In this insightful episode I am joined by the hosts of Homeschool Unrefined , Angela and Maren. We dive deep into their personal journeys transitioning from homeschooling to public schooling with their children. As seasoned homeschoolers with a combined experience of over a decade, they share the challenges, surprises, and rewards that have come with this significant shift. Episode Highlights: Introduction to Homeschool Unrefined: Meet Angela and Maren, the voices behind Homeschool Unrefined . A...
Sep 02, 2024•43 min•Season 8Ep. 167
Am I Doing Enough? This is a question that plagues all homeschoolers from time to time. In this episode, Robyn Robertson of Honey! I’m Homeschooling the Kids and Kelly Edwards of 90-Minute School Day conclude their 4-part “How To Be An Awesome Homeschooler” summer conversation series. What is ‘enough’? How do we define it? How do we know if we are falling behind? What is ‘behind’? Listen-in as this topic is broken down into three steps to debunk the fears or to notice an area that needs change. ...
Jul 19, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Season 8Ep. 166
This episode is part 2 of 3 of our LIVE summer conversation series on "How to Be an Awesome Homeschooler." Kelly Edwards from “90-Minute School Day” and Robyn Robertson of “Honey! I’m Homeschooling the Kids” dive into the complexities of choosing and using curriculum in homeschooling or not using curriculum at all! They discuss the myths and expectations surrounding curriculum, the importance of understanding your family's unique needs, and how to balance structure with the freedom of learning. ...
Jul 12, 2024•47 min•Season 8Ep. 165
Welcome to "How to Be an Awesome Homeschooler!” In this episode, we dive into the joys and challenges of homeschooling. We ask the following questions: What does it mean to be successful in homeschooling? How does that definition vary for each family? What are you afraid of (in homeschooling)? What does control have to do with it? What can we do to help ourselves? Robyn and Kelly share personal stories and insights on maintaining connection, open communication, and understanding family values. T...
Jul 05, 2024•38 min•Season 8Ep. 164
Welcome to How to Be an Awesome Homeschooler ! Join hosts Kelly Edwards, creator of The 90-Minute School Day , and Robyn Robertson, creator of Honey! I'm Homeschooling the Kids , as they introduce and dive into their exciting summer conversation series for 2024. In this special episode, Kelly and Robyn pull back the curtain on their friendship, families, and homeschools. They share updates from their independent lives and, most importantly, announce what’s coming up for How To Be An Awesome Home...
Jun 28, 2024•58 min•Season 8Ep. 163
Homeschool and Unschool Q&A Are you considering taking this homeschooling or unschooling path but you've come to a standstill? Are you having doubts about your ability to homeschool or a lack of confidence in unschooling? How do you juggle homeschool and work? What about working full time? How can we best support reading and writing skills? I invited a few of my homeschool mama friends to join me on this Homeschool and Unschool Q&A episode. Liana Francisco is a grown Unschooler that now ...
Aug 16, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Season 7Ep. 162
The Impacts of Technology on Learning The world of learning today looks a lot different from the learning world that I grew up in. When my kids were younger they loved the story I told of a memorable day in my first grade class when my teacher rolled a large machine into our classroom. As we sat there in silence, she announced that the contraption she had brought in was called a.... computer! And the entire class would get a chance to use it. You can imagine our excitement. The computer produced...
Jul 25, 2023•44 min•Season 7Ep. 161
Overcoming Fears and Doubts Homeschooling fears got you down? Parenting doubts keeping you paralyzed? Does the worry and fear wear you down? Erica Kesilman joined me on this episode to talk about the fears and doubts we face as homeschoolers and parents and how we can overcome them. Erica helps parents grow strong family relationships without yelling, guilt or overwhelm. She utilizes trauma-sensitive, somatic, body-centered therapies for nervous system healing of complex developmental, psycholog...
Jul 18, 2023•58 min•Season 7Ep. 160
The Unschooling Journey- From Childhood To Adulthood with Missy Willis Missy is a mom to two, writer, and self-directed education advocate. As a trained teacher, she imagined a life devoted to traditional education, but in 2007 she moved away from the standardized schooling model with her own kids and hasn’t looked back. Let ‘em go Barefoot is the community and podcast she created to share stories, insights and research on conscious parenting and education. Her work has reached hundreds of thous...
Jun 09, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Season 7Ep. 159
This community conversation was all about risk taking. My friends Kelly Edwards and Tira Hunter joined me to lead this this community conversation on the importance of allowing our kids (and teens) to take risks and what that looks like in our lives. In This Episode Kelly Edwards is the founder of the 90 Minute School Day . She is a homeschooling mom to her 3 daughters, ages 15, 8 and 5. Tira Hunter unschooled her daughter Zoi who is now grown, runs a business and is a mom to Zoi, a professional...
May 25, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Season 7Ep. 158
Evgenia is a homeschooling mama of one boy and the founder of Fit Mama Method. She was born in the Soviet Union and lived in Russia until 29 years old. She holds 2 Master Degrees in Journalism and Sports. Evgenia came to Canada to complete a college program and decided to stay. She was the head coach of an Acrobatic Gymnastics Program and a personal trainer until she decided to stay home with her son. Evgenia is a homeschool mom and entrepreneur. Her Nourished Motherhood Program has helped many ...
May 12, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Season 7Ep. 157
How Do You Know If Online Learning Is The Right Option? Technology has become a powerful tool in learning, transforming education in numerous ways. It has increased access to education, information and resources. Learning opportunities are now, quite literally, right at our finger tips. Technology has not only increased our access to information, but it has also broadened our access to where and how we want to learn and who we choose to learn with. One format that has grown is online learning. I...
Apr 11, 2023•52 min•Season 7Ep. 156
Free To Learn and PLAY with Dr. Peter Gray Peter Gray is an American psychologist, author and research professor. He has conducted and published research in neuroendocrinology, developmental psychology, anthropology, and education. His research focuses on the role of play in human evolution and how children educate themselves, through play and exploration, when they are free to do so. He has expanded on these ideas in his book, Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Chi...
Mar 21, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Season 7Ep. 155
How Unschooling Affected My Life: Liana Francisco Has anyone ever said to you that this whole idea of Unschooling does not end well? That kids will never be self directed? That there is no evidence that self directed learning actually works? Have they listened to my podcast? Have the heard the interviews I and countless others have shared? Well, here is more to add to the list. This is part of a series I am exploring on grown homeschoolers and Self Directed Teens. In This Episode~ Living As If S...
Mar 08, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Season 7Ep. 154
How Homeschooling Affected My Life with Amanda Schenkenberger Amanda Schenkenberger is a grown homeschooler that now homeschools her own 4 children. She is also a homeschool coach and mentor to moms that are busy trying to find more joy and less anxiety in homeschooling. You can connect with Amanda and access her support through her website, moms.heartsmarthomeschool.com You can also connect with her through Instagram @homeschoolcoachingmama In this episode Amanda took time out to share her refl...
Feb 28, 2023•51 min•Season 7Ep. 153
How Can We Build FEARLESS Learners? Kohila Sivas is the founder of Fearless Learners by SuccessCodes, where all children can learn and grow fearless with a Learning Success Coach by their side. Kohila's certified Learning Success coaches make learning easy with their proven holistic coaching methodology which is a unique and superior alternative to tutoring and teaching. Kohila Sivas is also the creator of the revolutionary MathCodes Method™ and Meta-Learning DeStress Method™, a unique system d...
Feb 21, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Season 7Ep. 152
Build Your Community~How To Be An Awesome Homeschooler Have you ever felt disconnected from community? Even more so now that you homeschool? Are there times when you feel like your ideas on learning and living your family life are too different from others around you? Do you want to connect wth others that "get you"? Do you want to build your community? Kelly Edwards and I have been in your shoes. As homeschool parents we have felt like taking the leap to home educate has isolated us at times. I...
Feb 06, 2023•45 min•Season 7Ep. 151
Unschooling Q&A How do I talk about Unschooling with my family and friends? In Unschooling we can focus on following my children's interests but what happens when my child is not interested in anything and they are doing nothing all day? How do we go from the structure of school to freedom? What is the transition to independence? We Unschool but I have a child that wants to do workbooks. What do I do because this doesn't seem like Unschooling!? How do we know when to trust, when to guide fro...
Jan 25, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Season 7Ep. 150
Building Joy~The Power of Play & Partnership Shannon Loucks considers herself a fierce defender of childhoods. Ever since her first job, she has sought out opportunities to be in the presence of children as they explore the world around them. From babysitter, to camp counselor, to a Degree in Education, to finally landing as a full time witness of fun to two boys who have become her greatest teachers. Each of these opportunities led Shannon to believe in the power of play and partnership as ...
Jan 09, 2023•1 hr•Season 7Ep. 149
Welcome to Season 7! Season 6 was a focus on Deschooling. It was a look back and reflection on our beliefs, expectations and what's most important to us. Season 7 is a shift. We are moving from pause and reflection to action. Having our why lead our way . You may know that I often reference the learning journey to being on a family road trip. We are on this adventure together and everyone has a different reason for taking a family road trip. Some may have a specific destination that they want to...
Jan 01, 2023•16 min•Season 7Ep. 148
Modern Miss Mason: Leah Boden Leah Boden is a mom to 4 kids and a long time home educator. She is a speaker, a podcast host, homeschool coach and runs workshops sharing the beauty of a Charlotte Mason approach to childhood, motherhood and education. She and her family live in the West Midlands, England. Leah's new book, Modern Miss Mason is your invitation into an adventure where Leah shows you the fresh face of an age-old perspective on motherhood, childhood and education. And no, you do not h...
Dec 13, 2022•48 min•Season 6Ep. 147
Reflections For The Homeschooling Year As we get closer to the end of season 6, I invite you to take a moment of pause and reflection. Season 6 began as a time and place to step further into Deschooling and growing without school or the easily recognized beliefs and structure of school. We explored Deschooling and Growing Without School Conscious Parenting Teens and Unschooling~What that can look like Minimalism Defining Success Resilience Supporting Passions Natural Learning Resources Critical ...
Dec 08, 2022•19 min•Season 6Ep. 146
The Landmark Study: Parents Want Independent Meaningful Learning What do parents want in their child’s learning experiences? Self-Directed Education: Landmark Research on Family and Student Interests and Needs , the first US national study of its kind, provides key insight into what parents want, suggesting that millions are open to and desire expanding ways of learning. In fact, this study shows that nearly 19 million families are searching for a better learning experience for their children. M...
Dec 01, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 6Ep. 145
How Are You Able To Work And Homeschool? With Erika Brown “How are you able to work AND homeschool your boys?” Erika Brown is asked this question at least once a week as they are out and about meeting people. Unfortunately, society pushes the idea that women must either work outside of the home or stay at home. The idea of doing both seems to be a foreign concept. Erika chooses to reject that ideology while being a part of a generation that blazes new trails and refuses to settle. Erika Brown le...
Nov 16, 2022•52 min•Season 6Ep. 144
Will Unschooling leave my kids unprepared for the adult world? This is a question or fear that weighs on the minds of parents that are considering unschooling or are even possibly already involved in living an unschooled life.Parents always want the best for their kids. They want the most for their kids and the thought that our choices will cause detriment to their futures can be a heavy burden to carry. But this is a question that I have also heard from parents sending their kids to school! Wil...
Nov 04, 2022•34 min•Season 6Ep. 143
CoLearn~Bridging Unconventional Education Approaches In this podcast I want to share unique learning journeys. These learning journeys don't fit the mold of the classroom and challenge the idea of what is possible in life learning. This is important because if we don't hear about these experiences, then how will we ever know that they are possible? Not only that, we are in a new era of remote and hybrid work and learning. Our working life looks different, so why wouldn't our learning life? In th...
Oct 20, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Season 6Ep. 142
Setting Up Your Homeschool Space I get it. As a homeschooling or unschooling parent we want to create the best learning environment ever. We don't want to just replace school. We want to be better than school. So what do we do? We plan, we purchase, we organize and we create a space that will offer as much as possible to our children's learning life. Some families create a separate space. A "school room" where homeschooling takes place. Other families create or use learning spaces throughout the...
Oct 13, 2022•20 min•Season 6Ep. 141
Learning, Partnering and Parenting With Teens~Lainie Liberti Did your homeschool see a major shift once your children became teens? Or are you looking ahead as to how you can best navigate the teen years to come? Want to stay connected to your teen and support their positive mental health? Lainie Liberti joined me on this episode to talk about Parenting and Partnering with our teens. Lainie is a best selling author, international speaker, teen mentor, worldschooler, partnership parenting paradig...
Sep 28, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Season 6Ep. 140
Why We Need To Get Rid of The Math Worksheets and Use Problem Solving and Board Games Instead Math. What feelings does that word bring up for you? Are they warm and fuzzy? Does it put a big smile on your face remembering all of the fun math lessons, problems and homework that you did? Or does the word MATH bring about feelings of anxiety? Worry? Fear? It is surprising how much weight a 4 letter word like MATH can hold. Often it's not actually the word MATH, but the memories associated with it. A...
Sep 08, 2022•57 min•Season 6Ep. 139
Reading & Writing With Phonics As a homeschooling parent, are your worries focused on your children learning to read? Are you unsure where to start? What to do? Or how can to make it fun and engaging, instead of difficult drudgery? I get a lot of questions from homeschooling and unschooling parents about learning to read. Every one wants the magic bullet. But I want to tell you- every child and family is different. However, instead of being fearful, look at the advantage that home education ...
Aug 30, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Season 6Ep. 138
