SR 868: Flexible Homeschool Planning: Vision and Goal Setting – Pam Barnhill, Part 2

1
00:00:00,240 –> 00:00:03,902
You do not have to figure everything out the first

2
00:00:03,966 –> 00:00:07,806
year. Like, you can just start, and that is

3
00:00:07,838 –> 00:00:11,478
often the best thing that you need to do. You are not going to

4
00:00:11,534 –> 00:00:14,982
ruin any of your children by just beginning

5
00:00:15,126 –> 00:00:18,942
to homeschool. Hey, everyone, this is Yvette Hampton.

6
00:00:19,006 –> 00:00:22,566
Welcome back to the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast. I am back with my friend Pam

7
00:00:22,598 –> 00:00:26,406
Barnhill, and we’re talking about homeschooling. We’re just bringing more encouragement

8
00:00:26,478 –> 00:00:30,288
to you and helping you through this homeschool journey. Because, one, you

9
00:00:30,304 –> 00:00:33,672
don’t want to journey alone in homeschooling. It’s not fun.

10
00:00:33,816 –> 00:00:37,496
It’s hard. We talked in on Monday’s episode about

11
00:00:37,528 –> 00:00:41,288
how homeschooling’s just difficult sometimes, about how we can make it a

12
00:00:41,304 –> 00:00:44,568
little bit less hard, a bit. A little bit less difficult than it needs to

13
00:00:44,584 –> 00:00:48,296
be. And so we’re going to give some more resources today as well. But

14
00:00:48,368 –> 00:00:51,176
before we do that, I want to say thank you to our sponsor, BJU Press

15
00:00:51,208 –> 00:00:54,952
Homeschool. If you’re looking for a great homeschool curriculum, check out

16
00:00:54,976 –> 00:00:58,560
bgypresshomeschool.com. and they have everything you need from a

17
00:00:58,600 –> 00:01:02,348
solid, biblical worldview. BJUPressHomeschool.com. and if you’re

18
00:01:02,364 –> 00:01:05,508
not sure what you need, call them up, talk to one of their consultants, and

19
00:01:05,524 –> 00:01:09,316
they will help walk you through everything that they have and find what’s right for

20
00:01:09,348 –> 00:01:10,828
your family. Again, check them

21
00:01:10,844 –> 00:01:14,676
out at BJUPressHomeschool.com. Well, Pam, welcome

22
00:01:14,708 –> 00:01:18,332
back to the podcast. Uh, it’s always such a thrill to have you on, and

23
00:01:18,356 –> 00:01:21,692
you are a wealth of information and wisdom and

24
00:01:21,836 –> 00:01:25,564
experience, and I love that. Um, so let’s talk about

25
00:01:25,612 –> 00:01:29,338
planning, because you’re, you’re kind of one of the planning girls. I

26
00:01:29,354 –> 00:01:32,866
mean, you are really good at helping people, and you were throwing out

27
00:01:33,018 –> 00:01:36,458
loop scheduling and term scheduling, things like that in the last

28
00:01:36,514 –> 00:01:40,266
episode. And I know some people listening, they’re like, what in the world is loop

29
00:01:40,298 –> 00:01:44,074
scheduling? What is she talking about? With that and other ways to help

30
00:01:44,122 –> 00:01:47,514
plan our homeschool to make it easier, talk

31
00:01:47,562 –> 00:01:51,082
through planning for a minute and how, even though I know we’re at the beginning

32
00:01:51,106 –> 00:01:54,892
of the school year, but you’ve always got those mamas who are like, okay, I

33
00:01:54,916 –> 00:01:58,420
waited. I didn’t really plan, or maybe I planned in. My plan isn’t working out

34
00:01:58,460 –> 00:02:01,828
so well. So what now? So how do you bring some encouragement to

35
00:02:01,844 –> 00:02:05,620
them? Yeah. So I think the first thing that I like to say

36
00:02:05,700 –> 00:02:09,180
about planning is throw out everything you think you know about homeschool

37
00:02:09,220 –> 00:02:13,044
planning. Um, because there is a way to do it that is

38
00:02:13,092 –> 00:02:16,932
different, that is really going to serve you and your family instead

39
00:02:16,956 –> 00:02:20,780
of you coming along and having to serve this plan that you’ve made.

40
00:02:20,820 –> 00:02:24,492
So that’s the first thing. And then the second thing that I would mention is

41
00:02:24,516 –> 00:02:28,360
that when we talk about homeschool planning, we want to start with

42
00:02:28,480 –> 00:02:32,096
big picture planning. And so we want to start,

43
00:02:32,168 –> 00:02:35,992
last time I alluded to that vision for your homeschool. So you

44
00:02:36,016 –> 00:02:39,744
do want to start by creating that homeschool vision. And then from there

45
00:02:39,792 –> 00:02:42,552
you want to step down a little bit and you want to start thinking about

46
00:02:42,616 –> 00:02:46,128
goals. You want to start thinking about goals for each one of your kids. And

47
00:02:46,144 –> 00:02:49,336
I’m not talking about, oh, you want to think about goals for your kids? So,

48
00:02:49,368 –> 00:02:53,072
like, they can be super high achievers. I mean, that may

49
00:02:53,096 –> 00:02:56,686
be possible, but, you know, that’s not what we’re talking about here. Or

50
00:02:56,798 –> 00:02:59,526
I want to think about goals for my kids because I want to fix every

51
00:02:59,558 –> 00:03:02,854
little problem that they have. That’s not what we’re talking about

52
00:03:02,902 –> 00:03:06,638
either. When you think about it, if you have three kids, four

53
00:03:06,694 –> 00:03:10,350
kids, five kids, and you think about the fact that all of those kids are

54
00:03:10,390 –> 00:03:14,022
doing four, five and six subjects, then

55
00:03:14,166 –> 00:03:17,966
we come at like 30 different subjects. There’s one of

56
00:03:17,998 –> 00:03:21,690
you. Are you really going to be able to give equal attention

57
00:03:22,070 –> 00:03:25,730
to 30 different subjects all year long?

58
00:03:26,030 –> 00:03:29,742
And unless you’re superwoman, the answer is no, you’re not going to be able

59
00:03:29,766 –> 00:03:33,414
to. Haven’t met one yet. I know, right? And so when I talk

60
00:03:33,462 –> 00:03:37,214
about creating goals for your family, creating goals for your kids before

61
00:03:37,302 –> 00:03:40,926
you make your homeschool plan, before you even buy curriculum, then I’m

62
00:03:40,958 –> 00:03:44,750
saying, like, what are the things that are priorities for us? What are the things

63
00:03:44,790 –> 00:03:48,632
that are the most important things? And from there we go on to

64
00:03:48,766 –> 00:03:52,428
purchase some resources that we’re going to use. And then we start planning

65
00:03:52,484 –> 00:03:56,188
out our homeschool plans in list. So

66
00:03:56,324 –> 00:03:59,524
we do not make a grid, we do not put this thing on this day.

67
00:03:59,572 –> 00:04:03,364
There’s no way for us to predict on September 28 that we’re going

68
00:04:03,372 –> 00:04:07,092
to be on lesson eleven in math. We just can’t do that, not

69
00:04:07,116 –> 00:04:10,876
if we’re doing justice to our child and actually giving them a

70
00:04:10,908 –> 00:04:14,466
personalized education, because we’ve actually got to follow their pace.

71
00:04:14,588 –> 00:04:17,870
And so instead create your plan in

72
00:04:18,030 –> 00:04:21,330
lists. And we have different kinds of lists that you can do

73
00:04:21,750 –> 00:04:25,494
use to do that. And then you open

74
00:04:25,542 –> 00:04:28,686
up your list and you do the next thing. So when it’s time to do

75
00:04:28,718 –> 00:04:32,366
science. You just open up science and you do the first undone

76
00:04:32,438 –> 00:04:36,130
science lesson on the list. And that way you’re never behind.

77
00:04:36,990 –> 00:04:40,662
You never have these marked up grids that you can’t keep up with,

78
00:04:40,806 –> 00:04:44,542
but you are prepared for exactly

79
00:04:44,646 –> 00:04:48,262
whatever may come next because you have that science

80
00:04:48,326 –> 00:04:51,958
list planned out or that history list planned out. Yeah. So that’s how

81
00:04:51,974 –> 00:04:55,210
we approach homeschool planning, and

82
00:04:56,390 –> 00:05:00,118
it’s the way I’ve planned for, like, the past nine years. And it just

83
00:05:00,174 –> 00:05:03,542
works out really, really well. Yeah. Makes it

84
00:05:03,566 –> 00:05:05,930
flexible and something that you’re able to follow.

85
00:05:06,800 –> 00:05:10,456
So let’s back up just a little bit, because I want to go

86
00:05:10,648 –> 00:05:14,008
back to talking to, like, the brand new homeschool mom.

87
00:05:14,144 –> 00:05:17,904
She’s never done this. She doesn’t know the homeschool lingo. She is.

88
00:05:17,992 –> 00:05:21,344
She’s never taught in a classroom, which I know that can be a detriment to

89
00:05:21,472 –> 00:05:25,272
many new homeschool moms. They’ve been in the classroom and they tried to bring

90
00:05:25,296 –> 00:05:28,736
that into their home. That doesn’t work. But you’ve got this brand new homeschool mom

91
00:05:28,768 –> 00:05:32,570
who knows absolutely nothing about how to homeschool

92
00:05:32,610 –> 00:05:36,338
or how to plan. How would she get started? Cause, yes, you’ve gotta plan the

93
00:05:36,354 –> 00:05:39,258
curriculum, but, like, where do you get the curriculum? And how do you, how do

94
00:05:39,274 –> 00:05:43,030
you figure out all the stuff that you’re supposed to be doing?

95
00:05:43,370 –> 00:05:46,242
How do you figure out what your kids need? I mean, like, you know, there’s

96
00:05:46,306 –> 00:05:48,914
a million questions and I know, I mean, we could park on this for hours

97
00:05:48,962 –> 00:05:52,634
and hours. But in a nutshell, how do you meet the needs

98
00:05:52,682 –> 00:05:56,162
of that family who is just brand new to

99
00:05:56,186 –> 00:06:00,016
this? The first thing I would say to the family who is brand

100
00:06:00,088 –> 00:06:03,808
new to this is you do not have to figure everything

101
00:06:03,944 –> 00:06:07,576
out the first year. Like, you can just

102
00:06:07,728 –> 00:06:11,440
start. And that is often the best thing that you need

103
00:06:11,480 –> 00:06:15,096
to do. You are not going to ruin any of your children by

104
00:06:15,128 –> 00:06:18,896
just beginning to homeschool. So when you start talking

105
00:06:18,928 –> 00:06:22,232
to people who have been homeschooling a long time, when you start looking on the

106
00:06:22,256 –> 00:06:25,872
blogs and getting on YouTube and looking on Instagram, you’re going to hear

107
00:06:25,896 –> 00:06:29,536
people talking about, like, homeschool methods. Like, you know, are you

108
00:06:29,568 –> 00:06:32,992
Charlotte Mason or are you classical? Or are you school in a box? Or are

109
00:06:33,016 –> 00:06:36,792
you unit study? You do not have to choose right now.

110
00:06:36,896 –> 00:06:40,488
You do not have to plant your flag in the sand and say, I am

111
00:06:40,584 –> 00:06:44,376
anything. So that’s kind of the first thing. And that should take a lot of

112
00:06:44,408 –> 00:06:48,000
pressure off. The next thing is the curriculum. That you

113
00:06:48,040 –> 00:06:51,560
choose to use this year, you’re not married to that

114
00:06:51,600 –> 00:06:55,252
curriculum forever and ever. Amen. So you can just choose something

115
00:06:55,316 –> 00:06:59,132
that looks good and try it. And it may be

116
00:06:59,196 –> 00:07:02,956
great for you because I always like to say that the best curriculum is the

117
00:07:02,988 –> 00:07:06,820
one that gets done, you know? Right. That one,

118
00:07:06,860 –> 00:07:10,044
you may just stick with it or you may decide later on, you know what,

119
00:07:10,132 –> 00:07:13,884
I am going to try something different. I’ve learned about something new. And so I

120
00:07:13,892 –> 00:07:17,500
think the biggest thing for new families to realize is you

121
00:07:17,540 –> 00:07:21,222
don’t have to stick with everything that you do this year. You

122
00:07:21,246 –> 00:07:24,870
can just get started. And so that

123
00:07:24,950 –> 00:07:28,566
hopefully takes a lot of pressure off of new families.

124
00:07:28,718 –> 00:07:32,430
One of my favorite places to go look for curriculum is

125
00:07:32,550 –> 00:07:35,606
Kathy Duffy. So she has, I think she’s like

126
00:07:35,638 –> 00:07:39,342
103 top curriculum picks. Kathy is

127
00:07:39,366 –> 00:07:42,450
not paid for any of her curriculum recommendations.

128
00:07:43,230 –> 00:07:46,556
She goes very in depth and detailed

129
00:07:46,718 –> 00:07:50,400
into, you know, the

130
00:07:50,440 –> 00:07:54,264
different reviews that she offers. And so that’s a fabulous place. But

131
00:07:54,312 –> 00:07:57,904
even a step back from that, there are so many boxed

132
00:07:57,952 –> 00:08:01,712
curriculums out there. Just choose a box because like I said, you’re

133
00:08:01,736 –> 00:08:05,048
not married to it forever, so choose a box. Start very

134
00:08:05,104 –> 00:08:08,768
simply doing like, not

135
00:08:08,824 –> 00:08:12,672
recreating school kind of gets, you know, like people are like,

136
00:08:12,696 –> 00:08:16,496
oh, don’t recreate school in your homeschool. You know what? For the first year, it’s

137
00:08:16,528 –> 00:08:20,188
okay to do what, you know. Sure. And then after that

138
00:08:20,244 –> 00:08:23,956
you can begin to move away from that. And so just take

139
00:08:23,988 –> 00:08:27,068
some of the pressure off is, I think, the biggest thing that I’m trying to

140
00:08:27,084 –> 00:08:30,748
say. Yeah, talk about morning basket for a minute because I

141
00:08:30,764 –> 00:08:33,948
know, I think it’s been quite some time since we’ve talked about morning basket. But

142
00:08:33,964 –> 00:08:37,772
you hear that term floating around the homeschool community and you see it

143
00:08:37,796 –> 00:08:41,532
on, you know, blog posts and on social media posts and things like

144
00:08:41,556 –> 00:08:45,260
that for those maybe who don’t know, talk for a minute about what that is

145
00:08:45,300 –> 00:08:48,782
because that’s another great way for those who are just getting started with

146
00:08:48,806 –> 00:08:52,430
homeschooling, like jump into it by doing morning basket or

147
00:08:52,470 –> 00:08:55,998
whatever you want to call it for your family. Yeah,

148
00:08:56,054 –> 00:08:59,718
yeah. So, yeah, morning baskets or morning time.

149
00:08:59,774 –> 00:09:03,134
Very simply, this is a time in the day when your entire family

150
00:09:03,302 –> 00:09:07,022
can come together and everyone can learn the same

151
00:09:07,086 –> 00:09:10,518
thing at the same time. And, you

152
00:09:10,534 –> 00:09:14,086
know, sometimes people are like, well, I’ve got this, you know, kid who’s in 7th

153
00:09:14,118 –> 00:09:16,462
grade and I’ve got this kid who’s in third grade. Am I going to be

154
00:09:16,486 –> 00:09:19,586
able to do that? And you absolutely can do that because of

155
00:09:19,678 –> 00:09:22,826
differentiated learning. And so what you’re going to do is you’re going to level some

156
00:09:22,858 –> 00:09:26,322
things up for the 7th grader, and the third grader is just going to kind

157
00:09:26,346 –> 00:09:30,018
of follow along. But you can learn things together.

158
00:09:30,074 –> 00:09:33,890
And this is fabulous efficiency for a homeschool mom because you are

159
00:09:33,930 –> 00:09:37,658
one teacher with multiple kids on multiple levels.

160
00:09:37,754 –> 00:09:40,682
And so, like I said, I had, or I think I said it in the

161
00:09:40,706 –> 00:09:44,418
last episode, I have one now who’s going into 9th grade, and

162
00:09:44,434 –> 00:09:48,186
then I have one who graduated last year. So there was about a four to

163
00:09:48,218 –> 00:09:51,912
five year grade difference, I guess five years between my kids.

164
00:09:52,056 –> 00:09:55,584
And I oftentimes taught towards my upper

165
00:09:55,632 –> 00:09:59,376
two in that morning basket, and then my youngest just kind of

166
00:09:59,408 –> 00:10:02,992
came along. And let me give you an example of this. My daughter’s

167
00:10:03,016 –> 00:10:06,832
senior year, we read Animal farm together. Oh, wow. Yeah.

168
00:10:06,896 –> 00:10:10,568
Yeah. I was reading Animal Farm with a senior in high school

169
00:10:10,664 –> 00:10:14,336
and a 10th grader in high school, but my 7th

170
00:10:14,368 –> 00:10:17,866
grader at the time was right there with us, and he was

171
00:10:17,898 –> 00:10:21,630
listening to everything and talking about everything just like.

172
00:10:22,010 –> 00:10:25,754
Just like she was. And he was really into it, you know,

173
00:10:25,802 –> 00:10:28,710
I mean, nobody will tell you that that was their favorite book ever,

174
00:10:29,810 –> 00:10:33,314
but they. An important book, yes. A favorite book. Probably not.

175
00:10:33,402 –> 00:10:36,962
Yes. An important book, yes. And so they were all very much into it and

176
00:10:36,986 –> 00:10:40,506
talking about it, and he was, like, going along with the other

177
00:10:40,578 –> 00:10:44,362
kids and saying, like, oh, my goodness, you know, I recognize this or

178
00:10:44,386 –> 00:10:48,082
I’ve seen this or something. He was totally able to get it. Was he getting

179
00:10:48,106 –> 00:10:51,658
it on the same level that they were? Probably not, but it

180
00:10:51,674 –> 00:10:55,162
definitely made an impact, and he’s always going to remember it. I don’t know that

181
00:10:55,186 –> 00:10:58,802
I ever need to necessarily read that with him again. So we

182
00:10:58,826 –> 00:11:01,630
were. That’s something we were able to do together.

183
00:11:02,050 –> 00:11:05,802
And that is the great thing about a morning basket, is you can do

184
00:11:05,866 –> 00:11:09,122
history together. We’ve done that through the years. Science together,

185
00:11:09,306 –> 00:11:13,092
literature together, and then, of course, all of your fine arts,

186
00:11:13,266 –> 00:11:16,952
your bible subjects, different things like that, you can do that together,

187
00:11:17,136 –> 00:11:20,576
and it builds relationships between your

188
00:11:20,608 –> 00:11:24,120
kids. You have all of these wonderful shared memories, this

189
00:11:24,160 –> 00:11:27,992
shared vocabulary. My kids now

190
00:11:28,056 –> 00:11:31,840
can all talk about animal farm because they all read it together.

191
00:11:32,000 –> 00:11:35,808
Or any of the other books that we read, they share those.

192
00:11:35,864 –> 00:11:38,820
They have that conversation and that shared memory of them,

193
00:11:39,450 –> 00:11:43,186
and it’s just really strengthens those relationships

194
00:11:43,218 –> 00:11:46,978
that we have together. Yeah. I did morning basket with my girls. I mean,

195
00:11:46,994 –> 00:11:50,762
just up until Brooklyn graduated, and they’re five years

196
00:11:50,786 –> 00:11:54,354
apart, and we would read books together, and there were times where

197
00:11:54,482 –> 00:11:58,090
we would pick up a book. We did this just this past year with

198
00:11:58,170 –> 00:12:01,098
the Indian in the cupboard, and it was just one of those books that’s been

199
00:12:01,114 –> 00:12:04,898
on my shelf for years, years and years. I had never read it.

200
00:12:04,914 –> 00:12:07,650
And I was like, let’s just read this. It’ll be a fun read, an easy

201
00:12:07,690 –> 00:12:11,382
read. And we got, I don’t know, maybe six or seven chapters into

202
00:12:11,406 –> 00:12:14,926
it. My girls were like, mom, this is the most boring

203
00:12:14,998 –> 00:12:18,838
book. And really, because it’s a great book. I was enjoying it more than they

204
00:12:18,854 –> 00:12:22,638
were, but it’s probably more geared toward, like, a middle school boy than,

205
00:12:22,814 –> 00:12:26,530
you know, an 18 year old and 13 year old girl. So

206
00:12:26,830 –> 00:12:30,166
we didn’t even finish it. I was like, that’s fine. We can put it down

207
00:12:30,198 –> 00:12:33,246
and we’ll find something else to read. And so we picked up a different book,

208
00:12:33,278 –> 00:12:36,604
and I’m totally fine with doing that. I have no problems putting down a book

209
00:12:36,702 –> 00:12:40,048
if we’re not enjoying it, and it’s torturing my kids or myself. We’ve done that

210
00:12:40,064 –> 00:12:43,420
a few times. Um, but, yeah, I mean, it’s. It’s pretty

211
00:12:43,760 –> 00:12:47,200
amazing how you can take a group of kids, or even two kids, who are

212
00:12:47,240 –> 00:12:50,472
pretty far apart in age, and you can still find something that they would

213
00:12:50,496 –> 00:12:54,208
enjoy reading together or doing together, activities, things like that,

214
00:12:54,224 –> 00:12:57,800
even field trips, you know, I mean, most kids enjoy field trips, depending on,

215
00:12:57,920 –> 00:13:01,376
you know, where you’re going. And so you can do a lot with a

216
00:13:01,408 –> 00:13:05,232
wide range of ages with our kids, and that. That does make it much

217
00:13:05,256 –> 00:13:08,380
easier. So let’s take a break. We’ll be right back.

218
00:14:29,190 –> 00:14:32,690
We are back with Pam. As we’re thinking through,

219
00:14:32,990 –> 00:14:36,782
you know, planning and doing all of that stuff, let’s talk about

220
00:14:36,926 –> 00:14:40,766
how, just maybe some practical ways to select really

221
00:14:40,798 –> 00:14:44,118
good resources, because, you know, you talked earlier about,

222
00:14:44,174 –> 00:14:47,852
oftentimes we’ll start out with these resources and curriculum stuff, and then we’re

223
00:14:47,876 –> 00:14:51,452
like, this isn’t really working, and it can be expensive, and we don’t want to

224
00:14:51,476 –> 00:14:55,020
spend money that is unnecessary, and we don’t want to waste our

225
00:14:55,060 –> 00:14:58,660
time using resources that are not going to work for our family.

226
00:14:58,820 –> 00:15:02,292
So talk a little bit on maybe how we can select really good

227
00:15:02,316 –> 00:15:06,116
resources for our individual families. And I know you can’t answer that for

228
00:15:06,148 –> 00:15:09,748
every specific family because we’re all so different, but how can we learn

229
00:15:09,844 –> 00:15:12,820
what’s going to work best for our family? And then I want to talk about

230
00:15:12,980 –> 00:15:16,240
just bringing order into our homeschool.

231
00:15:16,580 –> 00:15:20,404
Yeah, well, and I don’t want to sound like a broken record but

232
00:15:20,452 –> 00:15:23,892
I will say, before you choose resources,

233
00:15:23,996 –> 00:15:27,636
the most important thing is to work out that homeschool vision.

234
00:15:27,708 –> 00:15:31,452
And we’ve actually got a free workshop that will help walk you

235
00:15:31,476 –> 00:15:34,732
through the process of making a vision. You can find it at pam

236
00:15:34,756 –> 00:15:38,460
barnhill.com vision because I don’t want anybody to feel

237
00:15:38,500 –> 00:15:41,188
frustrated. It’s like, well, this lady keeps telling me to make a vision, and I

238
00:15:41,204 –> 00:15:44,688
don’t know how to do that. So, I mean, that really is the most important,

239
00:15:44,724 –> 00:15:48,424
important thing because I call it the wall for my homeschool

240
00:15:48,472 –> 00:15:52,024
spaghetti. Then as I start looking at

241
00:15:52,072 –> 00:15:55,712
resources, as I start looking at things, I’m like,

242
00:15:55,776 –> 00:15:59,536
does it fit with that vision? You know, does it fit in with what

243
00:15:59,568 –> 00:16:02,352
I’m going, you know, what I’m trying to do here with what I’m trying to

244
00:16:02,376 –> 00:16:06,208
accomplish in the big picture? So that’s the very first

245
00:16:06,264 –> 00:16:09,112
thing. And then you can get into some really practical

246
00:16:09,216 –> 00:16:12,764
considerations. And I like to call it

247
00:16:12,812 –> 00:16:16,364
planning for my real self versus planning for my

248
00:16:16,452 –> 00:16:20,228
aspirational self, because I think sometimes it’s really easy to get caught up

249
00:16:20,244 –> 00:16:23,540
in all the beautiful, pretty things we see online. And we’re like,

250
00:16:23,580 –> 00:16:27,172
oh, my family. This year, we’re going to do

251
00:16:27,236 –> 00:16:31,052
nature study, right? We’re going to get outside and we’re

252
00:16:31,076 –> 00:16:34,764
going to, like, walk around, and I’m going to make us all these nature study

253
00:16:34,812 –> 00:16:38,436
bags with watercolors and magnifying glasses and all this

254
00:16:38,468 –> 00:16:42,140
stuff. And you know what? In September, it’s still 100

255
00:16:42,180 –> 00:16:45,844
degrees outside, and I’m not going anywhere, you know, or

256
00:16:45,932 –> 00:16:49,612
I don’t like snakes or. Right. That’s me. Yeah.

257
00:16:49,636 –> 00:16:53,428
They’re all over the place outdoors. Like, it just never happens. Or I’ve got

258
00:16:53,564 –> 00:16:57,236
these really little kids that I also have to slather with sunscreen and

259
00:16:57,268 –> 00:17:01,076
buckle into the car every time we go on nature study. And so

260
00:17:01,108 –> 00:17:04,724
while, aspirationally, I would have loved to have, like, gone on a nature

261
00:17:04,772 –> 00:17:08,610
walk every single week, really, it wasn’t going

262
00:17:08,650 –> 00:17:12,386
to happen. Yeah. The same thing comes up with, like, you know,

263
00:17:12,498 –> 00:17:16,194
complicated science experiments or, you know,

264
00:17:16,282 –> 00:17:20,010
art projects or mummifying a chicken

265
00:17:20,090 –> 00:17:23,690
or sugar cube, egyptian

266
00:17:23,730 –> 00:17:27,194
pyramids. Like, none of that stuff was going to happen

267
00:17:27,362 –> 00:17:31,050
in my house, reading aloud some

268
00:17:31,090 –> 00:17:34,566
really fun books, that was going to happen. And so

269
00:17:34,698 –> 00:17:38,294
just really being honest with yourself, I always like to say that the most

270
00:17:38,342 –> 00:17:41,870
important person in your homeschool plan is not your kid. It’s

271
00:17:41,910 –> 00:17:45,454
actually you. And the reason is because there are very

272
00:17:45,542 –> 00:17:49,198
few self motivated seven year olds. There are

273
00:17:49,214 –> 00:17:52,878
very few self motivated, you know, 14 year olds.

274
00:17:52,934 –> 00:17:56,630
Right. And so you are the one who’s going to have to get up and

275
00:17:56,670 –> 00:18:00,166
propel that entire train forward every

276
00:18:00,238 –> 00:18:04,046
single day. And so it’s got to be a train that you’re willing to

277
00:18:04,118 –> 00:18:07,812
propel, right? It’s got to be work that you’re willing to do. And so if

278
00:18:07,836 –> 00:18:11,332
you don’t like the glitter, if you don’t like the mess, don’t choose the

279
00:18:11,356 –> 00:18:15,188
curriculum that has all of the fun, artsy projects in it. You

280
00:18:15,204 –> 00:18:18,940
can still choose beautiful literature rich curriculums

281
00:18:19,060 –> 00:18:22,260
with great books that you love to read that are

282
00:18:22,300 –> 00:18:26,004
wonderful without doing all the art projects. On the flip

283
00:18:26,052 –> 00:18:29,868
side, if you absolutely hate to read aloud and you want to get down and

284
00:18:29,884 –> 00:18:33,588
dirty, you’re a crafty mom. Something like that. Choose the one

285
00:18:33,684 –> 00:18:36,820
that has all the crafts in it. You know, if you’re not going to commit

286
00:18:36,860 –> 00:18:40,532
to doing the science experiments, don’t choose the curriculum where the

287
00:18:40,556 –> 00:18:44,100
science experiment has to be done in order for the lesson to make

288
00:18:44,140 –> 00:18:47,884
sense. Instead, choose the science program where

289
00:18:47,932 –> 00:18:51,620
you read and the experiment is optional. Or you can watch it

290
00:18:51,660 –> 00:18:55,140
online. There are just so many considerations to think

291
00:18:55,180 –> 00:18:58,948
about. But be realistic about what you really

292
00:18:59,004 –> 00:19:02,830
will do. Yeah. That’s so important. It’s hard to be realistic sometimes,

293
00:19:02,870 –> 00:19:06,382
especially if you’re new at this. You don’t really know what to expect

294
00:19:06,566 –> 00:19:10,398
or how it’s going to play out. And then even if you do, if you’re

295
00:19:10,414 –> 00:19:13,902
an experienced homeschooler, you never know what curveballs are going to be thrown at you

296
00:19:13,926 –> 00:19:17,702
throughout the year. You know, you could have a sick parent or, you

297
00:19:17,726 –> 00:19:21,062
know, I don’t know. I mean, there’s a million things, Covid. You know,

298
00:19:21,126 –> 00:19:24,702
there’s so many things that can be thrown at us that can just derail our

299
00:19:24,726 –> 00:19:28,174
whole school year. And so we have to be willing and able to be flexible

300
00:19:28,342 –> 00:19:31,490
with those plans as well. I think that’s so important.

301
00:19:31,990 –> 00:19:35,670
Talk about just keeping our homeschool orderly.

302
00:19:35,710 –> 00:19:39,342
Like, how do we keep it to where? Because I think one of the reasons

303
00:19:39,366 –> 00:19:42,974
that homeschool moms sometimes feel overwhelmed is because they have too much

304
00:19:43,022 –> 00:19:46,374
stuff. Their space. You know, maybe their, their

305
00:19:46,502 –> 00:19:50,190
homeschool space, not necessarily a school room. Some

306
00:19:50,230 –> 00:19:53,968
have that, but many don’t. But where they keep their homeschool stuff, just, it

307
00:19:53,984 –> 00:19:57,440
gets piled up with stuff and then it feels like chaos.

308
00:19:57,600 –> 00:20:01,240
Do you have any tips on how homeschool moms

309
00:20:01,280 –> 00:20:04,904
and kids can keep their area and just their homeschool

310
00:20:04,992 –> 00:20:08,720
orderly so that it’s a little bit more comfortable to homeschool

311
00:20:08,760 –> 00:20:12,408
in? Yeah. Yeah. So my two biggest tips number one,

312
00:20:12,504 –> 00:20:16,064
if you’re not using it this year, store it away.

313
00:20:16,232 –> 00:20:20,026
So if you’re not using it this year, it doesn’t need to be outd

314
00:20:20,088 –> 00:20:23,334
where people can access it. So, you know, pack it up in rubbermaid

315
00:20:23,382 –> 00:20:27,206
containers, put it in an attic, a basement, underneath beds, like,

316
00:20:27,238 –> 00:20:31,006
just, you know, whatever storage you happen to have. But if

317
00:20:31,038 –> 00:20:34,862
you’re not using it this year, you know,

318
00:20:34,886 –> 00:20:38,486
get it out of the immediate area because, you know, you want to

319
00:20:38,518 –> 00:20:42,310
save that stuff so you can use it later with other kids. Right.

320
00:20:42,470 –> 00:20:46,312
But. And I will say, I’m a pretty. I know that

321
00:20:46,336 –> 00:20:48,896
there are homeschool moms out there who are like, oh, I’m going to save these

322
00:20:48,928 –> 00:20:52,744
books for my grandkids when my kids age out of them, I’m like,

323
00:20:52,792 –> 00:20:55,824
you know, if I really want them back that badly enough, I’ll get them again

324
00:20:55,872 –> 00:20:59,144
when the grandkids come along. Are you talking about books or

325
00:20:59,232 –> 00:21:02,760
curriculum? Anything? Oh, wow. Okay. I mean, we have some

326
00:21:02,800 –> 00:21:06,624
favorites that we hold on to, you know, but just your standard

327
00:21:06,672 –> 00:21:10,376
general. We bought this to do this x curriculum. I let

328
00:21:10,408 –> 00:21:14,048
it go with the curriculum. You know, there’s usually a homeschool family in my community

329
00:21:14,144 –> 00:21:17,806
that is just very happy to have it, and so we bless them with

330
00:21:17,838 –> 00:21:21,646
it. But, yeah, I don’t hold onto that kind of stuff. But

331
00:21:21,678 –> 00:21:25,422
even if you’re holding onto it, go ahead and put

332
00:21:25,446 –> 00:21:29,270
it away. So you only have the stuff for this year, and then the next

333
00:21:29,310 –> 00:21:33,078
thing would be create a space. And one of the things about a morning

334
00:21:33,134 –> 00:21:36,742
basket is people sometimes are like, do you really need the basket? And I’m like,

335
00:21:36,766 –> 00:21:40,382
well, the basket’s really helpful, whether it’s a basket, a bag, a

336
00:21:40,406 –> 00:21:44,132
shelf on a, you know, a bookcase or whatever. I. Getting

337
00:21:44,196 –> 00:21:47,772
all of your things together in one place is really

338
00:21:47,836 –> 00:21:51,612
important because where you lose kids in homeschooling are, during the

339
00:21:51,636 –> 00:21:55,276
transitions, moving from one thing to the other.

340
00:21:55,388 –> 00:21:58,892
And that goes back to the wholeheartedness I was talking about in the last

341
00:21:58,956 –> 00:22:02,412
episode. If you’re off multitasking, the kids look at it as a

342
00:22:02,436 –> 00:22:06,212
transition, and they’re like, up and gone, and then it’s just that

343
00:22:06,236 –> 00:22:10,044
much harder to get them back. And so by knowing where everything is and

344
00:22:10,092 –> 00:22:13,452
keeping it all together, all stored together, it’s easier to

345
00:22:13,476 –> 00:22:17,004
transition from one part of your homeschool to another

346
00:22:17,172 –> 00:22:20,772
without losing the kids. And then the third thing would be

347
00:22:20,956 –> 00:22:24,556
what we call ehap. Everything has a place, and

348
00:22:24,628 –> 00:22:28,252
I can’t take credit for this one. This actually comes from my friend Misty

349
00:22:28,276 –> 00:22:32,116
Winkler at simplified organization. And so every afternoon, her

350
00:22:32,148 –> 00:22:35,980
family does an ehap. She actually uses it as a verb.

351
00:22:36,100 –> 00:22:39,884
And so at the end of the school day, they take, like, five minutes, ten

352
00:22:39,932 –> 00:22:43,636
minutes, they set a timer, and then they take everything and put it

353
00:22:43,668 –> 00:22:47,378
back into its place. And so just having that little very brief

354
00:22:47,434 –> 00:22:51,210
tidy up time at the end of the day, and I will tell you that

355
00:22:51,290 –> 00:22:54,946
I have learned through the years the thing with tidy up time is that’s

356
00:22:54,978 –> 00:22:58,554
another place where mom has to be present. We talked earlier about

357
00:22:58,602 –> 00:23:02,450
honoring your school day and being present, honoring that ehap time

358
00:23:02,490 –> 00:23:05,930
and being present with your kids. You know, if you’re standing in the kitchen trying

359
00:23:05,970 –> 00:23:09,050
to yell at them to do it, it just never goes well. So come into

360
00:23:09,090 –> 00:23:12,826
the room, set the timer, do it with them, and before you

361
00:23:12,858 –> 00:23:16,354
know it, everything will be put back into the place that you had designated

362
00:23:16,442 –> 00:23:20,164
and easy to find for the next day. And so that one is. Is

363
00:23:20,212 –> 00:23:23,988
crucial to keeping a little bit of order in the homeschool. Yeah. And I’m

364
00:23:24,004 –> 00:23:26,852
sure that takes some training. That’s a really great idea. I’ve not heard of that

365
00:23:26,876 –> 00:23:30,476
before, but it takes training just like everything else with our kids. You can’t just

366
00:23:30,508 –> 00:23:34,092
say, okay, ehap, kids, and expect them to do what needs to be

367
00:23:34,116 –> 00:23:37,724
done. You can take those first several weeks of homeschooling and

368
00:23:37,772 –> 00:23:41,052
walk through it with them and train them to do it and then still be

369
00:23:41,076 –> 00:23:44,652
present, like you said, um, so that they’re doing it the right way and things

370
00:23:44,676 –> 00:23:47,572
are going where they need to be so that the next day, you can pick

371
00:23:47,596 –> 00:23:51,348
it right back up where. And you know where it is. I mean, there’s.

372
00:23:51,524 –> 00:23:55,268
It’s so frustrating when you need to do something. You

373
00:23:55,284 –> 00:23:59,076
know, you need to do a, you know, math worksheet or something, and it’s

374
00:23:59,108 –> 00:24:02,100
like, where’s the math book? Or, you know, you just can’t find the thing that

375
00:24:02,140 –> 00:24:05,796
you need. Yeah. Because it hasn’t been put in its place. And so

376
00:24:05,828 –> 00:24:09,484
it’s like losing your keys or your sunglasses, you know, like, there’s a home for

377
00:24:09,532 –> 00:24:13,380
everything, keep everything in its home, and then things will, because it wastes so much

378
00:24:13,420 –> 00:24:17,036
time, too. It waits a lot of time. And then, like I said, the

379
00:24:17,068 –> 00:24:20,732
transitions are the killer for homeschooling. Right? Yes. You know, and

380
00:24:20,756 –> 00:24:24,452
so being ready when we do, we have a lot of members of our

381
00:24:24,476 –> 00:24:28,268
community, and all of our morning basket materials in

382
00:24:28,284 –> 00:24:31,876
our membership are available right there in our

383
00:24:31,908 –> 00:24:35,732
community in an app, and they can access them on the computer. And it was

384
00:24:35,756 –> 00:24:39,412
such a game changer. One of the moms was like, I sit down at the

385
00:24:39,436 –> 00:24:43,060
beginning of the day, like, as I’m doing, like, eating my breakfast and stuff

386
00:24:43,100 –> 00:24:46,640
before my kids are even in the room, and I open up all the

387
00:24:46,680 –> 00:24:50,432
tabs I’m going to use that day. And so I just go from

388
00:24:50,496 –> 00:24:54,280
one tab to the next. So she pre chooses what it is she’s

389
00:24:54,320 –> 00:24:58,040
going to do and she opens up all the tabs. And so she’s

390
00:24:58,080 –> 00:25:01,800
flipping from one tab to the next, and the video’s queued up,

391
00:25:01,920 –> 00:25:05,512
everything’s ready to go. Wow. And so it just,

392
00:25:05,696 –> 00:25:09,464
it makes such a huge difference not to lose them during those transitions. And

393
00:25:09,472 –> 00:25:13,146
so knowing where the math dvd. Is, right, all of that stuff,

394
00:25:13,218 –> 00:25:17,042
that’s brilliant. Yeah. So smart. One of the other things I find that is

395
00:25:17,066 –> 00:25:20,746
such a distraction to me is my phone, you know? And so. Oh,

396
00:25:20,778 –> 00:25:24,266
man. Because you get that chime, you know, that text message or phone call, whatever

397
00:25:24,298 –> 00:25:27,994
that comes in that you’re waiting for. And instead of looking at it during a

398
00:25:28,002 –> 00:25:31,058
lunch break or something like that, you know, you’re, you’re grabbing for your phone. And

399
00:25:31,074 –> 00:25:33,994
then before I know it, I’m talking to my mom for an hour in the

400
00:25:34,002 –> 00:25:37,482
middle of her homeschool day, which I love doing, you know, but it can be

401
00:25:37,506 –> 00:25:40,930
so distracting. And then the kids are off doing their own thing and, you know,

402
00:25:41,010 –> 00:25:44,578
oh, yeah, mom’s busy and been there, done that.

403
00:25:44,754 –> 00:25:48,482
Yeah. Oh, man. Well, we’re out of time again, but we will be back tomorrow

404
00:25:48,546 –> 00:25:52,282
to keep talking about homeschool encouragement with Pam Barnhill. Pam, tell

405
00:25:52,306 –> 00:25:55,394
our audience again one more time where they can find out more about you. Yeah.

406
00:25:55,442 –> 00:25:59,258
So everything we have is@pambarnhill.com that’s our

407
00:25:59,274 –> 00:26:02,610
homeschool better together website. We have our community over there, which is

408
00:26:02,650 –> 00:26:05,970
absolutely free to join. You can find my homeschooling books

409
00:26:06,010 –> 00:26:09,780
there, um, our courses and our curriculum as well.

410
00:26:09,900 –> 00:26:12,932
Okay. We will put links to that in the show notes. She’s got tons of

411
00:26:12,956 –> 00:26:16,780
great stuff, great resources, some free, some paid, but

412
00:26:16,820 –> 00:26:20,316
everything that you have is really, really reasonably priced, even the stuff that is

413
00:26:20,348 –> 00:26:24,076
paid, um, for. But you’ve got a ton of free stuff as well. So

414
00:26:24,108 –> 00:26:27,916
check her out. PamBarnhill.com. thank you so much, Pam, for being with us. Stay

415
00:26:27,948 –> 00:26:31,612
tuned to the very end here, what’s coming up tomorrow on the podcast. And if

416
00:26:31,636 –> 00:26:34,828
you’ve not yet seen the movie schoolhouse rocked, check it out through our website,

417
00:26:34,884 –> 00:26:38,684
SchoolhouseRocked.com, where you can find everything else having to do with

418
00:26:38,692 –> 00:26:41,268
the Schoolhouse Rocked ministry. Have a great rest of your day. We’ll see you back

419
00:26:41,284 –> 00:26:42,020
here tomorrow. Bye.