(soft music) - Welcome friends to this episode of the Everyday Educator Podcast. I'm your host, Lisa Bailey, and I am excited to spend some time with you today as we encourage one another, learn together, and ponder the delights and challenges that make homeschooling the adventure of a lifetime. Whether you're just considering this homeschooling possibility or deep into the daily delight of family learning, I believe you'll enjoy thinking along with us.

But don't forget, although this online community is awesome, you'll find even closer support in a local CC community. So go to classicalconversations.com and find a community near you today. Well friends, I'm super happy to welcome you to this podcast on what is here at my house, a really cold January day.

And lots of you, I happen to know, are under snow cover, and I'm really jealous about that and slightly bitter, but I'm happy for you to have some snow to play in. I remember Januarys from my college years as sometimes full of snow. I went to college in North Carolina, and I remember one year that we had snow every Thursday in January.

It was delightful 'cause we had people to play with. But another thing that I remember about Januarys when I was in college is something that my college called a January term. It was a time sort of in between the fall semester and the spring semester when we all came back to college, but we didn't jump into our 15-week semesters yet.

We were all ready to come back and be with our friends and probably do something with purpose, but not necessarily to jump into something that was in our major or was highly academic. And so they had these things called January terms, and it was for a short-term pursuit. So it lasted about a month, maybe six weeks, a short-term pursuit of something interesting that you might not study otherwise, something totally outside of your major, maybe something not even particularly academic, but it was a cool way to get back into the routine of college, back with your buddies, doing something together that was interesting, but not as academic as we had had before.

So I want us to talk about together today ways to jazz up January as homeschoolers. And I've got one of my favorite homeschool friends, Amy Jones, with me today, and we are gonna brainstorm some ways to jazz up January for you and your homeschooler. Amy, thank you so much for coming.

- Oh, thank you. Talk about getting out of the doldrums. This is gonna be a delightful conversation. - I'm gonna enjoy it. You always have such great ideas and such fun memories to share that I know that all of our listeners will be eager to capitalize on your brainstorming with me.

Let me ask you, what were January days like for you as a homeschooling mom? I know your kids are grown now, but those January days are really memorable. Did you and your children ever get stuck in a rut in January? - Yes, absolutely. I mean, I used to think you had the summer and to look forward to a new school year and there was all that energy and excitement to get back, but then somehow January, in Tennessee, it's not snowy most of the time.

It's just gray and cold and wet and you're coming off Christmas, you're a little tired. Usually there's somebody that's got sniffles or sneezes and you haven't seen your buddies in a while and you probably overspent a little bit at Christmas. A little depleted in all areas. And then just looking, one of the things I think that it discouraged me at times that I allowed to discourage me was, oh, what we didn't get done last semester, we need to get done this semester.

And I just remember feeling burdened by anticipating, oh, we're already behind the eight ball. And that was unfortunate because that's not true at all. The law directs our steps. But yes, we would be, I would sense the doldrums invading our home and those early January days, absolutely. - So how did you get back to that?

We always talk about the daily delight of family learning and it is delightful, but when you're in the doldrums, well, Amy, how did you and your family get back to that daily delight of family learning? - You know, it really started with me and of course with my husband that I really needed a perspective shift myself and just spending a little time, extra time with the Lord, I think helped me be relaxed, not feel anxious or overwhelmed or down and to just recognize all that God had already been doing in our home, that sort of energized me.

And it also just not feeling isolated. I usually reached out to a few of my close homeschool buddies and said, hey, can we get together and brainstorm a few of these like something fun to look forward to? And believe me, when you get all these homeschool moms together, just two or three ideas start popping, things that they didn't have time to do, they'd love to do.

So that really energized me. And then also just having a really honest conversation, especially with my older kids, like, hey, what are some things that you would love to try or do or kind of miss out on? What kind of things would you enjoy? And really trying to hear what their hearts desire is because they get a little down and some people are a little more affected by all this dreary days.

- That's true. - And with them and just really hearing or recognizing they're lonely right now. And we need to, even if the house is still, there's still Christmas ornaments stuck around. - Yes, yes. - It's been vacuumed in a while, whatever. We need to kind of plunge into our mental health and get just kind of reset button with just recognizing God is with us, he's got something great planned and being open, what is it?

And just trying to kind of incorporate some things that we were hoping to do, didn't get to or just some new adventures that come up. So those were the kind of things that we did. - Yeah, I love that. I love that you are encouraging us all to be real, to recognize that we all take stock and tend to major on what went wrong or what we didn't finish or what we're disappointed in.

And that our children sometimes do that too. And they look back and think, oh, I left that undone or I could have done a better job. And now there's a whole new semester that has, wow, some really daunting things ahead of it. This is gonna be hard or I'm not, I feel unsettled or uncertain about this.

And just looking at one another and recognizing that there's some anxiety, whether that's because of seasonal affective disorder. I had one daughter who was very affected by long dark days and that dreariness of the weather seemed to work its way into her mindset and into her perspective. And it really does affect our willingness to do hard things and her willingness to work.

And so I really appreciate you being upfront and real and saying, look, mamas, look around at your house, look around at your children, look into your own heart and realize that you might need to do something different to shake things up. And I love your suggestion that you ask your students, especially your older students, what are you missing?

What is something that you've always wanted to learn or you feel like you're missing out on because I really liked that. And we're gonna explore that in a few minutes because sometimes what we come to this podcast for is concrete, practical ideas. And so we're listeners, we're not gonna leave you just feeling better about feeling bad.

We're gonna actually give you some good ideas about how to jazz up your January. Let me ask you, we talked about some of the signs that you might need a January term, that you're just not maybe as motivated as a mom or dad or your students aren't motivated or you're seeing the downside of everything or you're just, you're tired.

I think it's really smart to acknowledge that the holidays, while they may be holly and jolly, drain us. They drain us a lot of times. I feel like sometimes we need a little space in January just to get back to equilibrium. - Yeah, that's a really good point. I think we do.

I think I remember a conversation, I think James Dobson did a long, long time ago, of course. And he said, one of the primary quote, task, jobs, responsibilities of a mom at home is to manage the holidays. So that should be one of your, that's one of your key responsibilities.

And it does, frequently doesn't get recognized. And because it's Christmas and everybody's happy. But a lot of times the mom is doing the scheduling, the cooking, the arrangement. And I think post that holiday season, even moms need a little tender loving care to recognize, hey, we just came off a holiday that could have gone well, we've had them go well.

And just to give yourself a little space, but also think, I just keep thinking of renewing my strength and just saying, Lord, give me the new strength, new excitement, joy, because that is, as the doldrums come in, you can, you counter that with your own joy and thankfulness. And I don't think we need to be happy, happy, happy, pretend, but sometimes I would kind of allow myself to get a little blue when I thought, you know, a good cup of hot cocoa will go a long way.

And I think those simple little things that we can add to a day, just change it up a little bit, gives people a sense of a little brightness. And I think we as moms have the privilege actually of bringing that into our home, that there's a lot of hope and there's a lot of joy to look forward to.

So yeah, you're right, you're right about that. - Yeah, yeah, I can close my eyes and see listeners out there waving their hands. Yes, that's me, that's where I am. Those are the signs that I need a January term. I need something to jazz up January. So let me ask you this.

What could, 'cause I told you what J term was like for my college, it was like four to six weeks of you signed up, it was a class, you did go, but it was stuff you probably would not have signed up for otherwise, it didn't necessarily fit in your major or anybody else's major maybe, but it was something that would pique your interest.

What might a January term look like for homeschoolers? And maybe you don't agree, I think that this early part of January is the perfect time to try a J term. What could it look like for homeschoolers, Amy? - Oh, you know, I think it's really great to give yourself permission.

I think Lee even alluded to this. You aren't governed by the curriculum. You are the, you are the governor. So I think it is really great to give yourself permission to say, okay, over the next two weeks before, you know, challenge starts up or nation starts up, we are gonna really do some fun things.

And this is, you've probably been maybe listening around or asking your students, hey, what are some things that you guys would like to do? And just sort of plunge in. I know for us, there were little hobbies that the kids really wanted to do, but we quote, never had time to do.

So we did a little, I know my daughter wanted to make doll clothes. You know, she was in the American doll phase of her life. And so I just called some moms and said, hey, you have a girl, you know, this age, come over, we're gonna have a couple of sewing days.

You're gonna make a pillow case. I mean, I can make a pillow case. (laughing) - Yes, yes. - I can make a pillow case. And we just gathered, you know, materials and just had like a three day. It doesn't have to be weeks and weeks. You know, you can see Friday, we're gonna get together and we're gonna show off what we're gonna make.

You know, we're gonna buy some fabric in. And I honestly was not the primary source of this. I tapped my good friend who is a seamstress and said, hey, would you mind moving it? I'll get the materials of you. And she's like, I'd love to do that. And one year I, some homeschool moms that were particularly good at like one made pies.

I said, hey, can we come over to show us how to make a pie? I'm not a good pie crust maker, you are. And they're like, yes, one person loved making chicken and dumplings. I said, hey, would you mind us coming over and we'll all bring some chicken or whatever you need and help us make dumplings.

And you know, that's the kind of thing is to grab the, it's kind of recognized on what's in your very community. You know, if you have someone that can, you know, cut flowers or I don't know, know how to clean a silver platter, whatever it is, it can be random, but just gathering people together and going, hey, let's spend like this next week or two and just tapping into each other's giftedness in it.

And one of the dads, he wanted his sons to know how to change the oil in the car. So I said, hey, would you mind our sons, if I gathered the sons together or our daughters to know how to serve the car? And he goes, I'd love that. So he parked a bunch of you, we got some, he was even instrumental in grabbing some widow's cars from our, we live in.

- Oh, what a great idea. - Signing them up and just going through and showing everybody, this is how you do it. And it was January, super cold, but they didn't care. They love being together, being outside and the dad was just super good at that. So I think just giving yourself a lot of freedom to look at the non quote, non-academic world.

I mean, we can do a lot of academic stuff too. That's really fun, geography, deep dive into things that you've wanted to tackle. But I think sometimes thinking a little outside the box and giving yourself permission to say, this doesn't look like school. - Yeah, the tradition. - Well, but the Lord, he's shaping all of us.

And part of it is building community and then recognizing each other's gifts. So those are one part, but then there's the other part of saying, hey, we wanna, like if you have an essentials child, let's, we've been doing history and American history, especially in cycle three this year, let's pick a person, let's pick an event and grab some books and dress up, do some kind of write up a drama.

The other day, my daughter being homebound, they wrote a ballad, how fun is that? Dang it, and performed it all looking goofy and dressed up. But it's that sort of thing like, okay, what do we, like, is there a piece of literature? Like maybe we haven't done poetry, maybe we're all tales.

Maybe we wanna dive into a region like we did a Japanese culture day where we had a tea party and all the children, including the guys, which weren't thrilled at it, but dressed up, we ate squid, which I don't know if they, that's very Asian day. And it was so much fun because people brought, they each had to bring a fact or a artifact they'd created or part and just have like a sharing time of what we learned and really, and then we prayed for someone had been a missionary to Japan and we prayed for Japan.

And I thought, well, that was a really fun day of just focusing in on something and like those timeline cards are great for that. - Yes, deep dive history is super fun. Because a lot of times, I know with my kids, during the semester, you're going through the work and you're touching on these things and my kids would a lot of times ask a question that I would think that probably has, that's an interesting tentacle and we could chase that a long way, but we also need to do X, Y, and Z today.

So maybe we're not, go back and find those things that your kids or you wondered about. It is so nice to have the freedom to chase a rabbit as far as he'll run. I just think that I loved what you said about, so you've been studying, so your challenge A student is getting ready to study a certain region or draw in their cartography a certain area of the world.

Pick a country from that area and then do things you never would have taken time to do, like sew a costume or find out about the music from that country. Like what's that country's national anthem sound like? What instruments do they use? Could you find some or make some and play it?

It's just so, there's so many directions to go and I think when our children are little, they are interested in so many things and they can riff off the main tune so easily, they can find all of those side harmonies that go with that. And I think that sometimes in our effort to help our children do hard things, we stifle the opportunity to chase all of the daily delights.

And so a January term is perfect for getting back to those daily delights. Let me ask you this though. What about, 'cause I hear what people's concerns might be, what about the challenge kids? All right, isn't it hard to take a break from the regular course guide for those older kids?

I know it is, I've had that situation. So how do we include our challenge kids? Amy, what would you say? Oh, I think again, one of the things is just helping them, like talking to them. For my children, especially when they were at that age of early middle school, high school, they loved being with friends.

And I had little ones as well as high schoolers. And sometimes high schoolers, especially you have smaller children in the house, they get a little weary with the three year old and just the rhythm of their little day. No, we have nap time now, that sort of thing. So what I really tried to do with at that level is to just bring, be with people like-- Yes, that's great.

And just let's have a chili cook-off. I mean, like I said, the dumpling person, we did a chili cook-off at their house, just where people came in. Of course, the guys put through in hibernaries like you couldn't believe and-- Oh, gosh, yes. You have to eat the hottest thing in the world.

But just having a time where they're together and science experiments that you have either done the previous semester or are participating this next semester, there is no rule against doing a science experiment multiple times. So trying to saying, okay, we've got chemistry coming up. Here's some of the experiments that we're gonna be looking at next semester.

Let's see if we can gather people together and see if we can do this. Let's see if we can work this out or even doing something along the same lines that mirror that unit that you're doing. Something that's a little bit hands-on, off the beaten path, but they don't feel like, oh, I'm gonna get behind.

And you're looking at spring semester, a lot of times kids are getting ready for the ACT or SAT, they're getting all that. So I think trying to, for us it was being with other students that we were actually accomplishing quote, quote, accomplishing something, but we're also doing it in a really kind of lighthearted way, like covering a piece of literature that we're gonna read or something that even watching, we had our challenge class was mainly boys for a while and so we watched Pride and Prejudice much to their dismay.

- Oh, yes, yes. - But it was fun because we did it together. It was something they knew they were gonna be anticipating doing for the semester so they didn't feel like they had lost quote, time, but also just hearing what are some skills they would like to do because we also, like one of our children, well, two of our sons were very interested in electronics and so they spent one particular period of time, it wasn't the full weeks, but of spending half the day building a computer and just sort of tinkering with it, having friends over that knew the incident, which I did not, what little things to plug in where and what, and so one of our son's friends was really interested in shooting those little discs that flow up in the air.

- Oh, yes. - They would go practice shooting in the afternoon. - Shooting clays. - Yes, and that was something they wouldn't have done if they hadn't had the extra time. So just looking for avenues of their own exploring in a way that usually is with some other friends and we did, I know one good friend set up this very elaborate aquarium in his, so he all went over and I had a son that was really interested in that and how did you go about it and just explained it to us, just kind of shared with us how he went about doing this, how he maintained it, what was required, he loved that and we did too, it was something that we wouldn't have taken the time otherwise to do and of course, there's tons of volunteer things, they can volunteer at a shelter or you can, anything like collecting food, get them involved in the community.

We have a couple of thrift stores here that love it when you collect canned goods or especially in January, coats, shoes, ministries that are really eager for you that need an extra pair of hands because usually volunteers aren't clamoring. - In January, you're right. The animal shelter here in our county really loves to have volunteers and so, or just calling and saying, hey, can you tell us a little more about the services that you provide?

Usually people are eager to share that. Nursing homes, usually after the holidays, people aren't, they're lonely. - Right, right. - So just getting, tapping into opportunities for service or learning something that you've been kind of interested in or something that you don't know anything about, those are really good thing.

I just feel like it's a time you can say, okay, in the next two weeks, we're just gonna do the, if you wanna keep doing, whatever it is that you feel like we need to maintain this for the first two hours of the day, we want the academics cared for.

But then this part of the day, we're gonna be looking at these things or doing these things and for our older kids, it was doing something with other homeschool kids that seemed to be the most exciting thing for them. I couldn't have, we didn't have a party every day.

(laughs) - Right, right, right, right, right. - But it was fun. And usually moms in the same desperate situation are also, you pool your energy. And of course that always, I know for me, just being around other moms, it always brought me a little bit out of my hole and was encouraging and laughing when things did not go right.

We could mutually encourage each other. So that was always a good time. - That is so good. So many practical ideas. I think that is awesome. I think you have brought up some really good ideas. If you've got little kids in essentials, then you know that you guys are working toward faces of history.

So a January term might be the perfect deep dive time for that. And so beyond just researching your person and starting to write your paper, you're gonna do that, right? But do with a deep dive. Like you were saying, learn how to sew the costume, make the costume, go on a citywide scavenger hunt through all the thrift stores that you have to find implements for your costume, old jewelry that you can sew into, the robes of a king or a queen.

You could write a play about your history person. My kids used to love to write plays. Oh my goodness. At the drop of a hat, they would write play. I remember one year for her birthday, my older daughter, what she wanted for her birthday, she never had a regular birthday party in her life.

And what she wanted one year was she was going to write a play and all of her friends were gonna join her at her party and put on the play. And so we kind of had to talk her down a little bit. Okay, so you're gonna come on this one day and you're gonna want people to know their lines and they're not gonna know their lines.

You can't, okay, so if we want to do a play, we've got to pick a story that people know and you have to let them have, I knew her controlling nature. I said, you have to let them be able to control the script a little bit. And so we actually did, we took the little red hen and rewrote it as the brave little princess.

And so she, everybody that was coming to her party had a part assigned. We had a court jester and the court guard and the giggling princess and the pretty, pretty princess. And so all the different people and, you know, will you help me do this? No, and that, it was just, and so we acted out the play.

We still have the movie of that play, but what a fun January term for an eight, nine, 10 year old to do, you know? I loved your idea about volunteering. That is so good. Find out, you know, you can even do a study for your older students, your challenge students might want to do a deep dive into what is that local nonprofit all about and how did they become a nonprofit and what are the tax implications of that?

And how do you set up something like that? And how do you assess the need? Learn about what they do, but also you could write an ad for that. If you've got a child who is very creative writer, write an ad for that nonprofit and research their business model.

I bet all of you live somewhere where there are tourist sites. Now you might not think of it as a tourist site 'cause you live there and you never go visit, but be a tourist, become an expert on a local site or a historical site or even a business interest.

You know, the company that is the biggest in your town, find out about it. Why might somebody want to come and see that? Interview somebody, you know, you could make a map. We have national parks close to us. You could make a map of that and see how well it matches the map that the park service made.

You could pretend to be a tour guide for that. You know, we mentioned you could learn a song from another nation or about the instruments from another nation. You could learn a craft. I loved what you said about getting somebody to come help your girls make doll clothes. Like I'm like you, Amy, I can make an apron and I can make a pillowcase.

One time I made a Hawaiian shirt for my husband and it was like the fluke of life that all the wild patterns matched up. I don't think I could ever do it again, but I have friends who are beautiful seamstresses and I have a mother-in-law who knows how to knit.

And so, you know, if you wanted to learn woodworking or bonsai gardening or jewelry making or candle making, there are all kinds of things that we could do with our children. And that's part of what I want to encourage all of us to do is to use the January term as a time of family learning, where you do something altogether, where everybody's not doing their own little thing and you're just the puppet master that supervises.

- Good, yes. - I like it that we could all choose something that none of us know a lot about and we could learn in front of each other. - That's such a good, that's a good analogy, Lisa. That's right. It's a great time to connect with each other.

And one, I remember one time we did just, we all created this goofy game, board game of all the quirky things that dad did. And, but it was a thank you, you know, like dad, you know, take three steps back because we have to listen to dad sing that song again.

And we, by the time he got home, we all played it. And it was just so fun, like that kind of thing where you're together or, you know, when you were talking, I was thinking, we had a good, a neighbor down the street that was a Korean War veteran.

And we all marched down, planned a day and interviewed, but what was it like? Share that story. And there are people in our life, grandparents or aunts, uncles, even us as parents, you know, interviewing like, hey, what was, give some fun book you read or something that you share together as a family.

I think that's a really good insight that it's not, like you said, it's so easy to get just kind of isolated in your own world with your own work, even if you're living in the same home. Really spend that time going, hey, let's all go and do this thing together and recognize the fun of being together.

And I think that's a great, great insight to reconnect, to join us. - Yes. - And then just to be praying, one of the things that we did try to maintain was the same kind of rhythm of the home, even if we were doing different things like just having a time in a devotional.

That was always something, there's always something fun to do that's different, but also some of my children really gravitated toward like the consistency of things. So we did consistent mourning routine, you know, to pray together and be together and connect. And even in those cases, you can change up your devotional time.

You can do, I know we did missionary stories for a couple of weeks. - That's good. - It's a little different, but I think there's, I think part of it is you don't have to be a camp counselor and all of a sudden you're exhausted after two weeks. - Yes, that's great.

- But saying there are little things that don't require a tremendous amount of energy that can build and that your children, especially as they're energized, I found like I was energized. The hardest thing was pushing, getting it going, but once you got it going, then they kind of clicked in and took it on.

And sometimes in directions I wasn't anticipating, but that was fine. And so I think that helps to know, okay, let me just get something going. And sometimes Lisa, things just fell flat. - Absolutely. I think that is, thank you for sharing that. We don't want everybody to think that everybody else's stuff always works out well and mine hits a brick wall or a pothole.

No, I mean, I can remember things that did not go well or that we got in the middle of it and the kids were like, why are we doing this? This is terrible. I mean, it doesn't always fly. But if you can laugh together and just that, and then just stop, there were times when I stopped and I would just look at them and say, this is not really very much fun, is it?

And they would say, no mama, it's not. And I would just throw up my hands and say, well, then let's go do something else. This is not what it's all about because, and this is important. And this is kind of what I would like for us to end on.

What are we, why are we doing this? Why are we trying to jazz up January? It's not so that we can make ourselves crazy camp counselors, like Amy was saying. It's not because we're trying to add something new. The whole point is that we want to make connections with our family.

We wanna do something different together. We want to rekindle that spark, that joy of family learning that we've been trying to keep burning all this time. We want to be together. Here's the deal, homeschooling is a journey that we take with those we love. And here's the truth and you all know it, journeys are more pleasant when we pace ourselves, when we make use of all the rest stops as needed, they're more pleasant if we notice the scenery as we go along, journeys are more pleasant if we take time for conversation and reflection.

So jazzing up January is not one more thing to put on your list, mom, dad. Jazzing up January is about taking a deep breath, finding joy in learning together, and giving yourself a little rest and reset before you jump both feet into second semester. Amy, what last words of encouragement for weary homeschoolers looking for inspiration do you want to offer?

- Well, I think you just said it so beautifully, Lisa. And I think that just recognizing we're sort of all in this little weary period together and that the Lord is our strength. He is anxious and eager to renew us. And he has a vision for our next semester so we don't have to have it all together.

And I think you said, just like you said, just kind of stepping back and thinking, why are we doing what we're doing here? It's not to fill out a transcript at the end of the year. It's really, there's so, so many, and we could have a whole other conversation about this, but there are hundreds of other beautiful things that happen within your family that you will reap the fruit of for years.

That little goofy thing you did that didn't go well, you will laugh at that, like, oh yeah, mom, I remember that. But that's a memory that holds together and that inspires your child as they have a homeschool and things can go well there, they can look back and go, yeah, we remember that.

That you are building, I think of as we're building a family by the grace of God, that is a heritage. We're building a heritage of generations as you, and you probably see this with your grandson, that your family, those little decisions, those encouragements, that togetherness builds, and it builds a heritage that your children reap in their families.

And I just think, just to know, to recognize, it's happening, God is working, and even if things don't go well, that God is working in your family and that you can recognize, you can put things in priority according to his priorities and rest assured that other things will take care of themselves.

But first things first, second things come. And I think I had to do that reset frequently, not just in January, but frequently to remind myself of God's good faithfulness in our family. - Oh, Amy, this has been so great. You know what, I think this might be one of my favorite podcasts of all time.

I think this was a lot of fun. It ministered to my soul. I pray, listeners, that it has ministered to your soul as you are looking for ways to lead your family, to be joyful learners together. We hope that you will be blessed. I just wanna, I wanna mention one thing that I think might also be a blessing to your family is you are seeking to be a growing lead learner in your home.

I've mentioned it before. It's the classical learning cohort. You can learn from a trained mentor who will help you to gather the tools of exciting that will excite your students and the tools that will help you assess your students' learning and help your whole family learn together. If you wanna find out more about how to grow your knowledge and skills as a classical educator, go to classicalconversations.com/cohort, and you can find out all about the classical learning cohort.

Don't delay. Spring registration is happening now and spaces are limited, so that's classicalconversations.com/cohort. You guys go and jazz up your January, and I'd love to hear how it's going. See you next week. (gentle music) you