March 17, 2025 • 29 mins
Ever wondered how you can successfully homeschool while managing life's myriad challenges? In this episode of The Colorado Homeschool Podcast, Kashia Davis delves into the inspiring journey of Jenny Hedrick, a dedicated homeschool mom, wife, mental health therapist, relationship intelligence coach, and podcaster. Jenny, who embraces her identity as a child of God living for His glory, founded the Super Simple Homeschool Podcast with a mission to help moms find purpose in their homeschool journey while keeping things super simple.
Jenny shares her transformative homeschooling experiences, from overcoming initial doubts and fears to discovering her children's unique learning paths. She discusses the importance of setting a clear vision that aligns with your homeschooling goals and offers actionable insights on practical strategies.
Whether you're new to homeschooling or seeking inspiration to continue faithful homeschooling amidst challenges, Jenny's heartfelt stories and wisdom will offer you the courage to embrace a holistic educational approach. Don't miss out on this enriching conversation, which also includes valuable resources like the Generations Bible study and more.
Embark on an educational journey that promises to enhance your homeschooling experience. Subscribe now to The Colorado Homeschool Podcast, and be sure to check out Jenny's Super Simple Homeschool Podcast at this link for even more inspiration and guidance.
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.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
When that shifted for me, I kind of turned my whole
homeschool upside down, and I said, that's gonna
be the focus. You know, everything else is
secondary.
Welcome. It's the Colorado Homeschool Podcast.
(00:21):
Interviewing experts, parents, graduates,
all here to help you navigate this incredible journey called
homeschooling. And if you're looking for resour 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 today. I am your host, Kasia Davis, and we're
(00:44):
here today with Jenny Hedrick. She is a homeschool mom of
three kids, fantastically busy mom who also runs her
own podcast, the Super Simple Homeschool Podcast. She also
has a side coaching business and works
in mental health therapy. Is that right? That's correct. Did
I get that? Yes, you did. So I said, boy, you have a lot on
(01:07):
your plate, like probably many women who are
homeschooling. So today we're talking about
asking yourselves, can I even do this? Is this really
possible? Because you know, that doubt of, I can't do
this. I'm not qualified. You fill in the blank. That's really
authentic to a lot of homeschoolers, not just people who knew from
(01:28):
the beginning, I want to homeschool. There's those insecurities, right?
Absolutely. Absolutely. So
why don't we just start by you telling me a little bit about your
homeschool life and how you came to overcome that
doubt and what kind of pushed you over the edge to start homeschooling.
You know, it's interesting. I get asked this question a lot about, how did
(01:50):
you decide to homeschool? And I don't remember actually making
that decision. I remember. Remember
vividly looking at schools for my oldest when he was really
little. And then somewhere along the line, I met some
homeschool families, and I thought, man, the way that they do life,
this is cool. This is really cool. Could we do this? And I
(02:11):
talked to my husband. I said, I think we want. I want to homeschool.
And that was. That was it. We decided to move forward
with it, and I left my career as a mental health therapist
and started homeschooling my oldest. So that
was in 2017.
Wow. Yeah. And it's
(02:34):
funny because I actually found out I was pregnant right
after I closed my therapy practice.
And so I was pregnant my first and
had a newborn my first year homeschooling, my oldest.
And we have been homeschooling now for eight
years. My oldest was 12 years old. And my youngest, who I was
(02:57):
pregnant with that year is now 6, almost 7. She
turns 7 this month. So
yeah, it's, it's crazy. So I have a 12 year old boy
and a 10 year old boy and then
my almost 7 year old daughter. Nice. Oh my
gosh. And to go from working full time and having a
(03:19):
newborn, your first year of homeschooling, take yourself back. I know it's been a
minute, but what were some of the fears, what were some of the doubts was
there? I mean, I imagine there is a whole litany of things to
consider. Absolutely. You know,
I think I tend to be overly
confident and so I think the fear sort of.
(03:40):
I know, right? I jump in with, with both feet
and I think, yeah, I can do this. I think that about most things that
I start, it's not till later that the doubt creeps
in. Okay. And so for
me, like the biggest, most
fearful time in my homeschooling came when I realized that my
(04:02):
oldest was dyslexic and my
husband is dyslexic. And I don't. It was
on my radar, but it, you know, it looks different in children than it does
in adults and it looks different from person to person. And
so I went through a really rough period
of thinking, man, how did I miss this? I, how
(04:24):
could I have not seen this sooner? Am I even able
to do this? What is this going to look like moving forward
and now fast forward. Right. I know that all
three of my children are dyslexic to, to, to varying degrees.
Wow. And I feel very confident in my abilities
to teach them and, and to provide them the learning environment
(04:46):
that they need. Even more so than I think any school environment could
do. But it was a scary, scary time. And I've had to deal
with a lot of doubt over the years,
for sure. You know what? I love that you said that. I, I can relate
to that too. I kind of have a we can do this, let's figure this
out attitude. And then it's when I'm in the weeds where I go, wait a
(05:07):
minute, what was I thinking? So,
yeah, I love that. And I can imagine. Do you remember when you first found
out about the dyslexia? Like, how did you discover that? Was
it that you were running up against a brick wall with school or was there
an epiphany moment? How did you figure that out? And
then what changed after that? I mean, you obviously decided to
(05:29):
continue, but how did you get there? Yeah,
there was an epiphany moment for me. You know, I. I
remember it was in January or February. It was in that time
of the year where things are just kind of feeling bleh in the
home. That's just the hardest time of the year. It
is. And we had just once again
(05:52):
hit a wall with reading and comprehension. And,
you know, with my oldest, there were a lot of
things, but I was starting to piece everything together
and then was like, you know, my husband's dyslexic, and I know
that can run in families. So I started pulling up, you
know, what are those called? Little assessments or pre
(06:14):
screening online and filling those out. And it was like,
okay, he is definitely
dyslexic. And it was terrifying. And
I remember feeling very frantic at the time, like,
I have to hurry up and figure out how to do
this because I've lost all this time. He was
(06:35):
eight, nine, or just maybe just nine at
the time. And I thought, man, I've really screwed up,
you know, And. And granted, I know now a lot of kid. People
don't realize their kids are dyslexic until about that age,
but I thought, I haven't been doing anything right this whole time, and now I
need to change everything that I'm doing.
(06:57):
And I had. It took me a while to get off that.
Out of that panic mode, I think. And I. I love that you're
saying that too, Jenny. I listened to several of your podcast
episodes, and you said that there's no such thing as behind in
homeschool. And boy, there's a
programming that we have to go through. Right. To get it out of our head,
(07:19):
because we just have this mindset. I don't know. It's the keeping up with the
Joneses. It's the comparison. And I love that you concluded
with, you know what? It's pretty common for most parents, even with your
kids in traditional school and great schools and homeschools that fill in the blank
for them to find out later. So I'm glad you got there
because. And obviously that's. I. That's why I like
(07:42):
your podcast. I like what you're saying. That's your mantra. Like, no, no, no,
we got this. You can do this. Absolutely.
Yeah. So. So what were some of the lessons that you learned through that? Because
it sounds like, obviously, technology. We're in the information age. You went online,
you started researching and assessing, but what did you learn
on. And what changed in your homeschooling because of that? Yeah,
(08:03):
well, I think, you know, we could talk a lot about
how I changed to accommodate the DYSLEXIA But I
think for the purposes of your podcast today, I
think it's important to talk about what changed for me in my
mindset and approach to the, the education.
And you know, I grew up in
(08:26):
Christian school, so I was in Christian schools all growing up in the
Midwest. And my whole family was a family of
educators. I had teach, my cousins, my uncles, my grandfather,
teachers, administrators. And so we were very education
driven family. So I didn't have a lot of people that were coming along saying,
oh yeah, homeschooling, like that's a great idea.
(08:47):
Um, I was kind of forging a path. Yeah, I was kind of
forging a path. And for me that's where my
feeling like catching up and feeling behind came
from. And the gift of learning that my
children were dyslexic was that ability to go, you
know what, we have
(09:09):
a different course and
the work that we're doing at home is the best thing for them.
It's very individual. I can meet them right where they're at
and move them forward from there. And for me,
like a few big shifts in my mindset happened when
I realized learning doesn't stop at age
(09:32):
18, hopefully,
so I don't have to cram everything
in by a certain date. There's no end
date to their education, you know, and
there's no sense and stressing
about when they, for example, learn to
(09:55):
read. As long as I know they're making
progress and we're, we're being consistent and we're showing up and
doing the work. It's not, it's not a
race. You know, my 12 year old is now
reading his first, you know, chapter books with no pictures.
And you know, I mean, that's a big deal for somebody who has
(10:17):
struggled as long as he has to read. And it's, it's so exciting
to me. And the thing is, by the time he becomes an adult, it's not
going to matter that, that, that he learned to read at
12 versus, you know, eight or seven or
whatever. And so being able to have a big
picture perspective on life really, really
(10:39):
helped. And every year I have to reset
my mindset around what is education.
I love that. And so the two things that you said that I really wanted
to hone in on what you just said set my mind about what really is
education. Like defining that. And then when you were talking about
seeing some friends that were homeschooling and saying, I like that
(11:01):
life, I want that life, so what was it about that? And
then let's build into what Is
successful education to you? Yeah. So, you
know, when I was. When I had my kids were really little, I was working
full time, and I
never wanted that. You know, I didn't want that. When I was growing up,
(11:23):
I always remember I wanted to be a mom. I wanted to raise a
family and take care of a home. But I was.
You know, I started later, and I was older. I had a career already,
and, you know, it just kind of made sense to continue
in my career. I don't know. It was just what you did.
It's culturally accepted. Exactly right. It's just what you do, you
(11:45):
know? And I realized I
saw these families, and they were together and,
you know, and I was. It didn't help that I was working in mental health,
and it was very draining. And so when I would come home
from work, I just would. My family would have
the. The what's left, you know, of the best of me. And
(12:07):
I was seeing these families, and they got their togetherness,
and there was an ease and a rest about that. And,
you know, for me, it felt like I was trying to cram all of
my quality time in with my kids into, like, the
hardest times of the day. You know, at the end of the day, when
everybody's tired and wore out and we've got to get dinner on the table
(12:29):
and get people to bed and. Yeah. You know, and I didn' I didn't want
that. And so I saw that, and I thought, man,
that's what I want. I want that for my family. I want that for myself
now. It took a. It took. I'm gonna be honest, it took a few years
before I really felt comfortable not working.
It's a hard transition. It is. Totally. I get
(12:51):
it. Because your identity, the culture is telling you
the transition. But I love. I love everything you're saying, because
that's one of the things that I think a lot of new homeschoolers don't get
is there's so many more Rich. Re. Yeah. More than
just academically, we know the kids are doing better. Even kids with learning
disabilities do better in homeschool environment than not. So
(13:13):
academically, yes, we know we can do it. That's our fear. But, man, the
quality time of the family, the faith building. And I know that's really important
to you as well. Yeah. Is having that biblical worldview, teaching your children
how God wants them to be, what he created them for
from the foundation of the earth. Right. Yeah. So I love that.
Yeah. So let's. So what would you say then? You said it Took
(13:35):
a few years. But would you. So your definition of success and being
comfortable in that, what would you say that is now? You
know, there was this pivotal moment for me when I
realized that I am
raising human people.
I know it sounds really basic, but, you know, God
(13:58):
has given me these children. And if they're
so smart and super successful in the world's eyes, but they don't
know Jesus and they don't live a life for
him, and I don't get to take them to heaven with me, then
I. That I have completely failed as a. As a parent
and as a teacher. And when that
(14:20):
shifted for me, I. I kind of turned my whole homeschool
up side down, and I said, that's going to be the
focus. You know, everything else is
secondary. And if I can raise people
who know Jesus and love Jesus
and, you know, live life for
(14:42):
him and see the world through his eyes, then
I, you know, then that's
education, that's success. And, and I. And I even hesitate, honestly,
I'm going to be honest to say that, because
there's so much, I think, in Christian homeschooling
where we get so focused on that it's all
(15:04):
on us. It's all right, you know, up to
us to make our kids into these, you know,
disciples. And, And I think that's the other part
of this, is recognizing you have to
give them to the Holy Spirit, you know, you have to. My
job is to be faithful to the call that God has
(15:26):
given me. And his job is
to be God. Yeah, exactly. I love that.
There is absolutely no way to make somebody become a Christian.
There isn't. I mean, Adam and Eve had the perfect situation. Right, exactly. So
I do love where you're going with that, because, yes, we are.
We're called to be their. Their parent, their.
(15:50):
Deuteronomy 6. Right. To teach your children on the everywhere. This is
Caja's paraphrase, obviously. But on the door, when you're rising, when you're going, when you're
sitting down, all the time, we need to be teaching them about God. But just
like Joshua with the nation of Israel, it's like one of the most
quoted book or verses of the Bible. It's on like, doors. As for me and
my house, we will serve the Lord. But right before that, he says to them,
(16:11):
choose for you this day whom you will serve. Because he realizes,
and we have to realize as parents, I am going to do everything
I can to teach my children about who Jesus is and what he has
created them to be. And how amazing it is to love him and serve
him, but they have to choose. So, yeah, we can't make it happen.
But I love that we are faithful with what God has given us, and
(16:33):
then he is God. That was beautifully said. That says it. And that's
really the point, right? Yeah. Yeah. And it really shifted for me
when I realized my job is to be faithful. It's not
to be so stuck on a certain outcome. Right.
It's. It's to show up every day and be faithful. Yep. And that.
That's as if I'm doing that. Then. Then I feel like I'm
(16:56):
successful in my homeschool. Yes. That's good. So. So
let's talk about that. How are you faithful? Are there some essential things that you
think you know, what are. What's required
to. To find yourself faithful? Yeah, that's a. That's a really good
question and a hard one to answer. And I think. I think it
really can be individual,
(17:18):
you know, And I think some important things to consider
are being present and available to
your children, but also to be
intentional in the instruction. And so
one of the things that we had to change when I had this shift
in my perspective was starting our day
(17:40):
with the most important thing. With the scripture, with prayer,
with worship. And so when we
put that literally first in our day, not
just theoretically first, then we
are. Then everything else falls in line after
that. And if we don't finish the math homework, if we don't
(18:02):
finish our history lesson, you know, it's. I've shown up
and we've studied the Word, and we've spent time at the
feet of our Lord. Right. And that's. That's the ideal. Do I do it
perfectly? No. Does anyone? No.
No. And they're lying if they. If they say they are.
Yes, exactly. Yeah. You know, so. Well,
(18:25):
can you give me some practical steps? Like, how did you. So
I don't want to get into the weeds of curriculum. You have a really good
episode. And we actually probably should just link it below in.
In our show notes, because it was talking about curriculum. That is the first
thing new homeschoolers want to know. What curriculum do I use? Right. And I always
say no, that's not the first thing we need to talk about. The first thing
(18:45):
we need to talk about is writing out your vision. Let's write down
why you're homeschooling. What is the goal? What's the end goal? But so not really
talking about specific curriculum because there's a ton of options, and
obviously we have resources on CHEC.org where you can check out resources
you could just Google and there's a thousand options. But what do you think
are some practical things? What are some tips that really helped you
(19:08):
find the course and overcome that doubt that maybe you
didn't start with, but we know it creeps in and it. Especially when you're dealing
with kids that have learning difficulties. Yeah.
You know, I think for me, it. It's really
recognizing that all of life is. Is school. Like, you
know, there's. I don't have to confine school to a
(19:30):
curriculum or to a book or to a time of day,
that anything we do is a chance
to teach my children something.
And so, yes, we use good books. We sometimes use
curriculum. You know, we always use the Bible,
but we also use cooking a meal. We use
(19:52):
learning how to do chores. You know, we use
games to learn cooperation and,
you know, how to get along. And, you know, the how to get
along piece is huge. Like, you know, I
haven't, but I know, yeah, we're with each other all the
time. And so if we can teach how to be a good friend and how
(20:14):
to, you know, bear with one another and. And
look over each other's annoyances and see the
best in each other, you know, then that's so valuable, I
think, in teaching kids how to be in a family
with. That's loving and forgiving and gracious towards one
another. But I think that that's not very
(20:36):
practical. I'm sorry I'm not giving you a very practical tip, but. Well, you're
keeping the main thing. The main thing, which is the goal. And I do
love that it is the biggest. So, yeah. Do you have any practical tips
on how you do that? I love that you shared. You start with the Bible.
We did that, too. My kids called it no Bible, no breakfast. Well, I called
it no Bible, no breakfast. It was the very first thing we did. I love
(20:56):
that. Yeah, so we did the same thing. And our curriculum was
woven. All the things. But how do you go about,
like, figuring out what resources you do need or like you said, life is
learning. Oh, that was a good line, too, Jenny. Life is learning. So how
do you practically turn that into lessons? Because,
I mean, this podcast in particular, we know that we're going to be talking to
(21:18):
people who are brand new to homeschooling, who are thinking about homeschooling, or those who
just need some endurance. But even for those people who are just thinking about
it, I don't know, culturally, we've been told what you
need an expert, and you need your own job, and
you separate. So practically, how did you go
about kind of finding, I don't know, what curriculum or what
(21:41):
method worked for you? Yeah, you know, I think what
started for me, I was a curriculum
jumper. And you know this because you heard that episode. I talk about it in
that great episode, you know, but I really. I
wanted the safety and the security of a curriculum.
I wanted to. To know that I was doing the right thing at the right
(22:03):
time for my kids. The problem was nothing. We
tried. I liked and ev. And. And I didn't know at
the time, of course, that my kids were dyslexic. And so, you know, we
kept running into these issues with every curriculum that we had.
So I was always modifying and adapting. Actually, at the end of our
first year after, I'd already been through three curriculums in the first,
(22:25):
like, from the start of the year till Christmas, I had been through three different
curriculums, none of which I liked. And then I had my baby the day
after Christmas. Oh, wow. And so, I mean,
I wonder if your life was a little disrupted. And
so the second half of that year, Right. I mean, I had, like, a
kindergartner and a preschooler. It didn't even need to be that.
(22:47):
That serious. But I was serious because I'm very type
A, and I was going to do school, you know. Yeah.
And all we did that year was we.
Every. Every day that we decided to sit down and do some learning, which was
not every day, we would pick an animal, we would learn about that animal.
Watching a video on YouTube, we would draw that animal, and we would write
(23:09):
a sentence about that animal. And my kids
loved it. Yeah. Loved it. And I just was, like, coming up with
stuff out of, you know, nowhere because I was, you know,
home with a newborn. And I look back at that time, and I
think that was really all we needed.
We covered all the basics. We were learning stuff that my children were
(23:32):
interested in, and we were spending time together.
And that was kind of a, you know, of course, I went back to
curriculum after that because I hadn't really figured it out yet.
But that's kind of my approach now is how can I take something
that is already interesting to my kids, that they want to dig deep into?
I tap into their natural curiosity, and then we
(23:55):
dive into learning about that, and then how can I stretch
that out into, you know, other areas? So can we
write. Can we learn how to write paragraphs and write a paragraph about this? Can
we talk about how to, you know, Summarize things and teach grammar as we
do that, you know, and so, you know, we.
We just kind of start in a really natural place,
(24:17):
and then I just kind of, how can we stretch this? How can we incorporate
more learning into it? Yeah, I love that. And you're
giving a license to
adapt and make it custom and personalized, and that's really what homeschooling is
about. I think a lot of homeschoolers have a tendency. When
in that episode that we keep mentioning, you talked about the
(24:40):
home curriculum graveyard, I was like, I can relate.
Trying this and that and going, oh, I like this, and I don't like that.
And just realizing, man, let it go, because there's not a perfect
curriculum. And sticking. I. I found that I needed to stick
to routine. And so we did know, like, we needed to,
you know, cover our basics. Especially as the kids got older, there was more that
(25:02):
I wanted to do besides just reading and arithmetic
and Bible. But I had the freedom to take even
a really boring curriculum and. And draw more out to it or say, hey,
let's have this rabbit trail, and we really want to learn about. I don't.
My brain is drawing a blank right now. But all the things you just described,
I love that. So. And that is encouraging because,
(25:24):
man, all the. What I can't do or I don't
know scares a lot of homeschoolers. And I also like to tell them.
The reason why I don't like to spend a lot of time talking about curriculum
is because curriculum is not the most important thing. It
really is that vision, knowing why you're doing it. And the curriculum exists where you
open the book, it tells you what to do, and you do it. And you
(25:45):
just have to find the right fit for your family. And even in finding the
right fit, it's not going to be perfect because you're going to be wanting to
maybe supplement or do more of this or less of that or whatever, and
just to really emphasize it's okay, right?
Absolutely. You know, I used to think I used to get worked up if I
wasn't doing the whole lesson or I wasn't completing this
(26:07):
section before going to the next section. And then I realized I'm not
teaching the curriculum. I'm teaching my children.
The curriculum is just a tool to help me do that, and I can use
it however I want. Yeah. Yeah, that's good. I love
that. You really covered a lot of great stuff in just our
short time together. That was really good. And I. I really
(26:29):
do love your mantra of keeping it simple.
So the last question that I'm going to close with is it feels like
it's really hard to condense it, but if you had to give your. The best
piece of homeschooling advice that you have received, and best is a hard qualifier, but,
you know, a good piece of advice that helped you when you first
started, what would, what would you say that was or is? Well, you
(26:51):
said it and it's what I say all the time on my podcast, which
is know the purpose, know your vision.
And you know, when I, that was really scary and
overwhelming to me when I first started that
I didn't sit down and do that because it seemed like I didn't know what
to do. I didn't know what to put down. And I feel like I could
(27:12):
have saved myself a lot of time if I would have just dug in a
little bit deeper with that and figured out, why are we doing this?
What is the purpose? What is the bigger picture,
the goal that we have? And, and
then figure out, like you said, what are some resources that can
help us accomplish those things. It's been so clarifying for
(27:35):
me, even as I move now into having a middle schooler
and recognizing, you know what, this isn't really serving our purpose
anymore. And even though we've loved it for a long time, you know,
it's. It's time to let it go and find something different because it's not, it's
not serving that vision, that purpose that we have for our
homeschool any longer. Yeah. And it's okay. And it's. If it's. There's a piece
(27:57):
about that when, you know, it helps, you know what to say yes to,
what to say no to. Yes. It's your filter, right. It's a barometer
of this isn't serving our purpose anymore. Like, you have to
know what the purpose is to be able to have that, that comment. So. Wow,
Jenny, that was fantastic. I feel like we should do this
again sometimes. We should. I feel like we can talk about a lot more things.
(28:19):
Yeah. So thank you for joining us today.
And yeah, make sure you check out the show notes so you can see where
to find Jenny and her other podcasts. And we appreciate you guys being with us
today, so thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for joining
us today. The Colorado Homeschool podcast is a ministry of
Christian Home Educators of Colorado. We have been motivating
(28:41):
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 CHEC.org
donate in the meantime, share this with your friends and make sure
you subscribe. That really helps us. Thank you.
(29:08):
Brought to you by the podcastupload. Com Empowering
Faith Driven Voices.
When that shifted for me, I kind of turned my whole
homeschool upside down, and I said, that's gonna
be the focus. You know, everything else is
secondary.
Welcome. It's the Colorado Homeschool Podcast.
(00:21):
Interviewing experts, parents, graduates,
all here to help you navigate this incredible journey called
homeschooling. And if you're looking for resour 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 today. I am your host, Kasia Davis, and we're
(00:44):
here today with Jenny Hedrick. She is a homeschool mom of
three kids, fantastically busy mom who also runs her
own podcast, the Super Simple Homeschool Podcast. She also
has a side coaching business and works
in mental health therapy. Is that right? That's correct. Did
I get that? Yes, you did. So I said, boy, you have a lot on
(01:07):
your plate, like probably many women who are
homeschooling. So today we're talking about
asking yourselves, can I even do this? Is this really
possible? Because you know, that doubt of, I can't do
this. I'm not qualified. You fill in the blank. That's really
authentic to a lot of homeschoolers, not just people who knew from
(01:28):
the beginning, I want to homeschool. There's those insecurities, right?
Absolutely. Absolutely. So
why don't we just start by you telling me a little bit about your
homeschool life and how you came to overcome that
doubt and what kind of pushed you over the edge to start homeschooling.
You know, it's interesting. I get asked this question a lot about, how did
(01:50):
you decide to homeschool? And I don't remember actually making
that decision. I remember. Remember
vividly looking at schools for my oldest when he was really
little. And then somewhere along the line, I met some
homeschool families, and I thought, man, the way that they do life,
this is cool. This is really cool. Could we do this? And I
(02:11):
talked to my husband. I said, I think we want. I want to homeschool.
And that was. That was it. We decided to move forward
with it, and I left my career as a mental health therapist
and started homeschooling my oldest. So that
was in 2017.
Wow. Yeah. And it's
(02:34):
funny because I actually found out I was pregnant right
after I closed my therapy practice.
And so I was pregnant my first and
had a newborn my first year homeschooling, my oldest.
And we have been homeschooling now for eight
years. My oldest was 12 years old. And my youngest, who I was
(02:57):
pregnant with that year is now 6, almost 7. She
turns 7 this month. So
yeah, it's, it's crazy. So I have a 12 year old boy
and a 10 year old boy and then
my almost 7 year old daughter. Nice. Oh my
gosh. And to go from working full time and having a
(03:19):
newborn, your first year of homeschooling, take yourself back. I know it's been a
minute, but what were some of the fears, what were some of the doubts was
there? I mean, I imagine there is a whole litany of things to
consider. Absolutely. You know,
I think I tend to be overly
confident and so I think the fear sort of.
(03:40):
I know, right? I jump in with, with both feet
and I think, yeah, I can do this. I think that about most things that
I start, it's not till later that the doubt creeps
in. Okay. And so for
me, like the biggest, most
fearful time in my homeschooling came when I realized that my
(04:02):
oldest was dyslexic and my
husband is dyslexic. And I don't. It was
on my radar, but it, you know, it looks different in children than it does
in adults and it looks different from person to person. And
so I went through a really rough period
of thinking, man, how did I miss this? I, how
(04:24):
could I have not seen this sooner? Am I even able
to do this? What is this going to look like moving forward
and now fast forward. Right. I know that all
three of my children are dyslexic to, to, to varying degrees.
Wow. And I feel very confident in my abilities
to teach them and, and to provide them the learning environment
(04:46):
that they need. Even more so than I think any school environment could
do. But it was a scary, scary time. And I've had to deal
with a lot of doubt over the years,
for sure. You know what? I love that you said that. I, I can relate
to that too. I kind of have a we can do this, let's figure this
out attitude. And then it's when I'm in the weeds where I go, wait a
(05:07):
minute, what was I thinking? So,
yeah, I love that. And I can imagine. Do you remember when you first found
out about the dyslexia? Like, how did you discover that? Was
it that you were running up against a brick wall with school or was there
an epiphany moment? How did you figure that out? And
then what changed after that? I mean, you obviously decided to
(05:29):
continue, but how did you get there? Yeah,
there was an epiphany moment for me. You know, I. I
remember it was in January or February. It was in that time
of the year where things are just kind of feeling bleh in the
home. That's just the hardest time of the year. It
is. And we had just once again
(05:52):
hit a wall with reading and comprehension. And,
you know, with my oldest, there were a lot of
things, but I was starting to piece everything together
and then was like, you know, my husband's dyslexic, and I know
that can run in families. So I started pulling up, you
know, what are those called? Little assessments or pre
(06:14):
screening online and filling those out. And it was like,
okay, he is definitely
dyslexic. And it was terrifying. And
I remember feeling very frantic at the time, like,
I have to hurry up and figure out how to do
this because I've lost all this time. He was
(06:35):
eight, nine, or just maybe just nine at
the time. And I thought, man, I've really screwed up,
you know, And. And granted, I know now a lot of kid. People
don't realize their kids are dyslexic until about that age,
but I thought, I haven't been doing anything right this whole time, and now I
need to change everything that I'm doing.
(06:57):
And I had. It took me a while to get off that.
Out of that panic mode, I think. And I. I love that you're
saying that too, Jenny. I listened to several of your podcast
episodes, and you said that there's no such thing as behind in
homeschool. And boy, there's a
programming that we have to go through. Right. To get it out of our head,
(07:19):
because we just have this mindset. I don't know. It's the keeping up with the
Joneses. It's the comparison. And I love that you concluded
with, you know what? It's pretty common for most parents, even with your
kids in traditional school and great schools and homeschools that fill in the blank
for them to find out later. So I'm glad you got there
because. And obviously that's. I. That's why I like
(07:42):
your podcast. I like what you're saying. That's your mantra. Like, no, no, no,
we got this. You can do this. Absolutely.
Yeah. So. So what were some of the lessons that you learned through that? Because
it sounds like, obviously, technology. We're in the information age. You went online,
you started researching and assessing, but what did you learn
on. And what changed in your homeschooling because of that? Yeah,
(08:03):
well, I think, you know, we could talk a lot about
how I changed to accommodate the DYSLEXIA But I
think for the purposes of your podcast today, I
think it's important to talk about what changed for me in my
mindset and approach to the, the education.
And you know, I grew up in
(08:26):
Christian school, so I was in Christian schools all growing up in the
Midwest. And my whole family was a family of
educators. I had teach, my cousins, my uncles, my grandfather,
teachers, administrators. And so we were very education
driven family. So I didn't have a lot of people that were coming along saying,
oh yeah, homeschooling, like that's a great idea.
(08:47):
Um, I was kind of forging a path. Yeah, I was kind of
forging a path. And for me that's where my
feeling like catching up and feeling behind came
from. And the gift of learning that my
children were dyslexic was that ability to go, you
know what, we have
(09:09):
a different course and
the work that we're doing at home is the best thing for them.
It's very individual. I can meet them right where they're at
and move them forward from there. And for me,
like a few big shifts in my mindset happened when
I realized learning doesn't stop at age
(09:32):
18, hopefully,
so I don't have to cram everything
in by a certain date. There's no end
date to their education, you know, and
there's no sense and stressing
about when they, for example, learn to
(09:55):
read. As long as I know they're making
progress and we're, we're being consistent and we're showing up and
doing the work. It's not, it's not a
race. You know, my 12 year old is now
reading his first, you know, chapter books with no pictures.
And you know, I mean, that's a big deal for somebody who has
(10:17):
struggled as long as he has to read. And it's, it's so exciting
to me. And the thing is, by the time he becomes an adult, it's not
going to matter that, that, that he learned to read at
12 versus, you know, eight or seven or
whatever. And so being able to have a big
picture perspective on life really, really
(10:39):
helped. And every year I have to reset
my mindset around what is education.
I love that. And so the two things that you said that I really wanted
to hone in on what you just said set my mind about what really is
education. Like defining that. And then when you were talking about
seeing some friends that were homeschooling and saying, I like that
(11:01):
life, I want that life, so what was it about that? And
then let's build into what Is
successful education to you? Yeah. So, you
know, when I was. When I had my kids were really little, I was working
full time, and I
never wanted that. You know, I didn't want that. When I was growing up,
(11:23):
I always remember I wanted to be a mom. I wanted to raise a
family and take care of a home. But I was.
You know, I started later, and I was older. I had a career already,
and, you know, it just kind of made sense to continue
in my career. I don't know. It was just what you did.
It's culturally accepted. Exactly right. It's just what you do, you
(11:45):
know? And I realized I
saw these families, and they were together and,
you know, and I was. It didn't help that I was working in mental health,
and it was very draining. And so when I would come home
from work, I just would. My family would have
the. The what's left, you know, of the best of me. And
(12:07):
I was seeing these families, and they got their togetherness,
and there was an ease and a rest about that. And,
you know, for me, it felt like I was trying to cram all of
my quality time in with my kids into, like, the
hardest times of the day. You know, at the end of the day, when
everybody's tired and wore out and we've got to get dinner on the table
(12:29):
and get people to bed and. Yeah. You know, and I didn' I didn't want
that. And so I saw that, and I thought, man,
that's what I want. I want that for my family. I want that for myself
now. It took a. It took. I'm gonna be honest, it took a few years
before I really felt comfortable not working.
It's a hard transition. It is. Totally. I get
(12:51):
it. Because your identity, the culture is telling you
the transition. But I love. I love everything you're saying, because
that's one of the things that I think a lot of new homeschoolers don't get
is there's so many more Rich. Re. Yeah. More than
just academically, we know the kids are doing better. Even kids with learning
disabilities do better in homeschool environment than not. So
(13:13):
academically, yes, we know we can do it. That's our fear. But, man, the
quality time of the family, the faith building. And I know that's really important
to you as well. Yeah. Is having that biblical worldview, teaching your children
how God wants them to be, what he created them for
from the foundation of the earth. Right. Yeah. So I love that.
Yeah. So let's. So what would you say then? You said it Took
(13:35):
a few years. But would you. So your definition of success and being
comfortable in that, what would you say that is now? You
know, there was this pivotal moment for me when I
realized that I am
raising human people.
I know it sounds really basic, but, you know, God
(13:58):
has given me these children. And if they're
so smart and super successful in the world's eyes, but they don't
know Jesus and they don't live a life for
him, and I don't get to take them to heaven with me, then
I. That I have completely failed as a. As a parent
and as a teacher. And when that
(14:20):
shifted for me, I. I kind of turned my whole homeschool
up side down, and I said, that's going to be the
focus. You know, everything else is
secondary. And if I can raise people
who know Jesus and love Jesus
and, you know, live life for
(14:42):
him and see the world through his eyes, then
I, you know, then that's
education, that's success. And, and I. And I even hesitate, honestly,
I'm going to be honest to say that, because
there's so much, I think, in Christian homeschooling
where we get so focused on that it's all
(15:04):
on us. It's all right, you know, up to
us to make our kids into these, you know,
disciples. And, And I think that's the other part
of this, is recognizing you have to
give them to the Holy Spirit, you know, you have to. My
job is to be faithful to the call that God has
(15:26):
given me. And his job is
to be God. Yeah, exactly. I love that.
There is absolutely no way to make somebody become a Christian.
There isn't. I mean, Adam and Eve had the perfect situation. Right, exactly. So
I do love where you're going with that, because, yes, we are.
We're called to be their. Their parent, their.
(15:50):
Deuteronomy 6. Right. To teach your children on the everywhere. This is
Caja's paraphrase, obviously. But on the door, when you're rising, when you're going, when you're
sitting down, all the time, we need to be teaching them about God. But just
like Joshua with the nation of Israel, it's like one of the most
quoted book or verses of the Bible. It's on like, doors. As for me and
my house, we will serve the Lord. But right before that, he says to them,
(16:11):
choose for you this day whom you will serve. Because he realizes,
and we have to realize as parents, I am going to do everything
I can to teach my children about who Jesus is and what he has
created them to be. And how amazing it is to love him and serve
him, but they have to choose. So, yeah, we can't make it happen.
But I love that we are faithful with what God has given us, and
(16:33):
then he is God. That was beautifully said. That says it. And that's
really the point, right? Yeah. Yeah. And it really shifted for me
when I realized my job is to be faithful. It's not
to be so stuck on a certain outcome. Right.
It's. It's to show up every day and be faithful. Yep. And that.
That's as if I'm doing that. Then. Then I feel like I'm
(16:56):
successful in my homeschool. Yes. That's good. So. So
let's talk about that. How are you faithful? Are there some essential things that you
think you know, what are. What's required
to. To find yourself faithful? Yeah, that's a. That's a really good
question and a hard one to answer. And I think. I think it
really can be individual,
(17:18):
you know, And I think some important things to consider
are being present and available to
your children, but also to be
intentional in the instruction. And so
one of the things that we had to change when I had this shift
in my perspective was starting our day
(17:40):
with the most important thing. With the scripture, with prayer,
with worship. And so when we
put that literally first in our day, not
just theoretically first, then we
are. Then everything else falls in line after
that. And if we don't finish the math homework, if we don't
(18:02):
finish our history lesson, you know, it's. I've shown up
and we've studied the Word, and we've spent time at the
feet of our Lord. Right. And that's. That's the ideal. Do I do it
perfectly? No. Does anyone? No.
No. And they're lying if they. If they say they are.
Yes, exactly. Yeah. You know, so. Well,
(18:25):
can you give me some practical steps? Like, how did you. So
I don't want to get into the weeds of curriculum. You have a really good
episode. And we actually probably should just link it below in.
In our show notes, because it was talking about curriculum. That is the first
thing new homeschoolers want to know. What curriculum do I use? Right. And I always
say no, that's not the first thing we need to talk about. The first thing
(18:45):
we need to talk about is writing out your vision. Let's write down
why you're homeschooling. What is the goal? What's the end goal? But so not really
talking about specific curriculum because there's a ton of options, and
obviously we have resources on CHEC.org where you can check out resources
you could just Google and there's a thousand options. But what do you think
are some practical things? What are some tips that really helped you
(19:08):
find the course and overcome that doubt that maybe you
didn't start with, but we know it creeps in and it. Especially when you're dealing
with kids that have learning difficulties. Yeah.
You know, I think for me, it. It's really
recognizing that all of life is. Is school. Like, you
know, there's. I don't have to confine school to a
(19:30):
curriculum or to a book or to a time of day,
that anything we do is a chance
to teach my children something.
And so, yes, we use good books. We sometimes use
curriculum. You know, we always use the Bible,
but we also use cooking a meal. We use
(19:52):
learning how to do chores. You know, we use
games to learn cooperation and,
you know, how to get along. And, you know, the how to get
along piece is huge. Like, you know, I
haven't, but I know, yeah, we're with each other all the
time. And so if we can teach how to be a good friend and how
(20:14):
to, you know, bear with one another and. And
look over each other's annoyances and see the
best in each other, you know, then that's so valuable, I
think, in teaching kids how to be in a family
with. That's loving and forgiving and gracious towards one
another. But I think that that's not very
(20:36):
practical. I'm sorry I'm not giving you a very practical tip, but. Well, you're
keeping the main thing. The main thing, which is the goal. And I do
love that it is the biggest. So, yeah. Do you have any practical tips
on how you do that? I love that you shared. You start with the Bible.
We did that, too. My kids called it no Bible, no breakfast. Well, I called
it no Bible, no breakfast. It was the very first thing we did. I love
(20:56):
that. Yeah, so we did the same thing. And our curriculum was
woven. All the things. But how do you go about,
like, figuring out what resources you do need or like you said, life is
learning. Oh, that was a good line, too, Jenny. Life is learning. So how
do you practically turn that into lessons? Because,
I mean, this podcast in particular, we know that we're going to be talking to
(21:18):
people who are brand new to homeschooling, who are thinking about homeschooling, or those who
just need some endurance. But even for those people who are just thinking about
it, I don't know, culturally, we've been told what you
need an expert, and you need your own job, and
you separate. So practically, how did you go
about kind of finding, I don't know, what curriculum or what
(21:41):
method worked for you? Yeah, you know, I think what
started for me, I was a curriculum
jumper. And you know this because you heard that episode. I talk about it in
that great episode, you know, but I really. I
wanted the safety and the security of a curriculum.
I wanted to. To know that I was doing the right thing at the right
(22:03):
time for my kids. The problem was nothing. We
tried. I liked and ev. And. And I didn't know at
the time, of course, that my kids were dyslexic. And so, you know, we
kept running into these issues with every curriculum that we had.
So I was always modifying and adapting. Actually, at the end of our
first year after, I'd already been through three curriculums in the first,
(22:25):
like, from the start of the year till Christmas, I had been through three different
curriculums, none of which I liked. And then I had my baby the day
after Christmas. Oh, wow. And so, I mean,
I wonder if your life was a little disrupted. And
so the second half of that year, Right. I mean, I had, like, a
kindergartner and a preschooler. It didn't even need to be that.
(22:47):
That serious. But I was serious because I'm very type
A, and I was going to do school, you know. Yeah.
And all we did that year was we.
Every. Every day that we decided to sit down and do some learning, which was
not every day, we would pick an animal, we would learn about that animal.
Watching a video on YouTube, we would draw that animal, and we would write
(23:09):
a sentence about that animal. And my kids
loved it. Yeah. Loved it. And I just was, like, coming up with
stuff out of, you know, nowhere because I was, you know,
home with a newborn. And I look back at that time, and I
think that was really all we needed.
We covered all the basics. We were learning stuff that my children were
(23:32):
interested in, and we were spending time together.
And that was kind of a, you know, of course, I went back to
curriculum after that because I hadn't really figured it out yet.
But that's kind of my approach now is how can I take something
that is already interesting to my kids, that they want to dig deep into?
I tap into their natural curiosity, and then we
(23:55):
dive into learning about that, and then how can I stretch
that out into, you know, other areas? So can we
write. Can we learn how to write paragraphs and write a paragraph about this? Can
we talk about how to, you know, Summarize things and teach grammar as we
do that, you know, and so, you know, we.
We just kind of start in a really natural place,
(24:17):
and then I just kind of, how can we stretch this? How can we incorporate
more learning into it? Yeah, I love that. And you're
giving a license to
adapt and make it custom and personalized, and that's really what homeschooling is
about. I think a lot of homeschoolers have a tendency. When
in that episode that we keep mentioning, you talked about the
(24:40):
home curriculum graveyard, I was like, I can relate.
Trying this and that and going, oh, I like this, and I don't like that.
And just realizing, man, let it go, because there's not a perfect
curriculum. And sticking. I. I found that I needed to stick
to routine. And so we did know, like, we needed to,
you know, cover our basics. Especially as the kids got older, there was more that
(25:02):
I wanted to do besides just reading and arithmetic
and Bible. But I had the freedom to take even
a really boring curriculum and. And draw more out to it or say, hey,
let's have this rabbit trail, and we really want to learn about. I don't.
My brain is drawing a blank right now. But all the things you just described,
I love that. So. And that is encouraging because,
(25:24):
man, all the. What I can't do or I don't
know scares a lot of homeschoolers. And I also like to tell them.
The reason why I don't like to spend a lot of time talking about curriculum
is because curriculum is not the most important thing. It
really is that vision, knowing why you're doing it. And the curriculum exists where you
open the book, it tells you what to do, and you do it. And you
(25:45):
just have to find the right fit for your family. And even in finding the
right fit, it's not going to be perfect because you're going to be wanting to
maybe supplement or do more of this or less of that or whatever, and
just to really emphasize it's okay, right?
Absolutely. You know, I used to think I used to get worked up if I
wasn't doing the whole lesson or I wasn't completing this
(26:07):
section before going to the next section. And then I realized I'm not
teaching the curriculum. I'm teaching my children.
The curriculum is just a tool to help me do that, and I can use
it however I want. Yeah. Yeah, that's good. I love
that. You really covered a lot of great stuff in just our
short time together. That was really good. And I. I really
(26:29):
do love your mantra of keeping it simple.
So the last question that I'm going to close with is it feels like
it's really hard to condense it, but if you had to give your. The best
piece of homeschooling advice that you have received, and best is a hard qualifier, but,
you know, a good piece of advice that helped you when you first
started, what would, what would you say that was or is? Well, you
(26:51):
said it and it's what I say all the time on my podcast, which
is know the purpose, know your vision.
And you know, when I, that was really scary and
overwhelming to me when I first started that
I didn't sit down and do that because it seemed like I didn't know what
to do. I didn't know what to put down. And I feel like I could
(27:12):
have saved myself a lot of time if I would have just dug in a
little bit deeper with that and figured out, why are we doing this?
What is the purpose? What is the bigger picture,
the goal that we have? And, and
then figure out, like you said, what are some resources that can
help us accomplish those things. It's been so clarifying for
(27:35):
me, even as I move now into having a middle schooler
and recognizing, you know what, this isn't really serving our purpose
anymore. And even though we've loved it for a long time, you know,
it's. It's time to let it go and find something different because it's not, it's
not serving that vision, that purpose that we have for our
homeschool any longer. Yeah. And it's okay. And it's. If it's. There's a piece
(27:57):
about that when, you know, it helps, you know what to say yes to,
what to say no to. Yes. It's your filter, right. It's a barometer
of this isn't serving our purpose anymore. Like, you have to
know what the purpose is to be able to have that, that comment. So. Wow,
Jenny, that was fantastic. I feel like we should do this
again sometimes. We should. I feel like we can talk about a lot more things.
(28:19):
Yeah. So thank you for joining us today.
And yeah, make sure you check out the show notes so you can see where
to find Jenny and her other podcasts. And we appreciate you guys being with us
today, so thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for joining
us today. The Colorado Homeschool podcast is a ministry of
Christian Home Educators of Colorado. We have been motivating
(28:41):
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
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