I never wanted to be a hockey mom. Your kids can bring so many different situations into your life to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. I have been transformed into a hockey mom, drinking coffee at the arena watching my youngest glide, maneuver and race on the ice.

I have been far from thankful—have you ever felt that way? Hard things come our way and we lose focus. Hard people come our way and we lose courage. Hard times come our way and we lose faith. We are so far from thankful that we’ve gone to the other extreme of actually being ungrateful.

“I’m thinking of you to homeschool our boys,” my husband told me in early spring 2015. His words brought me tears of joy. God finally gave us a confirmation to homeschool after battling that thought for two years.

Volunteering, giving and serving in a variety of ways are things that children can be actively doing on their own—as young as eight or nine years old. We’ve brainstormed and researched an array of options that kids can (mostly) do on their own—although, depending on the age of the child and your location, parental guidance and assistance is certainly encouraged and necessary for some activities.

Volunteering has been part of my life for a couple of decades now. I didn’t really do much serving as a kid, but got motivated in my 20’s, with my first ongoing volunteer experienceat a women’s shelter and support organization. I can’t remember what got me motivated. (Perhaps I just heard their call for volunteers—or maybe I was drawn in by their purpose of helping abused women and strengthening single moms, which I was at the time.) Whatever my motivation, it was the start of an inner drive to contribute and help in my community and the individuals around me.

Being homeschooled means that you can approach volunteering and community service from a different perspective. It’s not mandatory, as it is for the majority of public high school students across the country; and for most families, it’s how they serve others.

Everyone has a creative mind—the very young, the very old and every age in between. Being creative, expressing your uniquely creative self, should be a regular part of your life. Encouraging your children to be creative in work and play can also be a hugely rewarding part of your life—not only reinforcing the activities they’ve already showed interest in, but also feeding their natural curiosity with new ideas and actions.

We’ve all seen it happen. Our youngest recently turned 2. We ate cake, played games and opened presents. After the wrapping and tissue paper were strewn about, the kids played excitedly with all the new books and toys ⁠— for about two minutes. After that, they were happier playing with the boxes the toys came in.