August 18, 2025 • 45 mins
Have you ever wondered if there’s a “right” way to homeschool—or if it’s possible to blend different teaching styles to fit your unique family? In this episode of The Colorado Homeschool Podcast, “Homeschool Styles Unpacked: Real Moms Sharing Their Journey,” host Kashia Davis sits down with three passionate homeschool mentors to break down popular methods, share personal stories, and deliver real-life strategies you can use today.
Meet our panel of inspiring guests:
- Linda Kidder: With three college graduates and years of experience leading homeschool groups, Linda unpacks the creative world of unit studies and the freedom of crafting child-centered curriculum.
- Tiffany Taylor: A classical education enthusiast, English literature major, and longtime leader with Classical Conversations, Tiffany helps families understand the history, beauty, and flexibility of the classical approach.
- Yvonne Strachan: Sixteen years into homeschooling five children (and now running a church-based homeschool group), Yvonne’s wisdom on structure, textbooks, and faith integration offers practical encouragement for every parent’s journey.
Together, these moms tackle the strengths and challenges of unit studies, classical, and textbook-based education—highlighting how every family’s approach can (and does) look different, even year to year or child to child. You’ll walk away with:
- Honest stories of struggles, pivots, and learning through life’s messy seasons
- Actionable advice on customizing your teaching to your kids’ strengths
- Reassurance that you’re never “behind”—and the confidence to drop what isn’t working
- Concrete steps for finding supportive homeschool community in Colorado
Whether you’re brand new to homeschooling or a seasoned parent feeling stuck, you’ll find fresh inspiration and practical tips to help your family thrive.
Don’t miss out—subscribe now to The Colorado Homeschool Podcast for more heartfelt encouragement, expert advice, and empowering stories to support you in your homeschool adventure! And be sure to check the show notes for guest bios and links to homeschool resources.
The Colorado Homeschool podcast is a ministry of Christian Home Educators of Colorado. We have been motivating parents to disciple the next generation by embracing home discipleship that is Christ centered, parent directed, and free from government control. We invite you to join us in this mission. If you’re looking for support, resources, and inspiration on your homeschooling journey, visit CHEC.org. Don’t forget to subscribe to this podcast and share it with anyone who might benefit from the wisdom shared in this episode!
If you want to support homeschooling in Colorado go to CHEC.org/donate. Thank you! Brought to you by ThePodcastUpload.com Empowering Faith Driven Voices.
This podcast is powered by The Podcast Upload. Want to start your own? Book a free call: https://www.thepodcastupload.com/discovery-call
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Whatever happens in life, whatever happens in your homeschool, it can look messy in
one year and you can feel like you haven't done anything, but really
you have because they are living everyday life
with you. And so, you know, if you have to be a
caretaker, remember that they're learning how to care and
how to love and they're learning godly things. And so as
(00:22):
long as you keep your eyes on Jesus and you
are teaching them the ways of the Lord and you are growing them, you're
teaching them how to think, God is going to fill in, and
they are always learning. There is never a time that they're not
learning. It's all important, even those breaks, even those messy
times.
(00:47):
Welcome. It's the Colorado Homeschool Podcast.
Interviewing experts, parents, graduates,
all here to help you navigate this incredible journey called
homeschooling. And if you're looking for resources, tips and help,
go to check.org you'll find what you need. In the meantime,
subscribe, Follow along. Well, good morning.
(01:09):
Hello. Welcome. We're so excited that you're here. I am your host,
Kasia Davis, and we have a fun podcast for you today. We
have a panel of some great moms who we think are going to be
fantastic at encouraging you and talking about the different
methods of homeschooling. There's different styles and maybe you didn't know
that, and this is brand new to you. So hopefully we unpack a little bit
(01:31):
of that, give you some information and insight into that. So
will you help me welcome Yvonne Straughan, Tiffany Taylor,
and Linda Kidder. Thank you, ladies, for being here.
I'm gonna let y' all introduce yourself. Yvonne, will you start just tell us a
little bit about your family, your homeschool journey, and maybe what method
you're gonna kind of talk to today. Oh, yes, absolutely.
(01:53):
Thank you, Kashia, for having me on today. I'm so happy to share and encourage
homeschool families. And I have
five kids. I started homeschooling 16 years ago,
and it's just been a blessed journey for me.
We just love serving our community together.
And I use textbooks with my children. And so
(02:17):
that's been a journey in it's in of itself because it's kind of like, you
know, riding a bike. When you ride a bike, you have training
meals on and you're trying to start out and
it's difficult. And then you learn different tricks along the
way and different ways to make things easier. So
that's been my journey. Oh, I love that. And I hope we do that Today,
(02:39):
learn a little bit of tricks that people can apply and maybe
test the water. So, Tiffany, can you introduce. Thank you, Yvonne. Thanks for
being here. Tiffany, can you introduce yourself? Tell us about your family and your
homeschool journey. You bet. My name is Tiffany Taylor,
and I'm married to Scott for 21 years. And we have four boys.
They are 19, 17, 14, and 10.
(03:02):
So, yeah, we're still in the thick of it, but we've graduated one. We're going
to graduate another one next year. And, yeah, we homeschool
classically. I'm with classical conversations. I've been a leader with them
since 2014. But, yeah, I'm passionate about
home education and just helping other people homeschool, no matter what style you
use. I love homeschool. Nice. I can't wait to hear
(03:24):
more about what is the classical model. I feel like that's a.
A big one that people talk about, but I don't necessarily know that I would
be able to define it. So thank you for being here. Linda, will
you tell us your story and a little bit about your homeschooling and what, what
model you're going to talk to today? Absolutely, yes. Hi,
Kashia. Yeah, we have three
(03:46):
children. Our oldest son is 26, the second son
is 24, and our daughter is 20. So
we've graduated all of them and moved on to college.
So that's been a great journey. And the
method that I'm going to talk about today is actually unit studies.
(04:06):
Okay. Unit studies was my jm. That's really what I
mostly did as a homeschool mom, too. But I think what we'll
get into and talk about is most
homeschool families that I know tend to do a little bit of this and a
little bit of that. And it kind of depends on the subject or the season
of life. So let's just go in.
(04:27):
I don't want to do like ABC 1, 2, 3. But let's kind of first
define. What would you say? Let's go backwards. Linda, start
with you. What is unicetty approach, and
if you know anything more about that definition and what that looks like.
Sure. I would say the most simplistic way to define it is that
everything you're studying revolves around a theme. So
(04:50):
sometimes there are particular curriculums that use a book and
base everything off of that. I did it a little differently
in that I chose a theme that I liked. So, for example,
oceans. And then everything that we did, the books we read,
the math we did, the
science that we studied, all revolved around that theme of
(05:11):
oceans, and so that really is
the most simplistic way to define it, is that all of your subjects
are central, centered on a theme.
Okay, did you, are you, were you making your
own curriculum, basically creating your own unit study, or did you kind
of find something that told you what to do and you just followed that?
(05:35):
Well, I initially, because I started when our
youngest was four. Our oldest. Sorry, our oldest was
four. And you may get into this later, but I was a
reluctant homeschooler. My husband
wanted me to do it and I was not so sure that was a good
idea. So maybe we'll talk about that later. But anyway,
(05:57):
I was very unsure of myself. Even though I was a college graduate, I
had graduated with honors. Um, yeah, I just. The idea
of trying to teach my children was not.
Yeah, not something I was confident doing. So initially, yes, I started
with a curriculum. I wish I could tell you now what the
name of it was. I don't even remember. But
(06:20):
their method was to take a book, a particular book, and then
every subject was centered around that
book and that was okay. But once I did that, I
realized I particularly was suited more towards
picking a larger theme and things that I thought would be attractive to
my 4 and 2 year old. And so oceans. Who
(06:42):
doesn't love whales and fish and, you know, sharks and
things? So, so anyway, I thought that was going to be great.
So we started with that and then I also did
what I called Alphabet days. And so each day we
celebrated based on the letter of the Alphabet because I was teaching my kids, right,
the basic Alphabet letters, what they sounded like. So today is
(07:04):
a day. So we did all things. We ate apples and
apricots and, you know, just did all things A and
the next day's B day. And so we would do, you know, and so I
was trying to teach them their letters and what they sounded like, but
in the process of that, again, the unit being,
we were studying all things B. Right. So.
(07:26):
So that was kind of how I approached that. I love that
you said something that I say all the time to homeschool families because
it's not one size fits all. It's very unique. God
made body's super diverse, Right. And families are super
diverse. So there is this understanding of yourself
and your family and your kids and how they learn. So we're going to get
(07:48):
into that. Let's, let's finish the definitions, but let's come back to that for sure.
Because when you start thinking about different methods,
a lot of it will be, well, what's Going to make me as the mom,
sane, and what's going to help my kids. So Tiffany, will
you tell us a little bit about classical conversations or even just
classical education and what makes that. What,
(08:10):
what is that? Absolutely. So classical education,
you know, sometimes we think of classical education and we're like, oh, we just read
classic books and that's a big part of it, but it's not the whole.
Right. Classical education like it sounds. It has its roots
in ancient Greece, ancient Roman, and really this is the way that humans
learned until the Progressive era, until the
(08:33):
18, 1900s when the industrial revolution came along and
we started compulsory education and we started, you know, we changed our,
our educational system. So yeah, I think
over time we have changed, especially in public
education. Right. We've changed our methodology to
concentrate on, on utility, like utilitarianism, like
(08:56):
I'm going to get an education in order to get a job. And I think
we would all agree that that's not really what we want to do. Like we're
cultivating souls and that's what classical education is about.
It's about wisdom and virtue. And I know
this sounds like aloof, but we contemplate truth, goodness and
beauty. What is true, what is good, what is beautiful.
(09:18):
And because of that, I would argue that a classical education must be
Christian because truth is a person named Jesus Christ. Right.
And we can't predict the truth without Jesus. So I think
that's a really important part of it. But yeah, classical education, you know, we
read great books, but we also, you know, we're studying science and math and
logic and Latin. Yes, we study. That's what I was going to say.
(09:39):
That's what I know of classical education is the Latin and the
logic and. Yeah, okay, our little four year olds can recite
Latin endings and you know. It'S good, which helps.
Be a great speller. Right. That's the hope.
Right. And really integrating all of those subjects together,
knowing that God's in the center and God created all of that. Okay, Pursue
(10:03):
God through it. Okay. And so did you start
in classical conversations? No. When you started, what was.
Tell me how you landed on. I'm. I stay in this lane. I love this
lane. Yeah, we did some other things first.
We did sunlight. I'm an English literature major and so I love
literature and sunlight is book based. And I was like, yes, that sounds
(10:26):
amazing. I think for me personally, and I still love
sunlight, but for me as more of a type, a kind of person, it
made me stress about checking the boxes too much
and I felt Behind. I had somebody tell me, maybe I've heard this
quote. I heard it a couple weeks ago, and she said, in homeschooling,
there's no behind except the one you sit on. Have you heard that one? Oh,
(10:47):
no, but that's a good. Yeah, we did sound
like. For a little while. And then we found something called Tapestry of Grace,
which is classical, but. And I loved it.
But it. We were doing it in isolation, and we're a family
of introverts, and so we were just.
I just felt like we had no community. So that's where classical conversations came in.
(11:10):
I was like, we need community. And we. So classical conversations. We meet once a
week in community. And that. That solved that problem for us.
Okay. I love it. Thanks, Yvonne. Or Yvonne, I always
say your name wrong. I'm so sorry. Will you tell us your story? And
I know where you've landed, but tell us what you would
define as a textbook education. Yeah.
(11:32):
You know, a lot of people just think textbook education is just sitting
at your desk and going through these textbooks and just
checking the box, but it's so much more, and it's. It's what you
use. And for us, we wanted a Christian
education for our children. And so we wanted to be able
to integrate God throughout everything.
(11:55):
And for me, personally, when I started,
my child was in. My oldest child was in Christian
school. And so I didn't know how to homeschool. And I thought,
oh, well, what curriculum are they using? And so then I
called that curriculum to see if they had any homeschool
curriculum, and they did. So I ordered it and I started that way. And it
(12:17):
was just such a good guide for me at first on, you
know, how to teach that. And it really grew my
faith throughout the process because I felt like I was
learning alongside my children. And I feel like when you are
teaching your children, that is exactly what you're doing. You're learning alongside them,
and you're growing alongside them. It's a lifestyle. Homeschooling
(12:39):
is a lifestyle. So as time went on,
I learned, like I said, you know, I took the training wheels off
and learned a little more how to adjust my
homeschool. And so it didn't
revolve as much around textbooks, but again around community. So we
developed a community where we had art at our house every
(13:01):
week, and then it switched to a friend's house, and we would meet with many
families. And then now we
run a homeschool group at our church. And so we meet once a week and
we. At our church. But then we also have a hiking group in different
groups like that. So we have our community. And then we
can pour what we learned through our textbooks into our community.
(13:23):
Because, you know, what we're using in our Christian
textbooks? We're learning that, you know, in math, God
created order and we can look at math in
an eternal way. You know, as far as, like,
you know, how many, you know, trucks would it take to, you
know, go to the sun, you know, if you stack them and different
(13:45):
things like that and just make it bigger and better and more
understanding that, you know, there is a God and there is a God of order
and, and then in history, you know, just learning about
all the different leaders and everything that happens,
we've learned that, you know, God does put,
you know, people in authority, but if you don't not follow
(14:09):
God's ways, and this is throughout life, really,
you fail. You know, it's his plan, not our plan.
So they're biblically based. Yeah, yeah. Sometimes we get
upside down in our thinking. And I find that in my own
personal life, you know, if I don't have things aligned with the way the
Bible has told us to have things aligned, you
(14:31):
know, like God first and then our family and, and our
family is our ministry. And a lot of people forget that, you know, they, they
think that ministry is out and, and our family is
our first mission. Our children are our first mission. We have to train them up
in the Lord. Like in Deuteronomy it says, you know,
train them night and day. Right. You know? Yeah.
(14:54):
Yvonne, what you're, you're highlighting exactly what I hope we do
today is all three of you talked about wanting God to be the
center of what we're teaching our children, raising them up, and yet we choose
different ways. Right. And different structures. And Tiffany, you mentioned something
about feeling like you were behind because there was so much.
I guess that's just my personality because I was like, eh, now we don't need
(15:17):
to do that. Like, you have to be able to do that. Right? So knowing
yourself. So can we talk about that? Like, what would you say are some of
the strengths and even how many of you guys cross over?
Like, Yvonne, I used science
textbooks, of course, and I use math textbooks and I use grammar
textbooks. So I still incorporated a lot of textbooks into, in my
(15:39):
learning. And Tiffany, we did some Latin. My children did do
the Latin root words, and then we changed to Greek root words. And you know,
so we, we did like a smorgasbord. And I think a lot of families will
find that. But what do you think are some of the strengths of
your style? And I'll just open this up to any of you guys. What would
you say are some of the strengths? And could you identify some of the
(16:02):
weaknesses? So the strengths of textbooks would
be being able to have a guide of
what you can study each day and how to integrate God into
that and not having to work in the
evenings or on the weekends to prepare your lessons as much. So for me,
it's like a open and go, and I don't have to worry about it when
(16:24):
I'm not doing the educational
textbook part with my children. Um, so it's just
more fluid for me. And the other part of that is
I do know now that I can go, okay, well, let's
test, you know, this in math and see if you know it.
And if you do, I can move on and I can open up a lot
(16:45):
of time, and then I don't feel behind. And
I know that most textbook publishers will say, to
complete 80% of your textbook, so you don't have to complete 100%. They don't
complete 100%, even in schools. And so, like
you were saying, Kashia, is, you know, you have to be able to be
flexible in that and know that, hey, we don't have to do this. My child
(17:07):
knows this. And be able to just go on
and then make it more flexible. And so that's
been a help for me. But I think that also can be a downfall for
people. So sometimes when they use textbooks, like Tiffany was saying
is sometimes you feel behind and you feel like you have to check a box.
And that is something that is very hard for people
(17:29):
if they can't get beyond that, you know, checkbox type,
then maybe another method or incorporating other methods
might be better in those ways. Because we can't
just check a box. We have to integrate our homeschooling into
our life and be able to be flexible with that. And I'll tell you
a story is two stories is like, when
(17:52):
my oldest was young,
she really had a hard time. She take three hours on math, and I just
didn't understand, you know, like those. Those training wheels were
on. And I realized that I just
needed to see what her strengths are and then speak to those strengths
and then be very. Be. Yes. Be able
(18:15):
to pivot. And then in 2020, my
mom hurt her wrist and her ankle, and we had to go live with her
and do wheelchair transfer, you know, really take care of her.
And I took my kids with me, and we had to be flexible in
That. I mean, we. We did a little bit of textbook work that day that,
you know, throughout the day, but not very much because their hearts were being
(18:37):
grown in a whole different way. And I think this is one thing I really
want to speak to homeschoolers about, is that,
boy, they learn in that life, those life
circumstances and especially those hard ones, I mean, they were with me
and they learned what love looks like in a tangible way
as we took care of grandma and they loved it. And. And the funny thing
(19:01):
is, you know, it. It seems like a tragedy, but it was really a blessing.
And with my mom, I was telling. Her, that's the motto
of life. Yeah. Yeah.
Wow. Well, thank you, Tiffany. What were you gonna add to. What
would you say would be some strengths and. And maybe some weaknesses
to that method? And I just wanna add on what she said, you know, like,
(19:25):
100% agree. Like, we are. Homeschooling
allows us to do our life and for our kids to come alongside us and
be at our feet and watch what mom and dad do. And we are.
We're modeling for them. Whether they see me reading my Bible in the morning or,
you know, reading a hard book or, you know, whatever it is, they. They
get to see us doing that. And I think some of the benefits of a
(19:47):
classical education are. Are doing hard things. Our,
you know, our classical learners, they read original documents. We read the.
The Constitution, we read Shakespeare, we read Homer. You know, we read all
of these things. And. And it's hard. Sometimes it's hard.
And we're in a culture now where it's easy to just
ask the Internet or AI or whatever, like, give me a
(20:10):
summary of that book. Right? And so. And rather than
wrestling through the book itself and actually thinking about it
and having conversations about it. So I think that's the benefit is just
having those conversations. I love talking to my teenagers in
particular about what they're reading and what they're learning. You
know, hey, we. We were talking about philosophy, and,
(20:33):
you know, what do you think about this philosopher's ideas? And how does that
influence us today? And how did it influence the dialogue? That's
so good. Yeah. Yes. That's the benefit, I think. And
we're teaching them how to learn. We're teaching them how to ask good questions. That's
a big part of a practical education. It's just using.
Using question. You've probably heard of the Socratic method
(20:56):
and, you know, asking questions to find truth.
And Jesus is at the end of everything, right? Like, it all comes back to
the Lord. I love that. Okay, Linda, your turn. What would
you say are some of the pitfalls to
being a unit study and what are some of the perks? I
would say the main perk is that is just flat out fun. It's fun
(21:18):
for them, it's fun for me. It was just flat out fun.
So. So I would say that for me was the main perk.
And also, like, it's not, especially when my kids
were little, wasn't rocket science. Right. Like you check out some books from
the library on. Again, I'll just stick with that theme of ocean animals.
And then it's easy to take a tape measure out in the
(21:41):
yard and measure out the length of an eel versus the length of a shark
versus the length of a whale. Right. So math, science
is all built right in. And so it didn't take a lot of
brain work on my part. And I did want both for
myself, again, because I was reluctant and for my kids
to want to love learning, that was really where I
(22:03):
wanted to begin. Love the Lord and love
learning about him and about what he created. And
so that was really pivotal for me in the
beginning. I will say that the drawback
is the older they got, the more the challenge I
found it to be to be able to incorporate
(22:26):
the kind of math and the kind of
reading and things that they needed. I
didn't know, but suspected from a fairly early age that all of
our kids would be college bound. Both my husband and I
attended college. We wanted to be prepared if
(22:46):
that was the route they wanted to go, if they wanted to do a trade
or be a stay at home mom or whatever, that's great too. But we wanted
them to be prepared to be to do whatever they wanted to
do. So we did take an academic approach from that
standpoint. And so as they got older and needed some of the more
complex subjects, I found it hard, harder to work into a unit study.
(23:08):
So I did eventually abandon
that method and moved on to some other things. But I will tell
you consistently, throughout their education, from
age 4 to 18, two things I did
always, one was Bible. That was a straight up
class. And it was the class we started with every day. We did nothing
(23:31):
while we ate breakfast, but besides that, we did nothing before we did Bible.
That was. And again, I wanted the kids to see, this is primary, right?
This is first and foremost.
So yes, so that was great. The other thing that I did, and I can't
remember when I started this, they were fairly young, but I did it clear through
(23:51):
when they were 18 is we would all sit and eat lunch together
at our kitchen table. And while they were eating lunch, I would
read to them. So sometimes I read just
fun books. But a lot of the time it was historical fiction that
related because as they got older, I guess in
a way I stuck to a theme in that we would do time frames, right,
(24:13):
in history. So this particular year, we're covering creation
through Rome or whatever. And so we would read books
that covered that time frame. Good historical fiction
or biographies or those sorts of things.
A little bit borrowing from the method that
Tiffany uses in that classical style.
(24:37):
And surprisingly, I thought, especially
my boys when they were in their teen years, they would roll their eyes at
me when I did that. They did not. They loved it. And they still talk
about those books. We were just talking about some of them last weekend
because. And it created in them, I think, a
love of learning. All of my kids love to learn and to read.
(24:59):
They all read different genres. They don't, now that they're adults, they don't
like to read the same type of thing, but they all like to
read. And so. And funny
how me reading to them, even as teenagers,
planted that seed in them, right? And they. They liked it
and I liked it. And we learned a lot together and could talk about,
(25:22):
as Tiffany mentioned and even Yvonne, those,
you know, how does this apply? You know, this character
had a very difficult situation they had to navigate. How would
you navig that? What do you think they did? Well, where did they
fall down, right? Like, they maybe didn't. Didn't do such a good job
honoring the Lord in that conversation, right? And of course,
(25:45):
not everything we read was either from a Christian point of view or
about a Christian. And so we got to talk. How does that change our
response, right? What would we do as. As a
follower of Christ? How would we represent him well in that
scenario? And there are some tough stuff, right? Like life
actually deals you a hard hand sometimes, and you
(26:06):
have to decide what kind of integrity am I going to walk in here?
Our oldest son at 26 just had that situation
and said, I feel like if I don't disclose all the
information, I'm lacking integrity. And he could have
withheld information and it would have benefited him, right? But he's like,
I. I can't do that, right? And that's because
(26:29):
as parents, homeschooling parents, you're laying the groundwork for that
when they're 4 and 5 and 10 and 12 and
15, right? You are constantly, as Yvonne
alluded to the Deuteronomy, constantly laying that stuff
in them. And that's what I did love.
Homeschooling was fun. But more than that, I loved the fact
(26:52):
that I got to train the heart and mind of our
kids. Right. Not just academically train their mind,
but train their mind for God and to think to. To be able
to think critically about things and to be able to think
biblically about things. Yeah, I love this.
I didn't mention this when we. When I did the introduction, but these three ladies
(27:14):
are also homeschool group leaders. And you can find their groups on the
directory on the Czech homeschool group directory. And
they all have a passion for helping, as you heard
Linda say. She's not even homeschooling any anymore. She still is very involved
helping. So. And I really do love
how you guys have all answered with a word of
(27:35):
encouragement for somebody. So have you. Can you think about a
time and maybe we'll. I
don't know if I want to dictate who says, but if one person does, raise
your hand and we'll know a time that you had to
pivot where you were like, I am losing my mind. Or maybe it was just
in one subject. And. And you mentioned sort of already, Linda, that you had
(27:58):
to do that when they got older and kind of pivot towards more
chapters or kind of like a high school model, I'm assuming, right?
Yes. Right. So a come to Jesus moment
and figuring out a different way to approach your homeschooling.
I would say for one. One son in particular,
(28:18):
I'm like Tiffany, very a personality.
Our oldest was. Is much like me, learns like me. Our
middle son, not so much. And so,
oh, my goodness, yeah, he was a challenge. And so
when I would be teaching something and he would not even be
looking at me and be, you know, building with Legos
(28:41):
or drawing in the dirt or whatever. Right. And I
would get so frustrated and I'd be like, come on, you know,
and he would look at me and literally be able to
recite word for word, everything I'd said for the last 10
minutes. And that was a light bulb moment for me. Like,
oh, my goodness, making
(29:03):
this kid sit at the table for a lesson, I'm going
to kill him. Right? And me. Because we're going to get frustrated
with one another. I need to give him something to do. He is listening,
but his hands need to be busy. And he doesn't have to be looking at
me. You know, he can. He can be looking at something else. He is hearing
me and he is processing what I'm saying. So for Me, that was
(29:25):
not necessarily a pivot in my entire homeschool, but a pivot for
him. Right. That I needed to give him a little more freedom.
And anytime I made him give a presentation, he would pace back
and forth, back and forth, and it drove me nuts. But
I was just like, nope, stay calm. Right. Like, it's just.
He has to be moving. He has to be moving. So as he got older,
(29:48):
he got better at being able to control that, and now he
gives presentations regularly. And he does great. Right.
But I had to initially allow him the
freedom to pace back and forth. That's good. That
insight into your kids is so needed. What were you going to add to that,
Tiffany? Yeah, I would just say we, like
(30:10):
Linda was saying, we didn't really pivot in our style. Style of, you know,
what we've chosen, but in how I approach each kid
is going to be different. And I bet we all have stories about that, you
know, just like you were talking about your middle son. My oldest
and my second really could not be more different. My oldest is
super quiet. He wants to be a librarian.
(30:31):
Okay, wonderful. He's an English literature major as well. And.
But he's more reserved, and he's just kind of an old soul.
And my second one, he's. He's still on the introverted side, but
he loves to speak publicly. He's in competitive speech and
debate with STOA and. Which is another great organization,
(30:51):
but, you know, and he loves to be on a stage and you give him
a microphone and he's so excited. Right. And they
also had different, like, pivoting where they are in
math or. I think it was Yvonne who mentioned this. You know,
like, if, if, if they get a concept.
Let's just keep going. Right. And then you get to where. Oh, okay. This
(31:12):
might. We might need to take three days on this one lesson because we're stuck.
Okay. And that's. That's true for all homeschoolers. Right. We have to
be watching for that and able to pivot with our kids and. And meet them
where they are and just tailor the education to
what they need. Right. Yeah.
Yvonne, go ahead. Oh, yeah. So I just wanted to add to that
(31:35):
is each of our kids are uniquely created by God,
and it's such a blessing to be home with them because we
get to see firsthand, day and night how they are
created and then speak to that. And so I had similar
experience to Linda, where my middle son
could not sit still at all. So I had to really,
(31:58):
really work outside of the box and so some of the things that we
did was, you know, use your nerf nerf guns to
shoot the words as you say them and, you know, really
add a lot of action for him. He wanted to do all the action
things. And as he's grown, he's so different than
my other kids. And as he's grown, he's become. He's kind of engineering
(32:20):
minded and so he clicks with other engineering
minded type kiddos and not, you know, a lot of
the typical kiddos that you have around. And
so just finding his groove and
then surrounding him with his interest and his,
you know, his people has really made a big
(32:42):
difference in his life. And he's just really set up to
just, you know, go into that engineering field with
some of the extra experiences. And
like with my daughter, she changed many times of
what she was interested in. And one of the things that we did
was she baked cakes and she learned how to
(33:06):
do these really fancy cakes and then start her own business.
And she did that from when she was 12 and she still does it today.
And she's 20, she'll be 21. But
one of the things that she was interested in was that. And then another thing
that she was interested in for a while was flying. So we got her
into flying and she did gliders and
(33:29):
all those types of things. And so it was really fun for me as
a homeschool mom to, you know, look at their interests and then
just adapt what we are doing to those interests.
And you know, really the reality is God created each of us
unique. He created each of our kids unique. And we get to see it
and really grow with them and, you know, see
(33:51):
their experiences. And, you know, one thing I have to say is those
extracurriculars that they're interested in, that is their interest
and that ends up typically kind of where they're going to be going in life.
And so as you're speaking to that, you know, I have another daughter
who loves singing and so she sings at church
in the middle school service. So she has a great.
(34:14):
So much. What I'm hearing from all of you guys is it almost
doesn't matter like what method you're picking for homeschooling,
maybe you pick a method that suits you as the mom the most. Right? Like
if you're going to be the one who wants to do all the fun, or
if you need the structure of a textbook, or maybe you want the
Socratic discussion that comes with the, the classical, whatever suits you,
(34:36):
but you're still ultimately going to have to fine Tune and make your
education individual. Right? Yeah, because I don't. Do you guys talk
to new homeschoolers all the time. The first question that I'm always asked is, what.
What curriculum should I use? And I feel like that's the. Like it's important,
but it's like the third or fourth thing you need to know. You need to
know why you're homeschooling and write out your vision. Right.
(34:58):
And then when you get to picking the curriculum, it's almost like anything
could work. Anything could work. The library could work if you were
intentional and you knew what you were doing. Right. Because that's what I'm
hearing from you. Am I wrong or I see head shaking. But do you guys
agree that really your method is
maybe secondary to your education? It's more about
(35:20):
the relationships and the fine tuning.
Absolutely. Yeah. I love it. You said something
that was just so great. And I 100 agree. You know, that
we have been given our children. We. They are uniquely
created for us and no one knows them better than
us. And so we are the best to educate them.
(35:42):
Yeah. It's so true. Trust God. I know when you
started, Linda, you said that you're a homeschool or college
graduate who graduated with honors and you felt incapable. And that's not
uncommon. We hear that. I hear that constantly. Raise your hand. Do y' all hear
that from homeschoolers? I could never. I'm not qualified. And
I just feel like, why do we believe that lie, for goodness
(36:04):
sakes? But. And you said it too, Yvonne. You learn with your
kids, even things. Because I was. I like to tell people I was the
smartest dumb person ever. Like, I was a straight A student. I got full ride
scholarships for. For chemical engineering. Like I was going
to college for brainy stuff. And then the second I
didn't need it, it was just gone. Like, I knew how to memorize for the
(36:26):
test, but I didn't. I did not grow up in. In the
same education style that I did with my children, teaching them how to
think, teaching them how to apply it. So it doesn't matter.
Right. We can. We can redeem. I. Who says that? I think it's
classical conversations. Doesn't she say that the founder that we could home
education is redeeming two educations. Our own and our kids.
(36:48):
Yeah. Oh, I love it, guys. Every single thing that you guys have said,
I'm like, oh, I want to dive back in and do it. My children are
adults, so I have grandkids who are starting to homeschool but my
journey is finished, so. Well, guys, I love this. I want to. Oh,
somebody wanted to add something. Kashia, I just wanted to say that what you
just said is the reason we feel incapable
(37:10):
of teaching our children. Because my story is
identical to yours. Yes. I memorized a lot of facts. I was really good at
that for the moment that I needed it. But when my
thinking about trying to teach my children
something I could no longer remember and didn't really ever know.
Right. Like, I memorized it for a short period of time. I didn't know
(37:32):
it like that. I think that is the story
of 90% of us. We feel incapable because
we realize all we did was memorize for a test and then forget.
Yeah, exactly. Yes. And so we don't feel
smart or capable. We know we were good at a skill
set. Right? Yep. Yeah. That was, as
(37:54):
Tiffany mentioned, utilitarian. Right. Like, it
served a purpose. It got us good grades, but,
oh, my goodness, we didn't learn how to think. Yeah, I know. I'm
excited for the homeschool movement, and I'm glad to see it growing, and I just
want parents to find. That's why I wanted to do this method, because I just
want them to go, if something's not working, you can tweak. You can try a
(38:16):
different method. You can try, you know, if you're losing your mind, if you feel
like I'm never doing it, because, I mean, I was a homeschool unit study
mom, but I remember when my father had cancer and we were his
caretaker, I did not have time to plan all these fun things,
which I was all about the building forts to, you know, learn about
the kingdom. Let's build a castle and figure out how to make a
(38:37):
drawbridge, and let's do some, you know, everything was tied to that, and
I barely got anything done, and I felt like a failure. So then we had
to pivot, and we had to totally do a lot of textbooks,
and that was okay for a season. Right? So,
guys, this was good, but I want to close with what we ask every guest
who comes on. What is one of your favorite
(38:59):
saying? Best is so hard because, you know, there's lots of good advice, but one
piece of advice that you would put in the top shelf that you would pass
on. It could be related to this topic or not. And let's just start
with you, Yvonne, and then we'll go through all of you. Oh,
sounds good. Thank you, Kashia. I just want to let people
know that whatever happens in life, whatever happens in your
(39:21):
homeschool it can look messy in one year, and you can feel like you
haven't done anything, but really you have because
they are living everyday life with you. And so,
you know, if you have to be a caretaker, remember that they're
learning how to care and how to love, and they're learning godly things.
And so as long as you keep your eyes on Jesus and
(39:44):
you are teaching them the ways of the Lord and
you are growing them, you're teaching them how to think and how
to find information and, you
know, speak to their interests and all those things. I mean,
God is going to fill in, and they are always learning.
There is never a time that they're not learning. It's all important,
(40:06):
even those breaks, even those messy times. So I just
don't want homeschoolers to get frustrated and go, oh, this year was just
horrible. Next year is going to be better, and we're going to make all these
changes. I mean, just appreciate what they have
learned, whether that is, you know, being a caretaker or,
you know, helping out and serving or whatever the
(40:28):
Lord has planned for you each day. It doesn't have to be
a check the box or I've accomplished things. We always want to accomplish
things. But, you know, just know that. That.
Yeah, that was good. Thank you. Tiffany, what about you?
I'm gonna be a big fat cheater and give you two.
(40:48):
The first one is quick, though. It's find a community. Don't do
this alone. We have all mentioned community, and Kashia said, you
know, we're all group leaders. Find your people and, you know,
do life with them. Homeschool with a buddy. Okay? And the second
one is surround your kids with. With books. I know I've talked about reading a
lot, all of us have today. And I just think it's so important.
(41:11):
And even when we were on a budget, like, we homeschooled
with a library card and we would go to the library, honestly,
multiple times a week. But when I would go there, I would pick out, you
know, here are some kids books on science, and here's some kids books on,
you know, maybe it's biography or poetry or fairy tales. Right?
Good. Fiction, books and literature. And I would just put
(41:33):
them all on the shelf. And I didn't ever require reading.
I didn't ever say, you must read 30 minutes a day. But they
all read for hours a day. And they have for your entire life,
right? And so I just give them a smorgasbord and I'm like, choose something
that. And I don't Even say two. Right. They just know they go to the
shelf. Oh, that looks interesting. And that does it. Okay, great.
(41:55):
That's a win. And we have built up our own
personal library at our house. We have thousands of books in our house. We might
be homeschoolers. Yeah. Yes.
So one thing I'm having a hard time getting rid of too is books.
No, don't get rid of them. I know, yeah. Used book sales in
the library has, you know, you can get 50 cent paperbacks and stuff. So
(42:18):
build up that personal library as you can. Okay, that was good. Thank you,
Linda. Let's wrap it up. What do you, what do you have. To say
in regards to curriculum specifically? This is a conversation
that I had this last year. I just want to encourage people to not be
afraid to drop something that isn't working for you, even if
it's mid year. I mean, and people have two things.
(42:40):
One, they feel like, oh, I've committed to this, I need to stick through.
I'm a failure if I don't finish. No, you're not. If it's not working,
it's failing you for whatever reason. It just doesn't fit.
Move on, move on. And the other thing is
this investment. Right. And I realize a lot of us as
homeschoolers are one income families. So to purchase a curriculum
(43:02):
and then halfway through the year go back to our husbands and say, I need
to purchase something different. That can be a really hard conversation.
So a couple of things. One, again, the library is your friend, but
secondly, your friends are also your friends. So Tiffany was,
was talking about being in community. Our and their
(43:23):
homeschool groups probably do this too. But our homeschool group owns curriculum that
we loan for people to be able to just peruse. Right.
And see, is this a good fit for me? I mean, you don't keep it
all year, but like, you can, you can at least get a look at it.
Right? And your friends too. They will let you use their curriculum that they're
not currently using this year. They still have it. Right. So
(43:45):
borrow things, look at things, don't be afraid. And it's a little
bit like that idea of sunk cost, right? Oh, I've already sunk, you know, $400
into this. I can't spend another $400. Well, one, again, maybe you don't have
to. But two, even if you do, it's a, it's a good and
valuable investment. In the long time. Yeah. Yes. And if you had a car that
you had just bought, but it kept breaking down every day, you're not going to
(44:07):
continue to try and drive the car. You're just going to get something different.
It just does not make sense. Right. So don't be
afraid to walk away from something that just isn't working.
So that would be my advice. I love that this is the first time we've
had more than one guest on the podcast. So this was, you know, I feel
like, oh man, it would have been great to do one with each of you
(44:29):
the whole time. So hopefully this, we dip our toes
in this and we have a chance to come back to you guys. Thank you.
That was great. Close great conversation. I am going to link
little bios of all of our guests in the show notes as well as links
to where you can connect with them to hear more. So thank you ladies
for joining us and thanks for being here with us. Thank you
(44:50):
so much for joining us today. The Colorado Homeschool Podcast
is a ministry of Christian Home and Educators of Colorado. We have been
motivating parents to disciple the next generation by embracing
home discipleship that is Christ centered, parent directed and free from
government control. We invite you to join us in this mission. You want to
support homeschooling in Colorado? Go to check.org
(45:13):
donate in the meantime, share this with your friends and make sure
you subscribe. That really helps us. Thank you.
Whatever happens in life, whatever happens in your homeschool, it can look messy in
one year and you can feel like you haven't done anything, but really
you have because they are living everyday life
with you. And so, you know, if you have to be a
caretaker, remember that they're learning how to care and
how to love and they're learning godly things. And so as
(00:22):
long as you keep your eyes on Jesus and you
are teaching them the ways of the Lord and you are growing them, you're
teaching them how to think, God is going to fill in, and
they are always learning. There is never a time that they're not
learning. It's all important, even those breaks, even those messy
times.
(00:47):
Welcome. It's the Colorado Homeschool Podcast.
Interviewing experts, parents, graduates,
all here to help you navigate this incredible journey called
homeschooling. And if you're looking for resources, tips and help,
go to check.org you'll find what you need. In the meantime,
subscribe, Follow along. Well, good morning.
(01:09):
Hello. Welcome. We're so excited that you're here. I am your host,
Kasia Davis, and we have a fun podcast for you today. We
have a panel of some great moms who we think are going to be
fantastic at encouraging you and talking about the different
methods of homeschooling. There's different styles and maybe you didn't know
that, and this is brand new to you. So hopefully we unpack a little bit
(01:31):
of that, give you some information and insight into that. So
will you help me welcome Yvonne Straughan, Tiffany Taylor,
and Linda Kidder. Thank you, ladies, for being here.
I'm gonna let y' all introduce yourself. Yvonne, will you start just tell us a
little bit about your family, your homeschool journey, and maybe what method
you're gonna kind of talk to today. Oh, yes, absolutely.
(01:53):
Thank you, Kashia, for having me on today. I'm so happy to share and encourage
homeschool families. And I have
five kids. I started homeschooling 16 years ago,
and it's just been a blessed journey for me.
We just love serving our community together.
And I use textbooks with my children. And so
(02:17):
that's been a journey in it's in of itself because it's kind of like, you
know, riding a bike. When you ride a bike, you have training
meals on and you're trying to start out and
it's difficult. And then you learn different tricks along the
way and different ways to make things easier. So
that's been my journey. Oh, I love that. And I hope we do that Today,
(02:39):
learn a little bit of tricks that people can apply and maybe
test the water. So, Tiffany, can you introduce. Thank you, Yvonne. Thanks for
being here. Tiffany, can you introduce yourself? Tell us about your family and your
homeschool journey. You bet. My name is Tiffany Taylor,
and I'm married to Scott for 21 years. And we have four boys.
They are 19, 17, 14, and 10.
(03:02):
So, yeah, we're still in the thick of it, but we've graduated one. We're going
to graduate another one next year. And, yeah, we homeschool
classically. I'm with classical conversations. I've been a leader with them
since 2014. But, yeah, I'm passionate about
home education and just helping other people homeschool, no matter what style you
use. I love homeschool. Nice. I can't wait to hear
(03:24):
more about what is the classical model. I feel like that's a.
A big one that people talk about, but I don't necessarily know that I would
be able to define it. So thank you for being here. Linda, will
you tell us your story and a little bit about your homeschooling and what, what
model you're going to talk to today? Absolutely, yes. Hi,
Kashia. Yeah, we have three
(03:46):
children. Our oldest son is 26, the second son
is 24, and our daughter is 20. So
we've graduated all of them and moved on to college.
So that's been a great journey. And the
method that I'm going to talk about today is actually unit studies.
(04:06):
Okay. Unit studies was my jm. That's really what I
mostly did as a homeschool mom, too. But I think what we'll
get into and talk about is most
homeschool families that I know tend to do a little bit of this and a
little bit of that. And it kind of depends on the subject or the season
of life. So let's just go in.
(04:27):
I don't want to do like ABC 1, 2, 3. But let's kind of first
define. What would you say? Let's go backwards. Linda, start
with you. What is unicetty approach, and
if you know anything more about that definition and what that looks like.
Sure. I would say the most simplistic way to define it is that
everything you're studying revolves around a theme. So
(04:50):
sometimes there are particular curriculums that use a book and
base everything off of that. I did it a little differently
in that I chose a theme that I liked. So, for example,
oceans. And then everything that we did, the books we read,
the math we did, the
science that we studied, all revolved around that theme of
(05:11):
oceans, and so that really is
the most simplistic way to define it, is that all of your subjects
are central, centered on a theme.
Okay, did you, are you, were you making your
own curriculum, basically creating your own unit study, or did you kind
of find something that told you what to do and you just followed that?
(05:35):
Well, I initially, because I started when our
youngest was four. Our oldest. Sorry, our oldest was
four. And you may get into this later, but I was a
reluctant homeschooler. My husband
wanted me to do it and I was not so sure that was a good
idea. So maybe we'll talk about that later. But anyway,
(05:57):
I was very unsure of myself. Even though I was a college graduate, I
had graduated with honors. Um, yeah, I just. The idea
of trying to teach my children was not.
Yeah, not something I was confident doing. So initially, yes, I started
with a curriculum. I wish I could tell you now what the
name of it was. I don't even remember. But
(06:20):
their method was to take a book, a particular book, and then
every subject was centered around that
book and that was okay. But once I did that, I
realized I particularly was suited more towards
picking a larger theme and things that I thought would be attractive to
my 4 and 2 year old. And so oceans. Who
(06:42):
doesn't love whales and fish and, you know, sharks and
things? So, so anyway, I thought that was going to be great.
So we started with that and then I also did
what I called Alphabet days. And so each day we
celebrated based on the letter of the Alphabet because I was teaching my kids, right,
the basic Alphabet letters, what they sounded like. So today is
(07:04):
a day. So we did all things. We ate apples and
apricots and, you know, just did all things A and
the next day's B day. And so we would do, you know, and so I
was trying to teach them their letters and what they sounded like, but
in the process of that, again, the unit being,
we were studying all things B. Right. So.
(07:26):
So that was kind of how I approached that. I love that
you said something that I say all the time to homeschool families because
it's not one size fits all. It's very unique. God
made body's super diverse, Right. And families are super
diverse. So there is this understanding of yourself
and your family and your kids and how they learn. So we're going to get
(07:48):
into that. Let's, let's finish the definitions, but let's come back to that for sure.
Because when you start thinking about different methods,
a lot of it will be, well, what's Going to make me as the mom,
sane, and what's going to help my kids. So Tiffany, will
you tell us a little bit about classical conversations or even just
classical education and what makes that. What,
(08:10):
what is that? Absolutely. So classical education,
you know, sometimes we think of classical education and we're like, oh, we just read
classic books and that's a big part of it, but it's not the whole.
Right. Classical education like it sounds. It has its roots
in ancient Greece, ancient Roman, and really this is the way that humans
learned until the Progressive era, until the
(08:33):
18, 1900s when the industrial revolution came along and
we started compulsory education and we started, you know, we changed our,
our educational system. So yeah, I think
over time we have changed, especially in public
education. Right. We've changed our methodology to
concentrate on, on utility, like utilitarianism, like
(08:56):
I'm going to get an education in order to get a job. And I think
we would all agree that that's not really what we want to do. Like we're
cultivating souls and that's what classical education is about.
It's about wisdom and virtue. And I know
this sounds like aloof, but we contemplate truth, goodness and
beauty. What is true, what is good, what is beautiful.
(09:18):
And because of that, I would argue that a classical education must be
Christian because truth is a person named Jesus Christ. Right.
And we can't predict the truth without Jesus. So I think
that's a really important part of it. But yeah, classical education, you know, we
read great books, but we also, you know, we're studying science and math and
logic and Latin. Yes, we study. That's what I was going to say.
(09:39):
That's what I know of classical education is the Latin and the
logic and. Yeah, okay, our little four year olds can recite
Latin endings and you know. It'S good, which helps.
Be a great speller. Right. That's the hope.
Right. And really integrating all of those subjects together,
knowing that God's in the center and God created all of that. Okay, Pursue
(10:03):
God through it. Okay. And so did you start
in classical conversations? No. When you started, what was.
Tell me how you landed on. I'm. I stay in this lane. I love this
lane. Yeah, we did some other things first.
We did sunlight. I'm an English literature major and so I love
literature and sunlight is book based. And I was like, yes, that sounds
(10:26):
amazing. I think for me personally, and I still love
sunlight, but for me as more of a type, a kind of person, it
made me stress about checking the boxes too much
and I felt Behind. I had somebody tell me, maybe I've heard this
quote. I heard it a couple weeks ago, and she said, in homeschooling,
there's no behind except the one you sit on. Have you heard that one? Oh,
(10:47):
no, but that's a good. Yeah, we did sound
like. For a little while. And then we found something called Tapestry of Grace,
which is classical, but. And I loved it.
But it. We were doing it in isolation, and we're a family
of introverts, and so we were just.
I just felt like we had no community. So that's where classical conversations came in.
(11:10):
I was like, we need community. And we. So classical conversations. We meet once a
week in community. And that. That solved that problem for us.
Okay. I love it. Thanks, Yvonne. Or Yvonne, I always
say your name wrong. I'm so sorry. Will you tell us your story? And
I know where you've landed, but tell us what you would
define as a textbook education. Yeah.
(11:32):
You know, a lot of people just think textbook education is just sitting
at your desk and going through these textbooks and just
checking the box, but it's so much more, and it's. It's what you
use. And for us, we wanted a Christian
education for our children. And so we wanted to be able
to integrate God throughout everything.
(11:55):
And for me, personally, when I started,
my child was in. My oldest child was in Christian
school. And so I didn't know how to homeschool. And I thought,
oh, well, what curriculum are they using? And so then I
called that curriculum to see if they had any homeschool
curriculum, and they did. So I ordered it and I started that way. And it
(12:17):
was just such a good guide for me at first on, you
know, how to teach that. And it really grew my
faith throughout the process because I felt like I was
learning alongside my children. And I feel like when you are
teaching your children, that is exactly what you're doing. You're learning alongside them,
and you're growing alongside them. It's a lifestyle. Homeschooling
(12:39):
is a lifestyle. So as time went on,
I learned, like I said, you know, I took the training wheels off
and learned a little more how to adjust my
homeschool. And so it didn't
revolve as much around textbooks, but again around community. So we
developed a community where we had art at our house every
(13:01):
week, and then it switched to a friend's house, and we would meet with many
families. And then now we
run a homeschool group at our church. And so we meet once a week and
we. At our church. But then we also have a hiking group in different
groups like that. So we have our community. And then we
can pour what we learned through our textbooks into our community.
(13:23):
Because, you know, what we're using in our Christian
textbooks? We're learning that, you know, in math, God
created order and we can look at math in
an eternal way. You know, as far as, like,
you know, how many, you know, trucks would it take to, you
know, go to the sun, you know, if you stack them and different
(13:45):
things like that and just make it bigger and better and more
understanding that, you know, there is a God and there is a God of order
and, and then in history, you know, just learning about
all the different leaders and everything that happens,
we've learned that, you know, God does put,
you know, people in authority, but if you don't not follow
(14:09):
God's ways, and this is throughout life, really,
you fail. You know, it's his plan, not our plan.
So they're biblically based. Yeah, yeah. Sometimes we get
upside down in our thinking. And I find that in my own
personal life, you know, if I don't have things aligned with the way the
Bible has told us to have things aligned, you
(14:31):
know, like God first and then our family and, and our
family is our ministry. And a lot of people forget that, you know, they, they
think that ministry is out and, and our family is
our first mission. Our children are our first mission. We have to train them up
in the Lord. Like in Deuteronomy it says, you know,
train them night and day. Right. You know? Yeah.
(14:54):
Yvonne, what you're, you're highlighting exactly what I hope we do
today is all three of you talked about wanting God to be the
center of what we're teaching our children, raising them up, and yet we choose
different ways. Right. And different structures. And Tiffany, you mentioned something
about feeling like you were behind because there was so much.
I guess that's just my personality because I was like, eh, now we don't need
(15:17):
to do that. Like, you have to be able to do that. Right? So knowing
yourself. So can we talk about that? Like, what would you say are some of
the strengths and even how many of you guys cross over?
Like, Yvonne, I used science
textbooks, of course, and I use math textbooks and I use grammar
textbooks. So I still incorporated a lot of textbooks into, in my
(15:39):
learning. And Tiffany, we did some Latin. My children did do
the Latin root words, and then we changed to Greek root words. And you know,
so we, we did like a smorgasbord. And I think a lot of families will
find that. But what do you think are some of the strengths of
your style? And I'll just open this up to any of you guys. What would
you say are some of the strengths? And could you identify some of the
(16:02):
weaknesses? So the strengths of textbooks would
be being able to have a guide of
what you can study each day and how to integrate God into
that and not having to work in the
evenings or on the weekends to prepare your lessons as much. So for me,
it's like a open and go, and I don't have to worry about it when
(16:24):
I'm not doing the educational
textbook part with my children. Um, so it's just
more fluid for me. And the other part of that is
I do know now that I can go, okay, well, let's
test, you know, this in math and see if you know it.
And if you do, I can move on and I can open up a lot
(16:45):
of time, and then I don't feel behind. And
I know that most textbook publishers will say, to
complete 80% of your textbook, so you don't have to complete 100%. They don't
complete 100%, even in schools. And so, like
you were saying, Kashia, is, you know, you have to be able to be
flexible in that and know that, hey, we don't have to do this. My child
(17:07):
knows this. And be able to just go on
and then make it more flexible. And so that's
been a help for me. But I think that also can be a downfall for
people. So sometimes when they use textbooks, like Tiffany was saying
is sometimes you feel behind and you feel like you have to check a box.
And that is something that is very hard for people
(17:29):
if they can't get beyond that, you know, checkbox type,
then maybe another method or incorporating other methods
might be better in those ways. Because we can't
just check a box. We have to integrate our homeschooling into
our life and be able to be flexible with that. And I'll tell you
a story is two stories is like, when
(17:52):
my oldest was young,
she really had a hard time. She take three hours on math, and I just
didn't understand, you know, like those. Those training wheels were
on. And I realized that I just
needed to see what her strengths are and then speak to those strengths
and then be very. Be. Yes. Be able
(18:15):
to pivot. And then in 2020, my
mom hurt her wrist and her ankle, and we had to go live with her
and do wheelchair transfer, you know, really take care of her.
And I took my kids with me, and we had to be flexible in
That. I mean, we. We did a little bit of textbook work that day that,
you know, throughout the day, but not very much because their hearts were being
(18:37):
grown in a whole different way. And I think this is one thing I really
want to speak to homeschoolers about, is that,
boy, they learn in that life, those life
circumstances and especially those hard ones, I mean, they were with me
and they learned what love looks like in a tangible way
as we took care of grandma and they loved it. And. And the funny thing
(19:01):
is, you know, it. It seems like a tragedy, but it was really a blessing.
And with my mom, I was telling. Her, that's the motto
of life. Yeah. Yeah.
Wow. Well, thank you, Tiffany. What were you gonna add to. What
would you say would be some strengths and. And maybe some weaknesses
to that method? And I just wanna add on what she said, you know, like,
(19:25):
100% agree. Like, we are. Homeschooling
allows us to do our life and for our kids to come alongside us and
be at our feet and watch what mom and dad do. And we are.
We're modeling for them. Whether they see me reading my Bible in the morning or,
you know, reading a hard book or, you know, whatever it is, they. They
get to see us doing that. And I think some of the benefits of a
(19:47):
classical education are. Are doing hard things. Our,
you know, our classical learners, they read original documents. We read the.
The Constitution, we read Shakespeare, we read Homer. You know, we read all
of these things. And. And it's hard. Sometimes it's hard.
And we're in a culture now where it's easy to just
ask the Internet or AI or whatever, like, give me a
(20:10):
summary of that book. Right? And so. And rather than
wrestling through the book itself and actually thinking about it
and having conversations about it. So I think that's the benefit is just
having those conversations. I love talking to my teenagers in
particular about what they're reading and what they're learning. You
know, hey, we. We were talking about philosophy, and,
(20:33):
you know, what do you think about this philosopher's ideas? And how does that
influence us today? And how did it influence the dialogue? That's
so good. Yeah. Yes. That's the benefit, I think. And
we're teaching them how to learn. We're teaching them how to ask good questions. That's
a big part of a practical education. It's just using.
Using question. You've probably heard of the Socratic method
(20:56):
and, you know, asking questions to find truth.
And Jesus is at the end of everything, right? Like, it all comes back to
the Lord. I love that. Okay, Linda, your turn. What would
you say are some of the pitfalls to
being a unit study and what are some of the perks? I
would say the main perk is that is just flat out fun. It's fun
(21:18):
for them, it's fun for me. It was just flat out fun.
So. So I would say that for me was the main perk.
And also, like, it's not, especially when my kids
were little, wasn't rocket science. Right. Like you check out some books from
the library on. Again, I'll just stick with that theme of ocean animals.
And then it's easy to take a tape measure out in the
(21:41):
yard and measure out the length of an eel versus the length of a shark
versus the length of a whale. Right. So math, science
is all built right in. And so it didn't take a lot of
brain work on my part. And I did want both for
myself, again, because I was reluctant and for my kids
to want to love learning, that was really where I
(22:03):
wanted to begin. Love the Lord and love
learning about him and about what he created. And
so that was really pivotal for me in the
beginning. I will say that the drawback
is the older they got, the more the challenge I
found it to be to be able to incorporate
(22:26):
the kind of math and the kind of
reading and things that they needed. I
didn't know, but suspected from a fairly early age that all of
our kids would be college bound. Both my husband and I
attended college. We wanted to be prepared if
(22:46):
that was the route they wanted to go, if they wanted to do a trade
or be a stay at home mom or whatever, that's great too. But we wanted
them to be prepared to be to do whatever they wanted to
do. So we did take an academic approach from that
standpoint. And so as they got older and needed some of the more
complex subjects, I found it hard, harder to work into a unit study.
(23:08):
So I did eventually abandon
that method and moved on to some other things. But I will tell
you consistently, throughout their education, from
age 4 to 18, two things I did
always, one was Bible. That was a straight up
class. And it was the class we started with every day. We did nothing
(23:31):
while we ate breakfast, but besides that, we did nothing before we did Bible.
That was. And again, I wanted the kids to see, this is primary, right?
This is first and foremost.
So yes, so that was great. The other thing that I did, and I can't
remember when I started this, they were fairly young, but I did it clear through
(23:51):
when they were 18 is we would all sit and eat lunch together
at our kitchen table. And while they were eating lunch, I would
read to them. So sometimes I read just
fun books. But a lot of the time it was historical fiction that
related because as they got older, I guess in
a way I stuck to a theme in that we would do time frames, right,
(24:13):
in history. So this particular year, we're covering creation
through Rome or whatever. And so we would read books
that covered that time frame. Good historical fiction
or biographies or those sorts of things.
A little bit borrowing from the method that
Tiffany uses in that classical style.
(24:37):
And surprisingly, I thought, especially
my boys when they were in their teen years, they would roll their eyes at
me when I did that. They did not. They loved it. And they still talk
about those books. We were just talking about some of them last weekend
because. And it created in them, I think, a
love of learning. All of my kids love to learn and to read.
(24:59):
They all read different genres. They don't, now that they're adults, they don't
like to read the same type of thing, but they all like to
read. And so. And funny
how me reading to them, even as teenagers,
planted that seed in them, right? And they. They liked it
and I liked it. And we learned a lot together and could talk about,
(25:22):
as Tiffany mentioned and even Yvonne, those,
you know, how does this apply? You know, this character
had a very difficult situation they had to navigate. How would
you navig that? What do you think they did? Well, where did they
fall down, right? Like, they maybe didn't. Didn't do such a good job
honoring the Lord in that conversation, right? And of course,
(25:45):
not everything we read was either from a Christian point of view or
about a Christian. And so we got to talk. How does that change our
response, right? What would we do as. As a
follower of Christ? How would we represent him well in that
scenario? And there are some tough stuff, right? Like life
actually deals you a hard hand sometimes, and you
(26:06):
have to decide what kind of integrity am I going to walk in here?
Our oldest son at 26 just had that situation
and said, I feel like if I don't disclose all the
information, I'm lacking integrity. And he could have
withheld information and it would have benefited him, right? But he's like,
I. I can't do that, right? And that's because
(26:29):
as parents, homeschooling parents, you're laying the groundwork for that
when they're 4 and 5 and 10 and 12 and
15, right? You are constantly, as Yvonne
alluded to the Deuteronomy, constantly laying that stuff
in them. And that's what I did love.
Homeschooling was fun. But more than that, I loved the fact
(26:52):
that I got to train the heart and mind of our
kids. Right. Not just academically train their mind,
but train their mind for God and to think to. To be able
to think critically about things and to be able to think
biblically about things. Yeah, I love this.
I didn't mention this when we. When I did the introduction, but these three ladies
(27:14):
are also homeschool group leaders. And you can find their groups on the
directory on the Czech homeschool group directory. And
they all have a passion for helping, as you heard
Linda say. She's not even homeschooling any anymore. She still is very involved
helping. So. And I really do love
how you guys have all answered with a word of
(27:35):
encouragement for somebody. So have you. Can you think about a
time and maybe we'll. I
don't know if I want to dictate who says, but if one person does, raise
your hand and we'll know a time that you had to
pivot where you were like, I am losing my mind. Or maybe it was just
in one subject. And. And you mentioned sort of already, Linda, that you had
(27:58):
to do that when they got older and kind of pivot towards more
chapters or kind of like a high school model, I'm assuming, right?
Yes. Right. So a come to Jesus moment
and figuring out a different way to approach your homeschooling.
I would say for one. One son in particular,
(28:18):
I'm like Tiffany, very a personality.
Our oldest was. Is much like me, learns like me. Our
middle son, not so much. And so,
oh, my goodness, yeah, he was a challenge. And so
when I would be teaching something and he would not even be
looking at me and be, you know, building with Legos
(28:41):
or drawing in the dirt or whatever. Right. And I
would get so frustrated and I'd be like, come on, you know,
and he would look at me and literally be able to
recite word for word, everything I'd said for the last 10
minutes. And that was a light bulb moment for me. Like,
oh, my goodness, making
(29:03):
this kid sit at the table for a lesson, I'm going
to kill him. Right? And me. Because we're going to get frustrated
with one another. I need to give him something to do. He is listening,
but his hands need to be busy. And he doesn't have to be looking at
me. You know, he can. He can be looking at something else. He is hearing
me and he is processing what I'm saying. So for Me, that was
(29:25):
not necessarily a pivot in my entire homeschool, but a pivot for
him. Right. That I needed to give him a little more freedom.
And anytime I made him give a presentation, he would pace back
and forth, back and forth, and it drove me nuts. But
I was just like, nope, stay calm. Right. Like, it's just.
He has to be moving. He has to be moving. So as he got older,
(29:48):
he got better at being able to control that, and now he
gives presentations regularly. And he does great. Right.
But I had to initially allow him the
freedom to pace back and forth. That's good. That
insight into your kids is so needed. What were you going to add to that,
Tiffany? Yeah, I would just say we, like
(30:10):
Linda was saying, we didn't really pivot in our style. Style of, you know,
what we've chosen, but in how I approach each kid
is going to be different. And I bet we all have stories about that, you
know, just like you were talking about your middle son. My oldest
and my second really could not be more different. My oldest is
super quiet. He wants to be a librarian.
(30:31):
Okay, wonderful. He's an English literature major as well. And.
But he's more reserved, and he's just kind of an old soul.
And my second one, he's. He's still on the introverted side, but
he loves to speak publicly. He's in competitive speech and
debate with STOA and. Which is another great organization,
(30:51):
but, you know, and he loves to be on a stage and you give him
a microphone and he's so excited. Right. And they
also had different, like, pivoting where they are in
math or. I think it was Yvonne who mentioned this. You know,
like, if, if, if they get a concept.
Let's just keep going. Right. And then you get to where. Oh, okay. This
(31:12):
might. We might need to take three days on this one lesson because we're stuck.
Okay. And that's. That's true for all homeschoolers. Right. We have to
be watching for that and able to pivot with our kids and. And meet them
where they are and just tailor the education to
what they need. Right. Yeah.
Yvonne, go ahead. Oh, yeah. So I just wanted to add to that
(31:35):
is each of our kids are uniquely created by God,
and it's such a blessing to be home with them because we
get to see firsthand, day and night how they are
created and then speak to that. And so I had similar
experience to Linda, where my middle son
could not sit still at all. So I had to really,
(31:58):
really work outside of the box and so some of the things that we
did was, you know, use your nerf nerf guns to
shoot the words as you say them and, you know, really
add a lot of action for him. He wanted to do all the action
things. And as he's grown, he's so different than
my other kids. And as he's grown, he's become. He's kind of engineering
(32:20):
minded and so he clicks with other engineering
minded type kiddos and not, you know, a lot of
the typical kiddos that you have around. And
so just finding his groove and
then surrounding him with his interest and his,
you know, his people has really made a big
(32:42):
difference in his life. And he's just really set up to
just, you know, go into that engineering field with
some of the extra experiences. And
like with my daughter, she changed many times of
what she was interested in. And one of the things that we did
was she baked cakes and she learned how to
(33:06):
do these really fancy cakes and then start her own business.
And she did that from when she was 12 and she still does it today.
And she's 20, she'll be 21. But
one of the things that she was interested in was that. And then another thing
that she was interested in for a while was flying. So we got her
into flying and she did gliders and
(33:29):
all those types of things. And so it was really fun for me as
a homeschool mom to, you know, look at their interests and then
just adapt what we are doing to those interests.
And you know, really the reality is God created each of us
unique. He created each of our kids unique. And we get to see it
and really grow with them and, you know, see
(33:51):
their experiences. And, you know, one thing I have to say is those
extracurriculars that they're interested in, that is their interest
and that ends up typically kind of where they're going to be going in life.
And so as you're speaking to that, you know, I have another daughter
who loves singing and so she sings at church
in the middle school service. So she has a great.
(34:14):
So much. What I'm hearing from all of you guys is it almost
doesn't matter like what method you're picking for homeschooling,
maybe you pick a method that suits you as the mom the most. Right? Like
if you're going to be the one who wants to do all the fun, or
if you need the structure of a textbook, or maybe you want the
Socratic discussion that comes with the, the classical, whatever suits you,
(34:36):
but you're still ultimately going to have to fine Tune and make your
education individual. Right? Yeah, because I don't. Do you guys talk
to new homeschoolers all the time. The first question that I'm always asked is, what.
What curriculum should I use? And I feel like that's the. Like it's important,
but it's like the third or fourth thing you need to know. You need to
know why you're homeschooling and write out your vision. Right.
(34:58):
And then when you get to picking the curriculum, it's almost like anything
could work. Anything could work. The library could work if you were
intentional and you knew what you were doing. Right. Because that's what I'm
hearing from you. Am I wrong or I see head shaking. But do you guys
agree that really your method is
maybe secondary to your education? It's more about
(35:20):
the relationships and the fine tuning.
Absolutely. Yeah. I love it. You said something
that was just so great. And I 100 agree. You know, that
we have been given our children. We. They are uniquely
created for us and no one knows them better than
us. And so we are the best to educate them.
(35:42):
Yeah. It's so true. Trust God. I know when you
started, Linda, you said that you're a homeschool or college
graduate who graduated with honors and you felt incapable. And that's not
uncommon. We hear that. I hear that constantly. Raise your hand. Do y' all hear
that from homeschoolers? I could never. I'm not qualified. And
I just feel like, why do we believe that lie, for goodness
(36:04):
sakes? But. And you said it too, Yvonne. You learn with your
kids, even things. Because I was. I like to tell people I was the
smartest dumb person ever. Like, I was a straight A student. I got full ride
scholarships for. For chemical engineering. Like I was going
to college for brainy stuff. And then the second I
didn't need it, it was just gone. Like, I knew how to memorize for the
(36:26):
test, but I didn't. I did not grow up in. In the
same education style that I did with my children, teaching them how to
think, teaching them how to apply it. So it doesn't matter.
Right. We can. We can redeem. I. Who says that? I think it's
classical conversations. Doesn't she say that the founder that we could home
education is redeeming two educations. Our own and our kids.
(36:48):
Yeah. Oh, I love it, guys. Every single thing that you guys have said,
I'm like, oh, I want to dive back in and do it. My children are
adults, so I have grandkids who are starting to homeschool but my
journey is finished, so. Well, guys, I love this. I want to. Oh,
somebody wanted to add something. Kashia, I just wanted to say that what you
just said is the reason we feel incapable
(37:10):
of teaching our children. Because my story is
identical to yours. Yes. I memorized a lot of facts. I was really good at
that for the moment that I needed it. But when my
thinking about trying to teach my children
something I could no longer remember and didn't really ever know.
Right. Like, I memorized it for a short period of time. I didn't know
(37:32):
it like that. I think that is the story
of 90% of us. We feel incapable because
we realize all we did was memorize for a test and then forget.
Yeah, exactly. Yes. And so we don't feel
smart or capable. We know we were good at a skill
set. Right? Yep. Yeah. That was, as
(37:54):
Tiffany mentioned, utilitarian. Right. Like, it
served a purpose. It got us good grades, but,
oh, my goodness, we didn't learn how to think. Yeah, I know. I'm
excited for the homeschool movement, and I'm glad to see it growing, and I just
want parents to find. That's why I wanted to do this method, because I just
want them to go, if something's not working, you can tweak. You can try a
(38:16):
different method. You can try, you know, if you're losing your mind, if you feel
like I'm never doing it, because, I mean, I was a homeschool unit study
mom, but I remember when my father had cancer and we were his
caretaker, I did not have time to plan all these fun things,
which I was all about the building forts to, you know, learn about
the kingdom. Let's build a castle and figure out how to make a
(38:37):
drawbridge, and let's do some, you know, everything was tied to that, and
I barely got anything done, and I felt like a failure. So then we had
to pivot, and we had to totally do a lot of textbooks,
and that was okay for a season. Right? So,
guys, this was good, but I want to close with what we ask every guest
who comes on. What is one of your favorite
(38:59):
saying? Best is so hard because, you know, there's lots of good advice, but one
piece of advice that you would put in the top shelf that you would pass
on. It could be related to this topic or not. And let's just start
with you, Yvonne, and then we'll go through all of you. Oh,
sounds good. Thank you, Kashia. I just want to let people
know that whatever happens in life, whatever happens in your
(39:21):
homeschool it can look messy in one year, and you can feel like you
haven't done anything, but really you have because
they are living everyday life with you. And so,
you know, if you have to be a caretaker, remember that they're
learning how to care and how to love, and they're learning godly things.
And so as long as you keep your eyes on Jesus and
(39:44):
you are teaching them the ways of the Lord and
you are growing them, you're teaching them how to think and how
to find information and, you
know, speak to their interests and all those things. I mean,
God is going to fill in, and they are always learning.
There is never a time that they're not learning. It's all important,
(40:06):
even those breaks, even those messy times. So I just
don't want homeschoolers to get frustrated and go, oh, this year was just
horrible. Next year is going to be better, and we're going to make all these
changes. I mean, just appreciate what they have
learned, whether that is, you know, being a caretaker or,
you know, helping out and serving or whatever the
(40:28):
Lord has planned for you each day. It doesn't have to be
a check the box or I've accomplished things. We always want to accomplish
things. But, you know, just know that. That.
Yeah, that was good. Thank you. Tiffany, what about you?
I'm gonna be a big fat cheater and give you two.
(40:48):
The first one is quick, though. It's find a community. Don't do
this alone. We have all mentioned community, and Kashia said, you
know, we're all group leaders. Find your people and, you know,
do life with them. Homeschool with a buddy. Okay? And the second
one is surround your kids with. With books. I know I've talked about reading a
lot, all of us have today. And I just think it's so important.
(41:11):
And even when we were on a budget, like, we homeschooled
with a library card and we would go to the library, honestly,
multiple times a week. But when I would go there, I would pick out, you
know, here are some kids books on science, and here's some kids books on,
you know, maybe it's biography or poetry or fairy tales. Right?
Good. Fiction, books and literature. And I would just put
(41:33):
them all on the shelf. And I didn't ever require reading.
I didn't ever say, you must read 30 minutes a day. But they
all read for hours a day. And they have for your entire life,
right? And so I just give them a smorgasbord and I'm like, choose something
that. And I don't Even say two. Right. They just know they go to the
shelf. Oh, that looks interesting. And that does it. Okay, great.
(41:55):
That's a win. And we have built up our own
personal library at our house. We have thousands of books in our house. We might
be homeschoolers. Yeah. Yes.
So one thing I'm having a hard time getting rid of too is books.
No, don't get rid of them. I know, yeah. Used book sales in
the library has, you know, you can get 50 cent paperbacks and stuff. So
(42:18):
build up that personal library as you can. Okay, that was good. Thank you,
Linda. Let's wrap it up. What do you, what do you have. To say
in regards to curriculum specifically? This is a conversation
that I had this last year. I just want to encourage people to not be
afraid to drop something that isn't working for you, even if
it's mid year. I mean, and people have two things.
(42:40):
One, they feel like, oh, I've committed to this, I need to stick through.
I'm a failure if I don't finish. No, you're not. If it's not working,
it's failing you for whatever reason. It just doesn't fit.
Move on, move on. And the other thing is
this investment. Right. And I realize a lot of us as
homeschoolers are one income families. So to purchase a curriculum
(43:02):
and then halfway through the year go back to our husbands and say, I need
to purchase something different. That can be a really hard conversation.
So a couple of things. One, again, the library is your friend, but
secondly, your friends are also your friends. So Tiffany was,
was talking about being in community. Our and their
(43:23):
homeschool groups probably do this too. But our homeschool group owns curriculum that
we loan for people to be able to just peruse. Right.
And see, is this a good fit for me? I mean, you don't keep it
all year, but like, you can, you can at least get a look at it.
Right? And your friends too. They will let you use their curriculum that they're
not currently using this year. They still have it. Right. So
(43:45):
borrow things, look at things, don't be afraid. And it's a little
bit like that idea of sunk cost, right? Oh, I've already sunk, you know, $400
into this. I can't spend another $400. Well, one, again, maybe you don't have
to. But two, even if you do, it's a, it's a good and
valuable investment. In the long time. Yeah. Yes. And if you had a car that
you had just bought, but it kept breaking down every day, you're not going to
(44:07):
continue to try and drive the car. You're just going to get something different.
It just does not make sense. Right. So don't be
afraid to walk away from something that just isn't working.
So that would be my advice. I love that this is the first time we've
had more than one guest on the podcast. So this was, you know, I feel
like, oh man, it would have been great to do one with each of you
(44:29):
the whole time. So hopefully this, we dip our toes
in this and we have a chance to come back to you guys. Thank you.
That was great. Close great conversation. I am going to link
little bios of all of our guests in the show notes as well as links
to where you can connect with them to hear more. So thank you ladies
for joining us and thanks for being here with us. Thank you
(44:50):
so much for joining us today. The Colorado Homeschool Podcast
is a ministry of Christian Home and Educators of Colorado. We have been
motivating parents to disciple the next generation by embracing
home discipleship that is Christ centered, parent directed and free from
government control. We invite you to join us in this mission. You want to
support homeschooling in Colorado? Go to check.org
(45:13):
donate in the meantime, share this with your friends and make sure
you subscribe. That really helps us. Thank you.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.