I had the pleasure of being a guest on Alicia Hutchinson’s fabulous podcast, Over at Alicia’s.
Alicia is known for the magical ability to follow a routine without sacrificing creativity and engagement so our conversation was a real treat.
We talked about:
And much more!
Today’s the day: The Brave Learner book birthday!
The book I wrote for you,The Brave Learner, is dropping in mailboxes and book stores all over the world (quite literally!). The excitement is palpable. I love seeing all the “your book has shipped” notices many of you are sharing on social media.
When I wrote this book, it was my hope that I could help you reimagine learning—how you can get a little more “video-game level enthusiasm” into the traditional school subjects, and how you could discover the school subjects hiding in a child’s interests.
In my book, you’ll find four kinds of information to help you:
The Brave Learner is designed to support you in the task of education and parenting for every age group (5 – 18 years of age). It doesn’t matter whether you’re a text book homeschooler, an unschooler, or a parent of kids in a traditional school.
There’s something for every parent who cares about their children’s education.
The book is available through:
Listen to today’s Book Birthday podcast below and check out the book’s website for a SPECIAL treat (a freebie just for you!).
Can you believe this is the final episode of the Ask Julie series?! I’ve read the feedback from everyone who’s written in, or left an Apples Podcast review, and I’m deeply touched to hear how this series has resonated with you—the listeners!
Let’s give a big round of applause for each guest! Their vulnerability and bravery has been such a gift to all of us!
Today’s episode is a unique format—a homeschooling group of friends asked to be interviewed together. Each interviewee came with her own quandary.
We tackled problems ranging from checklist anxiety and handwriting problems to homeschooling while personal life is in upheaval.
Tune in to find out:
Mandy’s seven-year-old son is energetic, friendly, and generous – but it’s a challenge getting him to sit down long enough to write.
A lot of us run into this issue as our children get to the point where we feel they’re “supposed” to be writing, but it’s important to remember that this is the very beginning of a young person’s writing life; it takes from ages 8 to 18 to become a fluent writer.
Do you spend your waking hours multitasking, only to end the day exhausted, wondering what you accomplished? Discouraging, right?
Today’s podcast guest of honor, Courtney Moyer, wrote to me asking, “Julie, how do I multitask while teaching multiple children at multiple levels with multitudes of housework?”
I’ve been there! I remember the shoes scattered down the hallways, math books lost under the couch, and the crying baby who needed me to stop everything to breastfeed. Homeschooling can feel like it’s at the bottom of the list when your LIFE is so demanding!
I’d like to help you get out of this rut. Ready? First suggestion: Stop Multitasking!
Ha! Let’s talk about how to end the madness and find peace and progress in the middle of the muddle.
First, let’s explore my favorite maxim: “Less is more.” How will this shift in how you live and think change your life?
Listen to today’s episode to learn:
Make sure you listen to the recap at the end to hear how Courtney incorporated my advice. She did such an incredible job! Now Courtney approaches learning with a fresh, positive perspective and bubbly enthusiasm! I want that for you, too. I hope this episode leaves you feeling energized and empowered.
Let’s talk about multitasking and the brain.
For starters, multitasking is not handling multiple tasks simultaneously, as most of us believe; multitasking is the act of shifting between tasks, and it is the switching quickly between tasks that is exhausting. It uses up oxygenated glucose in the brain, burning the same fuel that’s needed to focus on a task. As a result, people who multitask tend to eat more and drink more caffeine, but what they really need is a break.
Gloria Mark, Professor in UCI’s Department of Informatics, conducted a study called “The Cost of Interrupted Work,” in which she found a number of interesting things about multitasking and productivity:
What we can learn take away this study, as homeschoolers, is that we can’t hover over our homeschools; we need to sink down into them.
Poetry Teatime is an example of everyone being “on task” without feeling any guilt. It’s a moment of respite where we can drop down into the experience, and that is what creates momentum in homeschool: having satisfying depth, noticing that depth, and giving ourselves credit for that moment before moving on.
Most of us believe we need to do seven subjects a day, on weekdays, and during certain hours, based on the school model we were raised with. But what would it look like if our days were segmented differently as home educators? What would happen if we thought about the subjects not as something to get through, but as accomplishments based on exposure to information?
Skill development is important, but how do we quantify skill development? Is it based on a quantity of pages? An amount of time? Or are we looking at the skill as a part of development towards a bigger picture end goal?
Sometimes we’re so caught up in the daily details that we forget the overarching goal and that we have an entire school year.
They grow up too fast. We hear that ominous statement the moment our first precious bundle arrives in our arms, but we realize its weight when that child becomes a teen! Talk about growing pains, right?!
Our podcast guest of honor, Myah St. John, wrote to me asking, “I’ve always loved the one-room school house model, but I find it slipping away. We need to meet my teen’s high school requirements, and also the needs of my younger children…Can you help?!”
In this podcast episode we discuss strategies for:
Tune in to hear how Myah applied my advice and whether it worked for her family.
High school is a “re-upping” moment, an “It All Counts Now” moment, when we have to reevaluate how our efforts support the education that will be scrutinized by college admissions or hiring managers. As homeschooling parents, that’s our challenge.
But our children are also facing new obligations and their own challenges – figuring out an academic path to college, or the path to a job – and they need to figure out who they are, at least somewhat, before they can do that.
So, during these teen years, there will also be a transition in the family dynamic as your teen is individuating. They join us when they’re little, but now we join them, gradually, as they become an adult.
This won’t be easy, your children may surprise or confuse you, but it’s part of the process of becoming an adult that we’re here to prepare them for. Furthermore, it will take imagination and creativity to help your teenager prepare for adulthood, both academically and personally.
Remember, there are four principles for what makes education feel magical: Surprise, Mystery, Risk, and Adventure.
Risk and adventure appeal the most to teens, and when you allow your kids to have more bandwidth in their intellectual curiosity, what they’re hearing at home can actually become more valuable to them.
