Life Unboxed Blog

You've been homeschooling a while or you just started, and you've discovered that you got this. Yes, you can really teach your kids. You are sailing along on your homeschool journey. It's not perfect, but it is good. Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, your child hits 8th grade. The panic starts to slowly creep in. What are you going to do for high school? All of your homeschool comes d...

If you want to set each day up for success, tame the chaos before it starts, and just have a good day. Then you need to create a morning routine.  I know the prevailing thought is to schedule every minute of your day. If you want to get it all done, then every minute should be scheduled. Or the opposite is pushed—never schedule, just be free and spontaneous. Both extremes don’t work well. The best...

Summer break and work from home can really be a mixed bag of emotions. Your excited that the schoolwork is finally done. You finished the year, good or bad, it is done. But then there is trepidation wondering what you are going to do with the kids all summer long. You are still working. Then you are back to relief because you get a break from grading. You no longer need to remind them to do their...

Homeschooling is about freedom. It is freedom to choose your curriculum and work on your schedule. But it doesn’t mean this freedom is always easy. It does take intention. One of the areas that requires intention is understanding learning styles. Show notes and links: https://lifeunboxed.blog/learning-styles/ Grab your guide today! The Momtrepreneur's Guide to Homeschool Curriculum: https://l...

Do you feel like your previous homeschool year was a disaster? Now is the time to reflect on your homeschool life and determine how to make next year better…or at least avoid the things that made this year hard.  Homeschool life is challenging. I know I am stating the obvious. But there are things that can take you from this is challenging, to that was a complete disaster I don't know if I sh...

You want to teach a co-op class, but you don't know what to teach? Here are 25 easy homeschool co-op class ideas you can put together, and you don't need to be an expert. Here are co-op class ideas that I've taught, the kids have participated in, or been in our co-op. I tried to offer as many ideas for the class. Ideas for art classes, literature and communication, history and geogr...

Warm days are right around the corner. If you are ready to put away the school books and start looking forward to summer, then let's talk about bucket list ideas for summer .  Yes, mom, you need to finish out the school year, so don't put the books away just yet, but you can start planning your big adventures and make a bucket list ideas for summer.  Summer is the perfect time to step ou...

Just think positive thoughts about the terrible situation you are in and everything will be ok. That is typically the promise made from those who promote the idea of the power of positive thinking. But are we allowed to just have a bad day? As a busy work from home mom and homeschool mom, it often feels like you can never have a bad day. The kids are watching us. We have clients to juggle. We need...

What are the best jobs for moms? You have so many things to juggle, so you need to know what will actually work for working from home and homeschooling.  You want to bring in extra income because you need to buy curriculum. You don’t really want to dive down the rabbit hole of an MLM, is it possible to work and school on your own terms? How do you actually find the best jobs for moms .  Show notes...

I had it all planned out. I knew exactly how we would do homeschool dual enrollment. It was working great. Until the school changed the program, communicated very poorly on the changes, and I was back down the rabbit hole looking for schools.  College dual enrollment is exactly what it sounds like. Your high school student is taking college classes while in high school. Pretty simple.  This is a g...

Good books history are the best way to introduce yourself and your kids to the events of history. And the best part is they don’t have to be burning.  History is exciting because you discover that truth really is stranger than fiction. And if you use good books history, then it becomes an exciting adventure. You can even add these books to your homeschool curriculum or read them aloud.   Through g...

There are so many things that you need to do when you start a virtual assistant business. It is overwhelming. If you aren’t sure what to do first, then start with you virtual assistant website. Show notes and links: https://lifeunboxed.blog/virtual-assistant-website RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW: How to Get Clients as a Virtual Assistant How to Earn Money from Home How to Create a Website in 5 P...

Homeschool planning can feel overwhelming. Even if you've been doing this for a while. Staring down a blank slate of another year is exciting and daunting at the same time.   Show notes and links: https://lifeunboxed.blog/homeschool planning   Find your tribe. Join the online community: Rebel Moms Club for Working Homeschool Mom:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/rebelmomsclub   Grab your guid...

Working from home with a baby is a juggling act that rivals any circus. It helps to have the right baby gear. This is my mom tested and baby approved list of the only baby gear you will need working from home with a baby. Working from home with a baby requires imagination and trial and error. It requires re-imagining your schedule, your sleep, dinner, and how to even work with a baby. It requires...

I am fighting my child to get him to read. He is a reluctant reader, and it is a battle all the time. Is this familiar to you? This is something I often hear from other homeschool parents. As someone who loves to read anything, it makes me want to cry when I hear of a parent struggling with a reluctant reader .   Show notes and links: https://lifeunboxed.blog/reluctant-reader Grab your guide today...

What do you put on teenagers resume? They need to get a job, but they need work experience to help them get that job. But they don’t have any.   It is a vicious cycle. How do you build a teenagers resume when there is limited experience?  Even for teenagers, it is important to craft a resume that stands out from the rest. Whether your kids are applying for their first job, an internship, or other...

If you want to work from home and homeschool your kids, then time management for moms who work from home is going to be your secret weapon. The post will not be the normal time management for moms who work from home. You know things like how to prioritize your time to get more done. Or how to magically multiply your time. But knowing how to divide your time, organize your tasks, create habits and...

Do you despise how self-care is always presented? I do. What if there was a better way to do it? You can embrace your creative life to improve your mental self-care.   So I’m not a fan of the self-care mantra. At least how it is presented on Instagram. But I do understand the need for moms to unplug and take the mental load off. That is where the creative life comes in, and you don’t need to be cr...

The best way to learn is by learning through experience. But this is also the most frustrating way to learn.   How do you keep going when you fall down again and again over the same thing? You keep going by learning from experience.  I get so frustrated when something doesn't work right. I don't have time to figure out the problem. It's just supposed to work. But looking back, it is...

Book club is a sanctuary for homeschool moms. It is a place for literature lovers to come together and share their thoughts. If you aren’t in a book club or want to get one started, this is for you.   I’ve been part of a book club for a few years now, and the best part is the intellectual stimulation I get from hearing other viewpoints on a book. My favorite part, is we love to read weird books be...

Being a momtrepreneur means that you get to define success on your own terms. It means that you no longer need to fit into someone else's idea of how to work and school. But let's be real we all want business success. Did you know that you can improve your business success by improving your use of the English language?   Show notes and links: https://lifeunboxed.blog/improve-business-suc...

The goal of any business is to get bigger. Every business book, blog, YouTube channel, and podcast is designed to teach you to grow your business. But as you grow a bigger business, is it also possible to grow a bigger family?  Many people don’t think this is possible. That creating a business and growing a bigger family should be separate and compartmentalized. But let’s break all the rules, if y...

I am all for dreams and goals that you want to pursue. These are necessary to help give direction and purpose for to your life. But I want to broaden the scope of what these dreams look like and what it means to be chasing them and pursuing your passion. Sometimes what you are passionate about just won't pay the bills. So it is time to rethink what we've always been told about dreams and...

Personal boundaries is always a hot topic amongst work from home moms. But it doesn’t mean it is easy to do.   One of my biggest peeves is posts that suggest an idea without giving practical steps on how to do it. This post is going to give you all the actionable steps on how to set personal boundaries for your work from home and homeschool life.  We are going to explore the idea, and you will als...

This is going to be one of those posts that breaks with conventional wisdom and what you've always heard about chasing your dreams. This is a show that explores outside of the box, so we need to do this every once in a while. This is part 1 in a two part series exploring what it means to be chasing your dreams. Show notes and links: https://lifeunboxed.blog/chasing-your-dreams-part-1-challeng...