January 6, 2025 • 28 mins
The Unplanned Transition: Michelle Moss Shares Her Homeschooling Story
In our inaugural episode of The Colorado Homeschool Podcast, host Kashia Davis sits down with Michelle Moss, a dedicated mother of three teenage boys, to discuss her unexpected journey into homeschooling. Initially motivated by a sudden policy change at their charter school during the fall of 2020, Michelle and her family were thrust into the world of homeschool education without prior preparation.
During the conversation, Michelle candidly recounts the various challenges they faced, including dealing with unsettling cultural shifts and administrative decisions at the charter school. She shares how a supportive community, along with timely guidance from other seasoned homeschoolers and organizations like CHEC, played a crucial role in easing their transition.
Michelle also reflects on her initial reluctance and eventual embrace of homeschooling, revealing how it opened up new dimensions of education and family bonding. From tailoring curricula to fit her children's unique aspirations—ranging from aspiring Navy pilots to future farmers—to integrating faith-based learning, Michelle's story is a testament to the flexibility and richness homeschooling can offer.
Key Topics Discussed: - The catalyst behind Michelle’s abrupt decision to homeschool. - Initial challenges and navigating the transition. - The role of community and mentorship in their homeschooling journey. - The importance of a flexible curriculum tailored to individual children's interests. - Integrating faith and family values into daily learning. - Practical tips for new homeschoolers.
Tune in to hear Michelle Moss’s inspiring story and discover valuable insights for anyone considering or new to homeschooling!
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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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Two weeks into the school year, the charter school changed one of their
policies, and we were not comfortable with this change in
policy, so we abruptly pulled our kids
out.
Welcome. It's the Colorado Homeschool Podcast.
(00:21):
Interviewing experts, parents, graduates,
all here to help you navigate this incredible journey called home
homeschooling. And if you're looking for resources, tips, and help,
go to check.org you'll find what you need. In the meantime,
subscribe. Follow along. Well, hello
and welcome. My name is Kasia Davis. I'm your host today. And
(00:43):
today we're joined with Michelle Moss, a wonderful
mother of three teenage boys. Michelle was a
brand new homeschool mom who started in 2020, just
like many of you out there. And I'm really excited
to get to know Michelle and to hear her story about why
she decided to go ahead and take that plunge and what, you know,
(01:05):
what was her story and what was the tipping
point for her. So welcome, Michelle. Thank you for being here. Thanks
for having me. What a privilege to spend some time with you.
Yeah, it's a joy for me too. So I'm really excited to
just hear a little bit about that. So I know I already
said you started homeschooling during COVID and
(01:28):
I'd love to hear, did it happen? Did you do it in March? Like, what
was the time frame? Was it actually when the world started
homeschooling or. Yeah, tell us a little bit about how that came to
be. Yeah, we. It was actually the
next fall. So we had just transitioned to a new charter
school because for one of my boys,
(01:49):
public school just wasn't clicking for him, and we wanted to find a different option.
So we explored the charter school. And I really liked this charter school on
paper. But once we got there, the culture was
very different than what our values aligned
with. And we persevered for a year to try to work with
the leadership there and the school board, and it
(02:11):
just fell on deaf ears. So coming
up to the fall, they started in August, and
two weeks into the school year, the charter school changed one of their
policies. And we were not comfortable with this change in
policy, so we abruptly pulled our kids
out. It was very sudden.
(02:33):
We did not plan for this. I had no plans to homeschool.
So we pulled them out and said, hey, you're not going to school tomorrow. And
of course, the all the boys were like, sweet, we don't have to
go to school tomorrow. It was mid August,
so we waited a couple more weeks so I could figure out what homeschooling
was. And then we started up again in September once
(02:56):
I had a little bit more knowledge about what we should do.
Okay, are you comfortable sharing what was the policy that you
said, whoa, no, that is just too much. And you mentioned also the
culture. So what was happening that you were just going, wait,
we're not comfortable with this? Yeah, it was several things,
actually. And the policy that changed was kind of the straw that broke
(03:18):
the camel's back. There was a lot of
evil things, in my opinion, that was happening at the school. There
were multiple children transitioning
genders, and it was almost encouraged by the
leadership at the school, which was very concerning to us.
There was also a witch on staff that was active
(03:42):
in what witches do, and it was known
throughout the community that, oh, yeah, she's a witch, and she does these things.
And that was very alarming to us, of course.
And the overhead leadership just
had this dark presence about them. They was not
warm and welcoming. They were not receptive. We did bring our
(04:04):
concerns to the board and to
400 people signed a petition with some of
the same concerns, and they did not listen.
So then we didn't mask our children throughout the pandemic,
and we did a lot of online learning before that, which worked
out horribly, actually. So going into
(04:26):
that fall, they had said they weren't going to mask the kids, and we were
okay with trying it. The. We really liked the one
teacher that the boys had, so
the teachers that each of the boys had. So we were
comfortable with trying it again. But then they changed the policy two weeks
into the school year and said that they were going to require it, and we
(04:48):
said, nope. So
many other concerns. This just wasn't something we were going to add to
the list of why we needed to pull them. And it was the Lord. It
was the Lord's timing. I had
lost a client in May and spent the summer hanging
out with the boys, and I was planning to pick up another client in the
(05:10):
fall. Well, God had plans to.
For us to homeschool. He didn't tell me about this earlier, which would
have been nice, but it was kind of the right timing
for us to jump into homeschooling, where I had less work to
do and we could spend the time figuring out
homeschooling. And honestly, which is why we're doing this
(05:31):
podcast, I was so amazed
and so encouraged. We were
technically, we were forced into homeschooling, but I am so blessed.
I wished we had done it from the beginning because I just didn't
know how amazing it is
for our family, for each of My individual boys
(05:53):
for the community that we have now that I know
everyone needs to do this. I know it's
funny because we were talking a little bit beforehand and I said exactly that. It's
like crazy when you look back and realize how influenced you
were, how your worldview and your perspective was really
shaped by the culture. So, yeah, it sounds like you were
(06:16):
already an involved parents. You were looking at different schools, you were
signing petitions, you were involved in the school board meetings. And I love to
hear that. We obviously want to totally
exhort and encourage every parent to be involved in their child's education.
So I love that that's where it led for you. That. That straw of,
no, no, no, we're not going to do this again. And. And that's common. I
(06:39):
hear that quite a bit. So thank you. I forgot to mention in
your bio that you work. That you were. That you work in marketing
for the dental industries and you still work. So.
But I. I do want to talk about that because that is something that we
see very often to work. There's. We
live in Colorado, which is one of the most expensive states, and the
(07:02):
cost of living is high. And yeah, the sacrifices that you have to make
and the flexibility of your schedule, I definitely want to circle on that. But
before we do, I just want to talk about why you said you never
considered yourself a teacher. I would love to hear, like, what were some of those
things that you were like, well, that's not me.
Yeah. I actually have an elementary education degree, so you'd
(07:24):
think this would fit, right? No.
Homeschooling is very different from
elementary education public school. And my degree has
actually been a detriment, in my opinion, to what our homeschool looks
like now. I hear that a lot. School in a box,
like, this is what you're supposed to do. And you're supposed to do these certain
(07:45):
things by this certain date and cover these topics
so you can pass this certain test. And that's. I
enjoyed school. I'm a type A person, so I liked all those things.
And then when I had a son who was not type A person,
I realized that the system is just not set up
well for him to thrive. And my other two boys, too. Now
(08:08):
that we're out of it, they are thriving. And I didn't
see or even know that they weren't
before. One of them wasn't, but the other two were fine.
But now that we're on the flip side, it's such a big
difference. What would you say is the biggest?
Like, because I Hear the. What you said. I hear it all
(08:30):
the time. I was a teacher, and those are the ones that I
find in my conversations. Found homeschooling initially
pretty hard. Yeah, it was. I mentioned earlier the shift into
homeschooling was great for my boys because they're, like, sweet. We don't have to go
to school. But for me, it was quite traumatic because it was a
complete change in my perspective on what learning
(08:53):
and education is because I had it in this little
box. And I had known people that homeschooled,
and they were, like, loving it, but I just didn't know
why, and I didn't see it as a need for us. And I
never pictured myself teaching homeschool.
I don't know if I had. Well, now on the flip side, do I have
(09:15):
the patience to deal with my children all day long?
And having three different kids and three different grades
and different learning styles and interests,
it was just this big, overwhelming thing that I
had never really pursued because I didn't think
we needed to do that. And I really liked my job in corporate
(09:37):
America. I never taught. I jumped into corporate
America and really liked that aspect of
our family and just the lifestyle that it
afforded. We did. When we switched to homeschooling, we did
have to change some things. And I do still work part time,
which works for our family. So. Yeah,
(10:00):
let's go there then. Let's talk about that. Because you have to work
and you're brand new to homeschooling. I mean, the kids are at this point. So
you have teenagers, right? 15, 13, and 11. Is that correct?
So at the time, they were what, 11? This is our
four years ago. Yeah. Yeah. So
they were. You were starting with second grade through fifth
(10:22):
grade. Is that what it was? I think my oldest was
seventh, third,
and fourth. Okay,
but that. You're jumping right in. It's not like, let's learn to read. Let's read
books. Let's play with play. D'oh. So how is that transition
from, you know, having the kids gone and you working to
(10:45):
them being home and you creating a schedule and then also being
able to balance. You still have to work. Yeah,
I freaked out. It was a really
big change for me, especially because we didn't have it all planned and I
had no idea what to do. But fortunately, God is just so
(11:06):
sovereign. He. I have two really good friends that one who's
homeschooled since the beginning and one who had started homeschooling just the
year prior. And they literally held my hand.
They said, get this curriculum this is the schedule we
do. This is how you can tailor it to each kid. They
were just lovely, so gracious.
(11:29):
And in one friend in particular, early on in
our schooling, I had found another friend in the
neighborhood who homeschooled. So I. We went to the
park during the middle of the day and had lunch, which was
so weird, but amazing. And I was asking her all
about, like, this state
(11:51):
standards that we needed to meet and what testing we needed to do, and all
of those questions that I had because I was still in my school box.
And she was so gracious. She just said,
we don't do that. And that
blew my mind in a good way. I was like, wait,
what? And that's really when the transition from
(12:16):
going to school to really having an education and
learning flipped for me. And it gave me a different perspective.
And, oh, I can teach my kids what I value and
what we want to communicate to them. We want them
to become men of God. And now our homeschool looks very
different, and it's very focused on all those things. Sorry,
(12:38):
I tangented your question. No, I love it. I absolutely love the
tangents. Like I said, we want to get to know you. No, that's.
That's fantastic. And I. You keep referencing this
box, and when I am talking to people who are thinking about homeschooling,
I always tell them, look, homeschooling is not doing school at home. But
that's so hard to get across. They don't understand that. Obviously, you
(13:01):
still want to teach your child. You still want to make sure that they're growing
academically, that you are preparing them for adulthood. So there
is a plan. And so where did you. How did you. You
said it changed, and I loved hearing that you've integrated
faith. And that's. That's exactly it.
I. Michelle, you're not alone. I feel like most people
(13:22):
will start homeschooling for one reason, but continue for a completely
different reason. And that's what I'm hearing you say is that you were
like, oh, this is much more than not
having my kids wear a mask all day. There is a better reason to
homeschool. Right. So tell me about how you landed
on your. How did you get your groove? How did you find
(13:44):
that purpose? And how do you integrate those priorities?
Yeah, it. It took a minute. Like I mentioned, our first couple
weeks of school were public school at home. It had the
structure and kind of the curriculum that we were looking
for. And once I learned that you
don't have to do it that way, it was such A relief off
(14:07):
my back. And it actually ended up
being so much more rich than
what we were doing, what we were, they were getting before. So,
yeah, we open our day in prayer. We use the Bible as our
textbook, as our history book. We talk about heroes of
the faith throughout history. Math is kind of
(14:29):
tricky to integrate into all of our. Every one of our
subjects talks about how God created the world
and how this is. This is part of who we are as a
family and who you are becoming as a man of God in
character. So it shifted from needing to know these certain
facts by this date so you can pass the test to
(14:51):
who we want you to be, who God wants you to be, who you're gifted
in. And then it turned into awe and wonder
for his creation. And, wow, what is this bug
doing today? Which was really hard for me
as a type A personality. Like, I wanted to check
off the box and do the curriculum. Fortunately, the curriculum really
(15:14):
helped broaden that perspective
that. Go on that tangent. Ask
the questions that your kids are interested in and dive in and dig into
that. I have one son who really, really wants to be
a Navy Air Force pilot. So we've completely tailored
his. His curriculum and what he's
(15:36):
doing and into that aerospace program. And I have another one who
wants to be a farmer. Like, very different. So, so fun, different
things to explore those areas. And
for my oldest, too, it really just relaxed. Like,
what do you want to do? Let's learn about that
and then build into what options
(15:59):
would be for after we're done homeschooling. Like, is
college the best fit? Do they have a degree that would fit into
what you're doing? But there's so many other options for them that I just
never knew. Like, you go to school and then you go to college, and then
you get a job. There's so much more out there that I had no
idea existed. I love it. Have you ever been to a
(16:21):
planetarium, you know, where you go and the whole ceiling is round
and it feels like, wow, stars go on forever. It's artificial usually,
but I. That's how I feel when you're describing the box I'm
picturing. And then it opened up for you and you just saw all the
possibilities of being able to encourage your children to be who God made them to
be and explore those passions. That's
(16:43):
beautiful. So you mentioned a little bit
about community, your couple of friends at Homeschooled that kind of
helped you. And the lady you met at the park that was a neighborhood. Let's
talk about That I feel like in my mind, if you're going to start
homeschooling, the first thing you need to do is define why you're doing it. Write
down your vision so that you can get focused and really have a
(17:04):
plan. And then I think it's really important to find community. So
you find like minded people who are going to encourage you, who are going to
exhort you, who are going to. Because it's hard. And there are, there's
curriculum that you have to get through. There's going to be hard days. But let's
talk about that. And I know you also connected with Check and, and
we were able to. There were people who helped you with that. So let's talk
(17:24):
about community. How did that influence you from being
reluctant to. To now saying, everybody, come on, you
can do this? Yes. Yeah,
those. So one friend was out of state so she would call me
frequently and we check. Chat about things. But my local
friend, her and I would get together. That was huge for
(17:46):
me. The kids, they kind of rolled with it, so they
were okay. But eventually we were able to find
a community of homeschoolers and there's so many options, which
is cool too. Like what fits your family, what day of the week,
how much time, commitment.
The homeschool community that we found really focused on some of those
(18:09):
electives like art and music and theater. So they
were able to things that I'm not good at. So
they were able to be part of a group that.
And they develop friendships and that's one of the highlights of their
week is going to see their friends at our community.
But sometimes it took us a little bit to try to find those
(18:31):
people and the right fit for our family too. We explored a couple
different ones. And you said it because if you know why you're
homeschooling and what you want out of it, then it is going to be a
little trial and error from curriculum to community groups to
whatever activities you do to align with your
reason for doing this. Right. Yeah. And
(18:52):
so tell me about how CHEC helped you because I know you reached
out to us. Instrumental. So my friend who
gave me her curriculum, she was also part of chec and we signed up right
away and I did all the things, everything Check had to offer.
You have a really great intro to homeschool schooling, paperwork
on the website as well as a seminar.
(19:16):
Since it was August, we. The conference
didn't happen until the next summer, which was. The conference was
amazing and completely overwhelming. In a good
way. Yeah. Yeah. I highly recommend going to A conference.
So I did the seminars. I even did a high school one because
that was on the horizon for my oldest. The
(19:39):
refresh day was so helpful. And the thing that
really was the biggest testimony about Czech
is Czech. People called me and prayed with
me as I was trying to navigate all of this and
gave me tips and pointers. But really just that phone
call to say, hey, how are you doing? Was the biggest
(20:01):
support for when I was trying to figure it all out.
And I only peppered you with that because you told me this story. That
obviously is our mission at check is we want to encourage,
exhort, pray with families and help them find the help and
resources that fit their family's needs because it's so custom. Everything
is so personal. So let's talk about
(20:23):
curriculum because did you. Yeah, I think you told me that you
started using curriculum that a friend suggested and
have. Have stayed with it. This is something that I hear all the
time from people who are a little nervous about starting homeschooling is, well, I can
never do it. And. And I always say, well, do you know that there is
literally a book that you open? It tells you what to do and you do
(20:44):
it? I mean, you don't have to come up with the lessons. Right.
So tell me your experience with curriculum. Was that an epiphany for you? I guess
if you have an education degree, you maybe had some insight into teachers manuals
already, but a little bit. So that's
one of the areas where was a detriment to me actually, because I had the
lesson plans and the objectives and at least in my homeschooling,
(21:07):
I don't. We don't do all that. But. So yes, I have an open and
go curriculum that we follow. So
I do spend about an hour on Sundays just seeing
what's coming for that week and kind of preparing and getting some extra library
books or if we are doing a cooking thing that week, I get
the ingredients for that. So it was. It
(21:29):
was so easy. It was very different than what I
was expecting because in teacher planning, that's a big part of
your job is developing those lesson plans and coming up with
it. So they had already done it for me. And our curriculum is more
Charlotte Mason oriented and they have all of these fun
activities. At first I tried to do
(21:51):
everything, everything in math,
everything in writing, everything in our curriculum, and it was too much.
But I think a lot of them are designed that way that you can
edit it to your family and what works for the. So
we've since relaxed and we pick and choose the things that we're
interested in to cover in the writing that week. Or we kind of change it.
(22:13):
Like instead of writing on this topic, we're gonna do this topic
instead or see how it all fits in. So
I was really, I really like the curriculum that my friend gave us and we
have continued with that. So going to the conference was completely.
Overwhelming to see all of the other
curriculum. They're all really good
(22:35):
and I really do like to analyze and pick apart and see
each one. And we just landed back where we were because it was a
really strong curriculum. But it's tricky
to navigate that curriculum. So I
think like you said, having your values for your family and
what you want to teach, having that
(22:57):
zeroed in, that will help guide as you choose which curriculum.
And you just gotta pick one and try it. And
if it doesn't work, you can even quit mid year and try something else. Like
homeschooling is very flexible that way. And something
else that I learned from public school to homeschool. I really wanted to
get all of the curriculum done that we had in that certain amount of
(23:19):
time. But even like math teachers, they skip whole chapters
sometimes in public school. So you really don't have to
do it this way. You can do what works for your kids
and your family. Yeah, I like to tell
moms that really you're a student and you're going to be a student of your
student and you're going to try some things that are going to work and you're
(23:40):
going to try some things that are not going to work and just be committed
to the process. It's really fantastic that you had friends that helped
you. I did that with more than one friend where I said,
here, I'm. This is what I'm using. Join me. And you can do it too.
And some of them were like, I love that. And some of them said never.
Because I, yeah, I like to do projects and build things and
(24:02):
all the fun art things that go along with it. But I love
that. So,
yeah, so I really do want to focus back on the
flexibility of being able to work. How does your day look like with you
working and your children? Obviously it's been four years, so where you
started, they've grown and progressed. And as you have, I love hearing
(24:24):
that you have the freedom to adapt your curriculum now.
That is, that's really success to me. So good job.
So how does the day look like? What is the practicality of it?
And maybe where did it start versus where are you now as far as the
Setup of your schedule? Yeah. Fortunately,
my work is remote, so I do have a lot of
(24:47):
flexibility. We usually school in the
morning. I had three teenage boys and they liked to sleep in, so 9
o'clock was our start time, which they loved, instead of getting up at night,
7am and being out the door and early. So, yeah, we
usually did schooled from like 9 to 12, 9 to 1, depending
on how things went that day. And then I had the
(25:09):
afternoon and evening to do meetings and
really get through a lot of work things. And there's times that
my husband can work from home, too. When they. When we
started four years ago, they were younger, so they did need
more of my intervention to keep them on task.
But now that they're older and we kind of have a rhythm and have
(25:32):
this homeschooling thing under our belt, they are able to be a little bit more
independent, which is huge. So I can step
away and do a meeting and they can do their math. Most of the time,
they get it done. That's the goal. Independence, right?
Yes. Most of the time it works into our
schedule. There have been times where I had to do some work stuff and we
(25:55):
just didn't get homeschool done, so we picked it up the next day. And that's
the beauty of homeschooling, is you have that flexibility.
Exactly. You can work your schedule around an unusual that. I
wondered if you were doing that if you guys did some more evening school.
Sometimes I hear that too. So that's awesome. Well,
Michelle, you've been a delight. Thank you for meeting with us
(26:16):
today. We're asking every person before we leave,
what is one of the best tips that you received from
homeschooling? And that word, best, that's intimidating. But let's just say, what's a good
tip that you have received for homeschooling? Oh, there's
so many good golden nuggets throughout the time.
First of all, just do it. Just jump in.
(26:39):
It's so amazing. And then letting
go and letting God. It's been so neat
to see how God has transformed my boys in their
relationships and their family. It's almost not
like school. It's more family and learning all these fun
adventures. So just letting go of what
(27:00):
you think school is and seeing what God has
intended for it to be, to grow our children. I love it.
You. You did it naturally, but you sort of made a theme for our
conversation, and I see it as like, break that box down. Let's get
out of the box. So, so awesome. Well, thank you so much. Again.
Michelle, you have a great day and we hope that you guys were blessed by
(27:23):
being here with us today. 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 parents to disciple the next generation
by embracing home discipleship that is Christ centered, parent
directed and free from government control. Control. We invite you to join us in this
(27:45):
mission. If you want to support homeschooling in Colorado, go to
check.org donate in the meantime, share this with
your friends and make sure you subscribe. That really helps us. Thank
you.
Two weeks into the school year, the charter school changed one of their
policies, and we were not comfortable with this change in
policy, so we abruptly pulled our kids
out.
Welcome. It's the Colorado Homeschool Podcast.
(00:21):
Interviewing experts, parents, graduates,
all here to help you navigate this incredible journey called home
homeschooling. And if you're looking for resources, tips, and help,
go to check.org you'll find what you need. In the meantime,
subscribe. Follow along. Well, hello
and welcome. My name is Kasia Davis. I'm your host today. And
(00:43):
today we're joined with Michelle Moss, a wonderful
mother of three teenage boys. Michelle was a
brand new homeschool mom who started in 2020, just
like many of you out there. And I'm really excited
to get to know Michelle and to hear her story about why
she decided to go ahead and take that plunge and what, you know,
(01:05):
what was her story and what was the tipping
point for her. So welcome, Michelle. Thank you for being here. Thanks
for having me. What a privilege to spend some time with you.
Yeah, it's a joy for me too. So I'm really excited to
just hear a little bit about that. So I know I already
said you started homeschooling during COVID and
(01:28):
I'd love to hear, did it happen? Did you do it in March? Like, what
was the time frame? Was it actually when the world started
homeschooling or. Yeah, tell us a little bit about how that came to
be. Yeah, we. It was actually the
next fall. So we had just transitioned to a new charter
school because for one of my boys,
(01:49):
public school just wasn't clicking for him, and we wanted to find a different option.
So we explored the charter school. And I really liked this charter school on
paper. But once we got there, the culture was
very different than what our values aligned
with. And we persevered for a year to try to work with
the leadership there and the school board, and it
(02:11):
just fell on deaf ears. So coming
up to the fall, they started in August, and
two weeks into the school year, the charter school changed one of their
policies. And we were not comfortable with this change in
policy, so we abruptly pulled our kids
out. It was very sudden.
(02:33):
We did not plan for this. I had no plans to homeschool.
So we pulled them out and said, hey, you're not going to school tomorrow. And
of course, the all the boys were like, sweet, we don't have to
go to school tomorrow. It was mid August,
so we waited a couple more weeks so I could figure out what homeschooling
was. And then we started up again in September once
(02:56):
I had a little bit more knowledge about what we should do.
Okay, are you comfortable sharing what was the policy that you
said, whoa, no, that is just too much. And you mentioned also the
culture. So what was happening that you were just going, wait,
we're not comfortable with this? Yeah, it was several things,
actually. And the policy that changed was kind of the straw that broke
(03:18):
the camel's back. There was a lot of
evil things, in my opinion, that was happening at the school. There
were multiple children transitioning
genders, and it was almost encouraged by the
leadership at the school, which was very concerning to us.
There was also a witch on staff that was active
(03:42):
in what witches do, and it was known
throughout the community that, oh, yeah, she's a witch, and she does these things.
And that was very alarming to us, of course.
And the overhead leadership just
had this dark presence about them. They was not
warm and welcoming. They were not receptive. We did bring our
(04:04):
concerns to the board and to
400 people signed a petition with some of
the same concerns, and they did not listen.
So then we didn't mask our children throughout the pandemic,
and we did a lot of online learning before that, which worked
out horribly, actually. So going into
(04:26):
that fall, they had said they weren't going to mask the kids, and we were
okay with trying it. The. We really liked the one
teacher that the boys had, so
the teachers that each of the boys had. So we were
comfortable with trying it again. But then they changed the policy two weeks
into the school year and said that they were going to require it, and we
(04:48):
said, nope. So
many other concerns. This just wasn't something we were going to add to
the list of why we needed to pull them. And it was the Lord. It
was the Lord's timing. I had
lost a client in May and spent the summer hanging
out with the boys, and I was planning to pick up another client in the
(05:10):
fall. Well, God had plans to.
For us to homeschool. He didn't tell me about this earlier, which would
have been nice, but it was kind of the right timing
for us to jump into homeschooling, where I had less work to
do and we could spend the time figuring out
homeschooling. And honestly, which is why we're doing this
(05:31):
podcast, I was so amazed
and so encouraged. We were
technically, we were forced into homeschooling, but I am so blessed.
I wished we had done it from the beginning because I just didn't
know how amazing it is
for our family, for each of My individual boys
(05:53):
for the community that we have now that I know
everyone needs to do this. I know it's
funny because we were talking a little bit beforehand and I said exactly that. It's
like crazy when you look back and realize how influenced you
were, how your worldview and your perspective was really
shaped by the culture. So, yeah, it sounds like you were
(06:16):
already an involved parents. You were looking at different schools, you were
signing petitions, you were involved in the school board meetings. And I love to
hear that. We obviously want to totally
exhort and encourage every parent to be involved in their child's education.
So I love that that's where it led for you. That. That straw of,
no, no, no, we're not going to do this again. And. And that's common. I
(06:39):
hear that quite a bit. So thank you. I forgot to mention in
your bio that you work. That you were. That you work in marketing
for the dental industries and you still work. So.
But I. I do want to talk about that because that is something that we
see very often to work. There's. We
live in Colorado, which is one of the most expensive states, and the
(07:02):
cost of living is high. And yeah, the sacrifices that you have to make
and the flexibility of your schedule, I definitely want to circle on that. But
before we do, I just want to talk about why you said you never
considered yourself a teacher. I would love to hear, like, what were some of those
things that you were like, well, that's not me.
Yeah. I actually have an elementary education degree, so you'd
(07:24):
think this would fit, right? No.
Homeschooling is very different from
elementary education public school. And my degree has
actually been a detriment, in my opinion, to what our homeschool looks
like now. I hear that a lot. School in a box,
like, this is what you're supposed to do. And you're supposed to do these certain
(07:45):
things by this certain date and cover these topics
so you can pass this certain test. And that's. I
enjoyed school. I'm a type A person, so I liked all those things.
And then when I had a son who was not type A person,
I realized that the system is just not set up
well for him to thrive. And my other two boys, too. Now
(08:08):
that we're out of it, they are thriving. And I didn't
see or even know that they weren't
before. One of them wasn't, but the other two were fine.
But now that we're on the flip side, it's such a big
difference. What would you say is the biggest?
Like, because I Hear the. What you said. I hear it all
(08:30):
the time. I was a teacher, and those are the ones that I
find in my conversations. Found homeschooling initially
pretty hard. Yeah, it was. I mentioned earlier the shift into
homeschooling was great for my boys because they're, like, sweet. We don't have to go
to school. But for me, it was quite traumatic because it was a
complete change in my perspective on what learning
(08:53):
and education is because I had it in this little
box. And I had known people that homeschooled,
and they were, like, loving it, but I just didn't know
why, and I didn't see it as a need for us. And I
never pictured myself teaching homeschool.
I don't know if I had. Well, now on the flip side, do I have
(09:15):
the patience to deal with my children all day long?
And having three different kids and three different grades
and different learning styles and interests,
it was just this big, overwhelming thing that I
had never really pursued because I didn't think
we needed to do that. And I really liked my job in corporate
(09:37):
America. I never taught. I jumped into corporate
America and really liked that aspect of
our family and just the lifestyle that it
afforded. We did. When we switched to homeschooling, we did
have to change some things. And I do still work part time,
which works for our family. So. Yeah,
(10:00):
let's go there then. Let's talk about that. Because you have to work
and you're brand new to homeschooling. I mean, the kids are at this point. So
you have teenagers, right? 15, 13, and 11. Is that correct?
So at the time, they were what, 11? This is our
four years ago. Yeah. Yeah. So
they were. You were starting with second grade through fifth
(10:22):
grade. Is that what it was? I think my oldest was
seventh, third,
and fourth. Okay,
but that. You're jumping right in. It's not like, let's learn to read. Let's read
books. Let's play with play. D'oh. So how is that transition
from, you know, having the kids gone and you working to
(10:45):
them being home and you creating a schedule and then also being
able to balance. You still have to work. Yeah,
I freaked out. It was a really
big change for me, especially because we didn't have it all planned and I
had no idea what to do. But fortunately, God is just so
(11:06):
sovereign. He. I have two really good friends that one who's
homeschooled since the beginning and one who had started homeschooling just the
year prior. And they literally held my hand.
They said, get this curriculum this is the schedule we
do. This is how you can tailor it to each kid. They
were just lovely, so gracious.
(11:29):
And in one friend in particular, early on in
our schooling, I had found another friend in the
neighborhood who homeschooled. So I. We went to the
park during the middle of the day and had lunch, which was
so weird, but amazing. And I was asking her all
about, like, this state
(11:51):
standards that we needed to meet and what testing we needed to do, and all
of those questions that I had because I was still in my school box.
And she was so gracious. She just said,
we don't do that. And that
blew my mind in a good way. I was like, wait,
what? And that's really when the transition from
(12:16):
going to school to really having an education and
learning flipped for me. And it gave me a different perspective.
And, oh, I can teach my kids what I value and
what we want to communicate to them. We want them
to become men of God. And now our homeschool looks very
different, and it's very focused on all those things. Sorry,
(12:38):
I tangented your question. No, I love it. I absolutely love the
tangents. Like I said, we want to get to know you. No, that's.
That's fantastic. And I. You keep referencing this
box, and when I am talking to people who are thinking about homeschooling,
I always tell them, look, homeschooling is not doing school at home. But
that's so hard to get across. They don't understand that. Obviously, you
(13:01):
still want to teach your child. You still want to make sure that they're growing
academically, that you are preparing them for adulthood. So there
is a plan. And so where did you. How did you. You
said it changed, and I loved hearing that you've integrated
faith. And that's. That's exactly it.
I. Michelle, you're not alone. I feel like most people
(13:22):
will start homeschooling for one reason, but continue for a completely
different reason. And that's what I'm hearing you say is that you were
like, oh, this is much more than not
having my kids wear a mask all day. There is a better reason to
homeschool. Right. So tell me about how you landed
on your. How did you get your groove? How did you find
(13:44):
that purpose? And how do you integrate those priorities?
Yeah, it. It took a minute. Like I mentioned, our first couple
weeks of school were public school at home. It had the
structure and kind of the curriculum that we were looking
for. And once I learned that you
don't have to do it that way, it was such A relief off
(14:07):
my back. And it actually ended up
being so much more rich than
what we were doing, what we were, they were getting before. So,
yeah, we open our day in prayer. We use the Bible as our
textbook, as our history book. We talk about heroes of
the faith throughout history. Math is kind of
(14:29):
tricky to integrate into all of our. Every one of our
subjects talks about how God created the world
and how this is. This is part of who we are as a
family and who you are becoming as a man of God in
character. So it shifted from needing to know these certain
facts by this date so you can pass the test to
(14:51):
who we want you to be, who God wants you to be, who you're gifted
in. And then it turned into awe and wonder
for his creation. And, wow, what is this bug
doing today? Which was really hard for me
as a type A personality. Like, I wanted to check
off the box and do the curriculum. Fortunately, the curriculum really
(15:14):
helped broaden that perspective
that. Go on that tangent. Ask
the questions that your kids are interested in and dive in and dig into
that. I have one son who really, really wants to be
a Navy Air Force pilot. So we've completely tailored
his. His curriculum and what he's
(15:36):
doing and into that aerospace program. And I have another one who
wants to be a farmer. Like, very different. So, so fun, different
things to explore those areas. And
for my oldest, too, it really just relaxed. Like,
what do you want to do? Let's learn about that
and then build into what options
(15:59):
would be for after we're done homeschooling. Like, is
college the best fit? Do they have a degree that would fit into
what you're doing? But there's so many other options for them that I just
never knew. Like, you go to school and then you go to college, and then
you get a job. There's so much more out there that I had no
idea existed. I love it. Have you ever been to a
(16:21):
planetarium, you know, where you go and the whole ceiling is round
and it feels like, wow, stars go on forever. It's artificial usually,
but I. That's how I feel when you're describing the box I'm
picturing. And then it opened up for you and you just saw all the
possibilities of being able to encourage your children to be who God made them to
be and explore those passions. That's
(16:43):
beautiful. So you mentioned a little bit
about community, your couple of friends at Homeschooled that kind of
helped you. And the lady you met at the park that was a neighborhood. Let's
talk about That I feel like in my mind, if you're going to start
homeschooling, the first thing you need to do is define why you're doing it. Write
down your vision so that you can get focused and really have a
(17:04):
plan. And then I think it's really important to find community. So
you find like minded people who are going to encourage you, who are going to
exhort you, who are going to. Because it's hard. And there are, there's
curriculum that you have to get through. There's going to be hard days. But let's
talk about that. And I know you also connected with Check and, and
we were able to. There were people who helped you with that. So let's talk
(17:24):
about community. How did that influence you from being
reluctant to. To now saying, everybody, come on, you
can do this? Yes. Yeah,
those. So one friend was out of state so she would call me
frequently and we check. Chat about things. But my local
friend, her and I would get together. That was huge for
(17:46):
me. The kids, they kind of rolled with it, so they
were okay. But eventually we were able to find
a community of homeschoolers and there's so many options, which
is cool too. Like what fits your family, what day of the week,
how much time, commitment.
The homeschool community that we found really focused on some of those
(18:09):
electives like art and music and theater. So they
were able to things that I'm not good at. So
they were able to be part of a group that.
And they develop friendships and that's one of the highlights of their
week is going to see their friends at our community.
But sometimes it took us a little bit to try to find those
(18:31):
people and the right fit for our family too. We explored a couple
different ones. And you said it because if you know why you're
homeschooling and what you want out of it, then it is going to be a
little trial and error from curriculum to community groups to
whatever activities you do to align with your
reason for doing this. Right. Yeah. And
(18:52):
so tell me about how CHEC helped you because I know you reached
out to us. Instrumental. So my friend who
gave me her curriculum, she was also part of chec and we signed up right
away and I did all the things, everything Check had to offer.
You have a really great intro to homeschool schooling, paperwork
on the website as well as a seminar.
(19:16):
Since it was August, we. The conference
didn't happen until the next summer, which was. The conference was
amazing and completely overwhelming. In a good
way. Yeah. Yeah. I highly recommend going to A conference.
So I did the seminars. I even did a high school one because
that was on the horizon for my oldest. The
(19:39):
refresh day was so helpful. And the thing that
really was the biggest testimony about Czech
is Czech. People called me and prayed with
me as I was trying to navigate all of this and
gave me tips and pointers. But really just that phone
call to say, hey, how are you doing? Was the biggest
(20:01):
support for when I was trying to figure it all out.
And I only peppered you with that because you told me this story. That
obviously is our mission at check is we want to encourage,
exhort, pray with families and help them find the help and
resources that fit their family's needs because it's so custom. Everything
is so personal. So let's talk about
(20:23):
curriculum because did you. Yeah, I think you told me that you
started using curriculum that a friend suggested and
have. Have stayed with it. This is something that I hear all the
time from people who are a little nervous about starting homeschooling is, well, I can
never do it. And. And I always say, well, do you know that there is
literally a book that you open? It tells you what to do and you do
(20:44):
it? I mean, you don't have to come up with the lessons. Right.
So tell me your experience with curriculum. Was that an epiphany for you? I guess
if you have an education degree, you maybe had some insight into teachers manuals
already, but a little bit. So that's
one of the areas where was a detriment to me actually, because I had the
lesson plans and the objectives and at least in my homeschooling,
(21:07):
I don't. We don't do all that. But. So yes, I have an open and
go curriculum that we follow. So
I do spend about an hour on Sundays just seeing
what's coming for that week and kind of preparing and getting some extra library
books or if we are doing a cooking thing that week, I get
the ingredients for that. So it was. It
(21:29):
was so easy. It was very different than what I
was expecting because in teacher planning, that's a big part of
your job is developing those lesson plans and coming up with
it. So they had already done it for me. And our curriculum is more
Charlotte Mason oriented and they have all of these fun
activities. At first I tried to do
(21:51):
everything, everything in math,
everything in writing, everything in our curriculum, and it was too much.
But I think a lot of them are designed that way that you can
edit it to your family and what works for the. So
we've since relaxed and we pick and choose the things that we're
interested in to cover in the writing that week. Or we kind of change it.
(22:13):
Like instead of writing on this topic, we're gonna do this topic
instead or see how it all fits in. So
I was really, I really like the curriculum that my friend gave us and we
have continued with that. So going to the conference was completely.
Overwhelming to see all of the other
curriculum. They're all really good
(22:35):
and I really do like to analyze and pick apart and see
each one. And we just landed back where we were because it was a
really strong curriculum. But it's tricky
to navigate that curriculum. So I
think like you said, having your values for your family and
what you want to teach, having that
(22:57):
zeroed in, that will help guide as you choose which curriculum.
And you just gotta pick one and try it. And
if it doesn't work, you can even quit mid year and try something else. Like
homeschooling is very flexible that way. And something
else that I learned from public school to homeschool. I really wanted to
get all of the curriculum done that we had in that certain amount of
(23:19):
time. But even like math teachers, they skip whole chapters
sometimes in public school. So you really don't have to
do it this way. You can do what works for your kids
and your family. Yeah, I like to tell
moms that really you're a student and you're going to be a student of your
student and you're going to try some things that are going to work and you're
(23:40):
going to try some things that are not going to work and just be committed
to the process. It's really fantastic that you had friends that helped
you. I did that with more than one friend where I said,
here, I'm. This is what I'm using. Join me. And you can do it too.
And some of them were like, I love that. And some of them said never.
Because I, yeah, I like to do projects and build things and
(24:02):
all the fun art things that go along with it. But I love
that. So,
yeah, so I really do want to focus back on the
flexibility of being able to work. How does your day look like with you
working and your children? Obviously it's been four years, so where you
started, they've grown and progressed. And as you have, I love hearing
(24:24):
that you have the freedom to adapt your curriculum now.
That is, that's really success to me. So good job.
So how does the day look like? What is the practicality of it?
And maybe where did it start versus where are you now as far as the
Setup of your schedule? Yeah. Fortunately,
my work is remote, so I do have a lot of
(24:47):
flexibility. We usually school in the
morning. I had three teenage boys and they liked to sleep in, so 9
o'clock was our start time, which they loved, instead of getting up at night,
7am and being out the door and early. So, yeah, we
usually did schooled from like 9 to 12, 9 to 1, depending
on how things went that day. And then I had the
(25:09):
afternoon and evening to do meetings and
really get through a lot of work things. And there's times that
my husband can work from home, too. When they. When we
started four years ago, they were younger, so they did need
more of my intervention to keep them on task.
But now that they're older and we kind of have a rhythm and have
(25:32):
this homeschooling thing under our belt, they are able to be a little bit more
independent, which is huge. So I can step
away and do a meeting and they can do their math. Most of the time,
they get it done. That's the goal. Independence, right?
Yes. Most of the time it works into our
schedule. There have been times where I had to do some work stuff and we
(25:55):
just didn't get homeschool done, so we picked it up the next day. And that's
the beauty of homeschooling, is you have that flexibility.
Exactly. You can work your schedule around an unusual that. I
wondered if you were doing that if you guys did some more evening school.
Sometimes I hear that too. So that's awesome. Well,
Michelle, you've been a delight. Thank you for meeting with us
(26:16):
today. We're asking every person before we leave,
what is one of the best tips that you received from
homeschooling? And that word, best, that's intimidating. But let's just say, what's a good
tip that you have received for homeschooling? Oh, there's
so many good golden nuggets throughout the time.
First of all, just do it. Just jump in.
(26:39):
It's so amazing. And then letting
go and letting God. It's been so neat
to see how God has transformed my boys in their
relationships and their family. It's almost not
like school. It's more family and learning all these fun
adventures. So just letting go of what
(27:00):
you think school is and seeing what God has
intended for it to be, to grow our children. I love it.
You. You did it naturally, but you sort of made a theme for our
conversation, and I see it as like, break that box down. Let's get
out of the box. So, so awesome. Well, thank you so much. Again.
Michelle, you have a great day and we hope that you guys were blessed by
(27:23):
being here with us today. 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 parents to disciple the next generation
by embracing home discipleship that is Christ centered, parent
directed and free from government control. Control. We invite you to join us in this
(27:45):
mission. If you want to support homeschooling in Colorado, go to
check.org donate in the meantime, share this with
your friends and make sure you subscribe. That really helps us. Thank
you.
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