Latest / Outside the Box Education Podcast / The Biggest Lessons I’ve Learned in 12 Years of Homeschooling » with Mindi Eldredge
Transcript
- Outside the Box Education: Welcome to Outside the Box Education Podcast, where we believe education was never meant to be a one-size fits-all. I'm your host, Melissa Whitaker. Whether you're homeschooling, considering homeschooling, or simply looking for a better way to educate your children, you're in the right place. Together, we'll explore how to homeschool with confidence. Let go of the pressure to do it perfectly and create an education that truly fits your family. So take a deep breath, think outside the box, and let's learn together. Okay, let's get started. So I want to introduce our guest today. Our guest is Mindy Eldridge. However, she is less of a guest than I am. Mindy is the creator and the woman who is behind outside the box education. So, ⁓ Mindy, tell us about yourself. We want to get to know you a little bit and we want to know why you started Outside the Box Education and the podcast. Well First off, thank you, Melissa, for being the host of this. I am super excited for the episodes and everything that's gonna happen with this podcast. I I have felt really impressed upon my heart a desire to help families that want to homeschool or are feeling called to homeschool. Maybe they're feeling called to homeschool but they're afraid or don't know where to begin or just feel overwhelmed by having to jump from website to website to person to person. I just want a place where families can come and even those that are have already started or in the middle of homeschooling, somewhere where families can come and receive support, guidance. ⁓ especially here on this podcast, I'm excited to hear just the everyday stories of homeschoolers all across the world and what they have found to help. I think it's it's really true, like it takes the village to raise a child and even though we are the parents raising our children, I think a village can be the ideas and support of other ⁓ parents, other homeschoolers helping helping each other as, you know, mothers and fathers sharing ideas. I think I think the most successful homeschool families are those that reach others. for support, reach others that have experience with different situations or just have have more years in their belt, or more years in their bag, I guess you could say, of years that they've home schooled and learned different different ways to handle things and what works and what doesn't. So Yeah. I agree. No, I think it's I think this is very, very needed. I I think it will be an incredible asset for Like you said, people who are just starting, or maybe people who have been doing it for a while and need new ideas. So tell me a little bit about your family. Tell us about your kids. How old are they? Tell me where you're at in your homeschool journey. I have three children. My oldest is 20, and he will be starting college here in just a couple months. ⁓ he has been doing some other service right now. ⁓ prior to beginning college, but he is done with homeschool. And then my second one, she is seventeen. She is a senior in homeschooling. I if you could say senior, it's her last year homeschooling. And she actually just this last year started concurrent enrollment with one of the universities in the area. So she will mostly be doing concurrent enrollment college classes. and then next year we'll actually go in person once once she's officially eighteen and on her own. And then my youngest, he is 13, almost 14. And we're at a different stage now where my kids are older and homeschooling looks a little bit different because they're a lot more independent. But it's fun. It's fun to see them grow and develop and see the things that I've done over the years, see how they have benefited, how homeschooling has blessed their life. So we've this is we're going into our 12th year homeschooling. And my oldest, he went to public school through third grade and my second one went to kindergarten and then at that point I'd wanted to homeschool from the beginning, but it took me a few years to convert, as I like to say, convert my husband to homeschooling and now he loves it as much as I do. So what led you to homeschooling then? If you started in the public school, tell was it not working for you? What what made you jump in, shall we say? So before my kids were born I was a public school teacher. I taught in the elementary. I taught fifth grade. And then after that I taught second grade and I loved it. And as you know, you you being my sister, I wanted to be a teacher from the day day I was born almost. But I wanted to be home with my children. So once my oldest was born, I came home and became a full time mom at home. And I kept I I just wanted to be part of their education because I love teaching and I wanted to experience that with my own children. Really the biggest hesitation was my husband having no idea what was involved with homeschooling. I think he was worried about my stress level, also, you know, the typical questions that peop people that haven't homeschooled like what about their social life and all the things and The thing that really changed him since I was on board from day one was both of my kids that were in the public school, my oldest and the second one, both had their learning styles were not being met in public school classroom. They needed more hands-on. They both needed to be able to move more. I think learning was fun to to them prior to school and it became more of a chore and I didn't want it to be a chore anymore. I just wanted them to love learning and I also wanted them to succeed where sitting down being quiet and filling in a worksheet just didn't work. It may work for some kids, it didn't work for them. And when my husband saw them really struggle, that's when he was like, All right, let's try it out and we tried it that first year and there's been no turning back since. So we didn't we didn't discuss before we got on the podcast whether we were gonna talk about the fact that we're sisters, but Mindy is the oldest and I'm the second, and we're sisters. And my earliest memories, probably some of my earliest memories, is Mindy wanting to play. And she would be the teacher and I would be the student and she would make worksheets for me and she would make me do the math. And I only wanted to play if I was the naughty kid, the missing. And she was not okay with that. She needed me to sit down and get the work done. And it's funny, here we are. She's still she's still bossy. Just kidding, not really. But here we are. kind of going on the same journey, but like in our own separate ways. So do you have a certain homeschool ⁓ method that that you do? Tell me about what your process is. I think my process has been a little bit unique. ⁓ when I first started homeschooling, it pretty much was schooling at home. Because I caught in the public schools, I just I sat up the classroom, like obviously it was smaller, but a classroom with a big whiteboard and all the posters on the walls and and that was fun and it was fine. ⁓ but I quickly realized, okay, this is very different. It's not it's not a like a typical public school classroom. ⁓ and and not only is it not a public school classroom, but I quickly realized learning happens all day, every day, and it doesn't need to be confined to the these four walls. Anyways, as I learn more and more about homeschooling, learn more about homeschooling methods, I would say that I'm an eclectic homeschooler. ⁓ especially maybe after the first couple of years, I Really started taking from lots of different methods and philosophies. And some of them that I think I've really done from are like a Charlotte Mason method, a Montessori method, the TJ Ed method. But even just like unit studies. I did a lot of unit studies when I was a public school teacher, and I love bringing in multiple subjects and teaching them. Like if I'm teaching them about something in history, well, our language arts lessons can be reading classic books that are about things that have happened in history and different things like that. ⁓ most recently, probably maybe six or seven years ago, I learned about heart education and it was the missing piece that I didn't even realize we were missing. We had the academics down, I was teaching to their learning styles, I was bringing in beautiful literature and all those things. And then I learned about heart education where the focus is really on strengthening a love of learning using story, the arts, but also building a strong relationship with the parent and child, where the most important thing is the child's relationship with the parent, the child's relationship ⁓ to learning and the child's relationship to God. And when when that has been the number one thing, everything else fell in place. And and I realized I could have the best curriculum, I could have the you know, most perfect strategies for helping my kids stay on top of things, yada yada. And none of that really made a difference until I made sure that my connection with them, my their connection with God, me f doing things to foster that, and their connection where they love learning. Then then they've been able to take off and and not only that, I think they were successful before we implemented higher education, but when we added that last element, the whole atmosphere in our house just the jo th I just feel like it added so much joy and peace and happiness. And it was that last puzzle piece what I didn't even know what we were missing in homeschool. Cool. Okay, so I the way that I homeschool is very different from the way that you've homeschooled. I don't know about heart education. ⁓ I'm sure we're gonna have listeners who are brand new who don't know about Charlotte Mason or TJ Ed or some of these ways of doing things. So do you have any references? That you would want to send people if they like the idea of like, ⁓ I love the idea of heart education. Is there somewhere that you would want to send them that they could understand better what you're talking about and why you love it so much? Yeah, along with our podcast, we're building a website called outside the box.education. So outside the box.education no dot com. And there we were developing it right now and already have some of the resources and we'll be continually being adding to it. ⁓ we have articles there. We have YouTube videos there we're creating. There'll be more podcasts. I actually have already written article about Charlotte Mason. I just finished one up about heart education and then next will probably be TJ Ed. By the time people see this podcast, well there'll be quite a few articles there. ⁓ going over each different method and ⁓ But also I think here it'll be fun to hear how different families have implemented different methods too. So we really want to provide all of these resources for families with outside the box dot education. So go there and ch and check it out. Perfect. What you are creating is is gonna be the go to place where people who have no idea or want new ideas can go and kind of figured out. I think it's very, very needed. So I think it's amazing. Okay, tell me, is there a certain moment that you've had in your homeschool journey where you were like, okay, this is it. We this is that beautiful moment where this is why we're homeschooling. Yeah, there have been quite a few points where I just am so excited ⁓ to see what's happening with with my children and with our relationship. But I think the most powerful and impactful moment or has been groups of several moments is to watch my middle child flourish. So my middle child she has dyslexia and she loves to move. And I've actually shared it on our YouTube channel a video about her some more so you can hear more about her story. But I quickly realized in a nutshell that that her learning style was very, very different. And also her learning needs were different too with dyslexia. She couldn't use your standard phonics method to learn to read. And it took a lot of ⁓ thought, a lot of prayer, a lot of experimenting with different methods. reading methods or or reading instruction for her and I also required a lot of me to let go, where I just wanted everything to be a certain way and all of our ducks to be in a row and her to sit there quietly and not move. And it took I just kept feeling impressed upon my heart that I needed to go at her pace and really teach to her her style. And that was hard because In my mind I was like, reading is everything. For her to do all all of these things, she needs to be able to read. And I was like, she's gonna be behind. Everyone's gonna notice. And I had to realize, no, no one's behind. One person learns to r might learn to read real quick, but they can't play sports or make do crafts or or they're socially they struggle. We all have different areas. And nobody is exactly the same on every every academic or emotional or social or physical learning. That's it's just not the way it is, and it's not the way God designed. Anyways, I had to let go and I still work with her daily, but I didn't make it rushed. I got rid of those expectations that I'd been putting on myself and that society put us and When she was so like I said, she she hated reading, hated writing, ⁓ as a little child. And I after doing all of these things and and helping learning be fun, she was I think probably about fourteen years old and she came to me one day and she was like, Mom, I don't feel like I'm studying or learning as much as I want to be. I want I want to do more. And she created a schedule for herself with all the subjects. ⁓ she and I talked about okay, what things do you want to be learning that you haven't learned yet? And she added like more to her routine. And actually she's done that a couple years since. And it was her. She was the one that came and wanted it. She like, ⁓ I want my friends. at school they're learning this, I wanna learn this, or I wanna be able to do this. And it was really driven by her. So that that was the first where I was like, ⁓ my gosh, what I felt in my heart, but I'm like afraid to death that it will not happen. It did. And then now as a senior in high school, seventeen year old, the last couple years, she has taken I mean she took to reading It was probably her middle school year where we really figured out ⁓ what she needed to be successful w with dyslexia, which dyslexia we learned. I could give a whole podcast about it, but we learned quickly that's just a different way of learning to read, not a deficit at all. Anyways, once we figured that out, her her sophomore junior and senior year now, she loves reading. And if we're like where is where is she at? She's in the front room, curled up with a book. And these are books, like big, hefty books. And she reads and she reads and she asks for more books. Mom, will you buy me some more books? Mom, I want these books. And She is a testament of trusting that those that mother's intuition of what our child needs and moving and the pace and giving them what they need. And now she's a senior taking college level classes and and is finding a lot of success and joy in being able to do that. You are a testament of what you saw at the very beginning, that things weren't quite working, that the the school system wasn't quite meeting her needs. And it's so hard, but you trusted yourself like you were a testament of of following what you knew in your gut needed to happen, even if you didn't know how it was going to happen. So tell me a little bit about homeschooling different ages of kids. So I yeah, ⁓ we definitely we have three and four years between each of them and so they have never been like on the same grade if they were in public school or this gra same level. But the way I've found, and this took some time, ⁓ but I found that there are things that we can learn together. We've always done history and science together, and when I teach w more to the highest level But make it interactive enough that even the youngest level feels involved. Each of them are gaining information and really it's layered. Like the youngest one might be learning something in science now. We talk about it several years later, and he's he's hearing the repetition of things he's learned before and just cementing in our read alouds we together do together, our creative writing. we would all write things and then we would share and the kids could hear me share what I was writing and they would learn from what I was writing. But they could hear the older, you know, the older brother share his writing down to the youngest. And in sharing, one, you naturally just grow in your writing by hearing what you're writing. But the youngers can learn from the older and the older they can share. And as they share with others, it gr it automatically helps them grow in their confidence and their abilities. So I think a lot of things like that can all be done together. math, even there's a lot of math things that can be done and like if you're learning multiplication facts for a younger child, the older child can play a game where they're interacting and it only strengthens what the older knows and helps the young one ⁓ learn it. But there are some things that we've done independently, like, you know, reading. they're not all at the same level of reading. and and even ⁓ math specific lessons. And what I'll do for that, after we do our opening things like our science and our history and different things like that together, then the older kids, I'll have them work on something independent. Like the oldest, he might might be reading a book. And then the middle one, she might be working on some math facts or her spelling words. And then the youngest one I'm doing a lesson with. Once I'm done with the lesson with the youngest one, I'll be like, Okay, this is the assignment. Now that you've done the lesson with me, you can go do these independently. Or you can go play this this math game or whatever. And he'll go and then he'll do that independently. I bring in the middle child and then So basically it's just a rotation. So they all have independent things that they can be practicing and working on while I'm doing a lesson with the other. ⁓ and and the youngest, he he won't have nearly as much to do, so it might be once he's done with those things, he can go and quietly play or quietly read. Or there might be a computer lesson that w that we found that we like for him to do or or even a educational video for him to watch. But they all have something to do while we rotate through. And really, with I mean this obviously depending on how many kids you have it's gonna ad the time is going to adjust, but really doing it this way, we are able to homeschool in about three to four hours a day and then be done. And I think too, if you have more kids, the older ones are not gonna need as long of lessons with mom as the younger ones. So the rotation time doesn't always have to be the same based upon each child. Yeah, that's that's something that I feel like I I was thinking as you say that. Homeschooling it's it's the quality you can get it in in such a a shorter amount of time. It's not an entire lengthy day or or take time in the middle of it and make it a lengthy day. But yeah, I think that's something that's good for people to know. What do you feel like you wish more people did understand about homeschooling? I I wish people understood that they don't have to have a college degree, they don't have to be a an educator. There are so many resources and for different methods, different co ops, just other people and and then like resources we're building now with this podcast and the website, there is so much out there and It may be a lot in the beginning, but we we were really working to make it easy step by step. Like here's the first first thing you'll want to do when homeschooling and the next and there's just so much available out there and not only is there so much out there, but you don't have to know everything. I don't know everything as I've taught my kids. I I can tell you the amount that I have learned teaching my kids versus when I was in the poet school system as a kid, it I probably learned just as much teaching them as I did then. And that's okay. That's actually really good. If my kids ask me a question and I don't know it, I don't pretend to know the answer. I show them how to find the answer and we go look in books, we go search the internet together, and that is actually super powerful. Because they learn how to learn by watching you as a parent learn. ⁓ and they get excited when they see you excited. So even if even if you didn't go to college at all, there there are so many r resources that guide you as a homeschool parent in teaching that help you n walk through the lessons and that's actually something we'll be adding more to outside the box education too is different lessons and ⁓ curriculum and materials that can be used too and we'll be actually sharing and suggesting different curriculums that we have found most successful and or what might work with different learning types. So the sky is the limit for homeschooling. I don't think anyone should ever feel constrained ⁓ by I I can't teach or whatever and And I hear a lot of times parents are like, I don't know if I can be with my kids all day. You don't have to be as a homeschooler. Right now my kids go to classes two days a week where they're classes with other homeschoolers. When they were younger, ⁓ sometimes there would be community classes they would go in here and there. I know some families they develop a routine where at ⁓ s mom gets an hour or two in the afternoon where she is in her room reading a book and they have quiet time. Like there's so many things. Other families that are like dad has been assigned science and they do science with dad every Saturday and he takes them, you know, in the mountains to learn things and do things. Like there's so many creative ways that you can homeschool that every family can be successful and none of the families look the same. Because you can cater exactly to what your families need. I even know families who who work full time and they they do things different based upon, you know, their kids and their needs and do things at night or the weekends or or have different classes in the day. And i it it really, really is possible for everyone to be successful homeschooling. I love that you bring that up because going back to our childhood. You obviously have always loved education. And I have always hated like me personally, my education growing up, I I really just like drug myself through it. And so I agree. I feel like some people say, ⁓ I could never do it. Like I'm not smart enough. I don't have a degree. I don't I don't know how to educate. Sometimes like people like me, it's like going to school for the first time and you learn right along with them. ⁓ is there anything in particular that you feel like you love the most about home schooling? ⁓ I have a long list. That's a hard question because there's so many things. I love seeing my kids get excited about learning. I love those light bulb moments, and they're not every day, and not even every week. You know, there there have been years that have been harder and years that have been easier. but every every year I've had light bulb moments where like my c child is trying to figure something out and the light bulb goes on or they start a new class and they come home so excited or they sit down to write a paper about something, you know, as they're getting older and I'm like, ⁓ they know how like how are they gonna do? And they come back and they like amaze me or write some creative writing, you know, creative story and I'm like, whoa all of those stories, those read aloud stories have meant something because they've developed this vocabulary that I didn't even realize was growing. And really I think that comes down to relationships. I am integrally part of what they're learning and I'm part of the process, I guess. Like it's not all based just upon me, but I'm part of the process and I feel like our relationships are able to really flourish in all areas of their lives because I'm very much involved in what's going on. ⁓ and I think it's just blessed our family. And we're and I something I haven't even talked about now. We're able to because we homeschool, we're able to travel a lot. And so we'll we'll do what a lot of people call world schooling. We don't do it full time like some, but we're able to go on trips in the middle of the school year and and learn by being out and experiencing the world. There's just there's so much that I love about home schooling. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Okay, amazing. Do you have any advice or anything particular that you feel like would help people who are new to homeschooling? ⁓ something that you feel like you just need them to know. Yeah, I think the most important thing is to take your time. Don't feel rushed. Everything doesn't need to be taught to in one day, everything doesn't need to be taught in one year. You go at the pace you need and your family needs. There is this this urgency that's in society that my child's gonna be behind or they're not they're not gonna know something at a certain time. And I can tell you without a doubt that's not true. In fact, the more calm you are and at peace With your child's learning as a mom, the more they're gonna learn because they're not gonna feel this tension. They're not gonna have this stress. Whenever there's stress and anxiety, the amount of learning that happens is greatly reduced. Because the part of their brain that really learns is not the part like stress and anxiety activates the part of the brain that's the fight or flight, not the learning. There is a book called Teaching by Rest by Sarah Mackenzie that is Amazing. Teaching from Rest by Sarah McKenzie. And she talks about that and teaches families how to do that. I highly recommend every family start their homeschool experience reading that book, The Parent. because it sets you up for success and helps you pace yourself and helps you see what's really most important. We'll make sure we put a link somewhere. By your podcast. So that if people want to refer to that, they'll have that. Okay, awesome. ⁓ I'm sure this will not be the last time we hear from you. I think you're going to be a wealth of information. Obviously, you're not going anywhere. So I think we'll talk about things in the future. Probably we would need to have a whole nother podcast on dyslexia and some of the other ⁓ particulars that you would want to talk about. But I'm so grateful that we can get this podcast going. I really honestly think it's going to be such an asset. Is there anything else you want to add that we didn't cover? Don't give up. You will have hard days, but those hard days teach you so much about your kids and they help you in future days adapt. So don't let those hard days get you down. Those days you yell at your kids and you just go to bed and you just feel awful. It's okay. There's tomorrow. You can You can apologize, you can start anew, the kids can have a chance to apologize. Don't don't see those as as reasons to stop. Because they're just stepping stones for something bigger. And it will get better and each year will you'll ad adopt and change things and you'll get even more confident in your ability to homeschool. So don't give up. Yeah, and I agree. Those hard moments, don't forget that that can be education as well. That might not be the education they get in the public school system, but that's the amazing education they can get in the home. All right. I love it. I'm excited that we have opportunities that we can think outside the box. ⁓ thank you so much, Mindy. Thanks. Take care.