February 15, 2025 • 52 mins
Do traditional schools really provide what children need, or is homeschooling the key to nurturing a child's potential? This week, we engage with Lindsi, a former teacher and administrator who transitioned to homeschooling her own children. Her journey, from the structured halls of public and charter schools to the personalized learning environment of homeschooling, offers a fresh perspective on current educational challenges and opportunities. Alongside Lindsi's story, we examine the broader issues influencing the homeschooling trend, from school infrastructure woes to the broader implications of educational policy shifts.
Our exploration doesn't stop at the surface-level reasons for homeschooling; it delves into the transformative power of hands-on learning. Lindsi explains how she created her Learning Center, a place for children to craft dynamic educational experiences through unique classes and career exploration opportunities that inspire curiosity and creativity. Imagine a learning environment where children are not merely passive recipients of information but active participants in their own education, prepared to tackle future challenges with confidence and enthusiasm. We discuss real-world examples of how hands-on learning and parental involvement can turn the mundane into the extraordinary, shaping children ready for a wide array of future possibilities.
The episode also touches on the intricate balance between structured learning and the freedom to explore, showcasing how homeschooling fosters strong family bonds and essential life skills. From hosting entrepreneur fairs to creating micro-schools that extend the comforts of home, we highlight the myriad of ways homeschooling offers a nurturing, enriching environment. We also talk about game schooling and how integrating play into education can make learning an exciting adventure. Listen in to discover how this model of education could bring a new dimension to your family's learning journey.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to this week's episode of the Homeschool
How-To.
I'm Cheryl and I invite you tojoin me on my quest to find out
why are people homeschooling,how do you do it, how does it
differ from region to region?
And should I homeschool my kids?
Stick with me as I interviewhomeschooling families across
the country to unfold theanswers to each of these
(00:26):
questions week by week.
Welcome, and with us today Ihave Lindsay.
Lindsay, thank you so much forbeing here.
Thank you for having me.
So I'm really excited about thisepisode because you are local
to me, in my area.
I haven't been able to takeadvantage of any of the amazing
(00:47):
things that you have done withhomeschooling in our community
and I'm so mad at myself.
But then also I'm like there'stime my oldest is six Like we've
got time, but you've beenworking wonders and I really
want people to hear this episode, to hear kind of what they can
do in their communities too.
So, first off, thank you forwhat you've done and, secondly,
(01:11):
why don't you just tell us howmany kids you have and what got
you into homeschooling in thefirst place?
Oh, geez.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Well, I have four kids.
So my oldest is Ryan is nine,Molly is eight, Farrah is four
and then Lou is one.
So and I know it's a lot, butthey are absolutely wonderful
and obviously the reason why Ido all of the things that I do
in our area I am I'm inhomeschooling because I spent
(01:37):
many years in public educationas a teacher and as an
administrator, and every dayspent there was another day.
I just knew I didn't want myown children in that environment
, so eventually I left that andchose to pursue this path.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
That gave me chills when you said that.
And it's not that you're myfirst or even 10th teacher who
left the profession tohomeschool.
I think that was the biggestshock to me.
I was just on the Quite Franklypodcast last week and I said to
his audience you know, thebiggest shock to me when I
started the podcast two yearsago just to learn about
(02:16):
homeschooling, the biggest shockto me has been the amount of
teachers that have reached outto say can I come on and tell my
story?
I was a teacher and I left theprofession to homeschool.
Like I thought leaving myprofession was a big deal
because I worked in governmentand I was like, oh my God, I'm
leaving a pension and you knowmy salary and all this stuff.
But teachers like, especiallyin New York, because in New York
(02:38):
you need a master's degree, soyou're not only getting that
four year degree, then you'respending the time and money to
get the master's degree to teachso and then to like be in the
profession and to say this isn'thow I want my kids to grow up.
It's huge.
You guys are seeing firsthandwhat's in there.
So if we could talk aboutanything that you're comfortable
(03:00):
talking about, what did you seethat?
You were like, not my kids.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Well, you're so right .
First of all because and I alsohad the perfect schedule right
I had every.
I had all the summers off.
I had every day that they wouldhave had off of school I would
have had off.
So it really is crazy on paperfor a teacher to leave the
profession to then go teach one,two, three kids that he or she
has at home.
But I had to.
I mean the things that I wasseeing.
(03:25):
I taught both in the publicschool system and then in the
charter system and I mean we'retalking silent lunch, you know,
like whole group punishment forpoor behavior, even for, you
know, missed assignments, thingslike that.
The library and the contentthere, just the way that
teachers and authority werespeaking to children, like the
more that I was in it, the morethat I'm sitting watching like,
(03:45):
wait a second, I have kids nowand I will admit that I was a
different teacher before I hadchildren than after, and I think
that many of my friends whohave taught have said that also.
All of a sudden it's a wake upcall.
Wait, if somebody was talkingto my kid like that and
beginning to see that, well,they might be, because I'm
sending them to strangers.
(04:06):
I'm a stranger to these kids.
I would be sending my kids tostrangers for seven plus hours a
day, five days a week, and itbecame more and more
uncomfortable the longer that Iwas in the school system and
then coming home to my childrengetting ready to send Ryan to
kindergarten.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Yeah, and even little things, like I drive by down
the road for me every single day.
I drive by the bus garage forour local school that my kids
would be going to and it saysbus drivers needed, will train,
you know, competitive, pay, yada, yada.
And I'm looking at that signgoing, well, what are you doing
(04:45):
now If you don't even haveenough bus drivers?
Like is it like that there's somany kids on the bus that or
they're sitting on the buslonger now waiting to go to
school because you don't haveenough bus drivers?
And who are you peeling up offthe street with no, no
experience driving a bus thatyou're going to get to drive my
little kid around?
(05:06):
Like no, and then.
And then you get into my mostrecent kind of realization is
that a lot of the schools today,at least in New York, have free
breakfast and free lunch.
And now that I'm in thehomeschooling community and I'm
a little bit more aware ofreading labels and what are we
putting into our body and whatis it causing?
Not only the cancers, but is itcausing like a chemical
(05:28):
overload that's going to makeyou act crazier than a normal
six year old boy would act, andam I sending them to school with
all organic foods that I'mspending a lot of money on and
he's throwing that in thegarbage just to eat the
chemicals that they provide forfree through our tax dollars all
day.
And it's like there's just somany reasons piled on top of
(05:49):
each other.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Yes, yeah, I mean you mentioned the bus drivers, but
they're doing the same thingwith the teachers too, right?
I mean, there's such a need forteachers, so much so that some
of the surrounding states aroundus are actually reducing the
requirements for teachers.
They're saying, okay, we can'tget enough qualified candidates,
so we're just going to ask forless, you know.
And that's as a parent you'relike okay, well, you know, like
(06:10):
you mentioned, who are youpicking then?
Who's coming to take care of mychild for longer than I have
them per week?
And it just the more and thelonger I'm in this homeschooling
world, the less I can wrap myhead around doing anything
different.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Yes, and you're right .
New Jersey just signed made itlaw that you no longer need to
take a basic literacy test forreading, writing and math to
become a teacher there.
You do still have to go tocollege and get through all of
the other stuff.
But even if you're going tofight that and say like well,
they still need to go to college, then why remove this literacy
(06:47):
test?
Obviously, this test was abarrier for some teachers to
pass to get into the profession.
So if you went to four years ofschool and you still can't take
a basic literacy test we'rerequiring of the students every
time we ask them to take theSATs.
Why would we not require thatfour years later, when they want
to graduate college and get ajob teaching our kids?
(07:07):
And where did all the teachersgo?
Because when I'm 40, you'reprobably close to that.
So I remember when we graduatedcollege there was a teacher
overload.
I remember everybody went tocollege for teaching back in the
early 2000s and you couldn'tget a teaching job.
(07:27):
None of the teachers, like I,waited tables in college and
every single other person peopleon the staff were either
college students or ex-collegestudents that went to school for
teaching and couldn't get a job.
So why?
Where did they all go?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Well, I think the schools look different.
The early 2000 schools and theschools in 2025 look different
and they're a place that nobodywants to be.
Nobody wants to be treated theway that teachers are treated
nowadays.
Nobody wants to feel like theyhave to treat children the way
that they have to treat them inthat system.
So it becomes this place thatnobody wants to be.
(08:03):
The kids certainly don't wantto be there.
The teachers don't want to haveto deal with some of the
behaviors and some of the crazyrules and regulations that they
have put on them.
So they're like forget this,especially for the money.
They're leaving and findingother professions, or they're
leaving, in my example, for noprofession.
I would rather not work thanwork where I was working.
(08:25):
I mean, that's sad after, likeyou mentioned, after multiple
degrees, to get there.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Yeah, yeah, it is sad and I don't think people
understand like you're really,you're this thing that you've
worked so hard for you'rewalking away from.
Yes, it's for something muchgreater, but you don't see like
the benefits of it, the overallbenefits, because you have hard
days, obviously with your kidstoo, and you wake up and they're
fighting and you're like wehave to get this done and that
(08:52):
done and stuff Like at leastwith the job, you see the
paycheck.
So you're like okay well theyjust dumped some money in my
bank account.
So I can do this, that or theother thing where it's not as in
a more, the other thing whereit's not as in a more, it's not
as immediate.
You know, you really have tosavor the moments.
You can look back on your week,your month, your year and be
like, wow, we did a lot thisyear.
I love, I loved being heredoing this.
But but yeah, you're right,people probably are walking away
(09:14):
or just saying like, yeah, Idon't want to be part of this.
I know a lot of the teachersthat I've interviewed.
They really talk about thefunding and how, like, the
testing goes to the funding andthe funding to the testing and
it's.
It's funny because I have afriend from second grade.
We really don't talk anymore.
Ever since I kind of made mytransition from complete liberal
to then a complete conservativeto now.
(09:37):
I'm kind of like I thinkthey're both trying to kill us.
I don't know both sides, butyeah, it's sad we're not as
tight anymore.
But I re, she's the teacher andI remember her saying to me oh,
it really stinks.
I used to be able to be verycreative in how I taught my
students.
She would teach like a women'sliterature class and she could
pick the books that she wantedto do in the very beginning,
like when we graduated collegein 2006,.
(09:59):
She could pick the books thatshe wanted to do and pick the
projects she wanted to do withthe kids.
And then I remember saying overthe years yeah, they're not
letting me pick my books anymore, they're not letting me pick
the curriculum I want to teachanymore.
I have to do it in this way.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Is that what you saw as well?
Oh, absolutely.
I spent all this time gettingthe degree, proving that I'm a
professional, and then I'vehanded this robotic curriculum
that is written word for wordand organized like you said,
(10:36):
exactly to the test, and I haveto come be their mouthpiece and
just project all of thatinformation to a room full of
students at varying levels andthen make sure that they are
able to regurgitate it at theend of the year onto the state
assessment.
It's not quality education,it's not interesting, it's not
creative, it is not what Iwanted to do with kids.
So that was another reason whyI said you know what I can do
(10:57):
this with my own kids that's atleast four that I'm putting into
the world, that can be creativeand can benefit from all of the
work that I did put intogaining all of the knowledge
that I have in teachingpractices and creative lessons
and having a really fun timelearning concepts.
And then I began thinking earlyon you know what I could do
(11:18):
this a little bit beyond just myfour kids.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
When it comes to teaching my kids, I choose the
Tuttle Twins curriculum becauseit's not just for them.
I'm learning so much rightalongside them.
What I love is how engaging itis for kids.
They take real world conceptsand weave them into stories that
kids can actually understandand relate to.
Whether it's US history,critical thinking or even the
Tuttle Twins Guide to TrueConspiracies, it's all presented
(11:44):
in a way that sticks.
I especially love learning aboutgovernment, because I never
learned this stuff in school howthe government is supposed to
work versus how it actuallyworks and it's so cool that I
get to have these conversationswith my son about it and he gets
it.
They've got books for toddlers,a fantastic series for ages 5
through 11, and so much more.
They even have a Tuttle TwinsAcademy.
I can't wait to get started onthat, because they have classes
(12:06):
for business andentrepreneurship.
You can get 40% off selectitems using code Cheryl40.
That's C-H-E-R-Y-L-4-0.
Just grab the link in theshow's description and start
learning together as a family.
Trust me, you 'll love whatyou're going to learn, because
they never taught this to you inschool.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Which is how those community ideas happened and it
started to branch into more thanjust the kids in my home, but
the kids that we wanted tosurround ourselves with, their
friends and their friends'friends, and it just grew from
there.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Yeah, so why don't you talk to us a little bit
about it's?
It's basically a micro school,right, cause these are kind of
popping up throughout thecountry.
Um to what you know, I've kindof seen it as called like micro
schools, where it's not.
It's not paid for by thegovernment.
The government has no hands init.
It's literally just people thatare like there's a different
(13:02):
way we can teach kids.
There's a different way yourchild can have a childhood like
a childhood still.
And it's so hard.
You know, it's taken me a long.
It's taken me the two years ofdoing the podcast to realize,
cause, you know, and this iswhat I try to say to my son and
he's only six, granted, butmaybe I'm just saying it out
loud for myself I have to tellhim there was a time that we
(13:23):
didn't have the internet.
We could not like in my lifetime, we could not pick up a device
and say these are theingredients in my refrigerator,
what can I make in the Instapot?
And then it just comes out andtells me what I can make for
dinner, right?
Or how long does a caterpillarhave to sit in a crystal list?
Like there were times that youhad to go to the library and
(13:45):
look up books that did not exist.
But if a kid born in today'sday they don't know that that
didn't exist before, right, likethey don't understand there was
a time without internet and itwasn't that long ago.
And it's the same thing witheducation.
We are just, we were born intothis.
You go from 7.30 in the morningtill three in the afternoon and
(14:07):
we know none the wiser.
And I've really gotten intodelving into the history of how
education got this way, andthere's some pretty sick roots
behind it and why they wanted todo this in this sort of way and
how they wanted to guide sortof the masses to be obedient
workers versus creative thinkers.
You know they wanted to do thisin this sort of way and how
they wanted to guide sort of themasses to be obedient workers
versus creative thinkers.
You know they wanted peoplesmart enough to do the job, but
(14:29):
not smart enough to question itor be competitors to their
businesses, which is why theRockefellers invested so much
money.
So what made you decide tostart a micro school, or
whatever you would like to callit?
Speaker 2 (14:42):
I know it is.
We guess I guess we consider itthis baby of a co-op and a
micro school, because we arefamily centered to the core.
That is extremely important tome.
I want to be actively involvedin my children's education, so
there are plenty of microschools popping up around the
country and I think they arefantastic alternatives to public
(15:03):
education.
Most of them have a philosophythat is rooted in, you know,
community minded, family mindedpurposes.
Ours is a little bit different,though, because our families are
present.
So it is.
It is not a drop off.
We are also not exactly a fullco-op, because we do have, you
know, promises made to families.
So we are essentially offeringtwo core subjects.
(15:24):
So currently those are math andscience.
So you know that if you comewith us, your child will have
math and science covered forthem.
Those are often the ones thatparents shy away from a little
bit with math, because maybethey don't feel so strong in
that or they want to outsourcesomething.
You know math would be the firstone, and then science is just
more fun in a group, it's justmore fun together.
(15:45):
So those are the two that wechose, and then the other half
of the day is made up of thosereally cool ways that co-ops and
things like it bring kidsexperiences from professionals
right, because there are,there's a room full of adults
that have prior lives and priorjobs and careers and hobbies and
interests that they can thencome bring to the kids.
(16:07):
So we have classes like skillsand careers where we have, you
know, people come in from thecommunity in very cool and
interesting jobs to say to thekids like this is what's out
there, right?
And instead of just readingabout it in a book, look it's
there.
I mean, we had a mom who's aseeing eye dog trainer and she
came and she brought puppies atdifferent stages of training and
(16:27):
one of her clients and she justwalked through the process of
what that looks like and youknow my yes, and I was just with
her earlier today.
Yes, she's great.
So you know, that's just oneexample.
Yeah, we had a candle maker.
Who would ever think?
Speaker 1 (16:41):
that that's a job you can do.
You just think, oh, my kidloves dogs, maybe there'll be a
vet.
Oh, that's how long you have togo to school, never mind, but
it's like no, there's other jobswith animals.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Yes, yes, and they just have that place to come
together to experience all ofthose community people coming
there to present to them.
So it's just really cool.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Yes, I that's.
One of my biggest gripes withthe public education system, or
even the private educationsystem, is that we're not
preparing kids to make a living.
We're pushing them for college.
God forbid you don't go tocollege, but we're not going to
tell you all the jobs that areout there.
And that was one of my biggestquestions when I went to school.
It was like I don't know what Iwant my major to be.
I don't know all the jobs.
(17:22):
It's kind of like picking ahusband.
I'm like well, I haven't metall the men in the world I don't
know.
And eventually you find one andyou're like well, this seems
like a good fit, give it a try.
But it's like you're investinga lot of money in that college
degree.
You should probably know alittle bit about what's out
there and the fact that new jobsare popping up all the time.
(17:43):
So what kind of innovative jobscould you pick for yourself,
based on your interests and whatthe world needs?
So I love that that you're.
I mean, there will always bepeople that are blind and need
you know, a seeing eye, dog andman.
Someone needs to train the dogs.
(18:04):
That is such a cool professionthat kids would not know of
otherwise.
So, and I was just looking atwhen you had sent me before this
, I didn't realize that you had.
I guess I knew that you had allthese classes, but I'm like man
, I need to get into this stuff.
Ukulele, like that's somethingI'm not going to teach my son.
I want him to know it, but Idon't know how to do that.
That's amazing.
(18:24):
And piano.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Ukulele is just a great example in my own house,
because my children are curious,wonderful beings and they are
asking a thousand questions aday, more than I care to answer
some days.
But they are also like passivelearners, like they're asking
all of the questions but they'rea little bit lazy
intellectually with they justwant to be given the answer
(18:47):
right.
They're like I want to knowthis, tell me.
I'm like no, go find out, Gofind out.
This is why we homeschool Go,go find out the information.
And they're young, my kids arestill young, and ukulele, my son
Ryan, came, came out of thatvery first class, and this is
something that my husband and Ihave many strengths.
(19:08):
Music is not one of them.
Not an ounce of our body ismusically inclined to either one
of us, and so being able to putour children in front of a
professional, someone that lovesthat, at a place like our space
, my son Ryan came out of hisvery first class asking the
right questions all of a sudden,and ukulele started that for
him.
So now, all of a sudden, it'syou know, can you pull up these,
this song for me?
I want to look at the chordsand then he's like I don't know
a G7.
(19:29):
Well, I can figure it out.
And he's pulling up thesemusicians playing an instrument
or playing ukulele with a G7.
All of a sudden, he's pausingthe screen so he can see exactly
where the fingers are.
All of a sudden, he's activelyin the process of finding out
the information and instead ofjust asking the questions and
this all of a sudden snowballsinto every other.
(19:51):
I am getting chills into everyother area of learning for him,
and ukulele did that.
And the coolest part of thisentire thing is I got to be
there for that right Like timeand time again.
I had these small wins andthese small moments with my
students as a teacher and Iwould be so excited that we had
gotten there or we, like, metthis goal.
I was the director of specialeducation, so oftentimes I was
(20:13):
always trying to meet goalsright and I would be so excited
to have this small win with astudent and the parent wasn't
there to witness it.
And then becoming a parent andbeing able to see this and to
immediately have that experiencewith Ryan right after that
class I mean to me that's thegreatest part of all of any of
this is that relationship that Iget to have time and time again
(20:36):
when it weaves in and out ofhis learning and those like
awesome moments, because I'mselfish I am, I want the money
in your bank account right there.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Yeah, that's the win, that's the the reward for the
work.
And you're so right, and I'veseen it, my son's only six, but
I mean, it doesn't matter ifthey're two months old, they're
making a milestone and ifthey're in daycare you're
missing it.
My son was in daycare when Iworked.
I worked for the government andI was at a cubicle all day and
he was in daycare.
So I remember the daycare ladysaying to me don't worry, we
(21:08):
won't tell you when he firstcrawls or first walks, we'll let
you tell us.
And I'm like, well, I don'tknow if I should feel better or
worse about this.
Oh, all right, but again,society is like this is what you
do you go to work, you sendyour kids to daycare.
They're good.
After six weeks I waited sixmonths, but still that six
(21:31):
months, now that I've had mydaughter and been home with her
the whole time, I realized howmuch a six month old needs her
mom and how much a one year oldneeds her mom, and even how much
a six year old needs his mom.
And you're right, just beingthere for those little things
today, you know he was.
He's got a remote control carand we said to him the other day
where the heck has that carbeen?
(21:52):
And he's like, ah, it brokeagain.
And cause?
My husband said to him I'm donetaking this thing apart and
fixing it.
So today he was bored, hepulled it out and he just
started taking apart the piecesand he goes mom, I think it's
the rear differential.
So my, when my husband got homethey was looking at he's like
you're right, it is the reardifferential.
(22:13):
I'm like how does he even knowwhat that is?
But he spends a lot of time inthe garage with my husband but
it's like those moments like, ohman, you're.
You might not know how to reador tie your shoe, but you know
what a rear differential is andthat's going to take you places
in life if that's what you lovedoing.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
It is, and he had the time to figure that out right,
because they don't.
They're not coming home.
He's not coming home exhaustedafter seven days of school as a
six-year-old boy, and theneating dinner and then taking
his bath and then doing thehomework.
God forbid, then, what.
He doesn't have time to bepulling apart remote control
cars if he's in school full-time.
My husband's an attorney, buthis real love is building,
(22:51):
renovation and houses, and he'sabout to break ground on a house
this upcoming week and my kidsget to be there for that, so
they get to see building a housefrom the ground up.
I mean, how cool is that Interms of using their time?
Yes, of course they're going todo math and reading with mom,
but then they're going to gotile in a backsplash and put
flooring down with dad.
They're going to have thoseskills to take with them to
(23:14):
their own homes someday and, whoknows, maybe to their own
renovation businesses.
So being able to give themthose opportunities because we
have the time with them to do it.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
So cool.
Yeah, you're so right.
When my husband was off over,he took, like you know, saves up
all his vacation time and takesit at the end of the year and
I'm like my kids are with him inthe garage while he's working
on things and I'm like you know,there would have been a time
where they were all at schoolstill right now and you just got
a quiet garage to yourself.
It's so worth it in the end andI'm sure he enjoys having them
down there, because then he doesthings like that and takes
(23:47):
apart a car and he sees, youknow, the rewards of the time
that he spent with his kids andit really is like that's the
point of life.
I guess that is the point oflife.
I truly believe that it'sactually being robbed from us on
purpose, but you have to bewilling to step outside and see
that that, like this ispurposefully being robbed from
you to like, break up the familyunits and, in fact, at the
(24:09):
school down the road from me Ihad an Instagram post about this
there was a flyer.
I was in there for a volleyballgame and they had a flyer in
the middle school that said maketrans dreams a reality, and it
looked like it was just astudent doing graphic design
work, right, and this was theposter from the art project.
(24:30):
But then you look in the cornerof it and there's a logo and it
says forwardtogetherorg.
So you look upforwardtogetherorg and it is a
progressive um nonprofitfoundation.
Kamala Harris was one of thefounders.
I mean, I'm sure she justslapped her name on it and
doesn't even know what it's for.
(24:50):
But you go on their missionstatement and it's to reimagine
the family unit and um get moneyfor reproductive services.
It's like this is this is aschool, why is this in our
school?
And reproductive services ifyou're re-imagining and it has
like two women hugging eachother on the website.
So you're re-imagining thefamily unit, but we're paying
(25:12):
for reproductive servicesbecause there's not the second
piece of that puzzle to make afamily.
So now what we're paying for invitro?
We're not only paying forabortions, but we're paying for
in vitro too.
It's like it's really gottencrazy where the funding in our
schools is going.
Did you see that when you werein the schools?
Oh, absolutely Thinking abouthomeschooling but not sure where
(25:33):
to start.
Or maybe you're already on thejourney and want more guidance.
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(25:55):
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Speaker 2 (26:18):
I mean well, I mean funding, could we could have
another whole hour on that, butof course I saw the family being
pulled apart in the language,in the system of the day.
I mean even drop off, so theyhave new.
Even a good friend of minecalled me the very first day of
school with she's like is thisnormal?
I'm like I'm the wrong one toask for that.
None of this is normal.
(26:39):
But she called and said we'renot allowed in the building,
even for open house.
The teachers came and met us atour cars to introduce herself
to them.
She said I remember going toschool and showing my mom the
classroom where I was going tobe and walking down to the music
(27:00):
room and really mirroring theday I was going to have so that
she could see all of where I wasgoing to be.
You know, is this normal?
Is this?
And she had homeschooled lastyear.
This was her first year withher child in public school.
She wasn't a super fan of theidea, but it was where her
family was headed this year andshe called with that and I said
no, no, it's not normal, but itis intentional, and that's the
(27:22):
difference.
Like it is, they're doing it onpurpose and the problem becomes
we now normalize it, right Nowit becomes the norm.
So those of us on the outsidesaying that this is not okay are
the crazy ones.
And those that are droppingtheir child off to a stranger
that you met one time in aparking lot, who was going to be
the number one influence intheir lives, from 730 to three
(27:46):
every day.
I mean, to me that's, that'stragic.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
You're so right.
And COVID did that.
Covid normalized the not beingpersonable with the teachers and
stuff.
And now you're right.
I, my son, went to a privatepreschool, so he was four,
attending a three, four program.
And uh, now he was old enoughto.
If I could have had him go tothe school down the road for the
(28:12):
full day and it would have beenpaid for by my taxes.
But he's four years old.
I'm thinking that's an awfulearly age to just go to school
with kids.
You know it's a small school sothey're all ages up to 12th
grade.
I mean, I don't think a fouryear old should whatever.
But it's crazy that now it'snot just.
It was half day kindergarten upto 12th grade when I went to
(28:34):
school, and now it's not onlyfull day kindergarten but full
day preschool and they mighthave some kinder care or some
sort of fun little name for it,but it's preschool, that's full
day is what it is, it's they're.
They're robbing you anotheryear.
And anyways, that my son was ata preschool at a church for two
or three days a week for acouple hours.
(28:55):
And after COVID they normalizedyou drop your kid off in the
parking lot and you drive offand you are not to go in.
And the other kickers were thatthey wanted you to bring a
healthy snack on your designatedsnack day, but they didn't want
you to make anything homemade.
They wanted you to get goldfishor something that had the
(29:17):
chemicals in it from a store.
Nothing homemade and juice.
They said bring juice.
And the really worst part aboutit was that they would put hand
sanitizer on the kids.
And I wrote a note in before heeven started.
I said he's not to have handsanitizer on him.
And they said well, is heallergic?
It's none of your business.
If he's allergic, I'm hisparent.
He's not allowed to have handsanitizer.
(29:38):
If his hands are dirty, go washthem.
And he, at four years old, toldme mom, they sanitize their eyes
.
If his hands are dirty, go washthem.
And he, at four years old, toldme mom, they're putting it on
me anyway and that I should havelike pulled him then.
But I said to him you go tellthem no, and he did.
They said to me oh, we're sosorry, we forgot about that.
But he told us he's not, is, ishe allergic?
Again they asked.
And it's like I think that'swhat really was the kicker for
(30:00):
me to start thinking abouthomeschooling, because it was
like the masking he was and wepulled him out of daycare when
they started masking kids.
But you're a parent and youhave no say what goes over their
face or injected into theirbody or saturated into their
skin.
So if they've removed me fromthat, what point do I have?
(30:21):
I'm just a shelter for them tosleep at at this point.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Absolutely.
They've taken control at thatpoint, yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
At four years old.
So what does the day look likeat your school?
How many days a week do thekids come in?
Two full days.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
So that's it, yep, two full days of classes, and
then we have a plethora of clubsand activities that are all
optional.
But a typical day would be amath class, and we actually just
started piloting this semesterlike very like intimate math
groups, so only like three orfour kids.
That way we really can achievethe most possible because we are
(30:58):
targeting exactly to the needsof those kids in a small group
of three or four.
And then a science class.
We have an awesome scienceteacher.
Right now.
My oldest kids are taking thehistory of science, so they're
blending.
You know, the history of thegreat, you know, like, where did
science even come from?
Oh well, it came from thegreats, and so they're reading
about Galileo and Newton.
(31:19):
And it's just, it's so cool.
And it's even cooler because Idon't have to teach it, and I
love to teach, I absolutely loveit.
But having to teach everythingto all of my kids is a lot.
So instead they get the greatbenefit of learning from my good
friend, sophie, who is teachingthem this course, who loves
this course, who has taught itbefore, who's an expert in it,
(31:41):
and I get the benefit of seeingthem participate in it and not
having to deliver the content,so it is an absolute win-win.
Then they would have lunch,where we don't even see them for
lunch.
They're outside, they'replaying football, they're hiking
through the woods in the back,they are making up a dance in
the front yard all the thingsthat they do.
On lunch they come back in andthey have two more classes, and
(32:04):
that might be an art class, itmight be poetry, it might be a
skills and careers class,something that is a little less
academic in the afternoon, alittle bit more extracurricular
or loose or interesting to thevast majority of kids.
So they have those classes andthen they come back and they do
it the very next day.
(32:24):
So we have it structured alittle bit differently.
Most programs that I've heard ofare Mondays and Wednesdays, or
their Tuesdays and Thursdays.
They have that day in between.
We're freedom lovinghomeschoolers that want to
travel and we love having thatfive day weekend every single
week.
So instead they come back thevery next day, on Tuesday, and
they're doing something similar.
They're taking four differentclasses and having those
(32:46):
experiences with other kids.
My kids get the benefit ofhaving classes with different
faces that are not just mom, andthey're taking classes with
kids maybe not exactly their ageand that's okay.
I love that for them.
And and then we have all of theextra clubs.
So even if the kids are not,even if your kids are not in our
(33:07):
program, we want as manyhomeschoolers as possible to
come see what we have going onand to benefit from the use of
this building.
So we have classes like ukuleleand piano and robotics and a
chess team things that bringother homeschoolers in that are
maybe not up for a whole day ofclasses, but they want to
(33:27):
experience those like one or twothings that they can get with
other peers, and so those arereally cool opportunities.
We have a PE class where I renta local gym just five doors
down from our building and it'san indoor baseball field, so we
have a PE teacher, I think.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
I met him today.
I didn't meet him.
He was talking to Kate at NinjaLab.
Jonathan.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
Yes, so we have Jonathan.
He is fantastic.
The kids love him and they getto play all of those things that
they would know, they wouldquote, unquote, miss if they
were in school.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
So they're playing the tug of war Sort of like.
This is what kickball isExactly.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Exactly, they're playing, you know, red Rover and
kickball.
And we have another PE teacher,ryan, and she has them with a
giant tug of war rope in the bigfield outside in the warm
months.
So just really greatexperiences with other kids that
are like-minded, that arefamily-centered, it's just, it
(34:23):
really is fantastic.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Oh, I love that.
Yeah, I can't wait to findwhere we fit in.
We're still kind of the like,wake up around nine, the kids
wake up around 9.30, 10.
I'm still I'm in that phasewhere you know how, like your
first year of homeschooling, youtry to replicate school and
everyone's screaming at eachother and you're like this is
not going to work.
And then now we're in thesecond year where we're like
we're just unschooling, we justyou wake up when you need to.
(34:48):
We'll get to a book at somepoint today.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
Yes, and then so maybe next year we're gonna be
like a little bit more like allright, this is life, we're gonna
start to have a routine, andthat's that's where I am.
I'm like just one step ahead ofyou in that whole progression,
because I I want to be able tojust read books and play games.
I'm a very big into gameschooling, so we do a lot of our
learning at home through gamesand activities together, and I
(35:14):
want the time to do that.
So I love the opportunity tooutsource a little bit.
When they do go to the spaceand take some of those academic
classes they have a literatureclass and you know writing, so
things like that that they canget those experiences while
they're there so that when theycome home we can just we can
read books and play games.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
And I love that.
I had a game schooler on thepodcast last week and, yeah,
this really intrigued me when Ihad first heard about game
schooling.
I'm like you got to tell memore because I didn't grow up in
like a game household so I onlyknew about like Scrabble and
Monopoly and maybe life.
I don't even remember how thatis played, but yeah, so people
have mentioned it on the podcastso I started looking into it
(35:52):
and bringing games out and, ohmy, my son loves playing games.
So it's like, yes, whether it'smancala with the little stones
or skippo or what's the new onewe got, um, there's one where
you roll the dice and you haveto like add up, so you're doing
math but you're doing a strategybecause you have to get down
the double shutter.
And then there's other ones thecooperative one, the race to
(36:15):
the treasure I don't there.
And there's so many.
I'm like, oh, I didn't realizethat so many games.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Maybe they always existed and my family just
didn't present them to me, but,um, yeah, it's a beautiful way
to learn, absolutely, and it's away for them to learn together,
which I love because, again,school would take my four kids
and separate them for themajority of their day, right?
So even though my oldest areonly 18 months apart, they'd be
two years apart in school, sothey would spend all day away
(36:42):
from each other and insteadthey're in some of the same
classes and some different atthe space.
And then they come home and wedo get to play cool games that
continue their learning, but weget to do it together.
We played a game yesterdaycalled made for trade and it's
set up like colonial America andyou're going through the town
to the blacksmith and to thecarpentry shop and all of these
(37:03):
different spots and you'retrying to collect these goods
and you have shillings andyou're paying your taxes and
it's just.
It was a great conversationpiece, but it was a game, so I
love that.
You know we were right now inthe middle of learning that time
period in our history at home,so it just blends beautifully
into what we're trying toaccomplish on the side of, you
(37:24):
know, learning and education,but also what we're trying to
accomplish on the family side ofbeing together and spending
that time laughing and playing.
So it just, it works.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Yeah, I love that you touched on in the beginning how
you were missing them.
You know, if your kids were inschool, you'd be missing the
moments where you see, liketheir aha moments, their
connections.
But we don't talk enough aboutthe siblings Like, yes, there
are a lot of times that they'reantagonizing each other and
yelling at each other andscreaming and fighting, but
(37:54):
there are so many times thatthey're just forming these
beautiful relationships thatthey otherwise would be.
My daughter would be in daycare, my son would be in school and
I would be in the cubicle and wewould not be like forming these
memories together, connectionstogether, inside jokes together,
games together.
It's really, it's a tragedywhen you think about, you know,
(38:17):
the normal society that this isnot going on and the breakdown
of the family unit.
I really think that that'sintentional.
But, yeah, it's beautiful.
These kids, they're the onlyones that are going to know in
life what it was like to grow upin that household and they have
that bond forever.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
They do, and we are because we're fostering it in
our own home with those siblingrelationships.
They are then taking it outsideof our house to the community
and to other families.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
Hey everyone, this is Cheryl.
I want to thank you so much forchecking out the podcast.
I'm going to keep this shortand sweet because I know your
time is valuable.
I want to ask you a seriousquestion Do your kids know what
to do to actually save theirlife in an emergency?
The most important thing we cantalk to our kids about is
knowing their first and lastname, knowing mom and dad's
first and last name, mom's phonenumber, dad's phone number,
(39:04):
their address, what to do ifthey get lost, what to do if
someone who's watching them hasa heart attack, a stroke, an
accident where they fall andyour child needs to get help.
We live in a world wherethere's no landline phones
anymore, basically, and cellphones lock.
Does your child know how tocall 911 from a locked cell
phone?
It is absolutely possible, andmy book demonstrates how to do
(39:27):
that, whether it's an Android,whether it's an iPhone and, most
importantly, it starts theconversation, because I was
going through homeschoolingcurriculum with my kids,
realizing that, gee, maybe theyskim over this stuff, but they
don't get into depth, so mychild's not going to remember
this should an accident occur,right?
I asked a couple of teacherswhat they do in school and they
(39:49):
said they really don't doanything either other than talk
about what to do in a fireduring the month of October fire
prevention month.
So I wrote a book because thisis near and dear to my heart.
I have had multiple friends thathave lost kids in tragedies and
I don't wanna see it happenagain if it doesn't have to.
We were at the fair over thesummer and the first thing I
said to my son when we walkedthrough that gate was what's my
(40:11):
first and last name?
What is your first and lastname?
And was what's my first andlast name?
What is your first and lastname and what is my phone number
?
And if you get lost, what areyou going to do?
You can get my book on Amazonand I will put the link in my
show's description Again, it'scalled let's Talk Emergencies
and I really hope you'll checkit out because there's just no
need to be scared when you canchoose prepared.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
So my, my nine-year-old is not playing
with a few of his friends andsuddenly irritated or annoyed by
this little one that is tryingto play.
And that's what happensoftentimes when we are with
other friends that don't havemaybe as much of a connection
with the siblings, where all ofa sudden the little ones are the
annoyances or the pests.
(40:53):
Little ones are the annoyancesor the pests, and instead I have
my nine-year-olds seeing a fouror five-year-old that wants to
play.
That completely gets it fromdealing with his sister who's
trying to go ahead and bringingthe child into the game or doing
a quick little lesson to havethem feel included.
So it's those moments where I'mlike, okay, this is why we do
it.
And, similarly, because they'rein the world, because we're
(41:15):
actually living andparticipating in the world on a
daily basis as homeschoolers,and they are not sitting with
only their exactly same agepeers all day.
My kids are pleasant andrespectful and comfortable with
people of all ages and that'sreally cool also, so they're not
bothered by the little siblingsthat are around, but just as
(41:38):
wonderful, they're also ready tohave a conversation with
somebody much older than thembecause they are, you know,
living, interacting with them.
We just went to a you can brew.
It was an event at a localbrewery where it was kind of
like a karaoke night, butinstead there were ukulele
players that were all playingwith the chords up on a big
(41:58):
screen.
And we're sitting next to MrRoger, who was a 70-year-old
ukulele player, and Ryan ischatting it up about different
chords and how he's just startedlearning this year.
I just those experiences whereI don't know that he would be
that comfortable if I had himthe majority of his week sitting
(42:20):
with only nine-year-olds Right,and so I just love that.
I love those moments where I'mlike you know, I think I think
this is because of the choiceswe've made to homeschool and to
have those experiences withpeople of all ages all day long.
Speaker 1 (42:35):
Oh, you're so right and sure, there's the occasional
kid that no matter where he isall day, he's going to be a
talker to people.
You know there's so many, mysister's three, they're.
They're so quiet and introvertand I'm sure they're not with
their friends but they are witheven me as their aunt, and you
know, just, they're just quieter, not like striking up the
conversation, like my son I'llsee him strike up a conversation
(43:00):
with many adults.
It actually it takes someadults like.
It takes them off guard.
They're like well, oh, you gotmore to say, yeah, it's so true,
and it's been so part of likewitnessing our kids kind of go
through this, these friendshipexperiences, experiences too, is
interesting, because if theywere at school all day, we
wouldn't be able to see likewhere maybe they didn't handle a
(43:23):
situation just right.
Or and and I get it, you can'tbe like the helicopter parent,
but you can at least go laterand talk to your kid about hey,
you know I really didn't likehow you talked to that kid or
that response wasn't right.
Or you know I really didn'tlike how you talked to that kid
or that response wasn't right,or you know you were kind of
mean here or that person wasmean to you.
This is how you could do itdifferently next time.
And I think you know teachersthey just don't have.
(43:45):
Even the best teacher is notgoing to have the time to watch
every interaction and correctthem.
They're not.
They're not the parent, they'rethere to teach.
So that's a really beautifulpart about homeschooling too,
and I've kind of had this, Iguess, struggle or hurdle the
last year or two, because my sonhe does tend to be the younger
one in a lot of situations withthe homeschoolers that we're
(44:06):
around, or just his personality.
Maybe he's like greatone-on-one with a kid, but in a
group he likes to be the leader.
So he'll either gravitatetowards the young ones or
completely leave himself out.
And I don't know if it bothershim or it just bothers me,
because I'm like the parent andI'm like, oh no, he's left out,
oh my God, and he doesn't reallycare.
(44:28):
He does, I don't know, but it's.
It's been really cool to see theprogression, because as you
continue to hang out with youknow this family or that family
or this group or that group, Isee that he is evolving Like I
had nothing to worry about inthe beginning.
You know when I was feelinglike he's left out, the poor kid
.
You know, I've seen him saylike, well, this is my best
friend now.
And oh well, this is my bestfriend.
(44:50):
He said he's I'm not his bestfriend, so I'm going to choose
this guy.
And you know, it allows us tohave the conversations like hey,
listen, you know your family isyour best friend.
You're going to have friendsthat are real close to you
during certain seasons, like,for instance, you and Gabriel
love to fish.
So when it's nice out he'sprobably going to be one of your
closest friends.
But maybe in the winter timeyou don't see him as much
(45:11):
because your interests aredifferent.
And you know, just kind ofexplaining to him that that's
like how life works.
And you know, as a grownup it'snot like, you know, I, we have a
lot of close friends and so Idon't know, that's just been a
really cool thing to see and andjust to see them evolve from
this little like oh, I need to Idon't know be the one in charge
(45:31):
to.
Well, wait, maybe, maybe Icould learn something from these
older kids and then the olderkids being like oh yeah, well,
sure, colin's a little bityounger than us, but he's pretty
cool.
He's been hanging out for likea year or two now.
Let's bring him on in.
He's one of us, so it's.
It's fun to be the parent andlike watch that.
Speaker 2 (45:54):
It is and they get the benefit of also benefit,
hopefully, of watching us do thesame thing.
Right, because we can be thereto model with our own friends
and with our own relationshipsand they get to see kind of what
that looks like, you know, overtime.
Like, yeah, maybe I'm not superclose with this person right
now, but we have, we haveexperiences and we have a past
and we can maybe, you know, hopback into it.
So just being able to, in thereverse, have them watch us do
that on a day-to-day basis isreally cool.
Speaker 1 (46:16):
All right, as we round out, what is your takeaway
to like any, first of all, any,person that thinks could I
start like a micro school in myarea.
How hard is it to start that.
Speaker 2 (46:26):
Well, I would say well, you can do it, anybody can
do it.
Absolutely I'm not doinganything super crazy.
Absolutely I'm not doinganything super crazy.
I would say the number onething that sets what we have
apart from most of thehomeschool programs that we have
here in this area and also thatI've just seen, you know, from
friends across the country, isthe building, and it doesn't
seem like that should matter somuch, but just my experience in
(46:50):
like through this process so faris the building just adds so
much to what we're trying toaccomplish.
We were involved in a number ofreally great, you know, co-ops
and homeschool programs in thepast, but they all had one thing
in common and they were all ina church basement.
And so what you had is you hada lot of parent teachers having
to, you know, bring in bags uponbags back and forth to teach
(47:13):
their class and take them backhome, and you had some really
cool art projects or crafts thatthe kids did that immediately
went into a bag because you hadto bring it home.
A lot of stress and anxiety atthe end of each day, cleaning
and making sure everything isexactly where it was, because
the space is borrowed, it's nottheirs.
And what we really wanted to dohere, and what I would
encourage, you know, anylisteners who are trying to
(47:34):
start their own thing is aimtowards having your own space
and have a space where the kidscan put the art right on the
walls, where they walk in andthey throw their backpack on the
hook because it feels liketheirs, where they have, you
know, their favorite cushion onthe floor for, you know, circle
music time.
If they're little, you know,make it feel like it is theirs
and they have that ownership oftheir learning environment,
(47:57):
because it really is supposed tobe an extension of your home.
Right, we're stillhomeschooling, but we're doing
it together.
So, if they feel thattogetherness, which really helps
if you build the space aroundthat, so I would say, just as a
takeaway in any way that istrying to do this, yes, it may
be a starting point to start,you know, in your garage with a
couple of friends or at a localchurch or community center, and
(48:20):
I think that is great to startbuilding the community and
coming up with kind of thephilosophy of what you want this
to be long term.
But then go for your own space,give those kids a place where
they can come outside of theirhouse but come together.
We have we have a mascot, so wehave sweatshirts and sweatpants
and t-shirts, you know, withthe Jaguars on it and you know.
(48:41):
So it feels very, very togetherand very the fun parts of
school.
We get to have hat day and weget to have field day.
We get to have all of thosethings where the kids get to
come together in their ownenvironment and and have and
have those fun times.
So that would be my mainencouragement would be you know,
don't, don't sleep onopportunities to have your own
(49:06):
space for a homeschool communitythat is huge.
Speaker 1 (49:10):
That, as you're saying it it does, it does make
a big.
I've been in the churchbasements and, sorry, trying to
make globe ornaments and it'snot working in the church
basement all the time, but we'rethankful to have them.
Um, I love that.
So I'm going to link yourwebsite just in the show's
description so that people cancheck it out.
(49:30):
Even if they are not local tous, they could still look at it
to get ideas to maybe startsomething like this in their
communities.
And who knows, maybe you'lleven write a template on how to
do this and start selling.
Yeah, hey, this is how I did it.
You can do it too.
And there you go.
There's your next businessendeavor.
So perfect, lindsay, thank youso much for joining me today and
(49:53):
for all of the work that you do.
We didn't even touch upon your.
You have a once a yearentrepreneur sort of like
program that you do in August,that it's always landed on the
week that we're in Maine, butcould you want to talk about
that just briefly?
Speaker 2 (50:08):
Sure, we do an entrepreneurship fair for kids
once a year.
We're actually moving it to twotimes a year, this time around,
yes, so you'll be able toparticipate, which will be
really awesome.
But we have all these kids whohave these little business ideas
and maybe they want to makecandles, or maybe they love
baking cookies, and we give themthe opportunity to sell in a
(50:28):
farmer's market style.
We partner with the localfarmer's market and use some of
their space we have.
You know, over the first yearwe did it, we had 23 kids and
last year we had 129.
So it has really grownincredibly.
But it's so awesome, it's sogreat to see them work through
the whole process.
You know what do I need to,what materials do I need to buy.
(50:49):
You know how much money am Imaking.
You know what kind of productsells, because maybe what you
choose to sell the first yearwas a little bit of a bomb.
So you know, being able toadjust and rework your, your
business plan, even at the ageof seven or nine, is really
awesome.
And then it has taken.
These kids have actually gone tothe next step.
So at the space we have a cafefor parents to be able to get
(51:12):
work done while their kids arein classes and we have our
coffee and tea bar is all.
All of our teas are handmadeand grown and dried from one of
the students or one of the kidswho did the entrepreneur fair
three years ago.
So I go ahead and put in myorder every month and he comes
and delivers our tea.
So it's turned into an actualbusiness for him and I'm just
(51:34):
one of his customers now.
So it's been so awesome to seeI want his tea, so it's turned
into an actual business for himand I'm just one of his
customers now.
So it's been so awesome to see.
Speaker 1 (51:39):
I want his tea.
Yeah, it's so good, I don'twant to get the brand from
Hannaford anymore.
I want, yes.
Oh my God, that's amazing.
I love it.
You were doing amazing things.
Your kids are going to doamazing things too, and your
students.
Thank you so much.
I'm going to link everything inthe show's description and I
will be seeing you soon becauseI'm going to get there.
Speaker 2 (51:55):
We're going to get a routine going here, all right,
thank you so much, cheryl.
This was so fun.
Speaker 1 (52:04):
Thank you, lindsay.
Thank you for tuning into thisweek's episode of the Homeschool
how To.
If you've enjoyed what youheard and you'd like to
contribute to the show, pleaseconsider leaving a small tip
using the link in my show'sdescription.
Or, if you'd rather, please usethe link in the description to
share this podcast with a friendor on your favorite homeschool
group Facebook page.
Any effort to help us keep thepodcast going is greatly
(52:25):
appreciated.
Thank you.
Welcome to this week's episode of the Homeschool
How-To.
I'm Cheryl and I invite you tojoin me on my quest to find out
why are people homeschooling,how do you do it, how does it
differ from region to region?
And should I homeschool my kids?
Stick with me as I interviewhomeschooling families across
the country to unfold theanswers to each of these
(00:26):
questions week by week.
Welcome, and with us today Ihave Lindsay.
Lindsay, thank you so much forbeing here.
Thank you for having me.
So I'm really excited about thisepisode because you are local
to me, in my area.
I haven't been able to takeadvantage of any of the amazing
(00:47):
things that you have done withhomeschooling in our community
and I'm so mad at myself.
But then also I'm like there'stime my oldest is six Like we've
got time, but you've beenworking wonders and I really
want people to hear this episode, to hear kind of what they can
do in their communities too.
So, first off, thank you forwhat you've done and, secondly,
(01:11):
why don't you just tell us howmany kids you have and what got
you into homeschooling in thefirst place?
Oh, geez.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Well, I have four kids.
So my oldest is Ryan is nine,Molly is eight, Farrah is four
and then Lou is one.
So and I know it's a lot, butthey are absolutely wonderful
and obviously the reason why Ido all of the things that I do
in our area I am I'm inhomeschooling because I spent
(01:37):
many years in public educationas a teacher and as an
administrator, and every dayspent there was another day.
I just knew I didn't want myown children in that environment
, so eventually I left that andchose to pursue this path.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
That gave me chills when you said that.
And it's not that you're myfirst or even 10th teacher who
left the profession tohomeschool.
I think that was the biggestshock to me.
I was just on the Quite Franklypodcast last week and I said to
his audience you know, thebiggest shock to me when I
started the podcast two yearsago just to learn about
(02:16):
homeschooling, the biggest shockto me has been the amount of
teachers that have reached outto say can I come on and tell my
story?
I was a teacher and I left theprofession to homeschool.
Like I thought leaving myprofession was a big deal
because I worked in governmentand I was like, oh my God, I'm
leaving a pension and you knowmy salary and all this stuff.
But teachers like, especiallyin New York, because in New York
(02:38):
you need a master's degree, soyou're not only getting that
four year degree, then you'respending the time and money to
get the master's degree to teachso and then to like be in the
profession and to say this isn'thow I want my kids to grow up.
It's huge.
You guys are seeing firsthandwhat's in there.
So if we could talk aboutanything that you're comfortable
(03:00):
talking about, what did you seethat?
You were like, not my kids.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Well, you're so right .
First of all because and I alsohad the perfect schedule right
I had every.
I had all the summers off.
I had every day that they wouldhave had off of school I would
have had off.
So it really is crazy on paperfor a teacher to leave the
profession to then go teach one,two, three kids that he or she
has at home.
But I had to.
I mean the things that I wasseeing.
(03:25):
I taught both in the publicschool system and then in the
charter system and I mean we'retalking silent lunch, you know,
like whole group punishment forpoor behavior, even for, you
know, missed assignments, thingslike that.
The library and the contentthere, just the way that
teachers and authority werespeaking to children, like the
more that I was in it, the morethat I'm sitting watching like,
(03:45):
wait a second, I have kids nowand I will admit that I was a
different teacher before I hadchildren than after, and I think
that many of my friends whohave taught have said that also.
All of a sudden it's a wake upcall.
Wait, if somebody was talkingto my kid like that and
beginning to see that, well,they might be, because I'm
sending them to strangers.
(04:06):
I'm a stranger to these kids.
I would be sending my kids tostrangers for seven plus hours a
day, five days a week, and itbecame more and more
uncomfortable the longer that Iwas in the school system and
then coming home to my childrengetting ready to send Ryan to
kindergarten.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Yeah, and even little things, like I drive by down
the road for me every single day.
I drive by the bus garage forour local school that my kids
would be going to and it saysbus drivers needed, will train,
you know, competitive, pay, yada, yada.
And I'm looking at that signgoing, well, what are you doing
(04:45):
now If you don't even haveenough bus drivers?
Like is it like that there's somany kids on the bus that or
they're sitting on the buslonger now waiting to go to
school because you don't haveenough bus drivers?
And who are you peeling up offthe street with no, no
experience driving a bus thatyou're going to get to drive my
little kid around?
(05:06):
Like no, and then.
And then you get into my mostrecent kind of realization is
that a lot of the schools today,at least in New York, have free
breakfast and free lunch.
And now that I'm in thehomeschooling community and I'm
a little bit more aware ofreading labels and what are we
putting into our body and whatis it causing?
Not only the cancers, but is itcausing like a chemical
(05:28):
overload that's going to makeyou act crazier than a normal
six year old boy would act, andam I sending them to school with
all organic foods that I'mspending a lot of money on and
he's throwing that in thegarbage just to eat the
chemicals that they provide forfree through our tax dollars all
day.
And it's like there's just somany reasons piled on top of
(05:49):
each other.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Yes, yeah, I mean you mentioned the bus drivers, but
they're doing the same thingwith the teachers too, right?
I mean, there's such a need forteachers, so much so that some
of the surrounding states aroundus are actually reducing the
requirements for teachers.
They're saying, okay, we can'tget enough qualified candidates,
so we're just going to ask forless, you know.
And that's as a parent you'relike okay, well, you know, like
(06:10):
you mentioned, who are youpicking then?
Who's coming to take care of mychild for longer than I have
them per week?
And it just the more and thelonger I'm in this homeschooling
world, the less I can wrap myhead around doing anything
different.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Yes, and you're right .
New Jersey just signed made itlaw that you no longer need to
take a basic literacy test forreading, writing and math to
become a teacher there.
You do still have to go tocollege and get through all of
the other stuff.
But even if you're going tofight that and say like well,
they still need to go to college, then why remove this literacy
(06:47):
test?
Obviously, this test was abarrier for some teachers to
pass to get into the profession.
So if you went to four years ofschool and you still can't take
a basic literacy test we'rerequiring of the students every
time we ask them to take theSATs.
Why would we not require thatfour years later, when they want
to graduate college and get ajob teaching our kids?
(07:07):
And where did all the teachersgo?
Because when I'm 40, you'reprobably close to that.
So I remember when we graduatedcollege there was a teacher
overload.
I remember everybody went tocollege for teaching back in the
early 2000s and you couldn'tget a teaching job.
(07:27):
None of the teachers, like I,waited tables in college and
every single other person peopleon the staff were either
college students or ex-collegestudents that went to school for
teaching and couldn't get a job.
So why?
Where did they all go?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Well, I think the schools look different.
The early 2000 schools and theschools in 2025 look different
and they're a place that nobodywants to be.
Nobody wants to be treated theway that teachers are treated
nowadays.
Nobody wants to feel like theyhave to treat children the way
that they have to treat them inthat system.
So it becomes this place thatnobody wants to be.
(08:03):
The kids certainly don't wantto be there.
The teachers don't want to haveto deal with some of the
behaviors and some of the crazyrules and regulations that they
have put on them.
So they're like forget this,especially for the money.
They're leaving and findingother professions, or they're
leaving, in my example, for noprofession.
I would rather not work thanwork where I was working.
(08:25):
I mean, that's sad after, likeyou mentioned, after multiple
degrees, to get there.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Yeah, yeah, it is sad and I don't think people
understand like you're really,you're this thing that you've
worked so hard for you'rewalking away from.
Yes, it's for something muchgreater, but you don't see like
the benefits of it, the overallbenefits, because you have hard
days, obviously with your kidstoo, and you wake up and they're
fighting and you're like wehave to get this done and that
(08:52):
done and stuff Like at leastwith the job, you see the
paycheck.
So you're like okay well theyjust dumped some money in my
bank account.
So I can do this, that or theother thing where it's not as in
a more, the other thing whereit's not as in a more, it's not
as immediate.
You know, you really have tosavor the moments.
You can look back on your week,your month, your year and be
like, wow, we did a lot thisyear.
I love, I loved being heredoing this.
But but yeah, you're right,people probably are walking away
(09:14):
or just saying like, yeah, Idon't want to be part of this.
I know a lot of the teachersthat I've interviewed.
They really talk about thefunding and how, like, the
testing goes to the funding andthe funding to the testing and
it's.
It's funny because I have afriend from second grade.
We really don't talk anymore.
Ever since I kind of made mytransition from complete liberal
to then a complete conservativeto now.
(09:37):
I'm kind of like I thinkthey're both trying to kill us.
I don't know both sides, butyeah, it's sad we're not as
tight anymore.
But I re, she's the teacher andI remember her saying to me oh,
it really stinks.
I used to be able to be verycreative in how I taught my
students.
She would teach like a women'sliterature class and she could
pick the books that she wantedto do in the very beginning,
like when we graduated collegein 2006,.
(09:59):
She could pick the books thatshe wanted to do and pick the
projects she wanted to do withthe kids.
And then I remember saying overthe years yeah, they're not
letting me pick my books anymore, they're not letting me pick
the curriculum I want to teachanymore.
I have to do it in this way.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Is that what you saw as well?
Oh, absolutely.
I spent all this time gettingthe degree, proving that I'm a
professional, and then I'vehanded this robotic curriculum
that is written word for wordand organized like you said,
(10:36):
exactly to the test, and I haveto come be their mouthpiece and
just project all of thatinformation to a room full of
students at varying levels andthen make sure that they are
able to regurgitate it at theend of the year onto the state
assessment.
It's not quality education,it's not interesting, it's not
creative, it is not what Iwanted to do with kids.
So that was another reason whyI said you know what I can do
(10:57):
this with my own kids that's atleast four that I'm putting into
the world, that can be creativeand can benefit from all of the
work that I did put intogaining all of the knowledge
that I have in teachingpractices and creative lessons
and having a really fun timelearning concepts.
And then I began thinking earlyon you know what I could do
(11:18):
this a little bit beyond just myfour kids.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
When it comes to teaching my kids, I choose the
Tuttle Twins curriculum becauseit's not just for them.
I'm learning so much rightalongside them.
What I love is how engaging itis for kids.
They take real world conceptsand weave them into stories that
kids can actually understandand relate to.
Whether it's US history,critical thinking or even the
Tuttle Twins Guide to TrueConspiracies, it's all presented
(11:44):
in a way that sticks.
I especially love learning aboutgovernment, because I never
learned this stuff in school howthe government is supposed to
work versus how it actuallyworks and it's so cool that I
get to have these conversationswith my son about it and he gets
it.
They've got books for toddlers,a fantastic series for ages 5
through 11, and so much more.
They even have a Tuttle TwinsAcademy.
I can't wait to get started onthat, because they have classes
(12:06):
for business andentrepreneurship.
You can get 40% off selectitems using code Cheryl40.
That's C-H-E-R-Y-L-4-0.
Just grab the link in theshow's description and start
learning together as a family.
Trust me, you 'll love whatyou're going to learn, because
they never taught this to you inschool.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Which is how those community ideas happened and it
started to branch into more thanjust the kids in my home, but
the kids that we wanted tosurround ourselves with, their
friends and their friends'friends, and it just grew from
there.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Yeah, so why don't you talk to us a little bit
about it's?
It's basically a micro school,right, cause these are kind of
popping up throughout thecountry.
Um to what you know, I've kindof seen it as called like micro
schools, where it's not.
It's not paid for by thegovernment.
The government has no hands init.
It's literally just people thatare like there's a different
(13:02):
way we can teach kids.
There's a different way yourchild can have a childhood like
a childhood still.
And it's so hard.
You know, it's taken me a long.
It's taken me the two years ofdoing the podcast to realize,
cause, you know, and this iswhat I try to say to my son and
he's only six, granted, butmaybe I'm just saying it out
loud for myself I have to tellhim there was a time that we
(13:23):
didn't have the internet.
We could not like in my lifetime, we could not pick up a device
and say these are theingredients in my refrigerator,
what can I make in the Instapot?
And then it just comes out andtells me what I can make for
dinner, right?
Or how long does a caterpillarhave to sit in a crystal list?
Like there were times that youhad to go to the library and
(13:45):
look up books that did not exist.
But if a kid born in today'sday they don't know that that
didn't exist before, right, likethey don't understand there was
a time without internet and itwasn't that long ago.
And it's the same thing witheducation.
We are just, we were born intothis.
You go from 7.30 in the morningtill three in the afternoon and
(14:07):
we know none the wiser.
And I've really gotten intodelving into the history of how
education got this way, andthere's some pretty sick roots
behind it and why they wanted todo this in this sort of way and
how they wanted to guide sortof the masses to be obedient
workers versus creative thinkers.
You know they wanted to do thisin this sort of way and how
they wanted to guide sort of themasses to be obedient workers
versus creative thinkers.
You know they wanted peoplesmart enough to do the job, but
(14:29):
not smart enough to question itor be competitors to their
businesses, which is why theRockefellers invested so much
money.
So what made you decide tostart a micro school, or
whatever you would like to callit?
Speaker 2 (14:42):
I know it is.
We guess I guess we consider itthis baby of a co-op and a
micro school, because we arefamily centered to the core.
That is extremely important tome.
I want to be actively involvedin my children's education, so
there are plenty of microschools popping up around the
country and I think they arefantastic alternatives to public
(15:03):
education.
Most of them have a philosophythat is rooted in, you know,
community minded, family mindedpurposes.
Ours is a little bit different,though, because our families are
present.
So it is.
It is not a drop off.
We are also not exactly a fullco-op, because we do have, you
know, promises made to families.
So we are essentially offeringtwo core subjects.
(15:24):
So currently those are math andscience.
So you know that if you comewith us, your child will have
math and science covered forthem.
Those are often the ones thatparents shy away from a little
bit with math, because maybethey don't feel so strong in
that or they want to outsourcesomething.
You know math would be the firstone, and then science is just
more fun in a group, it's justmore fun together.
(15:45):
So those are the two that wechose, and then the other half
of the day is made up of thosereally cool ways that co-ops and
things like it bring kidsexperiences from professionals
right, because there are,there's a room full of adults
that have prior lives and priorjobs and careers and hobbies and
interests that they can thencome bring to the kids.
(16:07):
So we have classes like skillsand careers where we have, you
know, people come in from thecommunity in very cool and
interesting jobs to say to thekids like this is what's out
there, right?
And instead of just readingabout it in a book, look it's
there.
I mean, we had a mom who's aseeing eye dog trainer and she
came and she brought puppies atdifferent stages of training and
(16:27):
one of her clients and she justwalked through the process of
what that looks like and youknow my yes, and I was just with
her earlier today.
Yes, she's great.
So you know, that's just oneexample.
Yeah, we had a candle maker.
Who would ever think?
Speaker 1 (16:41):
that that's a job you can do.
You just think, oh, my kidloves dogs, maybe there'll be a
vet.
Oh, that's how long you have togo to school, never mind, but
it's like no, there's other jobswith animals.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Yes, yes, and they just have that place to come
together to experience all ofthose community people coming
there to present to them.
So it's just really cool.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Yes, I that's.
One of my biggest gripes withthe public education system, or
even the private educationsystem, is that we're not
preparing kids to make a living.
We're pushing them for college.
God forbid you don't go tocollege, but we're not going to
tell you all the jobs that areout there.
And that was one of my biggestquestions when I went to school.
It was like I don't know what Iwant my major to be.
I don't know all the jobs.
(17:22):
It's kind of like picking ahusband.
I'm like well, I haven't metall the men in the world I don't
know.
And eventually you find one andyou're like well, this seems
like a good fit, give it a try.
But it's like you're investinga lot of money in that college
degree.
You should probably know alittle bit about what's out
there and the fact that new jobsare popping up all the time.
(17:43):
So what kind of innovative jobscould you pick for yourself,
based on your interests and whatthe world needs?
So I love that that you're.
I mean, there will always bepeople that are blind and need
you know, a seeing eye, dog andman.
Someone needs to train the dogs.
(18:04):
That is such a cool professionthat kids would not know of
otherwise.
So, and I was just looking atwhen you had sent me before this
, I didn't realize that you had.
I guess I knew that you had allthese classes, but I'm like man
, I need to get into this stuff.
Ukulele, like that's somethingI'm not going to teach my son.
I want him to know it, but Idon't know how to do that.
That's amazing.
(18:24):
And piano.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Ukulele is just a great example in my own house,
because my children are curious,wonderful beings and they are
asking a thousand questions aday, more than I care to answer
some days.
But they are also like passivelearners, like they're asking
all of the questions but they'rea little bit lazy
intellectually with they justwant to be given the answer
(18:47):
right.
They're like I want to knowthis, tell me.
I'm like no, go find out, Gofind out.
This is why we homeschool Go,go find out the information.
And they're young, my kids arestill young, and ukulele, my son
Ryan, came, came out of thatvery first class, and this is
something that my husband and Ihave many strengths.
(19:08):
Music is not one of them.
Not an ounce of our body ismusically inclined to either one
of us, and so being able to putour children in front of a
professional, someone that lovesthat, at a place like our space
, my son Ryan came out of hisvery first class asking the
right questions all of a sudden,and ukulele started that for
him.
So now, all of a sudden, it'syou know, can you pull up these,
this song for me?
I want to look at the chordsand then he's like I don't know
a G7.
(19:29):
Well, I can figure it out.
And he's pulling up thesemusicians playing an instrument
or playing ukulele with a G7.
All of a sudden, he's pausingthe screen so he can see exactly
where the fingers are.
All of a sudden, he's activelyin the process of finding out
the information and instead ofjust asking the questions and
this all of a sudden snowballsinto every other.
(19:51):
I am getting chills into everyother area of learning for him,
and ukulele did that.
And the coolest part of thisentire thing is I got to be
there for that right Like timeand time again.
I had these small wins andthese small moments with my
students as a teacher and Iwould be so excited that we had
gotten there or we, like, metthis goal.
I was the director of specialeducation, so oftentimes I was
(20:13):
always trying to meet goalsright and I would be so excited
to have this small win with astudent and the parent wasn't
there to witness it.
And then becoming a parent andbeing able to see this and to
immediately have that experiencewith Ryan right after that
class I mean to me that's thegreatest part of all of any of
this is that relationship that Iget to have time and time again
(20:36):
when it weaves in and out ofhis learning and those like
awesome moments, because I'mselfish I am, I want the money
in your bank account right there.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Yeah, that's the win, that's the the reward for the
work.
And you're so right, and I'veseen it, my son's only six, but
I mean, it doesn't matter ifthey're two months old, they're
making a milestone and ifthey're in daycare you're
missing it.
My son was in daycare when Iworked.
I worked for the government andI was at a cubicle all day and
he was in daycare.
So I remember the daycare ladysaying to me don't worry, we
(21:08):
won't tell you when he firstcrawls or first walks, we'll let
you tell us.
And I'm like, well, I don'tknow if I should feel better or
worse about this.
Oh, all right, but again,society is like this is what you
do you go to work, you sendyour kids to daycare.
They're good.
After six weeks I waited sixmonths, but still that six
(21:31):
months, now that I've had mydaughter and been home with her
the whole time, I realized howmuch a six month old needs her
mom and how much a one year oldneeds her mom, and even how much
a six year old needs his mom.
And you're right, just beingthere for those little things
today, you know he was.
He's got a remote control carand we said to him the other day
where the heck has that carbeen?
(21:52):
And he's like, ah, it brokeagain.
And cause?
My husband said to him I'm donetaking this thing apart and
fixing it.
So today he was bored, hepulled it out and he just
started taking apart the piecesand he goes mom, I think it's
the rear differential.
So my, when my husband got homethey was looking at he's like
you're right, it is the reardifferential.
(22:13):
I'm like how does he even knowwhat that is?
But he spends a lot of time inthe garage with my husband but
it's like those moments like, ohman, you're.
You might not know how to reador tie your shoe, but you know
what a rear differential is andthat's going to take you places
in life if that's what you lovedoing.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
It is, and he had the time to figure that out right,
because they don't.
They're not coming home.
He's not coming home exhaustedafter seven days of school as a
six-year-old boy, and theneating dinner and then taking
his bath and then doing thehomework.
God forbid, then, what.
He doesn't have time to bepulling apart remote control
cars if he's in school full-time.
My husband's an attorney, buthis real love is building,
(22:51):
renovation and houses, and he'sabout to break ground on a house
this upcoming week and my kidsget to be there for that, so
they get to see building a housefrom the ground up.
I mean, how cool is that Interms of using their time?
Yes, of course they're going todo math and reading with mom,
but then they're going to gotile in a backsplash and put
flooring down with dad.
They're going to have thoseskills to take with them to
(23:14):
their own homes someday and, whoknows, maybe to their own
renovation businesses.
So being able to give themthose opportunities because we
have the time with them to do it.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
So cool.
Yeah, you're so right.
When my husband was off over,he took, like you know, saves up
all his vacation time and takesit at the end of the year and
I'm like my kids are with him inthe garage while he's working
on things and I'm like you know,there would have been a time
where they were all at schoolstill right now and you just got
a quiet garage to yourself.
It's so worth it in the end andI'm sure he enjoys having them
down there, because then he doesthings like that and takes
(23:47):
apart a car and he sees, youknow, the rewards of the time
that he spent with his kids andit really is like that's the
point of life.
I guess that is the point oflife.
I truly believe that it'sactually being robbed from us on
purpose, but you have to bewilling to step outside and see
that that, like this ispurposefully being robbed from
you to like, break up the familyunits and, in fact, at the
(24:09):
school down the road from me Ihad an Instagram post about this
there was a flyer.
I was in there for a volleyballgame and they had a flyer in
the middle school that said maketrans dreams a reality, and it
looked like it was just astudent doing graphic design
work, right, and this was theposter from the art project.
(24:30):
But then you look in the cornerof it and there's a logo and it
says forwardtogetherorg.
So you look upforwardtogetherorg and it is a
progressive um nonprofitfoundation.
Kamala Harris was one of thefounders.
I mean, I'm sure she justslapped her name on it and
doesn't even know what it's for.
(24:50):
But you go on their missionstatement and it's to reimagine
the family unit and um get moneyfor reproductive services.
It's like this is this is aschool, why is this in our
school?
And reproductive services ifyou're re-imagining and it has
like two women hugging eachother on the website.
So you're re-imagining thefamily unit, but we're paying
(25:12):
for reproductive servicesbecause there's not the second
piece of that puzzle to make afamily.
So now what we're paying for invitro?
We're not only paying forabortions, but we're paying for
in vitro too.
It's like it's really gottencrazy where the funding in our
schools is going.
Did you see that when you werein the schools?
Oh, absolutely Thinking abouthomeschooling but not sure where
(25:33):
to start.
Or maybe you're already on thejourney and want more guidance.
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(25:55):
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Speaker 2 (26:18):
I mean well, I mean funding, could we could have
another whole hour on that, butof course I saw the family being
pulled apart in the language,in the system of the day.
I mean even drop off, so theyhave new.
Even a good friend of minecalled me the very first day of
school with she's like is thisnormal?
I'm like I'm the wrong one toask for that.
None of this is normal.
(26:39):
But she called and said we'renot allowed in the building,
even for open house.
The teachers came and met us atour cars to introduce herself
to them.
She said I remember going toschool and showing my mom the
classroom where I was going tobe and walking down to the music
(27:00):
room and really mirroring theday I was going to have so that
she could see all of where I wasgoing to be.
You know, is this normal?
Is this?
And she had homeschooled lastyear.
This was her first year withher child in public school.
She wasn't a super fan of theidea, but it was where her
family was headed this year andshe called with that and I said
no, no, it's not normal, but itis intentional, and that's the
(27:22):
difference.
Like it is, they're doing it onpurpose and the problem becomes
we now normalize it, right Nowit becomes the norm.
So those of us on the outsidesaying that this is not okay are
the crazy ones.
And those that are droppingtheir child off to a stranger
that you met one time in aparking lot, who was going to be
the number one influence intheir lives, from 730 to three
(27:46):
every day.
I mean, to me that's, that'stragic.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
You're so right.
And COVID did that.
Covid normalized the not beingpersonable with the teachers and
stuff.
And now you're right.
I, my son, went to a privatepreschool, so he was four,
attending a three, four program.
And uh, now he was old enoughto.
If I could have had him go tothe school down the road for the
(28:12):
full day and it would have beenpaid for by my taxes.
But he's four years old.
I'm thinking that's an awfulearly age to just go to school
with kids.
You know it's a small school sothey're all ages up to 12th
grade.
I mean, I don't think a fouryear old should whatever.
But it's crazy that now it'snot just.
It was half day kindergarten upto 12th grade when I went to
(28:34):
school, and now it's not onlyfull day kindergarten but full
day preschool and they mighthave some kinder care or some
sort of fun little name for it,but it's preschool, that's full
day is what it is, it's they're.
They're robbing you anotheryear.
And anyways, that my son was ata preschool at a church for two
or three days a week for acouple hours.
(28:55):
And after COVID they normalizedyou drop your kid off in the
parking lot and you drive offand you are not to go in.
And the other kickers were thatthey wanted you to bring a
healthy snack on your designatedsnack day, but they didn't want
you to make anything homemade.
They wanted you to get goldfishor something that had the
(29:17):
chemicals in it from a store.
Nothing homemade and juice.
They said bring juice.
And the really worst part aboutit was that they would put hand
sanitizer on the kids.
And I wrote a note in before heeven started.
I said he's not to have handsanitizer on him.
And they said well, is heallergic?
It's none of your business.
If he's allergic, I'm hisparent.
He's not allowed to have handsanitizer.
(29:38):
If his hands are dirty, go washthem.
And he, at four years old, toldme mom, they sanitize their eyes
.
If his hands are dirty, go washthem.
And he, at four years old, toldme mom, they're putting it on
me anyway and that I should havelike pulled him then.
But I said to him you go tellthem no, and he did.
They said to me oh, we're sosorry, we forgot about that.
But he told us he's not, is, ishe allergic?
Again they asked.
And it's like I think that'swhat really was the kicker for
(30:00):
me to start thinking abouthomeschooling, because it was
like the masking he was and wepulled him out of daycare when
they started masking kids.
But you're a parent and youhave no say what goes over their
face or injected into theirbody or saturated into their
skin.
So if they've removed me fromthat, what point do I have?
(30:21):
I'm just a shelter for them tosleep at at this point.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Absolutely.
They've taken control at thatpoint, yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
At four years old.
So what does the day look likeat your school?
How many days a week do thekids come in?
Two full days.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
So that's it, yep, two full days of classes, and
then we have a plethora of clubsand activities that are all
optional.
But a typical day would be amath class, and we actually just
started piloting this semesterlike very like intimate math
groups, so only like three orfour kids.
That way we really can achievethe most possible because we are
(30:58):
targeting exactly to the needsof those kids in a small group
of three or four.
And then a science class.
We have an awesome scienceteacher.
Right now.
My oldest kids are taking thehistory of science, so they're
blending.
You know, the history of thegreat, you know, like, where did
science even come from?
Oh well, it came from thegreats, and so they're reading
about Galileo and Newton.
(31:19):
And it's just, it's so cool.
And it's even cooler because Idon't have to teach it, and I
love to teach, I absolutely loveit.
But having to teach everythingto all of my kids is a lot.
So instead they get the greatbenefit of learning from my good
friend, sophie, who is teachingthem this course, who loves
this course, who has taught itbefore, who's an expert in it,
(31:41):
and I get the benefit of seeingthem participate in it and not
having to deliver the content,so it is an absolute win-win.
Then they would have lunch,where we don't even see them for
lunch.
They're outside, they'replaying football, they're hiking
through the woods in the back,they are making up a dance in
the front yard all the thingsthat they do.
On lunch they come back in andthey have two more classes, and
(32:04):
that might be an art class, itmight be poetry, it might be a
skills and careers class,something that is a little less
academic in the afternoon, alittle bit more extracurricular
or loose or interesting to thevast majority of kids.
So they have those classes andthen they come back and they do
it the very next day.
(32:24):
So we have it structured alittle bit differently.
Most programs that I've heard ofare Mondays and Wednesdays, or
their Tuesdays and Thursdays.
They have that day in between.
We're freedom lovinghomeschoolers that want to
travel and we love having thatfive day weekend every single
week.
So instead they come back thevery next day, on Tuesday, and
they're doing something similar.
They're taking four differentclasses and having those
(32:46):
experiences with other kids.
My kids get the benefit ofhaving classes with different
faces that are not just mom, andthey're taking classes with
kids maybe not exactly their ageand that's okay.
I love that for them.
And and then we have all of theextra clubs.
So even if the kids are not,even if your kids are not in our
(33:07):
program, we want as manyhomeschoolers as possible to
come see what we have going onand to benefit from the use of
this building.
So we have classes like ukuleleand piano and robotics and a
chess team things that bringother homeschoolers in that are
maybe not up for a whole day ofclasses, but they want to
(33:27):
experience those like one or twothings that they can get with
other peers, and so those arereally cool opportunities.
We have a PE class where I renta local gym just five doors
down from our building and it'san indoor baseball field, so we
have a PE teacher, I think.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
I met him today.
I didn't meet him.
He was talking to Kate at NinjaLab.
Jonathan.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
Yes, so we have Jonathan.
He is fantastic.
The kids love him and they getto play all of those things that
they would know, they wouldquote, unquote, miss if they
were in school.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
So they're playing the tug of war Sort of like.
This is what kickball isExactly.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Exactly, they're playing, you know, red Rover and
kickball.
And we have another PE teacher,ryan, and she has them with a
giant tug of war rope in the bigfield outside in the warm
months.
So just really greatexperiences with other kids that
are like-minded, that arefamily-centered, it's just, it
(34:23):
really is fantastic.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Oh, I love that.
Yeah, I can't wait to findwhere we fit in.
We're still kind of the like,wake up around nine, the kids
wake up around 9.30, 10.
I'm still I'm in that phasewhere you know how, like your
first year of homeschooling, youtry to replicate school and
everyone's screaming at eachother and you're like this is
not going to work.
And then now we're in thesecond year where we're like
we're just unschooling, we justyou wake up when you need to.
(34:48):
We'll get to a book at somepoint today.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
Yes, and then so maybe next year we're gonna be
like a little bit more like allright, this is life, we're gonna
start to have a routine, andthat's that's where I am.
I'm like just one step ahead ofyou in that whole progression,
because I I want to be able tojust read books and play games.
I'm a very big into gameschooling, so we do a lot of our
learning at home through gamesand activities together, and I
(35:14):
want the time to do that.
So I love the opportunity tooutsource a little bit.
When they do go to the spaceand take some of those academic
classes they have a literatureclass and you know writing, so
things like that that they canget those experiences while
they're there so that when theycome home we can just we can
read books and play games.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
And I love that.
I had a game schooler on thepodcast last week and, yeah,
this really intrigued me when Ihad first heard about game
schooling.
I'm like you got to tell memore because I didn't grow up in
like a game household so I onlyknew about like Scrabble and
Monopoly and maybe life.
I don't even remember how thatis played, but yeah, so people
have mentioned it on the podcastso I started looking into it
(35:52):
and bringing games out and, ohmy, my son loves playing games.
So it's like, yes, whether it'smancala with the little stones
or skippo or what's the new onewe got, um, there's one where
you roll the dice and you haveto like add up, so you're doing
math but you're doing a strategybecause you have to get down
the double shutter.
And then there's other ones thecooperative one, the race to
(36:15):
the treasure I don't there.
And there's so many.
I'm like, oh, I didn't realizethat so many games.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Maybe they always existed and my family just
didn't present them to me, but,um, yeah, it's a beautiful way
to learn, absolutely, and it's away for them to learn together,
which I love because, again,school would take my four kids
and separate them for themajority of their day, right?
So even though my oldest areonly 18 months apart, they'd be
two years apart in school, sothey would spend all day away
(36:42):
from each other and insteadthey're in some of the same
classes and some different atthe space.
And then they come home and wedo get to play cool games that
continue their learning, but weget to do it together.
We played a game yesterdaycalled made for trade and it's
set up like colonial America andyou're going through the town
to the blacksmith and to thecarpentry shop and all of these
(37:03):
different spots and you'retrying to collect these goods
and you have shillings andyou're paying your taxes and
it's just.
It was a great conversationpiece, but it was a game, so I
love that.
You know we were right now inthe middle of learning that time
period in our history at home,so it just blends beautifully
into what we're trying toaccomplish on the side of, you
(37:24):
know, learning and education,but also what we're trying to
accomplish on the family side ofbeing together and spending
that time laughing and playing.
So it just, it works.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Yeah, I love that you touched on in the beginning how
you were missing them.
You know, if your kids were inschool, you'd be missing the
moments where you see, liketheir aha moments, their
connections.
But we don't talk enough aboutthe siblings Like, yes, there
are a lot of times that they'reantagonizing each other and
yelling at each other andscreaming and fighting, but
(37:54):
there are so many times thatthey're just forming these
beautiful relationships thatthey otherwise would be.
My daughter would be in daycare, my son would be in school and
I would be in the cubicle and wewould not be like forming these
memories together, connectionstogether, inside jokes together,
games together.
It's really, it's a tragedywhen you think about, you know,
(38:17):
the normal society that this isnot going on and the breakdown
of the family unit.
I really think that that'sintentional.
But, yeah, it's beautiful.
These kids, they're the onlyones that are going to know in
life what it was like to grow upin that household and they have
that bond forever.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
They do, and we are because we're fostering it in
our own home with those siblingrelationships.
They are then taking it outsideof our house to the community
and to other families.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
Hey everyone, this is Cheryl.
I want to thank you so much forchecking out the podcast.
I'm going to keep this shortand sweet because I know your
time is valuable.
I want to ask you a seriousquestion Do your kids know what
to do to actually save theirlife in an emergency?
The most important thing we cantalk to our kids about is
knowing their first and lastname, knowing mom and dad's
first and last name, mom's phonenumber, dad's phone number,
(39:04):
their address, what to do ifthey get lost, what to do if
someone who's watching them hasa heart attack, a stroke, an
accident where they fall andyour child needs to get help.
We live in a world wherethere's no landline phones
anymore, basically, and cellphones lock.
Does your child know how tocall 911 from a locked cell
phone?
It is absolutely possible, andmy book demonstrates how to do
(39:27):
that, whether it's an Android,whether it's an iPhone and, most
importantly, it starts theconversation, because I was
going through homeschoolingcurriculum with my kids,
realizing that, gee, maybe theyskim over this stuff, but they
don't get into depth, so mychild's not going to remember
this should an accident occur,right?
I asked a couple of teacherswhat they do in school and they
(39:49):
said they really don't doanything either other than talk
about what to do in a fireduring the month of October fire
prevention month.
So I wrote a book because thisis near and dear to my heart.
I have had multiple friends thathave lost kids in tragedies and
I don't wanna see it happenagain if it doesn't have to.
We were at the fair over thesummer and the first thing I
said to my son when we walkedthrough that gate was what's my
(40:11):
first and last name?
What is your first and lastname?
And was what's my first andlast name?
What is your first and lastname and what is my phone number
?
And if you get lost, what areyou going to do?
You can get my book on Amazonand I will put the link in my
show's description Again, it'scalled let's Talk Emergencies
and I really hope you'll checkit out because there's just no
need to be scared when you canchoose prepared.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
So my, my nine-year-old is not playing
with a few of his friends andsuddenly irritated or annoyed by
this little one that is tryingto play.
And that's what happensoftentimes when we are with
other friends that don't havemaybe as much of a connection
with the siblings, where all ofa sudden the little ones are the
annoyances or the pests.
(40:53):
Little ones are the annoyancesor the pests, and instead I have
my nine-year-olds seeing a fouror five-year-old that wants to
play.
That completely gets it fromdealing with his sister who's
trying to go ahead and bringingthe child into the game or doing
a quick little lesson to havethem feel included.
So it's those moments where I'mlike, okay, this is why we do
it.
And, similarly, because they'rein the world, because we're
(41:15):
actually living andparticipating in the world on a
daily basis as homeschoolers,and they are not sitting with
only their exactly same agepeers all day.
My kids are pleasant andrespectful and comfortable with
people of all ages and that'sreally cool also, so they're not
bothered by the little siblingsthat are around, but just as
(41:38):
wonderful, they're also ready tohave a conversation with
somebody much older than thembecause they are, you know,
living, interacting with them.
We just went to a you can brew.
It was an event at a localbrewery where it was kind of
like a karaoke night, butinstead there were ukulele
players that were all playingwith the chords up on a big
(41:58):
screen.
And we're sitting next to MrRoger, who was a 70-year-old
ukulele player, and Ryan ischatting it up about different
chords and how he's just startedlearning this year.
I just those experiences whereI don't know that he would be
that comfortable if I had himthe majority of his week sitting
(42:20):
with only nine-year-olds Right,and so I just love that.
I love those moments where I'mlike you know, I think I think
this is because of the choiceswe've made to homeschool and to
have those experiences withpeople of all ages all day long.
Speaker 1 (42:35):
Oh, you're so right and sure, there's the occasional
kid that no matter where he isall day, he's going to be a
talker to people.
You know there's so many, mysister's three, they're.
They're so quiet and introvertand I'm sure they're not with
their friends but they are witheven me as their aunt, and you
know, just, they're just quieter, not like striking up the
conversation, like my son I'llsee him strike up a conversation
(43:00):
with many adults.
It actually it takes someadults like.
It takes them off guard.
They're like well, oh, you gotmore to say, yeah, it's so true,
and it's been so part of likewitnessing our kids kind of go
through this, these friendshipexperiences, experiences too, is
interesting, because if theywere at school all day, we
wouldn't be able to see likewhere maybe they didn't handle a
(43:23):
situation just right.
Or and and I get it, you can'tbe like the helicopter parent,
but you can at least go laterand talk to your kid about hey,
you know I really didn't likehow you talked to that kid or
that response wasn't right.
Or you know I really didn'tlike how you talked to that kid
or that response wasn't right,or you know you were kind of
mean here or that person wasmean to you.
This is how you could do itdifferently next time.
And I think you know teachersthey just don't have.
(43:45):
Even the best teacher is notgoing to have the time to watch
every interaction and correctthem.
They're not.
They're not the parent, they'rethere to teach.
So that's a really beautifulpart about homeschooling too,
and I've kind of had this, Iguess, struggle or hurdle the
last year or two, because my sonhe does tend to be the younger
one in a lot of situations withthe homeschoolers that we're
(44:06):
around, or just his personality.
Maybe he's like greatone-on-one with a kid, but in a
group he likes to be the leader.
So he'll either gravitatetowards the young ones or
completely leave himself out.
And I don't know if it bothershim or it just bothers me,
because I'm like the parent andI'm like, oh no, he's left out,
oh my God, and he doesn't reallycare.
(44:28):
He does, I don't know, but it's.
It's been really cool to see theprogression, because as you
continue to hang out with youknow this family or that family
or this group or that group, Isee that he is evolving Like I
had nothing to worry about inthe beginning.
You know when I was feelinglike he's left out, the poor kid
.
You know, I've seen him saylike, well, this is my best
friend now.
And oh well, this is my bestfriend.
(44:50):
He said he's I'm not his bestfriend, so I'm going to choose
this guy.
And you know, it allows us tohave the conversations like hey,
listen, you know your family isyour best friend.
You're going to have friendsthat are real close to you
during certain seasons, like,for instance, you and Gabriel
love to fish.
So when it's nice out he'sprobably going to be one of your
closest friends.
But maybe in the winter timeyou don't see him as much
(45:11):
because your interests aredifferent.
And you know, just kind ofexplaining to him that that's
like how life works.
And you know, as a grownup it'snot like, you know, I, we have a
lot of close friends and so Idon't know, that's just been a
really cool thing to see and andjust to see them evolve from
this little like oh, I need to Idon't know be the one in charge
(45:31):
to.
Well, wait, maybe, maybe Icould learn something from these
older kids and then the olderkids being like oh yeah, well,
sure, colin's a little bityounger than us, but he's pretty
cool.
He's been hanging out for likea year or two now.
Let's bring him on in.
He's one of us, so it's.
It's fun to be the parent andlike watch that.
Speaker 2 (45:54):
It is and they get the benefit of also benefit,
hopefully, of watching us do thesame thing.
Right, because we can be thereto model with our own friends
and with our own relationshipsand they get to see kind of what
that looks like, you know, overtime.
Like, yeah, maybe I'm not superclose with this person right
now, but we have, we haveexperiences and we have a past
and we can maybe, you know, hopback into it.
So just being able to, in thereverse, have them watch us do
that on a day-to-day basis isreally cool.
Speaker 1 (46:16):
All right, as we round out, what is your takeaway
to like any, first of all, any,person that thinks could I
start like a micro school in myarea.
How hard is it to start that.
Speaker 2 (46:26):
Well, I would say well, you can do it, anybody can
do it.
Absolutely I'm not doinganything super crazy.
Absolutely I'm not doinganything super crazy.
I would say the number onething that sets what we have
apart from most of thehomeschool programs that we have
here in this area and also thatI've just seen, you know, from
friends across the country, isthe building, and it doesn't
seem like that should matter somuch, but just my experience in
(46:50):
like through this process so faris the building just adds so
much to what we're trying toaccomplish.
We were involved in a number ofreally great, you know, co-ops
and homeschool programs in thepast, but they all had one thing
in common and they were all ina church basement.
And so what you had is you hada lot of parent teachers having
to, you know, bring in bags uponbags back and forth to teach
(47:13):
their class and take them backhome, and you had some really
cool art projects or crafts thatthe kids did that immediately
went into a bag because you hadto bring it home.
A lot of stress and anxiety atthe end of each day, cleaning
and making sure everything isexactly where it was, because
the space is borrowed, it's nottheirs.
And what we really wanted to dohere, and what I would
encourage, you know, anylisteners who are trying to
(47:34):
start their own thing is aimtowards having your own space
and have a space where the kidscan put the art right on the
walls, where they walk in andthey throw their backpack on the
hook because it feels liketheirs, where they have, you
know, their favorite cushion onthe floor for, you know, circle
music time.
If they're little, you know,make it feel like it is theirs
and they have that ownership oftheir learning environment,
(47:57):
because it really is supposed tobe an extension of your home.
Right, we're stillhomeschooling, but we're doing
it together.
So, if they feel thattogetherness, which really helps
if you build the space aroundthat, so I would say, just as a
takeaway in any way that istrying to do this, yes, it may
be a starting point to start,you know, in your garage with a
couple of friends or at a localchurch or community center, and
(48:20):
I think that is great to startbuilding the community and
coming up with kind of thephilosophy of what you want this
to be long term.
But then go for your own space,give those kids a place where
they can come outside of theirhouse but come together.
We have we have a mascot, so wehave sweatshirts and sweatpants
and t-shirts, you know, withthe Jaguars on it and you know.
(48:41):
So it feels very, very togetherand very the fun parts of
school.
We get to have hat day and weget to have field day.
We get to have all of thosethings where the kids get to
come together in their ownenvironment and and have and
have those fun times.
So that would be my mainencouragement would be you know,
don't, don't sleep onopportunities to have your own
(49:06):
space for a homeschool communitythat is huge.
Speaker 1 (49:10):
That, as you're saying it it does, it does make
a big.
I've been in the churchbasements and, sorry, trying to
make globe ornaments and it'snot working in the church
basement all the time, but we'rethankful to have them.
Um, I love that.
So I'm going to link yourwebsite just in the show's
description so that people cancheck it out.
(49:30):
Even if they are not local tous, they could still look at it
to get ideas to maybe startsomething like this in their
communities.
And who knows, maybe you'lleven write a template on how to
do this and start selling.
Yeah, hey, this is how I did it.
You can do it too.
And there you go.
There's your next businessendeavor.
So perfect, lindsay, thank youso much for joining me today and
(49:53):
for all of the work that you do.
We didn't even touch upon your.
You have a once a yearentrepreneur sort of like
program that you do in August,that it's always landed on the
week that we're in Maine, butcould you want to talk about
that just briefly?
Speaker 2 (50:08):
Sure, we do an entrepreneurship fair for kids
once a year.
We're actually moving it to twotimes a year, this time around,
yes, so you'll be able toparticipate, which will be
really awesome.
But we have all these kids whohave these little business ideas
and maybe they want to makecandles, or maybe they love
baking cookies, and we give themthe opportunity to sell in a
(50:28):
farmer's market style.
We partner with the localfarmer's market and use some of
their space we have.
You know, over the first yearwe did it, we had 23 kids and
last year we had 129.
So it has really grownincredibly.
But it's so awesome, it's sogreat to see them work through
the whole process.
You know what do I need to,what materials do I need to buy.
(50:49):
You know how much money am Imaking.
You know what kind of productsells, because maybe what you
choose to sell the first yearwas a little bit of a bomb.
So you know, being able toadjust and rework your, your
business plan, even at the ageof seven or nine, is really
awesome.
And then it has taken.
These kids have actually gone tothe next step.
So at the space we have a cafefor parents to be able to get
(51:12):
work done while their kids arein classes and we have our
coffee and tea bar is all.
All of our teas are handmadeand grown and dried from one of
the students or one of the kidswho did the entrepreneur fair
three years ago.
So I go ahead and put in myorder every month and he comes
and delivers our tea.
So it's turned into an actualbusiness for him and I'm just
(51:34):
one of his customers now.
So it's been so awesome to seeI want his tea, so it's turned
into an actual business for himand I'm just one of his
customers now.
So it's been so awesome to see.
Speaker 1 (51:39):
I want his tea.
Yeah, it's so good, I don'twant to get the brand from
Hannaford anymore.
I want, yes.
Oh my God, that's amazing.
I love it.
You were doing amazing things.
Your kids are going to doamazing things too, and your
students.
Thank you so much.
I'm going to link everything inthe show's description and I
will be seeing you soon becauseI'm going to get there.
Speaker 2 (51:55):
We're going to get a routine going here, all right,
thank you so much, cheryl.
This was so fun.
Speaker 1 (52:04):
Thank you, lindsay.
Thank you for tuning into thisweek's episode of the Homeschool
how To.
If you've enjoyed what youheard and you'd like to
contribute to the show, pleaseconsider leaving a small tip
using the link in my show'sdescription.
Or, if you'd rather, please usethe link in the description to
share this podcast with a friendor on your favorite homeschool
group Facebook page.
Any effort to help us keep thepodcast going is greatly
(52:25):
appreciated.
Thank you.
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