Hey friends. Welcome back to The Old Fashioned On Purpose Podcast. So we've had a lot of episodes with all sorts of childhood researchers and doctors and experts talking about the importance of free play and creativity and giving our kids life skills and autonomy, letting them make mistakes, letting them experience failure in healthy ways and so much more.
And today's episode is in that same vein, but we're taking a little bit more of a practical approach, and I wanted to get in the nitty gritty, in the trenches of how we can create these spaces for our children, children, and our families to thrive as we are working on life skills and creativity and curiosity, because there are simple things we can do in our homes and just kind of in our mindsets overall. That will set our families up for success.
So I am so excited to be joined by Lindsay from Treehouse Schoolhouse today. She is an entrepreneur, she's a homeschooling mama, and she has so many fabulous thoughts on this topic. So welcome Lindsay.
Hi, Jill. Thank you so much for having me.
Absolutely. So I feel like there were so many directions we could take this conversation. You and I have a lot in common. You're a homeschooler and, and I think homeschool episodes are always fun. But I really wanted to dig in with you just this idea of cultivating a a nurturing home environment and one that really is fostering all of those skills that we're wanting to cultivate in our children.
And I think what, what makes me feel like this topic is so important is, you know, when you walk into different homes, and this isn't. Me being judgmental or me trying to pit one style of family against another. But you know, there's a distinct difference in the home of kind of your standard American family who are doing things the typical way that we would kind of expect, and then the families who are a little more geared towards that unorthodox lifestyle that you and I both partake in.
And so I wanted to dissect that a little bit. 'cause maybe if folks have never been in those two different types of homes, they don't understand the difference or maybe they're wondering how they can Create more of one and they're not quite sure how. And so I think a fun place to start would be, well, first off, why don't you give us a little background on you and your family and your mission, and then I'll get into my next question.
Sure. So I have four children. They're ages 3, 4, 8, and 10. My husband and I are both entrepreneurs. We've been homeschooling since the beginning. And my husband had A business for a while. And then just more recently, Treehouse Schoolhouse has become a job for me as well. And so now we have two entrepreneurs and we have homeschooling. And so it's such an amazing thing because we have so much freedom in our lives.
But that also sometimes is a responsibility because then you have to decide how you're gonna spend your life and how you're gonna spend your time. And throughout this process, we were living on one income for a long time, and I just really wanted to be home with my kids. So we were willing to make. A lot of those sacrifices and we had a dream to build a house. About six years ago we bought property and we've been slowly working towards our goal and we should be getting in our home this fall.
So my husband's currently contracting the house, building it, and so it's been part of our home education journey as well, is building this house, designing this house with exactly this in mind. So, With a family that lives life at home, it's different than a family who is mostly not at home. You know, children that go to school and people who work outside of the home. So our heart and our, our vision for our home and our family is really life lived at home.
You know, spaces that can encourage growth and also bringing people in to our home and creating spaces for hospitality. So that's a lot of things I just thought would be fun to share
thought would be fun. Absolutely. I think just my, my first question, just kind of on that high level so we can set the stage for those listening who maybe haven't observed the differences in, like you said, those who are living and working outside the home versus those who are living and working in.
Can you kind of give us a, an overview of the needs that would be different in someone who's at more that full-time family or creating that different levels of freedom versus one who's more following the standard American family lifestyle?
I mean, you know, families lived. in small, minimal homes, mostly at home for centuries, and they didn't have the bells and whistles and all of the, you know, the modern things. But I was thinking about it and I feel like If it's possible to set yourself up for a life that's more efficient in your home and a life that is more, you know, a home that is more set up to be enjoyable, then really you're improving your quality of life because you are free to do more things that matter to you.
So for us, we really want to. Fostered environment of education in our home. And so do we need to have a homeschooling room and storage space for all of our things? We don't need it, but when we have that, we're able to spend more time doing the things we love and that we care about.
And so that's kind of been my mindset as we've moved forward into building this house is the things that matter to us are, you know, a lot of outside time building skills into our Our children, having the space and the margin to host people and to love people and to bring people in for meals. And then just training our kids up to be servants as we, as we bring people in. Having spaces for that. And then spaces for work. So my husband and I don't just sit at a desk.
We do photography, we do videography, we have product inventory in and out. My husband's a builder, so we need spaces for building. So all of these things that our life looks like.
looks like.
Creating spaces that support those If a person works at a office and their kids go to school at a building, they really just sleep at their homes and maybe are there on the weekend. And so it's just gonna be different needs than what we have.
I love those, those kind of buckets that you described in your priorities of getting outside education, having space to host, having space to work. And I think that so much of that, you know, the title of my podcast is Old Fashioned On Purpose, and so I'm always looking back at the past and how we can let that inform our future. And I think I. This is such a great topic because this home has changed so much over the last 150 years.
You know, like you were saying, families were so home centric and the home used to be that it used to be the place of industry. The factory wasn't the place of industry. It was really in those home spaces. And so so much of what you're mentioning was there in our ancestors' houses, and I think it's just us kind of shedding the expectations we have in our modern living environments and getting back to those basics. So I really love that.
I think one of my first questions as I hear you talk, because I have a lot of homeschoolers who, who listen and I, you know, I'm home, a homeschool mom. I was homeschooled as a child. I'd love you to dive into your school room and how you set up those spaces. 'cause one of the things I see from new homeschoolers, Especially ones who came in like after 2020 'cause we saw such a uptick is they're trying to recreate the public school environment. Right?
And so I'd love you to speak to how do you set up a homeschool room? Are you mimicking a classroom? Are you letting it flow? Like, kind of give us your philosophy there.
Sure. So we've been homeschooling now for, you know, six or seven years with no homeschool room, and we've been just fine. We've homeschooled at our dining room table with a big hutch nearby, and as our children have gotten older and we've had more children, Entering into that school age, we've had to be creative with our storage space.
But what I've realized, a few things, 'cause I've tried also having like our school room be in our loft upstairs away from the kitchen, the laundry room, the outside, and it was just absolutely terrible. And I've heard that from a lot of moms too, that, you know, a homeschool room is not necessary, but really it's more about your things living in that room than it is about always doing your schoolwork in that room.
And so for us, we, I foresee my children doing school on our porch, doing school in the hammock, doing school outside, doing school at the island while I'm doing dishes and making bread. And so there's a lot, but then also, you know, sitting. At the table in the homeschool room to do a collective project, or I'm working with my daughter on sewing, so the table could be used for sewing. So our homeschool room is not desks and brightly colored posters.
It's basically a calming space, and I love design. So we're, we're going with a lot of nature themes, so you know, Posters that are nature and botanical. We have some fun green forest wallpaper. We're painting our doors green, so it's like moody and calm. And then a lot of built-in storage. So my husband as a cabinet builder I really wanted it to look like it was a butler's pantry that we had kind of discovered in this old house, even though it's new construction.
So he's building what looks like a butler's pantry for my homeschool storage. it's built into the wall with cabinets at the top and drawers at the bottom, and then a big counter space where, you know, it would be like the
Yeah, that.
there, putting food, lining it up there. But it's gonna be where we can have our pencil sharpener and our Crayons and different things up there. And so we're gonna have that. And then we're basically just gonna have a big table in the middle where we can do games, we can do puzzles, we can sit there to do our work. And then I have two little ones that we don't really start formal schooling until they're age six.
And so often the corner we'll have more of like a early years section where we'll have like a fuzzy rug and some blocks and a few things they can do during our lessons. The most important thing to me though, about where the homeschool room would be in my home is that it opened up. To the outdoors and that it opened up to the main area of the house. Because realistically, I'm not gonna be sitting at this table with my children all day doing their work.
I'm gonna be switching the laundry, I'm gonna be working on my bread, I'm gonna be making a cup of coffee, or I'm gonna go outside and work in the garden with my three and four year old, while my older children are completing their work. And so, to me, it's not even worth having a space if it couldn't be in that location.
I love that. Yeah. And I like that you're more fluid in where the work's being done, but you're keeping that storage. 'cause there is stuff that you accumulate as a homeschool mom. And I feel like I'm fairly minimalist maybe in, in what I keep, but I still have cabinets of books and manipulatives and art supplies and so you do have that storage issue to, to deal with.
Yes. And our room will also double as like a hobby space. Which is, you know, part of it is like the sewing or the, the Legos or the model airplane, like where do you keep all of that stuff. So I just wanted lots and lots of cabinets to keep all of that sort of thing in there. Play-Doh, and you know, all of that fun stuff.
So much. Yes. And we have, so our. When we remodeled our house, what was the tiny living room became our school room. And so kinda like you said though, we still migrate to the dining room table a lot or the island in the kitchen. 'cause I'm, I'm in the kitchen and then they end up following me with their books. So yeah, it's, it's fluid and it's fun. But I do love having the extra table in the school room. 'cause like you said, it's the hobby table. 'cause there's like, I'm sure you can attest.
There's always something like, there's always a craft or a project or a game or a Lego set and I'm like, it has to get off the dining room table so we can eat y'all. Like it has to come off the dining room table, so. Yep. I love it. So let's, you mentioned having your school room open up to the outside and I love that and I know that Bringing nature into your family's world is really important to you. And it reminds me a lot. I'm sure you're familiar with a thousand hours outside.
And I love her message and how she inspires, but kind of give us some more of your strategies for letting nature help with the education of your children and, and bring grounding to your family and maybe how you do it with your new home construction and how you've done it before you had the ideal home that where you were able to kind of stage that.
Yeah, I mean, obviously nature walks and really we love seasonal learning, so I've always loved seasonal, you know, baking and seasonal decorating and seasonal picture books. And so when I started developing curriculum, that was one of the first things I developed was seasonal nature study, because I thought it, you already want to, you know celebrate the summer solstice on today
yes,
of summer. You already want to. Do these things with your children, so why not weave them in with more information, more book lists. More songs and beauty. And so we bring nature inside to our table work where we're co we're doing poetry and we're doing songs and art projects that have to do with nature, but then we also take it outside where we go on nature walks.
So when I haven't had an outdoor space at my fingertips, I've just been more, had to be more intentional with taking us to those places.
To
To go to the zoo, to go to the nature centers, to go, you know, fi, you know, just figure that out. But what I'm really excited about in our new home when we have a little more outdoor space, is creating like a nature table on our porch where the kids can collect feathers and acorns and pine cones and kind of have like a nature collection. And have some field guides there where they can, you know, figure out what things are and just sort of have like that open invitation for.
Learning more about nature and then having a garden, which we've never had a garden. I've never had the space or really the margin in my life to have a garden. And it's all very new to me. But I'm so excited about having a space in, in my yard to be able to work through gardening and learn alongside my children. And so of course that will be a huge part of our education. And then,
and
Just having our woods that the kids can explore and identifying plants and flowers and trees in our own backyard is gonna be really, really fun. Since we haven't had that,
That's, that's neat that you're transitioning into that. And can you give us, are, are you like in the south?
in the Carolinas.
in the Carolinas. Okay. So you have Yeah. Some nice long, warm months there. So I really love having this conversation now because you have the experience of making a house work very well for a number of years, and then also transitioning into kind of building your dream home where you get to create exactly how you want it to be. So can you give us some strategies on both of those realms, how you set your kids up to really start.
Practicing those life skills, leaning into that, getting, kind of peaking their interest towards those sort of things. That's something we talk a lot about here on my podcast is both the home skills, the outdoor skills, and I love getting new ideas on how to get kids interested.
So it's been really hard in small spaces, like, almost like, just like the nature one we've had to get really creative. For example, you know, with the sewing project it was a lot of taking the sewing machine out, spreading everything out, and then having to put everything away or you know, wanting them, they wanna learn music and so it's like we have this keyboard that we have to pull out and put away. 'cause they've got little ones, they don't have a lot of space. Hosting gatherings, we've.
It's been really, really faithful to do that even though we haven't had a lot of space and it's been tricky. We don't have a big yard, we don't have a, a guest room where we're at. So it's almost like all of these things that we've done anyway and it's been difficult are kind of what have been guiding us to designing our home to make those things easier and to make those things more attainable. So it is possible, but it's just harder.
So yeah, in the new house, some of the things that we're really, you know, my husband is a builder, so he has more space that the kids can go out into the garage and work with him on building things. Until now he has taken them to his workshop or on site to learn these skills, or we've just had to do smaller projects.
Like I mentioned, gardening, we've, you know, we've done potted, you know, vegetables, we've done smaller scales, or I've taken the kids to a community garden when we didn't have our own garden. But the goal is to have our own garden. And then cooking and baking, you can do anywhere. It's just not as convenient when you don't have a huge island and a lot of space and a lot of storage. But I love to cook. I love to bake.
I re, I learned sourdough about a year ago, and so bringing my kids into all of that, it's a little more frustrating when we don't have an island. I don't have a lot of space in our rental house. But it's still possible. And so that need to have more space to be able to do the things that we love is what's help. You know, helping me create now a larger kitchen with a mud room, with kitchen storage and pantry storage, because I want to learn how to can, and all of these things.
So it's just taking steps, but also trying to be content with what you have and doing the best what you have.
I think that you're a great example of that. Just like there's a will what, where there is a will, there is a way in terms of, it might not be as easy to do the projects, but you can still do them. And I think that's a really important mindset, especially in the social media world. I know I get so many comments when people see us doing different things on my videos and they're like, well, that's nice. Must be nice to be able to do that. But I can't do that.
I don't live on 60 acres in Wyoming and I'm like, You missed the point. It's not about living in Wyoming. It's about how can you take this inspiration and apply it to whatever your situation is. And I think that's, that's the takeaway. And anyone can do it. If you, if you want it bad enough, you can figure out a way.
right? Absolutely.
So we talked about some of your goals here. The the outside piece education piece. How about the hosting, because that's something that we've been talking a lot. About here on the podcast recently is just this idea of community and cultivating community, and I know one of the biggest hurdles for a lot of people is the size of their homes. Like, that's challenging.
So how did you work through that with your current space and how are you setting up your new house to really foster a welcoming environment when you're hosting gatherings?
I think it's hard when you don't have a space that is really set up for having a lot of people, especially I've had small children for so long, so all of my friends have a lot of children. Homeschool families, often have a lot of children. And so it's been difficult because I've wanted to be the house that everyone comes to, but I haven't had. Space for that, and it wouldn't be practical.
So having to get creative with meetups and, you know, being intentional with one family at a time over for dinner or having outdoor things, having bonfires or if you have more outside space than inside space, then creating, you know, those gatherings to be outdoors. And then just continuing to foster community, even if it can't be in your home. Just making a point to invest in those.
We've done a lot of meetups at parks and, you know, lakes and things like that because we know that that community is important, but you better believe we're gonna have so many guests when I have the space. So in my new house, we, we had on the house plan, we had an attic space that wasn't supposed to be finished, but we decided to go ahead and finish it to be our guest nook. So it's this really cute little vaulted attic space.
We have completely finished to just have one full-size bed and it's right off of a bonus room where we can pull couches out for children. So we'll kind of have an area there to have guests. And then really we made the decision to have smaller bedrooms and to put our square footage into the gathering
our
So our living room, our kitchen They're not massive, but we made a really big island so that when people come, where do they kitchen, they wanna hang out and talk and bring food, put all the food on the island and hang out. You don't really need a huge space for every person to sit together in a big circle. Like what you might think, oh, I need a huge living room. Really? You need a lot of spaces for people to gather in one-on-ones and kind of chat. So we have a lot of seating areas designed.
Rooms.
Even in other rooms of the house, like at the top of the stairs, we have like a built-in library where we'll have a table and a couple chairs if someone wanted to kind of go up there and just sit and chat. In my husband's office we'll have a little seating area, so multiple small spaces for people to have conversation. And then my number one thing I wanted for my new house was a huge wraparound porch. So our porch is where we're investing a lot of our money on this house build.
And so it's a 10 foot. A 10 foot wide porch so we can have lots of huge farmhouse tables and gathering spaces. So if we wanted to have a ton of people it's a covered porch. Even if it's raining, we could have a lot of people over, not inside the house, but on the porch. And it opens up where the kitchen is. So there's that whole fluid space where you've got the kitchen, the living room, and our huge porch. So
thing is
Then the other thing is our bonus room. Because I have a lot of small children, if I wanted to have like a mom's group or a Bible study or something like that at the time that my kids are in the house, we can go up to this room that's upstairs, shut the door, and we kind of have a small gathering space that could be private that's not in the main area of the house. So that was an intentional move as well for
I love how you thought through all that, and I think the idea of taking a little bit of space from the bedrooms to put it into the gathering areas is super smart. I never, I never would've thought of it like that. And I have noticed as well that it, we have a nice big living room. We kind of, when we did our remodel, we did an open concept. But everyone's still in my tiny kitchen. Like without fail, they're always in the kitchen. We'll be like, somebody will be like, let's go sit down.
And we're just like, nah, we're fine. We'll just stay in the kitchen.
Right,
yeah.
where the food where the coffee where the warmth
Yep. Yeah, totally. So, Now I kinda wanted to shift into this, this final kind of bucket that you mentioned, and that's space for work.
And we were talking a little bit before I hit record just about how you and I are both in a, a similar boat in that we are homeschool moms and we also are entrepreneurial moms with at-home businesses and how that can be a little bit of a. Alienating is the right word, but it's a unique place to be because it's, it's, there's not a lot of people in our situation and so we have kind of this unique path and I think there are a number of people listening who are either looking towards that.
They're curious about how they could have an at-home business and homeschool their kids. 'cause it feels like sometimes we're told that's mutually exclusive, but it doesn't have to be. And so I guess start us off. Tell us how you set up your physical working spaces for. Having, you know, your business at home, and then we'll get into a little bit more of the strategies beyond that.
Sure. So if you could see my setup right now, you would laugh because every house that we've, we've lived in two homes since Know me working, and it's just been hilarious, the kind of stuff I've had to pull off to be able to work at home. I have a business where we do a lot of videography and a lot of photography, and so I've had to completely move all of my children's toys to take photos every single time. So many creative things that you just, you ha when there's a will, there's a way.
I've had done podcasts in my closet. But moving forward, because we have the amazing opportunity to build this house I have a homeschool business and so a lot of my photography, videography and content is actually in my school area. And so I've been really intentional even with lighting and with design of my homeschool space. Also keeping in mind that it's somewhat my office space.
And so while I won't sit and I'll do my writing there I did think about angles of cameras if we're filming us doing a lesson or something like that. And then also for being on podcasts or doing YouTube videos, we have, I, one of the struggles I have is sharing that space with all of my children. So if I need a space that's quiet or a space that I'm not gonna get interrupted.
gonna get interrupted.
That's not gonna be in my school room or in my living room or in my kitchen. And so I needed kind of a space further away that I could shut a door. And so the attic space that I mentioned for the guest room, that's going to double as my space to sit and do some curriculum writing or also to film and do like podcasts and things like that. So I didn't really want a designated office because I am a. I am a moving, shaking kind of person.
I don't like to sit in the same spot when I work, so I'm gonna be finding myself sitting on the porch or going to a coffee shop sitting on my bed. I didn't feel like it was a good use of space to take an entire room for my work, but my storage is gonna be in our homeschool space, and then having that extra space to have some quiet. My husband, however he does, he is gonna have an office space because he has a lot of stuff that goes with his work. And then, and then his garage.
We've, you know, made sure we designed the garage to be kind of his workshop for his projects.
Yes, totally we're similar. This is actually the room I'm sitting in now for those of you watching the video of this is my husband's office technically, although this is where I record all my podcasts. 'cause I'm kinda like you Lindsay. I like to move around. Sometimes I'm working on the couch by the fire. Sometimes I'm, you know, in the house, sometimes I'm on the kitchen table. So, I like a change of scenery. But yeah, same as you.
When we, when I first started running my business, it was only the kitchen island. And then I used to work in our unfinished basement, which had a ton of spiders and I'd like have this little corner. It was dark and there were no windows. And I like wrote my first book down there. And then one year we were renovating our house and I was the only place I could work was out in our un. Like it had no air conditioning, nothing.
It was like a hundred degrees, this brick shop, and there were like flies. I was like covered in flies as I was trying to type. So you do what you
see this. People
They need to see it.
Yeah. I, I am in this space in my life right now where I literally take my work to our little cute downtown has this one coffee shop. They know me there. I sit in the corner, I put on my headphones and I zone out because my kids won't interrupt me. You know and I, I don't want to do that. I would rather have a space at home. But you have to get creative what you have.
Amen. Amen. Yep. And I think people see sometimes the end, they, they see the end and they don't, they forget there is a lot of middle for a
Yes. a lot for a
the middle or the beginning, don't give up. It keep on trucking because it does get easier eventually. So yeah, that's helpful to kind of have that, that map, I think for folks who are looking at a similar lifestyle. So can you now kind of address. The whole time management aspect. 'cause I think, I know for me, people look at me and they go, how on earth do you even do this? And I'm sure they, you get that same question, like, is it even possible to homeschool children and run a business?
And so what are some of your mindsets and strategies on doing that?
I think first
it
does take a unique person and it takes someone with a lot of. Self-motivation and a lot of really drive knowing that what they're doing is important in the world. Knowing that it's more than the money. Like for me, I get up every day and I'm motivated by the purpose. my business. And so when things are hard and I'm juggling a lot I can kind of fall back on that. As far as like practical strategies, I am an early morning person. I work best early in the morning, I can think most creatively.
And so I have, you know, figured out this schedule for myself where I get up very early and I write for about an hour, like almost as soon as I wake up. Just get some coffee and food in me and I can sit and I can be the most creative for about an hour until my. My steam runs out and then I kind of start our, our day.
And then I also, my husband and I have really had to just keep shifting and coming to a place that this is a partnership, that if I'm going to work and he's going to work and we're gonna homeschool
we need.
I. Then we need to both carry a lot of the load of our home care of dentist appointments of music, lessons of homeschooling. So we've had to get really creative with what parts of our schooling can, one my children do independently, and it's really not necessary for me to be pouring so much of my time with them on these subjects. So as soon as they can. Be more independent with certain things we've shifted make it more independent for them. And then it's just me checking in.
And then next, what things can my does, what strengths do my husband have? What, how can we fit some schooling in around his schedule? So currently he does about an hour with them while I am at the gym in the morning.
in my life
cause there's other things in my life, not just work and school that I have to think about. And so after I do my hour of my writing block, I go to the gym.
like
And have like prayer time on the way there and listening to podcasts, filling up my mind, my heart moving my body. And then when I come back, I'm like, ready to jump in and be homeschool mom. Well, during that time that I'm away, my husband has been able to not start working until a little bit later in the morning. So he is committed to making them all breakfast and doing. Some lessons over b over breakfast with them.
the
So by the time I get there, they've already kind of got the ball rolling. And then I jump in for the rest of their lessons that lead us up until about lunchtime. And then in the afternoon we have just been really comfortable with hiring help.
And so three afternoons a week, we have an amazing nanny who is homeschooled herself, who shares our values, who brings skills to the table that we don't have, and she enriches our children's lives and our family's lives in a way that I prayed for and she's really like an extension of our family now. So she's the one teaching my daughter how to knit and she brings in books from her childhood. And it took a lot to like find that person.
But now that we do, it doesn't feel like a sacrifice for my children. It feels like we're adding to their life and then I'm getting to have this creative outlet, that's also supporting our family. So it takes a lot of tweaking. Kind of like I mentioned at the beginning of the podcast. It's a really amazing responsibility to. Have businesses and homeschool. You have so much freedom on when and where and how you live your life. But once you figure it out, it's absolutely worth it.
Yeah, and I just, for anyone listening, I, I wanna also Say, 'cause I, my, my situ situation is similar to yours, Lindsay, and that my husband quit his job a number of years ago, and so we kind of tag team a lot. He does, I hate doctors and dentist appointments with a passion, so he runs those a lot of the time and he'll go to get Aaron's in town for me. But I know that's not everyone's situation and it certainly wasn't ours at the beginning.
I, you know, when we first started the business and the homestead, he was working outside the home and I was your typical just stay-at-home mom and I was trying to figure out a homeschool and. Do the things. And so again, there's ways to do it even if you don't have your spouse there able to take, you know, a, a lion's share of the load. So I think it's just, again, it's thinking in your situation and getting creative and kind of thinking outside the box.
But it's, it's doable in a lot of different ways. But like you said, I think maybe it was before we turned on the recording, but just because it's hard doesn't mean it's bad because it will be harder. And if you look at your friends who only are doing working or only are doing homeschooling, You can get in that victim mindset really easy. Like, oh my gosh, my life is so much harder and I have so much to do. But it's just because it is harder.
Just because it is a challenge doesn't mean that you shouldn't do it.
Yeah. And we've had to get really creative. Even like you mentioned before, my husband had that freedom where we were doing some of the schooling at night or on the weekends. Just lots of different things you just constantly tweak. And that is the beauty of homeschooling, is that you can constantly tweak things and like, oh, that didn't work. We're gonna try this. So I think it takes someone willing to try things, willing to fail willing to do
Yeah.
things to make it work, to carry both and homeschooling.
Yes. Because yeah, especially in the entrepreneurship world, there are absolute challenges. If it was easy, everyone would do it. And yeah. There's always, always a problem that you get to figure out. So yes. So as we kinda bring our conversation to a close, I have one more question for you.
And it was actually a real, I saw you post maybe a little while ago or fairly recent one, but you were talking about how important it is as women and moms to have outlets for expressing our passions and creativity, even in the trenches of motherhood. And I was wondering if you could speak to that a little. 'cause I think that's a topic that often gets missed and I think a lot of women need to hear it.
Yeah. I just, I feel like I've lived both lives. I, before I started this business, I had a lot of this creative energy I. Like pent up inside of me. Before I was a mother, I was an artist and I made jewelry and I did all kinds of creative things. And you know, motherhood is really tough when you have babies. And so sometimes it's almost impossible to figure that out. And then once my children did start homeschooling, I put a lot of my creative energy into creating environments for them.
So, you know, maybe you don't homeschool, so maybe it's, you know, decorating your home or. Learning new skills in the kitchen whatever those things are, I think it's really important as women that we make space to develop these hobbies, these skills, these, this creative side of us. Whatever that way that looks like it might look like going to a pottery class or, you know, watching YouTube videos and learning sourdough or whatever that thing is.
I think it's awesome if it can turn into a business
Yeah.
it doesn't have to. It did, it did for me. And so now I'm able to be creative in my work and also in my home, and I feel like I, I get. Filled up without having to leave my family. And I think that's what was really key for me as someone who wanted to be home, wanted to be with my kids.
I think, I think that as women, we have a lot of really amazing opportunities within our homes to express our creativity and that it can be really life giving for us if we're just take the extra step and be intentional to make space for that.
liked. Yeah, I know That's been really, really crucial for me. Yeah, it's, it's been everything to have, have those creative outlets and it's kept me I think more sane as a mom and, and just allowed me to be who I was meant to be. 'cause I, I always remind people, like, children are awesome and motherhood is awesome, but you're, you're still a whole person outside of your children.
They're precious and wonderful, but you still are, you're still a person with interests and passions, and so I think it's so, so important to leave space for those.
Yes, absolutely.
Yeah. So can you remind everyone if they're not following you already, where they can find you online?
Sure. So I have a blog, treehouse schoolhouse.com. I also have an Instagram treehouse schoolhouse. We have a baby YouTube channel. I develop curriculum for home education and just For a smoother life at home, we do a lot of talk about daily rhythms and how to kind of cultivate family connections through traditions and through living books. I love books. I talk a lot about good books and how to bring those resources into your
I'm always up for a good living book list because
I have a lot
I like books too. Yep, yep. So, okay, everybody go have a look at all that Lindsay has to offer. Her stuff is beautiful. Her, her homeschool resources are, they're just, they're useful and just stunning. So go have a look. Yeah. Lindsay, Thank you so much for joining me today. This is super inspiring. I hope people are feeling Just inspired by all the ideas and that they can go take some of these concepts and bring them into their home, no matter whether it's big or small, or city or country.
But there are ways to make your space inspiring and creative and beautiful. And thank you for sharing that with us.
Course. Thank you, Jill.