WEBVTT 00:02.417 --> 00:23.215 [SPEAKER_00]: Christian parenting you are looking at this home square and you're thinking I don't want to do this whether behind that there's a feeling of dread there's just a lack of peace or maybe it's just complete frustration what you've been doing just isn't working anymore or maybe it never did work 00:24.503 --> 00:33.391 [SPEAKER_00]: You can't go back and redo the past years or however long you've been homeschooling, but you can change the course for the future. 00:34.112 --> 00:38.016 [SPEAKER_00]: If your homeschool needs an overhaul, listen into this episode. 00:39.885 --> 00:46.569 [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to Little By Little Home School podcast, I am Lee Nguyen, and here we are at the beginning of August. 00:47.209 --> 00:54.713 [SPEAKER_00]: We have just a month until ticket sales and for Little By Little Home School conference that will be on September 4th, will be the final day to get your conference tickets. 00:55.073 --> 00:58.255 [SPEAKER_00]: So be sure if you've been thinking about coming, we would love to have you. 00:58.755 --> 01:00.196 [SPEAKER_00]: make sure you get your tickets soon. 01:00.776 --> 01:03.158 [SPEAKER_00]: But the summer has just flown by. 01:03.178 --> 01:15.645 [SPEAKER_00]: I'd love to know when your homeschool year starts and you do year round and you've already been getting into it and just kind of taking a little bit of a lighter summer with your home education, but you can always email me or message me on Instagram or Facebook. 01:16.086 --> 01:21.249 [SPEAKER_00]: But today we're going to talk about how you're listening as episode and you're saying I think I need an overhaul of my homeschool. 01:21.329 --> 01:26.932 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not settled about what we have been doing or there's been some changes and this year really needs to be 01:28.053 --> 01:39.898 [SPEAKER_00]: Now is the time to do it, even if maybe you're a weekend to your home school, sometimes we start right at the beginning of August, mid August or maybe not till September, I even had moms tell me they don't start until October because of September still feels warm. 01:40.619 --> 01:41.459 [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't matter. 01:41.779 --> 01:43.800 [SPEAKER_00]: If you've already started, we can still do an overhaul. 01:43.900 --> 01:46.641 [SPEAKER_00]: If you have not, now is the perfect time to do it. 01:46.822 --> 01:47.642 [SPEAKER_00]: So let's talk about it. 01:49.262 --> 01:52.806 [SPEAKER_00]: It is never a bad time to make changes to your homeschool. 01:53.186 --> 01:54.968 [SPEAKER_00]: You can do it at any point. 01:54.988 --> 01:57.971 [SPEAKER_00]: You can do it even a couple of weeks before the homeschool year ends. 01:58.372 --> 02:02.056 [SPEAKER_00]: It's never a bad time and it's never the wrong thing to do. 02:02.456 --> 02:05.759 [SPEAKER_00]: But right now is the easiest time for an overhaul. 02:06.755 --> 02:17.147 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you'll have planned to start homeschool in the next couple of days, and you're saying, I'm just, again, going back to that beginning, I was just talking about you have this lack of peace, a dread, you don't, you just feel frustrated about it. 02:17.808 --> 02:20.030 [SPEAKER_00]: What if you just kind of push off that date a little bit? 02:20.571 --> 02:24.175 [SPEAKER_00]: I promise the world will not end, and you take some time to go through. 02:24.195 --> 02:25.576 [SPEAKER_00]: I've got some steps for you here. 02:26.157 --> 02:36.286 [SPEAKER_00]: and you take some time and you start off well instead of starting off and saying okay scratch that kids we're going to start over again because that would be frustrating for them too. 02:36.326 --> 02:40.009 [SPEAKER_00]: Listen I have done that before where I should have taken more time. 02:40.149 --> 02:45.814 [SPEAKER_00]: I was more so like we got to get started because we want to have these certain days in and we got to get our 180 days in and 02:47.015 --> 02:54.397 [SPEAKER_00]: know, however you're kind of work that, you know, however you can't your days, however you count your days, but still I was like, we have certain goals. 02:54.718 --> 02:57.819 [SPEAKER_00]: And so we need to get started, but we should not have gotten started. 02:57.899 --> 03:03.961 [SPEAKER_00]: And I had to put the brakes on, take a step back, and reorient ourselves and get ourselves to a better place. 03:04.121 --> 03:07.802 [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm hoping that today's episode is you learning from my mistakes, but listen, 03:08.482 --> 03:10.084 [SPEAKER_00]: mistakes are the way that we learned. 03:10.284 --> 03:26.741 [SPEAKER_00]: I adjusted and I made sure that the years after that, that I was fully ready and in the right frame of mind to start our homeschool year and not doing it just so that I could say we had started our homeschool year or so I could share with everybody pictures of our first day or anything like that. 03:27.991 --> 03:36.296 [SPEAKER_00]: you have to do what is best for your family and the fact that I was in that moment just trying that year trying to just get us started before maybe I shouldn't be everybody else. 03:36.456 --> 03:36.876 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know. 03:37.016 --> 03:37.937 [SPEAKER_00]: Or I just thought we're ready. 03:38.117 --> 03:39.217 [SPEAKER_00]: We weren't quite ready. 03:39.338 --> 03:42.800 [SPEAKER_00]: We still had a little bit of summer and a little bit of living that we needed to to obviously. 03:42.920 --> 03:47.902 [SPEAKER_00]: And as I prepared for this episode, I actually have nine steps written down. 03:47.923 --> 03:49.003 [SPEAKER_00]: They're like nine. 03:49.023 --> 03:49.804 [SPEAKER_00]: I thought I just wanted 03:52.570 --> 03:57.871 [SPEAKER_00]: I broke them down into nine because I wanted it to just be very minute with each one. 03:58.232 --> 04:06.734 [SPEAKER_00]: So if you want to grab a piece of paper and write down numbers one to nine, you can just write a couple of words next to it, just to kind of trigger in your mind and then you kind of know where to go from there. 04:06.934 --> 04:10.915 [SPEAKER_00]: So the first one is I ready alluded to it a little bit, your mind set. 04:12.699 --> 04:14.339 [SPEAKER_00]: be ready for the home school year. 04:14.459 --> 04:19.681 [SPEAKER_00]: If you're not ready and you need to do this overhaul, then push off the start date. 04:20.321 --> 04:26.402 [SPEAKER_00]: Even if your start date is maybe the first day of co-op instead of your actual own first day. 04:26.482 --> 04:34.764 [SPEAKER_00]: And typically when we join co-ops, maybe we want to start off and have our own personal days with our kids before we go to the first co-op day. 04:34.804 --> 04:41.526 [SPEAKER_00]: But maybe your first co-op day is actually just the first day of school and you don't do any of your own personal home school around that. 04:42.866 --> 04:45.168 [SPEAKER_00]: get your mindset on the right place for it. 04:45.529 --> 04:49.192 [SPEAKER_00]: And I want you to just focus on now through the holidays. 04:49.432 --> 04:51.954 [SPEAKER_00]: I know I said the dreaded word, the holidays. 04:52.335 --> 04:53.576 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we're halfway through the year. 04:53.596 --> 04:56.098 [SPEAKER_00]: I've never seen it on, I think, July 25th. 04:56.338 --> 04:57.780 [SPEAKER_00]: The June, July, whatever. 04:57.840 --> 04:58.660 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, June 25th. 04:59.061 --> 05:01.903 [SPEAKER_00]: People posting like, oh, we're halfway through the year to Christmas. 05:01.923 --> 05:02.664 [SPEAKER_00]: I was like, stop it. 05:02.824 --> 05:03.485 [SPEAKER_00]: Stop it right now. 05:03.645 --> 05:04.486 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to enjoy today. 05:04.606 --> 05:05.487 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to enjoy June 25th. 05:06.047 --> 05:10.169 [SPEAKER_00]: And so I want you to join, enjoy today, which is August 3rd, enjoy today. 05:10.589 --> 05:13.130 [SPEAKER_00]: But also, know in the back of your mind, it's going to come. 05:13.170 --> 05:14.471 [SPEAKER_00]: The holidays are going to come anyway. 05:14.951 --> 05:21.214 [SPEAKER_00]: And if you think of it as this block of time between now and the holidays, then you're okay. 05:21.314 --> 05:22.634 [SPEAKER_00]: What's best to do right now? 05:22.754 --> 05:26.276 [SPEAKER_00]: And then re-evaluate during your Christmas break. 05:26.396 --> 05:27.076 [SPEAKER_00]: Number two. 05:27.536 --> 05:33.519 [SPEAKER_00]: Recognize that everyone is a year older than when you started the last homeschool year. 05:34.259 --> 05:37.143 [SPEAKER_00]: Hopefully, everybody is a year wiser. 05:37.784 --> 05:42.289 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, sometimes we know some kids take a little bit longer to catch up with some wisdom. 05:42.710 --> 05:49.679 [SPEAKER_00]: We also know that during puberty, I feel like with my kids at some point, all wisdom was lost temporarily for a little bit. 05:50.800 --> 05:54.664 [SPEAKER_00]: but in general, everyone is a year older and that includes you. 05:55.064 --> 06:05.174 [SPEAKER_00]: You are a year wiser, you are a year more experienced in your homeschool, even if this past year was your very first year of homeschool, you learned a lot, right? 06:05.194 --> 06:12.722 [SPEAKER_00]: You're like, aha, I absolutely did learn a lot and you're going to continue to learn and that is what this is, this episode is about the continuation. 06:13.102 --> 06:13.942 [SPEAKER_00]: that process. 06:14.082 --> 06:21.685 [SPEAKER_00]: It's okay to say we need an overhaul and recognize I'm looking at it through the eyes of myself now at this age. 06:22.125 --> 06:26.647 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe last year in your homeschool, you were 35 years old and now you're 36. 06:26.867 --> 06:40.432 [SPEAKER_00]: You have another year of experience under your belt and another year of looking in that your kids and evaluating them and living with them and finding out more about home education and your family culture and all of that. 06:41.132 --> 06:46.935 [SPEAKER_00]: So the second one is to recognize that everyone is a year older, and that means there should be some changes. 06:47.255 --> 06:51.537 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to talk about this being an overhaul, so don't feel bad that maybe you need an overhaul. 06:52.057 --> 06:54.438 [SPEAKER_00]: There should be at least some changes every year. 06:54.918 --> 07:03.522 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes I feel like when your kids are kind of moving, if they're all around the same age, you kind of move it a pack, and there could be some years that look pretty similar, and then one gets a little bit older. 07:04.062 --> 07:10.188 [SPEAKER_00]: Especially maybe like the oldest gets into like the middle school ages and like okay This is kind of a new game that we're playing here. 07:10.228 --> 07:10.528 [SPEAKER_00]: All right. 07:10.548 --> 07:14.752 [SPEAKER_00]: We got to do some changes But just recognize that everyone's a year older and that is a good thing. 07:15.332 --> 07:21.618 [SPEAKER_00]: Third take some time to pray Reflect and evaluate 07:22.750 --> 07:26.153 [SPEAKER_00]: Pray, that's God, just bear your soul to Him. 07:26.213 --> 07:27.074 [SPEAKER_00]: He already knows. 07:27.634 --> 07:30.337 [SPEAKER_00]: God, I am looking at this homeschool year with dread. 07:30.977 --> 07:32.779 [SPEAKER_00]: God, I just have a lack of peace. 07:33.519 --> 07:39.224 [SPEAKER_00]: God, I am so frustrated with homeschool and I just want to quit or whatever your emotions are. 07:40.025 --> 07:41.086 [SPEAKER_00]: pour those out to him. 07:41.166 --> 07:42.126 [SPEAKER_00]: He wants to hear that. 07:42.166 --> 07:42.927 [SPEAKER_00]: He already knows. 07:42.967 --> 07:47.109 [SPEAKER_00]: He just wants to hear it from you and something happens when we verbalize it. 07:47.129 --> 07:56.093 [SPEAKER_00]: Whether you are praying out loud or in your head, those connections start to make you like, okay, I really am feeling this, this badly, this frustrated with things. 07:56.133 --> 07:56.934 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe there's tears. 07:56.954 --> 07:57.574 [SPEAKER_00]: That's okay. 07:58.294 --> 07:58.594 [SPEAKER_00]: Pray. 07:59.355 --> 08:00.055 [SPEAKER_00]: Then reflect. 08:00.495 --> 08:03.437 [SPEAKER_00]: Take some time and really look at your homeschool and 08:05.189 --> 08:08.110 [SPEAKER_00]: Are there things that are not going well in your homeschool? 08:08.510 --> 08:10.111 [SPEAKER_00]: And the root of it is you. 08:10.671 --> 08:12.092 [SPEAKER_00]: The root of it is your heart. 08:12.632 --> 08:20.415 [SPEAKER_00]: The root of it is maybe some sinful bent, some things that you are maybe dealing with in life or whatever it is. 08:20.635 --> 08:21.375 [SPEAKER_00]: Is that what it is? 08:21.935 --> 08:26.479 [SPEAKER_00]: evaluate your home school and how is everybody interacting with one another? 08:26.560 --> 08:29.402 [SPEAKER_00]: What are our attitudes towards one another? 08:29.502 --> 08:33.406 [SPEAKER_00]: How is our family as a whole and then evaluate your curriculum? 08:33.426 --> 08:34.507 [SPEAKER_00]: Take a look at your resources. 08:34.547 --> 08:44.436 [SPEAKER_00]: How are you spending your time and your energy and what's possibly missing and is there too much of some things and don't rush this process? 08:45.217 --> 08:50.120 [SPEAKER_00]: and absolutely feel free to include your husband say can you pray for me or can we pray together? 08:50.560 --> 08:52.962 [SPEAKER_00]: Ask your friend to say I'm really struggling with this homeschool year. 08:53.002 --> 08:55.744 [SPEAKER_00]: Can you even have to tell them the even the reasons of the details? 08:56.144 --> 08:57.124 [SPEAKER_00]: Can you pray for me? 08:57.425 --> 09:03.528 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh my goodness, if another homeschool mom comes to you and ask you to pray, you girl pray and you get on your knees and you be praying, praying for her, okay? 09:04.089 --> 09:05.670 [SPEAKER_00]: So pray, reflect, evaluate. 09:06.370 --> 09:08.271 [SPEAKER_00]: Number four, find a few 09:15.251 --> 09:23.896 [SPEAKER_00]: a few inspiring resources that you feel aligned with or maybe these are resources that inspire you. 09:24.336 --> 09:28.259 [SPEAKER_00]: You're recognizing I'm missing something and maybe let's go to that lack of piece. 09:28.279 --> 09:33.502 [SPEAKER_00]: You're having a lack of piece and you find a homeschool book and you're like wow. 09:34.587 --> 09:38.190 [SPEAKER_00]: I just feel such peace, like, I want to go to this mom's homeschool. 09:38.671 --> 09:49.080 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, then read that book, green some wisdom, and I'm saying only a few, if you go beyond two, three, it's going to be too much. 09:49.241 --> 09:56.748 [SPEAKER_00]: Again, use that, you're a year older, you understand it be homeschool better, you understand your kids, you understand the world, you have more wisdom. 09:57.388 --> 09:58.448 [SPEAKER_00]: and is there a resource? 09:58.468 --> 09:59.128 [SPEAKER_00]: Is there a book? 09:59.188 --> 09:59.989 [SPEAKER_00]: Is there a podcast? 10:00.229 --> 10:01.009 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, maybe this one. 10:01.709 --> 10:02.769 [SPEAKER_00]: But I'm beyond that. 10:02.849 --> 10:10.151 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to be putting you, I'm not doing this podcast to put you in a tunnel and so you have to just listen to me find other resources. 10:10.811 --> 10:18.173 [SPEAKER_00]: I have done some great interviews with homeschool moms who have written books, so go ahead and scroll back and find those different 10:18.853 --> 10:23.196 [SPEAKER_00]: interviews that I have done and then go ahead and check out their resources and say, do they have a book? 10:23.236 --> 10:24.177 [SPEAKER_00]: Do they have a podcast? 10:24.477 --> 10:25.278 [SPEAKER_00]: Do they have social media? 10:25.318 --> 10:26.459 [SPEAKER_00]: Where do they have a blog? 10:26.879 --> 10:27.900 [SPEAKER_00]: Where are they sharing? 10:27.940 --> 10:29.601 [SPEAKER_00]: This is somebody I want to learn from. 10:30.002 --> 10:37.688 [SPEAKER_00]: So pick a few inspiring resources that you feel like, okay, I feel like if you're like she's speaking to me or you know what? 10:38.828 --> 10:47.074 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm feeling convicted about how she is sharing about how she has homeschooled and I really want my home to feel like that and I want my kids to feel like that and I want to be like that. 10:47.514 --> 10:48.935 [SPEAKER_00]: So those few inspiring resources. 10:49.035 --> 10:51.177 [SPEAKER_00]: Number five builds off of that. 10:52.017 --> 11:00.143 [SPEAKER_00]: I want you to start with how you want your life to feel and how you want your life to be, not just homeschool. 11:00.183 --> 11:01.404 [SPEAKER_00]: That is a part of it. 11:01.724 --> 11:03.685 [SPEAKER_00]: Home education is a part of it. 11:03.805 --> 11:06.988 [SPEAKER_00]: Educating your kids is a part of your life. 11:07.628 --> 11:10.329 [SPEAKER_00]: How do you want your life to feel and be? 11:10.889 --> 11:12.930 [SPEAKER_00]: Do you want it to be crazy and hectic and chaotic? 11:13.290 --> 11:14.630 [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, well, then you're going to create that. 11:15.030 --> 11:17.151 [SPEAKER_00]: Do you want it to be calm and peaceful? 11:17.611 --> 11:21.252 [SPEAKER_00]: Then you're going to create that and those few inspiring resources. 11:21.452 --> 11:24.413 [SPEAKER_00]: If you, I'm going to beat that horse to let's dead there. 11:24.433 --> 11:28.534 [SPEAKER_00]: If you inspiring resources, use those. 11:29.194 --> 11:34.864 [SPEAKER_00]: to help you, to create maybe some boundaries, to inspire you, to encourage you, to uplift you. 11:35.325 --> 11:40.534 [SPEAKER_00]: Understanding that those moms that wrote those books, the moms behind the podcast, behind the blogs. 11:41.557 --> 11:44.578 [SPEAKER_00]: None of them, none of us are perfect. 11:44.618 --> 11:49.379 [SPEAKER_00]: We had our ups and downs and some of the really good ones are going to share some of those down points. 11:49.399 --> 12:01.262 [SPEAKER_00]: And we're going to do so in a way that does not expose our children's own stories that we really don't have the right to share or to open up things that really don't need to be opened. 12:01.822 --> 12:04.502 [SPEAKER_00]: But to just admit, like, look, these are some of my failures. 12:05.143 --> 12:07.383 [SPEAKER_00]: But this is how I pulled myself out of it. 12:07.623 --> 12:09.964 [SPEAKER_00]: And this is the positive effect of it. 12:11.904 --> 12:19.508 [SPEAKER_00]: Look it and evaluate those, like how do I want my life to feel and to be and then create a rhythm or routine based upon that. 12:20.009 --> 12:23.331 [SPEAKER_00]: Notice I have not talked about curriculum or the resources we're going to get to that next. 12:23.731 --> 12:27.673 [SPEAKER_00]: Just as a little hint hint, but create a rhythm and routine for your day. 12:28.073 --> 12:34.417 [SPEAKER_00]: And that might include a, well, it should include a block of time that is dedicated towards home education. 12:35.190 --> 12:40.252 [SPEAKER_00]: but create that rhythm in routine, and then we will put in the home school into it. 12:40.712 --> 12:56.539 [SPEAKER_00]: If you don't have a rhythm routine for meals and but you're feeling frustrated and everybody's hungry all the time and that's just as a source of contention within the home, then create a rhythm in routine that includes that and the regular time for those things. 12:57.039 --> 12:58.720 [SPEAKER_00]: And now, number seven, you've been waiting. 12:59.940 --> 13:13.459 [SPEAKER_00]: is to add in the curriculum and the resources that are doable, not the pie in the sky, not the 20 different pieces of curriculum or resources, just add in the curriculum resources that are doable. 13:15.055 --> 13:17.236 [SPEAKER_00]: don't start all at once. 13:17.636 --> 13:19.416 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe in the very beginning, I do have some episodes. 13:19.536 --> 13:28.578 [SPEAKER_00]: Always I'm gonna link in the show notes of every episode I do this one, including some other episodes that are going to build upon it and to give you a little bit more. 13:28.658 --> 13:32.099 [SPEAKER_00]: So there is one about creating a rhythm and routine. 13:32.159 --> 13:34.700 [SPEAKER_00]: And I do have some about the beginning in the starting of the home school year. 13:34.760 --> 13:36.000 [SPEAKER_00]: So go and listen to those next. 13:36.500 --> 13:37.761 [SPEAKER_00]: But don't start all at once. 13:37.801 --> 13:39.421 [SPEAKER_00]: Don't jump straight into the deep end. 13:39.802 --> 13:41.942 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's take those steps into the pool, okay? 13:42.043 --> 13:43.423 [SPEAKER_00]: Take step one, take step two. 13:43.903 --> 13:50.106 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe the beginning of the homeschool year is purely just a couple of subjects. 13:50.386 --> 13:57.309 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you're just doing family ones or you're just doing morning time and you're saying, okay, and they're like, okay, we're gonna add in some math. 13:57.350 --> 13:59.290 [SPEAKER_00]: Everybody's going to be doing their individual math. 13:59.310 --> 14:03.792 [SPEAKER_00]: Get really good at one or two things and then add something else in. 14:04.333 --> 14:04.493 [SPEAKER_00]: So, 14:05.233 --> 14:12.816 [SPEAKER_00]: Don't add in more curriculum and resources that are actually more than doable, because you're going to get yourself frustrated and thinking that you need an overhaul. 14:13.216 --> 14:14.617 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you don't need an overhaul. 14:14.677 --> 14:21.139 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you just need to pull back a little bit and focus on, you know, major in the majors, minor in the minors. 14:21.259 --> 14:24.161 [SPEAKER_00]: And right now you're saying, you completely skipped number six. 14:24.261 --> 14:26.742 [SPEAKER_00]: I did because I had written them in an order and then I rewrote them. 14:27.802 --> 14:28.923 [SPEAKER_00]: but I didn't want to rewrite them. 14:28.983 --> 14:29.863 [SPEAKER_00]: I just changed the numbers. 14:29.963 --> 14:30.184 [SPEAKER_00]: Okay. 14:30.684 --> 14:31.905 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's go back to number six. 14:32.325 --> 14:35.327 [SPEAKER_00]: Before you do that curriculum and resources, oh my goodness. 14:36.187 --> 14:38.428 [SPEAKER_00]: I would say I'm embarrassed, but I'm not too embarrassed. 14:38.448 --> 14:40.109 [SPEAKER_00]: Because if I was too embarrassed, I would go and 14:41.347 --> 14:44.788 [SPEAKER_00]: stop this and then re-record and I'm not going to do that because this is life. 14:45.308 --> 14:51.849 [SPEAKER_00]: Number six, so before you do this curriculum and resources, I want you to create margin for connection and discipleship. 14:52.149 --> 14:58.610 [SPEAKER_00]: So you have those rhythms and those routines and in that you're creating some margin for connection and discipleship. 14:59.071 --> 15:04.632 [SPEAKER_00]: If your kids know all of the facts, you could pretty much call them maybe chat, GBT, they know everything. 15:04.652 --> 15:05.552 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that's impossible. 15:11.733 --> 15:22.597 [SPEAKER_00]: To hop at their class obviously top of their class, but you know if you were to give them graze or they they would just be It would be straight-a's a pluses and four-point-os and all those things But they're not nice people. 15:22.998 --> 15:24.558 [SPEAKER_00]: They don't have a love of Christ. 15:24.678 --> 15:28.400 [SPEAKER_00]: They aren't willing to share the gospel with others They are rude. 15:28.420 --> 15:29.240 [SPEAKER_00]: They are unkind. 15:29.280 --> 15:30.861 [SPEAKER_00]: They lack the fruit of the spirit. 15:31.801 --> 15:33.522 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm sorry to say, but you miss the mark 15:34.608 --> 15:39.671 [SPEAKER_00]: focus on that discipleship with them, and how you do that is through connection. 15:40.192 --> 15:53.841 [SPEAKER_00]: You with them individually, you with your kids as a whole, your family as a whole, your husband with each child individually, your husband with the children together, and then him with the family as a whole, create the margin. 15:53.961 --> 16:01.286 [SPEAKER_00]: If you're always running and going to this thing and that thing and everybody's separated out, you're missing out on that connection in that discipleship. 16:02.086 --> 16:05.870 [SPEAKER_00]: Then you're going to go to number seven, then you're going to add in the curriculum and resources. 16:05.910 --> 16:09.593 [SPEAKER_00]: Number eight is that I want you to sit down and I want you to talk to your kids. 16:09.953 --> 16:11.575 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't care if you have a four year old. 16:11.755 --> 16:13.516 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't care if it's a 16 17 18 year old. 16:15.575 --> 16:21.819 [SPEAKER_00]: You're going to sit down and you're going to talk with them about some of the changes that you are going to make with homeschool. 16:22.260 --> 16:27.443 [SPEAKER_00]: Now if you have older kids, you might want to consult them with some of this overhaul and the changes. 16:27.864 --> 16:30.686 [SPEAKER_00]: You can walk them through this process and do it with them. 16:30.786 --> 16:31.406 [SPEAKER_00]: That is fine. 16:31.426 --> 16:36.830 [SPEAKER_00]: But the bare minimum, talk to your kids about the changes, especially if these are big, drastic changes. 16:37.571 --> 16:38.651 [SPEAKER_00]: And tell them why. 16:39.532 --> 16:42.056 [SPEAKER_00]: admit your failures, admit your frustrations. 16:42.336 --> 16:44.720 [SPEAKER_00]: This will add to that connection. 16:45.120 --> 16:55.936 [SPEAKER_00]: When they start to see, oh mom isn't just this somebody that's sitting up high and she never does anything wrong and everything goes perfect and she's just a dictator to us, kind of thing. 16:56.236 --> 16:56.917 [SPEAKER_00]: We don't want that. 16:56.977 --> 17:07.949 [SPEAKER_00]: We want them to recognize that you are human, and I have found that the admitting to my kids, the times that I messed up, and even now looking back, you know, I'm like, I'm really sorry. 17:07.969 --> 17:10.251 [SPEAKER_00]: I was like, that when you were this age, they're like, it's okay. 17:10.611 --> 17:13.254 [SPEAKER_00]: Because I've been doing that, and saying, look, I'm not perfect. 17:13.374 --> 17:15.517 [SPEAKER_00]: I was trying my best, and I stumbled. 17:15.637 --> 17:16.057 [SPEAKER_00]: I failed. 17:16.378 --> 17:18.480 [SPEAKER_00]: I fell flat on my face, and 17:19.392 --> 17:25.937 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes the changes that you're looking to make the overall, you can say, look, I have not been a very kind homeschool mom to you. 17:26.558 --> 17:28.939 [SPEAKER_00]: And my goal is that I want to be kind. 17:29.180 --> 17:31.421 [SPEAKER_00]: I want you to share the love of Christ with you. 17:31.561 --> 17:34.464 [SPEAKER_00]: I want God to grow patients in me and all these things, just a minute to them. 17:35.183 --> 17:37.605 [SPEAKER_00]: and let them know why these changes are being made. 17:37.685 --> 17:47.631 [SPEAKER_00]: Especially if it's things that you're like, okay, we aren't going to be participating in all these other things or pulling out of maybe a co-op that they absolutely love because it's not necessarily serving your family well. 17:48.131 --> 17:49.472 [SPEAKER_00]: Sit down and talk to them about that. 17:49.552 --> 17:52.073 [SPEAKER_00]: Include them in their education. 17:52.133 --> 17:56.696 [SPEAKER_00]: And a couple of episodes back, I did talk about your kids, make them earn their education. 17:56.896 --> 17:58.417 [SPEAKER_00]: This can be a part of it. 17:58.617 --> 18:02.560 [SPEAKER_00]: And number nine is to just simply accept 18:03.100 --> 18:04.921 [SPEAKER_00]: that your homeschool won't be perfect. 18:05.461 --> 18:08.402 [SPEAKER_00]: There has never been a person who has had a perfect day. 18:08.422 --> 18:09.462 [SPEAKER_00]: And we might think it's perfect. 18:09.482 --> 18:12.503 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, your wedding day, you're like, yes, it was just perfect. 18:12.523 --> 18:13.803 [SPEAKER_00]: There was probably things that went wrong. 18:13.963 --> 18:16.144 [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like my wedding day was fantastic. 18:16.384 --> 18:25.646 [SPEAKER_00]: I did not realize until afterwards, when my mom pointed out that the roses in my brides made spokease were the wrong color. 18:26.146 --> 18:28.807 [SPEAKER_00]: I did not want like a more so hot pink. 18:28.887 --> 18:30.628 [SPEAKER_00]: I think I wanted a light muted pink. 18:31.848 --> 18:32.569 [SPEAKER_00]: The color was wrong. 18:32.889 --> 18:33.549 [SPEAKER_00]: What was I going to do? 18:33.690 --> 18:37.713 [SPEAKER_00]: Nobody told me and I did not notice and I felt like the day was perfect. 18:37.753 --> 18:38.213 [SPEAKER_00]: Was it perfect? 18:38.273 --> 18:40.275 [SPEAKER_00]: No, because that wasn't what I wanted, but guess what? 18:40.295 --> 18:41.135 [SPEAKER_00]: It's still was perfect. 18:41.976 --> 18:46.679 [SPEAKER_00]: But all that to say, there's going to be days that feel perfect and I love that. 18:47.260 --> 18:54.766 [SPEAKER_00]: But it's okay to have days that just hurt slightly shy of the mark, but also I think we need to accept that that was a good, that was a good day. 18:55.772 --> 18:57.653 [SPEAKER_00]: But your homeschool overall is not going to be perfect. 18:57.673 --> 18:58.814 [SPEAKER_00]: I've graduated three kids. 18:59.154 --> 19:00.815 [SPEAKER_00]: Did any of them have a perfect education? 19:01.195 --> 19:03.176 [SPEAKER_00]: No, it was a good education. 19:03.396 --> 19:05.937 [SPEAKER_00]: And thank goodness for the Lord and his grace. 19:06.118 --> 19:08.499 [SPEAKER_00]: And speaking of grace, he has grace for you. 19:08.959 --> 19:16.923 [SPEAKER_00]: And I think we do need to allow some grace for ourselves when we may be have such a tight schedule and we're expecting everything to go so well. 19:17.103 --> 19:17.384 [SPEAKER_00]: And then 19:18.144 --> 19:36.420 [SPEAKER_00]: somebody starts to melt down I mean that's inevitable when you're pushing kids into a mold that's very difficult and it's especially you know some kids isn't certain ages it just is very hard and there's going to be meltdowns give yourself some grace and understand that these are not robots these are these are people these are children. 19:37.754 --> 19:40.775 [SPEAKER_00]: But I think that there's also a balance in giving ourselves grace. 19:41.235 --> 19:45.136 [SPEAKER_00]: We still, we can't say, oh well, you know, tomorrow will be better. 19:45.697 --> 19:47.717 [SPEAKER_00]: Next day, oh well, tomorrow will be better. 19:47.737 --> 19:49.878 [SPEAKER_00]: The next day, oh well, tomorrow will be better. 19:50.318 --> 19:52.779 [SPEAKER_00]: We still need to do our best. 19:52.939 --> 19:54.679 [SPEAKER_00]: And our best is trying. 19:54.899 --> 19:56.000 [SPEAKER_00]: It is surrendering. 19:56.120 --> 20:01.842 [SPEAKER_00]: It is offering our days to the Lord and it is reacting in the best way possible. 20:01.922 --> 20:05.623 [SPEAKER_00]: It is sometimes not reacting and it's walking away and taking a deep breath. 20:06.183 --> 20:14.757 [SPEAKER_00]: And there's, there's just the balance I see in giving ourselves grace, but also trying in being intentional and doing our best every single day. 20:15.277 --> 20:19.184 [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, what do you think about these nine things and doing an an overhaul? 20:19.424 --> 20:19.804 [SPEAKER_00]: What do you think? 20:19.965 --> 20:20.586 [SPEAKER_00]: Are you ready for it? 20:21.627 --> 20:26.829 [SPEAKER_00]: If you need some help in doing so, I would highly encourage you to go ahead and grab your homeschool blueprint. 20:26.909 --> 20:31.051 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to walk you through these nine steps, but just in a different way. 20:31.071 --> 20:36.533 [SPEAKER_00]: And we're really going to focus on this homeschool year again, focus on this through the holidays and 20:36.913 --> 20:41.637 [SPEAKER_00]: looking at all of these little questions and having a vision, what's the bigger goal? 20:41.977 --> 20:45.199 [SPEAKER_00]: What are the goals that you can have for this year and how can you measure success? 20:45.239 --> 20:52.725 [SPEAKER_00]: How can you set up your day in a routine and a rhythm and one that you can get everybody fed and also get everybody home educated. 20:53.046 --> 20:56.788 [SPEAKER_00]: So I'd encourage you to go ahead and get that and have that come alongside this overhaul. 20:56.808 --> 21:00.832 [SPEAKER_00]: You can get more information at littlebylittlehomeschool.com slash blueprint. 21:00.892 --> 21:05.155 [SPEAKER_00]: And right there, just pour my heart out to you and I have gotten some great feedback. 21:05.615 --> 21:29.972 [SPEAKER_00]: one woman that I met at a convention in the spring I was like so do you have like something like a sentence or two that I can use to help others and show them like what it got she's like I love the whole thing I was like okay well that'll do so from one homeschool mom to another she love the whole thing so you can also get the link in the show notes but if you are need of a homeschool overall I say go for it.