Back to School 2023: Passionate Teaching and the Joy of Homeschooling

“I think ultimately what God wants is to refine us in this homeschooling process. It’s not like we’re the ones that have it together and we’re teaching these children to get it together. It’s that we’re all people that need refined, and we’re all people that need to depend on the Lord. And it’s just something we’re all working through together.”

Aby Rinella

This week on the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast, Yvette Hampton welcomed Aby Rinella back to share her enthusiasm for teaching and the joy of homeschooling – in our 2023 Back to School series. Aby Rinella is a former public school teacher and passionate homeschooling parent who believes in making education an a joy for her children. In this post we’ll dive into her favorite tips for keeping homeschooling fun and making the most of this important time and share a few important insights from Yvette too.

Immersive Teaching and Literature-Based American History:

“I love sitting with them because it’s about relationship building… It’s about understanding them as individuals and sitting with them where they’re at.”

Aby Rinella

Aby Rinella’s infectious love for teaching shines through as she explains her excitement for sitting with her children and diving into American history. She shares, “I love sitting with them because it’s about relationship building… It’s about understanding them as individuals and sitting with them where they’re at.” Aby’s approach ensures that her children feel valued and understood while they delve into the rich tapestry of American history.

Her preferred method to teach American history is through literature-based curricula. By using engaging stories and narratives, Aby sparks curiosity and fosters a deeper understanding of historical events. This approach allows her children to connect emotionally with the complexities of America’s past, leading to a more comprehensive learning experience.

Embracing Changes and Incorporating Audiobooks:

As a homeschooling parent, Aby embraces flexibility while managing multiple core subjects. To streamline her curriculum, Aby integrates audiobooks for appropriate subjects. She recognizes that this will provide her children the opportunity to listen and learn independently, fostering self-reliance while still immersing themselves in engaging content.

Nurturing Passionate Learning:

Aby Rinella shares her excitement about teaching anatomy and physiology, with a particular focus on natural medicine for her high school-aged daughter. The joy is palpable in her voice as she expresses the fulfillment and enjoyment she finds in teaching a subject her child is passionate about. By nurturing her daughter’s interests, Aby creates an environment that fuels curiosity and a love for learning.

Balancing Co-op and Family Time:

“I was a mess last year because I didn’t follow my own advice.”

Yvette Hampton

Addressing the balancing act that most homeschooling parents face when it comes managing teaching, co-ops, supplemental classes, and family time, Yvette Reflected on last year’s over-programmed hectic schedule. She shares, “I just signed my kids up for co-op without thinking it through – or praying about it – and it turned into this crazy, chaotic mess.” However, she learned big lessons from this experience and has made significant changes for the upcoming year. To make things more manageable, both of her girls will be attending the same co-op on Mondays and Wednesdays. This new arrangement allows for a more manageable schedule, providing focused time on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays for building relationships and completing academic tasks, and allowing Yvette to get important work done on Mondays and Wednesdays while the girls are in classes.

Watch or listen to part 3 here.

One of the most encouraging take-aways from this conversation is that even after many years of homeschooling, Aby and Yvette don’t have it all together – and that’s ok. They both understand the fear that so many moms feel as they set out on their homeschooling journey – and every year after – wondering if they will be able to teach their kids effectively. But every year, both Aby and Yvette are reminded that THEY really aren’t capable – but GOD! The same God who gave them their children and called them to train them up equips them with everything they need to teach (and parent) with love and grace. And he will do the same for you! Trust him. Rely on him. He is faithful.

As we dive in to the new school year, let us always remember that. He is faithful.

Then, step out. Commit to the work of parenting and homeschooling with excellence. It is a high and worthy calling. Learn and engage effective teaching methods, embrace necessary changes, and nurture you children’s passions. Build strong relationships with your children on this homeschooling adventure and remember, each year brings new lessons and opportunities for growth.

And when you fail – and you will – call on the one who called you. Cry out to Him for strength, help, and provision. Then regroup and get back to it, but don’t miss the opportunity to learn from your mistakes and to use this opportunity to teach you kids to do the same.

Recommended Resources: 

📚📖 Ready to start homeschooling? Download your free Homeschool Survival Kit today!

🍿🍿🍿 Stream Schoolhouse Rocked: The Homeschool Revolution for FREE today!

❤️ ❤️ ❤️ Are you in need of a fresh vision for your homeschool? Join us for 4 days of Homeschool Encouragement at the Homegrown Generation Family Expo. Use the coupon code PODCAST to save 25% on registration today! 

Resources recommended in the podcast:

Apologia Science Curriculum

The Fallacy Detective: Thirty-Eight Lessons on How to Recognize Bad Reasoning

Torchlighters Study Guides and DVDs

Foundation Worldview Bible Curriculum

Elizabeth Urbanowicz, of Foundation Worldview, on the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast 

World History – Master Books

Foundations in Personal Finance – Dave Ramsey

Reading Roadmap – Center for Lit

Corrie ten Boom: Keeper of the Angels’ Den (Christian Heroes: Then & Now)

Corrie ten Boom Christian Heroes Devotion/Workbook 

George Muller: The Guardian of Bristol’s Orphans (Christian Heroes: Then & Now)

George Müller Christian Heroes Then and Now Guided Devotional

She Dwells on James Tween Christian Devotional

She Dwells on Colossians Tween Christian Devotional

The Book with No Pictures, by BJ Novak 

Bible Project Book Overview videos 

How to Homeschool: A Step-by-Step Guide with Kristi Clover

Getting Started in Homeschooling – Israel Wayne on the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast 

Discussion Questions:

1. How do you feel about the speaker’s approach to teaching American history through literature? Do you think this method would be effective for your own children?

2. Have you ever felt overwhelmed by managing multiple cores or subjects? How did you handle it, and did you find any resources or strategies helpful?

3. What are your thoughts on incorporating natural medicine into the study of anatomy and physiology? Do you think it adds value to the curriculum? Why or why not?

4. Reflect on your own experiences of signing up for extracurricular activities or co-op classes without thinking it through. How did it impact your schedule and overall homeschooling experience?

5. How do you prioritize building relationships with your children in your homeschooling routine? Do you find it challenging to balance academics and fostering strong connections?

6. Have you ever had to switch or change curricula in the middle of the school year? How did it affect your homeschooling dynamic? Would you recommend the Foundation Worldview curriculum based on the speaker’s endorsement?

7. How do you approach math education in your homeschool? Do you prefer teaching directly or using computer-based programs like CTCMath? Share your reasons for your preferred method.

8. Discuss the importance of studying God’s Word in your homeschooling journey. How do you ensure that your children receive strong biblical teachings and have opportunities to explore their faith?

9. Share your experiences with field trips and how they have enriched your homeschooling. Have you discovered any hidden gems or unknown places in your local area?

10. Reflect on your own expectations as a homeschooling parent. How do you handle it when things don’t go according to plan? How can you shift your mindset and let go of control to foster a more positive homeschool experience for yourself and your children?

Questions Asked and Answered:

Yvette: “Tell me about your passion for teaching and what you’re most excited about this school year.”

Aby: “I just love sitting on the floor with my children and diving in. I love that moment when they start to understand something new, and their eyes light up.”

Yvette: “What subjects are you most excited to teach this year?”

Aby: “I’m really passionate about teaching American history. It’s literature-based, and we just dive into the stories. It’s so exciting.”

Yvette: “Managing multiple grades and subjects can be challenging. How do you plan to handle it?”

Aby: “I’m a little nervous about managing two different cores this year, especially with my high school daughter. So, we’ll probably rely on audiobooks and other resources to make it work.”

Yvette: “You mentioned teaching anatomy and physiology using the Apologia curriculum. Can you tell us more about that?”

Aby: “Yes! I’m so excited about teaching anatomy and physiology this year. We’ll be using the Apologia curriculum, and I love that it has a focus on natural medicine. My daughter is really interested in that, so it’s a win-win.”

Aby: “Last year, you mentioned you were a ‘mess’ due to poor planning. What changes have you made for this year?”

Yvette: “Last year, I didn’t follow my own advice and signed my kids up for co-op classes without really thinking it through. It ended up being so hectic. This year, both my children are attending the same co-op on Mondays and Wednesdays, and my older daughter will be able drive them soon. It’s going to be much more manageable.”

Aby: “How do you plan to schedule your work hours and make time for focused schooling with your children?”

Yvette: “I plan to schedule my work hours around co-op time so that I have more focused time with my children on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. I’m really looking forward to having that dedicated time for building relationships and completing academic tasks without feeling rushed.”

Yvette: “You mentioned changing your curriculum this year. Can you give us a peek into what you’re using?”

Aby: “Absolutely! We’ve been using a Bible curriculum for our family devotions and individual devotions. Last year, we started using the Foundation Worldview curriculum, but had to pause it. This year, we’re going back to it, and I highly recommend it, especially for younger kids.”

Yvette: “Tell us about the changes you made in math education last year and what curriculum you’re using now.”

Aby: “Last year, I initially tried using teaching textbooks, but I felt disconnected from my kids’ progress. So, I went back to sitting with each kid and teaching math directly. We’re currently using Master Books for math, but there are other options like BJU that can work too.”

Yvette: “You mentioned using Apologia for biology and the Foundation Series for studying the Old Testament. Can you tell us more about those?”

Aby: “Absolutely! Apologia is a fantastic curriculum for biology, and I love that it’s biblically sound, solid, and well-written. And the Foundation Series is a great series that comes in a box and is suitable for children at different levels. We’re currently reading through the Old Testament together, starting with Genesis.”

Yvette: “You mentioned enjoying cooking together with your daughters. How does that play into your homeschooling?”

Aby: “I love that my daughters enjoy cooking together because it’s a great way to incorporate practical life skills into our homeschool. Plus, it’s a fun bonding activity!”

Aby: “What are your thoughts on field trips and exploring the world?”

Yvette: “Field trips are incredibly important! They allow kids to explore the world around them. We love going on family day adventures and randomly driving to discover new places. It’s refreshing and provides a change of scenery.”

Yvette: “You mentioned struggling with expectations in homeschooling. Can you share more about that?”

Aby: “I have this vision of how things should go in our homeschool, but often, it doesn’t align with reality. I get frustrated when my children don’t cooperate, and it’s discouraging. I need to give my expectations to God and stop getting upset when things don’t go as planned.”

Read the full transcript:

Yvette Hampton:

Hey, everyone, this is Yvette Hampton. Welcome back to the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast. I am back this week with Abinella and we are going to talk about the school year. It is a new school year and summer’s over. You guys are already into your school year and we’re going to talk about what this is going to look like. We’re going to discuss what’s ahead for us for this school year, what we’re excited about, just kind of a wrap up of what is going on. We’re going to talk about some of our struggles and fears and stuff because.

Aby Rinella:

We have lots of those.

Yvette Hampton:

And then we’re going to talk about in the last episode, making homeschool fun and some fun ideas for you that you can implement this year to make your homeschooling fun for your kids. Did you know that, Abby?

Aby Rinella:

I’ve never heard you say that. I know.

Yvette Hampton:

I don’t know why I wasn’t saying that before. But yes, that’s a big deal. It is a big deal. And it’s up to like twelve months. So you could use it for like a whole year and then say, you know what, this didn’t work for our family and they will refund all of your money.

Aby Rinella:

That’s awesome.

Yvette Hampton:

They really stand behind their product and they’re great at teaching math. So if you guys need them, ctcmath.com. Well, Abinella, welcome to the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast.

Aby Rinella:

Thanks for having me.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, we’re talking about school and about homeschooling. It’s what we do here. It’s what we do here. How’s your summer been? I mean, it’s so funny. You and I have been so busy that we’ve cut each other like ships passing in the night.

Aby Rinella:

I know.

Yvette Hampton:

Pretty much this whole past summer, it’s been kind of crazy. So how was your summer?

Aby Rinella:

Summers fly. It’s like if all these you think it’s going to be forever. Our summer didn’t start till July because June was, well, actually okay. We were done with school at the beginning of May. Everybody take a big breath. So we had a really long summer, but May and June were really cold, which was amazing and we loved it. So I feel like we got a really good summer in. And so by the time this airs, we have been back to school for quite some time. So it was an awesome summer. It was relaxed, it was fun. I don’t feel like we just crammed so much in that it was a whirlwind. And then when it was time to go back, we were ready.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. What was your favorite thing that you did this summer?

Aby Rinella:

Went and visited family in Montana. It’s always our favorite thing because we have cousins and we play and it was hands down the highlight.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. We haven’t been to Montana yet. No, it’s one of our states that we have. Not yet.

Aby Rinella:

It’s actually where all my family’s from. I’m the first generation Idahoan, actually.

Yvette Hampton:

What are people in Montana called? Montana? oeans.

Aby Rinella:

What would they call the that’s a Idahoans? Montanans. Montanans.

Yvette Hampton:

Montana.

Aby Rinella:

I think you’re a montana. That’s a good question. I think you are a Montana. I’ve heard my family says you’re from Montana. What was your highlight of the summer?

Yvette Hampton:

Oh, man, our summer was good. It has been probably the best summer we’ve had in the past many years because we didn’t do any traveling. And here’s the thing, we love to travel. We love going to conferences and seeing people and meeting people and speaking and showing the movie and doing all that fun stuff. But at the end of last summer, my girls were like, and we’re done. We don’t want to travel next summer. And so we said, OK, so we haven’t. We did one really small conference in Oklahoma City, which was only about an hour and a half from us. And it was like a one night thing. Garrett and I went and we were part of a couple of panels and showed the movie and stuff. And that was really fun. But other than that, we didn’t do.

Aby Rinella:

So you had like a real summer?

Yvette Hampton:

We did.

Aby Rinella:

Not. A working summer.

Yvette Hampton:

No, it wasn’t a working summer. Except for podcasting, of course, which is always fun. That almost doesn’t feel like work to me.

Aby Rinella:

Right?

Yvette Hampton:

It doesn’t, actually. It’s just talking to people. So it has been good. Both of my girls went to camp, and that was their first time going to church camp, and that was really fun. They really had a great time going to summer camp. And so just building friendships, like, it has been a summer for all of us of meeting people and building new friendships and strengthening other friendships that we already had in the works.

Aby Rinella:

Right.

Yvette Hampton:

It was good. It was a good summer. Awesome. But it was exciting to jump into the school year, too, at the same time.

Aby Rinella:

And your last school year with your oldest, which kind of made it your last summer with your oldest. I mean, not last summer ever, but your last, like, going in between school year and summer.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. Next summer I will not be school planning for her.

Aby Rinella:

No. And that’ll be probably her last summer off. Because once you get into the real world, you don’t get summers off.

Yvette Hampton:

Well, that’s been kind of funny. So she had a job. She got a job this summer. And so that’s been just kind of a new thing. She’s had a job before, but she’s working in the mall, at a T shirt store in the mall. So that’s been a different thing for our family.

Aby Rinella:

Right.

Yvette Hampton:

I’m trying to coordinate her work schedule with my recording schedule, and everything else that we have going on has been a little bit tricky. But yeah, it’s our last summer with her, not as an adult, because she’ll be 18 in December, and so next summer she’s going to be an adult. I mean, I fully expect her to still live at home next summer. But yeah. Abby it’s so weird getting here. I’m like, how in the world are we here already? And it’s been hard. So many can’t. It’s weird because I know that when we get to the end of the year, we have a graduation meeting in just a couple of weeks and so we’re already planning for her generation. We go to this big co op. There’s like 1200 kids from K through twelve and so I think there’s maybe like 30 seniors in her co op. Wow.

Aby Rinella:

In just the co op?

Yvette Hampton:

Just in the co op. And so they do a graduation for this co op for all the seniors, which is really great. But we’re already planning for that. I don’t know if this is a thing. This was not a thing when I was a kid. Seniors, of course, because we’re from La. So seniors, 30 years ago when I graduated, we all went to Disneyland. We went to grad night at Disneyland. Wow. And that was like the big thing. Everybody did that and it was really fun actually. You would dress up like there was a dress code and it was strict. The girls had to wear dresses, the guys had to wear a tie and like Disneyland and slacks at Disneyland. Yeah, you couldn’t wear jeans. And we were there. They would let seniors in. They had senior nights for a whole month, probably because there were thousands of schools that would go. And so for the whole night we would get to go. When Disneyland closed all through the middle of the night into the next morning when it opened up, had the whole park was full of seniors. It was really fun. Well, now, I thought that was a big deal. Now all these kids go on senior trips and I mean, like some of these kids I don’t know if this is like everywhere, if this is just like an Oklahoma thing, but they like, we’ll go to Europe and all these crazy things. I’m like, honey, we don’t have money for you to go to Europe.

Aby Rinella:

Wow.

Yvette Hampton:

So I don’t know what we’re going to do for her senior trip, but we’re thinking about it and to do it.

Aby Rinella:

Or are you just like, this isn’t what we do?

Yvette Hampton:

Well, here’s the thing. It’s peer pressure, abby you know how to stand against that. This is homeschool mama. Peer pressure. Like, all the other kids are doing senior trips and so what are we going to do?

Aby Rinella:

I’m like, just your senior goes. Just your senior?

Yvette Hampton:

Well, no, so sometimes it depends on the family. Like sometimes the whole family will go or sometimes like the senior and mom or senior and dad. Or sometimes like a group of seniors will go with a couple of adults. I don’t know. So now I feel like we have this crazy thing that we have to plan for, which will not be Europe unless I don’t know. Money starts growing on our tree or something, but I don’t know. So we’ll do something special for her, I’m sure. And we have several months to save.

Aby Rinella:

For a mission trip.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, well, we could do something like that. I know lots of people do stuff like that. I don’t know. I don’t know what we’re going to do. To be continued. We will let you know at the end of the year. What? Brooklyn.

Aby Rinella:

I knew a ton of kids that did the senior trips, but yeah, it was a big thing when I was in high school. Really? Yeah. But, I mean, I didn’t it was like, get a job.

Yvette Hampton:

What did you do? Did you do something special?

Aby Rinella:

I graduated high school. That’s pretty darn special, right? I feel like that aby.

Yvette Hampton:

Anybody can graduate high school. That was special.

Aby Rinella:

I guess I didn’t feel that. I guess maybe I grew up so much not going with that flow that it didn’t even faze me.

Yvette Hampton:

I don’t know.

Aby Rinella:

Or part of me, too, is like, my parents are paying for my college. They’re paying for I would not even want them to have to pay for something like that. I guess I never even expected it nor really thought about it. I did do several missions trips in which I raised my own money and did these amazing trips, and those were life changing, and I would suggest that for everyone because it was just, okay, I’m done with school now. How can I serve and see what’s going on in the world and just see the bigger picture of outside of my own little teenage drama bubble and what’s everybody doing, and what am I supposed to do? So I think that was probably my most life changing post high school experience.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. That’s amazing. Garrett and I met on a missions trip.

Aby Rinella:

Did you?

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah.

Aby Rinella:

I didn’t know that.

Yvette Hampton:

To Mexico?

Aby Rinella:

Yeah, I did a mission trip to Mexico my senior year. It was.

Yvette Hampton:

Did you?

Aby Rinella:

Life changing. So there you go. Send her on a missions trip to.

Yvette Hampton:

Mexico, and she’ll meet her future husband.

Aby Rinella:

And she’ll meet her future husband.

Yvette Hampton:

It’s amazing.

Aby Rinella:

Perfect.

Yvette Hampton:

So what are you looking forward to most this year as you’re just getting started out in the year and a whole nine months ahead of you?

Aby Rinella:

Well, we’re, like, at that season where I’m looking forward to everything. Do you know there’s that golden couple of weeks where right.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. I look forward to the honeymoon phase.

Aby Rinella:

Yes. I’m in the honeymoon phase.

Yvette Hampton:

I’m looking the homeschool honeymoon phase, all of it. Yeah.

Aby Rinella:

I always look forward to settling in. I look forward to just the pace of home school, the routine in the mornings, the cozying into the house. That’s always what I most look forward to.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. What about you?

Aby Rinella:

Yeah.

Yvette Hampton:

This year I think I’m looking most forward to being more structured, as weird as that.

Aby Rinella:

Yeah, you keep saying that. You’re going to be more structured this year.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, this summer, God’s been just really showing me some different things about I am such a scattered person. I try to do ten things all at one time and I know that it’s not good. Multitasking is one thing, but I will try to multimultimultitask. Right. And so I’m like trying to do laundry and clean the house at the same time as doing school with the girls.

Aby Rinella:

Right.

Yvette Hampton:

And you would think I had learned this many years ago, but you know, this isn’t working out so well for us. I really need to focus. So I’m taking after Abby and I’m actually blocking out, like for real, legitimately blocking out 4 hours to 5 hours a day, depending on what we have going on of just school, like phones away. And I’ve been preparing my girls for this. This is how it’s going to go down. And so I have to do that. And I’m looking forward to knowing that that is what our homeschool day is going to look like and it won’t be perfect. I’m not under any illusion that it’s going to play out perfectly every year.

Aby Rinella:

You’re going to get so much more done in such a shorter amount of time because you’re not going to be so distracted and you’re not going to have to constantly refocus the kids. Refocus the kids. I think you’re just all in and I bet you are going to find it takes way less time than you think when you do it that way.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, I think so. I’m sure. Yes, that’s going to happen.

Aby Rinella:

I think the biggest thing is if you said if you put your phones away. That was a game changer for me when during that school block I put my phone in another room so I couldn’t even look at it right. I think it cut my time in half.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. Well, so this is what happened last year. At the end of last year, I was like I was such a mess last year because here’s what happened and I think I’ve explained this a little bit. We were traveling almost all of last summer and I had signed up for these co op classes. But honestly, it was like, do as I say, not as I do. I did not even follow our own advice on the podcast. It’s not that I didn’t pray at all about it, I just didn’t think through it. And to be honest, I probably didn’t pray about it nearly as much as I should have. I did not really commit all of that to the just. We were getting ready to leave for this big road trip at the beginning of summer last year and I had to sign the girls up for their co op classes before we left. So I just did it without really thinking it through. Well, then it ended up that they had co op on Mondays, brooklyn was Monday and wednesday, lacey was Thursday, and then I recorded on Tuesdays. Oh, that was so it was we were basically we it was weird. And then that gave us Fridays and Fridays we were trying to catch up on life and laundry and dishes and grocery shopping, all that stuff. And so it made it impossible to have just some really good solid time at home this year. Both of my girls are doing the same co op on Mondays and Wednesdays, and it’s not all day, but for the few hours that they’re going to be it’s, they have the same schedule. And then Brooklyn is driving now, so she’ll drive them for a good part of the year, which will be great. And the I’m only going to schedule my work hours to record and do Schoolhouse Rock stuff while they’re at co op. So basically that gives me Tuesday, Thursday and Friday to be able to be home with them. And I’m so excited to be able to have this time with them where I can really focus on just building that relationship with them and schooling and getting the academic stuff done that we need to get done without having the stress of like, oh, we don’t have time. And now I feel like I’m rushing and having to do all these other things at the same time.

Aby Rinella:

I try to do the same thing. We do like a one or two day out and then I try to schedule everything in chunks so that we have most days just at home without having to go somewhere. Because for us, if you have to go somewhere, say at ten, it’s not like you’re going to start school before I just feel like it’s a wash of a day.

Yvette Hampton:

Right.

Aby Rinella:

So I try to do everything all in one or two days and then we’re just home getting school done the rest of the days, right?

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. So what are you doing for curriculum? Like, I would love to know what your curriculum is looking like this year. What are you using? I don’t need every detail, but what are some of the things that you’re using? Because we get asked this a lot all the time.

Aby Rinella:

People actually I’ve gotten it well, at this time of year especially, I’ve gotten so many private messages, what are you using? And like you and I always say, I hate to share that because I don’t want people to think that that’s what they should use.

Yvette Hampton:

Right.

Aby Rinella:

But I do just share, okay, this is what I’m using. It doesn’t mean it’s what you should use. But every year is different. Every year you learn like, oh, I didn’t like that, or I did like that. So I’ll just plow through. So for math, well, we’ve gone back and forth, but we’re back starting last year, we’re back to I sit with each kid and teach math. I feel like I loved teaching textbooks for a season, but I feel like I kind of lost track. I mean, I feel like I was disconnected with what was going on with the kids and they were passing lessons, but I don’t know how much they were getting. So I reeled it back in last year and I sit down with each kid and teach math. I won’t always do that, but just so I can really see where they’re at and then feel good if I need to let them go. Do like, A, teaching textbooks, and there’s lots of options for that. We just happen to be doing master books for that. But there’s BJU has a great but that’s one big difference that I switched up last year is I am sitting down and actually teaching math to the kids again like I did when they were little. Okay, I’m going to plow through so.

Yvette Hampton:

Wait, let me ask you a question on that. Okay. So when you get to those higher math levels, if you get to a point where you just don’t know how to teach that particular level of math, what do you do there?

Aby Rinella:

Well, I think I’m a math I love math. I love math. So I haven’t gotten there yet because I love it. And we’re in high school. I may end up getting there with my son because he’s pretty advanced, but I love math. So I did math. I mean, I chose to do extra math in college, but if I were to get to that point, the I probably would go back to A teaching textbooks or a CTC or something where someone else is teaching them and I can just sit with them and monitor. Um, right. So I’m a terrible person to ask that because I do love math, which is probably not the norm for most.

Yvette Hampton:

But lots of moms do. So I love that.

Aby Rinella:

I genuinely do.

Yvette Hampton:

And I take that and run with it.

Aby Rinella:

And I think that’s why I can also sit with them and teach them because I like it. Okay, so something I’m most excited about okay, also just for history and literature, we’re sunlight people, and we’re doing American History. My older kids are on their second year or their second go around, and my youngest is on her first. And I love American history. I mean, I love it, and it’s all literature based, so we get to read so many amazing books together. I’m a little nervous this year because there’s more with two I’m having two different cores going, so I’m going to have to figure out there’s going to be a lot of audiobooks, let’s just say that. But I’m super excited about American history. But what I’m most excited about is this year we’re doing anatomy and physiology, so I feel like I finally have it dialed. I love apologia. I love apologia’s. What is it? The young explorer series. So we’re using that as our spine. Even though I have elementary, middle school, high school, that’s going to be kind of the spine. And then for my older kids, I’ll dive deeper. So for my high school daughter, we’re doing a natural medicine class to go in line because she’s so into that. Last year, we talked about we did an ethnobotany where you learn about how your local plants can be used as food and medicine. And she loved it. So we’re taking it next level, and we’re doing, like, a natural medicine course to go with anatomy and physiology. And I think I’m most excited about that this year because it’s something new. It’s something finally when they get older, you’re like, this is what you love. This is what you’re passionate about. And so you get to just find all the things for that. And so I’m super excited. She is so excited. The first time I’ve seen her, so really excited about a subject matter.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah.

Aby Rinella:

And then I haven’t used okay, this is the last thing I want to share the Fallacy Detective. We do a lot of this logic stuff, and I think that that’s important for lots of I think it’s important for homeschool, families to be doing is logic just to help with the world we live in. It’s not a logical world. People don’t logically debate things.

Yvette Hampton:

Right.

Aby Rinella:

And so we’re doing that. And then I want to show you this. Did you get this? I got this in the mail. You know the Torch lighters?

Yvette Hampton:

How did you get that in the mail?

Aby Rinella:

Do you know the Torchlighters videos? Right?

Yvette Hampton:

Yes, of course.

Aby Rinella:

So you get a DVD and it has, like, 16 of the stories of the different and they’re all missionary for people that don’t know they’re missionary stories or people that have impacted I mean, how would you describe it? I would say missionary stories.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah.

Aby Rinella:

Then there’s this book. So you watch a movie and then there’s a whole chapter on studying that culture, studying that person, studying the biblical things in their lives. I don’t know how I’m going to fit it in. I have no idea. But it looks super cool.

Yvette Hampton:

That’s a great morning basket.

Aby Rinella:

That’s what we’re going to do it for is in the morning basket. And it’ll kind of go along. Maybe I’ll do, like, every other day when we’re doing our Bible or maybe once a week. I don’t know. I haven’t figured it out yet. I’m just super excited about it.

Yvette Hampton:

So you said you got it in the mail. Like, did you not order it? And they just randomly sent it to you? Are they just randomly sending it to Americans all over the place?

Aby Rinella:

It’s a funny story. It came in the mail, and it’s a full book of curriculum and the full DVD set. So I was like, I don’t remember buying this. And then I thought maybe they mistakenly sent it to me and I didn’t pay it for it, so I called them because I’m like, either need to pay you for this or I need to send it back. And they’re like, oh, you must have forgotten. But like nine months ago, we did a promo and we were sending them out for free if you signed up for our newsletter. Well, I had totally forgotten, so apparently I did sign up to get it.

Yvette Hampton:

Oh, that’s cool.

Aby Rinella:

I know, it was a super fun surprise. And it’s from Voice of the Martyrs.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, that is really cool.

Aby Rinella:

Voice of the martyrs. So I’m super excited about checking that out.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, we’ll link that in the show note. We’ll link all of these things in the show notes so that you guys have access to them. Okay, great. That’s a great lineup. I know.

Aby Rinella:

I think I’m most excited. History and science.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. So cool. It’s so funny. Every year it’s different, and sometimes I think, well, no, we’re just going to stick we really like this curriculum. We’re going to stick with this for the next five years. Right. And then the next year comes and I’m like, oh, this one looks like it’s going to be a better fit for this year. And sometimes we continue on with what we’ve done. But yeah, this year we’re kind of changing it up a lot on most things, which is really yeah, it’s exciting. So I’m excited about what we’ve got going on for both of my girls for Bible. So okay, you guys know, we always do our family devotions and then we do our individual devotions, like my girls do their Bible reading time. I do mine, Garritt does his. We do that separately. But I also like to have a Bible curriculum, which I don’t know, maybe that sounds like a lot because we also incorporate Bible into the different subjects. But I feel like you can’t get too much of God’s Word, right, and learning about the so last year we did an episode with Elizabeth Urbanowitz, and she talked about her foundation worldview curriculum, and we started that last year, but we were finishing up another Bible curriculum and I couldn’t do both. It was just too much. So we paused that one. And so we’re starting that one up again this year and doing the Foundation Worldview curriculum with Elizabeth Urbanowitz. So super excited, super solid. I mean, I cannot more highly recommend it. It’s actually geared more towards younger kids.

Aby Rinella:

Oh, really?

Yvette Hampton:

But I’m having Brooklyn do it with us anyway when she can because she’s got a much heavier load this year. So when she can do it with us, great. If she’s not available to do it, then I just do it with Lacey and that’s totally fine. And then oh, man, it’s so funny because my girls are really getting deep into the study of God’s Word this year. They are also with their co op, both doing a Bible class that’s taught by a local pastor, and Brooklyn’s doing one called New Testament Survey. And Lacey’s doing one called how to Study the Bible. And it’s kind of tricky sometimes, I think, trusting someone else to teach Bible to my kids because I want to make sure that they’re solid in their theology and all of that. So that’s not something that we take lightly. But this guy seems like he’s solid. So they’re both doing that. Brooklyn is doing biology through Apologia. They have just an amazing biology. I mean, you were talking about apologia on Monday, and I love apology of science. It is so just biblically sound and solid and it’s well written. It’s really fun. So she’s doing Apologia biology.

Aby Rinella:

And it is their middle school, high school. It is a rigorous science. I mean, it’s not fluff. It is very much going to prepare them for whatever they have coming up.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, I mean, they’re set to do it’s like college ready for sure. Science. So you did those what was the Early Explorers?

Aby Rinella:

The Early Explorers is the elementary and early middle school.

Yvette Hampton:

Right, which is fantastic. And then their high school one is pretty rigorous. But it’s so good and it’s so interesting, the videos that go along with it. Sherry Selikson, who’s actually been on the podcast, she does the biology videos and she’s amazing. And they’re just so well done. Like, they really have done a great job with Kit. So there’s those. And then for history, I don’t have all my curriculum in front of me, but for history, we’re doing Master Books. This is the first time we’re doing Master Books history. But this is their world history. And I’m actually doing this with Brooklyn this year. And I love it because Master Books has a really great middle school history, but it’s a three volume set and that’s what I’m going to use with Lacey next year. But this one is just a one volume set, so it’s more of a condensed world history. Like, these are the really important things you need to know about world history. And again, because it’s master Books, kit is a strong biblical worldview.

Aby Rinella:

I’ve heard of master books for years. I mean, you hear of everything, but you can’t do everything, right? But I just last year started digging in and started to do a few Master Books things and I really like it. Yeah, I mean, their math is so biblically. Like, I feel like my kids are getting a Bible lesson while they’re doing math.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, it’s pretty they’re great. So Master Books actually they publish I don’t want to say all because I’m sure it’s not all of it, but a good majority of the curriculum and books put out by answers in Genesis.

Aby Rinella:

Oh, really?

Yvette Hampton:

So ken Ham brian Osborne Dr georgia Purdum lots and lots. And they have a ton of authors in addition to them. Israel Wayne is with Master Books. They just have a lot of really good, solid Christian authors and publishers. Angela Odell wrote the middle school world. History curriculum. So, I mean, just people that I really trust. So master books, I mean, I feel like Apologia and Master books, BJU Press, like those are ones that you can’t go wrong with them, with teaching anything from a biblical world.

Aby Rinella:

Really just grab any it’s not a whole thing. Like you can just piece what you want from the it’s not like you’re buying everything like say a Becca. I mean, you can just pick and choose. And they’ve got some cool electives that they have this engineering I don’t know, I’ve been really impressed so far as I’ve some master book stuff.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, they’re great. And then for Lacey, she is doing this writing and grammar from BJU Press. She’s in 7th if you want to give her a grade name this year. But she’s actually doing 8th grade writing because she’s done writing classes last couple of years and that’s what she was ready for. So she’s excited about doing that. And then just as like supplements you were talking about your torch lighters.

Aby Rinella:

Yeah, that’s supplementing our Bible curriculum. And the logic is like some supplemental.

Yvette Hampton:

Yes. Yeah. Extras. So for our morning basket, two of the things that we’re doing this year are I actually have some friends from California who went to my church and they wrote this. It’s kind of a study guide on the heroes then and now Corey Ten Boom book. And then this is a study guide that goes within it’s on finding forgiveness, which I feel like every human needs to read. And for kids. Especially Corey Ten. Boom. I love this woman I’ve talked about on podcast all the time. She’s my hero.

Aby Rinella:

That’s fine too.

Yvette Hampton:

I love her. So we’re doing that book and it’s just a simple book study, but really brings out some great questions for the girls on what does forgiveness look like. And Corey Ten Boom was, you know, she’s a great example of that. And then they have another one. This one is George Mueller. And this one is the Power of Prayer.

Aby Rinella:

And so if you’ve read that man yes.

Yvette Hampton:

So this book too, one of my very favorites.

Aby Rinella:

Yep.

Yvette Hampton:

He’s amazing. And so we’re going to go through both of these and the Lacey is going to also my friends actually wrote this other little devotional on the Book of James and the Book of Colossians. And so I’ll link all of these in the show notes so that you have them. But these are just sweet Bible studies. I remember when I was in middle school doing just my own kind of individual Bible studies and they really impacted me right. Because it was just through my quiet time. And so these are perfect for Lacey’s age. She’s twelve. So I was wondering how old is she? And then the last thing is, I’m always looking for book lists. Always.

Aby Rinella:

Okay.

Yvette Hampton:

You use sunlight, so you get books.

Aby Rinella:

I go with sunlight. And I know people that don’t use sunlight, but they always get their book list. And then Sarah Mackenzie’s book lists read a lot of revival, those two book lists, I trust. 100%.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. Yes. Well, this one is from center for lit. It’s reading Roadmaps. And we had Missy Andrews on the podcast.

Aby Rinella:

They spoke at our convention this year.

Yvette Hampton:

Did they?

Aby Rinella:

Yeah, that’s right. Yep. Center for that was there. And they are amazing.

Yvette Hampton:

Missy Andrews. They are great. They are fantastic. And so he’s actually coming on the podcast soon. Adam is. And this Reading Roadmaps is really cool because it goes by grade. So like, this one is 7th grade. It goes by grade and then gives a really great book list, and then it just gives a little description of the plot of each book. So that is a fantastic book list. It’s called the reading roadmaps.

Aby Rinella:

So are you using center for lit stuff or just their book list?

Yvette Hampton:

Just their book list.

Aby Rinella:

Okay.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. And that’s for K through twelve. And so you just look at whatever grade you’re looking for book lists for. I love this resource. I recently found this. Well, I found it because Missy told me about it. And I think it’s such a fantastic book list. So we’ll link all of those things. But that’s what we’ve got going on as far as curriculum. And it’s exciting.

Aby Rinella:

I have to share because I forgot, but for Bible, because I got excited about that torch lighters. But for our Bible, we started last year. So you guys know that I am like a not consumed junkie. I am all in with not consumed Kim.

Yvette Hampton:

Sorgis not consumed.

Aby Rinella:

I love that because all my kids can do it because she has things at different levels. But she started a new series called the Foundation Series, and it comes in a box and it’s a whole bunch of different ones. So we’re starting with the Old Testament. And what we’re doing is we are reading through the Old Testament together in kind of a funky way. Here’s how I do it. We start with the kids Bible and we read the book of the Bible. So we’ll start with Genesis and we read all the way through the kids Bible of Genesis. And mainly because that hits because with little still, you want to hit like just sitting and reading it, this actually hits the main stories in Genesis, like the key things that hold our attention. So you kind of get the big outline, the big picture. So we do the kids and then when we’re done with that book in the kids Bible, then we do the study of that book in the not consumed Old Testament. So then we’ll do the whole study of Kim. Sorges’s on the and they do it at each level because Kim has different levels. Then when that’s done, we do the and I’m not promoting this because I don’t know. Big picture. The website, it’s the Bible project. But what they do have is they have like an overview of the book and Kit is so cool. It is done so well. I don’t know any of their other stuff. But we do the overview then of the Book of Genesis.

Yvette Hampton:

You’re talking about the little animated videos that they do? Yeah, they’re fantastic.

Aby Rinella:

I love the incredible. So then when we’re done with the kids Bible and reading it, and then my kids will actually read it on their own in their actual Bibles, then we do the Kim swords, and then we do an overview so that before we move on from Genesis I feel like they have a really good big picture and diving in of that book. So we’re slowly working through the Old Testament and then it’s going to take us 100 years but eventually we’ll get through the New Testament too. But I’ve just kind of liked that pattern because it mixes it up. Yeah, but I love those overviews on the Bible.

Yvette Hampton:

Do you do the overview after you’ve studied the Bible?

Aby Rinella:

I do it after only because he talks so fast. If you listen to it without having known it, Kit wouldn’t make sense because he talks really fast and kind of assumes, you know, a little bit when he does it. It’s just a really fun way to sum up and kind of solidify everything we’ve just done.

Yvette Hampton:

Yes, those videos are amazing.

Aby Rinella:

You could do it before and after, actually.

Yvette Hampton:

Sure. I mean, they’re short videos. They’re not like 30 minutes long. Hacked.

Aby Rinella:

Oh yeah. I bet they’re maybe eight minutes for the longest one. But it’s all visual and it’s fun and it holds the kids and he does a good job of just kind of outlining and putting it in time and I like him.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. Yes. I always watch those as I’m reading through my Bible. I watch them when I get to the beginning of a new book. Oftentimes not always, but it’s just a map basically. Right.

Aby Rinella:

I like it. And you can print them. Did you know you can print the no. So the final picture that he draws, you can actually print them. So then you could actually have a whole little binder with all the books of the Bible so that you can kind of look back and be reminded.

Yvette Hampton:

I did not know that. That’s really Bible.

Aby Rinella:

We did it last year and we’re doing it this year and I like it.

Yvette Hampton:

That’s so cool. We will put a link, of course in the show notes to that so you guys can get them because the Bible project videos are fantastic. I absolutely love them and they really are helpful in understanding God’s word. Let’s talk through just I just want to kind of get real with our audience because I think sometimes people think like we have it all together. We’ve got all our curriculum lined up, and we’ve got our co ops and we’ve got our schedules, and it’s all lined up. And I always fear and you and I recently did an episode on social media and how we often look at other people, and we get this false impression that they have it all figured out, and sometimes they don’t, and most.

Aby Rinella:

Oftentimes they all don’t because we’re all humans struggling through right?

Yvette Hampton:

And so the last thing I ever want to do on this podcast is make other moms feel like they are inadequate because somehow they’re not doing it the way we’re doing it, and we have it all figured out and all put together and that is absolutely not the truth. So Abby, as you’re in a new year, your kids are growing up fast, just like mine are. What are some of the things that you struggle with, some of the things maybe that you have struggled with the most that you’re working on? Where are you in this world of angst?

Aby Rinella:

Angst? Well, I don’t know if it’s angst, but something hit me this summer that I love to homeschool. I love it. It’s not something I mean, I’m called to do it, god commands us to do kit. But I also love it. It is also a passion of mine. And I love organizing. I love planning really fun days. I love teaching to my kids gifts and talents. The whole thing is my passion. And what I realized this summer because the we have a lot of days that are like fall apart days where days where kids aren’t cooperating and just hard days. And I’m like, I don’t understand why this day is hard. Because I’ve put in the time to prep. I have the mental. Like, I’m far enough to go, okay, I’m teaching to my kids gifts and talents. I know to put the books away when kids start crying. We talk about this stuff all the time. But what I realized is I have this vision in my brain of how it’s supposed to go. I have the way that I make the muffins, I do the fun things, I teach to their gifts and talents. And then somehow I’m faced with these, oh, I even do this. Like, I know that this child’s gift is this. So I know how to teach them according to their learning style, like all the things. And then I wake up in the morning and I’m like, oh, I’m a sinner and they’re sinners. And I think my struggle that I’ve realized I need to really work on is I just have this attitude of, like, if you guys would just follow along with what I have planned, follow along with what I’m doing, like get in the passenger seat. It’s going to be good. You’re going to find joy. You’re going to love it. I have so many amazing, exciting things, but instead I have real kids that grumble and complain. I have real me who wants them to and I think what I’ve learned about myself is I think I’m kind of expecting I’m expecting something from them and they’re not meeting it. I’m expecting for them to be just on my same page. Like, wake up excited. Wake up totally ready to just learn whatever I teach you. Don’t argue. Don’t buck me. And then when they do, this is my struggle right here. Then when they do, then when I’m faced with real kids and real sin and it’s not just all this in my head, it’s like real life boots to the ground, then I kind of crumble and I get upset and I’m like, why can’t you just be a part of my perfect, pretty picture, basically? And then the whole thing falls apart. So I feel like I need to an area I’m working on is I need to give my expectations to God and I need to stop having I still need to do all the great things, but I need to release the expectations, because when they don’t play the way I want them to play, then I get really discouraged and frustrated, and I feel like my whole world is just crashing down. And I don’t like that. And that’s just being really real and honest because I don’t have it mastered yet. And it’s something I know I need to work on because I can tell it’s not blessing anybody and it’s derailing everybody.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. That is very honest and real of you. And I would definitely say that that is a struggle that I have as well. And that’s kind of my life. Like, I always feel like I’m a dreamer.

Aby Rinella:

If everybody would just be perfect, this thing would be so incredible. Like, if you would all just be perfect. And if I would just be perfect, you know how amazing this homeschool would be? It’d be incredible, right? If only they just knew.

Yvette Hampton:

If only it is true. Because always, my whole life, and I’ve told you this, I am a super visual person. So I literally visualize everything. Therefore, I visualize my fantasies of what I want homeschooling to look like and how I want my kids to behave and how I want to behave myself. And everything’s just going to come together. I even picture myself making these amazing, healthy meals for my family. And the other day abby, I’m so bad in the kitchen. I don’t try to be, but I tried to make a pot roast the other day. How hard is it to make a pot roast right? It’s like the easiest thing in the whole world. Yeah, I can’t even make a pot roast right. I don’t know.

Aby Rinella:

Anyway, see, you had these expectations and this vision, and then real life didn’t work, right? And then I think the problem is then we let it derail because you could have just been like, pot roast didn’t work, but we can still have this amazing meal. But instead we then start to get really discouraged, right?

Yvette Hampton:

Yes. Absolutely.

Aby Rinella:

And I think that’s my frustration is, why am I getting so discouraged? My kids are sinners. I know that.

Yvette Hampton:

Right.

Aby Rinella:

But I just have this like if everybody could just get their attitudes on board, this would be incredible.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. Expectations are tough, especially when it comes to homeschooling. And life just gets in the way, but not in the way. I mean, homeschooling is life. It is, but we forget that life happens around us. If you’re potty training kids, there’s going to be an accident on the floor. If you have a kid who’s sick, you’re going to have to take him to the doctor. You have maybe a kid who just woke up on the wrong side of the bed or you woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

Aby Rinella:

Right.

Yvette Hampton:

That just can derail the whole day for the whole family, not just for one person. I mean, there are so many things that if our kids go to school and your kid wakes up sick, then you just keep them home and you keep them in bed. But you don’t have to worry about the responsibilities of schooling everybody else.

Aby Rinella:

Right?

Yvette Hampton:

Totally. You just call the school and say, hey, my kid’s not going to be there today. It’s different at home and it’s the.

Aby Rinella:

Teacher’S job to figure out how to deal with that part of things. Your job is just to keep them home, right?

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. My greatest struggle definitely is time management, like I shared before, is just getting the things done that need to get done when they need to get done. But at the same time, not stressing out so much about what’s not getting done because the list is never going to be checked off. There’s always something. So just balancing my priorities with my family and my home and homeschooling is a struggle. It’s so hard. It’s hard to balance it all. Like, if I just had a husband and I didn’t have kids or homeschooling, I could give him all of my attention all the time. It would be great. Or if I just had kids but I didn’t have to worry about homeschooling them. Well, then I could give them all my attention while they were home and while they were at school, I could take care of my home and do those things that need to be done. Or if I just had a home to take care of and didn’t have all the other things to do.

Aby Rinella:

All the humans that live in it.

Yvette Hampton:

The humans that live in it and who are here to mess it up, including myself. But you put all of these things together and like I mentioned, I think it was on Monday. I’m just so scattered sometimes, like I’m going too many different directions at one time. And so I’m really working on that this year of just really focusing on what needs to be done and not stressing out about what’s not getting done. In the process.

Aby Rinella:

I think it’s interesting because that to me, when I listen to your struggle, is totally different than mine. I have everything totally organized, managed, totally. But then you enter in these people and then it gets in the way of that. Or you probably don’t struggle as much with what I do because and I think the ultimate thing is every homeschool mom has a struggle, and they’re all different. We all have different struggles, but we all have struggles. And I think ultimately what God wants is to refine us in this homeschooling process. It’s not like we’re the ones that have it together and we’re teaching these children to get it together. It’s that we’re all people that need refined, and we’re all people that need to depend on the Lord. And it’s just something we’re all working through together. Homeschooling is the most refining thing to a parent. And it’s just so interesting listening to every mom struggles because they’re all different, but they’re all there.

Yvette Hampton:

Yes, absolutely. And just praying that the Lord will show us his way. Refining hurts, but at the same time, I’m like, Lord, I want you to grow me yes. In my relationship with you and my knowledge of you and my understanding of you and Your Word and my surrender.

Aby Rinella:

My ability to surrender to you.

Yvette Hampton:

Oh, yeah. Yes. So much. And we can’t do that unless we’re willing to be worked on by Him. I mean, we are clay being molded.

Aby Rinella:

Molded and molded. I just thought, oh, it’d be all done being molded by now. And it’s like, nope, another year, another still molding.

Yvette Hampton:

We will forever be being molded by the Lord. And I’m so thankful for that. All right, Abby, talk today about some funness. Is that a word?

Aby Rinella:

Funness? Let’s make it a word.

Yvette Hampton:

Okay. Funnyosity.

Aby Rinella:

No, that’s definitely not a word.

Yvette Hampton:

No, that’s definitely not a word. Fun. What’s another way we can say it?

Aby Rinella:

I’m not sure we’re going to make oh, just homeschool fun.

Yvette Hampton:

Stick with I’m just trying to make it fancy.

Aby Rinella:

Root word. Did you read Fancy Nancy to your girls?

Yvette Hampton:

Maybe a couple of books.

Aby Rinella:

It was great for vocabulary because she’d always come up with these other words. I think you could check it off for vocab. Done. Vocab is done for the day.

Yvette Hampton:

Speaking of that, I was going to mention this. So we were talking about curriculum yesterday and some of our curriculum choices. One of the things that we are doing this year, which Nikki Trusdell talked about this on an episode I did with her a few months ago. She talked about copy. Yeah. And okay, this is so you know, you always hear about copy work when you get into the world of homeschooling.

Aby Rinella:

People are like, do copy in certain areas.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. Yes. But she brought copywork to a whole nother level for me in that it teaches kids not just good penmanship, but it teaches them sentence structure and vocabulary and spelling and writing and reading. It does all of those things all in one. So copy work.

Aby Rinella:

We’re really are you guys doing copy?

Yvette Hampton:

Yes, even Brooklyn. And so I’m having them copy like chapters out of different books, out of the Bible, just stuff that is well written, good literature.

Aby Rinella:

Right.

Yvette Hampton:

And so yeah, there you go. Why did I not do that? Put all of that in the same box together like six years ago. It would have been so much easier. I don’t know. Especially vocabulary because when you learn vocabulary words and you’re like, here’s the word and here’s the definition, that doesn’t help me. I need to know it in context. Right. So it helps with vocabulary. Totally.

Aby Rinella:

Do you ever notice that when you learn a new word that you’ve never heard before, now all of a sudden you hear it everywhere, right?

Yvette Hampton:

Yes.

Aby Rinella:

Isn’t that crazy?

Yvette Hampton:

Yes. Because your brain I rarely use it.

Aby Rinella:

You don’t?

Yvette Hampton:

Unless I hear it again.

Aby Rinella:

So then you should force yourself to use it once you learn a new word, say, I have to use this twice today.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, right.

Aby Rinella:

So we’re going to talk about the funness.

Yvette Hampton:

Funness, if that’s a word, of homeschooling. So here are some things. Here are some ideas that we have that I think make homeschooling fun. Okay. And I actually did some research. I looked at a couple of websites too, because I thought, what am I missing? But I actually had pretty much all of them. So the first one I think, are read aloud. I love doing read alouds with my kids. There’s just something about snuggling up together, sitting on the couch together and reading a book together because then you’re building a relationship with them, but then you’re developing a memory totally.

Aby Rinella:

That you then can talk. Yes. And I love that connection. Like when you watch a movie, but only this is way richer. And then there’s something that it’s almost like an inside joke, but it’s an inside story. Read aloud are worked into our curriculum, so it’s pretty easy. But it’s one of my very favorite things because then we talk about things and only us knows about it.

Yvette Hampton:

Right? Yeah, because when I was growing up, I had to read books for school. We read Shakespeare and Scarlet Letter and lots of other books that I was forced to read, but I didn’t read them with anyone. I mean, our class would discuss them, right, but I didn’t read them with my family. And so there was a total disconnect there. And so it wasn’t as fun where I think it’s so much more fun. And not that our kids can’t read books alone, but I just think there’s something so unique and special about they’re totally read aloud with our family and they can be fun. Read aloud. They don’t all have to be serious, mean, read the book with no pictures. Have you read that book? No. You haven’t read the book with no pictures?

Aby Rinella:

No, I’m writing it down by BJ.

Yvette Hampton:

Novak.

Aby Rinella:

No.

Yvette Hampton:

Oh my word. It is one of the funniest books. I mean it’s for little kids, but even Lacey will still let me read it to her sometimes.

Aby Rinella:

Okay, I’m writing it.

Yvette Hampton:

It’s this is like know, early kids, even down to toddlers. But it is so stinking funny. But I like how you Lacey’s favorite.

Aby Rinella:

Book and you say even Lacey will let you read it to her. Now, I’ve noticed with read aloud, we do a lot of read aloud, but we also do and my kids are all a little bit older now. Like I have a high school and a middle schooler. We still do picture books and I think that makes homeschool fun because my big kids will come join with the picture books all day long and they’re so fun. And then we discuss if we like the pictures. If we don’t like know, it’s just super.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah.

Aby Rinella:

So reading period makes homeschool fun.

Yvette Hampton:

I think it really, you know, it’s kind of sad because we’re getting to this phase with Lacey where she doesn’t want me to read her like the little kid books anymore because she’s going to be 13 and it’s okay, I get it.

Aby Rinella:

Not even picture book.

Yvette Hampton:

But I will sometimes beg her. I’m like, please just let me read you Green Eggs and Ham. I can read Green Eggs and Ham really fast. Like really fast. And Kit cracks her up anyway. Yeah, but yeah, audiobooks, that was another thing on my list.

Aby Rinella:

We do that every at lunchtime. So we gather for lunch and we listen to our audiobook. That’s just kind of our which leads me to one that I think to make homeschool fun is traditions. I think traditions and they don’t have to be what makes a tradition is they’re not everybody else’s tradition. But homeschool traditions I think is what makes and that’s what’s going to be what our kids look back on and remember. They’re not going to remember well, they might remember the math lessons, but really they’re going to look back and remember the traditions of what did you do on the first day of school? Or we have homemade muffins and tea every morning during a certain spot in our school.

Yvette Hampton:

Every day.

Aby Rinella:

We do it pretty much every day. So we gather together for our science and history and then when the kids go to do their independent work, I give them muffins and tea. And it’s so easy because you just make a bunch of muffins for the week. But those are the little traditions that the Winnie actually said. She’s like, I can’t wait to start school again for the muffins. And I’m like, wow, it’s also just necessary to feed them.

Yvette Hampton:

Right.

Aby Rinella:

But they see it as this fun little know, or another tradition we have is every morning they wake up to worship music playing and then we go outside, all of us together, and we stand and we turn our faces to the sun for, like, five minutes to get that first boost of the sun in the morning. And that’s just been a fun I just love traditions, period, right?

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah.

Aby Rinella:

What are some of yours that make school fun?

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, tradition, specifically.

Aby Rinella:

Yeah.

Yvette Hampton:

Well, I mean, we have our first day of school tradition, of course, where we always go and get donuts, which is fine, and my girls always look forward to that. Usually what we’ve done the last couple of years is we’ll actually go to breakfast and go have a nice donuts, feed me a full meal. Well, there’s a place that has little tiny donuts here. I think it was last year or the year before. We actually went and got those after breakfast so that we still were keeping up with our donut tradition. Right. That was fun. We have, like, family traditions, but homeschool traditions. I don’t know that we have. Maybe I need to start making muffins so I can be just like, Abby, can you send me a recipe? What kind of muffins do you make?

Aby Rinella:

Oh, I make the different every time. I mean, I don’t know. Usually it’s like a sourdough muffin base, and I throw in whatever I have.

Yvette Hampton:

Sourdough muffins? I didn’t know that was a thing.

Aby Rinella:

Yeah, I use everything sourdough, and then I’ll just throw in whatever’s in them. But you don’t even have to do muffins. You could just buy muffins or buy I mean, don’t feel like you have.

Yvette Hampton:

To make can I buy, like, the Little Debbie’s mustard?

Aby Rinella:

Done.

Yvette Hampton:

Are those good?

Aby Rinella:

Not good for you.

Yvette Hampton:

Ate those every day?

Aby Rinella:

No, that would be terrible.

Yvette Hampton:

The end of the year, we all weigh an extra 50 pounds.

Aby Rinella:

There’s your tradition. I mean, I know everybody has family traditions, but I really think homeschool traditions really make it fun. Every Friday we do this or every lunch, and it doesn’t have to be big. Like our tradition is. At lunchtime, we do a read aloud. It’s just a fun thing. I don’t know.

Yvette Hampton:

That’s fun. Our tradition is trying not to die.

Aby Rinella:

There you go. Trying to get through the day.

Yvette Hampton:

Yes. All in one piece.

Aby Rinella:

I’m just kidding.

Yvette Hampton:

But yeah, our first day of school. I love donut tradition. It’s probably our best one, but we have more, like Christmas traditions, totally. Things like that. But we’re going to talk about that on another episode.

Aby Rinella:

Yes, we are.

Yvette Hampton:

So yeah. Games, though. That’s another thing.

Aby Rinella:

The you go games.

Yvette Hampton:

In our family, we play lots of games almost every day. We don’t have a specific time. Right. But even during the summertime, we pretty much always have a stack of uno cards sitting out, spotted sitting out. And then we often play other games, like Scattergories.

Aby Rinella:

That’s probably a good way to diffuse when kids start to struggle in certain you just diffuse it by playing.

Yvette Hampton:

A game. Totally.

Aby Rinella:

That’s a great idea to just have a game handy so when things start to go south, let’s play.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. And over the summer, we actually got a foosball table. Oh, fine. Yeah, so that’s been fun. So foosball goes on every day and there is lots of bragging rights in our family now. I actually don’t enjoy playing foosball, okay. So my girls will ask me, but that’s more of a Garrett thing. He plays with the girls every single day.

Aby Rinella:

They play foosball.

Yvette Hampton:

It’s totally fun.

Aby Rinella:

Oh, I love that. That makes homeschool fun. Okay, here’s one, because I don’t know how much time we have, but this started when the kids were little and they’d be reading a couple of different books. And rather than narrate because everybody’s into narration, which is really important because you’re learning how to communicate and it helps with comprehension and all that. But we did, and I don’t think I could get my older kids to do it now, but I can get when they’re younger and my younger will but they act out the book. So we all sit on the couch and then without talking, you have to tell us what happened in the chapter you read through acting. And we used to do that all the time. And I’m like, I want to bring it back. And my older two are like, that’s not happening. But I’m like, okay, fine, the little one’s going to this year. But that always made home school really fun. It made sharing your book rather than answering questions to mom or filling out a worksheet. Those are so boring. And we get to as homeschoolers, do it and take whatever concept and make it more fun. And so we always acted books out. I thought that was always fun.

Yvette Hampton:

That is fun. Yeah, we’ve done that with Bible stories.

Aby Rinella:

Oh, there you go.

Yvette Hampton:

And still even sometimes we’ll be reading a Bible story and it’s usually Lacey, she’ll jump up and say, okay, I’m going to act this one out dorky thing. And it’s really fun.

Aby Rinella:

It beats quizzes, it beats works. It beats all the lame things that you could be doing for reading comprehension. And it makes it just exciting and fun.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, the whole purpose is for them to remember what it is that they’re reading or what it is that they’re doing. Yeah, that’s super fun. I’m just acting things out. And it shows the different personalities of.

Aby Rinella:

Your totally, totally history. That’d be fun to actually have your kids act out the history lesson. We did.

Yvette Hampton:

End up with sheets and pillowcases on their head.

Aby Rinella:

Totally.

Yvette Hampton:

All kinds of random things. Yes, we’re going to talk in a future episode soon with Abby again about healthy homeschooling. And we’re going to talk a lot in that episode about outdoor time. But that is one of the things that I think is important in making homeschool fun. And this is something that our family struggles with so much, Abby, because we’re not like you, and we grew up as city, right. And so it does not come as naturally for us. And so we have to make ourselves get outside.

Aby Rinella:

But what if you just like, let’s go throw a blanket on the grass and read our read aloud on the grass? I mean, it doesn’t have to be crazy, just simple, right?

Yvette Hampton:

Yes. But here’s the thing. We are all very easily distracted, and so if we go through a blanket, like, we live in a neighborhood, and there’s a walking path that goes right behind our house, okay. There’s people all day long walking on the walking path and walking their dogs and walking their babies, and I don’t know why I feel like or I don’t know, we’ll be sitting on the blanket and like, oh, my goodness, there’s a grasshopper. There’s screams and runs every time we’ve done that. It seems like there’s so many distractions outside. So, yes, in theory, it’s a great idea, and maybe we need to just discipline ourselves to not be distracted oh, that’s so funny. By all the crazy rent. Like, I hear homeschool moms who go to the park and do school. I’m like, we could never yeah.

Aby Rinella:

If there are people around that doesn’t work for us okay, then in between breaks, like on your breaks, right? Then you go outside. Oh, my gosh. Here’s a tradition. This one’s hilarious. On the first day of the, um well, it started out when Coulson was teeny. It was just in his diaper. He’d go run around the yard three times. Then as they get older, so they go with no shoes, no know, and they run around the yard three times. But you could even do that. Like, okay, we’re in between science and history. Go run around the yard three times. And just something to get them outside for those tiny little breaks. Yes. And then you can stay inside since you’re distracted for the actual learning stuff.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. And we have worked to get some things. Like, we got cornhole over the summer.

Aby Rinella:

There you go.

Yvette Hampton:

And I got that because I wanted to have a way to just go outside.

Aby Rinella:

Like, we have to have a reason to go outside. I mean, if you guys are game players, then you could take some of those. There’s a lot of different outdoor games. Yeah, we just played one called Spike Ball this weekend, and it’s super fun. And you could just go outside and be like, ten minutes of Spike Ball done.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. Yes. That’s a good idea. I’ve heard of Spike Ball. I’ve not played it before.

Aby Rinella:

We just played it super fun.

Yvette Hampton:

Oh, that’s cool. Yeah. I’m going to have to look up a YouTube video or something.

Aby Rinella:

How about this for a tradition? Every year at the beginning of the school year, you buy an outside game. And so in a few years, you’re going to have so many outside games. And then you just do between each lesson, you go do ten minutes playing an outside game.

Yvette Hampton:

That’s a great idea. Sold. There’s a new I just need to back up Brooklyn. I need to rewind her a few years.

Aby Rinella:

What I’m feeling as they get older, I’m like, wait, running out of time. I have so many more ideas.

Yvette Hampton:

I know. Anyway, I love you talked about playing music. That was one of the things that I said. However, here’s the issue with our family. I don’t know if your family’s like this or if other families are. Our family almost never agrees on music. The girls kind of like the same kind of music. Garrett and I have completely different tastes in music for the most part. There are some things that we both really enjoy and the girls do not like the same kind of music that Garritt and I enjoy. I love country and bluegrass and then I love know I love my Shane and those, but my girls don’t enjoy listening to any of that. So it makes it hard to play music because someone will put something on and then everyone else like so they.

Aby Rinella:

Like the same kind of music. So you could play what they love to get them up and going.

Yvette Hampton:

Yes, we could. Who was it? Oh, man. We had somebody on the podcast several months ago and she talked about how they start out their day, their home school day with a specific song. And that’s how her kids know it’s time to come to the living room. School is starting when they hear the music with that specific song every day. And I love that idea. So maybe I just need to find there you go.

Aby Rinella:

Find a song everyone likes. We start at the morning bar. That would make your kids rebel. Revolt. The first day of school of every year, we play the Veggie Tales. It’s the first day of first grade. Really love that song. That’s our first day of school song.

Yvette Hampton:

Maybe we could do the Veggie Tales where is my hairbrush song, because it seems like that is an on. You singing on two girls always, where’s my hairbrush?

Aby Rinella:

Maybe we should that would be it. And be like, when you hear the where is my hairbrush song, it’s time for breakfast.

Yvette Hampton:

Hairbrush.

Aby Rinella:

Yeah, that’s a good idea. I have a specific song. That means it’s time to gather. Instead of my voice yelling, let’s go.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah.

Aby Rinella:

I’ve been calling you for five minutes. I like that idea.

Yvette Hampton:

Yes.

Aby Rinella:

And by the end how about this? And by the end of the song, they have to be seated so they actually have the song to get there to find their hairbrush and actually get seated.

Yvette Hampton:

Right. Okay.

Aby Rinella:

We’re making up new things as we podcast.

Yvette Hampton:

So there’s that. Cooking together. That’s another thing. I am so thankful that my girls enjoy being in the kitchen because again, I do not and they love brooklyn likes to cook meals. Lacey likes to bake. And so it’s perfect because they do those things. Perfect. Yeah. Another idea is, of course, field trips, which that’s kind of a given. Like, take as many field trips as you can that’s school, and that’s really important for kids to be out and exploring the world around them. But one of the things that we did when we were back in california years ago and it’s kind of funny, it’s almost kind of what launched us into traveling in the RV know, doing our whole travel thing that we did for a few years. We would call them family day adventures, and we would literally get in the car and drive. And most of the time we didn’t know where we were going. We would just take random roads and see where it would lead us to. I love that. And so that’s a fun thing for again, if you just need a break or you can do an audiobook in the car while you’re doing a family day adventure. You can listen to worship music, you can do all kinds of things. Just get in the car and just drive. You can do it during baby’s nap time, maybe if baby sleeps in the car. Just different things to get, just for a different atmosphere, different change of scenery. But it was fun. We would find the most random things. And we’re still newish in, but so we’re always discovering new things. I mean, we’ll go down a road and I’ll be like, I didn’t even know this road existed. I had no idea these stores were here, these restaurants. But even in California, I mean, we grew up in that town, and we would find the most random things that we know. Look at this super cool bridge that we didn’t even know existed, that’s been here my whole life, only ten minutes from my house. And so it’s really fun to do that. So family day adventures, I think, are super duper fun.

Aby Rinella:

I love that, just exploring. And I think that’s so important because sometimes the four walls of our house start to just kind of close in on us.

Yvette Hampton:

Yes.

Aby Rinella:

And I always tell new moms, like, just change the scenery. Just go do something, even if it’s going from one room to another. But there is something about just change the scenery. So that family day adventure, just exploring is such a fun.

Yvette Hampton:

Yep. So much fun.

Aby Rinella:

I like Kit.

Yvette Hampton:

And you can do you know, if you’re a Charlotte Mason homeschooler, you could do nature studies that way. I mean, totally. So many my kids used to like.

Aby Rinella:

It that I’d get in the car and then one kid was in charge and they’d say, Left, right, left. Oh, yeah, right. That would be super. And then I take whatever direction they say, and who knows where we end up. And then the next kid does it. I don’t know why that would be for them. It drives me nuts because I’m like, we’re in the same neighborhood every time.

Yvette Hampton:

Oh, that would be super fun. There are so many things you could do to make that fun. Like, you can give the a math worksheet and say, okay, whoever can figure out this problem next or gets the next problem right.

Aby Rinella:

Or if you’re telling me what is even, we turn right. If the answer is odd, we turn left. I mean, there’s so many ideas to make homeschooling fun. In fact, when this episode posts on social media, everybody should drop their number one, how they make homeschooling fun in there. Because it’s fun to get ideas from other moms.

Yvette Hampton:

Totally.

Aby Rinella:

Sometimes they’re like, I don’t know, I’m just paralyzed with this. Yeah.

Yvette Hampton:

I mean, you could do tests that way. You could do a spelling test. You could do there’s so many things you can do to make or on.

Aby Rinella:

You could take bikes and do that with a little know, abby, you can’t.

Yvette Hampton:

Ride a bike with a clipboard.

Aby Rinella:

You totally can. You see the things you ride kind.

Yvette Hampton:

Of bikes do you have in Idaho?

Aby Rinella:

No, you just balance it. I guess maybe that’s not no, don’t listen to Abby.

Yvette Hampton:

No one listens to Abby. Can I ride a bike with a clipboard? I’m saying no to that.

Aby Rinella:

If you have a helmet on, it’s totally safe.

Yvette Hampton:

I reject that idea. Okay, fine. Get in your car, but don’t have a clipboard. And write while you’re driving either. That’s not safe.

Aby Rinella:

No, but your passenger can.

Yvette Hampton:

Your passenger can. Yeah, done.

Aby Rinella:

Sold.

Yvette Hampton:

Oh, man. Okay, we’re almost out of time. So the last couple that I have and then Abby, I don’t know if you have any more to add to this. Join a local support group or a co op. Of course, if you haven’t done that this year and you have a local support group, a lot of places have support groups where they know kids get together for field trips and activities and sometimes field days and things like that. And you don’t have to be part of their co op. You just can be part of their support group. And it gives you the opportunity to meet other families and other mamas and kids and stuff. So those are great. Or, of course, co ops, watching videos. Of course you have to be particular about what you put in front of your kids. But videos and documentaries, those are great ways to just mix it up, teach a lesson. Maybe it’s a history thing. You’ve got to be careful with it.

Aby Rinella:

Yeah, but your kids will learn so much more. I remember I would teach my kids for weeks something, and then they’d watch one episode of Wildcrats, and then they would learn everything. Or they’d tell somebody something. They’re like, Where’d you learn that? And I’m like, clearly, they’re going to say, mom, because I just spent a month teaching them, and they’re like, we saw a YouTube video on it.

Yvette Hampton:

Right.

Aby Rinella:

I don’t know. It sticks more with yes.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, for sure. So, yeah, that’s a great way to utilize totally. The Internet. Yes.

Aby Rinella:

Be careful.

Yvette Hampton:

Be careful with so art projects, which.

Aby Rinella:

I’m not great at this, but I.

Yvette Hampton:

Know we’ve got some mamas who are fantastic at doing art projects and the don’t mind the glitter and the glue and all that stuff.

Aby Rinella:

And you know what? It doesn’t have to be something you plan, because I was never that either. But then I learned if I just have them or give them a box of art stuff and the table, they’ll come up with their own art. Yeah. So I’ve learned, like, I don’t have to plan it. I don’t have to have these elaborate things, which is hard for me anyway, because then I’m like, you’re not doing it right. I wouldn’t use those two colors together. So I’ve learned I can’t do that because I’m too much of a control freak. I just had to give them the stuff and let them create whatever they want to create.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. Brooklyn took a she was visiting a co op one day, and she went into the art class in that co op. This was many years ago. And the lady who was teaching art, she was like, OK, I want you to draw or paint this picture. And Brooklyn is very artistic, so she likes to be creative. Well, this mom who was teaching it, she was like, okay, no, I want you to paint this this color and this color. And Brooklyn came out that she was like, that lady’s a horrible teacher. She was telling me how I had to paint my picture. And she was so deeply offended that this woman was telling her how she had to paint her picture because Kit just was like, but that’s not how I want to do it.

Aby Rinella:

She’s a creative.

Yvette Hampton:

This lady was very kind, but she was a control freak, and she wanted to tell the kids how to do their art.

Aby Rinella:

And Brooklyn was sometimes it’s painful. You’re like, yeah, I don’t feel like those two colors. I have to walk away and be like, Be creative. Whatever you want to do.

Yvette Hampton:

Yes.

Aby Rinella:

I can’t watch.

Yvette Hampton:

And then the last one that I have, which I’m really trying this year and going to try to do, is taking photos and videos, which we’ve got 5 million photos and videos of our girls. But I just feel like when they were little, I used to do videos all the time because they were so cute and little, and they would do funny things. Right. But I really want to capture more of what they’re doing. And even school, like, this is our life, this is what we do. So just taking more pictures and videos just to hold those memories, because when you look back on them, when I look back on videos, I mean, so often, I don’t know if you do this. I look back, I’m like, I don’t even remember that.

Aby Rinella:

Right?

Yvette Hampton:

I have zero recollection of we watched a Christmas video not that long ago of our girls, and they were really little, and I think Brooklyn was maybe five, maybe six. And I had literally zero recollection of this particular Christmas, none at all. And I was like, I am so thankful we have this video. And I had my nieces in there, and they were all so little and so cute, and they were hilarious, and so I want to capture more of that instead of the posed pictures and planned out pictures, like, just more every candid. This is what our life is.

Aby Rinella:

Oh, I love that.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. Do you have any more?

Aby Rinella:

Well, I think you hit most of them. I mean, I’m huge on traditions, but I say also, it’d be fun to mix it up once in a while and be like, put one kid in charge of the day. They need to cover the same things. Let them steer the day. How do you want to do the day? And I think you learn a lot from that to go. What things did they keep? What things did they throw out? Which things mattered? What order rocked for them? And it mixes it up. And I think when they are in charge, it also adds for them. So I think that would be a fun maybe once a month, each kid gets a day where they get to be in charge of the day. They get to pick the song you wake up to. They get to pick what time you do what and what order it goes and who sits where. And I think that’d be fun.

Yvette Hampton:

That is fun. I love that. I love it when kids get to take charge of things.

Aby Rinella:

It’s good for them.

Yvette Hampton:

It is. Which, by the way, this has nothing to do with this. I just was thinking about it as you were talking about that. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this. We finally figured out who does the dishes dilemma.

Aby Rinella:

Yeah, you told me. A month, right?

Yvette Hampton:

Or a week. They do two weeks.

Aby Rinella:

Two weeks.

Yvette Hampton:

Two weeks.

Aby Rinella:

And then they get to sit in the front seat of the car.

Yvette Hampton:

And they get to sit in the front whoever’s dishes week it is, or two weeks it is. If it’s your day to do dishes, you get to sit in the front seat of the car. And can I just tell you, it’s worth kit, why didn’t I do this years ago? It has eliminated so many fights. And my girls. It’s my turn. It’s my turn to sit in the front seat. I did the dishes last night. Or I did them yesterday. No.

Aby Rinella:

Isn’t it funny how you finally figure something out? You’re like, how did I not know this all those years ago?

Yvette Hampton:

I know.

Aby Rinella:

It’s ridiculous that’s such a good idea. That’s a good idea. So they have the one negative thing and the one positive thing I love.

Yvette Hampton:

Yes. Yeah. Garritt and I help the with dishes, but ultimately it’s their responsibility for the weekend when it’s their dishes week and it’s been magical.

Aby Rinella:

I love that idea.

Yvette Hampton:

And it makes home school more fun because then there’s not as much fighting.

Aby Rinella:

Yes.

Yvette Hampton:

Oh, dear.

Aby Rinella:

Eliminate as much drama as you can. And I’ve learned it usually starts with me. I’m allowing drama. I’m allowing them to bicker over the dishwasher rather than just be like, no, this is how it’s going to work. Yeah.

Embracing Distractions: Finding Purpose in Homeschooling

“God oftentimes uses distractions to challenge us in what we’re prioritizing.”

Katie Waalkes

In the latest episode of the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast, Yvette Hampton sits down with Katie Waalkes, a second-generation homeschooler and mother of multiple children with special needs. Together, they tackle the topic of distracted homeschooling and how to navigate the challenges it presents. As highly distracted homeschool moms themselves, Yvette and Katie share personal experiences and insights that will resonate with many parents who face similar circumstances.

Embracing Distractions:

In the interview, Katie underscores the importance of character over curriculum. She urges parents not to be overly focused on adhering strictly to a schedule, but rather to seize teachable moments and opportunities to build character in their children. Katie asserts, “Homeschooling is not just about academics; it’s about preparing our children for life.”

Katie also highlights a significant concern for parents who miss out on imparting valuable life lessons due to the physical separation that can occur when children spend prolonged periods away from them. She encourages moms and dads to remain open to identifying and seizing opportunities to teach and build character in their children. “We were put on this earth to serve others and serve God for His glory,” she emphasizes.

Anchoring the Day:

Both Yvette and Katie discuss the importance of anchoring the homeschool day with specific activities or times to refocus and overcome distractions. They suggest using meal times as anchors if no other routines are established. “Teaching children to refocus, pray, and confess mistakes can help them develop valuable skills in restarting and moving forward.”

Katie shares her practical approach to managing distractions, including the use of a whiteboard and the notes app on her iPhone. She prefers these methods to traditional pen and paper, as they help her stay organized and prevent her from misplacing important information.

The Blessings of Distractions:

While distractions in homeschooling can sometimes be challenging, Katie counters that they can also turn into blessings for children. She urges parents to focus on leading their children to Jesus, regardless of the day’s structure or organization. Distractions offer opportunities to guide children closer to Him.

Overcoming Challenges:

When discussing how to overcome distractions, both Yvette and Katie stress the importance of recognizing the problem, seeking God’s guidance, and subsequently experiencing a heart change. They highlight the need to protect specific hours for homeschooling and the benefits of blocking off “safety hours” to minimize interruptions and maintain focus.

Katie encourages highly distracted homeschooling moms to blend similar tasks together and avoid multitasking, as it often leads to unfinished projects. Additionally, she recommends creating a minimalist environment free from clutter and using noise-canceling headphones to reduce environmental distractions.

Conclusion:

By focusing on character development, anchoring the day, and embracing distractions, homeschooling can become a purpose-driven journey that leads children closer to Jesus.

As Katie wisely states, “The most important thing in parenting is leading children to Jesus.” With this perspective, distractions transform from obstacles to opportunities, reminding us that our ultimate goal is not merely academic success, but shaping the hearts and minds of our children for the glory of God.

So, if you find yourself easily distracted in your homeschooling journey, take heart and tune in to this inspiring podcast episode with Yvette Hampton and Katie Waalkes. By embracing distractions and seeking God’s guidance, you can discover a new sense of purpose and fulfillment in your homeschool experience.

Katie Waalkes is a wife of 14 years, mother to 6 kids, most of whom have special needs with a mixture of medical diagnosis & special learning needs.

She is passionate about encouraging parents in their biblical parenting and helping homeschool moms in their journey. Katie has a unique perspective on homeschooling as both she and her husband grew up homeschooled. As a second-generation homeschooler, she has been both the student and teacher and has much to offer on the topic. She hopes to be able to help you start making the most of the little moments in life as the mundane moments are often the most impactful.

Recommended Resources:

https://lifeinthemundane.com

https://www.youtube.com/lifeinthemundane

M.O.M. Master Organizer of Mayhem: Simple Solutions to Organize Chaos and Bring More Joy into Your Home, by Kristi Clover

Organizing the Mayhem, with Kristi Clover on the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast

Homeschool Planning: Step by Step with Pam Barnhill on the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast

Discussion Questions:

Want to use this interview for a co-op meeting or small group? Here are a few discussion questions to keep the conversation moving in the right direction:

1. How does Katie define distracted homeschooling? Can you relate to her experiences as a highly distracted homeschool mom?

2. How does Katie emphasize the importance of character over curriculum? In what ways can we prioritize character-building in our homeschooling journey?

3. What are some teaching moments and opportunities that parents often miss out on when their children are separated from them for long periods? How can we be more intentional in seizing those opportunities?

4. What are some strategies that Katie shares for overcoming distractions and staying focused in homeschooling? How do you anchor your day and help your children develop refocusing skills?

5. How does Katie view distractions in the journey of parenting? How can distractions actually benefit our children’s growth and our own journey towards Jesus?

6. What are some challenges that Katie identifies in her homeschooling journey, such as changing curriculums and inconsistent expectations? How can we address these challenges and ensure a more consistent homeschooling experience?

7. Katie’s children have special needs. How does she adapt her homeschooling approach to cater to each child’s individual needs and abilities? How can we accommodate our children’s unique learning styles and challenges?

8. How does Katie view multitasking? Why is it important to block off specific hours for homeschooling and protect those hours from external distractions and appointments?

9. Katie suggests creating a minimalist environment and using noise-canceling headphones to reduce distractions. How can we create a homeschooling environment that promotes focus and minimizes distractions? 

10. In what ways can we seek a heart change and rely on God’s guidance to overcome the challenges of distracted homeschooling? How can prayer and seeking the Lord’s wisdom help us in our homeschooling journey?

Keep it FREE:

We have always wanted to make the barrier to entry for homeschooling as low as possible, so we have made all but one of our resources completely free (and we’re considering how we can make that one free too). READ MORE HERE.

We pray that the Schoolhouse Rocked Ministry is a blessing to you and your family. Here are a few ways to be involved in this important mission…

Read the full interview transcript below:

Yvette Hampton [00:00:00]:

Hey, everyone. This is Yvette Hampton. Welcome back to the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast. Thank you for being with me today, this week, whatever it is that you’re doing. I am always so honored to know that you are on the other side of this camera, on the other side of this microphone, and taking the time to listen to the Schoolhouse Rocked podcast. You know, before I ever pushed the record button with any guest, we always pray. And it was no different with my guest this week. Her name is Katie Walcus. And we were just talking about the podcast and what we were going to discuss and just talking about life and stuff. And then I asked her, I said, do you have any questions? And she said, can we pray? And I said, absolutely. We always do that. And our prayer always is that you, our audience, would be encouraged by what we discuss and that the Lord would speak through us and that he would be honored in our conversation and that everything we do would point you and point your kids to Jesus. And so we really do pray that that is how you view this podcast and what you get out of it. That you walk away encouraged and equipped to be able to do this parenting thing, this homeschooling thing, this life thing, and that you would be able to do it the best that you can according to God’s word and according to biblical truth. So thank you again for being with us. I am excited about my guest this week. Like I said, her name is Katie Walcus. I totally botched her name when I asked her, because if you look at it the way it’s spelled, you might try to figure out how to say it, too. And so I’m glad that I asked before I completely butchered it on the podcast. But we are going to talk this week about the highly distracted homeschool mom, and I am so excited about this topic because this is me. I am a totally distracted homeschool mom. That might be surprising to some of you and those of you who know me, you’re going to be like, oh, yeah, that’s you, yvette. Well, Katie, welcome to the podcast. Like I said, we’re talking about the highly distracted homeschool mom. And it’s so funny. As soon as I saw that you talked on this topic, I was like, oh, you got to come on the podcast because I need your help. And I know so many others need help in this area as well. I think one of those things that as homeschool moms, those of us who are easily distracted, those type B’s like myself, it’s hard for us sometimes to think that we’re doing okay. As homeschool moms, we feel like we’re just screwing this all up, because I can’t even stay focused on a single thing, much less trying to teach all of my kids and keep everything rolling smoothly throughout the day. And so I think it can cause us to become very insecure about our ability to teach. And so I would love for you to first introduce your family and then I’m assuming I don’t know, maybe I shouldn’t assume this, that you, maybe yourself, are a highly distracted homeschool mom as well. Let’s just talk about this this week, but first tell us who you are.

Katie Waalkes [00:02:52]:

Yeah, so my name is Katie, and I am a second generation homeschooler married to another second generation homeschooler. We’ve been married almost 15 years. It’ll be 15 years in August. And I have kids ranging from well, they’re getting ready to have birthdays. They’re going to be 1413, 1211, six and five. I have to get a running start, if you ask me, in the middle. I can’t tell you how old the middle child is without going up or down. But our family is very unique. We have a lot of kiddos with different special needs. And it was funny. It was actually through one of my kids going to therapy, like, to a counseling therapy session, that I actually discovered that I myself have ADHD. And it was so funny because the therapist, just very lovingly, like, with no malicious intent whatsoever, was telling my daughter who has ADHD, she’s like, you know, it’s okay. She was like, I have it too, and I’m pretty sure your mom does as well. And I was like, no, I don’t have ADHD. And she was like, oh, I’m so sorry. And as we started talking, I was like, so why? Why did you say that? Like, I’m just I’m curious, what made you think that? And so she started asking me, and I ended up getting screened for it. And I am 1000% ADHD, actually more so than my husband. I knew that he had it, but I am way more. So that was a really fun thing to find out as an adult and as a mom. So I am definitely the highly distracted home school mom. I have found that most moms feel like they actually fit in this category either because of natural tendencies or because of external circumstances. Because we live in that world that’s constantly yanking us in every direction. And our kids are in all the sports and they’re social media, and we’re balancing so many things at one time that I find that so many moms find themselves there, but there’s definitely ones who are more naturally that way and more that are, like, just end up in circumstances where they feel like that. So the things that we’re going to talk about today will help and apply to all of that, hopefully.

Yvette Hampton [00:05:03]:

Yeah, that’s a great story. And I may fall into that category and I just have never had myself tested, but I could easily see that probably since I was a kid, I can look back and I can see. Even through my academic years in school, I went to a private school my whole life, and I was always just I could not focus on anything, which is why it was hard for me to learn. And I still do that even when I read my Bible in the morning, I literally have to listen to it and read it with my eyes at the same time because otherwise, even then, I sometimes have to read the same thing over and over again because my mind just is everywhere. It’s all over the place. And are you a visual learner? I’m curious to know.

Katie Waalkes [00:05:51]:

Yes.

Yvette Hampton [00:05:51]:

So not only are you distracted, but you see everything as you’re distracted with it. It’s a double curse and a blessing, I think, at the same time. Let’s talk kind of through this. And as you’ve met homeschool moms and you yourself, what are some of the distractions that you think most homeschool moms face?

Katie Waalkes [00:06:12]:

Yeah, so like I said, they’re sort of the external distractions and the internal distractions. And I actually kind of asked several people on my I have a YouTube channel and asked them, what are the things that you guys feel like are the most distracting to you? And some of the answers I got were, of course, the kids, right. And all the needs they have, the laundry or chores, the things they’re trying to keep up with in their home, the calendar, like just managing everybody’s schedules, especially if you have any kids that do have therapies or playdates or sports or whatnot. Sickness can even be an external distraction. We’ve all run into that where you just have seasons, where you just feel like you can’t get to your schoolwork because you’re constantly dealing with sickness. Of course, our phones, I think that’s probably a really common one, and just having to do list, like feeling like we’re constantly needing to do the next thing is always a distraction. But as I was thinking about it more, I was like, there’s also internal distractions, at least for people like us.

Yvette Hampton [00:07:23]:

Right.

Katie Waalkes [00:07:24]:

Because my mind in and of itself is a huge distraction. It’s constantly going, it’s constantly thinking. And I think most moms do we’re like, okay, what are we going to have for breakfast the next morning? What are we going to have for dinner? Who do I need to get where? And it can be very overwhelming, and we can be present and not actually be present at all because our minds are everywhere else. But there and there’s the sin aspect of distractions, of feeling like we just selfishly, we don’t want to do what we’re supposed to do. So we allow ourselves to get distracted and sucked into things that are more interesting to us or that we want to hyper fixate on.

Yvette Hampton [00:08:09]:

Yeah. You say being present and not present. Do you have the wonderful ability that I have to read a book and have no idea what you’re reading because you’re thinking of something else? Yes. I don’t think everyone can do that. I don’t know if I call that a gift or a curse again, but I can read a book to my kids literally perfectly, every single word, and have no idea what I’m reading to them because I’m thinking of something completely different than what I’m reading. So hopefully they don’t ask me questions about those books. I mean, I can read a book and focus on the book, and mostly I do. But sometimes if I really have something heavy on my mind, my brain, I’ll just go off into la la land and thinking about all the things and then imagining all the things because I see everything in picture. I have, like, this constant movie going on in my head all the time, which I always thought that everyone did. I always just assumed that everybody saw everything. And then I learned years ago that that’s not the case. And I was like, what do you mean you don’t see everything? You don’t have a constant movie going on in your head all the time?

Katie Waalkes [00:09:15]:

Yes.

Yvette Hampton [00:09:16]:

Yeah, it can be a tough thing, but it can be kind of fun sometimes. The distractions can be overwhelming in every way.

Katie Waalkes [00:09:24]:

Yes. And a lot of times when you find yourself distracted somebody asked me when I started to talk on this topic, and it kind of threw me off guard because I just kind of assumed you knew if you were a distracted mom. But somebody asked me, how would I know if I’m a distracted mom? And I was like, oh, okay, I guess I can break this down a little bit. If you feel like you’re constantly wasting time, if you feel like.

Yvette Hampton [00:09:53]:

You can’t.

Katie Waalkes [00:09:54]:

Get to that, if you feel like a lot of the work you’re doing is not at its best and you kind of feel like you’re a little bit of everything to everybody and not really able to accomplish anything or to do anything. Well, if you’re feeling mentally exhausted and fatigued constantly. And I know as moms there’s an aspect of that, but I think that sometimes we blow past that really easily and we just assume that, well, moms are tired, so this is okay, and I just need to push through it. And there are physical tiredness that we feel, but when there’s this mental overload, there are things we can do to kind of shift that and to take off some of that extra mental weight. And I think that’s something that we oftentimes just don’t think about.

Yvette Hampton [00:10:40]:

Yeah, and I definitely want to talk about that and just give some practical advice on what can we do, how do we navigate through this. But let’s talk first about the problem as a home school mom, because we’re talking to homeschool moms specifically, and I feel like you’ve talked about some of it, but we could just go on forever about why this is a problem. But I want to bring hope to the situation because I think so oftentimes moms don’t homeschool or they want to give up on homeschooling because they think someone else they think that the teacher in the classroom has it all together and that she is going to be able to teach their kids in a more focused way than the mom can. And I feel this too sometimes. I never have the urge to put my kids in a classroom but oftentimes I’m like, man I’m such a mess. And it’s hard for me to sometimes teach my kids to be focused because we do get things done. I don’t want to sound like we just molly gag around the house all day every day. That wouldn’t work for anybody but monkey see, monkey do. I mean, my girls very much take after me in this aspect. I know it drives my husband crazy. I don’t do it on purpose, it’s just how my personality is and he loves me through it. But let’s talk about the problem of this for homeschool moms and then let’s try to give some practical ways to overcome it.

Katie Waalkes [00:12:13]:

Yeah, absolutely. I think one of the big problems with it is that we can. For me, one of the ways this kind of showed up as a problem in my home school is I was a habitual curriculum hopper for the beginning of my home school years, whether it was mid year or whether it was at the end of the year, but constantly changing up different curriculums because it was like, OOH, something new and shiny and FOMO, it’s a real thing. And all the different things. And I was constantly switching things up. And so there were some gaps and inconsistencies there that fell into that. For my kids that I know that they suffered because of that. It was also hard for them because of my distractedness. I would oftentimes have different expectations for the day and so if I was feeling unmotivated then I would be like everything can slide. Either we’re not going to do home school or we’re going to do it but the standards are not going to be as high. And then the next day I would be very motivated and I would expect my kids to match my motivation which is really not fair to them whatsoever because they had no idea. And my kids learned really fast the system to things. They learned that if mom was tired and overwhelmed they could get away with not doing school or not doing as much. And if mom was really motivated they were probably going to have to do like two or three days worth of school in one day because then I’d be feeling this panic of being behind. But there is 1000% hope in this because God completely shifted things in my life. And some of these strategies that we’re going to share are ways that this happened. But there’s also part of it that was a heart change and I want to encourage that is the most practical thing you can do about this is to recognize the problem and take it to the Lord, because if he’s called you to this, he’s going to equip you for it. And we can so often be like, well, this is just the way I am. I’m kind of doomed to this. And that’s not at all the case. Yes, God has made you uniquely how you are, and there’s strength to being a highly distracted homeschool mom, and we can talk about that, but there is also sin that’s interwoven into these things and asking God to really confront that in your heart and to change those things, and he will be faithful to do it. And so I think that’s the biggest hope that I can give is that you can do the strategies, but until you have the heart change, you’re not going to see that impact.

Yvette Hampton [00:14:41]:

Talk about that transition for you then of going from realizing and did you realize it before your daughter’s therapist revealed to you? Yes. Did you realize like, oh man, I’m just distracted and kind of scattered all over the place, but you didn’t really know why?

Katie Waalkes [00:15:00]:

Yeah, I did not know why. I did discover that beforehand. I started to see as my kids got older, the consequences of my choices on them, and I started to notice them that they would get really frazzled or that they were feeling like they didn’t know what the expectations were going to be for the day. And at first I would get frustrated and then thanks, like, God gave me that insight to be able to see maybe this is a me problem, not a them problem. And so thankfully, I started working on that several years before. Like, I actually only found out I had ADHD, I think it was back in 2020. So it’s only been in the last three years.

Yvette Hampton [00:15:41]:

Oh, wow.

Katie Waalkes [00:15:42]:

Yeah, so it’s been a much more recent thing. And since then I’m like, okay, I can learn to find the strengths and the weaknesses and what I need to work on. But yeah, for many years I had no idea why. I just was like, something’s a little off here and I’m just constantly going all the different directions. But there are many benefits to it too.

Yvette Hampton [00:16:00]:

One of the things you said on Monday, which by the way, if you guys missed Monday’s episode, go back and listen to that. But one of the things you said was that there are actually some strengths to being highly distracted. And I was like, oh, this is good to know. I always want to know the good things. So let’s talk about that for a few minutes. What are some of the things that are strengths that we can derive from being highly distracted moms?

Katie Waalkes [00:16:25]:

I think one of the big ones is that as homeschool moms, we want our kids to have a love of learning. And some of the best ways to do that, in my experience, is to follow those rabbit trails and to be willing to take a second and take a break from the curriculum and just follow that thing that’s really interesting to them. And as highly distracted homeschool moms, oftentimes we are more willing to do that and to kind of go off the beaten path and I really do think that’s a strength. I have friends who are very type A and who very much wish they could. They were like but to us, that to do list is such the driving force that we have trouble taking the opportunity to dig into something. And so I found that to be a huge strength across the board. And not that we don’t ever struggle with doing that, and obviously we can’t do that 24/7, but, you know, being able to say, you know what, guys? That’s a great question. Let’s look more into that. Maybe we’re going to watch a documentary or listen to a podcast on that or read a book on that.

Yvette Hampton [00:17:23]:

Yeah, that’s true. But sometimes what I find myself doing and I totally agree with you because we will often do that too, but then we’ll go on YouTube to look at a video on something and then, oh, look at this video.

Katie Waalkes [00:17:37]:

2 hours later.

Yvette Hampton [00:17:38]:

Like, oh, wait a minute. We were supposed to be learning about pompeii or whatever it was that we were studying. And so it can lead to more distraction. However, that also can be a learning opportunity for our kids because you never know what the Lord is going to show you. Maybe something that you didn’t even know you needed to know about or talk to your kids about.

Katie Waalkes [00:18:02]:

Another one that I found has definitely been the ability to pivot life has a lot of things that just happen and pop up and the ability to take that opportunity to make shifts and adjustments fairly quickly is something oftentimes we can do. Now with every strength there is a weakness, every weakness there is a strength. So it’s always finding that balance there but there’s more of a willingness to stop and to do ministry, moments of ministry and to take the opportunity with our kids to be willing to take a break from things, to be able to pivot over to maybe a discipline issue, heart issue that needs to be addressed. And so it’s one of those things that I really do think is a strength because God gives us very specific things for a very specific reason. And another big one has definitely been with my kids having more understanding. Because whether kids have ADHD or don’t have ADHD, kids are highly distracted as a whole, as a general rule, and as parents, sometimes we can be so far removed from that and have so many strategies that we lose empathy or we forget that there’s actual strategy that has to be learned. And so we just assume our kids should be little adults. And so I feel like by having those struggles and even though some of them are not current struggles, some are still even though some of them are not current struggles, they’re recent enough that I remember what I had to do to learn how to pivot and how to grow in those areas. And I’m able to teach my kids better and equip them better because of that.

Yvette Hampton [00:19:43]:

Yeah, it’s called flexibility.

Katie Waalkes [00:19:45]:

Yes.

Yvette Hampton [00:19:46]:

And you’re right. I think for the Type A mom, it is very hard for her sometimes to be flexible. And again. I mean, I’m not putting down type A, Moms. I aspire to be that Type A mom. I really want to have it all together. I want to be able to organize my day and live by my schedule. It’s just not me. And like you said yesterday or in Monday’s episode, it’s not that we stay there. It’s not that we say, well, this is just how I am, so I’m just going to stay here and, well, too bad for my family, right? We should always be growing and learning. And I know we’re going to talk about some methods. I’m assuming one of them will be because I know it has been the top method for me is making a to do list.

Katie Waalkes [00:20:27]:

Yes.

Yvette Hampton [00:20:27]:

If I didn’t have a to do list in a calendar to live by, oh dear. I would not be able to function. So we’ll talk a little bit more about that. But for that Type A mom, there are so many benefits to being organized and structured and focused. But it’s really hard for that Type A mom to pivot, as you said, and to be flexible when your day doesn’t go exactly as planned. And so I think it’s hard to be really heavy on one side of the coin or really heavy on the other side of the coin because there are strengths and weaknesses to both.

Katie Waalkes [00:21:03]:

Yes, absolutely.

Yvette Hampton [00:21:05]:

So, yeah, it’s learning to balance all of the things and all of the personality traits that God’s given to us. As we’re talking about distractions, let’s kind of define what a distraction is. Obviously, we know what it looks like to be distracted, but let’s actually just really kind of hone in on that word and define it.

Katie Waalkes [00:21:25]:

Yeah, absolutely. I thought a lot about this as I’ve been studying this topic, and everybody kind of has different definitions and what they assume. But really, when you look up definitions in the dictionary and when you look at other reliable sources, you see that a distraction is really anything. And I think this part is key anything, good or bad, that takes us away from what we should be prioritizing at that moment. And this is a big difference than what we tend to think of, because we just assume that everything that we don’t want to be doing right now or everything that keeps us from doing what we want to do is a distraction versus everything that is keeping us from doing what should be the priority right in that moment.

Yvette Hampton [00:22:12]:

Yeah, that’s tough because I want to have my list and this is what thing I should be doing and never deviate from that. But that’s also not reality, right? I mean, sometimes it is. Sometimes we can stay focused, but especially, I mean, you’ve got six kids and as you mentioned before, you have special needs kids, so I have two kids, neither of them are special needs. And we still get distracted so easily when we’re trying to focus on one thing. So I imagined with six, yes, and having special needs in there, it would almost seem impossible to focus, not ever, but most of the time on the thing that you’re trying to focus on. So let’s talk about just some practical ways that we can do this. What do we do about this? If we know we’re distracted, we can recognize it, we can admit it to ourselves at least. What are some things we can do about it?

Katie Waalkes [00:23:12]:

One of the first things is reducing the amount of multitasking we do. We, as moms, love to multitask, but there’s been many studies shown that we’re not really multitasking. We’re shifting from one thing to another. And so really trying to block off time, especially when we’re talking about homeschooling, blocking off specific home school hours and really protecting those hours. So our school day, I have middle schoolers, and with having kids with special needs, our school day just takes longer. And so we actually typically go somewhere around eight to two. There’s breaks in there, there’s lunch. It’s not all working the whole time, but I’m working that whole time between eight and two. But I really protect between nine and twelve, and that is my safety hours. And for that I really try to not do scheduling any doctors appointments or therapies I try not to have any playdates or field trips we might do. That’s an exception to the rule, but in general we try to protect that nine to twelve. And it’s really helped us to be able to stay a little more focused, because as a distracted mom, I can bounce around within one task, but the second that I start to blend tasks and say, I can jump from math to language arts, no problem, but jumping from math to laundry? Then all of a sudden, I get on what my husband affectionately calls if you give a mouse the cookie days where I start everything and I finish nothing. And so I’m like, oh, we’re doing math, oh, we need to do laundry. But I forgot to switch to that laundry. I’ll go upstairs and get more and then I’m like, oh, I should make my bed. And then I need to call somebody about something. It just becomes this whole thing. So if we can kind of keep like minded tasks together and give our attention to that and then give our attention afterwards to those things. Maybe errands, or phone calls, contacting people and just grouping as many like tasks together is a huge, huge help when it comes to reducing distractions.

Yvette Hampton [00:25:14]:

Yeah. So when you’re talking about staying on those like minded tasks, how do you do that with six kids? Because you’ve got all of them different. I mean, you’ve got a pretty big range of ages with your kids and abilities. So how do you focus on that nine to twelve time frame where you try to really stay focused on them? What does that look like in your home?

Katie Waalkes [00:25:39]:

Well, part of it is I’ve had to learn what works for me and my personality. So something that’s very distracting to me is environmental clutter. I am a very messy person, but mess distracts me and that’s not always the best blend. So with that, a lot of people do their chores with their kids after school and I totally understand why it makes sense. But for us, I have to start the day out with a picked up house. It does not need to be super clean, but it needs to just be picked up. So I will opt for a later start time if it means that I can have a cleared space. And so I feel like that’s one of the big things is knowing and starting to track the distractions that you’re coming across. Because if you find yourself constantly cleaning during school hours, is it maybe that these things are really bothering you and having designated times? So sometimes work will become a task for me that distracts me. I’m like, oh, I need to send this email, I need to do this or that. And I find what helps me is to know that there is going to be a designated time for that later. And if I know that between two and four I’m going to have some work hours, then I can simply jot it on a list and I know I won’t forget it. And then during those work hours I can pick that up and take that task. So it’s all about prepping the time beforehand and knowing when you’re going to be able to do other things. Having that peace of mind really helps.

Yvette Hampton [00:27:11]:

Yeah. Let’s talk about lists. I love lists. I love checklists. Like I said, I would be a complete disaster. I would not be able to function, I could not do this podcast, I couldn’t do anything without my checklist because I think of the things that I need to. And of course I’m the one who I’ll wake up at like four in the morning and I’m like, oh, I got to put this on my checklist. Maybe I’m dreaming about it, I don’t even know. But if I don’t put it on my list, I completely forget about it. I do that with grocery. Shopping. It drives my husband crazy because he’ll say, we need this at the grocery store, and if it’s not on my shopping, it could be like the most important thing. We need milk and eggs. I go to the grocery store for milk and eggs, but if it’s not on my list, I will not get it. I have to have my list. I’ll get everything else but the milk and eggs. And I function that same way in my life. I could have the most important things to do, and if it’s not on my to do list, I just get so easily distracted and I find all the other things to do that take up my time. As you make your lists, do you use something specific? Like, do you use a pad and paper? Do you use your phone? Do you use a specific app? What does that look like for you?

Katie Waalkes [00:28:33]:

So it’s looked totally different in all different phases of life. I currently use the blend, so anything work related? I use a website called Notion. They have a totally free option. It’s kind of the next step up from Trello, if people are familiar with Trello. And so it allows me to do a little bit more than I can do with Trello. But then for the home, I find pen and paper to be my best bet. And so I actually do a couple of interesting things with my list. I brain dump everything that’s in my head the night before because I can’t sleep. All those thoughts, all those movies playing in your head, like, what you’re talking about keeps me from being able to sleep. And most highly distracted moms actually struggle with some form of insomnia because our brains just won’t turn off. And so with that, I find just dumping everything on a piece of paper and writing it all down, and then in the morning, I can look back at it. So that’s not my official to do list, but that is the beginning of.

Yvette Hampton [00:29:36]:

My to do list.

Katie Waalkes [00:29:37]:

So I’ll write anything down that I think is important, and then in the morning, I’ll look over it, and 95% of it is not important. It was just what was floating around my head. And I’ll pick those important tasks, but I make sure to pick three tasks for my day, and that’s been huge because I’m like, no, I have more than I have to do. And it’s like, but if you can only get three done, what are those three tasks you’re going to do? And it has made a whole world of a difference because now I’m getting the things done that are the most important and not necessarily the most interesting or the most urgent, but those things that actually needed to get done. And it’s made a huge difference for me, for sure.

Yvette Hampton [00:30:18]:

Yeah, I love using a whiteboard at home. Yes. I don’t know. There’s something about physically writing it down on the board. And I’ll tell you why I don’t use pen and paper. Because I lose it. Yes. And actually, it’s kind of weird. We have a pretty tidy house. I like my house to be in order, and for the most part it’s pretty clean. But for some reason, I will lose a pad of paper with my notes on it. So I like to use the whiteboard that we have in our spare room. And my phone, I use just the notes app on my iPhone. And I love that it has the little I don’t think it had this when it first started, but it has the little checkboxes now. And so as you list stuff on there, you can just check it off and it moves that item down to the bottom of the list. And it’s wonderful for me because there’s so much satisfaction in checking that box and watching it just move itself down to the bottom. But yeah, I couldn’t live without that. It can be a little bit overwhelming sometimes. But you know what? I love that. Katie pointed out that there actually are some benefits to being distracted as we walk through this journey with our kids. I think what it all comes back to is that we’re just people, right? I mean, we’re just humans. We’re not perfect in any way. We’re sinful human beings, and we’re doing the very best that we can. And really what it comes down to is what’s the most important thing we’re doing with our kids are we leading them to Jesus? And we could have the most perfectly structured day, and we can have all of our curriculum perfectly laid out, and we can get through all of our tasks in the day and check every box perfectly. But if you’re not pointing your kids to Christ in the process of doing that, then none of it matters. None of it at all. Because that’s the most important thing, is pointing them to Jesus. And so it’s okay if you’re distracted. Sometimes distractions come as a benefit to our life because it allows us opportunities to point our kids to Jesus. Katie, let’s talk about kids for a few minutes. Again, I think most of us, even those type A moms who have it all together, if she’s got more than one kid, it’s likely that she probably has a child who is highly distracted and who just has a hard time focusing. So what encouragement can you give for those moms?

Katie Waalkes [00:32:51]:

Well, the first thing is just to be patient with your kids and understand that it’s a process and that there are training things that need to happen. This is not something for most kids that come supernaturally. And then the big thing is really looking at those environmental distractions. I know we talked about that on Wednesday, but those environmental distractions for kids are huge. We as homeschool moms oftentimes look at all the pinterest boards of all the pretty home school rooms, and we want to have the charts on the walls and the fun colors and all the paintings and all the things. And in reality, typically, the highly distracted homeschooler children are going to get distracted by those things, and they actually do better, typically in a more minimal environment. And that doesn’t mean you have to be a minimalist or your whole home has to be minimal. But maybe that means that child needs to work in a different atmosphere than the rest of those places. Maybe if you have a home school room, they need to do better in the living room than working with everybody else. The other thing is noise, right? Our distracting kids noises can be very distracting. So noise canceling headphones have been a lifesaver in our home. You can get them from Walmart, Amazon. They’re like $10. You don’t have to buy super fancy ones. And having my kids be able to just kind of block out the external they can still hear me, right? They can still hear my voice, but it blocks out a lot of that white noise and helps a lot with being able to focus.

Yvette Hampton [00:34:20]:

Yeah, that is such a great point. And it’s so funny as you’re talking, and it’s like, Yep, that’s me. I cannot focus if it’s something that I need to focus on, yes. If I’m reading something that I really need to concentrate on, or if I’m writing something or studying something, if I’m preparing to speak anything like that, I have to have complete, absolute silence. And so I’ll put earplugs in. Sometimes I’ll go to the library and I’ll just put earplugs in. I cannot have any distractions around me because otherwise I just can’t focus on what I’m trying to do. But my husband is the complete opposite. He and my oldest daughter, actually both of my girls, to a point, they need to have something going on in their ears in order to be able to really focus and concentrate. It’s the most interesting thing. And when Garrett was going through college, he would listen to music loud as he was writing his papers. And I was like, how in the world? And he would say, I can’t write without listening to music.

Katie Waalkes [00:35:29]:

I have kids like that as well. And oftentimes it tends to hit around middle school, at least in our home, is when they start needing that music more. So we have boundaries around that. So if you have kids who love to listen to music, at least in our home, what we have found to work is we say you can have music, but it has to be without lyrics. Because the second there’s lyrics going, your mind’s kind of getting spent in two different places, right? And so in most homeschoolers minds, they probably envision classical music being played throughout the home. Mozart, Beethoven. Instead, in my home, I gave the parameters that it had to be without lyrics, and so we end up with a ton of techno music which just.

Yvette Hampton [00:36:15]:

Kind of like, oh, that’s funny, makes me crazy.

Katie Waalkes [00:36:18]:

But my boys are actually able to listen or to work so much better when they have that going. They also enjoy like the piano guys where they do all the fun music parodies and things like that. And so there are a lot of things that they just enjoy listening to and it really does help them focus. So you have to find what works for you and your child. And don’t assume just because something doesn’t work for one that it won’t work for the other. It’s worth trying and reducing the visual distractions. So I talked about the visual distractions on the walls, but for kids, sometimes making little barriers, taking those project boards that you can get from Walmart, like for science fairs or even some manila file folders and taping them together to give your child a little bit of a private workspace. We also are a family who we’re very picky about when we work altogether. So we come together for group subjects, but when they’re working individually, they kind of scatter throughout the house so they don’t get distracted by each other. So just thinking through what works for you and your children is a huge help in that area. And then of course, like what we were talking about the other day is teaching your kids how to make lists and the importance of lists.

Yvette Hampton [00:37:32]:

One of the greatest benefits of homeschooling is that there is not a classroom in the world that I know of where a teacher can take each individual child and say, okay, here is your learning style and here are your learning abilities and oh, Johnny needs noise canceling headphones and Michael needs techno music playing in his ears. Okay, let me cater to each one of these child’s needs. You can’t do that with kids in a classroom. But as their mom, we get to focus on what their needs are, what their abilities are, what their capabilities are, and we can really help them to learn and to be able to focus on the task at hand. And it’s part of our job as their mom to teach them how to do those things right and in teaching them as their home school teacher. We have such an advantage over kids who are in a classroom, kids as we talk to moms. And still there are so many moms, especially those new homeschool moms, who think that when they sit down and read with their kids, their kids need to sit on their little carpet square with their legs crossed and their hands in their laps crisscross app sauce and be totally silent so that they can hear the book that you’re reading to them. And every seasoned homeschool mom that I know will tell all of the new homeschool moms no, your kids need to move. They need to do something with their hands. They need some kind of what a classroom teacher would think of as a distraction, right? Our kids need that. They need playdoh, they need to draw, they need to color. They need some kind of fidget in their hands. They need to be flipped upside down, standing on their head so that they can listen to what it is that you’re saying to them so that they can actually learn. And so what a classroom would see as a distraction, we get to see as homeschool moms as an advantage to teaching our kids in the home. And it is such a privilege. I love homeschooling. I love being able to know that my girls need to listen to music when they really need to concentrate on something and that’s what works for them. I’ve loved talking about this, that there’s some strange comfort in knowing I’m not the only one and I’m not crazy. I’m not crazy to be easily distracted. I think it was part one. You talk to a lot of moms who deal with this, and I do too. I mean, it’s a real thing. And sometimes you talked about how there can be strengths to it, but there can also be real blessings to distractions, right? Yeah, talk about that. How can distractions in our day sometimes turn into an actual blessing for our kids?

Katie Waalkes [00:40:17]:

Yeah, I think the big thing is like going back to that definition that we’re talking about, about how it could be something good or something bad that pulls us away from what we should be prioritizing. And we oftentimes think about those things that pull us away all the time from those things we want to accomplish. But I think God oftentimes uses distractions to challenge us in what we’re prioritizing. And that is such a big problem. I know for myself that whether it be the to do list or the chores or the homeschooling or even wanting to spend family time, how many times have we been like, we’re going to spend a quality family day together, we’re going to take a trip and we’re going to have fun, and all these things keep coming up and we get frustrated. And I feel like a lot of times it’s a reminder to be like, hey, this is actually the most important thing. Yes, your kids are fighting right now, but you get the opportunity to teach them conflict resolution skills and that opportunity to teach them that is going to impact them so much more than that trip to the park that you were hoping to take or that math lesson that you were going to teach. Having the opportunity to teach our kids that there are things that are worth setting aside, our to do list for, that when that mother is going to the hospital and she needs someone to come pick up her little kids because she’s got no one else, that is 100% worth putting this aside. And I think that’s what many of us who home school we want to teach our kids is we want to teach them to serve others. We want them to have right priorities, and we want them to learn. We want them to get the academics. But the academics are not the main thing, and this really allows us to teach them that in a really tangible way.

Yvette Hampton [00:42:05]:

Yeah. I love that. Rachel and Davis. Carmen Rachel is by far one of my greatest mentors. I love her. And one of the things that I’ve learned from them is character over curriculum and that it’s so much more important to build the character into our kids. And so, as you’re saying, as the day goes on and our kids are arguing with each other or there is an opportunity for them to maybe help the neighbor bring in her groceries, that math book is still going to be sitting on the table in 15 minutes. It’s okay if it doesn’t go perfectly by your schedule, let them go. Be a blessing to the neighbor or take the ten minutes or sometimes hour that it takes or however long it takes to teach our kids conflict resolution and being able to just pour into their character, because that’s part of life. It’s part of school. I mean, homeschooling, like you said, the academics are just the icing on the cake. We’re preparing our kids for life, and so we tend to just focus so much on the academics, and we’ve got to get this done. We’ve got to get these worksheets done. We’ve got to get this curriculum done. We’ve got to get to the end of the book. And we miss all of the things that are around us, all of the opportunities that we have to be able to teach our kids and point them to Jesus and build character in them and build their relationships with one another. And I think it’s unfortunate that we often miss out on those things because if we’re looking for them, we will see them and we will find them. But when our kids are separated from us for 40 some hours a week, we miss out on a lot of opportunities to build character, to build Godly character into them. So, yeah, that is a great advantage. I love that so much. What is one last bit of encouragement or advice that you can give to our audience?

Katie Waalkes [00:44:01]:

I think a big thing to focus on with your kids is to teach them how to come back from a distraction. And this goes for us and for our kids. So we know distractions are going to come. We can reduce them, but we can’t remove them because God didn’t create us to have our own perfect bubble for our glory.

Yvette Hampton [00:44:20]:

Right?

Katie Waalkes [00:44:21]:

It’s for his glory that we were put on this earth and to serve others and to serve Him. And so it’s one of those those distractions are going to come. So teaching our kids, those distractions are going to come. Recognizing ourselves, those distractions are going to come, and instead, really giving our kids and ourselves anchors in our day, where we can kind of refocus. So for every family, it’s different, your anchors. If you don’t have anchors in your day, you can just use meal times of, like, breakfast, lunch and dinner. So maybe the whole morning is a distracted mess and it’s overwhelming. And the phone kept ringing and the neighbors came to the door and the dog got out and the chickens were everywhere or whatever. We can go, okay, but now it’s lunchtime and we’re going to restart, and we’re going to like, this is the next part of the day, and kind of dividing your day up into those chunks. We’re so quick. Our kids, especially, are so quick to be like, It’s a bad day, and they just label it that way, and that’s just kind of how it stuck. And it’s like, no, this was a bad first quarter. We’re going to go into the second quarter stronger. And so really teaching them how to refocus, to take the opportunity to pray, to take the opportunity to confess sins, if we lost our temper, if we got upset because things didn’t go the way we wanted, take that opportunity to say, I’m sorry, will you forgive me? And be like, Guys, let’s start fresh. So I really encourage you to have those anchors in your day and to be able to refocus and restart and teach our kids that, because that’s probably one of the most valuable skills you’ll.

Yvette Hampton [00:45:54]:

Be able to teach your kids yeah. Going into adulthood. Yes. Awesome. Katie, thank you for your encouragement this week. It’s been so much fun chatting with you and just so refreshing. I feel like we need to have a club. We need to start some kind of focus club for the distracted homeschool mom. Yes. Though, of course, that would be just another distraction for us, so maybe we won’t do that. But thank you for your encouragement and just your wisdom. And thanks for being so transparent. Just about where you’ve been, where you are.

Organizing the Mayhem – Homeschool Organization, with Kristi Clover

For the first episode of the third season of The Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast Yvette Hampton and Aby Rinella sat down with Kristi Clover to talk discuss a subject that most of us consider at the start of every year, ORGANIZATION. Kristi is a master organizer and has just released a fabulous book on the subject, that is sure to be an encouragement and valuable resource to you, M.O.M. – Master Organizer of Mayhem.

Kristi offers 10 simple rules to help parents manage the chaos of their homes on a daily basis. From learning routines and habits to creating systems to stay organized, she dives into the most common areas moms struggle with in their homes.

In addition to Kristi being a home organization and efficiency expert, she’s also an author, a speaker, and the host of the Simply Joyful Podcast. Her passion is to encourage families to find simple ways to bring more joy into their home and life. She loves to share about her adventures in motherhood and home life through a variety of media that you can find at KristiClover.com. As a mom of five, she’s never short on opportunities to “practice what she preaches” in the realm of home organization and #momlife. Kristi lives in San Diego with her husband, Steve, and their five children. Be sure to connect with Kristi online for an extra dose of encouragement. She’s @KristiClover on most social media networks. Enjoy this transcript of their conversation.

Yvette:                 Hey, everyone. This is Yvette Hampton. Welcome back to the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast. As always we have such an exciting guest on today. I also have my amazing cohost with me again today, Aby Rinella, We are talking to Kristi Clover, mom of moms, homeschool mom of homeschool moms, and part of the speaker line up for the upcoming, Homegrown Generation Family Expo. She is so much fun. You guys are going to love this episode with her. We are talking about her new book, M.O.M.is that what you actually call it Kristi? M.O.M?

Listen to Kristi Clover on The Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast.

Kristi Clover:                 Yeah, M-O-M – Master Organizer of Mayhem. There it is.

Yvette:                         M.O.M. – Master Organizer of Mayhem. I love that title. I love the cover of the book. It is so much fun. It’s so eye-catching when you first look at it. It’s got a bunch of Legos all over it. So, welcome. And this is a great time, because your book just came out and I’m excited about it and want to tell people all about it. And Aby, thanks for joining us again today.

Aby Rinella:                  I’m excited to be here. Organization is my Love Language, so I’m super excited to be on here.

Kristi:                           I love it. Let me speak love to you today.

Yvette:                         It’s the eighth Love Language, huh?

Aby:                             Oh, it is.

Kristi:                           Oh, yeah! No, totally. I laughed, because I was so stressed out at one point because, I shared with you guys before we started that we started this home renovation. My friends are like, “You cannot call it remodel. You’re down to studs.” I’m like, “Great.” At the same time, we’re doing book launch, so I just, I have moments where I’m like, “Oh, find a happy place. Find a happy place.”

Kristi:                           I started doing this deep declutter, and my husband was laughing. He’s like, “What are you doing?” I’m like, “I feel really happy right now.” He’s like, “I’m just going to walk away.” I’m like, “Yeah, you do that. I’m really happy right now.” I was in this delirious moment. He was like, “Okay.”

Yvette:                         Oh my gosh. It’s like nesting, right? Because, instead of birthing a child, you’re birthing a brand new home.

Backstage Pass members can watch the full video of this interview – over 40 minutes!

Kristi:                           Yes! And a book. This is not recommended. I’m like, “I brought this upon myself because I called it Master Organizer of Mayhem”, so the Lord was like, “Ha-ha-ha, let’s bring a little more mayhem into your life”. And school, and homeschooling.

Aby:                             Like when you pray for patience and you’re like “oh, I shouldn’t have done that”.

Kristi:                           Oh, I don’t do that anymore.

Yvette:                         So very quickly Kristi, tell us about your family, because you’ve got some kiddos, and a husband, and people you like.

Kristi:                           Oh yes. Just a few kiddos. I love it because the homeschool community, I can say this: We only have five kids. Here in San Diego, people are like “you have what! Are you crazy? Do you know how that works?”. And we’re like yeah. And I have a funny story about that in the book actually. Someone here in San Diego who asked that to me. I was in a very hormonal state. I was pregnant with our fifth and yeah I had a very snarky response.

Kristi:                           So, Steve and I have been married for 22 years. We just celebrated our 22nd anniversary. We have five kids. Grant is the oldest, he’s 17. Then Blake is 16, Wade is 11, Ashlyn is 8, and Kaitlin is 6. So when I was pregnant with Kaitlin, it’s socially acceptable to continue to have more kids if you have all of one gender. So when I was pregnant with Ashlyn, everyone was like, “Aww, did you get your girl?”. And Mama Bear, mom of boys was like, “I did but I love my boys.” Leave me alone!

Kristi:                           When I was pregnant with Kaitlyn, I had the gentleman who decided to hit me on a day when I was very tired and hormonal. And he looked at the three boys and Ashlyn and he’s like, “You do know how that works, right?”. I’m like, “Yeah and you know what they say, practice makes perfect.”

Kristi:                           So sorry I went a little rated-PG there. But yeah it was awesome. And he is like “Ahhh.” And the woman behind him was blushing. The woman at the cash register was laughing so hard. So, I’m trying to get the kids out of the store and all of my older kids were like, “What does that mean? What do you mean?” And I was like, “Nothing! Nothing, mommy shouldn’t have said that.” Don’t speak when you’re pregnant, I don’t know.

Check out Kristi’s other excellent books:
Homeschool Basics: How to Get Started, Keep Motivated, and Bring Out the Best in Your Kids

Sanity Savers for Moms: Simple Solutions for a More Joy-filled Life

The Scoop on Scope: Periscope Pointers for Bloggers, Beginners, and Beyond 

During the interview, Kristi also mentions Kathi Lipp’s books on organization:

Clutter Free: Quick and Easy Steps to Simplifying Your Space

Clutter Free – What Jesus Has to Say About Your Stuff

Yvette:                         Oh goodness. Well come to the South, where lots of people have lots of kids. And it is totally socially acceptable. And we’re the family that only has two kids. We don’t drive a mini van, and what else don’t we do, probably lots of homeschooling things.

Kristi:                           We don’t fit in a mini van anymore, because my teenagers are 6’2″! So they won’t fit in the car very well, and everyone is too scrunched for a mini van. So we’re literally at the stage where we have an SUV, but everyone is trying to talk us into a mega sprinter thing that fits 12 and ya know 10 bikes and a camper.

Aby:                             It’s got a camper in it. You can sleep in there.

Kristi:                           We’re just gonna drive a motor home.

Don’t miss Kristi Clover at the 2020 Homegrown Generation Family Expo. You can enjoy this live, interactive, online conference from the comfort of your home. Coming February 17-21, Lifetime Registration for the Expo is just $20.

Yvette:                         So much fun. So these multiple kids that you have, that you’ve practiced for, for many years. And you now have a perfect child. This has been, I’m sure one of the many things that has caused you to write this book, called “M.O.M.– Master Organizer of Mayhem”. I love the title of it. Tell us about your book and help us, moms who are trying to figure out. Because I know this is a difficult thing for any mom, not just homeschool mom. But homeschool mom when you add real life and then homeschooling, it can get really crazy and really chaotic and really stressful. So tell us about your book.

Kristi:                           he book is really fun because it started when I actually only had two kids. Way back, like you know go in that time machine, like flashback, whatever it’s called. The Wayback, so if we go back in time to when I just had two kids. I think Grant and Blake were only four and three at the time, I was asked to speak at our women’s event. So I was like okay what would you like me to talk on? “Can you please talk about home organization?” And I remember thinking, Okay, that’s weird, I know I’m a little, I love it and I thrive on it but I’m not perfect at it.

Kristi:                           So I sat down and I really tried to think through. What gives people the perception that I’m so organized? I started asking friends too, why do people think… Because anytime I asked a girlfriend, what are some descriptions of me, what do you feel are some of my strengths? Organization always came up. And I’m like you guys have been to my house, it is messy sometimes. I feel like when I’m overwhelmed, I do, I let things go. And that’s okay. And what I’ve learned is that is absolutely the right thing to do, because if you really truly need a break. Unless you’re really crazy like me and need to get in there and get a project done, and that’s wonderful.

Kristi:                           What I discovered is, it’s my systems. So I would have people over for a play date one day and the house would be torn apart with all the little kids. And the next day, I would be hosting an event and people would be like, “What happened here? Were you up all night cleaning?” I’m like, “No, I just put things away and I just have this little system for doing this.” And they’re like, “Explain that.”

Kristi:                           And on top of all of that my husband has been traveling for 20 years of our marriage. I think when people were trying to figure out how I did things. That was kinda where it started. So long story short, I sat down and I wrote out this talk “M.O.M – Master Organizer of Mayhem”, and I came up with 10 rules. And they’re kind of like this foundation for things that I’ve noticed have to be in place for me to feel most organized. It doesn’t mean that you have to have everything going on at the same time. But they are key components to how to be organized.

Kristi:                           Decluttering is one and asking for help. So there’s a lot of these core foundational things that I put in the book. And what’s fun is, that from 12-13 years ago when I first gave this talk, the rules are exactly the same. I changed the order, but the rules are exactly the same. So it’s been neat to see how when continuing to apply them as my family has grown they have continued to work.

Kristi:                           And the second phase of the book is actually a lot. I share some systems that I put in place as well.

Yvette:                         I definitely want to talk about the 10 foundational rules that you have set. But you also talk in there about setting a good foundation first. How do we do that as moms?

Kristi:                           Well, a big key part is, a good foundation is really looking at all the 10 rules and looking through it. But the key is, I feel like we need to start be redefining organization. Because unlike 12 years ago, we have so much being thrown at us daily. We have an onslaught from TV shows. HGTV has wonderful shows, that I personally love watching. But you know when you look at a house that Joanna Gains or the Property Brothers, or whoever it is that is doing the space, they’ve completely cleaned it out, remodeled it and made it look perfect.

Kristi:                           We’ve got Instagram that is so focused on these beautiful rooms. There’s Facebook, Pinterest, all these things that we didn’t use to have. I mean Martha Stewart was my only person breathing down my neck, “Be perfect like me!”.

Kristi:                           That’s what we feel like. So often people associate organization with perfection. That’s not it at all. Organization to me is creating more efficiency in your home life, so you can maximize your time with your family. As well as for other priorities. So I like to help people figure out what their priorities are, so that it gives you that motivation, because everyone need to know their Why.

Kristi:                           If you’re totally happy in your mess and chaos, the God bless you! You be happy in your mess and chaos. If it’s not effecting you or anyone else in your family, and you have your systems down. Then that’s working! But if you are feeling stressed and people in your home… I have had some moms come up to me like I need this! My husband and I are fine with it but, they might have a special needs child who needs structure. So they have had to learn to get organized. Much like I had to learn to get organized.

Yvette:                         Let me ask you a question about that, though because I have often to friend’s houses and I have friends on both ends of the spectrum. You know, those whose houses are always neat and tidy and they have systems in place. They have an order of their life and typically those are the people who like to purge. Of course, I’m sure that’s one of your 10 rules.

Kristi:                           No, it’s not my gifting, decluttering is. I have friends that are very gifted at it.

Yvette:                         I’ve gotten really good at decluttering. We just simply don’t have space. That’s a whole different topic.

Yvette:                         But I have friends that who have just very organized, clean homes, and I have other friends who their house is always just a mess, all the time. I feel like, both of those friends, but typically those friends whose houses are typically messy. As soon as you walk through the door, they might say that they are comfortable with it, saying we’re okay, we’re okay living like this. But as soon as you walk through that door, they apologize for the mess in their house, almost always. “I’m sorry my house is a mess.” And I’m like look, I did not come to see your house, I came to see you. I really don’t care if your house is a mess. But I know because of their response that it is something that is stressful to them.

Yvette:                         And a lot of people simply don’t know how to declutter, how to organize, how to get rid of the chaos in their lives. Let’s go through some of the 10 foundational rules. Aby what are you thinking?

Aby:                             I’m thinking before we get into that, what I love that you said is going back to, we’re all homeschool moms here. And I love how you said it’s not a one size fits all. It really is what works best for your family. What are your husband’s needs. I might be okay with one thing. I just love how you’re saying it. We’re all created uniquely and differently, and so what’s chaos for you might not be chaos for me. That’s what I’m really liking about the direction your book goes, it is not a “you have to do this the way the Clover household does this in order to be the exact mom and wife Kristi is”. But its really just some basic fundamental concepts that really can work in anybody’s home.

Aby:                             That’s like there’s not one sized box curriculum for every single homeschool family. It’s something unique for each of us. So I’m super excited about that then because this book is for everyone.

Kristi:                           It is, and that’s why my first rule is glean and tweak. Because we can learn from other people and learn from Pinterest and learn from other books out there, you can learn from this book. But unless you tweak it for the season that you’re in, and your personal family… I have friends that, if I cleaned and organized my house and you walked into my house and said “Wow this is perfect!”. I still have friends that would walk in and be like “This is stressing me out”. There’s people who can’t handle anything on the counter. I’m all about let’s put a knickknack here, not to an extreme, I’ve seen them where it’s a little extreme. I have friends that, they just need that. But I don’t have to live according to that.

Kristi:                           My husband likes clean counters, but he just doesn’t want all the Kristi piles there. That is what it is. And now my children have learned how to have their own piles and it’s not good.

Yvette:                         You’ve talked about your first rule, because you have 10 foundational rules that can help moms figure out how to get rid of the chaos in their lives. And the first one you’ve mentioned is glean and tweak, let’s talk about some of the others.

Kristi:                           Okay so it can be anything and 10 rules makes about 2/3 of the book. So the 10 rules are glean and tweak, figuring out your top priorities. In that chapter what I think is important is that I go at it from two different angles. I want you to figure out personally, what is your schedule look like? What are your priorities as a family? Prioritize based on that, schedule your life around that. Because the problem is, if you don’t have cushion in your life and you’re saying yes to everything, you won’t have time to get organized. It’s going to continue to sit at the back as a back burner thing.

Kristi:                           I try to talk people into giving themselves some margin, not making their family “go-go-go”. I feel like as parents, especially homeschool parents, we are horrible at this. We feel like we have to give our kids everything in the maybe 18 years, 17-18-19 years we will have them in our house, in our schools. So we feel like oh we need to give them every experience possible. Oh my goodness, I think about my own personal life and I have learned more as an adult than I ever did as a kid. And not to knock my education, which by the way was public school. They will continue to learn and grow, we don’t have to put it all in the first few years of their lives, so it’s okay to say no to a lot of things.

Kristi:                           So I try to talk people into saying no to as many things as possible, saying yes to things that are going to help your family thrive the most. And then, looking at it from the standpoint of what are your house priorities. So what’s driving you crazy in your house. If you’re married talk to your spouse, what is driving him crazy.

Aby:                             It’s all my son’s room.

Kristi:                           Everyone of us would say it’s my son’s room.

Aby:                             Just had to throw that in there.

Kristi:                           You do it, and you know my advice is, close the door.

Aby:                             Oh I love that! Really? Until the smell starts to waif out. Then the smell comes out. I like that, just shut the door. That is freeing Kristi. I feel like you just freed me and every other mom like me.

Kristi:                           Well, I mean you do have to get in there from time to time. It’s truly something that is an eyesore, close the door so you don’t have to deal with it. When you have time, make time make that your [inaudible 00:16:36]

Kristi:                           One of the other rules is tackle your worst project. And if that’s honestly what’s driving everyone crazy in your house. Then you have to go through and help him declutter. And the key with kids is you have to teach them the systems. You have to teach them where to put things. I always laugh because moms will go through and they’ll organize the whole house but they’re like “Oh my kids leave it messy!”. And I’m like do they know where toys go though? “No I have to help them”. I’m like teach them where the toys go, or you don’t have a system.

Kristi:                           You don’t create systems for other people based on how you process things. You have to create systems for the people in your house that work for them. So that’s the crazy thing, you can be the most logical person in the house, in the world, and if it doesn’t work for them. Everyone’s different, I have a very neat child. I can trust that his room is, in fact if we have too much pounding and grinding and whatever they’re doing down below me happening in the house, I go to his room to do any kind of video or audio, because I always know that its always going to be perfect. And that is just him, that’s the way that he is wired. He thrives in that situation. He knows how to take care of it. Then I have other children. They don’t quite get it.

Aby:                             And I think that’s where the master organizer comes in, because you’re the master of finding what works for each kid. What are the systems that work for them, not just what is the system that works for me. I appreciate that, because my system is obviously the best system in the house. But each of my kids have a different system, so I like how you said that we need to find what systems work for them and then implement that into their space.

Kristi:                           Yeah, and I literally just ran into that in our own home, because I have a chore system that totally works for me. I know visually, like that is what they’re supposed to do, but for my little kids, it’s just too complicated for them.

Yvette:                         You talked about teaching our kids how to do this alongside of us, because we’ve talked about this with Ginger Hubbard, and we talked about coming alongside a child and training them on how to do things. Because often times as moms and dads, we just assume when we tell our child to go clean their room that they know how to do it, because we know how to do it so it should make sense to them. When we say go load the dishwasher or do the laundry we just assume that because we know it they understand it. And I think that’s oftentimes what causes so much frustration between us and our children is that we are saying go do this and they’re like No. Then they don’t do it and then they get reprimanded for it because they’re not obeying. In reality its sometimes maybe because they’re lazy, often times I think it’s because they simply really have not been taught how to do it.

Yvette:                         And I mean it may be with some kids, you know you said you have your son, he’s just wired that way. He is, just by nature, an organizer and he’s very clean. And I have one of those. I have my oldest, she loves to organize things and she does it for fun. And my youngest, not so much. She’s not uncontrollable but we have to come alongside them and say let me show you how to fold your clothes and how to put them in your drawer. Let me show you how to hang your shirts. And then practice it with them, don’t just show them one time. We can often, take it off the hanger, okay put it back on the hanger now. You can even make it into a game. Let’s fold the clothes again, now let’s throw them all over the floor and let’s refold them and put them back in the drawer. You know two or three times so you know that they understand what it is you’re asking them to do.

Yvette:                         And then if they do it right then you really know, okay you really understand this. And then if they don’t obey then that’s a different topic.

Aby:                             I think that’s what’s great about homeschool moms too, we have all day to do this. They’re not showing up at the front door after school and sports at 5 o’clock and we’re trying to get dinner. So, we’re very blessed that we can bring them alongside of us as we are cleaning the kitchen, as we’re cleaning up the toys and they get to do it with us. What are some of the things that you outsource to your children, that you delegate to your kids to do in your home?

Kristi:                           Oh you’re going to love this, this one is my secret one, no kids at the door, when my kids read this someday they’re going to be like “What!”. My number one tip is work yourself out of a job that you hate. So my kids learned how to do the dishes and the trash, because I don’t like dishes and trash. They also learned how to do laundry. Because number one, dishes and laundry those are crazy things that continue to repeat and repeat, so it made sense for them to learn that. Those are my three least favorite things to do. I am fine, I’m weird, we have a little floor vac that we use on the floors not just on our carpet but on our actual hard floors. It’s a little therapeutic for me, I kind of like it. Counters, I like cleaning them, I don’t mind those jobs. And of course, because I’m finding such joy in them my kids are like “Can I do it too!?” And I’m like no, go do the dishes first.

Kristi:                           We all have those little things and it really depends on number one, what do you need to have done around the house? What do you need help with? And I wrote, I think it’s just a blog post, but we happened to use a hashtag that said chore systems. And I laughed because I had two people, I think it might be the same person with two handles on Instagram, we’re like “That is child labor, you should not be making your children do the work that you should be doing.” And I didn’t respond, because that’s where my snark thing just comes in.

Yvette:                         You should have responded with “Practice makes perfect!”

Aby:                             That should be your hashtag.

Kristi:                           They live here so they have to.

Yvette:                         It’s a life skill.

Kristi:                           It is. My daughter cleans the bathrooms and she earned that, because she told me, “Mom, I feel like the bathroom could be cleaned more often.” And there was a little corner that I missed, and I haven’t cleaned the bathroom since she said that, ever. That became her job, and blessedly she’s a little OCD so I have to clean this bathroom in town.

Yvette:                         Oh I love that.

Kristi:                           I also think you cue in, you’re like if that’s bothering you, to your child, that is a job that you can take over in the household. And if you can’t find your socks, you just became the sock folder.

Kristi:                           I laugh because I don’t lose socks. I’ve never totally understood that lost sock thing, until having kids. It wasn’t even the two older boys, it was when it just got crazy and one of my kiddos, he is, we call him “Mr. Fun” because he is all about fun. And he does not intentionally disobey, it’s just that if something fun and shiny is happening, then he needs to be a part of it. So, it’s like we have to make sure we are helping him to narrow his vision, no wait finish this and then move on to the next thing.

Kristi:                           So it’s really hard. So yeah, I don’t remember what the original question was at some point. Help them to find what needs to be done and what do you want to work yourself out of a job on. And I loved your point too Aby, is you know seeing what they naturally have a tendency toward or what they are bothered by.

Yvette:                         Since you were just talking about laundry, I know you have a few systems for laundry in your home. Share those with us, because I know that for homeschool moms, especially if you have multiple kids, that can just be a drag. I mean it really can consume so much of your time

Aby:                             Because when it’s done it starts again.

Yvette:                         Yes.

Kristi:                           Right.

Aby:                             I’m so excited.

Yvette:                         Okay ready?

Aby:                             Yeah, I got my pen, I got my paper, I’m ready.

Kristi:                           Well I have an entire chapter on my hacks, but I will say this, that with laundry you do have to figure out what works best for you. I have heard so many different ways. There’s so many ways to do laundry as far as some people say, do a little bit everyday, that would drive me bonkers. I want to have a break from doing laundry. I cannot do it every day, then it really would pile up because if you get behind or life throws you any kind of a curve ball, your laundry is going to be missed.

Kristi:                           So what works for our family, especially since we have 7 people, is that everyone gets a day of the week, and my husband and I have one day together. I still do both of our laundry together, because he was traveling so much. Now, he’s not traveling. He’ll do the laundry sometimes, but even then I’m like oh wait I’ll just do it. I know what doesn’t go in the dryer and I know that this is how this is going to work.

Kristi:                           So, backing up a little, each person has their own day. What’s beautiful about that it creates a natural accountability, because if you don’t do your laundry and get it out of the washer, dryer and get it into your room to at least start the folding process. Someone else is coming behind you and your laundry is going to get moved, because they are ready to come and do it. So that has worked really well for us.

Yvette:                         That is brilliant.

Kristi:                           Because of that natural accountability. My other thing that is key, if you are doing that kind of laundry.

Kristi:                           So I can even talk through, I have a SMART, SMART is one of my little acronyms for five laundry hacks. So the M in SMART is mesh bag, they should be your best friend. Because if anything needs to go from the washer to like being hung up, you put it in a mesh bag. So that if somebody is moving your clothes from the washer to the dryer, the rule in the house is mesh bags do not go in the dryer. I do that with my husband and I too, so that if he is doing a load, he knows that doesn’t go in the dryer. So it’s not just for delicates.

Aby:                             Oh my gosh. I’m so excited about this. So for example, say Joey has a Tuesday day, as soon as he dries, he folds, he puts away his own clothes, he’s not doing like everybody’s clothes on Tuesday right? It’s his own clothes on Tuesday?

Kristi:                           It’s his own clothes on Tuesday.

Aby:                             So then, if on Friday he fails to do that special shirt, you say hey sorry you wait until Tuesday?

Kristi:                           No. Well…

Aby:                             Like you can cut in? You can share if you need?

Yvette:                         It’s called Laundry Grace.

Kristi:                           Laundry Grace, that’s right. And we aren’t sticklers on the day, all the time. So like if we just got back from Hawaii, we got back on a Sunday, you gotta be flexible. There’s days when suddenly we have three people that need to get their laundry done, because life has been crazy, we were out all day and didn’t have a chance to get laundry going. Then you know, we’re going to have to double up.

Aby:                             How young do you start this? Is your six year old doing it?

Kristi:                           My six year old is doing her laundry. She still needs help with the folding and putting away. She can do it but she doesn’t do it all the time, because she gets flustered, it takes her awhile. And Everyone’s different. My oldest, he does it all.

Kristi:                           One of my other things is, I truly believe in small loads. The larger the load, the more apt you are to let it sit there and not get it done. So it’s really important to have smaller loads. Which is why, again, having a day, that means everyone should be doing their clothes weekly. So my oldest, he was getting in the habit of doing huge loads, because of course his clothes are big too. He’s not in itty bitty little clothes anymore. So he was in the habit of waiting two weeks to do his if he just got busy. What was happening is, his clothes just weren’t getting as clean. And I had to explain to him again, small loads, clothes get cleaner. Everyone tells me I’m crazy to get my laundry done all in one day. But I’m like washer, dryer, fold really quick, washer, dryer, fold really quick. And then I pile it in order, so I’m literally just putting it into the drawer.

Aby:                             If you’re doing everyone has a day, you’re just doing it once a week. So it’s not stacking up, because you know that it’s just a once a week. That’s brilliant. Whats another, okay one more laundry hack before we have to move in.

Kristi:                           One more laundry hack, okay. So this is my rule breaker laundry hack for kids, have them wash everything on cold. I don’t buy a lot of white, if they have anything that’s white, they throw it in my whites divider. And I say white because people normally do, whites, brights and darks, but we actually do cold, warm and hot as our divider. So it’s kinda two laundry hacks. Divide by temperature and have all your kids wash their clothes on cold. If they have items that need to be washed more thoroughly, then you just do a separate wash with that, or throw them in one more time. Because quite frankly, I need to make sure they know what they are doing and if I have them, who knows if that black sock is going to sneak in with those white tank tops or whatever it is. I just don’t deal with that so everything gets washed on cold in our house, not my clothes but the little kids. I mean my oldest, sorry I mean my second oldest. he does do two loads, because he does have enough white clothes that he’s separating those.

Yvette:                         Let’s talk about a few more of the rules that you talk about in the book. So we’ve talked about laundry, we’ve talked about glean and tweak, we’ve talked about priorities.

Kristi:                           Well here’s a big one. The buzz is always on decluttering and everyone’s talking about KonMari method, and you know Marie Kondo. Her little spark joy, which I think is fun, if you hate something then why are you keeping it. But I don’t love, I mean my plunger does not spark joy for me but it is a necessity. I wrote that somewhere and I had someone, I have interesting people who follow me on social media, because this person was just like, “but my plunger sparks joy when I need it.” I’m like, no even when I need it I’m like, blah.

Aby:                             Yeah, the whole situation, there’s no joy in any of that situation.

Kristi:                           I don’t understand that, but it’s all good. My approach with the decluttering process, I call it a Four Leaf Method, because we have four categories, mostly. It’s the traditional what are you going to keep, so what’s gonna go back into your home. That’s when you want to make sure you’re categorizing to organize those things that you are keeping and keeping like things together. Your toss pile, things that just need to go in the trash. Whether it is just trash or toys that are broken that really don’t need to go anywhere other than in the trash can. Then also, we have a sell pile, so if there’s big items that need to be sold, those are going to be that sell pile.

Kristi:                           ut the key pile for us is, the blessings pile. The blessing pile is the traditional donation pile. But what’s helped us, it’s like some mental road block that changed for everyone in the house. That if this item is not useful or a blessing to us, then maybe it can bless someone else. It helps when you have that thing that you’re like, “But I spent money on that! I should keep it.” Why? If you spent money on that and it’s in great condition, see if a friend want it. And if they don’t want it, give it to Salvation Army.

Kristi:                           Because I’ve heard stories, in fact it was Kathi Lipp, she’s another organizer. She’s written a lot of books on organization and decluttering, and has another book coming out, I think in February on the topic. And I heard her speak recently, and she talked about how when she was really going through a hard time, she went into a Goodwill or Salvation Army, and her son really needed a new pair of shes and he was really bummed because he wanted this one kind of shoe. And they happened to find, in Salvation Army, the right size of the exact shoe. She was like it was God’s blessing on us. I think, that if that person hadn’t taken the time to donate that. You’re kinda giving God room to be like, “I can use your stuff.”

Kristi:                           If you don’t need your stuff, get rid of it. So if it’s not doing me any good in our house. Then let the lord use it somewhere else. And who knows, if it’s in horrible condition, maybe Salvation Army is just going to throw it away. But still, I just think it’s important, and it helps my kids to realize if we’re not playing with it, we can bless somebody else. It’s just neat to see how just changing that mentality of, this can bless someone else. So like when we got rid of a ton of our baby clothes, I literally sent an email out to all of my friends and we made this mountain, it was taller than most of my kids, of baby clothes. And my friends came over, and we had all of these babies that were being born, and so people were just coming over and grabbing them. It was great and it was fun and it was crazy, at church I see everybody in my kids’ clothes, and I’m like oh that’s so sweet. It was just fun to see them being reused.

Aby:                             I love that. I think it’s good for kids too because, like with my son, we talked to him. Well, he’s a boy so he’s hard on things. And we talk to him a lot too, when you’re done with things, we want to be stewards of the things that God has given us. Because when you’re done with it… We don’t want to give anyone else our junk, but if we’re stewards with our things. Then when you’re done with that, it’s in really great condition to bless somebody else. So it also, just inspires us and encourages us to take care of the things God has given us. Even if we don’t see them long term for our family. Then they can bless another family.

Yvette:                         And I love what that teaches kids, because we want to teach our kids that they can be content no matter what. And I think often times, especially in our society, we feel like our kids need more and more, we have to get them the newest, and the best and the biggest thing that’s out. That’s why Black Friday, that’s why people stand at in line for 24 hours before the big sale or even longer sometimes, even days, a week! It’s crazy to me. Why are we teaching our kids that? Be content in all things. And when we show them that the things that they have, that they are no longer using can be a blessing to someone else, I think that’s huge. And we have done that with our kids as well, since they were really little. What friend do you have that this might be a blessing to, or often just donating it, because it’s stuff we don’t use.

Yvette:                         I know moms, not that I’ve never done this, I have done this before, but I know moms that will sneak things out. But then I think you’re missing that opportunity to teach your kids to be a blessing to others. And not just to be a blessing to others, but to realize that they don’t need to have all these things to make them happy and to have joy in their lives.

Aby:                             Say, I’m storing up our treasures in Heaven.

Yvette:                         Yes. We have a few minutes left, so lets run through just a few others and then what we don’t get through, of course people just need to get the book.

Kristi:                           You need to get the book, because it’s so fun. Oh thank you. It was so much fun to write. It was fun to tell all my stories. I tried to make it playful and fun and just like we’re sitting down and having a cup of coffee. That’s kind of my approach to writing, I try to make every book I write feel like that.

Kristi:                           Okay, so a few other rules. So this is, a big one, especially for moms, especially for homeschool moms. One of the stories I share in the book on this rule has everything to do with a homeschool moment, and that is ask for help. I think so many moms try to be super heroes and do everything in their own strength, or even if they’re leaning on the Lord, he will give you strength but there’s just not enough time in the day to get everything done. So I like to encourage people to ask for help, and when people offer help you have to say yes.

Kristi:                           So one of the stories I share in the book is all about when we just had our 4th, and I had a bunch of friends who had mommy’s helpers coming in. And I’m like no I can handle this. And Steve was traveling like crazy and we were homeschooling, it was just so much, and I was just kind of at my wits end. I was trying to get Ashlyn, my 4th to sleep and she just wasn’t sleeping well. I just have a technique that use with the kids to, sleep training, to get them to [inaudible 00:38:01] to sleep, and it is hard on me the first several nights, trying to get them to kind of recreate that sleep cycle. I think she had just gone through a teething thing or something, but I was exhausted.

Kristi:                           So I decided to do what so many of us do is, ask for prayer. “Please pray for me. I have a definite need but I’m not going to say it. I’m just going to ask for prayer.” So at the end, I had a girlfriend say, “Kristi, I have a daughter who is trying to earn money for ballet camp, she would love to come over. Where do you live?” We lived three minutes apart and had no clue. It was the biggest blessing. Her daughter would come over and what was so funny is that so often when we are getting, my friends are like, “I have the mommy’s helper come over and play with the kids while I go run errands.” Well that’s fine if I really need the time alone to just get out of the house. But I did that from time to time, but I would often have my mommy’s helpers come over and help with the things I didn’t want to do, so that I could play with my kids.

Kristi:                           You can use help however you want to. And I’m always really upfront too, we have cleaners. I love my cleaners, I help them when they get here, and I help them when they leave. And they come every other week, and the day they come, man by that evening you can’t tell they were here. Unless you’re looking deep, because sometimes it’s just that whole Murphy’s Law of when I have a clean floor someone’s going to spill something. It works no matter if you have cleaners or not, if you clean the floor, your child will spill milk everywhere. It helps because it means, all at one time my house is clean.

Kristi:                           We had a season where we were hosting two different events. I was hosting our Co-Op and I was hosting our Bible study, and my husband was adamant, “I know you. You are going to want the house to be tidy, and you’re going to want it to be clean. We need to have the cleaners come on the off week.” We didn’t have the budget for it, it wasn’t so much a budget, we didn’t want to spend for another cleaning. I just asked them, for this much money will you do the kitchen, the bathrooms, just like the key things I knew I needed done, because I knew that’s where people were going to be. And they were like, “Oh yeah we can do that.” And they were already in our neighborhood.

Kristi:                           So again, ask! If you’re not asking, you’ll never have the solutions. I just think it’s so important for people to see where they could use help and get it.

Yvette:                         Yeah, I think so too. We sadly are out of time, but I would love to continue on and do this for the next two hours, but just tell me to get to work.

Kristi:                           Yes, we have lives. And I have to go get my grays covered. We were joking about that beforehand, I have to go get my hair done because I have spray paint on my grays now.

Yvette:                         Is it like a spray paint you go and get at Lowe’s? You just go to Lowe’s and get some brown spray paint that matches your hair color.

Kristi:                           I laugh because I had a girlfriend tell me about it, and I was like “Are you kidding me?” And she’s like, “No it’s a real thing.” It’s like L’Oreal or something like that, I get it off of Amazon, so yeah. I’ll share the link with you, I’m telling you, you got to do what you have to do. I’m telling you 40 takes over and you got to roll with it.

Yvette:                         I haven’t hit the grays yet, but I have hit the eyesight. I now have to wear reading glasses, which I didn’t have to wear before and I look at small print things like “I can’t see!”. So in order to read your book, I had to put my reading glasses on, but it was well worth it.

Yvette:                         So you guys, get this book.

Aby:                             Where can we get it Kristi?

Yvette:                         It’s fantastic.

Kristi:                           Thank you. You can get it anywhere books are sold. If your physical bookstore doesn’t have it, you can ask them and they will get it in. It’s on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, everywhere. It really is.

Yvette:                         We of course will put links in the show notes to it. It is called, “M.O.M – Master Organizer of Mayhem” by Kristi Clover. And Kristi, thank you. You have written a few other books, I know I would definitely love to have you on the podcast again to talk about some of your other stuff you have going on. You have got all kinds of great encouragements, so I love it. So maybe it won’t take us a year to have you back on, right?

Kristi:                           Life is a little, we’ve been told two more weeks and the house is done.

Aby:                             How long have they been telling you two more weeks?

Kristi:                           They’ve been great. They are keeping right within their timeline, so we’re very happy.

Yvette:                         You are a blessing, thank you for using what God has taught you and shown you to encourage me as a mom and Aby and to encourage all of our listeners. Because you really do have a gift for organization but not just for doing it for yourself but helping others to learn how to do it as well. And it is doable, so for those listening who just feel overwhelmed, truly, honestly get this book because it really will help you. Because it helped me to see things that I just couldn’t see them inside of my little box. So I would read a chapter and go well I can do that. And it really did change my perspective and my habits of doing things around our home. So this is a book that does the same thing as that. So thank you Kristi, you are a blessing.

Ready to take your children back? Stream Schoolhouse Rocked: The Homeschool Revolution for free tonight and learn how. After you have watched the movie, download the Free Homeschool Survival Kit. This free 70+ page resource will give you the encouragement and tools you need to start strong and finish well.