I’ve just returned home from three days away at the North Carolina homeschool convention, while my amazing husband held down the fort at home. It’s a huge commitment to go, primarily in terms of time away from home, but it is a financial commitment as well. But it is oh-so-worth it. I only go every two to three years, but I always come away so encouraged. Here are some of the golden nuggets from this year’s conference that I want to share with you. These points don’t just apply to homeschooling. In fact, I only attended one seminar that specifically talked about homeschooling. Most are general life and family seminars. Do you ever lose patience with your kids? With your spouse? Are you too hard on yourself? Do you set too high of standards for you and your spouse and your kids? Sit down, take a deep breath and be encouraged.

• Children love to feel needed. Start giving them responsibilities while they’re young when they have the heart for it, even if they don’t yet have the skills.
• More ammunition against bickering (see my earlier post here on the same topic): Proverbs 6:16 and 25 says, “Here are six things God hates, and one more that he loathes with a passion…a troublemaker in the family.” Have your kids memorize and recite this verse as often as necessary.
• Read to your children – often. A recent study showed that reading to your children gives them a bigger advantage in life than attending a major university!
• Help children to own their choices. For example, you say, “You have have 25 minutes to play that video game.” Don’t remind them they have 10 minutes left…5 minutes left…1 more minute. Let them manage their time. If they go over, in a calm tone of voice, you say, “You chose to play that game for more than 25 minutes so (fill in the blank) consequence.” Calm is the key here. Show no emotion. The responsibility is their’s.
• A trick for teaching delayed gratification: your child has 30 minutes to watch TV each day. Tell them that if they turn it off two minutes early today, they can have four extra minutes tomorrow.
• Speak to their hearts. Who deals with tattling? Every minute of every day, perhaps? Here’s a technique to try: Tattler comes to you and starts in on their sibling and you say, “Are you telling me this about your brother because you are concerned for him and you think we should pray for him? Or are you telling me this because it feels good to tattle/judge because you’re not feeling so good about yourself right now?” You’re stepping back out of the situation and again, putting the responsibility on the child to own their actions. At the same time, you’re addressing heart issues and not just the issue of one more instance of tattling.
• This one’s for the ladies: your husband is not a mind reader. If you’ve had a particularly rough day with the kids, tell him, “When you get home, I’m going to need 15 minutes to myself or you’re going to see me on the evening news.” He will give you those 15 minutes if at all possible.
• And for the men: Women like flowers. And jewelry. And chocolate. Pick one of those three, or all three, and you will not go wrong. Ever.

Don’t you think that’s a good one to end on? 😉

Being at the homeschool conference was such a huge blessing, and I am thankful to have gone, but now it is back to real life. My children just yelled down from upstairs, “Mommy, I’m making a huge mess.” Deep breaths. Time to try out some of my new tactics.

I mentioned briefly in my last post that I would be the featured guest health expert on a radio show out of Honolulu. That show aired this past Saturday night, our time, and will be available for you to listen soon. Keep checking this link. It’s a short program, just under 30 minutes. The host is Dr. Jackson, an ER doc who has opened his own medical practice with the purpose of trying to keep people out of the emergency room through wellness coaching. He told me that paleo comes up in conversations all the time so it was a joy to talk with him and give his listeners some basics regarding paleo living.

Also coming soon will be some Facebook Live videos. Super exciting! It may not be Food Network, but all my childhood dreams of having my own radio talk show and TV show are about to come true. Be honest now, who didn’t walk around with your toy microphone interviewing all your stuffed animals? Or sit in your room with your clock radio/tape deck recording your own show? You know you did.

Is there a recipe you’d love to see me prepare live? Let me know in the comments.

One new recipe is up on the blog this week: pizza popover. I told you about this one in an earlier post and now have the recipe written up for you. If you have pizza lovers in your house, this is a fun twist on an old favorite and unlike pizza, it’s super easy to leave out the cheese and no one will miss it.

I’m working on a fresh salmon salad recipe for you this week. My garden has started producing cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and squash. The goal is a super flavorful, quick, easy salmon bowl utilizing all the fresh veggies that are coming available now. As you know, we can get any fruits and vegetables we want anytime of year, but it’s always best to eat what’s in season. This recipe is flexible and you can use whatever veggies you like best and have available.

Later this week, look forward to the next installment of Friday Favorites. I have some real goodies for you!

The sun is shining (for now) so get out there and enjoy.