Teens & Tweens Archives - Eva Varga


May 10, 2017

Welcome to Finishing Strong

Finishing Strong is a weekly link-up dedicated to families homeschooling middle & high school kids. Each Wednesday, moms just like you share their best tips, encouragement, advice, and more for teaching older kids at home.

I am delighted that families homeschooling middle and high school age students are coming together and finding inspiration in one another. That’s has been the goal of Finishing Strong since its inception. Thank you!!

Finishing Strong is hosted by me here at EvaVarga along with my friends – Heather from Blog She Wrote, Megan and Susan from Education Possible, and Heidi from Starts at Eight.

Finishing-Strong-500x500Benefits of Service Learning

Service learning projects combine learning goals and community service in ways that can enhance both student growth and the common good. Service learning can help your students become better learners, classmates, and citizens, and can help them make a valuable contribution to their communities.

My children and I began volunteering together in the spring of 2006 when my daughter was 3 ½ years old and my son was 15 months.  We volunteered as Living History Interpreters – take a peak at their 1880s historical costumes.

Service LearningFinishing Strong

We hope you’ll take some time to check out the amazing posts that have been shared with us. We are so thankful to all of our readers and contributors who help make Finishing Strong a key resource for everyone homeschooling through the middle & high school years.

Below are some of the posts I enjoyed from last week, as well as the one that received the most clicks (in the #1 spot). Did I choose one of your favorites?

Homeschooling Middle School Blogs

Blogs to Read If You Are Homeschooling Middle School 

from Starts at Eight – A fabulous list of homeschooling blogs specifically focused on the middle school or tween years.

50 Ideas for Volunteering as a Homeschool Family

from BookShark – Volunteering is a key part of our family’s mission. There are so many possibilities, sometimes it is hard to know where to begin. “Start by finding your family’s main interest; then seek out service opportunities to complement those strengths.”

Building Up Our Teens: Resources for Speech & Debate

from BJ’s Homeschool – Leadership skills begin when teens are in high school. Betsy provides a peak into their homeschooling years and suggests ideas for teaching speech and debate.

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As always, thank you for helping us to make Finishing Strong a key resource for families who are homeschooling through the middle & high school years.

What are you going to share with us this week?

Guidelines:

  1. Link up to 3 posts from your blog. Make sure you use the exact URL to the post, not to your home page. You can add any post related to homeschooling middle and high school students. Posts unrelated to that will be removed.
  2. Please no advertising, individual Pinterest pins, Facebook, Twitter, or other link-up links!
  3. Grab our button to add to your post after you link it up. Each week we will be choosing our favorite posts to highlight on all 4 sites. If you were featured, we would love for you to use the “I was featured” button.
  4. The linky will go live on each co-host’s blog each Wednesday at 6am EST, and will be live until Tuesday at 11:55 pm.

Please Share!

Add our button to your post.

Homeschooling the Middle & High School Years

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Homeschooling the Middle & High School Years




December 23, 20162

I wanted another little something to put in my kiddos stockings this year. Then I remembered the fun coupon book I had made for my parents when I was a teen and my creative juices got flowing.

teencoupons2I opened my digital scrapbooking folder and was quickly underway. It only took a few minutes to put these together once I had a workable template.

teencoupons3

To download a PDF copy of each page for yourself, simply click on the image. It should open a new window whereby you can download and print. teencoupons1

Please leave a little note of gratitude in the comments. 🙂



December 14, 2016

It’s been a joy to get to know so many of you this year through our weekly Finishing Strong link-up. Through your posts, I am regularly reminded why we homeschool and inspired to try new things. I can’t wait to see what 2017 brings!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from my family to yours!!

We will be back with our regular Finishing Strong posts on January 11th. The link up below will stay open until then. Please take a moment to add your ideas and encouragement for homeschooling middle and high school. I look forward to seeing what you’re excited about in your homeschool.

Finishing Strong #108

Finishing Strong is hosted by me here at EvaVarga along with my friends – Heather from Blog She Wrote, Megan and Susan from Education Possible, and Heidi from Starts at Eight.


Many homeschool families are enjoying an extended holiday break this time of year. Others seek out fun hands-on activities to engage their kiddos while still incorporating learning opportunities. Mini unit-studies are perfect for this time of year.

Science Milestones: The Engineering Feats of Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel @EvaVarga.netWhile substitute teaching last week, I led six class periods of seventh graders through an engineering challenge of building a tower with spaghetti noodles (uncooked of course) and marshmallows. It was a blast to watch the kids collaborate with one another to build their tower taller than the other teams.

As I watched, I realized that the activity fit perfectly with the science milestones study on Alexandre-Gustav Eiffel, I had shared just a few days prior. As his birthday is tomorrow (December 15th), there is no better time to read a short biography of this world famous engineer. Thereafter, try your hand at building a tower.


high-school-forecastingMy post, High School Forecasting: Coordinating Schedules, CLEP Exams, & High School Courses, was the most clicked upon post shared last week. Thank you so much everyone!

Field TripsOne of the posts I most enjoy this past week was, 10 Unique Homeschool Field Trips, written by Tina R. on iHomeschool Network. “These 10 unique homeschool field trips for multi-age children will help you to keep your kids learning together and keep field trips stress-free.”

Story StartersI also really enjoyed Michelle’s 50 Story Starters for Teens at The Heart of Michelle. These 50 story starters are sure to inspire your teen’s next creative writing assignment.

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As always, thank you for helping us to make Finishing Strong a key resource for families who are homeschooling through the middle & high school years.

What are you going to share with us this week?

Guidelines:

  1. Link up to 3 posts from your blog. Make sure you use the exact URL to the post, not to your home page. You can add any post related to homeschooling middle and high school students. Posts unrelated to that will be removed.
  2. Please no advertising, individual Pinterest pins, Facebook, Twitter, or other link-up links!
  3. Grab our button to add to your post after you link it up. Each week we will be choosing our favorite posts to highlight on all 4 sites. If you were featured, we would love for you to use the “I was featured” button.
  4. The linky will go live on each co-host’s blog each Wednesday at 6am EST, and will be live until Tuesday at 11:55 pm.

Please Share!

Add our button to your post.

Homeschooling the Middle & High School Years

Were You Featured?

Grab an “I was featured” button!

Homeschooling the Middle & High School Years

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November 2, 20162

Today marks the conclusion of the Day of the Dead throughout Mexico and by people of Mexican ancestry living in other places. Geneva and I were just discussing how fun it would be to travel to Mexico during this time to experience the holiday.

We were in Norway during Syttende Mai in 2011. It was the most amazing experience. Have you ever traveled to another country during a national holiday? If so, tell us about it in the comments. If not, which holiday would you most like to experience and why?

Finishing-Strong-500x500Welcome to Finishing Strong ~ a weekly link-up dedicated to families homeschooling middle & high school kids. Each Wednesday, moms just like you share their best tips, encouragement, advice, and more for teaching older kids at home.

I am delighted that families homeschooling middle and high school age students are coming together and finding inspiration in one another. That’s has been the goal of Finishing Strong since its inception. Thank you!!

Finishing Strong is hosted by me here at EvaVarga along with my friends – Heather from Blog She Wrote, Megan and Susan from Education Possible, and Heidi from Starts at Eight.I know you will find the posts that have been shared with us inspiring! Grab a cup of tea, kick back, and take some time to check out the wonderful posts shared below. What are your favorites?


I have begun to share highlights from our recent family holiday to the New England states. Though we started our road trip in Boston, the first posts I have written have been about our days in New York City, or Manhattan to be more precise. We loved our Watson Adventure Wizarding World Scavenger Hunt at the MET.

Science of the Statue of Liberty @EvaVarga.net

Our favorite day, however, was spent touring Liberty Island and Ellis Island as we learned about our nation’s immigrant history. Science on the Road: Visiting the Statue of Liberty and Chemical Reactions is the first in a what I envision as a series of posts to show how science lessons and activities can be incorporated into your family travels.


College Prep 101The most clicked upon post shared last week, College Prep 101: Learn to Meet Deadlines, is actually part of a series of posts written by Kim at WriteShop. This post focuses on training your teen to meet deadlines and to get comfortable with time limits associated with testing.

High School GradingIn Oregon, homeschool students have the option to participate in sports through a club (what we’ve done since the beginning) or through the local school district. This year, my daughter is a freshman and she has opted to join the high school swim team. One of the hoops we must jump through is to provide documentation that she is in fact enrolled with the local ESD as a homeschool student.

Additionally, she must provide a copy of her report card. Just as the public school kids are required to keep their grades up, so must the homeschool student. Heidi’s post, How to Tackle Homeschool High School Grading, was thereby very helpful for me as I begin to tackle the Why – What – How of creating her first report card.

Backyard ScienceI have also selected Jen’s review of my friend Marci’s new eBook, Backyard Science for All Ages. She highlights how easy it is to observe and study animals, plants, weather, soil, rocks, and more in your very own backyard.

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As always, thank you for helping us to make Finishing Strong a key resource for families who are homeschooling through the middle & high school years.

What are you going to share with us this week?

Guidelines:

  1. Link up to 3 posts from your blog. Make sure you use the exact URL to the post, not to your home page. You can add any post related to homeschooling middle and high school students. Posts unrelated to that will be removed.
  2. Please no advertising, individual Pinterest pins, Facebook, Twitter, or other link-up links!
  3. Grab our button to add to your post after you link it up. Each week we will be choosing our favorite posts to highlight on all 4 sites. If you were featured, we would love for you to use the “I was featured” button.
  4. The linky will go live on each co-host’s blog each Wednesday at 6am EST, and will be live until Tuesday at 11:55 pm.

Please Share!

Add our button to your post.

Homeschooling the Middle & High School Years

Were You Featured?

Grab an “I was featured” button!

Homeschooling the Middle & High School Years