybe not the latter — but you will be entertained and discover you're not alone. Enjoy!

Dachelle is a homeschooling mom of 3 and a self-proclaimed book addict. She loves chocolate and has been known to hide it from her children. She can often be found hiding in the closet reading a good book (or even sometimes just an okay book) and enjoying a jar of Nutella — don’t judge. She shares about her relaxed Charlotte Mason homeschool at HideTheChocolate.com when she’s not creating book clubs at LiteraryAdventuresForKids.com.

Be sure to check out the related resources below!

SCROLL DOWN TO LISTEN OR READ THE TRANSCRIPT

Teenage hormones can make homeschooling high school interesting, LOL. Listen to one mom's humorous perspective and how she dealt with them!

This episode sponsored by My Father’s World Curriculum

If home is the center of education, God’s Word should be the center of the home. With My Father’s World Curriculum, God’s Word is not just a subject. It’s central to everything your child will do every day. From preschool through high school, My Father’s World combines the best of Charlotte Mason’s ideas, classical education, and unit studies with a Biblical worldview and global focus.

For high school families, My Father’s World has teamed with Unbound to provide an exciting new coaching program helping students and parents through the difficult high school years. Students will receive 18 bi-weekly group coaching calls as well as gaining access to an online community of coaches and like-minded students in a secure, private environment. Quarterly “Design Your Future” calls with student leaders will provide insights on the struggles and rewards of a Christ-centered life in this season.

From preschool through high school, My Father’s World has you covered. Go to mfwbooks.com today, download a catalog, schedule a free consultation, and let us help you find the fun, engaging, life-transforming curriculum your family has been waiting for. Go to mfwbooks.com today!

Episode 82: When Teenage Hormones and Homeschooling High School Collide

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Related Resources:

Hide the Chocolate – Dachelle's website
Literary Adventures for Kids – Dachelle's literature curriculum for all ages (even high school)
3 Super Easy Steps to Teach Teens to Learn Independently
Episode 80: Best Advice and Tips from Gena Mayo
Episode 77: How to Have Patience with Your Homeschooled Teen
7 Ways to Connect with Your Homeschooled Teen
100+ Ways to Encourage Homeschooled Teens

TRANSCRIPT

Ann Karako: Hi, this is Ann Karako, and you are listening to episode 82 of the It's Not that Hard to Homeschool High School podcast.

[music]

Welcome to another episode of It's Not that Hard to Homeschool High School, the podcast for real people, so that you can confidently, competently, and yes, even contentedly provide the high school education that is best for your teen and your family. I'm your host, Ann Karako, from notthathardtohomeschool.com.

[music]

Hello, everyone, and welcome. Today I have the pleasure of introducing to you another guest podcaster. This is Dachelle from the blog, Hide The Chocolate. She also has a great literature curriculum for all ages called Literary Adventures for Kids. I think you're going to get a taste of what those adventures in her curriculum must be like, just from the way she entertains us with this podcast. She's talking about teen hormones and, woo howdy, does she have it. Enjoy this. It's a short one, and then I'll come back at the end.

[music]

Sponsorship Announcement

Oops. You know what? Before we get started, I don't want to interrupt Dachelle in the middle. I'm going to go ahead right now and tell you that this episode is sponsored by My Father's World. If home is the center of education, God's Word should be the center of the home. With My Father's World curriculum, God's Word is not just a subject, it's central to everything your child will do every day, from preschool through high school. My Father's World combines the best of Charlotte Mason's ideas, classical education, and unit studies with a biblical worldview and global focus.

For high school families, My Father's World has teamed with Unbound to provide an exciting new coaching program, helping students and parents through the high school years. Students will receive 18 bi-weekly group coaching calls, as well as gaining access to an online community of coaches and like-minded students in a secure private environment. Quarterly Design Your Future calls with student leaders will provide insights on the struggles and rewards of a Christ-centered life in this season. From preschool through high school, My Father's World has you covered.

Go to mfwbooks.com today, download a catalog, schedule a free consultation, and let us help you find the fun, engaging, and life-transforming curriculum your family has been waiting for. Go to mfwbooks.com today. That's mfwbooks.com.

Just a quickie here, I was able to tour the My Father's World facility and interview the owner. That is actually coming up next podcast episode. We're going to have a bonus episode on the fifth Friday in July. Get ready for that. It's a wonderful interview. I think you'll really enjoy it. Okay, so now onto Dachelle.

[music]

Dachelle: Hi. I'm Dachelle from hidethechocolate.com, where I share about our adventures in homeschooling and parenting using a relaxed Charlotte Mason philosophy. I'm also the owner of literaryadventuresforkids.com, a full language arts curriculum for preschool to high school that inspires kids to read great literature through the use of rabbit trails and a little bit of magic dust.

I want to talk to you today about what it's like to homeschool in the midst of teenage hormones. I'm the mom of two teenagers and one college student. To say we are floating in a sea of teenage hormones would be pretty accurate on most days. The mood swings, the food consumption, the sleeping, the not sleeping, the mess, the smells, the hour-long showers, the attitudes, the mountains of dirty laundry. It's a lot, to say the least. Some days, I long for puberty to be over. Other days, well, I love hanging out with these new almost-adults who live with me.

The overwhelming prevalent feeling for the last few years is of a roller coaster. You never know what you're going to get from moment to moment, so you hang on and try desperately to enjoy the ride while not throwing up. For the last few years, my husband and I have learned to be prepared for any type of reaction from our teenagers. One moment, they're talking 90 miles a minute, telling us about everything that has happened while simultaneously dancing around the room, to the next moment, falling dramatically onto the couch claiming that they hate life and nothing is fair.

The mood swings are lightning fast and they are dramatic. We never really know what is going to create a swing, but we've learned to be careful about certain subjects. For example, never ask a teenage girl about her outfit or her makeup. Do not ask her if she brushed her hair or if she's going for a Cleopatra look. Never remark on her shoes, good or bad. Please, for the love of all that is good, do not comment on how much she has eaten that day, even if the refrigerator now stands empty. Likewise, don't ask a boy about his girlfriend. Do not ask what he might like to do with his life after he graduates. Don't interrupt a really important PS5, or whatever the new gaming system is, tournament. Absolutely, never ask what the smell is coming out from underneath his bed.

These are questions you don't really want answers to. I mean, do you really want to know whether he has plans to play video games into his 30s while he makes his fortune on YouTube? Do you really want to see her dramatic wing eyeliners suddenly become a teary streak down her face as she runs to her room screaming that everyone thinks she's fat? No, you do not. These are subjects you need to have predefined before you step into the world of the teenager, and this is if they actually answer you.

Most days, you should feel good if you get a slight shrug or a non-committal “I don't know”, but on occasion, rarely, there will be moments of beautiful revelations. That sweet little boy will emerge from his cocoon momentarily to give you a peek into what he will be like as an adult. He will sit down next to you as you work and tell you about his classes and what he thinks might be a good career choice, after he makes his millions playing video games, of course. You will stay seated in your chair at your desk afraid to make any sudden movements. You'll turn slightly toward him, not all the way, and start to nod and comment briefly so that he knows you're giving him your attention, but not trying to dictate his decisions.

Some days, she will walk up to you and give you a hug for no reason. She will say, “I love you, mommy,” like she did when she was younger. You will rub her back and tell her that you love her too, but not emphatically. You'll find that sweet spot between sharing a heartfelt emotion and a sappy mom hug. The hug will continue until she decides it's over, and then you will step back and act like it's an everyday occurrence, and complain about the allergies that have suddenly attacked you.

In these moments, you will cherish every single second. I say second because they don't last long before those same kids are stomping up the stairs, dropping laundry and food wrappers all along the way and complaining about having to be up for a class at 10:00 AM. These are the moments you live for. These are the moments that throw you off your game. You're not prepared when the next hormone surge hits and the mood shifts. How do you continue homeschooling in the midst of all these teenage hormones?

Well, that's where things get a little tricky. You have options, and as a family, you have to decide what option is best for you. See, when my son reached the hormonal overload, he was a junior in high school. He was already taking dual enrollment classes and commuting from the college, to work, to baseball, back to home to start the whole thing over again the next day. He was rarely at home, and when he was, it was basically to hibernate in his room. Then he went to college and was gone from our house for weeks at a time. When his hormones hit the peak, he wasn't even living with us, and homeschooling wasn't really an issue.

Now, my daughter, however, was a bit earlier. I've learned most girls are. The teenage hormones hit her in middle school. They hit hard and swift and knocked us all over with their ferocity. As a family, one that liked a little bit of sanity, we decided that her request to attend the local private school was reasonable and safer for all concerned. Now, this was not an easy decision for me. In fact, it was really hard. I spent a lot of time thinking I failed her as a parent and a homeschool mom. I had a really hard time accepting it. Just ask her teachers from that first parent-teacher meeting. Whew, that was a doozy, but ultimately, it was the right decision at the time.

I'm not advocating sending our teenagers to school to let someone else to deal with them. What I am saying is that you can't make a decision about a situation you aren't in. Claiming your child will never (fill in the blank) will only end up in you eating your words. The truth is that my kids have not reacted to the teen years the way I did and really not the same way my husband did either. We had no basis on which to determine how we would react to these years, and had to navigate them learning as we go.

Now, my daughter came back to homeschooling. Will my next child go into the school system? Honestly, don't know. For now, she's determined to always homeschool and never step foot into a school building, but as she's becoming more independent and slightly hormonal, I've started making adjustments. She has more free time to do her studies independently. I don't make her sit with me for all her subjects. Just when she needs me, she knows I'm there for a little extra instruction. I'm letting her determine what her homeschool looks like for now, and it seems to be working. Will she eventually lose her ever-loving mind? Well, probably, but I'm experienced now. I won't ask her about her choice of shoes.

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Ann: [chuckles] Was that not fun? At least now you know you're not alone. It happens to all of us. I will definitely link to Dachelle's blog and literature curriculum on the show notes to this episode, which you know you can find by going to notthathardtohomeschool.com. Click on Podcast in the top menu and look for episode 82. I'll also add some other resources that are related to this topic for your perusal. I'll get to see you next time. Again, the fifth Friday in July, we'll have a bonus episode with an interview with the owner of My Father's World books. It's going to be a good one. I'll see you then.