Everyday Educator - Lessons from the Rearview Mirror
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - Welcome friends to this episode
00:00:06.360 | of the "Everyday Educator" podcast.
00:00:09.040 | I'm your host, Lisa Bailey,
00:00:10.840 | and I'm excited to spend some time with you today
00:00:14.400 | as we encourage one another, learn together,
00:00:18.040 | and ponder the delights and challenges
00:00:21.000 | that make homeschooling the adventure of a lifetime.
00:00:24.400 | Whether you're just considering
00:00:26.680 | this homeschooling possibility or deep into
00:00:30.280 | the daily delight of family learning,
00:00:33.180 | I believe you'll enjoy thinking along with us.
00:00:37.460 | But don't forget, although this online community is awesome,
00:00:42.320 | you'll find even closer support in a local CC community.
00:00:47.320 | So go to classicalconversations.com
00:00:52.180 | and find a community near you today.
00:00:56.940 | Well, listeners, I'm excited to say to you
00:00:59.980 | that it's almost time for community to start back.
00:01:04.980 | Actually, some of you who have challenged students
00:01:08.540 | may have begun community as early as this week.
00:01:12.780 | But those of us with foundations and essential students
00:01:15.980 | still at home enjoying the last long days of summer
00:01:21.300 | are looking ahead to what's coming.
00:01:24.820 | And all of us, I don't know,
00:01:27.020 | even though my kids are grown and gone
00:01:30.460 | and they're not waiting for me every morning
00:01:33.180 | at the school table looking at me expectantly,
00:01:36.300 | at this time of the year,
00:01:38.740 | my heart still turns toward the lessons of homeschooling.
00:01:43.540 | Now, not so much the lessons I'm getting ready to share
00:01:48.620 | as the lessons that I have learned.
00:01:51.460 | And I really believe that one of the biggest joys
00:01:55.700 | of my heart and my homeschooling journey
00:01:58.680 | has been sharing the lessons I've learned,
00:02:03.200 | oftentimes the hard way, with young moms and dads
00:02:06.780 | or people who are not as far along on the journey
00:02:10.580 | as I am now.
00:02:12.060 | And I've got one of my best CC buddies
00:02:15.040 | who's also maybe farther along on the journey than you are
00:02:19.580 | with me today for this podcast.
00:02:21.760 | Kelly, I'm so happy to have you.
00:02:23.860 | - Oh, Lisa, I am so excited to talk to you
00:02:26.620 | about these things today,
00:02:28.580 | because when we first had the conversation
00:02:31.500 | about this podcast, I thought,
00:02:33.580 | wait, looking in the rear view mirror
00:02:35.940 | to see where I've come from,
00:02:38.980 | I didn't realize I was that far down the road.
00:02:42.000 | But truly, we are, as a family,
00:02:45.360 | much closer to the end of our family's homeschool journey
00:02:49.800 | now than we were even just a couple of years ago.
00:02:53.160 | So I'm excited to talk about these things with you
00:02:56.880 | and with our listeners today, too.
00:02:58.840 | - Yeah, I think it is really encouraging.
00:03:01.600 | One of the things that I found most encouraging
00:03:05.000 | while we were homeschooling is knowing that I wasn't alone.
00:03:08.880 | I wasn't alone in my joys,
00:03:10.920 | and that made the joys more joyous,
00:03:13.720 | and I wasn't alone in my struggles,
00:03:16.780 | and that made my struggles doable, livable.
00:03:20.940 | And so Kelly and I, Kelly Wilt is with me today.
00:03:24.600 | She's one of our curriculum developers with CCMM.
00:03:28.680 | And we love to talk to and mentor younger moms and dads
00:03:35.800 | who are still on this journey.
00:03:37.760 | And so we really want to talk about lessons we've learned,
00:03:41.880 | lessons from the rear view mirror.
00:03:45.000 | I was telling Kelly just a little bit ago
00:03:47.680 | that I feel like I could be a great homeschool mom
00:03:52.400 | for my grandchildren, way better.
00:03:54.280 | I could do a way better job with my little grandson,
00:03:58.320 | who's just two years old,
00:04:00.000 | than I probably did with my girls
00:04:02.020 | when they were two years old,
00:04:04.080 | because there was a lot of stuff I stressed over
00:04:07.000 | and a lot of stuff I had not learned myself.
00:04:10.120 | The Lord was still molding me.
00:04:12.400 | I mean, He still is, but He was seriously molding me
00:04:15.680 | when my girls were two and four years old.
00:04:18.560 | And so I'm excited to talk to you,
00:04:21.880 | and I'm excited to just be real, raw, and honest
00:04:26.880 | with our listeners about what's been going on.
00:04:31.040 | I know, Kelly, that your homeschool
00:04:33.500 | is not all the way in the rear view mirror yet,
00:04:37.060 | but 2/3 of your journey is in the rear view mirror.
00:04:41.740 | So let me ask you this.
00:04:43.180 | Do you feel like an experienced driver
00:04:47.940 | on the road of homeschooling?
00:04:50.020 | - At moments, yes, and at moments, no.
00:04:54.560 | I love thinking about the rear view mirror,
00:04:59.500 | because now that we're close to the end,
00:05:01.220 | it's good to reflect.
00:05:03.540 | But it's also good to think about the part that's left
00:05:09.540 | and how to redeem those last moments to finish well
00:05:14.860 | based on what you've experienced.
00:05:18.140 | And you know, Lisa, I think the closer we get to the end,
00:05:22.340 | I, like you, think quite a bit about our earlier days
00:05:27.340 | when my children were young and what my thoughts were
00:05:31.020 | and what my hopes and my goals were for our family.
00:05:35.300 | And I just am so incredibly thankful
00:05:38.500 | for the experience that we've had,
00:05:40.900 | because as you've already alluded to,
00:05:43.540 | it was a refining time, continues to be a refining time
00:05:47.820 | for me, not only as a homeschooler,
00:05:51.400 | but as a parent, as a Christian,
00:05:54.900 | as a friend in so many roles in my life
00:05:58.940 | that I, at the beginning, had no idea
00:06:01.740 | would be so greatly affected by our homeschool experience.
00:06:05.820 | - It is a great truth that when we start off
00:06:09.260 | on the homeschool journey,
00:06:10.820 | we are doing it to be a blessing to our children.
00:06:15.660 | And we begin the journey thinking it is all about
00:06:20.660 | giving our children the best start in life
00:06:23.760 | and the right view of education
00:06:26.580 | and the closest relationship they can have
00:06:30.660 | with the Father God.
00:06:32.500 | And all of those things are true except for the all.
00:06:36.960 | It's not all about that.
00:06:38.460 | What you said is really true.
00:06:39.780 | Homeschooling is incredibly refining
00:06:43.440 | if we allow it to be for the parents.
00:06:47.340 | And I think lots of times I look back,
00:06:51.460 | and when I was a young mom,
00:06:53.020 | I thought I was the artist making something
00:06:57.460 | out of the clay that was my precious little girls.
00:07:01.040 | And now I realize I was a tool in the hands of the Lord
00:07:07.140 | who was the artist making something
00:07:11.540 | out of the clay of my dear little girls.
00:07:13.900 | And so I'm grateful that He used me
00:07:18.100 | to teach them and to love them
00:07:20.580 | and to make mistakes in front of them
00:07:22.820 | that hopefully they won't make.
00:07:24.900 | And a lot of mistakes that we learned from together.
00:07:28.420 | So we're gonna get to all of that.
00:07:30.740 | I want you, 'cause I feel like probably
00:07:34.460 | a lot of the moms and dads listening today
00:07:36.980 | are not as far along in the journey as we are.
00:07:41.620 | They are quite likely younger than both me and you,
00:07:45.700 | and you're greatly younger than me.
00:07:47.620 | But I want you to look back
00:07:50.860 | and describe yourself as a young homeschool mom
00:07:54.940 | when you were just starting out, okay?
00:07:57.220 | I'm gonna give you parameters.
00:07:58.780 | I want three adjectives to describe you.
00:08:02.300 | And I want you to also tell us what your goals were.
00:08:06.540 | - Okay, so let's see.
00:08:08.060 | In typical CC tradition, I will choose three adjectives
00:08:11.940 | that all begin with the letter C.
00:08:13.780 | - All right.
00:08:14.620 | - So let's see.
00:08:16.540 | I think my first adjective would be creative.
00:08:19.540 | - Right. - I wanted to do
00:08:20.820 | all the things and just be able to inspire my children.
00:08:25.820 | - Yes. - To love learning.
00:08:28.580 | Because in a former life before homeschooling,
00:08:31.580 | I was a public school kindergarten teacher.
00:08:34.780 | And so in my mind, I just had this extensive library
00:08:38.540 | of all the things that children should be doing,
00:08:41.700 | which it was a blessing and a curse.
00:08:44.820 | And we'll talk probably about that a little bit more later.
00:08:47.620 | But I think my second adjective would be committed.
00:08:52.060 | From the very beginning, I knew this was not going to be easy.
00:08:56.860 | I knew it wasn't.
00:08:57.700 | Now, did I have any idea the extent of difficulty?
00:09:01.100 | No, but I knew this was going to be a hard thing
00:09:04.980 | that we were choosing to do as a family.
00:09:07.220 | I knew it would be difficult for us at that time
00:09:10.220 | to choose to be a one-income family
00:09:12.780 | for the benefit of our children
00:09:14.700 | so that I could be home with them
00:09:17.380 | and not in a classroom teaching other children
00:09:19.740 | at that moment,
00:09:20.580 | because that was what we felt called to do.
00:09:24.140 | So we were, I was creative, I was committed,
00:09:27.940 | but Lisa, in all honesty, my last C adjective is clumsy.
00:09:31.820 | (both laughing)
00:09:33.380 | - Yay, honestly, come on.
00:09:35.700 | - Yes, you said you wanted the real, real, so here it is.
00:09:38.380 | - Yeah, absolutely.
00:09:39.780 | - You know, I just did not really have a good idea
00:09:43.340 | of what homeschooling would look like.
00:09:46.740 | You know, I, at that point, you know,
00:09:50.220 | homeschoolers had a, you know, rap for being
00:09:53.300 | kind of weird. - Kind of weird, yes.
00:09:56.540 | My daughter used to describe it as,
00:09:58.820 | "Mm, they were painfully homeschooled."
00:10:01.860 | And I said, "That is really judgmental,
00:10:04.020 | "but I sort of understand what you mean."
00:10:05.980 | Yes. - Yes, yes.
00:10:07.260 | I was clumsy.
00:10:08.260 | I didn't really know what to expect.
00:10:10.500 | I was trying to, in my mind,
00:10:13.460 | divorce what I knew of education in a classroom
00:10:17.940 | from what I was learning homeschooling to be in our home.
00:10:22.460 | And I didn't always do it well, Lisa, to be honest,
00:10:26.020 | but I learned a lot of lessons from thinking incorrectly,
00:10:31.020 | because the Lord used those mistakes
00:10:34.140 | to refine our family's vision
00:10:36.380 | for what we wanted homeschooling to be
00:10:38.220 | and what we also did not want it to be.
00:10:41.140 | So there was blessing, even in that time of clumsiness
00:10:46.140 | and stumbling a little bit to try to find
00:10:50.220 | what would be the right rhythm for our family.
00:10:52.420 | So those are my three, my three adjectives.
00:10:54.880 | Creative, committed, but still clumsy.
00:10:59.740 | - Yes.
00:11:00.580 | What were your goals when you and Ken started out?
00:11:04.220 | What were your goals?
00:11:06.420 | - Well, I'm not sure that all of our goals-
00:11:09.340 | - And say they might not be.
00:11:10.820 | Okay, that's the other thing.
00:11:12.020 | I was hoping that you would be really honest.
00:11:14.140 | The goals that I had when I first started out,
00:11:17.100 | I'm like sort of embarrassed to say them now,
00:11:21.600 | because the Lord refined me and I learned.
00:11:25.020 | So I want to hear yours.
00:11:26.180 | So I'm not embarrassed by myself.
00:11:28.100 | - Oh, well, let us not be embarrassed together
00:11:30.220 | because my goals changed too.
00:11:33.060 | I think, you know, initially my goals were very prideful.
00:11:38.660 | My children will all be members of MENSA
00:11:41.740 | because they will be so well-educated.
00:11:43.780 | They will know all the things.
00:11:45.980 | You know, my children will all be admitted to Harvard
00:11:50.100 | because they just will be so outstanding
00:11:52.580 | and they'll all read at two and a half years old
00:11:55.740 | and they'll do all the things.
00:11:57.420 | And you know, Lisa, I think unfortunately at that time,
00:12:01.900 | the goal that should have been primary
00:12:04.340 | was secondary or tertiary.
00:12:08.420 | And that goal that became our later defining goal
00:12:13.420 | was we want to see our children walk rightly in this world,
00:12:18.500 | knowing they are a citizen of this world,
00:12:20.660 | but being prepared to be a citizen of the world
00:12:22.740 | that is to come.
00:12:24.620 | And I think that after those first clumsy steps,
00:12:29.320 | we started to realize that our mission field was in our home
00:12:33.700 | and that we needed to redeem this time
00:12:37.060 | that God had given to us to feed into our children,
00:12:40.780 | not only mentally, but spiritually and emotionally.
00:12:45.780 | And the Lord used that refining of our goals
00:12:50.140 | to be able to refresh our vision
00:12:52.580 | for what homeschooling could be.
00:12:54.620 | But not to say that we didn't have academic goals.
00:12:57.380 | - Of course not.
00:12:58.400 | - We wanted our children to be able to have the skills
00:13:01.940 | to learn any subject.
00:13:03.620 | That was something that was upfront, very tangible for us.
00:13:08.620 | Because we knew pretty quickly
00:13:11.900 | that within the course of 12 years,
00:13:13.500 | we were not going to be able to teach them everything.
00:13:15.760 | I laugh in looking in the rear view mirror at that goal.
00:13:19.300 | I could have kept them awake for 12 years
00:13:21.460 | and not taught them everything.
00:13:23.700 | But we wanted to be able to have them acquire the skills
00:13:27.860 | that when they did graduate,
00:13:30.500 | no matter what path the Lord called them to in their lives,
00:13:33.300 | they would have the ability to adapt
00:13:35.220 | and to learn and to excel
00:13:37.500 | because they had skills to help them on that path.
00:13:41.660 | And so that goal,
00:13:43.340 | even though others may have shifted
00:13:45.100 | through our course of homeschooling,
00:13:47.300 | that one was one that we kept upfront.
00:13:49.520 | What about you?
00:13:51.100 | Real, real, how did your goals change too?
00:13:53.900 | - On the real, real, I was a lot like you.
00:13:56.340 | I really, I wanted to homeschool my girls
00:14:00.660 | because, well, my older girl,
00:14:02.740 | my older daughter was a really precocious learner.
00:14:07.740 | She read early and she knew a lot of things.
00:14:12.300 | She was just a curious little child
00:14:14.460 | and she asked a lot of questions
00:14:16.380 | and her daddy and I were both natural born teachers.
00:14:19.900 | And so we gave her a lot of information.
00:14:21.820 | So I decided, we decided to homeschool her
00:14:25.060 | because A, we thought she would be bored in regular school
00:14:28.900 | and B, we thought that her constant questions
00:14:31.620 | would be disruptive in regular school.
00:14:34.780 | And we didn't want her little spirit squelched.
00:14:38.840 | She had never been punished
00:14:41.060 | for being curious and inquisitive
00:14:43.780 | and we didn't want that to start with school
00:14:45.900 | so that she began to hate learning.
00:14:48.580 | So my initial goals were to, like you said,
00:14:52.960 | raise really smart students who read early
00:14:56.980 | and could study anything they want
00:15:01.340 | and could be really smart and would be leaders.
00:15:04.460 | And it didn't, I realized pretty quickly
00:15:07.600 | that that was not the most important thing.
00:15:11.480 | As she began to read quickly,
00:15:13.760 | she also developed some attitudes that were not as lovely.
00:15:18.720 | And so we realized that the Lord had given us
00:15:23.720 | a unique time with our girls
00:15:28.580 | to shape their character
00:15:31.540 | and to teach them how to love their neighbor
00:15:36.380 | first by loving their family, right?
00:15:39.220 | And then loving their community and loving their church.
00:15:45.600 | And so our goals for homeschooling shifted as well.
00:15:50.600 | We still wanted them to be as bright
00:15:55.300 | as the Lord led them to be,
00:15:58.140 | but we also wanted them to be curious
00:16:01.700 | and loving and merciful
00:16:06.700 | and thoughtful and kind.
00:16:11.060 | And so while we did keep our eyes
00:16:15.660 | on the academic prize of learning
00:16:21.500 | and exploring and memorizing some things,
00:16:26.020 | we also really moved to developing their character,
00:16:30.940 | making them virtuous humans.
00:16:33.020 | And so it was really, it was eye-opening.
00:16:39.220 | Like you have said, it was very eye-opening
00:16:41.460 | and God did a lot as He redeemed our hearts
00:16:46.060 | and our spirits and our understanding.
00:16:48.720 | There were lots of things that when I started homeschooling,
00:16:52.420 | I just knew, you know, and here's the really funny thing.
00:16:56.680 | Stephanie was a really early reader
00:16:59.420 | and I would teach her things about phonics
00:17:01.740 | and she would get this kind of unfocused,
00:17:03.960 | far away look in her eye.
00:17:05.620 | Like I was reminding her of something she already knew.
00:17:09.620 | And then like the next day she's reading all these words
00:17:12.460 | that I never taught her.
00:17:13.660 | And I thought, I am the best reading teacher ever.
00:17:16.940 | Oh my gosh, I am so amazing.
00:17:20.180 | And then, you know, as God does,
00:17:22.820 | He sends us our second child
00:17:24.480 | who is nothing like the first child
00:17:27.980 | and they don't learn in any of the same ways.
00:17:30.900 | And the far away look in my younger daughter's eyes
00:17:33.840 | was for a completely different reason.
00:17:36.000 | And so she had strengths that it took me a while to discover
00:17:41.180 | because I was looking in the wrong place.
00:17:43.900 | And so one of the assumptions that I made
00:17:46.500 | was that all the progress that my children made
00:17:51.360 | were because I was such a good teacher.
00:17:53.780 | And then one of the assumptions that I made,
00:17:59.340 | one of the things that I knew
00:18:00.620 | was if you have a good way to teach reading
00:18:03.640 | or fill in the blank,
00:18:04.780 | to teach math or to be a good science person,
00:18:09.780 | that it would work the same with all the children.
00:18:12.660 | That was also false, okay?
00:18:14.620 | So that was not a thing.
00:18:15.940 | What are some of the things that you just knew
00:18:19.300 | when you started out
00:18:20.800 | that you discovered were not true at all?
00:18:23.340 | - Oh, heavens.
00:18:24.340 | Well, the first thing I knew I've already,
00:18:26.460 | I knew in quotation marks
00:18:28.900 | was that all of my children would read really early
00:18:31.900 | because I read really early.
00:18:33.820 | And if I was teaching them,
00:18:35.640 | then they would basically become clones of me.
00:18:38.420 | That was not true.
00:18:39.860 | - Okay.
00:18:40.900 | - And I also knew that my sweet, sweet little children
00:18:45.900 | would want to do their schoolwork every single day.
00:18:50.500 | - Oh, gosh.
00:18:51.620 | And that you would want to teach them every single day.
00:18:55.260 | - Yes.
00:18:56.140 | And, you know, Lisa, I look back and I laugh
00:18:59.020 | because I had very grandiose ideas
00:19:02.060 | of what we could accomplish within the course of a day,
00:19:05.300 | because I completely did not factor in
00:19:07.940 | the fact that my children are children.
00:19:09.940 | - Oh, my gosh.
00:19:10.900 | And your house is your house,
00:19:13.540 | and things will break,
00:19:15.380 | and the power will go off,
00:19:17.060 | or somebody will be sick,
00:19:18.580 | or 10 people will come to the door.
00:19:21.180 | Oh, my goodness.
00:19:22.020 | - Yes, yes.
00:19:22.980 | Another thing that I knew
00:19:25.820 | was that even though we were homeschooling
00:19:28.180 | and a greater portion of our day
00:19:29.860 | would be spent in those endeavors,
00:19:32.100 | my house was still going to run like clockwork,
00:19:35.020 | and it would be perfectly clean all of the time.
00:19:38.740 | And so I had ideas that, you know,
00:19:41.620 | at any time, if anyone dropped into our house,
00:19:43.820 | they would see us, you know,
00:19:45.300 | just sitting in a circle,
00:19:46.580 | basically singing, singing songs,
00:19:49.220 | and just joyful.
00:19:50.620 | And I had two very energetic little boys
00:19:55.780 | and a sleeping baby.
00:19:58.020 | And let me tell you,
00:19:59.620 | I learned very quickly to prioritize well,
00:20:03.580 | because some days my husband would come home from work,
00:20:07.180 | and I would have a meal in the crock pot,
00:20:09.300 | and I would be smiling.
00:20:10.740 | And some days he would come home from work,
00:20:14.900 | and the house looked like, you know,
00:20:17.580 | a school just exploded.
00:20:19.860 | - A crock pot came through it.
00:20:22.020 | - Yes.
00:20:22.860 | And there were books and crayons and all the Play-Doh,
00:20:26.340 | all the things all over the place.
00:20:28.300 | So we learned quickly to have a basically
00:20:31.100 | get out of jail free card that was the pizza card.
00:20:34.260 | So each week I would have one, you know,
00:20:36.340 | I would say, okay, it's pizza night.
00:20:37.940 | And he would know that his responsibility
00:20:40.340 | was to give me a big hug,
00:20:41.540 | because it had been one of those days,
00:20:43.740 | and to get Papa John's or Pizza Hut on speed dial,
00:20:47.060 | so that we could eat supper
00:20:48.620 | and then send our children to bed with full tummies
00:20:51.060 | so that we could try again the next day.
00:20:53.460 | And we learned very quickly
00:20:55.500 | that grace needed to be extended,
00:20:58.260 | not only to our children, but to ourselves,
00:21:00.780 | because we were learning this dance called homeschooling.
00:21:05.220 | And, you know, when we knew better than we did better,
00:21:08.260 | but there was a lot of learning along the way
00:21:11.380 | in order to know to be able to do.
00:21:14.900 | So, you know, those are some of the things
00:21:17.020 | that I thought I knew.
00:21:18.700 | And it's interestingly, so like now,
00:21:20.780 | with where our family is in our journey,
00:21:23.220 | my two energetic little boys
00:21:24.820 | have graduated through challenge four.
00:21:26.500 | One of them has graduated from college as well.
00:21:29.620 | And my baby, who was sleeping peacefully in her crib,
00:21:33.100 | still sleeps through, I mean, basically a hurricane,
00:21:36.420 | because she became so accustomed to the noise levels.
00:21:41.340 | But she just entered challenge two.
00:21:44.500 | And so, you know, I look at where we are now,
00:21:47.700 | our house is quiet.
00:21:49.700 | Our house is orderly.
00:21:52.140 | Supper is not difficult for me to make,
00:21:54.700 | but man, do I miss those busy days.
00:21:59.020 | - Yes.
00:21:59.860 | That's another thing.
00:22:03.020 | Stages of life are real.
00:22:06.500 | And so I used to think once I got in a groove
00:22:11.340 | and got quote unquote good at the schedule
00:22:14.820 | and good at all the things I wanted to teach my kids
00:22:18.140 | and good at managing,
00:22:20.740 | that it would always run smoothly.
00:22:23.420 | But what I discovered is just when I got good
00:22:26.460 | at this one thing, it would change.
00:22:28.780 | And then I felt like I was not good at it anymore.
00:22:31.380 | Or as the girls got older,
00:22:34.100 | the things that they were studying
00:22:36.340 | or texts that they were using to study kept changing.
00:22:40.900 | And I had to keep adapting to different ways of learning.
00:22:45.140 | And so that, and there were times,
00:22:48.980 | admittedly, you know, at the end of the day,
00:22:51.700 | I can remember, especially when they were younger
00:22:55.060 | in the Foundations and Essentials years,
00:22:57.500 | and when some of them were not old enough
00:22:59.340 | for the programs yet.
00:23:01.540 | I can remember getting to the end of the day
00:23:04.460 | and thinking back and being so discouraged to think,
00:23:08.620 | okay, so what do we really do?
00:23:10.380 | I mean, did we even finish a math lesson?
00:23:14.460 | You know, can this child read one more word than they read?
00:23:18.580 | You know, I don't even think we said the Pledge of Allegiance
00:23:21.420 | or, you know, I never even, you know, I had this,
00:23:25.540 | we didn't memorize the poem today.
00:23:27.740 | And there were times when I was so discouraged.
00:23:30.380 | And I will be really honest with you, Kelly,
00:23:32.620 | when I was writing Scribblers,
00:23:35.220 | that's where my heart yearned toward young families
00:23:39.500 | who would get to the end of the day and say,
00:23:43.220 | gosh, God can't, I don't even see
00:23:47.460 | how God can redeem that day.
00:23:49.260 | And so what I want to say to young families
00:23:52.500 | who are jumping in and maybe have multiple children at home
00:23:55.700 | and all these delightful goals
00:23:58.460 | and all this amazing child energy,
00:24:02.980 | look, if you can get to the end of the day,
00:24:07.340 | and what we say in the Scribblers resources,
00:24:10.700 | if you get to the end of the day and you prayed together
00:24:15.500 | and you played together and you read together
00:24:20.500 | and you explored together and you served together,
00:24:26.340 | it has been a good day.
00:24:31.340 | And there's so much more that we learn
00:24:35.180 | alongside our children than what comes out of a book
00:24:39.580 | that I think, if I look in the rear view mirror,
00:24:42.620 | I wish I had known that in a more deep seated heart way
00:24:47.620 | when my girls were little.
00:24:51.980 | We've both learned a lot of lessons.
00:24:55.300 | And when I look back, I see all kinds of lessons.
00:24:58.660 | I want to get to a few specifics
00:25:01.140 | 'cause we could talk about this for a long time
00:25:03.100 | because we both feel it so keenly.
00:25:06.420 | And we're so eager to share it with families
00:25:10.060 | who are at an earlier section of the journey than we are.
00:25:13.780 | Okay, what did you learn about your kids
00:25:17.460 | as littlest learners
00:25:19.460 | that would have made it easier back then?
00:25:22.380 | What has time and perspective taught you
00:25:25.660 | about the way little children learn?
00:25:28.260 | - I think looking back on that time period
00:25:32.420 | when we were so busy,
00:25:34.780 | those busy days where I felt like
00:25:36.580 | I needed to have hands and minds occupied
00:25:39.100 | unless they were sleeping.
00:25:40.500 | I think that it would have been wonderful
00:25:44.180 | if I had been more mindful to be sensitive to their needs
00:25:48.380 | and to my relationship with them.
00:25:51.020 | Sometimes I allowed the bulldozer of the schedule
00:25:57.020 | to completely steamroll over
00:25:59.420 | my precious children's curiosity.
00:26:03.020 | They could have been building
00:26:04.180 | the most intricate Play-Doh snake or snowman
00:26:07.060 | or fill in the blank here
00:26:08.700 | and wanting to tell me with joy and enthusiasm all about it.
00:26:13.140 | And I sadly remember times where I looked at my watch
00:26:17.180 | and said, "Well, it's 9.30.
00:26:19.540 | "We need to go ahead and put this away."
00:26:21.300 | - Right, we don't have time for that now.
00:26:23.220 | - Yes, and oh, Lisa, I wish if I had a time machine,
00:26:26.540 | I would go back in time
00:26:28.460 | and I would just hit pause on those plans
00:26:31.380 | for just a little bit longer
00:26:33.380 | so that my children could have delighted more
00:26:35.980 | in the act of play.
00:26:37.140 | I think if I could, in the rear view mirror,
00:26:42.020 | I think I would have played with them more.
00:26:44.820 | Now, granted, we played a lot.
00:26:47.140 | - Right, but you know what?
00:26:48.780 | The play is, Einstein said that,
00:26:51.740 | play is the work of childhood.
00:26:54.700 | - Yes, yes, I think I would have made fun
00:26:58.420 | more of a priority.
00:26:59.940 | Having fun with them, going outside, going for walks,
00:27:03.580 | kicking a ball, just doing things,
00:27:06.180 | having conversations with them,
00:27:07.700 | even when they were little, like, "Oh, do you see this?
00:27:10.780 | "Do you notice this?"
00:27:12.180 | I think we used the core habits, naming and attending
00:27:16.740 | and memorizing, expressing and storytelling.
00:27:19.620 | But oh, I wish I could go back with the knowledge
00:27:22.380 | and of the connections that I have now
00:27:25.860 | as a seasoned homeschooler.
00:27:27.820 | And I wish that I could redeem those moments
00:27:30.220 | where I allowed schedule to be the tyrant of our days.
00:27:35.220 | I just really think that would have made a difference.
00:27:40.500 | And also, I think I would have taken them more places.
00:27:43.900 | I think when they were young,
00:27:44.980 | because they were so excited to see and do all the things,
00:27:49.980 | I shied away from taking them certain places
00:27:54.380 | because I was fearful that they would be disruptive.
00:27:57.980 | And looking back, I wish that when they were younger,
00:28:02.380 | we had done more things like go to a museum
00:28:05.300 | and practice, how do we behave in this place?
00:28:10.180 | And granted, they did learn those lessons later on,
00:28:13.380 | but I think just for their own experience
00:28:17.980 | and our experience in a family,
00:28:19.300 | I would have taken advantage of more of those opportunities
00:28:22.060 | to go together and experience things when they were young
00:28:25.940 | and not hold off on all those things
00:28:27.620 | until they were a little bit older.
00:28:29.620 | - Oh, what a good encouragement.
00:28:32.940 | I really, really love that.
00:28:35.500 | What did you learn about rhythms versus schedules?
00:28:41.700 | And what did you learn about interruptions and consistency?
00:28:47.740 | 'Cause I know that's a thing that lots of us struggle with
00:28:51.580 | when we're first starting homeschooling
00:28:53.620 | and when our children are young.
00:28:55.780 | I also tended to be a very plan heavy person.
00:29:00.260 | And so I did, when you said,
00:29:03.500 | you would look at your watch and say,
00:29:05.500 | well, now it's time for so-and-so,
00:29:07.300 | I could, I mean, I so can relate to that.
00:29:10.180 | And I feel like I probably squelched some teachable moments
00:29:15.180 | or I didn't recognize them
00:29:17.340 | because I was on my way to the teachable moment
00:29:20.580 | that I had designed in my head.
00:29:23.140 | And I didn't recognize the teachable moment
00:29:25.580 | that was appearing in front of me.
00:29:28.260 | - Right, right.
00:29:29.860 | I think thinking about rhythms and schedules,
00:29:33.540 | this is the pithy saying that I probably would,
00:29:38.140 | put in a phylactery on my forehead
00:29:41.620 | like the priests of ancient Israel,
00:29:44.860 | vigor trumps rigor.
00:29:48.820 | I really, I think that if I had invested
00:29:52.500 | in that life giving experience to them,
00:29:56.340 | instead of being held to the tyranny of the urgent,
00:29:59.580 | I think that it would have been
00:30:01.140 | a better educational experience for my children
00:30:04.540 | at that moment.
00:30:05.380 | And I will say this,
00:30:06.860 | there will always be something to distract you
00:30:09.940 | from your purpose.
00:30:11.300 | Sometimes the thing that distracts you from your purpose
00:30:14.060 | is the schedule that you're trying to keep.
00:30:17.860 | And pretty early on,
00:30:19.900 | I remember printing out a schedule
00:30:23.620 | and keeping it on our refrigerator,
00:30:25.180 | right next to where we would do
00:30:26.500 | our little activities at the table.
00:30:28.820 | And it would say something along the lines of,
00:30:31.700 | eight to 8.30 this,
00:30:33.300 | 8.30 to nine this,
00:30:35.060 | nine to 9.30 that.
00:30:36.220 | And I would list off these things
00:30:38.780 | as if learning had parameters.
00:30:41.540 | (laughs)
00:30:43.580 | And as if we could not do math,
00:30:46.780 | five minutes after what time the schedule said.
00:30:50.180 | And I think that the Lord pretty quickly taught me
00:30:53.660 | that I was thinking inside a box
00:30:56.500 | and homeschooling is definitely outside the box.
00:30:59.820 | I didn't realize at that point
00:31:02.020 | that everything was interconnected
00:31:04.180 | because it's created by one God
00:31:07.580 | who has wisdom beyond what we can comprehend.
00:31:10.980 | All these things are connected
00:31:12.180 | because they echo at one another and they glorify Him.
00:31:16.180 | And I think at that moment when my children were small,
00:31:18.780 | if I had had that vision for our homeschool,
00:31:22.420 | I think it would have made an incredible difference
00:31:25.260 | in how we had "scheduled time".
00:31:29.340 | And I think I would have emphasized
00:31:31.460 | just routines over schedules.
00:31:35.180 | I think it would have been kinder to my children
00:31:37.140 | to not forsake order altogether
00:31:39.060 | because God is a God of order.
00:31:41.740 | But also to understand that some days
00:31:43.580 | there might be ebb and flow to that
00:31:45.260 | based on where my children were
00:31:47.460 | with a particular activity or if they had questions
00:31:50.860 | or they wanted to read a certain book just one more time,
00:31:54.740 | that my answer could have been yes and that was okay.
00:31:59.020 | And I think it took me a long time
00:32:01.180 | to learn how to bend and not break
00:32:05.860 | in regard to our schedule as a family.
00:32:10.020 | Like I said, there will always be things to distract you.
00:32:12.580 | And as a homeschooling, as a young homeschooling mom,
00:32:15.580 | when my friends found out that we were homeschooling,
00:32:18.460 | they thought that it was open season
00:32:20.140 | for us to go and do everything.
00:32:21.660 | - Yes, absolutely.
00:32:23.540 | - I just really had to learn to give my best yes
00:32:27.500 | to my friends and to make wise decisions for our family
00:32:31.140 | and just be consistent with the decisions that were made.
00:32:34.540 | If we weren't going to the zoo with friends,
00:32:37.300 | then I needed to be kind enough to say,
00:32:39.420 | we can't do that today because we have this planned.
00:32:42.100 | However, we can do this.
00:32:44.860 | Exactly, and to just navigate friendship
00:32:48.500 | a little differently because of our family's priorities
00:32:50.940 | for homeschooling.
00:32:51.940 | - Yeah, you know what, my favorite thing that you said,
00:32:55.500 | 'cause there were lots of things and so I have to pick one.
00:32:58.140 | I love routines over schedules
00:33:02.740 | 'cause I tend to be a very scheduled person.
00:33:05.500 | And I will say this, children,
00:33:08.220 | especially young children need routines
00:33:13.180 | and they need because they need to know what to expect.
00:33:17.900 | It is easier, transitions are really, really hard
00:33:21.460 | for littlest learners.
00:33:23.220 | And so if they know what to expect,
00:33:26.540 | they have less trouble with the transitions.
00:33:30.500 | But it doesn't mean that you have to be a 910 to 950 person.
00:33:35.780 | It might mean that they can expect
00:33:38.580 | that every morning starts with prayer and a Bible story.
00:33:43.580 | And before lunch, it ends with map time and memory work.
00:33:48.580 | So it may be, like Kelly said, a routine.
00:33:54.660 | We always do math before reading.
00:33:58.140 | We always do reading before geography.
00:34:01.900 | We always do geography before lunch.
00:34:04.060 | We always have stories after lunch, that kind of routine.
00:34:09.060 | I think that's really, really wise.
00:34:13.100 | And consistency, if you begin to build that
00:34:17.060 | as a family habit, then when your children are in challenge,
00:34:22.060 | planning more of their day and learning to take more
00:34:26.660 | and more responsibility for their assignments
00:34:29.540 | and their learning, that consistency of effort
00:34:34.220 | is what will bring them results.
00:34:37.340 | So that's really good.
00:34:39.420 | What did you learn about, okay,
00:34:41.620 | I know listeners that you have all done this.
00:34:45.740 | I know it's not just me and Kelly, okay.
00:34:48.580 | Kelly, what did you learn about comparisons to others?
00:34:53.300 | You know, comparing your homeschool
00:34:55.660 | to somebody else's homeschool
00:34:57.340 | or your child's memory prowess to somebody else's.
00:35:01.420 | What did you learn about comparisons
00:35:03.220 | and how do you learn that
00:35:04.940 | and what has it meant to your children?
00:35:06.940 | Well, I've learned that comparison,
00:35:10.580 | while a very helpful tool in challenge,
00:35:13.460 | can also be a tool that doesn't sharpen, but it dulls.
00:35:20.100 | Because it can be, as we have said so often,
00:35:23.700 | a thief of joy.
00:35:24.900 | Comparison to others can be an encouragement,
00:35:29.100 | but it can also steal your joy.
00:35:31.180 | Because when you look at others and what they're doing,
00:35:34.540 | quite often, unfortunately, because of social media,
00:35:38.100 | we're looking at someone else's highlight reel
00:35:41.700 | and thinking, wow, their life is like fantastic
00:35:45.460 | every single day.
00:35:46.780 | And I bet their kids never complain about having to do math
00:35:50.220 | and look at their homeschool area.
00:35:52.660 | It's so neat and tidy.
00:35:54.060 | And we fill in all of these supposed inadequacies
00:35:57.860 | that we have based on what we see that others have.
00:36:02.860 | And we don't see their struggles.
00:36:06.340 | We don't hear the questions that they're asking themselves
00:36:11.060 | or what their children are saying,
00:36:13.580 | as they're comparing their homeschool to others.
00:36:17.940 | And I learned quickly that I could not motivate my children
00:36:21.940 | by saying, why don't you fill in the blank here,
00:36:26.940 | like your friend, so and so.
00:36:29.460 | That was, I think that came out of my mouth one time
00:36:33.700 | before I listened to myself and thought,
00:36:37.900 | I wouldn't wanna be motivated that way as an adult.
00:36:40.260 | - Well, and you know what, Kelly?
00:36:43.180 | We don't wanna teach our children to do that.
00:36:46.340 | We don't wanna model that for your children.
00:36:48.060 | Do you really want your children to go through life
00:36:50.500 | comparing themselves either favorably
00:36:53.220 | or unfavorably to other people?
00:36:56.500 | You're either gonna raise a prideful child
00:36:59.340 | or somebody with real self-esteem issues
00:37:03.380 | who's not taking their worth
00:37:05.260 | from what the Lord Jesus thinks about them.
00:37:07.340 | - Yes, exactly.
00:37:08.780 | And so pretty early on, we made it a priority
00:37:12.980 | to celebrate what we saw in others.
00:37:15.820 | If a friend tested or proved rather for memory master
00:37:20.820 | and was able to be a memory master for a particular cycle,
00:37:25.900 | if one of my children chose not to do that,
00:37:28.860 | rather than saying, well, why didn't you do that?
00:37:31.020 | What's wrong with you?
00:37:32.780 | We would say, aren't you excited for your friend?
00:37:35.700 | What a fantastic accomplishment.
00:37:38.300 | And I would help them to reason through
00:37:43.060 | so that there was not an element of jealousy
00:37:45.500 | in the comparison, but there was true joy
00:37:48.620 | at what others in our community were doing.
00:37:51.460 | And I think this spilled over into challenge
00:37:54.780 | when my children were participating in mock trial
00:37:58.980 | and they were involved in debate,
00:38:01.500 | just helping them to look at their friends,
00:38:04.220 | to look at others in our community
00:38:05.820 | and see how they modeled Christ
00:38:08.340 | or to see those attributes of them,
00:38:11.100 | which glorified God and to celebrate those things
00:38:14.620 | and to tell that person,
00:38:16.660 | I see the way that you do this thing
00:38:19.420 | and how you are like Jesus in the way you do this thing.
00:38:23.420 | And that makes me joyful.
00:38:25.140 | And to give that compliment is so much more wonderful
00:38:28.540 | than your child saying,
00:38:30.100 | well, you know, congratulations on memory master,
00:38:32.780 | congratulations on mock trial
00:38:37.300 | or whatever accomplishment that that person had achieved
00:38:42.620 | to show them how they were being like Christ
00:38:45.860 | is a much more noble goal.
00:38:48.580 | And so I think that was how we took comparison
00:38:51.980 | instead of making it a thief.
00:38:53.860 | Instead, we decided to make it a giver
00:38:56.940 | so that our children could give
00:38:58.900 | to those people around them that they saw
00:39:01.780 | who were doing good things in the name of Jesus.
00:39:05.020 | - That is so wise.
00:39:06.340 | You are really right.
00:39:07.340 | Comparison does rob us of our joy.
00:39:10.300 | And when we, in our day,
00:39:12.220 | and it's so easy to get sucked into it
00:39:14.620 | down in the weeds and the details,
00:39:17.620 | we compare child two to child one.
00:39:21.460 | And well, I don't understand why you're not reading yet.
00:39:23.980 | Or I don't understand why we're not ready to move
00:39:26.020 | to the yellow series yet.
00:39:27.740 | You know, your sister did, or your brother did,
00:39:30.740 | or I, you know, your handwriting is so much
00:39:33.980 | less refined than your siblings, you know,
00:39:39.540 | or, well, so-and-so never made a mess like that,
00:39:42.940 | or, you know, so-and-so did their report
00:39:45.900 | or got their experiment done on time.
00:39:48.460 | And so it robs us of the joy that is learning together
00:39:53.460 | because it makes the presentation or the final product
00:40:00.620 | the only thing that we measure
00:40:05.900 | instead of valuing the conversations
00:40:10.900 | that we have along the way,
00:40:12.980 | the discoveries that we make together,
00:40:15.860 | the just sitting in wonder of it all as a family.
00:40:20.860 | Those are the things, I'm here to tell you,
00:40:23.820 | those are the things that your children
00:40:26.380 | are going to look back and remember.
00:40:29.220 | They are not gonna remember
00:40:30.580 | how fast they finished the math lesson.
00:40:33.580 | They're not gonna remember how many weeks it took them
00:40:36.980 | to see the difference between there, there, and there.
00:40:41.180 | You know, they're not gonna remember those details,
00:40:43.580 | but they are gonna remember if mama was willing
00:40:46.660 | to get her hands dirty in the creek and stuff like that.
00:40:51.660 | So those are the kinds of things.
00:40:54.620 | What I want to ask you is we're not gonna,
00:41:00.220 | okay, listeners, we're not gonna have time
00:41:03.220 | to get into all the specifics.
00:41:05.300 | So I might have Kelly back and we might talk about
00:41:08.420 | what we learned about teaching math to our children.
00:41:11.260 | 'Cause some of you are thinking this is all so encouraging.
00:41:14.900 | Oh, I'm so glad,
00:41:15.820 | but how am I supposed to teach math to three children?
00:41:18.620 | Or how do you teach somebody to write a keyword outline
00:41:22.140 | while this person is sounding out B-A-T?
00:41:25.740 | We'll do that, a different podcast.
00:41:28.020 | But these are big picture things
00:41:31.500 | because I'm telling you the big picture attitudes
00:41:35.220 | affect your little day-to-day decisions
00:41:38.540 | and the success that you're gonna feel.
00:41:39.980 | So this is the next question I want to ask you.
00:41:42.780 | What did you learn, Ms. Kelly Wilt,
00:41:45.300 | about your own learning style
00:41:48.060 | and your response to learning new things?
00:41:53.060 | And how am I learning that about that earlier?
00:41:57.180 | Have blessed your homeschool.
00:41:58.820 | - Oh my goodness.
00:42:00.780 | Well, my own learning style is visual, very visual.
00:42:05.220 | I am still the person that goes to Office Depot or Staples
00:42:09.820 | and buys all the colors of highlighters
00:42:12.180 | and all the sticky notes
00:42:13.780 | and all the school supplies in particular colors.
00:42:16.860 | And I would put particular subjects
00:42:20.260 | in particular color-coded notebooks.
00:42:22.780 | Oh, Lisa, that just made my heart sing.
00:42:26.900 | And so I would do these things for myself
00:42:29.820 | and I naturally thought if I was a visual learner,
00:42:32.580 | then of course all of my children would be too, ha ha ha.
00:42:36.860 | And so my firstborn was,
00:42:39.180 | so very much like you described with Stephanie,
00:42:42.740 | your firstborn, you thought,
00:42:45.140 | oh, I'm the best reading teacher ever.
00:42:47.060 | And I thought because I was teaching
00:42:49.980 | in a way that echoed with my child's heart song,
00:42:53.260 | you know, my firstborn,
00:42:54.740 | I thought I am the best homeschool teacher
00:42:57.340 | there ever will be until my secondborn came along.
00:43:02.340 | And so he is not a visual learner.
00:43:05.580 | He is hands-on, we would call him kinesthetic.
00:43:09.540 | He wants to manage and model and take things apart
00:43:14.140 | and put them back together, very hands-on.
00:43:18.380 | And it is a wonderful way that God has created his brain
00:43:22.580 | because I will say this,
00:43:24.540 | when we have furniture delivered,
00:43:25.820 | he can put it together without looking at the directions.
00:43:28.620 | - Oh my gosh, I have one daughter
00:43:30.540 | that is the putter together.
00:43:31.980 | She and her daddy put the stuff together
00:43:34.860 | and me and my other daughter just like,
00:43:37.060 | yep, we see you doing it.
00:43:39.700 | I don't know how you got there
00:43:40.980 | from what you had to work with, but go for it.
00:43:43.300 | - Exactly, he was a square peg
00:43:45.780 | and I was trying to fit him in a round hole.
00:43:48.340 | Now my thirdborn is also a visual learner.
00:43:51.580 | So now that she's the remaining student in our homeschool,
00:43:55.180 | we delight in going and buying all the school supplies
00:43:58.740 | so that we can revel in our post-it
00:44:00.660 | and highlighter glory together.
00:44:02.940 | But I think, looking back,
00:44:05.580 | I wish that I had been more sensitive to the fact
00:44:07.980 | that not all of my children were going to learn
00:44:09.580 | in the same way that I did.
00:44:10.900 | And I think I would have very early on
00:44:15.180 | given our middle child more manipulative opportunities.
00:44:19.620 | And I don't mean that like in a manipulative
00:44:21.900 | in a negative way.
00:44:23.100 | - Right, right, right.
00:44:23.940 | - That I would have given him things to do with his hands
00:44:27.100 | while we were chanting memory work.
00:44:29.100 | And we would have reviewed different pieces of curriculum
00:44:34.100 | or information while he was jumping outside
00:44:39.380 | or he was building with Legos
00:44:41.660 | or he was playing with,
00:44:43.220 | we had fabulous sets of Playmobil guys that were Romans.
00:44:47.740 | And if I had integrated those things more
00:44:52.820 | into learning opportunities for him
00:44:55.300 | and been sensitive to the fact
00:44:56.700 | that that was what his brain latched on to,
00:44:59.580 | I think it would have made his education easier
00:45:02.900 | at the beginning.
00:45:03.740 | Now later, we did do some of those things
00:45:06.180 | because I started to realize
00:45:07.580 | after his younger sister came along,
00:45:09.460 | "Whoa, wait a minute, this isn't just a him thing.
00:45:13.300 | Everyone's different."
00:45:15.020 | And I think it would have helped tremendously
00:45:17.660 | because he just was a sponge.
00:45:21.620 | But I was trying to get him to soak up information
00:45:24.500 | in the wrong way.
00:45:26.020 | So when we latched on to that,
00:45:28.300 | that completely revolutionized school for him.
00:45:31.420 | And he enjoyed it, he didn't,
00:45:33.460 | I think we got to a place where he would come
00:45:36.500 | and he would sit and he would do the things,
00:45:39.100 | but there wasn't joy for him.
00:45:41.580 | And when we started to include activities that,
00:45:46.580 | like I said, just plucked the strings of his heart song,
00:45:50.180 | he really began to enjoy
00:45:53.140 | what we were doing together as a family.
00:45:55.020 | And that was a blessing to me as his mom,
00:45:57.860 | to see him loving the very active learning,
00:46:01.740 | not feeling like it was drudgery, it was a joy.
00:46:05.060 | And that gave me joy. - What a great thing.
00:46:06.460 | What a great thing to learn so that you can,
00:46:09.540 | parents, if your child just seems to "hate school"
00:46:14.180 | or not like learning,
00:46:16.820 | it's so easy to get discouraged
00:46:18.860 | and to feel badly about yourself
00:46:21.100 | or have dark feelings about your child's willingness
00:46:25.740 | to learn things.
00:46:27.300 | But really maybe it's what Kelly was describing.
00:46:30.980 | You haven't found your child's learning style yet.
00:46:34.300 | You've not connected with the way that they need to
00:46:38.740 | and want to take in information.
00:46:40.340 | So don't be discouraged and don't decide
00:46:43.620 | that learning is not for that child
00:46:45.740 | or homeschooling is not for your family.
00:46:48.740 | You just haven't learned all the things yet
00:46:51.580 | and you are going to continue to grow as a lead learner,
00:46:56.260 | just like your child is gonna continue to grow
00:46:59.180 | as an at-home learner.
00:47:00.980 | Well, Kelly, I'm thinking that you're not gonna be shocked
00:47:04.020 | when I tell you that we're really out of time
00:47:06.260 | because we've had so much fun talking together.
00:47:09.820 | But as we bring it all to a close,
00:47:11.900 | I wanna ask, what are your three
00:47:15.500 | biggest rear view mirror takeaways?
00:47:19.100 | There's so many good things to think about.
00:47:23.060 | I think the first is something
00:47:24.540 | that you've already alluded to,
00:47:25.900 | and that is do not isolate yourself.
00:47:29.100 | Homeschool is meant to be done with a friend,
00:47:31.660 | so surround yourself with your people
00:47:34.420 | and delight in doing this together.
00:47:37.540 | I think that would be my first takeaway.
00:47:40.380 | I think the second would be don't give up
00:47:43.780 | just because it's hard.
00:47:45.060 | I tell people all the time,
00:47:47.580 | homeschooling is the best, hardest thing
00:47:50.460 | that our family has ever done together.
00:47:52.700 | And that is still true after 17 years together,
00:47:57.700 | homeschooling as a family.
00:48:00.580 | - And I will say this,
00:48:02.460 | there are hard seasons and you may hit a hard,
00:48:07.140 | maybe all your children will hit the hard season
00:48:10.220 | in the same year or in the same level,
00:48:12.940 | but maybe not.
00:48:14.300 | And so don't give up
00:48:16.900 | just because you have hit a hard patch.
00:48:19.820 | There is so much fruit and so much joy
00:48:24.820 | and so much redemption to be had
00:48:28.100 | on the other side of hard.
00:48:30.020 | - For sure.
00:48:31.180 | I think the last takeaway that I would give
00:48:34.460 | is to trust that the Holy Spirit is at work
00:48:37.660 | in your life and in the life of your family,
00:48:40.180 | because you are always going to question,
00:48:43.060 | am I enough for this task?
00:48:45.220 | And really and truly the answer to that is no.
00:48:47.700 | In isolation by yourself,
00:48:49.820 | you're not enough,
00:48:52.060 | but He is enough.
00:48:54.340 | And He will give you the strength
00:48:56.140 | to accomplish what He has called you to do.
00:48:59.260 | So trust in Him
00:49:01.620 | and enjoy reaping the rewards
00:49:05.020 | when someday you too are able to look
00:49:07.300 | in the rear view mirror.
00:49:08.740 | - Yes.
00:49:09.580 | - Just like Lisa and myself.
00:49:12.620 | - Yes, I was gonna say,
00:49:13.980 | would you do it all again?
00:49:15.060 | But I know the answer to that.
00:49:16.820 | - Yes, yes.
00:49:17.860 | - I would too.
00:49:18.980 | And parents, that is,
00:49:22.860 | for parents who are just starting out
00:49:25.260 | or all your children are young,
00:49:27.820 | they're like all in foundations
00:49:29.780 | and essentials or diapers.
00:49:31.500 | You will have days when you will think,
00:49:35.140 | I do not think I can do this for 15
00:49:37.620 | or 18 or 20 years.
00:49:40.460 | This is not going to be,
00:49:42.180 | I'm not gonna look back on this as joy.
00:49:44.980 | I think you will.
00:49:46.220 | - Yes.
00:49:47.060 | - There's hardly a week that goes by
00:49:51.540 | that I don't look at my husband and say,
00:49:53.740 | I sort of wish they were little again.
00:49:57.140 | I would do all of that again
00:50:00.500 | because it brought me great joy.
00:50:05.060 | And I think that I look back now and think,
00:50:08.700 | oh, I wish I could fix that little messy spot.
00:50:11.540 | I wish I could erase and draw that.
00:50:15.460 | I wish I could have a do-over for that year
00:50:18.300 | or for that instance.
00:50:21.260 | But we can't.
00:50:22.580 | - Right, right.
00:50:23.420 | - But the Lord will redeem it.
00:50:25.620 | And the Lord does redeem it.
00:50:28.260 | And I loved what you said.
00:50:29.580 | It is a joy.
00:50:31.460 | And it will be the hardest job you'll ever love.
00:50:36.460 | - Yes, absolutely, absolutely.
00:50:39.780 | When I look back over our years,
00:50:41.980 | I think the one thing that resonates with me
00:50:44.500 | is that we have been changed
00:50:46.740 | through our experience homeschooling,
00:50:48.420 | but we've been changed for our good
00:50:50.820 | and we've been changed for God's glory.
00:50:52.740 | And what more could you ask
00:50:54.740 | from your family's homeschooling journey?
00:50:56.500 | - Amen and amen, my friend.
00:50:59.740 | Well, listeners, I hope that you have
00:51:03.540 | gotten some encouraging encouragement
00:51:06.980 | and some inspiration from the things
00:51:09.660 | that we've shared today.
00:51:11.020 | I want you to know that Kellie and I are praying for you.
00:51:13.820 | We pray for young homeschooling families
00:51:17.380 | that you will have reassurance and encouragement
00:51:22.380 | and peace and joy for the journey
00:51:25.900 | and fun with your family.
00:51:29.180 | I have one thing I want to,
00:51:31.100 | one thing that we sort of talked about,
00:51:34.260 | part of the fun of homeschooling is doing things together.
00:51:38.860 | One of the most fun things that our family did
00:51:41.820 | when our children were small and that we still do
00:51:44.180 | now that our girls are grown and are married even,
00:51:47.100 | is read aloud as a family.
00:51:49.580 | Books have always been really important to us.
00:51:51.820 | And so I want to mention to you guys
00:51:54.940 | the Copper Lodge Library.
00:51:56.460 | If you are looking to build a library for your family
00:52:00.940 | at the very beginning of your educational journey,
00:52:03.740 | or maybe you're just looking for books
00:52:05.540 | to read aloud together,
00:52:07.700 | the Copper Lodge Library collection
00:52:10.620 | has lots of good material to start with.
00:52:15.020 | And one of our newest titles is a book that
00:52:20.020 | actually our Challenge A students read,
00:52:23.220 | but it is a perfect book to read together
00:52:26.260 | as a family.
00:52:27.580 | It's called The Secret Garden.
00:52:29.660 | The Secret Garden is a delightful story
00:52:34.260 | of redemption and reclamation and hope,
00:52:39.260 | but your kids will just see it as a really fun story
00:52:43.540 | about children who bring a neglected secret garden
00:52:48.100 | back to life.
00:52:49.100 | So go look and learn more about the Copper Lodge Library
00:52:55.300 | at copperlodgelibrary.com.
00:52:58.980 | It's collections of stories and beautiful bindings.
00:53:03.980 | It's a beautiful series of books,
00:53:06.100 | and you can build family culture of reading
00:53:08.980 | and family culture of learning
00:53:10.940 | by reading these stories together.
00:53:12.660 | So you guys go and enjoy some time with your family
00:53:17.300 | as the days of summer wane,
00:53:19.220 | and you begin thinking about
00:53:21.540 | learning intentionally together.
00:53:23.660 | Kelly, thanks for being with me.
00:53:25.100 | Absolutely, anytime.
00:53:26.420 | All right, bye guys.
00:53:29.340 | (upbeat music)
00:53:32.020 | you
00:53:34.080 | you