WEBVTT 00:02.393 --> 00:14.775 [SPEAKER_00]: Christian parenting over the years of this podcast and just sharing about homeschool and encouraging Christian homeschool moms at the very foundation at the core at the root of every question. 00:14.935 --> 00:17.279 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, sometimes this question is very overt. 00:17.399 --> 00:18.662 [SPEAKER_00]: It just is the question. 00:18.982 --> 00:24.672 [SPEAKER_00]: But sometimes you have to kind of draw it out and you get to the basis of the question of am I doing enough? 00:25.512 --> 00:26.474 [SPEAKER_00]: is this going to work? 00:26.594 --> 00:34.527 [SPEAKER_00]: And am I going to be able to provide an education and experience for my kids for them to be able to get out into the world and survive and do well? 00:35.108 --> 00:38.093 [SPEAKER_00]: And so we typically focus a lot on the curriculum. 00:38.533 --> 00:44.483 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, we need to make sure that we cover all of the same things the school is and there's just a whole long laundry list. 00:44.716 --> 00:50.845 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, what if we kind of flip that a little bit, and we say, am I doing enough in other areas? 00:51.246 --> 00:53.008 [SPEAKER_00]: Am I focused on some other things? 00:53.649 --> 00:59.137 [SPEAKER_00]: And so today, what I'm going to share with you is some things that I think should be a priority in your home school. 00:59.578 --> 01:07.990 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, we are not going to completely do away with the education and with the curriculum, or however you want to provide the education to your kids. 01:07.970 --> 01:08.712 [SPEAKER_00]: We're not going to do that. 01:08.752 --> 01:22.600 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to we'll touch on that a little bit, but let's go deeper than that and let's really get to the root of this question and I'm just I'm looking forward to just kind of throwing a bunch out at you and maybe like, oh no, it's too much. 01:23.000 --> 01:29.674 [SPEAKER_00]: But I'm going to throw a bunch out at you, give you a little bit of information of each and then you get to take off and you get to 01:29.654 --> 01:38.026 [SPEAKER_00]: Then fit this into what works best for you, your family, your family culture, and your homeschool vision and goals. 01:38.508 --> 01:40.255 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's get into it right now. 01:40.606 --> 01:46.934 [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to Little By Little Home School podcast, I am Lea Nguyen and I am so glad that you are here today for this episode. 01:47.534 --> 01:48.936 [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to Mid April. 01:49.136 --> 01:49.697 [SPEAKER_00]: Can you believe it? 01:49.737 --> 01:50.518 [SPEAKER_00]: We made it to the winter. 01:50.578 --> 02:01.551 [SPEAKER_00]: We had a really long, very snowy and very cold winter and I'm so glad to see the spring flowers are blooming and I'm like, yes, okay, there's there's actually life out there. 02:01.531 --> 02:10.485 [SPEAKER_00]: But today, we are going to dive into, like I said earlier, one of those top questions that I get asked, and I'm just so blessed that you are listening to this episode. 02:10.525 --> 02:14.151 [SPEAKER_00]: There are 454 other episodes. 02:14.231 --> 02:24.687 [SPEAKER_00]: And so I think that if you have a question that's beyond today's episode, you're wondering something I always leave in the show notes, some other episodes that are related, but I think you could find most of any topic. 02:24.708 --> 02:28.213 [SPEAKER_00]: And so they are all there for you to consume and listen to, come on. 02:28.193 --> 02:34.933 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm completely free for you and I'm just blessed to be able to offer you this information so let's get into today's episode topic. 02:35.875 --> 02:37.721 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's start with the disclaimer. 02:38.343 --> 02:39.486 [SPEAKER_00]: Obviously. 02:39.719 --> 02:46.830 [SPEAKER_00]: math, and language arts, which comprising a language arts is reading, writing, spelling, and vocabulary. 02:47.271 --> 02:49.214 [SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, those are important. 02:49.615 --> 02:52.319 [SPEAKER_00]: And that right there is the basis for everything else. 02:52.940 --> 02:54.463 [SPEAKER_00]: Those are your skill subjects. 02:54.743 --> 02:59.130 [SPEAKER_00]: And upon those skill subjects, you can then build upon content subjects. 02:59.150 --> 03:01.154 [SPEAKER_00]: That's when you get into your science and your history. 03:01.314 --> 03:03.297 [SPEAKER_00]: And those things, yes, 03:03.277 --> 03:04.518 [SPEAKER_00]: are important. 03:04.879 --> 03:10.886 [SPEAKER_00]: And I want to encourage you to continue doing those, finding the best resources for your family for this year. 03:11.466 --> 03:12.988 [SPEAKER_00]: And we've talked about curriculum. 03:13.008 --> 03:14.410 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to continue talking about curriculum again. 03:14.430 --> 03:17.754 [SPEAKER_00]: There's so many different episodes that are out there that can address that. 03:18.334 --> 03:19.496 [SPEAKER_00]: But we're going to just take all of that. 03:19.776 --> 03:23.981 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's take all of the obviously math and language arts and then all the content subjects. 03:24.001 --> 03:30.128 [SPEAKER_00]: And let's just put them into a box right now, and tie it up with a bow, and just put it on the shelf just for right now. 03:30.260 --> 03:49.011 [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so put that aside and I promise you can take that back down when this episode is over but I want to share with you some things that I think really should be the priority in your homeschool as I have now gotten to the end of it currently we are planning a graduation party for my final homeschooler and so we are here at the end. 03:48.991 --> 03:54.777 [SPEAKER_00]: The deadline is looming and we are done with our state testing for the year. 03:54.858 --> 04:00.784 [SPEAKER_00]: We just have some subjects elective things that we're still continuing to go through, but we'll be wrapping it up here soon. 04:00.824 --> 04:04.048 [SPEAKER_00]: I'll be sending in my final paperwork to the school district. 04:04.208 --> 04:08.533 [SPEAKER_00]: And wow, that'll be nice to have that off of my shoulders. 04:08.573 --> 04:11.076 [SPEAKER_00]: It's just something to constantly remember to do. 04:11.837 --> 04:12.197 [SPEAKER_00]: But 04:13.460 --> 04:23.474 [SPEAKER_00]: I have found over the years, now with two graduates and a third one, just about there, that there's some things that I am so glad that even though I felt like, oh, I'm not sure if this is really important. 04:23.615 --> 04:31.486 [SPEAKER_00]: On the other side of it, I realized that these actually should, and I'm glad that they were the priority overall with our homeschool. 04:31.846 --> 04:33.509 [SPEAKER_00]: And so I have a list here of seven. 04:33.569 --> 04:35.211 [SPEAKER_00]: Now this is not an exhaustive list. 04:35.271 --> 04:39.197 [SPEAKER_00]: I started writing and finally I was like, okay, let's just stop here at seven things, because I could go into 04:39.177 --> 04:40.720 [SPEAKER_00]: major detail in each one. 04:40.861 --> 04:55.853 [SPEAKER_00]: I could give you a list of maybe 50 different things and that's two overwhelming and I feel like seven is even a little bit overwhelming But I just couldn't pair it down Again, I told myself the stop thinking about it once I kind of got these out of my head So the very first one is 04:56.744 --> 05:12.262 [SPEAKER_00]: number one for a reason the rest of them can be in any order and all of these different things I'm going to list here should be a priority for your five-year-old and your 10-year-old, your 15-year-old, your 18-year-old that's getting ready to graduate. 05:12.882 --> 05:24.996 [SPEAKER_00]: You are obviously going to approach it with the different age levels at a different maturity level and a different way of explaining it and talking 05:25.280 --> 05:26.382 [SPEAKER_00]: is their faith. 05:27.223 --> 05:45.870 [SPEAKER_00]: Their faith in Jesus Christ, by faith alone through the grace of God, we have been saved and we just celebrated Easter a couple of weeks ago and what a blessing to be able to celebrate that with our family, with our, you know, blood relatives or husband and our children, but also the body of Christ. 05:45.850 --> 06:05.344 [SPEAKER_00]: Everything though stems from their understanding of the gospel, their exposure to it, their conversations with you, the living it out, watching you live out your faith, watching you put the gospel into action and sharing that with others and just and living just life together. 06:05.324 --> 06:17.843 [SPEAKER_00]: with them and showing them what does it look like to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ walking in the world and having to battle things and how do we deal with the culture and just all of those things. 06:18.424 --> 06:24.092 [SPEAKER_00]: Everything stems from this from the Word of God from giving them a biblical world view. 06:24.072 --> 06:29.344 [SPEAKER_00]: The goal here is that their heart desires to please and glorify God. 06:30.005 --> 06:31.028 [SPEAKER_00]: There is not a formula. 06:31.168 --> 06:33.253 [SPEAKER_00]: I can't give you a step one step two step three. 06:33.273 --> 06:38.725 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean there's some things that are obvious, even as little babies and they can kind of barely comprehend. 06:38.745 --> 06:39.988 [SPEAKER_00]: You start talking about God and they 06:39.968 --> 06:43.413 [SPEAKER_00]: look up and see a bird and you explain what a bird is and tell them that God created it. 06:43.473 --> 06:46.677 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, obviously there's a pathway kind of of it. 06:46.917 --> 06:50.643 [SPEAKER_00]: And our 15, 16, 17 year olds are like, yes, I know that's a bird. 06:50.843 --> 06:54.488 [SPEAKER_00]: I know kind of the dynamics of their wings and all of his kind of stuff. 06:54.908 --> 06:56.150 [SPEAKER_00]: And yes, I know that God created them. 06:56.330 --> 07:00.556 [SPEAKER_00]: So then we get into deeper theology and apologetics. 07:00.816 --> 07:04.842 [SPEAKER_00]: And so we again approach just with all of these seven I'm going to share with you. 07:04.882 --> 07:05.703 [SPEAKER_00]: This is number one. 07:05.803 --> 07:07.225 [SPEAKER_00]: So there's six more. 07:07.205 --> 07:13.422 [SPEAKER_00]: that we just do it on a child by child basis and also upon an age range basis. 07:13.703 --> 07:15.348 [SPEAKER_00]: And it doesn't mean you can't do it all together. 07:15.609 --> 07:22.227 [SPEAKER_00]: I am a big proponent of no matter what the age span of your kids are to do your Bible time to do that. 07:22.207 --> 07:23.828 [SPEAKER_00]: those discussions together. 07:24.009 --> 07:27.472 [SPEAKER_00]: The little ones, they might kind of seem to glaze over a little bit. 07:27.492 --> 07:31.415 [SPEAKER_00]: You might have to give them some things to keep their hands occupied, but they will pick up, and they will hear and listen things. 07:32.036 --> 07:41.844 [SPEAKER_00]: But our goal needs to be that we work towards in our children, a heart that is desiring to please and glorify God. 07:42.625 --> 07:43.646 [SPEAKER_00]: That's a foundation of the basis. 07:43.706 --> 07:52.213 [SPEAKER_00]: The rest of this is all built upon that, including that curriculum and all those resources and the co-op and all the things that we tied up in a box and put on the shelf earlier. 07:52.193 --> 08:04.887 [SPEAKER_00]: Number two is critical thinking, and we can throw logic into here, and I do have planned out an episode to talk a bit more about logic and some resources and things, so that'll be coming down the pipeline probably I guess would be closer to the summer. 08:05.018 --> 08:30.244 [SPEAKER_00]: for critical thinking, being able to look at maybe propaganda, looking at commercials, looking at ads that are online, looking at billboards, looking at magazines, looking at all the things, and seeing the propaganda, and then really thinking, learning about things like, oh, this person's kind of gaslighting me, or they're trying to prop me up a little bit to make me feel good about something, and then they're going to tear me down, and just to stop and critically think. 08:30.264 --> 08:31.765 [SPEAKER_00]: Do I have to just believe that? 08:31.845 --> 08:33.507 [SPEAKER_00]: Because somebody said that? 08:33.487 --> 08:51.647 [SPEAKER_00]: And this is where we can then pull in for our kids and theology and apologetics, but there's just a very much a lacking of critical thinking and sometimes with this critical thinking, well, you know, you and I could have the same topic and we could critically think about it and look into it and we might come to different conclusions and is it a. 08:52.015 --> 08:55.100 [SPEAKER_00]: first-year issue when it comes to our faith? 08:55.421 --> 08:59.949 [SPEAKER_00]: No, okay, and we can look at a little bit different, but critical thinking and logic to stopping. 09:00.009 --> 09:06.280 [SPEAKER_00]: And instead of just going along with a crowd, because sometimes it just feels better to do that, to stop and look. 09:06.901 --> 09:08.924 [SPEAKER_00]: Critical thinking, there's a lot of resources out there. 09:09.606 --> 09:12.150 [SPEAKER_00]: Number three, problem solving. 09:13.126 --> 09:18.874 [SPEAKER_00]: This would be a really helpful trait for them to have and something good to know how to do out in the world. 09:19.114 --> 09:20.697 [SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of problems are going to encounter. 09:21.077 --> 09:22.739 [SPEAKER_00]: They could be little problems. 09:23.100 --> 09:24.923 [SPEAKER_00]: There could be big problems. 09:25.043 --> 09:30.210 [SPEAKER_00]: It could be problems that are coming from people like interpersonal relationship problems. 09:30.631 --> 09:33.835 [SPEAKER_00]: This could just be problem solving of logistics. 09:33.815 --> 09:38.100 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it's problem-solving of, I have to be in two places at one time. 09:38.200 --> 09:41.364 [SPEAKER_00]: How do I actually accomplish that, which sometimes is moms? 09:41.485 --> 09:43.387 [SPEAKER_00]: We are faced with that often, right? 09:43.767 --> 09:48.393 [SPEAKER_00]: And just living life with our kids, we can explain to a problem we've come across. 09:48.493 --> 09:50.816 [SPEAKER_00]: And then how are we going to solve this problem? 09:51.417 --> 09:56.163 [SPEAKER_00]: You aren't going to be able to figure out in advance all the problems that they're going to encounter. 09:56.643 --> 10:02.050 [SPEAKER_00]: But I feel like a lot of problems fall into a couple of different categories 10:02.030 --> 10:06.241 [SPEAKER_00]: Deal with a couple different maybe relationship type problems. 10:06.482 --> 10:17.912 [SPEAKER_00]: You're like, okay, then they encounter a relationship problem as they get older and they're like, well, this is kind of similar to this one and so this is maybe how I can solve that problem, but 10:18.753 --> 10:31.453 [SPEAKER_00]: This takes a lot of talking with our kids and a lot of maybe sharing from our own life and exposing them obviously in an age-appropriate manner, but problem solving is a really big thing, a lot of people just freeze and don't know how to move forward. 10:31.894 --> 10:36.481 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's help our kids to be those leaders that can say, no, this is a problem. 10:36.501 --> 10:37.803 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not insurmountable. 10:38.464 --> 10:39.346 [SPEAKER_00]: How can we solve this? 10:39.466 --> 10:46.397 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's use maybe our critical thinking skills that my mother also taught me in homeschool. 10:47.390 --> 10:48.833 [SPEAKER_00]: And I don't mean character. 10:49.014 --> 10:51.439 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, sometimes our kids really are characters. 10:51.479 --> 10:53.784 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, wow, that one is quite a character. 10:53.804 --> 10:55.267 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm talking about beyond that. 10:55.849 --> 11:00.298 [SPEAKER_00]: They're heart and the evidence of the fruit of the spirit within their life. 11:00.459 --> 11:01.822 [SPEAKER_00]: How do they carry themselves? 11:02.223 --> 11:06.512 [SPEAKER_00]: How do they actually come through in a situation? 11:06.492 --> 11:15.786 [SPEAKER_00]: And this can happen often, like a lot of character building can happen as our kids are interacting with other kids and just being the one that is different. 11:16.126 --> 11:23.196 [SPEAKER_00]: Are they the one that is that big one for me is teaching my kids, like let your yes BS, let your no be no. 11:23.837 --> 11:30.407 [SPEAKER_00]: If you said yes, you are going to do something and show up for somebody and you don't want to now, you still show up and you still do that. 11:31.400 --> 11:32.822 [SPEAKER_00]: Are you trustworthy? 11:33.503 --> 11:37.149 [SPEAKER_00]: Are they known as being somebody that is trustworthy that's not a liar? 11:37.290 --> 11:40.355 [SPEAKER_00]: I can think back to some of my own experiences working. 11:40.455 --> 11:52.935 [SPEAKER_00]: And the, I would say in air quotes, privileges that I was given as a young adult that others in the same position, maybe we work different shifts or maybe sometimes our shifts overlap, but some of the, 11:53.219 --> 11:58.446 [SPEAKER_00]: different privileges that I was given was because I was seen as trustworthy and they were not. 11:59.087 --> 12:17.350 [SPEAKER_00]: And so character really working at the heart of them and exposing their sinful traits, their sinful bent and working towards helping them along with that sanctification and being the one to be able to speak into their life and to also be the model for them. 12:17.671 --> 12:22.517 [SPEAKER_00]: And I do believe I 12:22.497 --> 12:26.403 [SPEAKER_00]: Number five, teaching your kids, make this a priority. 12:26.683 --> 12:33.794 [SPEAKER_00]: Teach them how to push through when something is hard, as well as when they just don't want to do something. 12:34.455 --> 12:42.747 [SPEAKER_00]: Now this might be when you take that math lesson, the math curriculum that you have purchased, if they don't really like because they just don't like math or it's harder, they don't want to do it. 12:43.088 --> 12:46.092 [SPEAKER_00]: They will take it out of the box right now, and we can apply this right here. 12:46.072 --> 12:57.474 [SPEAKER_00]: or maybe it is the language arts, maybe it has to do with writing and writing a paper that you ask them to do and they're just like, this is just so hard or maybe it's just that they don't want to do it. 12:58.175 --> 13:08.755 [SPEAKER_00]: But showing them that life is not just, it's not all easy peasy and I think that sometimes with homeschool, we can make things so easy with our kids. 13:08.735 --> 13:19.011 [SPEAKER_00]: We can fall into a homeschool style or model where our kids aren't challenged and they don't have to push through. 13:19.251 --> 13:20.132 [SPEAKER_00]: They don't have to get to the other side. 13:20.152 --> 13:26.662 [SPEAKER_00]: They don't have to do the things that they don't want to do and that's why I think that it's still is a good thing to maybe do some of the curriculum. 13:26.682 --> 13:31.249 [SPEAKER_00]: They just don't necessarily want to do because you know that it is good for them to know this information. 13:31.229 --> 13:37.798 [SPEAKER_00]: but also it's good just to do the things that they don't want to do because there's going to be a lot in life that they don't want to do. 13:38.479 --> 13:42.444 [SPEAKER_00]: But if they learn it now, it's like, okay, I don't want to do this, but guess what? 13:42.584 --> 13:43.725 [SPEAKER_00]: Once I do it, it's done. 13:44.707 --> 13:49.573 [SPEAKER_00]: Number six is this kind of falls on the heels of the previous one. 13:49.934 --> 13:53.338 [SPEAKER_00]: And that is resilience when things don't go their way. 13:54.196 --> 13:55.798 [SPEAKER_00]: A lot of life is not going to go our way. 13:55.878 --> 13:57.039 [SPEAKER_00]: You know that, I know that. 13:58.000 --> 14:01.484 [SPEAKER_00]: We know that things are not always going to turn out how we want them to turn out. 14:01.844 --> 14:20.845 [SPEAKER_00]: But when we teach our kids how to bounce back to take maybe that defeat of maybe it has to do with a curriculum or maybe it's a sports team or maybe they tried out for a play, some type of drama production and they didn't make the cut or they didn't get the role that they wanted to. 14:21.247 --> 14:24.930 [SPEAKER_00]: When things don't go their way, how do we then bounce back? 14:25.311 --> 14:26.371 [SPEAKER_00]: Does it mean we ignore that? 14:26.391 --> 14:28.013 [SPEAKER_00]: We can process the emotions with them. 14:28.313 --> 14:31.376 [SPEAKER_00]: And then, okay, how can we, like this is life? 14:31.616 --> 14:34.819 [SPEAKER_00]: This is accepting it, and then how can we move on? 14:34.919 --> 14:51.253 [SPEAKER_00]: And so resilience is just a really big thing that as an adult, all of these things, as we need to think, what would be helpful for my child to learn now that they can put into practice now so that it's a bit more natural as an adult. 14:51.233 --> 14:57.727 [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, number seven is wisdom and making that a priority. 14:58.168 --> 15:01.997 [SPEAKER_00]: So, I mean, a practical way is you can read through Proverbs. 15:02.277 --> 15:08.972 [SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of wisdom in there, a lot of talk about the foolish person, and we all fall into that category. 15:09.307 --> 15:12.775 [SPEAKER_00]: I remember being young and being like, why am I so immature? 15:12.835 --> 15:16.003 [SPEAKER_00]: Why can I not make the best decisions? 15:16.043 --> 15:18.068 [SPEAKER_00]: Why am I just foolish all the time? 15:19.010 --> 15:20.614 [SPEAKER_00]: And I started to realize as I got older. 15:20.654 --> 15:22.759 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, wisdom. 15:23.060 --> 15:32.240 [SPEAKER_00]: It comes from experience and time, but not just the experience and time, a lot of people have experienced a lot of things and a lot of time has passed, but they don't have wisdom. 15:32.901 --> 15:39.415 [SPEAKER_00]: It is taking those experiences, taking maybe the pushing through the heart that we talked about, doing the things you don't want to do. 15:39.395 --> 15:59.293 [SPEAKER_00]: Learning resilience, learning how to get back on to our feet again, and then we apply what we have learned is actually learning lessons from that that character development those flaws that we have maybe that season of that lying was just a default for them, okay, let me grow in wisdom in this area and so. 16:00.100 --> 16:02.565 [SPEAKER_00]: Wisdom is just lacking overall in our culture. 16:03.046 --> 16:08.177 [SPEAKER_00]: So I look back and I'm like, okay, it's just as taken time and has taken some introspection. 16:08.357 --> 16:20.944 [SPEAKER_00]: It has taken not in a Wu Wu kind of way or anything, but like just asking God to expose those areas so that I can work through them with the Holy Spirit and to acknowledge and see our sanctification and 16:20.924 --> 16:45.801 [SPEAKER_00]: Be okay with those times that are just pretty rotten when your sin is really exposed On the other end of that is wisdom and a growth in wisdom and so that is my list again I could have had a way much longer list and if you'd like me Maybe to break these down a little bit more into other episodes I would be glad to do so, but if as you're listening to me and you're saying I don't know how to tie this in I just keep focused on the curriculum and 16:45.781 --> 17:10.438 [SPEAKER_00]: checking off the boxes and getting those worksheets done and trying to get the entire workbook done all the 180 days of math lessons and just all the things that you're trying to do but you just would like a little bit of help when it comes to you and personally with your homeschool you can go ahead and check out my mentorship program you and I will meet we can talk privately about 17:10.418 --> 17:31.828 [SPEAKER_00]: anything really I'm open to anything it has to do with homeschooling and Christian motherhood you can check out the link in the show notes and pretty sure it's also little by little homeschool.com slash mentorship and that can kind of get you all the information but I would love to be able to meet with you especially this time of the year as you are winding down from this homeschool year thinking about the summer then also planning for next homeschool year. 17:31.908 --> 17:39.379 [SPEAKER_00]: If that sounds like something you would be interested and go ahead and check out that link if you have any questions about it any time feel free 17:39.359 --> 17:40.612 [SPEAKER_00]: Have a great day.