August 11, 2025 • 45 mins
We've decided to homeschool our three kids while maintaining our full-time careers as CPAs. How exactly are we planning to pull this off? This episode dives deep into our strategy for working and homeschooling!
The surprising truth we discovered? Most homeschool families complete their core curriculum in just two hours daily—far less time than traditional schools require for the same material.
Beyond reading, writing, and arithmetic, we're passionate about teaching practical skills traditional education often overlooks. Our curriculum includes cooking real meals, managing household responsibilities, understanding personal finance, and even launching small businesses. These experiences prepare our children for independence while fostering creativity and critical thinking. We're also prioritizing outdoor adventures, family book clubs, and one-on-one time—things we could not do when our kids were in public school.
But we're under no illusions—this transition won't be seamless. We're starting with ambitious plans while fully expecting to adjust as we discover what truly works for our family.
Whether you're considering homeschooling while working, curious about alternative education models, or simply interested in our family's adventure, join us as we document every triumph, struggle, and unexpected lesson along the way.
Have thoughts or questions about our approach? We'd love to hear from you!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're working.
So where are we going to getthese hours that they are
generally at school when we'reworking, and that's what we had
to figure out.
So step one for us was tochange our work schedule up a
bit.
We're two full-time workingparents who just made a crazy
decision.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
After four years in public school, we're
homeschooling our three kids anddocumenting the whole thing.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Never in a million years did I think we would be
homeschool people.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Welcome to well, this wasn't the plan podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I'm Slate and school's in the kitchen.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
now I'm Scotty, we say start when I say so, I'm
Sailor and this whole podcastwas my idea.
This podcast is our real-timejourney, unexpectedly juggling
homeschool jobs, parenting andeverything in between.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
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.
We're learning to expect thegood, the bad and the ugly,
because we know some days aregoing to be ugly and we're not
holding back.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
We're learning to expect the unexpected, so let's
get into it, let's go.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
We are going to homeschool our three kids while
also working full-time, so let'stalk about that.
How are we going to do this?
I didn't realize that so manypeople are working and
homeschooling their kids.
I think I just assumed that ifyou homeschooled, you had to
have one person at home that wasdedicated to doing school for
(01:38):
kids, but upon further research,we've actually figured out that
that's not really the case.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
So there are a lot of things to get done in the day,
so obviously we have to have aschedule.
I'm not a big fan of schedulesometimes, but it seems like
it's kind of like a budget.
People feel like a budget isbossing you around about what
you can do with your money, butit's not.
It's actually freeing.
It gives you permission tospend right, that's what we
always tell people.
Well, I feel like the scheduleI'm starting to feel that way
(02:06):
about it.
Instead of bossing me around,it frees me up.
It's like okay, these are thehours we're doing, whatever
things, and so then I don't feelguilty when some of those other
hours I'm actually relaxing ordoing something fun.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Absolutely.
I think for a couple of yearsnow, I felt like there's all
these things that I wanted to bedoing, these things that I
thought I would be doing as aparent, and we didn't have time
for them, and so now I have alist of all the things we're
going to do when we homeschooland actually it's like probably
like way too many things, but weneed to go through all of them
(02:43):
and figure out what's mostimportant to us so that we can
fit the things that are actualpriorities in our day.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Right, we will have to rank those in order, because
there's no way we're going toget through all the things you
have on your list.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
No, and before we, I'll share what's on my list.
But before we do that and wework through our little schedule
for the day, I do want to pointout that we own our own
business.
We work for ourselves.
We do have to work, but thatobviously gives us some freedom
to figure out when we're goingto work and as long as we get
(03:16):
the work done, we can still haveour job.
So I do know that not everybodycan do that, so I'm very
thankful.
But we've had to just make somechanges in our business over
the last 18 months so that wecan do this, and it wasn't easy,
but we are thankful that we'reable to do it.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Owning your own business is a lot of
responsibility, but it does giveyou the freedom to choose when
you have to fill thoseresponsibilities to some extent.
I mean, I can't tell clients Ihave to meet with you at 5 am or
at 10 pm.
I can work at those times and Ido a lot because that's when
you know my kids are asleep.
But you know I do have to takemeetings during normal work
(03:55):
hours sometimes.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
When we first started talking about this, you, like I
said I was surprised thatpeople did this, but you were
like, no, like we work, likewhen the kids are at school,
like we work the whole time.
Um, and a lot of times my timeis being taken by things that I
need to do for the school, forthe kids, but we're working.
So where are we going to getthese hours that they are
(04:18):
generally at school and we'reworking?
And that's what we had tofigure out.
So step one for us was tochange our work schedule up a
bit, change our business up.
We made our business more whereit's just all phone calls, all
remote, we're not going to beseeing clients in person, and it
took some time and energy toget all of that sorted out, but
(04:38):
we had to do that in order forthis to work.
That was our first step.
Now what we're trying to dosince we homeschool we start
homeschooling very soon is justfigure out the schedule, and
that's been hard.
But since we do have to work,like you said, at certain times
and be available, we do have tohave a schedule, and I know a
lot of homeschool people don'tlike to have a schedule.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
For our kids.
It would be necessary, even ifwe didn't have to take work into
consideration, because it wouldnever get done.
You know, or we get done at theend of the day, when we're all
at our worst and most pissy oh,absolutely.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
That is one thing, like looking into everything and
researching that we both foundout is that we need to do the
schooling like earlier in theday, and we actually, I feel
like, already experienced thatbecause we have been helping our
kids with school.
It's not like all of a suddenwe're going to help them.
We've been really focused onreading the past few years and
(05:36):
they've had like spelling testsand sight word tests and things
like that which we do at night,literally right before bed, and
it is the worst now we'll do itwhen everyone's brain is at the
freshest starting our day.
We at least know that we'regonna work in the morning, we're
gonna get up early before thekids get up, and we're going to
put in four hours, so we'regonna work from six to ten right
(05:58):
.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Specifically on mondays through thursdays.
This is going to be theschedule six to ten.
We'll be working.
The kids won't up that earlybut they'll get up sometime in
that window.
They don't sleep till 10.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Ben.
We've been practicing over thesummer, so they kind of already
know what their expectations arewhen they wake up.
They can't come in our officeand ask us for anything unless
it's an emergency and they canmake a simple breakfast.
So I think, starting out, wehave to make them a list of
things which are okay to makebreakfast which is just going to
(06:29):
be like oatmeal toast cerealyogurt, fruit, all the good
things.
Simple, easy breakfast thatthey're not actually cooking.
And then I did tell them likeif they need help with breakfast
, then I would be the person totalk to, because you're going to
be on meetings with clients andwe opened up client meetings
for the mornings.
So that's the first part of theday.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Right, and they're also going to be in charge of
cleaning it up, which is part ofhomeschool for us.
That's a life skill.
You know, they're makingbreakfast and they're cleaning
it up, leaving the kitchen howthey found it.
That's the plan.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
I do like that because I think every parent
struggles with that.
You want your kids to learnthose things, but you also don't
want them to make a mess,because then you're having to
clean it up.
So for them to go in thekitchen and make their stuff
like they're probably going tospill some milk, they're
probably going to make a mess,but we're not rushed.
So when we get finished up Ican be like hey, look, here's
the mess that you made, Like yougot to clean it up, and we can
(07:27):
teach them that type of thing aswe go.
And I feel like the way ourlives are.
In the past we were toostressed and in a hurry to stop
and teach those little momentsthat they do need to know how to
do chores.
They need to know how to cleanup after themselves.
I don't want teenagers that aregoing in there making stuff and
then leaving a mess for me LikeI'm not doing that.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
But that was the problem is that you know we
couldn't have them clean uptheir own breakfast when we have
to get to school because it'sgoing to take them 30 minutes.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Now, if it takes them 45 minutes to clean up the
kitchen, it doesn't matter, butbefore I had to do it in five
off cleaning up too.
But also this last year, thekids are really struggling to
get out of bed.
(08:13):
So we asked them, like do youwant to stop having like, I
guess, different, like breakfastthat you sit down and eat every
morning, or do you want us tomake, like you, a protein shake
and you can get up a little bitlater?
And they, they all said thatthey wanted protein shakes
instead because they were justreally tired trying to get up.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
As they got older, the sports stuff started going
later and later.
You know, at least they hadsome respect for the
kindergartners and the firstgraders, where practices were at
like 6 PMm or whatever.
But then we got to where wewere having practices at 8 or
even 9 pm.
We're not getting home till 10.
It was just crazy.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Then we were trying to like help with them, school
and stuff and it just wasn'tworking trying to get them in
bed a decent hour.
So they're looking forward tohaving not like bacon and eggs
and like a full breakfast, butat least different breakfast
every morning and something thatthey can try and fix themselves
.
So they're looking forward tothat, like some independence in
(09:13):
their day.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
But the other days Friday, saturday and Sunday
we're not doing it on the sameschedule and I think those days
I'll be able to make, because Ilike to cook breakfast I'll be
able to make bacon, eggs,sausage, pancakes, you know,
whatever more complicatedbreakfast for everybody.
Also, in that window from sixto 10, I mean the kids, they're
not going to spend that wholetime just eating breakfast and
(09:35):
cleaning up unless they happento sleep in, but mostly they
won't sleep in that long, sothey'll also be able to play and
kind of have their ownindependent free time for a
while, maybe even go outside,especially in Texas, in this,
you know, or in August.
It's a good time for them to goout in the morning because it
starts to get really hot.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
But then in the winter we're going to have to
adjust that because it's toocold in the morning and it's
better to go out in theafternoon.
So that will just be anadjustment later on in the year.
But they will have, like, theirresponsibility while we're
working and they're pretty goodwith that.
They did a really good job withthat this summer.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
So, moving past 10 o'clock, from 10 to 12,
tentatively, our plan is thatthat's when we're going to do
school for the most part.
What I mean by that is thatwe'll already have the lessons
printed out.
We'll have a plan, as you knowthe parents and teachers and so
at 10 o'clock we don't just say,okay, we're going to think
about starting.
No, at 10 o'clock we're goingto get on it so that we don't
(10:34):
have to spend all day on it.
That's the plan.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
So it's early in the day, which will be best for the
kids.
They'll have hopefully alreadyhad breakfast and got outside a
little bit, so that they are inlike a really good mood to like
focus, and then we have twohours set aside every day.
Now that doesn't seem like alot of time, two hours.
I get it.
They're at school a lot longerthan two hours, but we've done a
(10:59):
lot of research and,surprisingly, most people are
getting it done in two hours.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
And at school they're not spending two hours actually
on academic curriculum no,which actually was shocking to
me.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
I mean, I know now that I think about it, like the
teachers have 20 plus studentsand they are cycling through
recess and pe and all of thesethings, lunch and music and
technology and all this otherstuff.
Yeah, they cram a lot into a day.
So the actual academic learningpart is two hours and then
we're choosing the other thingsthat they're going to have in
(11:33):
their day.
But the learning part is thatand I have I could not find this
like statistic, but I've cameacross it a few times Kids only
get like a minute or two ofdirect instruction from their
teacher a day, and usuallythat's only as a direct result
of them asking a question.
So if you especially if youhave a quiet kid, like we have
(11:55):
one, and they don't raise theirhand and ask a specific question
based on what they're teaching,they get no one-on-one time.
So if you can commit two hoursin your day to homeschooling
your kids, then they're actuallyway better off than the
instruction they're getting atschool, because they're over the
(12:16):
course of a month aren't evengetting that two hours right,
which was shocking to me, yeahbut I, I mean, it's like
something that we all kind ofknow.
But just to hear it like that, Iwas like okay it, it just gave
me more, like okay, we can dothis, and then I don't think
we're doing Fridays right, arewe doing Fridays?
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Right, we're not doing Fridays.
We think we're not going to doFridays.
What my plan is is is thatbefore we were doing Fridays uh,
where we need to get back onthis, since we've been on
vacation we didn't do this.
But Fridays we clean clean thehouse, that's a life skill and
we all help.
You know we all have ourassigned jobs for that Friday.
And then you know it probablytakes like an hour or two of
(12:58):
cleaning with everyone and thenI would take the kids and we'd
go do something fun and then momwould finish, you know, doing
things with no one in the house,which makes it a lot easier for
her to do.
You know, the things she'strying to get done Doesn't
really sound fair, because thenI get to go have fun with the
kids.
But you know that's just how weset it up and she agreed to it.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
I actually really like it and this is coming from
someone who we've had our housecleaned by someone else since
we've been married and I loveour new Friday thing.
We stopped.
We didn't get anyone to startcleaning because we're in the
house 24 seven and it justseemed like, okay, how are we
going to get everybody out ofthe house for the whole day for
(13:38):
someone to come clean?
Like, let's just do thisourselves and teach the kids
these chores that they need to.
Everybody gets a laundry day.
Love that our oldest can do herlaundry start to finish.
So now with the cleaning, wegive the kids their jobs, so
they have to like strip theirbeds, get their trash, clean
their bathroom and get it likeready for me just to come in and
(14:02):
vacuum and mop the floors andstuff, and I get uninterrupted
time at home to like crank upthe music and clean, which I
actually really like, and youguys go do something fun, and
now it could be somethinghomeschool related.
There's a few things that wefound we might do, but that just
I feel like it's a win-win thehouse gets cleaned, I get to do
it the way I want to do it andthe kids have to help.
(14:25):
They've never had to do that.
They've never had to do sheetsor anything like that.
I did actually think, maybeyesterday.
I was thinking that it would becool if we rewarded them with
certain field trips, like, likethey wanted, they really want to
go to Six Flags, okay, and wewant to take them, but why not
let them work together to earnsomething like that?
(14:47):
Or if there's something elsethat they have been wanting to
do, it's like okay, guys, we allhave to work toward this.
We get in, we get our, ourstuff done and we do that.
By the end of whatever the sixweeks or however we break it up,
they get to earn that together.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah, that's a good idea too.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
I thought that's something that comes up for me
and we kind of tackled that inthe summer.
But you know, you don't have todiscipline your kids when
they're at school all day, youknow right the school does that
for you, whether it's the, thegoofy thing where they they move
colors the clip chart.
Yeah, the clip chart or one yearthey had like right in the
(15:26):
folder you're all day, you'renot having to do anything like
that.
So our discipline was reallyonly in the mornings, like how
do we make sure they get out ofbed and stuff?
And then at night, how do wemake sure that they are doing
things like take a shower andget in bed and read?
But there's a big gap in theday and a lot of the year where
(15:46):
you're not having to do that.
So the things we were doing,quite frankly, we just weren't
working.
I don't know.
We had done a lot of differentthings and we were just like it
just doesn't work.
It doesn't seem like what we'repunishing them or the
consequences weren't working.
So we this summer did try, orbefore school was let out,
actually, we started a starchart and I think it went really
(16:09):
well.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Actually, yeah, they respond better to rewards for
good behavior than punishmentsfor bad behavior.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
And if there's anything that we talk about that
you guys would like a copy ofour like the star chart or like
the cleaning checklist reach outto me.
I'd be happy to share it withyou guys.
But the star chart basically isso we have to specifically find
them doing something good andthey get a star.
I think it made us realize howmuch we weren't saying good.
(16:38):
So it made me realize that Iwasn't saying good things to
them.
I was only pointing out whenthey were doing something bad.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Right, yeah, and it.
You know it feels better too asthe parent.
So, and I'm not all hokey,pokey, crunchy granola person
and this does kind of sound likethat, but it's.
I'm more of a results personand the results speak for
themselves.
It works better.
So I don't know, you might tryit.
That's not to say that.
It's more like you reward themfor the good things.
(17:05):
There's some things that arejust bad, though.
If your kid hits somebody likethat's just bad.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
I mean, they need something, they're still getting
consequences.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
You can't just be like I'm going to reward you if
you stop hitting people.
No, you got to be like okay,you can't hit people, you need
to go, I don't know, sit byyourself for a while, or
whatever, so that you stop doingthat.
But other things that are justsimply annoying, like like
leaving your shoes out that one.
It's not necessarily a badthing, and you don't have to
punish them for leaving theirshoes out.
(17:32):
Instead, you can choose toreward them for putting them
away.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Yeah, I think it gets more of the good out of them.
The schools have, you know,discipline plans in place for a
reason, like you have to havesomething, and so that was a big
thing that I knew we would haveto do, and that's going to be
what we try for now.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Right.
So within the schedule, withinthe 10 to 12 time when we're
doing curriculum I mean that'sgoing to look like quite a bit
of time on math and reading andwe're planning to do those all
four days.
And then Spanish.
We think we want them to learnSpanish, so I'm going to start
at least with them doing that alittle bit every day.
I do think that you know youonly get 15 to 20 minutes of
(18:13):
good learning when you'relearning a language, and so
we'll spend less time but moredays with that.
And then science and socialstudies we're going to alternate
, so those will be just two daysa week each, at least for now,
and then if one of them shows asignificant interest in doing
something in the sciences, thenwe might up that or do some
(18:33):
additional outside camps orsomething like that to help
stimulate that.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
You're really more focused on, like the actual
academics.
I'm not like.
Obviously I want my kids to dowell in all those subjects, but
I am more focused on what theycan learn that they don't get.
They don't get the opportunityto learn in school because it
takes up all of their time.
So that's what.
My list of those things thatare outside of the two hours is
(18:58):
a mile long and I don't know howwe're gonna like get all those
things in in a day or a weekwe'll see, but I think it's very
doable.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
So much of what they do is repetitive and unnecessary
in a normal schedule.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
So you know, we'll see so there are a few things
that we will obviously becutting out of their day.
We have a whole list or I havea whole list of things that I
want them to learn, becausethey're homeschooling.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
And don't take that to.
You know that we don't thinkmusic is important.
It's just that we're not goingto have a specific class for it.
The kids can take guitarlessons or piano lessons or
singing lessons, whatever theywant.
Yeah, they want to, I mean, I'ma musician, I play multiple
instruments so it's important tome, but you know playing the
recorder or you know whateverthey do it just doesn't feel
(19:44):
that important to me.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
It just checks off a box.
It's not real music, likethat's not what they're getting,
like we can fill that time,like now Slate's doing piano
lessons, so he'll be able to dothat and we don't have to
squeeze it in after the timethey get out of school.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
So that's nice, they can do it during the day.
Just do it in his free time,either in the morning or after
we're done with school.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
So I wrote a list of things I want my kids to learn
during homeschool.
One of them is cooking, and ouridea for that is to let one kid
cook with us every single day,because they're always fighting
and it's really hard to cookwith all three of them, so we'll
rotate and for one day they canhelp with all the meals.
So that's what our plan is, atleast Now.
(20:27):
Just keep in mind we're talkingabout the plan because we know
full and well we're going tocome back and a lot of this
didn't work and we'll tell youwhat didn't work.
Chores we've already talkedabout that, budgeting and
shopping.
So I want them to be like veryinvolved in our shopping and
budgeting for, like groceriesand things like that, because I
think it's a huge life skill infact that's part of the schedule
(20:50):
.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
I wrote down that.
You know on sundays we're goingto you make our meal plan for
the week and grocery shop basedon that.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
And the kids will have a say so on the meals.
So we've always kind of donethat, like Carson's been in
charge of it, we've flip-floppedour roles and we just we
haven't stuck to anything verywell.
But I think the kids helping uswith like okay, y'all tell us,
like what are y'all hungry forthis week?
And let's say, scotty picksspaghetti, like she's going to
be so excited to have spaghettibecause she picked it right.
(21:20):
So they'll help us because that, if anything, is something
every single human, especiallyparent, has to do.
That.
So that is a skill.
And if we do have to go to thestore, we do grocery orders a
lot from Walmart.
And if we do have to go to thestore, we do grocery orders a
lot from Walmart.
But if we do, we're just goingto make sure that like we take a
(21:41):
kid with us and have that aslike a teaching moment on, like
you know, adding up what it isand just knowing how much things
cost and things like that.
Trying to stick to a budgetLike this is how much we spend
on groceries a week, like lookat the two prices and things
like that.
I think that is so important.
But it doesn't happen when youhave three kids and you're just
trying to do things as quick aspossible.
So I want to make sure thatwe're sending kids.
(22:03):
Like, if you go run an errand,I want to send a kid with you so
that you have the patience toteach just one kid about
whatever you're doing.
What if you have to get yourtire fixed?
Like that's a great learninglesson.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Yeah, that's true.
You take it into the tire place.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
You're making fun of me, but this is brilliant.
Okay, that's a good one.
Go ride it down.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Oh no, I'm already looking forward to those with
the car.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
I'm going to make them do all the car stuff
themselves, but I'll I'll ridealong with them but help as
little as possible, because Iwant them to know how to do this
stuff change tires, change ourflat, you know, and get their
own gas, get their old, changeall of those things.
Also, obviously, budgeting,that's just big for us, that
finance as they get older.
We want them to know all ofthat because we suffered poorly
for not knowing all of that.
So that's going to be a bigthing.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Oh yeah, we're not going to have them working at,
you know, like a minimum wagejob.
We're going to have them starttheir own small business whether
it's babysitting, cutting grass, poop scooping, I don't care
what it is, but something likethat and they're going to have a
budget.
They're going to have a P and Lfor their business.
They're going to learn how todo all of those things.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
And marketing and all of that.
I feel like that's a reallygood way to get your feet wet
and or I'm so excited about that.
Sailor is even really excitedabout that.
She's 10, so she'll be.
She'll be there before we knowit and they'll be saving up for
their cars.
We already have their savingsaccount and we put in money.
Every time they put in money,we match it.
So they get a hundred dollarsfor their birthday.
(23:30):
Then we match that hundred.
So they're slowly saving forthat and it's so important for
us that they learn that type ofthing, which they don't teach at
school, so I'm glad we're goingto have extra time to teach
them things that are that areimportant to us.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Right, yeah, and because we we don't want them to
have a beater, that's not safe,but we also want them to have
some skin in the game so thatthey understand the value of you
know a vehicle or spendingmoney on a vehicle.
So that's where we came up withthat idea to you know that and
Dave Ramsey to match, whateverthey save up for their car will
match it.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
So we already talked about music a little bit, but
Slate's doing piano lessons.
I know the girls had mentionedlike doing guitar lessons or
something.
So we will work that into ourschedule, because people are
asking, like what are you goingto do the rest of the time If it
only takes two hours to toschool your kids?
Like what are they going to do?
So these are, these are thetypes of things that I wrote
(24:24):
down and we're just now we'retrying to figure out when, when
we do what.
So if we tell Slade okay, onTuesday and Thursdays, you're
doing your piano lessons, whenare we going to fill the rest of
this in?
Another thing is just gettingthem outside.
A lot at school they are notgetting outside.
So that is just reallyimportant to us, and that might
(24:45):
be in the morning, that might beafternoon, but I think we want
to do something together as afamily, right?
Whether it's a walk or For sure.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Yeah, that's in the schedule, you know, and it
depends this time of year,they'll need to get outside in
the morning and then we might,you know, find a gym that has
family stuff that we can all goto, cause, you know, at 5 PM,
when we're probably going to bedoing this, or 4 PM this time of
year in Texas it's, you know,sometimes 115 degrees, so we
can't really go outside then.
(25:13):
But uh, we'll do somethingactive and and when we're able
to outside, for sure and we'regoing to travel a lot this year.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
We don't know how long this will be our thing or
if we're going to see it throughtill they graduate, but this
year we're going to travel and Ifeel like that they they
learned so much traveling andI'm really looking forward to
that part of it that ties intohomeschool for two.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
One, we're able to do it more because of the
homeschooling and we're able togo when it's not so busy and
expensive because of homeschool.
But number two, it's one of thethings we are teaching them how
to not just what they learnwhile they travel, but how to
travel even whenever we're notin a super big hurry, like we're
about to miss our flight or ourplane.
I was having one of the kidslead the way hey, we're looking
(25:57):
for this train, it's on thisplatform.
Watch the signs and get usthere.
And they'd lead the way andwe'd go and they're learning
that.
These are things that when wewent on our honeymoon whenever I
was how old were we when we gotmarried?
I don't know in my twenties andI didn't know how to do this.
I couldn't have found a trainor figured out any of this stuff
, and I'm thinking by the timemy kids are 18, they're all
(26:21):
going to be proficient at that.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
And then I have a whole list of like things that I
swear probably sounds socrunchy granola.
I would love for the kids tohave like specific goals for the
semester, whatever that ismaybe it's a goal for sailor
wants to get like her overhandserve over, or if it's a goal
for spanish or piano, like somesort of goal and we work toward
(26:47):
it because I feel like it's sucha life lesson to learn that
things don't happen overnight.
Big things happen because youtake little tiny steps every day
and they can pick their goal.
But I want them to have a goalmaybe every semester I don't
know if it should be morefrequent but I think a goal with
sub goals?
Speaker 2 (27:05):
sure, because that's how you do it you break it into
smaller pieces and okay, rightbackwards.
You know, if I want to get there, then I need to be by this day.
I need to be at least this far.
And and you the thing is, youcan do that for everything,
whether it's it's fitness goals,whether it's job goals or CPA
exam goals.
If you want to be CPA or youknow whatever it is, and it's
(27:27):
something that you know, it wasa skill I acquired later in life
.
Uh, I think part of that wasbecause a lot of things that
didn't have to set goals formaybe I was when I was younger,
I was good at school and I wasbigger than other kids at the
time, so I didn't have to trythat hard at a lot of things and
so I didn't really learn theskill of okay, this is a goal,
it's something hard and theseare the 10 things I have to do
(27:49):
to get there.
So if I have 10 weeks to getthere, then after one week I
have to at least have done this,and breaking a goal into
smaller pieces, like that yeah,we're all good at setting goals.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
I can tell you a hundred goals right now.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Right, but they're not goals because a goal without
a plan is just a dream right.
That's the quote, and sositting down with them and
figuring out what they want todo a realistic goal and then
figuring out what you have to doto get there.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Yeah, we talked a little bit about okay.
They're going to have morningtours cleaning up after
themselves and then afternoontours every day, and for me that
was just at the end of the day.
Everybody works together tolike reset instead of just mom
and dad, which is what we weredoing before.
We were just rushing throughthe evening because we had to.
We only had so many hours inday and they didn't really help
(28:36):
a lot with cleaning up afterdinner and all the things.
So, especially us being home alot, our house is going to be
trashed.
You know they can trash a houseso fast, but they're to the age
where they're going to helpclean it up before we start the
next day.
And then I wrote down lunchdates with mom and dad.
I think something that we werelacking right now is one-on-one
(29:00):
time.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Yeah, when we have all three kids it's just not so
hard.
Well, it's not usually qualitytime, that's the problem.
You do need to split it up alittle bit.
Even when you get one-on-onewith one of them and then the
other parent has them two-on-one, that can be quality time Even
with the two-on-one.
It's just that because two kidsget along well, three kids,
(29:22):
three, there's always somebodyleft out or fighting, and so,
yeah, I think that's a reallygood idea.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Okay, so, and then this was your idea a family book
club.
So reading is super importantto us, and kids are not getting
enough reading at school, whichmeans that if you're not having
them read every night before bed, they're not where they're
supposed to be reading.
They're just not, and most ofthe kids in their classes aren't
.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
And we didn't get to that part of the schedule.
But that is in the schedule.
It's not in the two hour likemain curriculum window.
There will be some afternoonsthat I have to take phone calls
as well, after the normal workwindow, so definitely during
that time they'll all be, youknow, in their rooms having a
private reading time for atleast an hour every single day.
And that's mandatory and otherdays, even if I don't have the
(30:12):
meetings.
I mean, I think they're goingto need to do that and I'll
probably do other stuff workrelated.
And speaking of work, I wantedto mention from what we said at
the very beginning.
It probably sounds like I wasjust saying I'm going to work
four hours a day, four days aweek, and that we can run this
business working 16 hours.
That's not the case.
That's the schedule.
But I'm also taking phone callsin the afternoon and even
(30:35):
though we're not doing school onFriday, I'm actually working
six to 10 also on Friday, andI'm also working six to 10 on
Saturday and Sunday.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Yeah, we imagine we'll have to do it seven days a
week, but we've been doing thisjob for years and years now and
that actually feels better tous, getting a little bit done
every single day.
I don't know, I don't.
It doesn't feel that bad to me.
It sounds worse than it is, Ithink.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Well and I know it sounds weird to some people
because they're trending towardsfour 10 hour days, which, yeah,
if you have to get up, getshowered and get dressed up for
work and drive an hour each wayin traffic to get there, I mean
you're saving yourself threehours by not going on Friday and
I totally get that, anddepending on what kind of work
you're doing, that might be fine.
(31:21):
But my work is brain intensiveand so I'm not my best self for
10 hours, I'm my best self forfour hours, and so that's why
that six to 10 hour window it'smostly for getting number heavy
work done tax returns, taxprojections, things that are
hard, and then meetings later inthe day when my brain maybe
isn't as fresh, uh, but butthat's not as big of a deal, but
(31:45):
anyway that that way I'mgetting, you know, 28 hours of
solid, uninterrupted, nomeetings, just work done every
week by doing that.
That's.
That's how the schedule isgoing to work.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
And we're looking forward to that, just because we
get to do our work before thecraziness starts.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
Yeah, Sometimes they're hardly even awake for
most of that window and even ifthey are, they're not like ready
to talk to us and stuff.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
I mean no, they're really good about getting up.
Slate loves to read in his bed,the girls love to play, and
just they're not hard duringthat time period.
That's a great time for us towork.
I'm so excited to get the workdone before my day gets crazy,
because the way it was beforewas that we wake up I'm like
packing lunches, like all thiscrazy part of my day trying to
(32:31):
get the kids to school.
Then I got the kids to schooland then we get home and it's
like 830 or if I went to workout it was later, and kind of
feel like super frazzled, youknow.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Right and my brain wasn't working.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
when I finally got to sit down, it was like all of
this stress crept into my dayand then I had to start work.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Yeah, I mean, that's true, and and it then it feels
like you've already exhaustedyour brain before you even get
to do anything.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
I was kind of already over it before I started.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
I pour my cup of coffee and go straight to work.
And you know those eight hoursI get from four hours on
Saturday, four hours on Sunday.
I'm useless to the kids in thatwindow, they're sleeping most
of it.
And that four hours on Sunday.
I'm useless to the kids in thatwindow, they're sleeping most
of it and that's not going to begood quality family time, no
matter what.
Now I could use those fourhours each morning for selfish
things because I'm up anyway.
You know we wake up at sixo'clock all week.
I wake up on the weekend too.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Yeah, we're old.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
Waking up at six is not going to be hard I might as
well work in that window so thatI don't have to do those eight
hours of work during other timeswhen I am useful to the kids
and can have quality time withthem, and, of course, during tax
season.
Since we are CPAs, we'll beworking even more than what
we've said here and we don'tknow the plan for that.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
We're just going to have to like fill it out and if
we're drowning, we will get likebabysitting help, right, we
don't have family that's goingto watch the kids.
I know that's something thatpeople have asked.
And if you're working full-timeand you're homeschooling your
kids, some people have like agrandparent watching them during
the day and then the parenthomeschools them like at night.
(33:58):
No, that's, our kids are goingto be with us 24 7, but we are
open to getting someone to comein during our busy time of year,
which which is going to beJanuary through April.
So we haven't got that partfigured out, but we think that
we'll need some help during taxseason, but we're going to play
that by ear.
The other thing that we'll bedoing during the day or, I guess
(34:20):
, late afternoon, is we will besigning them up for some things.
We did not get into a co-op.
I know that's a big thing.
We didn't get into a co-op forthe semester, so we did not get
into a co-op.
I know that's a big thing.
We didn't get into a co-op forthis semester, so we're not
doing that.
We don't know if we're co-oppeople or not, but we'll try
that next semester it's just oneday a week, so it's not like a
significant thing.
And then I'm signing the girlsup for homeschool gymnastics,
(34:42):
which is like at 3 or 4 pm.
I like that option becausewe're not doing it late at night
.
It's not going to eat into ourfamily dinner time and so they
still get out of the house.
They get to be around some kids, make some friends, and then
we're home in a decent hour.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Right, we are looking forward to that part.
Not every sport they play willbe necessarily through a
homeschool specifically, butwhen it is, it's going to be
great because we won't have tohave practices at 6 pm, 7 pm, 8
pm.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Well, we're being very picky this year and we
haven't talked about that yet,but we have done the sports
thing.
It has been eating me alivewith three kids.
If you have three kids, thatmeans you have six practices
during the week, two for eachkid.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
And then three games on Saturday Three games on
Saturday.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Just letting them do one freaking sport takes up your
whole life, and I'm not here tosay that sports aren't
important.
I played sports my whole life,but this year we're being so
choosy, so we're gonna do thehomeschool gymnastics we'll
probably play basketball we'replaying basketball.
If something is, we're just Idon't know.
(35:55):
We're just gonna be reallypicky.
I'm not saying that they'renever gonna do more sports or
more serious sports, but thisyear we're not.
We're we've been doing thathasn't been working.
We're gonna try this for thisyear and the kids are aware of
that.
Like we've talked about that.
We're gonna do like some lowercommitment things and see how it
goes.
And I think one thing that wehaven't brought up subject that
(36:16):
people don't like to talk about,but it is the elephant in the
room and this conversation isjust like screen time with the
kids.
And first, obviously from thestandpoint of is, are the kids
are going to be doing it on likea tablet, like the homeschool
or tablet or anything, and forthe most part.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
no, I don't think we did talk about it, we.
I think we mentioned in theprevious episode that we liked
me academy because you have theoption to print the pdf of each
course and so the practicequizzes are in there, all that
kind of stuff.
I might have at least the olderkids do their tests on there,
because then it auto grades it.
(36:54):
I mean there's an answer keyand I could grade it.
They could do it on pencil andpaper and we might experiment
with both and just see.
I mean we're not againstscreens completely, you know we
just we also don't want them tosit on the screen for the whole
two hours of their schoolingevery day, because then I feel
like okay, well then they can'twatch a show tonight or do
(37:15):
anything else, cause they'vealready had two hours of screen
time.
That's already enough.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
I mean you say that, but compared to most people
we're pretty particular aboutscreen time.
We're not screen time it's thedevil.
We don't think that and we'renot zero screen time.
But our kids don't do screentime during the day.
No it's a non-negotiable.
They do not wake up and watchcartoons.
They do not watch a show duringlunch.
They do not have tablet time.
(37:40):
The iPads only come out for twocircumstances, and somebody
pointed this out on social mediathe other day, so I need to
make sure that I say that too.
But when we travel so we had a10-hour flight recently they got
their, they got ipads to watchmovies and stuff.
When we come home, they're putaway.
The kids never touch them againuntil we travel.
(38:02):
And then the other exceptionwhich is why I said that is that
Slate does do piano lessons onthe iPad.
So there's a simply piano yeah,simply piano.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
We love it and Scotty's been doing those
special reading lessons on theiPad as well yeah, we've been
using what is it?
Speaker 1 (38:22):
learn to read or I don't know.
I need to look it up becauseit's helped her a lot.
But it's like daily lessons 10or 15 minutes a day, depending
on the lesson and it is on theipad.
So, yes, those are supervisedby us, though, so they're not
like doing anything else on theipad.
It literally is just that, andwe're pretty picky about it.
I don't want the kids to havean ipad.
(38:43):
I feel like that's like ifyou're giving your kid an ip,
you're giving them a phone, likethey have access to all the
things.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
So they don't have.
But when we're traveling theydon't have access to the
internet on the iPad.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
Right.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
So they only have what we downloaded on there for
them intentionally, and then,when they're doing their other
stuff, like Taryn said, we'resitting right there, so we know
that they're only using it forthe piano lessons or the reading
app.
So yeah, so we know thatthey're only using it for the
piano lessons or the reading app.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
They never have their iPad alone in their room.
That just doesn't happen.
And the screen time we've beendoing this for so long.
Once we realized that it wasnot good and we needed to make a
change, we haven't let them doscreen time during the day.
When I say screen time, I justmean TV.
We haven't let them do that foryears.
So, like, when I say screentime, I just mean like tv.
We haven't let them do that foryears.
(39:30):
So it's not a battle at all.
Like they know, they don't getto watch a show or anything
until the end of the day, andthe thing with that is that all
the important things have beendone you have done reading, you
have done your math, you've gotoutside, you've spent time with
your siblings, you've helpedwith chores, you've done
everything and they wind downand they can pick a show and
(39:52):
watch at night.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
And the reason for that is that we don't think TV
is evil or we wouldn't let themwatch at night before they go to
bed.
But for me personally and forall of my kids, and probably for
a lot of people, because thestudies show that this is the
case for a lot of people butonce I've watched something,
then the rest of the day mybrain is so much more
distractible.
It's harder for me to focus onthings.
(40:13):
So you know, watching before weare going to do our curriculum,
or watching before we even golet's say, you're on the
basketball team and before yougo to basketball practice, and
then you're supposed to go focusand you know, run around hard
and everything while you'rethere.
I just don't think it'sconducive to doing a good job at
those things.
So we, but at the end of theday, when we're not going to be
(40:35):
doing anything else anyway, it'sokay.
Once you've cleaned up fromdinner and you've brushed your
teeth, you're ready for bed.
Then you can watch until youknow bedtime and we're okay with
that.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
Yeah, we're not crazy people.
I just wanted to point that outbecause a lot of people are
assuming and they're saying likenegative things about
homeschooling that the kids arejust sitting on their iPads all
day, and I just wanted to pointout that's not what they're
doing.
It's not what they're doing tofill their time.
You know, like we've talkedabout all of these things
they'll be doing and we're just.
We're not screen people, butalso we're not crazy people.
(41:08):
We do a lot of movie nightstogether.
We try to do a movie night atleast once a week.
So we don't think screens arethe devil.
We also don't want that to beour whole family thing, like we
only watch TV together, like wewant to like do family dinners
and like go for walks and havegame nights and things like that
(41:28):
.
So once a week we will do movietime.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
Yeah, and that's.
That's always fun because we doit together.
And if there's music during themovie, the girls usually get up
and dance during it, and Idon't know that's.
It's just a totally differentthing than everyone sitting on
their iPad in their room bythemselves and I don't know it's
different.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
Yeah, it's a community thing versus everyone
doing their own thing.
And the kids like go get alltheir blankets and they set up
and Taylor usually makes popcornand it's a whole thing and we
get to talk about the movies.
They'll bring it up all thetime Like oh, we watched, honey,
I Shrunk the Kids and we'lltalk about it it.
(42:10):
So I just wanted to mention itbecause people will ask like
what, what time of the day dothey get their tablet time?
Or like are they just sittingthere watching while y'all are
working?
And that's not the case.
But our kids have done this foryears, so it's not like we're
changing anything.
This is what our normal thinghas been and they're really good
with it.
Since they were like little,we've been doing like quiet time
in their rooms.
So now we're just switchingthat to what is it?
(42:33):
Deer, deer time?
Speaker 2 (42:35):
Drop everything and read Drop everything and read.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
We had that in second grade and I absolutely loved it
, like it was one of my favoritethings.
But the kids now they don'treally read at school, like they
don't have reading time.
Like get your book out and readfor 30 minutes or whatever, but
not a lot, not consistent, oryou know, that's our kids,
that's what our kids tell us.
We don't know actually we neverknow and so I'm looking forward
(42:57):
to that.
They're they've already beenused to like having time, to
like be by themselves in theirrooms for a little bit in the
day, just like break up, likebeing with us and being with
each other.
I think it's good, and then,hopefully, I plan to read during
that time.
Sometimes, if I don't haveanything to do, I want to read
too I'll probably be on meetings.
(43:17):
Yeah, of course I'll be inmeetings I mean I might be
working some of those days, butI hope that I can do dear time
with them because I think thatthem seeing, like me, read this
last year I've been reading alot actually has been really
good.
So that's all the hopes anddreams for this.
So I know that's a lot.
That's over an hour of us justrambling on about how we're
(43:42):
gonna make this work.
But we've obviously beentalking about this a lot and we
know a lot of this isn't goingto work.
So we're here to tell you likethese are our hopes and dreams
and then you'll hear from uslater and we'll tell you if.
If it worked out.
Like, are we doing the familybook club?
Are we going for our familywalks together?
Are we going on lunch dateswith mom and dad and getting
(44:03):
some one-on-one time with thekids?
Like the chores, all of that.
It does seem like a lot to packinto a day, but we'll let you
know how it goes.
We we are definitely startingstarting out strong with a lot
of things on our list, but andif you wanted to get a very
structured, straightforwardschedule out of this.
Speaker 2 (44:19):
I know we went off on a lot of tangents, so we
probably will put together a Idon't know a PDF or a
spreadsheet or something of ourschedule once we've worked out
all the kinks, and make thatavailable for people.
Speaker 1 (44:30):
Yeah, I'm going to make one to where it's like the
kids can like a visual schedule.
Then kids can see this is thetime you're supposed to be like
reading, this is the time thatyou're supposed to be doing your
morning tours or afternoontours, so I will share that.
If there's anything else thatyou think that would be useful,
let me know and we will reporthow it goes and update you guys
(44:50):
along the way.
And we have no idea how to endour podcast episodes, because we
have another podcast aboutfinances and accounting for our
CPA firm and so we're just goingto end it.
That way Seems like it's beengoing well for us for a couple
of years, so why not?
Okay, all right, then, untilnext time.
(45:10):
Thank you so much for listeningto.
Speaker 2 (45:15):
Well, this.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
Wasn't the Plan?
Podcast.
Thanks so much for listening.
If you would please do us asolid, take two minutes and
leave us a review on our podcast.
Let us know what you enjoyedabout it, because that really
helps us get in front of otherpeople.
We're working.
So where are we going to getthese hours that they are
generally at school when we'reworking, and that's what we had
to figure out.
So step one for us was tochange our work schedule up a
bit.
We're two full-time workingparents who just made a crazy
decision.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
After four years in public school, we're
homeschooling our three kids anddocumenting the whole thing.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Never in a million years did I think we would be
homeschool people.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Welcome to well, this wasn't the plan podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I'm Slate and school's in the kitchen.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
now I'm Scotty, we say start when I say so, I'm
Sailor and this whole podcastwas my idea.
This podcast is our real-timejourney, unexpectedly juggling
homeschool jobs, parenting andeverything in between.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
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.
We're learning to expect thegood, the bad and the ugly,
because we know some days aregoing to be ugly and we're not
holding back.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
We're learning to expect the unexpected, so let's
get into it, let's go.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
We are going to homeschool our three kids while
also working full-time, so let'stalk about that.
How are we going to do this?
I didn't realize that so manypeople are working and
homeschooling their kids.
I think I just assumed that ifyou homeschooled, you had to
have one person at home that wasdedicated to doing school for
(01:38):
kids, but upon further research,we've actually figured out that
that's not really the case.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
So there are a lot of things to get done in the day,
so obviously we have to have aschedule.
I'm not a big fan of schedulesometimes, but it seems like
it's kind of like a budget.
People feel like a budget isbossing you around about what
you can do with your money, butit's not.
It's actually freeing.
It gives you permission tospend right, that's what we
always tell people.
Well, I feel like the scheduleI'm starting to feel that way
(02:06):
about it.
Instead of bossing me around,it frees me up.
It's like okay, these are thehours we're doing, whatever
things, and so then I don't feelguilty when some of those other
hours I'm actually relaxing ordoing something fun.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Absolutely.
I think for a couple of yearsnow, I felt like there's all
these things that I wanted to bedoing, these things that I
thought I would be doing as aparent, and we didn't have time
for them, and so now I have alist of all the things we're
going to do when we homeschooland actually it's like probably
like way too many things, but weneed to go through all of them
(02:43):
and figure out what's mostimportant to us so that we can
fit the things that are actualpriorities in our day.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Right, we will have to rank those in order, because
there's no way we're going toget through all the things you
have on your list.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
No, and before we, I'll share what's on my list.
But before we do that and wework through our little schedule
for the day, I do want to pointout that we own our own
business.
We work for ourselves.
We do have to work, but thatobviously gives us some freedom
to figure out when we're goingto work and as long as we get
(03:16):
the work done, we can still haveour job.
So I do know that not everybodycan do that, so I'm very
thankful.
But we've had to just make somechanges in our business over
the last 18 months so that wecan do this, and it wasn't easy,
but we are thankful that we'reable to do it.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Owning your own business is a lot of
responsibility, but it does giveyou the freedom to choose when
you have to fill thoseresponsibilities to some extent.
I mean, I can't tell clients Ihave to meet with you at 5 am or
at 10 pm.
I can work at those times and Ido a lot because that's when
you know my kids are asleep.
But you know I do have to takemeetings during normal work
(03:55):
hours sometimes.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
When we first started talking about this, you, like I
said I was surprised thatpeople did this, but you were
like, no, like we work, likewhen the kids are at school,
like we work the whole time.
Um, and a lot of times my timeis being taken by things that I
need to do for the school, forthe kids, but we're working.
So where are we going to getthese hours that they are
(04:18):
generally at school and we'reworking?
And that's what we had tofigure out.
So step one for us was tochange our work schedule up a
bit, change our business up.
We made our business more whereit's just all phone calls, all
remote, we're not going to beseeing clients in person, and it
took some time and energy toget all of that sorted out, but
(04:38):
we had to do that in order forthis to work.
That was our first step.
Now what we're trying to dosince we homeschool we start
homeschooling very soon is justfigure out the schedule, and
that's been hard.
But since we do have to work,like you said, at certain times
and be available, we do have tohave a schedule, and I know a
lot of homeschool people don'tlike to have a schedule.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
For our kids.
It would be necessary, even ifwe didn't have to take work into
consideration, because it wouldnever get done.
You know, or we get done at theend of the day, when we're all
at our worst and most pissy oh,absolutely.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
That is one thing, like looking into everything and
researching that we both foundout is that we need to do the
schooling like earlier in theday, and we actually, I feel
like, already experienced thatbecause we have been helping our
kids with school.
It's not like all of a suddenwe're going to help them.
We've been really focused onreading the past few years and
(05:36):
they've had like spelling testsand sight word tests and things
like that which we do at night,literally right before bed, and
it is the worst now we'll do itwhen everyone's brain is at the
freshest starting our day.
We at least know that we'regonna work in the morning, we're
gonna get up early before thekids get up, and we're going to
put in four hours, so we'regonna work from six to ten right
(05:58):
.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Specifically on mondays through thursdays.
This is going to be theschedule six to ten.
We'll be working.
The kids won't up that earlybut they'll get up sometime in
that window.
They don't sleep till 10.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Ben.
We've been practicing over thesummer, so they kind of already
know what their expectations arewhen they wake up.
They can't come in our officeand ask us for anything unless
it's an emergency and they canmake a simple breakfast.
So I think, starting out, wehave to make them a list of
things which are okay to makebreakfast which is just going to
(06:29):
be like oatmeal toast cerealyogurt, fruit, all the good
things.
Simple, easy breakfast thatthey're not actually cooking.
And then I did tell them likeif they need help with breakfast
, then I would be the person totalk to, because you're going to
be on meetings with clients andwe opened up client meetings
for the mornings.
So that's the first part of theday.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Right, and they're also going to be in charge of
cleaning it up, which is part ofhomeschool for us.
That's a life skill.
You know, they're makingbreakfast and they're cleaning
it up, leaving the kitchen howthey found it.
That's the plan.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
I do like that because I think every parent
struggles with that.
You want your kids to learnthose things, but you also don't
want them to make a mess,because then you're having to
clean it up.
So for them to go in thekitchen and make their stuff
like they're probably going tospill some milk, they're
probably going to make a mess,but we're not rushed.
So when we get finished up Ican be like hey, look, here's
the mess that you made, Like yougot to clean it up, and we can
(07:27):
teach them that type of thing aswe go.
And I feel like the way ourlives are.
In the past we were toostressed and in a hurry to stop
and teach those little momentsthat they do need to know how to
do chores.
They need to know how to cleanup after themselves.
I don't want teenagers that aregoing in there making stuff and
then leaving a mess for me LikeI'm not doing that.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
But that was the problem is that you know we
couldn't have them clean uptheir own breakfast when we have
to get to school because it'sgoing to take them 30 minutes.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Now, if it takes them 45 minutes to clean up the
kitchen, it doesn't matter, butbefore I had to do it in five
off cleaning up too.
But also this last year, thekids are really struggling to
get out of bed.
(08:13):
So we asked them, like do youwant to stop having like, I
guess, different, like breakfastthat you sit down and eat every
morning, or do you want us tomake, like you, a protein shake
and you can get up a little bitlater?
And they, they all said thatthey wanted protein shakes
instead because they were justreally tired trying to get up.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
As they got older, the sports stuff started going
later and later.
You know, at least they hadsome respect for the
kindergartners and the firstgraders, where practices were at
like 6 PMm or whatever.
But then we got to where wewere having practices at 8 or
even 9 pm.
We're not getting home till 10.
It was just crazy.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Then we were trying to like help with them, school
and stuff and it just wasn'tworking trying to get them in
bed a decent hour.
So they're looking forward tohaving not like bacon and eggs
and like a full breakfast, butat least different breakfast
every morning and something thatthey can try and fix themselves
.
So they're looking forward tothat, like some independence in
(09:13):
their day.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
But the other days Friday, saturday and Sunday
we're not doing it on the sameschedule and I think those days
I'll be able to make, because Ilike to cook breakfast I'll be
able to make bacon, eggs,sausage, pancakes, you know,
whatever more complicatedbreakfast for everybody.
Also, in that window from sixto 10, I mean the kids, they're
not going to spend that wholetime just eating breakfast and
(09:35):
cleaning up unless they happento sleep in, but mostly they
won't sleep in that long, sothey'll also be able to play and
kind of have their ownindependent free time for a
while, maybe even go outside,especially in Texas, in this,
you know, or in August.
It's a good time for them to goout in the morning because it
starts to get really hot.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
But then in the winter we're going to have to
adjust that because it's toocold in the morning and it's
better to go out in theafternoon.
So that will just be anadjustment later on in the year.
But they will have, like, theirresponsibility while we're
working and they're pretty goodwith that.
They did a really good job withthat this summer.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
So, moving past 10 o'clock, from 10 to 12,
tentatively, our plan is thatthat's when we're going to do
school for the most part.
What I mean by that is thatwe'll already have the lessons
printed out.
We'll have a plan, as you knowthe parents and teachers and so
at 10 o'clock we don't just say,okay, we're going to think
about starting.
No, at 10 o'clock we're goingto get on it so that we don't
(10:34):
have to spend all day on it.
That's the plan.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
So it's early in the day, which will be best for the
kids.
They'll have hopefully alreadyhad breakfast and got outside a
little bit, so that they are inlike a really good mood to like
focus, and then we have twohours set aside every day.
Now that doesn't seem like alot of time, two hours.
I get it.
They're at school a lot longerthan two hours, but we've done a
(10:59):
lot of research and,surprisingly, most people are
getting it done in two hours.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
And at school they're not spending two hours actually
on academic curriculum no,which actually was shocking to
me.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
I mean, I know now that I think about it, like the
teachers have 20 plus studentsand they are cycling through
recess and pe and all of thesethings, lunch and music and
technology and all this otherstuff.
Yeah, they cram a lot into a day.
So the actual academic learningpart is two hours and then
we're choosing the other thingsthat they're going to have in
(11:33):
their day.
But the learning part is thatand I have I could not find this
like statistic, but I've cameacross it a few times Kids only
get like a minute or two ofdirect instruction from their
teacher a day, and usuallythat's only as a direct result
of them asking a question.
So if you especially if youhave a quiet kid, like we have
(11:55):
one, and they don't raise theirhand and ask a specific question
based on what they're teaching,they get no one-on-one time.
So if you can commit two hoursin your day to homeschooling
your kids, then they're actuallyway better off than the
instruction they're getting atschool, because they're over the
(12:16):
course of a month aren't evengetting that two hours right,
which was shocking to me, yeahbut I, I mean, it's like
something that we all kind ofknow.
But just to hear it like that, Iwas like okay it, it just gave
me more, like okay, we can dothis, and then I don't think
we're doing Fridays right, arewe doing Fridays?
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Right, we're not doing Fridays.
We think we're not going to doFridays.
What my plan is is is thatbefore we were doing Fridays uh,
where we need to get back onthis, since we've been on
vacation we didn't do this.
But Fridays we clean clean thehouse, that's a life skill and
we all help.
You know we all have ourassigned jobs for that Friday.
And then you know it probablytakes like an hour or two of
(12:58):
cleaning with everyone and thenI would take the kids and we'd
go do something fun and then momwould finish, you know, doing
things with no one in the house,which makes it a lot easier for
her to do.
You know, the things she'strying to get done Doesn't
really sound fair, because thenI get to go have fun with the
kids.
But you know that's just how weset it up and she agreed to it.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
I actually really like it and this is coming from
someone who we've had our housecleaned by someone else since
we've been married and I loveour new Friday thing.
We stopped.
We didn't get anyone to startcleaning because we're in the
house 24 seven and it justseemed like, okay, how are we
going to get everybody out ofthe house for the whole day for
(13:38):
someone to come clean?
Like, let's just do thisourselves and teach the kids
these chores that they need to.
Everybody gets a laundry day.
Love that our oldest can do herlaundry start to finish.
So now with the cleaning, wegive the kids their jobs, so
they have to like strip theirbeds, get their trash, clean
their bathroom and get it likeready for me just to come in and
(14:02):
vacuum and mop the floors andstuff, and I get uninterrupted
time at home to like crank upthe music and clean, which I
actually really like, and youguys go do something fun, and
now it could be somethinghomeschool related.
There's a few things that wefound we might do, but that just
I feel like it's a win-win thehouse gets cleaned, I get to do
it the way I want to do it andthe kids have to help.
(14:25):
They've never had to do that.
They've never had to do sheetsor anything like that.
I did actually think, maybeyesterday.
I was thinking that it would becool if we rewarded them with
certain field trips, like, likethey wanted, they really want to
go to Six Flags, okay, and wewant to take them, but why not
let them work together to earnsomething like that?
(14:47):
Or if there's something elsethat they have been wanting to
do, it's like okay, guys, we allhave to work toward this.
We get in, we get our, ourstuff done and we do that.
By the end of whatever the sixweeks or however we break it up,
they get to earn that together.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah, that's a good idea too.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
I thought that's something that comes up for me
and we kind of tackled that inthe summer.
But you know, you don't have todiscipline your kids when
they're at school all day, youknow right the school does that
for you, whether it's the, thegoofy thing where they they move
colors the clip chart.
Yeah, the clip chart or one yearthey had like right in the
(15:26):
folder you're all day, you'renot having to do anything like
that.
So our discipline was reallyonly in the mornings, like how
do we make sure they get out ofbed and stuff?
And then at night, how do wemake sure that they are doing
things like take a shower andget in bed and read?
But there's a big gap in theday and a lot of the year where
(15:46):
you're not having to do that.
So the things we were doing,quite frankly, we just weren't
working.
I don't know.
We had done a lot of differentthings and we were just like it
just doesn't work.
It doesn't seem like what we'repunishing them or the
consequences weren't working.
So we this summer did try, orbefore school was let out,
actually, we started a starchart and I think it went really
(16:09):
well.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Actually, yeah, they respond better to rewards for
good behavior than punishmentsfor bad behavior.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
And if there's anything that we talk about that
you guys would like a copy ofour like the star chart or like
the cleaning checklist reach outto me.
I'd be happy to share it withyou guys.
But the star chart basically isso we have to specifically find
them doing something good andthey get a star.
I think it made us realize howmuch we weren't saying good.
(16:38):
So it made me realize that Iwasn't saying good things to
them.
I was only pointing out whenthey were doing something bad.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Right, yeah, and it.
You know it feels better too asthe parent.
So, and I'm not all hokey,pokey, crunchy granola person
and this does kind of sound likethat, but it's.
I'm more of a results personand the results speak for
themselves.
It works better.
So I don't know, you might tryit.
That's not to say that.
It's more like you reward themfor the good things.
(17:05):
There's some things that arejust bad, though.
If your kid hits somebody likethat's just bad.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
I mean, they need something, they're still getting
consequences.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
You can't just be like I'm going to reward you if
you stop hitting people.
No, you got to be like okay,you can't hit people, you need
to go, I don't know, sit byyourself for a while, or
whatever, so that you stop doingthat.
But other things that are justsimply annoying, like like
leaving your shoes out that one.
It's not necessarily a badthing, and you don't have to
punish them for leaving theirshoes out.
(17:32):
Instead, you can choose toreward them for putting them
away.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Yeah, I think it gets more of the good out of them.
The schools have, you know,discipline plans in place for a
reason, like you have to havesomething, and so that was a big
thing that I knew we would haveto do, and that's going to be
what we try for now.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Right.
So within the schedule, withinthe 10 to 12 time when we're
doing curriculum I mean that'sgoing to look like quite a bit
of time on math and reading andwe're planning to do those all
four days.
And then Spanish.
We think we want them to learnSpanish, so I'm going to start
at least with them doing that alittle bit every day.
I do think that you know youonly get 15 to 20 minutes of
(18:13):
good learning when you'relearning a language, and so
we'll spend less time but moredays with that.
And then science and socialstudies we're going to alternate
, so those will be just two daysa week each, at least for now,
and then if one of them shows asignificant interest in doing
something in the sciences, thenwe might up that or do some
(18:33):
additional outside camps orsomething like that to help
stimulate that.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
You're really more focused on, like the actual
academics.
I'm not like.
Obviously I want my kids to dowell in all those subjects, but
I am more focused on what theycan learn that they don't get.
They don't get the opportunityto learn in school because it
takes up all of their time.
So that's what.
My list of those things thatare outside of the two hours is
(18:58):
a mile long and I don't know howwe're gonna like get all those
things in in a day or a weekwe'll see, but I think it's very
doable.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
So much of what they do is repetitive and unnecessary
in a normal schedule.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
So you know, we'll see so there are a few things
that we will obviously becutting out of their day.
We have a whole list or I havea whole list of things that I
want them to learn, becausethey're homeschooling.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
And don't take that to.
You know that we don't thinkmusic is important.
It's just that we're not goingto have a specific class for it.
The kids can take guitarlessons or piano lessons or
singing lessons, whatever theywant.
Yeah, they want to, I mean, I'ma musician, I play multiple
instruments so it's important tome, but you know playing the
recorder or you know whateverthey do it just doesn't feel
(19:44):
that important to me.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
It just checks off a box.
It's not real music, likethat's not what they're getting,
like we can fill that time,like now Slate's doing piano
lessons, so he'll be able to dothat and we don't have to
squeeze it in after the timethey get out of school.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
So that's nice, they can do it during the day.
Just do it in his free time,either in the morning or after
we're done with school.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
So I wrote a list of things I want my kids to learn
during homeschool.
One of them is cooking, and ouridea for that is to let one kid
cook with us every single day,because they're always fighting
and it's really hard to cookwith all three of them, so we'll
rotate and for one day they canhelp with all the meals.
So that's what our plan is, atleast Now.
(20:27):
Just keep in mind we're talkingabout the plan because we know
full and well we're going tocome back and a lot of this
didn't work and we'll tell youwhat didn't work.
Chores we've already talkedabout that, budgeting and
shopping.
So I want them to be like veryinvolved in our shopping and
budgeting for, like groceriesand things like that, because I
think it's a huge life skill infact that's part of the schedule
(20:50):
.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
I wrote down that.
You know on sundays we're goingto you make our meal plan for
the week and grocery shop basedon that.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
And the kids will have a say so on the meals.
So we've always kind of donethat, like Carson's been in
charge of it, we've flip-floppedour roles and we just we
haven't stuck to anything verywell.
But I think the kids helping uswith like okay, y'all tell us,
like what are y'all hungry forthis week?
And let's say, scotty picksspaghetti, like she's going to
be so excited to have spaghettibecause she picked it right.
(21:20):
So they'll help us because that, if anything, is something
every single human, especiallyparent, has to do.
That.
So that is a skill.
And if we do have to go to thestore, we do grocery orders a
lot from Walmart.
And if we do have to go to thestore, we do grocery orders a
lot from Walmart.
But if we do, we're just goingto make sure that like we take a
(21:41):
kid with us and have that aslike a teaching moment on, like
you know, adding up what it isand just knowing how much things
cost and things like that.
Trying to stick to a budgetLike this is how much we spend
on groceries a week, like lookat the two prices and things
like that.
I think that is so important.
But it doesn't happen when youhave three kids and you're just
trying to do things as quick aspossible.
So I want to make sure thatwe're sending kids.
(22:03):
Like, if you go run an errand,I want to send a kid with you so
that you have the patience toteach just one kid about
whatever you're doing.
What if you have to get yourtire fixed?
Like that's a great learninglesson.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Yeah, that's true.
You take it into the tire place.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
You're making fun of me, but this is brilliant.
Okay, that's a good one.
Go ride it down.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Oh no, I'm already looking forward to those with
the car.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
I'm going to make them do all the car stuff
themselves, but I'll I'll ridealong with them but help as
little as possible, because Iwant them to know how to do this
stuff change tires, change ourflat, you know, and get their
own gas, get their old, changeall of those things.
Also, obviously, budgeting,that's just big for us, that
finance as they get older.
We want them to know all ofthat because we suffered poorly
for not knowing all of that.
So that's going to be a bigthing.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Oh yeah, we're not going to have them working at,
you know, like a minimum wagejob.
We're going to have them starttheir own small business whether
it's babysitting, cutting grass, poop scooping, I don't care
what it is, but something likethat and they're going to have a
budget.
They're going to have a P and Lfor their business.
They're going to learn how todo all of those things.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
And marketing and all of that.
I feel like that's a reallygood way to get your feet wet
and or I'm so excited about that.
Sailor is even really excitedabout that.
She's 10, so she'll be.
She'll be there before we knowit and they'll be saving up for
their cars.
We already have their savingsaccount and we put in money.
Every time they put in money,we match it.
So they get a hundred dollarsfor their birthday.
(23:30):
Then we match that hundred.
So they're slowly saving forthat and it's so important for
us that they learn that type ofthing, which they don't teach at
school, so I'm glad we're goingto have extra time to teach
them things that are that areimportant to us.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Right, yeah, and because we we don't want them to
have a beater, that's not safe,but we also want them to have
some skin in the game so thatthey understand the value of you
know a vehicle or spendingmoney on a vehicle.
So that's where we came up withthat idea to you know that and
Dave Ramsey to match, whateverthey save up for their car will
match it.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
So we already talked about music a little bit, but
Slate's doing piano lessons.
I know the girls had mentionedlike doing guitar lessons or
something.
So we will work that into ourschedule, because people are
asking, like what are you goingto do the rest of the time If it
only takes two hours to toschool your kids?
Like what are they going to do?
So these are, these are thetypes of things that I wrote
(24:24):
down and we're just now we'retrying to figure out when, when
we do what.
So if we tell Slade okay, onTuesday and Thursdays, you're
doing your piano lessons, whenare we going to fill the rest of
this in?
Another thing is just gettingthem outside.
A lot at school they are notgetting outside.
So that is just reallyimportant to us, and that might
(24:45):
be in the morning, that might beafternoon, but I think we want
to do something together as afamily, right?
Whether it's a walk or For sure.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Yeah, that's in the schedule, you know, and it
depends this time of year,they'll need to get outside in
the morning and then we might,you know, find a gym that has
family stuff that we can all goto, cause, you know, at 5 PM,
when we're probably going to bedoing this, or 4 PM this time of
year in Texas it's, you know,sometimes 115 degrees, so we
can't really go outside then.
(25:13):
But uh, we'll do somethingactive and and when we're able
to outside, for sure and we'regoing to travel a lot this year.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
We don't know how long this will be our thing or
if we're going to see it throughtill they graduate, but this
year we're going to travel and Ifeel like that they they
learned so much traveling andI'm really looking forward to
that part of it that ties intohomeschool for two.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
One, we're able to do it more because of the
homeschooling and we're able togo when it's not so busy and
expensive because of homeschool.
But number two, it's one of thethings we are teaching them how
to not just what they learnwhile they travel, but how to
travel even whenever we're notin a super big hurry, like we're
about to miss our flight or ourplane.
I was having one of the kidslead the way hey, we're looking
(25:57):
for this train, it's on thisplatform.
Watch the signs and get usthere.
And they'd lead the way andwe'd go and they're learning
that.
These are things that when wewent on our honeymoon whenever I
was how old were we when we gotmarried?
I don't know in my twenties andI didn't know how to do this.
I couldn't have found a trainor figured out any of this stuff
, and I'm thinking by the timemy kids are 18, they're all
(26:21):
going to be proficient at that.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
And then I have a whole list of like things that I
swear probably sounds socrunchy granola.
I would love for the kids tohave like specific goals for the
semester, whatever that ismaybe it's a goal for sailor
wants to get like her overhandserve over, or if it's a goal
for spanish or piano, like somesort of goal and we work toward
(26:47):
it because I feel like it's sucha life lesson to learn that
things don't happen overnight.
Big things happen because youtake little tiny steps every day
and they can pick their goal.
But I want them to have a goalmaybe every semester I don't
know if it should be morefrequent but I think a goal with
sub goals?
Speaker 2 (27:05):
sure, because that's how you do it you break it into
smaller pieces and okay, rightbackwards.
You know, if I want to get there, then I need to be by this day.
I need to be at least this far.
And and you the thing is, youcan do that for everything,
whether it's it's fitness goals,whether it's job goals or CPA
exam goals.
If you want to be CPA or youknow whatever it is, and it's
(27:27):
something that you know, it wasa skill I acquired later in life
.
Uh, I think part of that wasbecause a lot of things that
didn't have to set goals formaybe I was when I was younger,
I was good at school and I wasbigger than other kids at the
time, so I didn't have to trythat hard at a lot of things and
so I didn't really learn theskill of okay, this is a goal,
it's something hard and theseare the 10 things I have to do
(27:49):
to get there.
So if I have 10 weeks to getthere, then after one week I
have to at least have done this,and breaking a goal into
smaller pieces, like that yeah,we're all good at setting goals.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
I can tell you a hundred goals right now.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Right, but they're not goals because a goal without
a plan is just a dream right.
That's the quote, and sositting down with them and
figuring out what they want todo a realistic goal and then
figuring out what you have to doto get there.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Yeah, we talked a little bit about okay.
They're going to have morningtours cleaning up after
themselves and then afternoontours every day, and for me that
was just at the end of the day.
Everybody works together tolike reset instead of just mom
and dad, which is what we weredoing before.
We were just rushing throughthe evening because we had to.
We only had so many hours inday and they didn't really help
(28:36):
a lot with cleaning up afterdinner and all the things.
So, especially us being home alot, our house is going to be
trashed.
You know they can trash a houseso fast, but they're to the age
where they're going to helpclean it up before we start the
next day.
And then I wrote down lunchdates with mom and dad.
I think something that we werelacking right now is one-on-one
(29:00):
time.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Yeah, when we have all three kids it's just not so
hard.
Well, it's not usually qualitytime, that's the problem.
You do need to split it up alittle bit.
Even when you get one-on-onewith one of them and then the
other parent has them two-on-one, that can be quality time Even
with the two-on-one.
It's just that because two kidsget along well, three kids,
(29:22):
three, there's always somebodyleft out or fighting, and so,
yeah, I think that's a reallygood idea.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Okay, so, and then this was your idea a family book
club.
So reading is super importantto us, and kids are not getting
enough reading at school, whichmeans that if you're not having
them read every night before bed, they're not where they're
supposed to be reading.
They're just not, and most ofthe kids in their classes aren't
.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
And we didn't get to that part of the schedule.
But that is in the schedule.
It's not in the two hour likemain curriculum window.
There will be some afternoonsthat I have to take phone calls
as well, after the normal workwindow, so definitely during
that time they'll all be, youknow, in their rooms having a
private reading time for atleast an hour every single day.
And that's mandatory and otherdays, even if I don't have the
(30:12):
meetings.
I mean, I think they're goingto need to do that and I'll
probably do other stuff workrelated.
And speaking of work, I wantedto mention from what we said at
the very beginning.
It probably sounds like I wasjust saying I'm going to work
four hours a day, four days aweek, and that we can run this
business working 16 hours.
That's not the case.
That's the schedule.
But I'm also taking phone callsin the afternoon and even
(30:35):
though we're not doing school onFriday, I'm actually working
six to 10 also on Friday, andI'm also working six to 10 on
Saturday and Sunday.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Yeah, we imagine we'll have to do it seven days a
week, but we've been doing thisjob for years and years now and
that actually feels better tous, getting a little bit done
every single day.
I don't know, I don't.
It doesn't feel that bad to me.
It sounds worse than it is, Ithink.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Well and I know it sounds weird to some people
because they're trending towardsfour 10 hour days, which, yeah,
if you have to get up, getshowered and get dressed up for
work and drive an hour each wayin traffic to get there, I mean
you're saving yourself threehours by not going on Friday and
I totally get that, anddepending on what kind of work
you're doing, that might be fine.
(31:21):
But my work is brain intensiveand so I'm not my best self for
10 hours, I'm my best self forfour hours, and so that's why
that six to 10 hour window it'smostly for getting number heavy
work done tax returns, taxprojections, things that are
hard, and then meetings later inthe day when my brain maybe
isn't as fresh, uh, but butthat's not as big of a deal, but
(31:45):
anyway that that way I'mgetting, you know, 28 hours of
solid, uninterrupted, nomeetings, just work done every
week by doing that.
That's.
That's how the schedule isgoing to work.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
And we're looking forward to that, just because we
get to do our work before thecraziness starts.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
Yeah, Sometimes they're hardly even awake for
most of that window and even ifthey are, they're not like ready
to talk to us and stuff.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
I mean no, they're really good about getting up.
Slate loves to read in his bed,the girls love to play, and
just they're not hard duringthat time period.
That's a great time for us towork.
I'm so excited to get the workdone before my day gets crazy,
because the way it was beforewas that we wake up I'm like
packing lunches, like all thiscrazy part of my day trying to
(32:31):
get the kids to school.
Then I got the kids to schooland then we get home and it's
like 830 or if I went to workout it was later, and kind of
feel like super frazzled, youknow.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Right and my brain wasn't working.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
when I finally got to sit down, it was like all of
this stress crept into my dayand then I had to start work.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Yeah, I mean, that's true, and and it then it feels
like you've already exhaustedyour brain before you even get
to do anything.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
I was kind of already over it before I started.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
I pour my cup of coffee and go straight to work.
And you know those eight hoursI get from four hours on
Saturday, four hours on Sunday.
I'm useless to the kids in thatwindow, they're sleeping most
of it.
And that four hours on Sunday.
I'm useless to the kids in thatwindow, they're sleeping most
of it and that's not going to begood quality family time, no
matter what.
Now I could use those fourhours each morning for selfish
things because I'm up anyway.
You know we wake up at sixo'clock all week.
I wake up on the weekend too.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Yeah, we're old.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
Waking up at six is not going to be hard I might as
well work in that window so thatI don't have to do those eight
hours of work during other timeswhen I am useful to the kids
and can have quality time withthem, and, of course, during tax
season.
Since we are CPAs, we'll beworking even more than what
we've said here and we don'tknow the plan for that.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
We're just going to have to like fill it out and if
we're drowning, we will get likebabysitting help, right, we
don't have family that's goingto watch the kids.
I know that's something thatpeople have asked.
And if you're working full-timeand you're homeschooling your
kids, some people have like agrandparent watching them during
the day and then the parenthomeschools them like at night.
(33:58):
No, that's, our kids are goingto be with us 24 7, but we are
open to getting someone to comein during our busy time of year,
which which is going to beJanuary through April.
So we haven't got that partfigured out, but we think that
we'll need some help during taxseason, but we're going to play
that by ear.
The other thing that we'll bedoing during the day or, I guess
(34:20):
, late afternoon, is we will besigning them up for some things.
We did not get into a co-op.
I know that's a big thing.
We didn't get into a co-op forthe semester, so we did not get
into a co-op.
I know that's a big thing.
We didn't get into a co-op forthis semester, so we're not
doing that.
We don't know if we're co-oppeople or not, but we'll try
that next semester it's just oneday a week, so it's not like a
significant thing.
And then I'm signing the girlsup for homeschool gymnastics,
(34:42):
which is like at 3 or 4 pm.
I like that option becausewe're not doing it late at night
.
It's not going to eat into ourfamily dinner time and so they
still get out of the house.
They get to be around some kids, make some friends, and then
we're home in a decent hour.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Right, we are looking forward to that part.
Not every sport they play willbe necessarily through a
homeschool specifically, butwhen it is, it's going to be
great because we won't have tohave practices at 6 pm, 7 pm, 8
pm.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Well, we're being very picky this year and we
haven't talked about that yet,but we have done the sports
thing.
It has been eating me alivewith three kids.
If you have three kids, thatmeans you have six practices
during the week, two for eachkid.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
And then three games on Saturday Three games on
Saturday.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Just letting them do one freaking sport takes up your
whole life, and I'm not here tosay that sports aren't
important.
I played sports my whole life,but this year we're being so
choosy, so we're gonna do thehomeschool gymnastics we'll
probably play basketball we'replaying basketball.
If something is, we're just Idon't know.
(35:55):
We're just gonna be reallypicky.
I'm not saying that they'renever gonna do more sports or
more serious sports, but thisyear we're not.
We're we've been doing thathasn't been working.
We're gonna try this for thisyear and the kids are aware of
that.
Like we've talked about that.
We're gonna do like some lowercommitment things and see how it
goes.
And I think one thing that wehaven't brought up subject that
(36:16):
people don't like to talk about,but it is the elephant in the
room and this conversation isjust like screen time with the
kids.
And first, obviously from thestandpoint of is, are the kids
are going to be doing it on likea tablet, like the homeschool
or tablet or anything, and forthe most part.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
no, I don't think we did talk about it, we.
I think we mentioned in theprevious episode that we liked
me academy because you have theoption to print the pdf of each
course and so the practicequizzes are in there, all that
kind of stuff.
I might have at least the olderkids do their tests on there,
because then it auto grades it.
(36:54):
I mean there's an answer keyand I could grade it.
They could do it on pencil andpaper and we might experiment
with both and just see.
I mean we're not againstscreens completely, you know we
just we also don't want them tosit on the screen for the whole
two hours of their schoolingevery day, because then I feel
like okay, well then they can'twatch a show tonight or do
(37:15):
anything else, cause they'vealready had two hours of screen
time.
That's already enough.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
I mean you say that, but compared to most people
we're pretty particular aboutscreen time.
We're not screen time it's thedevil.
We don't think that and we'renot zero screen time.
But our kids don't do screentime during the day.
No it's a non-negotiable.
They do not wake up and watchcartoons.
They do not watch a show duringlunch.
They do not have tablet time.
(37:40):
The iPads only come out for twocircumstances, and somebody
pointed this out on social mediathe other day, so I need to
make sure that I say that too.
But when we travel so we had a10-hour flight recently they got
their, they got ipads to watchmovies and stuff.
When we come home, they're putaway.
The kids never touch them againuntil we travel.
(38:02):
And then the other exceptionwhich is why I said that is that
Slate does do piano lessons onthe iPad.
So there's a simply piano yeah,simply piano.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
We love it and Scotty's been doing those
special reading lessons on theiPad as well yeah, we've been
using what is it?
Speaker 1 (38:22):
learn to read or I don't know.
I need to look it up becauseit's helped her a lot.
But it's like daily lessons 10or 15 minutes a day, depending
on the lesson and it is on theipad.
So, yes, those are supervisedby us, though, so they're not
like doing anything else on theipad.
It literally is just that, andwe're pretty picky about it.
I don't want the kids to havean ipad.
(38:43):
I feel like that's like ifyou're giving your kid an ip,
you're giving them a phone, likethey have access to all the
things.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
So they don't have.
But when we're traveling theydon't have access to the
internet on the iPad.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
Right.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
So they only have what we downloaded on there for
them intentionally, and then,when they're doing their other
stuff, like Taryn said, we'resitting right there, so we know
that they're only using it forthe piano lessons or the reading
app.
So yeah, so we know thatthey're only using it for the
piano lessons or the reading app.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
They never have their iPad alone in their room.
That just doesn't happen.
And the screen time we've beendoing this for so long.
Once we realized that it wasnot good and we needed to make a
change, we haven't let them doscreen time during the day.
When I say screen time, I justmean TV.
We haven't let them do that foryears.
So, like, when I say screentime, I just mean like tv.
We haven't let them do that foryears.
(39:30):
So it's not a battle at all.
Like they know, they don't getto watch a show or anything
until the end of the day, andthe thing with that is that all
the important things have beendone you have done reading, you
have done your math, you've gotoutside, you've spent time with
your siblings, you've helpedwith chores, you've done
everything and they wind downand they can pick a show and
(39:52):
watch at night.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
And the reason for that is that we don't think TV
is evil or we wouldn't let themwatch at night before they go to
bed.
But for me personally and forall of my kids, and probably for
a lot of people, because thestudies show that this is the
case for a lot of people butonce I've watched something,
then the rest of the day mybrain is so much more
distractible.
It's harder for me to focus onthings.
(40:13):
So you know, watching before weare going to do our curriculum,
or watching before we even golet's say, you're on the
basketball team and before yougo to basketball practice, and
then you're supposed to go focusand you know, run around hard
and everything while you'rethere.
I just don't think it'sconducive to doing a good job at
those things.
So we, but at the end of theday, when we're not going to be
(40:35):
doing anything else anyway, it'sokay.
Once you've cleaned up fromdinner and you've brushed your
teeth, you're ready for bed.
Then you can watch until youknow bedtime and we're okay with
that.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
Yeah, we're not crazy people.
I just wanted to point that outbecause a lot of people are
assuming and they're saying likenegative things about
homeschooling that the kids arejust sitting on their iPads all
day, and I just wanted to pointout that's not what they're
doing.
It's not what they're doing tofill their time.
You know, like we've talkedabout all of these things
they'll be doing and we're just.
We're not screen people, butalso we're not crazy people.
(41:08):
We do a lot of movie nightstogether.
We try to do a movie night atleast once a week.
So we don't think screens arethe devil.
We also don't want that to beour whole family thing, like we
only watch TV together, like wewant to like do family dinners
and like go for walks and havegame nights and things like that
(41:28):
.
So once a week we will do movietime.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
Yeah, and that's.
That's always fun because we doit together.
And if there's music during themovie, the girls usually get up
and dance during it, and Idon't know that's.
It's just a totally differentthing than everyone sitting on
their iPad in their room bythemselves and I don't know it's
different.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
Yeah, it's a community thing versus everyone
doing their own thing.
And the kids like go get alltheir blankets and they set up
and Taylor usually makes popcornand it's a whole thing and we
get to talk about the movies.
They'll bring it up all thetime Like oh, we watched, honey,
I Shrunk the Kids and we'lltalk about it it.
(42:10):
So I just wanted to mention itbecause people will ask like
what, what time of the day dothey get their tablet time?
Or like are they just sittingthere watching while y'all are
working?
And that's not the case.
But our kids have done this foryears, so it's not like we're
changing anything.
This is what our normal thinghas been and they're really good
with it.
Since they were like little,we've been doing like quiet time
in their rooms.
So now we're just switchingthat to what is it?
(42:33):
Deer, deer time?
Speaker 2 (42:35):
Drop everything and read Drop everything and read.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
We had that in second grade and I absolutely loved it
, like it was one of my favoritethings.
But the kids now they don'treally read at school, like they
don't have reading time.
Like get your book out and readfor 30 minutes or whatever, but
not a lot, not consistent, oryou know, that's our kids,
that's what our kids tell us.
We don't know actually we neverknow and so I'm looking forward
(42:57):
to that.
They're they've already beenused to like having time, to
like be by themselves in theirrooms for a little bit in the
day, just like break up, likebeing with us and being with
each other.
I think it's good, and then,hopefully, I plan to read during
that time.
Sometimes, if I don't haveanything to do, I want to read
too I'll probably be on meetings.
(43:17):
Yeah, of course I'll be inmeetings I mean I might be
working some of those days, butI hope that I can do dear time
with them because I think thatthem seeing, like me, read this
last year I've been reading alot actually has been really
good.
So that's all the hopes anddreams for this.
So I know that's a lot.
That's over an hour of us justrambling on about how we're
(43:42):
gonna make this work.
But we've obviously beentalking about this a lot and we
know a lot of this isn't goingto work.
So we're here to tell you likethese are our hopes and dreams
and then you'll hear from uslater and we'll tell you if.
If it worked out.
Like, are we doing the familybook club?
Are we going for our familywalks together?
Are we going on lunch dateswith mom and dad and getting
(44:03):
some one-on-one time with thekids?
Like the chores, all of that.
It does seem like a lot to packinto a day, but we'll let you
know how it goes.
We we are definitely startingstarting out strong with a lot
of things on our list, but andif you wanted to get a very
structured, straightforwardschedule out of this.
Speaker 2 (44:19):
I know we went off on a lot of tangents, so we
probably will put together a Idon't know a PDF or a
spreadsheet or something of ourschedule once we've worked out
all the kinks, and make thatavailable for people.
Speaker 1 (44:30):
Yeah, I'm going to make one to where it's like the
kids can like a visual schedule.
Then kids can see this is thetime you're supposed to be like
reading, this is the time thatyou're supposed to be doing your
morning tours or afternoontours, so I will share that.
If there's anything else thatyou think that would be useful,
let me know and we will reporthow it goes and update you guys
(44:50):
along the way.
And we have no idea how to endour podcast episodes, because we
have another podcast aboutfinances and accounting for our
CPA firm and so we're just goingto end it.
That way Seems like it's beengoing well for us for a couple
of years, so why not?
Okay, all right, then, untilnext time.
(45:10):
Thank you so much for listeningto.
Speaker 2 (45:15):
Well, this.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
Wasn't the Plan?
Podcast.
Thanks so much for listening.
If you would please do us asolid, take two minutes and
leave us a review on our podcast.
Let us know what you enjoyedabout it, because that really
helps us get in front of otherpeople.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.