One of the major perks of homeschooling is that the middle-school years can be about adventure instead of awkwardness. In this episode, Melissa chats with author Chris Balme about his book Challenge Accepted: 50 Adventures to Make Middle School Awesome. Balme’s book invites young readers to discover how trust, agency, and meaningful challenges transform “awkward years” into growth years. Join us for a conversation about kid-driven adventures—stealth art, teaching what you know, citizen science, apprenticeships, and building from scratch—plus practical ways to close the gap between social perception and interpretation, repair friendships, and use side-by-side activities to spark conversation. We also share why modeling a beginner’s mind (learning an instrument, sketching, coding) invites kids to try, fail, and try again.

Listen to the full episode to gather specific challenge ideas you can use this week and to reframe these years as the great adventure they are.

Resources:

Learn more at Chris Balme’s website: www.chrisbalme.com
Chris’s Substack: Growing Wiser
Follow Chris Balme on Instagram: @chrisbalme
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Produced by NOVA

306. Challenge Accepted: An Interview With Chris Balme