It’s that time of year again. Something about May brings out the crazy in people. I think it’s because everything throughout the entire school year culminates in May.

Sports parties, award banquets, dance recitals, music recitals, graduations, finishing up final school projects, family flying in to celebrate special occasions, organizing summer plans, getting teacher gifts, among many other activities.

So, rather than a long blog, here’s a little reminder for this month:

Take a breath, cling to the joy of the Lord as your strength, and remind yourself that June will be here soon and it will be another eleven months until the next May Mayhem.

Don’t let the stress and expectations of your duties rob you of your joy. Enjoy each day moment by moment, knowing that many of these moments will not come around again.

Question: How do you handle the end-of-school-year craziness?

Share this:

I’ve noticed a trend develop among homeschoolers in the past decade. The trend? Not going to college.

College is a huge part of our culture and so accessible, a bachelor’s degree is almost expected by employers like a high school diploma was a few decades ago.

The reasons for skipping college run the gamut. Girls don’t see the point of obtaining a degree when what they really want is to stay home and take care of their family. Guys don’t want to be bothered with a bunch of useless classes that have nothing to do with working in the real world. Time, money and “school just isn’t for me” are a few of the other reasons I’ve heard.

I am not among those who believe everyone needs a college degree. I do believe, however, you should be able to articulate why you don’t want to go to college, past “it’s just not for me.”

Being able to explain why you want to skip will force you pinpoint your motives, skills, and nail down some goals. It may also reveal laziness, anxieties, or other sins lurking and hiding.

Not everyone needs a degree. There are lots of skilled trades where it’s better to go to a trade school or get an associate degree, apprentice or intern, or to jump directly into a line of work. However, there are a lot of fields where further education is expected and required.

The attributes necessary for both college goers and forgoers to make it in the “real” world are the following:

• strong work ethic

• creativity

• resilience

• initiative

• excellence

• integrity

The people who’ve done well both without degrees are usually especially skilled in a particular area, “out of the box” thinkers, and have an incredible work ethic.

Even a college degree can only take you so far if you don’t possess the aforementioned qualities.

What are your views on college? Will you encourage your children to get a degree? Why or why not?

Share this:

Congraduations!

It’s that time of year. Antsy seniors start cutting class, caps and gowns are distributed, and announcements are proudly mailed out, informing friends and family of the Great Achievement.

For homeschool families, the months leading up to and the festivities of graduation might look a little different than the average public or private school family. For one, the graduating class is a lot, lot smaller.

Another perk of homeschooling is that you can do whatever you want for graduation. With a little creativity and planning, your student can have a fun, memorable celebration as they embark on the next stage of their life.

Here are some ideas to make this milestone special—and unique—for your graduating senior.

• If your senior is musical, have a graduation recital. If you’re part of a co-op include other families and put together a program.

• If you’re outdoors people, go with a few families on a camping trip, and have your “ceremony” outside around a bon fire.

• Get everyone who has graduates in your homeschool group to pitch in and fly out a keynote speaker for your homeschool group.

• Take a family trip and present your graduate their diploma from the top of the Empire State Building, or the summit of Pikes Peak.

• Invite friends and family over and rather than bringing traditional gifts, have each person bring something that reminds them of the graduate, and have them present the gift with a short story about the grad.

• You can still send out graduation announcements and have a barbeque or open house to give friends and family to drop in and express their congratulations.

What unique ways have you celebrated graduation or seen others celebrate it?

Share this:

Dearest Friends,

I wanted to launch spring by sharing my latest comedy video, which combines my two most favorite things: homeschool stereotypes and spy dramas!

I proudly (and with much tacky self-promotion) present to you:

Hannah Hagar and the Biological Contaminant

Click on the link and enjoy, and I wish you the very best as we celebrate the Resurrection this week.

Share this:

On my personal blog, I recently started a series of blogs related to singleness. You can read that series by visiting http://kristinweber.blogspot.com

A year ago I moved from Los Angeles to the suburbs of North Texas. A few months after relocating to the suburbs, I learned that I have a debilitating disease. The disease is called “Single Over 25.”

In very conservative homeschool circles, it is not uncommon to marry in your late teens or early twenties. Marriage is placed as a priority since family values are at the core of most homeschoolers’ life.

I love the commitment and seriousness people approach family in the homeschool world. Most parents understand the weight of bringing up children to love God and respect others.

However, because of the importance we place on it, for many people it becomes their idol. Their identity becomes their family. It’s a difficult idol to pinpoint because as Christians this is one of the more “acceptable” idols.

Christians have come up with multiple ways to handle those folks who are a little “behind” in getting to this important life stage. Churches put on singles conferences, there are countless Christian dating sites, and older women encourage younger single women to just hang in there, that their special someone is coming and they will have all the fulfillment they desire.

These women mean well, but they are wrong on one thing. If you’re waiting for a husband and kids to fulfill you, you will still be waiting long after you have a husband and children. Only God can give you that contentment and fulfillment. When you change your life goal from getting what you want (even if it is something biblically sanctioned like a family) to “I will serve God and be joyful in whatever my circumstances,” every day becomes an adventure whether married or single.

I know many girls who won’t be happy until they are a wife and mom. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this desire. I too would love to have a family, but I don’t want it at the expense of what God is doing in my life. God knows my desires. But my deepest desire, even after marriage, should be for “Him,” not “him.”

Do you feel like the homeschool culture puts pressure on people to make marriage, especially early marriage, a top priority?

Share this:

In my last blog, I talked about the purposeful and controversial behavior of young stars trying to be taken seriously by sexualizing themselves.

So, why is this behavior so common in coming-of-age celebutantes?

I think in this case the answer is both personal and cultural. On a personal level, growing up in front of the camera is difficult. Going through the awkward adolescent stage is hard enough without having millions watch your every move and mistake. Add to that being the center of attention for many years, and it’s like vigorously shaking a human soda bottle before opening. (There’s got to be a better analogy . . . if you think of one let me know.)

Plus, no matter how humble your family and friends keep you, when you are the star of a show you are treated a cut above the rest. There are people whose job is to make sure you are happy since you are the face of the project. When your identity is wrapped up in being the main focus (whether intentional or not), it’s disillusioning when it’s taken away.

Lastly, for many of these kids, their life has been micro-controlled by parents, managers, studio execs, etc. I’m not a psychologist, but in some twisted way these kids are finally getting a level of control over their life. Sure, the control may bend negatively, but at least it’s their choice.

From a cultural perspective, society has a fascination with bad behavior. We love to see people fall from grace. Thinking and talking about someone else’s stupidity distracts us from our own.

It is a sad trend that I hope turns around. I hope that America loses its fascination with celebrity and celebrates not fame for fame’s sake, but actual talent and accomplishment. I wish people would just as eagerly grab tabloids that featured brilliant scientists and philanthropists than celebrities who checked into rehab due to exhaustion from clubbing too hard.

Instead of talking about and clucking your tongues at these young stars, pray for them. Don’t condone the behavior, but talk with your kids about what it might be like to live and grow up under these circumstances.

How would they handle it? How would YOU handle it?

Share this:

I’m not a huge fan of most Disney Channel shows (another blog for another day), but when I saw Miley Cyrus doing a strip tease-y number in a bird cage at some awards show, I stared at the TV screen flabbergasted.

Yet another teen icon was purposefully and intentionally shirking her “good girl” image. She didn’t do a great job of it, though. (Author’s note: Yes, I know I’m about two years behind in pop culture. But two years is actually really good for me considering homeschoolers are usually a decade behind. I only figured out who the Spice Girls were a couple years ago.) 

Since this incident, she’s posed in magazines flaunting seductive clothes and poses, and spoken-out that she is, indeed, trying to get the world to see her as an adult.

Here’s what struck me more than the (in my opinion) tackiness of these attempts: that in her mind “adult” equals sexualizing yourself. In fact, there seems to be a trend among teen stars to “shed” their image (and their clothes) in order to be taken more seriously. When did we start confusing loosening our morals with gaining respect?

I think they are confusing controversy with maturity.

Brittany Spears, Christina Aguilera, Lindsey Lohan, Taylor Momsen, and a slew of other child actors who began their careers playing wholesome, sweet parts have gone extremely out of their way to show the world they are rebels with an edge. They want to be taken seriously. They want the world to know they are no longer little girls.

Trust us. We know. The constant barrage of headlines saying you’ve missed your court-mandated counseling or got married and divorced in less than a week has confirmed it. You are indeed grown up.

What about the other aspects of being an adult deserving of respect? What about responsibility? Leadership? Creativity? Intelligence? Giving back to your community? Those are all important markers of adulthood. For some reason, though, those apparently don’t get the attention of the general public enough to merit pursuing.

Why do you think young celebrities get caught up in this whirlwind of controversy? How do you approach talking about these issues with your children?

Share this:

A few months ago I received the most amazing advice on how to get a husband.

After one of my shows a middle-aged lady came up to me and posed the following question: “I know you joke about being single in your act, but is getting married something you want?”

“Sure, when I meet the right guy,” I responded.

“Okay, well if you’re serious about wanting to get a husband, here’s what you need to do. You need to get a pair of men’s pants and hang them on the end of your bed. Then you pray to God every night to fill those pants with the perfect man,” she said firmly.

I almost started laughing, but there was no hint of joking in her voice.

Oh my, I realized. She’s serious! And she wasn’t finished.

“But you’re tall,” she added thoughtfully. “So you want to hang a big pair of pants so you get a tall man.”

“My dad is tall,” I interjected. “Can I use a pair of his pants?”

“Oh no, sweetie. That’s a little weird,” she said, looking mortified.

Good! I was wondering where the bar for “weird” was. It definitely had been raised in this conversation. And she still wasn’t finished.

“Go to Goodwill and pick up a pair of pants there,” she finished. “That’s what I did when I was ready to get married. I hung those pants up, prayed, and then I joined Christian Mingle and found my husband!”

There were so many crazy wisecracks going through my head. I got the sense this wasn’t the kind of person who would take teasing. (It’s much less rude, and requires less of a spine, to blog about it later.) Instead I smiled and said, “Thank you for the advice.”

“Please let me know how it goes!” she said.

That’s when my willpower dissolved.

“I will definitely let you know when I have a man in my pants.”

Later I relayed the whole thing to my friend who was with me. We decided I shouldn’t rush into hanging just any pair of pants. Based on this lady’s logic, the kind of pants I hang will be indicative of the man who fills them.

I immediately dismissed the Goodwill suggestion because I don’t want a used man. But did I want to hang scrubs and get a doctor? Designer pants and get a lawyer or businessman? If I hung up an Ironman suit, would I get Robert Downey Jr.?

I still haven’t decided. I think I’ll just keep praying that God will provide me with the right guy at the right time. And with the right pants.

I haven’t hung the pants yet, but that conversation did get me thinking about starting a new dating website. I will call it Maninmypants.com. I am too scared to Google it to see if it’s taken.

What crazy advice have you received for finding a spouse? And, did it work?

Share this:

1. If someone gossips TO you, they will gossip ABOUT you.

2. Treat your parents with respect, even if you don’t think they deserve it.

3. Be fierce about staying pure. (Take being called a “prude” as a compliment.)

4. Find your security, identity and confidence in Christ, not people.

5. Dress fashionably, but modestly. You want to be remembered for your personality (which is unique), not your cleavage (which looks exactly like everyone else’s).

6. Malls are overrated. Go for a hike, see a play, make a cheesy YouTube skit, do something besides “hanging” for hours around an indoor fountain that has water-dyed blue to make it look more like water.

7. Find a mentor. Ask someone you respect and who has a strong walk with the Lord to mentor you if no one falls into that place naturally.

8. Learn to accept correction that is given in love.

9. Let baseless criticism roll off your back.

10. Avoid drama.

11. Forgive. Grudges don’t burn any extra calories.

12. Take care of yourself by adopting good health habits now.

13. You don’t need 750 self-portraits of yourself on Facebook.

14. Hang around with people outside your peer group. You can learn a lot from adults, and younger kids can learn a lot from you.

15. Help keep creepy people away from you by disabling all location information in your social media.

16. Be trustworthy. Don’t give your word lightly, and keep your word when you give it.

17. Read good books. No, Twilight doesn’t count. (Hunger Games does.)

18. Be “others centered.” Go volunteer at a nursing home. Help fold bulletins at your church. Offer to help out with a production at your local theater.

19. Be kind with your words.

20. Seek after the Lord with all your heart, mind and soul. Learn about who God is. Ask the tough questions, then find the answers.

Share this:

This week I present to you the follow up episode to Hannah Hagar, filmed over a summer break!

Here’s the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImB5NSOnbl4&feature

Hannah Hagar, Episode Three is currently under production and will be coming to a computer screen near you soon!

Share this: