Dr. Marie-Claire Moreau

Educator, Coach, Life Strategist

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May 28 2018

What to do when you stumble (includes activation exercise & free printable)

Change takes time. But, you already knew that.

Or maybe you forgot. Because when the pain of a situation is great, it’s normal to become impatient for change. When we’re desperately wanting results, it can be really, really hard to wait it out.

Look back to a time in your life to see what I mean:


Exercise:

When was the last time you made a pretty big change? Think back to a time when you either changed your diet, did a detox, made a career change, experienced major weight loss, started an exercise program, made a relationship change, or anything else that comes to mind.

Think for a moment about where you were at (physically and/or emotionally) when you first started and why making that change was so important at the time.

Now, try to remember when you first started noticing results. Remember any other times when you noticed change, growth, or saw visible results in whatever you were doing. 

How long did it take to notice that first subtle shift? Days, weeks, months? How about the next time?

How long did it take for you to believe — really believe – change might actually be coming?

Did you consider quitting any time along the way?


While some transformations are immediate (just ask my EFT tapping clients), others can take quite a while. To make matters worse, some things even get worse before they get better.

When making big change, a natural reaction is impatience. When results are slow to appear, we can lose faith that anything is happening at all. For many people, there’s a point when they simply decide to give up.

When reaching that level of frustration, especially if quitting is imminent, I recommend the following:

  1. Being kind to ourselves, since change truly isn’t easy. I’ve written about how to treat yourself like a good friend. At times like those, self-love and care is essential.
  2. Remembering that growth isn’t always pretty at first, but that it’s beautiful and worth it at the end.
  3. Having a reality check, by looking back to exactly where we started, and noticing how far we’ve come in a short period of time.

When clients tell me they’re struggling, I remind them of those 3 things and then we celebrate! Struggling is a signal of budding growth. Discomfort often precedes a major breakthrough.

Struggling is a signal of budding growth. Discomfort often precedes a major breakthrough.

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If you stumble, bring yourself back to where you started from. It’s amazing how quickly this little reminder can be an an incentive to keep on going.

I designed this poster to be that reminder for you, too:

See and/or print it here

It says, “When I stumble, let me always remember where I started from”.

Keep moving forward,

As a coach, writer, recovered over-doer and busyness addict, I understand the challenges of creating a balanced, healthy lifestyle while the mind tries to sabotage your success. In my journey to vibrant health, I created a personalized health system of nutrition and supplementation, lifestyle changes, and I retrained my mind and the energy of my body. I view my success as the formula to my happy, healthy life. I now empower other women to create their own personalized formulas, including the tools and strategies just right for them! Amazing life shifts come from our relationships. I look forward to helping you, too!

Written by Marie-Claire · Categorized: Women's Mind Body & Spirit · Tagged: awakening exercise, breakthrough, free, freebies, moms, poster, struggle, Women

Jan 30 2018

25 Great YouTube Channels for Students

People have long watched YouTube for entertainment. But, as the amount of educational content keeps growing, YouTube is increasingly becoming a valid learning tool for today’s students.

For myself, YouTube is one of the first places I go to learn something free. I see and hear of its benefits from families I work with throughout the year. I imagine a not-too-distant future in which people learn directly from YouTube and similar platforms, and no longer need anything else. Strange as it seems, a world without the need for books or organized curriculum may not be very far away.

I spent this morning trying to recall some of the YouTube channels my family really enjoyed over the last few years. I created a list of some of our favorite channels, and added several I recently discovered on my own. With so much content, it wasn’t easy choosing only 25 channels to share with you. Once you begin watching, you’ll probably find others that appeal to you, too. Stick with a couple of topics, or branch off as you desire. Sometimes, following rabbit trails and discovering new things can be part of the fun.

To protect your students, I must suggest you preview all videos first. Then, enjoy some of my picks with your students this year.

My Top 25 YouTube Learning Channels

in alphabetical order, each opens new window

Brain Bubble TV

Crash Course

Finding Stuff Out

Geography Now

How It’s Made

It’s OK to be smart

Life Noggin

Minute Earth

Minute Physics

Mythbusters

National Geographic

Nova PBS

Numberphile

Periodic Videos

Popular Mechanics

SciShow

Smarter Every Day

Sick Science!

TED-Ed

The Backyard Scientist

The Brain Scoop

The Slow Mo Guys

Timeline – World History Documentaries

Today I Found Out

Veritasium

Know of a great learning channel I missed? Add a COMMENT for my readers.

And SHARE with friends, will you? Other parents want to hear about this!

Happy viewing!

Dr. Marie-Claire Moreau is a college professor who traded in her tenure to become a homeschool mom 20+ years ago. A homeschooling pioneer and the founder of many groups and organizations, she works to advance home education, and is an outspoken supporter of education reform coast to coast. Her book, Suddenly Homeschooling: A Quick Start Guide to Legally Homeschool in Two Weeks, is industry-acclaimed as it illustrates how homeschooling can rescue children and families from the public school system, and how anyone can begin homeschooling within a limited time-frame, with no teaching background whatsoever. A writer, a homeschool leader, and a women’s life coach, Marie-Claire mentors in a variety of areas that impact health, education and lifestyle. A conference speaker, she has appeared at FPEA, H.E.R.I., Home Education Council of America, The Luminous Mind, Vintage Homeschool Moms, iHomeschool Network, and many other events. Her articles have appeared in and on Holistic Parenting, CONNECT,Homefires, Homemaking Cottage, Kiwi, Circle of Moms, and hundreds of sites and blogs nationwide. Marie-Claire can be reached at contactmarieclaire@gmail.com.

Check out Marie-Claire’s new book for Florida home educators…it’s on Amazon HERE.

Written by Marie-Claire · Categorized: Homeschool · Tagged: classroom resources, curriculum, e-course, elementary, free, freebies, high school, lesson planning, middle school, online, saving money, unschooling

Oct 25 2017

If you’re suddenly homeschooling, these free downloads can help

In the typical scenario, families decide to homeschool, spend time preparing, and have flexibility in making decisions leading up to the big day.

In other homes, unexpected circumstances can require making quick decisions to provide schooling for children who’ve been displaced, or whose homes or schools have been destroyed.

Families have long chosen homeschooling for reasons of health, travel, unexpected job loss, and a host of other issues. The recent weather emergencies in Texas, Florida and California have added to the list of reasons for suddenly homeschooling, affecting families who’d never considered this method of education before.

A large part of what I do is help families in unplanned homeschooling situations, helping to get them established where they live, and collect the resources they need to jump in as best they can during unsettled situations.

I even wrote a book to explain how sudden and unexpected homeschooling can occur — and be successful – with only 2 short weeks of planning and preparation (often less).

Homeschooling isn’t always a family’s first choice.

Those of us who’ve been homeschooling for many years may tend to forget that many families homeschool in less than ideal situations.

If you’re a family who is homeschooling when you never expected you’d be, I’d like to be helpful as you get ready to bring your children home.

I’ve included some links, below, where you can get 2 of my resources absolutely free. It’s my way of saying “welcome” to home education, and letting you know you are not alone as you stick your toes into uncharted waters.

If there is anything else I can do, don’t hesitate to ask.

Get a free chapter of my book “Suddenly Homeschooling” (instant download on your screen)

Get a free copy of my lesson planning booklet called “Plan Your Own Homeschool Curriculum” (requires coupon code: FREEPLANNER17)

This isn’t just for you. Feel free to share with other friends in need.

To your success,

Dr. Marie-Claire Moreau is a college professor who traded in her tenure to become a homeschool mom 20+ years ago. A homeschooling pioneer and the founder of many groups and organizations, she works to advance home education, and is an outspoken supporter of education reform coast to coast. Her book, Suddenly Homeschooling: A Quick Start Guide to Legally Homeschool in Two Weeks, is industry-acclaimed as it illustrates how homeschooling can rescue children and families from the public school system, and how anyone can begin homeschooling within a limited time-frame, with no teaching background whatsoever. A writer, a homeschool leader, and a women’s life coach, Marie-Claire mentors in a variety of areas that impact health, education and lifestyle. A conference speaker, she has appeared at FPEA, H.E.R.I., Home Education Council of America, The Luminous Mind, Vintage Homeschool Moms, iHomeschool Network, and many other events. Her articles have appeared in and on Holistic Parenting, CONNECT,Homefires, Homemaking Cottage, Kiwi, Circle of Moms, and hundreds of sites and blogs nationwide. Marie-Claire can be reached at contactmarieclaire@gmail.com.

If you’re in Florida, be sure to check out Marie-Claire’s new book especially for families in the Sunshine State:

The Ultimate Guide to Florida Homeschooling

Written by Marie-Claire · Categorized: Announcements & Special Events · Tagged: books, classroom resources, free, freebies, saving money

May 24 2017

Financial aid tips for college-bound homeschoolers

With tuition increases every year, paying for college can be a real concern. For one-income families with more than one child (i.e., the majority of homeschool families), the fear of not being able to afford a college education can be quite real.

After helping my children into college and working with many other students, I’m convinced there still exists a college experience for any student who wants it, within any budget, and under most common circumstances. More importantly, however, I’ve found there is plenty of college money available to those who want it. Bigger still, a lot of that money is free.

The trick to making the money appear is: a) knowing where to look for it, and b) knowing specifically how to qualify for it.

As someone who has graduated teens who’ve gone on to college debt-free, I’d like to share some of the tips that saved us tons of money. Of course there’s so much more to going college debt-free, but these concepts should get you into the debt-free mindset for when the time comes.

Tips for finding college money and saving a ton!

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Start Early

My first and most valuable tip for finding college money is to start the work early. By early, I mean in 9th or 10th grade, if not sooner. Many organizations and programs start doling out money early, and there are grants and scholarships of all kinds available throughout the high school years. Plus, by starting early, you’ll have the benefit of a huge file of all that information you collect over the years, so you’ll never be caught missing deadlines, lacking requirements, or having trouble finding information again later. Consider it a part-time job that you and your student work on periodically. That’s how we did it, and it worked!

Tell Everyone You know

I always recommend telling everyone you know that you’re looking for college assistance. By putting this on the radar of friends, family members, employers and other acquaintances, you start building a team of support around you and your child. During the time your student is in high school, this team can be keeping their eyes and ears open for opportunities like scholarships and grants, interning programs and awards, and pass on to you a lot of information you’d never get anywhere else. Supporters are usually glad to help you in this way, and often become especially invested in your child as you share periodic updates on what your child is doing in high school, and what his or her goals are after graduation. Don’t dismiss the idea of chatting up the local high schools, either. Guidance counselors and other personnel are sometimes enormously helpful to homeschool families at scholarship time.

It’s Sometimes Okay to Be Broke

This next tip falls into the “for what it’s worth” category. Oftentimes, families try to boost their income during the high school years, with parents taking part-time jobs, and students finding ways to earn money themselves. While this is commendable and can sometimes help the situation, it can also backfire, too. Remember that certain programs target lower income families or those with an inability to pay. Given this formula, students may actually become ineligible for programs if they’ve built a nest egg during high school. While I never discourage anyone from saving for college, it can be useful to consider the cost-benefit of doing such a thing. Putting a student’s grades at risk from working too many hours, for instance, to be later disappointed by an inadequate aid package is highly discouraging. Stressing parents out unnecessarily while causing the family to become ineligible for certain programs is also clearly counter productive.

Overcome Your Desire for Privacy

When it comes time to apply for aid and scholarships, you might as well kiss any desire for privacy good bye. The sheer number of applications you’ll be completing is nothing short of mind boggling, and with those applications comes the complete stripping away of any desire to shield the world from knowing every intimate detail of your personal lives.  The desire to find college money requires disclosing anything and everything these organizations want to know. I still highly recommend teaching your teen about identity theft and protecting his or her privacy in every other situation, but on this one, you’ll need to explain (and yourself must learn to accept) this is one exception for which there is no other choice.

Be Sure the Student Transcript Reflects Everything They Want to See

Minimum requirements for college entrance and college money, financial aid programs and scholarship programs, and other sources of college assistance will vary from student to student, from state to state (if you plan on applying for state aid), and from college to college. By knowing specific requirements for these programs early on (go back to my first tip), you can guarantee your student is eligible by making sure any course requirements are met, any GPA requirements are met, any community service or leadership requirements are met, and any other eligibility requirements are met, before your student turns that tassel. It pains me to see students who could’ve qualified for something great, but were ineligible because they forgot take a simple class in an earlier grade. It double-pains me when parents end up costing their students money because they were unwilling to put the time in earlier on to make sure the student remained on track for later assistance. I cannot stress enough the importance of developing a 4-year high school plan to cover all these bases.

If you’ve found these tips helpful, follow me for more information like this in the future (SUBSCRIBE on the home page if you’d like to be notified).

I work with many families to develop college-ready high school plans that gain them access to colleges, and often tens of thousands of dollars of money later on. If this is a service you’d like to explore, contact me for a private consultation.

To your success,

Here’s more you might like:

Finding college scholarships

College Prep High Schooling (Series)

How do homeschoolers get into college?

Dr. Marie-Claire Moreau is a college professor who traded in her tenure to become a homeschool mom 20+ years ago.  A homeschool pioneer and the founder of many groups and organizations, she works to advance home education, and is an outspoken supporter of education reform coast to coast.  Her book, Suddenly Homeschooling: A Quick Start Guide to Legally Homeschool in Two Weeks, is industry-acclaimed for illustrating how homeschooling can rescue children and families from the public school system, and how anyone can begin homeschooling within a limited time-frame, with no teaching background whatsoever.  A writer, a homeschool leader, and a women’s life coach, Marie-Claire mentors in a variety of areas that impact health, education and lifestyle. A conference speaker, she has appeared at FPEA, H.E.R.I., Home Education Council of America, The Luminous Mind, Vintage Homeschool Moms, iHomeschool Network, and many other events. Her articles have appeared in and on Holistic Parenting, CONNECT,Homefires, Homemaking Cottage, Kiwi, Circle of Moms, and hundreds of sites and blogs nationwide.  Marie-Claire can be reached at contactmarieclaire@gmail.com.

Written by Marie-Claire · Categorized: Homeschool · Tagged: college, free, freebies, high school, middle school, saving money

Nov 11 2016

How to use textbooks for homeschooling

I recently met with a couple who’d just received a large donation of textbooks. Among the things we chatted about were ways they could incorporate some of the books into the learning program they were developing for their kids.

Since textbooks sometimes get a bad rap in the homeschooling world, I wanted you to know there is nothing wrong with using textbooks if they fill a need in your family. The textbook stigma is really about not trying to duplicate public school at home, but leveraging the power of homeschooling instead. There are plenty of ways to use textbooks and still reap the rewards of a customized home education. Let me share some of the advice I gave them, in case these ideas could help you too.

First, a rule about textbooks and homeschooling:

There is no rule about textbooks and homeschooling.

Remember, when homeschooling, you can do whatever you want.

Next, some rules of thumb to help you decide which textbooks to keep, and which to donate somewhere else:

      • Publication date doesn’t always matter. Unless the subject is something likely to change every couple of years, an older textbook is just as good as a newer one. If you like it, and the information hasn’t changed since it was written, keep it. You might want to watch out for older “modern history” books and world geography books, for instance. You’ll probably also want to steer away from older computer books, too (unless studying the history of computing). It’s really up to you.
      • Whether the textbook is a “teacher’s copy” or a “student version” doesn’t always matter. Unless it bothers you when teacher’s notes are written in the margins, or answers to the test questions are in plain sight, a teacher’s copy has all the same text as the student edition. You can block out the answers with sticky notes if you like, or by folding (even cutting up) the pages if you want. But, probably, you’ll allow your student to read it for what it’s worth, no matter the format.
      • Even if you don’t have all the supplements that go with the textbook (like the test bank, some of the exercises, or the answer key) it still might be okay. Again, the value of the textbook is in your eyes only. If it’s something you’d like your children to read, maybe it won’t matter if you’re missing all the pieces that traditional classroom teachers use. You’re not a traditional classroom teacher, so there’s that.
      • The level or audience for the book doesn’t matter. I don’t care if the book was meant for 6th graders, 11th graders, or college students. If your kids can read it, it’s probably a keeper. Homeschoolers don’t always talk grade levels anyway, so if a textbook can be understood by your unique learners, what the author/publisher intended when they released the book doesn’t matter.
How to use textbooks in your homeschool:

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Now, here are some different ways to use textbooks when homeschooling. Remember, there is no right or wrong here, so feel free to use these ideas or any others you come up with on your own:

Using the Whole Book & Taking a School-Like Approach

If you like a certain textbook, and you think your child could learn from it, too, consider using it to teach an entire class. The class could last for a semester, a year, or any length of time, depending on how long the book is. Think of this like traditional school, where you assign chapters and pages, ask the student take notes or highlight important ideas, assign him questions to answer, and so on. Make up tests, assign papers, or other ways to assess learning. Think of completing the entire textbook (or a significant portion of) as finishing the class. When your student finishes the textbook, assign a grade or credit. Textbooks are perfect for this use, since they often contain enough “material” for an entire class in a single subject.

Hopping In and Out of a Textbook

If the trademark of American home education is freedom, that also includes the freedom to use as much or as little of any curriculum resource as we see fit. The notion that students need to “finish the book” is about as silly as forcing a child to eat everything on a dinner plate when he’s already full. Sure, your students may finish the textbook, if it’s best for the education and also best for the child. But there’s nothing wrong with taking a break from the book, using only selected parts of it, coming back to it over and over for several years, or abandoning it when it stops working. Actually, I highly recommend hopping in and out of textbooks as needed.

Using the Table of Contents & Designing Your Own Class

Probably the most valuable part of any textbook is the table of contents. The table of contents is a ready-made list of related topics, already arranged in some logical order, just waiting for you to follow. If you want to teach a class in something, but feeling intimidated trying to figure out what to teach, following the table of contents from a textbook is the perfect solution. The learning itself doesn’t need to come from the chapters of the book itself (though it could). Instead, what you’ll do is follow the table of contents, but fill in the learning in other ways, like with other books, with taking field trips, by using web resources, with workbooks, and so on. In this case, the table of contents is just providing the framework, but you’re in control of the activities you use to teach the actual lessons.

Using Textbooks for Reference

Finally, textbooks can make excellent reference books. They’re even better together, too, as the impact tends to multiply if you own several textbooks about the same thing. There’s nothing better for looking up the rules of grammar or punctuation than a collection of English textbooks on the shelf. Math books are excellent for seeing how different authors explain the same concepts, especially for struggling students who may need to hear it several different ways. History textbooks, in particular the index at the back of the book, are fantastic tools for learning about people or events.

The bottom line is that there are plenty of ways to control textbook use, instead of allowing them to control you. I hope this has given you a new understanding of how textbooks can be used in freedom, for whatever they’re worth in your unique homeschool program.

To your success,

Dr. Marie-Claire Moreau is a college professor who traded in her tenure to become a homeschool mom 20+ years ago.  A homeschooling pioneer and the founder of many groups and organizations, she works to advance home education, and is an outspoken supporter of education reform coast to coast.  Her book, Suddenly Homeschooling: A Quick Start Guide to Legally Homeschool in Two Weeks, is industry-acclaimed as it illustrates how homeschooling can rescue children and families from the public school system, and how anyone can begin homeschooling within a limited time-frame, with no teaching background whatsoever.  A writer, a homeschool leader, and a women’s life coach, Marie-Claire mentors in a variety of areas that impact health, education and lifestyle. A conference speaker, she has appeared at FPEA, H.E.R.I., Home Education Council of America, The Luminous Mind, Vintage Homeschool Moms, iHomeschool Network, and many other events. Her articles have appeared in and on Holistic Parenting, CONNECT,Homefires, Homemaking Cottage, Kiwi, Circle of Moms, and hundreds of sites and blogs nationwide.  Marie-Claire can be reached at contactmarieclaire@gmail.com.

Written by Marie-Claire · Categorized: Homeschool · Tagged: books, classroom resources, free, freebies, high school, lesson plans, middle, middle school

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