Homeschool Made Simple {Episode 65 with Jenn Bryant}
Aloha! As we near the end of July and see the next school year looming ahead of us, a lot of you have asked if we can talk more about homeschooling. We have covered different aspects of homeschooling here before (I’ll link to those episodes in show notes) but what I really wanted to share in this episode was a word of encouragement — for anyone who feels like I used to feel when I imagined homeschooling: Completely overwhelmed.
I wanted to share what I have learned over my 12 + years of homeschooling: That homeschooling does not have to be complicated. Or painful. You don’t have to do what everyone else is doing, and you certainly don’t have to do what the public schools are doing.
With all of this on my mind, I knew exactly who I wanted to have on the podcast for this conversation!… My friend Jenn, a fellow Hawaii resident…writer, podcaster, and homeschool Mom! Even more, Jenn has felt called to encourage other homeschool mommas (especially those just getting started!) in her new private membership group, “Homeschool Made Simple.” If you haven’t already discovered Jenn and her Practical Family ministry, it is my pleasure to share her with you now! I find her words (and voice!) to be incredibly soothing. I think you will, too!
In this episode Jenn and I cover “7 Ways to Make Homeschooling Simple.” It’s a chatty interview (longer than most), but I really hope you feel like you’re sitting with us over a cup of coffee, and getting equipped and blessed by our conversation! Find links to follow Jenn and all we talk about in notes below:
SHOW NOTES:
EPISODE 59: Motivating Boys to Read and Write (With Andrew Pudewa, of IEW)
EPIDOSE 54: Finishing the (home) school year strong with Robert Bortins of Classical Conversations
EPISODE 52: Q&A With my boys covering “Why We Homeschool” and more.
EPISODE 48: You Have What it Takes to Homeschool with September McCarthy
which shows all the curriculums my boys use, as well as Andrew Pudewa’s talk: “Teaching Boys and other Kids who would Rather be Building Forts”. IEW is also currently offering 3 free weeks of Language Arts curriculum IEW is offering this summer.
Whether you have a student who loves to write, hates to write, or a student who has some special learning needs, you can find success with IEW. Try the free lessons at iew.com/monicaswanson
Also big thanks to SURFACE Sunscreen, Luke’s surfing sponsor, and my end-of-episode summer sponsor! Surface is offering a DISCOUNT to all Boy Mom listeners (USE CODE: BOY MOM for 20% everything on their site!) and they are offering a give- away BUNDLE of SURFACE Suncare PRODUCTS to one of you at the end of July!
Find out more about the amazing products Surface offers at their site. AND…Enter to win the July BUNDLE of Surface products at the VERY bottom of this post!
You can find the Boy Mom Podcast on all of the podcast platforms…here are just a few of them:
Or you can listen right here! 🙂
More about Jenn:
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Thanks for reading these show notes! If you found this podcast episode helpful, please share it using social media links below!
I’m grateful for my listeners and readers, and would love to connect. You can subscribe to my blog for a weekly update on anything new I’ve published, say hi on Facebook , or find me on Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.
My book, BOY MOM, was released in August of 2019 (Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers) and is full of practical advice and helpful resources for raising boys. It’s a great study for small groups!
Order it here: Boy Mom: What Your Son Needs Most from You
*I am an Amazon Affiliate and some of the products I share will benefit me if you click through and purchase. Thank you so much!!
ENTER TO WIN A JULY BUNDLE OF SUNCARE PRODUCTS!! Leave a comment below answering the question:
What is your favorite subject to explore with your kids? Do you love to read to them? Create arts and crafts? Explore science projects or tackle long division? 🙂 Let’s talk about the joy of learning with our kids whether you do it as a homeschool mom or as part of the flow of family life! Leave a comment below and you’ll be entered to win! (Winner will be picked from all of the comments in podcast notes from the month of July!)
*I am an IEW affiliate and if you click through my link to their site and purchase, I will make a small portion of the proceeds (at no extra cost to you!) Thank you so much!!
Loved the episode! Is there a place the 7 ways are listed? Tried taking notes but missed a few
Thank you Jessica!! Thank you for listening and glad it was helpful! And –Oh…I’l try to go back and add those to the notes. Thank you for grace! 🙂
XO Monica
Thank you for all the homeschool info on this blog. I’m going to homeschool for the first time this year because of the pandemic. I have a Kindergartener, 4th and 8th grader. We’re considering ABeka but it’s expensive. Also, considering Monarch. I saw in an older post that Luke used monarch. Did you end up liking it or scrapping it for something else? Big decisions to make over the next month!
Rachel
Hey Rachel! Yay, good for you!! You are gonna do great!! 🙂 Abeka is expensive but at least they offer a monthly payment plan! (:) We use that!) And it is still way cheaper than private schools! Monarch was honestly NOT my favorite. It does the job, for sure, but as the teacher/homeschool mom, I felt really out of touch with what my kids were doing. With ZERO paperwork or books/tests etc. that I could look at easily, it was easy for me to not even check on their work…and the online part was just hard for me to connect to. I have friends who used Monarch and really loved it, and like I said — it does the job…my son felt like he learned some in it, but it was probably my least favorite of all of the curriculums. You might check out a curriculum called the Good and the Beautiful. I’ve heard great things about it and I think it is less pricey! Good luck to you whatever you do and please keep me posted! xo
Thank you for this! I love doing math and everyday problem solving with my children.
I love History and exploring that subject with my children!