Saving for College: How a Young Couple on One Income Helped Their Three Kids Graduate Debt Free!

We became parents while we were still in college ourselves. Both of our parents had committed to paying for our college tuition and despite the little bump in the road with an unplanned pregnancy, continued to pay for our college so that we could graduate debt free. After graduation, we quickly saw how very beneficial it was for us to not be burdened with debt and we were able to start our life on a firm financial foundation. I chose to stay at home with our children {three of them all by the time I was 26!} and despite only having one income, we lived below our means, so that we could hopefully provide the same gift of higher learning for our own kids. This is a bit of the story on how we did that. We were able to turn financial limitations into financial freedom, not only for ourselves, but for our children as well. There wasn't any magic involved, just mindset, strategy, and steady action and sacrifice. I'm not sharing any magic formula, but instead, hoping you are inspired to plan intentionally not only for yourself but for the next generation.

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An Aviation Journey: From High School to Commercial Pilot

"So what was your path to aviation?" I've embarrassingly {just ask my son!} asked to many a pilot while waiting for flights. If you are wearing a uniform in an airport, I have probably approached you. Mostly because, like all things in parenting, just when you think you have it all figured out, one of your kids throws you a curve ball! Our youngest son Owen has always loved airplanes and aviation. I think his love for flying escalated when his Boy Scout troop had a free discovery flight through the Young Eagles program with an eager pilot when he was nine. The pilot flew over our house and let Owen take the controls. If there's one thing I've learned about flying and aviation, it's that pilots LOVE to talk about airplanes! So asking that question, I often know I'll be able to engage in a pretty interesting conversation! Now as a mom of a pilot, I typically have several conversations weekly {no joke!} about the path to take to aviation and how as a parent you can support your child. This is mostly a way for me to write everything down in one place as we get further removed from the process in an attempt to share our experience. It won't all apply to you or your situation, but it's a good jumping off point. If there's one thing I've learned in the world aviation it's that every path is different! This has been ours...so far!

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What It's Really Like After the Kids Leave Home: Reflections of an Empty Nester

Transitioning to an empty nest is a huge milestone in a parent's life. It kind of feels like this goal you've been working towards from the minute you started the clock on parenting. As young parents who didn't have a lot of time to experience adulthood without kids, it was something we were very much looking forward to as the next milestone in our own relationship. One of the biggest questions we get from those people who aren't far behind us, or who may be really far behind us and in the trenches of parenthood is, "what is your life like now, or how has your life changed since you became empty nesters?" Here are a few of the things I've noticed from personal experience in the past few years.

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How to Teach Budgeting to Teens in the Age of Consumerism

Admittedly, this is the most boring title for a post ever, but after raising three kids through junior high and high school, I'm telling you, this is something that will come up in parenting and it's best to have a plan. We are constantly bombarded with messages everyday tempting us to buy things we don't need. But we are adults. Teens are walking the halls of school or hanging out at sports events or scrolling social media and they are REALLY getting bombarded. They get messages that they can only be cool if they have this new pair of shoes {that cost $125}, or to look their best, they need the super special lip balm that costs $25 {and they will promptly lose it in under a week}. They see viral and trending videos with quick and easy ways to purchase BUT only for a limited time or it will run out and you will suddenly be the uncoolest uncool person in your whole school. 
As parents, how do we raise budget-minded kids in a world full of consumerism? I'm going to lay out a few practical tips that we did while we were raising our kids and hopefully, you'll get an idea or two so that you can help created budget-minded teens in a world full of consumerism.

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15 Ways to Spend Quality Time with Your Young Adult Children During the Holidays

My three kids are spread out all over, but I can almost always count on the holiday season being a time when we can all be together, if only just for a day or two. It's important to make the most of the time we do have with our young adult children. It's important to remember that we worked hard as parents to launch our kids and it's important to remember that they are busy creating lives and traditions of their own, but it's still important to make the most of the time we have together. Here are 15 creative and meaningful ways parents can spend quality time with their young adult children during the holidays.

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Sending Your Child Out of State to College: A Comprehensive Guide from a Mom Who's Done it 3 Times!

Sending your child off to college is a huge milestone in not only the parents life but in their life as well. That toddler who wouldn't let go of you leg and screamed bloody murder when you left them with a sitter, now wants to go to college in a whole different state. It's a lot! As a mom of three, each of my kids chose a school out of state for various reasons. I've learned a few things through the years and have a few tips to offer parents who find themselves trying to help their students navigate their next decisions. With careful planning and consideration, this transition can be a good and rewarding experience for both you and your child. In this blog post, I'll discuss important factors to consider before your child chooses a college out of state and offer practical tips on packing and preparing for their departure and how to stay connected with your kids, even when they are hundreds or thousands of miles away.

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Dorm Essentials Hand-Picked by College Students

As a parent, seeing your kids go off to college is an emotional milestone. It honestly doesn't feel like it was that long ago that I was the one full of excitement and nerves headed off to live in the dorms with a roommate I'd never met before! As a parent you're probably filled with a little nostalgia and a lot of worry! You want to make sure they have everything they need to thrive before starting this next chapter of their lives. I sat down with my daughter who is headed into her senior year of college, and made a list for her brother who is heading off to live in the freshman dorms. This is the comprehensive list of TRUE dorm essentials that you've been looking for!

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My Teenager Wants to Be a Pilot: Now What?

My youngest son Owen has always been into airplanes. He started drawing and designing them in his school journal when he was in elementary school. While my oldest son was looking at fast cars on the highway, Owen was looking up in the sky identifying aircraft. As parents, we look for ways to support our kids in their passions, and Owen's passion for airplanes just kept growing. He really pushed us to let him apply to an aviation high school out of district and then continued to explore extra curricular programs that would allow him to start flight training about the same time he was learning to drive a car. He narrowed his focus, and he's pursuing a career in commercial aviation. After the pandemic, the flight industry had a little shake up, and we've all heard about the pilot shortages. It's a great time to head into the industry, but where do you even start? Here is what we've learned as parents so far.

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Stop Asking High School Grads This Question

College has always been a priority for our kids. It's been on their radar from a very young age and all three of them have had career aspirations that are met with a college degree. One thing I noticed a few years ago when we were starting to go to more and more graduation parties is that the assumption that a new high school grad is going on to college. It can be one of the hardest questions for a kid to answer if their path looks a little different. College has gotten hard to afford and there are many different paths a teen can take as they enter into adulthood. Here are some things I learned the hard way {from awkward conversations where I assumed!}, and some questions you can ask instead.

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Setting Boundaries for College Students Home on a Visit

Parents know the crash and bangs at all hours of the early morning, making you wonder if you’re being robbed or if that’s your college student getting in from a night out with friends. When your baby comes back home as a new young adult, it can be challenging to have that first initial visit when they come home. And I've found, every break when they boomerang back changes a bit, so these are always ongoing conversations. While things can take a while to adjust fully, here are a few tips for setting boundaries for college students when they come home to visit.

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6 Ways to Get Teens off Screen Time

With everything from drivers ed to classtime going virtual, screen time isn't anything we can avoid. If studies show that teens were spending an average of seven hours per day on screens {not counting homework}, imagine what it must be like now that everything has gone virtual. I'm actually noticing screen fatigue from my sophomore in high school, who is on a screen daily from 9-2:30 for school and again from 6-8:30 for drivers ed. It's a lot. So how can we encourage our teens to seek other activities that are off of a screen? I've got a few ideas up my sleeve that might help.

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Free Resources for College Students

If you’re a college student there are a ton of amazing things that are offered to you completely free, but, you have to know they exist, which sadly many college students don’t. That’s why I put together this list of amazing free resources for college students. Share it with a student because we all know college kids need whatever money-saving tips they can get!

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Easing the Transition for Kid from Middle School to High School

The step from junior high to high school is a big one. While your kids are already used to the idea of heading to different classes and using lockers, they are also going through puberty, and their coursework is about to get a lot more challenging. Making the transition from middle school to high school is a big jump, so preparing your children for success in high school is important! Here are some tips to help ease the transition from middle to high school.

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4 Ways to Boost Your Child’s Confidence

Confidence is an important attribute in shaping social skills and emotional intelligence. Without confidence, your child may struggle with becoming independent or standing up for themselves when they feel peer pressure. Self-confidence helps with the transition into elementary, middle, and even high school. It can give them the boost to ask the girl or boy they’ve had a crush on since Kindergarten to the dance or later in life it can help them go after their dream job. Every achievement, both big and small are stepping stones to self-confidence and you can help them get there. So how do you help your child boost their confidence? I'm sharing four ways you can help encourage this trait today.

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How You Can Support the Graduating Class of 2020 in a Meaningful Way

Most of the activities leading up to graduation have been canceled. Students who worked hard were looking forward to being able to celebrate their achievements in the final few months of school and those have been taken from them. As a mom of a senior this year, I know how difficult it's been dealing with the uncertainty of the coming months. Those months that were supposed to be filled with exciting college decisions, final sports seasons or concerts and recognition of a student's achievements as they put a bow on their compulsory education and look towards the future.  I shared my thoughts on why you sharing your senior picture wasn't really helping show solidarity for the class of 2020, and was met with a lot of questions on how best to support the students that are collectively missing one of the biggest achievements in their life to date. I'm hoping I can share some ways you can support the graduating class of 2020 in a meaningful way.

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10 Things to Do on Your Phone That Isn't Scrolling

Have you ever found yourself scrolling through your phone without even realizing it? One minute you’re looking through Facebook to find the name of someone you went to high school with, and the next, you don’t even remember whose profile you’re scrolling through. Here are ten things to do on your phone that aren’t just scrolling, for times where all you have is your phone to entertain you.

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10 Life Skills Your Teen Needs Before They Move Out for College

One of the things parents often wonder as they get ready to send their teens off into the world is "are they prepared." With a daughter about ready to move out this summer and head to college, this has been one of the things as parents, that we think of often. With heavy required course loads, teens don't' have the flexibility in their schedules to take life-skills classes, and schools often don't have them available anymore. Life demands can get in the way of us teaching our teens the basic life skills they need before they move out of the house and head to college, but I've got you covered! Here are 10 life skills your teen needs to be an independent responsible young adult. 

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Common Homework Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Everyone has their own opinions about homework, and regardless of how you feel about it, it's a basic pillar of our education system. By now, your students are settled into the school year, and homework assignments, projects and papers all come with their own unintentional mistakes. As parents, we want to do what we can to help our children succeed and learn from those mistakes so that when it really counts, kids can perform their best. Here are some common homework mistakes students make and tips on how you can help avoid them.

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Teaching Your Teen to Drive: 4 Ways to Keep Your Cool

Of all the milestones to look forward to, teaching your teen to drive is probably the most frightening and stress-inducing. There’s nothing like barreling down the highway at Mach 1 with a squirrel behind the wheel. Okay, that’s not exactly how it is but you understand the panic-inducing feeling that image has to invoke right?
When listening to other parents talk about teaching their teens how to drive, there is an almost immediate feeling of “thank goodness that’s not me” followed by a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach because eventually, it will be you and keeping your cool when your teen is behind the wheel is just as scary as it is important, to their success and to your sanity. Here are four tips for not keeping your cool while teaching your teen to drive.

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5 Tips for Navigating the Holidays with your Tween or Teen

Parents are acutely aware of how time passes during the holidays; hormonal, moody teens being themselves while parents are intensely aware that the kids are growing older and will eventually leave the nest, maybe only to visit on the holidays. Knowing that our kids are gaining their independence can make it difficult to fully enjoy and navigate the holidays with tweens and teens. So how can we really appreciate the time we have left with our kids at home? How can we create a space that's special for the holidays? I've got 5 tips for navigating the holidays with your tween or teen.

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