EP3: The One Question That Changed How We Homeschool Forever

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What happens when a mom of four starts homeschooling in a pandemic

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and then ends up building a co op that changes everything?

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Welcome to Homeschool how we do it. Each episode, we talk

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with real homeschooling families, sharing what's working, what's messy, and the

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little wins that remind us why it's worth it. I'm Britt.

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Today's guest is Melissa, a mom of four who not only started homeschooling

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during the pandemic, but she even launched her own co op. She shares

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what sparked her journey, what keeps her going, and the one powerful question

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that has changed how her family homeschools for good. Stick around.

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This is a conversation that you won't want to miss.

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Hey there. Welcome to Homeschool Hints how we do it. How are

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you doing today? I'm pretty tired.

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It's pretty late tonight. It is a very late night. Yes.

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Mom hours. That's where we were. Only time we get some quiet

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time is this late at night, right? Yes. Yeah. I had to hand off

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the baby to the husband, so here we go.

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Why don't you introduce yourself? My name's Melissa,

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and I am a homeschool mom of four. I have four kids within

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four years, ages 7, 9, 9, and 11.

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Well, I've got four, too. Mine aren't as big. So you've got good helping hands

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still, which is super helpful. What grades are you homeschooling

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currently? So I guess starting in a few weeks will be grade two,

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grade four, and grade six. Technically, that's the grades that they're supposed to be

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in, but we do, like, work across different grades

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as well. So some of the. Some of the work will be more advanced,

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and some of the kids are a little bit more behind in some areas,

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so. Yeah, well, that's pretty true in regular school as well. We just aren't as

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maybe forward about. It or have less

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control over it, I guess, too. Right. Yeah, that's actually probably what it is.

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You don't have those direct measurements and you're not in there all the time.

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So one of the goals of this podcast really is to just talk

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to parents and other families who are in

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the trenches, who made the decision to homeschool for whatever reasons and

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have found what's working for them and to try to be that beacon

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of hope and wisdom to others who are kind of trying to figure

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it out. So with that in mind, I would love to hear your

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experience and your journey and kind of like what made you decide

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to start homeschooling was this always the plan, or did this kind

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of fall into your lap? Absolutely not. This was never my plan.

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Let me tell you. Let me tell you that my husband was pushing for it

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when my oldest was in preschool, and I thought, yeah,

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it's a great idea for the person that's not going to be doing all the

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work, right? So I didn't understand what his reasoning was

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because, you know, we went to public school. We turned out all right,

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so our kids are going to go to public school as well. But then a

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few years later, Covid hit, and my oldest was in kindergarten when Covid hit.

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And suddenly our whole world's changed.

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There was no school starting now. And I think the day

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that the kids were supposed to go back to school originally was her birthday,

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and that's when they made the call that schools were

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going to be closed until September. We had a really rough time with

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figuring out all these online tools that the school had sent

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us. Minimal communication from the school on how to use them,

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no responses on emails, no phone calls from the teachers.

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So we figured out pretty quickly that that wasn't going to work for us.

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So we just kind of did our own thing, and that was our start.

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And then when September rolled around, she was going into grade

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one and speaking with the principal of the school. He was pretty good with

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communicating with me at that point. I think he was sick of the emails from

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me. He was letting me know what their plan was if school

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shut down again. And there was no plan. So,

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like, essentially had no plan. And I thought, you guys have had this,

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like, six months to figure this out, and you don't have a plan.

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And I wasn't ready to jump into something that might stop again.

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So we decided that we were gonna keep her home for a year. She was

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in grade one, and we got this like, I know how to read.

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I know how to. I know how to do grade one math. I'm pretty solid

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at grade one math. We'll keep you home. And we'll. And that's. That's kind of

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the plan. We were gonna keep her home for a year. We didn't know anybody

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else that was homeschooling. So the following year,

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my twins were gonna go into kindergarten, and my

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oldest was going into grade two, and we were going to send them back to

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public school. And Covid was still lingering.

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And mask mandates were coming into play.

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And our school division, I believe, decided that they

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were going to do mask mandates before the rest of the province was.

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And we weren't comfortable with that. So that's where

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we just said, we're going to continue with this

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homeschooling journey. What we've already started, and we're going to start a co

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op. Wow. Just. So how

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did you leap from I'm going to homeschool three kids to I'm going to start

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a co op? I feel like. Well, the story behind that is during

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COVID there was a whole group of us that were. We had this big group

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chat going on on Facebook about what are we going to do? How are we

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going to fight these. These mandates to give us a little bit

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more control over what we're doing with our kids. And what

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happened was we held a town hall meeting at my farm, and a hundred

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people showed up to this town hall that we never met before that were all

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on the same page as us. And not only parents in the school division,

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but we had teachers, we had bus drivers, we had all these people showing

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up at this meeting. So everybody filled out like contact sheets

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so that we could get in contact after the fact. Actually,

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one of the teachers at our co op was at that meeting. I didn't talk

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to her that night, but she's on the forum. She was there. So that's kind

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of how we. We got to it. And because with all the communication

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we were having with the school division, we felt like we had no control over

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making any changes with what was going on.

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And no matter how many. How much evidence we had or.

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Or anything with regards to Covid or masking our

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kids, they weren't changing their mind. And pretty

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late, like, late in the game. Right? This isn't when the world didn't know what

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was going on and everything shut down. This was. This was. This was 2022.

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Yeah. No, 2021. Yes. It was in the fall of 2021.

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So, yeah, we had. We had already a whole year and a

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half of knowing what was going on. And. And they were changing the rules again.

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They were constantly changing, and we just wanted consistency.

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And after that meeting, that same night that we had the meeting,

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I looked at my husband, I said, we starting a school.

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And this was. This was the end of August. I think it was August 24th

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of 2021. By the end of the month, we had bought building

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to be moved to our farm to use as a schoolhouse.

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And we were presenting to the board of directors

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and the superintendent of our school division on masking. Even though

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we kind of. We already made our decision to homeschool, we were still trying to

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lead the fight on that with some of the other Parents. Yeah.

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Well, and that was a huge factor, actually, that made us decide to

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homeschool our youngest as well. When I realized kindergarten was gonna be kindergarten

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with the mask six feet apart, like, never really interacting with another kid,

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and then trying to learn French without seeing your teacher's mouth, it just was like

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this. For. For us, it was more like the uncertainty,

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like the. The con. Constant changes. Like, one day they were telling

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us that there wasn't gonna be masks, then the next day there were going to

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be masks if you were standing, but not if you were sitting or if you

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were in your cohort or if you were six feet apart. Like, there was always

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changing from day to day. And I. Maybe my anxiety just

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got the best of me, but I just couldn't handle the not knowing what was

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going to change tomorrow. And I wanted to make sure that I had a little

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bit more control. And we were. We were already a year and a half into

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our homeschooling with our oldest, so it felt like. It felt like a natural move

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to move forward with the other kids. Yeah, well, that makes

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sense. How did you juggle that

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with, like, launching the co op? Did that interfere

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with your ability to get your schoolwork done? So I think because they

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were in such young grades, we weren't as concerned about

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getting the schoolwork done as we were with having a

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routine. So at the very beginning,

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we actually were part of a different co op that was about an hour away

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from us. And so my three girls were involved in

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that. And I really appreciate what that lady did.

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She started a co op in her house. She had. She had 75 people in

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her house. Wow. Some days, not. Not at the very beginning,

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but like, towards the end of her. Her program, she had. She had built

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out her garage and built classrooms in her garage for. For the kids.

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She had a gym attached to her house that was a classroom. Her basement was

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a classroom. Her kitchen was. The whole house was a classroom by the end.

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That's incredible. And I learned a lot from her.

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And when we went in to that school, we already knew that

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we were starting our own co op. So I was, you know,

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watching what she was doing and figuring out the things that I liked and that

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I didn't like and what I would do differently. So she knew

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when we started that we were going to be pulling out at some point during

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the year once we started the co op. So at the beginning, they were getting

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a lot of academic stuff at that co op because that co op was doing

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academics. And while we were figuring

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out the Plan with our co op. The buildings weren't here yet,

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so we were doing weekly meetups with people in the.

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In our area. So we would meet up in our backyard

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or we would do field trips to different farms, wherever we could

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go. Yeah, we tried to do it about once a week until we had a

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more permanent spot. So after we bought these buildings,

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it took about two months for them to get delivered to our

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farm. Okay, so then you. That's when you were a part

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of the other co op and then doing these meetups. Yeah, we were doing the

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meetups and part of the other co op and trying to get these buildings

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here because they were. They were far away, and they're pretty

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big and frameless. So only two transport

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companies would deliver them, and the first one didn't call us back. Oh,

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wow. Okay. Yeah, yeah. So stressful time.

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And we got these buildings right before the end of October,

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and they were. They were trashed.

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They needed a lot of work done to them. We bought them sight unseen.

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We actually ended up finding them through somebody that was at that

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meeting that we had at our farm. And, like, full circle moment is that

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his daughter's gonna be joining our co op this year.

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Wow, that's awesome.

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Oh, that's so good they're able to come through and help. But then,

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I guess, I mean, that was helpful then, to have someone navigate this whole piece,

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because I imagine, you know, moving buildings across the country

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is not. Not yet special. Not really,

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no. Not particularly. But my husband likes to do things like that. He kind of

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refer to him as Tim the Toolman Tailor. It's always like, bigger, bigger the better

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for him. So he's. He enjoys working with his equipment.

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So he was moving a lot of gravel and getting everything prepared for the building.

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Oh, my gosh. That's awesome. So, you know, I have

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received a lot of pushback from people that I know and, you know, always,

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always complete strangers. So how did your family and friends

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respond to your decision to homeschool? I'm pretty sure most

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of them still don't really understand what we're doing, to be honest.

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Yeah, I think not a lot of people asked me questions

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like, what are you doing? How are you doing it? Nobody. Nobody really did.

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They just made a judgment. Okay. That's. That's what it felt

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like. They just. Your kids should be in school, and that's

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what everybody does. So why aren't your kids in school not asking what we're doing,

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why we're doing it? Nobody. It. I felt like nobody cared to know

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our Reasoning. Right. So do you find, do you think

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your reasons for homeschooling now are the same as

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then? Like, what's made you continue homeschooling? I think,

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I mean having a set of twins, you can see that you have two kids

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in the same grade and they work so differently than each

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other and if they're in the same class and they're being treated as just a

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number and they're not getting like more customized teaching to them,

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they're not going to succeed. So I can see my kids right now. I can

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see their strengths. I've gotten to know them a lot better.

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Yeah, I can like celebrate their wins with them. I know where they're

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at. We can customize their learning for where they're

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at or what they're interested in. And you can't do that with school,

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like with traditional school, right?

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Yeah, no, I, I, I see that with ours too.

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Like one is really strong in language arts and the other is really strong in

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math. And neither of them is struggling per se in the other. It's just

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one, like you don't even have to tell them. You don't have to like give

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them any instruction. Like, oh yeah, I got this. And then, and in the respective

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subjects and otherwise it's like this, this would probably not

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work in public school. This would be a lot of homework. There'd be a lot

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of tears. Yeah, well, I mean, I think

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you know that we tried our oldest in private school last year. Yes.

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Yeah, you did mention that. So we got to see what the,

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what the fallbacks were. We made a choice to

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send her to private school last year because we were in our co op,

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we were losing some of those older kids and we wanted to give her some

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opportunities to have friends and have more routine.

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But not as advertised at all. No,

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no. We sent her to a Christian school.

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They're big. Every single email that I have and every single advertisement

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they have for their school is about the small class sizes. We sent her

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to school and there's 38 kids in her class. What? That is a lot

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of kids. 30. And then their argument was that they had two teachers. And I

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said, well that's great. How many are teaching at the same time? Right.

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You're trying to command 38 kids at one time on any given topic.

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And my daughter would come home and tell me the other teacher

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wouldn't be in the room at the same time as the other teacher. They would

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be on their computer in the hallway or, and the two teacher system

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was only for specific classes. So Gym

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or phys Ed. I guess they call it. Phys Ed. Music,

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art, French and band only had

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one teacher. Okay. The other subjects had the two teachers but

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they still didn't customize anything. So she was doing like memorization

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tests every Friday they had to do spelling tests and their math

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facts and she was getting more than 100% on the tests. And what

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do you do in homeschooling if your kids are, are doing well in an

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area? Like what do we personally. Well, you, what do you guys do?

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We do more, we do more of it or we find something else. It's interesting

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you find something a little bit more challenging. Right. So. And you can't do

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that when you have 38 kids in a class. No. So yeah.

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So we just. She wasn't being challenged. The days were

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long because our homeschool day doesn't look like eight

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to four day. Right. We, Right. We do all of our work in the mornings

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and we're done by lunch and normally not, not all the time,

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but we're normally done by lunch and then we can do our extracurriculars.

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Yeah. Well, so that's a good segue. So I feel like

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this looks different for every family. Our day starts late. Like it's realistically

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like 10 o' clock before we crack open a book. So we have really lazy

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mornings. But I don't think that's how you guys do it. Sounds like what's,

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what's your day look like? Typically the kids wake up and some of them are

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better self starters than others. So they, so they,

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they start working immediately if they, if they wake up early and

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then when they take a break, they have their breakfast, we have breakfast together and

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then continue doing their work. All of their work that they're doing right now,

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or the majority of it is, is online school.

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So it's very self led. Within their curriculums

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they have a calendar and it prompts them for how many lessons they're to complete

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that day in order to keep them on track. Okay, well that's

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really helpful then for that self motivation. It is for the older ones.

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For the younger one, I do have to spend quite a bit more time with

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him and that's okay. He needs a little bit more and that's,

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that's what I'm here for. Totally. And, and I think that's a part

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of literally our jobs as mothers and fathers is

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teaching our kids to have the tools and the confidence

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to crack open the book or ask the questions or do

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the things that they need to do. Whether it's school or chores or hobbies.

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Right. Whatever. The thing is, like, we are here to kind of help them figure

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out how to do those things. Right? Yeah. Yeah. We also

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have, we have a chart on our fridge that has the tasks that they're supposed

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to complete for the day. So they know which topics or which subjects

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they should do for the day, even though it's in their curriculum. I like them

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to do a little extra work because we like to take time off and travel.

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So I want them to do a little bit more. So they have a,

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like a checklist that includes their chores, it includes their schoolwork. Before they can have

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like their free time, those things have to get done first.

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And the visual thing changed our life because

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they can see and they can keep track of what they've done.

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Yeah. And when they're doing the check marks, even, like, even with the older ones,

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they like doing that check mark and they like seeing that they're completed at their

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task. Whereas when we first started, we had this

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amount of time we're going to spend doing math. Like, we're going to do math

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for an hour, we're going to do science for an hour, we're going to do

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language arts in the afternoon, we're going to do gym.

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So we had it very scheduled like that and it, it didn't work well for

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us, especially with like the different grade groups. What.

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So doing it by tasks has really helped us. That's great.

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So then is every kid kind of doing it then at their own pace with

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their different respective subjects as they complete? They are,

293
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yeah. So we have. So two. The twins are.

294
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Are two completely different people.

295
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Completely different. So the one twin finished

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her entire year's curriculum, except for her math at the

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end of January last year. Wow. While her

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sister finished in July.

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Okay. And. And some of it is. Is skill

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and some of it is just motivation. Sure. Yeah,

301
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totally. So we all have our thing, you know, some of us can't put

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a book down and some of us, like, it's the worst. Please don't ask me

303
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to read. Right. I, I'm with you. I'm not the reader.

304
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I'm really good at math and I think that's why I've pushed

305
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my kids to doing a lot of math. And, and I, I push them to

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be strong in math because that's what I like to do.

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But I see that with, like, when they do have that control,

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they can, they can excel at the things that they like to do rather

309
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than me pushing them. Yeah. Yeah. Well. And I You know,

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I think there's something to be said, like, I love a good to do list,

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and if something's not on my original to do list, I will add it on

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the list just to get the satisfaction of crossing it off. And, And I.

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I think back to that. I think about that with my kids and there's.

314
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There's confidence building in that. You know, it gives you. Sometimes you need

315
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that momentum to get to the thing you don't want to do. You know,

316
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it's all time management. Right. Like if you. I try to tell them, like,

317
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if you have 10 things to do, and you know that item

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10 is going to take you the longest, that's the one you start with.

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Because if you don't start with the longest task or the hardest task, then you're

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never going to finish the easy tasks. Absolutely.

321
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Which, you know, I. That we have had that same conversation with our

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children as well. And I know that just from working, that's how

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I approach my work or I do the thing I don't, you know, it's going

324
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to take the longest or that I'm not as crazy about if. Especially if it

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needs to get done. And so having those coaching moments with your kids when they're

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like seven or nine is. I feel like such an advantage to

327
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discovering that when you're 20 or 30. Right. Because there's

328
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a lot of things that I still need to get done that I'm putting off,

329
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but I can. I'm. I'm the opposite. I like to do the

330
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easy things first. I leave the hard things to the end, and that's why they

331
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never get done. So I'm trying to teach my kids the opposite so that they.

332
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They're better than me. Oh, so your kids

333
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are using an online curriculum. Is that what you used from the beginning, or have

334
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you tried other ones along the way? We've tried them all. It feels like,

335
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I think, oh, yeah. We started with all in One homeschool,

336
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which is. It's online, but it's free, but it has

337
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every single subject that you can imagine.

338
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We didn't like was like it

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was online and it was very simple to use, but it wasn't, like,

340
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engaging for the kids, so we stopped using that one. And then

341
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we did Horizons Math, which is a book.

342
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And then I had to teach the lessons, so we had those for

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all the grades. Luckily, my youngest one wasn't

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in yet, so I was just doing it for two grades. And then it

345
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was nice because they got to practice, like, their penmanship and things like that.

346
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But I found it hard when I didn't understand something myself

347
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to stop and try to figure it out. I felt like it really

348
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messed up with our momentum of teaching the kids something. And they're like, why do

349
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I need to learn this? If you don't know. If you don't know it.

350
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Right. So I really struggled with that. And then we did

351
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a few Manitoba curriculums. We ordered like, hands on. So there's

352
00:22:38,420 --> 00:22:41,720
a. You can order hands on books that are. They cover the

353
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Manitoba curriculum. But I found with social studies in particular,

354
00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:49,360
it was. It was better suited for like a classroom environment rather

355
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than a homeschool environment. So there was a lot of things that we couldn't really

356
00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:56,920
get the benefit out of. So I'm still on the hunt for a really good

357
00:22:57,420 --> 00:23:01,080
social studies curriculum. I haven't found one that we really like yet, so.

358
00:23:01,320 --> 00:23:05,200
Or that's engaging for the kids especially likes. She likes

359
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learning about history and things like that. But I'd like her to learn a little

360
00:23:09,020 --> 00:23:12,620
bit more about our country and our province and the. The politics

361
00:23:13,120 --> 00:23:16,940
in the country so that she understands what the benefits are of living here

362
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versus living somewhere else. Right.

363
00:23:20,500 --> 00:23:23,540
Yeah. Yeah. If you. If you could recommend one, that would be

364
00:23:23,780 --> 00:23:28,100
nice. I wish I could. I was going to say that's actually a. Same reason.

365
00:23:28,420 --> 00:23:31,340
I feel the same way. We have had.

366
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We've done a lot. We haven't used a book or curriculum for a lot of

367
00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:37,620
our social studies. We've just kind of crafted around that and gone to the library

368
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or went to the Manitoba Museum and kind of tried

369
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to do it that way based on the outcomes that the province suggests

370
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or would like to see. So that's been tricky. And I am an American and

371
00:23:50,580 --> 00:23:54,479
my husband's Canadian. And so my husband's actually a very well versed Canadian.

372
00:23:54,979 --> 00:23:57,800
He knows a lot about American history. And so our kids get a lot on

373
00:23:58,300 --> 00:24:01,720
the US side of things just naturally. And I'm really able to teach them

374
00:24:02,220 --> 00:24:05,600
a lot about the US side of things. But there definitely feels like a gap

375
00:24:06,010 --> 00:24:09,890
in terms of something that's homeschool friendly and very Canadian

376
00:24:10,390 --> 00:24:14,570
focused. Because especially around election time stuff too, you realize. Excuse me,

377
00:24:14,810 --> 00:24:18,010
there's some significant not. Well, there's just differences

378
00:24:18,510 --> 00:24:21,250
in the systems and the way they work and some of them are nuanced and

379
00:24:21,750 --> 00:24:24,410
some of them are really obvious. And so particularly as the kids get older,

380
00:24:24,890 --> 00:24:28,130
I want them to really understand those things in the history. So if

381
00:24:28,630 --> 00:24:32,330
anyone else knows, that would actually be a great. Yeah, that social studies,

382
00:24:32,830 --> 00:24:36,030
it's a tough one. We've, We've tried a few. We can't find one we like.

383
00:24:36,530 --> 00:24:40,030
So, yeah, we're open to it too. Like, and I, I,

384
00:24:40,530 --> 00:24:42,710
I feel like I could probably speak for others because, in fact, I've had this

385
00:24:43,210 --> 00:24:46,350
conversation with others, and it doesn't seem like anyone has one that they're super

386
00:24:46,850 --> 00:24:50,070
crazy about. We're all just trying to. And I feel like

387
00:24:50,570 --> 00:24:52,830
because I run the co op, people think that I know all the answers,

388
00:24:53,330 --> 00:24:55,310
and I certainly, certainly don't.

389
00:24:56,830 --> 00:25:00,030
I, like, I wish that there was a manual or a book that

390
00:25:00,530 --> 00:25:03,620
came with starting a homeschool group, and I could just point you in the right

391
00:25:04,120 --> 00:25:07,580
direction, but really, it's trial and error, and it's what works for you guys.

392
00:25:07,900 --> 00:25:10,220
Like, my kids might learn differently than yours.

393
00:25:10,700 --> 00:25:14,620
Totally. And that's why we homeschool. Exactly. Well, and I think there's parent

394
00:25:15,120 --> 00:25:18,700
personalities, and then there's child personalities, and then there's, like, learning styles.

395
00:25:19,200 --> 00:25:21,820
All of those things are kind of coming into the mix at the same time.

396
00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:25,660
And you're kind of doing the dance of trying to figure out how that works

397
00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:29,270
for you to, you know, see the success that you want your kids.

398
00:25:29,590 --> 00:25:33,110
Yeah, it's hard to. It's hard to teach kids that learn differently than you learn.

399
00:25:33,350 --> 00:25:36,750
And it's hard to modify yourself for your kids, too. Right.

400
00:25:37,250 --> 00:25:40,870
You have to learn alongside them rather than, like, almost like, preaching to

401
00:25:41,370 --> 00:25:43,750
them. You can't just, like, talk at them. You have to talk with them and

402
00:25:44,250 --> 00:25:47,430
figure out what's going to work. Totally. And then they're all different.

403
00:25:47,930 --> 00:25:51,590
Like, I'm one of five, and when I talked to my, my mother about

404
00:25:52,090 --> 00:25:54,950
having a family, even when I was younger, I would say, how did you do

405
00:25:55,450 --> 00:25:58,350
it? Or, what's your piece of advice? And she would say, I just wish I

406
00:25:58,850 --> 00:26:01,810
would have known you guys were all so different the beginning. Like, it took me

407
00:26:02,310 --> 00:26:05,530
a long time to realize that. And so, you know, what worked for one didn't

408
00:26:06,030 --> 00:26:09,530
work for all of us, obviously. And so I think I had four kids

409
00:26:10,030 --> 00:26:12,250
and had that in the back of my mind, and my mom gave me that

410
00:26:12,410 --> 00:26:15,930
wise wisdom. But it definitely was very

411
00:26:16,430 --> 00:26:19,730
evident in homeschooling or teaching. Right. Getting on their, their level and

412
00:26:20,230 --> 00:26:23,490
trying to teach them things. Yeah, it's getting down on their level that that's,

413
00:26:23,990 --> 00:26:26,710
that's what you have to overcome at the beginning, because at the, you're.

414
00:26:26,790 --> 00:26:29,430
If you're just starting to homeschool, you're gonna make mistakes.

415
00:26:29,910 --> 00:26:33,390
Sure. We all do admit

416
00:26:33,890 --> 00:26:37,230
a lot. I'm still making them, and I Still will probably continue to

417
00:26:37,730 --> 00:26:40,670
make them, and so will my kids, and so will my husband, and so will

418
00:26:41,170 --> 00:26:45,110
other homeschoolers. But I think that what we're doing for our kids

419
00:26:45,350 --> 00:26:48,430
is so much more important than, you know,

420
00:26:48,930 --> 00:26:52,590
waving at them on the bus in the mornings and having a toast

421
00:26:53,090 --> 00:26:56,270
because they're gone for the day. I find that our relationship is so much stronger

422
00:26:56,770 --> 00:27:00,650
because they're home and I know them better, and I. I can do

423
00:27:01,150 --> 00:27:04,570
it. I can modify myself and. And learn with them.

424
00:27:05,070 --> 00:27:08,290
So why wouldn't I try my best to have the best life for them?

425
00:27:08,450 --> 00:27:11,090
Yeah. I love that. That's so good.

426
00:27:11,810 --> 00:27:15,210
So good. I know the. The family component, I think that

427
00:27:15,710 --> 00:27:18,930
wasn't the motivation in the beginning for us, but every year that goes on,

428
00:27:19,170 --> 00:27:22,410
it's more of the motivation. It's like, even if things

429
00:27:22,910 --> 00:27:26,950
are hard or are getting trickier, it's that family closeness and

430
00:27:27,450 --> 00:27:30,390
how close the kids are with one another. I find, like, their relationships are so

431
00:27:30,890 --> 00:27:34,110
beautiful and they fight. Sure. But, like, they also

432
00:27:34,510 --> 00:27:37,830
really know each other really well because they're spending so much time with

433
00:27:38,330 --> 00:27:42,030
one another. I'm really glad you said that, because, like,

434
00:27:42,530 --> 00:27:45,150
if they were in public school, like, how much time would they get to spend

435
00:27:45,650 --> 00:27:48,670
with each other? They wouldn't know each other at all. And. And for us,

436
00:27:48,830 --> 00:27:52,760
like, my parents are. Are older. They had me later in life,

437
00:27:53,260 --> 00:27:57,240
and my dad's not doing really great, so this is a great opportunity for us

438
00:27:57,740 --> 00:28:01,480
that they get to spend more time with my parents because they're. They're the youngest

439
00:28:01,980 --> 00:28:05,440
ones. Right. I had my kids later. They had their kids later. So I'm the

440
00:28:05,940 --> 00:28:09,200
baby in my family, and all my. All my

441
00:28:09,700 --> 00:28:13,560
nieces and nephews are all adults, so my kids are hopefully

442
00:28:14,060 --> 00:28:17,640
helping keep my parents alive and giving them a little bit of something

443
00:28:18,140 --> 00:28:21,320
to look forward to. Yeah, that. The youthfulness,

444
00:28:21,820 --> 00:28:25,160
I think. Yeah. And I think the.

445
00:28:25,660 --> 00:28:29,280
The relationships. And it's those memories, too. Right? That. And it's.

446
00:28:29,780 --> 00:28:33,559
It's time. So I was talking to someone recently and said,

447
00:28:34,059 --> 00:28:37,960
I think time is what the wealthy really have that the rest of us don't.

448
00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:42,080
No matter where you fall, like, it's the ability to choose how you spend your

449
00:28:42,580 --> 00:28:45,120
time that's the ultimate, like, flex.

450
00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:50,200
And so being able to choose it with one another and investing in

451
00:28:50,700 --> 00:28:53,960
our kids and investing in our relationships with each other, like, as spouses and

452
00:28:54,460 --> 00:28:58,280
then with our extended family. I know we've been able to travel a lot to

453
00:28:58,780 --> 00:29:02,360
see my family that's in the States because we homeschool. And so when we say,

454
00:29:02,860 --> 00:29:05,480
oh, should we homeschool again this year? Like, well, are we really willing to give

455
00:29:05,980 --> 00:29:09,730
up all that time that we spend in, in Florida with my family?

456
00:29:10,230 --> 00:29:13,410
Because otherwise, how are they going to know their cousins or their grandmother?

457
00:29:13,730 --> 00:29:17,370
Yeah. You know, have you done any work or

458
00:29:17,870 --> 00:29:21,330
have you looked into any of the, like, homeschooling styles, like the

459
00:29:21,830 --> 00:29:25,449
Charlotte Mason or the classical or the unschooling? Do you subscribe

460
00:29:25,949 --> 00:29:28,170
to any of those? You know, I mean, I know the names of them.

461
00:29:28,670 --> 00:29:31,810
I know the buzzwords around them, but I, I wouldn't be able to tell you

462
00:29:32,050 --> 00:29:35,990
a lot of details of, of any of them for us. I, I'm just

463
00:29:36,490 --> 00:29:39,870
worried about what works for my kids rather than buying into somebody else's system.

464
00:29:40,350 --> 00:29:43,670
So we, we do a little bit of everything. Like, yes, we do

465
00:29:44,170 --> 00:29:47,470
our online curriculum, but we also spend a lot of time outside.

466
00:29:47,550 --> 00:29:51,750
We also travel. And when we travel, our kids are learning about different cultures

467
00:29:52,250 --> 00:29:54,750
in different places of the world, which they wouldn't get to do.

468
00:29:55,550 --> 00:29:58,710
But to be honest, I, I wouldn't be able to sit here and write a

469
00:29:59,210 --> 00:30:03,080
test on all the different homeschooling methods. I don't, I haven't really

470
00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:06,440
researched it at all or, or dived into it,

471
00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:10,480
which is funny because I think, like I told you before, I think

472
00:30:10,980 --> 00:30:14,360
people expect that I, I would know what they all are and,

473
00:30:14,860 --> 00:30:18,360
and why I would choose one over the other, but I, I honestly don't.

474
00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:22,600
And I think that's okay. I think, Yeah, I think it's like, if anything,

475
00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:26,520
yeah, I actually, I, I will be honest. I also am

476
00:30:27,020 --> 00:30:30,620
not super familiar with all of them. I see them and I, I,

477
00:30:30,860 --> 00:30:34,460
they show for my social channels. And I think there's certain things that

478
00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:38,260
appeal to me about each one, but that wasn't something that I felt like I

479
00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:42,220
had to make a choice of right away when I started homeschooling. And so

480
00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:45,780
I just had that in my mind as a question as we were prepping for

481
00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:49,500
this, because I think people who are trying to decide whether or

482
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:53,980
not homeschooling should work for them, maybe encountering this content that's

483
00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:57,820
like, oh, you should go this way, and this is the right way. And so

484
00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:01,980
I guess we're admitting you don't have to know that. Yeah, I guess

485
00:31:02,480 --> 00:31:05,660
I'm a little bit more laid back on that. Right. I know, like, when we

486
00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:08,900
very first started, I said, like, we had a very, like,

487
00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:12,180
strict schedule of what we were doing when we were doing. So I guess that

488
00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:16,340
would be like a traditional homeschooler or whatever.

489
00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:19,540
That's called. And now we're more task oriented.

490
00:31:20,420 --> 00:31:23,860
Which method that falls under, I'm not sure, but I do see

491
00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:28,340
a lot of inspiring quotes that I like from Charlotte Mason and the other

492
00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:32,780
ones. Absolutely, absolutely. So for your

493
00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:36,059
oldest, your oldest will be in middle. Is in middle school this year, correct?

494
00:31:36,559 --> 00:31:39,460
Yes. Yeah, yeah. She's in grade six this year, so,

495
00:31:40,420 --> 00:31:44,100
yeah. Grade six. Wow. Are you anticipating it's

496
00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:47,860
going to be much different than your elementary ages or elementary

497
00:31:48,360 --> 00:31:51,820
grades? Yes, I can definitely see that.

498
00:31:52,220 --> 00:31:55,500
She's just getting some, a little bit more of the attitude coming

499
00:31:55,740 --> 00:31:59,300
so with. And that happens when you're in the tween years,

500
00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:03,380
I guess. Right. So we have to, we have to monitor that and make sure

501
00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:06,860
that we're staying on task. But she's, she's a good kid and she likes to

502
00:32:07,360 --> 00:32:11,340
get her work done. She's my, maybe my second most motivated

503
00:32:11,840 --> 00:32:15,580
kid to get her stuff done. Right. She wants to get it done, but she's

504
00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:19,400
not quite done yet and she's quite hard on herself. So we, we have to

505
00:32:19,900 --> 00:32:23,000
get her to get over that. Like, she sees that her sisters are done their

506
00:32:23,500 --> 00:32:26,680
math for the year, which they worked a grade level ahead,

507
00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:30,360
but she's not. So she's questioning like, why,

508
00:32:30,440 --> 00:32:33,320
why am I not done yet? Are you disappointed in me that I'm not done

509
00:32:33,820 --> 00:32:37,320
yet? But she didn't start her curriculum until January, right?

510
00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:41,440
Yeah. So like, and she's, she'll be done in a week or two.

511
00:32:41,940 --> 00:32:45,270
Like, I think she has 10 lessons left and she'll be done so

512
00:32:45,770 --> 00:32:48,990
and a grade level ahead. So I'm so, again, like, I think

513
00:32:49,490 --> 00:32:53,710
the biggest thing with her is just building up her confidence and that's why this

514
00:32:54,210 --> 00:32:56,750
year is going to be really important in our co op because we do have

515
00:32:56,830 --> 00:33:00,190
a big group of that age group again. So we have,

516
00:33:00,910 --> 00:33:04,070
we have 10 kids in her age group where

517
00:33:04,570 --> 00:33:08,110
last year she was the oldest. So she's going to

518
00:33:08,610 --> 00:33:12,250
have to learn that she's not kingpin anymore. And it'll

519
00:33:12,750 --> 00:33:15,410
be a little bit of a learning curve for her because last year when she

520
00:33:15,490 --> 00:33:18,690
returned back to our, our co op after her private school

521
00:33:19,330 --> 00:33:22,730
stint, she was the oldest kid. So she was

522
00:33:23,230 --> 00:33:26,210
getting to do a lot of the leadership stuff. She was leading a class in

523
00:33:26,710 --> 00:33:30,250
the co op a couple of times, like alongside

524
00:33:30,750 --> 00:33:34,650
with one of the other teachers. But now is she going to get

525
00:33:35,150 --> 00:33:38,210
to do that if there's other kids her age? Probably not. So.

526
00:33:39,370 --> 00:33:42,730
So a good life lesson, I mean, on both sides of that.

527
00:33:43,230 --> 00:33:46,490
Right. Like, what a great opportunity to be in leadership and, like, also to be

528
00:33:46,990 --> 00:33:49,610
in a peer group, because that is light. Yeah, yeah.

529
00:33:49,690 --> 00:33:52,850
And it just shows you, like, how things in homeschooling change from year

530
00:33:53,350 --> 00:33:56,250
to year. Right. Because a few years ago,

531
00:33:56,330 --> 00:34:00,090
in our homeschool co op, we went up to grade eight. And then last year,

532
00:34:00,590 --> 00:34:04,010
until my oldest came back from the private school,

533
00:34:04,650 --> 00:34:07,790
we were only going up to grade four. Oh, really?

534
00:34:08,350 --> 00:34:11,630
Yeah. Wow. So one year we were grade eight, and then

535
00:34:11,870 --> 00:34:15,430
the next year we were grade four. So in our homeschool

536
00:34:15,930 --> 00:34:19,830
co op, even that was a big learning curve for the kids because they always

537
00:34:20,330 --> 00:34:23,070
had those older kids to look up to, and then they were the oldest kids,

538
00:34:23,570 --> 00:34:26,910
and they had to take on those leadership roles. And we had some.

539
00:34:27,550 --> 00:34:30,590
We had some growing pains with them at the beginning of

540
00:34:31,090 --> 00:34:34,510
the year that when my oldest came back in January,

541
00:34:34,750 --> 00:34:38,230
she kind of. I felt like she kind of

542
00:34:38,730 --> 00:34:42,110
bridged that gap a little bit with. With everybody. So it

543
00:34:42,610 --> 00:34:45,070
was good for her. It was. It was a good opportunity for her to do

544
00:34:45,570 --> 00:34:48,510
that. And now that she's in middle school officially,

545
00:34:49,470 --> 00:34:53,670
with her work, I think she'll get it done. But our

546
00:34:54,170 --> 00:34:57,230
homeschool group is meeting three times a week this year instead of two.

547
00:34:57,950 --> 00:35:00,830
So we're. We're gonna figure it out.

548
00:35:00,910 --> 00:35:04,470
That's why I've started them working on their curriculums a little bit

549
00:35:04,970 --> 00:35:08,080
earlier in the summer, to give them an opportunity to.

550
00:35:08,880 --> 00:35:12,640
To get some work under their belt before our official school year starts.

551
00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:16,520
So will you only do school officially two days a week and then the

552
00:35:17,020 --> 00:35:19,480
co op three days a week, or do you think they'll stop doing some work

553
00:35:19,980 --> 00:35:23,400
on co op days? I think it depends on how far they're getting through their

554
00:35:23,900 --> 00:35:27,560
curriculum. We're just going to. We're just going to kind of play it by

555
00:35:28,060 --> 00:35:31,880
ear, because last year we were doing it half days, right. So we did

556
00:35:32,380 --> 00:35:35,520
three half days of our curriculum. Now we have two days.

557
00:35:36,220 --> 00:35:40,020
But on one of those days, we have an extracurricular during the day,

558
00:35:40,520 --> 00:35:43,820
right in the middle of the day. So that kind of disrupts our learning time.

559
00:35:44,460 --> 00:35:47,260
So probably one of those days is going to have to be like a hard.

560
00:35:47,740 --> 00:35:51,420
A hard day. Just getting through our curriculum, making sure that we're

561
00:35:51,500 --> 00:35:55,620
meeting our deadlines. Yeah, well, you know, you said,

562
00:35:56,120 --> 00:35:59,380
you know, having an extracurricular in the middle of the day, that has been one

563
00:35:59,880 --> 00:36:03,530
of the most amazing things that has happened since

564
00:36:04,030 --> 00:36:08,010
COVID There is suddenly so many resources and fun

565
00:36:08,510 --> 00:36:12,010
things happening during the day for homeschool. Yes, it is good.

566
00:36:12,250 --> 00:36:15,850
I think the more programs there are, the better Even five years ago,

567
00:36:16,350 --> 00:36:19,650
there was nothing going on. No, we had. Well, it seems like every

568
00:36:20,150 --> 00:36:23,930
year there's a couple more. Yep. And like when we started that first

569
00:36:24,430 --> 00:36:28,170
year, we found one group that did a homeschool dance program during

570
00:36:28,670 --> 00:36:31,950
the day, but it was an hour away. But we drove. It was a two

571
00:36:32,450 --> 00:36:36,270
hour class and we drove and she did the homeschool

572
00:36:36,770 --> 00:36:39,990
dance and then kind of waited around, had nowhere to

573
00:36:40,490 --> 00:36:43,630
go because everything was closed during that time, during that season.

574
00:36:44,990 --> 00:36:48,270
Not enough time to come home because I come home, I'd have to turn around

575
00:36:48,770 --> 00:36:52,710
and go back when I had three toddlers in tow. So not

576
00:36:53,210 --> 00:36:57,670
a lot to do. But we wanted to give her something. Right. Because staying

577
00:36:58,170 --> 00:37:01,510
at home isn't healthy for anybody. People need people. Totally. Well,

578
00:37:02,010 --> 00:37:05,470
okay, so to that question, this is the big question that everyone asks. Yeah.

579
00:37:05,870 --> 00:37:08,510
How are your kids going to be socialized?

580
00:37:08,590 --> 00:37:12,230
Melissa, did you know that there's

581
00:37:12,730 --> 00:37:16,350
other places you can socialize other than school? I, I do

582
00:37:16,850 --> 00:37:21,430
know that, but it's. Yeah. So there's, you know, there's extracurriculars.

583
00:37:21,930 --> 00:37:26,240
Your kids could be in sports, sports park, they could join classes.

584
00:37:27,200 --> 00:37:30,480
And I think it's, it's funny because you go to school and what do

585
00:37:30,980 --> 00:37:33,800
they tell you? When can you speak? When can you speak? When you put your

586
00:37:34,300 --> 00:37:37,760
hand up. Right. So, and, and going

587
00:37:38,260 --> 00:37:41,720
to like regular school or traditional school for such a long time,

588
00:37:42,220 --> 00:37:45,720
even I don't know what it's like now. But they were only

589
00:37:46,220 --> 00:37:49,040
allowed to play with the people within their class at recess.

590
00:37:49,480 --> 00:37:53,120
So that's not really socializing. If you're, if you're in a forced

591
00:37:53,620 --> 00:37:57,560
situation where you're always with the same people, is it similar to work?

592
00:37:58,060 --> 00:38:00,240
Right. Like how many of the people that you work with are you truly friends

593
00:38:00,740 --> 00:38:04,120
with? Right. I mean you're friendly with them because you work with them and you're.

594
00:38:04,760 --> 00:38:08,200
But they're probably not a whole bunch of them are going to be your

595
00:38:08,700 --> 00:38:12,600
true friends. They might not be the right people for you, and that's

596
00:38:13,100 --> 00:38:16,600
okay. And so we try to

597
00:38:17,100 --> 00:38:20,400
make sure that our kids are socialized with their friends, with play dates,

598
00:38:20,560 --> 00:38:24,160
with their sports. They're all, they're all in

599
00:38:24,660 --> 00:38:27,880
something outside of the co op. Our co op is unique

600
00:38:28,380 --> 00:38:32,080
because we run the whole year where a lot of the other co ops are

601
00:38:32,720 --> 00:38:36,120
blocks. Like there might be an eight week block of science or an

602
00:38:36,620 --> 00:38:39,960
eight week block of basketball or something like

603
00:38:40,460 --> 00:38:43,510
that where it's an hour class or a two hour class. We're here,

604
00:38:43,670 --> 00:38:47,630
we're full days three times a week now. But not everybody's

605
00:38:48,130 --> 00:38:51,910
here three times a week, and they get to build those relationships

606
00:38:52,410 --> 00:38:55,430
with those kids. But yeah, they socialize while they're at co, op,

607
00:38:55,670 --> 00:38:59,270
but really they're socializing outside of the co op with the play dates,

608
00:38:59,770 --> 00:39:03,310
with the birthday parties, with the meetups that we do every

609
00:39:03,810 --> 00:39:07,400
once in a while. That's their socialization part. But the building the

610
00:39:07,900 --> 00:39:11,840
relationships is when they're at the co op, I think mostly.

611
00:39:12,160 --> 00:39:15,360
Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I find, too. I think.

612
00:39:15,680 --> 00:39:18,960
I might be partial, but I think both of our kids are good at

613
00:39:19,600 --> 00:39:22,999
socializing up and down age groups, which is also something

614
00:39:23,499 --> 00:39:27,040
you don't get when you're in public school. Right. Like being comfortable

615
00:39:27,540 --> 00:39:31,160
talking to the older kids in the co op or at church or at.

616
00:39:31,660 --> 00:39:35,150
In the sports team or even adults. Like holding conversations with

617
00:39:35,650 --> 00:39:36,710
adults and knowing what to say.

618
00:39:38,470 --> 00:39:41,830
Yeah. One of my, My oldest, her. Her best friend is three

619
00:39:42,330 --> 00:39:46,350
years older than her, and they get together if usually once

620
00:39:46,850 --> 00:39:50,990
a week, but if not, every other week they're getting together. And they talk every

621
00:39:51,490 --> 00:39:53,910
day on the phone. Yes,

622
00:39:55,590 --> 00:39:57,750
they do. Every day.

623
00:39:59,240 --> 00:40:02,480
Call waiting. You know, hey, remember the old days? Well,

624
00:40:02,980 --> 00:40:06,840
I, you know, they have, they have those kid tablets, right. Where you monitor

625
00:40:07,340 --> 00:40:10,600
their. Their chats and stuff. So they call. But they call each other. So they're

626
00:40:11,100 --> 00:40:14,240
not just typing to each other, they call each other. Oh, well,

627
00:40:14,740 --> 00:40:18,520
that's. So that's actually a skill in and of itself that you're. That she's developing

628
00:40:18,760 --> 00:40:22,600
for herself because a lot of people, even our age, don't like to

629
00:40:23,100 --> 00:40:26,400
pick up the phone anymore. I'm one of them. Yeah, I'm one of them.

630
00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:30,960
I don't love it either, but I, I am like, it is so

631
00:40:31,460 --> 00:40:34,760
much easier to have a conversation over the phone. Yeah. My husband and I differ

632
00:40:35,260 --> 00:40:39,120
in that aspect. He. He would rather pick up the phone and I would rather

633
00:40:39,520 --> 00:40:42,880
just send you a message. Get to the point. Totally.

634
00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:46,600
It's the same. It's the same. Well, I know I've

635
00:40:47,100 --> 00:40:50,160
taken so much of your time, but there are just two more questions I really

636
00:40:50,660 --> 00:40:52,560
have for you that I think I wanted to make sure we get to.

637
00:40:52,930 --> 00:40:56,570
And one is, so what advice? Is there any advice you give

638
00:40:57,070 --> 00:41:00,850
to the former self when you look back at former,

639
00:41:01,090 --> 00:41:03,410
you know, the first year or second year you were doing it and the way

640
00:41:03,910 --> 00:41:06,850
you were doing it, like, what advice would you have given yourself? I would say

641
00:41:07,350 --> 00:41:09,970
trust your instincts and don't worry about what anybody else is doing.

642
00:41:10,690 --> 00:41:14,530
That's good. Yeah, that's good. Yeah. Oh, and I

643
00:41:15,030 --> 00:41:17,890
think that's true about you. Actually, I think most of that's something I admire about

644
00:41:18,390 --> 00:41:21,370
you is I feel like you're a person with convictions and you follow through on

645
00:41:21,870 --> 00:41:25,150
those convictions so well. You know, I think the first few years of,

646
00:41:25,650 --> 00:41:28,990
like our co op, for example, I was really trying to bend

647
00:41:29,490 --> 00:41:32,870
myself in a lot or stretch myself in a lot of different directions to make

648
00:41:33,370 --> 00:41:35,790
everybody happy. And I mean,

649
00:41:36,510 --> 00:41:39,110
last year in our co op, I think it was the best year that we

650
00:41:39,610 --> 00:41:43,430
ever had. Where it was, I had an awakening where I

651
00:41:43,930 --> 00:41:46,990
said, like, who am I doing this for? Why? You know, who am I doing

652
00:41:47,490 --> 00:41:50,110
this for? Am I doing it for. Yes, I'm doing it for all the families

653
00:41:50,610 --> 00:41:53,510
that are homeschooling. But at the end of the day, I have to make sure

654
00:41:54,010 --> 00:41:57,670
that my family's needs are being met first. First and foremost, let's make

655
00:41:58,170 --> 00:42:01,630
sure that our needs are being met. And if whatever we're doing is aligning with

656
00:42:02,130 --> 00:42:04,670
what you guys want to do, awesome. If it's not,

657
00:42:05,550 --> 00:42:08,750
you don't have to be here. Like, I mean,

658
00:42:09,150 --> 00:42:12,150
and, and that, like, go, you can start up your own co op. I think

659
00:42:12,650 --> 00:42:16,540
that's great. The more programs, the better because every single group

660
00:42:17,040 --> 00:42:20,900
that gets developed is going to find their people. And like

661
00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:24,140
the first co op that we were in, they weren't our people. Like, we just

662
00:42:24,860 --> 00:42:28,740
very nice people, friendly, nothing wrong with them. But we didn't

663
00:42:29,240 --> 00:42:32,300
build those relationships with the families there. We, we lived too far

664
00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:36,460
away. We didn't have birthday parties together, we didn't have play dates together.

665
00:42:36,620 --> 00:42:40,540
We didn't get to know the other families there. And I think getting

666
00:42:41,040 --> 00:42:44,450
to know the families. Finding a community is important. Yes.

667
00:42:45,090 --> 00:42:48,330
Yeah. So you don't feel like you're doing this alone. And there's so many ways

668
00:42:48,830 --> 00:42:51,730
to find community. Like, how do most people find out about the co op?

669
00:42:52,230 --> 00:42:55,810
Or how have you found community? I think originally

670
00:42:56,310 --> 00:43:00,050
it was. It was just people that we knew that we were.

671
00:43:00,130 --> 00:43:03,130
Well, no, it wasn't people that we knew. There was a few people that we,

672
00:43:03,630 --> 00:43:07,010
that we knew that were homeschooling or that

673
00:43:07,510 --> 00:43:11,050
we convinced to homeschool one or the

674
00:43:11,550 --> 00:43:15,310
other. And they joined us on this endeavor

675
00:43:15,810 --> 00:43:18,790
because of what was happening in the world.

676
00:43:19,290 --> 00:43:22,070
And they were trying to figure out what they wanted to do with their families,

677
00:43:22,570 --> 00:43:25,910
if they were going to homeschool or not. And many of them aren't homeschooling anymore.

678
00:43:26,410 --> 00:43:29,950
So they, they started with us and we kept it very

679
00:43:30,450 --> 00:43:34,990
low key. At first it was just word of mouth mostly. And just

680
00:43:35,490 --> 00:43:38,950
this last year, I started Facebook page and a telegram

681
00:43:39,450 --> 00:43:42,310
page not even a year ago. And since then, it's just.

682
00:43:43,280 --> 00:43:46,640
It's just become so much more. Yeah.

683
00:43:46,960 --> 00:43:49,960
More people are finding out and want to be a part of it and asking

684
00:43:50,460 --> 00:43:54,040
questions. But. But even with the Facebook page and things

685
00:43:54,540 --> 00:43:58,320
like that, the people that are coming to our homeschool group, I would say 90%

686
00:43:58,820 --> 00:44:01,520
of them are being recommended from somebody that's already here.

687
00:44:02,400 --> 00:44:04,960
So they already know somebody here. Yeah.

688
00:44:05,120 --> 00:44:08,600
But, you know, that makes sense, though, because I feel like I'm having these conversations

689
00:44:09,100 --> 00:44:12,950
as well with friends. Friends and people who I would have never expected to

690
00:44:13,450 --> 00:44:16,550
homeschool making that decision. And, you know, it's part

691
00:44:17,050 --> 00:44:20,390
of. Again, part of the motivation for this podcast was I'm having these conversations on

692
00:44:20,890 --> 00:44:23,910
the side. I think that these would be valuable for other people to be able

693
00:44:24,410 --> 00:44:27,790
to listen in on and kind of share their guidance. But,

694
00:44:28,190 --> 00:44:31,070
yeah, a lot of people are starting to choose homeschooling.

695
00:44:31,310 --> 00:44:34,990
Yeah. And I think. I think for me, like, at the very beginning, I expected

696
00:44:35,070 --> 00:44:39,050
that a lot more people were going to be joining us and in the homeschooling

697
00:44:39,850 --> 00:44:43,410
journey, and our friends didn't. And I was

698
00:44:43,910 --> 00:44:47,690
surprised by that. I was surprised that not everybody was, like, jumping on the bandwagon.

699
00:44:48,090 --> 00:44:51,770
And now we're having those conversations

700
00:44:52,270 --> 00:44:55,490
with the people, and they're asking what we're doing where.

701
00:44:55,990 --> 00:44:59,410
I said before, like, a lot of family never cared to get to know what

702
00:44:59,910 --> 00:45:02,090
we were doing or why we were doing it. They're coming around.

703
00:45:02,650 --> 00:45:06,890
Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think when they see it successful, your kids clearly

704
00:45:07,390 --> 00:45:10,850
are, like, articulate and learning, and you're not just letting them

705
00:45:11,490 --> 00:45:14,850
play in the fields all day. So it's like, okay,

706
00:45:15,350 --> 00:45:18,930
there's something to this. We do need another combine operator, though. So.

707
00:45:20,690 --> 00:45:24,290
I was just reading about how young men around

708
00:45:24,790 --> 00:45:27,090
16, we should start getting them involved in some of that stuff.

709
00:45:28,130 --> 00:45:31,650
And then I think, just. Can you think of any,

710
00:45:31,730 --> 00:45:35,210
like, little wins that remind you of

711
00:45:35,710 --> 00:45:38,370
why it's worth it that you'd be open to sharing? Because I think the days

712
00:45:38,870 --> 00:45:42,090
are hard. It's really easy to gloss over how. How good it

713
00:45:42,590 --> 00:45:45,450
is and how positive it is. And not every day is a smiley day.

714
00:45:45,950 --> 00:45:49,330
I have raised my voice more than I thought I would or

715
00:45:49,830 --> 00:45:53,170
threatened to send my kids back to public school many

716
00:45:53,670 --> 00:45:56,450
times. I think we might all. We all might all have that threat.

717
00:45:59,350 --> 00:46:02,790
Little wins. I think it's the big wins that are. That are important.

718
00:46:04,070 --> 00:46:07,750
When you go out in public and you get complimented on your kids. Yeah.

719
00:46:08,230 --> 00:46:11,670
And we didn't even notice your Kids were here, they're so quiet, they're so well

720
00:46:12,170 --> 00:46:15,270
behaved, and I think that's how they should behave.

721
00:46:15,670 --> 00:46:18,990
Right. And so, like, I take that as

722
00:46:19,490 --> 00:46:22,070
a win and then say, I always answer with thank you. They're homeschooled.

723
00:46:25,230 --> 00:46:28,710
Do you get a smile back or. Oh, sometimes we

724
00:46:29,210 --> 00:46:32,870
get. Yeah, a little bit of. Sometimes it's the glazed overlook. Sometimes it's

725
00:46:33,370 --> 00:46:36,990
a surprise look, and sometimes it's like a good for you. Yeah,

726
00:46:37,490 --> 00:46:40,510
we get good for you a lot. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

727
00:46:43,790 --> 00:46:47,750
Well, thank you so much. Thank you so much for joining me today and talking

728
00:46:48,250 --> 00:46:51,670
through this. Is there anything else that we didn't cover that you really just would

729
00:46:52,170 --> 00:46:55,030
love to let people know about, but homeschooling. In general,

730
00:46:55,750 --> 00:46:59,630
just do it. I mean, if there's any part of you that wants

731
00:47:00,130 --> 00:47:02,950
to or. Or is thinking about it but you're scared,

732
00:47:04,070 --> 00:47:06,870
you can do it. I know that you can.

733
00:47:07,030 --> 00:47:10,150
I mean, there's going to be hard days, there's going to be easy days,

734
00:47:10,650 --> 00:47:13,670
but the wins are going to be so much more valuable for your family and

735
00:47:14,170 --> 00:47:17,430
for your kids. Take the risk. Do it. Find somebody to help you.

736
00:47:17,930 --> 00:47:21,210
Talk to somebody. Learn about it. Do it. And what's the worst that

737
00:47:21,710 --> 00:47:24,730
can happen if it doesn't work out? You can always send them back to.

738
00:47:25,230 --> 00:47:28,330
Public school a hundred percent. Yeah. You can make the decision year

739
00:47:28,830 --> 00:47:32,570
by year. Right. Or you can make decision. You can make the decision however

740
00:47:33,070 --> 00:47:36,170
you want. If you change your mind tomorrow, I guess technically you could send them

741
00:47:36,670 --> 00:47:40,050
back, but you have to give it a chance. I say give it a shot.

742
00:47:40,550 --> 00:47:44,050
Give it a real chance. Give it six months. Give it a. Give it a

743
00:47:44,550 --> 00:47:47,800
school year. And the worst that can happen is it didn't work out,

744
00:47:48,600 --> 00:47:51,080
but you won't know until you try it.

745
00:47:51,480 --> 00:47:55,040
Agreed. That's so good. Good. Just do it. If you're

746
00:47:55,540 --> 00:47:59,480
thinking about it, this is your chance. This is your confirmation. If you stumbled

747
00:47:59,980 --> 00:48:03,240
across this today and you were really thinking about it, I hope this was

748
00:48:03,740 --> 00:48:06,760
inspirational and that you gleaned some information from.

749
00:48:07,000 --> 00:48:10,380
Yeah. From our conversation today. So just do it. All right, let's.

750
00:48:10,450 --> 00:48:14,690
Thank you so much, Melissa. I will let you go and we will connect

751
00:48:19,890 --> 00:48:23,290
Remember, sometimes it just takes that one powerful question to change how

752
00:48:23,790 --> 00:48:27,490
your family homeschools for good. If you found this episode helpful,

753
00:48:27,990 --> 00:48:30,690
would you take a moment to follow the podcast so you don't miss what's next?

754
00:48:31,170 --> 00:48:34,770
And if you know another parent who could use a little encouragement, please share

755
00:48:35,270 --> 00:48:40,220
this with them. You can also find resources and updates at www.homeschoolhints

756
00:48:40,300 --> 00:48:44,060
com. Thank you for joining me on homeschool hints. How we do it

757
00:48:44,560 --> 00:48:48,220
until next time. Keep going. You are doing better than you think.