August 11, 2025 • 37 mins
What happens when three kids convince their full-time working parents to homeschool them? Our family is about to find out.
When our 10-year-old daughter first suggested homeschooling over a year ago, we responded with an emphatic "No way!" As two parents juggling demanding careers, taking on the role of teachers seemed completely unfeasible. But as we listened to our children's experiences in public school, something shifted in our perspective.
Their excitement about learning beyond worksheets—about sleeping in rather than rushing through chaotic mornings—convinced us to take this unexpected leap.
This podcast documents our family's real-time journey into homeschooling. We're sharing everything honestly: the triumphs, the struggles, and yes, those inevitable moments when math problems cause frustration or when siblings test each other's patience. We're learning to expect the unexpected, navigating this new territory together, and discovering what education can look like when tailored to our children's curiosity and learning styles.
If you're enjoying the podcast, we'd love if you'd share it with someone else who might connect with our story!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
I would probably say that you get to be around your
family a lot, probably go visityour grandparents, and things
that you wouldn't get to do ifyou're at school, because
usually people do sports andstuff.
So on the weekends, when you'renot at school, you have sports
to do, so then you won't be ableto do all the stuff you would
do at home.
That's why kids are like oh mygosh, I'm so excited for the
(00:24):
summer.
They don't realize that theydon't like school.
I mean, they're always like Ilove school so much, I can't
wait to go.
But then, like every day,they're like mom, can we not go
to school today?
And but they don't reallyrealize that.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
But in the summer they're always like, yes, we're
two full-time working parentswho just made a crazy decision.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
After four years in public school, we're
homeschooling our three kids anddocumenting the whole thing.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Never in a million years did I think we would be
homeschool people.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Welcome to well, this wasn't the plan podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
I'm Slate and school's in the kitchen.
Now I'm Scotty.
We say start.
When I say so, I'm Sailor andthis whole podcast was my idea.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
This podcast is our real-time journey, unexpectedly
juggling homeschool jobs,parenting and everything in
between.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Follow along each week as we document how it's
going and share the good, thebad and the ugly, because we
know some days are going to beugly and we're not holding back.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
We're learning to expect the unexpected, so let's
get into it.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Let's go let's get into it.
So we've talked about ourdecision to homeschool and what
we think it will be like andwhat we think maybe won't be so
good.
But now it's time to bring onthe kids and hear what they have
to say about homeschooling.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
This episode will be a little bit less polished.
You know, what we want to hearis what the kids really think.
So there's no script, there'sno anything like that.
That's how we want most ofthese episodes to be.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
So, and a few people had mentioned to me that, or
they implied that we wereforcing the kids to homeschool.
So I thought this episode wasreally important, just so that
you could hear from the kidswhat they think about it, so
that people aren't assuming thatwe're ripping them out of
school and forcing them tohomeschool, because that's not
the case.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Oh yes, we're forcing them to have us become unpaid
teachers.
That was definitely the plan.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Because we all know it would be easier to just send
them to school.
But we can break that all apartin a different episode.
This episode is all about thekids, so we have some questions
to ask them.
We're going to introduce you toeverybody, and just be mindful
that it's kids.
They're moving around a lot andit's going to be a little crazy
.
So, for the first time ever,we're going to introduce the
(02:57):
kids.
We have Sailor.
She's our oldest, she's 10 andshe would be going into the
fourth grade.
We have Slate, who's seven, andhe would be going into second
grade next year.
And then our youngest isScotland, who goes by Scotty
pretty much all the time, andshe is five, about to turn six,
(03:17):
and she would be going intofirst grade.
So I wanted to start this offby giving a little credit to
Sailor.
So it was all her idea to havea podcast.
So, sailor, why did you thinkit would be a good idea to have
a homeschool podcast or a familypodcast where we all talk about
homeschooling?
Speaker 1 (03:37):
I just really thought that if kids about our age
would listen to the podcast,they would think that, oh, I
really think that homeschoolingmight be good for our family and
they'll start to like thinkabout what else they want to
learn other than like theregular stuff in school, like
math and reading right.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
I think that's cool.
So you are actually the firstperson that in this whole family
that ever said the wordhomeschooling and it was your
idea that we would do it.
And do you remember how me anddad were like, no, we're not
homeschooling you.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Oh yeah, I was.
I was like I think that's goingto happen.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
We were like no say, there, we have a full time job.
Like how are we going tohomeschool you?
And this was, you know, atleast a year and a half ago, if
not more, and we thought it wasjust this crazy idea.
But sailor really wanted tohomeschool.
And then fast forward all thesemonths later.
Not only are we homeschoolingand we're doing what you said,
(04:40):
but we're having a podcast,because you had the idea to have
a podcast.
So what are your hopes for thispodcast, what do you want to
happen with it and what do youwant us to talk about?
Speaker 1 (04:49):
I want all the parents and kids to want to
start homeschooling, because youcan learn other things.
That's not just something youwould learn when you're older,
something that's reallyimportant.
So when you start driving,driving then you can go places
by yourself.
You know how to get around inthe airport and know how to cook
(05:11):
, so then you'll know things.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
So when you're older, something that we talk about
all the time in this family islife skills.
We tell them taylor, you haveto do your laundry, because
you're going to need to knowthat.
Or when we travel, we make surethat we let them be in on it so
that they're learning.
So what you're talking about islearning all the things that
you don't get at school, andit's kind of hard for us to
(05:34):
teach you that whenever we haveyou in school eight hours a day.
So here we are.
We are doing the podcast.
That was all your idea, and Ithink that it's going to be a
really good way for us all tosit down as a family and talk
about how it's going, because,let's be honest, you're not
going to love homeschoolingevery day, but did you love
(05:55):
going to school every day?
Speaker 1 (05:57):
No, not really.
I thought it was the same thingevery day and I mean there was
nothing that really happened,Right?
Speaker 3 (06:04):
So there's going to really happened, right.
So there's going to be somegood days.
There are going to be some baddays where you're like, oh, I
hate homeschooling, I want to goback to school, and we're just
going to talk about it and we'regoing to use these podcast
episodes to check in everysingle week and then let's talk
about.
What you had said about thepodcast was that you really are
interested in learning how to doCanva and how to edit the
(06:26):
podcast, which I thought wascool.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
When I started to tell my mom and dad about
homeschooling, I didn't reallyknow what it was about.
I just thought it was the samething at school.
I mean, we would haveeverything that we did at school
, except for, you know, we wouldnot have to wake up early.
I thought we would do schoolall day.
I didn't think we would learnhow to cook or navigate
(06:50):
ourselves in the airport.
I didn't think about that stuff.
I just thought I would be homeall the time and we would still
get a lot of stuff.
I just didn't really know whatit was.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
So you thought you would just be doing basically
your same day at school, but youwould do it at home.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Yes, but I still really thought it was a good
idea, and now I think it's evenbetter.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
So you think it's even better now that we're not
really going to be sitting downdoing schoolwork for that many
hours and we're going to get todo things that maybe you pick
out.
So if there's something youwant to learn, you get to do it.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Now we want to hear from some of the other kids and
while we did say this is notscripted it's not we did give
the kids these questions inadvance, just so they could
spend some time thinking aboutit and come up with some good
answers.
But we haven't heard theseanswers.
So I warn you you might hearsomething crazy.
All right, slate, tell us yourname and how old you are, and
(07:48):
one thing you like to do whenyou're not in school my name's
Slate.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
I'm seven years old, and when I'm not at school, I
love to read okay, what do youlike to read?
I like to read um Dave Billy.
Books are really funny and andthe dog main ones have lots of
action.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Oh yeah, what else does he write?
Speaker 1 (08:11):
He writes Cat Kid Comic Club and Captain
Underpants, and he also writesSuper Diaper Baby.
They're all really funny.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
They do sound really funny.
How did you feel about publicschool?
Speaker 1 (08:27):
I felt very bad.
I hated it because I didn'tlearn anything, because I was
way above everybody else in alot of the subjects.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Oh, okay, that is true, though you were advanced
projects.
Oh, okay, that is true, thoughyou were advanced, and so you
know, when you were sittingthere and they were teaching the
rest of the class the thingsthey needed to learn, they were
things that you already knew.
So did you think that was kindof boring?
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Yes, everything I basically did was sit and write
down stuff.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Yeah, that does sound boring.
I had that same experience whenI was in school and,
unfortunately for me, homeschoolwasn't really an option, but I
do understand that pain.
What was something that you didlike about public school?
What was your favorite thing?
Pe, pe, yeah, that's a good one.
I bet a lot of kids feel thesame way.
Okay, so was there anythingthat was hard in school?
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Well, our teacher made us color a lot.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Do you like to color?
Speaker 1 (09:30):
No.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
I didn't like to color either, and that was one
of my least favorite thingsabout school.
I'm not an artist, don't wantto be an artist, and I really
didn't want to spend an hourcoloring.
So is there anything thatyou'll miss from your old school
?
Speaker 1 (09:46):
My friends.
They're really nice.
The one that I'm going to missmost of all is Grace and Gentry.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Oh, that's nice.
So what do you thinkhomeschooling will be like?
Speaker 1 (10:00):
I think I'm going to have really fun.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
So tell me something that you're excited about and
something that you're nervousabout for homeschooling.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
I'm really excited about that.
We're going to learn to cook,because I love eating.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Yeah, me too.
I love to eat and I like tocook.
You've already been helping mecook, and now we'll have a lot
more time for that.
But what's something you'renervous about?
I'm not nervous about anything,really.
Oh, that's good.
Okay, I like the confidence.
Is there anything that issurprising to you?
Speaker 1 (10:33):
That it's only two hours.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
That's true.
At least that's our plan.
We think we can get it all donein that amount of time.
Of course, if y'all are uh,right now, y'all are all at the
top of your class for math andreading and all those things,
and we're going to keep up withall the map testing to make sure
that you stay that way.
So if we need to spend a littlebit more time to keep you there
, then we will.
If not, then we won't.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Okay, Scotty B, are you ready to talk?
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Yes, okay, tell everybody your name and tell
them how old you are.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
My name is Scotty and I'm five.
Can you tell us about school?
Did you like school?
Speaker 1 (11:13):
No.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
You didn't.
What did you not like aboutschool?
Speaker 1 (11:19):
That we had the color and like it took a lot of time
to like make sure it's the rightcolor and sometimes you think
it's the wrong color.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Okay, so a lot of coloring.
Same with Slate, which Iunderstand because you're at
school for a really long time,and whenever other kids are
being taught something, then theother kids need to sit and do
something.
So when you're in kindergartenand first grade, unfortunately
that's a lot of coloring, right?
Yes, can you tell me whatyou're most excited about when
(11:55):
it comes to homeschooling?
Speaker 1 (11:58):
I'm excited to cook because I wanted to know how to
cook, because it looks like fun.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Yeah, so one of the things we've been talking about
with the kids is that we'regoing to cook a lot at
homeschool, so they're going totake turns cooking the meals
with us.
So in the morning when we havebreakfast, maybe Sailor will do
it on one day and then she'llhelp and get to like learn that,
and then the next day slatewill help me and the next day
scotty will help me, and thenwe'll just have one kid in the
(12:29):
kitchen for all meals so thatthey can slowly learn all the
things all I'm like only oneperson, the same person every
single time yeah, so one personwill get to cook for the day
with me or dad, and we've justlearned that getting all the
kids in the kitchen at the sametime is just too much chaos.
(12:50):
Lately what we've been doing isletting one kid help at a time,
but sometimes that just doesn'thappen, especially during the
school year.
You know we're in a hurry orwe're at sports or whatever, so
we're all looking forward tothem being able to cook with us
a lot more often so they canlearn lots of things.
Are you excited that inhomeschool you get to be outside
(13:11):
a lot?
Yes, what do you like to dooutside?
Speaker 1 (13:14):
I like, like, if you have a playground and I like to
like go on the monkey boys andlike do them a lot of times if
you have some.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
What's something that you think that you'll miss from
school when you're homeschooled?
Speaker 1 (13:30):
I'm gonna miss my teacher and my friends.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
You loved your teacher this year and it was
really hard to say goodbye toher and you had a really good
friend.
But we will definitely be doingthings to make some new friends
.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Now you got to hear from Saylor a little bit earlier
, but we want to circle backaround to her.
So, Saylor, tell everyone yourname, how old you are and one
thing you like to do when you'renot in school.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
My name is Saylor.
I'm 10 years old.
I like to do gymnastics andcompetitive cheer when I'm not
at school.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
So tell me how you felt about public school.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
I did not like it at all because I had to wake up
early, non-stop work and we didnot go outside very often.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
I remember you telling me about that, not just
non-stop work, but repetitivework, doing worksheets on the
same topic over and over.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Yeah, that was a little bit getting.
That was getting really boringactually.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
I think for some kids it might be necessary.
Repetition might be importantfor some people to learn.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
But they should go to like other classes.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Maybe so For the kids that don't need the repetition,
it can be painfully boring.
What was your favorite thingabout public school?
Speaker 1 (14:54):
boring.
What was your favorite thingabout public school?
I liked field day and talentshow and field trips and I just
really liked learning aboutscience because we didn't do
lots of worksheets on science,so then there was like lots of
different things.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
So it sounds like all the things that you liked were
things that are outside the normof actual school Field day it's
a day that's different from allthe other days.
Or Field day it's a day that'sdifferent from all the other
days.
Or talent show day it's anotherday that's different from all
the days.
And then science it was the onething that you actually did
some science experiments and gotto do some hands-on learning.
So it sounds like that's thereason.
(15:25):
Yes, maybe more than anybody.
It sounds like standardschooling is not really your cup
of tea.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
No, not really.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Now that's not to say you didn't do.
Well, tell everybody did youget?
What kind of grades did you get?
Speaker 1 (15:40):
I got A's Sometimes I mean sometimes I just wasn't
paying attention and I got B's.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
On papers, but on your report cards.
What did you get, oh?
Speaker 1 (15:50):
all A's.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
All four years that you were in elementary school,
straight as yeah all, as that'sright Every year.
And not only that, but whatother award did you win?
Speaker 1 (16:02):
I got the Accelerated Reader Award because I had the
most AR points.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
The most in your class.
No, the most in your grade.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
No.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
The most in the class ?
No, the most in your grade.
No, the most in the wholeschool.
Yes, okay, now I'm not justsaying that just to brag on my
kid, or maybe a little bit, butalso I just want to point out
that this isn't a kid that isdoing badly in school or that
struggles with learning.
This is a kid that is excellingin the school, at the top of
her class, making straight A's,and the number one reader in the
(16:38):
school at the top of her class,making straight A's and the
number one reader in the school,and you know, it's just the way
that some of these things areset up.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Okay, you want to.
You want to tell people howmany AR points you got?
Yeah, I got 270 points.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
That's awesome, that is a lot of.
That was a lot of Harry Potterbooks, a lot of babysitter club
books.
But hey, a lot of that was alot of Harry Potter books, a lot
of babysitter club books.
But hey, we'll get more intothat later, when we do our book
club and say there, you know,you actually liked all your
teachers too, right?
Speaker 1 (16:58):
So I miss them so much.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Okay.
So you see, this isn't aproblem with the teachers.
We were at a great school.
She had great teachers that shereally likes.
It's the.
It's the system.
The system is the problem.
It's what they make theteachers do.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Yeah, I totally agree .
It's definitely not theteachers.
We've had some amazing teachersand we don't want this podcast
to come off like we dislike theteachers.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
I want to shout out to my two third grade teachers I
had were Miss Perry was myreading and social studies and I
had Miss Underwood for my mathand science.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
And we love them and they are amazing people and
amazing teachers.
But one thing I did want to saywe all are talking about
reading.
I wanted to touch on this howmuch time did you spend at
school reading?
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Not a lot.
I mean we like did some readingthings to help us be able to
read better, but we never reallylike read stories in books.
I mean we mostly just didworksheets on books basically,
which was not fun.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
So out of those points that you had to read the
books and take the test on forAR, you weren't actually reading
at school.
All of that had to be done athome, right, right.
So that is another kind of bigproblem we had is that our kids
love reading.
We put a lot of work intomaking sure that they love to
read because it's so important,but really they have to do all
(18:28):
of this outside of schoolwhenever there's only a tiny bit
of time left in the day.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
I wasn't the only one reading Accelerated Reader.
My amazing brother has a fewthings to say about his AR
points.
I wasn't just the most in myclass but the most in my grade.
But the most in my grade.
(19:00):
The principal was verysurprised to see that I had over
100 points.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
I had 109.5 and that's really impressive for a
first grader bud.
A lot of first graders arestill working on learning to
read and you read a lot of books.
We're so proud of you.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Okay, let's ask Slade another one, because I actually
peeked ahead at his answer onthis one just a second ago and I
really want to get this one inthere.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
So, slade, what are?
And we did not tell him to saythis, he came up with this on
his own.
What are your hopes forhomeschool?
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Basically.
So skip ahead grades because itdoesn't matter about your age,
it matters how smart you are,basically.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Now I think the reason Slate knows about that as
a possibility is just because,like Sailor mentioned earlier, I
think they were a little bitafraid that homeschool was going
to be basically the same thing,except just at home, and so I
was trying to tell them how.
No, if you get all of thematerial down that a second
grader needs to know, even ifit's only the first semester,
(20:02):
then we'll move on to thirdgrade material and we'll just
keep going until we get tosomething that's hard, and so
you won't be wasting your timedoing worksheets on the same
thing that you alreadyunderstand and he was really
excited about that, so excitedabout being able to move on when
they have a concept and justmove on to something else.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
All right, the last question for slate.
If you were going to tell otherkids about homeschooling, how
would you explain it to them?
Speaker 1 (20:26):
I would say that it's very fun because you can sleep
in only two hours and not a lotof worksheets.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
I like it All.
Right, Scotty, are you readyfor some more questions?
If you could tell other kidswho don't know about
homeschooling what it's like,what would you say?
Speaker 1 (20:54):
schooling what it's like.
What would you say that likeyou should be homeschooled and
and you should have more fun andnot to sit around doing
worksheets every single daygoing to school and you want to
get to sleep in.
You'd have to get ready so muchtimes it's true.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Are you looking forward to sleeping in and not
being rushed every morning?
Speaker 1 (21:13):
yes, I don't really like being like waked up early.
It's not very like fail,because because you have to like
wake up and you're still tiredand like you don't want to get
just right away because you'restill tired and you feel like
you don't know what you're gonnawear and like you don't want to
get dressed right away becauseyou're too tired and you feel
like you don't know what you'regonna wear and like you're too
(21:35):
tired to get stuff it's.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
It's kind of hard in the morning when you're waking
everybody up and me and dad arelike go go, go, go go because we
don't want to be late, right,and you're ready to not do that
every day.
Yes, you can sleep in a littlebit and then start school,
whenever you wake up.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Yep, and it's really.
It's really.
I'm really glad now because weget to sleep in.
It's not only like the wholeday and like so much hours, but
it's only two hours.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Yes, school will be a lot shorter and it's more fun.
Exactly Okay, Sailor, tell mewhat you're most excited about
when it comes to homeschooling.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
I'm just really excited to sleep in, like Scotty
said, and I'm excited that well, in the mornings, when you wake
up, mom and dad will be workinguntil like 10.
So then you won't, when youstart doing work, you won't be
so tired and you won't be like,oh my gosh, I forgot this
question because I'm so tired inthe morning and I'm just really
(22:43):
excited to go on all thevacations, because people won't
be at the airport when it'sschool time, because most people
go to school.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
That's true.
Is there anything that you'renervous about?
Speaker 1 (22:54):
I'm not nervous at all.
I'm mostly excited, awesome.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
I like that.
I like that answer.
So Sailor mentioned that we'vealready talked about our
schedule plan and you guys knowthat me and dad have to work in
the morning, right yeah?
And what are you going to bedoing in the morning whenever
we're working till 10?
Speaker 1 (23:12):
so right now I've been like not really sleeping in
.
I've been kind of waking up,like what we've been at school,
since it's still summer, but Ithink I'll probably sleep in a
lot, probably just like wake up,listen to my audiobook color,
maybe read.
Maybe, if Scott and Slay areawake, we can like play quiet
(23:33):
game yeah, so well, that soundslike an amazing morning, does
that sound?
Speaker 3 (23:38):
way better does that sound way better than rushing
out the door every day?
Um, yeah, of course it does.
I was kind of feeling like andyou said this to me once that
the only time we had togetherwas in the morning, when we're
yelling at you guys, come on,come on, come on, let's go.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
And then at night when we're saying it's bedtime,
it's bedtime, it's bedtime yeah,I say that actually a lot after
schools and and I'm so gladthat it's summer now, because I
mean school is just not ourthing it's not our thing.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
We're not having to rush you to go do anything.
You just get to wake up, listento your audiobook, relax, like
maybe go outside play a gamewith your brother and your
sister.
That sounds like an amazingmorning.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Oh yeah.
So we've talked a lot about howhomeschooling will look and our
plans for it.
Is there anything thatsurprises you about our plans
and our hopes and dreams abouthomeschooling?
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Not really.
I'm just surprised that you anddad were like, okay, let's just
start homeschooling, because atthe first part of the year we
were not thinking about that.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
No, I told you absolutely not.
I also said that once you woreme down a little bit I said
maybe when Scotty could read,and that would be like a little
bit down the road.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
But we started this reading lesson thing and she got
me to be able to read.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
Yeah, she can read now for sure.
I just it's really easy for youand Slate to sit down and do
like a worksheet because youalready have you can read.
You can read the worksheet.
You can do simple math, likeit's really easy to help you
guys do a worksheet becausewe've done some summer ones and
stuff.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
But when you can't read, scotty needs a lot of help
right now yeah, and then youcan't really like if we're
homeschooled and then we're alldoing our own worksheets same,
not the same level, you know.
Yeah, and scotty doesn't knowhow to read and she's like
Sailor or Slate.
Can you tell me what this says?
And I'll be like Scotty I'mtrying to do what I'm supposed
(25:41):
to do and then we'll never getit done, right?
Speaker 3 (25:44):
So that was one of my reasons.
Was that?
No, if we were to everhomeschool which I was like
we're not, we're ever homeschoolwhich I was like we're not,
we're not homeschooling it wouldhave to be once all of you guys
would be able to do some of iton your own?
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Yeah, but you weren't for sure at all at that point.
You were like, even if we wouldread?
I was like you're probablygoing to say no, Even if we
could read.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
I said no.
Like a hundred times, we werelike nope.
And here we are on ourhomeschool podcast.
So if you could plan out yourdream school day, what would it
look like?
What would you do?
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Probably a lot like homeschooling, probably like not
that much works.
We would go outside for most ofthe day and when I went into
third grade it was a lotdifferent from second grade,
like we did not play or didanything like that, it was just
like worksheets, worksheets,worksheets all day.
(26:43):
And we would always be so happywhen it's time for like lunch
or on recess, when we get like afew minutes outside.
And sometimes it wasn't thebest weather because you know
like at Christmas time we werenalways there, but it would be
too cold and sometimes it wastoo hot or windy and it's pretty
(27:03):
strict because the school isalways like it has to be below
90 degrees or we can't gooutside.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Right, they have some pretty strict guidelines.
I don't know what it isactually on paper, on what it is
, but what you actually did,y'all didn't go outside a lot.
Simply, y'all didn't go outsidea lot.
Simply, y'all didn't go outsidea lot.
And so what I'm hearing is aperfect day for you would be to
learn a little bit, but noteight hours, yeah, and to be
(27:33):
outside a lot of your day.
That would make you happy, Istill want to learn a lot.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
I mean there's like so much things in life to learn,
but I mean I don't really wantto learn a lot.
I mean there's like so muchthings in life to learn, but I
mean I don't really want to.
You know what you said I don'twant to learn for eight hours.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
You don't want to sit at a table for eight hours, but
what if you went?
Speaker 1 (27:47):
We can learn outside, Like learn about animals and
nature for science, and then wecould actually if our teachers
were like okay, let's do aworksheet.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
We could go outside in the butterfly garden and do
it outside.
That would be actually reallynice.
Yes, if you can't tell, sailorhas a lot of energy and you know
she's in third grade.
She still want you still wantto play you want to go outside,
you want to do recess and youwant to, you know, get your
wiggles out and it's hard to sitfor that long.
It's not fun.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Yeah, I'm really crazy a lot.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
So your perfect day would be you get to get a lot of
energy out and you get to learna lot of things, and the
learning might not be sitting ata desk, it might be traveling,
it might be going to the sciencemuseum, it might be going to
the park, all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Yeah, I feel like maybe every week we'd have a
field trip to like go to amuseum or like a park or
something.
That would be something to learnat, like if we went to a fossil
dinosaur fossil museum or therecould be, like, different
fossils and stuff there, orcould be history, because
(28:59):
history is not my thing I do notlike history, but I think it
would be fun if we, like went toa museum and read, read all the
signs and looked at the coolstuff and the videos on those
little posters I think are coolbecause they, like show you what
it actually looks like yeah, Ithink that's awesome idea.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
There's no reason, when you're homeschooling, that
you can't do a field trip everyweek.
Now that might mean field tripsto different places, but
everywhere you're learningsomething.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
I feel like if we're homeschooled, we're pretty much
gonna have a field trip everyday, because maybe, maybe a few
days in the month we might likestay home and like have a lazy
day.
We still like do work and stuff, but maybe have like a movie
night or game night for sure.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Another thing that we're trying to do is life
skills.
So that's going to the bankwith your dad opening up your
own bank account, things likethat.
Those are also field trips whenyou're homeschooled, because
you learn life lessons.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
But going to the bank is not fun going to the bank is
not fun.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Going to the bank is not fun, no, but do you think
it's something that you need tolearn to do?
Speaker 1 (30:03):
No.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
Okay, sailor.
Last question for you today Ifyou could tell other kids about
homeschooling what it's like,how would you describe it to
them?
Speaker 1 (30:16):
I would probably say that you get to be around your
family a lot, probably go visityour grandparents, and things
that you wouldn't get to do ifyou're at school, because
usually people do sports andstuff.
So on the weekends, when you'renot at school, you have sports
to do, so then you won't be ableto do all the stuff you would
do at home.
That's why kids are like oh mygosh, I'm so excited for the
(30:40):
summer.
They don't realize that theydon't like school.
I mean, they're always like Ilove school so much, I can't
wait to go.
But then, like every day,they're like mom, can we not go
to school today?
And but they don't reallyrealize that.
But in the summer they'realways like, yes, yeah, I think
(31:03):
you're right.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
Kids need some downtime, time where they're not
going to school and then goingto camp, and then going to
practice and then going to agame all week long.
You need time to be a kid.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Yeah, that's what I meant.
You're right, all right.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
Those are all really good points that you made and,
oh man, I have so much more, somany more thoughts about
homeschool and everything that Iwant to share.
But this episode was a lotabout the kids and it's already
running kind of long, so wementioned it before the school
year even started and then wetalked about it all year long.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
And then, by the time school is out, they were so
ready to be homeschooled and so,as you can see, we've talked
about it a lot.
But I like documenting thisbecause we all have these like
hopes and dreams of what it willbe like and hopefully we can
make that happen, but also weknow there will be bumps along
the way.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
I think that we'll have the best time ever at
homeschooling.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
We're going to remember that and I think you
will like it better.
I think there will be days thatyou are mad at us Because we're
making you work on maybesomething that's in math, that's
hard and frustrating, but we'regoing to have to make you do it
anyway and you might getannoyed with us.
I'm sure I'll hear the phrase.
When am I even going to usethis in life a bunch of times?
Speaker 1 (32:32):
For sure.
Yeah, there's a lot of thingsthat I think about that I mean
sometimes when you're older youmight have a job in math I mean
it's a little bit of percentagebecause there's lots of jobs but
sometimes I just think thatit's not good to like know some
of the things.
Like in school we were learningabout pickles, so in third
(32:54):
grade, so I was like that's nota good life skill.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
Well, there's a lot of things in school that we
probably won't touch on as much,and that's not a good life
skill.
Well, there's a lot of thingsin school that we probably won't
touch on as much, and that'sactually one of the good things
about homeschooling is that youcan pick the things that you're
focusing on what's important toyou, what's important to your
family.
That doesn't mean that you getto skip math or history or
science or any of the importantthings.
It just means that some of thatother filler stuff we get to
(33:21):
fill with stuff that we reallywant to do and stuff that really
excites you.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
We always joke about the Johnny Appleseed thing
because they always learn aboutJohnny Appleseed and you got to
make a full hat, you know, andsend it up there.
The thing is we're not pickingon the teachers for doing that.
First of all, I don't even maybethey make them do it.
But even if they don't, I'msure they're just trying to find
a way to split up the drudgeryof the normal day-to-day stuff
that they have to do with thekids, to help the kids have a
(33:46):
little bit better time.
And I can totally understandthat, because people pay
property taxes and a lot ofpeople have regular jobs and
some of that money is going toguarantee that you have
childcare from eight to three,and but that kind of is part of
what school is.
For a lot of people it's notjust learning, it's also
childcare, and so a lot of timesthey're like well, we're going
(34:07):
to fill some of the time withthis other stuff.
Maybe if my kids never learnedabout Johnny Appleseed it
wouldn't be the end of the world.
Maybe it's a little bit morefun than some other lessons, but
you're homeschooled.
That's stuff that you can justskip and they can just go and
read a book that they want toread or go do something else so
we were going to thank all ofthe kids to wrap up the podcast.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
Thank you for sitting down and talking to us today,
but all we have left here issailor.
So sailor is going to help uswrap up the episode, and thank
you so much, sail, for sittinghere and talking to us and
giving us all your homeschoolwisdom.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
It's only me, because the other two wanted to go play
.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
We've been here for a while, as you can imagine,
trying to sit down with threekids and microphones and a
computer.
It's harder than it sounds.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
I mean I am the oldest, I mean a five and a
seven year old might want to golike outside or something.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
And I think in future episodes we definitely want to
hear from the kids.
I don't know that we'll do alot of episodes, it's all three.
I think we might get a lot moreuseful information if we bring
in different kids on differentepisodes.
Say, there's pointing toherself yes, you will be on a
lot of the episodes because itwas her idea.
Sure, sure, but uh, in general,as long as you know we have the
(35:25):
kids one-on-one, I think we theywill do better.
They'll enjoy it more.
They liked the part where theygot to talk they just didn't so
much enjoy the part where otherpeople.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
This is boring For real, though.
Having them sit and talk justreally like fires me up about it
and reminds me why we're doingthis, because sometimes when we
talk about it, I get a littlenervous and a little scared,
like what are we doing here?
But hearing from them justkeeps putting all of those
reasons at the forefront of mymind so that I can get fired up
(35:57):
all over again.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
That means we might have to talk about it all the
time, which will be good,because then you will never
regret it.
Speaker 3 (36:07):
Well, we're gonna be checking in weekly.
So this week we might be like,yay, we love homeschooling.
And next week we might be like,oh, it's the worst week ever.
Mom and dad made me do all thisstuff.
Everyone was fighting can theygo back to school?
We're gonna have the good, thebad and the ugly I don't think
that'll happen.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
I think we'll love homeschooling and in no days
we'll think it's bad.
No days we'll be like I want togo to school.
I mean, sometimes we might,because we might want to get
away from our family a littlebit, because you know all the
time with your siblings and momand dad, that's a lot sometimes
we need to get.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
Uh, taryn, I need you to cut out that part where she
says we're gonna love it everyday and send it to me as a
ringtone and I'm gonna save thatfor every time that there's an
issue are you actually gonna cutit out, mom?
Speaker 3 (36:57):
no, we're gonna keep it in there, but I'm sure we'll
be listening back to thisepisode in the next few months.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
All right.
Well, I think that we'regetting close to the end here.
Saylor, do you want to wrap usup?
Speaker 1 (37:09):
If this episode made you think about something or
made you smile, please send itto somebody, because they might
like it too.
And this was a kids podcast.
So, kids, I'll see you later.
Speaker 3 (37:24):
Bye, and that's a wrap the kids are eagerly
awaiting their very firstpodcast review, so if you have a
minute and you enjoyed thisepisode, will you please leave
us a review?
Thanks,
I would probably say that you get to be around your
family a lot, probably go visityour grandparents, and things
that you wouldn't get to do ifyou're at school, because
usually people do sports andstuff.
So on the weekends, when you'renot at school, you have sports
to do, so then you won't be ableto do all the stuff you would
do at home.
That's why kids are like oh mygosh, I'm so excited for the
(00:24):
summer.
They don't realize that theydon't like school.
I mean, they're always like Ilove school so much, I can't
wait to go.
But then, like every day,they're like mom, can we not go
to school today?
And but they don't reallyrealize that.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
But in the summer they're always like, yes, we're
two full-time working parentswho just made a crazy decision.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
After four years in public school, we're
homeschooling our three kids anddocumenting the whole thing.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Never in a million years did I think we would be
homeschool people.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Welcome to well, this wasn't the plan podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
I'm Slate and school's in the kitchen.
Now I'm Scotty.
We say start.
When I say so, I'm Sailor andthis whole podcast was my idea.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
This podcast is our real-time journey, unexpectedly
juggling homeschool jobs,parenting and everything in
between.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Follow along each week as we document how it's
going and share the good, thebad and the ugly, because we
know some days are going to beugly and we're not holding back.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
We're learning to expect the unexpected, so let's
get into it.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Let's go let's get into it.
So we've talked about ourdecision to homeschool and what
we think it will be like andwhat we think maybe won't be so
good.
But now it's time to bring onthe kids and hear what they have
to say about homeschooling.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
This episode will be a little bit less polished.
You know, what we want to hearis what the kids really think.
So there's no script, there'sno anything like that.
That's how we want most ofthese episodes to be.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
So, and a few people had mentioned to me that, or
they implied that we wereforcing the kids to homeschool.
So I thought this episode wasreally important, just so that
you could hear from the kidswhat they think about it, so
that people aren't assuming thatwe're ripping them out of
school and forcing them tohomeschool, because that's not
the case.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Oh yes, we're forcing them to have us become unpaid
teachers.
That was definitely the plan.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Because we all know it would be easier to just send
them to school.
But we can break that all apartin a different episode.
This episode is all about thekids, so we have some questions
to ask them.
We're going to introduce you toeverybody, and just be mindful
that it's kids.
They're moving around a lot andit's going to be a little crazy
.
So, for the first time ever,we're going to introduce the
(02:57):
kids.
We have Sailor.
She's our oldest, she's 10 andshe would be going into the
fourth grade.
We have Slate, who's seven, andhe would be going into second
grade next year.
And then our youngest isScotland, who goes by Scotty
pretty much all the time, andshe is five, about to turn six,
(03:17):
and she would be going intofirst grade.
So I wanted to start this offby giving a little credit to
Sailor.
So it was all her idea to havea podcast.
So, sailor, why did you thinkit would be a good idea to have
a homeschool podcast or a familypodcast where we all talk about
homeschooling?
Speaker 1 (03:37):
I just really thought that if kids about our age
would listen to the podcast,they would think that, oh, I
really think that homeschoolingmight be good for our family and
they'll start to like thinkabout what else they want to
learn other than like theregular stuff in school, like
math and reading right.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
I think that's cool.
So you are actually the firstperson that in this whole family
that ever said the wordhomeschooling and it was your
idea that we would do it.
And do you remember how me anddad were like, no, we're not
homeschooling you.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Oh yeah, I was.
I was like I think that's goingto happen.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
We were like no say, there, we have a full time job.
Like how are we going tohomeschool you?
And this was, you know, atleast a year and a half ago, if
not more, and we thought it wasjust this crazy idea.
But sailor really wanted tohomeschool.
And then fast forward all thesemonths later.
Not only are we homeschoolingand we're doing what you said,
(04:40):
but we're having a podcast,because you had the idea to have
a podcast.
So what are your hopes for thispodcast, what do you want to
happen with it and what do youwant us to talk about?
Speaker 1 (04:49):
I want all the parents and kids to want to
start homeschooling, because youcan learn other things.
That's not just something youwould learn when you're older,
something that's reallyimportant.
So when you start driving,driving then you can go places
by yourself.
You know how to get around inthe airport and know how to cook
(05:11):
, so then you'll know things.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
So when you're older, something that we talk about
all the time in this family islife skills.
We tell them taylor, you haveto do your laundry, because
you're going to need to knowthat.
Or when we travel, we make surethat we let them be in on it so
that they're learning.
So what you're talking about islearning all the things that
you don't get at school, andit's kind of hard for us to
(05:34):
teach you that whenever we haveyou in school eight hours a day.
So here we are.
We are doing the podcast.
That was all your idea, and Ithink that it's going to be a
really good way for us all tosit down as a family and talk
about how it's going, because,let's be honest, you're not
going to love homeschoolingevery day, but did you love
(05:55):
going to school every day?
Speaker 1 (05:57):
No, not really.
I thought it was the same thingevery day and I mean there was
nothing that really happened,Right?
Speaker 3 (06:04):
So there's going to really happened, right.
So there's going to be somegood days.
There are going to be some baddays where you're like, oh, I
hate homeschooling, I want to goback to school, and we're just
going to talk about it and we'regoing to use these podcast
episodes to check in everysingle week and then let's talk
about.
What you had said about thepodcast was that you really are
interested in learning how to doCanva and how to edit the
(06:26):
podcast, which I thought wascool.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
When I started to tell my mom and dad about
homeschooling, I didn't reallyknow what it was about.
I just thought it was the samething at school.
I mean, we would haveeverything that we did at school
, except for, you know, we wouldnot have to wake up early.
I thought we would do schoolall day.
I didn't think we would learnhow to cook or navigate
(06:50):
ourselves in the airport.
I didn't think about that stuff.
I just thought I would be homeall the time and we would still
get a lot of stuff.
I just didn't really know whatit was.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
So you thought you would just be doing basically
your same day at school, but youwould do it at home.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Yes, but I still really thought it was a good
idea, and now I think it's evenbetter.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
So you think it's even better now that we're not
really going to be sitting downdoing schoolwork for that many
hours and we're going to get todo things that maybe you pick
out.
So if there's something youwant to learn, you get to do it.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Now we want to hear from some of the other kids and
while we did say this is notscripted it's not we did give
the kids these questions inadvance, just so they could
spend some time thinking aboutit and come up with some good
answers.
But we haven't heard theseanswers.
So I warn you you might hearsomething crazy.
All right, slate, tell us yourname and how old you are, and
(07:48):
one thing you like to do whenyou're not in school my name's
Slate.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
I'm seven years old, and when I'm not at school, I
love to read okay, what do youlike to read?
I like to read um Dave Billy.
Books are really funny and andthe dog main ones have lots of
action.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Oh yeah, what else does he write?
Speaker 1 (08:11):
He writes Cat Kid Comic Club and Captain
Underpants, and he also writesSuper Diaper Baby.
They're all really funny.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
They do sound really funny.
How did you feel about publicschool?
Speaker 1 (08:27):
I felt very bad.
I hated it because I didn'tlearn anything, because I was
way above everybody else in alot of the subjects.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Oh, okay, that is true, though you were advanced
projects.
Oh, okay, that is true, thoughyou were advanced, and so you
know, when you were sittingthere and they were teaching the
rest of the class the thingsthey needed to learn, they were
things that you already knew.
So did you think that was kindof boring?
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Yes, everything I basically did was sit and write
down stuff.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Yeah, that does sound boring.
I had that same experience whenI was in school and,
unfortunately for me, homeschoolwasn't really an option, but I
do understand that pain.
What was something that you didlike about public school?
What was your favorite thing?
Pe, pe, yeah, that's a good one.
I bet a lot of kids feel thesame way.
Okay, so was there anythingthat was hard in school?
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Well, our teacher made us color a lot.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Do you like to color?
Speaker 1 (09:30):
No.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
I didn't like to color either, and that was one
of my least favorite thingsabout school.
I'm not an artist, don't wantto be an artist, and I really
didn't want to spend an hourcoloring.
So is there anything thatyou'll miss from your old school
?
Speaker 1 (09:46):
My friends.
They're really nice.
The one that I'm going to missmost of all is Grace and Gentry.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Oh, that's nice.
So what do you thinkhomeschooling will be like?
Speaker 1 (10:00):
I think I'm going to have really fun.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
So tell me something that you're excited about and
something that you're nervousabout for homeschooling.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
I'm really excited about that.
We're going to learn to cook,because I love eating.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Yeah, me too.
I love to eat and I like tocook.
You've already been helping mecook, and now we'll have a lot
more time for that.
But what's something you'renervous about?
I'm not nervous about anything,really.
Oh, that's good.
Okay, I like the confidence.
Is there anything that issurprising to you?
Speaker 1 (10:33):
That it's only two hours.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
That's true.
At least that's our plan.
We think we can get it all donein that amount of time.
Of course, if y'all are uh,right now, y'all are all at the
top of your class for math andreading and all those things,
and we're going to keep up withall the map testing to make sure
that you stay that way.
So if we need to spend a littlebit more time to keep you there
, then we will.
If not, then we won't.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Okay, Scotty B, are you ready to talk?
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Yes, okay, tell everybody your name and tell
them how old you are.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
My name is Scotty and I'm five.
Can you tell us about school?
Did you like school?
Speaker 1 (11:13):
No.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
You didn't.
What did you not like aboutschool?
Speaker 1 (11:19):
That we had the color and like it took a lot of time
to like make sure it's the rightcolor and sometimes you think
it's the wrong color.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Okay, so a lot of coloring.
Same with Slate, which Iunderstand because you're at
school for a really long time,and whenever other kids are
being taught something, then theother kids need to sit and do
something.
So when you're in kindergartenand first grade, unfortunately
that's a lot of coloring, right?
Yes, can you tell me whatyou're most excited about when
(11:55):
it comes to homeschooling?
Speaker 1 (11:58):
I'm excited to cook because I wanted to know how to
cook, because it looks like fun.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Yeah, so one of the things we've been talking about
with the kids is that we'regoing to cook a lot at
homeschool, so they're going totake turns cooking the meals
with us.
So in the morning when we havebreakfast, maybe Sailor will do
it on one day and then she'llhelp and get to like learn that,
and then the next day slatewill help me and the next day
scotty will help me, and thenwe'll just have one kid in the
(12:29):
kitchen for all meals so thatthey can slowly learn all the
things all I'm like only oneperson, the same person every
single time yeah, so one personwill get to cook for the day
with me or dad, and we've justlearned that getting all the
kids in the kitchen at the sametime is just too much chaos.
(12:50):
Lately what we've been doing isletting one kid help at a time,
but sometimes that just doesn'thappen, especially during the
school year.
You know we're in a hurry orwe're at sports or whatever, so
we're all looking forward tothem being able to cook with us
a lot more often so they canlearn lots of things.
Are you excited that inhomeschool you get to be outside
(13:11):
a lot?
Yes, what do you like to dooutside?
Speaker 1 (13:14):
I like, like, if you have a playground and I like to
like go on the monkey boys andlike do them a lot of times if
you have some.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
What's something that you think that you'll miss from
school when you're homeschooled?
Speaker 1 (13:30):
I'm gonna miss my teacher and my friends.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
You loved your teacher this year and it was
really hard to say goodbye toher and you had a really good
friend.
But we will definitely be doingthings to make some new friends
.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Now you got to hear from Saylor a little bit earlier
, but we want to circle backaround to her.
So, Saylor, tell everyone yourname, how old you are and one
thing you like to do when you'renot in school.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
My name is Saylor.
I'm 10 years old.
I like to do gymnastics andcompetitive cheer when I'm not
at school.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
So tell me how you felt about public school.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
I did not like it at all because I had to wake up
early, non-stop work and we didnot go outside very often.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
I remember you telling me about that, not just
non-stop work, but repetitivework, doing worksheets on the
same topic over and over.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Yeah, that was a little bit getting.
That was getting really boringactually.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
I think for some kids it might be necessary.
Repetition might be importantfor some people to learn.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
But they should go to like other classes.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Maybe so For the kids that don't need the repetition,
it can be painfully boring.
What was your favorite thingabout public school?
Speaker 1 (14:54):
boring.
What was your favorite thingabout public school?
I liked field day and talentshow and field trips and I just
really liked learning aboutscience because we didn't do
lots of worksheets on science,so then there was like lots of
different things.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
So it sounds like all the things that you liked were
things that are outside the normof actual school Field day it's
a day that's different from allthe other days.
Or Field day it's a day that'sdifferent from all the other
days.
Or talent show day it's anotherday that's different from all
the days.
And then science it was the onething that you actually did
some science experiments and gotto do some hands-on learning.
So it sounds like that's thereason.
(15:25):
Yes, maybe more than anybody.
It sounds like standardschooling is not really your cup
of tea.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
No, not really.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Now that's not to say you didn't do.
Well, tell everybody did youget?
What kind of grades did you get?
Speaker 1 (15:40):
I got A's Sometimes I mean sometimes I just wasn't
paying attention and I got B's.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
On papers, but on your report cards.
What did you get, oh?
Speaker 1 (15:50):
all A's.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
All four years that you were in elementary school,
straight as yeah all, as that'sright Every year.
And not only that, but whatother award did you win?
Speaker 1 (16:02):
I got the Accelerated Reader Award because I had the
most AR points.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
The most in your class.
No, the most in your grade.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
No.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
The most in the class ?
No, the most in your grade.
No, the most in the wholeschool.
Yes, okay, now I'm not justsaying that just to brag on my
kid, or maybe a little bit, butalso I just want to point out
that this isn't a kid that isdoing badly in school or that
struggles with learning.
This is a kid that is excellingin the school, at the top of
her class, making straight A's,and the number one reader in the
(16:38):
school at the top of her class,making straight A's and the
number one reader in the school,and you know, it's just the way
that some of these things areset up.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Okay, you want to.
You want to tell people howmany AR points you got?
Yeah, I got 270 points.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
That's awesome, that is a lot of.
That was a lot of Harry Potterbooks, a lot of babysitter club
books.
But hey, a lot of that was alot of Harry Potter books, a lot
of babysitter club books.
But hey, we'll get more intothat later, when we do our book
club and say there, you know,you actually liked all your
teachers too, right?
Speaker 1 (16:58):
So I miss them so much.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Okay.
So you see, this isn't aproblem with the teachers.
We were at a great school.
She had great teachers that shereally likes.
It's the.
It's the system.
The system is the problem.
It's what they make theteachers do.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Yeah, I totally agree .
It's definitely not theteachers.
We've had some amazing teachersand we don't want this podcast
to come off like we dislike theteachers.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
I want to shout out to my two third grade teachers I
had were Miss Perry was myreading and social studies and I
had Miss Underwood for my mathand science.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
And we love them and they are amazing people and
amazing teachers.
But one thing I did want to saywe all are talking about
reading.
I wanted to touch on this howmuch time did you spend at
school reading?
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Not a lot.
I mean we like did some readingthings to help us be able to
read better, but we never reallylike read stories in books.
I mean we mostly just didworksheets on books basically,
which was not fun.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
So out of those points that you had to read the
books and take the test on forAR, you weren't actually reading
at school.
All of that had to be done athome, right, right.
So that is another kind of bigproblem we had is that our kids
love reading.
We put a lot of work intomaking sure that they love to
read because it's so important,but really they have to do all
(18:28):
of this outside of schoolwhenever there's only a tiny bit
of time left in the day.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
I wasn't the only one reading Accelerated Reader.
My amazing brother has a fewthings to say about his AR
points.
I wasn't just the most in myclass but the most in my grade.
But the most in my grade.
(19:00):
The principal was verysurprised to see that I had over
100 points.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
I had 109.5 and that's really impressive for a
first grader bud.
A lot of first graders arestill working on learning to
read and you read a lot of books.
We're so proud of you.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Okay, let's ask Slade another one, because I actually
peeked ahead at his answer onthis one just a second ago and I
really want to get this one inthere.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
So, slade, what are?
And we did not tell him to saythis, he came up with this on
his own.
What are your hopes forhomeschool?
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Basically.
So skip ahead grades because itdoesn't matter about your age,
it matters how smart you are,basically.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Now I think the reason Slate knows about that as
a possibility is just because,like Sailor mentioned earlier, I
think they were a little bitafraid that homeschool was going
to be basically the same thing,except just at home, and so I
was trying to tell them how.
No, if you get all of thematerial down that a second
grader needs to know, even ifit's only the first semester,
(20:02):
then we'll move on to thirdgrade material and we'll just
keep going until we get tosomething that's hard, and so
you won't be wasting your timedoing worksheets on the same
thing that you alreadyunderstand and he was really
excited about that, so excitedabout being able to move on when
they have a concept and justmove on to something else.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
All right, the last question for slate.
If you were going to tell otherkids about homeschooling, how
would you explain it to them?
Speaker 1 (20:26):
I would say that it's very fun because you can sleep
in only two hours and not a lotof worksheets.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
I like it All.
Right, Scotty, are you readyfor some more questions?
If you could tell other kidswho don't know about
homeschooling what it's like,what would you say?
Speaker 1 (20:54):
schooling what it's like.
What would you say that likeyou should be homeschooled and
and you should have more fun andnot to sit around doing
worksheets every single daygoing to school and you want to
get to sleep in.
You'd have to get ready so muchtimes it's true.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Are you looking forward to sleeping in and not
being rushed every morning?
Speaker 1 (21:13):
yes, I don't really like being like waked up early.
It's not very like fail,because because you have to like
wake up and you're still tiredand like you don't want to get
just right away because you'restill tired and you feel like
you don't know what you're gonnawear and like you don't want to
get dressed right away becauseyou're too tired and you feel
like you don't know what you'regonna wear and like you're too
(21:35):
tired to get stuff it's.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
It's kind of hard in the morning when you're waking
everybody up and me and dad arelike go go, go, go go because we
don't want to be late, right,and you're ready to not do that
every day.
Yes, you can sleep in a littlebit and then start school,
whenever you wake up.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Yep, and it's really.
It's really.
I'm really glad now because weget to sleep in.
It's not only like the wholeday and like so much hours, but
it's only two hours.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Yes, school will be a lot shorter and it's more fun.
Exactly Okay, Sailor, tell mewhat you're most excited about
when it comes to homeschooling.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
I'm just really excited to sleep in, like Scotty
said, and I'm excited that well, in the mornings, when you wake
up, mom and dad will be workinguntil like 10.
So then you won't, when youstart doing work, you won't be
so tired and you won't be like,oh my gosh, I forgot this
question because I'm so tired inthe morning and I'm just really
(22:43):
excited to go on all thevacations, because people won't
be at the airport when it'sschool time, because most people
go to school.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
That's true.
Is there anything that you'renervous about?
Speaker 1 (22:54):
I'm not nervous at all.
I'm mostly excited, awesome.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
I like that.
I like that answer.
So Sailor mentioned that we'vealready talked about our
schedule plan and you guys knowthat me and dad have to work in
the morning, right yeah?
And what are you going to bedoing in the morning whenever
we're working till 10?
Speaker 1 (23:12):
so right now I've been like not really sleeping in
.
I've been kind of waking up,like what we've been at school,
since it's still summer, but Ithink I'll probably sleep in a
lot, probably just like wake up,listen to my audiobook color,
maybe read.
Maybe, if Scott and Slay areawake, we can like play quiet
(23:33):
game yeah, so well, that soundslike an amazing morning, does
that sound?
Speaker 3 (23:38):
way better does that sound way better than rushing
out the door every day?
Um, yeah, of course it does.
I was kind of feeling like andyou said this to me once that
the only time we had togetherwas in the morning, when we're
yelling at you guys, come on,come on, come on, let's go.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
And then at night when we're saying it's bedtime,
it's bedtime, it's bedtime yeah,I say that actually a lot after
schools and and I'm so gladthat it's summer now, because I
mean school is just not ourthing it's not our thing.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
We're not having to rush you to go do anything.
You just get to wake up, listento your audiobook, relax, like
maybe go outside play a gamewith your brother and your
sister.
That sounds like an amazingmorning.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Oh yeah.
So we've talked a lot about howhomeschooling will look and our
plans for it.
Is there anything thatsurprises you about our plans
and our hopes and dreams abouthomeschooling?
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Not really.
I'm just surprised that you anddad were like, okay, let's just
start homeschooling, because atthe first part of the year we
were not thinking about that.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
No, I told you absolutely not.
I also said that once you woreme down a little bit I said
maybe when Scotty could read,and that would be like a little
bit down the road.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
But we started this reading lesson thing and she got
me to be able to read.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
Yeah, she can read now for sure.
I just it's really easy for youand Slate to sit down and do
like a worksheet because youalready have you can read.
You can read the worksheet.
You can do simple math, likeit's really easy to help you
guys do a worksheet becausewe've done some summer ones and
stuff.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
But when you can't read, scotty needs a lot of help
right now yeah, and then youcan't really like if we're
homeschooled and then we're alldoing our own worksheets same,
not the same level, you know.
Yeah, and scotty doesn't knowhow to read and she's like
Sailor or Slate.
Can you tell me what this says?
And I'll be like Scotty I'mtrying to do what I'm supposed
(25:41):
to do and then we'll never getit done, right?
Speaker 3 (25:44):
So that was one of my reasons.
Was that?
No, if we were to everhomeschool which I was like
we're not, we're ever homeschoolwhich I was like we're not,
we're not homeschooling it wouldhave to be once all of you guys
would be able to do some of iton your own?
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Yeah, but you weren't for sure at all at that point.
You were like, even if we wouldread?
I was like you're probablygoing to say no, Even if we
could read.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
I said no.
Like a hundred times, we werelike nope.
And here we are on ourhomeschool podcast.
So if you could plan out yourdream school day, what would it
look like?
What would you do?
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Probably a lot like homeschooling, probably like not
that much works.
We would go outside for most ofthe day and when I went into
third grade it was a lotdifferent from second grade,
like we did not play or didanything like that, it was just
like worksheets, worksheets,worksheets all day.
(26:43):
And we would always be so happywhen it's time for like lunch
or on recess, when we get like afew minutes outside.
And sometimes it wasn't thebest weather because you know
like at Christmas time we werenalways there, but it would be
too cold and sometimes it wastoo hot or windy and it's pretty
(27:03):
strict because the school isalways like it has to be below
90 degrees or we can't gooutside.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Right, they have some pretty strict guidelines.
I don't know what it isactually on paper, on what it is
, but what you actually did,y'all didn't go outside a lot.
Simply, y'all didn't go outsidea lot.
Simply, y'all didn't go outsidea lot.
And so what I'm hearing is aperfect day for you would be to
learn a little bit, but noteight hours, yeah, and to be
(27:33):
outside a lot of your day.
That would make you happy, Istill want to learn a lot.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
I mean there's like so much things in life to learn,
but I mean I don't really wantto learn a lot.
I mean there's like so muchthings in life to learn, but I
mean I don't really want to.
You know what you said I don'twant to learn for eight hours.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
You don't want to sit at a table for eight hours, but
what if you went?
Speaker 1 (27:47):
We can learn outside, Like learn about animals and
nature for science, and then wecould actually if our teachers
were like okay, let's do aworksheet.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
We could go outside in the butterfly garden and do
it outside.
That would be actually reallynice.
Yes, if you can't tell, sailorhas a lot of energy and you know
she's in third grade.
She still want you still wantto play you want to go outside,
you want to do recess and youwant to, you know, get your
wiggles out and it's hard to sitfor that long.
It's not fun.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Yeah, I'm really crazy a lot.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
So your perfect day would be you get to get a lot of
energy out and you get to learna lot of things, and the
learning might not be sitting ata desk, it might be traveling,
it might be going to the sciencemuseum, it might be going to
the park, all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Yeah, I feel like maybe every week we'd have a
field trip to like go to amuseum or like a park or
something.
That would be something to learnat, like if we went to a fossil
dinosaur fossil museum or therecould be, like, different
fossils and stuff there, orcould be history, because
(28:59):
history is not my thing I do notlike history, but I think it
would be fun if we, like went toa museum and read, read all the
signs and looked at the coolstuff and the videos on those
little posters I think are coolbecause they, like show you what
it actually looks like yeah, Ithink that's awesome idea.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
There's no reason, when you're homeschooling, that
you can't do a field trip everyweek.
Now that might mean field tripsto different places, but
everywhere you're learningsomething.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
I feel like if we're homeschooled, we're pretty much
gonna have a field trip everyday, because maybe, maybe a few
days in the month we might likestay home and like have a lazy
day.
We still like do work and stuff, but maybe have like a movie
night or game night for sure.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Another thing that we're trying to do is life
skills.
So that's going to the bankwith your dad opening up your
own bank account, things likethat.
Those are also field trips whenyou're homeschooled, because
you learn life lessons.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
But going to the bank is not fun going to the bank is
not fun.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Going to the bank is not fun, no, but do you think
it's something that you need tolearn to do?
Speaker 1 (30:03):
No.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
Okay, sailor.
Last question for you today Ifyou could tell other kids about
homeschooling what it's like,how would you describe it to
them?
Speaker 1 (30:16):
I would probably say that you get to be around your
family a lot, probably go visityour grandparents, and things
that you wouldn't get to do ifyou're at school, because
usually people do sports andstuff.
So on the weekends, when you'renot at school, you have sports
to do, so then you won't be ableto do all the stuff you would
do at home.
That's why kids are like oh mygosh, I'm so excited for the
(30:40):
summer.
They don't realize that theydon't like school.
I mean, they're always like Ilove school so much, I can't
wait to go.
But then, like every day,they're like mom, can we not go
to school today?
And but they don't reallyrealize that.
But in the summer they'realways like, yes, yeah, I think
(31:03):
you're right.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
Kids need some downtime, time where they're not
going to school and then goingto camp, and then going to
practice and then going to agame all week long.
You need time to be a kid.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Yeah, that's what I meant.
You're right, all right.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
Those are all really good points that you made and,
oh man, I have so much more, somany more thoughts about
homeschool and everything that Iwant to share.
But this episode was a lotabout the kids and it's already
running kind of long, so wementioned it before the school
year even started and then wetalked about it all year long.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
And then, by the time school is out, they were so
ready to be homeschooled and so,as you can see, we've talked
about it a lot.
But I like documenting thisbecause we all have these like
hopes and dreams of what it willbe like and hopefully we can
make that happen, but also weknow there will be bumps along
the way.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
I think that we'll have the best time ever at
homeschooling.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
We're going to remember that and I think you
will like it better.
I think there will be days thatyou are mad at us Because we're
making you work on maybesomething that's in math, that's
hard and frustrating, but we'regoing to have to make you do it
anyway and you might getannoyed with us.
I'm sure I'll hear the phrase.
When am I even going to usethis in life a bunch of times?
Speaker 1 (32:32):
For sure.
Yeah, there's a lot of thingsthat I think about that I mean
sometimes when you're older youmight have a job in math I mean
it's a little bit of percentagebecause there's lots of jobs but
sometimes I just think thatit's not good to like know some
of the things.
Like in school we were learningabout pickles, so in third
(32:54):
grade, so I was like that's nota good life skill.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
Well, there's a lot of things in school that we
probably won't touch on as much,and that's not a good life
skill.
Well, there's a lot of thingsin school that we probably won't
touch on as much, and that'sactually one of the good things
about homeschooling is that youcan pick the things that you're
focusing on what's important toyou, what's important to your
family.
That doesn't mean that you getto skip math or history or
science or any of the importantthings.
It just means that some of thatother filler stuff we get to
(33:21):
fill with stuff that we reallywant to do and stuff that really
excites you.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
We always joke about the Johnny Appleseed thing
because they always learn aboutJohnny Appleseed and you got to
make a full hat, you know, andsend it up there.
The thing is we're not pickingon the teachers for doing that.
First of all, I don't even maybethey make them do it.
But even if they don't, I'msure they're just trying to find
a way to split up the drudgeryof the normal day-to-day stuff
that they have to do with thekids, to help the kids have a
(33:46):
little bit better time.
And I can totally understandthat, because people pay
property taxes and a lot ofpeople have regular jobs and
some of that money is going toguarantee that you have
childcare from eight to three,and but that kind of is part of
what school is.
For a lot of people it's notjust learning, it's also
childcare, and so a lot of timesthey're like well, we're going
(34:07):
to fill some of the time withthis other stuff.
Maybe if my kids never learnedabout Johnny Appleseed it
wouldn't be the end of the world.
Maybe it's a little bit morefun than some other lessons, but
you're homeschooled.
That's stuff that you can justskip and they can just go and
read a book that they want toread or go do something else so
we were going to thank all ofthe kids to wrap up the podcast.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
Thank you for sitting down and talking to us today,
but all we have left here issailor.
So sailor is going to help uswrap up the episode, and thank
you so much, sail, for sittinghere and talking to us and
giving us all your homeschoolwisdom.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
It's only me, because the other two wanted to go play
.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
We've been here for a while, as you can imagine,
trying to sit down with threekids and microphones and a
computer.
It's harder than it sounds.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
I mean I am the oldest, I mean a five and a
seven year old might want to golike outside or something.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
And I think in future episodes we definitely want to
hear from the kids.
I don't know that we'll do alot of episodes, it's all three.
I think we might get a lot moreuseful information if we bring
in different kids on differentepisodes.
Say, there's pointing toherself yes, you will be on a
lot of the episodes because itwas her idea.
Sure, sure, but uh, in general,as long as you know we have the
(35:25):
kids one-on-one, I think we theywill do better.
They'll enjoy it more.
They liked the part where theygot to talk they just didn't so
much enjoy the part where otherpeople.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
This is boring For real, though.
Having them sit and talk justreally like fires me up about it
and reminds me why we're doingthis, because sometimes when we
talk about it, I get a littlenervous and a little scared,
like what are we doing here?
But hearing from them justkeeps putting all of those
reasons at the forefront of mymind so that I can get fired up
(35:57):
all over again.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
That means we might have to talk about it all the
time, which will be good,because then you will never
regret it.
Speaker 3 (36:07):
Well, we're gonna be checking in weekly.
So this week we might be like,yay, we love homeschooling.
And next week we might be like,oh, it's the worst week ever.
Mom and dad made me do all thisstuff.
Everyone was fighting can theygo back to school?
We're gonna have the good, thebad and the ugly I don't think
that'll happen.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
I think we'll love homeschooling and in no days
we'll think it's bad.
No days we'll be like I want togo to school.
I mean, sometimes we might,because we might want to get
away from our family a littlebit, because you know all the
time with your siblings and momand dad, that's a lot sometimes
we need to get.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
Uh, taryn, I need you to cut out that part where she
says we're gonna love it everyday and send it to me as a
ringtone and I'm gonna save thatfor every time that there's an
issue are you actually gonna cutit out, mom?
Speaker 3 (36:57):
no, we're gonna keep it in there, but I'm sure we'll
be listening back to thisepisode in the next few months.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
All right.
Well, I think that we'regetting close to the end here.
Saylor, do you want to wrap usup?
Speaker 1 (37:09):
If this episode made you think about something or
made you smile, please send itto somebody, because they might
like it too.
And this was a kids podcast.
So, kids, I'll see you later.
Speaker 3 (37:24):
Bye, and that's a wrap the kids are eagerly
awaiting their very firstpodcast review, so if you have a
minute and you enjoyed thisepisode, will you please leave
us a review?
Thanks,
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