Latest / Outside the Box Education Podcast / What 15 Years of Homeschooling Taught This Mom of 5 | #5 with Heather Robison
Transcript
- Melissa Whittaker: Okay, so today we have Heather Robeson. I know Heather Heather Robison: Yes. Melissa Whittaker: actually from my childhood. We grew up in the same Heather Robison: Yes. Melissa Whittaker: neighborhood until I think I was twelve or thirteen when we moved. And so we've kind Heather Robison: Yeah. Melissa Whittaker: of seen each other through the years, but we were like childhood friends, right? Yep, yep. Heather Robison: Yeah, yeah, like two houses, three houses away. Yeah, just right down the road. Yes. Melissa Whittaker: So you gotta tell me all the things because I don't know about your current family. So introduce yourself, tell me a little about you and your family and how you got started in homeschooling. Heather Robison: Okay, yeah, my name is Heather Robinson. Me and my husband Jordan have five kids. We, so my oldest is 20 and my youngest is 12. So everything in between. We've been homeschooling for around 15 years now. So yeah, since 2011. Yeah, and it's been an adventure. So my oldest went to kindergarten at the public school and it was an all-day kindergarten. So it wasn't like half day like that they do care. And I volunteered to help in his kindergarten class and I loved his teacher and it was so fun to be able to go into the class and help out and there's like 30 kids in there. And after I've spent a lot of time in there, I just kind of noticed that there was A lot of fluff time in there. I mean, there has to be with that many kids and one teacher, right? Melissa Whittaker: Yeah. Heather Robison: And so I was, I just thought, you know, there's a lot of, like he could do a of this stuff at home and get it done so fast. So the time in school, with all that fluff time was one thing that started to like stick out to me. Another thing was, I started to think that I would love to be able to incorporate Christ into all of these different learning aspects. Like everything that he's learning, I feel like can tie back to Christ. mean, Christ is the center of, you know, our life. And that was important to me. And I never thought about homeschooling. It was never on my radar. I went to public school. So it was never something I thought of. One night, me and my husband were talking about all this and we were watching some documentary. This might sound interesting, but we were watching a documentary on the Amish and Melissa Whittaker: Mm. Heather Robison: we loved how like self-reliant they were. They, you know, they homeschool, they grow all of their own crops and gardens and all of the things. And at this time we were living in a small town. We already had a couple of animals and had a little garden and So like, know what, why don't we just try it? Like we have one kid in school right now. So starting first grade, we decided to just give it a shot, try to homeschool, see how it go. And then it just stuck. So that's kind of how we got started. Melissa Whittaker: Okay, okay. So do you I'm sure it kind of evolved, but do you have a certain way of homeschooling? How did you start out? Tell me kind of the evolution of that. Heather Robison: Yeah, so I think it took time to like reprogram my brain on school. Melissa Whittaker: Yeah. Heather Robison: I was so like, I only knew public school. So I tried to like copycat the public school in my home. And Melissa Whittaker: Yes. Heather Robison: so I think that over time and over, you know, having five different children who learn differently, My, I guess my way of teaching became eclectic. I went from like so structured, so like try to be public school to now over the years, many years, I've, I pull from so many different sources. And if I need to change something that's not working for one of my kids, like that's totally fine. As long as they're like learning and progressing, you know, I don't feel like. sticking just like a one size fits all curriculum is, you important compared to just like letting them learn on their own. So. Melissa Whittaker: Yeah. give me some examples. Tell me some things that you do differently now than when Heather Robison: Mm-hmm. Melissa Whittaker: you had first started homeschooling. Heather Robison: it was very, I mean, we're still structured and there's still a schedule, but I have become more lax over the years as far as like, you know, if we don't finish this entire curriculum this year and do all of the things and, you know, like I was so to the book and had to do everything and now I've become more flexible with each of my kids. I feel like if they, are struggling with something, whether it's reading or math or whatever, we'll spend time there. And if they are understanding concepts or understanding what we're learning in certain curriculums, that I feel like that they can skip it and focus more on what they need to or what their interests are. That's where I've kind of like switched my teaching for them and help guiding them. And also, Now that my kids are older, mean, my youngest is 12, I've really tried to focus more on them being independent learners. Of course, I'm there with them when they need help. you know, especially when we do like unit studies, we do that together. But I do want them to be able to learn or I wanted them to learn how to. Research their own things and learn on their own rather than we have to sit down with each of my kids for every single subject and teach them everything You know Well, that's kind of where it started in the beginning I felt like I had to sit with each one and and as I like Added a child as they were getting older It was starting to get stressful because I was so focused on like okay I have to spend this amount of time with this child this amount of time like I have to divvy out equally my time to each of my kids and Melissa Whittaker: Yeah, yeah. Heather Robison: In reality, that's not useful because some of my older kids can do things a little bit more independently where my time with my younger ones was more needed. Melissa Whittaker: Yeah, that's awesome. So tell me, I'm I'm curious. Heather Robison: Yeah. Melissa Whittaker: Can I ask, tell me a little bit about what your day or your week looks like. Tell me, I mean, before if you felt like you had to repeat homeschool, I assume you were regimented, Heather Robison: Mm-hmm. Melissa Whittaker: which it's funny because I was the same way, and I get the idea that a lot of people were. We get this idea Heather Robison: Mm. Melissa Whittaker: of of what school is supposed to look like, and then as our homeschool Heather Robison: Yeah. Melissa Whittaker: journey goes, we kind of figure out That's not exactly what works. So tell me a little bit Heather Robison: Yeah. Melissa Whittaker: about what your schedule looks like or or what you feel like is most successful now for you. Heather Robison: So our week or our days today are very different than how they were. In fact, right now, I actually don't have any of my kids home. Melissa Whittaker: Mm. Heather Robison: So my oldest daughter is a senior and she goes to a couple of classes at the high school. So she does a seminary, a religious class, and then she does a outdoor, it's like aqua culture or something. And then she does a sculpture class. So she does those at the high school on these on eight days. And my two younger boys, one is almost 15 and then my 12 year old, they do a homeschool wrestling class and that's where they are right now. So it's super convenient that we're able to have that flexibility. So our time or our days do look a lot different than they used to. I have to kind of go around my older daughter's schedule as far as if we do a unit study. So that's my favorite part of homeschooling is when we can all like learn together on a history or science or something together. So on B days, that's what we try to focus on in our afternoon is do a unit study. And then they each have their own... like we do teaching textbooks, so they do that on their own time. the language arts, the reading, the handwriting, the typing, all of the things, they have different curriculums. It's not just one curriculum that we use. So they do a lot of that on their own time in their independent study. And when they need help, I'm always there to help them figure out. different problems with math or if they're not understanding something with their language arts or whatever it is. So it's become flexible for me and it's been awesome to watch them adapt and grow and learn how to be independent learners. Melissa Whittaker: Yeah, yeah, that's beautiful. you mentioned wrestling. Tell me Heather Robison: Yes. Melissa Whittaker: I know just a little bit about your kids doing wrestling. so tell me how you use the high school to your advantage. I guess I guess I'm super interested to know how the sports work because I think there's so many families who are gonna be really interested. my kid wants to play football or wrestling or or Heather Robison: Mm-hmm. Melissa Whittaker: cheerleading. Tell me how you've navigated that 'cause I think that could be really helpful. Heather Robison: Yeah, so in Utah, know each state is different with sports, especially come high school and homeschooling. But here in Utah, you can absolutely homeschool and be able to participate in sports. So we've been very blessed that way. And I do think a lot of states allow it. I just don't know all the states, so you'd have to check. Melissa Whittaker: Yeah. Heather Robison: But yeah, starting ninth grade, Brayden, my oldest, started on the high school team and was able to wrestle all through high school on the team and it was awesome. It gave us the flexibility that we needed, you know? So. Melissa Whittaker: And is that during the school day or is that all after the public school day? All after that time frame? Heather Robison: So they do have one class for wrestling and then they always go after school. So like he would do, they did it fourth period, so the end of 8A. And so they would take that last period, but then they would continue wrestling after school as well. So you'd have to Melissa Whittaker: Thank you. Heather Robison: register through the high school to be in the wrestling class. But if that's the only thing that you registered for, that's totally fine. Melissa Whittaker: is there something that has helped shape the way that you do things? Heather Robison: Yeah, I think, I mean, I've done a lot of different research on trying to find different, like I have listened to some podcasts where like back in the day I loved the homeschool community and tried to get ideas from different moms and how everybody does things. And I think for me, the biggest thing that has helped me shape how I do things is my kids because they have different needs and I've had to. You know, what works for one family doesn't work for me. And so I've had to not compare or not try to meet different expectations because it's just different. with my kids, I've had to just adapt and do things our way. Does that make sense? Melissa Whittaker: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. No, I'm impressed. I'm learning as I as I interview some of you. You're such a good listener. I need I'm just really, really impressed with some of the moms who pay attention to their kids and are able to step out of the mold of what they're supposed to do. Heather Robison: Mm-hmm. Melissa Whittaker: and pay attention to what your kid needs. Like i it's just amazing to me. I'm really, really impressed with that. Tell me how your homeschooling Heather Robison: Thank you. Melissa Whittaker: has changed your relationship with your kids. Heather Robison: Hmm so It's been seriously the greatest experience. mean, there were a lot of days, you know, as my kids were younger that it was stressful and it was hard. And I felt like I needed a break. And now that I have two who have graduated and gone, I just, I am so grateful for that time that I had with my kids. Like, in fact, my second son, He just left, he's going on a mission and he just left last week. And, Melissa Whittaker: my goodness. Heather Robison: I know, I'm like, don't let the tears come. Melissa Whittaker: No no. my gosh, you a week ago, like this is a sensitive time for you. Heather Robison: It's... Yeah. yeah. He just left and when I came home from dropping him off, he had left a note right next to my bed and Melissa Whittaker: Mm. Heather Robison: the note basically went over how grateful he was that I homeskilled him and that I never sent him to the public school. I just was like instantly just crying because I always wondered like, my kids going to like, are they going to... be upset that I homeschooled them, are they going to wish they went to the public school? And reading that letter from him, it just validated all of those feelings. But my relationship with my kids is far deeper than it could have been if they went to the public school for sure. Not that you can't have those great relationships with your kids that are in the public school, but it was definitely. I mean, you get twice as much time with your kids when they're home all day every day and you're homeschooling them. So I'm so grateful. My daughter, who's a senior, she really is like my little best friend. She's a social butterfly. She loves friends, but she tells me everything, everything. And I'm so grateful for that. I don't think that she would tell me everything if she had always been in the public school. I did not tell my mom everything for sure, but I'm grateful that I have that with my daughter. Melissa Whittaker: that's beautiful. you are still her compass. I am gonna have to look up the name of the book, but I started reading a book recently and I put it down for a little bit, but it talks about when our kids get really, really social and their friends become their North Star. The direction that they look Heather Robison: Mmm. Melissa Whittaker: for direction, essentially. And that's beautiful that you are still her north star. You are still her compass. Like that's amazing. And and it is true. At some point our kids are gonna look in a different direction for influence and how amazing that is that you have a relationship with them that that they still look to you for that direction and advice and approval essentially. So that's really beautiful. Good job. Heather Robison: Yeah, thank you. thank you. I don't know. Melissa Whittaker: Pat yourself on the back, Mama. Heather Robison: It's not perfect and always learning, right? But I am Melissa Whittaker: Right. Heather Robison: grateful for the relationships I have with them. So. Melissa Whittaker: yeah. You're doing good. So tell me a little bit about your kids are getting older now, but how has it been homeschooling multiple children with different ages all at the same time? Heather Robison: it's, was a learning curve for sure when I, you know, started my fifth child and trying to learn or figure out how our days roll. but, one of the like most beautiful things that I've loved is because they're all at different ages. you know, as they've gotten older, some of my older kids who would do a lot of their school independently. If I needed help with some of the younger kids, like my older kids would come and help them. And Melissa Whittaker: Mm. Heather Robison: it was so cool to watch my older kids help my younger kids with some of their school, whether it was math or reading and because that gives them an opportunity to be a teacher like the older kids and it gives the younger ones an opportunity to be able to learn and connect with their older siblings. So all around it was an awesome experience to be able to watch that. So I think... Like I said, I had to let go of the idea of thinking that I had to separate my time equally with each of my kids because the younger kids really did need my attention more, needed more help from me. Melissa Whittaker: I think that's beautiful. I think it's also really amazing that I'm sure it helped your kids have a good relationship with each other, but I also think it really sets the education for your older kids to be able to teach to your younger kids. I think that in Heather Robison: Yeah. Melissa Whittaker: itself is very educational. helps them remember things. I I I think that's amazing. Surely they have great relationships. Do you feel like your kids all have good relationships with each other, especially because of home school? Heather Robison: Yes, I of course they bicker and fight with each other, but on a deep Melissa Whittaker: Yes. Heather Robison: level, for sure they all have a great relationship with each other. So, Melissa Whittaker: Yeah. Yeah. Heather Robison: and I do attribute that to homeschooling. Melissa Whittaker: Yeah, excellent. How have you prepared your home school teens for college admission and attendance? Talk to me about that. Heather Robison: so for us, I think the biggest drive for college, and this isn't for everybody, right? But it is sports. So my oldest son, he returned from a mission and he's now wrestling in college and has a scholarship. And so getting ready for everything that the college needs there's different rules if you're going to do sports in college and the NCAA is pretty strict about those rules. if... Melissa Whittaker: Different rules for home schoolers, you mean? Heather Robison: you have to track everything, every class. Every year you have to have so many credits and you have to have proof of all of this. So starting ninth grade for Brayden, we we kept all of his homeschool stuff that he did, all of his essays, all of his lessons. I would correct them all, give him grades on everything, give him a GPA. and keep track of all of those things so that when they do, you know, when you end up doing homeschool transcripts to send to the college, you have something physical that proves, know. I know there are some colleges that will just take your, you know, ACT or SAT scores and call it fine, but if you're gonna do something like with sports, and you have to go through the NCAA, you have to keep track of all of those things. Melissa Whittaker: Was there something that gave you direction of what to keep track of? tell me how you knew how to do that. Heather Robison: Yeah, so I went actually through the NCAA and looked at what their requirements are. So Melissa Whittaker: Okay. Heather Robison: I would say to other homeschool moms, if you're looking at sending your kid to college, I would start looking into the different type of colleges that you want because I know that there's a lot of scholarships for academics and different things, maybe not specifically just for sports. The way that I did it is I went to NCAA and looked at what their requirements are and what credits they had to have. And I just made sure that we did all of those credits. Melissa Whittaker: maybe from ninth grade on with that. Heather Robison: Yeah, and really, I mean, in ninth grade, that's still young to like for your child to know what they want to do, right? Like even Melissa Whittaker: Yeah. Heather Robison: when they're a senior, they're like, I don't know what I want to do. I don't know if I'm to go to college or so even if you just were to look at, you know, what what credits that are at the public school and go off of some of those, you know. like American history or all of the math credits or all of the things. Melissa Whittaker: so to see Heather Robison: Yeah. Melissa Whittaker: that your oldest child is successfully has a scholarship, in the college program. Heather Robison: yeah, two other boys were great wrestlers. Yeah, they put in a lot of work, but yeah. Melissa Whittaker: Awesome. Yeah. Well good for them. Okay, so tell me what is your favorite part of homeschool? What of tell me about some of those moments where you are like, this is exactly why we homeschool. Heather Robison: Yes. So, I mean, kind of what I said in the beginning, the biggest thing that I was excited for is the time that I would get with my kids, right? And as I've homeschooled throughout the years, all of the reasons why I love homeschooling has just like, I've just added this huge list of all the reasons why I love to homeschool. There's just so many things that you don't even think of that are. so beautiful and so awesome. I love that, you know, like some days it's hard having kids home all day and my house is kind of a wreck. And so I'm like, you know what, we're taking a break. Everybody's getting clean and they're all, they're all getting, you know, the learning aspect of keeping a tidy house or cooking or all of these things that like you don't really think of when you start homeschooling. Melissa Whittaker: Mm. Heather Robison: But some of my favorite favorite moments of homeschooling. We would do a lot of nature walks. Those were some of my favorite. We had a couple of other friends in the small town we lived in, the homeschool, then we would just take our school and we would go up in the mountains and we would read and do crafts and go on nature walks and nature journaling and just like the greatest time. Like who gets to do that for school all the time, right? Also, I love the flexibility of homeschooling with my kids doing sports. We traveled a lot for lot of tournaments out of state, and so that was a lot of time away from home. would, you know, we would usually leave on a Wednesday or Thursday, not get home till Saturday night. And so either we would try to get a lot of school done before we left or sometimes it would take a little bit. on the road with us. So that flexibility was huge. Or sometimes we would even do a little bit through summer. I mean, we usually do homeschooling similar to what the public school, you know, we start in August and get done in May, but sometimes we would take a little bit more time off in the school year. so we would sometimes, well, I would usually try to keep a little bit going through the summer, you know, some math and reading and writing. type of stuff just to keep their rhymes going. My husband owns his own business and he runs it from our house. And so having everybody home every day has Melissa Whittaker: Yeah. Heather Robison: been a blessing and it's been hard. But also a lot of days, you know, my husband would come into the school room and help some of my kids out with schoolwork or he would. you know, come in and make all the jokes and we take a little break and laugh. And so it was just a different way to connect on all the levels while we're learning, but also strengthening and creating deeper relationships with one another. So. Melissa Whittaker: Mm-hmm. No, I think it's it's really beautiful. It's your kids when when you stop and pause and clean the house and tidy up the house and and take a break, they're taking home ec classes. And Heather Robison: Yeah. Melissa Whittaker: you're out in nature, you're you're learning it's it's a science lesson, but it's teaching them to be curious. It's teaching them that learning is fun. I think it's beautiful. Heather Robison: Yes. Yeah. Melissa Whittaker: Really, really excellent. Well thank you, Heather, so much. I'm I'm Heather Robison: Yeah. Melissa Whittaker: very, very grateful to be able to hear how you've navigated sports because it sounds like that's been a really, really important part of your homeschooling and what your boys want to do for their future. And it's really helpful for us to be able to Heather Robison: Yes. Melissa Whittaker: hear essentially how you've navigated that. That's really great information. So thank you. Heather Robison: Thank you. Appreciate it.