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Finding Balance with Katie Klein
122 Plays3 months ago
Katie Klein shares her experience with homeschooling and how she was introduced to the Charlotte Mason method. She discusses the changes she made to prepare for homeschooling and the involvement of her husband in their homeschooling journey. Katie emphasizes the importance of finding a balance between household duties, content creation, and homeschooling responsibilities.
You can find Katie and her resources over at:
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Transcript
Introduction and Homeschooling Encouragement
00:00:08
Speaker
Are you considering homeschooling but don't feel qualified or don't know where to start? Are you a homeschooler and feeling lost or just need some encouragement? This podcast is for you. My hope is that through everyday homeschooler stories, you will be encouraged, inspired and empowered to and in your homeschool.
00:00:35
Speaker
I want to thank my friends and fellow homeschoolers, Cole and Lindsay Novak of Good Company, for allowing me to use their song, To Be Here Now.
Guest Introduction: Katie P. Pine
00:00:45
Speaker
You can follow them on Instagram at music.goodcompany, their podcasts, Good Company podcast on Apple and Spotify, as well as on YouTube.
00:00:59
Speaker
Katie p Pine, a little house starting point, is a wife to one and homeschooling mom to three in Minnesota. who is passionate about teaching biblical literacy, protecting childhood, and reading good books.
Katie's Homeschooling Journey and the Charlotte Mason Method
00:01:11
Speaker
Today, Katie shares her experience with homeschooling and how she was introduced to the Charlotte Mason Method, including her involvement in her local homeschool community. You will hear her share about her role as a content creator and the resources she creates to support the broader homeschool community, including my personal favorite, her cycle-seeking e-book,
00:01:32
Speaker
to help home educating mothers support their menstrual health while homeschooling. Let's get to it. Hi, welcome Katie. Thanks for having me. Yeah, I'm so happy you're here. um So if you just want to start off, tell us who you are and how many kids you have and their ages and all that.
00:01:52
Speaker
I'm Katie Klein and I have three kids and they are right now five and a half, seven and a half and nine and a half. They tell me that the half is really important.
00:02:04
Speaker
and We live in Minnesota. Okay. Cold. Yeah. Yeah. It's even cold. You know, in the middle of July, we have one hot week usually and then the rest of the year is pretty pretty mild and then yes, very cold. Oh, so nice though. um So yeah, half birthdays are important in our house too. My um five and a half year old just had her half birthday and she like made me have a mini party and everything. here it's that totally Yeah. So let's start off with your school
Educational Background and Early Influences
00:02:40
Speaker
experience. Were you homeschooled as a kid?
00:02:43
Speaker
I was not. No, I um grew up in a fairly rural area that was expanding as I was growing up. So when I started school in the public school system, I had a really small class. And by the time I graduated, it was around 250 kids. So kind of in the middle of like smallest, you know, um not super, super small. I had a great experience.
00:03:08
Speaker
i'm I had really some really key educators in my experience that I told so dear, but also you know just had a lot of boredom as well. I felt like, especially in high school, I felt like this is a waste of my time. Oh, why is that?
00:03:28
Speaker
Yeah, we went on a block schedule. So we had where it's four classes a day and the classes are um an hour and a half long. And it's something new that the school system was trying out. um So most of the teachers were used to educating on a 45 minute period. um And it's hard to teach, to I think, any subject for an hour and a half. yeah Most of the time they would teach a lesson and then we would have time to do what would be considered a homework. And the rest of the time was just visiting.
00:03:55
Speaker
um And I just always felt like, man, I could be doing so many other things right now. For sure. Did the school system continue that? I think so. I think they're still doing it even now. Wow. It seems great in the theory, because then you don't have homework for every class every day. But um that that does. An hour and a half in the class, that's a long time. Yeah. Yeah. So was your husband homeschooled?
00:04:23
Speaker
He was not, no, he grew up in the even smaller school district in the public school system. I think he graduated with a class of like 70. So even more world than where I grew up. Wow, that's really amazing though, still to have that small of a ah school is nice if you're yeah not, if you're having to go to public school. ah What was your earliest exposure to homeschool? So there was quite a few kids in our who were home schooled in a really various, varied kind of way. We had some kids who had the typical, like, 2000s, 90s home school family, where a lot of kids, they gave up, like, a Becca style, where they were very traditional, sitting at dusk, you know, classroom at home.
00:05:16
Speaker
and Then I had a ah good friend in high school who was home schooled, and both of his parents had their PhD. One of his parents was a professor, and so when they had sabbatical, they would like go over to Europe for like seven months and study history and see all the sites over there and work and live. and I thought, that is such a cool experience. I also had a lot of home schooled kids in Ireland,
00:05:45
Speaker
in our community who just did a lot of music and it seemed like I had a lot more freedom and a lot more time. I can remember when I was in 10th grade in my C class, I'd rather speak about why home schooling is like a valid way to get an education. That was like my debate why home schooling, all the benefits of home schooling. So it's interesting to me now, ah I don't know why I chose to have Not only because of my friends, but never thought that I would be homeschooling. But even then, like, there were being little seeds planted. So it's so funny to look back on. Yeah, that's pretty amazing. It's huge. It's like, yeah, that's not that's not it. But what made you guys what at one point did you and your husband decide that that was what you wanted for your family?
00:06:36
Speaker
Yeah, so when I was in college, I worked at a summer camp, and it was a Bible camp, and there was a lot of kids that I was engaging with, and I was always so surprised, because in college, I was minoring in Bible, and then I would have this, like, 7th and 8th grade girl in my cabin who knew almost as much as I did about the Bible. And I was thinking, man, I'm going, like, I'm paying a lot of money to get this information in there.
00:07:05
Speaker
And it turns out they were home schooled and that's why they knew so much about the Bible. And um when I would spend, when at one time with, like I can't remember specifically, there's a couple of girls that I had in a junior high cabin. And I had these girls who were, you know, 13, 14, who were having challenges with eating disorders and with boys and with peer pressure. And then my little home school girls were like,
00:07:30
Speaker
Well, I really want to pray for my brother and my real friendship and my grandpa. And it just seemed like such a stark contrast. So I think then you know I was probably senior in college around that time, senior in college. And I think it was then that I started thinking, wow, I think maybe I want to raise my kids more like these homeschool children and maybe less like these kids who are dealing with so much because of what they're daily exposed to.
00:07:59
Speaker
um So I think it was always a conversation my husband and I had like when we were early married. But then when we had our first child, I actually had a sister-in-law on both sides of my family who were home-schooling. And so I think I saw how they were doing it and it was very different than the, I don't know, like the uber-conservative kind of
Family and Community Support in Homeschooling
00:08:24
Speaker
what was televised, home-school, like stereotypes.
00:08:28
Speaker
And I just thought, this is beautiful. I love what you guys are doing. And I love how its freedom it gives to the family and how much freedom it gives to children. I just saw my nieces and nephews really blossoming and being excited about school and having so much time as a family. I think it was, I think it was then I really started considering. Yeah, I think this is for this is us. That's when I started researching. you know I had like a six-month-old baby and thought, I don't think i could I could leave him. Even in five years, I don't want to be away from him all day. and I quit my job to stay home and felt not like it was important to be home. and so I was like, why would I you know do all the hard work of the first five years, potty training and tantrums and whatever?
00:09:16
Speaker
And then be like, see, and ni yeah and i'll I'll see you in 15 years. I don't know. I think there's all those things. Just like, that's, that's what I see. and These little, these little feet being placed. And like I said, as I look back, it's so amazing to see even like at age 15, how there was these different things. And then really how my husband came on board with that, when we were able to see how much of the impact of the lives of our nieces and nephews.
00:09:42
Speaker
I really, help I think it helps when you have other family members doing the same thing because it's, you kind of have that freedom to ask the questions you may not feel comfortable asking a friend. um And also just that unity also. I mean, my sister-in-law homeschools our nephews and it, like having that unity really, it's same vision, you know, same desire. And so I'm, I'm sure that played a factor into it as well.
00:10:10
Speaker
Yeah, it was super helpful too, because both of our parents were like, oh, you guys have been home schooled too? Cool. Yeah. They got it. They understood. Like, thanks to my sister-in-law, she both, like, paved the way. You know, now all of my sister-in-laws are homeschooling or have homeschooled. That is amazing. yeahs super are cool Yeah, I feel like it's really unique too. It's not always common. No, it's not. Absolutely not. and um So you did a lot of
Charlotte Mason Method Deep Dive
00:10:38
Speaker
research and stuff. What were what did you read or listen to um during that season just to prepare you for homeschooling? Yeah, I can remember just late night nursing sessions trying to understand what homeschooling was about, especially because of what I had seen in high school. I was like, I don't think that I vibe with that whole traditional like maps and parts and workbooks.
00:11:04
Speaker
you know like doing school at home because I was like I felt so bored by that at school like why would I want that ah at home you know what I mean yeah so I just sounded like I think really what I can remember I started poking around on census and was looking at like all the different things and came across a creators who, I don't even think that she does much mean anymore, but at that time had shared just a little bit about their family and using the silent music method. And I just caught the vision for that and was like, wow, that is so much from what I want. I see how beautiful this homeschool life that's built on living ideas and literature and time outside, you know, and all of these things and like my foundation of faith.
00:11:49
Speaker
that I was like, that is what I want. And so then I just, I don't know, nerded out one about Charlotte Mason. I remember i listening to a lot of podcasts. I listened to the Charlotte Mason Poetsley podcast. i watch education There's the Skolay Sisters podcast. um Yeah.
00:12:10
Speaker
And I really just, like, read a lot of blogs. My little Robin, Leah, she was super helpful to me. I'm still a lot of information, even Nancy Kelly over at Safe High NASA. Like, there is um a lot of those creators that put so much effort into this beautiful community. And I'm so grateful to them, because had I not seen that, I don't really know if we would have been able to stay at home school. You know what I mean? i feel like i I feel like it was because I was introduced to Charlotte Mason that I was able to do homeschool, walk to them, because it's such a different different vibe than maybe like what I had been exposed to as a teenager.
00:12:49
Speaker
First of all, I'm pretty sure all the listeners are like, man, is this the Charlotte Mason podcast? Because there's so many people coming on here that are Charlotte Mason homeschoolers. But I do feel like it is something that there's an awakening but because it is something so different than what, um, it's even different from the classical model that, you know, where you sit there and learn, you know, you're doing memorization things. And, um, and so,
00:13:16
Speaker
There is a huge group of people that are wanting to pursue Charlotte Mason because it does give you that like sort of classical education with the classic books and the Latin and Shakespeare and all that, but it's not rooted in memory. and It's rooted in actually knowing and understanding. um But it's really shocking that you... um i When I first heard about Charlotte Mason, i was really excited. i I resonated a lot with it. But then I went online and I saw these people pursuing the Charlotte Mason method and it overwhelmed me because um it felt like this um ideal that I wouldn't be able to accomplish. um Did you ever feel that when you were looking into all of these blogs and accounts and stuff?
00:14:09
Speaker
yeah I think the nice thing is that I started researching this in probably 2015, so there wasn't there wasn't the amount that there is now. yeah um It is very overwhelming. Even as a child that makes an educator, there's so and just so much outlet.
00:14:30
Speaker
um Instagram wasn't really what it is now. like There's no videos, there's no stories. It was all just stickers and blogs. Even then, there wasn't really a lot of podcasts. There was just a couple. yeah So how much of that has come and then it's just compounded. But I definitely understand where families, even just people in homeschooling is overwhelming. um But I think to me, I just happened to get in and at the right time where there is It's like a lot of information, but not too much. And so, I mean, I think for me, you know, I went to the Charlotte Mason room with Lee in like 2021. And I was like, okay, I'm going to tell him about living books and time outside and whatever. And I was like, oh, these people at Charlotte Mason, they are like into all this obscure Charlotte Mason stuff. But I was like, I don't think I'm going to go back.
00:15:28
Speaker
But I went home, I was inspired at least enough to read her volume. And I like, I listened to them on audio and read them over the next about year, year and a half. And it was, it was incredibly just like life changing. Don't want to say that like,
00:15:47
Speaker
i don't I guess I don't want to say that lightly, but it was life-changing for me. or What was actually in her volume was so much not about her point or what I saw on Instagram and on the blog. It was so much more about parenting and about personhood, about faith and the work of the Holy Spirit and like all of these like you know child development and so much of what I would see even in modern literature. I think that really changed my experience too after I went and read her volume.
00:16:17
Speaker
Now, when I read blogs and stuff, it's pretty easy for me to tell how far or how deep somebody is into their information with Charlotte Basin because I think it's easy just to be like, oh, it's but living books. This is what's said about living books and then stop it. So that that helps me too when I'm like looking at different agencies that are putting out their It's just like, two what but I find is valuable until I leave the rest. Do not feel like I have to do it a certain way or it has to look like how somebody else is doing Charlotte Mason, but then just go back, like what's actually said, what her philosophy is actually about, and then say, how can I apply this to my own children and my own home school if that makes sense? Yeah, completely. I think that that's, that was the overwhelming part for me at first finding the Charlotte Mason method was
00:17:06
Speaker
um, seeing the fullness of it. But then once I started reading the volumes and getting into all the things, the delectable education was my go-to podcast for Charlotte Mason. And, um, I realized that it was much more than education. It was so much deeper and so much richer than that. I mean, even the habit training and the character development, it's, she was way, way ahead of her time. And the fact that, um, I mean,
00:17:35
Speaker
Boarding schools were a big, big deal then. And that was a huge tool used to help raise children in a certain class with certain, you know, abilities. And she was there saying, no, no, no, you can do this, but at home.
00:17:53
Speaker
Um, even if you have a governance or whatever. And so I really enjoyed, I mean, that how often she refers to Holy Spirit and like how the Holy Spirit should, it not only helps us as parents and educators, but also helps, um, the children learn and to be able to take these, what feels like mature topics, especially some of the habit training things.
00:18:17
Speaker
Um, but how she's like, the children are not too young for that. They, they, they can understand on their own level. And then that understanding will grow as they go on, which ties into the narration and all of that stuff. As you go down, yeah down the path of Charlotte Mason and you realize it's all connected and it's not as overwhelming because you really true. Make it a lifestyle, not just what the tool you use to educate your children.
00:18:46
Speaker
Yeah, like I do not, I for myself will be doing this, I would miss an institution as long as I live. Like when I'm reading, I'm nailing to my husband, like I'm growing as an individual and like the fullness of it, I feel like is a good way that you put it because now I look at it, like I want to be, like I want to be just the merriest, like most obscure stuff possible because I feel there's so much with her writing that when I read,
00:19:15
Speaker
you know, modern books on triggers and habit training and child development and brain development and, you know, being outside. All those books have so many echoes and stuff that she wrote over a hundred years ago. And it's like, yeah, it's kind of her time on the, also you have the fullness where it was so much about the way you operate, the way you think about life, the way you think about children and their abilities. So it's more than just like, here's the homeschooling,
00:19:43
Speaker
curriculum, you know, or here's like an outline of your workbooks or something, you know, so, um, I don't know, I, I really have found a home like the inside. Um, I don't think that it's like, and I'll yell or that, you know, there's, there's not room or even beauty and other methods, but for me, it's just, it's more than homeschooling. Right. Right.
Adapting Home Life for Homeschooling
00:20:04
Speaker
Were there any changes that you guys made to prepare yourselves for homeschooling in your home?
00:20:13
Speaker
I feel like the biggest things that I actually didn't anticipate, so when my oldest was born, I became a stay-at-home mom, so that was a huge thing for us, just honestly. We kind of come in fast, and so um that's actually part of how I get into home going, too, because um we just couldn't afford preschools around us. In Minnesota, it's not completely going all the time. Some of our neighboring states have a free preschool program, um but I just felt like, man, this is is really expensive.
00:20:43
Speaker
This is to need more folks out for families who are doing preschool in lieu of daycare. But that was like a cute scene for us. But then, you know, you kind of hit the sky with being a state home mom. What was surprising to me was when I started homeschooling, especially as I had more than one child um who was doing, you know, a curriculum who's in formal schooling, was how different it was from being a state home mom. I assumed it would be somewhat the same.
00:21:13
Speaker
But all of a sudden my tasks and responsibilities were different, where most of our day was doing school and doing outside activities and things like that. And the routines and rhythms that I had set up, especially for like health work with laundry and dishes and things like that, it felt like there needed to be a big shift in teams. And so I think when we started homeschooling, especially a couple of years in, that was the biggest thing that we came to was how my husband and I balance our priorities and even how we were able to find ways to include my husband in this life. But, you know, I'm over here as my kids, like having these adventures. We're going hiking. We're going to waterfalls. We're reading all these tales and and learning math and, you know, and then my husband is just kind of in and out and he's in the region. And so um some of the biggest steps were yeah finding a balance between our household duties
00:22:12
Speaker
in a way that I didn't feel overwhelmed when I was shifting from just being a home on to homeschooling as well, but then also and finding ways to shift our homeschool to incorporate like my husband more into find ways we can do that as a family. How does your husband help with the homeschool? So it doesn't seem like, you know, i there's a lot of talk about like, oh, the husband's a principal or, no, I'm a principal, like, pregnant I just make them, you know, even if there's a lot of homeschool parents like me who pass off certain topics, like, oh, dad does science and math, I like science and math, so that's not it for our family either. So we've had a funny way to really make that work. um So primarily, you know, when we're doing
00:23:03
Speaker
read aloud or even reading. My husband does a lot, a lot of reading with our kids in the evenings on a weekend. We save some of our, like, you know, science experiments or some of those nature hikes and things like that for a weekend so that we can do that as a family. So we're having these adventures, like, as a family. um And then we do a lot where my kids are narrating and showing their work to my husband. So he is involved with, like,
00:23:32
Speaker
um them off and not checking them off, but like seeing what they've done. So they're sharing their nature with him, they're narrating, they're reading to him. um I like it too because I feel like I don't need my husband necessarily to be somebody who's picking the curriculum that then I'm executing. you know I think there's a lot of that in the history of homeschooling where you have these moms who were i feeling like that's how they could honor their husbands and you know what I'm talking about. For us, that wasn't going to work because I had the bathroom for Charlotte and Ethan. I wanted to dive in, I wanted to read, and he was like, cool, I'm super supportive. Just like, you know, Sarah, I mean, what's your name? So for us, it's more so, I come to him when I need his support. So obviously, he supports me so much in
00:24:25
Speaker
work that he does around the house. Like, we share responsibilities when it comes to, like, monitoring distance and things like that. And that seems maybe silly, but that is a huge help to our homeschool. What I know, like, I can just leave the distance in the sink and dad's going to take care of us. Or I can just do this or that. You know, I don't have to wait till I do dad's thing or whatever. He's so proactive and so involved in that way. Um, but he also is such a sounding board when When I'm saying this is what I'm struggling with, with our children, you know, whether that's discipline or just directing or, you know, my husband is so wise and helpful in that way where he can, he has this unique perspective where he can kind of step outside of our home school and see so much that I can. So those are some of just like the smaller ways that he's involved. um That's not necessarily looking like he's sitting down and teaching a whole course with my kids.
00:25:20
Speaker
I love that. I mean, that your home sounds exactly like mine. That's how our home works. My husband is definitely my status. He trusts me. And he also sees how passionate I am about um about homeschool and the research I do and the books I read and the things I listen to. And so it really encourages, it really encourages him to let me be. And if I need any help or direction, especially pertaining to subjects, i I'm not strong in like math. I, you know, when my son became gifted in math, I was like, I don't know what to do.
00:25:53
Speaker
And it was just so great to have him to just talk it through with, or if there's something that I'm struggling with with a certain kid, like, I cannot get this kid to narrate to me today. and Can you go ask them what they read in first school today? Because most likely, they'll tell him. They may not want to tell me. and so But it really was a communication aspect of me saying, you know this um ah have for me, I have a really strong cleaning schedule.
Balancing Home Duties and Homeschooling
00:26:22
Speaker
that I keep, I have different zones, different rooms I do every day. Um, but if something doesn't get done, I'm just like, I let it be, but I'm like, okay, Sunday before, um, our Sabbath starts, I, cause we sat with my Sunday night to Monday night. Um, I make sure I'm like, okay, I need to spend this afternoon finishing these or can you, you know, can you help me and whatnot? And I just love that because a lot of times we, um, there,
00:26:50
Speaker
we need to make sure like our support system inside the home is also strong. And so, but communicating that, I mean, like, I just need your help with dishes. I need your help with laundry and things like that. So where, um you know,
00:27:04
Speaker
We're making sure and we're sharing that with them and not holding resentment um and holding that in so that way they know how to support us because it is a lot. It's not just being a stay-at-home mom. I mean, sitting down and choosing to educate your children every single day is is a huge sacrifice of time. And I even think about how clean my house would be if my kids went to school. I'm like, what would I do all day? I literally think about that all the time.
00:27:34
Speaker
Just like what what do people do? I just feel like my house would be spotless all the time and then I wouldn't know what to do. and far sometimes i'm just like can your mother just having three or four hours alone in the house like just quiet no kids It's really wild. My kids are right now at their grandparent camp. They come home today though. um and i It's really wild. I had things I wanted to do every day. My husband and I you know spent his two days off doing things, but I was like, what do I do? I don't know what to do with my time. What am I doing? I'm decorating our school room for the Olympics. It's still all for them. but
00:28:17
Speaker
um So do you guys have a homeschool community that you guys, um I'm sorry, you were gonna say something? Oh no, let's go ahead. ah Do you have a homeschool community that you guys gather with regularly?
Building and Finding a Homeschool Community
00:28:29
Speaker
Yeah, we have a couple of different communities that we're involved in. So we have a nature club that is I think it's growing to 10 families this year. um A couple of those families only have one child involved or they have an only child. So um it's not an overwhelming amount of kids. It seems like just the right amount. We meet every week and we do like a science lesson and nature journaling a height. And that's a really wonderful community. And then we have a co-op, which I feel like it's really interesting because our co-op meets every other month right or every other week.
00:29:06
Speaker
So twice a month. And in the off weeks, we do a field trip and a mom's night. So there's a lot of like mom community. During the co-op, all the moms are in a section. We call it mom's time. So the moms are in a section where we bring in speakers and we hear encouragement. and We have time to visit and just like decompress while the kids are doing their gym and science and art and stuff. Or they've done drama and sign language and some other things like that.
00:29:34
Speaker
am And then we also are in CSF, Bible studies fellowship, and we're in a CSF that has a home school and like program. So that goes up, I think until like eighth grade. So there's a lot of home school families that are involved in that as well. so um And then I personally am involved in a kind of like a larger homeschool group that's in my area that is just for mom. So once a month they have a meeting where they bring a speaker from all over and and then they have like this really expensive CD and DVD library of like audiobooks and talks and conferences and things like that. um And then they have a ton of like what I call like all of our activities where they have like Lego clubs and book clubs and swimming lessons and all different kinds of things that you can kind of
00:30:23
Speaker
up and drop as needed and I like that too because sometimes you have one child who really needs some of that extra social you know or like even for me as a mom I need some extra social time and so yeah if we're feeling it we can pick up and just go to like some of the one-off events um but we don't have to stay committed to things. Sometimes that that gets hard where you have different seasons in your homeschool year, where you're like, oh yeah, fall, we're doing all the things. and Then from everywhere you get to Minnesota, and you're like, I don't want to leave my house. I don't want to see anybody. I want to stay in the dance all day. It's nice to have some flexibility of that. A lot of different gatherings of homeschool community, and then we also have a bunch of homeschool families and artists. We've got a larger system.
00:31:09
Speaker
have quite a bit of homeschooling community and family, is so like a good mix there as well. That's amazing. I feel like the hardest part for people to find to to find is the community aspect of it. There's a lot of people asking how to find that. How did you find your community? Communities, I should say. Yeah, I started asking anybody I knew to homeschool.
00:31:34
Speaker
Just like, hey, why are you what groups are you in? What groups do you know of in my ear that area? I did Google first, and then also did facebooklist it are just Facebook is a really helpful resource. For most states, they have, i like, Facebook groups where it's, like, homeschooling in Minnesota, and then you can join, and you can ask, hey, does anybody know of, like, homeschooling groups around? and And then I just feel like the more you get into it, the more you express now, the harder thing is limiting the amount of groups and things that we're doing. this There's quite a few even groups around us that I'm like, oh, I love my friends in Niagara, but I love the idea of it, and that sounds wonderful, but I just can't add anything else. But we've been really selective in the things.
00:32:13
Speaker
like you and Because once you get in the community, um at least where I live, yeah I'm in the Twin Cities, and so there's quite a bit of home school community around us, or it just seems like, the further we've gotten into it, the more and more home-schooling opportunities there are. I agree. There are so many out there, and it is hard to say ah You're like, I have to say no, I can't, we can't just fill our time with extracurricular. It's not why we are pursuing this, but it is there. That's really great. That's, um, Oh, sorry. Um, that is a big way. I know Facebook is a big way to find groups because we have, I mean, even in Texas is massive, but for DFW and even for Fort Worth and even for Dallas separately, um, there are separate pages and it's just, it,
00:33:06
Speaker
It's just great because you can bounce things off of people, find things if you're looking for even library books. I've seen people ask like, Hey, I can't find this library book. Has anyone seen this anywhere? Does anybody own it so I can borrow it? And I just feel like that's just really sweet. And I know people really try to stay off of Facebook and stuff like that. But for, I feel like for finding groups like that, that's the main reason why I'm a part of Facebook is to find groups like that to find.
00:33:32
Speaker
uh, needs and even, uh, use book fairs, use curriculum fairs, things like that. It's a great tool. Yes, I agree.
Katie as a Content Creator and Homeschooler
00:33:43
Speaker
So are you, um, when it comes to your homeschool, so you have, you are a content creator influencer on Instagram. I don't know which term you prefer. Um, but feel weird to me something yeah yes, I agree. I'm like, I don't like any any of them, but, um,
00:34:01
Speaker
But what you have, so you have that that you're running um and you create curriculum and other resources for homeschoolers and then you also homeschool and you have all this stuff. So what is what is your week or what are your days look like? Are you like a schedule strict schedule person or are you more of like a rhythm and a flow? Yeah, that's something I'm really like praying through right now because it's been hard for me to balance i I am the type of person who even before Instagram and things like that, I don't like there to be like notifications on my phone or, you know, I like clean your inbox kind of person. And so um if I wanted to, like if I let it, just Instagram always is asking me for more. Like there's always more notifications. There's always more people who are, you know, in my inbox asking questions. And my biggest motivation
00:34:57
Speaker
like is meet needs. And so I love like, and if somebody who has a need, it's really hard for me to not be like, Oh, yes, I'm here. I'm ready to help. And that just like motivates me and fills me up. And so it's a balance that with now this year, like I'll have a kindergartner and a second grader and a fourth grader. And that three kids in school plus all these outside activities, like I share with you and, um,
00:35:20
Speaker
it's it' ah better a bit of a challenge. So we take summers off and so I try to do a lot of my course writing and, um you know, curriculum writing content creation in the summer. um And then I have a link to back out like reels and posts where I'm just taking all of my video content on like a Sunday afternoon, like two hours and I just came to my clothes like 50 times. I'm just doing all my content then. i And then I try to I'm silent this year especially to not be, you know, to balance um how much I'm on my phone. You know, so the last year I was doing it where I was waking up and working for about an hour and a half i in my room while my kids were eating breakfast on their own and getting dressed. um But, you know, that has just felt like.
00:36:10
Speaker
It's taking so much of our morning. So that's something I don't know if I have a good balance in yet. um It's something that I'm really trying to figure out even like the future of my business. I feel like I kind of fell into this like I didn't go out seeking to be a content creator or to be I just had seen that gal on the Instagram who showed me about Joe and Nathan. I was like, oh, I want to show you. This is how I complete my learning cycle. It's like, you know what I learned and what I know. and um From there, it's like I'm into something I never expected. Yeah, I think I'm just still always trying to figure out how to do that, especially when I'm in these years of prime time parenting, where I have kids you know where this is like the next 10 years that they're going to remember as their childhood. and
00:36:57
Speaker
what do I want that to look like when it comes to how i how I'm modeling my technology and use and how I'm prioritizing my business and my kids. That's something I've really been praying about and thinking through this summer as we're going into our next school year. So I don't know if I have an answer for you, but David, check back next month.
00:37:16
Speaker
I really do love that though because that's kind of where I've been at for the past like year and a half is is learning to balance that because I'm like you I love helping people I love answering questions and um and being available because I because I did fall into it I didn't seek out to to become a content creator or anything. it It really was like you just sharing what we were doing because I enjoyed watching other people's experiences. And I was like, well, I want to do that too. That way, if anyone on the internet, even if it's just my friends who who get inspired by what i what I share and what we're learning and how we're learning, then like, man, that's so great because I've been
00:38:02
Speaker
I've been gifted that through other people. And then when it happens, you're like, Oh, this is cool. And then you start to monetize it. and it's And it's like, Oh, well, this is nice because it's helping my family out as well. And then, but then it is that slippery at ah slope of, but my first priority is homeschool. yeah So yeah it is, it is like finding that balance of like, my kids have to get all of me first.
00:38:28
Speaker
Yep. Or most of me. Um, and then, and then my, everything else can come after that. And so I'm, I completely read. I still don't even know. I feel like almost everyone is trying to figure out the relationship with social media because it is still such a new thing. Totally. Yep. Yeah. So are you guys a morning lesson people?
Flexible Scheduling and Resources
00:38:51
Speaker
Do you do, um, you split it up? Do you follow the Charlotte Mason type table strictly? What is your,
00:38:57
Speaker
rhythm and method for that. We follow her timetables in that we try to do similar, I mean, we're doing similar subjects to what she had in her PMU school and when she being our lesson source, you know, according to age groups and things like that in her form.
00:39:14
Speaker
um But I don't know, I get really stressed out and like having anxiety when it's like, okay, from 9 o'clock to 9.30, we're doing this. And from 9.30 to 9.45, because I just know that there's like still time and there's the dogs who need to be let out. and There's all these things that like interrupt your day. um So I have like a basic plan mapped out, um but it's not connected to a time. So it's more so like a rhythm of like, okay, we're going to do this, and then we're going to do this next, and then this will come next on the rhythm.
00:39:43
Speaker
um And every day it varies because of our outside activities. You know, some things are in the afternoon, some things are in the morning. So, i we are definitely not a strict cutoff at lunch, like, ah so i I'm not a morning person. So, our day is just kind of, you know, we still try to have a lot of afternoon open for those afternoon occupations and and that sort of thing free time. but Um, no, I'm definitely not organized enough to like start at eight every morning and be done in, you know, one o'clock every day. not My husband has a rule that I'm not allowed to talk to anyone before 9am. So I'm not a morning person either. It is, it is a hard, I don't, I do not start early though. I would love to be completely finished. Um, at a certain time, it doesn't always happen that way.
00:40:37
Speaker
um And I think it's it's good to hear because it's like when you when you're de-schooling yourself from your school experience, part of that is undressing the fact that you don't have to stick to a schedule. You don't need to do math from this time to this time. Having the time ah to do timed lessons where you're only spending 10 to 20 minutes per lesson, that's helpful. um But saying that we're going to do math from, you know, 8 to 20 is is feels like a lot of pressure that we can put on ourselves. Cause when we don't wake up on time or if we, um, something happens, then our whole, we can, I feel like it puts too much pressure, but some people, so some people function great off of that. I'm just not one of them. I'm not either. Yeah. Um, so you want to share a little bit about what you create for the homeschool community, what you put out there?
00:41:35
Speaker
Cause you just did a kindergarten curriculum too, yeah which is really great for the states that require kindergarten. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, I'm coming up on two years of having my little house learning co-business and I've had like close to 10,000 families like use a resource from like, which is so surprising. Like I said, so, um,
00:42:00
Speaker
Yes, I have a preschool called Lesson B. Little Preschool. I have a kindergarten that is a Charlotte Mason kindergarten that goes off of what Stephen's doing in the two years of his kids age five and six, and then also her list of attainment for age six, for all those who are really new to Charlotte Mason. But for those of you who could care less about Charlotte Mason, it still is a kindergarten that works for the...
00:42:24
Speaker
It works for helping kids be able to still have a lot of free time, you know, only takes about 90 minutes a day. That just came out in April, so um I'm excited to use that. I kind of used a mock version of that with my middle child, and I'm excited to use that with my last kindergarten year this school year. I have a couple of video courses, so I have a mini course on combating anger in your home school, because that was something I really struggled with. I'm coming out with three mini courses, on one on technology, one on biblical literacy, and one on the little years kind of home schooling.
00:42:59
Speaker
kids before they're in that formal age of learning. And then I also have a much larger data course called Home for 101, where I help families really navigate through all of that. Google could overwhelm and give them the blueprint of here are all the main methods. Here's all the recommended curriculum for those methods. Let's find which method works for you based on your family's values. Let's talk about sparkling. Let's talk about presenting burnout, socialization, all these kinds of questions.
00:43:26
Speaker
um Yeah, and then I have a habit cleaning resource called Habit and Hymn. And it's like a couple other like smaller resources, like I have an e-book called Homeschooling with Hormones about cycle thinking and how to do that in light of homeschooling. So, you know, when is the best time in your natural body's rhythm to be planning? When is the best time to like schedule a field trip? Or to be, you know, how can we How can we capitalize on what's going on in like our winter season when we're menstruating and how do we home school well during the time where we have less energy and are showing up in a different way, you know? So, yeah, I'm kind of just always coming out with different things. If I'm learning about it and I care about it, I'm like, yeah, I might as well put this in a resource and share it with families. That's how I came out with my first resource that um was like, oh, maybe I could do this, you know,
00:44:18
Speaker
that's and That's where I'm like, it was unexpected where I just put something out in the world and thought, oh, if I had like a hundred people uses it within a year, this would be amazing. Like that would be the top. Um, and I had almost a kind of people in my first month to use it. So it's amazing. And I was kind of whirlwind. Like I said, oh but not even two years. Um, and all that has happened in that time, but that's what I really love is like writing and serving this homeschool beauty in the um, in a way that I really benefited from and served by all these other creators.
Managing Homeschooling and Personal Well-being
00:44:49
Speaker
That's amazing. When I saw you come out with the cycle sinking one, I was i so excited because I feel like that is something that um a lot of women were just now learning. when we We weren't taught about our cycles really, and the different phases when we learned about puberty. And so a lot of women, especially women our age that are really in the thick of parenting, these these young, these toddler years, these middle years and all of that, we're we're realizing that our hormones fluctuate a lot more than what we were taught. And I feel like it's so empowering to know
00:45:28
Speaker
um, how our cycles affect our productivity. Because when you yeah are, when you are in your luteal phase, the last, you know, a few days of your luteal phase, the last thing we need to be doing is something rigorous and something that, you know, a field trip or something, because even though we don't intentionally mean to be harsh or any of those things that come with it, our bodies are just that way, and though those hormones hit. And so it's great to have things that can just bring you in.
00:45:58
Speaker
um and allow you to um embrace that femininity, that gentleness that you can have if you just understood your body more. And so I loved, I love that you're doing that. Yeah. It was something where I was super struggling where I, in my ovulation phase was playing all these things. I was like, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. rain And then, you know, a different phase would hit and I'd be like, what was I thinking? And then I always was in this,
00:46:27
Speaker
it up same and like frustrated of like, why did I do this to myself again? I'm not measuring that. I'm not, you know, completing what I scheduled. So when I was able to learn that again, it's just like, hey, something that I needed to learn is something I was struggling with. And so it's just fun to be like, choose all the information, everything I learned. So hopefully you don't have to know. Yeah. All this frustration that I went through, um, and just really equipping the women who are, you know, alongside me. So there's, so there's so many at home going.
00:46:58
Speaker
Yeah. And the the shame aspect is real because it, like you said, if you plan during your ovulatory phase, you're going to be very ambitious and it's going to sound like a lot of fun. And then reality hits and you're like, wait, no, I mean, it's nice to do things. I love to organize and do things like that during that that phase, but it planning is, it's a little bit too ambitious.
00:47:22
Speaker
Cause you feel great. folks You feel so great. So I, I really love that. And I really, I hope people really check that out and, and look into that because it definitely will transform the way you look at your homeschool and the way you, um, just give grace to yourself and your kids and, um, yeah, all of that, even if you're not a morning person, I think that's even that plays into it too, because once, once I was able to,
00:47:50
Speaker
admit to myself that I'm not a morning person and I don't need to be up and trying to do things first thing in the morning that I need to ease into our school in the morning. Um, it went so much smoother. Everything, the lessons, the, um, the relationship, because really what we need to value more than anything is our connection with our children because though we need to take seriously what our children are learning and how they're learning.
00:48:17
Speaker
Um, we are still their parents and the Lord gave them to us to steward well, and we're not going to steward them well. If we are, um, if we're choosing to, to, um, be harsh with them in times when we really could prevent that. Yeah. Yep. Totally. Yeah. So is there anything that we didn't cover that you want to mention?
00:48:41
Speaker
I don't think so. Yeah. Just the people who are looking to connect and to learn more about, you know, I hope people resonate with my story. It's been fun to like chat, but you know, if they want to learn more about my story or hear more about any of the products that I have, they can find me on Instagram. I'm just at Little House Learning Co. um My blog is littlehouselearningco.com. It also has my top there too. So they can always find me through those avenues. I love it. I love it. Okay. So who is your homeschool hero?
00:49:11
Speaker
You know, I feel like my sister-in-law is my home-school hero, love it which is kind of silly to say because she's not even that much older than me, but she just, I feel like I want to grow to be more like her. um She is very patient, very present.
00:49:31
Speaker
She is more of like a tidy personality which I needed in my life of just like some of that gentle calm still like it's gonna be fine, it's fine. And she's like so focused on the Lord and this love.
00:49:46
Speaker
Loves her children well, loves to serve them. um and I feel like there's a lot of homeschooling heroes when I look at like um people online or people I've met, people I've heard see at conferences and things like that. But um I feel like she's my true hero know because she's someone that I see like all the good and the hard and the bad. I haven't really in her life um and still and like I still want to emulate you as you you know emulate the Lord. So shout out to Renee. She's the best.
00:50:15
Speaker
That's so special. That really, I love that. And that's the reason why I love this question because it doesn't have to be somebody that we all know. It doesn't have to be Sally Clarkson or Cindy Rollins or someone. It can be someone that's your neighbor or your family or whatever. And I really love that, that you have gotten to bond and connect and grow in that area together. It doesn't even have Instagram.
00:50:42
Speaker
and because like I think that there's something you said for that, like especially somebody who's on Instagram a lot, like to have a good community there, but also has a thriving social life. work like Most of my close friends, they don't have Instagram, they don't care, they don't know. It's just like, cool, get we get that you have this job that you're doing this thing, um but it's like no big deal. and I feel like it's really nice to have that balance, keep my own yeah know humility in check,
00:51:11
Speaker
um but also just to have like real life connections of friends who are in the trenches with you, walking to home school to meet side by side. 100%. I mean, i I do feel that for those people who don't have community, they feel like that that's the only place they can get it. But one of the best things you can do is really get out there and seek it and and build it because it takes so much intentionality to to build that community and build those people that you can trust.
00:51:40
Speaker
and You can talk about you know things that you're struggling with with your children and you know see how they can help you and what wisdom they have to give and because it is hard when you don't have friends. If you have friends who are not homeschooling and you try to seek that help, it could you may not get the answer you need. um totally yeah But having those people in your life every day where you can text, you can call, you see them and they know your kids, they love your kids.
00:52:08
Speaker
Um, and it's, it's a really life giving, um, a thing for homeschool moms to also not feel like we're messing up our children too, you know? Yeah. Well, thanks Katie so much for joining me for this conversation. I, this is so fun. Yeah, it is fun. The time flew by so fast.
00:52:30
Speaker
yeah and Well, thank you so much. Thank you.