Latest / The Christy-Faith Show / Ep. 123 - Homeschool Hot Takes: Unschooling, Curriculum Overload, and Starting Later | Live Q&A

Transcript

Ep. 123 - Homeschool Hot Takes: Unschooling, Curriculum Overload, and Starting Later | Live Q&A · The Christy-Faith Show

• 0:00
  Christy-Faith: Hey, mama. Come on in. We are deep into our summer series right now where I am bringing you favorites straight from the archives. These are my q and a sessions with real questions from real homeschool moms. They were recorded live, and they're a little bit more casual than my typical episode, but that just makes things more fun.
• 0:17
  So welcome back to the summer homeschool help desk series. Grab that summer lemonade, and let's dive in. Hi, everybody. Welcome. Okay.
• 0:37
  Let me go on is that good? Hi, everybody. Okay. Got TikTok. Hello, TikTok.
• 0:43
  We have Instagram. Hi. Hi, everybody. And on here, we got YouTube, Facebook. What else is on there?
• 0:53
  Instagram?
• 0:53
  Scott: Yep.
• 0:54
  Christy-Faith: No. Instagram's right here. Hi. Welcome, everybody. Let's see if I'll be as unhinged tonight as I was last night.
• 1:02
  Hi. Welcome everybody. Come on in. I'm Christy-Faith, author, speaker, podcaster. I am expert.
• 1:10
  I'm actually an educational expert, but now I call myself a homeschool educational expert because homeschooling is totally different than educating a child through homeschooling is way different than educating a child in an institution. I am the author of this book. It's backwards, probably on couple platforms here. And it is called Shattering Myths, Finding Courage and Opting Out of the School System. This is not just for new homeschoolers, this is for anybody who is homeschooling, who needs to needs more security, needs more strength, all of the things.
• 1:50
  I'm here tonight to answer any questions you have about homeschooling in general. I'd love to know. Let's start out tonight with letting me know a little bit about you. I love figuring out and finding out who I'm with. Let me know where you live.
• 2:04
  What state are you in, and then I want you to respond with a one or two or a three. Okay. So a one is you are homeschool curious, and that's why you stopped here right now. If so, welcome. Number two, by the way, I have a free for those of you who are homeschool curious, I have a how to homeschool guide.
• 2:24
  It's a 23 page ebook. Grab it. Go get it girl, come back. Are you a category two? So that's number one, homeschool curious.
• 2:33
  Number two, are you within the first three years of homeschooling? Let me know.
• 2:41
  Scott: Just being Karen, is it is it too late for a sixth grader?
• 2:46
  Christy-Faith: What do you mean too late to homeschool? Oh my goodness. No. Where is she?
• 2:50
  Scott: She's on
• 2:51
  Christy-Faith: Insta. Oh my goodness. No. It's the great time to homeschool. I think homeschooling the older years are the most important years.
• 2:58
  This is when our kids start developing a world view. They start asking really deep questions. So absolutely not. Yay. Grab my how to homeschool guide.
• 3:08
  Yeah. Another wait. I'm not done with the categories. One, two, three. Can I finish the categories?
• 3:11
  Or I'm happy to dive in.
• 3:14
  Scott: Go ahead.
• 3:14
  Christy-Faith: Okay. Or So are you one homeschool curious? Are you two within the first three years of homeschooling? Or are you three, you've been at this a while and you're like, girl, I'm burnt out. Let me know.
• 3:27
  Let me know which category you're in. One, two, or three. Also, me know what state you're in. I am in Colorado. Beautiful Colorado.
• 3:36
  Man, I was driving my son to basketball practice today and just the blessing of looking at those gorgeous mountains, man. We're in the Denver area, so we get to see that whole mountain range when you're on the freeway like that. It is so gorgeous. Do you guys live in a beautiful area? I'd love to know.
• 3:53
  Okay. Let me let's yes.
• 3:55
  Scott: We got a New York veteran. Three, twelve plus years.
• 3:58
  Christy-Faith: Oh, awesome. TikTok. And and and you're in New York, which that's like people are so scared to homeschool in New York. I know it's not as hard as people think, but they kinda make it seem daunting and intimidating from the outside. Have you found that?
• 4:12
  Have you gotten any pushback or struggles homeschooling in New York? Have a friend who her sister homeschools in New York City, and that was a that was a little bit of a challenge finding community for her. Where are you in New York? I'd love to know. Welcome, everybody.
• 4:28
  Come on in to my live tonight.
• 4:31
  Scott: We got California, Georgia, Texas, Florida. Yay. Massachusetts. We got Nard the Fox. I'm a realtor with rentals, stay at home dad with a three and a half year old in four months.
• 4:40
  Getting time to get rolling soon enough.
• 4:42
  Christy-Faith: Oh, man. I love it. So awesome.
• 4:45
  Scott: We got Yeeks Life new homeschool mama on Instagram.
• 4:49
  Christy-Faith: Brand new mama. Yay.
• 4:52
  Scott: Oh, once Nard the Fox in Minnesota would love the ebook. How does he get stuff?
• 4:57
  Christy-Faith: Oh, yeah. Yeah. So let me just go over my free stuff. Okay? Let's let's start there.
• 5:02
  Number one, I have a how to homeschool guide. It is a totally free downloadable ebook. Everything I'm talking about right now, tap my face on whatever platform you're on and you can get there. We make it very easy to download my free stuff. And by the way, something that is really important to me is that my free stuff isn't lame.
• 5:21
  Right? How many of you have gone to like get someone's free thing and it's like a journaling prompt? Right? It's like give me some help here. It makes me not trust the person.
• 5:30
  Okay. So anyway, I have my curriculum recommendations. So it is I it's a big list, but it's kind of you would consider that a safe list. Now are these my curriculum recommendations for you? No.
• 5:45
  We do that in Thrive Homeschool Community, which if you guys wanna know more about that, one of the reasons why I came on live tonight is because our emails are flooding because Thrive is closing tonight. And so we knew that we were gonna have to go live answer anybody's questions live. Okay. Other freebies. I have my five minute homeschool style finder.
• 6:07
  This is really, really cool. It is so stinking accurate. And it I'm proud of that because it was really hard to build. Really programmers, analysis, crazy stuff to build that five minute homeschool style finder. So you guys might not know there are nine different educational pedagogies, styles in which we can educate children.
• 6:28
  You've heard of some of them. Waldorf, classical education, Charlotte Mason maybe, unit study. Right? Montessori. Yeah.
• 6:37
  And so I have a quick five minute where you'll find out your style in under five minutes. So if you have not taken my five minute homeschool style finder, will you go take it right now and come back and tell me what you came out as? Okay. Scott's like, questions?
• 6:50
  Scott: We have a ton of questions.
• 6:51
  Christy-Faith: Ton of questions. Okay.
• 6:53
  Scott: We're gonna start. Great. Sarah Jude over on TikTok. What would you suggest for an older student who can't spell and it's affecting confidence?
• 7:01
  Christy-Faith: I an older student who can't spell and it's affecting confidence. It depends how old the student is. Probably okay. I'm gonna make some assumptions here. I'm gonna make assumptions that they have already received they've learned to read with the science of reading, proper science of reading.
• 7:18
  And I it depends how old, but if they're old enough and I've asked the right questions personally to you, I would probably recommend an evaluation and intervention. Yeah. Spelling's a a tough nut to crack, man. We had a master class speaker in Thrive. I brought her in just to do a master class on spelling.
• 7:40
  Yeah.
• 7:40
  Scott: Big Mister Money. Thrive has been amazing for my wife. Woo woo.
• 7:44
  Christy-Faith: Yay. Oh, that's so cool. I love that screenshot that. Because so many women are like, my husband doesn't get it. It's like, what do you mean you don't get it?
• 7:55
  Okay. So here's the thing. Who wants to hear the who wants to hear the bee in my bonnet about Thrive? Yes. Okay.
• 8:02
  Scott: The decisive dad just took the quiz. I got Waldorf Montessori unit study.
• 8:07
  Christy-Faith: Oh, dude. You're gonna have such a fun time. That is so great. And he has a three year old. Right?
• 8:13
  So you need to start preschool. This is gonna be so fun.
• 8:16
  Scott: And
• 8:17
  Christy-Faith: I can't wait for you. I think he was on Instagram. Right?
• 8:19
  Scott: Yeah.
• 8:20
  Christy-Faith: Yeah. Oh, awesome.
• 8:21
  Scott: And Nard wants to know where the where'd you find that quiz?
• 8:25
  Christy-Faith: Okay. So if you go to my home page on my website, literally, you scroll like a half a scroll and all of my freebies are there. I have a free five minute homeschool style finder. I have a 23 page ebook on how to start homeschooling. I have my curriculum recommendations with which is a download.
• 8:44
  I have tons of free stuff for you. So make sure to grab something today. Even if you're not if Thrive is like, woah woah, Christy, like, I we're not gonna get married on the first date. Totally get it. Yeah.
• 8:54
  But get into the ecosystem because the way I talk about the way we talk about homeschooling is nowhere. Nowhere else. This concept of the key to a successful homeschool is in developing the leader is a massive game changer. So get my freebies that are on my website. They're not lame freebies.
• 9:17
  They're actually really good. Also, start listening to my podcast because we dive deep into really cool stuff. And you might have fun because my podcast is I get really snarky on it.
• 9:32
  Scott: Judy's here from Thrive.
• 9:34
  Christy-Faith: Judy. Not Judith. Judy.
• 9:38
  Scott: Lara Shell. Oh. I'm homeschooling my last two, both in high school, and I homeschool my two grandsons two days a week when parents are at work.
• 9:46
  Christy-Faith: Awesome. Oh, that's awesome. Which platform is she on?
• 9:49
  Scott: She's on
• 9:49
  Christy-Faith: Insta. Yeah. Yay. There's Instagram. Hi, my Instagram ladies.
• 9:54
  Yes. Welcome. I wanna know who because people have a lot of questions about Thrive Homeschool Community. I wanna know who's a lurker. I have so many ladies saying, Christy, I lurked.
• 10:06
  I lurked for way too long. I almost thought about having like one section on my page that were just what the lurking moms said after they joined. Like, oh, it felt so tight, but now I money felt so tight, but now I see how much you're gonna save me. And and just wow, if I had any idea what was actually in here, would have done this so much sooner. By the way, there is a free thirty day money back guarantee.
• 10:37
  We'd I really, like, there's no risk. There's I'm not gonna keep you in, strong-arm you, nothing. So it's worth getting in tonight before midnight even if you're kinda on the fence because you can poke around in there and I mean, I don't want you to change your mind. I don't think you will. But I know some of you might feel really under the gun right now, like this is too soon to make this big decision.
• 11:04
  Just know that you have that guarantee. There is zero risk to joining tonight before midnight, and and we will honor that. And I don't think we've had anyone ask for that ever, for that. When people dive in, they're blown away. Yeah.
• 11:22
  Okay.
• 11:23
  Scott: Mama's
• 11:24
  Christy-Faith: Oh, Laura was a long time lurker. Yay. Okay. So Laura, I'll be on the orientation Zoom tomorrow. So I'm gonna see you and it's gonna be Marnie on there and it's going to be Julie on there.
• 11:35
  So the three of us. And she's gonna share her Julie's gonna share her screen and show you guys how to navigate inside the platform. So I hope you can make that. And if you can't make the orientation tomorrow, you guys, it's gonna be on replay. We're gonna keep it on replay for at least three weeks.
• 11:54
  So you can watch it at your leisure. But it's really fun to be live. It's it's more fun to be live. Yeah.
• 12:00
  Scott: Do have any thoughts on BJU Press? I'm using it for kindergarten but finding a teeny bit busy since I
• 12:05
  Christy-Faith: have Yes.
• 12:06
  Scott: Littles in the home that aren't homeschooling yet.
• 12:08
  Christy-Faith: Yes. Okay. So this is a great question about BJU Press homeschool. So as you guys know, I do use them. I love them.
• 12:16
  I don't use them for every subject. So BJU Press is known for kind of being this all in one, like you buy a whole grade level and you implement that grade level. That's not how you have to use BJU Press Homeschool. You can use it like I use it for particular subjects. I love it for bible.
• 12:32
  I actually really like it for science too. I don't like teaching science. So here's the thing though. And I don't know if you're in Thrive, but I would love to deschool you. I would love that opportunity to have you go through my eight step homeschool success framework because I want you to feel the freedom that your child does not have to do every single thing.
• 12:53
  In fact, when I was talking to the representatives at BJU Press Homeschool, I actually complimented them. I said, you know what? Thank you for overwriting your curriculum. So I used to write curriculum. And the worst thing you can do as a curriculum writer, the laziest thing you can do is underwrite it.
• 13:13
  So a mom is left, okay, what else do I do? And then she's on Pinterest trying to figure out a science experiment for that lesson that was just covered. That a curriculum that you pay for. The curriculum writers should be doing that work for you. So what I love about BJU is everything is done, thought ahead about, expertly delivered.
• 13:35
  They invest so much in their curriculum development. But here's what I want you to know. You don't do everything. So we do the science. We rarely do the workbook.
• 13:47
  I have the workbook, and one of my girls loves worksheet y things, so she loves doing it. But we talk about it. We'd go through the lesson and we talk about it. And that is an education. So and that's what happens when you have the freedom when you've deschooled and you have the freedom to let go.
• 14:06
  You don't need so here's the thing. A lot of people think that you have to prove let me know if this is you. I wanna know. You feel the pressure this is not your fault by the way, this is our system. You feel the pressure that you have to prove what your kids have learned.
• 14:22
  Right? They have this many worksheets, that many essays, stacks like this, and you put them in a file and all of that. And you feel the pressure because you need something to show for to prove what they've learned. And the message that I want and by the way, I am a rigorous homeschooler. My son wants to be an attorney.
• 14:42
  Okay? I have a graduate degree. We are academic. Okay? But I don't make my kids write out every ding dong thing.
• 14:51
  Absolutely not. That's gonna kill their love of learning. Right? And so but how do I get you from a place where okay. But what do I pick, Christy?
• 15:01
  Which which of these things on here do I have my kid do and not do? That's that process of deschooling. That's where we get you, where we get you to a place where you can scan a page and you're like, that's important. This is important. Let's talk about that.
• 15:14
  And I do want you to write that sentence. That sentence in a full complete sentence answer. And then you're like, great. We did we did that twenty minutes faster. And let's go outside.
• 15:25
  Let's go outside and play. So and then your kids aren't overworked and taxed. That's the beauty that's the beauty of deschooling. Does anybody need to know the difference between deschooling and unschooling? Let me know because I'm happy to explain it.
• 15:41
  But I won't explain it if they already know. So do we have more questions while I take a sip of water? I wanna talk about homeschool math for a minute, specifically CTC Math, who I'm so glad is sponsoring this episode because you need to know about them. I'm picky about curriculum, and there are a few subjects I won't compromise on, and math is on the top of that list. CTC math is what I use with all four of my kids, and it's an excellent k to 12 math program.
• 16:09
  Rigorous, thorough, comprehensive, everything I want my kids to have in their math education. But without all the stress, the tears, and me having to learn long division all over again. Here's what happens at our house now. My kids log in. A real math teacher walks them through the lesson four to nine minutes clear step by step.
• 16:29
  They do their lesson and finish up with practice problems. The program grades them, and I don't have to remember how to do fractions with unlike denominators or where exactly they left off last week, which means I get to be the mom in the room. I can sit nearby, listen in, encourage, fold the laundry, and watch math get done beautifully. Easier on mom? No sacrifice on academics?
• 16:52
  Yes, please. Join me and tens of thousands of homeschool families using CTC Math for their go to math curriculum. Links in the show notes. Grab your free trial today, and you'll see why we love it for our kids. Is your child struggling with attention, memory, reading, writing, math?
• 17:10
  If you're experiencing this, you know how heart wrenching it is to watch them face these hurdles. You've poured love, time, and attention into their education, yet the struggle persists, leaving you feeling stuck and desperately searching for answers. You guys, I want you to know about LearningRx, a proven program designed to help your child's cognitive skills, enabling them to think faster, learn more easily, and perform at their best. I'm talking getting real long term help here with things like ADHD and dyslexia. LearningRx is backed by thirty five years of research, and their results are transformative.
• 17:43
  Use code HOME 50 for $50 off your cognitive skills assessment. Go to learningrx.com or click the link in the show notes. Do we have any trolls? I've had trolls the last two nights and it's been so fun.
• 17:54
  Scott: Okay. Now they're in first and third grade. Should I wait until they finish elementary school?
• 18:00
  Christy-Faith: Mm-mm. To homeschool?
• 18:03
  Scott: Yeah.
• 18:03
  Christy-Faith: No. Are you kidding? No. I wished your kids were never even in school. If you you know, here, listen.
• 18:10
  I don't think everybody can homeschool, obviously. And I also think that not everybody should homeschool. I don't think a mentally ill, deranged person should be homeschooling. K? But if you love your kids and you're a motivated mom and you can, man, there is no better place to educate a child than in a loving home with a motivated parent.
• 18:36
  Really, truly, it is just a beautiful childhood, especially when you tap into your kid's developmental needs, which is something we're really about in Thrive is, okay, what do your what does your kid need right now? Do they really need to know that particular math formula, or are is the most important thing right now working on their certain behavior if they're melting down, for example. So anyway or there's a behavior that's really a struggle in your home. To us, we will pivot to that important skill that is maybe not tangible, but it's a social emotional skill because we know that if the if we can get you there, if the mentors can get you there and we work on that, we know then that's gonna make all the academics easier. Do you see it?
• 19:29
  Where initially a mom comes to me and says, my kid's melting down. Christy, tell me another math program to use. And I'm like, woah. Woah. Woah.
• 19:37
  Let's find out why the kid's melting down. Is it a behavior issue? Is it a, is the is the task too big? Is it a miss is there a fit that's not right? Is there a learning disability that may be undiagnosed?
• 19:49
  You know what I mean? So those are the types of things we look at. Okay. Yes. Your hand you keep you
• 19:55
  Scott: Valerie Wagner. Sorry. My is it realistic to homeschool with a 15 old? And I'm in the middle of a master's degree program. I wanna homeschool my second grader.
• 20:07
  Christy-Faith: Absolutely. Yes. So Valerie on Instagram. Well, okay. So I don't know you and I don't know your life and I don't know your capacities.
• 20:17
  Okay. So I we have a lot of working homeschool moms in Thrive. A lot. We have to source differently. So will you be able to be the type of homeschooler who is, you know, baking the banana bread and going on the nature walks and doing 20 read alouds a day?
• 20:37
  No. No. Does that mean it's not worth it still? Does that mean that that couldn't be your future later? No.
• 20:43
  Also, no. Right? So when you are a working homeschool parent, the sourcing is what is the most important thing. Is what curriculum you're using, making sure not all of it requires you to sit right next to your kid for every hot second. So I had when I started homeschooling my son, I had two year old twins and a seven month old baby.
• 21:09
  So, yeah, you just have to source well. And and, you know, other things too, but that's if I was to pick one thing, not knowing you. Yeah.
• 21:20
  Scott: One, Shorten. I'm going to start next year in high school, and I'm so scared, but I know it's better than public. Need all the help I can get.
• 21:29
  Christy-Faith: Yes. With what platform?
• 21:31
  Scott: Insta.
• 21:32
  Christy-Faith: And by next year, meaning that, like, not the fall of twenty twenty five, fall of twenty twenty six? Yeah. Okay. Or do you mean January? Like next year in January.
• 21:44
  That's what I yeah.
• 21:46
  Scott: We can wait to find out. Oh, mama k is a lurker.
• 21:49
  Christy-Faith: Who's a lurker? Mama k. What platform, mama k?
• 21:52
  Scott: TikTok. She's an interest led eclectic unit study
• 21:56
  Christy-Faith: Oh, how fun. Took the quiz, interest led eclectic and unit studies. What a beautiful education.
• 22:04
  Scott: Laura Kee is a long time lurker that just joined Thrive this week. Excited to Yes. Grow and invest in
• 22:11
  Christy-Faith: Okay. Laura, I saw you come in. I hope I get to meet you on the face to face because you know what my face looks like, but I don't know what your face looks like. But I saw you come in, and I don't know. I think I've seen you quite a bit because I was like, Laura, is that the Laura?
• 22:28
  The lurker Laura? Oh my goodness. I love it. Yeah. So and by the way, it's there is zero risk to joining.
• 22:38
  We are closing tonight at midnight. You will not be able to join tomorrow. We are getting to work with our fall of twenty twenty five class, but it is risk free, you guys. You have a thirty day money back guarantee. So if you are on the fence, I would highly suggest that you hop in and then just make your decision later because you will not be able to get in tomorrow.
• 22:59
  Even and I hate to say it, we get this every time. We get emails. Oh, please. And it's like, do we've literally have warned you guys for three straight weeks. So no.
• 23:13
  No. We don't we really don't. And it it breaks our heart, but it's not honoring the women who did. Right? So tomorrow, no one we will be closed.
• 23:22
  My website will say, wanna get on the wait list. Yeah.
• 23:25
  Scott: Gloria, I have not figured out how to teach science after five years of homeschooling.
• 23:30
  Christy-Faith: Yeah.
• 23:30
  Scott: Last year was with a eight year old, five year old, and 18.
• 23:35
  Christy-Faith: I have ideas for you.
• 23:37
  Scott: She's on YouTube.
• 23:38
  Christy-Faith: Yeah. Gloria. Yeah. Gloria, I have ideas for you with science. I don't like teaching science either.
• 23:44
  Yeah. I love learning. But
• 23:47
  Scott: Hillary Jordan, I have a two year old twins with my second grader. Oh. This is the craziest time ever.
• 23:53
  Christy-Faith: Yes. Girl, are you in Thrive? Is she in Thrive?
• 23:56
  Scott: I don't know.
• 23:57
  Christy-Faith: Oh, my goodness. You're gonna love the office hours just to come and cry. Yeah. I remember that. I had so I you guys, my story is, so I have a history of infertility.
• 24:09
  And so we had my son and then we couldn't get pregnant with him for years. Got my son, could get pregnant again. With treatments, got twins. Right? Controversy.
• 24:20
  I know. In the we we were at a church that was kind of anyway, we were very judged for our infertility treatments. Anyway, we don't go to that church anymore. So but okay. So and by the way, I am a strong Christian.
• 24:39
  You should know that. Our group is not Thrive Homeschool Community is not a Christian homeschooling group. We call ourselves nonsectarian because I also am not comfortable calling us a secular group because we're not. All faiths are in there. All faiths are welcome.
• 24:56
  The majority of our demographic is similar demographic of homeschoolers, which is in the 70% professing Christian. But that is pretty that would be expected because that is our that's what our landscape looks like nationally as well in terms of homeschooling. So where was I on a tangent? Oh, about the IVF? Oh, yeah.
• 25:21
  Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So we we got the twins, and then we had seven month old twins. And I found out that I was naturally pregnant, which I'm not supposed to naturally get pregnant, naturally pregnant with our bonus baby, another girl.
• 25:37
  So we have one boy and three girls, and it is a wild ride. But yeah. So my twins and the youngest were eighteen months apart. People thought I had triplets for years because my twins were small, because they were preemies, and then their sister was full term. So for a long time and she's really tall.
• 25:58
  She got my genetics. And so she is the the same size and same height as her twin sisters. So anyway, that's kind of fun. That was an extra slice you didn't ask for.
• 26:10
  Scott: Question. Should I join today if she's not gonna going until next school year?
• 26:15
  Christy-Faith: No. No. If you're not homeschooling until fall of twenty twenty six, no. It's too early to join. Yeah.
• 26:25
  Scott: Erica Thompson, my pre
• 26:27
  Christy-Faith: Erica.
• 26:28
  Scott: My preconceived idea of what homeschooling should look like really caused a lot of heartache at first. Crafting homeschooling to fit our life took some time, but starting next year for now and loving every minute
• 26:40
  Christy-Faith: Aw.
• 26:40
  Scott: We never would have made it there without Christy-Faith and the Thrive community.
• 26:44
  Christy-Faith: Can you screenshot that? That is so sweet, Erica. Okay. So before we move on to the next thing, if you're new here and you're already a fan of the show, one of the things that helps our show reach far and wide is your engagement. And what I mean by that is liking, subscribing, commenting, sending to friends.
• 27:05
  What it does is it tells those little robots behind the screen that this show is worth listening to. And then the show gets pushed out, and it reaches homeschooling moms everywhere or maybe homeschool curious moms that are scared to start. So if you haven't already, please engage in some way. We thank you so much for that. It's just a small thing that you can do in the fifteen seconds that is taking me to talk right now, but it is not small to us.
• 27:27
  We appreciate it so much. We are incredibly thankful. So please go ahead and do that right now while you're listening. Because I wanna tell the Thrive members because you know how the ladies that joined on that, they got that special thing? The the time with me, the Zoom with me.
• 27:44
  I wanted to make sure the Thrive members knew like, if they came to that, that was one that's so sweet. But sorry. You you're experiencing a conversation with me and Scott right now. This is how we talk about things. Scott, don't you think that the Thrive members who came, who didn't have to because they get everything they need in Thrive, don't you think they should be invited to that Zoom?
• 28:03
  Yeah. I know. I'm wondering if we can how we would find that out.
• 28:09
  Scott: That would be difficult.
• 28:09
  Christy-Faith: That would be difficult. Any ideas? Oh, okay. Anyway.
• 28:15
  Scott: Denise is here. The campaign is pulling up. Can't wait. Attended an office hour yesterday and really enjoyed it.
• 28:21
  Christy-Faith: Oh, good Laura. Yeah. Laura's new. She's the one. She was the lurker.
• 28:26
  Denise is here on TikTok. She is one of our Thrive mentors.
• 28:30
  Scott: Kendra's here.
• 28:31
  Christy-Faith: And look at and Kendra's here. And I you guys, I don't even ask my Thrive mentors. I don't even ask them to come to these lives. You guys are so sweet. What are you doing right now, Denise?
• 28:43
  Hopefully, you're eating chocolate and having some of your specialty.
• 28:47
  Scott: Well, we do have another question.
• 28:48
  Christy-Faith: Okay.
• 28:49
  Scott: Thoughts on self directed education?
• 28:51
  Christy-Faith: Yes. Oh, boy. Do I have I have thoughts on self directed education. What platform? What person?
• 28:59
  Scott: TikTok.
• 28:59
  Christy-Faith: Okay. Yeah.
• 29:00
  Scott: Unfed soul.
• 29:02
  Christy-Faith: Yeah. Okay. So this is a conversation that I would love to sit at a Starbucks or maybe a better coffee place with pour over or something. Sit there with you for an hour, like with a chocolate croissant and a coffee, and talk about the pedagogy of unschooling. Because although I love the idea the idea of unschooling, there is some dangers there.
• 29:29
  And part of it is I believe that at the root, there are some misunderstandings. Let me let me make sure I'm very clear because I do do interest led learning in my home. Okay? So I wanna be very clear. I do think that a true blue unschooler and that philosophy has a misunderstanding of human nature at its very very core.
• 29:56
  And so should I do a podcast on this? Yeah. I was telling someone this the other day, and they're like, Christy, why haven't you done a podcast on that? And it wasn't a it was another homeschool leader. Who was that, Scott?
• 30:10
  Were we on a Zoom with somebody? We were. You remember who that was?
• 30:14
  Scott: I don't.
• 30:14
  Christy-Faith: You don't remember. He has to hear me talk all the time. So
• 30:18
  Scott: I like it.
• 30:19
  Christy-Faith: Here's thanks, babe. Okay. So here's the thing. I love interested learning. We have a lot of research that shows that intrinsic motivation is found when there is autonomy.
• 30:31
  Okay? So a way to view about a way to view this. And also with play, by the way, a lot of research connecting intrinsic motivation and play. So I am very interested in intrinsic motivation because one of the reasons why I homeschool is because I want my kids to want to learn, and I want them to love learning. I really try to balance honoring my kids' desires, honoring their talents.
• 30:57
  I'm a student of my own children, and I try to present to them opportunities where I can see those things flower. I also don't really give my kids tests because I just want the love of learning to be there. I don't wanna put those external pressure on them, yet I am a very academic person. However, however, k, is what this is a hill that I will die on. It is not a good idea to be a true blue unschooler, let your kids and you follow that lifestyle.
• 31:27
  I call it more of a lifestyle because it really is. You have to have a lot of buy in to be an unschooler. And my unschooly people, it's okay if you're here right now. And by the way, we can disagree. It is okay.
• 31:38
  But it is not okay with me that you don't find out that your junior in high school has severe dyslexia, and that is why they were never interested in reading. That's just not okay with me. So I have some non negotiables in educating children. And to the extent where if those things are not covered, I would put that in the category of educational neglect. That's quite a hot take you just heard there, because there are ramifications to what I just said.
• 32:17
  So I love the research. I love John Holt, Peter Gray. It's it's solid, but it's not there are some flaws in my professional opinion. There are some flaws. And that is why I love interest led learning, but I also believe that we have a responsibility to ensure that our kids are well educated.
• 32:43
  That's where I stand. And I have thought a lot about it. I have ruminated over this because in as a homeschool advocate, I want nothing more than to just be all in with all the pedagogies. Like, yeah. You do it, girl.
• 32:58
  You do it, girl. That's one where, okay, maybe not all in on that one. A lot of women call themselves unschoolers, but they're kinda more unschool y. And I cannot tell you how many women come to Thrive because they were unschooling, and they are in an absolute panic because the promises that unschooling gave them was not the reality, and we are scrambling to catch up, finding out that kid has learning disabilities, getting diagnoses, and scrambling late late. So okay.
• 33:35
  That was a lot. Was that edgy? Who's mad at me now? You can be mad at me. It's cool.
• 33:40
  I can handle it. I have to tell you about something because it falls squarely in the category of things I wish someone had told me sooner. Real quick sponsor moment. Don't fast forward. We love our sponsors.
• 33:51
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• 34:02
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• 34:21
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• 34:41
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• 35:01
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• 35:12
  It takes under two minutes. You'll type up everything that you or your family needs, and it will tell you what you should be paying. And then you're gonna spit out your water. But while you're doing that, you're gonna run to the phone. And when you call, they will walk you through everything.
• 35:24
  Make sure to tell them that you're a listener of the show because I want you to have the VIP treatment. Summithealthshare.com. Link is in the show notes. You know how when you meet another homeschool family and you end up talking for, like, an hour? Swapping recommendations, sharing what's working, telling them about the pediatrician who actually gets it, where to get the best deal on sprouted flour.
• 35:43
  That's how we just are. We take care of each other. That's the whole idea behind the Christy-Faith list. It's a directory of all types of businesses and organizations who share our values and want to work with homeschool families, and it is always free to search. All those recommendations were always passing around.
• 36:01
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• 36:18
  Support the people who support you at the christyfaithlist.com. Okay. Sip of water? Oh, they're not mad at me? I tried to choose my words carefully there.
• 36:28
  Scott: Are there any homeschooling single moms inside of Thrive?
• 36:32
  Christy-Faith: Oh, yeah. There are. There are. Yeah. And I'm so glad they're there too.
• 36:36
  We have working moms. We have single moms. We have a couple of dads. We are kind of a support group vibe. We love our dads.
• 36:46
  We love our dads, but the dads generally don't like coming to the office hours because we're like, you know, we're crying and, their emotional times. But the dads who are homeschooling their kids really value my frameworks. And I'm glad that we have a place for everybody. Yeah. What podcast episode am I filming tomorrow?
• 37:05
  I'm gonna try to film two tomorrow. You guys might not know this, but like a lot of us, like podcasters, we we batch film. And so I'll, like film one, and then as that one is uploading, I'll go upstairs, change my earrings, change my shirt, and then come back down and film another. I don't know why I do that. Like, you guys don't care.
• 37:24
  I could be in the same shirt for two episodes, but I just it's something that I do. On a good day, I can film three in a day, because I like having my, like, deep work of writing, and then getting episodes done, and then I can have, like, the deep work of the filming. Plus, who wants to wear makeup every day?
• 37:42
  Scott: Mama k's
• 37:42
  Christy-Faith: I don't. Like, probably at orientation tomorrow, I may not be in makeup because I have had to go live and wear my okay. Sorry. Go ahead. K's
• 37:52
  Scott: Midnight in which time zone? She wants to know when Thrive is closing.
• 37:56
  Christy-Faith: Oh, yeah. What? I don't even know what time zone.
• 37:58
  Scott: Pacific.
• 37:59
  Christy-Faith: Pacific? Okay. Great. Pacific. It's all automated.
• 38:04
  So tomorrow, we have so Thrive closes tonight. Tomorrow, we have orientation. That's gonna be such a great Zoom, and then we're gonna enjoy the holiday weekend. The following Monday is when that whole group program is starting, and it's gonna be fabulous. We're so excited about it.
• 38:19
  Today, Marni and Julie and I were together making the plan for our orientation Zoom tomorrow and how we're gonna handle things. It's gonna be great. They're gonna give me five minutes to talk tomorrow. And I might not be in makeup. I might be in a sweatshirt, you guys, and wearing glasses because I've had to I had to do all those webinars.
• 38:40
  We're wrapping up in five minutes, people. It's been an hour already. That's crazy. If you wanna set me up, try to corner me. You can get me on a soapbox if you get me mad enough right now.
• 38:52
  What was the person last night? Oh, that person. Homeschooling's okay if you get it right. Like, the school system's doing such a knockout job. Right?
• 39:05
  Unbelievable. And what the other night, what was the other troll? I forgot what that person was saying about homeschooling. Oh, oh, the oh, yeah. The child abuse thing.
• 39:18
  So, you know, because that's kind of you've read books like Educated where like these since they and that there's stories that make the news like chirpins very sad, very real, legit, I mean, heartbreaking. But the problem is is that more kids generally speaking, the homeschool population are we aren't the child abusers, which is really, really sad. And, statistically, our kids are far less likely to be abused than kids in the public school system, not only by peers, but also by teachers. So, there's just you know, bad people do bad things. You don't blame the vehicle for the bad behavior.
• 40:00
  Right? It's like you can drive to start you can get in your car and drive to Starbucks, or you can get drunk and get in your car to drive to Starbucks. Your car isn't the problem. You are. So there's bad people that send their kids to public school.
• 40:18
  There's bad people that homeschool. It doesn't mean that we should lose our freedom to homeschool just because there's some really bad people that do it. It would be like you take away every car because a couple of bad people don't use cars well. You know? So it it makes me sad.
• 40:37
  But the reason why it feels different, the argument feels different is it's because we care about kids. And that and that's what I always have to remind myself is that everyone just wants to protect children. We all do. It it's heartbreaking. It's heartbreaking.
• 40:53
  And so that's why we're so reasonably priced for what you get. Okay. Are we good? Did any last questions come in? Thrive does close at midnight tonight, and it's over.
• 41:05
  And it's over. Can I tell you? I am going to sleep. Can you guys have you guys have seen me all over social media this week and on those webinars, and I've loved every second of it, but I think I'm gonna crash. You know what I'm oh, you know what I should be worried about?
• 41:20
  Denise. Are you still here, Denise? Becca. Becca. I'm worried I'm gonna get, like, in the because of all this energy.
• 41:29
  You know what happened to me after the speaking season where I got into a little slump because it was, like, such adrenaline, and then it, like, ended. And I got into a little a little slump. Do you think that'll happen? I don't know. Yeah.
• 41:42
  Denise, do you think I'm a a depression risk after this? Oh. I was telling Becca we need like a Christy self care Zoom call. Yeah. Beverage of choice and I know.
• 42:02
  Right, Becca? Crash. Yeah. Wait. What did she say?
• 42:07
  Crash, burn, recover. I know. I think I need my tribe to come around me after this week because
• 42:13
  Scott: Julie g says, no. All the new excitement and thrive inner energy and thrive will carry you.
• 42:18
  Christy-Faith: You think so, Julie? Okay. Is she on TikTok or Instagram? What's Julie on right now?
• 42:23
  Scott: She's on TikTok.
• 42:24
  Christy-Faith: Yeah. Vitamin d. Two. Pilates and Pilates.
• 42:29
  Scott: Yeah. There you go.
• 42:31
  Christy-Faith: Yeah. I'll get out. I'll wake up in the morning. I'll make sure I get my walk in and I get to see the mountains. I'm gonna tell you guys, I'm probably gonna not be in makeup for orientation.
• 42:40
  People oh, my goodness. Have I ever told you, I do need to go. Maybe we can just chitchat now. But one time, we had a person who was helping us with the podcast, I think it was. And that person had seen me on my podcast, and that person was not in our time zone.
• 43:02
  And so we had to wake up really early to meet with this person. And so I'm in the sweatshirt, and I'm wearing my glasses because I hadn't put my contacts in. I have no makeup on. The person did not they thought that I was a representative. They did not realize it was me, and the person was talking about me as if I wasn't there.
• 43:23
  And I was like, it's you know it's me. Right? And they're like, what? It was like, oh my goodness. Do I catfish people?
• 43:30
  I mean, not really. I'm almost 50. There's no catfishing happening here, but it's it's real. My kids think I look like a different person without makeup. So okay.
• 43:42
  Enough about me. This whole thing's about them anyway and you guys. So I love you so much. Everybody, please grab those freebies that I have for you. Let's get to know each other on my podcast.
• 43:59
  I get really snarky on there. It's super fun. So listen to my podcast. Grab my freebies if you're ready to dive in. It is risk free to join Thrive Homeschool Community, and it does close at midnight tonight.
• 44:12
  So and if you do join, then I will see you tomorrow at orientation, and I love you all. Okay. Bye. I hope this summer homeschool help desk episode gave you a little encouragement and one clear next step for your homeschool. If we mentioned any resources today, you'll find them in the show notes.
• 44:29
  And if this one helped you at all, will you do me a favor? Send it to another homeschool mom who could use a little clarity this week. Now you know the one because here's the thing, friend. You do not have to figure this out alone, and you definitely don't have to build your homeschool off random Internet advice at midnight. I'm so glad you're here.
• 44:47
  I am cheering you on, and we'll talk soon.