This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: How to Find Volunteer Opportunities for Homeschool High Schoolers, Interview with Ticia Messing.
How to Find Volunteer Opportunities for Homeschool High Schoolers, Interview with Ticia Messing
One of the best ways to build a sense of community, good character and a strong transcript is through service opportunities. We asked our friend, Ticia Messing of Adventures in Mommydom, to talk with us today. She has prioritized volunteerism for her teens and has found that these opportunities have been life-changing for their family.
Ticia’s story of service with her family
Ticia has been homeschooling her kids from the beginning. She began her blog when her kids were in preschool, so she has been at it for a long time.
Today her three homeschool high schoolers enjoy the ability to concentrate on interests in history, movies and volunteering!
Ticia and her teens have loved homeschooling high school so far. Interestingly, her teens are all in the same grade. This simplifies organizing curriculum. However, Ticia is amused about what will happen to her in a few years when they all graduate!
One of the most important part of their homeschool plans is finding volunteer opportunities for her teens. As long as her teens can remember, her family has been in a church plant. Ticia began teaching service to her preschoolers helping set up chairs at the YMCA where the church met.
Ticia Messing of Adventures in Mommydom. Photo used with permission
Volunteering as a family
They have also gone as a family on missions trips to the Navajo reservation and also to the Navajo who do not live on the reservation. They found that life on the reservation is like going to a third-world nation. Churches and families there often did not have running water, and thus, no plumbing. Their service looked like this:
- They helped dig holes for outhouses at churches and did restoration on church and community buildings.
- They also sorted clothing donations for the families.
- They also collected Christmas bags at the local boarding school that was created for the Navajo children who live too far away from any school to travel their daily.
The Messing’s connections to the Navajo have been particularly poignant since the outbreak of COVID-19. As of this writing, the virus has been devastating to the tribe. The percentage of infection and death is the highest in the nation.
BTW- If your family would like to donate to the under-resourced Navajo medical staffs to help them fight COVID-19, here are Ticia’s recommendations:
Volunteering for homeschool high schoolers
As her kids entered high school, they could do more independent service project:
- Ticia’s high schoolers run their church’s VBS along with lower-resource churches in Houston. This year, they planned on running VBS in neighborhood front yards (subject to the opening up regulations in their state).
- Her daughter does clerical work at the church along with data entry. One of her twin sons helps direct the parking lot traffic at their church. Her other twin son teaches the preschool Sunday school class.
- Ticia’s daughter loves animals, so she also volunteers at the local animal shelter. (In fact, she has earned the Presidential Service Award each year since she was eight years old.)
- They help out at the local “serving center” where local people can purchase food and goods at bargain rates.
How do you handle showing volunteerism on the homeschool transcript?
7 Sister’s families are part of a local umbrella school that includes “Service Hours” at the bottom of the transcript. They also list the organizations they have volunteered for and the years they volunteered there. This is powerful for college-bound teens.
How do you earn the Presidential Service Award?
Ticia suggests:
- Check out the website
- Find a sponsoring organization (Ticia’s Daughter is in American Heritage Girls. Rotary Club is one organization that helps sponsor teens.)
- Log hours to earn one of the levels: Bronze, Silver or Gold
Visit Ticia Messing at:
- Adventures in Mommydom. (BTW- She has a free Bible curriculum for elementary and preschool kids.)
- And her Facebook page
Join Vicki and Ticia for an inspiring discussion about volunteering in homeschool high school. Also check out these other discussions about service work:
- Ticia’s Why go on a family missions trip.
- Homeschooling with Technology’s episode: Virtual Volunteering Opportunities
- Homeschool Highschool Podcast episode: Service and Leadership Teams for Homeschool High School
- Homeschool Highschool Podcast episode: Raising Service Dogs
- Homeschool Highschool Podcast episode: Service on the Homeschool Transcript
- 7SistersHomeschool’s: 3 Cool Ways to Log Service Hours
- BJ’s Homeschool: Ideas for Volunteering
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