September 13, 2025 • 47 mins
What happens when you throw out rigid timelines and arbitrary benchmarks, allowing children to learn at their own pace in ways that honor their unique personalities? Kristi's 11-year homeschooling journey with her three daughters reveals the transformative power of personalized education.
When her introverted third-grader with learning difficulties asked to homeschool, Kristi—despite having no prior knowledge of homeschooling—took the leap. Within two years, she brought all three daughters home, discovering that the full benefits came when the entire family shared the same educational approach. This shift opened extraordinary possibilities: four-day school weeks, regular RV camping trips, skiing adventures that started on Thursdays, and meaningful participation in the family's citrus farm.
Most remarkably, Kristi's approach to her oldest daughter's learning challenges demonstrates the power of patience and personalization. Working "one to two years behind typical grade level for a very long time" and even repeating ninth grade at the student's request, this daughter eventually caught up naturally. By age 15-16, professional assessments showed she qualified for no learning disorders whatsoever. Today, she attends Concordia University with a substantial academic scholarship.
Interest-led learning transformed their homeschool experience. When a child loved horses, they studied equine science for a year. When another was fascinated by birds, they created habitats around their home that now attract unique species their neighbors don't have. Their youngest daughter's inexplicable passion for the Beatles as a preschooler evolved into studying 60s history in ninth grade. As Kristi explains, "I think you get some passionate, extraordinary individuals by really customizing and letting them be interest-led in everything they do."
Considering homeschooling? Kristi's advice is refreshingly simple: "Homeschool should and can look different in every single household." You can always return to conventional schooling if needed—they'll take you back.
Kristi's Instagram
'Homeschooled' the movie: WHERE TO WATCH: https://homeschooledthemovie.com/where-to-watch
Curriculum discussed: Teaching Textbooks, Moving Beyond the Page, Apologia, IEW, Amal Unbound, Rutus Apetis, Alan Gratz, Under the Painted Sky
Cheryl's Guide to Homeschooling: Check out The Homeschool How To Complete Starter Guide- Cheryl's eBook compiling everything she's learned from her interviews on The Homeschool How To Podcast.
👉 15% off Tuttle Twins books with code Cheryl15
What is the most important thing we can teach our kids?
HOW TO HANDLE AN EMERGENCY!
Help a child you know navigate how to handle an emergency situation with ease: Let's Talk, Emergencies!
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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.
You're making me feel very um,I just ate dinner like slacking
a little bit.
I was doing a littleintermittent fasting last week
(00:48):
and then I gave up.
I want to get back into it.
But give me some inspiration,christy, oh well.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
I'm just uh, I turned 50 this year and I'm just
trying to stay mobile andflexible.
So I'm headed to a newstretching and conditioning like
inversion class tonight.
So we'll see.
We'll see how that goes, so tryto slide things in where I can.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Yeah, you know it's hard because I feel like at some
aspects I'm like all right,we're going to be so healthy and
eat organic and no alcohol andwe're going to get our exercise
in, get the sweating in, do theintermittent fasting and then
the next breath.
I'm like they're just trying tokill us from every aspect.
I give up.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah, for sure, for sure.
You can't sweat everything.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
That is absolutely the case, but yeah, I'll be.
Uh, today is my half birthday.
So I'm like, oh my God, in sixmonths I'll be 42.
So I'm like where.
I'm like, yeah, we really haveto start thinking about, like,
the cell regeneration, which iswhy I was doing the intermittent
fasting for the autophagy.
Okay, yep, so that, like, isyour body's own mechanism to
(01:53):
repair cells.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Yeah, you're either working on your illness or your
wellness, so it's much more funto be proactive.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
That's for sure I love that.
Oh, my God, I love that.
Okay, so you're a homeschoolingmom?
Yes, have been for 11 years.
What made you now you lookcompletely normal?
So, because the people justthink of homeschoolers and this
was me before I startedinterviewing them.
Like you've got to be likeAmish sewing your clothes you
(02:19):
know, so tell me, how did youget into homeschooling?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Well, I have three daughters and my oldest at the
time was in third grade and theywere at a private Christian
school and, you know, everythingwas good.
Never knew anything abouthomeschooling growing up, didn't
know any homeschoolers, knewnothing about it.
My third grader started askingto homeschool because it was,
you know, in growing popularityat that time.
So that was you know, mid,early 2010s and I was like, what
(02:47):
are you talking about?
Well, she was very introvertedand had some learning
difficulties, so that justcreated a lot of stress for her
going to school, even though shewas in a very loving,
supportive environment.
So I'm like, really.
So I started researching it andlooking at best practices in
education and also she neededsome supportive services, but
(03:08):
private schools typically don'tprovide those.
So they were suggesting, okay,well, you know, you can get them
through your school district.
So, and then the schooldistrict said, oh well, you
should probably send her topublic school.
And I just wasn't wild aboutthat at the time.
I'm like, if she's nervous in aloving, small, private
(03:30):
Christian school, homeschoolenvironment, sending her to
public school, where there's alot more kids and all that kind
of stuff, probably wasn't goingto help her.
It would have felt more like apunishment, in a sense, sending
her to a different school.
So I said, okay, fine, let'sgive it a try.
And so for fourth grade westarted homeschooling and within
two years I brought home theother two, because I just
realized that to get the fullbenefit you really need the
whole family on the same program, if possible.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
You know, and I've never heard anyone worded that
way.
That's cool.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
How come Just having everyone on the same schedule.
It's because I was stilldealing with school schedules
and still having to drive backand forth and all that kind of
stuff Once we brought everyonehome.
Step one was we didn't doFriday school at all till
probably high school, so schoolwent down to four days a week.
We are a family that had amotor home prior to
(04:17):
homeschooling.
We do desert camping, we doroad trips, things of that
nature, so we were able toreally expand on that.
We got ski passes for MammothMountain Resort in Central
California, so then we wouldleave for skiing Thursday
morning several times a winterand we would actually camp in
our RV and then ski for theweekend and come home Sunday
(04:39):
night, monday if we wanted to.
So we really embraced it.
We also live on a hobby citrusfarm and I say hobby because
it's not like our primary, youknow, income source.
So our kids were able toparticipate in some of the
harvesting things of that nature.
So we made the most of it inevery sense of the word.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
I love.
It All right.
So you've got three girls, andwhat are their ages?
Speaker 2 (05:01):
now, right, now they're 19.
And then I have two birthdaysthis month, so there'll be 17
and 14.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Okay, so you're like at the end of the road for the
older girls.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
So how did?
Speaker 1 (05:13):
that go?
How did the high school yearsgo?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
So the oldest one homeschooled all the way through
, had no um regrets, neverlooked back, never second
guessed her choice, and she wasalways very, very slow to warm
up.
So we did.
It was great because I was ableto just adjust to her level,
because kids just need to be alittle bit challenged.
The grade level is irrelevantand I'll tell you why.
(05:36):
With her, she worked about oneto two years behind typical
grade level for a very long timeIn fact.
Once we got to ninth grade sheinsisted on doing ninth grade
twice and I just was like Lila,you can handle this, but I just
let her do it because that'swhat she was comfortable with.
And so we did that and thenfast forward.
(05:56):
By the way, I did some servicesthrough the school district for
about a year, year and a half,with her reading issues and then
we just kind of dropped it andit all worked itself out.
So right around the time shewas 15 or 16, I got her
reassessed privately.
I just paid two differentsources to assess her for any
(06:17):
kind of disorders, if you will,and she qualified for nothing,
which would tell me that workingat a child's appropriate pace
and helping them to regulatetheir nervous system and really
working with their personalityis what they need instead of all
these labels and interventions.
I mean sometimes they need that.
(06:37):
But for her it worked out great.
She started doing dualenrollment at a private
university as a high schooler.
She finished a handful ofclasses and then she went into
Concordia University in SouthernCalifornia with a big academic
scholarship as a full-timehomeschooler with a private
school affidavit Like we'refully off the radar.
(06:58):
We aren't part of a charterschool or anything like that.
So she's now going into hersophomore year of college doing
excellent.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
So okay, how did you get everything together for her
quote unquote like graduation?
Were you the one that filledout her diploma or did that have
to go through a state source?
How did you make sure that shehad all of the prerequisites?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
They're basically, if if the question is in regards
to college, some colleges aremore homeschool friendly than
others, so just do your researchand figure out who is.
I made the transcripts I mean,I got some help, but there's
nothing super fancy about themfor her college application and
it was no big deal there.
Honestly, we never even did adiploma there isn't one.
(07:42):
But there was a local privateschool satellite program that
did a graduation and she justparticipated with them because
we got a social membership soshe could go to their prom and
that kind of thing.
So she got the ceremony andthat for graduation.
So you know, we looselyfollowed what is a standard, if
(08:07):
you will, but California hasthis A to G requirement thing.
We didn't do any of that.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Well, and I'm in New York, so we are equally like
crazy, yeah, got it, yeah, it'sequally crazy.
Yes, absolutely.
We got rid of Cuomo and then wegot like Cuomo's like worst
nightmare.
Yeah, yeah, no, but I love thatand I love that you said that,
because parents are, how arethey ever going to get into
college?
Like they're so worried andpart of it is too like, if
(08:33):
you're stepping out of thesystem, do you want them to go
to college?
Like why, if your kid reallyhas a dream of being something
that needs a college degree,yeah, but I think it's that Did
you ever take that step with herand say do we want to go to
college?
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Okay and I agree with you 100% on everything you're
saying.
But for our situation Icustomized everything to her and
really and I mean this in thenicest way possible but she was
very coddled all the way throughschool.
Nothing was hard.
Well, in terms of like scaryand really stretching out of her
comfort zone, we participatedin a homeschool co-op.
That is local, that's K through12th grade, so we went to
(09:14):
classes one day a week so shegot, you know, some of that
school experience there.
But there was probably about 15kids per grade level, maybe 20.
So it wasn't huge, verymanageable, and we had a lot of
positive experiences there.
But a big part of me, once Istarted homeschooling and
brought all the kids in, I waslike okay, what do I want to do
(09:35):
here?
And for me, managing money,work ethic, good mental health
these are foundational.
I don't really care what yourlevel of education is.
So we worked a lot on that, butin that I wanted my kids
working.
Well, she had the opportunityas a 15 year old to start
working at my husband's officeand he has a small light
(09:55):
manufacturing firm like 10minutes away.
So she started working in theoffice there as a 15 year old,
and then I had her startinvesting so she understands how
to manage money.
She's got a Roth IRA, she's gota taxable account for a down
payment on a house whenevershe's ready to buy one, that
kind of thing.
So then she decided I want towork here forever, so I'm just
(10:17):
going to work full time and notgo to college.
Well, we had a 529 account andI'm like everything's been very
coddled and easy.
Now you didn't have to applyfor a job.
You're going to go to college.
You're not going to get anexecutive level position without
the credentials to back it up.
Yes, does college have limitedvalue?
Certainly.
Is some of it a disaster?
Absolutely.
Is it necessary?
(10:38):
No, but for her, I wanted herto get some education that was
separate from the home, separatefrom our little co op, and
since the funds were there andshe got this big scholarship,
great.
So that's why, for hersituation, we're sending her.
So her entire undergrad collegeis 1800 students.
So it's very small, it's verypersonal, it's more of a
(11:02):
conservative place, so so it's agood fit for her.
So that's a good fit for her.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
So that's why we chose for her situation and I
think what it breaks down to isintention, like why are we doing
it?
Have you thought about yourreasons for why you're pushing
your child to college?
Is it just because you want tomake it look nice to the
neighbors that, yes, I was asuccessful homeschool mom, my
kid got into college Right, orwe think that makes them
(11:26):
successful?
Or is it that they really want?
Is it going to benefit them insome way?
Speaker 2 (11:30):
And I think that's totally something that we all
need to think about Because Iwent to college, because I was
just like I don't want to be aloser, but like I still ended up
like someone miserable behind acubicle Totally and so many
people end up not working in afield that has anything to do
with their education, and mybiggest thing is I don't want
anyone going into debt over it,so I would never, ever advocate
(11:53):
for that.
I actually, in my homeschoolingcareer, ended up creating a
class for high schoolhomeschoolers called Foundations
for Success, and so that's beenvery popular.
On what do you actually need tolearn to be a successful
independent adult so that'ssomething that came out of my
homeschool experience and sothat's been very popular and I'm
(12:14):
gearing up for this will beschool year five, teaching it
right now.
So we talk about stressmanagement and nutrition,
nervous system regulation,organization, time management,
best practices in relationship,career hobbies, just being
intentional about things,thinking about it, finances,
really basics on investing,being connected in your
(12:36):
community, what that means.
What does spirituality mean?
How does it fit with everything?
And it's been.
I've had a lot of greatfeedback.
In fact, I've had a lot of kidsrepeat the class voluntarily.
They said it's the best classthey've ever had.
So 50% of my students this fallare returning students, so
that's fun.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
So is that something we can link in the show's
description that anyone couldtake?
Speaker 2 (12:58):
I haven't done that yet, but people have talked to
have said, hey, are you going torecord it and sell it?
But I people have talked tohave said, hey, are you going to
record it and sell it?
Are you going to offer it liveonline?
I haven't done it yet, but youknow that's something that I
might do.
Um, I guess, uh, I mean myInstagram's public.
They could always look me upand, um, you know, dm me if
somebody wanted more information, something like that We'll put
(13:19):
your Instagram in the show'sdescription so people can find
that.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
So that's really cool in the show's description, so
people can find that.
So that's really cool.
So, okay, now, you also justrecently participated in, like,
the production of a movie, rightyes, about homeschooling.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Yes, I got a random DM a couple of years ago and
this producer said, hey, youknow, we're doing a documentary
on homeschooling and just wantto bring some awareness to it.
And was it Kirk Cameron?
No, no, it was K factor filmsis the production company.
And so you know, at firstyou're like, is this a scam or
(13:54):
whatever?
Right, I said, well, you know.
I said my middle kid might beinterested, super outgoing.
So when I brought her home tohomeschool she was a very
accelerated student, veryoutgoing.
So what worked out great forher is I moved her up a grade
level immediately and she feltso proud of herself and
motivated and so excited thatyou know.
(14:15):
So that worked out.
So that kid.
I said, hey, do you want to tryto do this audition?
So she did it, and then she gotto the second round, and then
she got to the third round.
Then they want to do a familyaudition on Zoom.
Okay, so we did that.
And then we heard she got thepart, because they followed I
think it was going to be fourstudents and just kind of tell
about their lives and they said,ok, well, the whole family has
(14:38):
to be in it, pardon me.
So I was like, are you kiddingme?
So they did it.
So it was really neat.
It was actually a really funexperience.
They filmed in our house forprobably about three full days.
They followed us to ourhomeschool co-op.
They followed me in theclassroom a little bit and it
wasn't exactly what I envisionedit.
When you say documentary andhomeschooling, I'm thinking it's
(14:58):
like this educational how-toand all the different ways.
It wasn't that at all.
They made it really fun andcute and more like a little one
episode reality.
But it was great.
It was really really fun andneat experience.
And then they took, we went toBeverly Hills and they filmed
they had through a prom.
That was the whole end of it.
It's like homeschoolers don'tget a prom, so we're going to
(15:20):
throw them a prom.
So we had this whole prom onthis rooftop and Beverly Hills
and it was.
It was pretty magical.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
So, yeah, that was so funny that you say that,
because I don't hear that a lotpeople talking about the prom
thing.
But in my first episode sowe're at like 130 something now.
My first episode I was like I'mreally fearful that my kids
will resent me for not having aprom, thinking about
homeschooling but don't knowwhere to start.
Well, I've interviewed a fewpeople on the topic Actually 120
(15:48):
interviews at this point withhomeschooling families from
across the country and the world.
120 interviews at this pointwith homeschooling families from
across the country and theworld and what I've done is I've
packed everything I've learnedinto an ebook called the
Homeschool how to CompleteStarter Guide.
From navigating your state'slaws to finding your
homeschooling style, fromworking while homeschooling to
supporting kids with specialneeds, this guide covers it all,
with real stories from realfamilies who've walked this path
(16:10):
.
I've taken the best insights,the best resources and put them
all walked this path.
I've taken the best insights,the best resources and put them
all into this guide.
Stop feeling overwhelmed andstart feeling confident.
Get your copy of the HomeschoolHow-To Complete Starter Guide
today and discover thathomeschooling isn't just about
education.
It's about getting what youwant out of each day, not what
somebody else wants out of you.
You can grab the link to thise-book in the show's description
(16:31):
or head on over to thehomeschool how tocom and the
football games like thattraditional experience and no
one really brings that up toomuch and I'll try to bring it up
to people.
But you saying it like it is areal fear because that's what we
knew as quote unquote normalcyand some kids don't want it and
they don't care anymore.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
So there's that.
But also it's very easy tothrow one together, honestly.
I mean, if you're in a town ofI don't know, probably at least
a thousand people, which mostpeople are they're close to a
town with a thousand or 10,000people throw a homeschool prom,
right, it's not too hard.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
I never thought of that before.
And because it's almost likeyou, don't you think you'd be
the only one homeschoolingbefore you start doing it.
And then you start doing it andyou're like oh my god, you
people are everywhere.
You're like cockroaches.
Yes, out of the wall, totallyyes.
You can just spot each otherbecause you're like you're not
using plastic.
You must be a homeschooler,right?
Speaker 2 (17:24):
exactly like super granola you must be whatever, or
a total fundamental, likeextremist and your ideas, or
whatever, and we are none of theabove on that, so that's so
cool.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Did the movie come out yet?
Speaker 2 (17:37):
yes, the movie was released june 1st and it's on
amazon prime video, maybe otherstreaming services, but I know
it's on amazon for sure.
It's simply called homeschooledand it's adorable.
So so and it profiles, like, Ithink, four different
homeschoolers that all are fromCalifornia, but a very different
stories.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
So I love that Cause I was looking for something like
that before I got started.
I found something, but it waslike overseas or maybe it was
just about traditional schoolingand like how the differences
between America and China orwhatever Got it.
So I would.
But I was looking for exactlythat because I'm like
homeschooling sounds soterrifying.
(18:18):
What is a day in the life looklike, and I was looking for a
movie just like that, so I willlink that in the show's
description so that people cancheck that out, and I'm going to
check it out too.
So that's so cool, all right.
So you have the 14 year old.
14 year old Now.
Actually, I was going to askyou this how did it go with
skipping the grade for yourmiddle child?
Because, like, how did you knowthat that was the right move to
make and are we going to missanything?
(18:38):
Or did you just speed throughthe grade that you were skipping
, like were you afraid that youwere going to miss a fundamental
step?
Speaker 2 (18:44):
No, because everything really everything's
on repeat, every single thing'son repeat.
You're kind of doing the samethings every year.
I mean, maybe your history is adifferent topic or whatever,
but when you're talking aboutyour basics of ELA and math it's
just everything's a spiralrepeat.
So I wasn't concerned aboutthat and the confidence boost
(19:04):
for her was really fun and shejust embraced the challenge.
So you really need to look atyour students individually and
kind of don't worry aboutanything, because I mean, think
about, if I was worried abouttrying to catch my oldest up to
some arbitrary timeline, I wouldhave stressed her out, I would
have stressed myself out.
(19:25):
Every day would have beenupsetting.
And she ended up doing collegeclasses by her junior year of
high school and was completelyfine.
But what's the hurry?
Why?
You know they all walk and talkand do all these other things
at a little bit of a differenttime.
So the idea that they need tobe at this certain spot by
halfway through third grade isdumb.
So I know they need benchmarksand regular school to try to
(19:47):
make sure everybody is kind ofon track.
But just, I would just encouragepeople to really give
themselves grace and and my kidwas very anxious when she came
home, that older one, and sheloved horses, so we started our
day with horseback ridinglessons.
I want to say it was two orthree days a week, so she would
spend two, three hours at theranch, then come home after her
(20:10):
sunshine, her outdoors and allthat kind of stuff.
Then we would do school, andshe also was kind of scattered
at the time, so instead of liketrying to shove a lid down on a
pot of boiling water, I wouldset up stations.
So math was set up here andscience was set up here and ELA
was set up here, and so if youneed a break, then we just moved
to a different topic.
(20:30):
So we just worked within theparameters of their personality.
So that's what you kind of getto learn, and every year has
kind of looked different, basedon what they needed.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Okay, and now did you have to leave a job or career
to stay home with the kids inhomeschool?
Speaker 2 (20:47):
No, I do some, I manage our own.
We've got some properties, somehouses, so I managed that and I
was at when I first startedhomeschooling I still had a
three-year-old, so I was.
I'm a licensed therapist byprofession and I had left that
profession when my kids werelittle and so I just put that on
hold for the last 11 years andI just renewed my license last
(21:08):
year and went back into privatepractice this calendar year,
part-time, so cause you knowthey're older now, but so no, it
was okay, it worked out fine,oh yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
And then all right, so you have all the girls.
How, how did you make it Likeyou said?
You went to the ranch so thatyour oldest could horseback ride
.
What were the other two doing?
Like, did you have to be at theranch with her, could you like?
How did your day?
No, I could drop her off.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
It was tough at first , but remember that first year I
just had the one and then ittook me two years until I had
them all together.
But when I had them alltogether and you know they're
that younger grade school agewhere it's more difficult
there's a university down thestreet and so I went on carecom.
I searched by that universityspecifically and I looked for a
(21:53):
college student who just hadwhatever.
Give me a couple of hours threedays a week, and so every year
for probably three, four years,I had a college student come in
a few hours and I wouldinterview them and say what are
you good at, what do you love?
So we had one that was veryathletic, and we had another one
who liked to cook and anotherone who was whatever, and so I
would just.
We had another one who liked tocook and another one who was
whatever, and so I would justdelegate them to work with one
(22:15):
of the kids for that couplehours, so we would otherwise
someone's kind of just waiting.
So that worked out really,really well.
Now, if somebody didn't have theresources to pay, you know, an
extra, I don't know.
I think I was paying $15 anhour, if that's not a reality, I
would look for an olderhomeschool kid in the community
because they are usuallywonderful.
So I'd look for a high schoolstudent and create that same
(22:39):
kind of scenario, because thekids love the one-on-one time
and, trust me, I wasn't evergetting a break.
I just felt like you know lessspread thin if you will.
So that was really helpful.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Yeah, and that's a great idea, and I've said that
about parents that even are likeI can't because I work and it's
like, okay, are there olderkids that are homeschooling in
the?
Area that could come in thatwould be like an internship for
them or a job for them, reallygood experience.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
And school doesn't have to happen between eight and
five.
School can happen in theevening.
There's so many things andschool doesn't take that much
time.
I mean honestly, in any pointin the 11 years, if we spent
more than four hours a dayhomeschooling like actual
academics, there wasn't thatmany days, because once you
really pare it down to whatyou're doing, it's very
(23:27):
efficient.
It's very efficient, so can I?
Talk about curriculums or no?
Speaker 1 (23:31):
I was just going to ask you what kind of curriculum
were you using?
Speaker 2 (23:33):
For example, we I early on I found teaching
textbooks absolutely love it formath just excellent, and I
would, generally speaking, youprobably want to work about a
year above grade level.
You don't have to, but we kindof found that to be the sweet
spot for us.
But teaching textbooks is greatbecause the kids can work
independently.
(23:54):
So what we did for that againto be paced appropriately, I
would, on the first day ofschool, each kid would go to the
first test and if they scoredat least an 85%, then day two
we'd go to the next test andthen the next test and then,
wherever they ended up, I would.
When they didn't score goodenough, I'd bring them back
those five lessons and that'swhere we'd start Instead of
(24:16):
starting at lesson one, wesometimes they'd start at lesson
20.
Sometimes it's 15, whatever.
But start them where they'renot bored.
It's not just busy work.
We're not homeschooling forbusy work.
So teaching textbooks visuallyand audibly shows the whole
lesson and then with eachproblem you enter the answer.
If it's wrong you get a secondchance, and if it's still wrong
(24:40):
it explains the whole problem toyou.
It's brilliant.
So and then when my kids didn'tscore at least 80% on a math
lesson, I'd go back and I'ddelete all the ones they got
wrong so they'd be able to do itagain.
But that's a simple independentdo on your own.
So I would just tell them howmany math lessons they needed to
do a week.
So then they learned their owntime management of do they want
(25:02):
to do it all in one day?
Do they want to do one a day?
However, that worked.
So that's like a simple thingfor math.
We loved moving beyond the pagewhen they were in elementary.
That was like a literaturespine, loved it.
So, for example, like, let'ssay so, they had two sets of
worksheets for each book, so myolder kid could do the harder
(25:24):
ones and the younger kid coulddo the little bit easier ones
and it just was very open and goso your language arts, and then
it would either be paired withmath or science, depending on
the book.
So if it your language arts,and then it would either be
paired with math or science,depending on the book.
So if it was Charlotte's Web,then it would be paired with
science for that unit, and soyou'd get your science done and
it related right to the.
Maybe it was spiders or pigs orfarm life, whatever.
(25:45):
So we loved that.
That was made it fun.
And then if there was a book wedidn't like, we just skipped
that book and it fun.
And then if there was a book wedidn't like, we just skip that
book and you know, just don'tread things you hate.
There's too, there's too manygood literature books out there.
I love that.
So that was that was good.
We loved Apologia for Science,which is it's a Christian
curriculum, so that's not goingto appeal to everyone, but they
(26:06):
just they do an absolutelybeautiful job for elementary
Love that a lot.
My kids took IEW classes forwriting at our co-op Institute
for Excellence in Writing, sothat was great.
They learned a lot there.
It's not always the mostexciting, but they did
definitely learn how to write.
So we loved that as well.
And then I ended up creatingsome literature classes and
taught them in our homeschoolco-op for fourth through sixth
(26:28):
grade and then also junior high,and that was awesome because I
think it's a real lost art ofkids loving books and I think
people, educators I don't careif it's homeschool or not they
pick these archaic books thatyou think need to be taught and
I pick things that I thoughtkids would love and I was pretty
successful at it and kids lovemy books and then they learn
(26:49):
that reading can be enjoyable.
You know it's hard to competewith video games.
It really is.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Yeah, what?
Where did you find the booksthat you picked, or what were
some of them?
If you remember, alan Gratz isone author, G-R-A-T-Z.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
He does historical fiction and he is phenomenal.
They're written for probablyfifth, sixth grade level, but
you can definitely use them injunior high.
They're appropriate, you know,not too scary but super engaging
.
One called Refugee, whichparalleled three different
stories from different times.
It was like World War II.
And then a refugee in the he'scoming out of Cuba in a boat,
(27:24):
going to Florida, another onecoming out of Syria in 2015.
So you have the opportunitythrough these stories, to teach
about all these differentperiods of history at the same
time.
And then he also does a lotwith World War II, which kids
love World War II.
So we did a lot of that.
I just did tons and tons of likeGoogle searches, Amazon
searches, teachers picks, thingslike that, and I just kept
(27:46):
digging and digging and then Iwould read a bunch myself.
There was one called AmalUnbound that I think it was
Pakistan where it talks aboutthe bonded slavery and what can
happen in that situation and therealities of different cultural
things around the world and howa lot of people there are
illiterate and that keeps themreally, you know, enslaved
(28:06):
really.
So we learned a lot about that.
A little bit older would be.
Ruta Cepedis is an excellenthistorical fiction author.
She's got shoot.
I can't think of it right now,but anyway she's great.
That would be more junior high.
Under the Painted Sky wasanother really, really great one
and that was like kind ofOregon Trail and that kind of
(28:29):
timeline.
So yeah, we had a great timewith that.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
I love that, because now had you always been into
books and learning and stufflike that, or did the
homeschooling bring that out ofyou?
Speaker 2 (28:39):
I mean, I do love reading and I did love, you know
, reading as a kid.
But, yes, I think kids learnbest through real stories and
that was my experience with myown kids and the kids that I
taught.
So I found the best way toteach history was through these
fictional accounts, because theyremember the people and they
remember what happened to themand it just was.
(29:01):
It was just highly effective.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Even if the story wasn't true, it was like
everything about the era was andthis could have easily been a
real person.
You're still learning.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
Yes, and so I taught a lot about that.
I would.
I would create lists of 10questions where the kids would
go to YouTube and they wouldlook at videos of that area of
the country current day you knowstuff like that and and connect
it.
That was.
That was really good.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
And I find that I always kind of felt like the
dumb one in school and you knowlike, oh, I really want to be
smart, I just don't even knowhow to get there.
You know the books that they'dwant me to read.
I don't know, I didn't have anyinterest, even though they were
probably very good, like To Killa Mockingbird, I think I read
later in life and I was like, oh, that was good, but I didn't
(29:49):
pay attention to it in class,like when they were forcing it
upon me, probably just becausethey were forcing it upon me.
But I love, I never reallythought about that too with
homeschool, like you can pickwith your child, like what are
you into?
What do you want us to studynext?
Like let's look together.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Yes, that's a good point.
When they were in elementaryschool, I let them choose the
history and science topic everyyear.
There's no reason you shouldn't.
So when I had a fourth graderwho loved horses, we did equine
science and that's what we didall year is we studied horses.
Then there was a year I don'tknow somebody was into birds, so
we did bird science, which welive in Southern California.
(30:22):
So we learned all sorts ofstuff about feeding birds and
local birds.
We went down to the local birdfeed store and now, to this day,
we've got jelly feeders aroundour house with hooded Orioles
that are here but many of ourneighbors don't have them.
So there's these really neatthings that come out of.
You know, going interest led isabsolutely key.
Don't follow some.
(30:43):
I got to do this four yearcycle of history, whatever.
It doesn't really matter.
It doesn't really matter tillhigh school.
I don't even know if it mattersthen, but before that I would
just highly encourage parents,ask them what they want to do
for history when they weresecond third grade.
We just did who was books andthen, and they got to pick.
So I bought like 40 of them andthen I'm like, okay, pick one
(31:05):
and then, depending on their agelevel, I would have them fill
out like a template book, reportform or write five things you
remember or learn or what do youadmire about this person.
And that just was so much morepowerful.
And they remember those thingsbecause we tried mystery of
history and some of thesepopular ones that people love,
(31:26):
and they just okay, we were justgetting through it.
Well, we're not homeschoolingjust to get through it.
We're going through stuff toremember things that have value,
that are interesting, and thenyou know, like of course they
were.
I had one obsessed with worldwar ii so we did a road trip in
our motor home across thesouthern united states so we
stopped at the National WorldWar II Museum in New Orleans and
(31:47):
they knew a lot about it.
So that was fun.
So there's just so many neatthings you could do.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
And that's the thing, too, like going to a museum or
a monument or a national parkthat you actually can study
beforehand.
It's like going to a concertwhen you know the music.
It's way more fun.
And if you go to a concert andyou've never heard of this
artist before, it's like allright, well, I'm just kind of
going through the motions, butyou're not really enjoying it.
So I love that.
Yes, Because I think of back tothe field trips that we took in
school and they didn't reallytell us anything about where we
were going and why we were going.
(32:17):
What was the history about it?
Right, when?
Like?
We will do that.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
We'll combine it and then you're trying to do it with
50 or 100 kids at a time andyou can't see anything or hear
it.
Yeah so yeah, doing it in thesmall way is so important.
My youngest kid, super artsyand quirky, always has been
obsessed with the Beatles sinceshe was in preschool.
I ended up buying a $5 DVD forthe car and it was one of those
old Beatles movies.
I mean, I bought a number ofthings and that was, and she
just hinged on it and she, she'sstill into it.
(32:48):
He's ninth grade now.
Well, so last year we did 60shistory and we used out.
School is a wonderful resourceIf you're looking for something
unusual or very niche in thehomeschool world or if you have
kids that are interested inDungeons and Dragons or Roblox
or whatever some of these gamesare.
There's math or logic orlanguage arts that are based
(33:10):
around those contemporary topicsor whatever.
Maybe it could be Taylor Swiftmusic or whatever your kid is
into.
So we found in 60s history andit was self-paced and great.
She ate it up, absolutely lovedit.
So had we done something thateveryone else was doing, I don't
know that that would havegrabbed her.
(33:30):
She wouldn't remember it aswell.
So interest led is definitelythe way to go okay.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
So now, since you have one in college, one
graduate one, when you look at,like, what they're learning
overall, because I talked tosome families that are like, oh,
and we're doing latin and we'redoing poetry, and I'm looking
at and I'm looking at myself andI'm like I don't know, am I
going to have to suffer throughlearning Latin?
Maybe if I knew more aboutLatin, I would be okay learning
(33:55):
about it.
Poetry, I don't know, I haven'tfound a love for it yet.
Like are those things that wehave to do?
Speaker 2 (34:00):
I don't think so at all.
No, I and I mean you know somepeople are just very like.
You know there's a reallypopular co-op around the country
called Classical Conversationsand that's great.
And if you're into thatclassical education and you and
your partner, like, reallyappreciate that and you really
think there's a lot of value tothat, awesome, and if your kid
takes to it, I mean I lovereading.
(34:22):
I think reading is great.
My kids really aren't readers,if I'm honest.
They're really not.
They just are who they are.
I also love music and I thinkthere's wonderful things to be.
I think everyone should be inmusic.
Well, I tried with all three.
I've only got one musician.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Have you tried the Tuttle Twins books with your
kids yet?
We love them.
In our home, my son plays theaudio book and follows along in
his book.
It lets me get things donewhile we're homeschooling
without missing a beat in hiseducation.
The stories bring history,economics and freedom alive in a
way kids really connect with.
Check out the link in thisepisode's description and use
code Cheryl15 to get 15% offyour order.
(35:01):
Teach your kids about whyindependence matters, why
freedom is worth protecting andto always stay curious.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
So you're doing your child a disservice, like they're
each made uniquely, and so ourjob is to help bring out their
natural interests, bring out whothey uniquely are, not you
reliving you through them.
So we have to get our egos incheck and really be careful with
that, because because that'swhen you end up with kids who
are like I hate homeschooling,everything was horrible, blah,
blah, blah.
So if you're interest led andyou're honoring the individual,
that's important.
But, like for me, everyoneneeds to eat, so everyone should
(35:39):
know kind of how to cook andkind of how to eat.
We need to move to some extent.
I don't care what that is, butyou have to do that.
And I don't care where you liveand how much money you have or
don't have.
You've got to know how tomanage money or you're going to
have a terrible life.
So no Latin poetry whatevernever happened in this house.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
And I don't think it will.
Well, I love that honesty, andit's not because I'm against it,
nobody's interested.
I love that honesty.
No, that's great and like.
I grew up taking dance classesright and I would like compete.
And they would always say youhave to take ballet if you want
to compete because that's likeyour foundation.
I hated ballet, just hated itand hated it.
I was just talking to a friend,a homeschooling mom, about this
the other day.
She goes you can get freetickets to the ballet and I'm
(36:19):
like why would I suffer throughthe nutcracker again?
yeah, I took my two boys to itand I'm like I don't know, no
well, yeah, I grew up doing itand I just hated it then and I
hate it now well, I have nothingto do with horses, and I had
this.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
My oldest was just obsessed with horses from, like
I don't know, early grade school, so then we got her in the
horse lessons by fourth gradeand then, I think, eighth grade,
we finally bought her a horse.
So that would not have been mydream to have this large animal.
That wasn't.
So we just have to honor whothey are.
I have a grand piano and okay,so everyone just take piano
(36:57):
lessons, simple, right.
Well, my youngest, first grade,I want to play the harp.
I'm sorry, what A harp.
Okay, so, and I'm just kind ofignoring her, whatever, she just
wouldn't let it go.
So finally I found someone whogave harp lessons and I'm like,
okay, let's just let her playyour harp, we'll do these
lessons, but we won't own onebecause you can't rent them.
It just was this whole bigthing.
Well, now you can't see itright now, but I've got a pedal
(37:18):
harp in my living room.
Let's see, it's right behind me.
There it is, anyway.
So here we are, years later.
So they just are who they are.
But you know, people are like,well, that's so great, you
wanted her to play the harp.
No, no, no, no, I didn't needher to play an instrument, that
was the you know price of a car,but this is where we're at.
Yes, exactly.
So I just really encourageparents to just step back and
(37:43):
listen, because they will tellyou what they're interested in
and what they want to learn.
And listen because they willtell you what they're interested
in and what they want to learnand where they want to go.
And when you do that, we get somuch disconnect in people not
understanding what career theywant or what their place is in
the world, and it's because youknow they're shoved in these
boxes and then they're doingthese four-year.
I mean, if your four-year cycleof history works for you,
(38:04):
that's awesome, that's great.
But don't feel like you have todo that.
I think you get some passionate, extraordinary individuals by
really customizing and lettingthem be interest led in
everything they do.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
Yes, and that goes back to the education system.
And even you know, from the timeI was three or four, it was
okay, you have to be at theschool at this time and you know
, then it was okay before careand after care and at school,
you know, and you're hearing thebells and they're telling me
what I have to do for homework.
So they're not only dictatingwhat I learned during the day,
(38:37):
but what I learned and what I doin the evenings, and and then
the sports that are, you know,dictate for you to your time.
And then, oh, you get to apoint where you go to college,
and it's the same thing, andthen a career, and it's the same
thing.
And then I, you know, turn 40and I'm like, what do I even
like in life?
I don't know what I would do asa homeschooler, because what
would we do all day if somebodywasn't telling me where to be?
(38:59):
And that's been in just thelast couple of months a
realization for me.
And we've only beenhomeschooling for two years now
because I started the podcastlike should I homeschool?
Are y'all weird?
I was interviewinghomeschoolers and I decided to
do it and quit my government job.
But it is awesome, really crazyto think like I can get up and
we can, we can go kayaking ifit's nice out, or we can go to a
(39:23):
museum, or we can just stay inthe house and like clean the
house or do a project in thehouse you know like those
science things that somebodybought for you for your birthday
.
Or stain a?
You know stand down a bench andyou know stain it.
So it's really crazy to thinkof the things that you're
missing out on.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
You don't even know that you like yes find it well
and you bring up a good point.
You know you have time to doall these other things, but the
other big thing for me isteaching independence and
self-sufficiency.
So in my house, when you're 12,you get your own laundry and
you need to learn how to.
And it's not because I don'thave time.
I'm trying to raise competentindividuals and you see, these
(40:01):
people go to college who'venever done any chores, who've
never done laundry.
They've done nothing becausethey're in school all day, and
then if they're in sports, andthen they have homework and all
this.
There's just not time.
And I get that.
But my kids need to know how todo things and they need to know
how to manage money, and sowe've done a lot with those
types of things.
(40:21):
And, yes, whatever your uniquevalues are in your home, whether
that's a religious or a workethic or whatever it is you can
weave that in so much morebeautifully than you ever could
if they were conventionallyschooled.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
Absolutely, that's awesome, All right.
So, as we kind of round out thehour here, what are just some
advice or something that youwould say to that homeschooling
parent?
That's like we're just on theedge of homeschooling, Like I
want to, maybe I want to and mywife doesn't, or I want to and
my husband doesn't like.
What would you say to them?
(40:55):
Or them to tell their spouse toget them on board?
You kind?
Speaker 2 (40:59):
of have to go.
Usually, people don't want tohomeschool and it's out of a
fear.
It's a fear that the kids aregoing to be nerds or they're
going to be socially awkward orwhatever.
Well, there's nerds andsocially awkward people
everywhere.
So there's some in conventionalschool, there's some in
homeschool.
But go watch the homeschooledmovie and you can see.
I mean, my kids went to TaylorSwift at SoFi Stadium in the
(41:19):
limousine, like they're justnormal people, like they're not
weird, we're not fringy, you canmake it whatever you want.
So whoever you are, they'regoing to come out reflecting you
.
But generally speaking,homeschool kids achieve higher
and have better social skillsand all that kind of stuff and
get into colleges at a higherrate than conventionally
(41:40):
schooled kids.
So all that stuff has beendebunked.
You just have to look at it andhomeschool should and can look
different in every singlehousehold.
So you can homeschool but kindof just oversee it, but farm out
all the actual education.
Online.
There's some really greatprograms tons.
Some are accredited, some arenot.
(42:01):
So you can make it whatever youwant.
So don't look at your neighborand think you got to do what
they do.
I see a lot of people leavingprivate school and then buying
the private school curriculumand homeschooling oh, it's so
boring and so tedious.
It's just not fun.
So then when they stop beingscared, then they start getting
creative and they startsearching.
Kathy Duffy Reviews.
(42:22):
Kathy with a C is an awesomewebsite to search for curriculum
.
There's homeschool conventionsin your community or in your
state.
Usually once a year there's acouple different ones CHIA,
that's California, but greathomeschool conventions that's
the only place you can really goto see the curriculum.
(42:43):
But go to YouTube and look athave somebody you know when
they're unboxing a certaincurriculum.
That's really helpful.
Outschool it's like Etsy, butfor homeschoolers you can search
by grade or interest level orwhatever.
That's an awesome thing.
So there's so many resourcesout there now and it does not
have to be expensive.
You can literally homeschoolelementary, probably for free,
(43:06):
anyway, and the most expensivecurriculum out there is probably
$800 or something, which isinsane in the homeschool world,
but most things are reallyreasonable.
So there's too many reasons todo it and you can always go back
.
You can always go back toconventional school.
If it doesn't work, they'lltake you.
They have to.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
Have you ever had a child?
Ask to go back.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
Yeah, my senior has been in public school for two
years.
She went to public school twoyears ago.
She wanted, she wanted to beout, she wanted to see, and you
know we did a lot of things butshe was like I just want to do
what everybody else does.
Great, go do it.
And there's been pros and cons.
But she's a senior there now.
She started there her sophomoreyear.
She's the vice president of ASB.
(43:47):
She's in a school of 3000 kids,so it's a huge school.
She's in link crew, which is amentorship program for the ninth
graders, so she's one of thosementors doing very well.
And yeah, so she transitionedjust fine, no problem, and she
had homeschooled since secondgrade, so you know it works out.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
That's such a great point, like you're not a failure
because your kid asked for adifferent experience.
You set the foundation of whateducation is.
You had that time together tocreate the bonds, to instill
your values in her, and nowshe's taking it to the next
level and being like almost likean inspiration to the other
kids in her class to be like ohI, I want to be like that.
Speaker 2 (44:29):
Yeah, that's so cool and we totally tease her.
We're like who checksthemselves into a government
institution, so like we call herthe inmate and stuff like that.
It's like kind of funny, butI'm super happy for her.
Like that she can go there andshe had never heard bells, so
she's like like what's the bellabout?
And so that was kind of funny.
There were just some thingsthat she just was totally
(44:51):
unaware of, but yeah, she'shaving a great time, so it's
good it's good.
so we're super.
We're not like it's thescariest thing in the world and,
trust me, there's stuff incalifornia schools that are nuts
.
But you know, it's just anothergreat talking point and we
don't need to be afraid of it.
We can just talk about it andbe like, yeah, it doesn't line
up with what we think, but youknow you won't die being there,
(45:13):
it'll be fine, it exists.
Speaker 1 (45:15):
You can talk about it , because once they hit the real
world, whether they're in theircareer or whatever, they're
gonna have to deal with it.
Yeah, yeah, we don't believe inthe bubble.
Speaker 2 (45:22):
So yeah, we've got to transition slowly.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
So yeah, Christy, I love your energy, your outlook
on everything.
You're sitting here in yoursports brawl like ready to get
to go work out.
It's so cool and refreshing.
Thank you so much for takingthe time today and I will put
everything that all therecommendations that you gave
and homeschooled the movie inthe show's description so
everyone can check it out.
Thank you so much.
(45:47):
Awesome, well, thanks forhaving me.
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
(46:08):
group Facebook page.
Any effort to help us keep thepodcast going is greatly
appreciated.
Thank you for tuning in and foryour love of the next
generation.
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.
You're making me feel very um,I just ate dinner like slacking
a little bit.
I was doing a littleintermittent fasting last week
(00:48):
and then I gave up.
I want to get back into it.
But give me some inspiration,christy, oh well.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
I'm just uh, I turned 50 this year and I'm just
trying to stay mobile andflexible.
So I'm headed to a newstretching and conditioning like
inversion class tonight.
So we'll see.
We'll see how that goes, so tryto slide things in where I can.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Yeah, you know it's hard because I feel like at some
aspects I'm like all right,we're going to be so healthy and
eat organic and no alcohol andwe're going to get our exercise
in, get the sweating in, do theintermittent fasting and then
the next breath.
I'm like they're just trying tokill us from every aspect.
I give up.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah, for sure, for sure.
You can't sweat everything.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
That is absolutely the case, but yeah, I'll be.
Uh, today is my half birthday.
So I'm like, oh my God, in sixmonths I'll be 42.
So I'm like where.
I'm like, yeah, we really haveto start thinking about, like,
the cell regeneration, which iswhy I was doing the intermittent
fasting for the autophagy.
Okay, yep, so that, like, isyour body's own mechanism to
(01:53):
repair cells.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Yeah, you're either working on your illness or your
wellness, so it's much more funto be proactive.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
That's for sure I love that.
Oh, my God, I love that.
Okay, so you're a homeschoolingmom?
Yes, have been for 11 years.
What made you now you lookcompletely normal?
So, because the people justthink of homeschoolers and this
was me before I startedinterviewing them.
Like you've got to be likeAmish sewing your clothes you
(02:19):
know, so tell me, how did youget into homeschooling?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Well, I have three daughters and my oldest at the
time was in third grade and theywere at a private Christian
school and, you know, everythingwas good.
Never knew anything abouthomeschooling growing up, didn't
know any homeschoolers, knewnothing about it.
My third grader started askingto homeschool because it was,
you know, in growing popularityat that time.
So that was you know, mid,early 2010s and I was like, what
(02:47):
are you talking about?
Well, she was very introvertedand had some learning
difficulties, so that justcreated a lot of stress for her
going to school, even though shewas in a very loving,
supportive environment.
So I'm like, really.
So I started researching it andlooking at best practices in
education and also she neededsome supportive services, but
(03:08):
private schools typically don'tprovide those.
So they were suggesting, okay,well, you know, you can get them
through your school district.
So, and then the schooldistrict said, oh well, you
should probably send her topublic school.
And I just wasn't wild aboutthat at the time.
I'm like, if she's nervous in aloving, small, private
(03:30):
Christian school, homeschoolenvironment, sending her to
public school, where there's alot more kids and all that kind
of stuff, probably wasn't goingto help her.
It would have felt more like apunishment, in a sense, sending
her to a different school.
So I said, okay, fine, let'sgive it a try.
And so for fourth grade westarted homeschooling and within
two years I brought home theother two, because I just
realized that to get the fullbenefit you really need the
whole family on the same program, if possible.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
You know, and I've never heard anyone worded that
way.
That's cool.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
How come Just having everyone on the same schedule.
It's because I was stilldealing with school schedules
and still having to drive backand forth and all that kind of
stuff Once we brought everyonehome.
Step one was we didn't doFriday school at all till
probably high school, so schoolwent down to four days a week.
We are a family that had amotor home prior to
(04:17):
homeschooling.
We do desert camping, we doroad trips, things of that
nature, so we were able toreally expand on that.
We got ski passes for MammothMountain Resort in Central
California, so then we wouldleave for skiing Thursday
morning several times a winterand we would actually camp in
our RV and then ski for theweekend and come home Sunday
(04:39):
night, monday if we wanted to.
So we really embraced it.
We also live on a hobby citrusfarm and I say hobby because
it's not like our primary, youknow, income source.
So our kids were able toparticipate in some of the
harvesting things of that nature.
So we made the most of it inevery sense of the word.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
I love.
It All right.
So you've got three girls, andwhat are their ages?
Speaker 2 (05:01):
now, right, now they're 19.
And then I have two birthdaysthis month, so there'll be 17
and 14.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Okay, so you're like at the end of the road for the
older girls.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
So how did?
Speaker 1 (05:13):
that go?
How did the high school yearsgo?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
So the oldest one homeschooled all the way through
, had no um regrets, neverlooked back, never second
guessed her choice, and she wasalways very, very slow to warm
up.
So we did.
It was great because I was ableto just adjust to her level,
because kids just need to be alittle bit challenged.
The grade level is irrelevantand I'll tell you why.
(05:36):
With her, she worked about oneto two years behind typical
grade level for a very long timeIn fact.
Once we got to ninth grade sheinsisted on doing ninth grade
twice and I just was like Lila,you can handle this, but I just
let her do it because that'swhat she was comfortable with.
And so we did that and thenfast forward.
(05:56):
By the way, I did some servicesthrough the school district for
about a year, year and a half,with her reading issues and then
we just kind of dropped it andit all worked itself out.
So right around the time shewas 15 or 16, I got her
reassessed privately.
I just paid two differentsources to assess her for any
(06:17):
kind of disorders, if you will,and she qualified for nothing,
which would tell me that workingat a child's appropriate pace
and helping them to regulatetheir nervous system and really
working with their personalityis what they need instead of all
these labels and interventions.
I mean sometimes they need that.
(06:37):
But for her it worked out great.
She started doing dualenrollment at a private
university as a high schooler.
She finished a handful ofclasses and then she went into
Concordia University in SouthernCalifornia with a big academic
scholarship as a full-timehomeschooler with a private
school affidavit Like we'refully off the radar.
(06:58):
We aren't part of a charterschool or anything like that.
So she's now going into hersophomore year of college doing
excellent.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
So okay, how did you get everything together for her
quote unquote like graduation?
Were you the one that filledout her diploma or did that have
to go through a state source?
How did you make sure that shehad all of the prerequisites?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
They're basically, if if the question is in regards
to college, some colleges aremore homeschool friendly than
others, so just do your researchand figure out who is.
I made the transcripts I mean,I got some help, but there's
nothing super fancy about themfor her college application and
it was no big deal there.
Honestly, we never even did adiploma there isn't one.
(07:42):
But there was a local privateschool satellite program that
did a graduation and she justparticipated with them because
we got a social membership soshe could go to their prom and
that kind of thing.
So she got the ceremony andthat for graduation.
So you know, we looselyfollowed what is a standard, if
(08:07):
you will, but California hasthis A to G requirement thing.
We didn't do any of that.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Well, and I'm in New York, so we are equally like
crazy, yeah, got it, yeah, it'sequally crazy.
Yes, absolutely.
We got rid of Cuomo and then wegot like Cuomo's like worst
nightmare.
Yeah, yeah, no, but I love thatand I love that you said that,
because parents are, how arethey ever going to get into
college?
Like they're so worried andpart of it is too like, if
(08:33):
you're stepping out of thesystem, do you want them to go
to college?
Like why, if your kid reallyhas a dream of being something
that needs a college degree,yeah, but I think it's that Did
you ever take that step with herand say do we want to go to
college?
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Okay and I agree with you 100% on everything you're
saying.
But for our situation Icustomized everything to her and
really and I mean this in thenicest way possible but she was
very coddled all the way throughschool.
Nothing was hard.
Well, in terms of like scaryand really stretching out of her
comfort zone, we participatedin a homeschool co-op.
That is local, that's K through12th grade, so we went to
(09:14):
classes one day a week so shegot, you know, some of that
school experience there.
But there was probably about 15kids per grade level, maybe 20.
So it wasn't huge, verymanageable, and we had a lot of
positive experiences there.
But a big part of me, once Istarted homeschooling and
brought all the kids in, I waslike okay, what do I want to do
(09:35):
here?
And for me, managing money,work ethic, good mental health
these are foundational.
I don't really care what yourlevel of education is.
So we worked a lot on that, butin that I wanted my kids
working.
Well, she had the opportunityas a 15 year old to start
working at my husband's officeand he has a small light
(09:55):
manufacturing firm like 10minutes away.
So she started working in theoffice there as a 15 year old,
and then I had her startinvesting so she understands how
to manage money.
She's got a Roth IRA, she's gota taxable account for a down
payment on a house whenevershe's ready to buy one, that
kind of thing.
So then she decided I want towork here forever, so I'm just
(10:17):
going to work full time and notgo to college.
Well, we had a 529 account andI'm like everything's been very
coddled and easy.
Now you didn't have to applyfor a job.
You're going to go to college.
You're not going to get anexecutive level position without
the credentials to back it up.
Yes, does college have limitedvalue?
Certainly.
Is some of it a disaster?
Absolutely.
Is it necessary?
(10:38):
No, but for her, I wanted herto get some education that was
separate from the home, separatefrom our little co op, and
since the funds were there andshe got this big scholarship,
great.
So that's why, for hersituation, we're sending her.
So her entire undergrad collegeis 1800 students.
So it's very small, it's verypersonal, it's more of a
(11:02):
conservative place, so so it's agood fit for her.
So that's a good fit for her.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
So that's why we chose for her situation and I
think what it breaks down to isintention, like why are we doing
it?
Have you thought about yourreasons for why you're pushing
your child to college?
Is it just because you want tomake it look nice to the
neighbors that, yes, I was asuccessful homeschool mom, my
kid got into college Right, orwe think that makes them
(11:26):
successful?
Or is it that they really want?
Is it going to benefit them insome way?
Speaker 2 (11:30):
And I think that's totally something that we all
need to think about Because Iwent to college, because I was
just like I don't want to be aloser, but like I still ended up
like someone miserable behind acubicle Totally and so many
people end up not working in afield that has anything to do
with their education, and mybiggest thing is I don't want
anyone going into debt over it,so I would never, ever advocate
(11:53):
for that.
I actually, in my homeschoolingcareer, ended up creating a
class for high schoolhomeschoolers called Foundations
for Success, and so that's beenvery popular.
On what do you actually need tolearn to be a successful
independent adult so that'ssomething that came out of my
homeschool experience and sothat's been very popular and I'm
(12:14):
gearing up for this will beschool year five, teaching it
right now.
So we talk about stressmanagement and nutrition,
nervous system regulation,organization, time management,
best practices in relationship,career hobbies, just being
intentional about things,thinking about it, finances,
really basics on investing,being connected in your
(12:36):
community, what that means.
What does spirituality mean?
How does it fit with everything?
And it's been.
I've had a lot of greatfeedback.
In fact, I've had a lot of kidsrepeat the class voluntarily.
They said it's the best classthey've ever had.
So 50% of my students this fallare returning students, so
that's fun.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
So is that something we can link in the show's
description that anyone couldtake?
Speaker 2 (12:58):
I haven't done that yet, but people have talked to
have said, hey, are you going torecord it and sell it?
But I people have talked tohave said, hey, are you going to
record it and sell it?
Are you going to offer it liveonline?
I haven't done it yet, but youknow that's something that I
might do.
Um, I guess, uh, I mean myInstagram's public.
They could always look me upand, um, you know, dm me if
somebody wanted more information, something like that We'll put
(13:19):
your Instagram in the show'sdescription so people can find
that.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
So that's really cool in the show's description, so
people can find that.
So that's really cool.
So, okay, now, you also justrecently participated in, like,
the production of a movie, rightyes, about homeschooling.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Yes, I got a random DM a couple of years ago and
this producer said, hey, youknow, we're doing a documentary
on homeschooling and just wantto bring some awareness to it.
And was it Kirk Cameron?
No, no, it was K factor filmsis the production company.
And so you know, at firstyou're like, is this a scam or
(13:54):
whatever?
Right, I said, well, you know.
I said my middle kid might beinterested, super outgoing.
So when I brought her home tohomeschool she was a very
accelerated student, veryoutgoing.
So what worked out great forher is I moved her up a grade
level immediately and she feltso proud of herself and
motivated and so excited thatyou know.
(14:15):
So that worked out.
So that kid.
I said, hey, do you want to tryto do this audition?
So she did it, and then she gotto the second round, and then
she got to the third round.
Then they want to do a familyaudition on Zoom.
Okay, so we did that.
And then we heard she got thepart, because they followed I
think it was going to be fourstudents and just kind of tell
about their lives and they said,ok, well, the whole family has
(14:38):
to be in it, pardon me.
So I was like, are you kiddingme?
So they did it.
So it was really neat.
It was actually a really funexperience.
They filmed in our house forprobably about three full days.
They followed us to ourhomeschool co-op.
They followed me in theclassroom a little bit and it
wasn't exactly what I envisionedit.
When you say documentary andhomeschooling, I'm thinking it's
(14:58):
like this educational how-toand all the different ways.
It wasn't that at all.
They made it really fun andcute and more like a little one
episode reality.
But it was great.
It was really really fun andneat experience.
And then they took, we went toBeverly Hills and they filmed
they had through a prom.
That was the whole end of it.
It's like homeschoolers don'tget a prom, so we're going to
(15:20):
throw them a prom.
So we had this whole prom onthis rooftop and Beverly Hills
and it was.
It was pretty magical.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
So, yeah, that was so funny that you say that,
because I don't hear that a lotpeople talking about the prom
thing.
But in my first episode sowe're at like 130 something now.
My first episode I was like I'mreally fearful that my kids
will resent me for not having aprom, thinking about
homeschooling but don't knowwhere to start.
Well, I've interviewed a fewpeople on the topic Actually 120
(15:48):
interviews at this point withhomeschooling families from
across the country and the world.
120 interviews at this pointwith homeschooling families from
across the country and theworld and what I've done is I've
packed everything I've learnedinto an ebook called the
Homeschool how to CompleteStarter Guide.
From navigating your state'slaws to finding your
homeschooling style, fromworking while homeschooling to
supporting kids with specialneeds, this guide covers it all,
with real stories from realfamilies who've walked this path
(16:10):
.
I've taken the best insights,the best resources and put them
all walked this path.
I've taken the best insights,the best resources and put them
all into this guide.
Stop feeling overwhelmed andstart feeling confident.
Get your copy of the HomeschoolHow-To Complete Starter Guide
today and discover thathomeschooling isn't just about
education.
It's about getting what youwant out of each day, not what
somebody else wants out of you.
You can grab the link to thise-book in the show's description
(16:31):
or head on over to thehomeschool how tocom and the
football games like thattraditional experience and no
one really brings that up toomuch and I'll try to bring it up
to people.
But you saying it like it is areal fear because that's what we
knew as quote unquote normalcyand some kids don't want it and
they don't care anymore.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
So there's that.
But also it's very easy tothrow one together, honestly.
I mean, if you're in a town ofI don't know, probably at least
a thousand people, which mostpeople are they're close to a
town with a thousand or 10,000people throw a homeschool prom,
right, it's not too hard.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
I never thought of that before.
And because it's almost likeyou, don't you think you'd be
the only one homeschoolingbefore you start doing it.
And then you start doing it andyou're like oh my god, you
people are everywhere.
You're like cockroaches.
Yes, out of the wall, totallyyes.
You can just spot each otherbecause you're like you're not
using plastic.
You must be a homeschooler,right?
Speaker 2 (17:24):
exactly like super granola you must be whatever, or
a total fundamental, likeextremist and your ideas, or
whatever, and we are none of theabove on that, so that's so
cool.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Did the movie come out yet?
Speaker 2 (17:37):
yes, the movie was released june 1st and it's on
amazon prime video, maybe otherstreaming services, but I know
it's on amazon for sure.
It's simply called homeschooledand it's adorable.
So so and it profiles, like, Ithink, four different
homeschoolers that all are fromCalifornia, but a very different
stories.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
So I love that Cause I was looking for something like
that before I got started.
I found something, but it waslike overseas or maybe it was
just about traditional schoolingand like how the differences
between America and China orwhatever Got it.
So I would.
But I was looking for exactlythat because I'm like
homeschooling sounds soterrifying.
(18:18):
What is a day in the life looklike, and I was looking for a
movie just like that, so I willlink that in the show's
description so that people cancheck that out, and I'm going to
check it out too.
So that's so cool, all right.
So you have the 14 year old.
14 year old Now.
Actually, I was going to askyou this how did it go with
skipping the grade for yourmiddle child?
Because, like, how did you knowthat that was the right move to
make and are we going to missanything?
(18:38):
Or did you just speed throughthe grade that you were skipping
, like were you afraid that youwere going to miss a fundamental
step?
Speaker 2 (18:44):
No, because everything really everything's
on repeat, every single thing'son repeat.
You're kind of doing the samethings every year.
I mean, maybe your history is adifferent topic or whatever,
but when you're talking aboutyour basics of ELA and math it's
just everything's a spiralrepeat.
So I wasn't concerned aboutthat and the confidence boost
(19:04):
for her was really fun and shejust embraced the challenge.
So you really need to look atyour students individually and
kind of don't worry aboutanything, because I mean, think
about, if I was worried abouttrying to catch my oldest up to
some arbitrary timeline, I wouldhave stressed her out, I would
have stressed myself out.
(19:25):
Every day would have beenupsetting.
And she ended up doing collegeclasses by her junior year of
high school and was completelyfine.
But what's the hurry?
Why?
You know they all walk and talkand do all these other things
at a little bit of a differenttime.
So the idea that they need tobe at this certain spot by
halfway through third grade isdumb.
So I know they need benchmarksand regular school to try to
(19:47):
make sure everybody is kind ofon track.
But just, I would just encouragepeople to really give
themselves grace and and my kidwas very anxious when she came
home, that older one, and sheloved horses, so we started our
day with horseback ridinglessons.
I want to say it was two orthree days a week, so she would
spend two, three hours at theranch, then come home after her
(20:10):
sunshine, her outdoors and allthat kind of stuff.
Then we would do school, andshe also was kind of scattered
at the time, so instead of liketrying to shove a lid down on a
pot of boiling water, I wouldset up stations.
So math was set up here andscience was set up here and ELA
was set up here, and so if youneed a break, then we just moved
to a different topic.
(20:30):
So we just worked within theparameters of their personality.
So that's what you kind of getto learn, and every year has
kind of looked different, basedon what they needed.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Okay, and now did you have to leave a job or career
to stay home with the kids inhomeschool?
Speaker 2 (20:47):
No, I do some, I manage our own.
We've got some properties, somehouses, so I managed that and I
was at when I first startedhomeschooling I still had a
three-year-old, so I was.
I'm a licensed therapist byprofession and I had left that
profession when my kids werelittle and so I just put that on
hold for the last 11 years andI just renewed my license last
(21:08):
year and went back into privatepractice this calendar year,
part-time, so cause you knowthey're older now, but so no, it
was okay, it worked out fine,oh yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
And then all right, so you have all the girls.
How, how did you make it Likeyou said?
You went to the ranch so thatyour oldest could horseback ride
.
What were the other two doing?
Like, did you have to be at theranch with her, could you like?
How did your day?
No, I could drop her off.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
It was tough at first , but remember that first year I
just had the one and then ittook me two years until I had
them all together.
But when I had them alltogether and you know they're
that younger grade school agewhere it's more difficult
there's a university down thestreet and so I went on carecom.
I searched by that universityspecifically and I looked for a
(21:53):
college student who just hadwhatever.
Give me a couple of hours threedays a week, and so every year
for probably three, four years,I had a college student come in
a few hours and I wouldinterview them and say what are
you good at, what do you love?
So we had one that was veryathletic, and we had another one
who liked to cook and anotherone who was whatever, and so I
would just.
We had another one who liked tocook and another one who was
whatever, and so I would justdelegate them to work with one
(22:15):
of the kids for that couplehours, so we would otherwise
someone's kind of just waiting.
So that worked out really,really well.
Now, if somebody didn't have theresources to pay, you know, an
extra, I don't know.
I think I was paying $15 anhour, if that's not a reality, I
would look for an olderhomeschool kid in the community
because they are usuallywonderful.
So I'd look for a high schoolstudent and create that same
(22:39):
kind of scenario, because thekids love the one-on-one time
and, trust me, I wasn't evergetting a break.
I just felt like you know lessspread thin if you will.
So that was really helpful.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Yeah, and that's a great idea, and I've said that
about parents that even are likeI can't because I work and it's
like, okay, are there olderkids that are homeschooling in
the?
Area that could come in thatwould be like an internship for
them or a job for them, reallygood experience.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
And school doesn't have to happen between eight and
five.
School can happen in theevening.
There's so many things andschool doesn't take that much
time.
I mean honestly, in any pointin the 11 years, if we spent
more than four hours a dayhomeschooling like actual
academics, there wasn't thatmany days, because once you
really pare it down to whatyou're doing, it's very
(23:27):
efficient.
It's very efficient, so can I?
Talk about curriculums or no?
Speaker 1 (23:31):
I was just going to ask you what kind of curriculum
were you using?
Speaker 2 (23:33):
For example, we I early on I found teaching
textbooks absolutely love it formath just excellent, and I
would, generally speaking, youprobably want to work about a
year above grade level.
You don't have to, but we kindof found that to be the sweet
spot for us.
But teaching textbooks is greatbecause the kids can work
independently.
(23:54):
So what we did for that againto be paced appropriately, I
would, on the first day ofschool, each kid would go to the
first test and if they scoredat least an 85%, then day two
we'd go to the next test andthen the next test and then,
wherever they ended up, I would.
When they didn't score goodenough, I'd bring them back
those five lessons and that'swhere we'd start Instead of
(24:16):
starting at lesson one, wesometimes they'd start at lesson
20.
Sometimes it's 15, whatever.
But start them where they'renot bored.
It's not just busy work.
We're not homeschooling forbusy work.
So teaching textbooks visuallyand audibly shows the whole
lesson and then with eachproblem you enter the answer.
If it's wrong you get a secondchance, and if it's still wrong
(24:40):
it explains the whole problem toyou.
It's brilliant.
So and then when my kids didn'tscore at least 80% on a math
lesson, I'd go back and I'ddelete all the ones they got
wrong so they'd be able to do itagain.
But that's a simple independentdo on your own.
So I would just tell them howmany math lessons they needed to
do a week.
So then they learned their owntime management of do they want
(25:02):
to do it all in one day?
Do they want to do one a day?
However, that worked.
So that's like a simple thingfor math.
We loved moving beyond the pagewhen they were in elementary.
That was like a literaturespine, loved it.
So, for example, like, let'ssay so, they had two sets of
worksheets for each book, so myolder kid could do the harder
(25:24):
ones and the younger kid coulddo the little bit easier ones
and it just was very open and goso your language arts, and then
it would either be paired withmath or science, depending on
the book.
So if it your language arts,and then it would either be
paired with math or science,depending on the book.
So if it was Charlotte's Web,then it would be paired with
science for that unit, and soyou'd get your science done and
it related right to the.
Maybe it was spiders or pigs orfarm life, whatever.
(25:45):
So we loved that.
That was made it fun.
And then if there was a book wedidn't like, we just skipped
that book and it fun.
And then if there was a book wedidn't like, we just skip that
book and you know, just don'tread things you hate.
There's too, there's too manygood literature books out there.
I love that.
So that was that was good.
We loved Apologia for Science,which is it's a Christian
curriculum, so that's not goingto appeal to everyone, but they
(26:06):
just they do an absolutelybeautiful job for elementary
Love that a lot.
My kids took IEW classes forwriting at our co-op Institute
for Excellence in Writing, sothat was great.
They learned a lot there.
It's not always the mostexciting, but they did
definitely learn how to write.
So we loved that as well.
And then I ended up creatingsome literature classes and
taught them in our homeschoolco-op for fourth through sixth
(26:28):
grade and then also junior high,and that was awesome because I
think it's a real lost art ofkids loving books and I think
people, educators I don't careif it's homeschool or not they
pick these archaic books thatyou think need to be taught and
I pick things that I thoughtkids would love and I was pretty
successful at it and kids lovemy books and then they learn
(26:49):
that reading can be enjoyable.
You know it's hard to competewith video games.
It really is.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Yeah, what?
Where did you find the booksthat you picked, or what were
some of them?
If you remember, alan Gratz isone author, G-R-A-T-Z.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
He does historical fiction and he is phenomenal.
They're written for probablyfifth, sixth grade level, but
you can definitely use them injunior high.
They're appropriate, you know,not too scary but super engaging
.
One called Refugee, whichparalleled three different
stories from different times.
It was like World War II.
And then a refugee in the he'scoming out of Cuba in a boat,
(27:24):
going to Florida, another onecoming out of Syria in 2015.
So you have the opportunitythrough these stories, to teach
about all these differentperiods of history at the same
time.
And then he also does a lotwith World War II, which kids
love World War II.
So we did a lot of that.
I just did tons and tons of likeGoogle searches, Amazon
searches, teachers picks, thingslike that, and I just kept
(27:46):
digging and digging and then Iwould read a bunch myself.
There was one called AmalUnbound that I think it was
Pakistan where it talks aboutthe bonded slavery and what can
happen in that situation and therealities of different cultural
things around the world and howa lot of people there are
illiterate and that keeps themreally, you know, enslaved
(28:06):
really.
So we learned a lot about that.
A little bit older would be.
Ruta Cepedis is an excellenthistorical fiction author.
She's got shoot.
I can't think of it right now,but anyway she's great.
That would be more junior high.
Under the Painted Sky wasanother really, really great one
and that was like kind ofOregon Trail and that kind of
(28:29):
timeline.
So yeah, we had a great timewith that.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
I love that, because now had you always been into
books and learning and stufflike that, or did the
homeschooling bring that out ofyou?
Speaker 2 (28:39):
I mean, I do love reading and I did love, you know
, reading as a kid.
But, yes, I think kids learnbest through real stories and
that was my experience with myown kids and the kids that I
taught.
So I found the best way toteach history was through these
fictional accounts, because theyremember the people and they
remember what happened to themand it just was.
(29:01):
It was just highly effective.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Even if the story wasn't true, it was like
everything about the era was andthis could have easily been a
real person.
You're still learning.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
Yes, and so I taught a lot about that.
I would.
I would create lists of 10questions where the kids would
go to YouTube and they wouldlook at videos of that area of
the country current day you knowstuff like that and and connect
it.
That was.
That was really good.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
And I find that I always kind of felt like the
dumb one in school and you knowlike, oh, I really want to be
smart, I just don't even knowhow to get there.
You know the books that they'dwant me to read.
I don't know, I didn't have anyinterest, even though they were
probably very good, like To Killa Mockingbird, I think I read
later in life and I was like, oh, that was good, but I didn't
(29:49):
pay attention to it in class,like when they were forcing it
upon me, probably just becausethey were forcing it upon me.
But I love, I never reallythought about that too with
homeschool, like you can pickwith your child, like what are
you into?
What do you want us to studynext?
Like let's look together.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Yes, that's a good point.
When they were in elementaryschool, I let them choose the
history and science topic everyyear.
There's no reason you shouldn't.
So when I had a fourth graderwho loved horses, we did equine
science and that's what we didall year is we studied horses.
Then there was a year I don'tknow somebody was into birds, so
we did bird science, which welive in Southern California.
(30:22):
So we learned all sorts ofstuff about feeding birds and
local birds.
We went down to the local birdfeed store and now, to this day,
we've got jelly feeders aroundour house with hooded Orioles
that are here but many of ourneighbors don't have them.
So there's these really neatthings that come out of.
You know, going interest led isabsolutely key.
Don't follow some.
(30:43):
I got to do this four yearcycle of history, whatever.
It doesn't really matter.
It doesn't really matter tillhigh school.
I don't even know if it mattersthen, but before that I would
just highly encourage parents,ask them what they want to do
for history when they weresecond third grade.
We just did who was books andthen, and they got to pick.
So I bought like 40 of them andthen I'm like, okay, pick one
(31:05):
and then, depending on their agelevel, I would have them fill
out like a template book, reportform or write five things you
remember or learn or what do youadmire about this person.
And that just was so much morepowerful.
And they remember those thingsbecause we tried mystery of
history and some of thesepopular ones that people love,
(31:26):
and they just okay, we were justgetting through it.
Well, we're not homeschoolingjust to get through it.
We're going through stuff toremember things that have value,
that are interesting, and thenyou know, like of course they
were.
I had one obsessed with worldwar ii so we did a road trip in
our motor home across thesouthern united states so we
stopped at the National WorldWar II Museum in New Orleans and
(31:47):
they knew a lot about it.
So that was fun.
So there's just so many neatthings you could do.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
And that's the thing, too, like going to a museum or
a monument or a national parkthat you actually can study
beforehand.
It's like going to a concertwhen you know the music.
It's way more fun.
And if you go to a concert andyou've never heard of this
artist before, it's like allright, well, I'm just kind of
going through the motions, butyou're not really enjoying it.
So I love that.
Yes, Because I think of back tothe field trips that we took in
school and they didn't reallytell us anything about where we
were going and why we were going.
(32:17):
What was the history about it?
Right, when?
Like?
We will do that.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
We'll combine it and then you're trying to do it with
50 or 100 kids at a time andyou can't see anything or hear
it.
Yeah so yeah, doing it in thesmall way is so important.
My youngest kid, super artsyand quirky, always has been
obsessed with the Beatles sinceshe was in preschool.
I ended up buying a $5 DVD forthe car and it was one of those
old Beatles movies.
I mean, I bought a number ofthings and that was, and she
just hinged on it and she, she'sstill into it.
(32:48):
He's ninth grade now.
Well, so last year we did 60shistory and we used out.
School is a wonderful resourceIf you're looking for something
unusual or very niche in thehomeschool world or if you have
kids that are interested inDungeons and Dragons or Roblox
or whatever some of these gamesare.
There's math or logic orlanguage arts that are based
(33:10):
around those contemporary topicsor whatever.
Maybe it could be Taylor Swiftmusic or whatever your kid is
into.
So we found in 60s history andit was self-paced and great.
She ate it up, absolutely lovedit.
So had we done something thateveryone else was doing, I don't
know that that would havegrabbed her.
(33:30):
She wouldn't remember it aswell.
So interest led is definitelythe way to go okay.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
So now, since you have one in college, one
graduate one, when you look at,like, what they're learning
overall, because I talked tosome families that are like, oh,
and we're doing latin and we'redoing poetry, and I'm looking
at and I'm looking at myself andI'm like I don't know, am I
going to have to suffer throughlearning Latin?
Maybe if I knew more aboutLatin, I would be okay learning
(33:55):
about it.
Poetry, I don't know, I haven'tfound a love for it yet.
Like are those things that wehave to do?
Speaker 2 (34:00):
I don't think so at all.
No, I and I mean you know somepeople are just very like.
You know there's a reallypopular co-op around the country
called Classical Conversationsand that's great.
And if you're into thatclassical education and you and
your partner, like, reallyappreciate that and you really
think there's a lot of value tothat, awesome, and if your kid
takes to it, I mean I lovereading.
(34:22):
I think reading is great.
My kids really aren't readers,if I'm honest.
They're really not.
They just are who they are.
I also love music and I thinkthere's wonderful things to be.
I think everyone should be inmusic.
Well, I tried with all three.
I've only got one musician.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Have you tried the Tuttle Twins books with your
kids yet?
We love them.
In our home, my son plays theaudio book and follows along in
his book.
It lets me get things donewhile we're homeschooling
without missing a beat in hiseducation.
The stories bring history,economics and freedom alive in a
way kids really connect with.
Check out the link in thisepisode's description and use
code Cheryl15 to get 15% offyour order.
(35:01):
Teach your kids about whyindependence matters, why
freedom is worth protecting andto always stay curious.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
So you're doing your child a disservice, like they're
each made uniquely, and so ourjob is to help bring out their
natural interests, bring out whothey uniquely are, not you
reliving you through them.
So we have to get our egos incheck and really be careful with
that, because because that'swhen you end up with kids who
are like I hate homeschooling,everything was horrible, blah,
blah, blah.
So if you're interest led andyou're honoring the individual,
that's important.
But, like for me, everyoneneeds to eat, so everyone should
(35:39):
know kind of how to cook andkind of how to eat.
We need to move to some extent.
I don't care what that is, butyou have to do that.
And I don't care where you liveand how much money you have or
don't have.
You've got to know how tomanage money or you're going to
have a terrible life.
So no Latin poetry whatevernever happened in this house.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
And I don't think it will.
Well, I love that honesty, andit's not because I'm against it,
nobody's interested.
I love that honesty.
No, that's great and like.
I grew up taking dance classesright and I would like compete.
And they would always say youhave to take ballet if you want
to compete because that's likeyour foundation.
I hated ballet, just hated itand hated it.
I was just talking to a friend,a homeschooling mom, about this
the other day.
She goes you can get freetickets to the ballet and I'm
(36:19):
like why would I suffer throughthe nutcracker again?
yeah, I took my two boys to itand I'm like I don't know, no
well, yeah, I grew up doing itand I just hated it then and I
hate it now well, I have nothingto do with horses, and I had
this.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
My oldest was just obsessed with horses from, like
I don't know, early grade school, so then we got her in the
horse lessons by fourth gradeand then, I think, eighth grade,
we finally bought her a horse.
So that would not have been mydream to have this large animal.
That wasn't.
So we just have to honor whothey are.
I have a grand piano and okay,so everyone just take piano
(36:57):
lessons, simple, right.
Well, my youngest, first grade,I want to play the harp.
I'm sorry, what A harp.
Okay, so, and I'm just kind ofignoring her, whatever, she just
wouldn't let it go.
So finally I found someone whogave harp lessons and I'm like,
okay, let's just let her playyour harp, we'll do these
lessons, but we won't own onebecause you can't rent them.
It just was this whole bigthing.
Well, now you can't see itright now, but I've got a pedal
(37:18):
harp in my living room.
Let's see, it's right behind me.
There it is, anyway.
So here we are, years later.
So they just are who they are.
But you know, people are like,well, that's so great, you
wanted her to play the harp.
No, no, no, no, I didn't needher to play an instrument, that
was the you know price of a car,but this is where we're at.
Yes, exactly.
So I just really encourageparents to just step back and
(37:43):
listen, because they will tellyou what they're interested in
and what they want to learn.
And listen because they willtell you what they're interested
in and what they want to learnand where they want to go.
And when you do that, we get somuch disconnect in people not
understanding what career theywant or what their place is in
the world, and it's because youknow they're shoved in these
boxes and then they're doingthese four-year.
I mean, if your four-year cycleof history works for you,
(38:04):
that's awesome, that's great.
But don't feel like you have todo that.
I think you get some passionate, extraordinary individuals by
really customizing and lettingthem be interest led in
everything they do.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
Yes, and that goes back to the education system.
And even you know, from the timeI was three or four, it was
okay, you have to be at theschool at this time and you know
, then it was okay before careand after care and at school,
you know, and you're hearing thebells and they're telling me
what I have to do for homework.
So they're not only dictatingwhat I learned during the day,
(38:37):
but what I learned and what I doin the evenings, and and then
the sports that are, you know,dictate for you to your time.
And then, oh, you get to apoint where you go to college,
and it's the same thing, andthen a career, and it's the same
thing.
And then I, you know, turn 40and I'm like, what do I even
like in life?
I don't know what I would do asa homeschooler, because what
would we do all day if somebodywasn't telling me where to be?
(38:59):
And that's been in just thelast couple of months a
realization for me.
And we've only beenhomeschooling for two years now
because I started the podcastlike should I homeschool?
Are y'all weird?
I was interviewinghomeschoolers and I decided to
do it and quit my government job.
But it is awesome, really crazyto think like I can get up and
we can, we can go kayaking ifit's nice out, or we can go to a
(39:23):
museum, or we can just stay inthe house and like clean the
house or do a project in thehouse you know like those
science things that somebodybought for you for your birthday
.
Or stain a?
You know stand down a bench andyou know stain it.
So it's really crazy to thinkof the things that you're
missing out on.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
You don't even know that you like yes find it well
and you bring up a good point.
You know you have time to doall these other things, but the
other big thing for me isteaching independence and
self-sufficiency.
So in my house, when you're 12,you get your own laundry and
you need to learn how to.
And it's not because I don'thave time.
I'm trying to raise competentindividuals and you see, these
(40:01):
people go to college who'venever done any chores, who've
never done laundry.
They've done nothing becausethey're in school all day, and
then if they're in sports, andthen they have homework and all
this.
There's just not time.
And I get that.
But my kids need to know how todo things and they need to know
how to manage money, and sowe've done a lot with those
types of things.
(40:21):
And, yes, whatever your uniquevalues are in your home, whether
that's a religious or a workethic or whatever it is you can
weave that in so much morebeautifully than you ever could
if they were conventionallyschooled.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
Absolutely, that's awesome, All right.
So, as we kind of round out thehour here, what are just some
advice or something that youwould say to that homeschooling
parent?
That's like we're just on theedge of homeschooling, Like I
want to, maybe I want to and mywife doesn't, or I want to and
my husband doesn't like.
What would you say to them?
(40:55):
Or them to tell their spouse toget them on board?
You kind?
Speaker 2 (40:59):
of have to go.
Usually, people don't want tohomeschool and it's out of a
fear.
It's a fear that the kids aregoing to be nerds or they're
going to be socially awkward orwhatever.
Well, there's nerds andsocially awkward people
everywhere.
So there's some in conventionalschool, there's some in
homeschool.
But go watch the homeschooledmovie and you can see.
I mean, my kids went to TaylorSwift at SoFi Stadium in the
(41:19):
limousine, like they're justnormal people, like they're not
weird, we're not fringy, you canmake it whatever you want.
So whoever you are, they'regoing to come out reflecting you
.
But generally speaking,homeschool kids achieve higher
and have better social skillsand all that kind of stuff and
get into colleges at a higherrate than conventionally
(41:40):
schooled kids.
So all that stuff has beendebunked.
You just have to look at it andhomeschool should and can look
different in every singlehousehold.
So you can homeschool but kindof just oversee it, but farm out
all the actual education.
Online.
There's some really greatprograms tons.
Some are accredited, some arenot.
(42:01):
So you can make it whatever youwant.
So don't look at your neighborand think you got to do what
they do.
I see a lot of people leavingprivate school and then buying
the private school curriculumand homeschooling oh, it's so
boring and so tedious.
It's just not fun.
So then when they stop beingscared, then they start getting
creative and they startsearching.
Kathy Duffy Reviews.
(42:22):
Kathy with a C is an awesomewebsite to search for curriculum
.
There's homeschool conventionsin your community or in your
state.
Usually once a year there's acouple different ones CHIA,
that's California, but greathomeschool conventions that's
the only place you can really goto see the curriculum.
(42:43):
But go to YouTube and look athave somebody you know when
they're unboxing a certaincurriculum.
That's really helpful.
Outschool it's like Etsy, butfor homeschoolers you can search
by grade or interest level orwhatever.
That's an awesome thing.
So there's so many resourcesout there now and it does not
have to be expensive.
You can literally homeschoolelementary, probably for free,
(43:06):
anyway, and the most expensivecurriculum out there is probably
$800 or something, which isinsane in the homeschool world,
but most things are reallyreasonable.
So there's too many reasons todo it and you can always go back
.
You can always go back toconventional school.
If it doesn't work, they'lltake you.
They have to.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
Have you ever had a child?
Ask to go back.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
Yeah, my senior has been in public school for two
years.
She went to public school twoyears ago.
She wanted, she wanted to beout, she wanted to see, and you
know we did a lot of things butshe was like I just want to do
what everybody else does.
Great, go do it.
And there's been pros and cons.
But she's a senior there now.
She started there her sophomoreyear.
She's the vice president of ASB.
(43:47):
She's in a school of 3000 kids,so it's a huge school.
She's in link crew, which is amentorship program for the ninth
graders, so she's one of thosementors doing very well.
And yeah, so she transitionedjust fine, no problem, and she
had homeschooled since secondgrade, so you know it works out.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
That's such a great point, like you're not a failure
because your kid asked for adifferent experience.
You set the foundation of whateducation is.
You had that time together tocreate the bonds, to instill
your values in her, and nowshe's taking it to the next
level and being like almost likean inspiration to the other
kids in her class to be like ohI, I want to be like that.
Speaker 2 (44:29):
Yeah, that's so cool and we totally tease her.
We're like who checksthemselves into a government
institution, so like we call herthe inmate and stuff like that.
It's like kind of funny, butI'm super happy for her.
Like that she can go there andshe had never heard bells, so
she's like like what's the bellabout?
And so that was kind of funny.
There were just some thingsthat she just was totally
(44:51):
unaware of, but yeah, she'shaving a great time, so it's
good it's good.
so we're super.
We're not like it's thescariest thing in the world and,
trust me, there's stuff incalifornia schools that are nuts
.
But you know, it's just anothergreat talking point and we
don't need to be afraid of it.
We can just talk about it andbe like, yeah, it doesn't line
up with what we think, but youknow you won't die being there,
(45:13):
it'll be fine, it exists.
Speaker 1 (45:15):
You can talk about it , because once they hit the real
world, whether they're in theircareer or whatever, they're
gonna have to deal with it.
Yeah, yeah, we don't believe inthe bubble.
Speaker 2 (45:22):
So yeah, we've got to transition slowly.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
So yeah, Christy, I love your energy, your outlook
on everything.
You're sitting here in yoursports brawl like ready to get
to go work out.
It's so cool and refreshing.
Thank you so much for takingthe time today and I will put
everything that all therecommendations that you gave
and homeschooled the movie inthe show's description so
everyone can check it out.
Thank you so much.
(45:47):
Awesome, well, thanks forhaving me.
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
(46:08):
group Facebook page.
Any effort to help us keep thepodcast going is greatly
appreciated.
Thank you for tuning in and foryour love of the next
generation.
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