Today I want to introduce you to a beautiful family who loves “cook”ing up adventures. They see everything as a beautiful adventure.
I’ve been married almost 15 years to my best friend, Patrick. We have three kiddos (ages 13, 11, 8 years old). I grew up in L.A. but we wanted to create a different legacy for our own family, which is why we moved to where we live now 13 years ago (a smaller town in North Central, WA).
How long have you been running a small business?
I am also Book Lady with Usborne Books and More (just celebrated my 1 year anniversary!). Not only do I get to help foster a love for books and literacy in other families, but I have been able to model for my kids what it looks like to pursue passion-ventures and run a small business! Besides what I “do” I also have a heart for challenging and encouraging other women to find their security in their identities in Christ; to own the unique life that God has gifted them with (the good and the bad!); to live their days with purpose.
How long have you been homeschooling? What homeschool style does your family prefer?
We have been a homeschool family since the beginning. I would describe us as eclectic, interest-led learners whose homeschool environment is heavily inspired by the Leadership Education model and the Wild + Free philosophy. We love “cook”ing up adventures at home or on the road, and love to incorporate travel as part of our homeschool.
Describe homeschooling in three words?
(A) gift. Sanctifying. Beautiful.
What are the benefits of homeschooling?
Having the time and space to let my kids learn and grow, unhindered, into the unique persons God created them to be. My kids get to learn at their own pace, in a way that is meaningful to them. They love learning because I don’t just teach subjects, but instead nurture the natural wonder and curiosity that lies within them. But the biggest benefit for our family is the opportunity it gives me to disciple my kids and help model what a rich relationship with Jesus looks like.
What are the disadvantages of homeschooling?
There really aren’t “disadvantages” for our family. Struggles and challenges – yes. But I’ve always looked at those moments as opportunities for refinement and becoming better versions of ourselves. If there is any “disadvantage” … I guess it would be the fact I would like more “me” time! But I try to remember that this is a season of my life; soon enough, they will be on their own. And so I keep my head down, being as intentional and sacrificial as I can, working as for the Lord.
I don’t, LOL. But my relationship with Jesus keeps me going … even if it’s on my knees and crawling!
Frankly, God. I fully believe that we all have a purpose here on earth as part of a much larger, redemptive story. As a Christian, I know the cost of my salvation and I just feel privileged that God has even given me a part in his grand epic; let alone the breath He gives me every moment of the day. So I don’t want to waste it – this finite time I have on earth – and I want to instill in my kids the same values.
Where can readers connect with you?
Today I want to introduce you to a beautiful woman who has a heart of gold for the broken and uses her voice to help those who have been abused. She also has over 20 years of homeschool experience and is a homeschool consultant helping families on their beautiful homeschool journeys.
Tell us about yourself:
My name is LaTisha and I love all things girly. I journal and love to add cute stickers to my journaling
pages. I am a natural organizer. I can look at a closet or room and in my head I can redesign the space
right away to make it more functional. However, my home often mimics my lifestyle (crazy busy). I love
shopping. I am very sociable. I did not go to school for education. I did not ever think I would be a
teacher for my children or for other children. I teach online classes to other homeschoolers and those who
are distance learning. I have a passion for helping people. My mother is a Registered Nurse and my
Father is a Firefighter. Our dinner conversations were not the normal, “how was your day?” However, by
high school I was a member of the police explorer program in my county. Upon graduating from high
school, I entered college and majored in Sociology with a concentration in Criminal Justice. I graduated
college and applied for the very police academy where I was a police explorer. I wanted this so badly. I
passed the written exam and the physical agility test. All 110 pounds of me. I looked fragile, yet, I was
strong and determined. However, during the review of my background check and upon entering the
academy I had to reach out to Human Resources and let them know I was pregnant. I knew I could not
enter the police academy expecting. Fast forward 20+ years later and I was able to use my degree in a
new line of work as an Abuse/Domestic Violence Specialist. I worked at a local area hospital and assisted
abuse victims (children, senior citizens, men, women). I am now an entrepreneur. I am the CEO of Safety
and Solace, LLC. I speak to students and families about safety measures to help prepare students for
their college experience. I also speak to audiences at my Domestic Violence Bystander Workshop. I
teach others how to identify and support someone in an abusive relationship without endangering
themselves. I am a featured guest speaker at a college in my area. I also speak on panels and at
workshops for and about homeschooling. I believe I have a genuine connection to people.
How long have you been homeschooling?
I have homeschooled for the past 20 years.
What homeschool style does your family prefer?
Our homeschool is curriculum based. We are semi-structured as I believe in leaving room for your
children to discover and enhance their gifts and talents. In our family we talk a lot about anything and
everything. I believe you cannot sugar coat life. However, you can talk about the goodness of God as well
as the ugliness and sin in the world. We also have deep conversations about: religion, character,
finances, love, forgiveness, repentance, education etc.
Describe homeschooling in three words?
Beautiful, Joyful, and Sacrificial.
What are the benefits of homeschooling?
My children have been schooled in an environment where they are safe. Safe from violence and bullying.
My children have never had to experience peer pressure while in school. Hence they have never gone to
school. I started homeschooling my oldest daughter at 3 years old and everyone else just followed. My
children have a level of confidence that I never had growing up. They recognize what you give up when
you try to fit in. Academically my children have excelled and continue to do so. They stand out in the
classroom and their professors often speak on their uniqueness as a student. My children are also
comfortable around all people from children to adults. My 16 year old daughter had to figure out how to
make her voice heard in a classroom of adults as a student at our local community college.
What are the disadvantages of homeschooling?
Since I am one that always sees the glass half full and I am so partial to homeschooling I had to ask my
children. Here are their responses:
– Not realizing how mean other kids and adults can be.
– Not feeling comfortable with the use of technology.
– Not being able to participate and compete against your peers in high school sports. This was a
big one for us as my oldest two daughters were dynamic swimmers. They would normally qualify
for the Junior Olympics and one of my daughters qualified for Eastern Zones. All three of my
daughters hold records at a few private pools in our state. However, as high schoolers they had
faster times than many of their peers who were highlighted for their swimming abilities but
homeschoolers were not recognized.
– The expenses for extracurricular activities ex. Piano, Art (Drama, Fashion), Engineering, Coding,
trips abroad
– Lack of two incomes
How do you do it all?
(Laughter) How do I do it all? There was a time when I completely doubted myself. I was fearful. I listened
to others who questioned my husband and I in regards to homeschooling. I believed it would be easier
just to send everyone to school one by one while I was at home working on my latest project, cleaning the
house, shopping, cooking dinner as I waited for the kids to come back home. God spoke to me about
homeschooling in various ways. I wanted to run away but felt a constant tugging at my heart to obey him.
I gave up, I gave in and I obeyed. Although, I could not trust in myself I could trust in a Holy God who I
knew wanted the best for my family and I. I resolved within myself there is no way my husband and I can
do this on our own. We needed a force stronger and wiser than ourselves. Every year as I prepare to
homeschool I cry out to the Lord and say, “Father, I cannot do this without you. I ask that you go before
me and guide me throughout this year that I may give your children everything they need spiritually,
naturally and academically.” This is the only way I know to do it by casting my cares upon the Lord. I
Peter 5:7
What motivates you?
The results. I am so thankful for hanging in there when times were tough and I wanted to give in and give
up. I knew I had to trust the process. My children have turned out to be phenomenal human beings and
that is all my husband and I ever wanted for them.
Where can readers connect with you?
Facebook – LaTisha Evans
Podcast – 2 Pumps of Mocha (coming soon)
Today I want to introduce you all to Jennifer : homeschool mama to ten children. She is one of the very few that I look forward to seeing what she has posted in her stories. I love her big family. I love how she makes holidays so special for her children. She inspires me greatly.
Hello dear friends I am super excited to be joining with Irina and Homegrown Adventures in this interview! My name is Jennifer. I am a Jesus follower, wife to an amazing man for over 20 years, and mother to ten children (nine at home and one grown & moved out). My children range from 19 to four months old. I’m an old fashioned girl passionate about homemaking, natural health, and simple living.
Our family has been small-scale homesteading for over 15 years. We currently live on one acre, but borrow two more acres which helps to expand our homesteading efforts. We raise laying hens, all kinds of fruit bearing trees and bushes, as well as veggies of all sorts. Most years we fill multiple freezers and hundreds of jars with our homegrown produce. Our family’s intentions is to be as God-reliant and self-sufficient as possible.
Our family has been homeschooling for 19 years. We are firm believers that education begins the moment we are born and continues until the day we take our last breath. Our homeschooling style is best described as “Purposeful Unschooling with a Charlotte Mason Flair”. I know that’s a mouthful, but exactly what does that mean? We encourage our children to ‘own’ their education, doing as much independent learning as possible with guidance from their parents. We use textbooks as a reference to help us cover the ‘highlights’, but spend more time and energy pursuing topics of our children’s personal interests. We also believe in encourage our children to have healthy reading appetites, teaching them that they have been given a God-given ability to learn anything that they desire.
I currently have nine children at home that are actively being educated at home; if I had to describe homeschooling in three words that would definitely be: “Perfectly Imperfect Chaos”.
I understand that some folks may find there to be disadvantages to homeschooling, but I’ve yet to find any. Our family was called by the Lord to homeschool long before it was mainstream and it is simply second nature to our back-to-basics lifestyle. It is a true joy having our children at home, in a continuous state of learning, as we intentionally live each day as a family.
When it comes to doing it all, I believe that is a myth, no one can do it all. But, I do believe it is very possible to design a routine so that homeschooling moms can effectively manage their homes, enjoy hobbies, and serve their family’s adequately.
My relationship with the Lord is without a doubt my driving force. Without God I would not be who I am today. It is only through His strength that I can do anything.
Thank you so much for inviting me to share a little about our family. For those who wish to know more about our family, I currently maintain a blog www.countrymamatomany.blogspot.com and I’m fairly active on Instagram @jjwilliamsplus10.
Now many might think that only moms homeschool their children but this isn’t always the case. Sometimes it is grandparents, aunts, sisters, or another family member.
Today I want to introduce you to a father who is homeschooling his daughter while being a movie director and church-planting pastor. Father’s play a big important role in their children’s education.
Tell us about yourself:
My name is Brett Monk. I’m a movie director, a homeschooling dad, and the Executive Director of the Homeschool Film Festival. I was also a church-planting pastor for ten years. My wife Leigh Anne is a real estate agent in Northern Virginia. We have one teenage daughter.
We adopted our daughter from the foster care system when she was thirteen. We were sitting in church one morning, in our mid-fifties, with no thoughts whatsoever about becoming parents. A lady did a presentation on “older child adoption” which changed our lives forever. After over a year of classes, paperwork, and waiting, we were matched with a beautiful 13 year old girl who is now the joy of our lives.
I do most of the teaching in their daughter’s homeschool experience and I LOVE being a homeschool dad. Since I’m a full-time filmmaker and my wife is a real estate agent, our daughter receives lots of real life vocational training both in the film and real estate industries.
How long have you been a producer/director?
I’ve been involved in film and video production for over thirty years. I recently wrote and directed the feature length movie “Mount Hideaway Mysteries: Exes and Oh No’s”, which is on Amazon and a number of other venues. The goal of this movie was to create a fun movie that was truly for the WHOLE family and that portrayed homeschooling in a positive light. We’ve had a really hard time finding movies and TV shows with strong, virtuous female characters so my teen daughter can see a role model portrayed. Most movies just don’t do that, so we produced one.
We were in the middle of shooting the movie when our daughter moved in with us from the foster care system. My film crew, which was mostly made up of homeschoolers and homeschool grads, embraced her warmly and she immediately became part of the movie crew.
I also just recently launched the Homeschool Film Festival. As I was talking to homeschool families about the movie I had directed, many of them said “Oh! My child is a filmmaker!” At the same time it’s really clear that there aren’t any movies or TV shows that portray homeschooling in a positive light. (okay now there’s one, but I’d like to see more) I wanted to create a place where we could showcase both movies BY homeschoolers and movies ABOUT homeschooling.
How long have you been homeschooling? What homeschool style does your family prefer?
We’ve only been homeschooling for one year. We were legally required to keep our daughter in public school until the adoption was finalized. During that time the teachers and staff went to great efforts to help her. The individuals in the system were wonderful, but the system itself was designed to push kids through to the next grade, whether they learned anything or not. Most of our close friends were homeschooling parents, and we are both self-employed, so the decision to homeschool her was a pretty easy one.
Our daughter had a lot of challenges in the traditional school environment, so unlike many homeschoolers, she really saw learning as an unpleasant and adversarial process. She didn’t like anything that felt like a classroom. We started with a computer-based curriculum, but after a few months we changed to a curriculum that was “books and workbooks” based. We also have Bible class every morning where she reads a chapter of scripture out loud and we watch either a sermon on YouTube or a chapter from the “Visual Bible” movies.
Since we’re both self-employed, our daughter often helps out with the family businesses. She is my camera assistant and makeup artist when I’m making films. She also helps my wife Leigh Anne in real estate by being the greeter at open houses and babysitting the children of clients when they are looking at homes. Several of Leigh Anne’s real estate clients fell in love with our daughter and she still babysits their kids long after they moved into their new home.
Describe homeschooling in three words?
“Father Daughter Time”
What are the benefits of homeschooling?
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We are able to tailor our child’s learning experience to her specific needs and learning style.
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Since our daughter was 13 when we adopted her, I feel like I’m only going to have a few short years with her at home. I want to spend every minute pouring into her life that I can.
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We’re able to include her in our family business and train her in “real world” situations along with her classwork.
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Being able to include Bible classes in her learning and teaching her from a biblical worldview.
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NOT having to get up early in the morning to get her on the school bus. 🙂
What are the disadvantages of homeschooling?
To be honest, we’re not seeing too many disadvantages. We live in the Northern Virginia suburbs just outside Washington, DC. The opportunities for athletics, field trips, and other enrichment are endless.
How do you do it all?
Being self-employed helps a lot. My wife and I both work out of our home offices, and as I mentioned, our daughter often joins us at work.
What motivates you?
When I look at my child, and so many other kids, I see them in a world with a lot of really bad role models and examples glorified in the media. I have a motivation to provide kids, especially young women, with a picture of what healthy relationships look like.
Where can readers connect with you?
The best place to contact me is on the Facebook pages of either my movie, or of the Homeschool Film Festival.
https://www.facebook.com/mounthideaway
https://www.facebook.com/homeschoolfilmfestival
When I started homeschooling 12 years ago I didn’t know anyone who homeschooled. I didn’t have anyone to talk to or ask questions about homeschooling. There was no social media back then.
Today we are able to connect with homeschoolers from all over the world. Today I want to introduce you to my dear friends Anna and Viktor all the way from Georgia. Their lifestyle is so beautiful and inspiring.
Tell us about yourself:
Hello! We are Anna and Viktor and we grow our children – 7 years old girl and 6 month old boy in Georgia (a country). Being more off the whole system, we always search for better and alternative ways of living for ourselves. Better health, interesting job and money earning, interesting communities, traveling, healthy eating and more. And homeschooling became a new serious direction for us brining new colors to our life.
How long have you been freelance artists?
We are freelance artists, who create wooden pins and brooches, wooden toys and paint miniatures on wood for a long period of time. Also we do photographing, video shooting and music writing. And this way of life helps us a lot to change the focus on «free style» education. We attend at local and international markets, fairs and festivals and always take our elder daughter with us. So she communicate with hundreds of different people and creative people. Last year she started drawing and printing her own postcards and selling it by herself, earning 15-20$ each day of weekend.
How long have you been homeschooling? What homeschool style does your family prefer?
It’s only 3 years now as we chose homeschooling for our kids. As many families we read a huge amount of articles and books, tried different activities and still looking for a right direction. But what we, our girl and her homeschooling friends like the most — is a nature walks. The style of the forest school would be perfect for us. Environmental explorations, knowing yourself, physical growth and learn-as–you-go activities ending up with doing different crafts at home.
Describe homeschooling in three words?
Family-friendly, freedom, open-minded.
What are the benefits of homeschooling?
When we don’t visit school, we have a feeling that we can exhale and drink a cup of fresh juice with your kids. It means that we spend a lot of time together, knowing that our kids are ok and they are out of system rules, getting the knowledges they want to get. Though we have to spend a lot of time managing their everyday life, we do it with a big pleasure. More about time management read in the following question.
What are the disadvantages of homeschooling?
Time management is a biggest challenge for us. We are not bringing school program to our homeschooling, but to adjust all the processes happening in our family sometimes a hard task to do. Once we feel that everything is solved and has it’s own place during our everyday schedule, we find out that our children changes fast and we need to upgrade this schedule again. It’s a fun from one side and parents power consumption from the over. But having a possibility to make a weekend when we really need it — helps us a lot. One more kind of a problem was a growing need of communication for our daughter. But it was really easy to solve and friends appeared very fast in her life.
How do you do it all?
We do not create our own home program. Everyday we decide what to do next. As we mentioned before — we love nature and cities walks more than sitting at home. But we try to track what’s happening with our kids and correct their activities as needed. Very big part of homeschooling is knowing that we are not alone and have friends around the world who can help, share information and give a good advice.
What motivates you?
The more we dive into it the more we receive a feedback of happiness, children’s health, knowledges and character growing. We see more opportunities in future for our kids. And the most significant moment is that we have a choice. We have a wide variety of choices now. What to do, what to eat, where and when to go to, what to think, what to decide.
Where can readers connect with you?
The main platform we use for today is an Instagram. So please feel free to connect us
www.instagram.com/kochetkovy/. Though we write in Russian language Instagram made a good automatic translation option beneath every post. Try to use it. And we always happy to chat with you, expand our community, get new from you and share with you.
We try not to be fanatical in our homeschooling and our approach of family education. It’s very important thing to understand. Listen to children more, keep an eye on their needs, feel yourself and everything will be ok 100%.
Anna & Viktor Kochetkovy.
Many homeschool parents are lifelong learners themselves and today I’d love to introduce you to one amazing homeschool mama who creates magic with her hands. She has a talent and passion for creating beautiful things out of beads.
“Commit yourself to lifelong learning. The most valuable asset you’ll ever have is your mind and what you put into it.”-Brain Tracy
Tell us about yourself:
Hello, I am Lana, stay at home mom of three: one son and two daughters. Last year in August I started to homeschool my kids. It has been a huge blessing for us ever since. I enjoy being with my children and do life together. We are like a team. Of course, we have some issues, but who doesn’t, we learn to overcome and move forward.
I am also a dreamer, I try many things and I am not focused on one thing, – I think it is my shortcoming?! I love to learn new things like painting, guitar playing, beading, embroidery, and suddenly I realize I need a crochet business. You get it. )) Photography is also on my list.
How long have you been homeschooling? What homeschool style does your family prefer?
We are still figuring out what works and what does not for our homeschool. I am getting more and more flexible and not so “boring” as to the way we learn. Now I am more inclined toward natural learning – more outside, more fun, more engaging curriculum, – and not just busy workbooks. I guess we are eclectic if to define our homeschool style. Structure and fun – that is what working for us.
Describe homeschooling in three words?
Homeschool is lifestyle, advantage, and adventure!
What are the benefits of homeschooling?
For us homeschooling is the way of individual approach. Every kid is so unique and only mom knows her child the best, she knows her child’s needs.
The other advantage is child goes in his own pace – not rushed or not dragged back.
And the best advantage is that I can be with my children and take care of them myself instead of giving them away to be brought up by strangers.
What are the disadvantages of homeschooling?
Honestly, I can’t think of any. Blessing can not have disadvantages))))
How do you do it all?
Lol, I don’t do it all, I just do what I think I should do and I prioritize. I should do homeschool – so I do it, I should make lunch – so I do, I should sit on a couch – so I do ))) I wish I could do more, so I find time for one thing at a time.
What motivates you?
Results. Finished projects. When I see the fruits of my work, – so I am thinking how nice it will be if I finish what I started. But it doesn’t mean I am always succeeding, that’s the hard part. So I guess to answer the question – I visualize the end result and it motivate me.
Where can readers connect with you?
I have an Instagram mini blog @notes_from_gracerunhome or Facebook page with the same content and account name.
Jewelry Profile @lana_stone_weave
Crochet Profile @snuggly_nooks
Today I want to introduce you to one amazing couple Tanya and Casey who homeschool their three children while they flip homes as well as run a care home for seniors. Where there’s a will there’s a way. I started this homeschool interview series to show people that homeschool is possible for everyone and this power couple shows how you can be successful in your business as well as in homeschooling.
How long have you been an entrepreneur family?
We are a entrepreneur family. I have been working for myself since I was 16 years old. I flipped my first house at 16 years old and kept going from there. At 19 I got my real estate license and have been buying and selling for clients since then. We have flipped many homes. We have done many businesses and investments since getting married, but we have always worked for ourselves. We focus on always learning and expanding our knowledge.
Having kids has not stopped us, we just take the kids along with us to all our projects. Our kids do several learning programs where they will go into a project based classroom setting with very limited sitting. It’s nice for us because we do travel so much and we are able to leave any time.
We are a traveling family and take our kids with us wherever we go. We have not left our kids to go on a vacation. That is not really by choice but by our circumstances that we don’t have anyone to leave our children with, therefore we have taken our kids with us everywhere and that has worked out amazing and we have grown to love traveling with our kids. We have taken our kids to many places in the US, but also overseas to Haiti, Mexico, Tahiti and more. We also have an RV and love camping and being outdoors.
How long have you been homeschooling? What homeschool style does your family prefer?
We have been home/world/travel/unschooling family for the past 3 years. We don’t really have one style of learning. I believe that a child learns best when they can experience it. Growing up, I did not like school and it was literally just to pass time. I did not like that I was away from home or away from my parents. I do remember the classes that interested me were: Math (because I was good at it), Home Ed, (we did cake baking and decorating, cooking, sewing, life skills), photography class (where we learned how to develop film the old school way), Orchestra at school was very fun, even though I dreaded playing when my parents forced me to play at church, (so the difference is I made the decision to choose music as my elective in junior high school, but at church it was a force).
I started taking college classes my junior year of high school at 15 thinking to get ahead.
I quickly graduated high school at the young age of 16.
At that time I was already flipping homes and making money.
I went to CSUS University where I wondered everyday “why am i here?” I was dreading it for 3 semesters, when i finally said enough is enough and stopped college.
I went on to sell homes and I was great at it, that’s why I didn’t look back at college.
Here is what stands out for me, I was passionate about the things that interested me. I was good at those things and that’s why I kept doing them.
My Approach with my kids is different than when I was growing up.
I want them to study and learn those things that are interesting to them. We as adults don’t go learning subjects we think we may need sometime in the future just in case we need the information. We as adults learn what interests us and what we need for today and use for it. Therefore why should I force my kids to learn something they are not interested in or don’t have a use for right now.
My kids are 8,7 and 4. I can tell from early on that my 8 year old is passionate about building, architecture, and engineering. He can look at something and build it out of legos. He can build lego sets that are 4000+ pieces. He is interested in figuring out how things work and tinkering with many things.
My 7 year old is all about theater and arts and has an eye for design. she is always building sets for her dolls and enjoys crafting.
The point is, you don’t have to force your kids to do something because as soon as you force it the passion and interest is lost and they will dread it and not want to do it.
Our kids are outside a lot, and we trust them and teach them so many things at a young age that most adults don’t even know how to do.
What are the benefits of homeschooling?
I love that I get to spend the time with my children and see them develop and see them flourish while their unique gifts blossom. The bonds that you create with your children is what makes it all worth it. I realized that I want to be the one to instill values into my children. I want my kids to have voices to speak up for what they want, what they believe in, and what matters to them.
I have the same respect for my children as I would any adult and I treat my children on the same level. Once you come to that realization then your relationship with your kids will change completely.
What are the disadvantages of homeschooling?
Its a hard sacrifice of time, money, and your own life. We made the decision to have our children therefore we have to sacrifice our time for them. It is easy to send them to school and have your free time to go or do whatever. It is easy to send them to school so that your house stays clean. These are sacrifices that we make but it is so worth it to create the bonds with our children for the future.
How do you do it all?
I don’t do it all and there are plenty of amazing moms who do more than me. We take it one day at a time and know that God is in control
My biggest suggestion for people who are exploring homeschooling is to not take it so serious and think that you’re harming your kids by not putting them into school for 8 hrs a day. Your life everyday is how they will learn, go to the park, the library, the museum, the lake, the river, etc. Get outside.
Also, Don’t fill your schedule with so much structured activities because that does not allow your children to have creative play. Children need down time, time to go out into the back yard and dig a hole, start a fire, plant some plants and see them grow, build a fort, ride bikes, and so much more.
When we have random people come to our house for either pouring concrete or doing landscape work, people always comment how amazing it is to see my kids playing outside and having fun. They tell me that my kids remind them of the 70’s and 80’s childhood.
What motivates you?
I am naturally a driven person and I usually will take on a project and run with it and not let anything stop me. Even when I don’t know what I am doing. I will usually google the details on how to do something and I do it. I believe in “Failing Forward” which by the way is a great book by John Maxwell. My husband is the planner and wants to know everything about a certain subject before he will do it, I on the other hand will build my parachute on the way down.
Where can readers connect with you?
and https://agapevillacarehome.com/
Today I want to introduce you to my dear friend Amy. Get ready to be inspired.
Tell us about yourself:
Hi, I’m Amy, an Ohio homeschooling mom of 4. I’ve been homeschooling 11 years. There’s not one method or philosophy that I follow. I take what I like from each method and leave the rest. Our homeschool is always changing and adapting.
How long have you been reading 100 books in a year?
When I started homeschooling, I focused on teaching my kids a love for reading. I model a reading lifestyle by being a reader myself. I listen to audio books, keep a book journal, and have my own reading goals. I read at least 100 books a year and I’m trying to read a book set in each state.
As my kids grew into voracious readers, my focus shifted to the outdoors and nature. We are in our third year of getting outside everyday, no matter the weather. I have a goal to get 1,095 outside hours in one year (an average of 3 hours a day), this can be quite a challenge in Ohio with our weather and climate. We haven’t reached this goal yet, but I continue to pursue it.
Describe what homeschooling looks like for your family ?
We do a lot of hiking and nature programs. We have a goal this year to hike all the trails in our local park system, which is over 100 miles of trails. (Can you tell I’m motivated by goals?) We learn about plants and animals around us. We go creeking and catch frogs, crawdads, and salamanders. We go bird watching and will visit a Great Horned Owl or Bald Eagle’s nest. We’ve done astronomy programs and viewed Saturn’s rings, seen Jupiter, and learned about the the full moon names. We’ve planted a butterfly garden and raised monarchs and black swallowtails. Seeing the salamander/frog migration this year was a highlight.
I regularly incorporate art and music into our homeschool. I have my girls in a homeschool strings group and I teach beginning piano to all my kids. I love using the internet for free art projects and instruction. Deep Space Sparkle, Art for Kids Hub on YouTube, and Art Projects for Kids are websites I’ve used. Books I’ve used are: Drawing with Children, the Draw, Write, Now series, and the Ed Emberley drawing books. For nature journaling we use Nature Anatomy. I like doing art projects that celebrate the season and projects that are a tradition each year.
Learning about our state is also important to me. We visit our state parks and historic locations. One year my girls and I volunteered at an 1880’s historical working farm where we gathered eggs, made biscuits, pealed apples, and helped with the garden. We have also visited Ohio Amish country to see a different way of life with horse drawn buggies, and clotheslines.
What are the benefits of homeschooling?
Homeschooling has allowed me to spend a lot of time with my kids. It’s also given us freedom and flexibility. I think it’s also allowed my kids to be themselves and develop their own personalities and interests. I feel they’ve had the benefit of ample free time, playtime, and creative play. They have also had time to pursue their interests.
What are the disadvantages of homeschooling?
Homeschooling isn’t easy, but keeping things simple and minimal in my life have helped. I know my personality and energy level and I only sign the kids up for as many activities or co-op classes as I can handle. As the kids have gotten older I’ve taught them how to help with housework, which not only helps me, but teaches them important life skills. While homeschooling isn’t for everyone, we’ve certainly enjoyed this lifestyle.
Where can readers connect with you?
You can follow our outdoor adventures on Instagram @outside365mom
The books are read are on my second Instagram @readingandlearning
