April 22, 2025 • 37 mins
When longtime friends reconnect after seven years, the conversation flows effortlessly from educational philosophy to practical motherhood wisdom. Join Shanda and her special guest SarahRuth Owens (@kindletogetherness) as they share insights gleaned from their weekend at a Charlotte Mason homeschool conference in Tennessee.
SarahRuth reveals how her family "flipped the script" on traditional roles, creating a lifestyle where both parents actively participate in their children's education and daily lives. This approach—which she calls "kindled togetherness"—required unconventional choices, including teaching ESL to Chinese students at 3am so she could be fully present with her family during the day.
The heart of Charlotte Mason education comes alive as SarahRuth explains why this approach resonated with her even before motherhood: "This is a uniquely created person by God, and how can I teach them to love the world God made so much that they're willing to learn about it for the rest of their lives?" Both women share their experiences from the conference's immersion day, where they stepped into students' shoes to gain fresh perspective on the method's rigor and beauty.
Don't miss SarahRuth's insights about her new devotional resource with Hosanna Revival called "The Everyday Banquet," which combines family mealtime with scripture-centered conversation. Drawing from her Jewish heritage, she created 52 weekly devotionals designed to foster meaningful family connections around the dinner table.
Through candid discussion about morning routines, motherhood seasons, and the importance of being filled before pouring out, this episode offers practical encouragement for anyone seeking to center their family life on Christ. Subscribe, share, and join us in discovering how to live a life devoted to God and family.
Links:
The Everyday Banquet
Connect with SaraRuth!
Visit her website: Kindle Togetherness
Connect on Instagram: @kindletogetherness
Let's connect!
Website: This Devoted Life
Instagram: Devoted Motherhood & This Devoted Life Podcast
Email: podcast@thisdevotedlife.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
What started as a Saturday morning coffee date
turned into a podcast where wechat about things like faith,
family finances and so much more.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
In a world that is encouraging you to live your
truth and to follow your heart.
We want to encourage you tolive devoted to the truth.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
The Bible has a lot to say about how to live a
victorious Christian life, andwe want to share practical
insight in how to apply thosetruths to your life, as we
endeavor to apply them to ourown lives as well.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
If you enjoy this podcast, please leave us a
review and share these episodeswith your friends so that you
can help them live this devotedlife too.
Welcome to another episode ofthis devoted life podcast.
I am really excited todaybecause I have my special friend
, sarah Ruth Owens, with me.
You might know her better fromInstagram, which her handle
(00:52):
there is kindletogetherness.
I was really excited because Iam currently in Tennessee for a
homeschool conference.
We just finished that up andwe'll probably talk a lot about
that today, but it was aCharlotte Mason homeschool
conference.
It's a living book conferenceand we kind of met part way.
So Sarah Ruth is from Georgia,I'm from Michigan and I mean
(01:13):
last time we saw each other wasseven years ago.
We had seven years ago.
So, anyways, can you tell us alittle bit about yourself?
I she has just been such a goodfriend to me.
Like we met.
What was it?
A wild and free conferenceyears ago.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
That's the first time we met in person, yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
So at a wild and free conference seven years ago.
It's really funny because I, um, I had severe postpartum
depression and I was like I amjust going to go to this
homeschool conference down inTennessee Actually, it was
Tennessee again, in Franklin,tennessee and and I drove down
and I don't even remember.
Can you do you remember how weactually got together?
(01:51):
We knew each other on Instagrambefore, right I think on
Facebook.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
I don't think I had an Instagram.
Then we met on Facebook Throughthe Peaceful Press, through the
Peaceful Press.
Okay Through some of theirgroups.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Do you ever feel like there's like parts of your life
that you just like don'tremember?
Yes, okay, okay.
So we met and but, like, like Isaid, I had severe postpartum
depression so I was like I justI don't know if, yeah, that
whole season of my life, likepart of it's, were like little
bits and blurs or whatever.
But the one thing that I doremember was you giving me like
the most giant hug oh good, yeah, oh god, that's your memory so
(02:29):
anyways, can you tell me, ortell us a little bit more about
yourself, like your family, youknow, just like what, who you
are?
okay?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
well, before I tell you who I am, I have to tell you
my story from wild and free.
My memory of Shanda is she wasso friendly and welcoming and I
had a bag that I wore a hobo bagand I had it knotted at the top
with like this big, obnoxiouslike piece sticking in my face
and Shanda's just like.
Let me show you how to tie thisin a really great way, and she
(02:58):
showed me how to make slip knotsso it was adjustable and I
still tie my bags that way.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
It's so funny because I noticed your bag this weekend
I was like, oh, I know how totie, like that you taught me.
I didn't realize that I taughtyou how to do that and that was
totally a baby wearing thing,like I was taught that and for
like a slip knot for babywearing, so that's so funny.
Oh my goodness, once againsomething that I just totally
forgot about.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
But let me show you how to make this more
comfortable and adjustable.
I like her.
Oh, that's so fun, yeah, but um, about me I am the wife of
Jonah and we live in a tinylittle small town.
That's where he's from.
Um, and we have three playsBlaze, brave and Benaiah.
They're 10, 12, 10, 8, yeah,and um, we kind of like a big
(03:45):
thing that I like to tell peopleand just talk about.
Kind of the reason why I stay insocial media and feel like I
have something to say is we kindof flip the script on the way
that we live our day-to-day life, where for a long time, my
husband was employed at just astandard factory job and he was
really miserable and he workedall the time and my kids were
very little but they missed him.
They would cry when he'd allthe time and my kids were very
little, but they missed him.
(04:05):
They would cry when he'd leavefor work and, um, my husband and
I just talked about it andwe're like something needs to
change.
And then I was like, yeah,something really needs to change
.
And so he came home for alittle while and like prayed and
um, he now works for himselfand I work a little bit for
myself and it means that we'reboth together.
Hence kindled togethernessCause kind of a focus on just
(04:29):
dads really matter and momsreally matter and both of us can
parent together in a differentway.
Um, and so I really like to kindof emphasize that and it's not
going to look the same in everyhome, like you were so good
about talking about how, likeJames loves his job and is good
at it, but he still emphasizesfamily and like that is his
priority.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Yeah, and it looks so different for, like you said,
every family.
It can be done when thepriority is in the right place.
No, I love that.
That's beautiful.
So you are from Georgia, kindof from We've been talking about
this, it's Appalachia, it's.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Appalachia.
Yes, did I say it correctly.
You're doing good.
Oh, okay, good, it's Appalachia.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
That's Michigan Michiganders, it's like
Appalachia and you're like no,it's Appalachia yeah people are
going to let you get away withthat down here.
No, oh that's too funny.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah, but you are a Charlotte Mason homeschooled
from the very beginning.
You have a little bit of aunique story in that you
discovered Charlotte Masonbefore you even had kids, right?
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Yes, I was in college and I was just getting an
education degree and one of thefinal projects was to research
out philosophy of ed and writeabout it.
And kind of pick yourphilosophy and nobody had ever.
I don't think Charlotte Masonis somebody that they typically
introduce, but I stumbled acrossher somehow, I don't remember
how yeah started reading avolume, started reading a little
(05:48):
bit about her and I was like,yes, yes, this is great so.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
So there's probably a lot of people who are like
Charlotte Mason, who, um, whatmade the philosophy so different
in your mind?
Because you were a public oryou were going to be a public
school teacher.
You were for a little while, um, and you tried implementing it
in your classroom as well.
So like what is so differentabout the Charlotte Mason form
of education?
(06:13):
I mean, obviously you don'thave to go into like a whole
rundown of what it actually is,but like what was the beauty of
it that drew you to it?
Speaker 3 (06:20):
well, like, just quickly, you know, if you don't
know anything about her, she's aVictorian, single woman, like
she never had her own kids andthat wasn't what drew me.
But just, I think you're good,okay, great, that's not what
drew me, that's not what drew me, but she the way.
I think the biggest thing forme is that children are born
(06:43):
persons and when you look at youknow.
When you're taught to do publicschool education, you're taught
to look at the classroom,you're taught to think of the
whole group and, of course,you're also taught to love the
students and to want to meettheir needs.
But, like, how, how, like it'snot really possible with 30
students and even in ahomeschool setting, like
(07:05):
traditionally, you're thinkingwhat does this student need to
know?
What are the things I must takeoff the list?
What in order for them to besuccessful in life?
Yeah, what must they know?
Whereas I feel like CharlotteMason's approach was this is a
uniquely created person by God.
And what can I?
How can I teach them to lovethe world God made?
(07:26):
yeah, so much that they'rewilling to learn about it for
the rest of their lives yeah youknow and so that's what caught
me was that this is no longerabout what I think specifically
the child must learn by acertain age, or must know on a
checklist, but it's aboutcreating and developing in them
a yearning to know their creatorand creation, because they love
(07:49):
the creator, and then they willforever want to continue to
grow and learn, in whatevercapacity or whatever gifts and
callings they have.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Yeah, that really is beautiful, because the one thing
that I do love about CharlotteMason is that she talks about
how not all knowledge is fromGod, and so when we gain
knowledge, we're actuallygaining information about who
God is, as he shows himself inhis creation, in the knowledge
that he imparts, and theknowledge that we get then
translates into wisdom when weapply it.
(08:16):
Yeah, you know, and it's just,it really is a beautiful thing.
So, yeah, but yeah, so theconference was a Charlotte Mason
conference, and one thing thatI do love about the living book
conference is just how saturatedin scripture it is like
literally all of the men andwomen were that were there,
which it was mostly women, butthere were some dads, yes, um,
(08:37):
but you just felt thiscamaraderie and it and it wasn't
just the philosophy ofeducation, it was that they all
loved the Lord and had the samedesire to see their children
grow in him, and it wasn't justlike, oh hey, we're teaching our
kids how to read and write orwe're going to read some really
cool living books.
It was the whole heart behind.
(08:58):
It is just what I love.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Yeah, thanks for sharing it to me.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
So I've gone to this conference for like six, seven
years or something like that now, but it's always been in
Traverse City, michigan, andthis is the first year in
Tennessee, so this is like thefirst time.
It's close enough for you tocome.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Yeah, you were like famous.
Everybody was like there'sShanda, there she is again.
All the like speakers were likewe're so glad you're back.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
it's only because I've known him for seven years,
like I mean.
I've probably cried on theirshoulders a couple times, you
know.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Yes, I agree.
I loved how every sessionopened with prayer it's very
purposeful.
You could tell like people wereincluding scripture, and so it
was all centered on.
You know, first or after theirhearts?
And like wanting to connectwith them and show them like a
relationship with.
God is part of our lives too,and like this really matters.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
And therefore, out of that wellspring of like
relationship with God, now welearn about this world and hope
that you love it as much as wedo yeah, I think the one thing
that I kept hearing this weekendwas, um, the speakers kept
saying, like we are not theshowman of the universe, you
know, like we, it's God is theone who ultimately reaches the
(10:11):
heart of our children.
But we can spread thisbeautiful feast of ideas and
continually point our childrento Christ and, just like, let
the Holy Spirit work in theirlives and draw them to himself.
You know, and that's just.
It's a totally different way ofviewing education when you come
at it from that standpoint.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
It's such a good and refreshing reminder because I
think, no matter what philosophyof education you have, or even
if you don't have one, becausesometimes that's the place we're
in right- I don't know we'rejust doing the best we can with
what we have.
It's like, as a believer, thatreminder of like this doesn't
center on you, right?
This is a relationship thingbetween your child and god.
God has this.
(10:53):
You're just one instrument,you're just one piece.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Yes, be faithful in your piece I know a lot of
people will like um vision castfor their homeschool year, like
what is the purpose?
And I feel like charlotte masonjust kind of almost gives you
like what the purpose is Fromthe beginning, From the very
beginning, Like it is to pointyour children ultimately to the
creator.
You know, yeah, I just I lovethat Agreed.
So this conference is kind ofunique because we get to do a
(11:20):
full-day immersion Loved it OnFriday where we get to act as
the student.
Um, so you and I did what whatwould be called like form three,
which would be um seventh andeighth grade.
For Charlotte Mason is thatcorrect?
It doesn't usually includeninth doesn't, it's just seventh
and eighth.
Yeah, so we got to read all thereadings and do all of the
(11:40):
narrating, like whether writtenor orally, and um it was.
It was very eye-opening fromthe standpoint that I did leave
there going.
Oh, this really is rigorousbecause like I'm exhausted,
right, and these things that Iam asking my you know, he will
be seventh grade next year to dookay, this gives me a little
(12:01):
more understanding andcompassion when he's just tired
that day, you know.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Right, Absolutely yeah.
I had two takeaways from theimmersion and the first one was
that it's a lot, yeah, but thesecond one was just me thinking
about the pacing.
I was so pleased that I wasinterested the whole time.
I was like, oh good, becausereally and truly you still
(12:30):
maintain those reasonably lengthlessons even in seventh grade.
When most kids are spending anhour, a full hour on one subject
.
We just did this meaty readingof Plutarch and we really
extracted what we were able toprocess of it.
And then we, it was 20 minutesand then you just move right on
to the next and it's somethingdifferent.
(12:50):
And so you're constantly likekind of who, that was hard, oh,
something new.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
OK, we get to look at a picture study right now or OK
.
Ok, now we're going to Plutarch,like you said.
It's just kind of like this ebband flow of, yeah, some some of
the things are a little morework, which are good and
rewarding, but then you alsohave the beauty and just like
the breadth put in there and,yeah, it was a lot of fun.
Um, I think my favorite readingthat we did and I have now
(13:19):
narrated it myself to twodifferent people was the anatomy
reading that we did.
It was hilarious and I'm justgonna do a very quick overview
because it cracks me up.
So we read, like what was it?
Six ish pages from a book andit started with, uh, the mugshot
and how the mugshot was created.
(13:39):
And it moved into fingerprintingand it just was talking about
unique things.
So like the fingerprints andhow, um, as an adult, your
middle finger, the length ofyour middle finger, doesn't
change.
You know, the length from, like, one side of your head to the
other doesn't change.
So there were all of thesemeasurements and so then it
moves into fingerprinting and wereally don't know what
fingerprints are, even for, like, if they were, even for grip,
(14:03):
like, why on earth do they swellup in water?
Because then your grip justgets even worse.
And then it moved into, um, uh,the sweat on your palms.
And when it got reallyinteresting, fast yeah.
And so like when you're doing,you know, like a lie detector
test, you only sweat in yourpalms when you're under stress
like you don't sweat in yourpalms when you're like
(14:24):
physically exerting anything,it's literally like when you're
stressed.
So then it moved into sweat andhow you know, sweat doesn't
actually produce stink, it'sactually the bacteria in your
armpits.
Well then it moved intobacteria in your belly button.
And then it moved into hair andjust like how much hair we lose
.
And then it moved into malebaldness and I laughed because
(14:51):
it ended with there is a curefor male baldness and it's
castration.
I was like how did we get frommug shots to castration?
But it all made sense and itwas hilarious.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
We were all reading to ourselves, snickering like
the whole time.
The whole room was like gentlylaughing.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
But I will never forget that like ever I was like
this is all super fascinating.
That's a living book.
So the only reason I sharedthat is because that is an
example, kind of, of a livingbook is it was something that I
took from it, but I also did nottake something from every
lesson, because there arecertain things that we did that
I'm kind of like.
I don't fully remember that one,to be totally honest, but that
(15:35):
one stuck with me and it's justa reminder that, like, my kids
are not going to connect withevery single thing that they are
presented with and that was onethat I just was like, oh, that
was really fascinating.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
And the final speaker .
That was one of my favoritethings.
Somebody said the whole timewhere she talked about um, the
last speaker.
At the closing talk shediscussed how we're spreading a
feast.
That's like a common term, youknow.
Charlotte Mason talked aboutputting this feast in front of
your children, of all thesebeautiful things for them to
partake of, and the finalspeaker was like you know, I
watched you guys having lunchtoday and we had this beautiful
(16:07):
meal and that was such a greatanalogy because she said you
know, the person who set outthis meal just put it in front
of you and gave you the optionsand you walked on the line and
some of you took, you know, alot of one thing and a little of
another, and some of youskipped cookies and some of you
had dessert first and some of ushad it all right, it was good,
and she's like and.
I didn't see the person who putthe food on the you know,
(16:30):
presented it to you like spoon,feeding you or deciding what
goes on your plate.
And I was like what a greatanalogy.
Because that is, and it was agood reminder for me to not do
that, Because I think it's easyto be like I really need you to
give me a better narration, or Ineed you to put and it's like
maybe that wasn't one that theyput on their plate that day and
(16:52):
it's not happening over and over.
Maybe it's okay.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yeah, yeah, I mean there are some things you know.
Like you said, maybe the bookis not living enough to where
they can even narrate it well,or it could just be as simple as
they're just not connectingwith it.
We're not having a bad day.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
We're already full yes.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
If it's a continuous thing with the same book, then
I'm like trying to like problemsolve at that point.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
But yeah, no, that was, it was so good, so I don't
even think I mentioned theconference.
The main speakers are adelectable education, so it is
really fun to see them, andbecause their podcast is just a
wealth of information of whatCharlotte Mason is um.
(17:36):
Every time I come to thisconference, though, I do realize
that I am not as CharlotteMason as they are, you know,
like there are certain thingslike I am a Charlotte Mason
educator, but I always like tosay like I'm Shanda, not
Charlotte, there are some thingsthat I am just not going to do.
The exact same way you know umyeah, talk about math, yeah,
math, math is different, um youknow for both of us.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Yeah, like we've, neither one of us do it probably
the the Charlotte Mason way, itjust hasn't worked for us.
Yeah, language arts.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
I have not ascribed to the Charlotte Mason method of
you you know, teaching languagearts.
I have found.
And I have and it's working forus.
Yeah, and I probably willswitch to.
I probably will use Alvieri'slesson plans this upcoming year
for our language arts, so itwill be Charlotte Mason.
But I just it wasn't workingfor one of my students and I
(18:26):
just was like we can't do thisright now.
I needed something that wastotally different and very
phonics heavy, you know.
So, yeah, um, and then the nextday was just fun, um, I think
my favorite um I did scansionand you did scansion with me and
I had never even heard the termscansion like when I saw that
it was on the list of talks Iwas like what is scansion?
Speaker 3 (18:49):
It was new to me too, this doesn't even make sense.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
So scansion is poetry , but it's the if you've ever
heard the term like iambicpentameter or pentameter.
That is scansion.
Basically.
It's like how many syllablesare in it, where are the
stresses, like on the wordswords?
and so it was fascinatingbecause, like I thought I had a
(19:12):
really good understanding of it,like kind of going into it, um
no better understanding than me,because I was like musically
like it feels, like I shouldlike know kind of how this feels
, and then, oh, jono, because,um, he was teaching it, I was
just like I realized veryquickly that I did not fully
understand it and it's open tointerpretation too.
(19:33):
So like not everyone is goingto get the exact same thing, it
is not a mathematical like.
This is always going to be whatit is right.
It could be something differenttoo.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Yeah, I and that, like, was another takeaway from,
from all parts of immersion, ishow, um, you have to be willing
to try things and be brave.
And it's a littlenerve-wracking because here you
are, we were put in the role ofthe student again and I was just
thinking, I mean, of course, wewere in a classroom.
(20:03):
Some many of the people werestrangers.
The teacher was pretty much astranger to us.
Yeah, a little different fromthe home setting where it's your
mom and you hope that yourchildren are comfortable around
you.
But it's nerve-wracking to trya new skill, yeah, and around
people you know, and to publiclypresent your thinking.
So, like during the scansion,he had paper on the table that
(20:24):
was blank and I kept thinkingand the next part's going to be
asking me to write things and dothis.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
You know scanning, and I was like that's not
happening today, and you mean,he never got to it, he got out
of time he was so disappointed.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
It was kind of funny because you could tell he was.
That was like he was so excited.
I was like you're not like whatyou get from me and the whole
room just went collective sigh,yes, like okay, so glad we don't
have to do that.
Oh my goodness, it was funny itwas great, yeah, so stanton
shakespeare was another one,shakespeare, was a blast
shakespeare was so fun.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Can you read shakespeare for us now?
Yeah, she's so good at it, butI can totally bring out my my
man voice like as I'm talkingand I don't even remember what
character I was, but it wasgreat, yeah I loved it too,
leonidas were you yeah, leonidas, and okay, yeah, I was the
governor.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
I was the governor okay, I don't know I was Don
Pedro.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
I think my voice changed like eight times or I
couldn't maintain my my manvoice.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
I am such a dork like .
I hope this weekend thisweekend, like you realize, like
how dorky I actually am, it waswonderful I had just been
driving around Tennessee going.
Oh, I just love Tennessee.
I'm like running up and likehugging rocks.
I'm like it's just beautifulhere and there's purple flowers
and just all the mountains andoh, my goodness I just I'm a
(21:46):
dork yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
We went to a really nice restaurant together for
just a time of fellowship and tokind of decompress.
And we're here with another oneof your good friends from
Michigan and we get to therestaurant and they're like
creek and they ran and got inthe creek and I was like you are
my people.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
I would be doing this too, if I wasn't so used to oh
my goodness, yeah, we took ourshoes off and we were waiting in
the water, and because we wereearly to the restaurant and it
was just so it was so peacefulit was beautiful.
I loved it.
Yeah, so I'm dorky in real life, that's okay.
You're enjoyable well thank yougood fellowship.
(22:25):
So this weekend was wonderful,like I really enjoyed it.
I'm exhausted.
So if we're like puffy face,like if you're watching the
video online, I um we were upuntil 1 am last night chatting,
and so which I do not- do so.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
I was very yeah, and I don't know if I made any sense
.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
No, it was awesome, like I was so glad you said that
because, you usually go to bedat like 8 am, so yeah, or 8 pm,
you can tell I didn't get sleeplast night, but yeah, yeah, it
was great.
So why do you go to bed soearly?
Can you tell us a little bitabout that?
Speaker 3 (23:02):
Yeah, so I teach three days a week.
I teach students in China andthey are 12 or 13 hours ahead of
us, depending on what part ofdaylight savings we're in.
So when I, on those days, Ihave to wake up around 3 am most
of the time.
One day it's 2 am and I teachthem for four or five hours
before my family wakes up, butit's the only way that.
(23:23):
You know, I, when I mentionedearlier that my husband and I
kind of did just a switch oflike what I think most people
would think of as the standard.
Yeah, you know, likehomeschooling family.
You know the dad is off at workand the mom's at home and I do
those things and I feel like Ifit.
You know we have a very similarcadence in our regular day, but,
um, it's the only way that Ican steal time.
(23:45):
I feel like, yeah, where mywork isn't overwhelming our day,
yeah.
I don't want to you know, goteach somewhere for half the day
I want to be home with myfamily and that was really
important.
So, um, I teach ESL and it'swonderful and I love that part
of my life too, but I can'tsleep past like four or five
most of the time like even thismorning we went to bed at one
(24:06):
and I was like I know I'm gonnawake up at four and I did four
or five, but you went back tobed.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
You did go back to bed, I was like Sarah, ruth is
not okay.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
Yeah, so, yeah, so that, and and I will be honest,
um, like I know, of coursegetting up at two or three isn't
practical for most families.
Like yeah, usually you're gonnastay up with your husband and
spend.
You know I have.
One of the things that we wereable to do in our switch is that
I have the luxury of time withJonah in the middle of a lot of
days.
Even though he does work a lotof.
(24:36):
He can work his schedule insuch a way that, like we run a
co-op together and he's with usthat whole day.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
He doesn't plan.
I don't think I knew that hewas part of that.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
He goes every week.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
And that's cool.
Yeah, and he teaches me, that'sfun.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Yeah, he's the coach um, so I don't need to talk to
him at 10.
Yeah, you know, you can steal amoment.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
Yeah, you know it's a little different.
Um, and then the rest of theweek, you know, and I was just
gonna say that I do try toencourage moms once they're out
of the little little years andyou know when, you know when
you're breastfeeding a baby, Isay sleep and please enjoy Like
you need to.
That season is different, but ifyou don't have that and your
kids are two and up, I would saygetting up early like even if
(25:22):
it's just 30 minutes before yourkids or an hour before your
kids you will get such a marginof time in your day to read
God's word or even to do a chorelike start a little laundry.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
I know you do that, I do, I do.
Yeah, um, I.
It was not something I wantedto do, but my husband is a very
early riser, like he's usuallywell, not four and like three am
, but he's usually up aroundfive.
Um, and he just kept.
I think you would reallybenefit from getting up earlier
and, of course, I start readingthings about.
There are actually a lot ofthings that are when you get up
(25:57):
earlier, you're less likely tobe depressed, you accomplish
more throughout your day.
There are things like literallywith, like, your blood pressure
, your blood pressure is lower,like if you get up early.
There's like all differentkinds of things.
Um, as I was researching it soI was like, okay, I guess I'm
gonna start getting up earlier.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
So I still begrudgingly, but I'm up around
6, 15 yeah, that's like at leastan hour before kids are up it
is yeah, it's still over an hourwhat do you like to do I?
Speaker 2 (26:24):
read my devotions.
Um, usually, first thing, I'm aslow getter upper, like if
you've ever seen the meme whereit's like Tigger bouncing and
Rabbit is like dragging withlike puffy eyes that's my
husband and I in the morning.
He's Tigger.
He'll like come into the roomlike ready to talk about his
entire day and like he wants toplan out like the next 50 years
of our life.
(26:44):
And I'm just like give me aminute please.
You know, and I and I just I'mreal slow, so I sit and I read
God's word.
I might start like a load oflaundry.
Usually after like 45 minutes Igo and get a workout in.
Like that's just kind of me time.
Yeah, cause I'm like I need toget like a little bit of those
endorphins moving, you know, andI try to take a walk up and
(27:06):
down our driveway, yeah.
I try to take a walk up anddown our driveway.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
Yeah, something it's very short, like under 10
minutes, but just get your bodymoving.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Move for a minute, yes, so that's just kind of
where.
Yeah, I have found the value init and I do find on the days,
if I do choose to sleep in, I'mlike man, I'm missing like that
time and I realize how importantit actually is to set ourselves
up for a good day, because I'mmore prepared for it going into
(27:32):
the day.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Sometimes when we go on vacation, my schedule is
thrown, like when we go as afamily, because we are like
going out late and doingsomething together, and I try to
just embrace that, even thoughit's weird for me sometimes.
But what I've noticed is thatso then I might sleep until like
6, 30 or 7, and then my kidsare up right away.
I feel like it's like this,almost like a frantic pace.
(27:54):
Yeah, like give me a minute,yeah, I gotta hit the ground
running versus like operatingfrom a place of like I'm
refreshed, I'm ready.
There's a pause and a calm inme because I've studied myself.
Yeah, in God's word, first I'velike I don't know, just the
demands on moms.
We give a lot, like it's justpart of the job, right?
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
And we have to have.
We Like it's just part of thejob, right, and we have to have.
We have to be filled up on aregular basis and it may not
always be an hour to yourself inthe morning, it may have to be
because you went to church on.
Sunday and it might have to, youknow, in different seasons, but
I think when you make time,like even on the days I'm not
teaching, by waking up at 4.30or 4, am teaching yeah by waking
(28:43):
up at 4, 30 or 4 am has givenme such a, even if I didn't get
chores done just being able tolike listen to scripture or read
the word or walk outside.
Thank, god for the birds, youknow like and not having to be
mindful of somebody else, butlike it's me and him right now.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Yeah, it's like where you're filling your cups, that
you can continue to pour out ofit.
Yeah, you know, from from whathe's given you.
You know, yeah, so you can evenwake up 30 minutes early yeah,
like it doesn't.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
Don't feel like it needs to be 3 am, because it
does not.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
No, no and, and there are seasons I just when we had
little babies I was not gettingup early, you know, and it just
was not a season where I feltlike I could do that.
I didn't physically, just wasunable to, and that.
But I think the thing that I amlearning in motherhood is those
seasons are fleeting, they do,they do go, you know, and so
it's like, even if you're likein the thick of it and you're
(29:30):
like I could never wake up at 6am in several years, you're
gonna look back and be like I amina, totally different season
now and okay, okay, I can comeup with new routines and habits
for myself.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
You know it's coming.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
It is, it is coming, you know, I think with each kid
that we had.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
It was just like cause I don't love I'm going to
admit this I don't love the babyyears, like they are physically
demanding and I know you lovethe baby years, um, but
physically like having someonelike attached to me 24, 7, just
is very drawing for me and justknowing and and I do, I do enjoy
(30:09):
it.
I shouldn't say like I don'tenjoy it, but it's just like the
overall of it.
I just was like oof havingsomeone more drained yeah, I was
just more drained and it justwas not something where I was
like oh, I just love the babyyears, I do love baby snuggles,
but I do not love like all theup all night feedings and like
blah, blah.
But um, the thing that I keptcoming back to was like I know
(30:31):
that this is a season and justenjoy this blip.
You know, like as we kepthaving more kids, I just was
like with each one I learned toappreciate it a little bit more
because I knew it wasn't lasting, you know, and it just was like
this is the season God has mein right now and I can just
cherish this moment.
You know, yeah, yeah, and I knowlike okay, so you're all about
(30:53):
like kindled togetherness andjust like that beautiful family
bond, um, and you have aresource now.
That is out.
Hosanna Revival printed itright.
Yeah, um, can you tell us aboutthat?
Speaker 3 (31:05):
yeah.
So, um, I had in my heart for along time to how I wanted to
write a book.
I've wanted to and I still wantto write more um, but I was
like I'm not in a season towrite like my biography or my
memoir, like I don't feel like Ican yet present that.
I don't feel like I'm oldenough.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
I don't feel like you know like I need to come from a
place of hindsight, more beforeI can bless people with it Now.
It would just be like a mess.
But I was like what?
Speaker 3 (31:33):
is it that we have?
You know that I can share withother people that really will
make a difference in ourfamilies in an eternity.
And I grew up Jewish until Iwas 10 and then I became a
believer and realized like Jesusis the Messiah and, you know,
very steeped in like evangelicalChristianity, just kind of
standard, but I still retain,like ethically I'm Jewish, like,
(31:55):
and there are beautiful partsof that that I see in the Bible
that we all read, and thesethings don't have to be thrown
away.
There's value in having aSabbath, there's value in the
tradition of Sabbath meals whenthe whole family sits at a table
and lights a candle and thefather lays hands on the
children and blesses them.
Every Friday evening.
(32:17):
And I was just our family doesthose things with the knowledge
that this isn't a requirement,but this is a way we can bless
our family and have communiontogether and refocus.
And I was like how do I presentthat to people who maybe can't
do it on Friday night or, yeah,are gonna do it their own way,
but like still can't get thecore of what this is?
(32:38):
So, um, the everyday banquet isthe name of the devotional and
the focus is it has 52devotionals for families and
they're just like a page.
It's like a one page, a pageand a half.
Uh, here's some scripture.
Um, and one of the reasons Ilove Hosanna Revival is because
the first thing they tell you asa writer, as they're
interviewing you, is like wecreate scripture, saturated
(33:01):
resources, like if you're not,if this is going to be like
about you, it's even in, likewhen you apply and when you put
your first pitch in.
Yeah, you know, we don't takememoirs, we don't take stories
like this is about soakingwhatever topic you're going to
present in scripture and goingback to the word.
So I really appreciated that.
They, you know, maybe toe theline with that and, like every
(33:24):
devotional for the 52 weeks is,you know, two or three scripture
verses.
Now here's an anecdotal storyor, yeah, a little tiny piece of
my life or something my familydid, and here are questions to
ask around your table.
And then it has recipes, um,with suggestions on how to bring
your kids in, and the wholethought process is that you have
a meal together, yeah, and youwould sit around your table and
(33:46):
you would create these rhythmsas a family, that when the
devotional's over, you can do iton your own, yeah, and you can
make this lifestyle of wednesdaynights this is what we do or
saturday evenings, or whatever.
So, um, it's been a blessing to, you know, get feedback and
hear families say this hasreally worked for us, or I love
this recipe, or my kids are inmy kitchen today.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
I've never tried that before you're helping families
come together, but not justtogether.
You're helping them centertheir conversation and their
thoughts on Christ whilebecoming together, which is just
a beautiful thing yeah, andit's important to talk about
what you believe.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
Like nothing in that book really tells you what your
theology should be like.
It's more very open-ended, likea springboard.
Yeah, you now need to discussthis as a family, like what do
you think about this?
What?
You know, and the parents canlead the discussion back to the
word and back to your yeah, youknow if you're one denomination
or another, you can have thoseconversations so your kids know
(34:45):
what your family believes.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
And this is beautiful , like the if you've ever seen
anything from hosanna revival.
Like everything they do is justtop notch and um cloth cover
like it's beautiful beautifulphotos.
Um, it's just.
It's a well done resource.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
They made every recipe they made they made it
yes, before they published it, Iwas so that the photographs
that they took are from themhaving the meal they made every
single thing all at once and putit on the table and they all
ate together.
Their staff and they sent meemails.
They're like this is sodelicious, like we weren't sure
about that.
It's so cool.
I'm so glad that it's actuallygood.
(35:21):
Yeah, so you can trust that ifyou get the book, the recipes
actually work.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Hosanna Revival put their stamp of approval on it
and say that it's delicious.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
It was so funny to be like because I'm not the best
recipe person.
I'm the person who measureswith love.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
A dash of this, a pinch of that.
Yeah, a little risky asking meto.
Oh, I love it, though that's sofun.
I mean we do family mealstogether and I know that there
is all kinds of research outthere that just talks about the
importance of family meals andhow families who have meals
together regularly I mean itdoesn't have to be every single
day I mean that's a goal of ours, but like it doesn't have to be
every single day, but just thebenefit of coming together as a
family is immeasurable in thelong run.
(36:04):
So I love that you kind of tiedthose two things together.
Yeah Well, this was a funconversation.
I'm so glad we made it work.
We weren't even sure if we weregoing to get to this podcast
today, so hopefully it allrecorded properly and all the
fun stuff.
Thank you for having me.
I love you.
I love you too, friend.
All right, well, until nexttime.
We want to encourage you toseek God, love your spouse, hug
(36:27):
your kids and stay devoted.
Thank you for tuning in to thisDevoted Life podcast with James
and Shanda.
We appreciate your support insharing biblical, uplifting
truths with the world.
If you found value in thisepisode, please leave us a
rating and review on yourfavorite podcast platform.
Your feedback helps us toimprove the show and we'd love
(36:48):
to hear from you.
Be sure to hit subscribe so younever miss an episode.
To learn more about how to livea life devoted to God and
family, head over tothisdevotedlifecom.
You can also follow me, shanda,on Instagram at devoted
underscore motherhood.
Thank you again for listeningand we look forward to seeing
you next time on this DevotedLife podcast.
What started as a Saturday morning coffee date
turned into a podcast where wechat about things like faith,
family finances and so much more.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
In a world that is encouraging you to live your
truth and to follow your heart.
We want to encourage you tolive devoted to the truth.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
The Bible has a lot to say about how to live a
victorious Christian life, andwe want to share practical
insight in how to apply thosetruths to your life, as we
endeavor to apply them to ourown lives as well.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
If you enjoy this podcast, please leave us a
review and share these episodeswith your friends so that you
can help them live this devotedlife too.
Welcome to another episode ofthis devoted life podcast.
I am really excited todaybecause I have my special friend
, sarah Ruth Owens, with me.
You might know her better fromInstagram, which her handle
(00:52):
there is kindletogetherness.
I was really excited because Iam currently in Tennessee for a
homeschool conference.
We just finished that up andwe'll probably talk a lot about
that today, but it was aCharlotte Mason homeschool
conference.
It's a living book conferenceand we kind of met part way.
So Sarah Ruth is from Georgia,I'm from Michigan and I mean
(01:13):
last time we saw each other wasseven years ago.
We had seven years ago.
So, anyways, can you tell us alittle bit about yourself?
I she has just been such a goodfriend to me.
Like we met.
What was it?
A wild and free conferenceyears ago.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
That's the first time we met in person, yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
So at a wild and free conference seven years ago.
It's really funny because I, um, I had severe postpartum
depression and I was like I amjust going to go to this
homeschool conference down inTennessee Actually, it was
Tennessee again, in Franklin,tennessee and and I drove down
and I don't even remember.
Can you do you remember how weactually got together?
(01:51):
We knew each other on Instagrambefore, right I think on
Facebook.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
I don't think I had an Instagram.
Then we met on Facebook Throughthe Peaceful Press, through the
Peaceful Press.
Okay Through some of theirgroups.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Do you ever feel like there's like parts of your life
that you just like don'tremember?
Yes, okay, okay.
So we met and but, like, like Isaid, I had severe postpartum
depression so I was like I justI don't know if, yeah, that
whole season of my life, likepart of it's, were like little
bits and blurs or whatever.
But the one thing that I doremember was you giving me like
the most giant hug oh good, yeah, oh god, that's your memory so
(02:29):
anyways, can you tell me, ortell us a little bit more about
yourself, like your family, youknow, just like what, who you
are?
okay?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
well, before I tell you who I am, I have to tell you
my story from wild and free.
My memory of Shanda is she wasso friendly and welcoming and I
had a bag that I wore a hobo bagand I had it knotted at the top
with like this big, obnoxiouslike piece sticking in my face
and Shanda's just like.
Let me show you how to tie thisin a really great way, and she
(02:58):
showed me how to make slip knotsso it was adjustable and I
still tie my bags that way.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
It's so funny because I noticed your bag this weekend
I was like, oh, I know how totie, like that you taught me.
I didn't realize that I taughtyou how to do that and that was
totally a baby wearing thing,like I was taught that and for
like a slip knot for babywearing, so that's so funny.
Oh my goodness, once againsomething that I just totally
forgot about.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
But let me show you how to make this more
comfortable and adjustable.
I like her.
Oh, that's so fun, yeah, but um, about me I am the wife of
Jonah and we live in a tinylittle small town.
That's where he's from.
Um, and we have three playsBlaze, brave and Benaiah.
They're 10, 12, 10, 8, yeah,and um, we kind of like a big
(03:45):
thing that I like to tell peopleand just talk about.
Kind of the reason why I stay insocial media and feel like I
have something to say is we kindof flip the script on the way
that we live our day-to-day life, where for a long time, my
husband was employed at just astandard factory job and he was
really miserable and he workedall the time and my kids were
very little but they missed him.
They would cry when he'd allthe time and my kids were very
little, but they missed him.
(04:05):
They would cry when he'd leavefor work and, um, my husband and
I just talked about it andwe're like something needs to
change.
And then I was like, yeah,something really needs to change
.
And so he came home for alittle while and like prayed and
um, he now works for himselfand I work a little bit for
myself and it means that we'reboth together.
Hence kindled togethernessCause kind of a focus on just
(04:29):
dads really matter and momsreally matter and both of us can
parent together in a differentway.
Um, and so I really like to kindof emphasize that and it's not
going to look the same in everyhome, like you were so good
about talking about how, likeJames loves his job and is good
at it, but he still emphasizesfamily and like that is his
priority.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Yeah, and it looks so different for, like you said,
every family.
It can be done when thepriority is in the right place.
No, I love that.
That's beautiful.
So you are from Georgia, kindof from We've been talking about
this, it's Appalachia, it's.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Appalachia.
Yes, did I say it correctly.
You're doing good.
Oh, okay, good, it's Appalachia.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
That's Michigan Michiganders, it's like
Appalachia and you're like no,it's Appalachia yeah people are
going to let you get away withthat down here.
No, oh that's too funny.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah, but you are a Charlotte Mason homeschooled
from the very beginning.
You have a little bit of aunique story in that you
discovered Charlotte Masonbefore you even had kids, right?
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Yes, I was in college and I was just getting an
education degree and one of thefinal projects was to research
out philosophy of ed and writeabout it.
And kind of pick yourphilosophy and nobody had ever.
I don't think Charlotte Masonis somebody that they typically
introduce, but I stumbled acrossher somehow, I don't remember
how yeah started reading avolume, started reading a little
(05:48):
bit about her and I was like,yes, yes, this is great so.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
So there's probably a lot of people who are like
Charlotte Mason, who, um, whatmade the philosophy so different
in your mind?
Because you were a public oryou were going to be a public
school teacher.
You were for a little while, um, and you tried implementing it
in your classroom as well.
So like what is so differentabout the Charlotte Mason form
of education?
(06:13):
I mean, obviously you don'thave to go into like a whole
rundown of what it actually is,but like what was the beauty of
it that drew you to it?
Speaker 3 (06:20):
well, like, just quickly, you know, if you don't
know anything about her, she's aVictorian, single woman, like
she never had her own kids andthat wasn't what drew me.
But just, I think you're good,okay, great, that's not what
drew me, that's not what drew me, but she the way.
I think the biggest thing forme is that children are born
(06:43):
persons and when you look at youknow.
When you're taught to do publicschool education, you're taught
to look at the classroom,you're taught to think of the
whole group and, of course,you're also taught to love the
students and to want to meettheir needs.
But, like, how, how, like it'snot really possible with 30
students and even in ahomeschool setting, like
(07:05):
traditionally, you're thinkingwhat does this student need to
know?
What are the things I must takeoff the list?
What in order for them to besuccessful in life?
Yeah, what must they know?
Whereas I feel like CharlotteMason's approach was this is a
uniquely created person by God.
And what can I?
How can I teach them to lovethe world God made?
(07:26):
yeah, so much that they'rewilling to learn about it for
the rest of their lives yeah youknow and so that's what caught
me was that this is no longerabout what I think specifically
the child must learn by acertain age, or must know on a
checklist, but it's aboutcreating and developing in them
a yearning to know their creatorand creation, because they love
(07:49):
the creator, and then they willforever want to continue to
grow and learn, in whatevercapacity or whatever gifts and
callings they have.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Yeah, that really is beautiful, because the one thing
that I do love about CharlotteMason is that she talks about
how not all knowledge is fromGod, and so when we gain
knowledge, we're actuallygaining information about who
God is, as he shows himself inhis creation, in the knowledge
that he imparts, and theknowledge that we get then
translates into wisdom when weapply it.
(08:16):
Yeah, you know, and it's just,it really is a beautiful thing.
So, yeah, but yeah, so theconference was a Charlotte Mason
conference, and one thing thatI do love about the living book
conference is just how saturatedin scripture it is like
literally all of the men andwomen were that were there,
which it was mostly women, butthere were some dads, yes, um,
(08:37):
but you just felt thiscamaraderie and it and it wasn't
just the philosophy ofeducation, it was that they all
loved the Lord and had the samedesire to see their children
grow in him, and it wasn't justlike, oh hey, we're teaching our
kids how to read and write orwe're going to read some really
cool living books.
It was the whole heart behind.
(08:58):
It is just what I love.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Yeah, thanks for sharing it to me.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
So I've gone to this conference for like six, seven
years or something like that now, but it's always been in
Traverse City, michigan, andthis is the first year in
Tennessee, so this is like thefirst time.
It's close enough for you tocome.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Yeah, you were like famous.
Everybody was like there'sShanda, there she is again.
All the like speakers were likewe're so glad you're back.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
it's only because I've known him for seven years,
like I mean.
I've probably cried on theirshoulders a couple times, you
know.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Yes, I agree.
I loved how every sessionopened with prayer it's very
purposeful.
You could tell like people wereincluding scripture, and so it
was all centered on.
You know, first or after theirhearts?
And like wanting to connectwith them and show them like a
relationship with.
God is part of our lives too,and like this really matters.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
And therefore, out of that wellspring of like
relationship with God, now welearn about this world and hope
that you love it as much as wedo yeah, I think the one thing
that I kept hearing this weekendwas, um, the speakers kept
saying, like we are not theshowman of the universe, you
know, like we, it's God is theone who ultimately reaches the
(10:11):
heart of our children.
But we can spread thisbeautiful feast of ideas and
continually point our childrento Christ and, just like, let
the Holy Spirit work in theirlives and draw them to himself.
You know, and that's just.
It's a totally different way ofviewing education when you come
at it from that standpoint.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
It's such a good and refreshing reminder because I
think, no matter what philosophyof education you have, or even
if you don't have one, becausesometimes that's the place we're
in right- I don't know we'rejust doing the best we can with
what we have.
It's like, as a believer, thatreminder of like this doesn't
center on you, right?
This is a relationship thingbetween your child and god.
God has this.
(10:53):
You're just one instrument,you're just one piece.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Yes, be faithful in your piece I know a lot of
people will like um vision castfor their homeschool year, like
what is the purpose?
And I feel like charlotte masonjust kind of almost gives you
like what the purpose is Fromthe beginning, From the very
beginning, Like it is to pointyour children ultimately to the
creator.
You know, yeah, I just I lovethat Agreed.
So this conference is kind ofunique because we get to do a
(11:20):
full-day immersion Loved it OnFriday where we get to act as
the student.
Um, so you and I did what whatwould be called like form three,
which would be um seventh andeighth grade.
For Charlotte Mason is thatcorrect?
It doesn't usually includeninth doesn't, it's just seventh
and eighth.
Yeah, so we got to read all thereadings and do all of the
(11:40):
narrating, like whether writtenor orally, and um it was.
It was very eye-opening fromthe standpoint that I did leave
there going.
Oh, this really is rigorousbecause like I'm exhausted,
right, and these things that Iam asking my you know, he will
be seventh grade next year to dookay, this gives me a little
(12:01):
more understanding andcompassion when he's just tired
that day, you know.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Right, Absolutely yeah.
I had two takeaways from theimmersion and the first one was
that it's a lot, yeah, but thesecond one was just me thinking
about the pacing.
I was so pleased that I wasinterested the whole time.
I was like, oh good, becausereally and truly you still
(12:30):
maintain those reasonably lengthlessons even in seventh grade.
When most kids are spending anhour, a full hour on one subject
.
We just did this meaty readingof Plutarch and we really
extracted what we were able toprocess of it.
And then we, it was 20 minutesand then you just move right on
to the next and it's somethingdifferent.
(12:50):
And so you're constantly likekind of who, that was hard, oh,
something new.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
OK, we get to look at a picture study right now or OK
.
Ok, now we're going to Plutarch,like you said.
It's just kind of like this ebband flow of, yeah, some some of
the things are a little morework, which are good and
rewarding, but then you alsohave the beauty and just like
the breadth put in there and,yeah, it was a lot of fun.
Um, I think my favorite readingthat we did and I have now
(13:19):
narrated it myself to twodifferent people was the anatomy
reading that we did.
It was hilarious and I'm justgonna do a very quick overview
because it cracks me up.
So we read, like what was it?
Six ish pages from a book andit started with, uh, the mugshot
and how the mugshot was created.
(13:39):
And it moved into fingerprintingand it just was talking about
unique things.
So like the fingerprints andhow, um, as an adult, your
middle finger, the length ofyour middle finger, doesn't
change.
You know, the length from, like, one side of your head to the
other doesn't change.
So there were all of thesemeasurements and so then it
moves into fingerprinting and wereally don't know what
fingerprints are, even for, like, if they were, even for grip,
(14:03):
like, why on earth do they swellup in water?
Because then your grip justgets even worse.
And then it moved into, um, uh,the sweat on your palms.
And when it got reallyinteresting, fast yeah.
And so like when you're doing,you know, like a lie detector
test, you only sweat in yourpalms when you're under stress
like you don't sweat in yourpalms when you're like
(14:24):
physically exerting anything,it's literally like when you're
stressed.
So then it moved into sweat andhow you know, sweat doesn't
actually produce stink, it'sactually the bacteria in your
armpits.
Well then it moved intobacteria in your belly button.
And then it moved into hair andjust like how much hair we lose
.
And then it moved into malebaldness and I laughed because
(14:51):
it ended with there is a curefor male baldness and it's
castration.
I was like how did we get frommug shots to castration?
But it all made sense and itwas hilarious.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
We were all reading to ourselves, snickering like
the whole time.
The whole room was like gentlylaughing.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
But I will never forget that like ever I was like
this is all super fascinating.
That's a living book.
So the only reason I sharedthat is because that is an
example, kind of, of a livingbook is it was something that I
took from it, but I also did nottake something from every
lesson, because there arecertain things that we did that
I'm kind of like.
I don't fully remember that one,to be totally honest, but that
(15:35):
one stuck with me and it's justa reminder that, like, my kids
are not going to connect withevery single thing that they are
presented with and that was onethat I just was like, oh, that
was really fascinating.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
And the final speaker .
That was one of my favoritethings.
Somebody said the whole timewhere she talked about um, the
last speaker.
At the closing talk shediscussed how we're spreading a
feast.
That's like a common term, youknow.
Charlotte Mason talked aboutputting this feast in front of
your children, of all thesebeautiful things for them to
partake of, and the finalspeaker was like you know, I
watched you guys having lunchtoday and we had this beautiful
(16:07):
meal and that was such a greatanalogy because she said you
know, the person who set outthis meal just put it in front
of you and gave you the optionsand you walked on the line and
some of you took, you know, alot of one thing and a little of
another, and some of youskipped cookies and some of you
had dessert first and some of ushad it all right, it was good,
and she's like and.
I didn't see the person who putthe food on the you know,
(16:30):
presented it to you like spoon,feeding you or deciding what
goes on your plate.
And I was like what a greatanalogy.
Because that is, and it was agood reminder for me to not do
that, Because I think it's easyto be like I really need you to
give me a better narration, or Ineed you to put and it's like
maybe that wasn't one that theyput on their plate that day and
(16:52):
it's not happening over and over.
Maybe it's okay.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yeah, yeah, I mean there are some things you know.
Like you said, maybe the bookis not living enough to where
they can even narrate it well,or it could just be as simple as
they're just not connectingwith it.
We're not having a bad day.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
We're already full yes.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
If it's a continuous thing with the same book, then
I'm like trying to like problemsolve at that point.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
But yeah, no, that was, it was so good, so I don't
even think I mentioned theconference.
The main speakers are adelectable education, so it is
really fun to see them, andbecause their podcast is just a
wealth of information of whatCharlotte Mason is um.
(17:36):
Every time I come to thisconference, though, I do realize
that I am not as CharlotteMason as they are, you know,
like there are certain thingslike I am a Charlotte Mason
educator, but I always like tosay like I'm Shanda, not
Charlotte, there are some thingsthat I am just not going to do.
The exact same way you know umyeah, talk about math, yeah,
math, math is different, um youknow for both of us.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Yeah, like we've, neither one of us do it probably
the the Charlotte Mason way, itjust hasn't worked for us.
Yeah, language arts.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
I have not ascribed to the Charlotte Mason method of
you you know, teaching languagearts.
I have found.
And I have and it's working forus.
Yeah, and I probably willswitch to.
I probably will use Alvieri'slesson plans this upcoming year
for our language arts, so itwill be Charlotte Mason.
But I just it wasn't workingfor one of my students and I
(18:26):
just was like we can't do thisright now.
I needed something that wastotally different and very
phonics heavy, you know.
So, yeah, um, and then the nextday was just fun, um, I think
my favorite um I did scansionand you did scansion with me and
I had never even heard the termscansion like when I saw that
it was on the list of talks Iwas like what is scansion?
Speaker 3 (18:49):
It was new to me too, this doesn't even make sense.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
So scansion is poetry , but it's the if you've ever
heard the term like iambicpentameter or pentameter.
That is scansion.
Basically.
It's like how many syllablesare in it, where are the
stresses, like on the wordswords?
and so it was fascinatingbecause, like I thought I had a
(19:12):
really good understanding of it,like kind of going into it, um
no better understanding than me,because I was like musically
like it feels, like I shouldlike know kind of how this feels
, and then, oh, jono, because,um, he was teaching it, I was
just like I realized veryquickly that I did not fully
understand it and it's open tointerpretation too.
(19:33):
So like not everyone is goingto get the exact same thing, it
is not a mathematical like.
This is always going to be whatit is right.
It could be something differenttoo.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Yeah, I and that, like, was another takeaway from,
from all parts of immersion, ishow, um, you have to be willing
to try things and be brave.
And it's a littlenerve-wracking because here you
are, we were put in the role ofthe student again and I was just
thinking, I mean, of course, wewere in a classroom.
(20:03):
Some many of the people werestrangers.
The teacher was pretty much astranger to us.
Yeah, a little different fromthe home setting where it's your
mom and you hope that yourchildren are comfortable around
you.
But it's nerve-wracking to trya new skill, yeah, and around
people you know, and to publiclypresent your thinking.
So, like during the scansion,he had paper on the table that
(20:24):
was blank and I kept thinkingand the next part's going to be
asking me to write things and dothis.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
You know scanning, and I was like that's not
happening today, and you mean,he never got to it, he got out
of time he was so disappointed.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
It was kind of funny because you could tell he was.
That was like he was so excited.
I was like you're not like whatyou get from me and the whole
room just went collective sigh,yes, like okay, so glad we don't
have to do that.
Oh my goodness, it was funny itwas great, yeah, so stanton
shakespeare was another one,shakespeare, was a blast
shakespeare was so fun.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Can you read shakespeare for us now?
Yeah, she's so good at it, butI can totally bring out my my
man voice like as I'm talkingand I don't even remember what
character I was, but it wasgreat, yeah I loved it too,
leonidas were you yeah, leonidas, and okay, yeah, I was the
governor.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
I was the governor okay, I don't know I was Don
Pedro.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
I think my voice changed like eight times or I
couldn't maintain my my manvoice.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
I am such a dork like .
I hope this weekend thisweekend, like you realize, like
how dorky I actually am, it waswonderful I had just been
driving around Tennessee going.
Oh, I just love Tennessee.
I'm like running up and likehugging rocks.
I'm like it's just beautifulhere and there's purple flowers
and just all the mountains andoh, my goodness I just I'm a
(21:46):
dork yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
We went to a really nice restaurant together for
just a time of fellowship and tokind of decompress.
And we're here with another oneof your good friends from
Michigan and we get to therestaurant and they're like
creek and they ran and got inthe creek and I was like you are
my people.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
I would be doing this too, if I wasn't so used to oh
my goodness, yeah, we took ourshoes off and we were waiting in
the water, and because we wereearly to the restaurant and it
was just so it was so peacefulit was beautiful.
I loved it.
Yeah, so I'm dorky in real life, that's okay.
You're enjoyable well thank yougood fellowship.
(22:25):
So this weekend was wonderful,like I really enjoyed it.
I'm exhausted.
So if we're like puffy face,like if you're watching the
video online, I um we were upuntil 1 am last night chatting,
and so which I do not- do so.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
I was very yeah, and I don't know if I made any sense
.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
No, it was awesome, like I was so glad you said that
because, you usually go to bedat like 8 am, so yeah, or 8 pm,
you can tell I didn't get sleeplast night, but yeah, yeah, it
was great.
So why do you go to bed soearly?
Can you tell us a little bitabout that?
Speaker 3 (23:02):
Yeah, so I teach three days a week.
I teach students in China andthey are 12 or 13 hours ahead of
us, depending on what part ofdaylight savings we're in.
So when I, on those days, Ihave to wake up around 3 am most
of the time.
One day it's 2 am and I teachthem for four or five hours
before my family wakes up, butit's the only way that.
(23:23):
You know, I, when I mentionedearlier that my husband and I
kind of did just a switch oflike what I think most people
would think of as the standard.
Yeah, you know, likehomeschooling family.
You know the dad is off at workand the mom's at home and I do
those things and I feel like Ifit.
You know we have a very similarcadence in our regular day, but,
um, it's the only way that Ican steal time.
(23:45):
I feel like, yeah, where mywork isn't overwhelming our day,
yeah.
I don't want to you know, goteach somewhere for half the day
I want to be home with myfamily and that was really
important.
So, um, I teach ESL and it'swonderful and I love that part
of my life too, but I can'tsleep past like four or five
most of the time like even thismorning we went to bed at one
(24:06):
and I was like I know I'm gonnawake up at four and I did four
or five, but you went back tobed.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
You did go back to bed, I was like Sarah, ruth is
not okay.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
Yeah, so, yeah, so that, and and I will be honest,
um, like I know, of coursegetting up at two or three isn't
practical for most families.
Like yeah, usually you're gonnastay up with your husband and
spend.
You know I have.
One of the things that we wereable to do in our switch is that
I have the luxury of time withJonah in the middle of a lot of
days.
Even though he does work a lotof.
(24:36):
He can work his schedule insuch a way that, like we run a
co-op together and he's with usthat whole day.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
He doesn't plan.
I don't think I knew that hewas part of that.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
He goes every week.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
And that's cool.
Yeah, and he teaches me, that'sfun.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Yeah, he's the coach um, so I don't need to talk to
him at 10.
Yeah, you know, you can steal amoment.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
Yeah, you know it's a little different.
Um, and then the rest of theweek, you know, and I was just
gonna say that I do try toencourage moms once they're out
of the little little years andyou know when, you know when
you're breastfeeding a baby, Isay sleep and please enjoy Like
you need to.
That season is different, but ifyou don't have that and your
kids are two and up, I would saygetting up early like even if
(25:22):
it's just 30 minutes before yourkids or an hour before your
kids you will get such a marginof time in your day to read
God's word or even to do a chorelike start a little laundry.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
I know you do that, I do, I do.
Yeah, um, I.
It was not something I wantedto do, but my husband is a very
early riser, like he's usuallywell, not four and like three am
, but he's usually up aroundfive.
Um, and he just kept.
I think you would reallybenefit from getting up earlier
and, of course, I start readingthings about.
There are actually a lot ofthings that are when you get up
(25:57):
earlier, you're less likely tobe depressed, you accomplish
more throughout your day.
There are things like literallywith, like, your blood pressure
, your blood pressure is lower,like if you get up early.
There's like all differentkinds of things.
Um, as I was researching it soI was like, okay, I guess I'm
gonna start getting up earlier.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
So I still begrudgingly, but I'm up around
6, 15 yeah, that's like at leastan hour before kids are up it
is yeah, it's still over an hourwhat do you like to do I?
Speaker 2 (26:24):
read my devotions.
Um, usually, first thing, I'm aslow getter upper, like if
you've ever seen the meme whereit's like Tigger bouncing and
Rabbit is like dragging withlike puffy eyes that's my
husband and I in the morning.
He's Tigger.
He'll like come into the roomlike ready to talk about his
entire day and like he wants toplan out like the next 50 years
of our life.
(26:44):
And I'm just like give me aminute please.
You know, and I and I just I'mreal slow, so I sit and I read
God's word.
I might start like a load oflaundry.
Usually after like 45 minutes Igo and get a workout in.
Like that's just kind of me time.
Yeah, cause I'm like I need toget like a little bit of those
endorphins moving, you know, andI try to take a walk up and
(27:06):
down our driveway, yeah.
I try to take a walk up anddown our driveway.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
Yeah, something it's very short, like under 10
minutes, but just get your bodymoving.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Move for a minute, yes, so that's just kind of
where.
Yeah, I have found the value init and I do find on the days,
if I do choose to sleep in, I'mlike man, I'm missing like that
time and I realize how importantit actually is to set ourselves
up for a good day, because I'mmore prepared for it going into
(27:32):
the day.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Sometimes when we go on vacation, my schedule is
thrown, like when we go as afamily, because we are like
going out late and doingsomething together, and I try to
just embrace that, even thoughit's weird for me sometimes.
But what I've noticed is thatso then I might sleep until like
6, 30 or 7, and then my kidsare up right away.
I feel like it's like this,almost like a frantic pace.
(27:54):
Yeah, like give me a minute,yeah, I gotta hit the ground
running versus like operatingfrom a place of like I'm
refreshed, I'm ready.
There's a pause and a calm inme because I've studied myself.
Yeah, in God's word, first I'velike I don't know, just the
demands on moms.
We give a lot, like it's justpart of the job, right?
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
And we have to have.
We Like it's just part of thejob, right, and we have to have.
We have to be filled up on aregular basis and it may not
always be an hour to yourself inthe morning, it may have to be
because you went to church on.
Sunday and it might have to, youknow, in different seasons, but
I think when you make time,like even on the days I'm not
teaching, by waking up at 4.30or 4, am teaching yeah by waking
(28:43):
up at 4, 30 or 4 am has givenme such a, even if I didn't get
chores done just being able tolike listen to scripture or read
the word or walk outside.
Thank, god for the birds, youknow like and not having to be
mindful of somebody else, butlike it's me and him right now.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Yeah, it's like where you're filling your cups, that
you can continue to pour out ofit.
Yeah, you know, from from whathe's given you.
You know, yeah, so you can evenwake up 30 minutes early yeah,
like it doesn't.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
Don't feel like it needs to be 3 am, because it
does not.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
No, no and, and there are seasons I just when we had
little babies I was not gettingup early, you know, and it just
was not a season where I feltlike I could do that.
I didn't physically, just wasunable to, and that.
But I think the thing that I amlearning in motherhood is those
seasons are fleeting, they do,they do go, you know, and so
it's like, even if you're likein the thick of it and you're
(29:30):
like I could never wake up at 6am in several years, you're
gonna look back and be like I amina, totally different season
now and okay, okay, I can comeup with new routines and habits
for myself.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
You know it's coming.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
It is, it is coming, you know, I think with each kid
that we had.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
It was just like cause I don't love I'm going to
admit this I don't love the babyyears, like they are physically
demanding and I know you lovethe baby years, um, but
physically like having someonelike attached to me 24, 7, just
is very drawing for me and justknowing and and I do, I do enjoy
(30:09):
it.
I shouldn't say like I don'tenjoy it, but it's just like the
overall of it.
I just was like oof havingsomeone more drained yeah, I was
just more drained and it justwas not something where I was
like oh, I just love the babyyears, I do love baby snuggles,
but I do not love like all theup all night feedings and like
blah, blah.
But um, the thing that I keptcoming back to was like I know
(30:31):
that this is a season and justenjoy this blip.
You know, like as we kepthaving more kids, I just was
like with each one I learned toappreciate it a little bit more
because I knew it wasn't lasting, you know, and it just was like
this is the season God has mein right now and I can just
cherish this moment.
You know, yeah, yeah, and I knowlike okay, so you're all about
(30:53):
like kindled togetherness andjust like that beautiful family
bond, um, and you have aresource now.
That is out.
Hosanna Revival printed itright.
Yeah, um, can you tell us aboutthat?
Speaker 3 (31:05):
yeah.
So, um, I had in my heart for along time to how I wanted to
write a book.
I've wanted to and I still wantto write more um, but I was
like I'm not in a season towrite like my biography or my
memoir, like I don't feel like Ican yet present that.
I don't feel like I'm oldenough.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
I don't feel like you know like I need to come from a
place of hindsight, more beforeI can bless people with it Now.
It would just be like a mess.
But I was like what?
Speaker 3 (31:33):
is it that we have?
You know that I can share withother people that really will
make a difference in ourfamilies in an eternity.
And I grew up Jewish until Iwas 10 and then I became a
believer and realized like Jesusis the Messiah and, you know,
very steeped in like evangelicalChristianity, just kind of
standard, but I still retain,like ethically I'm Jewish, like,
(31:55):
and there are beautiful partsof that that I see in the Bible
that we all read, and thesethings don't have to be thrown
away.
There's value in having aSabbath, there's value in the
tradition of Sabbath meals whenthe whole family sits at a table
and lights a candle and thefather lays hands on the
children and blesses them.
Every Friday evening.
(32:17):
And I was just our family doesthose things with the knowledge
that this isn't a requirement,but this is a way we can bless
our family and have communiontogether and refocus.
And I was like how do I presentthat to people who maybe can't
do it on Friday night or, yeah,are gonna do it their own way,
but like still can't get thecore of what this is?
(32:38):
So, um, the everyday banquet isthe name of the devotional and
the focus is it has 52devotionals for families and
they're just like a page.
It's like a one page, a pageand a half.
Uh, here's some scripture.
Um, and one of the reasons Ilove Hosanna Revival is because
the first thing they tell you asa writer, as they're
interviewing you, is like wecreate scripture, saturated
(33:01):
resources, like if you're not,if this is going to be like
about you, it's even in, likewhen you apply and when you put
your first pitch in.
Yeah, you know, we don't takememoirs, we don't take stories
like this is about soakingwhatever topic you're going to
present in scripture and goingback to the word.
So I really appreciated that.
They, you know, maybe toe theline with that and, like every
(33:24):
devotional for the 52 weeks is,you know, two or three scripture
verses.
Now here's an anecdotal storyor, yeah, a little tiny piece of
my life or something my familydid, and here are questions to
ask around your table.
And then it has recipes, um,with suggestions on how to bring
your kids in, and the wholethought process is that you have
a meal together, yeah, and youwould sit around your table and
(33:46):
you would create these rhythmsas a family, that when the
devotional's over, you can do iton your own, yeah, and you can
make this lifestyle of wednesdaynights this is what we do or
saturday evenings, or whatever.
So, um, it's been a blessing to, you know, get feedback and
hear families say this hasreally worked for us, or I love
this recipe, or my kids are inmy kitchen today.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
I've never tried that before you're helping families
come together, but not justtogether.
You're helping them centertheir conversation and their
thoughts on Christ whilebecoming together, which is just
a beautiful thing yeah, andit's important to talk about
what you believe.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
Like nothing in that book really tells you what your
theology should be like.
It's more very open-ended, likea springboard.
Yeah, you now need to discussthis as a family, like what do
you think about this?
What?
You know, and the parents canlead the discussion back to the
word and back to your yeah, youknow if you're one denomination
or another, you can have thoseconversations so your kids know
(34:45):
what your family believes.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
And this is beautiful , like the if you've ever seen
anything from hosanna revival.
Like everything they do is justtop notch and um cloth cover
like it's beautiful beautifulphotos.
Um, it's just.
It's a well done resource.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
They made every recipe they made they made it
yes, before they published it, Iwas so that the photographs
that they took are from themhaving the meal they made every
single thing all at once and putit on the table and they all
ate together.
Their staff and they sent meemails.
They're like this is sodelicious, like we weren't sure
about that.
It's so cool.
I'm so glad that it's actuallygood.
(35:21):
Yeah, so you can trust that ifyou get the book, the recipes
actually work.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Hosanna Revival put their stamp of approval on it
and say that it's delicious.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
It was so funny to be like because I'm not the best
recipe person.
I'm the person who measureswith love.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
A dash of this, a pinch of that.
Yeah, a little risky asking meto.
Oh, I love it, though that's sofun.
I mean we do family mealstogether and I know that there
is all kinds of research outthere that just talks about the
importance of family meals andhow families who have meals
together regularly I mean itdoesn't have to be every single
day I mean that's a goal of ours, but like it doesn't have to be
every single day, but just thebenefit of coming together as a
family is immeasurable in thelong run.
(36:04):
So I love that you kind of tiedthose two things together.
Yeah Well, this was a funconversation.
I'm so glad we made it work.
We weren't even sure if we weregoing to get to this podcast
today, so hopefully it allrecorded properly and all the
fun stuff.
Thank you for having me.
I love you.
I love you too, friend.
All right, well, until nexttime.
We want to encourage you toseek God, love your spouse, hug
(36:27):
your kids and stay devoted.
Thank you for tuning in to thisDevoted Life podcast with James
and Shanda.
We appreciate your support insharing biblical, uplifting
truths with the world.
If you found value in thisepisode, please leave us a
rating and review on yourfavorite podcast platform.
Your feedback helps us toimprove the show and we'd love
(36:48):
to hear from you.
Be sure to hit subscribe so younever miss an episode.
To learn more about how to livea life devoted to God and
family, head over tothisdevotedlifecom.
You can also follow me, shanda,on Instagram at devoted
underscore motherhood.
Thank you again for listeningand we look forward to seeing
you next time on this DevotedLife podcast.
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