Latest / The Christy-Faith Show / Ep. 122 - Working Moms, Curriculum Choices, and Homeschool Structure | Live Q&A

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Ep. 122 - Working Moms, Curriculum Choices, and Homeschool Structure | Live Q&A · The Christy-Faith Show

• 0:00
  Christy-Faith: Hi, friends. I'm really glad you're here today. This episode is part of our special summer series from the archives. My live q and a sessions where I answered real questions from real homeschool moms. Now these were recorded live, so they're a bit more casual and unscripted, which just makes them that much more fun.
• 0:18
  Think of it like a coffee chat with your BFF who's been there, except I'm not really your BFF, but I wanna be. Welcome to the summer homeschool help desk series. Let's get into it, mama. Hi, everybody. Welcome to tonight's live.
• 0:41
  My name is Christy Faith. I am an author, speaker, podcaster. I wrote the book. It's behind me, but I wrote the book Homeschool Rising. And I am here tonight to answer any and all questions you might have about homeschooling, about education.
• 0:56
  I'm an educational expert. I have been in the field for over twenty years. I'm not gonna say how many years over twenty, but it's a lot. And I'm thrilled to be here. Oh, thank you, Kendra.
• 1:07
  Hi, Erin. Hello, everybody. Welcome. I'm so happy to be here tonight and you can come in and ask me any questions you have about education, about homeschooling. I wanna know if you popped in right now and you saw my face and you're thinking, oh, wait, I might wanna homeschool this coming fall.
• 1:25
  I might wanna pull my kids out. You're in the category that I call homeschool curious. And if that is you, would you let us know because I wanna make sure to personally welcome you to tonight's live. And I want you to know that you any question that you have right now is safe here. You don't have to worry about what anybody thinks.
• 1:44
  And I would love to address any and all questions that you might have tonight. Hello? Oh, Erin, you're Oh, she is? No way. So you're gonna be you're gonna be anti homeschooling.
• 1:56
  That is Okay. You're gonna need a lot of support. Erin is in Thrive, and I'm so excited. Hello, everybody. Welcome.
• 2:03
  Hi, I have a post doing pretty well there right now. The We Do Not Care Club. Who saw that post? I wanna know. I woke up this morning and I was like, oh, okay.
• 2:14
  I guess people found that funny. It was funny to film. So I don't know if you guys saw it, but yes. Oh, hello. Oh, good.
• 2:22
  Welcome everybody to tonight's live. Again, am Christy Faith. Please come in and ask me any questions you have about homeschooling or about education. I'd love to know what state you're in. If you're on this live right now, let me know what state you live in, and let me know how many kids you have and what category you are.
• 2:38
  So let's talk about the categories. Are you homeschool curious? Are you a newer homeschooler, like within the first three years of homeschooling? Or are you what I would call a veteran homeschooler? Please let me know what your category is right now.
• 2:53
  And I because I just love knowing who's on the lives with me. Yes. Hi. Welcome everybody. It's so fun.
• 2:59
  And I think for the first time in a long time, all of the platforms are working this evening. Right? Are you guys enjoying your summer? We are. We have the fourth of July week for us is always a really big week because it's a birthday week in our family and July 4.
• 3:15
  And so I am just I'm going into next week looking forward to a blast. We've been planning the meals and planning the holidays and planning the festivities. Yes. You Kendra, you are yes, Kendra, you are a veteran, plus you are a school teacher. Anybody in here formerly a school teacher, I would love to know.
• 3:34
  If you have never been on one of my lives or you're not familiar with me or my side of the internet, again, I'm gonna tell you some freebies that I have on my website. But first, I am a speaker podcaster. I am the author of homeschool rising, and I am a homeschool evangelist. I think that's what you would call me. I love talking about homeschooling.
• 3:54
  I think it is the best option for children when you have a loving home and a motivated parent. There is just no better way to educate a child than to do it at home because, well, have you looked at the system's statistics lately? Yes. They're not looking so good. So I wanna talk to you about free resources that I have for you on my website because I believe in free resources that are not lame.
• 4:19
  So number one, we worked really hard to develop this. We have a five minute homeschool style finder quiz that will let you know which of the nine homeschooling styles or pedagogies you are. If you don't know your homeschool style or your homeschool pedagogy, you really do need to know that because it helps you choose your curriculum and it helps you make purchases more wisely and it kinda saves your bacon down the road where you're not wasting money. So I have that five minute homeschool style finder. You can take that right now and then pop back into the live and let me know what you came out as.
• 4:51
  For those of you who are homeschool curious here tonight, I have a free how to homeschool guide. I call it a guide. It's actually an ebook. It's I think it's 26 pages at this point. So please grab that if you're in the homeschool curious phase.
• 5:03
  We're now in summer. This gives you all the six steps to get started and to launch. Let's see. What else do I have on my website? I have a curriculum comparison chart.
• 5:14
  So I have the freebies on my homepage, but then I also have a button that says store or shop. But my shop has a whole free category on it. And so all the things maybe that aren't on my homepage are also in that shop if you click free. So please please please look at what I have for you for free. We put so much time and expertise and energy into creating those resources for you.
• 5:42
  Because as far as I'm concerned, it's a really hard decision and I wanna help you along the way and show you how it's done because it really is a beautiful lifestyle and I want you set up for success. Alright. Do we have questions for tonight? I hope we have some homeschool curious mamas who need encouragement and have questions.
• 5:58
  Scott: Okay. Would like to homeschool my daughter after fifth grade. Everyone always says, how you homeschool and work from home?
• 6:04
  Christy-Faith: Yes. Well, I do. I homeschool and work from home. I work full time and so does Scott. And it really does depend on your arrangement, your support, your job, how if your job is flexible.
• 6:18
  There's a lot of factors, but this is what I will say. So a lot of moms work and homeschool, and it really comes down to when your kids are kind of at the more independent age, like your past toddler, your past teaching your kid how to read, really the magic is in the sourcing. That's where the magic comes in. That's what makes it possible. And sourcing really well, really smartly so that you are teaching what you need to teach and what you want to teach, and then you're also allowing other really great reputable companies to do some of the heavy lifting for you in other particular areas.
• 6:52
  So the one company that I use for this is BJU Press Homeschool. I use BJU Press Homeschool for science in my home, for bible in my home, and my youngest is on the English and the reading. And let me tell you, it is just really been a game changer for me because I can be working with one kid while I know the other kid is totally taken care of, doing a subject in the other room and I can check-in. So some subjects, I really just need to check the work and have discussions about. I don't have to actually be involved in the actual teaching of it or lesson planning.
• 7:24
  BJU Press Homeschool does all the lesson planning for you. The reason why I like it is because I'm kind of a Charlotte Mason classical girly. I wanna have discussions. And so what I love is the framework is there. It has just enough structure and flexibility where I can adapt it however I want on any given day.
• 7:43
  One day, we were in a crisis and my mom had a health scare, and I needed my kids to work independently. And so they were able to do that. They were just set up to do it. And then there's other times where I wanna be involved, and I'm sitting there and we're talking about the things and we're asking questions. So and and having dialectic discussions together.
• 8:00
  So if you haven't checked out BJU Press Homeschool for some of your subjects, I really encourage you to do it. It's been a fantastic addition to our homeschool. They're kinda known for being an all in one curriculum, and what that means is you buy an entire grade level, and they are fantastic at that. That is not how I use them. I I pick particular subjects that I, want to use them for, and so you can do that as well.
• 8:23
  I also do family together learning with them. So my three girls together, we do science. And so that really fosters that discussion and the hands on learning and the critical thinking. I don't actually have them do all of the worksheets and the tests and the paperwork. We talk about a lot of it.
• 8:39
  So anyway, it really is adaptable. So please do consider them as you're shopping for curriculum this summer, And you will not regret it. They're fantastic. Okay. Do we have another question?
• 8:49
  Scott: Tiela Ruho, 22. Yes. Five year old and a nine year old want to Okay. Begin homeschooling this
• 8:57
  Christy-Faith: Awesome. What platform?
• 8:58
  Scott: Insta.
• 8:59
  Christy-Faith: Okay. Five year old and nine year old. So number one, grab and download my free How to Homeschool eBook or How to Homeschool Guide. Make sure to grab that. And then also take my five minute homeschool style finder.
• 9:11
  And that will kinda get you on the road and you'll know what you're looking for, what you want, and it will really help you. And then just open the emails that you get from me.
• 9:21
  Scott: Yes. Alexa says, hi, Christy. Hi. At what grade do you need a spelling curriculum?
• 9:27
  Christy-Faith: So you you really do need a spelling curriculum while you're teaching reading as well. So and there are curricula that kind of use those that do it together, but there is research that shows that learning to read and learning to spell help each other. It's kind of like this beautiful circular thing. I highly encourage that you're using a spelling a phonics based spelling curriculum while you're teaching your child how to read. Now can you teach your child to read first?
• 9:53
  Yes. But you should layer in a spelling curriculum as soon as they're able to write at least.
• 9:58
  Scott: Yeah. And Alexa follows up, within what age for history curriculum? When would you start introducing it?
• 10:03
  Christy-Faith: Okay. So history okay. I'm about to get edgy. I'm about to get edgy here. So history is interesting because as you guys some of you already know that I am a trained historian.
• 10:13
  I have a graduate degree in history. So when I look at studying history and the why, like what is the reason why we study history, The truth is is that a lot of those reasons why, kids can't think through those until they're a little bit older. So I'm not saying that we don't have our kids, you know, know math facts. And I even do memory work in my homeschool, and my kids can say these history sentences. So I'm not gonna give you a grade level or an age.
• 10:42
  It's really your child's ability. I'm not saying don't do it in the early years. I do it. I did it. But I just didn't do it in a way where I it was an everyday hardcore subject like math or something like that.
• 10:56
  We did it really family together, living books, and actually, that's really how I like to do history in general all the way up through high school, even in high school. So I wanna encourage you. If you have been stalking Thrive or looking at Thrive and you're looking to homeschool this fall, I wanna encourage you to join Thrive now. You can get through my eight step homeschool success framework and my fail safe homeschool setup. We cover and we help you with all the logistics for getting your homeschool up and running.
• 11:26
  We go through how to buy curriculum, how to do your schedule, how to do your year schedule, your monthly schedule, your weekly schedule, your daily schedule. We cover it all. We leave no stone unturned. And so now is a great time to join Thrive so you don't have to binge those videos. These are classes.
• 11:44
  You're printing binders, you're writing stuff in. I help you keep yourself organized when you're buying curriculum and sourcing curriculum for multiple kids. I make sure you know what subjects you should be teaching at what age. All of that is in Thrive Homeschool Community. So please go check out that page right now, and hopefully, we'll see you in there.
• 12:04
  Yes.
• 12:05
  Scott: Kelly says hi.
• 12:06
  Christy-Faith: Kelly. Oh, hi. Hi, Kelly. I wanna go back to the Athena. Here's what I want you to hear, everybody on this, because I know that kind of loosey goosey freedom is very attractive, right, in the homeschooling movement.
• 12:19
  And we see these Instagrams, and we see, you know, kids frolicking in the fields, and it almost seems like there's no schedule at all. I'm here to tell you that based on seventy years of research in child psychology and development, children thrive with a structure. Not necessarily a rigid structure, not a rigid structure with authoritarian parenting, not that. Right? We want a healthy attachment, but kids do need a structure.
• 12:44
  In fact, there are studies that show that kids without structure actually are extremely anxious when they don't know what their day is gonna look like. They don't know what's next. They don't know. They they need that grounding force. So I wanna encourage you to download those free sample schedules.
• 13:00
  I have in that freebie, I have sample schedules for like preschool all the way to high school, and you should be able to find what you need in there for free. Hey, shout out to Summit HealthShare for sponsoring this episode today. I love Summit HealthShare partially because it's my husband's company. What I think they're doing over there is absolutely incredible and life changing for many families. What is Summit HealthShare?
• 13:24
  Well, first, let me start with one of my rants about health insurance. Need I say anything? Probably not. But the copays, the denials, the in network out of network nonsense, having to get permission to see your doctor, paying thousands a month, and then them still fighting with you every time you need just basic health care. I believe so much in the freedom that comes with leaving health insurance and moving to health sharing.
• 13:49
  Now it's not health insurance, but it does replace it. And it's been around for over a hundred years. With Summit HealthShare, most families and companies save 40 to 60%, and they have a 98% customer satisfaction. You get to see any doctor that you want, even holistic ones. No networks, no permission slips.
• 14:10
  You ladies know how I feel about freedom. I want medical freedom too. Summit HealthShare has different plan options depending on what your family needs. You might just need major medical, and that's great. On our plan, we get a little bit more, and we get free labs, free office visits, free prescriptions, and no co pays.
• 14:26
  Our family of six has saved a thousand dollars a month. And if it sounds too good to be true, it's not. It's actually how health care should work. We've just been accustomed to overpaying for our health care, and a lot of us don't need to do that. So if you are on traditional health insurance at all, here's what I want you to do.
• 14:42
  I want you to go to summithealthshare.com. When you get to the homepage, you'll see the savings calculator. Go ahead and click that. It takes only two minutes. And when you see those numbers, what you should be paying for the health care you need, you are going to be grabbing the phone so fast because health care is a serious thing, and you're gonna have really personalized questions, and they are used to answering all of them.
• 15:03
  Tell them all of your concerns, all of your questions, and they will tell you full stop if this is gonna be a fit for you or your family. And tell them that you listen to the show because I want you to have the VIP treatment. Go to summithealthshare.com today, and the link is in the show notes. So you know how when you meet another homeschool family, you end up talking for like an hour? Swapping recommendations, sharing what's working, telling them about the pediatrician who actually gets it, or that you go and see this speech therapist or that OT.
• 15:30
  That's just how we are. We love to take care of each other. That's the whole idea behind the Christy-Faith list, which is entirely free for homeschooling families. It's a directory of colleges, businesses, doctors, reading specialists, any kind of business, you name it, who share our values and want to work with homeschooling families. All those recommendations that you're always passing around, now they're all in one place.
• 15:52
  And if you're a business owner or part of an organization that loves to work with homeschooling families and wants more business from us, sign yourself up. We wanna know who you are, and we wanna support you. Search the Christy faith list today and find the people who know you, get you, and want to work with you. Let's support the people who support us. I will put a link in the show notes.
• 16:12
  Okay.
• 16:13
  Scott: She was having some trouble getting back into her account or something. So Okay.
• 16:18
  Christy-Faith: Email. Yeah. And Melanie, if you want back in Thrive, just email the hello email and Brynn will help you. Yes. Okay.
• 16:25
  Yeah.
• 16:26
  Scott: Okay. So Tia well, before we go to Tia LaRue, we're getting you we're getting you on Instagram there. But Sullivan, Therese Sullivan, what phonics program do you recommend?
• 16:37
  Christy-Faith: Okay. So I recommend there are quite a few great reading programs out there. You wanna make sure that it is a phonics based program that follows the science of reading. There are quite a few that do that. So if you want a list of ones that I love and recommend, you can get my curriculum download.
• 16:55
  I have a download of all of my curriculum recommendations. In that download, I have a section on reading and language arts. And so please just grab that download. Anything on that list is something that you can trust. So it's kinda like your fail proof list.
• 17:11
  So and that's something I didn't mention earlier. Yes. I have an entire list of curriculum recommendations that if a curriculum is on that list, it is safe for you, it's a good curriculum. Is it could it be maybe not be a fit for you? Maybe.
• 17:25
  But it's certainly a reputable solid curriculum. Right? It's not broken down by homeschooling styles. It's just broken down by would I recommend it? Would I even use it for my own kids?
• 17:36
  Do I like it? Do I think it does a good job? Is it not damaging? You know, because there is some curriculum out there that I do consider damaging, especially in the category of reading. So go ahead and grab that download, and that will answer your question.
• 17:48
  Scott: Tealaruho, can I find what you mentioned? Thank you again. Many blessings. I'm super nervous. I have a few people shooting this idea down, asking me if if homeschool will prepare my boys for the real world, and it's already nerve wracking, overstimulating.
• 18:04
  Christy-Faith: Oh my goodness. I want you to be in Thrive because we help you with this. You need your tribe. And maybe not Thrive. Thrive isn't the answer, but here's what is the answer, is if you have a lot of naysayers in your life, I just had a guest on the podcast yesterday, and we were talking about this.
• 18:19
  It's not gonna come out for a bunch of weeks, but we were talking about this, how important it is that you have a tribe of people that are rooting for you, that are not looking at you to fail, that are rooting for you, that want you to succeed, that care about you and care about your kids. And if you don't have that, you need to actively seek out building that support network. Do we offer that for you in Thrive? Yes. But I'm not gonna I don't wanna be like salesy.
• 18:47
  Right? So Thrive is either for you or it's not for you. Go to the landing page and you can take a look and read up all about Thrive, or build that community locally yourself because you really do need it, especially when you have a ton of naysayers in your life. For those specific questions, I actually have a talk that I give at conferences on how to handle skeptics and naysayers. I wanna recommend that you grab my book.
• 19:11
  I do do a lot of objection handling in this book, and it will absolutely help you because convention season is over. Otherwise, I would have told you, like, come to one of my talks. I'll probably give my naysayer and skeptic talk some time this year in Thrive as a masterclass, but that's not gonna be for a while because we have some really great speakers lined up right now.
• 19:32
  Scott: Yes. Does anyone struggle with mealtime preparation cleanup?
• 19:37
  Christy-Faith: Yeah. Anyone else struggle with mealtime preparation cleanup? Everybody?
• 19:50
  Scott: Care
• 19:50
  Christy-Faith: Oh, wait. Can I just add to this? Yeah. I actually I I have cleanup on our schedule, on our homeschooling schedule. And I habit stack it with the meal.
• 20:05
  So we eat our meal, like we eat breakfast, and the whole family does long enough where we kinda have the sets. We have four kids, so we have four sets of chores that are pretty equal that they do for an entire calendar year. And actually right now is when we are involved in the little change up for next year, and we're doing a four day experiment with something right now, which is gonna be really cool. So I don't know if you guys how do you guys do chores? I'd love to know.
• 20:33
  Do you guys do like a calendar year? Do you switch it up? It was a little bit harder when I had babies and olders because the younger ones couldn't do everything, but we're now at the point now where my youngest is nine, and so all the kids can do all the things at this point. And then you you you know, is it gonna be perfect? Is it gonna be how I do it?
• 20:55
  Did we wake up a couple days ago with an army of ants in the kitchen because it wasn't swept well enough? Yes. Yes, we did. But overall, it's been great. Yes, Scott.
• 21:07
  Scott: Says, can you give examples of the chores you give out?
• 21:11
  Christy-Faith: Oh my goodness. Yeah. Yeah. In fact, for those of you who are Thrive members, in the eight step framework, we have an ebook in there called Managing the Mayhem, and it goes through age appropriate chores for your kiddo. But you could just Google that too.
• 21:29
  That's one of the things in that ebook. But, yeah, we it's laundry. So we have laundry days, laundry rotation, cleaning the kitchen, putting away one child empties the dishwasher and puts away what we call corner dishes. Those are the hand wash dishes. They are in the corner of the kitchen on a mat, so that's why we call it corner dishes.
• 21:49
  We have a chore called level, which is the main level of our house, and they are to tidy it up, pick up all the clutter, and that kid does level. And then there's, like, the putting the laundry away. So it's one thing to rotate the laundry. It's another thing to bring it upstairs and put it away and process that laundry. So, yeah, our kids have all sorts of chores, and they're they're I think they're pretty good.
• 22:15
  Trash. Trash, taking out the trash. My son does a lot of the trashes and also like bringing it to the curb, bringing it back, breaking down recycle boxes because I'm an Amazon mom and things like that. Oh my goodness. The drama over the wedding, you guys.
• 22:33
  The drama over the wedding is crazy. Are you guys following this right now? Oh my goodness. Speaking of Amazon.
• 22:42
  Scott: Karasu the dreamer, how would you deal with the naysayer home
• 22:45
  Christy-Faith: Wanna give her a hug.
• 22:46
  Scott: Thanks, Karasu. Sue.
• 22:47
  Christy-Faith: Cara Sue. And what platform is Cara Sue
• 22:50
  Scott: on? TikTok.
• 22:51
  Christy-Faith: TikTok. Cara Sue, you are hereby president of the We Do Not Care Club of homeschooling moms. I just think here okay. Here's something that I wanna tell you. Judge y homeschool moms, I have come to believe, and you can disagree with me on this, you can even prove me wrong, I'm holding this loosely.
• 23:10
  This is just an opinion that I've held. Judge y homeschool moms are extremely insecure because they are holding on to a particular system and a way that they are homeschooling, and they are clinging to that for their security, and anyone who doesn't do it that way is a threat to how they are doing it. And so I steer clear of the judgy homeschool moms or the homeschool moms who say you have to do it this way or be in this curriculum or be in this program or be in this co op, otherwise, you're homeschooling wrong. That is just really irresponsible, and I do not stand by that. In fact, in Thrive, we have we support everybody in however you wanna homeschool.
• 23:55
  All want what's best for our kids. We all wanna give them a great education. We all wanna give our kids what they need now, and we all wanna prepare our kids for a bright future. So we don't need to split hairs. Right?
• 24:07
  And so I'm really sorry that you've experienced that.
• 24:11
  Scott: Kendra's like, I need to get on the calendar year schedule, but we're hanging on by a thread.
• 24:15
  Christy-Faith: Oh, Kendra.
• 24:17
  Scott: She says yeah. She's her her kids she's nine five 9.5
• 24:22
  Christy-Faith: Yeah.
• 24:22
  Scott: 738. It's just hard right now.
• 24:24
  Christy-Faith: Yeah. This is my Kendra? Yeah. With the baby? Okay.
• 24:26
  And then Kendra, know, I'm gonna be in Texas in the fall. What where what city is that that we're in?
• 24:32
  Scott: I don't know. North Texas.
• 24:34
  Christy-Faith: It's North Texas?
• 24:35
  Scott: I think so.
• 24:36
  Christy-Faith: Okay. I
• 24:36
  Scott: think it's forty five minutes from Fort Worth.
• 24:39
  Christy-Faith: Forty five minutes from Fort Worth. But anyway, it'd really great, Kendra, if we could hang out. Okay. That was a little personal. Sorry, guys.
• 24:48
  I'm sure we have a lot of questions.
• 24:50
  Scott: Yeah. Okay. I like the idea of group history, but what do you say? My kids are two years old apart. Should the youngest do history with oldest
• 24:59
  Christy-Faith: Yes.
• 24:59
  Scott: They are or start where I had my oldest oldest start? Start?
• 25:04
  Christy-Faith: Okay. So it really depends on the program that you're in. Younger children just don't grasp the why of history that is the why of history. That's my clarification. K?
• 25:13
  The issue the age the age difference in history, it really starts to matter when you have an older kid in a high schooler dealing with stuff that's scary and not age appropriate for like a five year old. Right? If you have that kind of an age gap, I don't recommend doing history together as a family. History is one of those things where you can meet in the middle. I, for example, all through the elementary years, I love teaching history with picture books because it's just a really great way to do it.
• 25:42
  So I would not worry about like having a particular age level and then worried about your younger one. I think that you just pick one right in the middle that's maybe a little bit above your youngest, a little bit below in terms of ability level for the older one, and then just have fun with it. And, you know, curriculum companies, they have to slap grade levels on things because otherwise people won't buy them because that's kind of the mindset of, okay, well, what what age is my kid? Hear me when I tell you that, like, when I taught junior high history in a private school setting, I was reading those junior high kids picture books, and they loved it and learned so much history. It's not history is just one of those things where look for engaging living books, make sure that it's not too too advanced or scary or inappropriate for the youngest, and just have a lot of fun.
• 26:40
  I feel like I didn't answer that question well, but hopefully you've got this.
• 26:44
  Scott: She loves Story of the World for history.
• 26:46
  Christy-Faith: Yeah. So Story of the World is a really great spine. Love it. Listen to it in the car. Go for it.
• 26:52
  We do a spine as well. We're doing a spine, I should say, this coming year in our co op, but I am gonna be supplementing that spine with really cool living books and picture books. Yeah. The spine our co op is using is mystery of history. If you guys are wondering, I wonder what spine that is.
• 27:09
  Yeah. And that's a really cool one too. Yes.
• 27:12
  Scott: Courtney on TikTok.
• 27:13
  Christy-Faith: Courtney.
• 27:14
  Scott: For a home school mom with the behind child who struggles with dyslexia. Okay.
• 27:21
  Christy-Faith: What age?
• 27:24
  Scott: We'll find out. In the meantime, Brianna says, what's a spine?
• 27:27
  Christy-Faith: Okay. Brianna, what a spine is is it's basically the textbook piece. So you know how do I have a history book right here? So like a history book will go through the ages and they're they're a little bit more dry, and yeah, even the ones that are written to be a little bit more engaging, we still consider them a textbook and a spine. But a textbook is not gonna make your child fall in love with history.
• 27:50
  So what I like to do is I like to use those textbooks on audio as just my spine, and then my kids maybe ask a question about something that interests them, then I dive in and I go to the library or look in my personal library upstairs, and I use a living book or a picture book to kind of dive more into that. So the spine is like the backbone. It's like covering everything, and then you can take deep dives throughout the year with more engaging literature, picture books, and living books.
• 28:25
  Scott: Yes. So the mom the age of the child who's a little behind has dyslexia
• 28:31
  Christy-Faith: Yes.
• 28:32
  Scott: 10 years old.
• 28:32
  Christy-Faith: Okay. 10 years old.
• 28:33
  Scott: Worried about him caught up in a before middle school age.
• 28:39
  Christy-Faith: Yes. Yes. Absolutely. And if you so the first question that I would be asking you if you were in Thrive is what curriculum have you used? I wanna make sure that it is a phonics based program that is following the science of reading.
• 28:56
  Because here's my philosophy on this, is I try to get moms as far as they can on their own first before I start recommending interventions. Because interventions are expensive, and I wanna make sure that your kid actually really needs it. Because there are some curriculum options out there that are really good and solid. So that's what I wanna make sure first. But if you have a 10 year old and you have been using solid phonics based curriculum that is following the science of reading and they are 10, I would start looking at not necessarily testing for a disability, but I would look into an evaluation for a reading disability and then looking to do interventions.
• 29:37
  Scott: Karasu follows up with, I've heard really good things about o freedom history curriculum.
• 29:42
  Christy-Faith: I don't know that one. Yeah. I'd love to know more. You can email me. I'd love to know more about it.
• 29:48
  And they and have them contact me because they're not on my curriculum recommendations handout. And so if they wanna be considered for that, they can reach out to us. By the way, that download with all those curriculum recommendations, none of those are paid sponsorships like what you hear on my podcast. That's a paid sponsorship. That's how I'm able to pay the bills, pay my editors, all all that.
• 30:10
  But that download, no one paid to be on it. It's literally just what I what is reputable and what I like. Yes.
• 30:18
  Scott: Tiffany, any tips on keeping my three year old entertained while I'm teaching my second grader? It's chaos those days.
• 30:26
  Christy-Faith: It is chaos. So the first thing that I wanna say is yes. It's absolute chaos, and it is hard. And I just want you to know that it is a season, and you'll blink and it's over. Now I know that doesn't help you right now, but what I do want you to hear in that, before we move on, I just wanna say thank you for being here truly.
• 30:47
  And if you've gotten anything out of today's show, I can tell you the best way to support it, and it's completely free. Subscribe, hit that like button, and leave me a comment. And real talk, I recently looked at our YouTube stats, and over 90% of our watch time is coming from people who are not subscribed. So if you are one of those wonderful folks who keeps showing up but hasn't actually hit the subscribe yet, well, this is your official nudge. Why am I even asking?
• 31:14
  Well, subscribing tells those little robots behind the screen that this show is worth putting in front of more moms, and it helps us keep making these episodes for free to you. And if you really don't wanna miss the next one, tap that bell too because only a tiny sliver of you have notifications on. I see you. Maybe do three things for me today just because you love me. Subscribe, like the episode, and leave a comment telling me what part of this hit home.
• 31:40
  We read all of the comments, and we love watching you show up for other homeschool moms in there. It really does make a bigger difference than you know. Thank you in advance, friends. Love you. But what I do want you to hear in that is anything you feel like you're missing right now in the homeschooling, trust me, you will be fine.
• 32:01
  So I don't want you to stress about everything you're not getting done. That's how I lived in those early days. I had a five year old, I had two year old twins, and I had a seven month old, a baby. And I felt like I was doing a terrible job with my five year old. Okay.
• 32:17
  That child now is like a complete I mean, reading at a collegiate level, just completed his fifth year of Latin, high schooler, phenomenal human being, runs a small business, all the things. Right? And I was worried sick to my stomach when he was five because my little ones were just so much to handle at the time. Scott traveled, all of that. So I do want you to know that.
• 32:39
  Like, remember that story that I just told you when you're having those hard days. There are certain things that you can do. Ladies, put in the comments. You can do the busy bags. You can do the duplos.
• 32:49
  You can do all sorts of things. I you know, you can even it's okay if when you need to get some lessons done with your older one, that that is like the special screen time with a preapproved thing if you're okay with screens, but it is just a little bit chaotic. Other things that you can do is hire a mommy's helper. You can see if your a family member or your mom or an aunt or somebody can come over. I don't know you.
• 33:11
  I don't know your family situation, but it does require thinking a little bit outside the box. So how you can get those moments to homeschool the other one, and then really just hold it loosely and let a lot of it go. We have about five more minutes. Yeah.
• 33:27
  Scott: Okay. So Courtney, the one with the 10 year old, we started AAR, then The Good and the Beautiful.
• 33:34
  Christy-Faith: Yeah.
• 33:34
  Scott: We are using a tutor. She told me I'm holding him back, and she he should be doing grade level despite not reading on level.
• 33:42
  Christy-Faith: Okay. Fire the tutor. Okay. Fire the tutor. And then can you please join Thrive Homeschool Community?
• 33:48
  You can start having a conversation with the mentors, and we can get you on the right track, and I can put you in touch with a reading specialist that I like. I know that's a bold ask. Just look at it's it's a monthly thing. You don't have to make a huge commitment. You can leave anytime.
• 34:04
  But I wanna have a further conversation with you about it and have my mentors help you. Okay. Also, last thing that I do need to mention, I'm gonna take a couple more questions from you guys tonight. But I also wanna mention that this is brought to you by CTC Math. A lot of you know that I have a very long standing beautiful relationship with CTC Math.
• 34:24
  It is a math program that does all the teaching and grading for you. One of my favorite parts about it is that the questions are adaptive, meaning they don't give your child something that's way too hard and that is demotivating. It works your child to mastery, and it is absolutely a beautiful program. I in my home, I have a gifted learner. I have a student with a math disability, and I have two what you would call typical learners.
• 34:48
  Now I don't like labels, but I'm just trying to explain to you that the way CTC Math is set up, it is a fit for all of my learners, and it really is a beautiful program. It offers a free trial. So this summer is a great time to get on that free trial, poke around, have your child do some lessons, and I know that you would absolutely love it. So please make sure to try CTC Math and do that free trial this summer. Thank you so much for your sponsorship CTC Math.
• 35:17
  You have been so good to me, and you have supported me every step of the way. They even sponsored my podcast when I had zero Zip listeners. Zero. So I really do love them, appreciate them, and I am thankful for the relationship that I have with them. All of you know that who know me.
• 35:33
  And I wanna answer a couple more questions before I have to go. I actually have another event right after
• 35:37
  Scott: this. Instagram.
• 35:39
  Christy-Faith: Yeah. Katie. Hi, Katie. What's your
• 35:41
  Scott: opinion on the good and the beautiful language arts and math?
• 35:44
  Christy-Faith: Yeah. Download my free curriculum recommendations guide and take a look on there. Curriculum that I like is on there. Okay. Next question.
• 35:55
  The question is what is the best multisensory curriculum? Here's the thing about the good curricula out there are incorporating the different modalities. So it really is not necessarily a question about what curriculum, it's more how you are using the curriculum. And that is not evading the question. This is true.
• 36:17
  So every good curriculum that I use, it has a guideline for the parent for multisensory activities that go along with it. I hope this summer homeschool help desk episode gave you a little encouragement and one clear next step for your homeschool. Homeschool. Will you do me a favor? Send it to another homeschool mom who could use a little clarity this week.
• 36:39
  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. I am cheering you on, and we'll talk soon.