Episode summary
Sitting down to plan priorities for the new year can be simple and fun. I hope you'll be able to find a quiet afternoon when you can look back at the previous year and forward to the next. Join us today for a few simple questions and ideas that can help you create a more peaceful, priority-focused year.
Host biography
Janice Campbell, a lifelong reader and writer, loves to introduce students to great books and beautiful writing. She holds an English degree from Mary Baldwin College, and is the graduated homeschool mom of four sons. You’ll find more about reading, writing, planning, and education from a Charlotte Mason/Classical perspective at her websites, EverydayEducation.com, Excellence-in-Literature.com, and DoingWhatMatters.com.
Resources
CLICK HERE for articles and ideas for planning
DOWNLOAD your Doing What Matters Printable Planner here
Connect
Janice Campbell | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Website
Homeschooling.mom | Instagram | Website
Thank you to our sponsors!
Medi-Share: an affordable Christian alternative to traditional health insurance
Have you joined us at one of the Great Homeschool Conventions? We hope to see you there!
For more encouragement on your homeschooling journey, visit the Homeschooling.mom site, and tune in to our sister podcast The Charlotte Mason Show.
Episode summary
January is the perfect time for a mom's personal retreat. In this episode Jessica will share tips and tricks of hosting your own personal homeschool mom retreat. With a little bit of creativity, you can benefit from taking the time to rest, pray, plan, and goal-set for the second half of the school year.
Host biography
Jessica is a wife, homeschool mom of three, author, and blogger. She lives in sunny North Carolina on a big family farm with chickens, goats, cousins, and lots of mud.
Connect
Jessica Smartt | Instagram | Facebook | Website
Homeschooling.mom | Instagram | Website
Thank you to our sponsors!
Medi-Share: an affordable Christian alternative to traditional health insurance
Have you joined us at one of the Great Homeschool Conventions? We hope to see you there!
For more encouragement on your homeschooling journey, visit the Homeschooling.mom site, and tune in to our sister podcast The Charlotte Mason Show.
Episode summary
Listen, laugh, and relate to this list of 101 homeschool lies. Lies we tell ourselves with the best intentions. Fibs and complete baloney caused by the pressure for perfection and desire for the outside world to pat us on the back. Dreams of educational success can lead to grand expectations and impossible goals we can’t begin to complete with when life gets in the way. Saying them out loud reveals the ridiculousness and frees your efforts to be awesome at this!
Host biography
Jennifer Cabrera, the Hifalutin Homeschooler, is the writer of homeschool truth, humor, and inspiration. Jennifer lives in Salado, Texas with her husband and three brilliant boys. She is a licensed Physician Assistant/MPH, but set aside that career for her ultimate life's work. She is also the author of Socialize Like a Homeschooler: A Humorous Homeschool Handbook and Revolting Writing, a hilarious writing, vocabulary, and illustration journal for reluctant writers. She is a featured speaker with Great Homeschool Conventions and her memes and witty insights are widely shared on social media.
Resources
Against My Will: Becoming a Homeschool Mom
101 Lies I Tell Myself About Homeschooling
Connect
Jennifer Cabrera | Instagram | Facebook | Pinterest | Website
Homeschooling.mom | Instagram | Website
Thank you to our sponsors!
Medi-Share: an affordable Christian alternative to traditional health insurance
Have you joined us at one of the Great Homeschool Conventions? We hope to see you there!
For more encouragement on your homeschooling journey, visit the Homeschooling.mom site, and tune in to our sister podcast The Charlotte Mason Show.
Episode summary
The success of your homeschool day largely depends on how you begin the day. If your mornings are a mad scramble and the rest of your day is anything but peaceful, let this episode serve as a call to gather your children together first thing in the morning to pay your devotions to your Father in heaven. You’d be amazed at how even five minutes in the morning — every morning — can influence your homeschool for the better.
Host biography
Sean Allen is the founder of The Well Ordered Homeschool, husband to his beautiful bride Caroline and a proud father of eight. He has a bachelor of fine arts in graphic design and is passionate about creating materials to assist parents in the incredibly challenging, yet surpassingly beautiful, work of schooling and training their children at home.
Resources mentioned
The Character of the Holidays Devotional Series
Connect
Sean Allen | Instagram | Facebook | Website
Homeschooling.mom | Instagram | Website
Thank you to our sponsors!
Medi-Share: an affordable Christian alternative to traditional health insurance
Have you joined us at one of the Great Homeschool Conventions? We hope to see you there!
For more encouragement on your homeschooling journey, visit the Homeschooling.mom site, and tune in to our sister podcast The Charlotte Mason Show.
Episode summary
On this episode, you will learn about the importance of finding community as a homeschooler and how to find your people within the homeschooling world. You will learn tips on how to find local community as well as what the difference is between a co-op, an umbrella school, and a tutorial. You will also learn about finding community using social media. Your homeschooling besties can be just one message away. You will also hear some tips on starting your own homeschooling community if there isn’t already one in your area.
Host biography
Serena Ryan is the founder of The Confident Homeschooler. After a turbulent start homeschooling her own children, she became passionate about helping other parents with an interest in homeschooling get started with success and confidence. Serena lives in Franklin, Tennessee with her husband, sons, and dogs. Serena was a Registered Nurse who left her career to homeschool her two sons, as well as help her husband run their online marketing business. She loves spreading awareness about the beauty of homeschooling and empowering parents. Serena created her e-course, Homeschool With Confidence, to equip parents with everything they need to get started.
Connect
Serena Ryan | Instagram | Facebook | Website
Homeschooling.mom | Instagram | Website
Thank you to our sponsors!
Medi-Share: an affordable Christian alternative to traditional health insurance
Have you joined us at one of the Great Homeschool Conventions? We hope to see you there!
For more encouragement on your homeschooling journey, visit the Homeschooling.mom site, and tune in to our sister podcast The Charlotte Mason Show.
Episode summary
In this episode, Jessica interviews two seventh-grade boys on the topic of their best book recommendations. The boys offer suggestions for fantasy, non-fiction, as well as books for beginning readers.
Host biography
Jessica Smartt is a former English teacher and homeschooling mom of three who lives in beautiful North Carolina. She is the blogger behind Smartter Each Day and author of two books, Let Them Be Kids and Memory-Making Mom.
Resources
Connect
Jessica Smartt | Instagram | Website
Homeschooling.mom | Instagram | Website
Thank you to our sponsors!
Medi-Share: an affordable Christian alternative to traditional health insurance
Have you joined us at one of the Great Homeschool Conventions? We hope to see you there!
For more encouragement on your homeschooling journey, visit the Homeschooling.mom site, and tune in to our sister podcast The Charlotte Mason Show.
Behind the scenes banter with real homeschool parents. Get some homeschool dad insight from an interview with Mr. Hifalutin. Then listen and laugh along with a comical rendition of a homeschool marriage court deposition over some common everyday struggles and trials.
Mr. Hifalutin-- Damian Cabrera is the husband of Jennifer Cabera, the Hifalutin Homeschooler. He is not only a good humored participant in this episode, but a once reluctant, and now staunch advocate for homeschooling. His day job as a cardiothoracic surgical PA keeps the family fed, but his life position of husband, father, educator, and leader is his life’s greatest work.
What goes into your homeschool is as important as what surrounds it. Today’s episode focuses on how important it is to create an atmosphere of learning in your home. This atmosphere is made up of many things including organization, discipline, attitude and even decor. If you find that your homeschool just seems to be dragging along, let this episode serve as a call to stop and take a day (or a week!) to address the environmental factors that may be keeping you from creating the homeschool you’ve always wanted.
How do you teach your child what it means to be a responsible person? Like most parents, you probably model the traits you hope they will acquire, and that's the best possible way. However, don't forget the power of literature. Fables, parables, stories, and humorous essays (such as this one) can spark discussions, provide vivid examples, and remind us of truths in ways that are more memorable and meaningful than straight admonition. Join me today for a reading of the classic essay, "A Message to Garcia” by Elbert Hubbard. It's the type of essay that can help you make an important point in an entertaining way. Enjoy!
Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) was an American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher. He is best known as the founder of the Roycroft artisan community and as an influential advocate of the Arts and Crafts movement. He and his wife, Alice, died aboard the RMS Lusitania when it was sunk by a German submarine in 1915.
Janice Campbell is the graduated homeschool mom of four sons, and is the author of the Excellence in Literature curriculum and other books for homeschool families.
RESOURCES
CONNECT
Like Excellence in Literature on Facebook
What does it look like for dads to support homeschooling? If mom is the primary “teacher,” what role do dads play? Graham Clark weighs in on the creative ways dads can pitch in to support their wives.
Graham is a father of four and wife to Katie who lives in North Carolina. Graham works as a safety consultant by day, but also runs the Strategic Families podcast.
“Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church.” Ephesians 5:25
RESOURCES
Strategic Families Podcast by Graham Clark
How We Started Our Co-op, HSS episode #283
CONNECT
Click here to connect with Jessica on Instagram
Click here to visit Jessica's website
Connect with Graham on Facebook
Click here to visit Graham's website
PRODUCTS
There are many different reasons why people decide to homeschool, but not all reasons carry the same amount of “conviction." Regardless of whether you’re just starting out or have been homeschooling for years, getting clear about the “why” behind your homeschool is critical to its longevity. Now is the perfect time to consider again why you’re schooling your children at home and whether that reason is convicting enough to see you through to the end.
Sean Allen is the founder of The Well Ordered Homeschool, husband to his beautiful bride Caroline, and a proud father of eight. He has a bachelor of fine arts in graphic design and is passionate about creating materials to assist parents in the incredibly challenging, yet surpassingly beautiful, work of schooling and training their children at home. You can find his products at thewellorderedhomeschool.com.
FB: https://www.facebook.com/thewellorderedhomeschool
IG: https://www.instagram.com/thewellorderedhomeschool
Hebrews 12:1 - Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.
Homeschooling science is often frustrating and impossible, easily replaced with videos, or neglected altogether. Don’t let it be! I’ve got help and great offers! Science can be hands-on, exciting, edible, and dangerous! And can create lasting family memories. Like when you almost burn the house down for the science fair. True, hilarious story here….
In this episode, you will learn about deschooling Yourself to help increase confidence and start your year off on the right foot. You’ll be given questions to consider & answer to help you deschool. You will also receive encouragement for the year ahead.
Children’s literature can be fanciful — some of it is even nonsense — but there are reasons that we need it. In this episode, reader, author, speaker, and homeschool dad, Martin Cothran, ably explains what children’s literature is for and we need it now, more than ever. If you’ve been harboring a secret love for the books of childhood, you’ll be delighted to find that they are truly good for us. Enjoy!
As homeschool parents, we are usually great at planning for the academic school year - setting goals and selecting curricula. But have you planned for family adventures in your school year? In this episode, Jessica encourages parents to remember the “why” of their choice to homeschool, and to build in opportunities to create traditions and adventure, including her favorite “Annual Family Day.”
Homeschool perfection is impossible and boring. Be awesome instead! Tips for being an imperfectly awesome homeschool teacher. And for laughs... The 10 Commandments (suggestions for sanity) of a Homeschool Mom.
Cynthia and Sue discuss how they worked successfully with reluctant learners and the lessons they learned from those experiences.
An actual recording of the infamous “homeschool parent-teacher conference” (aka split personality overthink-a-thon) in my head. The teacher and voice in the back of our minds echoing public opinions and trying to checkboxes, and pigeon-hole potential will be played by me. And the voice of the bedraggled but hopeful homeschool mom is played by...also me. Listen, laugh, sniffle, and feel seen and inspired.
Are you working with a child who has difficulty with cooperation, focusing, hyperactivity, sensory processing dysfunction, or has meltdowns? Do you have a child who “whines” all the time? Could a hidden allergy be affecting your child’s behavior? Find out why one mom said, “Our daughter is so different now.” Histamine is a huge irritant to the nervous system. Many parents are finding that common foods can be contributing to the child’s everyday behavior. This doesn’t have to be hard!
Karla Williams is the unschooling mom of six, as well as the author of Homeschooling Gone Wild: Imagined Learning Through Living
Karla Marie Williams is the president of BeBold Publishing. As an author, international speaker, and child advocate, Karla has impacted families all over the globe. Her message of hope and inspiration in the areas of homeschooling, foster care/adoption, parenting, and Christian living is sought after for retreats and conferences. She is a wife of 23 years and a mother to six sensational kids. Karla and her family reside in Grand Rapids, MI.
In this episode, Jessica shares her family’s “family economy” system for chores and allowance. If you’ve been wanting to implement a better system for kids to pay for their own things, work around the house, and learn the value of a dollar, this system may work well for you, too.
I’ve long believed that homeschooling parents are some of the most interesting and creative people around. If something needs to be done, they can figure out how to do it. And if something needs to be added, they add it. Join us for this inspiring conversation with Anthony Coafield of Living Book Press.
Today Wendy Speake and Kelli Stuart are talking about how common it is to feel that we’ve lost ourselves in this season of homeschooling. We used to have interests, passions and plans, even careers.
While Wendy and Kelli both had to learn to fit their writing careers into the cracks and crevices of family life, they want to encourage you to remember and reclaim some of your passions and pleasures.
In her 25 years of teaching special education and consulting, Dianne Craft has found that it takes only 5 steps, consistently applied in a daily reading lesson, to not only remove the symptoms of Dyslexia (reversals, scrambling sounds, and dysgraphia), but the effects of Dyslexia , (below level reading, spelling and writing). In this Podcast you will learn 2 simple steps: Physical Exercises that internalize directionality for a child and Visual Teaching Strategies that faithfully put “Zany Memory Hooks” on all aspects of reading…phonemes/phonics; sight words; spelling words. This can all be done in a daily reading session. It’s a method that she used in both Elementary and Middle School settings with equal success. A minimum of 2 years growth in a year was made using these simple, but non-curriculum related strategies. (many times, more) No need for future college accommodations. No need for curriculum purchase. No special training needed. Just success at your fingertips.