HOMESCHOOLING MIDDLE SCHOOL

<p>The middle school years are a bridge between childhood and adolescence. Make the most of this quirky period with your tweens and teens because homeschooling these years can be <strong>really fun</strong>! Kids are still young enough to enjoy read-alouds and field trips but old enough to take more accountability for their studies and direct their own interest-led units. Tune in to get more tips for teaching grades 6, 7, and 8 at home.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>QUOTABLES&nbsp;</strong></p> <p>Ximena: "It's really important to remember ... you're teaching them during middle school how to be more independent. You're not letting them be <em>fully </em>independent just yet. There's still a lot of accountability."</p> <p>DeeDee: "... in this age range is when... we're going to give them more choices, but then we're going to have to let them deal with some consequences. And that can be tough."</p> <p>Ximena: "That's really hard for me—to let them deal with the consequences of their choices and let them quote, unquote, <em>fail</em>. It's hard."</p> <p>Ximena: "[Middle schoolers] are still kids. So be patient with them ... their brains aren't fully developed. That's actually a <em>fact</em>, we're not being funny. Brains aren't fully developed until they're 26 ..."</p> <p><strong>TIMESTAMPS</strong></p> <p>03:10 Middle school is a time of transition when tweens and teens need less handholding and become more independent learners with more freedom.</p> <p>03:27 Why middle schoolers still need accountability.&nbsp;</p> <p>05:08 Giving middle schoolers more choice about what they are learning and doing more interest-led studies.</p> <p>05:37 Ask your kids "What do you want to do?"</p> <p>06:02 Taking an informal, interest-based approach to science and history in younger years helps kids be more interested in the topics for their high school years.&nbsp;</p> <p>07:05 How lit-based learning pays off during the middle school years. [Listen to <a href="https://anchor.fm/homeschool-your-way/episodes/AN-INTRODUCTION-TO-LITERATURE-BA