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Looking Back at 2015 — Our 20 Most Popular Posts of the Year
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Happy New Year, friends!
The beginning of the new year means two things for the blog: I’m going to share my one word for the year, and I’m going to spend time looking back at the year to see what content here on the blog resonated with you most. I’ve already shared my one word, so that just leaves the revealing of the top posts list!
But before I share our most popular articles of the year, I want to take a moment to thank you for . . . well, reading. And commenting. And sharing my blog with your friends. And encouraging me. And hanging out with me on Facebook. I am so very grateful for you.
I started this blog at the end of Ben’s kindergarten year, to keep a record of our homeschool journey, but it has grown to be so much more than that. This is the place where I lay my heart out there and try my best to offer content that will inspire, encourage, and equip you as homeschool teachers and moms. It is my sincere desire to serve you well. And nothing blesses my heart more than being in community with you. That’s why I love spending time on the Facebook page!
As you scroll through the list below, perhaps you’ll discover you missed something that you’ll be happy to read today. Or maybe there was something that clicked with you and you’ll be thankful for the reminder. Whatever your motivation, please grab a cup of tea and enjoy this trip down memory lane with me.
By the way . . . we all know how much you love giveaways. And those are often my most popular posts. For transparency’s sake, know that I am skipping over those to better serve the purpose of this post. I’m also not including review posts this year. If you want to take a peek at some of the reviews I wrote, you can find them here.
It’s clear by the fact that this is the top visited post for 2015 that two things are very important to you — enriching your children’s lives with great literature, and saving money. That does my heart good because those two things speak to me as well!
This 2nd most popular post shocked me because I just posted it in December. It obviously struck a chord with many people (some who agreed, some who did not), but it showed me that I don’t always have to blog about homeschooling to connect with you. That was a great lesson for me to learn.
I love when a post written purely to help you better utilize resources is a hit with you. I love being able to provide this kind of content, and I love even more that you find it worth your time to read and share!
Yay for being more grateful in 2015! Lots of folks downloaded my free Grateful Journal, and the response to it has been such a blessing to me. So much so, that we’re repeating the challenge in 2016. If you’d like to join us, you can find the Grateful Journal for 2016 here. I’ve added Scripture memory cards for this year, too.
A few months ago, as I was preparing to begin teaching high school in our homeschool, I asked a few of my veteran homeschool moms to write a guest post about homeschooling high school. This post was written by one of my best friends in real life, and it really resonated with me, too. So I was thrilled to see it made it into my top posts of the year. Thank you Gina!
This post was close to my heart, because I often hear from moms who are either homeschooling their ADHD child and want to quit, or want to homeschool their ADHD child and are afraid. It also includes some Bible verses you can use to help your child with ADHD meet his or her challenges head on.
This post was a surprise (both that I wrote it and that it has been so popular). Ben was reading Mere Christianity, and I decided one day to make up some writing prompts based on C.S. Lewis quotes. Not all of the quotes come from Mere Christianity (Ben is a huge fan of Lewis and has read others of his works). He was actually the one to suggest I share them on the blog. Thanks, Ben!
This post was written to celebrate National Reading Month back in March. But it has continued to be popular I think because all of us want our children to love reading, but many of our children struggle with loving reading. The tips are simple, but they have worked well in our home to breed a voracious reader in Ben. I hope you find them helpful, too.
In July, with a little help from some friends, I wrote a 31 day series on the heart of our homeschool for the past several years — delight-directed learning. Apparently lots of you were interested understanding what homeschooling with a delight-directed method means, because this introductory post was quite popular. Hopefully, many of you went on to read the rest of the series. If you missed it, you can access all 31 articles here.
This was another surprise, but I am so excited to see that you love this post. These truly are some of my favorite things. And while I did write it to help you with ideas for Christmas gifts, most of us are giving gifts to people we love all year-long. So tuck this one away. I think you’ll find it helpful for birthdays, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, graduation, and again next Christmas!
I lost my mom to a rare form of thyroid cancer four years ago. It took me that long to put into words the things I wish I had said to her before she unexpectedly passed away on that beautiful November morning. So many of you have had losses over the years since I have been writing this blog. You have shared them with me and I have cried with and prayed for you. I think that’s why this post struck a nerve. Most of us could have written one similar to someone we loved and lost.
It was a pleasure to provide these sweet printable notecards to you all around Valentine’s Day last year. They are still available if you want to download them now. You can print them to send to someone you want to encourage with the love of Jesus, or you can even place one in a frame to set out and savor that reminder for yourself.
This was another guest post, written by my good friend and author, Dr. Scott Turansky, the founder of one of my favorite ministries to parents, the National Center for Biblical Parenting. It touches on an important topic — what kids need from their fathers.
One of the best things I love about homeschooling is the FREEDOM it provides to us as teachers. All to often I see homeschool moms enslaved by schedules, pre-written lesson plans, and stressful expectations. My hope in writing this article was to free you to find ways to use your curriculum in a way that serves your children well academically, while cultivating a love for learning.
It’s no secret that we love unit studies in our homeschool. I find myself answering questions often from skeptics about how unit studies work (how can you really learn if you aren’t reading textbooks and taking tests, right?). This article was my attempt to share how successful using unit studies can be. I hope that many of you were inspired to try them. Speaking of which — have you taken a look at my eBook, Delightful Planning? It’s part Ebook on how to make homeschool more delightful with unit studies, and part planner. It’s useful no matter what homeschool method you prefer.
I wrote this piece when I was in the situation of trying to find ways to help several friends who were struggling. One was going through a divorce, another was dealing with a very sick child, and one’s husband had passed away suddenly. So often we want to help and just don’t know what to do. I’m blessed that so many of you found this list helpful.
We have always loved nature study in our home, but come winter, we were sometimes at a loss for how to incorporate it, even though Ben still loved being outdoors when it was cold. This article was born out of the desire to continue to explore God’s amazing creation, even when there is snow and frost on the ground, leafless trees, and cold winds. There’s a free nature journal to download and a great book list too.
After the Gospels, I think the book of Philippians is one of the best books of the Bible to read AND memorize with your kids. It is so full of wise and comforting words that will help you have “the mind of Christ,” giving you the ability to recall important truths when you (or your kids) need them. It seems many of you would agree and that just blesses my heart.
Another of the guest posts from my veteran mom friends made this top posts list and I’m very excited about that. Phyllis Sather homeschooled 3 children through high school so she knows what she’s talking about. I’m glad that so many of you were able to glean from her experience.
Either I have a lot of readers here in my home state, or many of you want to come and visit. Either way, I hope you found this list of field trips helpful. There’s one for summer field trips, too, in case you missed it.
So there you have it. The 20 most popular articles published in 2015 (not including reviews and giveaways). It turned out to be a nice combination of everything important to me — homeschooling, parenting, encouragement, and resources.
It is my prayer that we met your expectations in 2015 and will continue to do so in the coming year. It has been fun for me to look at some of the content we’ve published, and I am hopeful you have enjoyed this look back as well.
May your new year be abundantly blessed and washed in gratefulness!
