Biography 2023
Kris Cox is a retired homeschooler with a Bachelor of Science in Social Work and 17+ years of experience in home educating their four children. She also has 10 years of experience as a homeschool consultant, blogger, writer, and speaker. (www.hswithconfidence.com).
Kris believes that seeking God for guidance and depending on Him is the key to successful homeschooling. She strongly encourages developing a love for the Lord and a love for learning in your children as you educate them. Kris is inspiring and knowledgeable and has a passion for helping parents succeed in this incredible journey called ‘home schooling’.
Kris and her husband have six wonderful grandsons ranging from 2 months up to age 4. In her spare time, she loves spending time with her family and friends, walking, biking, & reading. She is also the author of The Homeschool Life All-in-One Planner, Homeschooling with Confidence, and co-author of Growing the Fruit of the Spirit, a Bible-based Unit Study.
Contact Information
Email: krismcoxconsultant@gmail.com
Phone: 763-438-6413
Website: www.hswithconfidence.com
Speaking Topics 2023
Understanding the Homeschool Lifestyle
Are you considering homeschooling but just not sure it’s right for you? Do you need some assurance that homeschooling really works? This session will cover the positive aspects of homeschooling as well as some of the challenges, giving you a better picture of what homeschooling is all about and how it will affect your children long-term. We’ll also talk through the key ingredients of a successful homeschool.
Homeschooling: Starting Off Right
There are so many details and things to learn as you get started in homeschooling your children! This session will cover the most important things to know as you get started, such as the Minnesota homeschool laws and details on how to follow them, making learning a lifestyle rather than just “doing school”, the importance of discipleship, and building relationships while homeschooling, the value of the team approach, and also how to foster a love for learning and a love for the Lord.
Understanding Your Child’s Learning Style
Although most children can learn in a variety of ways, we all have preferences that can be capitalized on. Knowing your child’s learning preferences can help you choose curriculum and teach your children more effectively. This workshop will help you determine your child’s learning style preferences plus you’ll be able to figure out your own learning/teaching style!
Choosing Curriculum to Fit Your Family
How do you choose the best curriculum for your children? This session will give you a better understanding of what to consider when choosing curriculum. We’ll also go through the most popular teaching methods out there to help you determine which ones might work best for your family. The goal of this session is to help you make the best curriculum choices for your family.
Managing Your Home and Homeschool Well
Home educating your children requires some forethought and planning to make things run smoothly and efficiently, both in your school day and in your home. This session will provide suggestions for organizing your school plans and schedule to fit your family best. You’ll learn some tips on keeping the house up by having children do chores, plus ideas for meal planning and organizing your home. Routine and planning can make your home life calmer and more relaxed, with children knowing what’s expected and parents feeling less overwhelmed and stressed!
Raising Children who Love to Learn
Do your children seem engaged and interested in learning each day, or do they tend to complain and whine about having to “do school”? As homeschoolers, many of us strive to raise lifelong learners who love to learn. This is an excellent goal, but how do we bring it to fruition? In this session you’ll learn some practical ways to foster a love for learning in your children, so they ultimately become lifelong learners!
For Wives: Seven Great Ways to Strengthen Your Marriage
Life can be so busy for us as women in the child-raising years. Adding homeschooling to the schedule just increases the busyness! Your marriage can unintentionally take a low place on the priority list in these years if you’re not careful. How can we keep our marriage alive and well during the homeschooling years? Come and hear seven things we can do as wives to strengthen our marriage!
Helping Your Preschooler Build Reading Readiness Skills
The preschool years are a great time to build the skills your child needs to prepare them for reading. Awareness of the letters and their sounds are not the only things you can work on at home to help your child prepare to learn to read. I’ll share some simple and fun things you can do with your child to help them ultimately be more successful when it comes time to start reading.
What do I do with a Resistant Learner?
Are you struggling with a resistant learner? Their resistance could be due to willful disobedience or character issues, developmental issues, learning style issues, a learning struggle, or even a mental health issue. Sometimes it’s a combination of several of these things. In this workshop we’ll discuss all these issues and some ideas for how to most effectively deal with them as well.
Homeschooling with Confidence
Do you worry that you’re not doing enough in educating your children? Do you sometimes doubt whether you should be homeschooling or wonder if your children are behind? Insecurity and doubt often plague us as homeschoolers, but God doesn’t want us to live with these fears and doubts. This session will walk you through the most important things to focus on in homeschooling and help you find the peace that God wants you to have as you educate your children at home.
How to Find Balance in the Busy Homeschool Life
We live in a very fast-paced society that often pulls us in many different directions. As parents, there’s always someone who needs us, something that needs to be cleaned or fixed, or someone who needs to be fed. For homeschoolers, we also have the many facets of teaching our children not only the basics of life but also their ABC’s and more. How do we find balance in the midst of these demands on our time? This workshop will talk about setting priorities, learning to abide in Christ, discerning His leading on how we use our time, and also how to find moments of rest on those stressful and busy days.
Finding Joy in Your Homeschool Journey
Homeschooling is a 24/7 job and can be exhausting! Come and learn some of the primary causes of burnout while homeschooling and how to avoid them. This workshop will help you learn how to “hang in there,” and beyond that, to even enjoy the privilege of homeschooling for all the years you’re called to do it!
Homeschooling Through High School – You Can Do It!
What are the benefits of homeschooling through high school? How do you make a four- year plan, and what are the key things you need to do while your student is in high school? This session will help you think through the logistics of home educating your child through high school and give you the confidence to do it.
Homeschooling Through High School and Getting College Credit too!
Many important high school courses our students need to take are often also general education requirements for college. Why not “kill two birds with one stone” so to speak, and complete college-level courses while in high school and get credit for both high school and college at the same time? Come and learn about the Post-Secondary Enrollment Option (PSEO) and how to navigate it, plus CLEP, DSST and AP testing as well… there are lots of great ways to challenge your student while they are in high school.
Homeschooling Through High School – Grading, Transcripts and more!
This session will cover grading guidelines, figuring out a GPA, making a transcript, and what to do about a diploma. All those details that can feel a bit overwhelming as you approach the high school years, but they really aren’t that hard! You’ll come away equipped to confidently do record-keeping for the high school years.
What if my Child Doesn’t Want to go to College?
Does your student have little to no interest in going to college after graduation? Maybe they want to do an apprenticeship, go to a trade school, join the military, or maybe they want to be a stay-at-home mom. How do you help them find the purpose for which God made them? This workshop will address planning the high school years for those students who are NOT college bound, helping you make a solid high school plan that will meet their needs and prepare them for whatever their future might hold.
You’ve Finished Your Homeschool Journey: What’s Next?
Is there life after homeschooling? Many moms who have just finished the journey of homeschooling their children feel like displaced home educators. It’s almost an identity or mid-life crisis experience – after investing so much time into educating our children, we suddenly don’t know what we’re supposed to do! How can we make this transition go more smoothly? This workshop will help you work through some of the emotional struggles that come with finishing your homeschooling career and will help you find direction for your future.
