September 27, 2025 • 40 mins
Join us for an inspiring conversation with Jessica Waldock, Florida homeschooling mom and founder of The Waldock Way, as she shares her 8-year journey homeschooling her only child.
In this episode, we explore:
- How to successfully homeschool an only child without feeling isolated
- Overcoming the "socialization" question and finding community
- Creating flexible daily routines that work for one child
- Interest-led learning and unit studies approach
- Navigating teenage years while maintaining strong family bonds
- Building a homeschool business around your unique journey
- Why you don't need to follow traditional curriculum paths
Perfect for:
- Parents considering homeschooling an only child
- New homeschool families seeking encouragement
- Anyone interested in unit studies and interest-based learning
- Working parents wondering if homeschooling is possible
Jessica breaks down common myths about only child homeschooling and proves that having one child isn't easier or harder - it's just different. She shares practical tips for creating structure while maintaining flexibility, finding the right community activities, and tailoring education completely to your child's interests and learning style.
Key Takeaways:
- Nobody is more invested in your child's success than you are
- Interest-led learning creates deeper engagement than forced curriculum
- Homeschool socialization can be more natural and less pressured
- You can build a business around your homeschool expertise
- Traditional educational "requirements" may not serve your child's unique needs
Whether you're just starting your homeschool journey or looking for fresh inspiration, Jessica's story will encourage you to trust yourself and embrace the unique advantages of homeschooling an only child.
Connect with Jessica:
- Website: www.thewaldockway.com
- YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/thewaldockway
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/thewaldockway
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/thewaldockway
Instagram: TheHomeschoolHowToPodcast
Facebook: The Homeschool How To Podcast
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome.
And with us today, I haveJessica Waldock from Florida.
Jessica, thank you for beinghere.
Thank you for having me.
And you are a homeschooling mom?
SPEAKER_01 (00:09):
I am.
I'm a homeschooling mom of one.
She is at the time of thisrecording 13.
And we have been homeschoolingsince the beginning.
That's so cool.
SPEAKER_00 (00:18):
Okay, so you're in the state of Florida.
Um, I get asked this a lot frompeople.
I either get questions saying,I'm a working mom.
How can I homeschool?
Or I only have one child.
How can I homeschool with onechild?
And I've talked to a few parentswith one child, and there's
actually a lot of benefits tothis.
(00:38):
So look.
SPEAKER_01 (00:40):
So when we were like first, okay, first let me back
up.
Emily is my rainbow baby.
Like, I wasn't supposed to beable to have kids.
My husband's 20 years older.
She was not planned, but therewere obviously bigger plans than
what we had.
So, like when preschool rolledaround and it was time for her
to go, if I'm being honest, Ijust wasn't ready to let go.
She was a preemie, so she'syoung for her age.
(01:02):
She was small for her age, andwe live 45 minutes from the
nearest preschool.
So it was just kind of like,wouldn't it be easier than
driving 45 minutes one directionto just keep her home?
I mean, it's barely ABCs andone, two, threes.
And you know, anybody can dothis.
So I kept her home forpreschool.
And by the time kindergartenrolled around, we realized we
(01:23):
just liked the lifestyle.
We liked being able to likelearn as a family.
We liked being able to stay uplater if my husband's hours
changed.
We just, we really embraced it.
So we were just kind of like,okay, let's try this out and
we'll evaluate year by year.
I mean, we didn't know any otherhomeschoolers.
My husband and I both hadtraditional schooling
backgrounds.
So it's not like we had anyplans or set out to homeschool.
(01:46):
It just kind of fell into ourlaps.
And if I'm being honest, wehaven't evaluated again.
Like we always said, we'll talkabout it at the beginning of
each school year and we'll seehow we feel.
And we just started eighth gradeand we still love it as a
family.
Like, I can't imagine missingout on those hours and the
things that like those lightbulb moments.
(02:06):
I wouldn't want to give those toanybody else.
SPEAKER_00 (02:08):
And I know what you mean with those too.
Like there's so many frustratingmoments, but for every
frustrating moment, there's alsoa light bulb moment that you're
like, I will I would have missedthis.
How did your daughter kind ofreact to it as she got older and
understood that her friends, alot of her friends, were
probably going to traditionalschool and she was not?
SPEAKER_01 (02:27):
Actually, she's always been very, very pro
homeschool.
She loves, like, she knows thatshe gets to sleep in and she can
do school in her pajamas.
And I would say probably about90% of her friends are actually
homeschooled as well.
We just happen to be in a reallyrural area where it's kind of a
big deal, like a big thing here.
But her cousins went totraditional school.
(02:48):
And so that was always aneye-opening experience for her.
My sister is a teacher, mystepmom is a teacher.
So she has a lot of likeknowledge.
I won't forget the very firsttime my stepmom took her with
her to work on like it was likeMartin Luther King Day or, you
know, one of those days wherethey had a Monday off.
And she took her, and Emilythought the classroom itself was
(03:08):
really, really cool.
She was, I think, six, and shesaid, Mom, I want to go just for
the classroom.
I don't want to go to learn.
I don't want to go, you know,for anything else.
I just want to go play in theclassroom.
And I was like, okay, but thefunny thing about it is
everything that was in mystepmom's classroom were toys
that Emily had passed down toher.
So it wasn't even like this newexciting stuff.
It was just that it was herstuff in a different
(03:29):
environment.
But she's really enjoyed it.
She embraces the uniqueness ofit.
She knows that she can have somuch more free time to do things
like right now, she's reallyinto archery and guitar and she
can practice for hours a daythat maybe she couldn't do that
otherwise because you know,traditional school, you get
home, you do homework, and it'skind of time for beds and bath
(03:50):
and start it all over again thenext day.
She's never really expressedlike a desire to, you know, do
anything other than what we do.
SPEAKER_00 (03:57):
That's really cool.
And she's at that age now whereif she were in school, the
majority, probably 99% of thepeople in her class would have
cell phones and, you know, bedoing the internet stuff.
How has that kind of shaped yourfamily?
Has it been hard or because herfriends are homeschooled?
Is nobody that you're aroundreally exposed to that, anyways?
SPEAKER_01 (04:20):
Well, to be perfectly honest, Emily has a
cell phone, but it's very muchlike she's at that age now where
she's going out and doing thingswithout my husband and myself.
And so it's for safety.
She does not have any socialmedia.
She doesn't have, you know, soher cell phone is very much just
for mom and dad's contact.
She does have Facebook MessengerKids where she chats with other
friends her age.
But the majority of, in fact,not even cell phone related.
(04:42):
We were at Target like sixmonths ago.
And there was a woman therebuying something for her niece,
and she asked how old Emily was.
And Emily told her, you know,I'm 12 at the time.
And she's like, Oh, that'sperfect.
Can you help me buy somethingfor my niece?
And she was telling hersomething that she was
interested in.
And Emily is standing there likea deer in the headlights.
I don't remember what it was,but she had no clue whatever
this popular thing was that thislady was talking about.
(05:05):
And I had to explain to her, I'mlike, ma'am, I'm not trying to
be mean, but my daughter mightnot be the best person to help
you.
I said, she's homeschooled, allof her friends are homeschooled.
She's not in that environmentwhere there's pressure or like
where everybody likes the inthing.
I said, she likes what shelikes, and there's nobody to
tell her that like it's not coolor it's not the popular thing
right now.
(05:25):
Which I actually in that momentwas like, this is so cool that
she gets to be 100% her, likewith no pressure to like like
the it new thing or be clicky orwhatever.
Like she just gets to noquestions asked, be who she is.
SPEAKER_00 (05:40):
Yeah.
Because how many of us, even atlike 40 years old, don't know
who we are?
Because it's always been this isthe popular show on TV and this
is the popular designer bag, oryou know, whatever it is, you're
always influenced.
And it is so nice to justnaturally come to that.
And oh, I want to follow thatfurther.
Cause I always thought, whatwould we do if we're
(06:02):
homeschooling?
Like we we would just sit aroundand read all day.
That really doesn't soundinteresting to me.
But now that we're in it, I'mlike, oh, we barely even have
time to sit down with a book.
We have to like make a consciousdecision to do that because
there's always so much to do.
I'm not echoing back to you.
(06:23):
Hmm.
All right, I'll edit that partout.
I don't know why I'm echoingback all of a sudden.
Like and you didn't switchanything just now?
SPEAKER_01 (06:31):
No, I didn't touch anything.
SPEAKER_00 (06:33):
Hmm.
Maybe it's the governmentlistening in.
SPEAKER_01 (06:36):
All right, so if I go low, that's probably too low.
We talk about homeschooling toomuch.
SPEAKER_00 (06:42):
But and if I do that, yeah, I'm still echoing.
So weird.
It says that I have an echocancellation, but I can't turn
it on while recording.
SPEAKER_01 (06:51):
Uh yeah, mine mine's on, but mine was on before we
started.
SPEAKER_00 (06:55):
I see yours is on.
Well, now I don't hear it.
All right.
Well, I'll note to edit thatpart out.
Okay, so things like proms andstuff, like that was also one of
my things in the very beginningof oh, could I ever homeschool?
I'd would my kids resent me formissing a prom or a homecoming
game or you know, the homecomingdance or little Halloween
(07:15):
parades and in school.
And then I think as you get intohomeschooling, you realize
that's so trivial and you canrecreate that stuff, anyways.
But how has that shaped yourdaughter and like her theories
on that stuff?
Or is it just like, well, if Idon't even know it exists, I
don't care to be a part of itanyway.
Like kids in like Guatemalaprobably aren't worried about a
(07:37):
prom.
SPEAKER_01 (07:38):
That's probably very true.
Uh, when we first startedhomeschooling, I mean, I had
those those thoughts, but thenagain, what's so funny is I
never went to mine.
I went to, I think, my freshmanhomecoming, but I've never, I
mean, I never went to prom.
And here at almost 40, I have tosay, the thought or the regret
or the like, man, I really wishI had gone to prom, it's never
occurred to me.
Like that thought has neverhappened.
(07:59):
So I wasn't really, reallyconcerned about it.
However, in the state ofFlorida, you can, there's
multiple different ways how youcan homeschool.
And I'm sure it's like this inmany different states, but you
can homeschool like through yourcounty or under an umbrella.
If you homeschool through yourcounty and you submit your
intent to them, you can stillparticipate in any of the public
(08:20):
school.
Like Emily could go toextracurricular activities, she
could play sports, she couldstill go to homecoling,
homecoming or prom, or I think Idon't, I don't know because we
haven't researched this enough,but I think she can even walk
like at graduation, becausetechnically we're homeschooled
under the county, even though Iget a free say in everything.
(08:42):
And so that was like, I guess, asecondary peace of mind for me.
Like, okay, if when she turns 15or 16, she wants to do this, we
have the option.
There's also a local, I meanlocal-ish, like an hour away,
where they do a homeschool prom.
And she had an older friend whowent last year.
And I have to admit, Emily waslike, I don't think I'm gonna do
(09:03):
that.
And I was like, Are you sure youmight want to?
And she's like, I have to wear adress and heels and get my hair
done.
She's kind of a tomboy.
So the idea of none of thatappealed to her.
And it was so funny to me, likein that at that point, that that
was even something I wasconcerned about when we started
six or seven years ago.
Like, I was so worried aboutmaking sure I made that an
(09:25):
available option.
And she's like, I don't want todo it.
Like, there's multiple ways shecould do it now.
She could do it with the county,she could do it through the
homeschool, and she's stilllike, no, I don't think I want
to wear heels or wear a dress ordo my hair or, you know,
whatever.
She's like, I'd rather stay homewith a book.
SPEAKER_00 (09:39):
Oh, oh, I love that.
Well, okay, why don't you breakit down?
What does your day-to-day looklike?
Um, you can just kind of likeover the years or what you're
doing right now.
SPEAKER_01 (09:49):
So our day-to-day has looked very similar over the
years.
Um we've kind of always had likeblocks of time that things fit
into.
So Emily, um, I'm gonna just sayshe's quirky because we
homeschool, we've never had touse labels, and she likes
dependability and routine, whereI'm more of a fly by the seat of
my pants.
(10:09):
So, like having blocks makes herhappy, but I can change what's
in those blocks and she doesn'tcare.
So our days have kind of alwaysstarted with morning basket,
which is originally started fromme not being a morning person
and needing to have somethingpreset and like done for me to
just wake up and do.
That's where the majority ofanything that we're gonna read
(10:30):
is at, anything that doesn'trequire her to write, typically
lasts an hour to an hour and ahalf unless she gets hooked on
something and we go down arabbit trail and then that looks
more like two hours.
And then we've kind of alwaysused games as a transition.
So we transition from ourmorning basket time to table
time, which is where any kind ofwriting lessons happen with a
game, because that's an easy wayfor me to always like pull her
(10:51):
over from the comfy couch tolike, hey, let's sit at the
table now and do some writing.
So we use like games to do that.
And then our afternoons havealways been our activities.
So after we have whatevertabletime lessons that might be,
which could be language, arts,and math, or maybe we're doing a
you know, art project or aproject with a unit study, we
always have lunch and then somesort of afternoon activity.
(11:12):
And that's where we like kind ofdig into subscription boxes or
those larger, messier projectsthat maybe aren't going to be
finished in one day, or um, Idon't know, maybe it's a rainy
day and we just spend the restof the afternoon playing games.
But that's kind of been thealways the basic for our day.
Now the same things happen, butnow that she's older, they
happen later.
(11:33):
So lunch happens now kind ofeven during our morning basket
because she's a teenager and soshe sleeps later than she did
when she was younger.
What about co-ops?
Do you do anything like that?
I did when she was very young.
In the very beginning, I feltintimidated by the fact that I
was homeschooling and onlychild.
If there are anybodyhomeschooling and only child, I
promise you the first questionanybody ever asks is, What about
(11:55):
socialization?
How is she gonna meet kids herage?
And even though I in my mindknew better, I let that
influence me and I kind of likepushed us into a co-op.
Um, and it wasn't a great fit.
And I knew that it wasn't gonnabe a great fit beforehand, and I
did it anyway because I feltthat pressure.
Now she does guitar lessonstwice a week.
Those happen later in theafternoon, so around five.
(12:16):
She does archery through 4-H.
Um, and then my dad is also anarchery coach, so those kind of
go together.
And she was doing karate lastyear, twice a week.
She switched karate for archery.
So she still gets plenty ofsocialization, even though I
really don't love that word.
She gets plenty of time withkids her age.
But co-op was just never theright way for us to do it.
(12:38):
And I'm I'm glad I'm secureenough now in what I know as a
homeschool mom, even though ittook me 10 years to get there,
to be able to say, that's great.
I'm glad it works for you.
That's not what's best for us.
SPEAKER_00 (12:50):
Yeah.
Did you ever have, like, I knowwe have a couple groups that
will do, they're not technicallya co-op, but like a meetup,
like, hey, we're always gonna beat so-and-so's house Mondays
from uh 11 to 4.
Come if you want, or hey, we'realways meeting at a different
park, or maybe a field trip day.
Do you have anything like thatwhere they're not technically
(13:11):
co-ops, but meetups with otherhomeschoolers in the area?
SPEAKER_01 (13:14):
We have a much more relaxed version of that because
again, I'm a fly by the seat ofyour pants.
So the every Monday at 3 p.m.
thing, just I have enoughscheduled things.
I'm not trying to add anythingelse.
So we have a very low-key groupof homeschool moms that kind of
all have, you know, kids aroundher age or within three or four
years of her age.
Some have youngers that tagalong and we'll do park play
(13:35):
dates or like one person willhost at their house for maybe a
holiday, like, hey, I want to doa Christmas party or Christmas
exchange, or hey, let's do, youknow, Valentine's Day something.
But it's just a lot more low-keythan like pre-scheduled every
Wednesday or Monday.
And it is great for field tripstoo, because there are a lot of
places that you can get adiscount, or you know, you can
(13:57):
schedule things when you have alarger group.
So that does make it nicer to belike, there's 12 of us kids, you
know, 12 kids coming and fivemoms, and you can get, you know,
those discounted rates.
SPEAKER_00 (14:06):
Yeah, for sure.
And I like those too justbecause um they go to places in
our area that I didn't even knowexisted.
It's like it's like, you know,you're like, oh yeah, we can do
a meetup at that little naturehike.
I didn't even know it was there.
So that's cool.
SPEAKER_01 (14:22):
Um, I always I always find the field trips
interesting.
Like I in Florida, this is not athing throughout the whole US,
but Publix is a grocery storehere.
And I mean, it's a grocerystore.
We've been there a thousandtimes.
But one of our other homeschoolmoms scheduled a field trip
there, and I was like, We'regoing to a grocery store.
I mean, I just, you know, I'mlike, I don't think my
11-year-old's gonna want to dothat.
(14:44):
But we did it, and it was supercool because they did like
behind the scenes tours, likethey let them help make floral
arrangements in the floraldepartment and like make a
sandwich in the deli and ringthings up in the cash registers.
And I was like, I never in my Inever would have been like,
let's go on a field trip toPublix.
But somebody booked it and Ithought, wow, this is so great.
And so I love that as well.
(15:06):
Cause like you said, they'regoing to different areas, or
when you have moms together, youthink of different things, you
know, things that you might nothave thought of or things that
they can expose your child tothat maybe you would have never
exposed them to otherwise.
SPEAKER_00 (15:18):
Yes, a thousand percent.
Like the one um group that wedo, and you know, you don't have
to go every week, but I look andsee where they're going.
The one time they went to acemetery, and I'm like, this is
weird, but I was like, allright, let's go.
It was a nice day out, so I tookthe kids.
We all went to the cemetery.
Well, it turns out one of thepresidents had been buried
(15:39):
there, and we saw a hawk thatwas just like sitting there
trying to um like pounce on Idon't know, I don't know, a
squirrel or a chipmunk orsomething.
So we'd watched that for awhile, and it was really just a
beautiful place, and you youknow, start looking at the
headstones and how old peoplewere when they died.
And I'm like, this was actuallya really cool trip.
(16:00):
I never would have gone on thison my own.
SPEAKER_02 (16:02):
On my own.
SPEAKER_01 (16:02):
I don't think I would have gone on a I
definitely wouldn't have bookeda cemetery-filled trip, but that
does actually sound pretty cool.
SPEAKER_00 (16:08):
It was so okay, what are your long-term plans for
your daughter?
Like, does she want to go tocollege?
Is this something that you guystalk about, or is it kind of
like, if we stayed out of thesystem this long, maybe we don't
need it at all?
SPEAKER_01 (16:20):
So she jokes about me homeschooling her for college
because she's like, I mean, sheobviously knows that's not an
option, but she jokes about it.
She's like, I think you shouldjust homeschool me all the way
through.
She does want to go to college,she's not sure what for yet.
In fact, that is her current petpeeve because for whatever
reason, she's like, once youturn 13, you're a teenager,
everybody thinks you should havethe rest of your life figured
(16:41):
out.
And like everybody is like, Sowhat do you want to do?
Like after high school.
And she's like, first, I'm noteven in high school yet.
So can we just like take abreath?
And I told her, I said, you knowwhat?
I would just start asking thembecause she gets really annoyed.
I'm like, I would just startasking them, like, what do you
want to do with the rest of yourlife?
Because I promise you, most ofus adults don't know either.
Yeah, for sure.
Did you have to live a career tohomeschool?
(17:02):
It was a professionalphotographer when I was pregnant
with Emily, and I maintained amore part-time status after she
was born, but I was still astay-at-home mom for the most
part.
I mean, I would did weddings onthe weekend and my husband would
take care of her, but I did quitaltogether when we started
homeschooling.
I didn't have to do that, it wasjust a lot to juggle.
(17:23):
And I kind of at the same time,I decided that I would rather go
back to school full-time.
And going back to schoolfull-time, homeschooling her and
running a business was a littlemuch.
So I went back to school for thefirst two years that we
homeschooled and finished mybachelor's degree.
And then after that, I startedthe Waldoc Way as a way to share
just kind of our journey withother homeschool moms because I
(17:45):
felt like there wasn't a lot ofonly like homeschooling and only
child out there.
And I knew I wasn't alone and Ijust wanted to like find others
or show that it could be done.
And then that grew into its ownbusiness to the point that
actually my husband and I bothnow work from home and run it.
So I didn't have to leave, butnow I'm a full-time working mom
who also homeschools.
SPEAKER_00 (18:06):
That's so cool.
So did you have to go get yourbachelor's in order to do that
or just kind of you wanted thebachelor's and then that
formula?
SPEAKER_01 (18:18):
I don't even have a reason for why I quit.
I just did.
And I thought to myself, youknow, after I got pregnant, I
was like, one day, this littlegirl is gonna come to me and
she's gonna want to quitsomething.
And I want to be able to say,like, you finish even when
things are hard.
And so even with her as a baby,I just wanted to, you know, be
able to like lead by example andnot be that mom who was like, do
(18:38):
what I say and not what I do.
So that's the only reason I wentback and finished.
SPEAKER_00 (18:42):
Okay, so tell us all about the Waldock Way.
How does this even turn into abusiness?
How did it start?
And where did you go from there?
SPEAKER_01 (18:50):
Okay, so Emily would have been six.
And when she was, like I said,this was first grade, I felt
like there wasn't a lot of onlychild.
Like everything that I saw atthat point, because you have to
remember this is seven yearsago, was very much large
families.
Um, the, I mean, homeschool hadbecome a bigger thing, but the
movement that we're livingthrough right now had not
(19:10):
happened yet.
And I said, you know what?
I'm just gonna share for acouple of reasons.
Number one, I was a little bitlonely, if I'm being honest.
And I kind of wanted to knowthat I wasn't the only one.
And I thought if if I share,I'll find, I'll at least find
somebody else.
So it started as me just sharinglike our day-to-day on
Instagram.
That was my preferred platformat the time because again,
photographer background, I likedthat it was all pretty pictures.
(19:33):
And I just kind of shared theday-to-day, the basics.
And we were obsessed.
I mean, like, well, Emily wasvery, very obsessed with the
magic treehouse books.
Jack and Annie were like herheroes.
We had read them so many times.
And I didn't even know thatthere was a name for what we do
now.
We do unit studies, but I didn'tknow that we were just doing
what felt natural.
(19:53):
So we would read the magictreehouse book about dinosaurs,
and we would like learn aboutdinosaurs or the letter D, or I
would find a museum, you know,nearby that had dinosaurs on
display.
So we would go see thedinosaurs.
Um, I mean, just like littlethings.
Like I was just naturally doingthis, and I started having
people message me on Instagramasking like what curriculum we
(20:13):
were using.
And I was like, We're not.
I mean, again, I'm just doingwhat felt natural.
And um, we're like, Well, canyou share what you're doing?
Can you keep sharing what you'redoing?
So eventually by the end of thatschool year, I took what we did
naturally and I put it into aformat that I could share with
other people and I put it onteachers pay teachers.
I don't even remember what theprice was at this point, but it
was Memorial Day of 2017, soseven years ago.
(20:36):
And after a year, I mean, we hadmade a decent amount on it.
And I thought, well, maybe Ishould make a website so that I
can sell it on my own websiteand not be giving teachers pay
teachers 40% of you know theincome.
So I did.
And then it felt weird to have awebsite without blog posts.
So I started writing blog poststhat were very generic, but very
(20:58):
like the questions I was askedall the time, like, can you
really homeschool an only child?
And, you know, just answeringthose questions so I could
direct them to that instead ofsaying the same thing 50,000
times.
Then the following year, Emilywas having some anxiety issues
and she, I don't remember whatexactly it was, but there was
something she was scared ofdoing.
And I said, you know, you can dobig scary things.
And she said, You can too,mommy.
(21:18):
And so I started a YouTubechannel because that felt big
and scary to me.
Um, it was.
In fact, if you go back sevenyears and watch some of my first
videos really closely, you canprobably see hives on my neck
because it was not somethingthat I was comfortable with at
all.
And then from there, I just keptwriting unit studies.
Anything that Emily wasinterested in, I would turn into
a study that she would be ableto do.
(21:41):
So from Magic Treehouse books toHarry Potter to topic-based,
we've done space, we've doneocean, we did survival based off
of bear grills.
And slowly but surely it hasgrown into um just this huge
business where we help otherhomeschool families and we
hopefully bring a lot more joyto their homeschools with
topic-based learning.
SPEAKER_00 (22:01):
Oh, I love that.
I love unit studies too.
I'm gonna have to now go throughall of yours and see what I can
pick up because I thought ofthat too.
Like, oh, I would love to likecreate a unit study for this or
that.
And but then it seems so heavyand daunting to think like, but
to make it good enough thatother people want to do it too.
I don't know.
SPEAKER_01 (22:23):
It um it has its moments.
I mean, I love what I do.
I absolutely love it.
I can't imagine a better job.
But there have been times when Ihave felt like, man, this is
like you know, you get that onebecause you can't ever make
everybody everybody happy.
So you get that one person, andI'm like, man, that was my heart
and soul was put into that, youknow, like it hurts me
physically.
SPEAKER_00 (22:43):
Yeah.
So okay, if somebody were to buyone of your unit studies, what
would that typically look like?
Would it be a week long, a monthlong, five days, would it take
an hour a day, five hours a day?
What does it entail?
SPEAKER_01 (22:55):
So I like to say that our unit studies are
extremely flexible.
Like I write them as if it's abuffet or a feast, and you get
to pick and choose what fitsyour family.
Because even the studies that Iwrite, like I physically write
them and we don't do them intheir entirety because there are
parts that work better for ourfamily.
Like we love the books and thegames, and we love, you know,
(23:16):
different parts, but neitherEmily nor I are huge into arts
and crafts.
Well, she's probably bigger intoarts and crafts than me, but I'm
not one of those, like that'sthere's no glitter in my house.
That's not my thing.
That would give me hives.
So I don't do those parts of ourstudies, but I make sure they're
there so that if that's yourthing, you can do them because
every homeschool family isdifferent.
(23:37):
All of our unit studies differ.
So we have mini unit studies.
I would say those are about aweek.
Most of our other unit studiesare somewhere between 12 and 14
weeks.
And then we have some that arecloser to year long, so 24 to
36.
Um, it just depends on whatyou're looking for.
And as far as ages, we havesomething from six to 16
probably, because I've createdthem for Emily as she's as she's
(24:00):
grown up.
And so there's something foreverybody.
They always include books,YouTube videos, games, like fun
printables.
My husband is an artist, like anamazing artist.
So there's always customcoloring pages that he's drawn
that are phenomenal.
He does all of the illustrationsfor all of our studies.
Human Body is actually myfavorite because his
illustrations, like they weremade for young kids, but they
(24:24):
look like they could be incollege textbooks.
And I absolutely love thatbecause he just put so much
detail into them.
But we just we try really hardto make sure that there's
something for everybody, butthat it's also not the kind of
checklist curriculum that youfeel like you have to check
every box and feel like less ofa homeschool mom if you don't.
SPEAKER_00 (24:42):
Okay, so how does it fit into like a regular school
year?
Say, like I'm in New York, weactually have things that we
have to meet as far as notnecessarily off the top of my
head, math, science, geography.
Um I think that patriotism isone of them.
But how implemental thing wereyou explaining you might have to
(25:03):
add some other topics throughthe year?
unknown (25:06):
Through the year.
SPEAKER_01 (25:07):
Um, math definitely is not included in any of our
studies because that's the onething that you kind of have to
have sequentially.
So it's not family style.
Like you can't do math with yourthe same math with your
six-year-old that you can withyour 16.
I'm gonna use what we'recurrently doing in our
homeschool right now.
We're doing our Egyptian heroesand myths study, which is based
on the Cain Chronicle books,which think Egyptian version
(25:29):
version of Percy Jackson,because it's by the same author.
So, with that study forgeography, obviously we're doing
a lot of Egyptian geography andmapping Egypt and Africa and
that location.
For history, we're getting intoancient Egypt, how the pyramids
were built.
Do they know that?
SPEAKER_00 (25:45):
I didn't know that they knew how they were built.
SPEAKER_01 (25:47):
Well, the the uh like the structure of it and the
stones, and then like thescience of it, because they
moved these stones through thedesert and they were so heavy,
but they learned that theystarted pouring water in front
of these sleds, and somebodywould pour the water as they
would drag the sled with theheavy stones on it.
And much like going to the beachbecause the water was wet, it
(26:09):
was harder and it would work.
So that's kind of some of thescience that we're touching on.
When you start talking aboutlike mummification and all that,
that's the science side of it.
The literature side is the factthat we're reading this book
series and there's comprehensionquestions and writing prompts
that go along with that.
So that is kind of how we takeone topic and can like dissect
it to cover all of thosedifferent subjects.
(26:29):
I will say phonics also is notincluded in the unit study, in
my opinion, because much likemath, that's sequential.
But I think all other languagearts or English skills could be
approached through it.
Like whatever you're learningabout, there's ways to do
writing prompts, or there's waysto, you know, do comprehension
because you're reading a bookthat goes along with that topic.
But math and phonics definitelywould need to be, I mean, you
(26:52):
can do supplemental things alongthat topic, but I think you need
curriculum for those.
SPEAKER_00 (26:56):
Yeah.
And that and that was always abig realization for me when I
first started.
It was like, okay, your kiddoesn't actually have to know X,
Y, or Z by a certain age.
So, you know, I talk to somehomeschooling families and
they're like, We're doing Latinthis month, and you know, or
this year, and another onethat's learning about ancient
(27:18):
Egypt, or you know, wheresometimes I'm just like, I don't
know, that would bore me.
I don't I don't think myseven-year-old would find that
fun, or even when he's eleven.
But then it's like, wait, dothey even have to learn that?
Like, I guess it depends.
If you're not taking a regent,you know, they really don't have
to.
You're just setting up for whatyou want them to know in life
(27:39):
and what they find interesting.
So can you kind of elaboratethat?
You know, elaborate on that forme.
I'm sorry, I'm still hearing myecho.
I don't know if I'm asking thisand making any sense.
SPEAKER_01 (27:53):
But do you know what I mean?
Do you know what I mean?
So that's actually one of thevery first conversations that my
husband and I had when westarted homeschooling because
he, again, 20 years older thanme, so he's a little more old
school.
So he was like, I need to seepaper when I come home every day
from school, and I need it to bein math and language arts and
science and history.
And I was like, whoa, whoa,whoa, wait a minute, back up.
Okay, let's find a happy medium.
(28:13):
And then eventually we had thediscussion where I was like, can
we just talk about what youactually like you, what do you
remember from your 13 years inschool?
And then me from even like 13years in school plus four years
in college.
Like, what do you remember?
He remembered a ton of historybecause he loved history.
I remembered a lot of mathbecause I loved math.
(28:35):
But that was it.
Like, if you start quizzing meon history or he started talking
to me about the things that heremembered, I was taught the
same things, but I didn'tremember any of them.
And I had never used any of thatknowledge because it didn't
interest me.
And so eventually, after havingthat conversation with him, I
was like, so think about if youcould teach all of the things
(28:56):
and it all be based off of yourinterest.
Like that would be so much morebeneficial, not just for the
person who's being taught, inthis case my daughter, but for
me who is the person who's doingthe teaching.
Because now I'm not having toteach the same thing over and
over and over or even be wastingmy breath and it going in one
ear and out the other.
I can take math, language arts,you know, all of these subjects,
(29:18):
and I can make it pertain towhatever she's interested in.
So for years when she wasyounger, it was animals.
Like if I could figure out a wayto tie it to an animal, if I
wanted to learn about Africa,okay, we're gonna start with the
African animals.
Or if I wanted, you know, totalk about, again, like when she
was four or five letters, shelearned her letters.
A is for alligator, B is for B,C is for cat.
(29:39):
I mean, because that's whatworked for her.
It's what she was interested in.
And I also think we always talkabout gaps.
Like, as homeschool moms hadsomething we're worried about is
gaps in education.
It is impossible, absolutelyimpossible, for you to teach
your child everything they'regonna need for the rest of their
life.
Like, I'm I'm 38 years old.
I did 13 years in public.
(30:00):
Public school.
I did four years in college, andI promise I am still learning
new things every single day.
So we put this pressure onourselves to like, I don't know,
keep up with the Joneses, keepup with the public school, teach
them everything.
And it's impossible.
So instead, why not just havefun, teach them what they're
interested in?
And like you said, maybe eventhings that you're interested
in.
Because if you enjoy it as ateacher, they're probably gonna
(30:23):
enjoy it as the student.
SPEAKER_00 (30:24):
Yeah.
And I think really payingattention to what lights them up
throughout the day because it'sso easy to say, well, I don't
know what they're interested inbecause I'm not exposing them to
every little thing, like Latinor you know, whatever.
But when you when they watch amovie or when they're playing
with friends or asking you aquestion as you're driving in
(30:46):
the car, you will start tonotice those things that
actually spark them.
And then you can move forwardwith that.
SPEAKER_01 (30:54):
So on that same topic, I have to go back to this
for just a second because I'mreally like I'm huge on interest
level learning.
So the biggest thing I hear isalways, I don't know what my
kid's interested in.
And I feel like there's tworeasons for that.
Number one, it's becausetypically when we want to know
what our kid is interested in,instead of paying attention,
like you just said, we ask them.
We look at our kid and we'relike, hey, what do you want to
(31:15):
learn about?
Which I don't know about you.
But anytime my husband looks atme and goes, hey, what do you
want for dinner?
My answer is always, I don'tknow.
So when you ask your kid that,they're like, I don't know,
because you're putting themunder like this weird pressure
to have an answer and they don'thave it.
And then the second thing issometimes they have an interest,
but we don't see the value intheir interest.
(31:36):
So for example, maybe your son'sinterest is video games or
Minecraft, and we are like,well, that can't be educational.
We can't learn about that.
So we don't see the value in itwhen really there is a ton of
value in it.
You just have to sometimes getcreative and not discredit it.
And maybe your son who's in lovewith video games is going to be
(31:56):
a video game programmer, and byallowing him to follow those
interests, you've opened moredoors for him.
So I think one is don't ask themwhat they're interested in, you
know, like actually, like yousaid, pay attention.
And the other is don't discreditsomething just because you don't
like it or you don't see thevalue in it.
SPEAKER_00 (32:11):
Yeah.
My son is building a tiny housein the backyard right now.
He's seven.
But the little boy next door,he's 11, and he was doing it for
you know a couple weeks over thesummer.
And so then they startedbuilding one for my son, and it
was like I mean, it's likepallets and some wood together,
you know.
But it's it's just cute becauselike in his mind, this is gonna
(32:33):
be a house that he's gonna livein someday.
You know, you know, it reallygot me thinking too because now
it's it's the beginning ofSeptember, and the neighbor is
off at school, and the weatherhere is beautiful, and that poor
kid is stuck inside all day,can't be outside working on his
tiny house building the nextthing, you know.
(32:54):
Um, it was eye-opening just tosee what kids will do when
they're bored and creative.
And now, you know, seeing theschool system swooped him right
up at 6 a.m.
SPEAKER_01 (33:07):
and he doesn't come home till three, and then he's
got homework and stores andyeah, yeah, it is and your son's
who's seven, his tiny house isprobably gonna be complete, and
the other, you know,11-year-olds is gonna be sitting
there all sad.
He's gonna have to invite himover.
You can come stay in my tinyhouse.
SPEAKER_00 (33:23):
Till the coyotes go, and then they'll be like, okay,
we're inside.
Um, what have been some of thelet's see, like the hardships of
uh homeschooling and only child,and then some of the pros and
that you've seen.
SPEAKER_01 (33:39):
The biggest hardship or challenge um is that you're
their everything.
I mean, I can't ever say, like,go play a game with your
siblings or go do anything.
I'm her mom, I'm her teacher,I'm her playmate, I'm the person
she plays the game with, I'm theonly person she has to talk to.
And that can be extremelychallenging because you never
get any like downtime.
(34:00):
And I don't even mean physicaldowntime, I mean like mental
downtime.
SPEAKER_02 (34:04):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (34:05):
When she was younger and my husband was still
working, like out of the housefor 12 and 13 hour days, I
instituted what I called alearning lunch, which meant she
had to either watch a TV show,listen to a podcast, or listen
to an audiobook just so that shewouldn't talk to me for 20
minutes.
And I know what that soundslike, but I don't even care
because my sanity was worth morethan that 20 minutes of screen
(34:28):
time that I needed her to haveso that we can make it through
the rest of the afternoon.
Happy.
I was joyful because I took that20 minutes to recharge.
And I think that's the biggestchallenge, other than the fact
that for whatever reason, peopleare a lot more judgy.
You know, like that you're onlyhomeschooling one, like I'm
doing a disservice to herbecause I'm I'm keeping her home
and keeping her away from herpeers, or even sometimes other
(34:49):
homeschool moms who claim that Ihave it easier because I only
have one.
And my biggest thing is it's noteasier, it's just different.
I don't think it's easierwhether you have two or ten or
one.
I think our situations just lookdifferent, no matter how many
you have or whatever yoursituation might be.
You know, maybe you have one inpublic school and one at home,
and that's just different.
(35:10):
You know, it's not easier orharder, it's just different than
what somebody else has.
So I think those are probablythe biggest challenges.
I think the biggest benefits arethat she gets one-on-one
everything.
I mean, her her entirehomeschool is tailored to her.
Like it doesn't have to be whereI'm teaching to the middle
because I have, you know, asix-year-old and a 10-year-old,
(35:32):
or where um I have to pick abook that would appeal to both
of them.
Like everything is tailored toher.
It's her interest, it's, youknow, her desires, it's her
whatever.
Um, and while she might notnecessarily see it yet, I know
that that is a humongous benefitfor her.
And then also the therelationship and the connection.
Like it's always her and I orher and my husband or the three
(35:55):
of us, and our family hasbenefited so much because of
that.
Like, and I don't just mean likethe little things.
Like I can see where a lot ofpeople started warning me, like,
oh, when she turns 13, you mightas well say, you know, bye to
her because you're never gonnasee or hear from her again.
She's gonna be locked in herbedroom or off with her friends.
And I I mean, I've seen theshift, right, to where she's
(36:16):
spent more time with friends.
But what I see in other kidsversus what we have, and I don't
know if this is an only childthing, maybe it's just a
homeschool thing in general, butit's still, I mean, she hasn't
like left us, right?
Like we're still cool, she stillenjoys spending time with us,
she still wants to watch movieswith us and play games with us.
And so I think that foundationthat we built, you know, she
(36:36):
like we're friends, even thoughwe're also family.
And I wouldn't, I wouldn't tradethat benefit for any of the the
challenges.
SPEAKER_00 (36:43):
I love that.
Any parting words or inspirationthat you have for prospective
homeschooling families or newhomeschooling families?
SPEAKER_01 (36:51):
Um, I think I would probably just say that if you're
considering homeschooling,you're always going to feel like
you're not doing enough oryou're not enough, or you know,
you could be doing somethingmore or something better.
But the thing that I try toremind myself, like especially
at the end of the day, is thereis literally nobody on earth who
is more invested in my childthan I am, invested in them as a
(37:15):
person, invested in theirfuture, invested in their
academics.
So you are quite literally, nomatter what, the most equipped
and the best person for the job.
SPEAKER_00 (37:25):
Oh, I love that.
All right, Jessica, I'm going toput your website and your
YouTube channel in the show'sdescription so that people can
find you.
But if you'd like to just shoutthat out right now for anyone
listening who wants to jot itdown, I will let you do that as
well.
And I will put this in theshow's description as well, but
let's just uh say it out loud.
SPEAKER_01 (37:45):
The easiest place to find me is my website, which
would be www.thewaldokway.com,which is my last name,
W-A-L-D-O-C-K.
All right, awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (37:56):
And we can find your YouTube channel and your unit
studies through there.
Yeah, you can find pretty mucheverything as well as social
media too.
Awesome, awesome.
Well, we will follow you and uhsupport you and all that you're
doing.
I love this.
I've had the idea in my head to,you know, different things that
I want to learn about.
I'm right near the Hudson River,and I said on so many episodes,
(38:16):
I'm like, oh, I will make a unitstudy on the Hudson River one
day.
I have passed it a million timesin my life, and no teacher in
school has ever taught meanything about it.
SPEAKER_01 (38:28):
But see, think about this.
You've got the history becauseyou can learn about Henry Hudson
himself and you know how itbecame named that.
You've got the science of theriver and you have the animals
that live in it.
You've got the geography of it.
Like, I'm telling you, therevolution, like it was awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (38:43):
The revolutionary war was like right here, and it
pushed trade to Western Americabecause of this.
And then it's the 200-yearanniversary of the Erie Canal
right now, which they but like Ididn't know anything about that
until I took out a book from thethe library, a children's book,
no less.
And I'm like, there was so muchcool stuff to learn that they
(39:05):
never taught us in school.
SPEAKER_01 (39:07):
It's just so much.
So much.
We've did we've done like localfield trips, we've done road
trips across the country.
And I'm like, first of all, Inever you know saw anything, but
also the coolest thing I've everexperienced was we read about
the Alamo.
I didn't know, I mean, if theytaught me anything about the
Mexican-American War, I don'tremember it.
I don't think I was taught atall.
(39:28):
Then so we read about the war,we read about the Alamo, and
then we went and like toured theAlamo.
We went on a road trip.
And I remember Emily was likestanding there and she's like,
Mom, think about where you'restanding and like what was
happening X amount of years agoin this exact, like in this
exact spot.
And I was like, you know what?
I've never like thought of itthrough that lens before.
(39:49):
But I was like, that is actuallyreally, really cool.
And again, I didn't likehistory.
In fact, history was the onesubject that I didn't even want
to teach in my homeschool.
I hated it so much.
And it's actually my favoritesubject now for that reason
because there's so much I wasn'ttaught.
There's so many cool things thathappened and so many cool places
to visit and things toexperience.
That I mean, why were we justtaught names and dates?
(40:12):
Like, who was gonna like that?
SPEAKER_00 (40:14):
They didn't relate it to anything in our life, and
they made it seem so long agothat it was like, well, what
does it matter?
That was just a million yearsago, and it's like, no, really,
like you know, the Holocaust waswithin the last just a couple of
decades, and then before that,you know, America was only
established a couplegrandparents ago, guys.
(40:36):
Like nothing was in context,everything seemed ancient.
And I I'm right with you.
I love history now, and Ilearned most of it through
children's books.
SPEAKER_01 (40:46):
Same.
They never made it relevant, andtheir famous tagline when it was
like, Why do we need to knowthis?
History repeats itself, whichokay, it does, but they never
explained that in a kid friendlyway or a child-friendly way
either.
Because I'm like, I don't thinkso.
The Revolutionary War happened,I don't think it's gonna happen
again, you know.
Like, yeah, little did we know,yeah.
Had they explained it a littlebetter or broken it down, I
(41:08):
think I would have remembered alot.
SPEAKER_00 (41:09):
One day we're gonna tell you all you have to stay in
your homes and six feet awayfrom family and cover your face
and inject you with something.
They didn't tell us that thatwas gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01 (41:21):
No, no, they didn't explain it like it might not be
the exact same thing, but trustus when we say these things are
going to, you're gonna see themagain in your lifetime.
SPEAKER_00 (41:31):
I would have been like, oh, well, then maybe I
should pay attention.
Exactly.
I think they're banking on thatwe didn't pay attention.
Jessica, thank you so much forbeing here today.
This was so much fun chattingwith you.
I can't wait to see all the workthat you do and uh grab some of
it for myself so we canexperience this fun in our
homeschool too.
Thank you so much for having me.
Welcome.
And with us today, I haveJessica Waldock from Florida.
Jessica, thank you for beinghere.
Thank you for having me.
And you are a homeschooling mom?
SPEAKER_01 (00:09):
I am.
I'm a homeschooling mom of one.
She is at the time of thisrecording 13.
And we have been homeschoolingsince the beginning.
That's so cool.
SPEAKER_00 (00:18):
Okay, so you're in the state of Florida.
Um, I get asked this a lot frompeople.
I either get questions saying,I'm a working mom.
How can I homeschool?
Or I only have one child.
How can I homeschool with onechild?
And I've talked to a few parentswith one child, and there's
actually a lot of benefits tothis.
(00:38):
So look.
SPEAKER_01 (00:40):
So when we were like first, okay, first let me back
up.
Emily is my rainbow baby.
Like, I wasn't supposed to beable to have kids.
My husband's 20 years older.
She was not planned, but therewere obviously bigger plans than
what we had.
So, like when preschool rolledaround and it was time for her
to go, if I'm being honest, Ijust wasn't ready to let go.
She was a preemie, so she'syoung for her age.
(01:02):
She was small for her age, andwe live 45 minutes from the
nearest preschool.
So it was just kind of like,wouldn't it be easier than
driving 45 minutes one directionto just keep her home?
I mean, it's barely ABCs andone, two, threes.
And you know, anybody can dothis.
So I kept her home forpreschool.
And by the time kindergartenrolled around, we realized we
(01:23):
just liked the lifestyle.
We liked being able to likelearn as a family.
We liked being able to stay uplater if my husband's hours
changed.
We just, we really embraced it.
So we were just kind of like,okay, let's try this out and
we'll evaluate year by year.
I mean, we didn't know any otherhomeschoolers.
My husband and I both hadtraditional schooling
backgrounds.
So it's not like we had anyplans or set out to homeschool.
(01:46):
It just kind of fell into ourlaps.
And if I'm being honest, wehaven't evaluated again.
Like we always said, we'll talkabout it at the beginning of
each school year and we'll seehow we feel.
And we just started eighth gradeand we still love it as a
family.
Like, I can't imagine missingout on those hours and the
things that like those lightbulb moments.
(02:06):
I wouldn't want to give those toanybody else.
SPEAKER_00 (02:08):
And I know what you mean with those too.
Like there's so many frustratingmoments, but for every
frustrating moment, there's alsoa light bulb moment that you're
like, I will I would have missedthis.
How did your daughter kind ofreact to it as she got older and
understood that her friends, alot of her friends, were
probably going to traditionalschool and she was not?
SPEAKER_01 (02:27):
Actually, she's always been very, very pro
homeschool.
She loves, like, she knows thatshe gets to sleep in and she can
do school in her pajamas.
And I would say probably about90% of her friends are actually
homeschooled as well.
We just happen to be in a reallyrural area where it's kind of a
big deal, like a big thing here.
But her cousins went totraditional school.
(02:48):
And so that was always aneye-opening experience for her.
My sister is a teacher, mystepmom is a teacher.
So she has a lot of likeknowledge.
I won't forget the very firsttime my stepmom took her with
her to work on like it was likeMartin Luther King Day or, you
know, one of those days wherethey had a Monday off.
And she took her, and Emilythought the classroom itself was
(03:08):
really, really cool.
She was, I think, six, and shesaid, Mom, I want to go just for
the classroom.
I don't want to go to learn.
I don't want to go, you know,for anything else.
I just want to go play in theclassroom.
And I was like, okay, but thefunny thing about it is
everything that was in mystepmom's classroom were toys
that Emily had passed down toher.
So it wasn't even like this newexciting stuff.
It was just that it was herstuff in a different
(03:29):
environment.
But she's really enjoyed it.
She embraces the uniqueness ofit.
She knows that she can have somuch more free time to do things
like right now, she's reallyinto archery and guitar and she
can practice for hours a daythat maybe she couldn't do that
otherwise because you know,traditional school, you get
home, you do homework, and it'skind of time for beds and bath
(03:50):
and start it all over again thenext day.
She's never really expressedlike a desire to, you know, do
anything other than what we do.
SPEAKER_00 (03:57):
That's really cool.
And she's at that age now whereif she were in school, the
majority, probably 99% of thepeople in her class would have
cell phones and, you know, bedoing the internet stuff.
How has that kind of shaped yourfamily?
Has it been hard or because herfriends are homeschooled?
Is nobody that you're aroundreally exposed to that, anyways?
SPEAKER_01 (04:20):
Well, to be perfectly honest, Emily has a
cell phone, but it's very muchlike she's at that age now where
she's going out and doing thingswithout my husband and myself.
And so it's for safety.
She does not have any socialmedia.
She doesn't have, you know, soher cell phone is very much just
for mom and dad's contact.
She does have Facebook MessengerKids where she chats with other
friends her age.
But the majority of, in fact,not even cell phone related.
(04:42):
We were at Target like sixmonths ago.
And there was a woman therebuying something for her niece,
and she asked how old Emily was.
And Emily told her, you know,I'm 12 at the time.
And she's like, Oh, that'sperfect.
Can you help me buy somethingfor my niece?
And she was telling hersomething that she was
interested in.
And Emily is standing there likea deer in the headlights.
I don't remember what it was,but she had no clue whatever
this popular thing was that thislady was talking about.
(05:05):
And I had to explain to her, I'mlike, ma'am, I'm not trying to
be mean, but my daughter mightnot be the best person to help
you.
I said, she's homeschooled, allof her friends are homeschooled.
She's not in that environmentwhere there's pressure or like
where everybody likes the inthing.
I said, she likes what shelikes, and there's nobody to
tell her that like it's not coolor it's not the popular thing
right now.
(05:25):
Which I actually in that momentwas like, this is so cool that
she gets to be 100% her, likewith no pressure to like like
the it new thing or be clicky orwhatever.
Like she just gets to noquestions asked, be who she is.
SPEAKER_00 (05:40):
Yeah.
Because how many of us, even atlike 40 years old, don't know
who we are?
Because it's always been this isthe popular show on TV and this
is the popular designer bag, oryou know, whatever it is, you're
always influenced.
And it is so nice to justnaturally come to that.
And oh, I want to follow thatfurther.
Cause I always thought, whatwould we do if we're
(06:02):
homeschooling?
Like we we would just sit aroundand read all day.
That really doesn't soundinteresting to me.
But now that we're in it, I'mlike, oh, we barely even have
time to sit down with a book.
We have to like make a consciousdecision to do that because
there's always so much to do.
I'm not echoing back to you.
(06:23):
Hmm.
All right, I'll edit that partout.
I don't know why I'm echoingback all of a sudden.
Like and you didn't switchanything just now?
SPEAKER_01 (06:31):
No, I didn't touch anything.
SPEAKER_00 (06:33):
Hmm.
Maybe it's the governmentlistening in.
SPEAKER_01 (06:36):
All right, so if I go low, that's probably too low.
We talk about homeschooling toomuch.
SPEAKER_00 (06:42):
But and if I do that, yeah, I'm still echoing.
So weird.
It says that I have an echocancellation, but I can't turn
it on while recording.
SPEAKER_01 (06:51):
Uh yeah, mine mine's on, but mine was on before we
started.
SPEAKER_00 (06:55):
I see yours is on.
Well, now I don't hear it.
All right.
Well, I'll note to edit thatpart out.
Okay, so things like proms andstuff, like that was also one of
my things in the very beginningof oh, could I ever homeschool?
I'd would my kids resent me formissing a prom or a homecoming
game or you know, the homecomingdance or little Halloween
(07:15):
parades and in school.
And then I think as you get intohomeschooling, you realize
that's so trivial and you canrecreate that stuff, anyways.
But how has that shaped yourdaughter and like her theories
on that stuff?
Or is it just like, well, if Idon't even know it exists, I
don't care to be a part of itanyway.
Like kids in like Guatemalaprobably aren't worried about a
(07:37):
prom.
SPEAKER_01 (07:38):
That's probably very true.
Uh, when we first startedhomeschooling, I mean, I had
those those thoughts, but thenagain, what's so funny is I
never went to mine.
I went to, I think, my freshmanhomecoming, but I've never, I
mean, I never went to prom.
And here at almost 40, I have tosay, the thought or the regret
or the like, man, I really wishI had gone to prom, it's never
occurred to me.
Like that thought has neverhappened.
(07:59):
So I wasn't really, reallyconcerned about it.
However, in the state ofFlorida, you can, there's
multiple different ways how youcan homeschool.
And I'm sure it's like this inmany different states, but you
can homeschool like through yourcounty or under an umbrella.
If you homeschool through yourcounty and you submit your
intent to them, you can stillparticipate in any of the public
(08:20):
school.
Like Emily could go toextracurricular activities, she
could play sports, she couldstill go to homecoling,
homecoming or prom, or I think Idon't, I don't know because we
haven't researched this enough,but I think she can even walk
like at graduation, becausetechnically we're homeschooled
under the county, even though Iget a free say in everything.
(08:42):
And so that was like, I guess, asecondary peace of mind for me.
Like, okay, if when she turns 15or 16, she wants to do this, we
have the option.
There's also a local, I meanlocal-ish, like an hour away,
where they do a homeschool prom.
And she had an older friend whowent last year.
And I have to admit, Emily waslike, I don't think I'm gonna do
(09:03):
that.
And I was like, Are you sure youmight want to?
And she's like, I have to wear adress and heels and get my hair
done.
She's kind of a tomboy.
So the idea of none of thatappealed to her.
And it was so funny to me, likein that at that point, that that
was even something I wasconcerned about when we started
six or seven years ago.
Like, I was so worried aboutmaking sure I made that an
(09:25):
available option.
And she's like, I don't want todo it.
Like, there's multiple ways shecould do it now.
She could do it with the county,she could do it through the
homeschool, and she's stilllike, no, I don't think I want
to wear heels or wear a dress ordo my hair or, you know,
whatever.
She's like, I'd rather stay homewith a book.
SPEAKER_00 (09:39):
Oh, oh, I love that.
Well, okay, why don't you breakit down?
What does your day-to-day looklike?
Um, you can just kind of likeover the years or what you're
doing right now.
SPEAKER_01 (09:49):
So our day-to-day has looked very similar over the
years.
Um we've kind of always had likeblocks of time that things fit
into.
So Emily, um, I'm gonna just sayshe's quirky because we
homeschool, we've never had touse labels, and she likes
dependability and routine, whereI'm more of a fly by the seat of
my pants.
(10:09):
So, like having blocks makes herhappy, but I can change what's
in those blocks and she doesn'tcare.
So our days have kind of alwaysstarted with morning basket,
which is originally started fromme not being a morning person
and needing to have somethingpreset and like done for me to
just wake up and do.
That's where the majority ofanything that we're gonna read
(10:30):
is at, anything that doesn'trequire her to write, typically
lasts an hour to an hour and ahalf unless she gets hooked on
something and we go down arabbit trail and then that looks
more like two hours.
And then we've kind of alwaysused games as a transition.
So we transition from ourmorning basket time to table
time, which is where any kind ofwriting lessons happen with a
game, because that's an easy wayfor me to always like pull her
(10:51):
over from the comfy couch tolike, hey, let's sit at the
table now and do some writing.
So we use like games to do that.
And then our afternoons havealways been our activities.
So after we have whatevertabletime lessons that might be,
which could be language, arts,and math, or maybe we're doing a
you know, art project or aproject with a unit study, we
always have lunch and then somesort of afternoon activity.
(11:12):
And that's where we like kind ofdig into subscription boxes or
those larger, messier projectsthat maybe aren't going to be
finished in one day, or um, Idon't know, maybe it's a rainy
day and we just spend the restof the afternoon playing games.
But that's kind of been thealways the basic for our day.
Now the same things happen, butnow that she's older, they
happen later.
(11:33):
So lunch happens now kind ofeven during our morning basket
because she's a teenager and soshe sleeps later than she did
when she was younger.
What about co-ops?
Do you do anything like that?
I did when she was very young.
In the very beginning, I feltintimidated by the fact that I
was homeschooling and onlychild.
If there are anybodyhomeschooling and only child, I
promise you the first questionanybody ever asks is, What about
(11:55):
socialization?
How is she gonna meet kids herage?
And even though I in my mindknew better, I let that
influence me and I kind of likepushed us into a co-op.
Um, and it wasn't a great fit.
And I knew that it wasn't gonnabe a great fit beforehand, and I
did it anyway because I feltthat pressure.
Now she does guitar lessonstwice a week.
Those happen later in theafternoon, so around five.
(12:16):
She does archery through 4-H.
Um, and then my dad is also anarchery coach, so those kind of
go together.
And she was doing karate lastyear, twice a week.
She switched karate for archery.
So she still gets plenty ofsocialization, even though I
really don't love that word.
She gets plenty of time withkids her age.
But co-op was just never theright way for us to do it.
(12:38):
And I'm I'm glad I'm secureenough now in what I know as a
homeschool mom, even though ittook me 10 years to get there,
to be able to say, that's great.
I'm glad it works for you.
That's not what's best for us.
SPEAKER_00 (12:50):
Yeah.
Did you ever have, like, I knowwe have a couple groups that
will do, they're not technicallya co-op, but like a meetup,
like, hey, we're always gonna beat so-and-so's house Mondays
from uh 11 to 4.
Come if you want, or hey, we'realways meeting at a different
park, or maybe a field trip day.
Do you have anything like thatwhere they're not technically
(13:11):
co-ops, but meetups with otherhomeschoolers in the area?
SPEAKER_01 (13:14):
We have a much more relaxed version of that because
again, I'm a fly by the seat ofyour pants.
So the every Monday at 3 p.m.
thing, just I have enoughscheduled things.
I'm not trying to add anythingelse.
So we have a very low-key groupof homeschool moms that kind of
all have, you know, kids aroundher age or within three or four
years of her age.
Some have youngers that tagalong and we'll do park play
(13:35):
dates or like one person willhost at their house for maybe a
holiday, like, hey, I want to doa Christmas party or Christmas
exchange, or hey, let's do, youknow, Valentine's Day something.
But it's just a lot more low-keythan like pre-scheduled every
Wednesday or Monday.
And it is great for field tripstoo, because there are a lot of
places that you can get adiscount, or you know, you can
(13:57):
schedule things when you have alarger group.
So that does make it nicer to belike, there's 12 of us kids, you
know, 12 kids coming and fivemoms, and you can get, you know,
those discounted rates.
SPEAKER_00 (14:06):
Yeah, for sure.
And I like those too justbecause um they go to places in
our area that I didn't even knowexisted.
It's like it's like, you know,you're like, oh yeah, we can do
a meetup at that little naturehike.
I didn't even know it was there.
So that's cool.
SPEAKER_01 (14:22):
Um, I always I always find the field trips
interesting.
Like I in Florida, this is not athing throughout the whole US,
but Publix is a grocery storehere.
And I mean, it's a grocerystore.
We've been there a thousandtimes.
But one of our other homeschoolmoms scheduled a field trip
there, and I was like, We'regoing to a grocery store.
I mean, I just, you know, I'mlike, I don't think my
11-year-old's gonna want to dothat.
(14:44):
But we did it, and it was supercool because they did like
behind the scenes tours, likethey let them help make floral
arrangements in the floraldepartment and like make a
sandwich in the deli and ringthings up in the cash registers.
And I was like, I never in my Inever would have been like,
let's go on a field trip toPublix.
But somebody booked it and Ithought, wow, this is so great.
And so I love that as well.
(15:06):
Cause like you said, they'regoing to different areas, or
when you have moms together, youthink of different things, you
know, things that you might nothave thought of or things that
they can expose your child tothat maybe you would have never
exposed them to otherwise.
SPEAKER_00 (15:18):
Yes, a thousand percent.
Like the one um group that wedo, and you know, you don't have
to go every week, but I look andsee where they're going.
The one time they went to acemetery, and I'm like, this is
weird, but I was like, allright, let's go.
It was a nice day out, so I tookthe kids.
We all went to the cemetery.
Well, it turns out one of thepresidents had been buried
(15:39):
there, and we saw a hawk thatwas just like sitting there
trying to um like pounce on Idon't know, I don't know, a
squirrel or a chipmunk orsomething.
So we'd watched that for awhile, and it was really just a
beautiful place, and you youknow, start looking at the
headstones and how old peoplewere when they died.
And I'm like, this was actuallya really cool trip.
(16:00):
I never would have gone on thison my own.
SPEAKER_02 (16:02):
On my own.
SPEAKER_01 (16:02):
I don't think I would have gone on a I
definitely wouldn't have bookeda cemetery-filled trip, but that
does actually sound pretty cool.
SPEAKER_00 (16:08):
It was so okay, what are your long-term plans for
your daughter?
Like, does she want to go tocollege?
Is this something that you guystalk about, or is it kind of
like, if we stayed out of thesystem this long, maybe we don't
need it at all?
SPEAKER_01 (16:20):
So she jokes about me homeschooling her for college
because she's like, I mean, sheobviously knows that's not an
option, but she jokes about it.
She's like, I think you shouldjust homeschool me all the way
through.
She does want to go to college,she's not sure what for yet.
In fact, that is her current petpeeve because for whatever
reason, she's like, once youturn 13, you're a teenager,
everybody thinks you should havethe rest of your life figured
(16:41):
out.
And like everybody is like, Sowhat do you want to do?
Like after high school.
And she's like, first, I'm noteven in high school yet.
So can we just like take abreath?
And I told her, I said, you knowwhat?
I would just start asking thembecause she gets really annoyed.
I'm like, I would just startasking them, like, what do you
want to do with the rest of yourlife?
Because I promise you, most ofus adults don't know either.
Yeah, for sure.
Did you have to live a career tohomeschool?
(17:02):
It was a professionalphotographer when I was pregnant
with Emily, and I maintained amore part-time status after she
was born, but I was still astay-at-home mom for the most
part.
I mean, I would did weddings onthe weekend and my husband would
take care of her, but I did quitaltogether when we started
homeschooling.
I didn't have to do that, it wasjust a lot to juggle.
(17:23):
And I kind of at the same time,I decided that I would rather go
back to school full-time.
And going back to schoolfull-time, homeschooling her and
running a business was a littlemuch.
So I went back to school for thefirst two years that we
homeschooled and finished mybachelor's degree.
And then after that, I startedthe Waldoc Way as a way to share
just kind of our journey withother homeschool moms because I
(17:45):
felt like there wasn't a lot ofonly like homeschooling and only
child out there.
And I knew I wasn't alone and Ijust wanted to like find others
or show that it could be done.
And then that grew into its ownbusiness to the point that
actually my husband and I bothnow work from home and run it.
So I didn't have to leave, butnow I'm a full-time working mom
who also homeschools.
SPEAKER_00 (18:06):
That's so cool.
So did you have to go get yourbachelor's in order to do that
or just kind of you wanted thebachelor's and then that
formula?
SPEAKER_01 (18:18):
I don't even have a reason for why I quit.
I just did.
And I thought to myself, youknow, after I got pregnant, I
was like, one day, this littlegirl is gonna come to me and
she's gonna want to quitsomething.
And I want to be able to say,like, you finish even when
things are hard.
And so even with her as a baby,I just wanted to, you know, be
able to like lead by example andnot be that mom who was like, do
(18:38):
what I say and not what I do.
So that's the only reason I wentback and finished.
SPEAKER_00 (18:42):
Okay, so tell us all about the Waldock Way.
How does this even turn into abusiness?
How did it start?
And where did you go from there?
SPEAKER_01 (18:50):
Okay, so Emily would have been six.
And when she was, like I said,this was first grade, I felt
like there wasn't a lot of onlychild.
Like everything that I saw atthat point, because you have to
remember this is seven yearsago, was very much large
families.
Um, the, I mean, homeschool hadbecome a bigger thing, but the
movement that we're livingthrough right now had not
(19:10):
happened yet.
And I said, you know what?
I'm just gonna share for acouple of reasons.
Number one, I was a little bitlonely, if I'm being honest.
And I kind of wanted to knowthat I wasn't the only one.
And I thought if if I share,I'll find, I'll at least find
somebody else.
So it started as me just sharinglike our day-to-day on
Instagram.
That was my preferred platformat the time because again,
photographer background, I likedthat it was all pretty pictures.
(19:33):
And I just kind of shared theday-to-day, the basics.
And we were obsessed.
I mean, like, well, Emily wasvery, very obsessed with the
magic treehouse books.
Jack and Annie were like herheroes.
We had read them so many times.
And I didn't even know thatthere was a name for what we do
now.
We do unit studies, but I didn'tknow that we were just doing
what felt natural.
(19:53):
So we would read the magictreehouse book about dinosaurs,
and we would like learn aboutdinosaurs or the letter D, or I
would find a museum, you know,nearby that had dinosaurs on
display.
So we would go see thedinosaurs.
Um, I mean, just like littlethings.
Like I was just naturally doingthis, and I started having
people message me on Instagramasking like what curriculum we
(20:13):
were using.
And I was like, We're not.
I mean, again, I'm just doingwhat felt natural.
And um, we're like, Well, canyou share what you're doing?
Can you keep sharing what you'redoing?
So eventually by the end of thatschool year, I took what we did
naturally and I put it into aformat that I could share with
other people and I put it onteachers pay teachers.
I don't even remember what theprice was at this point, but it
was Memorial Day of 2017, soseven years ago.
(20:36):
And after a year, I mean, we hadmade a decent amount on it.
And I thought, well, maybe Ishould make a website so that I
can sell it on my own websiteand not be giving teachers pay
teachers 40% of you know theincome.
So I did.
And then it felt weird to have awebsite without blog posts.
So I started writing blog poststhat were very generic, but very
(20:58):
like the questions I was askedall the time, like, can you
really homeschool an only child?
And, you know, just answeringthose questions so I could
direct them to that instead ofsaying the same thing 50,000
times.
Then the following year, Emilywas having some anxiety issues
and she, I don't remember whatexactly it was, but there was
something she was scared ofdoing.
And I said, you know, you can dobig scary things.
And she said, You can too,mommy.
(21:18):
And so I started a YouTubechannel because that felt big
and scary to me.
Um, it was.
In fact, if you go back sevenyears and watch some of my first
videos really closely, you canprobably see hives on my neck
because it was not somethingthat I was comfortable with at
all.
And then from there, I just keptwriting unit studies.
Anything that Emily wasinterested in, I would turn into
a study that she would be ableto do.
(21:41):
So from Magic Treehouse books toHarry Potter to topic-based,
we've done space, we've doneocean, we did survival based off
of bear grills.
And slowly but surely it hasgrown into um just this huge
business where we help otherhomeschool families and we
hopefully bring a lot more joyto their homeschools with
topic-based learning.
SPEAKER_00 (22:01):
Oh, I love that.
I love unit studies too.
I'm gonna have to now go throughall of yours and see what I can
pick up because I thought ofthat too.
Like, oh, I would love to likecreate a unit study for this or
that.
And but then it seems so heavyand daunting to think like, but
to make it good enough thatother people want to do it too.
I don't know.
SPEAKER_01 (22:23):
It um it has its moments.
I mean, I love what I do.
I absolutely love it.
I can't imagine a better job.
But there have been times when Ihave felt like, man, this is
like you know, you get that onebecause you can't ever make
everybody everybody happy.
So you get that one person, andI'm like, man, that was my heart
and soul was put into that, youknow, like it hurts me
physically.
SPEAKER_00 (22:43):
Yeah.
So okay, if somebody were to buyone of your unit studies, what
would that typically look like?
Would it be a week long, a monthlong, five days, would it take
an hour a day, five hours a day?
What does it entail?
SPEAKER_01 (22:55):
So I like to say that our unit studies are
extremely flexible.
Like I write them as if it's abuffet or a feast, and you get
to pick and choose what fitsyour family.
Because even the studies that Iwrite, like I physically write
them and we don't do them intheir entirety because there are
parts that work better for ourfamily.
Like we love the books and thegames, and we love, you know,
(23:16):
different parts, but neitherEmily nor I are huge into arts
and crafts.
Well, she's probably bigger intoarts and crafts than me, but I'm
not one of those, like that'sthere's no glitter in my house.
That's not my thing.
That would give me hives.
So I don't do those parts of ourstudies, but I make sure they're
there so that if that's yourthing, you can do them because
every homeschool family isdifferent.
(23:37):
All of our unit studies differ.
So we have mini unit studies.
I would say those are about aweek.
Most of our other unit studiesare somewhere between 12 and 14
weeks.
And then we have some that arecloser to year long, so 24 to
36.
Um, it just depends on whatyou're looking for.
And as far as ages, we havesomething from six to 16
probably, because I've createdthem for Emily as she's as she's
(24:00):
grown up.
And so there's something foreverybody.
They always include books,YouTube videos, games, like fun
printables.
My husband is an artist, like anamazing artist.
So there's always customcoloring pages that he's drawn
that are phenomenal.
He does all of the illustrationsfor all of our studies.
Human Body is actually myfavorite because his
illustrations, like they weremade for young kids, but they
(24:24):
look like they could be incollege textbooks.
And I absolutely love thatbecause he just put so much
detail into them.
But we just we try really hardto make sure that there's
something for everybody, butthat it's also not the kind of
checklist curriculum that youfeel like you have to check
every box and feel like less ofa homeschool mom if you don't.
SPEAKER_00 (24:42):
Okay, so how does it fit into like a regular school
year?
Say, like I'm in New York, weactually have things that we
have to meet as far as notnecessarily off the top of my
head, math, science, geography.
Um I think that patriotism isone of them.
But how implemental thing wereyou explaining you might have to
(25:03):
add some other topics throughthe year?
unknown (25:06):
Through the year.
SPEAKER_01 (25:07):
Um, math definitely is not included in any of our
studies because that's the onething that you kind of have to
have sequentially.
So it's not family style.
Like you can't do math with yourthe same math with your
six-year-old that you can withyour 16.
I'm gonna use what we'recurrently doing in our
homeschool right now.
We're doing our Egyptian heroesand myths study, which is based
on the Cain Chronicle books,which think Egyptian version
(25:29):
version of Percy Jackson,because it's by the same author.
So, with that study forgeography, obviously we're doing
a lot of Egyptian geography andmapping Egypt and Africa and
that location.
For history, we're getting intoancient Egypt, how the pyramids
were built.
Do they know that?
SPEAKER_00 (25:45):
I didn't know that they knew how they were built.
SPEAKER_01 (25:47):
Well, the the uh like the structure of it and the
stones, and then like thescience of it, because they
moved these stones through thedesert and they were so heavy,
but they learned that theystarted pouring water in front
of these sleds, and somebodywould pour the water as they
would drag the sled with theheavy stones on it.
And much like going to the beachbecause the water was wet, it
(26:09):
was harder and it would work.
So that's kind of some of thescience that we're touching on.
When you start talking aboutlike mummification and all that,
that's the science side of it.
The literature side is the factthat we're reading this book
series and there's comprehensionquestions and writing prompts
that go along with that.
So that is kind of how we takeone topic and can like dissect
it to cover all of thosedifferent subjects.
(26:29):
I will say phonics also is notincluded in the unit study, in
my opinion, because much likemath, that's sequential.
But I think all other languagearts or English skills could be
approached through it.
Like whatever you're learningabout, there's ways to do
writing prompts, or there's waysto, you know, do comprehension
because you're reading a bookthat goes along with that topic.
But math and phonics definitelywould need to be, I mean, you
(26:52):
can do supplemental things alongthat topic, but I think you need
curriculum for those.
SPEAKER_00 (26:56):
Yeah.
And that and that was always abig realization for me when I
first started.
It was like, okay, your kiddoesn't actually have to know X,
Y, or Z by a certain age.
So, you know, I talk to somehomeschooling families and
they're like, We're doing Latinthis month, and you know, or
this year, and another onethat's learning about ancient
(27:18):
Egypt, or you know, wheresometimes I'm just like, I don't
know, that would bore me.
I don't I don't think myseven-year-old would find that
fun, or even when he's eleven.
But then it's like, wait, dothey even have to learn that?
Like, I guess it depends.
If you're not taking a regent,you know, they really don't have
to.
You're just setting up for whatyou want them to know in life
(27:39):
and what they find interesting.
So can you kind of elaboratethat?
You know, elaborate on that forme.
I'm sorry, I'm still hearing myecho.
I don't know if I'm asking thisand making any sense.
SPEAKER_01 (27:53):
But do you know what I mean?
Do you know what I mean?
So that's actually one of thevery first conversations that my
husband and I had when westarted homeschooling because
he, again, 20 years older thanme, so he's a little more old
school.
So he was like, I need to seepaper when I come home every day
from school, and I need it to bein math and language arts and
science and history.
And I was like, whoa, whoa,whoa, wait a minute, back up.
Okay, let's find a happy medium.
(28:13):
And then eventually we had thediscussion where I was like, can
we just talk about what youactually like you, what do you
remember from your 13 years inschool?
And then me from even like 13years in school plus four years
in college.
Like, what do you remember?
He remembered a ton of historybecause he loved history.
I remembered a lot of mathbecause I loved math.
(28:35):
But that was it.
Like, if you start quizzing meon history or he started talking
to me about the things that heremembered, I was taught the
same things, but I didn'tremember any of them.
And I had never used any of thatknowledge because it didn't
interest me.
And so eventually, after havingthat conversation with him, I
was like, so think about if youcould teach all of the things
(28:56):
and it all be based off of yourinterest.
Like that would be so much morebeneficial, not just for the
person who's being taught, inthis case my daughter, but for
me who is the person who's doingthe teaching.
Because now I'm not having toteach the same thing over and
over and over or even be wastingmy breath and it going in one
ear and out the other.
I can take math, language arts,you know, all of these subjects,
(29:18):
and I can make it pertain towhatever she's interested in.
So for years when she wasyounger, it was animals.
Like if I could figure out a wayto tie it to an animal, if I
wanted to learn about Africa,okay, we're gonna start with the
African animals.
Or if I wanted, you know, totalk about, again, like when she
was four or five letters, shelearned her letters.
A is for alligator, B is for B,C is for cat.
(29:39):
I mean, because that's whatworked for her.
It's what she was interested in.
And I also think we always talkabout gaps.
Like, as homeschool moms hadsomething we're worried about is
gaps in education.
It is impossible, absolutelyimpossible, for you to teach
your child everything they'regonna need for the rest of their
life.
Like, I'm I'm 38 years old.
I did 13 years in public.
(30:00):
Public school.
I did four years in college, andI promise I am still learning
new things every single day.
So we put this pressure onourselves to like, I don't know,
keep up with the Joneses, keepup with the public school, teach
them everything.
And it's impossible.
So instead, why not just havefun, teach them what they're
interested in?
And like you said, maybe eventhings that you're interested
in.
Because if you enjoy it as ateacher, they're probably gonna
(30:23):
enjoy it as the student.
SPEAKER_00 (30:24):
Yeah.
And I think really payingattention to what lights them up
throughout the day because it'sso easy to say, well, I don't
know what they're interested inbecause I'm not exposing them to
every little thing, like Latinor you know, whatever.
But when you when they watch amovie or when they're playing
with friends or asking you aquestion as you're driving in
(30:46):
the car, you will start tonotice those things that
actually spark them.
And then you can move forwardwith that.
SPEAKER_01 (30:54):
So on that same topic, I have to go back to this
for just a second because I'mreally like I'm huge on interest
level learning.
So the biggest thing I hear isalways, I don't know what my
kid's interested in.
And I feel like there's tworeasons for that.
Number one, it's becausetypically when we want to know
what our kid is interested in,instead of paying attention,
like you just said, we ask them.
We look at our kid and we'relike, hey, what do you want to
(31:15):
learn about?
Which I don't know about you.
But anytime my husband looks atme and goes, hey, what do you
want for dinner?
My answer is always, I don'tknow.
So when you ask your kid that,they're like, I don't know,
because you're putting themunder like this weird pressure
to have an answer and they don'thave it.
And then the second thing issometimes they have an interest,
but we don't see the value intheir interest.
(31:36):
So for example, maybe your son'sinterest is video games or
Minecraft, and we are like,well, that can't be educational.
We can't learn about that.
So we don't see the value in itwhen really there is a ton of
value in it.
You just have to sometimes getcreative and not discredit it.
And maybe your son who's in lovewith video games is going to be
(31:56):
a video game programmer, and byallowing him to follow those
interests, you've opened moredoors for him.
So I think one is don't ask themwhat they're interested in, you
know, like actually, like yousaid, pay attention.
And the other is don't discreditsomething just because you don't
like it or you don't see thevalue in it.
SPEAKER_00 (32:11):
Yeah.
My son is building a tiny housein the backyard right now.
He's seven.
But the little boy next door,he's 11, and he was doing it for
you know a couple weeks over thesummer.
And so then they startedbuilding one for my son, and it
was like I mean, it's likepallets and some wood together,
you know.
But it's it's just cute becauselike in his mind, this is gonna
(32:33):
be a house that he's gonna livein someday.
You know, you know, it reallygot me thinking too because now
it's it's the beginning ofSeptember, and the neighbor is
off at school, and the weatherhere is beautiful, and that poor
kid is stuck inside all day,can't be outside working on his
tiny house building the nextthing, you know.
(32:54):
Um, it was eye-opening just tosee what kids will do when
they're bored and creative.
And now, you know, seeing theschool system swooped him right
up at 6 a.m.
SPEAKER_01 (33:07):
and he doesn't come home till three, and then he's
got homework and stores andyeah, yeah, it is and your son's
who's seven, his tiny house isprobably gonna be complete, and
the other, you know,11-year-olds is gonna be sitting
there all sad.
He's gonna have to invite himover.
You can come stay in my tinyhouse.
SPEAKER_00 (33:23):
Till the coyotes go, and then they'll be like, okay,
we're inside.
Um, what have been some of thelet's see, like the hardships of
uh homeschooling and only child,and then some of the pros and
that you've seen.
SPEAKER_01 (33:39):
The biggest hardship or challenge um is that you're
their everything.
I mean, I can't ever say, like,go play a game with your
siblings or go do anything.
I'm her mom, I'm her teacher,I'm her playmate, I'm the person
she plays the game with, I'm theonly person she has to talk to.
And that can be extremelychallenging because you never
get any like downtime.
(34:00):
And I don't even mean physicaldowntime, I mean like mental
downtime.
SPEAKER_02 (34:04):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (34:05):
When she was younger and my husband was still
working, like out of the housefor 12 and 13 hour days, I
instituted what I called alearning lunch, which meant she
had to either watch a TV show,listen to a podcast, or listen
to an audiobook just so that shewouldn't talk to me for 20
minutes.
And I know what that soundslike, but I don't even care
because my sanity was worth morethan that 20 minutes of screen
(34:28):
time that I needed her to haveso that we can make it through
the rest of the afternoon.
Happy.
I was joyful because I took that20 minutes to recharge.
And I think that's the biggestchallenge, other than the fact
that for whatever reason, peopleare a lot more judgy.
You know, like that you're onlyhomeschooling one, like I'm
doing a disservice to herbecause I'm I'm keeping her home
and keeping her away from herpeers, or even sometimes other
(34:49):
homeschool moms who claim that Ihave it easier because I only
have one.
And my biggest thing is it's noteasier, it's just different.
I don't think it's easierwhether you have two or ten or
one.
I think our situations just lookdifferent, no matter how many
you have or whatever yoursituation might be.
You know, maybe you have one inpublic school and one at home,
and that's just different.
(35:10):
You know, it's not easier orharder, it's just different than
what somebody else has.
So I think those are probablythe biggest challenges.
I think the biggest benefits arethat she gets one-on-one
everything.
I mean, her her entirehomeschool is tailored to her.
Like it doesn't have to be whereI'm teaching to the middle
because I have, you know, asix-year-old and a 10-year-old,
(35:32):
or where um I have to pick abook that would appeal to both
of them.
Like everything is tailored toher.
It's her interest, it's, youknow, her desires, it's her
whatever.
Um, and while she might notnecessarily see it yet, I know
that that is a humongous benefitfor her.
And then also the therelationship and the connection.
Like it's always her and I orher and my husband or the three
(35:55):
of us, and our family hasbenefited so much because of
that.
Like, and I don't just mean likethe little things.
Like I can see where a lot ofpeople started warning me, like,
oh, when she turns 13, you mightas well say, you know, bye to
her because you're never gonnasee or hear from her again.
She's gonna be locked in herbedroom or off with her friends.
And I I mean, I've seen theshift, right, to where she's
(36:16):
spent more time with friends.
But what I see in other kidsversus what we have, and I don't
know if this is an only childthing, maybe it's just a
homeschool thing in general, butit's still, I mean, she hasn't
like left us, right?
Like we're still cool, she stillenjoys spending time with us,
she still wants to watch movieswith us and play games with us.
And so I think that foundationthat we built, you know, she
(36:36):
like we're friends, even thoughwe're also family.
And I wouldn't, I wouldn't tradethat benefit for any of the the
challenges.
SPEAKER_00 (36:43):
I love that.
Any parting words or inspirationthat you have for prospective
homeschooling families or newhomeschooling families?
SPEAKER_01 (36:51):
Um, I think I would probably just say that if you're
considering homeschooling,you're always going to feel like
you're not doing enough oryou're not enough, or you know,
you could be doing somethingmore or something better.
But the thing that I try toremind myself, like especially
at the end of the day, is thereis literally nobody on earth who
is more invested in my childthan I am, invested in them as a
(37:15):
person, invested in theirfuture, invested in their
academics.
So you are quite literally, nomatter what, the most equipped
and the best person for the job.
SPEAKER_00 (37:25):
Oh, I love that.
All right, Jessica, I'm going toput your website and your
YouTube channel in the show'sdescription so that people can
find you.
But if you'd like to just shoutthat out right now for anyone
listening who wants to jot itdown, I will let you do that as
well.
And I will put this in theshow's description as well, but
let's just uh say it out loud.
SPEAKER_01 (37:45):
The easiest place to find me is my website, which
would be www.thewaldokway.com,which is my last name,
W-A-L-D-O-C-K.
All right, awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (37:56):
And we can find your YouTube channel and your unit
studies through there.
Yeah, you can find pretty mucheverything as well as social
media too.
Awesome, awesome.
Well, we will follow you and uhsupport you and all that you're
doing.
I love this.
I've had the idea in my head to,you know, different things that
I want to learn about.
I'm right near the Hudson River,and I said on so many episodes,
(38:16):
I'm like, oh, I will make a unitstudy on the Hudson River one
day.
I have passed it a million timesin my life, and no teacher in
school has ever taught meanything about it.
SPEAKER_01 (38:28):
But see, think about this.
You've got the history becauseyou can learn about Henry Hudson
himself and you know how itbecame named that.
You've got the science of theriver and you have the animals
that live in it.
You've got the geography of it.
Like, I'm telling you, therevolution, like it was awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (38:43):
The revolutionary war was like right here, and it
pushed trade to Western Americabecause of this.
And then it's the 200-yearanniversary of the Erie Canal
right now, which they but like Ididn't know anything about that
until I took out a book from thethe library, a children's book,
no less.
And I'm like, there was so muchcool stuff to learn that they
(39:05):
never taught us in school.
SPEAKER_01 (39:07):
It's just so much.
So much.
We've did we've done like localfield trips, we've done road
trips across the country.
And I'm like, first of all, Inever you know saw anything, but
also the coolest thing I've everexperienced was we read about
the Alamo.
I didn't know, I mean, if theytaught me anything about the
Mexican-American War, I don'tremember it.
I don't think I was taught atall.
(39:28):
Then so we read about the war,we read about the Alamo, and
then we went and like toured theAlamo.
We went on a road trip.
And I remember Emily was likestanding there and she's like,
Mom, think about where you'restanding and like what was
happening X amount of years agoin this exact, like in this
exact spot.
And I was like, you know what?
I've never like thought of itthrough that lens before.
(39:49):
But I was like, that is actuallyreally, really cool.
And again, I didn't likehistory.
In fact, history was the onesubject that I didn't even want
to teach in my homeschool.
I hated it so much.
And it's actually my favoritesubject now for that reason
because there's so much I wasn'ttaught.
There's so many cool things thathappened and so many cool places
to visit and things toexperience.
That I mean, why were we justtaught names and dates?
(40:12):
Like, who was gonna like that?
SPEAKER_00 (40:14):
They didn't relate it to anything in our life, and
they made it seem so long agothat it was like, well, what
does it matter?
That was just a million yearsago, and it's like, no, really,
like you know, the Holocaust waswithin the last just a couple of
decades, and then before that,you know, America was only
established a couplegrandparents ago, guys.
(40:36):
Like nothing was in context,everything seemed ancient.
And I I'm right with you.
I love history now, and Ilearned most of it through
children's books.
SPEAKER_01 (40:46):
Same.
They never made it relevant, andtheir famous tagline when it was
like, Why do we need to knowthis?
History repeats itself, whichokay, it does, but they never
explained that in a kid friendlyway or a child-friendly way
either.
Because I'm like, I don't thinkso.
The Revolutionary War happened,I don't think it's gonna happen
again, you know.
Like, yeah, little did we know,yeah.
Had they explained it a littlebetter or broken it down, I
(41:08):
think I would have remembered alot.
SPEAKER_00 (41:09):
One day we're gonna tell you all you have to stay in
your homes and six feet awayfrom family and cover your face
and inject you with something.
They didn't tell us that thatwas gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01 (41:21):
No, no, they didn't explain it like it might not be
the exact same thing, but trustus when we say these things are
going to, you're gonna see themagain in your lifetime.
SPEAKER_00 (41:31):
I would have been like, oh, well, then maybe I
should pay attention.
Exactly.
I think they're banking on thatwe didn't pay attention.
Jessica, thank you so much forbeing here today.
This was so much fun chattingwith you.
I can't wait to see all the workthat you do and uh grab some of
it for myself so we canexperience this fun in our
homeschool too.
Thank you so much for having me.
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