April 21, 2025 • 35 mins
Are you searching for a homeschool community that truly fits your family—or wondering how to build one yourself? Dive into this episode of The Colorado Homeschool Podcast for answers and inspiration!
Host Kashia Davis welcomes Tara Roehl, a nationally certified Speech-Language Pathologist who operates her own executive functioning-focused telepractice (Speechy Keen SLP), and is herself a homeschool graduate, homeschooling mother of two, director of The Nest and WILD Child co-ops in Longmont, and co-leader of a local homeschool 4-H club.
Tara draws on her extensive experience as both a student and leader in the homeschool world to share:
- Actionable strategies for finding your perfect homeschool group (Find Community Near You)
- Tips for building authentic and supportive learning communities for your children
- Encouragement for parents to step into their unique strengths—no matter your background!
- Real-life stories of connection, collaboration, and growth through community
Discover useful tools like the Band App (Apple) | Band App (Google Play) to strengthen parent communication in your group.
Whether you’re just starting out or looking to deepen your homeschool journey, Tara’s wisdom and practical advice will help you create—or find—a vibrant, Christ-centered support system for your family.
Ready to find your village? Listen now and don’t forget to subscribe to The Colorado Homeschool Podcast for more expert guidance, real stories, and resources to help your homeschool thrive!
If you’re looking for support, resources, and inspiration on your homeschooling journey, visit CHEC.org. Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast and share it with anyone who might benefit from the wisdom shared in this episode!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Biggest thing for me was a place that was safe for my kids and other
kids to come learn and wasn't based
on telling us how to live our Christian walk. Instead
was a place where we could come together, learn together, have community,
have a class that you could go to and be with other people and learn
from somebody other than me and my husband. Like, have that experience of having
(00:21):
other parents be your teacher, other people be your teacher, but that it
was safe in a place that they could also
see Christ, where they saw other Christians walking
their faith.
Welcome. It's the Colorado Homeschool Podcast.
(00:42):
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 CHEC.org you'll find what you need. In the
meantime, subscribe, follow along. Well, hello and
welcome. Thank you for joining us. I'm your host, Kasia Davis, and today
(01:04):
we have Tara Rael. I just found out I was saying her
name wrong, even though I have known her for some time now. Thank you,
Tara, for being here. Tara is an award winner. We're going to talk about that
in a second. She also is a certified speech and
language language pathologist. He has a business that she does
telepathically or telepathically on the telephone
(01:26):
with her clients, focusing on executive function, which I
love. She does some of the testing for that at the
conference, too. So if you haven't met Tara or you feel like you
maybe need to meet her, the conference, Rocky Mountain Homeschool conference is coming up.
Is your opportunity. Tara is amazing. Not only does she
do that, she's a homeschool graduate. She homeschools two of her
(01:48):
children, and I guess she likes the word the two twos. It's always
in pairs because this is actually even our second time recording this podcast because we
had technical difficulties. Tara runs not
one, but two co ops in the Longmont area. So she runs the
Wild Child. Is that what it's called? The Wild Child, yep. And the Nest Co
op. So I am thrilled to have Tara. She has
(02:10):
become a quick friend. I mean, the first day that I met her, I knew
we're going to be friends and it's totally playing out. So I
love it and I think you guys are going to love her. Tara, welcome. Thank
you so much. Well, why don't you start off by
just telling us a little bit about your homeschool journey,
Maybe just summarize your life as a homeschool student and then how it looks for
(02:32):
you as a mom. Now. Yeah. My parents started homeschooling us. I'm the
oldest of three. Homeschooling was never the plan.
I love to tell the funny quip that my mother actually got in a
disagreement with the public school district that we were living
in. And I believe the final closing statement
was, well, I taught her how to read. I guess I'll teach her everything else,
(02:53):
too. And then me and my siblings were homeschooled all the way until
college started. College at 16.
Went on to become a speech language pathologist. Met my husband while I
was in grad school. Before we were even dating. The weekend
we met, he was just like, so tell me about you. And I was like,
well, I'm a homeschool graduate. I'm going to become a speech language pathologist, and I'm
(03:14):
going to homeschool my own kids one day. I love that you knew that. That
was amazing. Like, into it,
obviously, he's like, fair warning. Okay, great. Got it.
That's awesome. I love that there's not a lot
of middle ground. I find people who've already
been homeschooled are a lot like you, very, very passionate. And like me too.
(03:36):
We're gonna do this. Make sure my spouse is in agreement. This is so awesome.
So I love that. And one of these days, I hope that I get to
interview your parents because they're kind of pioneers in the homeschool journey just to
talk about their fight for their freedom. And that's one of the ways that I
get to see Tara. She's going to be at our day at the Capitol. She's
helping put that on, and she and her family have been involved
(03:57):
in all of the things from the Freedom Front, so thank you for
that, too. And not that you don't have anything to do with your time.
You're so busy. Good night.
Well, we're talking today about community. So I mentioned
you're an award winner. Tara last year won one of our awards that we
give out every year. In fact, the nominations are going on right now. We
(04:19):
asked the community to nominate a homeschool group leader that
has impacted their life. So it's a leadership award that we present
totally from the people, by the people, for the people.
And when I was reading the comments about you, I should have actually printed those
out to read here, but it was just, like, resonated to be true.
Tara is not just about serving her community, her
(04:41):
two co ops that she does, but really about serving the homeschool community by and
large. So she's a great person to Talk to us as we dive into
the importance of community. Why don't we start there and
tell me what started you in the leadership
of homeschooling groups and yeah, we'll,
we'll go from there. How did that all begin for you? I went through
(05:04):
a lot of different homeschool communities growing up. We moved a lot
from my dad's work and so I've been in a lot of different homeschool
communities. Lots of different experiences between the different
communities. So I had a general idea of what I was
looking for. But also having moved a lot in my life, I know it can
take a while to start community. So as soon as my son
(05:25):
was one, I started looking for community because I was like, the sooner I
can get plugged in, the sooner I can find my people, I can find my
tribe. Let's do this. And I looked everywhere in my area.
1 years old. That's amazing. I love that. Yes. And that little
man just turned 12 on me a few months ago.
So it's been a journey in here and I
(05:46):
couldn't find what I was looking for. I kept promising my husband
because my husband's an entrepreneur, my father's an entrepreneur, we're an entrepreneur at
heart, people. But I was like, don't worry, I'm not going to start my own
co op. I will find what I need.
And everywhere wanted me to drop my little guy off. And every part
of my journey I knew very clearly I wanted to be there. I wanted
(06:09):
to get to know the other parents. I wanted to find
friends who had become what we call framily, you know, and I needed
to find that and I couldn't find
it. So the nest started in my living room.
It started with just inviting other moms over with other 18 month to 2 year
olds and mail ordered a little cute, you know,
(06:31):
unit study themed curriculum. And we did that and we expanded off
my main floor. We ended up taking over my entire basement, breaking my
basement into multiple classrooms. And then my husband and I had to have a sit
down of like, we've grown out of the house and we are like wearing out
the house at this point in time with this many people coming in each week
and the church we were attending at that time, some of the pastors
(06:53):
had grown up being homeschooled themselves too. And so they offered up
that church building for us and we've been there ever since. And
then I wanted my kids to experience. I'd heard all the benefits and read all
the research of time in nature and how the average
American child spends less than 10 minutes in nature a day.
And that hurt my heart as a hiking family. And so I was like, okay,
(07:15):
well, let's go join a forest school. That was expensive for one
year. And my mom had come and visited and you know, come with.
And towards the end of it, she leaned in and was like,
you could do this. I knew that was coming. Yes.
So the nest was born out of my living room and wild
child was born out of one year of experience in forest
(07:37):
school. And then just deep diving into every curriculum,
every online course, every YouTube video I could find to really try
to understand the methodology and the purposes and create
something that be great for my kids, but also help find them, find other families
who share the same values and
desires. I'm not hoping that every person who listens to
(08:00):
this says, well, I can't find a group, so I'm going to start a group.
Of course we need that. We need people who are willing to start groups. I
think the network of homeschool groups is growing, so
there's a lot. So first, before we start into, like, what would
you, what, what do you suggest for starting? How about, what do
you suggest for looking for a community? What are some of your tips as you
(08:22):
were looking? I mean, you already mentioned a couple things. Like you knew, I don't
want to drop off my children. I want to be involved. I want to have
that time because I'm selfish. Me too. I wanted that time with my kids
because it's fleeting, I can tell you. It goes quick. But what other things did
you consider and, and did you have a process? Yeah, tell us
about that. I know that was a while ago because you've started pretty
(08:43):
soon. I've, I've, I've been involved in a lot of co ops
myself that broke up, that had
problems and had splits and had divides. And I've seen how painful that is and
we haven't been saved that we had a very ugly divide in
2019 that happened. But it happened over the very one thing I was trying to
protect us against, which is
(09:04):
I. For me, I needed my children to go to a place where I felt
they were safe to learn, safe in that they were
safe from being exposed to things too early.
They were. It aligned with our faith. And I don't expect
every person I co op to share every single thing I believe
to the t. We don't. We have some families who celebrate
(09:27):
no holidays at all. We have some families who trick or treat
and others who don't trick or treat on Halloween. You know, and so the biggest
thing for me was a place that was safe for my kids and other kids
to come learn and wasn't based
on telling us how to live our Christian walk. Instead
place where we could come together, learn together, have community, have a
(09:49):
class that you could go to and be with other people and learn from somebody
other than me and my husband. Like have that experience of having other parents be
your teacher, other people be your teacher, but that it was safe in a place
that they could also see
Christ, where they saw other Christians walking their faith. That
I know that my son's 12, we're heading into the teenage years. I know that
(10:11):
right now he is surrounded by adults that I would 100%
trust that if he's on the question, he could go
ask crystal, Michelle, Katie, etc. That's the
question. Like I don't want to talk to my mom about this, talked about it.
I trust their answer to my child and I. And that matters.
Yeah. And community doesn't just accidentally happen. It has to be could be
(10:33):
so intentional. Especially in today's day when everyone's not sitting in the front lawn before
dinner and everyone's not sharing the cup of sugar anymore. You have to be so
intentional in building it. And so a big part of the nest and then Wild
Child and now the 4H club that I'm also co leading was
a building community. And it's Wayne. And it's
changed and people come and people have left. But we've started to really build up
(10:54):
this core group of people who are like our ride or die group, you know,
who, you know, when my dad was in the hospital, when my grandparents passed
away, they were the ones dropping the dinners on the doorsteps. They were the one
who took the key and took my kids. For me at the nest when I
had a race out to take my dad to the hospital, like they were there
to do that because we've put all this time and attention. So
(11:16):
it's finding a place that you consider safe, knowing what your goals
are in your homeschool journey for your
kids, what exposure you want them to have, what experiences you want them to have,
and finding a place or building a place that will give them those
experiences. But also it's so popular in case. I know you and I have talked
about this a lot, the drop off programs. And I get it as a
(11:38):
working mom who's also running co ops, like alone
time is so little and so.
That'S why we had locks on our bathroom door.
Exactly. You know, the earbuds during the dishes, like
vacation. But I,
for us, I've chosen that that's where I want my community.
(11:59):
Because there are people who understand homeschooling. There are people who understand that in February
you don't buy new curriculum. Everyone wants to throw out curriculum February and buy the
new stuff because we are burnt out, we're done, we're over it, nothing's working. But
we can all be there, be like, ah, we agreed, no curriculum, that we're just
keep going the finish line. Insight. We're almost saying all the things that
I say all the time, Tara, because the first thing I tell new homeschool
(12:21):
families is the. They want to know what curriculum to buy,
what, what program to join. Those are the first questions. But I go, no, no,
no. You have to start with your why. Why are you homeschooling? What is your
vision? Write that out, think about it. And then the second thing is you've got
to find your people because you need people that are going to remind you what
you already know. Right? They're going to be iron sharpening iron. They're going to encourage
(12:43):
you. So when you do want to quit or say, this is not working, let's
scrap it all, they can speak some sanity into your mind.
Right? Uh, so you. But that doesn't. And what did you say? Community
doesn't happen by accident. So, so good. And we need to hear
that. Sometimes a hard thing is worth digging
in, working through. So you mentioned already a couple
(13:05):
of perks of the community that they would come and so can
you. Like I met my very. Not my very best maybe,
but one of my best friends. I met them at the very first co op
I ever did with, you know, preschool students. And it was four or five
families getting to. Five families getting together. And they just came out for
my 50th birthday. So we've been friends for a long time and
(13:26):
it's been so, so enriching. But it didn't happen by
accident. Right? So what are some of the perks that you have seen? I. You
mentioned a pain, but what are some of the blessings beside just the meal
or the. You know, I, I have, I'm just
surrounded by such amazing men and women because we
have, we do allow dads, homeschooling dads to come to our co
(13:48):
op, which is men defined in our area. Most of our co ops don't allow.
Most of the other co ops don't allow the fathers to come. And so we
do. And we just finished up an entire unit on Isaac
Newton. So Our field trip is this coming Monday. We just finished up this past
Monday, and one of our dads took on our STEM
class. And watching. I've got these pictures of just
(14:10):
watching my young ladies, but also my young gentlemen
just watching with rapt attention as this dad took over the gym, like, left the
classroom, took over the gym, had all these versions of paper airplanes that
talk about force and motion and all this thing, and
he's chucking airplanes down the gym. And, like, eyes are sparkling and
stuff, you know? And we've had dads teach our PE Some of the dads have
(14:32):
signed up to teach the P.E. class. And let me tell you, they teach P.E.
a lot different than us. Moms often teach P.E.
They'Re like, dad, you're crying. There's no crying in baseball.
Exactly. Like, are we really whacking each other at bats? All right, cool, cool.
I'm going to just walk out, load my car,
you know, But I've. I've seen just, you know, I've got people who have these
(14:53):
advanced degrees in literature, and I've seen people who
have multiple years of military
experience and multiple degrees and just
these really cool, unique perspectives that I would have never had, that I would have
never gone with with. We have one mom who is an
absolute skilled artist whose degree is in fashion design. And when she
(15:15):
takes over art class, like, the things the kids are
able to, because she knows how to show them and she knows how to teach
it. She knows that have that passion. So it's like, I. God has
given me all of these tools to teach my kids and to love my kids
and love my family. And he's also given me these amazing
people. Right. Take the areas that I'm not
(15:37):
skilled in that were not my gifts, that are not my gifting. And my kids
get to benefit so much from these other gifting with. My
daughter is an American Heritage Girls, and she needed to ask a
dental hygienist a question and a veteran a question for some of her
badges. And she was like, okay, well, I'll just do it at the nest. Because
she knew exactly who. She's got this
(15:57):
really diverse community with. Amazing. I love that.
I love that. It makes me think of. I think it's First
Corinthians, chapter 12, where it talks about the body, the varying body, the toe, the
eye. That this is totally cageous. Paraphrase. But just how unique
and gifted the body all together is. But you can't just have
the eye and do you see that? I feel like this is one
(16:20):
of the things I warn families against is. Don't just look for a group
of eyeballs, just to use that analogy. Right. Like to embrace
a little bit of diversity. So do you have any tips on how you've done
that with your group? You know, for us personally, it was, like I
said, we had pains along the way. It was a lot of growing. It was
a lot of learning what we're looking for. Everyone laughs when they read, like, my
code of conduct, my rules, because they're like, we feel like there's a story behind
(16:43):
everyone. And I'm a very is. But,
you know, it's. It's been finding, like, what balance. And it's also
finding, like, what you can do and
what you can. I don't know if I just. I like the word tolerate. But,
like, I don't need everyone to believe
our faith statement. I need everyone to agree to not teach against
(17:05):
our faith statement. When you're within the nest, I
don't need everyone to
be avid hikers and not afraid of snakes.
Spoiler alert. I'm terrified of snakes. To be a part of Wild
Child. I am still at Wild Child. I'm still touching snakes with the kids. I
am still, you know, you know, we're. I need you to be willing to come
(17:27):
together and be community. I need, you know, the
nest dinners are dropped off on doorsteps. Anytime someone's sick,
everyone is celebrating the new baby that was just born two weeks ago. Within our
community, you know, people have mourned losses
like, it is more than just what our kids get on
Mondays. It is, where can we build that community, you know, and who do we
(17:49):
have outside? You know, I don't need everybody to be my best friend. I don't
need everybody to agree with me politically. I don't need everyone to believe me Biblically,
that's not what I need. But what I need is a safe place for my
kids to learn and a place where we can come together and really establishing that
expectation that we are community. So in addition to
Monday nights, we'll have parent nights out. We will have mom book
(18:10):
clubs. We will have things to make sure that
our community is staying connected. Because guess what? On Monday mornings,
sometimes it's a wide by caffeine in your hand morning as you're
like racing to your class. So do we also, that time really know each
other as human beings and know each other, know each other's spouses who we
don't necessarily all see on a Monday morning and continue to build
(18:33):
that community? Because I can't do it by Myself, Yes. That was going to be.
My next question is what strategies do you have to really strengthen a
community? I have like you, I feel like there are those people who are just,
I don't know, I. I'm a cheerleader and I'm like, do this with me. Come
on, It'll be great. Come on. And not everybody resonates with that.
Right. Sometimes they go, whoa, you are way too much.
(18:54):
And they have to find their own tribe, their own community. That's okay. But
how do you. What are some strategies for how you do
create that where there is knowing each other's families and there is
a willingness to drop a meal and celebrate a baby. And is it just
time or do you have some more specific tactics that you're doing?
I am really upfront and honest when a family voice interests in
(19:16):
either of the communities as to how the community runs, what the community looks like.
Before anybody can join either community, they have to come to a regular day
of our community to actually see and experience
what that looks like. Kind of experience the magic, as I like to put it.
But I also give everyone who shows any interest a list of all the co
ops in our area. Because the biggest thing I found is that
(19:39):
if I have a scarcity mindset of that, I'm not gonna have enough families to
run here or whatever. And I'm just trying to grab everybody into my co op.
We're all not going to be happy because we might not be the right fit
for you. You know, that's kind of profound for everybody,
that is. And getting them to go visit all the co ops in the
area and very much encouraging them to please, like,
(19:59):
find the one that works for what your homeschooling journey
is. I wish you the absolute best.
Yeah, no, but really encouraging that of looking all
over, finding what's going to work for your family. Because guess what? If we're going
to work for your family and if we're what you really
truly want, then you're going to want to be a part of the
(20:20):
community. You're going to want to roll up the sleeves. You're going to want a
hand in the magic and finding those people who are really
ready to stand by me when the entire field trip gets
canceled like it did two months ago on us and are going. You need me
to dress up as a janitor? Okay, how's this? Do I look like a janitor?
All right, let's. Let's play this mystery game. All right, let's do it. Like, are
(20:41):
willing who have the same goals who have the same motivation. We are not going
to disappoint the kids. We will put the pencils in our hair and carry a
mop around, and we're going to Goodwill shooting pictures back and forth of like,
would this hat work for my character or this hat? We're willing to dive in,
jump in, do whatever it takes to make sure that the
magic's happening for the kids. And filling our own cups in the
(21:04):
process by sitting in the corner while they're doing stem tables going, how's your Monday?
It's Monday. Oh, mine too. Need more coffee. You know,
and keep going forward and. And keeping the communication lines open,
really establishing an expectation that we communicate. We have a
band. We use band because of. Many families give up Facebook for
lint. So we switched to a different app that people
(21:26):
don't give up for Lent. But so we should post that because that is a
common app that I've heard about. So maybe I'll put that in the show
notes. So it's. It's basically for those of you who have no idea what she's
talking about. You're like, oh, do you guys have, like, drums and flutes and what
do you mean by band? No, this is an app like Facebook. Right. It's kind
of a group chat. It's got a. It's got a page for posting. It's got
(21:46):
a place to post albums. It's got place to post things on the calendar that'll
send everybody reminders that people can rsvp. People can sign
up. So for each cycle for us, families sign up to teach different things. That
goes up. And everyone can just click the button and they've signed up for whatever
they need to sign up for. And so it's. But then it's got private chatting
in there. But the expectation very much is share whatever. So people share a cool
field trip. They kept coming up. You know, we've shared about the day at the
(22:09):
Capitol coming up. You know, we share, hey, you know,
we heard from so and so at the Capitol, and these representatives could really
use some encouragement. Who wants to write some letters? And families will sit down and
write some letters or, hey, this mom, the baby's here.
Everyone's safe. You know, here's the meal train. And everybody jump up on the
meal train like it's a closed space that we can all just communicate on.
(22:31):
Everything nest related or everything wild childhood related or everything 4H
related. Yeah, it's so funny because, you know, say
it's totally the tool of Satan to take something God intends to Be
great and twist it and perverse it. So politically, you know,
you've heard I've seen the village, and I don't want them raising my children. Like,
I don't want the village raising my children either. I want to be involved. We.
(22:52):
We're advocating parents, involved parents directly running
their discipleship. But community, which has been perverted
and twisted by Satan. Satan is so vital for
healthy Christian fellowship. Right. For. For you to
be able to stir one another on towards good works and for you to be
able to bear one another's burdens. The only way that happens is
(23:15):
by having time together. So you
mentioned. And I thought you were going to go there when I said what other
strategies I. You live way up in Boulder, in
Longmont. Well, actually. Do you live in Longmont? That's just where your group is. My
group's in Longmont because the town I live in is too small to
host us anywhere in
(23:35):
Firestone. But I'm really close. Yes. Yeah. Still north. Very, very
north. And you have an annual trip down to the Great Wolf
Lodge. That's a great example of some fun. It's not related to the
homeschooling. It's just a community event. And I'm sure that's when
there's lots of real conversations. Right. Y'all are watching the kids
sitting beside each other or standing in the Wade pool still.
(23:58):
Oh, it really is like we. We try to do a lot of that. We
have an end of year big camping trip that we take every year.
All go camping for two nights together. And you know, there's
sightseeing and there's museums and there's forts and stuff that we're taking the kids to.
We try to relate the camping trip to what we studied over the year.
But it's a time for put the kids, you know, the kids are running
(24:19):
around like chaos and we're all sitting at the fire
sipping tea and just getting to know each other more. Yeah. We start every
year with a Great Wolf Lodge trip. We get a discount because we go once
all the school, public schoolers are back in school and we all go again. It
was really fun. Is that my mom comes and so she is the co op
nanner and so she comes and half of us are ding dong ditched because everyone
(24:41):
wants to ride the water slides with Nana and everyone wants to wait and everyone
wants to run around and play the magic quest with Nana and stuff like that.
And so, you know, the pictures we have is like all of us moms, we've
got all our chairs Just turned in a circle. So we've all got to line
of sight in a different direction and they're like it. Yep. I
just saw him go back to the water slides kind of thing. But therefore we're
(25:01):
chatting and we're decompressing and it's the beginning of the school year. What's your plans?
What curriculum have you switched to? Did you find a good writing program? You liked
having all those real world examples to the point where it's
like families don't finish planning their summer vacations till we know when. Great
lodgings. Because it's now annual traditions for so many families that of course
we're gonna go there's. We're all gonna order pizzas one night and sit together at
(25:23):
the picnic tables in pajamas and just enjoy.
Son just turned 12. Does that mean the Nest has been running for
11 years? This is year 10. Okay. The first
year I joined a group that I thought was a co op, but it was
actually all the kids just missed the cutoff for the preschool for the public school.
I thought I joined a co op, but then I found out I didn't join
a co op, but I took it over from that point and then ran the
(25:46):
nest. So yeah, this is year 10. This is the 10th birthday
for the nest and the 7th birthday for wild child.
And how do you go about sharing the burden of the
work. That has
taken time? Because you know, there
is sharing the burden and there's building trust that people
(26:09):
actually pick up the burden when you share it or want to bear
that burden. So you know, it's.
It's building trust is building. It's. It's seeing gifts inside of the
people in my community. Like where their giftings are and where their
maybe energy levels are. Like, who can. Who's running at
my pace and who needs a bit of a slower pace just for their lifestyle,
(26:32):
just for who they are and who God's made them to be. Find those people
and then appropriately kind of divvying it up. You know, I have one friend
who I could literally hand over the yearbook two. And every year she goes, do
you want involved? Do you want me to tell you what I'm doing? I'm like,
nope, nope, it's yours. We have a beautiful
yearbook at the. End of every year. She waits till summer, she gets them all
ordered. We have a mid summer get together, the splash pad where all the kids
(26:55):
get to sign each other's yearbooks. So you know, oh my gosh, that's adorable. You
know, I have other people I have another mom who's done a fantastic job taking
over the Christmas play where I don't have to think, I don't have
to worry about it. It is off my shoulders.
Here you go. It's your. Run with it. It's like
you have to become a student, too, right? Like, you are stopping and paying
(27:17):
attention to who's in your group and looking at their strengths and their abilities. And
then you have to evaluate, well, could they, like you mentioned a
few people just teaching the artist who is a fashion designer and the.
The STEM teacher noticing those giftings
that oftentimes I feel like we don't do, maybe because we're not
organized enough or we're threatened, I don't know. But there's so
(27:38):
much beauty in embracing other people's strength, strengths when it's your weakness, right?
And realizing that they're not going to do it the way you want
it, and they're not exactly right. And
so much beauty and growth
happen because your way isn't necessarily the only
way. And I did it and look at. And somebody sent me their plan, and
(28:00):
I could be like, okay, all right. And
then come out the next week. My kids come out and they're like, that was
my favorite. Guess what we did. And I'm like, wow, I didn't see that
coming. And that's a learning curve for me, you know, and the parents
going, I just don't know where I'm going to teach this year. And being able
to sit there and be like, you know what? I think you would be
fantastic this year is. I know we've got this book
(28:23):
coming up in January, and I have seen you
teach this class in the past and this class in the past, and I
can only imagine what you would do with that class there. Okay, let
me start thinking on that one. Like, let me, you know, get the rights around.
Because it's also speaking life and hope and
encouragement into other people, too. Of like, I see this in you because I know
(28:45):
I don't always see things in me. I can be my world's worst critic most
days, you know, and for people to be like, hey, I see this in you.
You handed me that paper when you handed me that award with all the things
that people said about me was like this.
I see a hot mess express who really had clean things, got
there on time, and, you know, this is what they're seeing, you know,
(29:08):
and seeing that in other people because, yes, running finesse
Mondays are exhausting. Wednesdays are exhausting, and
they're so fulfilling. At the same is that good Tired because I've talked
to people and I've hugged people and kids have run up and give me
hugs or drop little presents into my hand if I mean this teacher Tara,
you know, and to see an empty youth room
(29:30):
become full of life and then they be swept and torn back down again and
be empty again. Ready for the next group. Using that space like there's so
much beauty. I love it, Tara. But I want to pivot a little bit
because I imagine there's some listeners going, I am never going to be
Tara Rail. Let me say it right. I'm not going
to run a couple of co ops. I just want to find a co op
(29:51):
like what Tara has. So how do you just put yourself in the
I not really. Really ready to pick it up maybe. How
can you get involved in the co op you're already in to start to utilize
some of your gifts with some suggestions. Do you have any
advice on that or have you seen that work? Well, I think
especially as homeschool parents, we serve our families a ton
(30:15):
and so I think it is easy if we're not careful and myself
included, I've been guilty of this. To step into things and quickly become a
just a consumer and instead stepping in,
oh, that's actually where all the jobs are taken. I promise every
role that is absolutely needed and the co op isn't taken. And I'm not saying
you take over the accounting or you have to join the board or you
(30:37):
know, you have to take over scheduling or like even just being the person who
makes sure that every single person walks through that door gets a hello and that
somebody knows their name. Right. It's so vital for a kid to know
their name is known by an adult. That's really, really
important. And just their gifts and to notice, you
know, we've got a little boy who recently switched to fancy clothes, you know, and
(30:58):
if you know this is bow tie on a Monday morning, like it makes his
day that you noticed his bow tie, you know, or the time
I posted on the band that, hey, my daughter worked really hard to collect this
certain set of stuffed animals, but nobody knows what they are. It was really obscure,
you know. And to watch her walk in club and everyone go, you got the
honey girls. You got all of them. And just to see her face light up
(31:19):
of like this is important to me and other adults. Yeah.
See this ordance. Like to. To be the one who
notices the moms who are coming in and this Monday
is Monday or this Friday is Friday at full strength right
now, and being the one to be like, oh, let me take the toddler out
of your arms, or, you know, let me carry that box in for you. Even
(31:40):
just being the one who is in the background, but being the
one serving in that way, like, it's really taking a
hard look at what are my gifts. And you're gonna have to be accounting. They
don't have to be teaching. They don't have to be planning and scheduling or running
or, you know, CEOing this whole circus with
all of your lovely, lovely monkeys. You know, it can be
(32:01):
like, you know what my gifting is? You know what? I. Is it
okay if I bring a couple thermoses of tea? I noticed a couple of moms
are running in and they're tired. Like, can I just put some thermos in tea
so moms can pour some tea? It's seeing a need where you're like, hey,
I can do. I can meet that need. I can meet these
needs. And that puts you. That connects you then to the community, connects you to
(32:22):
the body. Yeah. And rather than sitting outside and consuming everything from the co op,
where is my skill set? That could truly be a
lifeline. Yeah. I love it. So we're. We're
running up on our time, but you're. You're saying
all the things I feel like I say all the time. We're here for such
a time as this. Engage in where God has placed you. It's not an accident.
(32:43):
These are not your children by mistake. This is who he's
placed you with in this culture, in this geographic
region, whatever. Right. And there is beauty
in that when you just go, okay, Lord, how can I be active in what
you're asking me to do? And also, there's peace in that because we're talking about
doing a lot of stuff, but we should never do any of it. And if
(33:04):
the Lord's not saying, step right, go and.
And do and just walk in obedience, and there's absolute liberation in that. So,
Tara, you're making me wish I had little kids and I could
come up and join the nest, because it's. I was that kind of
a homeschool group run just like that. We had all these random
activities and games and try to pull in all these fun
(33:27):
resources, so. Oh, I love homeschooling. It was so much fun.
Thank you. But as we close, we're asking all of our homeschool families to
share one of their best homeschool tips. It could be related to
community or whatever. It doesn't have to be what we're talking about. Do you have
like one nugget that somebody shared with you? Maybe it was your mom as she
was a home school mom. It was from your mom. I always share my favorite
(33:48):
nugget from my mom, which was, I think, nice. I'd hear. I heard her encourage
so many people with that and I watch her still encourage so many people at
my co op with it as well, which is I taught
my kids the most important things. I didn't teach them everything. I
taught them the most important things. And that was to love learning
and how to read. Right. And do math. She goes beyond that.
(34:10):
We may have missed things in history, we may have missed things in science. We
may have not read every single classic.
My kids got to launch into life knowing how they learn,
loving learning, knowing how to find the information if they wanted it,
and being having the skills they need just to choose which
path they're on and own their own learning journey. She love it. She felt it
(34:32):
was so much on her at the beginning and she goes, nope, I just need
to give you the tools and what you learn, you what you
choose. Oh, amen. So speaking, I mean, kind of ties into
what you said, right? Don't be a consumer, be a doer. Just do
it. So well. Thank you, Tara. I'm going to
link your business. We'll link the. What else did
(34:54):
I say? We're going to link whatever. I'll make sure all the links are in
the podcast below in the show notes. So thank you so much for joining
us. Thanks to the audience for being here with us and we'll see
you next time. Thank you so much for joining us today. The
Colorado Homeschool podcast is Ministry of Christian Home Educators of
Colorado. We have been motivating parents to disciple the next
(35:15):
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 CHEC.org donate in the meantime, share this
with your friends and make sure you subscribe. That really helps us. Thank
you. Foreign.
Biggest thing for me was a place that was safe for my kids and other
kids to come learn and wasn't based
on telling us how to live our Christian walk. Instead
was a place where we could come together, learn together, have community,
have a class that you could go to and be with other people and learn
from somebody other than me and my husband. Like, have that experience of having
(00:21):
other parents be your teacher, other people be your teacher, but that it
was safe in a place that they could also
see Christ, where they saw other Christians walking
their faith.
Welcome. It's the Colorado Homeschool Podcast.
(00:42):
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 CHEC.org you'll find what you need. In the
meantime, subscribe, follow along. Well, hello and
welcome. Thank you for joining us. I'm your host, Kasia Davis, and today
(01:04):
we have Tara Rael. I just found out I was saying her
name wrong, even though I have known her for some time now. Thank you,
Tara, for being here. Tara is an award winner. We're going to talk about that
in a second. She also is a certified speech and
language language pathologist. He has a business that she does
telepathically or telepathically on the telephone
(01:26):
with her clients, focusing on executive function, which I
love. She does some of the testing for that at the
conference, too. So if you haven't met Tara or you feel like you
maybe need to meet her, the conference, Rocky Mountain Homeschool conference is coming up.
Is your opportunity. Tara is amazing. Not only does she
do that, she's a homeschool graduate. She homeschools two of her
(01:48):
children, and I guess she likes the word the two twos. It's always
in pairs because this is actually even our second time recording this podcast because we
had technical difficulties. Tara runs not
one, but two co ops in the Longmont area. So she runs the
Wild Child. Is that what it's called? The Wild Child, yep. And the Nest Co
op. So I am thrilled to have Tara. She has
(02:10):
become a quick friend. I mean, the first day that I met her, I knew
we're going to be friends and it's totally playing out. So I
love it and I think you guys are going to love her. Tara, welcome. Thank
you so much. Well, why don't you start off by
just telling us a little bit about your homeschool journey,
Maybe just summarize your life as a homeschool student and then how it looks for
(02:32):
you as a mom. Now. Yeah. My parents started homeschooling us. I'm the
oldest of three. Homeschooling was never the plan.
I love to tell the funny quip that my mother actually got in a
disagreement with the public school district that we were living
in. And I believe the final closing statement
was, well, I taught her how to read. I guess I'll teach her everything else,
(02:53):
too. And then me and my siblings were homeschooled all the way until
college started. College at 16.
Went on to become a speech language pathologist. Met my husband while I
was in grad school. Before we were even dating. The weekend
we met, he was just like, so tell me about you. And I was like,
well, I'm a homeschool graduate. I'm going to become a speech language pathologist, and I'm
(03:14):
going to homeschool my own kids one day. I love that you knew that. That
was amazing. Like, into it,
obviously, he's like, fair warning. Okay, great. Got it.
That's awesome. I love that there's not a lot
of middle ground. I find people who've already
been homeschooled are a lot like you, very, very passionate. And like me too.
(03:36):
We're gonna do this. Make sure my spouse is in agreement. This is so awesome.
So I love that. And one of these days, I hope that I get to
interview your parents because they're kind of pioneers in the homeschool journey just to
talk about their fight for their freedom. And that's one of the ways that I
get to see Tara. She's going to be at our day at the Capitol. She's
helping put that on, and she and her family have been involved
(03:57):
in all of the things from the Freedom Front, so thank you for
that, too. And not that you don't have anything to do with your time.
You're so busy. Good night.
Well, we're talking today about community. So I mentioned
you're an award winner. Tara last year won one of our awards that we
give out every year. In fact, the nominations are going on right now. We
(04:19):
asked the community to nominate a homeschool group leader that
has impacted their life. So it's a leadership award that we present
totally from the people, by the people, for the people.
And when I was reading the comments about you, I should have actually printed those
out to read here, but it was just, like, resonated to be true.
Tara is not just about serving her community, her
(04:41):
two co ops that she does, but really about serving the homeschool community by and
large. So she's a great person to Talk to us as we dive into
the importance of community. Why don't we start there and
tell me what started you in the leadership
of homeschooling groups and yeah, we'll,
we'll go from there. How did that all begin for you? I went through
(05:04):
a lot of different homeschool communities growing up. We moved a lot
from my dad's work and so I've been in a lot of different homeschool
communities. Lots of different experiences between the different
communities. So I had a general idea of what I was
looking for. But also having moved a lot in my life, I know it can
take a while to start community. So as soon as my son
(05:25):
was one, I started looking for community because I was like, the sooner I
can get plugged in, the sooner I can find my people, I can find my
tribe. Let's do this. And I looked everywhere in my area.
1 years old. That's amazing. I love that. Yes. And that little
man just turned 12 on me a few months ago.
So it's been a journey in here and I
(05:46):
couldn't find what I was looking for. I kept promising my husband
because my husband's an entrepreneur, my father's an entrepreneur, we're an entrepreneur at
heart, people. But I was like, don't worry, I'm not going to start my own
co op. I will find what I need.
And everywhere wanted me to drop my little guy off. And every part
of my journey I knew very clearly I wanted to be there. I wanted
(06:09):
to get to know the other parents. I wanted to find
friends who had become what we call framily, you know, and I needed
to find that and I couldn't find
it. So the nest started in my living room.
It started with just inviting other moms over with other 18 month to 2 year
olds and mail ordered a little cute, you know,
(06:31):
unit study themed curriculum. And we did that and we expanded off
my main floor. We ended up taking over my entire basement, breaking my
basement into multiple classrooms. And then my husband and I had to have a sit
down of like, we've grown out of the house and we are like wearing out
the house at this point in time with this many people coming in each week
and the church we were attending at that time, some of the pastors
(06:53):
had grown up being homeschooled themselves too. And so they offered up
that church building for us and we've been there ever since. And
then I wanted my kids to experience. I'd heard all the benefits and read all
the research of time in nature and how the average
American child spends less than 10 minutes in nature a day.
And that hurt my heart as a hiking family. And so I was like, okay,
(07:15):
well, let's go join a forest school. That was expensive for one
year. And my mom had come and visited and you know, come with.
And towards the end of it, she leaned in and was like,
you could do this. I knew that was coming. Yes.
So the nest was born out of my living room and wild
child was born out of one year of experience in forest
(07:37):
school. And then just deep diving into every curriculum,
every online course, every YouTube video I could find to really try
to understand the methodology and the purposes and create
something that be great for my kids, but also help find them, find other families
who share the same values and
desires. I'm not hoping that every person who listens to
(08:00):
this says, well, I can't find a group, so I'm going to start a group.
Of course we need that. We need people who are willing to start groups. I
think the network of homeschool groups is growing, so
there's a lot. So first, before we start into, like, what would
you, what, what do you suggest for starting? How about, what do
you suggest for looking for a community? What are some of your tips as you
(08:22):
were looking? I mean, you already mentioned a couple things. Like you knew, I don't
want to drop off my children. I want to be involved. I want to have
that time because I'm selfish. Me too. I wanted that time with my kids
because it's fleeting, I can tell you. It goes quick. But what other things did
you consider and, and did you have a process? Yeah, tell us
about that. I know that was a while ago because you've started pretty
(08:43):
soon. I've, I've, I've been involved in a lot of co ops
myself that broke up, that had
problems and had splits and had divides. And I've seen how painful that is and
we haven't been saved that we had a very ugly divide in
2019 that happened. But it happened over the very one thing I was trying to
protect us against, which is
(09:04):
I. For me, I needed my children to go to a place where I felt
they were safe to learn, safe in that they were
safe from being exposed to things too early.
They were. It aligned with our faith. And I don't expect
every person I co op to share every single thing I believe
to the t. We don't. We have some families who celebrate
(09:27):
no holidays at all. We have some families who trick or treat
and others who don't trick or treat on Halloween. You know, and so the biggest
thing for me was a place that was safe for my kids and other kids
to come learn and wasn't based
on telling us how to live our Christian walk. Instead
place where we could come together, learn together, have community, have a
(09:49):
class that you could go to and be with other people and learn from somebody
other than me and my husband. Like have that experience of having other parents be
your teacher, other people be your teacher, but that it was safe in a place
that they could also see
Christ, where they saw other Christians walking their faith. That
I know that my son's 12, we're heading into the teenage years. I know that
(10:11):
right now he is surrounded by adults that I would 100%
trust that if he's on the question, he could go
ask crystal, Michelle, Katie, etc. That's the
question. Like I don't want to talk to my mom about this, talked about it.
I trust their answer to my child and I. And that matters.
Yeah. And community doesn't just accidentally happen. It has to be could be
(10:33):
so intentional. Especially in today's day when everyone's not sitting in the front lawn before
dinner and everyone's not sharing the cup of sugar anymore. You have to be so
intentional in building it. And so a big part of the nest and then Wild
Child and now the 4H club that I'm also co leading was
a building community. And it's Wayne. And it's
changed and people come and people have left. But we've started to really build up
(10:54):
this core group of people who are like our ride or die group, you know,
who, you know, when my dad was in the hospital, when my grandparents passed
away, they were the ones dropping the dinners on the doorsteps. They were the one
who took the key and took my kids. For me at the nest when I
had a race out to take my dad to the hospital, like they were there
to do that because we've put all this time and attention. So
(11:16):
it's finding a place that you consider safe, knowing what your goals
are in your homeschool journey for your
kids, what exposure you want them to have, what experiences you want them to have,
and finding a place or building a place that will give them those
experiences. But also it's so popular in case. I know you and I have talked
about this a lot, the drop off programs. And I get it as a
(11:38):
working mom who's also running co ops, like alone
time is so little and so.
That'S why we had locks on our bathroom door.
Exactly. You know, the earbuds during the dishes, like
vacation. But I,
for us, I've chosen that that's where I want my community.
(11:59):
Because there are people who understand homeschooling. There are people who understand that in February
you don't buy new curriculum. Everyone wants to throw out curriculum February and buy the
new stuff because we are burnt out, we're done, we're over it, nothing's working. But
we can all be there, be like, ah, we agreed, no curriculum, that we're just
keep going the finish line. Insight. We're almost saying all the things that
I say all the time, Tara, because the first thing I tell new homeschool
(12:21):
families is the. They want to know what curriculum to buy,
what, what program to join. Those are the first questions. But I go, no, no,
no. You have to start with your why. Why are you homeschooling? What is your
vision? Write that out, think about it. And then the second thing is you've got
to find your people because you need people that are going to remind you what
you already know. Right? They're going to be iron sharpening iron. They're going to encourage
(12:43):
you. So when you do want to quit or say, this is not working, let's
scrap it all, they can speak some sanity into your mind.
Right? Uh, so you. But that doesn't. And what did you say? Community
doesn't happen by accident. So, so good. And we need to hear
that. Sometimes a hard thing is worth digging
in, working through. So you mentioned already a couple
(13:05):
of perks of the community that they would come and so can
you. Like I met my very. Not my very best maybe,
but one of my best friends. I met them at the very first co op
I ever did with, you know, preschool students. And it was four or five
families getting to. Five families getting together. And they just came out for
my 50th birthday. So we've been friends for a long time and
(13:26):
it's been so, so enriching. But it didn't happen by
accident. Right? So what are some of the perks that you have seen? I. You
mentioned a pain, but what are some of the blessings beside just the meal
or the. You know, I, I have, I'm just
surrounded by such amazing men and women because we
have, we do allow dads, homeschooling dads to come to our co
(13:48):
op, which is men defined in our area. Most of our co ops don't allow.
Most of the other co ops don't allow the fathers to come. And so we
do. And we just finished up an entire unit on Isaac
Newton. So Our field trip is this coming Monday. We just finished up this past
Monday, and one of our dads took on our STEM
class. And watching. I've got these pictures of just
(14:10):
watching my young ladies, but also my young gentlemen
just watching with rapt attention as this dad took over the gym, like, left the
classroom, took over the gym, had all these versions of paper airplanes that
talk about force and motion and all this thing, and
he's chucking airplanes down the gym. And, like, eyes are sparkling and
stuff, you know? And we've had dads teach our PE Some of the dads have
(14:32):
signed up to teach the P.E. class. And let me tell you, they teach P.E.
a lot different than us. Moms often teach P.E.
They'Re like, dad, you're crying. There's no crying in baseball.
Exactly. Like, are we really whacking each other at bats? All right, cool, cool.
I'm going to just walk out, load my car,
you know, But I've. I've seen just, you know, I've got people who have these
(14:53):
advanced degrees in literature, and I've seen people who
have multiple years of military
experience and multiple degrees and just
these really cool, unique perspectives that I would have never had, that I would have
never gone with with. We have one mom who is an
absolute skilled artist whose degree is in fashion design. And when she
(15:15):
takes over art class, like, the things the kids are
able to, because she knows how to show them and she knows how to teach
it. She knows that have that passion. So it's like, I. God has
given me all of these tools to teach my kids and to love my kids
and love my family. And he's also given me these amazing
people. Right. Take the areas that I'm not
(15:37):
skilled in that were not my gifts, that are not my gifting. And my kids
get to benefit so much from these other gifting with. My
daughter is an American Heritage Girls, and she needed to ask a
dental hygienist a question and a veteran a question for some of her
badges. And she was like, okay, well, I'll just do it at the nest. Because
she knew exactly who. She's got this
(15:57):
really diverse community with. Amazing. I love that.
I love that. It makes me think of. I think it's First
Corinthians, chapter 12, where it talks about the body, the varying body, the toe, the
eye. That this is totally cageous. Paraphrase. But just how unique
and gifted the body all together is. But you can't just have
the eye and do you see that? I feel like this is one
(16:20):
of the things I warn families against is. Don't just look for a group
of eyeballs, just to use that analogy. Right. Like to embrace
a little bit of diversity. So do you have any tips on how you've done
that with your group? You know, for us personally, it was, like I
said, we had pains along the way. It was a lot of growing. It was
a lot of learning what we're looking for. Everyone laughs when they read, like, my
code of conduct, my rules, because they're like, we feel like there's a story behind
(16:43):
everyone. And I'm a very is. But,
you know, it's. It's been finding, like, what balance. And it's also
finding, like, what you can do and
what you can. I don't know if I just. I like the word tolerate. But,
like, I don't need everyone to believe
our faith statement. I need everyone to agree to not teach against
(17:05):
our faith statement. When you're within the nest, I
don't need everyone to
be avid hikers and not afraid of snakes.
Spoiler alert. I'm terrified of snakes. To be a part of Wild
Child. I am still at Wild Child. I'm still touching snakes with the kids. I
am still, you know, you know, we're. I need you to be willing to come
(17:27):
together and be community. I need, you know, the
nest dinners are dropped off on doorsteps. Anytime someone's sick,
everyone is celebrating the new baby that was just born two weeks ago. Within our
community, you know, people have mourned losses
like, it is more than just what our kids get on
Mondays. It is, where can we build that community, you know, and who do we
(17:49):
have outside? You know, I don't need everybody to be my best friend. I don't
need everybody to agree with me politically. I don't need everyone to believe me Biblically,
that's not what I need. But what I need is a safe place for my
kids to learn and a place where we can come together and really establishing that
expectation that we are community. So in addition to
Monday nights, we'll have parent nights out. We will have mom book
(18:10):
clubs. We will have things to make sure that
our community is staying connected. Because guess what? On Monday mornings,
sometimes it's a wide by caffeine in your hand morning as you're
like racing to your class. So do we also, that time really know each
other as human beings and know each other, know each other's spouses who we
don't necessarily all see on a Monday morning and continue to build
(18:33):
that community? Because I can't do it by Myself, Yes. That was going to be.
My next question is what strategies do you have to really strengthen a
community? I have like you, I feel like there are those people who are just,
I don't know, I. I'm a cheerleader and I'm like, do this with me. Come
on, It'll be great. Come on. And not everybody resonates with that.
Right. Sometimes they go, whoa, you are way too much.
(18:54):
And they have to find their own tribe, their own community. That's okay. But
how do you. What are some strategies for how you do
create that where there is knowing each other's families and there is
a willingness to drop a meal and celebrate a baby. And is it just
time or do you have some more specific tactics that you're doing?
I am really upfront and honest when a family voice interests in
(19:16):
either of the communities as to how the community runs, what the community looks like.
Before anybody can join either community, they have to come to a regular day
of our community to actually see and experience
what that looks like. Kind of experience the magic, as I like to put it.
But I also give everyone who shows any interest a list of all the co
ops in our area. Because the biggest thing I found is that
(19:39):
if I have a scarcity mindset of that, I'm not gonna have enough families to
run here or whatever. And I'm just trying to grab everybody into my co op.
We're all not going to be happy because we might not be the right fit
for you. You know, that's kind of profound for everybody,
that is. And getting them to go visit all the co ops in the
area and very much encouraging them to please, like,
(19:59):
find the one that works for what your homeschooling journey
is. I wish you the absolute best.
Yeah, no, but really encouraging that of looking all
over, finding what's going to work for your family. Because guess what? If we're going
to work for your family and if we're what you really
truly want, then you're going to want to be a part of the
(20:20):
community. You're going to want to roll up the sleeves. You're going to want a
hand in the magic and finding those people who are really
ready to stand by me when the entire field trip gets
canceled like it did two months ago on us and are going. You need me
to dress up as a janitor? Okay, how's this? Do I look like a janitor?
All right, let's. Let's play this mystery game. All right, let's do it. Like, are
(20:41):
willing who have the same goals who have the same motivation. We are not going
to disappoint the kids. We will put the pencils in our hair and carry a
mop around, and we're going to Goodwill shooting pictures back and forth of like,
would this hat work for my character or this hat? We're willing to dive in,
jump in, do whatever it takes to make sure that the
magic's happening for the kids. And filling our own cups in the
(21:04):
process by sitting in the corner while they're doing stem tables going, how's your Monday?
It's Monday. Oh, mine too. Need more coffee. You know,
and keep going forward and. And keeping the communication lines open,
really establishing an expectation that we communicate. We have a
band. We use band because of. Many families give up Facebook for
lint. So we switched to a different app that people
(21:26):
don't give up for Lent. But so we should post that because that is a
common app that I've heard about. So maybe I'll put that in the show
notes. So it's. It's basically for those of you who have no idea what she's
talking about. You're like, oh, do you guys have, like, drums and flutes and what
do you mean by band? No, this is an app like Facebook. Right. It's kind
of a group chat. It's got a. It's got a page for posting. It's got
(21:46):
a place to post albums. It's got place to post things on the calendar that'll
send everybody reminders that people can rsvp. People can sign
up. So for each cycle for us, families sign up to teach different things. That
goes up. And everyone can just click the button and they've signed up for whatever
they need to sign up for. And so it's. But then it's got private chatting
in there. But the expectation very much is share whatever. So people share a cool
field trip. They kept coming up. You know, we've shared about the day at the
(22:09):
Capitol coming up. You know, we share, hey, you know,
we heard from so and so at the Capitol, and these representatives could really
use some encouragement. Who wants to write some letters? And families will sit down and
write some letters or, hey, this mom, the baby's here.
Everyone's safe. You know, here's the meal train. And everybody jump up on the
meal train like it's a closed space that we can all just communicate on.
(22:31):
Everything nest related or everything wild childhood related or everything 4H
related. Yeah, it's so funny because, you know, say
it's totally the tool of Satan to take something God intends to Be
great and twist it and perverse it. So politically, you know,
you've heard I've seen the village, and I don't want them raising my children. Like,
I don't want the village raising my children either. I want to be involved. We.
(22:52):
We're advocating parents, involved parents directly running
their discipleship. But community, which has been perverted
and twisted by Satan. Satan is so vital for
healthy Christian fellowship. Right. For. For you to
be able to stir one another on towards good works and for you to be
able to bear one another's burdens. The only way that happens is
(23:15):
by having time together. So you
mentioned. And I thought you were going to go there when I said what other
strategies I. You live way up in Boulder, in
Longmont. Well, actually. Do you live in Longmont? That's just where your group is. My
group's in Longmont because the town I live in is too small to
host us anywhere in
(23:35):
Firestone. But I'm really close. Yes. Yeah. Still north. Very, very
north. And you have an annual trip down to the Great Wolf
Lodge. That's a great example of some fun. It's not related to the
homeschooling. It's just a community event. And I'm sure that's when
there's lots of real conversations. Right. Y'all are watching the kids
sitting beside each other or standing in the Wade pool still.
(23:58):
Oh, it really is like we. We try to do a lot of that. We
have an end of year big camping trip that we take every year.
All go camping for two nights together. And you know, there's
sightseeing and there's museums and there's forts and stuff that we're taking the kids to.
We try to relate the camping trip to what we studied over the year.
But it's a time for put the kids, you know, the kids are running
(24:19):
around like chaos and we're all sitting at the fire
sipping tea and just getting to know each other more. Yeah. We start every
year with a Great Wolf Lodge trip. We get a discount because we go once
all the school, public schoolers are back in school and we all go again. It
was really fun. Is that my mom comes and so she is the co op
nanner and so she comes and half of us are ding dong ditched because everyone
(24:41):
wants to ride the water slides with Nana and everyone wants to wait and everyone
wants to run around and play the magic quest with Nana and stuff like that.
And so, you know, the pictures we have is like all of us moms, we've
got all our chairs Just turned in a circle. So we've all got to line
of sight in a different direction and they're like it. Yep. I
just saw him go back to the water slides kind of thing. But therefore we're
(25:01):
chatting and we're decompressing and it's the beginning of the school year. What's your plans?
What curriculum have you switched to? Did you find a good writing program? You liked
having all those real world examples to the point where it's
like families don't finish planning their summer vacations till we know when. Great
lodgings. Because it's now annual traditions for so many families that of course
we're gonna go there's. We're all gonna order pizzas one night and sit together at
(25:23):
the picnic tables in pajamas and just enjoy.
Son just turned 12. Does that mean the Nest has been running for
11 years? This is year 10. Okay. The first
year I joined a group that I thought was a co op, but it was
actually all the kids just missed the cutoff for the preschool for the public school.
I thought I joined a co op, but then I found out I didn't join
a co op, but I took it over from that point and then ran the
(25:46):
nest. So yeah, this is year 10. This is the 10th birthday
for the nest and the 7th birthday for wild child.
And how do you go about sharing the burden of the
work. That has
taken time? Because you know, there
is sharing the burden and there's building trust that people
(26:09):
actually pick up the burden when you share it or want to bear
that burden. So you know, it's.
It's building trust is building. It's. It's seeing gifts inside of the
people in my community. Like where their giftings are and where their
maybe energy levels are. Like, who can. Who's running at
my pace and who needs a bit of a slower pace just for their lifestyle,
(26:32):
just for who they are and who God's made them to be. Find those people
and then appropriately kind of divvying it up. You know, I have one friend
who I could literally hand over the yearbook two. And every year she goes, do
you want involved? Do you want me to tell you what I'm doing? I'm like,
nope, nope, it's yours. We have a beautiful
yearbook at the. End of every year. She waits till summer, she gets them all
ordered. We have a mid summer get together, the splash pad where all the kids
(26:55):
get to sign each other's yearbooks. So you know, oh my gosh, that's adorable. You
know, I have other people I have another mom who's done a fantastic job taking
over the Christmas play where I don't have to think, I don't have
to worry about it. It is off my shoulders.
Here you go. It's your. Run with it. It's like
you have to become a student, too, right? Like, you are stopping and paying
(27:17):
attention to who's in your group and looking at their strengths and their abilities. And
then you have to evaluate, well, could they, like you mentioned a
few people just teaching the artist who is a fashion designer and the.
The STEM teacher noticing those giftings
that oftentimes I feel like we don't do, maybe because we're not
organized enough or we're threatened, I don't know. But there's so
(27:38):
much beauty in embracing other people's strength, strengths when it's your weakness, right?
And realizing that they're not going to do it the way you want
it, and they're not exactly right. And
so much beauty and growth
happen because your way isn't necessarily the only
way. And I did it and look at. And somebody sent me their plan, and
(28:00):
I could be like, okay, all right. And
then come out the next week. My kids come out and they're like, that was
my favorite. Guess what we did. And I'm like, wow, I didn't see that
coming. And that's a learning curve for me, you know, and the parents
going, I just don't know where I'm going to teach this year. And being able
to sit there and be like, you know what? I think you would be
fantastic this year is. I know we've got this book
(28:23):
coming up in January, and I have seen you
teach this class in the past and this class in the past, and I
can only imagine what you would do with that class there. Okay, let
me start thinking on that one. Like, let me, you know, get the rights around.
Because it's also speaking life and hope and
encouragement into other people, too. Of like, I see this in you because I know
(28:45):
I don't always see things in me. I can be my world's worst critic most
days, you know, and for people to be like, hey, I see this in you.
You handed me that paper when you handed me that award with all the things
that people said about me was like this.
I see a hot mess express who really had clean things, got
there on time, and, you know, this is what they're seeing, you know,
(29:08):
and seeing that in other people because, yes, running finesse
Mondays are exhausting. Wednesdays are exhausting, and
they're so fulfilling. At the same is that good Tired because I've talked
to people and I've hugged people and kids have run up and give me
hugs or drop little presents into my hand if I mean this teacher Tara,
you know, and to see an empty youth room
(29:30):
become full of life and then they be swept and torn back down again and
be empty again. Ready for the next group. Using that space like there's so
much beauty. I love it, Tara. But I want to pivot a little bit
because I imagine there's some listeners going, I am never going to be
Tara Rail. Let me say it right. I'm not going
to run a couple of co ops. I just want to find a co op
(29:51):
like what Tara has. So how do you just put yourself in the
I not really. Really ready to pick it up maybe. How
can you get involved in the co op you're already in to start to utilize
some of your gifts with some suggestions. Do you have any
advice on that or have you seen that work? Well, I think
especially as homeschool parents, we serve our families a ton
(30:15):
and so I think it is easy if we're not careful and myself
included, I've been guilty of this. To step into things and quickly become a
just a consumer and instead stepping in,
oh, that's actually where all the jobs are taken. I promise every
role that is absolutely needed and the co op isn't taken. And I'm not saying
you take over the accounting or you have to join the board or you
(30:37):
know, you have to take over scheduling or like even just being the person who
makes sure that every single person walks through that door gets a hello and that
somebody knows their name. Right. It's so vital for a kid to know
their name is known by an adult. That's really, really
important. And just their gifts and to notice, you
know, we've got a little boy who recently switched to fancy clothes, you know, and
(30:58):
if you know this is bow tie on a Monday morning, like it makes his
day that you noticed his bow tie, you know, or the time
I posted on the band that, hey, my daughter worked really hard to collect this
certain set of stuffed animals, but nobody knows what they are. It was really obscure,
you know. And to watch her walk in club and everyone go, you got the
honey girls. You got all of them. And just to see her face light up
(31:19):
of like this is important to me and other adults. Yeah.
See this ordance. Like to. To be the one who
notices the moms who are coming in and this Monday
is Monday or this Friday is Friday at full strength right
now, and being the one to be like, oh, let me take the toddler out
of your arms, or, you know, let me carry that box in for you. Even
(31:40):
just being the one who is in the background, but being the
one serving in that way, like, it's really taking a
hard look at what are my gifts. And you're gonna have to be accounting. They
don't have to be teaching. They don't have to be planning and scheduling or running
or, you know, CEOing this whole circus with
all of your lovely, lovely monkeys. You know, it can be
(32:01):
like, you know what my gifting is? You know what? I. Is it
okay if I bring a couple thermoses of tea? I noticed a couple of moms
are running in and they're tired. Like, can I just put some thermos in tea
so moms can pour some tea? It's seeing a need where you're like, hey,
I can do. I can meet that need. I can meet these
needs. And that puts you. That connects you then to the community, connects you to
(32:22):
the body. Yeah. And rather than sitting outside and consuming everything from the co op,
where is my skill set? That could truly be a
lifeline. Yeah. I love it. So we're. We're
running up on our time, but you're. You're saying
all the things I feel like I say all the time. We're here for such
a time as this. Engage in where God has placed you. It's not an accident.
(32:43):
These are not your children by mistake. This is who he's
placed you with in this culture, in this geographic
region, whatever. Right. And there is beauty
in that when you just go, okay, Lord, how can I be active in what
you're asking me to do? And also, there's peace in that because we're talking about
doing a lot of stuff, but we should never do any of it. And if
(33:04):
the Lord's not saying, step right, go and.
And do and just walk in obedience, and there's absolute liberation in that. So,
Tara, you're making me wish I had little kids and I could
come up and join the nest, because it's. I was that kind of
a homeschool group run just like that. We had all these random
activities and games and try to pull in all these fun
(33:27):
resources, so. Oh, I love homeschooling. It was so much fun.
Thank you. But as we close, we're asking all of our homeschool families to
share one of their best homeschool tips. It could be related to
community or whatever. It doesn't have to be what we're talking about. Do you have
like one nugget that somebody shared with you? Maybe it was your mom as she
was a home school mom. It was from your mom. I always share my favorite
(33:48):
nugget from my mom, which was, I think, nice. I'd hear. I heard her encourage
so many people with that and I watch her still encourage so many people at
my co op with it as well, which is I taught
my kids the most important things. I didn't teach them everything. I
taught them the most important things. And that was to love learning
and how to read. Right. And do math. She goes beyond that.
(34:10):
We may have missed things in history, we may have missed things in science. We
may have not read every single classic.
My kids got to launch into life knowing how they learn,
loving learning, knowing how to find the information if they wanted it,
and being having the skills they need just to choose which
path they're on and own their own learning journey. She love it. She felt it
(34:32):
was so much on her at the beginning and she goes, nope, I just need
to give you the tools and what you learn, you what you
choose. Oh, amen. So speaking, I mean, kind of ties into
what you said, right? Don't be a consumer, be a doer. Just do
it. So well. Thank you, Tara. I'm going to
link your business. We'll link the. What else did
(34:54):
I say? We're going to link whatever. I'll make sure all the links are in
the podcast below in the show notes. So thank you so much for joining
us. Thanks to the audience for being here with us and we'll see
you next time. Thank you so much for joining us today. The
Colorado Homeschool podcast is Ministry of Christian Home Educators of
Colorado. We have been motivating parents to disciple the next
(35:15):
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 CHEC.org donate in the meantime, share this
with your friends and make sure you subscribe. That really helps us. Thank
you. Foreign.
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