January 27, 2025 • 55 mins
Discover how homeschooling can revolutionize your child’s education and fit seamlessly into your family’s lifestyle. This episode features Elan Page, the founder of Homeschool Our Way, who shares her inspiring journey from a lifelong learner to a trailblazer empowering families, especially families of color, to embrace homeschooling with confidence. Whether you’re new to homeschooling or looking to refine your approach, this episode is packed with practical tips and encouragement.
We explore critical topics like setting family goals, selecting the right curriculum, and managing work-life balance while homeschooling. Learn about valuable resources like educational savings accounts (ESAs) and how they can open doors for a personalized learning experience. From overcoming challenges to finding homeschool co-ops and expert support, we’ve got you covered.
At its core, homeschooling fosters student autonomy and creates opportunities for personalized, mastery-based learning. Elan highlights the importance of representation and community, ensuring every child feels seen and valued. Don’t miss this empowering conversation that’s full of actionable advice to make homeschooling work for your family.
More about our guest
Elan Page, a native of Dallas, Texas, is a lifelong learner who is passionate about helping other families of color access the freedom and fulfillment that homeschool offers.
After a brief return to traditional schooling, the Page family made the collective decision to embrace homeschooling as the future for their daughters. Elan then drew on her own learnings from starting the homeschooling process, and she created Homeschool Our Way to help other families of color avoid the overwhelm she had experienced in starting something new.
Homeschool Our Way offers a weekly podcast, an online course called the Homeschool Launch Blueprint and other resources to empower families of color to educate their children with confidence and clarity.
Connect with Elan
Homeschoolourway.com
Follow Elan on Instagram @homeschool_ourway
Also mentioned in this episode
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About the podcast
The KindlED Podcast explores the science of nurturing children's potential and creating empowering learning environments.
Powered by Prenda Microschools, each episode offers actionable insights to help you ignite your child's love of learning. We'll dive into evidence-based tools and techniques that kindle young learners' curiosity, motivation, and well-being.
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We're all ears! If you have a question or topic you'd love our hosts to tackle, please send it to podcast@prenda.com. Let's dive into the conversation together!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I want to make sure that people understand that
homeschool can be accessible, nomatter what your family looks
like.
I have the benefit of workingfrom home, but I, though, know
plenty of moms and dads whodon't work from home.
Their full-time jobs take themaway to a hospital or to like
wherever they work, and sothey're able to incorporate
(00:23):
homeschooling as well, and sothey're able to incorporate
homeschooling as well, and Ijust I want people to understand
that this is truly an educationoption, that, with
understanding the, you knowwhat's available to them that
people can access.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Hi and welcome to the Kindled podcast where we dig
into the art and science behindkindling the motivation,
curiosity and mental wellbeingof the young humans in our lives
.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Together, we'll discover practical tools and
strategies you can use to helpkids unlock their full potential
and become the strongestversion of their future selves.
Welcome to the Kindled podcast.
(01:07):
I have a secret to tell you all.
I thought I would never everhomeschool and I hear parents
talk about that too Like I couldnever homeschool.
Katie, did you feel like that,Cause I know you started out
homeschooling or did you feellike, from soon as you had that
first baby, you're like I'mgoing to be a homeschool mom?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
I definitely didn't think so.
I mean, I was a speech-languagepathologist in public school,
so I was eager to become asupport in that system and
network.
And actually one of the mainreasons I became a
speech-language pathologist isbecause I thought it would be a
good mom job.
Reasons I became a speechlanguage pathologist.
Because I thought it would be agood mom job so that when my
kids went to public school Iwould be there as a speech
language pathologist.
It would be cool if I like couldbe lunch with them or something
(01:49):
it's like you know I would keepthe same hours as my kids when
they were in school so no, itwas never my intention to
homeschool and then startedhaving kids and just started
thinking about what I wanted forthose kids and kind of
reflecting on the time that Idid spend in the school system
and kind of like the attitudesabout learning that I saw and
(02:09):
the motivation and just feltlike as a speech language
pathologist, my job was just tobribe kids to do the things that
they didn't want to do and theyjust couldn't wait to stop
learning because they just sawit as this big chore and I'm
like that's not how I want mykids to feel about learning,
because they just saw it as thisbig chore and I'm like that's
not how I want my kids to feelabout learning and I know that's
not something we're doingintentionally to kids, but it is
the natural product of thesystem that we built for them.
(02:30):
Unfortunately, and even thoughevery educator goes into
education thinking that theywant to, like, help kids become
lifelong learners, like it isnot a reality for many, many
teachers and for most students.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
So that's kind of what got me thinking to do
something different, cause thesystem yeah, this, the system is
definitely not set up for thatand I kind of I mean, in a way,
I got forced into homeschool.
I was already minded, all thethings like like-minded with you
and what I wanted for my kids.
I just didn't think it waspossible until I sat in the
parking lot of a small Christianelementary school and my child
literally would not get out ofthe car.
So it was like, what else do Ido?
(03:12):
Let's figure out how to do this, and thank goodness for ESA, we
have a lot of funding to beable to homeschool him our way,
which is a perfect segue intowho our guest is today.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yes, Today we're talking to Elon Page, a native
of Dallas, texas, a lifelonglearner, who is passionate about
helping other families of coloraccess the freedom and
fulfillment that homeschooloffers.
After a brief return totraditional schooling, the Page
family made the collectivedecision to embrace
homeschooling as the future fortheir daughters.
Ilan then drew on her ownlearnings from starting the
(03:45):
homeschool process and shecreated Homeschool Our Way to
help other families of coloravoid the overwhelm she had
experienced in startingsomething new.
Homeschool Our Way offers aweekly podcast, an online course
called the Homeschool LaunchBlueprint and other resources to
empower families of color and Iwould say all families to
educate their children withconfidence and clarity.
Let's go talk to Elan.
(04:05):
Welcome to the Kindle podcast,elan.
Thank you so much for coming ontoday.
We're so excited to talk to you.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Thank you for having me.
I'm excited as well.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Take us way back.
Tell us about your background,how you came to the work you're
currently doing.
What's your big?
Why?
What change are you seeking tomake in the world currently
doing Like?
What's your big, why?
What change?
Speaker 1 (04:25):
are you seeking to make in the world the way way
back?
Well, so I guess I'll startwith just a little bit about me.
I'm a mom, a homeschool mom.
I got two kiddos, ages sevenand 10.
And we have not alwayshomeschooled.
We have done a variety ofdifferent education options, but
I think that part of thisstarted with me.
I actually took a test.
(04:48):
It's called StrengthsFinders.
I took this test a couple yearsago and learned that I am a
learner.
That is my primary strength Metoo.
Samesies, yay For learnerstonight.
Yes, I love it.
I love it.
So it man, I'll tell you, youprobably had the same experience
(05:09):
in reading the little printoutand kind of learning more about
what it means to be a learner.
It all began to click.
It all began to make sense.
I'm like oh, that's why I lovelearning in like every way,
shape, form and fashion.
And so, going back to my kiddos,I have always, since they were
(05:29):
born, I have loved watchingthose light bulb moments as they
are growing and learning, andI've always wanted to be a part
of that.
I was never one of those momsthat just like sent the kids off
to school, never thought aboutit again.
I liked sitting down and doinghomework with them, I liked
(05:50):
taking them on educationalexperiences on the weekend and,
you know, whenever I could thatkind of thing.
And so, as I again a couple ofyears ago, as I learned what
makes me tick, then I began tosee how I could really tie that
in with my kiddos and I'm like Ithink it makes sense that I
(06:12):
take on the lead for theireducation.
I become their guide.
It drives me, it is my passionto make them lifelong learners
and lifelong lovers of learning,and so that's kind of how we
got to the point where we arenow, and then I'm homeschooling
(06:36):
and then I was like, well shoot,if I love it this much, why
don't I help other moms who areinterested in getting into
homeschool, but maybe they'renot quite sure how?
So that's how my business kindof became.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
That's awesome.
And how did you starthomeschooling?
Tell me about that moment.
What were the circumstances?
Speaker 1 (06:59):
When did you make that choice, okay?
So, like I said, I was doingthe nights and weekends type
stuff right, like with thekiddos as they were in
traditional school.
During COVID, though, we, ofcourse, all the we all
experienced the kiddos cominghome kind of all at the same
time, especially those of uswhose whose kids were in
traditional school, and I waslike I kinda I kinda like this,
(07:22):
I kind of like being closer tothe learning.
I also noticed that my oldestdaughter seemed to not go at the
same pace, learning-wise, asthe rest of her classmates.
She seemed to finish her work alittle faster.
She seemed, frankly, a littlebored at times, and so I was
(07:43):
like oh well, this is when I canjump in.
I can, I can, you know, I canstart working with her
one-on-one too.
Also, as I'm, as we're kind ofdoing this that summer, so like
there's the year that that theworld shut down, right, that
summer, in 2020, my husband says, hey, any interest in
(08:05):
continuing this wholehomeschooling thing?
And I was like shut up, I'm inagreement.
Like I think I like this.
Are we on the same page withthis?
And we were, we were on thesame page, so we homeschooled
that next year, and it was a lotof work.
It was a whole lot of work, butit was a great learning
experience.
We ended up actually sendingthe kiddos back to traditional
(08:27):
school for a couple of years.
That had more to do with thefact that I still work full time
, and so it was just like I saidit was.
It was a lot, it was a lot ofwork, but some things shifted um
work wise for me a couple ofyears later, and then we were
able to get back tohomeschooling, and so that's
where we are now, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
And what was the response to your homeschooling,
like in your family, in yourcommunity?
Like, were people supportive orpeople like you're a crazy
person, like what was thatresponse?
Speaker 1 (08:54):
like so, I've been very blessed in that I have not
had to deal with the naysayers,or at least not to my face.
Nobody has said it to my face.
Now.
I get a lot of questions.
I get a lot of well, how do youdo it and what does it look
(09:15):
like?
And I think, though, that whatactually makes it interesting
with my friends and family isthat they see the fruits of the
homeschool labor, and that istruly what prompts them to come
and ask me well, how are youdoing this?
And they might even ask me fortips and recommendations with
(09:36):
their own kids, even if they'renot homeschooling necessarily.
They'll say well, what are somethings that I can do?
Because, like you know, my baby, like he, really loves math.
What more can we do to makesure that he's very engaged in
math, that kind of thing?
So, and that, like I said, thatis a function of my girls.
They, whether they have been intraditional school or whether
(09:58):
they are now homeschooled, theyare still engaging, they are
still bright, they are stillthere is nothing.
You know, some of these things,some of these stereotypical
like oh well, homeschoolers areweird.
My children have never giventhat off.
We, as a family, have nevergiven that off, if anything.
People look at our experienceand they're like oh God, that
(10:19):
kind of looks fun, like like howdo you do that?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Exactly, yeah, so that has been, that has been.
I guess it's been a positivebecause we haven't, we just had,
I just have not had to dealwith, like I said, the naysayers
.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Yeah, what I love the way you do it is there are so
many resources out there forhomeschoolers.
It's actually can be prettyoverwhelming.
However, most of the resources,at least that I found even the
curriculum I use it's reallytailored to full-time
stay-at-home moms and this istheir entire life.
They are sitting at the kitchentable from 8 am to 3 pm, or at
(10:59):
least that's the picture I'mpainting.
That might not be true, butthat's what I see when I look at
a lot of homeschool resources,whereas you provide
opportunities to meet moms wherethey are because you have a
full-time job and you're still ahomeschooler.
I have a homeschooler right now.
He is meeting with his mentoron computers something I should
probably get a little moreinvolved and be more interested
(11:21):
in learning that part and thenhis teacher gets here in an hour
and she's going to do somesubjects with him and then I
will continue the education withhim whenever I'm done working.
So I love that about your workis that you're able to meet moms
where they are and go.
Hey, guess what?
Homeschools for everyone, notjust those that are at home full
(11:42):
time with their kids.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
It's funny that you say that because my so the name
of my business is homeschool ourway.
But initially and that camefrom my husband, so if you can't
tell, my husband is thecreative one, um in the in the
family.
I initially it sounds like verymuch so, very much so, um, but I
had initially wanted to namethe business.
Homeschool is for everybody,and it's because, now, that
(12:10):
would have been a goofy name.
However, it truly is what youjust described.
I want to make sure that peopleunderstand that homeschool can
be accessible, no matter whatyour family looks like.
I have the benefit of workingfrom home, but I, though, know
plenty of moms and dads whodon't work from home.
(12:31):
Their full-time jobs take themaway to a hospital or to like
wherever they work, and sothey're able to incorporate
homeschooling as well, and Ijust want I want people to
understand that this is truly aneducation option that, with
with understanding the, the, youknow what's available to them
that people can access.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
I think, even if you're not, if you don't view
homeschooling as a completelyaccessible choice to you, like
in your current life situation,I think we can still do a lot in
our parenting mindsets to ownand like be a part of that
education.
Like I like to think of, um,any sort of educational.
You know, like my kids go tomicro schools, other kids go to
(13:14):
brick and mortar, moretraditional classrooms, like
there's lots of differentoptions, right, whatever you're
hiring to help you with theeducation piece.
Or maybe, like you know, youcan think of that as kind of
like outsourcing.
I'm outsourcing this littlepiece of my child's, of raising
my child, to be supported bythis other entity or this um.
You know, in the same way thatyou would like sign up for a
soccer team or something like Iwant this to teach my kids
(13:36):
soccer or teach them hard workor whatever.
Like you know, whatever you'regaining from that thing you're
signing up for or hiring intoyour child's life, um, but it's
important that we don't lose themindset that that is your, like
the parents, ultimateresponsibility, right, like we
just want to get away from themindset of, well, I can't
influence, I can't be a part ofcause, I just I have to work and
(13:58):
I think even if you're sendingyour kids to full-time
traditional school, you can havethe mindset of a homeschooler
and when they get home you know,be really engaged and involved
and curious and to still be theleader of their education right
and to have them see you as thatauthority and that like
influence in their lives.
So I think there's a lot youcan do, even if you can't
necessarily homeschool your kidsright now.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
I was going to say I'm part of the MomCo.
It's a community of moms andI'm on the leadership team and
we just had a leadership meetingthe other night and there's a
mom and all of the moms on theleadership team except for me
all have littles under the ageof five, and the one mama she
was like I think about it everyday.
My daughter's going tokindergarten next year.
(14:41):
My husband, you know, thinksthat we should homeschool.
He's teacher.
He just loves coming home toour family.
I, I, I was a teacher.
I think it would be great.
She's like, but there's justthis will she be normal Like?
I think I need to send.
She just had so much strife andshe literally said she's
spending every single daythinking about this choice that
(15:02):
she needs to make.
And I think it's because ourculture has made it like oh, you
just go to school, but schoolcan look like so many different
ways.
I mean we have micro schools atPrenda.
You know you can do homeschool,you can do unschool, you can
send your kids to school, but Ifeel like it's a mindset shift
of what education should looklike for kids.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Totally agree, totally agree.
And I, katie, going back toyour point about leading our
kids' education, I always saythat whether your kids are in
traditional school or whetherthey are homeschooled, we as
parents should be the lead, weshould be the guide, and I think
(15:43):
that once we can kind of getover that hurdle then, adrian,
that it helps us with what youwere describing, with the
anxiety of thinking well, holdon, is it okay for me to have my
kids step outside of what isthe traditional education system
?
Well, heck yeah.
If I'm the guide, if I'm thelead of my kid's education, I
(16:05):
get to choose what it looks like.
And so I completely agree withwith both of your points, do you
?
Speaker 2 (16:10):
find that you do a lot of work just empowering
parents around that idea Becausewe've all been trained
societally that like we need totrust the expert and if you
don't have a degree orcredential, like you're not
qualified to do something which,as learners, we really feel
like.
That's not true.
I've learned a lot of thingswithout someone, like sitting in
a desk, someone teaching me andgiving me a certificate or like
(16:31):
a prize for right, like that,like traditional schema of
learning.
It's not really fit.
But do parents that you workwith struggle with that level of
like permission I'll call it toreally step into that
leadership role?
Do they feel, do they come tothis decision most of the time
like disempowered?
(16:52):
What do you say?
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Absolutely 100%.
I think that I actually it's sofunny I just did a podcast
episode on mindset, and so thisis extremely top of mind for me
because I do think that,especially for those of us who
are we grew up, you know,probably in the traditional
education system we have atremendous amount of respect and
(17:17):
trust for educators.
I think that we put them on apedestal as well.
We should write like we.
They have earned, they haveearned that place.
But what I think we do wrong isthat we disqualify ourselves as
parents.
(17:37):
We don't necessarily need to bethe ones that teach all of the
things, but we, as ourchildren's parent, we are 1000%
qualified to make the choicesthat are best for our kids.
So, whether they are very smalland the choices oh okay, well,
(17:59):
I think they're ready to pottytrain, well, okay, well, that's
a choice, right?
That's a choice that we makebecause we are the ones closest
to our kids and we can see whenthey're ready for something.
We can see when they are inneed of something, and it's the
same thing with, in my mind,with education we for, for my,
(18:20):
my big girl, who's 10, she lovesreading and she loves writing,
and so, in my mind.
My job as the lead of hereducation is to lean into those
things that she is already goodat and that she already has a
passion for, and so that mightmean writing classes, that might
mean being a part of book clubs.
(18:40):
Those are things that I canguide her into to make sure that
those, those natural talentsand passions, are nurtured.
I love that.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Um, do you, do you also find?
So I have homeschooled beforewe discovered slash, helped
invent micro-schooling, not thatthat's.
Uh.
I know that small schools haveexisted for hundreds of years.
We didn't just think of it in2018.
But so when I was homeschooling,I kind of felt like like I just
(19:12):
heard you say you don't have toteach everything when you're
homeschooling right, you canstill hire other things to help
you.
But I feel like when I steppedinto homeschooling, I felt like
this was the Katie show, like Ihad to do all of it all the time
, for all the kids, for all theyears, and if I didn't, like I
wasn't going to get myhomeschool mom trophy at the end
, you know.
And I really felt like there'sthis culture in the
(19:36):
homeschooling network, or likejust communities and maybe this
is just specific to mine ormaybe I was just projecting this
because it was a fear of mine,but it's kind of like, oh, like
you're choosing to put thatchild back in school, like you
lost, like you, you know, you,you, you failed.
Or like, oh, you're hiring,like you're sending your kids to
(19:57):
some classes, like you couldn'tfigure out how to teach fourth
grade science, or like you know,there's just this like vibe of
uh, if you can't do it all everyyear for every child, then
you're, there's something.
It's like.
It's almost like the same ideaof like empowerment and
disempowerment taken to theextreme.
It's like, okay, now I own mychild's education and I have to
own all of it forever for all ofthem, right.
(20:19):
So it's like, but on both sidesof the spectrum I think there's
kind of overwhelmingdisempowerment, and so how do
you help parents kind of come toa healthy middle where they're
stepping into their leadership,but also not like putting it all
on their own shoulders?
You know, like what are thoseconversations like?
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Yeah, and can you talk about here?
I think this is a great placeto talk about your start method
of homeschooling and how youwalk parents through that and we
can kind of dig deeper into thedifferent parts of that.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Absolutely.
So.
I'm going to say this realquick it's so quintessentially
American for us to feel the needto want to do all of the things
and not give ourselves a break.
We work ourselves to death inthis country, right, taking
vacation can be seen as aweakness in corporate America,
(21:17):
things like that and so we takethat mindset into homeschooling
and I think that, katie, that'spart of what you're speaking to
is putting all of the pressureon ourselves and saying I have
to do all of the things.
Now, if we look at, if we lookat families in other countries,
a lot of times they'll have ananny, they'll have a
housekeeper, they'll have a chefyou know they'll have, they'll
(21:41):
have help, and it is not seen asany sort of failure on the part
of the mom.
It is just seen as a part ofthe village, a part of the
structure that keeps the familymoving forward.
If we can take that same modeland it's hard right, because if
we're talking to an Americanaudience, it's not how we were
(22:05):
brought up to see things but ifwe can shift that mindset, if we
can look at, if we can look atour homeschool model as one of a
village and one where we canoutsource, like you were saying,
in different places anddifferent areas, to make sure
(22:27):
that our kids have awell-rounded experience.
That's okay.
That is a-okay.
And I also know, as a woman incorporate America, I lean
heavily on subject matterexperts in my work life.
Why wouldn't I do that in otherthings as well?
So, if I can tell you, readingand writing is my jam, I love it
(22:52):
.
But I can also tell you youmentioned science.
Science is not.
Science is not, but I'll betyou that there is a science
teacher out there who would lovenothing more than to pour into
my two kiddos and probablycountless other kiddos to teach
them the things that they arepassionate about, that the
(23:15):
teacher is passionate about inscience.
And so why not?
Instead of giving my kids a 25,30% chance at good science
teaching if I were to teach itwhy not give them the home run
100% chance that they are goingto learn from an expert and
(23:36):
they're going to love it?
I think that's okay.
I think that's okay too, but ittook me a long time to get okay
with that.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
In fact, funny story when I was homeschooling I met
Kelly Smith, prentice founder,and like what?
I went, I drove to his house,like happened to live 20 minutes
away from him, sat down at hiskitchen table, and like learned
more about this idea of microschooling.
At the time he had seven kidsthat he'd, you know, done one
semester with around his kitchentable and I was like this
solves a lot of my problems as ahomeschooler and I want to help
(24:05):
you build this.
But if I tell my homeschoolcommunity that I am building
this, they will not invite me tomom's night because they won't
see me as a homeschooler anymore.
Like this is a differentcategory and now I'm part of the
like this out group.
So I actually built Prenda forthe first like almost a year,
without telling any of myfriends, because I was so
(24:28):
worried about this.
Isn't that sad?
Like that.
I like that's my support group.
I was doing this really hardthing and continuing to
homeschool and I was pregnantand I was preschool.
I was like running a, like anin-home preschool too, like I
was doing so many things and I'mlike I have no support right
now and so I just just neverwant parents to feel like that,
if you're in a homeschoolingsituation, like everything is at
your fingertips and like it'syour job to curate and connect
(24:52):
and just really doesn't have tobe all on you, and I just feel
like we shouldn't have to giveup our entire social network and
structure if we're gonna make achoice like this.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Something Alon said at the very beginning was I
wanted to be a part of theirlearning.
That is key because that couldbe if they're still in
traditional school, micro school, homeschool, co-ops, you as the
parent, and we keep saying thiscan still be part of their
learning and part of theireducation.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Absolutely, absolutely agreed and, adrienne,
I know I didn't quite get backto that start homeschooling
method.
So, and to your point, some ofthese things are woven into it.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
So if you don't mind, I can give you an overview of
it.
Yeah, go for it.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Okay.
So START is an acronym, rightS-T-A-R-T, and the S is for
setting your homeschool goals.
The T is the rules matter,which just means just getting
set on.
What are the laws in your state.
A is for all things curriculum,r is respect the whole child,
(26:00):
because we want our kiddos tohave a well-rounded experience.
And then T is getting thesupport that you need.
And, katie, we're just talkingabout that and how key that is.
So I think that starting withthe end in mind is really how I
get started.
I teach folks to set theirlong-term vision, set their
(26:24):
mid-term vision and set theirshort-term goals.
And setting that long-termvision keeps us on track.
It gives us a North Star.
It gives us a guide to say if,ultimately, I want my kids to
(26:45):
get this out of homeschooling, Iwant my family to look like
this by the time my kids,whether they're going back to
traditional school at a certainpoint, or if they're graduating
and heading off to college,whatever that might look like by
the time that they get there,this is what I want our family
to look like and this is what Iwant my kiddos to look like,
starting there and then kind ofbeing able to work backwards.
(27:07):
Then you can set goals thatwill help you get to that place.
I also think it's importantbecause, katie, you just
mentioned that there are so manyresources out there for
homeschoolers.
This is not 30 years ago orwhatever, when homeschooling had
to look one certain way.
But if you allow yourself, youcan get overwhelmed with some of
(27:32):
all of those resources.
Right, because there's so manyoptions, there's so many
different ways of doing thisthing, and so that's the other
reason why I feel like settingforth your vision and setting
forth your goals will keep youin line.
Right, it'll keep you in lineand you won't get distracted
with this or that, which is notto say that you can't try things
(27:52):
along the way, but it is to say, if your ultimate goal is that
you want your kids to experienceX, Y and Z, stay the course and
make sure that, whatever theresources that you know come
along, whatever theopportunities, the, the um
activities, that kind of thing,that they align with the vision
that you've set forth for yourfamily.
(28:13):
So that's why I always saystart there.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
Yeah, but how much of the kids' input do you
encourage parents to get so?
Cause I'm hearing a lot of thisis the vision you're setting,
what you want your kids to looklike.
But where does choice autonomy?
You know, I'm thinking of NedJohnson and the self-driven
child.
That's actually how we foundmicro-schooling is.
I had read that book and thenyou know my kids were not
(28:39):
thriving in a very traditionalenvironment and I just said, hey
, do you guys want to check outthis micro-school thing?
You make the choice.
So where?
Where's that line of like, whatyour vision is and where do you
bring the kids in?
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Well, I think it is such a good question.
I think that there's two placeswhere I really see that kind of
plugging into this particularframework.
The first certainly is thatvision piece, because if we want
to raise kids who can speak forthemselves, who feel like they
have a voice, who feel like theyare heard, we want to make sure
(29:15):
to do that in our own homes,right.
And so I absolutely feel, likeAdrienne, that our kiddos should
be a part of that vision andgoal-setting process.
Of course, age-appropriateright, like our three-year-olds
may not have the same voice.
That's right.
That's right.
It's like, well, yeah, it's likewell, let's scale that back,
(29:39):
Maybe just on Fridays or youknow whatever, but nonetheless,
nonetheless, we want them tofeel heard, Right, Because in
creating a well-roundededucation experience, you want
to take into account your kids'likes, your kids' dislikes, you
(30:03):
want to take into account thethings that they want to learn
more about, and then maybe thethings that they don't even yet
know that they are into, but youcan kind of see like a little
spark.
So, for example, something likeAI AI for consumers for us is a
(30:29):
little bit newer, right, and soour kids might just be kind of
starting to learn about it.
But if they show a little sparkof interest, but if they show a
little spark of interest, thenthey have begun to lead the way
and we can maybe find classes oractivities or resources or
something that will againcontinue to nurture that.
So they have the voice right.
(30:50):
We need to pay attention andmake sure that we are listening
to what they are saying, whetherit is verbal or whether it's
through actions, and I thinkthat, again, that goes a long
way in that concept ofrespecting the whole child.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
That's super powerful and I think you see this in all
of the different types of likepedagogies and approaches people
take in homeschooling.
Like you can do kind of like avery structured, like classical
education version of homeschool,or you could do you could
unschool, which I'd put thosethings kind of at opposite ends
of a spectrum, right, but, like,both of the parents in that
(31:24):
situation have a specific visionfor their family and for their
kids, they have specific valuesand they're creating a plan
based on those values andpriorities that are going to
move their family forward.
And I think both of thesethings should be respected,
embraced, encouraged, supported,um and both of those like I.
So we have a goal settingprocess that we do at the
beginning of every kind of likequarter or semester or whatever
(31:48):
Um, and we have differentcategories that we set goals in
and then I let my kids likecompletely set their own goals
and then we've done this forlike a year or two now and I
just was like gearing up to dothat for this, this start of the
school year, and I just thoughtlike we just need to change.
Like I have this vision, like I, I know that my kids need to
(32:08):
really focus on this and I'mactually going to like pull back
, like I usually am veryautonomy focused parent and I'm
like, and I'm like I actually dohave a vision that I want to
like sculpt into these kids alittle bit more in this area,
and so I'm going to like leadout a little bit more and we're
not going to do the goal setting.
They have lots of otheropportunities that in their
(32:29):
micro school to set their owngoals.
So, like we pulled back on thatand I just told them like we're
going gonna have one family goalthis is what it is and like,
and then they had a ton of input.
They're like, oh, could we doit like this and could we, you
know, track it like this?
And they were like buildingsystems and things like that.
So there was still even likewhen I was saying like hey, this
is the vision, and like here's,here's the why behind the
(32:49):
vision, right, and like gottheir buy-in um on that vision
and the why, and we were in that, they still had a ton of
ability to participate and tovoice things and be part of that
creative process.
So I think that's another thingwhere homeschool parents are
like well, I don't know, it'sjust a spectrum where some years
, with some kids in some areas,we're going to fall over here on
(33:11):
the autonomy spectrum and someyears, with some kids in some
areas, we're going to fall overhere, and it really is like
about parental attunement andyou knowing, like what you're
saying, this call to like a longterm vision, and we do a lot of
that work.
I think we have an episode two.
What's the real goal?
What's what's your real role?
Speaker 3 (33:27):
it's like we even have a goal setting tool.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Yeah, yeah, it's so important but it's like you
really have to have to have thatvision and then you have to
know how to invite your kidsinto that vision.
It's really um, it's a hardthing to know how to do it right
.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
We're not trained to do that, so so have you found a
lot of like common goals thatparents come up with, or you
know that, or what are somecommon goals that families might
consider?
Speaker 1 (33:57):
I think that the goal piece is so deeply personal,
not that it's secretive, butthat it's so specific to you,
your family, your kiddos, right.
So, for example, a couple of mygoals or they weren't just my
goals, because again, I'mgetting the kids input, I
(34:18):
realize.
I'm realizing, adrian, now thathow much I say my, but just
know that the kids are in theretoo and my husband at the tip
(34:38):
top of like our goals, right,that had a lot to do with the
fact that in our family so,number one, we live in Texas and
it's advantageous to knowEnglish and Spanish.
Number two, ilan, the mom.
I study Spanish in undergrad andso one of the things that I
felt is why am I?
Why am I 18, 19 years old?
(34:58):
I'm just now really gettingstarted learning, you know, a
second language.
I'm not going to do this withmy kids, so that was something
that you know.
Again, that really was one ofmy goals.
Yeah, that was a livedexperience.
And so somebody down the road,you know, in Georgia or in North
Carolina, they may not havethose same goals because they
may not have that same, like yousaid, lived experience.
(35:21):
They geographically, does iteven?
Does it matter?
Does it make sense Does it youknow what I mean Like there
might be other types ofopportunities.
So I think that again.
Speaker 3 (35:32):
that's like a subject goal, so everyone would have a
goal around subjects that aregoing to be taught.
Would that be a common goal?
Speaker 1 (35:40):
I do think subjects yes, subjects is important, I
also think.
I also think experiences areimportant, and so what I mean by
that is whether we're talkingabout, like, the social aspect.
So one of the goals that afamily that I worked with back
in the spring one of their goalswas doggone it.
(36:01):
We're going to find us a co-op,because they lived kind of on
the outskirts and there weren't,you know, a ton of like just
around me.
There's probably like five orsix co-ops that I had to choose
from because I'm in a very urbanarea, but their experience not
so much.
So that was a goal, whereasthat didn't really have to be a
goal necessarily for me.
(36:22):
So that was a part of it.
But what one of the goals wasactually?
We didn't even start out thisway at the beginning of the
school year.
I'm thinking about it as we wentalong, I'm thinking about it as
we went along there was moreand more opportunity for us to
(36:43):
spend time together as a familyand to learn together as a
family.
We didn't start out the schoolyear with that goal in mind, but
as we got into it just a littlebit, I said oh, oh, we're just
scratching the surface here, andso I made it a goal, in that I
made sure that we hadintentional family time to learn
(37:05):
together, to spend timetogether, to visit museums
together, that kind of thing.
I made that a goal because Isaid to myself, if, for example,
my kids go back to traditionalschool, we may not have these
moments of opportunity like thisin the near future.
Or if, I don't know, even ifsomething changed in our living
(37:28):
situation, if we lived inanother place, or if I got
another job or my husband gotanother job, we may not have
these same moments of connectionand of learning together.
So I was like I'm going to makeit a goal that we are extremely
intentional about familylearning time together.
So that was one thing that kindof came about.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
How do you suggest parents go about discovering
their family values, like ifthey've never thought about,
like what do we stand for as afamily?
Like what are our long-termgoals?
You know, sometimes we justkind of get swept up in just the
way life is and our routinesand things like that.
We don't kind of pause to havethese moments of like, vision
and purpose.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
I think it's exactly what you said pause and take the
time to do it.
So one of the one of the veryfirst things.
So I have an online coursecalled the Homeschool Launch
Blueprint and it walks familiesthrough how to get started
homeschooling.
One of the very, very firstexercises, katie, is to do
exactly what you just said is totake time, and I'm very
(38:33):
intentional.
In that course I say, if you'rewatching this by yourself, make
sure that you go in with yourpartner and that you get this,
that you guys sit down and makethese goals together.
And it literally is I set atimer and I say write down all
of the things that are importantto you, and then we kind of go
(38:53):
through an exercise of narrowingthose things down and making
sure that we're pulling out thethemes that are important to us.
But I think that you're rightlife goes so fast sometimes that
it is necessary to stop andtake a moment.
Before we embark on this newjourney whether it's a new
(39:14):
journey of homeschool, orwhether we just want to make
some tweaks or whatever beforewe move forward, let's stop,
let's take a moment, let's getaligned on our vision for our
family.
What do we want?
What do we want it to look like?
What are our priorities?
Those kinds of things.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
Yeah, you really need to have, like a Cheshire Cat
moment.
Oh sorry, there's a lack.
Yeah, we really need to have aCheshire cat moment, because it
really doesn't matter what youdo if you don't know, like,
where you're going.
So that's really important.
Speaker 3 (39:46):
Okay, so then talk a little bit about rules matter.
Katie and I are both in Arizona.
There's not a whole lot ofrules around homeschool.
I have a friend who homeschoolsin Virginia.
She's put a whole portfoliotogether.
There's a lot of things thatthey have to do when they're
thinking about homeschooling.
And she said that you know thehomeschoolers of Virginia fought
(40:06):
so hard to make homeschoolinglegal so they don't even like
want to.
You know, rock the boat withprograms like ESA and things.
So can you talk about that andhow you walk families through
that?
And then also like how can theystay informed on regulation
changes or homeschool laws?
You know as they change theycan go through legislation.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
Yeah, so I.
There's a resource that I love.
It is from an organizationcalled HSLDA, the Homeschool
Legal Defense Association.
On their website.
It's the coolest tool you putin what state you live in and
it'll spit back out like whatyour homeschooling laws are for
your state.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
So it's so easy to use.
I always tell people to startthere.
Yeah, it's so great.
I love that resource too.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
Yes, it's great, it's great.
And then they have additionalarticles on their website that
allow you to dive deeper intocertain topics.
So, for example, record keeping.
You know what?
What are?
What are transcripts need tolook like?
What you know, adrian, youmentioned like portfolios, that
kind of thing, what, what doesthat look like?
(41:11):
Or how many hours a week youneed to school?
I'm like y'all, I'm in Texas.
We just don't have a ton ofrules, but there are states who
say you must school for X amountof hours.
It's important to know that.
Is it important to know that onthe front end, right?
So I tell people to start therewith that tool.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
It's just a super and how do they track that?
How do you submit somethinglike a stamp card or something
right you like submit to thegovernment.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
It depends on the state.
I think that for some statesyou need to.
There's a couple things.
You need to record it right,like record, record it and send
it ahead of time and say, okay,this semester we are planning,
we are schooling from this timeto this time, and that's what
that looks like.
Or if you have like anoversight body, so maybe an
(42:09):
oversight school or an oversight, it's not called a mentor, but
someone like a human being aperson that you're working with.
Exactly, then they can helptrack that and perhaps report
that in, or perhaps you track itand then they'll sign off on it
, those kinds of things.
So it just depends on the stateand it depends on what that
(42:31):
looks like.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
At Prenda our software actually is built to do
that.
We have an attendance featurewhere you go through and say
these are my school days, theseare the hours we school, and
then it like keeps track of that, and you can just click
everyone was at school, likeyou're taking attendance, and
it's like, hey, it logs thosehours, so then you can get a
report to send to whoever needsto see that.
Speaker 1 (42:46):
So, um, it's a thing, it's awesome, because that just
makes it easy breezy, rightit's.
You don't even have to, it'snot one extra thing you have to
think about.
It is done for you, it's.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
you know that it's accurate and then you can just
print that report, which, whenyou're homeschooling, you do not
need one more thing to worryabout.
That's already a lot.
Speaker 1 (43:05):
There are also resources that are state
specific resources, where youcan dive a little bit deeper,
and so I like here in Texas wehave the, the Texas Homeschool
Coalition, and they have awebsite that has more detail,
more drilled down.
It might even go like countylevel if there's information
(43:28):
like that.
So if you have a state specificorganization that you can tap
into, that that's even morehelpful, love that OK.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
so the next part of Start VA is all things
curriculum.
So let's talk about curriculuma little bit.
It can be overwhelming.
What tips would you giveparents for selecting the best
resources for their child'slearning, their learning style?
How do you think about this?
Speaker 1 (43:53):
Well, I'd love to start there with learning style,
so finding out what type oflearner your child is, or your
children are.
So, are they auditory learners?
Are they kinesthetic learners?
Do they need to work with theirhands?
Are they reading writinglearners guide you as you move
(44:22):
down the funnel, as they say.
One of the next pieces that Ilike for parents to look at is
what are the differenthomeschool approaches that are
out there?
So I can't remember Adrienne orKatie, which one of you
mentioned like the classicalhomeschool method.
There's a number there's likeprobably about 10-ish Eclectic.
Speaker 2 (44:39):
Yeah, yes, yes, oh.
We just have a whole blog poston this that goes through like
all the different approaches andlike little summaries and, like
you, might be this a good fitfor this one, if you like these
things.
So just something we'll post inthe show notes.
Speaker 1 (44:52):
Absolutely, absolutely.
And that's awesome, becauseonce you, let's say, you
gravitate to a particularapproach, there's probably
resources that you can searchaccording to that approach.
So for example I mentioned mybig girl is she's a.
(45:13):
She loves reading, she loveswriting that kind of thing.
She's very big on literature.
Charlotte Mason is a methodthat leans heavy on literature
and it doesn't lean heavy onlyon literature, but I'm using
that for this example.
So Charlotte Mason is anapproach that I don't
necessarily have to use it asmuch for my younger daughter,
(45:38):
but for my older daughter itmakes sense.
So sometimes when I'm lookingfor specific curriculum
materials or learning materials,I might search Charlotte Mason
as a starting point to then getme the things that make sense
for her, because I've alreadyidentified that she's a reading
(45:58):
writing learner and then I'vealready identified that
Charlotte Mason leans heavy onliterature.
Speaker 3 (46:04):
So it's one of those things I was doing your method
without even realizing, becauseit's the same thing we do
Charlotte Mason, because my sonloves to read and he's always
reading, or he would prefer toplay video games, but we don't
allow that.
So then he reads all the timeand Charlotte Mason has been the
perfect fit for him.
And but I don't think it wouldbe a great fit if my older,
(46:24):
oldest son, you know, was athome.
So I'm like, oh, I already didthis without realizing it.
I read a book.
I think this is a good tip, orat least what I did was I picked
one book that like encompassedall the different styles, and so
it was called homeschoolinggifted kids, because he is
gifted.
So I started where he is likelearning style.
And when you were sayinglearning styles, I was thinking
reluctant learners no, notnecessarily, probably what you
(46:50):
typically find, buthomeschooling gifted kids it's
by Cindy West, and she wentthrough all the different types
of homeschooling that I was like, oh, okay, I can do this.
Oh, he likes to do this andthis is the way he learned, so
this.
And then I kind of startedlistening to a Charlotte Mason
podcast.
(47:10):
There's quite a few out there,there's like the Mason jar and
there's, you know, the, there'sa different one too.
And then I from therediscovered Alvieri.
And then from there I was like,oh, this seems great because I
don't have to pick the livingbooks, I don't have time to do
that, so I can just print outall the curriculum and have
another teacher help me educatemy child.
(47:30):
So I kind of took those steps.
I started with one thing andthen I just kind of built, you
know, just went one step at atime to figure out what would be
best.
And we're on year three and westill use Aviary.
Speaker 1 (47:43):
It's just.
It makes for a good startingpoint so that you're not just
trying to pull things out ofthin air.
Speaker 2 (47:49):
All right.
So, finishing out the wholestart framework, tell us about
the R and the final T.
Speaker 1 (48:01):
Well, with respect, the whole child.
We've kind of already talkedabout that right, like just
making sure that we don't wantour kids to be robots.
They don't need to just learnjust the academics and that's it
.
We want to make sure thatthey're doing the things and
getting into the things thatspeak to them as human beings.
So that really is somethingthat kind of permeates all of
(48:23):
the steps.
But then also, with the supportyou need, it's not just about
the support that the kids get,it's about the support that we
as the parent can receive aswell.
So you know, I've talked aboutthe fact that I am a working mom
and one of the things that cameup this was like not too long
(48:43):
ago, just a few months ago, Ihad a meeting.
I usually don't have a ton oflike in-person meetings in the
middle of the day, but I hadthat this particular day and I
can't just call anybody out ofthe clear blue sky to make sure
that, number one, they can watchmy girls.
Number two, that they cancontinue whatever my kid's
(49:07):
learning is supposed to be thatday, that they can continue on.
But we are a part of ahomeschool co op and in that,
because of that I've become veryfriendly with a lot of the
other homeschool moms there.
I gave one of the moms a call.
I said this is what I havegoing on.
Can you cover for me for anhour or two while I have to run
(49:27):
to the other side of town?
She said absolutely, we'll beat the library anyway.
Drop them off, we'll have aroom, because I think my kids at
the time had their Spanishclass that they that they zoom
in for.
She was like we'll get a room,we'll have it set up, they can
have their Spanish class.
And you know, bada bing, bada,boom, we've got it covered.
(49:47):
That type of support is sovaluable and it doesn't always
have to look like that.
But that was just an examplethat just happened recently.
Look like that, but that wasjust an example that just
happened recently.
If I, if I, if I, were to callany of my other friends, they'd
be like girl, I'm working, likeI don't have time to watch your
(50:10):
kids, or whatever that mightlook like.
But this homeschool mom didn'teven miss a beat.
She said bring them on and I'lltake it from here.
And it just was so, so valuable.
The other piece that's very, sovaluable.
The other piece that's veryvaluable yeah, the other piece
that's very valuable is, even invirtual groups, being able to
share resources from mom to mom,whether it's hey, have y'all
heard of Prinda?
I think that you know thismight be a good resource, you
(50:32):
know, and being able to sharelike that kind of information.
I might be on the other side ofthe country and I've never
heard of Apprenda Microschool,but if somebody in Arizona
shares it with me because we'rein a Facebook group together,
then all of a sudden I've gotsomething new that I can utilize
(50:53):
with my family and I didn'thave to just scratch and claw
and figure it out for myself.
So the being able to shareresources is the type of
parental support that I thinkgoes a long way to make this
thing more helpful and movesmoother for those of us who are
homeschooling families.
Speaker 3 (51:15):
I can imagine how all of these tools that you give
parents in your online course itreally helps them with their
mindset and then helps them justget started, because I think
that can be the hardest part isjust starting and something we
need to wrap up.
But something I want to mention, what you focus on as well is
representation for Blackfamilies in the homeschool
(51:36):
community, because I know evenwhen I was looking, it was a lot
of white families homeschooling, so I think that's really
important too, and did you wantto touch on that before we wrap
up?
Speaker 1 (51:47):
I can.
I think it's important for ourkiddos.
I speak to it from thestandpoint of a Black family
because we are a Black family,but whether it's that you're a
Black family, maybe your kiddosare neurodivergent, whatever
that looks like, you want toalways make sure that your kids
(52:08):
feel like they can seethemselves in the groups that
they're in and the surroundingsthat they're in, because what we
don't want to create is ourkids that struggle with
isolation, kids that strugglewith feeling like, oh, I must be
the only one.
We want community for ourkiddos too, and so I think that
(52:32):
that representation is soimportant and, again, whatever
it is that your family resonateswith that you make sure that
your kids feel seen andrepresented.
Speaker 3 (52:44):
I love that so much and this is a question we ask
all of our guests.
Who is someone who has kindledyour love of learning, curiosity
, motivation or passion?
Speaker 1 (52:53):
I have never actually met this man in person, but I
watch him every week on YouTube.
I watch a lot of his content.
He is a pastor in Atlanta,georgia, his name is Darius
Daniels and he is.
He's so brilliant.
But I think that why I connectwith him is because, in my mind,
he is also a learner.
(53:14):
He is also a learner the waythat he teaches the information
and how he presents it, whetherhe is preaching or whether he is
teaching.
He does a lot of like workshopsand online courses and that
kind of thing that don't justspeak to faith, but that also
might speak to entrepreneurshipor they might speak to parenting
, or they might speak to likewhatever.
(53:35):
Or they might speak toparenting, or they might speak
to like whatever.
I watch him and how hecommunicates and how he draws
that love for learning out ofthe people that he is speaking
to and I'm like, oh, I want todo that.
I want to make sure that I dothat too.
So, yes, he is definitely onewho has kindled my love for
learning.
Speaker 2 (53:55):
That's beautiful.
And how can our listeners learnmore about your work?
Well like.
Speaker 1 (53:59):
I said, I have a podcast called Homeschool Our
Way and this whole starthomeschooling method that I've
talked to you guys about.
That can be found on thewebsite at homeschoolourwaycom
backslash start.
It's a quick and easy kind oflittle mini podcast series, but
you can get all the informationthere and you can go back and
(54:19):
listen to it as many times asyou want to.
So, yeah, I think that thoseare the two main ways to get in
touch with me.
Speaker 2 (54:26):
Thanks so much for coming on the Kindle podcast.
Speaker 3 (54:28):
That's it for today.
We hope you enjoyed thisepisode of the Kindle podcast
and if it was helpful to you orany of this information that you
hear on the Kindle podcast,please like, subscribe and
follow us on social at PrendaLearn.
If you have any questions youwould like for us to address,
all you need to do is email usat podcast at Prendacom.
You can also go to our website,wwwprendacom and sign up for
(54:54):
our weekly newsletter, theSunday Spark.
Speaker 2 (54:56):
The Kindle podcast is brought to you by Prenda.
Prenda makes it easy for you tostart and run an amazing micro
school based on all of the ideasthat we talk about here on the
Kindle Podcast.
If you want more informationabout becoming a Prenda guide,
just go to Prendacom.
Thanks for listening andremember to keep kindling.
I want to make sure that people understand that
homeschool can be accessible, nomatter what your family looks
like.
I have the benefit of workingfrom home, but I, though, know
plenty of moms and dads whodon't work from home.
Their full-time jobs take themaway to a hospital or to like
wherever they work, and sothey're able to incorporate
(00:23):
homeschooling as well, and sothey're able to incorporate
homeschooling as well, and Ijust I want people to understand
that this is truly an educationoption, that, with
understanding the, you knowwhat's available to them that
people can access.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Hi and welcome to the Kindled podcast where we dig
into the art and science behindkindling the motivation,
curiosity and mental wellbeingof the young humans in our lives
.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Together, we'll discover practical tools and
strategies you can use to helpkids unlock their full potential
and become the strongestversion of their future selves.
Welcome to the Kindled podcast.
(01:07):
I have a secret to tell you all.
I thought I would never everhomeschool and I hear parents
talk about that too Like I couldnever homeschool.
Katie, did you feel like that,Cause I know you started out
homeschooling or did you feellike, from soon as you had that
first baby, you're like I'mgoing to be a homeschool mom?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
I definitely didn't think so.
I mean, I was a speech-languagepathologist in public school,
so I was eager to become asupport in that system and
network.
And actually one of the mainreasons I became a
speech-language pathologist isbecause I thought it would be a
good mom job.
Reasons I became a speechlanguage pathologist.
Because I thought it would be agood mom job so that when my
kids went to public school Iwould be there as a speech
language pathologist.
It would be cool if I like couldbe lunch with them or something
(01:49):
it's like you know I would keepthe same hours as my kids when
they were in school so no, itwas never my intention to
homeschool and then startedhaving kids and just started
thinking about what I wanted forthose kids and kind of
reflecting on the time that Idid spend in the school system
and kind of like the attitudesabout learning that I saw and
(02:09):
the motivation and just feltlike as a speech language
pathologist, my job was just tobribe kids to do the things that
they didn't want to do and theyjust couldn't wait to stop
learning because they just sawit as this big chore and I'm
like that's not how I want mykids to feel about learning,
because they just saw it as thisbig chore and I'm like that's
not how I want my kids to feelabout learning and I know that's
not something we're doingintentionally to kids, but it is
the natural product of thesystem that we built for them.
(02:30):
Unfortunately, and even thoughevery educator goes into
education thinking that theywant to, like, help kids become
lifelong learners, like it isnot a reality for many, many
teachers and for most students.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
So that's kind of what got me thinking to do
something different, cause thesystem yeah, this, the system is
definitely not set up for thatand I kind of I mean, in a way,
I got forced into homeschool.
I was already minded, all thethings like like-minded with you
and what I wanted for my kids.
I just didn't think it waspossible until I sat in the
parking lot of a small Christianelementary school and my child
literally would not get out ofthe car.
So it was like, what else do Ido?
(03:12):
Let's figure out how to do this, and thank goodness for ESA, we
have a lot of funding to beable to homeschool him our way,
which is a perfect segue intowho our guest is today.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yes, Today we're talking to Elon Page, a native
of Dallas, texas, a lifelonglearner, who is passionate about
helping other families of coloraccess the freedom and
fulfillment that homeschooloffers.
After a brief return totraditional schooling, the Page
family made the collectivedecision to embrace
homeschooling as the future fortheir daughters.
Ilan then drew on her ownlearnings from starting the
(03:45):
homeschool process and shecreated Homeschool Our Way to
help other families of coloravoid the overwhelm she had
experienced in startingsomething new.
Homeschool Our Way offers aweekly podcast, an online course
called the Homeschool LaunchBlueprint and other resources to
empower families of color and Iwould say all families to
educate their children withconfidence and clarity.
Let's go talk to Elan.
(04:05):
Welcome to the Kindle podcast,elan.
Thank you so much for coming ontoday.
We're so excited to talk to you.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Thank you for having me.
I'm excited as well.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Take us way back.
Tell us about your background,how you came to the work you're
currently doing.
What's your big?
Why?
What change are you seeking tomake in the world currently
doing Like?
What's your big, why?
What change?
Speaker 1 (04:25):
are you seeking to make in the world the way way
back?
Well, so I guess I'll startwith just a little bit about me.
I'm a mom, a homeschool mom.
I got two kiddos, ages sevenand 10.
And we have not alwayshomeschooled.
We have done a variety ofdifferent education options, but
I think that part of thisstarted with me.
I actually took a test.
(04:48):
It's called StrengthsFinders.
I took this test a couple yearsago and learned that I am a
learner.
That is my primary strength Metoo.
Samesies, yay For learnerstonight.
Yes, I love it.
I love it.
So it man, I'll tell you, youprobably had the same experience
(05:09):
in reading the little printoutand kind of learning more about
what it means to be a learner.
It all began to click.
It all began to make sense.
I'm like oh, that's why I lovelearning in like every way,
shape, form and fashion.
And so, going back to my kiddos,I have always, since they were
(05:29):
born, I have loved watchingthose light bulb moments as they
are growing and learning, andI've always wanted to be a part
of that.
I was never one of those momsthat just like sent the kids off
to school, never thought aboutit again.
I liked sitting down and doinghomework with them, I liked
(05:50):
taking them on educationalexperiences on the weekend and,
you know, whenever I could thatkind of thing.
And so, as I again a couple ofyears ago, as I learned what
makes me tick, then I began tosee how I could really tie that
in with my kiddos and I'm like Ithink it makes sense that I
(06:12):
take on the lead for theireducation.
I become their guide.
It drives me, it is my passionto make them lifelong learners
and lifelong lovers of learning,and so that's kind of how we
got to the point where we arenow, and then I'm homeschooling
(06:36):
and then I was like, well shoot,if I love it this much, why
don't I help other moms who areinterested in getting into
homeschool, but maybe they'renot quite sure how?
So that's how my business kindof became.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
That's awesome.
And how did you starthomeschooling?
Tell me about that moment.
What were the circumstances?
Speaker 1 (06:59):
When did you make that choice, okay?
So, like I said, I was doingthe nights and weekends type
stuff right, like with thekiddos as they were in
traditional school.
During COVID, though, we, ofcourse, all the we all
experienced the kiddos cominghome kind of all at the same
time, especially those of uswhose whose kids were in
traditional school, and I waslike I kinda I kinda like this,
(07:22):
I kind of like being closer tothe learning.
I also noticed that my oldestdaughter seemed to not go at the
same pace, learning-wise, asthe rest of her classmates.
She seemed to finish her work alittle faster.
She seemed, frankly, a littlebored at times, and so I was
(07:43):
like oh well, this is when I canjump in.
I can, I can, you know, I canstart working with her
one-on-one too.
Also, as I'm, as we're kind ofdoing this that summer, so like
there's the year that that theworld shut down, right, that
summer, in 2020, my husband says, hey, any interest in
(08:05):
continuing this wholehomeschooling thing?
And I was like shut up, I'm inagreement.
Like I think I like this.
Are we on the same page withthis?
And we were, we were on thesame page, so we homeschooled
that next year, and it was a lotof work.
It was a whole lot of work, butit was a great learning
experience.
We ended up actually sendingthe kiddos back to traditional
(08:27):
school for a couple of years.
That had more to do with thefact that I still work full time
, and so it was just like I saidit was.
It was a lot, it was a lot ofwork, but some things shifted um
work wise for me a couple ofyears later, and then we were
able to get back tohomeschooling, and so that's
where we are now, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
And what was the response to your homeschooling,
like in your family, in yourcommunity?
Like, were people supportive orpeople like you're a crazy
person, like what was thatresponse?
Speaker 1 (08:54):
like so, I've been very blessed in that I have not
had to deal with the naysayers,or at least not to my face.
Nobody has said it to my face.
Now.
I get a lot of questions.
I get a lot of well, how do youdo it and what does it look
(09:15):
like?
And I think, though, that whatactually makes it interesting
with my friends and family isthat they see the fruits of the
homeschool labor, and that istruly what prompts them to come
and ask me well, how are youdoing this?
And they might even ask me fortips and recommendations with
(09:36):
their own kids, even if they'renot homeschooling necessarily.
They'll say well, what are somethings that I can do?
Because, like you know, my baby, like he, really loves math.
What more can we do to makesure that he's very engaged in
math, that kind of thing?
So, and that, like I said, thatis a function of my girls.
They, whether they have been intraditional school or whether
(09:58):
they are now homeschooled, theyare still engaging, they are
still bright, they are stillthere is nothing.
You know, some of these things,some of these stereotypical
like oh well, homeschoolers areweird.
My children have never giventhat off.
We, as a family, have nevergiven that off, if anything.
People look at our experienceand they're like oh God, that
(10:19):
kind of looks fun, like like howdo you do that?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Exactly, yeah, so that has been, that has been.
I guess it's been a positivebecause we haven't, we just had,
I just have not had to dealwith, like I said, the naysayers
.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Yeah, what I love the way you do it is there are so
many resources out there forhomeschoolers.
It's actually can be prettyoverwhelming.
However, most of the resources,at least that I found even the
curriculum I use it's reallytailored to full-time
stay-at-home moms and this istheir entire life.
They are sitting at the kitchentable from 8 am to 3 pm, or at
(10:59):
least that's the picture I'mpainting.
That might not be true, butthat's what I see when I look at
a lot of homeschool resources,whereas you provide
opportunities to meet moms wherethey are because you have a
full-time job and you're still ahomeschooler.
I have a homeschooler right now.
He is meeting with his mentoron computers something I should
probably get a little moreinvolved and be more interested
(11:21):
in learning that part and thenhis teacher gets here in an hour
and she's going to do somesubjects with him and then I
will continue the education withhim whenever I'm done working.
So I love that about your workis that you're able to meet moms
where they are and go.
Hey, guess what?
Homeschools for everyone, notjust those that are at home full
(11:42):
time with their kids.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
It's funny that you say that because my so the name
of my business is homeschool ourway.
But initially and that camefrom my husband, so if you can't
tell, my husband is thecreative one, um in the in the
family.
I initially it sounds like verymuch so, very much so, um, but I
had initially wanted to namethe business.
Homeschool is for everybody,and it's because, now, that
(12:10):
would have been a goofy name.
However, it truly is what youjust described.
I want to make sure that peopleunderstand that homeschool can
be accessible, no matter whatyour family looks like.
I have the benefit of workingfrom home, but I, though, know
plenty of moms and dads whodon't work from home.
(12:31):
Their full-time jobs take themaway to a hospital or to like
wherever they work, and sothey're able to incorporate
homeschooling as well, and Ijust want I want people to
understand that this is truly aneducation option that, with
with understanding the, the, youknow what's available to them
that people can access.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
I think, even if you're not, if you don't view
homeschooling as a completelyaccessible choice to you, like
in your current life situation,I think we can still do a lot in
our parenting mindsets to ownand like be a part of that
education.
Like I like to think of, um,any sort of educational.
You know, like my kids go tomicro schools, other kids go to
(13:14):
brick and mortar, moretraditional classrooms, like
there's lots of differentoptions, right, whatever you're
hiring to help you with theeducation piece.
Or maybe, like you know, youcan think of that as kind of
like outsourcing.
I'm outsourcing this littlepiece of my child's, of raising
my child, to be supported bythis other entity or this um.
You know, in the same way thatyou would like sign up for a
soccer team or something like Iwant this to teach my kids
(13:36):
soccer or teach them hard workor whatever.
Like you know, whatever you'regaining from that thing you're
signing up for or hiring intoyour child's life, um, but it's
important that we don't lose themindset that that is your, like
the parents, ultimateresponsibility, right, like we
just want to get away from themindset of, well, I can't
influence, I can't be a part ofcause, I just I have to work and
(13:58):
I think even if you're sendingyour kids to full-time
traditional school, you can havethe mindset of a homeschooler
and when they get home you know,be really engaged and involved
and curious and to still be theleader of their education right
and to have them see you as thatauthority and that like
influence in their lives.
So I think there's a lot youcan do, even if you can't
necessarily homeschool your kidsright now.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
I was going to say I'm part of the MomCo.
It's a community of moms andI'm on the leadership team and
we just had a leadership meetingthe other night and there's a
mom and all of the moms on theleadership team except for me
all have littles under the ageof five, and the one mama she
was like I think about it everyday.
My daughter's going tokindergarten next year.
(14:41):
My husband, you know, thinksthat we should homeschool.
He's teacher.
He just loves coming home toour family.
I, I, I was a teacher.
I think it would be great.
She's like, but there's justthis will she be normal Like?
I think I need to send.
She just had so much strife andshe literally said she's
spending every single daythinking about this choice that
(15:02):
she needs to make.
And I think it's because ourculture has made it like oh, you
just go to school, but schoolcan look like so many different
ways.
I mean we have micro schools atPrenda.
You know you can do homeschool,you can do unschool, you can
send your kids to school, but Ifeel like it's a mindset shift
of what education should looklike for kids.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Totally agree, totally agree.
And I, katie, going back toyour point about leading our
kids' education, I always saythat whether your kids are in
traditional school or whetherthey are homeschooled, we as
parents should be the lead, weshould be the guide, and I think
(15:43):
that once we can kind of getover that hurdle then, adrian,
that it helps us with what youwere describing, with the
anxiety of thinking well, holdon, is it okay for me to have my
kids step outside of what isthe traditional education system
?
Well, heck yeah.
If I'm the guide, if I'm thelead of my kid's education, I
(16:05):
get to choose what it looks like.
And so I completely agree withwith both of your points, do you
?
Speaker 2 (16:10):
find that you do a lot of work just empowering
parents around that idea Becausewe've all been trained
societally that like we need totrust the expert and if you
don't have a degree orcredential, like you're not
qualified to do something which,as learners, we really feel
like.
That's not true.
I've learned a lot of thingswithout someone, like sitting in
a desk, someone teaching me andgiving me a certificate or like
(16:31):
a prize for right, like that,like traditional schema of
learning.
It's not really fit.
But do parents that you workwith struggle with that level of
like permission I'll call it toreally step into that
leadership role?
Do they feel, do they come tothis decision most of the time
like disempowered?
(16:52):
What do you say?
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Absolutely 100%.
I think that I actually it's sofunny I just did a podcast
episode on mindset, and so thisis extremely top of mind for me
because I do think that,especially for those of us who
are we grew up, you know,probably in the traditional
education system we have atremendous amount of respect and
(17:17):
trust for educators.
I think that we put them on apedestal as well.
We should write like we.
They have earned, they haveearned that place.
But what I think we do wrong isthat we disqualify ourselves as
parents.
(17:37):
We don't necessarily need to bethe ones that teach all of the
things, but we, as ourchildren's parent, we are 1000%
qualified to make the choicesthat are best for our kids.
So, whether they are very smalland the choices oh okay, well,
(17:59):
I think they're ready to pottytrain, well, okay, well, that's
a choice, right?
That's a choice that we makebecause we are the ones closest
to our kids and we can see whenthey're ready for something.
We can see when they are inneed of something, and it's the
same thing with, in my mind,with education we for, for my,
(18:20):
my big girl, who's 10, she lovesreading and she loves writing,
and so, in my mind.
My job as the lead of hereducation is to lean into those
things that she is already goodat and that she already has a
passion for, and so that mightmean writing classes, that might
mean being a part of book clubs.
(18:40):
Those are things that I canguide her into to make sure that
those, those natural talentsand passions, are nurtured.
I love that.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Um, do you, do you also find?
So I have homeschooled beforewe discovered slash, helped
invent micro-schooling, not thatthat's.
Uh.
I know that small schools haveexisted for hundreds of years.
We didn't just think of it in2018.
But so when I was homeschooling,I kind of felt like like I just
(19:12):
heard you say you don't have toteach everything when you're
homeschooling right, you canstill hire other things to help
you.
But I feel like when I steppedinto homeschooling, I felt like
this was the Katie show, like Ihad to do all of it all the time
, for all the kids, for all theyears, and if I didn't, like I
wasn't going to get myhomeschool mom trophy at the end
, you know.
And I really felt like there'sthis culture in the
(19:36):
homeschooling network, or likejust communities and maybe this
is just specific to mine ormaybe I was just projecting this
because it was a fear of mine,but it's kind of like, oh, like
you're choosing to put thatchild back in school, like you
lost, like you, you know, you,you, you failed.
Or like, oh, you're hiring,like you're sending your kids to
(19:57):
some classes, like you couldn'tfigure out how to teach fourth
grade science, or like you know,there's just this like vibe of
uh, if you can't do it all everyyear for every child, then
you're, there's something.
It's like.
It's almost like the same ideaof like empowerment and
disempowerment taken to theextreme.
It's like, okay, now I own mychild's education and I have to
own all of it forever for all ofthem, right.
(20:19):
So it's like, but on both sidesof the spectrum I think there's
kind of overwhelmingdisempowerment, and so how do
you help parents kind of come toa healthy middle where they're
stepping into their leadership,but also not like putting it all
on their own shoulders?
You know, like what are thoseconversations like?
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Yeah, and can you talk about here?
I think this is a great placeto talk about your start method
of homeschooling and how youwalk parents through that and we
can kind of dig deeper into thedifferent parts of that.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Absolutely.
So.
I'm going to say this realquick it's so quintessentially
American for us to feel the needto want to do all of the things
and not give ourselves a break.
We work ourselves to death inthis country, right, taking
vacation can be seen as aweakness in corporate America,
(21:17):
things like that and so we takethat mindset into homeschooling
and I think that, katie, that'spart of what you're speaking to
is putting all of the pressureon ourselves and saying I have
to do all of the things.
Now, if we look at, if we lookat families in other countries,
a lot of times they'll have ananny, they'll have a
housekeeper, they'll have a chefyou know they'll have, they'll
(21:41):
have help, and it is not seen asany sort of failure on the part
of the mom.
It is just seen as a part ofthe village, a part of the
structure that keeps the familymoving forward.
If we can take that same modeland it's hard right, because if
we're talking to an Americanaudience, it's not how we were
(22:05):
brought up to see things but ifwe can shift that mindset, if we
can look at, if we can look atour homeschool model as one of a
village and one where we canoutsource, like you were saying,
in different places anddifferent areas, to make sure
(22:27):
that our kids have awell-rounded experience.
That's okay.
That is a-okay.
And I also know, as a woman incorporate America, I lean
heavily on subject matterexperts in my work life.
Why wouldn't I do that in otherthings as well?
So, if I can tell you, readingand writing is my jam, I love it
(22:52):
.
But I can also tell you youmentioned science.
Science is not.
Science is not, but I'll betyou that there is a science
teacher out there who would lovenothing more than to pour into
my two kiddos and probablycountless other kiddos to teach
them the things that they arepassionate about, that the
(23:15):
teacher is passionate about inscience.
And so why not?
Instead of giving my kids a 25,30% chance at good science
teaching if I were to teach itwhy not give them the home run
100% chance that they are goingto learn from an expert and
(23:36):
they're going to love it?
I think that's okay.
I think that's okay too, but ittook me a long time to get okay
with that.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
In fact, funny story when I was homeschooling I met
Kelly Smith, prentice founder,and like what?
I went, I drove to his house,like happened to live 20 minutes
away from him, sat down at hiskitchen table, and like learned
more about this idea of microschooling.
At the time he had seven kidsthat he'd, you know, done one
semester with around his kitchentable and I was like this
solves a lot of my problems as ahomeschooler and I want to help
(24:05):
you build this.
But if I tell my homeschoolcommunity that I am building
this, they will not invite me tomom's night because they won't
see me as a homeschooler anymore.
Like this is a differentcategory and now I'm part of the
like this out group.
So I actually built Prenda forthe first like almost a year,
without telling any of myfriends, because I was so
(24:28):
worried about this.
Isn't that sad?
Like that.
I like that's my support group.
I was doing this really hardthing and continuing to
homeschool and I was pregnantand I was preschool.
I was like running a, like anin-home preschool too, like I
was doing so many things and I'mlike I have no support right
now and so I just just neverwant parents to feel like that,
if you're in a homeschoolingsituation, like everything is at
your fingertips and like it'syour job to curate and connect
(24:52):
and just really doesn't have tobe all on you, and I just feel
like we shouldn't have to giveup our entire social network and
structure if we're gonna make achoice like this.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Something Alon said at the very beginning was I
wanted to be a part of theirlearning.
That is key because that couldbe if they're still in
traditional school, micro school, homeschool, co-ops, you as the
parent, and we keep saying thiscan still be part of their
learning and part of theireducation.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Absolutely, absolutely agreed and, adrienne,
I know I didn't quite get backto that start homeschooling
method.
So, and to your point, some ofthese things are woven into it.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
So if you don't mind, I can give you an overview of
it.
Yeah, go for it.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Okay.
So START is an acronym, rightS-T-A-R-T, and the S is for
setting your homeschool goals.
The T is the rules matter,which just means just getting
set on.
What are the laws in your state.
A is for all things curriculum,r is respect the whole child,
(26:00):
because we want our kiddos tohave a well-rounded experience.
And then T is getting thesupport that you need.
And, katie, we're just talkingabout that and how key that is.
So I think that starting withthe end in mind is really how I
get started.
I teach folks to set theirlong-term vision, set their
(26:24):
mid-term vision and set theirshort-term goals.
And setting that long-termvision keeps us on track.
It gives us a North Star.
It gives us a guide to say if,ultimately, I want my kids to
(26:45):
get this out of homeschooling, Iwant my family to look like
this by the time my kids,whether they're going back to
traditional school at a certainpoint, or if they're graduating
and heading off to college,whatever that might look like by
the time that they get there,this is what I want our family
to look like and this is what Iwant my kiddos to look like,
starting there and then kind ofbeing able to work backwards.
(27:07):
Then you can set goals thatwill help you get to that place.
I also think it's importantbecause, katie, you just
mentioned that there are so manyresources out there for
homeschoolers.
This is not 30 years ago orwhatever, when homeschooling had
to look one certain way.
But if you allow yourself, youcan get overwhelmed with some of
(27:32):
all of those resources.
Right, because there's so manyoptions, there's so many
different ways of doing thisthing, and so that's the other
reason why I feel like settingforth your vision and setting
forth your goals will keep youin line.
Right, it'll keep you in lineand you won't get distracted
with this or that, which is notto say that you can't try things
(27:52):
along the way, but it is to say, if your ultimate goal is that
you want your kids to experienceX, Y and Z, stay the course and
make sure that, whatever theresources that you know come
along, whatever theopportunities, the, the um
activities, that kind of thing,that they align with the vision
that you've set forth for yourfamily.
(28:13):
So that's why I always saystart there.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
Yeah, but how much of the kids' input do you
encourage parents to get so?
Cause I'm hearing a lot of thisis the vision you're setting,
what you want your kids to looklike.
But where does choice autonomy?
You know, I'm thinking of NedJohnson and the self-driven
child.
That's actually how we foundmicro-schooling is.
I had read that book and thenyou know my kids were not
(28:39):
thriving in a very traditionalenvironment and I just said, hey
, do you guys want to check outthis micro-school thing?
You make the choice.
So where?
Where's that line of like, whatyour vision is and where do you
bring the kids in?
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Well, I think it is such a good question.
I think that there's two placeswhere I really see that kind of
plugging into this particularframework.
The first certainly is thatvision piece, because if we want
to raise kids who can speak forthemselves, who feel like they
have a voice, who feel like theyare heard, we want to make sure
(29:15):
to do that in our own homes,right.
And so I absolutely feel, likeAdrienne, that our kiddos should
be a part of that vision andgoal-setting process.
Of course, age-appropriateright, like our three-year-olds
may not have the same voice.
That's right.
That's right.
It's like, well, yeah, it's likewell, let's scale that back,
(29:39):
Maybe just on Fridays or youknow whatever, but nonetheless,
nonetheless, we want them tofeel heard, Right, Because in
creating a well-roundededucation experience, you want
to take into account your kids'likes, your kids' dislikes, you
(30:03):
want to take into account thethings that they want to learn
more about, and then maybe thethings that they don't even yet
know that they are into, but youcan kind of see like a little
spark.
So, for example, something likeAI AI for consumers for us is a
(30:29):
little bit newer, right, and soour kids might just be kind of
starting to learn about it.
But if they show a little sparkof interest, but if they show a
little spark of interest, thenthey have begun to lead the way
and we can maybe find classes oractivities or resources or
something that will againcontinue to nurture that.
So they have the voice right.
(30:50):
We need to pay attention andmake sure that we are listening
to what they are saying, whetherit is verbal or whether it's
through actions, and I thinkthat, again, that goes a long
way in that concept ofrespecting the whole child.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
That's super powerful and I think you see this in all
of the different types of likepedagogies and approaches people
take in homeschooling.
Like you can do kind of like avery structured, like classical
education version of homeschool,or you could do you could
unschool, which I'd put thosethings kind of at opposite ends
of a spectrum, right, but, like,both of the parents in that
(31:24):
situation have a specific visionfor their family and for their
kids, they have specific valuesand they're creating a plan
based on those values andpriorities that are going to
move their family forward.
And I think both of thesethings should be respected,
embraced, encouraged, supported,um and both of those like I.
So we have a goal settingprocess that we do at the
beginning of every kind of likequarter or semester or whatever
(31:48):
Um, and we have differentcategories that we set goals in
and then I let my kids likecompletely set their own goals
and then we've done this forlike a year or two now and I
just was like gearing up to dothat for this, this start of the
school year, and I just thoughtlike we just need to change.
Like I have this vision, like I, I know that my kids need to
(32:08):
really focus on this and I'mactually going to like pull back
, like I usually am veryautonomy focused parent and I'm
like, and I'm like I actually dohave a vision that I want to
like sculpt into these kids alittle bit more in this area,
and so I'm going to like leadout a little bit more and we're
not going to do the goal setting.
They have lots of otheropportunities that in their
(32:29):
micro school to set their owngoals.
So, like we pulled back on thatand I just told them like we're
going gonna have one family goalthis is what it is and like,
and then they had a ton of input.
They're like, oh, could we doit like this and could we, you
know, track it like this?
And they were like buildingsystems and things like that.
So there was still even likewhen I was saying like hey, this
is the vision, and like here's,here's the why behind the
(32:49):
vision, right, and like gottheir buy-in um on that vision
and the why, and we were in that, they still had a ton of
ability to participate and tovoice things and be part of that
creative process.
So I think that's another thingwhere homeschool parents are
like well, I don't know, it'sjust a spectrum where some years
, with some kids in some areas,we're going to fall over here on
(33:11):
the autonomy spectrum and someyears, with some kids in some
areas, we're going to fall overhere, and it really is like
about parental attunement andyou knowing, like what you're
saying, this call to like a longterm vision, and we do a lot of
that work.
I think we have an episode two.
What's the real goal?
What's what's your real role?
Speaker 3 (33:27):
it's like we even have a goal setting tool.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Yeah, yeah, it's so important but it's like you
really have to have to have thatvision and then you have to
know how to invite your kidsinto that vision.
It's really um, it's a hardthing to know how to do it right
.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
We're not trained to do that, so so have you found a
lot of like common goals thatparents come up with, or you
know that, or what are somecommon goals that families might
consider?
Speaker 1 (33:57):
I think that the goal piece is so deeply personal,
not that it's secretive, butthat it's so specific to you,
your family, your kiddos, right.
So, for example, a couple of mygoals or they weren't just my
goals, because again, I'mgetting the kids input, I
(34:18):
realize.
I'm realizing, adrian, now thathow much I say my, but just
know that the kids are in theretoo and my husband at the tip
(34:38):
top of like our goals, right,that had a lot to do with the
fact that in our family so,number one, we live in Texas and
it's advantageous to knowEnglish and Spanish.
Number two, ilan, the mom.
I study Spanish in undergrad andso one of the things that I
felt is why am I?
Why am I 18, 19 years old?
(34:58):
I'm just now really gettingstarted learning, you know, a
second language.
I'm not going to do this withmy kids, so that was something
that you know.
Again, that really was one ofmy goals.
Yeah, that was a livedexperience.
And so somebody down the road,you know, in Georgia or in North
Carolina, they may not havethose same goals because they
may not have that same, like yousaid, lived experience.
(35:21):
They geographically, does iteven?
Does it matter?
Does it make sense Does it youknow what I mean Like there
might be other types ofopportunities.
So I think that again.
Speaker 3 (35:32):
that's like a subject goal, so everyone would have a
goal around subjects that aregoing to be taught.
Would that be a common goal?
Speaker 1 (35:40):
I do think subjects yes, subjects is important, I
also think.
I also think experiences areimportant, and so what I mean by
that is whether we're talkingabout, like, the social aspect.
So one of the goals that afamily that I worked with back
in the spring one of their goalswas doggone it.
(36:01):
We're going to find us a co-op,because they lived kind of on
the outskirts and there weren't,you know, a ton of like just
around me.
There's probably like five orsix co-ops that I had to choose
from because I'm in a very urbanarea, but their experience not
so much.
So that was a goal, whereasthat didn't really have to be a
goal necessarily for me.
(36:22):
So that was a part of it.
But what one of the goals wasactually?
We didn't even start out thisway at the beginning of the
school year.
I'm thinking about it as we wentalong, I'm thinking about it as
we went along there was moreand more opportunity for us to
(36:43):
spend time together as a familyand to learn together as a
family.
We didn't start out the schoolyear with that goal in mind, but
as we got into it just a littlebit, I said oh, oh, we're just
scratching the surface here, andso I made it a goal, in that I
made sure that we hadintentional family time to learn
(37:05):
together, to spend timetogether, to visit museums
together, that kind of thing.
I made that a goal because Isaid to myself, if, for example,
my kids go back to traditionalschool, we may not have these
moments of opportunity like thisin the near future.
Or if, I don't know, even ifsomething changed in our living
(37:28):
situation, if we lived inanother place, or if I got
another job or my husband gotanother job, we may not have
these same moments of connectionand of learning together.
So I was like I'm going to makeit a goal that we are extremely
intentional about familylearning time together.
So that was one thing that kindof came about.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
How do you suggest parents go about discovering
their family values, like ifthey've never thought about,
like what do we stand for as afamily?
Like what are our long-termgoals?
You know, sometimes we justkind of get swept up in just the
way life is and our routinesand things like that.
We don't kind of pause to havethese moments of like, vision
and purpose.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
I think it's exactly what you said pause and take the
time to do it.
So one of the one of the veryfirst things.
So I have an online coursecalled the Homeschool Launch
Blueprint and it walks familiesthrough how to get started
homeschooling.
One of the very, very firstexercises, katie, is to do
exactly what you just said is totake time, and I'm very
(38:33):
intentional.
In that course I say, if you'rewatching this by yourself, make
sure that you go in with yourpartner and that you get this,
that you guys sit down and makethese goals together.
And it literally is I set atimer and I say write down all
of the things that are importantto you, and then we kind of go
(38:53):
through an exercise of narrowingthose things down and making
sure that we're pulling out thethemes that are important to us.
But I think that you're rightlife goes so fast sometimes that
it is necessary to stop andtake a moment.
Before we embark on this newjourney whether it's a new
(39:14):
journey of homeschool, orwhether we just want to make
some tweaks or whatever beforewe move forward, let's stop,
let's take a moment, let's getaligned on our vision for our
family.
What do we want?
What do we want it to look like?
What are our priorities?
Those kinds of things.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
Yeah, you really need to have, like a Cheshire Cat
moment.
Oh sorry, there's a lack.
Yeah, we really need to have aCheshire cat moment, because it
really doesn't matter what youdo if you don't know, like,
where you're going.
So that's really important.
Speaker 3 (39:46):
Okay, so then talk a little bit about rules matter.
Katie and I are both in Arizona.
There's not a whole lot ofrules around homeschool.
I have a friend who homeschoolsin Virginia.
She's put a whole portfoliotogether.
There's a lot of things thatthey have to do when they're
thinking about homeschooling.
And she said that you know thehomeschoolers of Virginia fought
(40:06):
so hard to make homeschoolinglegal so they don't even like
want to.
You know, rock the boat withprograms like ESA and things.
So can you talk about that andhow you walk families through
that?
And then also like how can theystay informed on regulation
changes or homeschool laws?
You know as they change theycan go through legislation.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
Yeah, so I.
There's a resource that I love.
It is from an organizationcalled HSLDA, the Homeschool
Legal Defense Association.
On their website.
It's the coolest tool you putin what state you live in and
it'll spit back out like whatyour homeschooling laws are for
your state.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
So it's so easy to use.
I always tell people to startthere.
Yeah, it's so great.
I love that resource too.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
Yes, it's great, it's great.
And then they have additionalarticles on their website that
allow you to dive deeper intocertain topics.
So, for example, record keeping.
You know what?
What are?
What are transcripts need tolook like?
What you know, adrian, youmentioned like portfolios, that
kind of thing, what, what doesthat look like?
(41:11):
Or how many hours a week youneed to school?
I'm like y'all, I'm in Texas.
We just don't have a ton ofrules, but there are states who
say you must school for X amountof hours.
It's important to know that.
Is it important to know that onthe front end, right?
So I tell people to start therewith that tool.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
It's just a super and how do they track that?
How do you submit somethinglike a stamp card or something
right you like submit to thegovernment.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
It depends on the state.
I think that for some statesyou need to.
There's a couple things.
You need to record it right,like record, record it and send
it ahead of time and say, okay,this semester we are planning,
we are schooling from this timeto this time, and that's what
that looks like.
Or if you have like anoversight body, so maybe an
(42:09):
oversight school or an oversight, it's not called a mentor, but
someone like a human being aperson that you're working with.
Exactly, then they can helptrack that and perhaps report
that in, or perhaps you track itand then they'll sign off on it
, those kinds of things.
So it just depends on the stateand it depends on what that
(42:31):
looks like.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
At Prenda our software actually is built to do
that.
We have an attendance featurewhere you go through and say
these are my school days, theseare the hours we school, and
then it like keeps track of that, and you can just click
everyone was at school, likeyou're taking attendance, and
it's like, hey, it logs thosehours, so then you can get a
report to send to whoever needsto see that.
Speaker 1 (42:46):
So, um, it's a thing, it's awesome, because that just
makes it easy breezy, rightit's.
You don't even have to, it'snot one extra thing you have to
think about.
It is done for you, it's.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
you know that it's accurate and then you can just
print that report, which, whenyou're homeschooling, you do not
need one more thing to worryabout.
That's already a lot.
Speaker 1 (43:05):
There are also resources that are state
specific resources, where youcan dive a little bit deeper,
and so I like here in Texas wehave the, the Texas Homeschool
Coalition, and they have awebsite that has more detail,
more drilled down.
It might even go like countylevel if there's information
(43:28):
like that.
So if you have a state specificorganization that you can tap
into, that that's even morehelpful, love that OK.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
so the next part of Start VA is all things
curriculum.
So let's talk about curriculuma little bit.
It can be overwhelming.
What tips would you giveparents for selecting the best
resources for their child'slearning, their learning style?
How do you think about this?
Speaker 1 (43:53):
Well, I'd love to start there with learning style,
so finding out what type oflearner your child is, or your
children are.
So, are they auditory learners?
Are they kinesthetic learners?
Do they need to work with theirhands?
Are they reading writinglearners guide you as you move
(44:22):
down the funnel, as they say.
One of the next pieces that Ilike for parents to look at is
what are the differenthomeschool approaches that are
out there?
So I can't remember Adrienne orKatie, which one of you
mentioned like the classicalhomeschool method.
There's a number there's likeprobably about 10-ish Eclectic.
Speaker 2 (44:39):
Yeah, yes, yes, oh.
We just have a whole blog poston this that goes through like
all the different approaches andlike little summaries and, like
you, might be this a good fitfor this one, if you like these
things.
So just something we'll post inthe show notes.
Speaker 1 (44:52):
Absolutely, absolutely.
And that's awesome, becauseonce you, let's say, you
gravitate to a particularapproach, there's probably
resources that you can searchaccording to that approach.
So for example I mentioned mybig girl is she's a.
(45:13):
She loves reading, she loveswriting that kind of thing.
She's very big on literature.
Charlotte Mason is a methodthat leans heavy on literature
and it doesn't lean heavy onlyon literature, but I'm using
that for this example.
So Charlotte Mason is anapproach that I don't
necessarily have to use it asmuch for my younger daughter,
(45:38):
but for my older daughter itmakes sense.
So sometimes when I'm lookingfor specific curriculum
materials or learning materials,I might search Charlotte Mason
as a starting point to then getme the things that make sense
for her, because I've alreadyidentified that she's a reading
(45:58):
writing learner and then I'vealready identified that
Charlotte Mason leans heavy onliterature.
Speaker 3 (46:04):
So it's one of those things I was doing your method
without even realizing, becauseit's the same thing we do
Charlotte Mason, because my sonloves to read and he's always
reading, or he would prefer toplay video games, but we don't
allow that.
So then he reads all the timeand Charlotte Mason has been the
perfect fit for him.
And but I don't think it wouldbe a great fit if my older,
(46:24):
oldest son, you know, was athome.
So I'm like, oh, I already didthis without realizing it.
I read a book.
I think this is a good tip, orat least what I did was I picked
one book that like encompassedall the different styles, and so
it was called homeschoolinggifted kids, because he is
gifted.
So I started where he is likelearning style.
And when you were sayinglearning styles, I was thinking
reluctant learners no, notnecessarily, probably what you
(46:50):
typically find, buthomeschooling gifted kids it's
by Cindy West, and she wentthrough all the different types
of homeschooling that I was like, oh, okay, I can do this.
Oh, he likes to do this andthis is the way he learned, so
this.
And then I kind of startedlistening to a Charlotte Mason
podcast.
(47:10):
There's quite a few out there,there's like the Mason jar and
there's, you know, the, there'sa different one too.
And then I from therediscovered Alvieri.
And then from there I was like,oh, this seems great because I
don't have to pick the livingbooks, I don't have time to do
that, so I can just print outall the curriculum and have
another teacher help me educatemy child.
(47:30):
So I kind of took those steps.
I started with one thing andthen I just kind of built, you
know, just went one step at atime to figure out what would be
best.
And we're on year three and westill use Aviary.
Speaker 1 (47:43):
It's just.
It makes for a good startingpoint so that you're not just
trying to pull things out ofthin air.
Speaker 2 (47:49):
All right.
So, finishing out the wholestart framework, tell us about
the R and the final T.
Speaker 1 (48:01):
Well, with respect, the whole child.
We've kind of already talkedabout that right, like just
making sure that we don't wantour kids to be robots.
They don't need to just learnjust the academics and that's it
.
We want to make sure thatthey're doing the things and
getting into the things thatspeak to them as human beings.
So that really is somethingthat kind of permeates all of
(48:23):
the steps.
But then also, with the supportyou need, it's not just about
the support that the kids get,it's about the support that we
as the parent can receive aswell.
So you know, I've talked aboutthe fact that I am a working mom
and one of the things that cameup this was like not too long
(48:43):
ago, just a few months ago, Ihad a meeting.
I usually don't have a ton oflike in-person meetings in the
middle of the day, but I hadthat this particular day and I
can't just call anybody out ofthe clear blue sky to make sure
that, number one, they can watchmy girls.
Number two, that they cancontinue whatever my kid's
(49:07):
learning is supposed to be thatday, that they can continue on.
But we are a part of ahomeschool co op and in that,
because of that I've become veryfriendly with a lot of the
other homeschool moms there.
I gave one of the moms a call.
I said this is what I havegoing on.
Can you cover for me for anhour or two while I have to run
(49:27):
to the other side of town?
She said absolutely, we'll beat the library anyway.
Drop them off, we'll have aroom, because I think my kids at
the time had their Spanishclass that they that they zoom
in for.
She was like we'll get a room,we'll have it set up, they can
have their Spanish class.
And you know, bada bing, bada,boom, we've got it covered.
(49:47):
That type of support is sovaluable and it doesn't always
have to look like that.
But that was just an examplethat just happened recently.
Look like that, but that wasjust an example that just
happened recently.
If I, if I, if I, were to callany of my other friends, they'd
be like girl, I'm working, likeI don't have time to watch your
(50:10):
kids, or whatever that mightlook like.
But this homeschool mom didn'teven miss a beat.
She said bring them on and I'lltake it from here.
And it just was so, so valuable.
The other piece that's very, sovaluable.
The other piece that's veryvaluable yeah, the other piece
that's very valuable is, even invirtual groups, being able to
share resources from mom to mom,whether it's hey, have y'all
heard of Prinda?
I think that you know thismight be a good resource, you
(50:32):
know, and being able to sharelike that kind of information.
I might be on the other side ofthe country and I've never
heard of Apprenda Microschool,but if somebody in Arizona
shares it with me because we'rein a Facebook group together,
then all of a sudden I've gotsomething new that I can utilize
(50:53):
with my family and I didn'thave to just scratch and claw
and figure it out for myself.
So the being able to shareresources is the type of
parental support that I thinkgoes a long way to make this
thing more helpful and movesmoother for those of us who are
homeschooling families.
Speaker 3 (51:15):
I can imagine how all of these tools that you give
parents in your online course itreally helps them with their
mindset and then helps them justget started, because I think
that can be the hardest part isjust starting and something we
need to wrap up.
But something I want to mention, what you focus on as well is
representation for Blackfamilies in the homeschool
(51:36):
community, because I know evenwhen I was looking, it was a lot
of white families homeschooling, so I think that's really
important too, and did you wantto touch on that before we wrap
up?
Speaker 1 (51:47):
I can.
I think it's important for ourkiddos.
I speak to it from thestandpoint of a Black family
because we are a Black family,but whether it's that you're a
Black family, maybe your kiddosare neurodivergent, whatever
that looks like, you want toalways make sure that your kids
(52:08):
feel like they can seethemselves in the groups that
they're in and the surroundingsthat they're in, because what we
don't want to create is ourkids that struggle with
isolation, kids that strugglewith feeling like, oh, I must be
the only one.
We want community for ourkiddos too, and so I think that
(52:32):
that representation is soimportant and, again, whatever
it is that your family resonateswith that you make sure that
your kids feel seen andrepresented.
Speaker 3 (52:44):
I love that so much and this is a question we ask
all of our guests.
Who is someone who has kindledyour love of learning, curiosity
, motivation or passion?
Speaker 1 (52:53):
I have never actually met this man in person, but I
watch him every week on YouTube.
I watch a lot of his content.
He is a pastor in Atlanta,georgia, his name is Darius
Daniels and he is.
He's so brilliant.
But I think that why I connectwith him is because, in my mind,
he is also a learner.
(53:14):
He is also a learner the waythat he teaches the information
and how he presents it, whetherhe is preaching or whether he is
teaching.
He does a lot of like workshopsand online courses and that
kind of thing that don't justspeak to faith, but that also
might speak to entrepreneurshipor they might speak to parenting
, or they might speak to likewhatever.
(53:35):
Or they might speak toparenting, or they might speak
to like whatever.
I watch him and how hecommunicates and how he draws
that love for learning out ofthe people that he is speaking
to and I'm like, oh, I want todo that.
I want to make sure that I dothat too.
So, yes, he is definitely onewho has kindled my love for
learning.
Speaker 2 (53:55):
That's beautiful.
And how can our listeners learnmore about your work?
Well like.
Speaker 1 (53:59):
I said, I have a podcast called Homeschool Our
Way and this whole starthomeschooling method that I've
talked to you guys about.
That can be found on thewebsite at homeschoolourwaycom
backslash start.
It's a quick and easy kind oflittle mini podcast series, but
you can get all the informationthere and you can go back and
(54:19):
listen to it as many times asyou want to.
So, yeah, I think that thoseare the two main ways to get in
touch with me.
Speaker 2 (54:26):
Thanks so much for coming on the Kindle podcast.
Speaker 3 (54:28):
That's it for today.
We hope you enjoyed thisepisode of the Kindle podcast
and if it was helpful to you orany of this information that you
hear on the Kindle podcast,please like, subscribe and
follow us on social at PrendaLearn.
If you have any questions youwould like for us to address,
all you need to do is email usat podcast at Prendacom.
You can also go to our website,wwwprendacom and sign up for
(54:54):
our weekly newsletter, theSunday Spark.
Speaker 2 (54:56):
The Kindle podcast is brought to you by Prenda.
Prenda makes it easy for you tostart and run an amazing micro
school based on all of the ideasthat we talk about here on the
Kindle Podcast.
If you want more informationabout becoming a Prenda guide,
just go to Prendacom.
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