July 7, 2025 • 37 mins
Discover how minimalist homeschooling can bring more peace, clarity, and purpose to your family’s education journey. This episode explores the power of just-in-time learning—an approach that emphasizes core skills, real-world readiness, and student-led discovery.
Whether you're an unschooler, a new homeschool parent, or rethinking traditional education, you'll learn:
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How to simplify your homeschool environment
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The benefits of “learning as needed” vs. preparing for every scenario
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Why kids thrive with freedom, flexibility, and fewer distractions
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The connection between minimalism, mental clarity, and joyful learning
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What historical figures like George Washington can teach us about self-education
This episode is packed with practical tips and deep encouragement for intentional parents, grandparents, and educators pursuing faithful, simplified, and student-centered homeschooling.
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References from today's episode:
The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789 by Joseph J. Ellis
Minimalist/Essentialist Books that Inspired:
The More of Less by Joshua Becker
It's All Too Much by Peter Walsh
Declutter Your Heart and Your Home by Julia Ubbenga
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Condo
Essentialism by Greg McKeown
SCHOOL TO HOMESCHOOL RESOURCES:
Sign Up for the School to Homeschool Newsletter
Private Mentoring with Janae: Schedule a Free Discovery Call
School to Homeschool YouTube Channel
Etsy Store: Shop for Homeschooling Swag
*Please note that some of the links includ
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Janae Daniels (00:00):
What do minimalism and education have in
common?
Today we're going to talk about it.
Before we get started.
However, I'm excited to share a new thing
that we're doing here at School to
Homeschool.
Every third Wednesday of the month, we will
be hosting a free workshop all about
(00:21):
homeschooling.
This first workshop will be held July 16th
at 12 pm Mountain Time, and we'll be
discussing preparing for the fall.
It is a free workshop.
You can sign up on our website,
schooltohomeschoolcom, or you can go to the
private Facebook page School to Homeschool,
and we will have a link there for you to
(00:44):
sign up for the workshop.
Again, it's free.
It'll be 45 minutes to an hour and we'll
discuss this month We'll be discussing
preparing for the fall, because y'all tis
the season.
So with that let's get started.
Hello and welcome to School to Homeschool.
I am Janae Daniels.
(01:04):
I'm a wife, a mother of six and a former
middle school teacher turned homeschool mom.
I have kids in their 20s all the way down
to elementary age and everything in between.
Are you thinking about pulling your kids
from the school system, like I did, but
you're scared to death and don't know what
to do next.
My friends, I felt the same way and you
(01:25):
have come to the right place.
I want to help your family leave the system
so that you can take the hearts and minds
of your children back.
I am so glad to be back with you.
July was, excuse me, june was a somewhat
(01:46):
refreshing month for me, but really it was
a month of cleaning out my house and trying
to get my life organized and all the things
done.
You know, we have to get all those things
done, which is what spurred today's topic
and for for months I've told you all like,
(02:08):
but in my heart I am a minimalist, but in
practice I am not and it's something that
I've wanted for a long, long time.
And so the month of June, I'm like I am
going to declutter my house, which is I'm
still in the process of where I'm seeing a
light at the end of the tunnel.
But I'm in, I am going to declutter my
house, which is I'm still in the process of
where I'm seeing a light at the end of the
tunnel.
But I'm in the process of the decluttering
(02:29):
and I've been listening to all these
different books on a minimalism and uh
organization and what I realized is, no
matter how many bins I have, like, I still
feel cluttered, and I realized that all of
the stuff in my house, which is a lot, has
started overwhelming me.
It's overwhelmed my brain, it's overwhelmed
(02:50):
just every aspect of my life and I feel
like just everything is just falling out of
the cupboards.
And you go into my laundry room and it
looks like a bomb went off and it's just
been awful.
So I decided I'm going to do it, I'm going
to organize my house.
But the reality is it's more than
organization.
I have to get rid of stuff.
(03:10):
And so I was revisiting the books on
essentialism again and minimalism, and you
know, everything to do with having less,
and I thought, man, this is really
coincided well with this last semester of
(03:31):
homeschooling for us.
Um, this last, you know, from March on, I,
kara, really wanted to do these some extra
enrichment programs.
So, y'all, she ended up doing four days of
enrichment programs and one day actually
(03:52):
homeschooling from March to May.
And, and you know how I've always said,
like, don't put too much on your plate, mm.
Remember, remember how I said that, um,
well, I put too much on my plate and so I
felt like I became a taxi.
And she didn't do any extracurricular
beyond that, except for some church
(04:13):
activities, but but it was really
overwhelming for me.
And then Jacob had his stuff, and Katie had
his stuff or her stuff, and then Josh was
doing his stuff and and I started to feel
really, really overwhelmed.
And then, on top of it, I looked around at
my house and it's, it's just a pigsty and
(04:34):
um, and I'm like I've got to do something
about about this.
More than buying more bins to organize, I
need to get rid of stuff.
So, again, revisited all of the books and I
started decluttering and I have become
pretty ruthless.
Like my husband was like, did you throw
away any of my stuff?
I'm like, oh, not yet, but you better get
(04:56):
your stuff together because I'm about to um,
which is not great for a marriage, by the
way.
So I didn't touch his stuff, like I said,
yet.
So anyway, as I'm going through this and
I'm feeling all this clutter in my house
and I'm feeling cluttered, driving my kids
everywhere and doing all these extra things,
(05:20):
it got me thinking about how much we've
become consumers.
We've lost the creator in us and we've
become consumers, which, by the way, was
the whole.
John D Rockefeller would be so grateful
(05:41):
that we became consumers that built his
empire.
Fellow would be so grateful that we became
consumers.
That built his empire.
So, as I'm decluttering y'all, um, I'm
going through these boxes, one at a time.
I pulled everything out of several closets,
out of our storage room, and I put it all
in our basement.
I mean, and it's just, my basement is
(06:02):
totally full of all this stuff and I'm like,
why do I have this stuff?
Like what the heck?
I mean, it is ceiling to floor in my
basement.
Well, okay, it's not ceiling to floor, but
it's just like the floors are covered with
boxes and boxes and boxes of garbage, just
(06:23):
stuff that I'm like, oh my gosh, how did we
accumulate so much stuff?
I haven't even hit my kids' bedrooms.
I did my bedroom end of May and got rid of
so much and then so I'm working on the
basement and pulling out everything from
the closets and my homeschooling stuff and
just all the things.
And, by the way, I pulled out everything
(06:44):
from one closet.
I'm like this would be a perfect podcast
recording studio, because my home office my
husband and I share, and so we have to work
out who's going to be in it at any given
time.
He has another office he goes to, that's
away from the house, but when he works from
home I can't record the podcast or if I am,
then he can't work.
And so I found this and it echoes here in
(07:06):
this office because it has wood floors and
even though I put a carpet it does echo and
it drives me nuts.
So I was like I could turn the closet under
the stairs into a podcast studio.
I'll be like Harry Potter.
Which is what I'm working on right now is
turning this into a podcast studio
underneath my stairs.
So as I'm looking at all this stuff, I like
(07:27):
I pull up a dress from it's orange with
yellow or white flowers and it's very
1960s-esque and I used it for a costume for
when we did Willy Wonka and I put somebody
in it because we did 1960s influence and I
put I put one of the characters in, and I
put somebody in it because we did 1960s
influence and I put one of the characters
in it, and then they gave it back to me
(07:49):
because you know it belonged to me.
And so I'm going through this and I thought
why didn't I just let the theater
department keep it?
And I'm like I know why.
Because my intention was, when I bought the
dress actually wasn't for the play, it was
because my thought process at the thrift
store when I bought it was oh, someday I
(08:11):
could wear this dress to a 1960s themed
party, y'all.
That was my thought process.
I don't know if you're as crazy as me as
far as that goes.
I was like, oh, I need this because someday
I could use this here.
(08:41):
I used to do some catering for my husband's
real estate team and for our real estate
brokerage and I had accumulated seven large
chafing dishes because we did a lot of
events.
But I stopped doing events with COVID and
then, after COVID, we started doing events
again and the turnout just wasn't as good
as it had been.
We went from one event where we had, you
(09:03):
know, upwards of 400 people at the event,
to we were lucky the second year, 2021, to
get 50 people there.
So I had all this catering stuff that's
been sitting there and the reason.
I kept saying, well, but if I cater again,
just in case I start catering again, I
might need these seven huge chafing dishes
(09:26):
and these bins of tablecloths and I, just
in case I might, I might need this stuff
Like that.
That was my thought process.
So, as I'm decluttering and I'm thinking
about this, I'm like that was my thought
process.
So, as I'm decluttering and I'm thinking
about this, I'm like have I ever been
(09:53):
invited to a 1960s themed party?
No, not, ever, not ever.
Have I been invited to a 1960s?
Have I ever known anybody to host a 1960s
themed party?
Also, no, no, I have not.
And so I am thinking about this as I'm
decluttering, right as I'm like, putting
piles and piles.
By the way, I've taken carloads of stuff to
Goodwill.
And then I have a friend who is catering
(10:13):
now and I gave all of my catering stuff to
her.
I'm like this is your gift, let me give you
this entire carload of stuff to you.
And she was elated because it's her
business.
Now, right?
So I'm thinking about this as I'm declaring,
I'm like what the heck?
I have accumulated all this stuff which has
(10:34):
cluttered my brain so much, and I have felt
overwhelmed and I felt smothered.
And so, as I'm doing this and I'm thinking
about what kind of thought is that?
Just in case I go to a party, I need this
dress.
By the way, I'm donating most of the
costumes that I have to the homeschool
academy.
So, as I'm doing this, this thought hits my
(10:59):
head, it comes right into my head and it's
like that's exactly how today's education
is.
It is a just in case education, which
Connor Boyack talked about.
I put that as a musing, as a throwback.
Musing, because that's something that
Connor talked about is we have this just in
case mentality, just just in case I have a
(11:21):
huge dinner party, I need to have service
for 16 people, just in case, just in case I
do this.
I, my husband, is in real estate and he
hears it all the time.
Oh, people will say, oh, yes, I'm, you know,
we want to entertain a lot, but the reality
is they never entertained before.
But suddenly they, you know, think they're
(11:42):
going to entertain now.
Now, this isn't everybody, but he hears
that a lot, like, oh, we want this space
because we want to entertain.
And and that's the mentality that I've had
is like, oh, just in case, I want this,
because, just in case I need this for the
future, I should accumulate it, and that's
how our education system is right.
Just in case, I end up in a lab somewhere
(12:03):
with a white coat on and I need to know a
quadratic equation.
I better learn it now.
And so I'm sitting here decluttering and by
the way, y'all it was, it's still.
I'm in the process.
It has been so freeing, getting rid of all
of the stuff and then being able to think
(12:24):
again and not feel overwhelmed.
It really got me thinking about how I've
been doing homeschooling in this last
semester, where I felt so overwhelmed,
driving Kara everywhere every single day.
And then in the end of May she says to me
again I broke my own rule of keeping things
(12:45):
simple, of not overextending myself or
overextending my kids, broke that rule.
Kara says to me she's nine and she said at
the end of May she said, mom, I'm tired.
And I said oh, I know, baby, she goes.
No, mom, my heart is tired.
(13:11):
And I said oh, I know, baby, she goes.
No, mom, my heart is tired.
I want to homeschool more and do other
things less.
And I was like what are you saying exactly?
And she said I don't want to do so many
enrichment programs.
I love them all, but it's too much, mama,
it's too much for my brain, I'm tired.
(13:33):
And like from the mouths of babes y'all.
And I step back and I'm like okay, then
let's talk about the two that you're not
going to do anymore, or the three that
you're not going to do.
How many do you want to do?
And she goes I don't want to give up these
two.
Those are the two that I want and the other
two I love, but I need to say goodbye to.
(13:56):
Now she's nine, I am 48.
And that little nine-year-old taught me
again a lesson that I had to relearn again
that we have too much, we have too much,
it's too much.
So I started really thinking about that's
(14:19):
when I really, like, started decluttering
not only my house but also went back to the
basics in my brain, in my mind, um, that I
want my kids to have a just-in-time
education and not a just-in-case education
(14:41):
where they learn things just in time.
But in order to do that, there are
fundamentals that they have to know.
There is a certain toolbox that they have
to have in order to be successful and have
a just-in-time education, and I'll explain
(15:03):
just-in-time here in a second.
So, as I've mentioned before, I'm an
eclectic unschooler.
So for those of y'all new to homeschooling
what, there's several different
philosophies that people choose from to
homeschool.
Two of the philosophies are unschooling and
eclectic homeschooling.
Eclectic homeschooling it seems for the
(15:25):
people that I know is the most common,
which eclectic homeschooling means that you
kind of pull from a variety of sources
ideas, philosophies and you do what works.
You might use curriculums, you might not
use curriculums, but you pull from
different sources and you kind of create,
(15:45):
you know your own curated little education
for your kids Unschooling the philosophy of
unschooling is child-led learning or
passion-driven learning, and if you've seen,
if you've watched any TikTok videos,
there's some people calling themselves
radical unschoolers.
Where they're like there's this one kind of
(16:05):
crazy looking lady who's like I teach my
children nothing, I won't teach them
anything, I, you know.
And she's like I'm an unschooler and I'm
like oh, no, no, no, that is not
unschooling, that's just straight up not
schooling.
(16:27):
Like that's just straight up educational
neglect, right when her children are
showing interest to learn something, and
she's like figure it out yourself.
Like they're like five, what?
Um?
But we call ourselves eclectic unschoolers
in that there are pieces that I expect my
kids to learn and I understand that there
are certain things that they cannot learn
on their own, or they would have a very
hard time learn on their own, or they would
have a very hard time learning on their own.
And as their mother and as their, their
(16:48):
teacher and the person who's in charge of
their education, I need to teach them.
Also when they're little, they don't know
what they don't know, and so as a mom, it's
my job to introduce them to beautiful
concepts all over the world you know, and
beautiful ideas and beautiful things, and
take them into nature and study birds and
(17:09):
and introduce them to all of these
beautiful things, cause I know if I don't
expose them to stuff they're not, they're
not, they may not ever get that exposure
right.
So when they're little, expose them to
wonderful things and then give them the
essential tools that they need so that as
they start being driven by their passions
and their ideas and their interests, that
(17:32):
they'll have the tools to go after those
interests, non-negotiables in our household.
Children must be able to read, they must be
able to write well and they must know basic
math to up to decimals and percentages.
(17:53):
Beyond that, again, it's very, very
child-driven.
I have a child that's really interested in
geometry.
He just turned 13.
He's just finishing geometry.
He's moving on to algebra.
Two Loves math.
He's very interested in that.
(18:13):
But otherwise, like I give them the toolbox
Now, I do feel it's important to know our,
our, the America's founding.
I do feel like it's important to know
constitution, and so we do go over those
things.
But those aren't like you have.
We have to do this every single week, right?
Sometimes we'll go in spurts and be like
three months of this or two months of that,
(18:36):
but the the non-negotiables are those three.
And then also, I believe in a religious
education.
Because I'm a religious education, because
I'm a religious person, I consider myself a
religious and spiritual person and I want
my children to know God, I want them to
know Jesus Christ, I want them to have a
relationship with him and to know him, and
so that is a fundamental in our household.
(18:58):
But they can't read scripture if they don't
know how to read.
Right, so I?
So that is our basic toolbox, and those are,
those are the non-negotiables, because once
they know those things, they can learn
anything else.
And so, as I've thought about this, with
essentially, with um, minimalism, I'm like
(19:21):
what are the things that I absolutely must
have that are non-negotiables, like in my
household?
And then the other things.
There's other things that I like, I like um,
that are important, but I'm not going to
have a million of.
And then there's other things that I might
(19:42):
have a lot more of.
For example let me give you a for instance,
as I was thinking about this, because I
thought okay, everybody needs cups and
plates, right, and silverware, we all do,
like all of us.
All of us need it, kind of like reading,
writing, math, right, we all need cups,
(20:03):
plates and silverware.
That's a, it's a basic, a basic thing to to
eat, to cook, we all need pots and pans,
but how much we need that is a different
story.
Uh, my husband told me when he was, uh,
living on his own in college, he had a fork,
(20:23):
a knife, a spoon, a cup and a plate and he
had his.
They, each of his roommates, they had their
own, a one, they each had one, and that
suited him for a time.
Right, that's what he needed for a time.
(20:48):
That was the absolute essential that he
needed.
As a family, there are seven of us in the
household for a short time longer, until
Joshua heads out, and so now we have I
actually have 12 servings of plates of
silverware, not any more of cups, because a
(21:09):
couple broke again.
Um, so I need to get a couple more cups,
but that's what we have, and we have 12
because Jason's family often comes over
they were just over yesterday and, um, they
come over fairly regularly and that way we
have enough for everybody.
Although I yesterday resorted to paper
plates.
I try not to use too much paper.
(21:31):
I do use it, but I try not to use it as
much.
I try to, you know, use my resources, that
and things I have.
Compare that to which.
That that's essential.
Our family, that's enough for our family
and enough for our guests that come
regularly, versus a person who is running a
(21:52):
catering company and or they're, you know,
they're running a rental company, where
they need to have 500 plates and 500 sets
of silverware and 500 glasses and 200
chairs.
Right, they still need those essentials,
but they might need more of it.
So I think of education, similar in a
(22:15):
similar regard as I again, this is all as
I'm cleaning out my house going why do I
have all this stuff and what do I need and
what do I not need?
Um, like with math, for example.
Math is important and it's beautiful, right,
and there's mathematical concepts that are
so beautiful, but most of us really only
(22:37):
need the like the, the basic toolbox of.
I need, I need arithmetic, I need um, I
need subtraction, multiplication, division.
I need um, addition, I need multiple uh
percentages, I need decimals.
Those are key for me to understanding all
(22:58):
of the rest of math.
I might need to know some basic algebraic
problems.
I may need to know some basic algebraic
problems.
I may need to know some basic geometry, but
beyond that I may not need that much more,
but I have a child who wants to be an
engineer, and so they're going to need to
have more math under their belt.
I thought this was really fascinating,
(23:23):
george Washington.
I'm going to share this with you because
this is pretty cool.
George Washington, this is from Mount
Vernon.
Okay, they don't, we know.
So when George Washington was 11, his dad
died unexpectedly, which prevented him from
(23:46):
receiving the education that his older, his
half-brothers received.
His two older half-brothers.
They went to school in England.
They had a classical Latin based education,
which, the classical philosophy, is still
around today.
It's the most strict of the philosophies,
in my opinion.
Um, and so his education looked very
different.
Um, he received a lot of scrutiny because
(24:09):
he wasn't considered educated by like
continental congress I love.
A historian said this.
He said adams, this is joseph ellis.
Um, the author of the quartet orchestrating
the second American revolution said John
Adams, sorry, adams had gone to Harvard,
jefferson went to William and Mary
(24:30):
Washington had gone to war.
Right, so his education was very, very
different than some of the other founding
fathers.
And and so he had the basics.
They think that he may have gotten a few
private tutors.
They think he may have gone to some, spent
a little bit of time at a local school in
(24:52):
Fredericksburg, but his the rest was at
home.
His education was really really limited,
right, very basic.
But get this okay.
So I'm going to read this from
mountvernonorg.
The Washington library acquired the 1679
(25:15):
edition of the Complete Surveyor by William
Leborn from George Washington's personal
library At the age of 13,.
Washington borrowed the book from his
friend and neighbor, colonel William
Fairfax, and it remained in his possession
for 54 years.
(25:36):
Washington copied these geometrical
problems from the textbook the Complete
Surveyor.
Striking in their precision, washington's
geometrical problems represent one set of
exercises within a larger group of school
papers that he produced as a teenager
between 1744 and 1748.
(25:58):
These papers are the primary evidence for
the scope and quality of Washington's
formal education and document some of the
earliest formative influences on him.
Having been originally preserved by
Washington himself, they also attest to the
value he placed on their contents.
Washington mastered 17 of the problems
provided in the text, presumably ones
(26:21):
chosen by his tutor.
Again, they think he had a tutor.
There's some speculation as to all of the
nature of his education.
In 1747, within a year or two of completing
the problems, washington executed his first
practice surveys.
And in 1749, he secured the lucrative
(26:41):
office of county surveyor in Culpeper
County, virginia.
Y'all he was 17 years old.
Just FYI, I continue to quote.
Even after years of experience in the field
as a surveyor, washington appears to have
continued to draw on Leiborn's texts as a
reference.
The Circus 1764 list of Mount Vernon
(27:04):
includes Leiborn's surveying with a
notation indicating that it had been
borrowed from his neighbor, George William
Fairfax, which he kept all those years.
And then, of course I've brought this up in
a past episode he also copied Rules of
Civility, which is where he learned manners.
(27:26):
So this is what I found interesting is,
when Washington needed the information, he
got it.
He was 13 years old when he was able to
secure a copy of the Complete Surveyor by
William Leiborn, and that's when he needed
to learn the algebra and the geometry that
(27:49):
he needed to become a surveyor, of which he
did when he was 17.
And then he goes on, he goes to war and all
of the things, and he's, of course, elected
as the first president of the United States
of America.
Um, he had a just-in-time education.
That's what he had, just in time when he
(28:10):
needed the information.
He sought after the information.
He got the information.
The other thing I was reading by another of
his biographers was that he was very, very,
very well read.
He would read all of the time.
Again, he had that tool in his belt of
reading and so he read and read, and read,
(28:34):
and read, and read, and read, and read, and
read, and read, and read, and read and read,
and he was very well read and that became
the bulk of his, of his education.
He was taught in morality.
That was something that common schools
often taught too was morality and religion
was taught.
If you've ever picked up a copy of New
England Primer, it is all biblical, like
(28:56):
the whole thing.
They do the alphabets and it's like it is
all biblical, like the whole thing.
They do the alphabets and it's like Adam
died.
You know like it's very.
It's all biblical.
So I just found this so interesting that
here here's Washington, a perfect example
of a just in time mentality.
When he needed it, he got it Y'all.
(29:17):
If I ever get invited to a 1960s party,
like a 1960s themed party, I can go back
and find something that looks 1960s-esque,
but I don't have to hold on one for 15
years, just in case, just in case I get
(29:42):
invited to a party, and so that that's
what's been on my mind.
So now, as I'm planning for the fall, which
I've got a workshop coming up on July 16th.
That's free.
(30:03):
I'll be doing them every third Wednesday.
We'll we'll be doing different workshops
for free.
You just have to register for them.
That's where you're going to get the link,
um to join them.
It'd be 45 minutes to an hour.
Um, as I'm planning for the fall, that's
what's been on my mind is I want my kids to
have the tools that they need, right, and
(30:23):
then, if they need more, if they need more
plates, if you will, if they decide to
become, you know, decide to become
engineers or doctors or whatever, then they
can pursue those, the extra tools that they
might need.
I would much rather do that than accumulate
(30:47):
a bunch of information, facts and figures
that don't serve me in the present, that
don't serve my children in the present time.
Now, again, that's not like, like I said,
for for my family, um, reading, writing,
math, those are non-negotiables.
But then I do introduce history and I do
(31:08):
have to still go with the state standards
for homeschoolers, and so I do have to
bring in a few other things.
Right, we do talk about science.
Actually, the enrichment programs they go
to do teach science principles.
Check that box, right.
We've done a little bit more with science
this summer, in that the coolest thing has
(31:28):
happened.
We had a robin build its nest on our back
porch and then we had a house finch build
its nest on our uh, front door in our
wreath.
In the wreath.
Like none of us use the front door right
(31:49):
now, y'all, we have not used the front door
for weeks.
We go through the garage or the back door
because nobody want.
Well, what happened is one of the kids
opened the door and then the wreath fell
off and then two of the eggs broke and two
baby birds were laying there.
So we scooped them up with tongs and put
them back in the nest and then hung it back
up.
Lots of tears.
Even my 23-year-old son was sobbing over
(32:11):
these birds and he does not cry and he's
like he was the one who did it and he's
like I killed them, I killed the birds,
it's all my fault, anyway.
He felt so bad because he forgot the nest
was there, anyway.
So now we have a rule, and he was the one
who's like I think we should institute a
new rule.
No one is allowed to go through the front
door.
So anyway, it was so tender and we all
(32:31):
cried and they're okay, the two eggs are
gone, but the two baby birds are okay, and
the birds actually had another three eggs,
which is crazy, because we sneak and we'll
look at the nest, okay, so then, so that's
nest number two.
Then another Robin built its nest two feet
away in a storm pipe, like underneath, like
(32:53):
the roof and the storm pipe.
And then anotherin built its nest on the
right side of our house.
And then last week, as Kara was turning on
the hose, she found another robin on the
left side of our house had built a nest in
a tree, like a foot away from the house,
(33:13):
like we are surrounded by robin's nests.
So this has sparked all sorts of like.
We hadn't studied about robins before, but
because of this phenomenon of them building
their nests right around the house, we
started studying about robins.
Right, we accumulated more plates, if you
(33:36):
will Like.
There was a reason to get more plates.
It gave us reason to go.
Oh, specifically, like my kids immediately.
Like when the nest fell, my kids
immediately went online and were like, how
do we put them back?
Will they be killed by the parents?
What will happen with the baby robins?
What will?
(33:56):
Or with the baby finches?
Like, what's going to happen?
How do we protect them?
What do we do?
Like immediately went to to research on all
about these birds and how to protect baby
birds and how do we know if they're okay.
It was such a powerful learning experience
for my kids versus had four years ago.
(34:17):
I've been like we're going to study about
Robbins today.
Okay, get out your textbooks, we're going
to study right now.
Um, the impact was far more powerful
because just when they needed the
information they they wanted to look it up.
Another thing y'all, I have never studied
(34:38):
the car manual for my car, but by golly it
needs a new air filter and it costs $25 by
the air filter, and if I had the mechanic
do it it was going to be $75.
But wouldn't you know it?
I learned how to change an air filter.
Thank you very much.
When I needed to learn the information, I
(35:00):
learned it.
I figured it out.
When people ask you about gaps in your
kids' education, don't you worry about gaps
in their education.
I want you to keep in mind and remember we
all have gaps in our education, but when we
need the information, we will get it just
(35:21):
in time.
So that's what I have to say today, and I'm
excited to show you my new office as soon
as it's done, and I'm going to be taking
pictures of the before and after, pictures
of my basement, which we're still, like I
said, I'm still in the thick of it.
I still have several boxes that I'm going
through and I'm still trying to convince my
husband that he does not need to keep his
(35:43):
college textbooks Like I am working really
hard because we have three boxes of his
college textbooks that he does not want to
get rid of and he's like but I need them.
Like when you have not opened them in like
25 years.
Like, get rid of them.
Patience, I have to be patient.
Not everybody is on the same journey.
I am, anyway, with that.
(36:03):
My friends, I want you to switch from a
just in case oh, I said just in case
earlier.
No, just in time.
I want you to switch from a just in case
earlier, no, just in time.
I want you to switch from a just in case
mindset for education to a just in time
mindset for education.
(36:28):
Rather than just in case, just in case you
go to a 1960s party, let's switch to a just
in time when you're invited to a 1960s
party.
Just in time.
When you're invited to a 1960s party, then
that's when you're going to get the 1960s
costume.
But in the meantime, save your resources
(36:49):
for more important things that are relevant
today.
With that, I hope you have a wonderful time.
Mamas, papas, grandmas, grandpas, you are
doing so much better than you think you are.
You got this.
We'll talk next week.
If you found this podcast helpful, sign up
(37:09):
for our newsletter at schooltohomeschoolcom,
where there's also lots of other resources.
You can also subscribe to us on YouTube at
School to Homeschool or join our private
Facebook page, school to Homeschool.
You can also subscribe to us on YouTube at
School to Homeschool or join our private
Facebook page, school to Homeschool.
You've got this, my friends.
What do minimalism and education have in
common?
Today we're going to talk about it.
Before we get started.
However, I'm excited to share a new thing
that we're doing here at School to
Homeschool.
Every third Wednesday of the month, we will
be hosting a free workshop all about
(00:21):
homeschooling.
This first workshop will be held July 16th
at 12 pm Mountain Time, and we'll be
discussing preparing for the fall.
It is a free workshop.
You can sign up on our website,
schooltohomeschoolcom, or you can go to the
private Facebook page School to Homeschool,
and we will have a link there for you to
(00:44):
sign up for the workshop.
Again, it's free.
It'll be 45 minutes to an hour and we'll
discuss this month We'll be discussing
preparing for the fall, because y'all tis
the season.
So with that let's get started.
Hello and welcome to School to Homeschool.
I am Janae Daniels.
(01:04):
I'm a wife, a mother of six and a former
middle school teacher turned homeschool mom.
I have kids in their 20s all the way down
to elementary age and everything in between.
Are you thinking about pulling your kids
from the school system, like I did, but
you're scared to death and don't know what
to do next.
My friends, I felt the same way and you
(01:25):
have come to the right place.
I want to help your family leave the system
so that you can take the hearts and minds
of your children back.
I am so glad to be back with you.
July was, excuse me, june was a somewhat
(01:46):
refreshing month for me, but really it was
a month of cleaning out my house and trying
to get my life organized and all the things
done.
You know, we have to get all those things
done, which is what spurred today's topic
and for for months I've told you all like,
(02:08):
but in my heart I am a minimalist, but in
practice I am not and it's something that
I've wanted for a long, long time.
And so the month of June, I'm like I am
going to declutter my house, which is I'm
still in the process of where I'm seeing a
light at the end of the tunnel.
But I'm in, I am going to declutter my
house, which is I'm still in the process of
where I'm seeing a light at the end of the
tunnel.
But I'm in the process of the decluttering
(02:29):
and I've been listening to all these
different books on a minimalism and uh
organization and what I realized is, no
matter how many bins I have, like, I still
feel cluttered, and I realized that all of
the stuff in my house, which is a lot, has
started overwhelming me.
It's overwhelmed my brain, it's overwhelmed
(02:50):
just every aspect of my life and I feel
like just everything is just falling out of
the cupboards.
And you go into my laundry room and it
looks like a bomb went off and it's just
been awful.
So I decided I'm going to do it, I'm going
to organize my house.
But the reality is it's more than
organization.
I have to get rid of stuff.
(03:10):
And so I was revisiting the books on
essentialism again and minimalism, and you
know, everything to do with having less,
and I thought, man, this is really
coincided well with this last semester of
(03:31):
homeschooling for us.
Um, this last, you know, from March on, I,
kara, really wanted to do these some extra
enrichment programs.
So, y'all, she ended up doing four days of
enrichment programs and one day actually
(03:52):
homeschooling from March to May.
And, and you know how I've always said,
like, don't put too much on your plate, mm.
Remember, remember how I said that, um,
well, I put too much on my plate and so I
felt like I became a taxi.
And she didn't do any extracurricular
beyond that, except for some church
(04:13):
activities, but but it was really
overwhelming for me.
And then Jacob had his stuff, and Katie had
his stuff or her stuff, and then Josh was
doing his stuff and and I started to feel
really, really overwhelmed.
And then, on top of it, I looked around at
my house and it's, it's just a pigsty and
(04:34):
um, and I'm like I've got to do something
about about this.
More than buying more bins to organize, I
need to get rid of stuff.
So, again, revisited all of the books and I
started decluttering and I have become
pretty ruthless.
Like my husband was like, did you throw
away any of my stuff?
I'm like, oh, not yet, but you better get
(04:56):
your stuff together because I'm about to um,
which is not great for a marriage, by the
way.
So I didn't touch his stuff, like I said,
yet.
So anyway, as I'm going through this and
I'm feeling all this clutter in my house
and I'm feeling cluttered, driving my kids
everywhere and doing all these extra things,
(05:20):
it got me thinking about how much we've
become consumers.
We've lost the creator in us and we've
become consumers, which, by the way, was
the whole.
John D Rockefeller would be so grateful
(05:41):
that we became consumers that built his
empire.
Fellow would be so grateful that we became
consumers.
That built his empire.
So, as I'm decluttering y'all, um, I'm
going through these boxes, one at a time.
I pulled everything out of several closets,
out of our storage room, and I put it all
in our basement.
I mean, and it's just, my basement is
(06:02):
totally full of all this stuff and I'm like,
why do I have this stuff?
Like what the heck?
I mean, it is ceiling to floor in my
basement.
Well, okay, it's not ceiling to floor, but
it's just like the floors are covered with
boxes and boxes and boxes of garbage, just
(06:23):
stuff that I'm like, oh my gosh, how did we
accumulate so much stuff?
I haven't even hit my kids' bedrooms.
I did my bedroom end of May and got rid of
so much and then so I'm working on the
basement and pulling out everything from
the closets and my homeschooling stuff and
just all the things.
And, by the way, I pulled out everything
(06:44):
from one closet.
I'm like this would be a perfect podcast
recording studio, because my home office my
husband and I share, and so we have to work
out who's going to be in it at any given
time.
He has another office he goes to, that's
away from the house, but when he works from
home I can't record the podcast or if I am,
then he can't work.
And so I found this and it echoes here in
(07:06):
this office because it has wood floors and
even though I put a carpet it does echo and
it drives me nuts.
So I was like I could turn the closet under
the stairs into a podcast studio.
I'll be like Harry Potter.
Which is what I'm working on right now is
turning this into a podcast studio
underneath my stairs.
So as I'm looking at all this stuff, I like
(07:27):
I pull up a dress from it's orange with
yellow or white flowers and it's very
1960s-esque and I used it for a costume for
when we did Willy Wonka and I put somebody
in it because we did 1960s influence and I
put I put one of the characters in, and I
put somebody in it because we did 1960s
influence and I put one of the characters
in it, and then they gave it back to me
(07:49):
because you know it belonged to me.
And so I'm going through this and I thought
why didn't I just let the theater
department keep it?
And I'm like I know why.
Because my intention was, when I bought the
dress actually wasn't for the play, it was
because my thought process at the thrift
store when I bought it was oh, someday I
(08:11):
could wear this dress to a 1960s themed
party, y'all.
That was my thought process.
I don't know if you're as crazy as me as
far as that goes.
I was like, oh, I need this because someday
I could use this here.
(08:41):
I used to do some catering for my husband's
real estate team and for our real estate
brokerage and I had accumulated seven large
chafing dishes because we did a lot of
events.
But I stopped doing events with COVID and
then, after COVID, we started doing events
again and the turnout just wasn't as good
as it had been.
We went from one event where we had, you
(09:03):
know, upwards of 400 people at the event,
to we were lucky the second year, 2021, to
get 50 people there.
So I had all this catering stuff that's
been sitting there and the reason.
I kept saying, well, but if I cater again,
just in case I start catering again, I
might need these seven huge chafing dishes
(09:26):
and these bins of tablecloths and I, just
in case I might, I might need this stuff
Like that.
That was my thought process.
So, as I'm decluttering and I'm thinking
about this, I'm like that was my thought
process.
So, as I'm decluttering and I'm thinking
about this, I'm like have I ever been
(09:53):
invited to a 1960s themed party?
No, not, ever, not ever.
Have I been invited to a 1960s?
Have I ever known anybody to host a 1960s
themed party?
Also, no, no, I have not.
And so I am thinking about this as I'm
decluttering, right as I'm like, putting
piles and piles.
By the way, I've taken carloads of stuff to
Goodwill.
And then I have a friend who is catering
(10:13):
now and I gave all of my catering stuff to
her.
I'm like this is your gift, let me give you
this entire carload of stuff to you.
And she was elated because it's her
business.
Now, right?
So I'm thinking about this as I'm declaring,
I'm like what the heck?
I have accumulated all this stuff which has
(10:34):
cluttered my brain so much, and I have felt
overwhelmed and I felt smothered.
And so, as I'm doing this and I'm thinking
about what kind of thought is that?
Just in case I go to a party, I need this
dress.
By the way, I'm donating most of the
costumes that I have to the homeschool
academy.
So, as I'm doing this, this thought hits my
(10:59):
head, it comes right into my head and it's
like that's exactly how today's education
is.
It is a just in case education, which
Connor Boyack talked about.
I put that as a musing, as a throwback.
Musing, because that's something that
Connor talked about is we have this just in
case mentality, just just in case I have a
(11:21):
huge dinner party, I need to have service
for 16 people, just in case, just in case I
do this.
I, my husband, is in real estate and he
hears it all the time.
Oh, people will say, oh, yes, I'm, you know,
we want to entertain a lot, but the reality
is they never entertained before.
But suddenly they, you know, think they're
(11:42):
going to entertain now.
Now, this isn't everybody, but he hears
that a lot, like, oh, we want this space
because we want to entertain.
And and that's the mentality that I've had
is like, oh, just in case, I want this,
because, just in case I need this for the
future, I should accumulate it, and that's
how our education system is right.
Just in case, I end up in a lab somewhere
(12:03):
with a white coat on and I need to know a
quadratic equation.
I better learn it now.
And so I'm sitting here decluttering and by
the way, y'all it was, it's still.
I'm in the process.
It has been so freeing, getting rid of all
of the stuff and then being able to think
(12:24):
again and not feel overwhelmed.
It really got me thinking about how I've
been doing homeschooling in this last
semester, where I felt so overwhelmed,
driving Kara everywhere every single day.
And then in the end of May she says to me
again I broke my own rule of keeping things
(12:45):
simple, of not overextending myself or
overextending my kids, broke that rule.
Kara says to me she's nine and she said at
the end of May she said, mom, I'm tired.
And I said oh, I know, baby, she goes.
No, mom, my heart is tired.
(13:11):
And I said oh, I know, baby, she goes.
No, mom, my heart is tired.
I want to homeschool more and do other
things less.
And I was like what are you saying exactly?
And she said I don't want to do so many
enrichment programs.
I love them all, but it's too much, mama,
it's too much for my brain, I'm tired.
(13:33):
And like from the mouths of babes y'all.
And I step back and I'm like okay, then
let's talk about the two that you're not
going to do anymore, or the three that
you're not going to do.
How many do you want to do?
And she goes I don't want to give up these
two.
Those are the two that I want and the other
two I love, but I need to say goodbye to.
(13:56):
Now she's nine, I am 48.
And that little nine-year-old taught me
again a lesson that I had to relearn again
that we have too much, we have too much,
it's too much.
So I started really thinking about that's
(14:19):
when I really, like, started decluttering
not only my house but also went back to the
basics in my brain, in my mind, um, that I
want my kids to have a just-in-time
education and not a just-in-case education
(14:41):
where they learn things just in time.
But in order to do that, there are
fundamentals that they have to know.
There is a certain toolbox that they have
to have in order to be successful and have
a just-in-time education, and I'll explain
(15:03):
just-in-time here in a second.
So, as I've mentioned before, I'm an
eclectic unschooler.
So for those of y'all new to homeschooling
what, there's several different
philosophies that people choose from to
homeschool.
Two of the philosophies are unschooling and
eclectic homeschooling.
Eclectic homeschooling it seems for the
(15:25):
people that I know is the most common,
which eclectic homeschooling means that you
kind of pull from a variety of sources
ideas, philosophies and you do what works.
You might use curriculums, you might not
use curriculums, but you pull from
different sources and you kind of create,
(15:45):
you know your own curated little education
for your kids Unschooling the philosophy of
unschooling is child-led learning or
passion-driven learning, and if you've seen,
if you've watched any TikTok videos,
there's some people calling themselves
radical unschoolers.
Where they're like there's this one kind of
(16:05):
crazy looking lady who's like I teach my
children nothing, I won't teach them
anything, I, you know.
And she's like I'm an unschooler and I'm
like oh, no, no, no, that is not
unschooling, that's just straight up not
schooling.
(16:27):
Like that's just straight up educational
neglect, right when her children are
showing interest to learn something, and
she's like figure it out yourself.
Like they're like five, what?
Um?
But we call ourselves eclectic unschoolers
in that there are pieces that I expect my
kids to learn and I understand that there
are certain things that they cannot learn
on their own, or they would have a very
hard time learn on their own, or they would
have a very hard time learning on their own.
And as their mother and as their, their
(16:48):
teacher and the person who's in charge of
their education, I need to teach them.
Also when they're little, they don't know
what they don't know, and so as a mom, it's
my job to introduce them to beautiful
concepts all over the world you know, and
beautiful ideas and beautiful things, and
take them into nature and study birds and
(17:09):
and introduce them to all of these
beautiful things, cause I know if I don't
expose them to stuff they're not, they're
not, they may not ever get that exposure
right.
So when they're little, expose them to
wonderful things and then give them the
essential tools that they need so that as
they start being driven by their passions
and their ideas and their interests, that
(17:32):
they'll have the tools to go after those
interests, non-negotiables in our household.
Children must be able to read, they must be
able to write well and they must know basic
math to up to decimals and percentages.
(17:53):
Beyond that, again, it's very, very
child-driven.
I have a child that's really interested in
geometry.
He just turned 13.
He's just finishing geometry.
He's moving on to algebra.
Two Loves math.
He's very interested in that.
(18:13):
But otherwise, like I give them the toolbox
Now, I do feel it's important to know our,
our, the America's founding.
I do feel like it's important to know
constitution, and so we do go over those
things.
But those aren't like you have.
We have to do this every single week, right?
Sometimes we'll go in spurts and be like
three months of this or two months of that,
(18:36):
but the the non-negotiables are those three.
And then also, I believe in a religious
education.
Because I'm a religious education, because
I'm a religious person, I consider myself a
religious and spiritual person and I want
my children to know God, I want them to
know Jesus Christ, I want them to have a
relationship with him and to know him, and
so that is a fundamental in our household.
(18:58):
But they can't read scripture if they don't
know how to read.
Right, so I?
So that is our basic toolbox, and those are,
those are the non-negotiables, because once
they know those things, they can learn
anything else.
And so, as I've thought about this, with
essentially, with um, minimalism, I'm like
(19:21):
what are the things that I absolutely must
have that are non-negotiables, like in my
household?
And then the other things.
There's other things that I like, I like um,
that are important, but I'm not going to
have a million of.
And then there's other things that I might
(19:42):
have a lot more of.
For example let me give you a for instance,
as I was thinking about this, because I
thought okay, everybody needs cups and
plates, right, and silverware, we all do,
like all of us.
All of us need it, kind of like reading,
writing, math, right, we all need cups,
(20:03):
plates and silverware.
That's a, it's a basic, a basic thing to to
eat, to cook, we all need pots and pans,
but how much we need that is a different
story.
Uh, my husband told me when he was, uh,
living on his own in college, he had a fork,
(20:23):
a knife, a spoon, a cup and a plate and he
had his.
They, each of his roommates, they had their
own, a one, they each had one, and that
suited him for a time.
Right, that's what he needed for a time.
(20:48):
That was the absolute essential that he
needed.
As a family, there are seven of us in the
household for a short time longer, until
Joshua heads out, and so now we have I
actually have 12 servings of plates of
silverware, not any more of cups, because a
(21:09):
couple broke again.
Um, so I need to get a couple more cups,
but that's what we have, and we have 12
because Jason's family often comes over
they were just over yesterday and, um, they
come over fairly regularly and that way we
have enough for everybody.
Although I yesterday resorted to paper
plates.
I try not to use too much paper.
(21:31):
I do use it, but I try not to use it as
much.
I try to, you know, use my resources, that
and things I have.
Compare that to which.
That that's essential.
Our family, that's enough for our family
and enough for our guests that come
regularly, versus a person who is running a
(21:52):
catering company and or they're, you know,
they're running a rental company, where
they need to have 500 plates and 500 sets
of silverware and 500 glasses and 200
chairs.
Right, they still need those essentials,
but they might need more of it.
So I think of education, similar in a
(22:15):
similar regard as I again, this is all as
I'm cleaning out my house going why do I
have all this stuff and what do I need and
what do I not need?
Um, like with math, for example.
Math is important and it's beautiful, right,
and there's mathematical concepts that are
so beautiful, but most of us really only
(22:37):
need the like the, the basic toolbox of.
I need, I need arithmetic, I need um, I
need subtraction, multiplication, division.
I need um, addition, I need multiple uh
percentages, I need decimals.
Those are key for me to understanding all
(22:58):
of the rest of math.
I might need to know some basic algebraic
problems.
I may need to know some basic algebraic
problems.
I may need to know some basic geometry, but
beyond that I may not need that much more,
but I have a child who wants to be an
engineer, and so they're going to need to
have more math under their belt.
I thought this was really fascinating,
(23:23):
george Washington.
I'm going to share this with you because
this is pretty cool.
George Washington, this is from Mount
Vernon.
Okay, they don't, we know.
So when George Washington was 11, his dad
died unexpectedly, which prevented him from
(23:46):
receiving the education that his older, his
half-brothers received.
His two older half-brothers.
They went to school in England.
They had a classical Latin based education,
which, the classical philosophy, is still
around today.
It's the most strict of the philosophies,
in my opinion.
Um, and so his education looked very
different.
Um, he received a lot of scrutiny because
(24:09):
he wasn't considered educated by like
continental congress I love.
A historian said this.
He said adams, this is joseph ellis.
Um, the author of the quartet orchestrating
the second American revolution said John
Adams, sorry, adams had gone to Harvard,
jefferson went to William and Mary
(24:30):
Washington had gone to war.
Right, so his education was very, very
different than some of the other founding
fathers.
And and so he had the basics.
They think that he may have gotten a few
private tutors.
They think he may have gone to some, spent
a little bit of time at a local school in
(24:52):
Fredericksburg, but his the rest was at
home.
His education was really really limited,
right, very basic.
But get this okay.
So I'm going to read this from
mountvernonorg.
The Washington library acquired the 1679
(25:15):
edition of the Complete Surveyor by William
Leborn from George Washington's personal
library At the age of 13,.
Washington borrowed the book from his
friend and neighbor, colonel William
Fairfax, and it remained in his possession
for 54 years.
(25:36):
Washington copied these geometrical
problems from the textbook the Complete
Surveyor.
Striking in their precision, washington's
geometrical problems represent one set of
exercises within a larger group of school
papers that he produced as a teenager
between 1744 and 1748.
(25:58):
These papers are the primary evidence for
the scope and quality of Washington's
formal education and document some of the
earliest formative influences on him.
Having been originally preserved by
Washington himself, they also attest to the
value he placed on their contents.
Washington mastered 17 of the problems
provided in the text, presumably ones
(26:21):
chosen by his tutor.
Again, they think he had a tutor.
There's some speculation as to all of the
nature of his education.
In 1747, within a year or two of completing
the problems, washington executed his first
practice surveys.
And in 1749, he secured the lucrative
(26:41):
office of county surveyor in Culpeper
County, virginia.
Y'all he was 17 years old.
Just FYI, I continue to quote.
Even after years of experience in the field
as a surveyor, washington appears to have
continued to draw on Leiborn's texts as a
reference.
The Circus 1764 list of Mount Vernon
(27:04):
includes Leiborn's surveying with a
notation indicating that it had been
borrowed from his neighbor, George William
Fairfax, which he kept all those years.
And then, of course I've brought this up in
a past episode he also copied Rules of
Civility, which is where he learned manners.
(27:26):
So this is what I found interesting is,
when Washington needed the information, he
got it.
He was 13 years old when he was able to
secure a copy of the Complete Surveyor by
William Leiborn, and that's when he needed
to learn the algebra and the geometry that
(27:49):
he needed to become a surveyor, of which he
did when he was 17.
And then he goes on, he goes to war and all
of the things, and he's, of course, elected
as the first president of the United States
of America.
Um, he had a just-in-time education.
That's what he had, just in time when he
(28:10):
needed the information.
He sought after the information.
He got the information.
The other thing I was reading by another of
his biographers was that he was very, very,
very well read.
He would read all of the time.
Again, he had that tool in his belt of
reading and so he read and read, and read,
(28:34):
and read, and read, and read, and read, and
read, and read, and read, and read and read,
and he was very well read and that became
the bulk of his, of his education.
He was taught in morality.
That was something that common schools
often taught too was morality and religion
was taught.
If you've ever picked up a copy of New
England Primer, it is all biblical, like
(28:56):
the whole thing.
They do the alphabets and it's like it is
all biblical, like the whole thing.
They do the alphabets and it's like Adam
died.
You know like it's very.
It's all biblical.
So I just found this so interesting that
here here's Washington, a perfect example
of a just in time mentality.
When he needed it, he got it Y'all.
(29:17):
If I ever get invited to a 1960s party,
like a 1960s themed party, I can go back
and find something that looks 1960s-esque,
but I don't have to hold on one for 15
years, just in case, just in case I get
(29:42):
invited to a party, and so that that's
what's been on my mind.
So now, as I'm planning for the fall, which
I've got a workshop coming up on July 16th.
That's free.
(30:03):
I'll be doing them every third Wednesday.
We'll we'll be doing different workshops
for free.
You just have to register for them.
That's where you're going to get the link,
um to join them.
It'd be 45 minutes to an hour.
Um, as I'm planning for the fall, that's
what's been on my mind is I want my kids to
have the tools that they need, right, and
(30:23):
then, if they need more, if they need more
plates, if you will, if they decide to
become, you know, decide to become
engineers or doctors or whatever, then they
can pursue those, the extra tools that they
might need.
I would much rather do that than accumulate
(30:47):
a bunch of information, facts and figures
that don't serve me in the present, that
don't serve my children in the present time.
Now, again, that's not like, like I said,
for for my family, um, reading, writing,
math, those are non-negotiables.
But then I do introduce history and I do
(31:08):
have to still go with the state standards
for homeschoolers, and so I do have to
bring in a few other things.
Right, we do talk about science.
Actually, the enrichment programs they go
to do teach science principles.
Check that box, right.
We've done a little bit more with science
this summer, in that the coolest thing has
(31:28):
happened.
We had a robin build its nest on our back
porch and then we had a house finch build
its nest on our uh, front door in our
wreath.
In the wreath.
Like none of us use the front door right
(31:49):
now, y'all, we have not used the front door
for weeks.
We go through the garage or the back door
because nobody want.
Well, what happened is one of the kids
opened the door and then the wreath fell
off and then two of the eggs broke and two
baby birds were laying there.
So we scooped them up with tongs and put
them back in the nest and then hung it back
up.
Lots of tears.
Even my 23-year-old son was sobbing over
(32:11):
these birds and he does not cry and he's
like he was the one who did it and he's
like I killed them, I killed the birds,
it's all my fault, anyway.
He felt so bad because he forgot the nest
was there, anyway.
So now we have a rule, and he was the one
who's like I think we should institute a
new rule.
No one is allowed to go through the front
door.
So anyway, it was so tender and we all
(32:31):
cried and they're okay, the two eggs are
gone, but the two baby birds are okay, and
the birds actually had another three eggs,
which is crazy, because we sneak and we'll
look at the nest, okay, so then, so that's
nest number two.
Then another Robin built its nest two feet
away in a storm pipe, like underneath, like
(32:53):
the roof and the storm pipe.
And then anotherin built its nest on the
right side of our house.
And then last week, as Kara was turning on
the hose, she found another robin on the
left side of our house had built a nest in
a tree, like a foot away from the house,
(33:13):
like we are surrounded by robin's nests.
So this has sparked all sorts of like.
We hadn't studied about robins before, but
because of this phenomenon of them building
their nests right around the house, we
started studying about robins.
Right, we accumulated more plates, if you
(33:36):
will Like.
There was a reason to get more plates.
It gave us reason to go.
Oh, specifically, like my kids immediately.
Like when the nest fell, my kids
immediately went online and were like, how
do we put them back?
Will they be killed by the parents?
What will happen with the baby robins?
What will?
(33:56):
Or with the baby finches?
Like, what's going to happen?
How do we protect them?
What do we do?
Like immediately went to to research on all
about these birds and how to protect baby
birds and how do we know if they're okay.
It was such a powerful learning experience
for my kids versus had four years ago.
(34:17):
I've been like we're going to study about
Robbins today.
Okay, get out your textbooks, we're going
to study right now.
Um, the impact was far more powerful
because just when they needed the
information they they wanted to look it up.
Another thing y'all, I have never studied
(34:38):
the car manual for my car, but by golly it
needs a new air filter and it costs $25 by
the air filter, and if I had the mechanic
do it it was going to be $75.
But wouldn't you know it?
I learned how to change an air filter.
Thank you very much.
When I needed to learn the information, I
(35:00):
learned it.
I figured it out.
When people ask you about gaps in your
kids' education, don't you worry about gaps
in their education.
I want you to keep in mind and remember we
all have gaps in our education, but when we
need the information, we will get it just
(35:21):
in time.
So that's what I have to say today, and I'm
excited to show you my new office as soon
as it's done, and I'm going to be taking
pictures of the before and after, pictures
of my basement, which we're still, like I
said, I'm still in the thick of it.
I still have several boxes that I'm going
through and I'm still trying to convince my
husband that he does not need to keep his
(35:43):
college textbooks Like I am working really
hard because we have three boxes of his
college textbooks that he does not want to
get rid of and he's like but I need them.
Like when you have not opened them in like
25 years.
Like, get rid of them.
Patience, I have to be patient.
Not everybody is on the same journey.
I am, anyway, with that.
(36:03):
My friends, I want you to switch from a
just in case oh, I said just in case
earlier.
No, just in time.
I want you to switch from a just in case
earlier, no, just in time.
I want you to switch from a just in case
mindset for education to a just in time
mindset for education.
(36:28):
Rather than just in case, just in case you
go to a 1960s party, let's switch to a just
in time when you're invited to a 1960s
party.
Just in time.
When you're invited to a 1960s party, then
that's when you're going to get the 1960s
costume.
But in the meantime, save your resources
(36:49):
for more important things that are relevant
today.
With that, I hope you have a wonderful time.
Mamas, papas, grandmas, grandpas, you are
doing so much better than you think you are.
You got this.
We'll talk next week.
If you found this podcast helpful, sign up
(37:09):
for our newsletter at schooltohomeschoolcom,
where there's also lots of other resources.
You can also subscribe to us on YouTube at
School to Homeschool or join our private
Facebook page, school to Homeschool.
You can also subscribe to us on YouTube at
School to Homeschool or join our private
Facebook page, school to Homeschool.
You've got this, my friends.
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