Episodes

We grew up around picky eaters, and we didn’t want our kids to be that way when they grew up! So what can you do to encourage your children to be thankful rather than whining, to enjoy a wide range of foods, and to be gracious guests at the table? We’re talking about what we did to help our eight kids grow up with a more varied diet than we had! Some Things We Mentioned Some Scripture that might be helpful … in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 The...

A lot of families are struggling during this economic downturn. It’s not the first time we’ve been through it, either. How do we respond in a positive, faith-directed manner to the undeniable challenges of the day? What can we learn and what can we teach our kids as we make our way through? Podcast Episode: MBFLP 283 – What We Learned When Times Were Hard Hosts: Hal & Melanie Young Brought to you by: CTCMath.com Hal: Well, hello everybody. This is Hal. Melanie: And I’m Melanie. Hal: Welco...

A reader asked, “What can you do about accident-prone kids who always seem to be breaking things?” “Uh oh …” We’ve all heard the dreadful sound from the next room – or the sharp crash of breaking glass – or the muffled whump in another part of the house. All kids will have moments of clumsiness, carelessness, or foolishness, that result in something getting broken or someone getting hurt – that’s just normal childhood. But some kids seem to leave a path of destruction in their wake – what do yo...

Choosing a College? If you’re planning on college for your homeschool grad-to-be, how do you make the choice? Is a Christian college the only acceptable alternative? Should they dive into the mission field of public universities? Or is there a middle ground in a conservative private school? For different reasons, our three graduates so far have ended up at all three alternatives, and we’ve learned some pros as well as cons for all of them. Join us for some thoughts about the choice of a college...

The Remarkable Potential of Teenagers Most parents today are told to brace themselves for the teenage years. “It’s going to be tough,” they hear. “Just survive it.” But deep down, many of us suspect something different—that our teens are capable of more than the world expects. And we’re right. Teenagers don’t have to be reckless, self-absorbed, or lost. History proves otherwise. Some of the greatest minds, leaders, and innovators took on real responsibility as teens. What if, instead of loweri...

Struggling Learners: When to Get Help Labels or Not? Sponsored by NOW Programs. How desperate we are to avoid labeling our kids! And with good reason … if they’re in a classroom setting, maybe. But as homeschoolers, we have a much better handle on the social side, and there are serious benefits to your struggling child when you get her tested earlier rather than later. This episode, we talk about our own struggling learner and what we discovered on the way from a late start … to a college scho...

Romance Once You’ve Got Kids Valentine’s Day is on the horizon and for parents with small children, no money for a sitter, and no relatives nearby, the response might be “So what?” It can be discouraging when the world is full of ads urging dinner out, expensive jewelry, and barrels of roses, when your life is more about diapers and phonics, and your budget is more of the dollar menu and less of filet mignon. This episode, we talk about finding romance in real life, wherever it may be – and some...

Biblical Gift Giving This week we’re talking about gift giving – it’s Biblical, you know! But how do you manage it without being immersed in the commercialism of a secular holiday, while glorifying God and having fun together? We’ve found that being more intentional and deliberate in choosing gifts and even in how we open them together, and encouraging our children to think of people rather than stuff at Christmas, has great benefits! Biblical Passages We Mentioned The wise men who brought gi...

The holidays are upon us and we are looking forward to having our college students home again! But to be realistic, there’s always a transition to bringing our young adults back into the household – and often both the student and the family ends up frustrated. This episode we’re talking about things you can do – on both sides – to make the visit as smooth and pleasant as possible for everyone! Parent Understanding If you went to college, you remember the rush of exam week – and the mental and p...

We’ve all been there – trying to enjoy a museum, historic site, or some other exhibition, but the visit is distracted – or ruined – by children running amok. What can we do about our own kids, so they get the benefit of a field trip, and not become spoilers for other visitors? Recently we read about a young boy who accidentally broke an ancient jar in an Israeli museum. He wasn’t being disrespectful or even disruptive – just curious. But his natural curiousity had awful results … So how can we...

We’ve seen that understanding history can help us navigate the present, too! The question is, how can we help our children learn to appreciate history like we do? What can we do to spark their interest, to make it memorable, and bring it to life for them? This episode we talk about several things we’ve built into our homeschooling family life to elevate history from dry lists of names and dates to a lively narrative of people, places, and ideas – in short, a grand story! Thanks to our sponsor C...

Some things are unquestionable, life-changing moments – an unexpected death in the family, a natural disaster, a major accident. But what about things which just show up and disrupt everything? The smaller emergencies which aren’t big enough to awaken heroism, but are big enough to bring out all our doubts, fears, frustrations, and temper? The “breaking news” which could be really unpleasant, but you can’t be sure? We’ve dealt with this – frequently, and even recently! So this episode, we’re ta...

We’ve seen that understanding history can help us navigate the present, too! The question is, how can we help our children learn to appreciate history like we do? What can we do to spark their interest, to make it memorable, and bring it to life for them? This episode we talk about several things we’ve built into our homeschooling family life to elevate history from dry lists of names and dates to a lively narrative of people, places, and ideas – in short, a grand story! Thanks to our sponsor C...

Happily Married While Homeschooling? Happily Married and Homeschooling, podcast episode of Making Biblical Family Life Practical with Hal & Melanie Young. Everyone tells you that homeschooling isn’t an educational choice, but a lifestyle! Should we be surprised if we discover that homeschooling has an impact on our marriage? It’s true, and if we’re not watchful, our marriage could be a weak spot in our family’s new endeavor. Hal and Melanie have been married for 27 years and homeschooling for ...

A reader writes, “I need suggestions how to discipline my 14-year-old son.” She’s finding out what we all discover – if you try to discipline your 14-year-old like he was still six, you’re likely to have a fight on your hands! So what do you do with this young person who’s growing so tall, but still needs a lot of guidance and discipleship? Thank you to our sponsor, CTC Math. It’s more than behavior management With younger kids, a great deal of our training is behavior – “Don’t tease the cat,”...

One of the hallmarks of adolescent behavior is social awkwardness, often to the point of anxiety. That’s true in the best of times! Yet here we are after a year of pandemic alarms, mandates, and “abundance of caution,” and you may be finding your young people are not eager to begin seeing people outside the family again. What can we do to help our teens and preteens resume normal, healthy interactions? Teens and Navigating Adolescence Navigating adolescence is challenging in the best of times,...

“What makes you think you’re qualified to homeschool?” That’s one of the frequently asked questions, isn’t it? And if nobody in your family, church, or neighborhood asks — you’ll probably ask yourself. Don’t you have to have a teacher’s certificate to really be a teacher? Shouldn’t you go to college and get an education degree first? Or is the credential less important for a homeschool than a classroom? This episode, we’re taking a listener’s question and talking about homeschooling with confi...

Jews and Christians are known in many cultures as “The People of the Book.” Our faith is grounded on the truth of God’s word! But there is a definite history of how that word was given, recorded, and distributed over the centuries. This episode, recorded at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., we’re talking about teaching your family about that history and the reliability of the text we have today! Resources We Recommend Josh McDowell, More Than A Carpenter C.S. Lewis, Mere Christiani...

It’s summertime, and like many families, we’re on vacation! Our annual trip to the lake is a tremendous encouragement after all the travel and work of conference season. You know what else is encouraging? To realize the Bible supports the idea! God established a pattern of work and rest from the very beginning – creating the world in six days and ceasing His work on the seventh. It was a matter of civil law in the Old Testament, but Jesus explained that the day of rest was a blessing given to m...

“My son shows me disrespect.” “How can I deal with the disrespect from our kids?” “What can I do to teach my children to be more respectful?” It’s something we all have to deal with as parents, and yet it’s hard – and some of us struggle more than we expected! This episode, we look at the very real question of respect – teaching our kids to show it, dealing with them when they don’t, where this may be coming from, and what God expects from all of us! Thank you to our episode sponsor, CTC Math. ...

Are they ready for college?There’s more than academics at stake! This episode is Sponsored by CTC Math. If your student is heading for college – next year or several years from now – of course you’re going to pay attention to class work, transcripts, resumes and such. But as we’re preparing our seventh student this fall, we’re thinking about a lot of things which never make it to a report card or CV – things like emotional maturity, spiritual development, and more. This episode we’re talking ab...

A lot of Christian homes don’t have experience with family devotions. Where do you even start? What’s appropriate for our kids at their ages? This episode, we’re following up our previous show about why to have devotions – now, we’re looking at how! Join us for some ideas that we’ve found really useful with our family of ten. The post Family Devotions – What Does This Look Like? – MBFLP 303 appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network. Click the icon below to listen.

One of the most critical responsibilities of Christian parents is to teach our children to know and love the God we serve. One of the best ways is to have regular times of family worship and Bible study – but honestly, life is busy and kids are distracted and distracting, and it’s just hard to stay on track. This episode we’re being realistic and encouraging for real parents like you! The post Having Family Devotions Even When It’s Hard – MBFLP 302 appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast ...