Helping You Homeschool
Back in July, Gina and Christyn shared their favorite things about homeschooling an only child.
Today, as they flip the script and give you a “Five Minutes on the Fifth Thursday” (but on a First Thursday!), they take a look at the hardest things they’ve experienced in onlyschooling.
From only using a curriculum once to listening to *all* the questions, they share a few of the challenges they’ve encountered on their homeschool journeys…it’s not always easy, but it’s always worth it!
You know about narration as an educational tool, but have you ever thought about applying the tenets of narration to your homeschool story? How would paying attention to the details of your day help you create a more truthful narrative of how your homeschool goals are playing out? Would you see the successes that are sometimes overshadowed by the more difficult moments?
Gina and Christyn tackle this theme, as well as discuss how physical and mental/emotional noise can interfere with our days and affect our homeschool narratives.
We’ve all been there: a moody day can be a challenge as we homeschool.
Listen along as Gina and Christyn share their best tips for getting through the broody-moody times and salvage the day — they’re here to tell you it’s possible!
Homeschooling an only child is the only “normal” Gina and Christyn have ever known. Listen in as they discuss their favorite things about onlyschooling.
1:50 Allowing child-led experience and ownership of education can be simpler: it’s the ultimate private school
3:45 Flexibility with curriculum; and if you hit a roadblock in learning, you can just stop for a while
5:23 The logistics of extracurricular activities and learning opportunities are easier
We use labels all the time as a quick shorthand to frame and focus our ideas. But how helpful are labels when it comes to identifying ourselves, our homeschools, and our kids? And how can looking past those labels and listening with all of our senses make a huge difference in our relationships? Join Gina and Christyn as they dive into these homeschool themes and talk about how they use labels and multi-sensory listening.
1:35 Gina and Christyn give updates on their 2021 word/phrase
3:57 Labels help us frame and focus ideas
4:40 Labels can be helpful in communicating as long as we’re clear what the labels mean
4:55 Why do we label ourselves? How is it helpful?
What does labeling myself as a home educator mean?
Is it okay for us to label our kids?
How can the idea of labels help me communicate with others more clearly?
5:30 Christyn discusses why she labels herself: as a form of self-expression and a way to identify the parts that make up the whole
6:49 Gina identifies herself with a mix of labels that tell who she is and what she does career-wise
7:47 Labels can be helpful in interacting with other people, but just as a starting point, as a quick dip into communication
8:55 Christyn uses the example of Loki as someone who is known by one label, but who is so much more
9:55 Gina discusses the labels of Wyatt’s skating coach and how she identifies which is most important to her, how it helps prioritize information
11:30 Discuss what it means to choose home educator as a label
16:05 Be careful how we label kids: our words matter. Don’t limit them, don’t put your kids in a box
“I’m Not Good at That: The Myth of Natural Talent”
20:01 Let your kids label themselves and grow! The way the label themselves helps us as parents see who they are
22:25 Listening is a form of communication; labels can play a part, but it’s a lot more
23:15 Differences between hearing and listening
24:30 Christyn talks about “listening to leftovers”
25:55 Listening with all your senses opens up a lot of possibilities for communicating with your kids
It’s the time of year when new opportunities and new goals — and maybe new pressures — are everywhere around us! How do you create focus so you don’t get overwhelmed? In simple terms, keep what you need and what you know works and when you need something more, steal ideas and make them your own. Listen in as Gina and Christyn offer their best ideas for being a keeper AND a homeschool kleptomaniac!
4:34 When we think of “keeping,” we’re talking about keeping records, keeping a schedule, and keeping your relationship in a positive place. When we turn to “kleptomania,” (and not taking the medical diagnosis lightly at all), we look at the casual cultural use of the word, as in basically taking ideas from wherever you can find them.
6:54 Gina talks about keeping schoolwork for a graduating senior, and her methods for saving and purging through the years
9:48 Christyn has what she refers to as her “Little Women” shelves of plastic tubs, all neatly labeled with what she’s required to keep by state mandate, and what she keeps for sentimental reasons
12:30 If you’ve got a system that works for you, keep it! Gina talks about the scheduling systems she’d had in the past and how that changed up recently when her son got a job
15:14 Christyn talks about the “two classes then a break” system she’s used since the beginning that still works in the high school years — and how the occasional siren call to switch up things for a new idea doesn’t always work out!
17:00 Once you find your fit for your homeschool style, routine, schedule, whatever, keep to it. Because in the end, that’s going to lead to the most important thing of all to keep: your relationship.
17:48 Gina talks about how prioritizing the relationship made a difference in homeschooling
20:44 Christyn talks about a “make it or break it” relationship moment in her homeschool
22:51 Moving to “kleptomania,” Christyn shares the ways she took parts of popular homeschooling trends and made them work for her over the years
23:58 Gina talks about stealing ideas from herself! She and her husband are self-employed and she realized some of their business practices would work well for homeschooling, too
26:55 Look carefully at ALL the options out there, then take all of that information and then make it work FOR YOUR HOUSE
27:15 Gina and Christyn talk about how they took ideas to create programs for their homeschool group, such as Geography Fair and co-op — and how, as they transition away from leadership roles in those areas, they fully expect new leaders to keep some ideas and steal other new ideas to keep those programs fresh
29:15 As homeschool parents, we’re the keepers of everything: documentation, routines, physical and emotional health. It can be hard, so when we see ways to make our job easier, we take them. We figure out how to use them. We keep what works for us. That’s how we homeschool
You’ve probably heard Theodore Roosevelt’s saying that “Comparison is the thief of joy.” Join Gina and Christyn as they discuss the challenge of overcoming the green-eyed monster when it shows up in their homeschools. The good news is that just looking for the little joys that come with this lifestyle is enough to overcome the jealousy and keep the focus on the wonder that comes with lifelong learning!
2:12 The focus of the OnlySchoolers is to provide a joyful, uplifting show, but we’re also honest enough to admit there are hard things about homeschooling: one of those hard things is jealousy
3:02 The 11th Commandment in Homeschooling is “Do not covet thy neighbor’s homeschool” — and that’s a hard one!
4:02 When it comes to homeschooling, there’s a tendency to compare ourselves and our kids and our homeschool situation to other families…and come up short
5:12 There are three distinct categories when we discuss jealousy in homeschool
1) Comparison of homeschool parents/teachers
2) Comparison of our children to friends, siblings, cousins
3) Comparison of homeschool situation
5:47 Gina discusses parent envy of a friend who creates festive occasions in her homeschool
8:14 Christyn discusses parent envy of the “perfect homeschool days” posts on Facebook and envy of homeschool moms who manage get-togethers without their kids
10:19 Gina and Christyn discuss jealousies that revolve around having an only child
13:00 Homeschool graduation season brings up jealousies about where our kids are relative to other kids. Seeing others’ accomplishments can be difficult
13:51 In those situations, Christyn gives herself a gentle, mental shake and reminds herself why she’s homeschooling
14:15 Gina admits jealousy of those who have a dedicated homeschool space
16:05 Christyn has a dedicated space, but admits jealousy of those that are perfectly organized (hers is not!!)
16:38 Tips and tricks to deal with jealousy when it crops up
19:20 Drop the jealousy and find the joy in your homeschool! Take the joy wherever you find it!
19:52 Gina discusses her books about actively seeking joy and how it is best cultivated by thinking small
20:46 Christyn and Gina talk about some of the little joys they find during the day
23:45 Joy not only comes from what happens, but sometimes from what doesn’t happen
24:48 There’s also long-term joy that goes beyond anything we feel any single day: “the slices add up”