209: Homeschooling vs. Distance Learning: Where Do We Start and Should We with Serena Ryan

Hi, I'm Natalie Jill, fat loss expert turned lifestyle and high performance coach. When odds are stacked against us, how do we shift and create everything from nothing? How do we level up when we aren't feeling it yet or have had a big setback? And how do we adjust quickly when life throws us major curveballs? On this podcast, I do what I do best. Taking complicated information that is relevant to us now and breaking it down simply with. With actionable steps you can implement to level up your own life. I also regularly interview some of the most inspiring and courageous men and women on the planet who at their worst, learn how to achieve success greater than they ever dreamed possible. Leveling up, creating everything from nothing. If you are new here, I encourage you to go back and listen from episode one for the full transformative experience. Today, I'm leveling up. I am dying for this conversation because I've entered a world of information overload when it comes to the idea of homeschooling. So I went to my personal Facebook and said, okay, everyone, I'm trying to figure out homeschooling if this is a thing that I'm going to do and take on or not. And I am experiencing massive information overload. And my friend Brit Siva recommended Serena Ryan because she founded the Confident Homeschooler. And when I checked out her website, I was like, oh, my gosh, how did I not know about this? This is incredible. So we've got Serena here today. I've got so many questions for her about homeschool, if we should, if we shouldn't, where we start, all the things. So thank you so much for being here today, Serena.

Oh, thank you so, so much for having me. I am just honored and excited to serve your audience and talk about something that has somehow become one of my biggest passions.

Yeah, well, take us back. Like, how did you even get into this? Like, did you. Were you homeschooled? How did this even come about? Tell us about you.

Yeah, so I like to say I'm a truly unlikely homeschooler. I myself was like, Catholic school education all the way up. Education was always something really important in my family, but I never knew a homeschooled soul until I met my husband, who was homeschooled for a few years, just his middle school years, and he ended on having, like, a great high school college career. And obviously I love him. He's my husband. I. I think he's a great human. So he was the one kind of like, you know, when we have kids, we're going to Homeschool, Right. And I was like, no, I was a registered nurse. I honestly didn't even know if I wanted kids until I met him. So I was just like, no, I'm going to be a hospital administrator someday. I like, what? No, I'm not going to do all that. And so I really was not on board and just was kind of humoring him for a while until we had our children, and I was working as a visiting nurse. And then I had this family who homeschooled their children. And I walked into their beautiful home, and one of their children was painting on an easel, the other was playing violin. It was like something out of a movie, right? And they sit down.

How old were these kids?

Probably, like, fifth and third grade.

Okay.

And so I sit down the table to talk to the family, who I was there to see. And usually when I walk into a home, the kids just scurry like they were watching tv. They wanted nothing to do with me, wouldn't even say hello. But these two particular children sat down. They engaged in conversation. They were asking me what the different medical terms meant. And I was just. They were mature, polite, and I was, like, floored.

Yeah.

Where do your kids go to school? Because this is where I'm sending my kids. And they were like, oh, we're homeschooled. And it. I was like, wait, you're here. Like, this is what you do. And so I think that's really what sparked it for me, is I was like, wow. I just thought homeschoolers were these awkward, like, super awkward people that, like, stayed inside all the time. They weren't cultured. They weren't. I mean, I didn't know how educated they even were. I really had such a limited view of homeschooling.

Yeah, I think a lot of us did. I mean, it's interesting because there's more and more entrepreneurs. Even before COVID and changes with schools, a lot of entrepreneurs were stepping into this. They want to homeschool their kids. And I had my own stereotype around it, thinking, who are these people that homeschool their kids? Like, who has. I had all these stories, like, one, how do you have time for that? Like, who. What are these parents? And then, how are you going to socialize your kids? And that's just weird. And I had, like, all these stories around it, right? And I think I'm not alone. I think a lot of parents.

I was with you completely. And I was class president myself. So, like, super social person. And I'm like, no, no. My kids Aren't missing out on all the awesome parts of school that I loved. And like, my kids are gonna be class president too, and like, you know, captain of the football team. You know, I couldn't even imagine a life outside of them going to school. But I started to research it and once I had my own children, I have two boys now, they're eight and six. And I just realized how much they were learning at home. And so when my oldest was three, I kind of jumped in feet first and joined a co op even though I didn't know anybody that homeschooled. And that was scary not having any support system. And part of I'll get to why I started the confident homeschooler is I didn't know a soul besides my mother in law who had homeschooled just for the two years. So I joined this co op not knowing anybody. And he was only three, which is kind of crazy that I even joined. But I felt like I had to meet other homeschooling parents to kind of relieve me of my fears and because I either had to make the decision, put him into kindergarten or was I gonna homeschool. And through this co op and meeting other families, and not all necessarily were positive experience, but the ones I did meet that were just changed my entire just outlook on homeschooling and made me realize like, oh my gosh, this is so much more awesome and bigger than I ever even expected. So I started homeschooling. I eventually became the director of that co op for a few years and absolutely loved leading that community. We had 25 families, which was over 100 people in homeschool terms, a lot of kids in those families. So I directed that. And then in 2017, I was actually at a James Wedmore event, Business by design with my husband, when I've always wanted to start a business. I joined Marie Forleo's B school years ago and came up short. I did all everything she said, define your niche. And I came up with nothing. And it's just funny, I just kind of gave it up. I was like, my husband will be the entrepreneur. I'll be the homeschool stay at home mom. Even though I knew there was more inside of me that I wanted more. And so it was at that event where I was hearing everyone talk about their membership sites and I just got these. This inspiration of like, oh my gosh, I can take my knowledge of homeschooling and help these parents that feel how I felt when I started out of just overwhelmed, fearful doubt, insecurity all the bad emotions, and I can help people with that. And that's.

Oh, my gosh. Okay. Well, you're. I'm so excited to chat with you right now because I've. I've got like 5 million questions, and I'm going to try to table it to not 5 million, because I have so many questions. And I do think you're brilliant because I had, literally, when I, when Brit introduced me to you, had just said on Facebook, somebody is going to make millions of dollars because I think people will throw money at them to help navigate this, because this is like, so needed right now. So let me. I'm just going to start dumping in, jumping in, because I have a lot of questions, and I'm sure you. But they're all new to me. Too many of the listeners, for one. Okay. And how. Why I'm even having this conversation, by the way, is one with not knowing what's happening with schools. That's one thing. Like being. Knowing that we're gonna have to do some virtual training right there. But during quarantine and a lot of the lockdowns and changes, I have personally realized how much we as parents outsource parenting, how much we think a school is going to handle it, a teacher is going to handle it, and we're giving up our role as a parent by doing that, by assuming the school's got it for them. And I realized how heavy that is a theme that's a blessing of this quarantine, how much I figured that out. So that's why I want to have this conversation. So let's start with why homeschool versus regular school? How do you even know if this is the right thing for you?

Awesome. Great question. Why homeschool? So if you are for many reasons, actually, but for one, if the traditional school system isn't working for your family, and I say family because it sometimes it works for the child, but it doesn't work for the family as a whole. Because, for instance, if you're an entrepreneurial family who wants to travel and have the freedom, schools tell you you can only miss X amount of days, and that's it. And like, who even came up with that rule, right? There's so many rules of school that, in my opinion, aren't necessarily education learning rules. They're rules of a system. And so the system doesn't work for every family. And so a lot of people homeschool one because they might have a child with special needs or a child that's bullied or just a child that isn't thriving at school. They're brilliant, but the constraints of school just aren't. They're not a box checker. Right? If you're a box checker, you're great at school. But some kids are just think outside the boxers. They question things, they're curious, and they do better at home. Another reason to homeschool? Well, mainly the freedom. I would say that's like the biggest theme to me. Freedom of picking your schedule. A lot of parents say, well, I'm an entrepreneur, I have to send my kids to school because I need the freedom. But in actuality, you're getting up at a certain time, putting them on a bus, you're sitting in a carpool line at 3pm for an hour. You're going to a choir concert at 6pm Your day is not your day. I craft my day, my weeks, my months, my year, exactly how I want it. Like, we start school early in August so that we can take the entire month of December off. We take week long vacations whenever we want and don't worry about school or projects or book reports. Like, we just value the freedom. And another thing we love is like, I want my children to have a love of learning. That to me is what education in school should be. But unfortunately, by time kids get to fifth, sixth grade, they're burnt out. That love of learning a lot of times is squashed because they don't have the extra time to develop their passions and interests like we as adults do. When we're interested in something, don't we do everything in our power to learn about it? Books, podcasts. Right. But if we learn something that we don't want to learn about, like PowerPoint or Excel, no offense to our Excel fans here, it's like, that's like pulling teeth, right?

Yeah.

And that's the beauty of school. Like, I can take a subject my kids love, let's say even something like Minecraft, and I can turn that into math, which we have math worksheets. I mean, I could turn that into. They spell on it, they talk to each other. It's engineering, it's stem. It's creativity. Like, you can see education and learning in everything you do throughout the day. Cooking.

So good, so good. And it's interesting. I'm having so many light bulb moments right now and I have chills talking to you because, gosh, I would have thrived in homeschool myself. I was a terrible student. But wow, the amount of time we focus on saying the teacher sucks, the parents, we do this, the teacher Sucks. The school sucks. That rule sucks. But you're right, like, we could take on this.

Yeah. And it's so much less of a. I don't even want to use the word burden, but I think that's how we think of it at first, is we're like, whoa, I don't want my child's education on my shoulders. We just think we're not educated in education. We aren't qualified to teach our child. And that's such a. I mean, yes, teachers. I mean, please. I always praise teachers. Our community knows that they are the salt of the earth, but they are trained to educate multiple children on multiple levels at the same time. And if you're just educating your children, no one knows them as well as you. Like, no one knows that my kids do their best schoolwork at 2pm My kids need to play all day and then they do their work in the afternoon. So if I try to do school at 9am, forget about it. I have two boys. They're high energy. So no one knows that. I know, like, what I know about them and I know that they love to read and what they love to read and how I can integrate learning into that and how we can do a nature walk and learn about so many different things. And, like, I have the ability to curate their educational experience. And what better opportunity? Like my husband, I want to raise thought leaders, entrepreneurs. Like, we want our kids to question things, to think outside the box, to have confidence. And honestly, already we get compliments. Like, you can tell the difference. Homeschooled children have confidence and like a swag about them because no one's ever told them otherwise. They've never asked a question in school and been told by another kid, like, that's a dumb question. Why did you ask that?

So good, so important. And I would imagine also not having the comparison because you're not with other kids. Like, so and so got an A and I'm always getting a C Or like, I'm not smart, like so and so. Or she's got nicer clothes than me. Like just all the comparison stuff of school.

Exactly. And think of it this way. Natalie Jo. I always. This cracks me up. We ask seniors in high school, they have to raise their hand to ask to go to the bathroom. Right. Yet then they graduate and we expect them to, like, figure out what to do with their life. But we're still, we aren't expecting more of them as seniors in high school, they have to ask permission to do things like go to the bathroom. So I just feel like, you can really prepare your child more in homeschooling if you are committed to it. And there has to be a commitment. I'm not saying homeschooling is for everybody, but if you are that person that's like, wow, I want to curate the right experience for my child and use their strengths and really boost them up and give them the learning experience of our dreams, then homeschooling is, like, the way to go.

Is there ever a grade you shouldn't be homeschooled. So, like, I'm so. And you could do it in high school. You could do it as a little kid, you think all ages it could be.

Yes. And all my friends with high schoolers, most of them graduated 16 and 17 with college credits. My friend, her daughter just learned to drive. She's a junior, and she's taking college credits this fall at the community college. So there are so many opportunities. Like, most homeschool kids have their dream internship before they're even 18 and enter the workforce. Like, they don't even have to go to college a lot of time because they do the work early on. They're hard workers. They. I don't know, it's a whole different way of thinking about things.

Okay, so here's what's coming up for me now. As an entrepreneur, do I have to, as the parent, be the one that's doing all the teaching? Or how do you even go about? Like, do you find a tutor? Do you like, how much as a parent, should they be involved, not be involved? And are there people that can help with this?

Yes, for sure. So I say it's family by family, child by child. There's some families that the mom and dad take on the responsibility of all the children sometimes. I know families that half their kids go to public school, half are homeschooled. And, you know, you could take it year by year, child by child, but based on your demands as the parent. So if you're a super busy working parent, you can hire a tutor. You can do like. Liberty University has a full. You pay tuition like you would a private school, but it's fully virtual with a teacher with assignments.

What's it called? What's the university?

What's it called? Liberty University.

Okay. Is that national or.

Yeah, I think you can join it from anywhere in the US So you pay a tuition.

Basically you have a virtual teacher, basically.

So it's basically like virtual private school. And they're in a little classroom. And so some people don't want that much virtual stuff for their children. But that's an option. And it's, you know, it's a. It's a good degree. So, like, they would graduate high school with a diploma that would be from, you know, so it basically be like.

A class I'm imagining, but you'd be on Zoom or something like that. So you're actually taking an actual class. Okay. But you would still have control because they're at home. So you can add in your mix of other things. Is that something like that? Okay.

So that would be more for. If you just want to be, like, very hands off. But then there's things like Power Homeschool, which was called a cellus, which is so affordable. My friend's children did it all the way up through high school. And you can. It's all the grades, and you can sign up for certain classes. So it's. It's brilliant. It was like the first membership site I ever heard of.

What's it called? How do you spell that? Aselis.

Our Power Homeschool. That's what they call it now.

Okay.

And you can choose which classes you enroll. There's, like, videos from the instructors. And so if, you know, like, well, I want my child to get biology and calculus, because that's something I don't want to mess with. But history, science, art, music, we can do. We could handle that. Like, we could teach them that on our own level, on our own terms. So you can have. Also, a lot of private schools will allow you to pay. I know a lot of homeschool kids do certain classes at a private school. So they'll be homeschooled, but they'll take biology at the local private school. One, one or two days a week. So there's also options like that for high school. So then there's something called Classical Conversations, which we were part of for years. It's a great organization, and the high school is a really intense program, but it's amazing. And so you pay less tuition than something like Liberty University, but you would pay a fee, and your child would be in person once a week with a tutor who's been, you know, trained to teach this material. And it covers everything from. If you want to do Latin or another language. But the classical model does love Latin, but they do everything from the biology to the chemistry. Every year is the different science.

So this is called Classical Conversation. So it's. So if I'm understanding correctly, that is an organization that you. You join this, and then you. So you're paying a certain amount, but are you still, as a parent, like, Deciding their agenda and then you're picking and selecting from them. Or how does you say, you mentioned a tutor that covers it all.

How does that. Classical conversations. It's a Christian organization around. It's international now. It's in a lot of countries. And are you in California?

Yes.

There's communities all over and so they're so easy to find a community and connect with one. And challenge is like the high school level. So yeah, it's already a curriculum curated. They've been around over 20 years now. It's already curated for like 8th, 9th, you know, all the 7th through 12th grade. And they have it all planned out for you. They tell you what books to buy and it's everything, it's geography. They like, by the end of eighth grade, they're drawing the entire world by hand. Cities, rivers, mountains. I mean, it's like, so how, okay.

So how does that work? So like someone like, I'm thinking me, I have a 13 year old, she's going into eighth grade.

Yes.

So if I were to homeschool and I were to go through something like that, how does that work? Like you just. How do you even apply to do this?

How do you.

What do you have to do on the state level? What do you have to do with. Or like, how do you. What's coming up for me is like, there's just a lot to know. Like, how do you take her transcripts from now and how do you know what she needs to take? Where do you even start?

Right. And that's a great question. So I would start if you're in the states, which probably are finding out your state laws. And so it looks really different in every state. California is a very unique state as it is in many ways. And California is pretty easy though, to homeschool in. You just have to do basically a letter of intent. And then when it's not a pandemic, there's usually this partnership with the charter schools that homeschoolers can do. And, and then if they take part in that, they get a stipend actually to use towards curriculum and those other homeschool services. So you have to look at your state law because some states are really strict and require portfolios. They want to see work. And like my state in Delaware, you do your letter of intent to say, hey, we're homeschooling our kids. And then they don't hear from you until the end of the year. When you report your attendance, they never look at a portfolio, they never check the work. So I would start the hslda.org which is the Homeschool Legal Defense association, they got HDLA HS. Like Homeschool and then LDA. Legal Defense. Yep. You can actually pay to become a member. It's basically a bunch of lawyers who represent homeschoolers if there's ever a legal thing should arise. But their website has a map. You go to the homeschool laws and you can click on your state and they will direct you to your state laws.

Got it.

A good place.

Okay.

Yes. And based on your state. So like Washington state requires certain subjects that other states don't. So whereas Delaware really doesn't require much. Some states do have those guidelines for you. So based on where you live, that'll also help you get started. But really, typically, I mean, math and language arts, or writing, depending on their age are like non negotiable. They always should be doing math, language arts. And then of course, science, history, social studies, geography, I suppose it's all together. And then usually it's art, music, and phys ed. And then if you want to do a language like Spanish, Italian, French, Latin, Mandarin, you're welcome to. But that's not. I've never really seen that required.

Okay, got it. Okay, so maybe I was overthinking this and I'm thinking listeners might have been too, where we're thinking there's like this specific agenda, specific checklist, but you're saying you're just doing a letter of intent and then you can get a curriculum suggestion and then you modify on your own. Is that correct?

Yeah. So that's what's complicated is that there's so many curriculum. We have a freebie. So I can tell everybody because it's the Choosing Curriculum Guide. Because people will come to me and they'll say, serena, tell me what curriculum to use. And I have to laugh because there's well over 100. And it's like, well, wait a minute. There's so many considerations before you choose the right one. And a lot of times what works for one of your children definitely won't work for the other. If one's a visual learner and one's a.

So what is your guide? How do people get that guide?

So I guess one of the ways is to go to our website, theconfidenthomescore.com and you'll just scroll. You'll see the Choosing Curriculum Guide. Or it's also the confidenthomescore.com choosing curriculum guide.

And I'll put this in the show notes. Choosing Curriculum Guide. Okay, got it. Okay, so people. So If I'm hearing correctly, first you start with figuring out your state laws and you suggest the hslda.org you go there, you figure out your state laws, then you suggest, choose your curriculum. And you've already done a lot of this legwork for people. You can get this guide which helps you choose your curriculum. Yes, got it. Okay. And then once you've chosen the curriculum. I'm not even pronouncing it right. I need to be right now. Curriculum to say curriculum. Okay. You, once you choose that, then you got the option. Are you teaching it or do you want a tutor or a teacher to help? Is that correct?

Yes. And chances are, I mean, that's the thing. We don't give our kids credit like so much of the time. I think we. If your child's reading already, they, you may not need a tutor. I mean, if you're, if your child like struggles in math, then maybe yes, hire a math tutor. But I bet if your daughter's 13 and she can read and understand stuff, it is pretty self explanatory. Like you can. The curriculums make it honestly so easy. Like they'll tell you they'll have, you know, 32 weeks or however many weeks or a school year. And like our math curriculum has six math worksheets a week for a lesson. It comes with a DVD that my son watches the beginning of the week. It tells him that they teach the lesson. I don't even have to do it, the DVD teaches it, but I have the teacher's guide if I need it. And then I give him his worksheets. And we like our kids to have autonomy. So I say to him, like, hey, this is your folder of worksheets for the week. You don't have to do them today, but if you want, you can spread it out, do one a day, or you can suffer, wait last minute and do them all on Friday. So I like to kind of teach. My children like to try to get their work done on their own accord as well. But there's some things that I do with them like reading aloud and working on writing and grammar and spelling and so. But honestly, it doesn't take that long. I mean, even in fifth grade, it might take two, maybe three hours a day for your daughter to get all of her work done.

So do you, is there, does testing go away or do you still have tests or is that up to the parent? Like, does anything need to be submitted to your states?

Yeah, so most states do not require testing.

Wow.

Want to say Pennsylvania might be one that requires them to do the state testing. But honestly, it is not fair. And it's a disservice, in my opinion, to homeschoolers because they're not taught Common Core necessarily. Although you can choose Common Core compliant curriculum that's out there, it's easy to find. Just search Common Core curriculum. But for most homeschool kids, they're not taught to take. Like, a lot of the teacher's job is teaching the kids to the test. They have to pass this test at the end of the year. So if you homeschool, your child isn't taught to the test. And so I don't know. I personally don't think that's fair. But most states do not require the test. There's no, like, there's no testing required. But parents do pay to have their test their child do, like, the standardized testing that private schools do. You can pay to have your child, like, join the private school standardized testing.

So if you're not doing testing and there's not grades anymore, how do they apply to college? Because there's no transcripts.

It's funny you asked that too. And if you talk to a college admissions person, they will almost always tell you that they value homeschool applications over the sea of regular applications. Right?

Wow.

Yeah. Kids actually get into college at a higher rate than non homeschooled children because when you're looking at all the applications and 70% of them look pretty much very similar, and then you have the homeschooled children who just maybe have a more like just a different outside of the box resume, a lot of times it's seen as a benefit. So, yes, you could totally get your high school diploma. Like, a lot of times the moms will make it. We're part of an umbrella academy here in Delaware, so we're part of the family Learning Academy. It's different than a co op. And a lot of states have umbrella academies. I know California does, or umbrella schools. And I know Tennessee does. I think Texas does. But a lot of states do. And if you're an unsure homeschooler, I would say search to see if you have an umbrella school in your state. Basically, you register with them. We pay $150 a year, and they do all of the documentation for me. I don't submit a letter of intent. I don't report anything. They ask me for a report card every year. The umbrella school, which keeps me accountable. They ask what curriculum we're using. They give you mentors to mentor you. There's a library of all this Curriculum you can take out for the year. We do field trips. There's so many perks. There's science fairs and talent shows to being in an umbrella school. It gives you that homeschool community and guidance. And then you're not registered with the state as, like, the Ryan Family Learning Academy. I'm registered as. They're like umbrella schools, like little private schools. So it's the Family Learning Academy. And they will present my son with a high school diploma when he's done, when he graduates.

Wow. So much information here. It's funny is I went to information overload. Like, there's so much out there. And what I'm seeing, what I'm hearing from you is there's so much out there. Because it's really not that complicated. It doesn't matter which one you pick. Like, you could just. Because I'm thinking, like, how do you know which one? And you're like, it really doesn't really matter what you pick. Like, you can go. Can't really go wrong with any of it. It sounds like.

No, all the curriculum are great. And it's really. There are different schools of thought within homeschooling. So there's the different methods. So I don't want to overwhelm anyone. But there, There is like, Montessori, which a lot of people have heard of. There's Charlotte Mason. There's classical unschooling, Waldorf, eclectic unit studies. There's these methods. And I teach on that because I think if you find a method you align with which you don't have to. You don't have to subscribe to any of the methods, but if there's one, you feel like, oh, I like that. There's always a curriculum that goes with that. There's Charlotte Mason specific curriculums. There's classical curriculums, there's Montessori curriculum, Waldorf. So I like to direct people to that as well. Of like, if you're really struggling, see, if you align with any of these methods, then maybe go from there. Another thing, I will say that if, number one for your state laws, for anything, if you're on Facebook, please find a Facebook community of your area homeschoolers. So, like, you could probably find a ton for California. So you'd probably want to find, like, if you're an Irvine, Irvine homeschoolers or, you know, I don't know, is it LA County? I don't know what that county is.

I'm in San Diego. So. Yeah, but you're saying there's them for everywhere.

So people yes. And that's where you will go. And those are your tribe that'll tell you, hey, don't forget the deadline for the letter of intent is coming up, and this is what you have to do for this. Those homeschool parents in there will guide you and you can say, where's the local co ops? How can I get my child involved in the homeschool ice skate we want to go on? You know, they'll tell you, we're all going on a field trip to the beach to do a nature. Like a science study at the beach on seashells. Who wants to come?

This is so great. Yeah, this is so helpful.

Community is key. And that's. I preach it all the time for homeschooling. Like, you need to have a community local and virtual. Because the local one, to me just, they're your guides. Like, they help you feel like you're part of something and like, you're not just swimming out in the middle of nowhere.

So if you hire a tutor or a teacher, it sounds like you still need to, as the parent, kind of know which style you want first, what you want to go through. Like, what's the curriculum? And then you hire someone to help. Or are there tutors and teachers that will kind of take this whole thing on?

Both, I believe there's tutors and teachers that will just kind of. Yeah. Though I'm sure. I'm sure if you pay enough money, though, they could do as much as you want them to do. So I'm sure there's tutors out there who will, like, plan out the whole thing for you. And then there's some out there that, yeah, the parents are like, I want to choose a curriculum, but hey, can you, like, take care of this? And then I have friends that they don't have tutors. They just have nannies. And they tell the nanny, like, hey, I'm working, but, like, just make sure my kids do this work. Like, they provide the work, but the nanny help sits there and helps them, like, do their handwriting and do that.

I think there's a big opportunity. Just I'm thinking how my brain is wired. I think there's a big opportunity for people that want to actually, like, take it on. Like, because I think there's a lot of parents overthinking it still. Like, me, like, like, well, okay, well, what's the curriculum? What's this where I think that somebody that comes in and says, hey, I got this, and I have, like, four different options. And here's the four options and this is what I'll do. Wow, what a lucrative, needed thing right now.

Yeah. And I think, honestly, if any teachers are becoming unemployed because of what's going on or feel like becoming an entrepreneur, I really think, wow, what an opportunity. I don't know if you've heard about these pods they're springing up.

Tell us what that means. I think I understand. It's just these groups of like, so you'll have like five to 10 kids together being learning. Is that what that is?

Yes. And there's a Facebook group called Pandemic Pods with thousands of people in it now. And people are connecting with one another. Like, hey, I'm a teacher in St. Louis. I'm doing a pod of 10 kids. And so they're just like finding local pods and they're paying for it, of course, but to them it's worth it. And the teachers, honestly are making more money than they would.

Oh, yeah, for sure.

In the school system. Yeah, for sure.

I love that idea.

So you might want to look up a pod and then your child is still in community with children, but like this, the same kids, like, you know, it's going to be a consistent group of kids that they're going to be around.

So good. That's really good. Gosh, you're answering a lot here. I feel like I've got a good grip. I hope this is helpful to people listening. I think it will be. So, parents, as you're deciding what to do, if you're considering homeschool, it sounds like start with this hslda.org, click on your state so you can understand the laws. Then I highly suggest go to the confidenthomeschool.com and she's got this great choosing curriculum guide. So download that. That's amazing. And then it sounds like we've got some good direction to explore this. And I. And I'm loving the idea of the benefits of it. How would you say. What would you say? Do you have advice or caution about staying in the regular school system while they're doing virtual learning? Any insight on that? Because that's happening too, where people are not ready to fully homeschool. They're like, my school's gonna do something. Any thoughts there?

I think that, yeah, because I get this a lot like distance learning with the traditional school or homeschool. And I really think it's what works for each child. There's some children that do the zoom, the daily zoom calls and can do their packet of work. And they are like worker bees and they're awesome at it. They're focused and. But then there's children who can't focus for a zoom call and aren't paying attention, and their learning is decreasing throughout that time. And so if, you know, like, oh, my gosh, every day I'm going to be fighting with my child to get them on a zoom call, and every day they're not going to want to do this packet of worksheets. But you think, hey, I love that. You feel like, I would love the opportunity to, like, create our own schedule, Let my child sleep in, teach them how to make their own breakfast. Like, let's do some reading together. Let's do poetry tea time. Let's paint in the afternoons. Like, let's do throw some math and reading in there. If you just feel like you want to take this pandemic and this opportunity to really connect with your child, give them the chance to direct their learning for a year. Like, ask them, what do you want to learn about? This is your one chance. You have a year off, but we're still going to be learning and doing educational things. But, like, besides the math and the writing and the stuff you have to do to excel and go on to the next grade, what do you want to learn about? Lightning, World War II? Like, what are you really interested in? Let's dive in. Let's find documentaries, listen to podcasts, do the things as an adult that we would do to learn more, and you'll just spark such a love of learning. And I really think it'll stick with them for their life. So I personally, if I were considering doing the distance learning, I would just homeschool because, again, I don't like being in constraints or being put in a box. So I like having that freedom of, like, no, my son is not gonna be on a zoom call every day. He's gonna go with me to the store. Like, we're gonna go to the park, you know?

So one more question that I've got that's bouncing in my head is, what if I'm worried about doing it wrong? So, like, let's say I'm gonna homeschool my daughter, for instance, or some couple years, and then I'm going to put her back in high school. How do you know you're doing it okay? How do you know she's going to be. They're going to be up, you know, at that level to go back into high school. Where do you. Because we're taking away comparison.

How.

Where is that? Because I would imagine we need some level of that, right?

Of course. And you'll be choosing curriculum that is like, it'll say the grade level appropriate. And also, if you're like me, you're always talking to educators and friends with kids who, who have kids in school. So even though I'm not set on their timeline, I'm always like, so what is your child learning and what are they doing? Because I like to just make sure we're somewhere on the same page. But you can also Google, like, What is an 8th grader learning in public school? And Common Core. And there's that. So then also you can do the testing. If you are, like, concerned, at the end of each school year, you can have them tested and they'll say what percentile they are and like, what their weaknesses are. But also I would say I would challenge that because I do believe that all kids, regardless of if they're doing hybrid, in person, virtual or homeschool, there's going to be some lowered expectations when they all do finally go back to school. I don't think anyone's going to be surprised if there's not some learning gaps because I do believe even the kids going to school, with all the new guidelines and the times it's going to be spent on cleaning and social distancing and masking, I do think that the kids in general, our whole nation, unfortunately, they're not going to all be as advanced as they were.

I'm with you. Yes, for sure.

I would say if you're that parent, like, I don't want to screw up their education. I would say you can't go wrong this school year. No matter what you choose, there's going to be gaps. That is totally okay because like I said, we underestimate our children a lot. And if your daughter goes into high school, I'm sure she'll pick right up so quickly. And yeah, so I would.

I personally, I'm having. I'm anxious around sending kids to school with mask and social distancing. I think it's just creating a whole other set of problems. I'm not saying I don't understand mask and social distancing. I understand it. I'm just saying it's going to create a whole nother set of things for kids that we didn't have to deal with as kids in school.

Right. And there's. There are families that that's their only choice, like two working parents. And that's what they got to do. And I totally respect that. And I. That's why I'm always preaching what is best for each Family.

Yeah.

I'm not here to preach homeschooling is best for everybody. I definitely think if it's something that fits your lifestyle and thus your beliefs and you have a desire in your heart, I say 100%, don't hold back, go for it. But if it's also something that makes you feel queasy in your stomach and raise your blood pressure, then maybe don't. Or hire it out or.

I mean, just on a separate note, for parents that do need to send their kids to school with that, I'm hoping that we are then equipped in the schools to manage that, because there needs to be conversations around that, because what are kids taking in with that, with the social distancing and the mask? We need to be addressing that, too.

Yeah, no, of course. Yeah. Mental health for all the children, whether they're home missing their friends or they're in school and can't hug their friends. You know, it's. It's definitely a new world right now for all of us. So I think. I'm sure they will, I hope, have the extra care in the schools. Yeah, I'm sure they're considering it. But, yeah, at home, you're in control of that environment. And so.

So, Serena, what does your business do to help? So, like, where, obviously you've got this guide for people. Where can people, like, why would they want to work with you? Find you, like, how can you help support through this?

Yeah, sure, sure. So at the Confident Homescore, we are huge, huge on mindset. And actually the very first thing we teach are anyone that comes to us about when people are like, what kind of schedule should I do? What kind of curriculum should I choose? Very first step to being a confident homeschooler or a homeschooler in general, is deschooling yourself. And so we have a course called Homeschool with Confidence that it walks you through. It starts off with the deschooling, and then it goes into the homeschool laws curriculum, the homeschool methods I spoke on. How to find the right co op. Should you do an umbrella school, how to pick your homeschool vision, roadmapping your year, all that is in that course. So if you're looking just for, like an easy course, and then we have our society.

Can anyone buy that, by the way? Or is that like, okay, so it's not like certain times of the year. Anyone can buy that anytime. Okay.

It is just open to anybody. And then the Confident Homeschooler Society is basically the course within a membership community. So if people want that community, the support, coaching calls with me, live Q and A sessions. We do monthly themes, guest experts. We're doing a whole month in October of, like, homeschooling special needs children. And I have awesome experts coming in with resources for that. So I'm just really excited about the society. It's really honestly what I wish I had when I started out, and that's why I created it. So if you're looking for the course and then some, and support and encouragement, empowerment, that's where you would want to look.

I love it. Now, when I was checking out your site, I saw you had done a webinar. Is that something you do regularly? Was it only that one time?

Yeah. No. So I did that webinar and I've been doing these homeschool Q and A sessions, kind of like this, where, like, I talk for a little bit and then I open it up to questions on a zoom. And so I did a few of those. I had so much fun, and I'm going to be doing some in August. I just haven't got it.

All right, well, we're waiting for that. I'm on your list already. I sent my email in there to get on. I was like, oh, I'm excited. There's a webinar. And I was like, oh, I missed it. So I'm excited for more. Well, this was extremely helpful. I'm going to be checking out all of your stuff. I hope lots of people looking at this option check out your stuff too. Y'.

All.

Trust me. I was on Google for hours before I found her. And this is. This has been. This has helped make everything easier. So thank you so much. So, so much.

So glad, so glad to hear that. If I can relieve some stress because it is the overwhelm, then it makes you feel like you can't do it. Like I'm not smart enough. I'm not organized enough. I'm not. And then it just falls apart. I love this realizing the beauty that is behind homeschooling and that it doesn't have to look. I always say homeschooling does not equal school at home. You don't have to recreate a school environment in your home. So if you could just start there, you'll already be ahead of the game.

So good. Thank you so much, Serena. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to listen in as my guest today. If you found this episode valuable, please share it with friends and on social media. I don't advertise this show, so I rely on word of mouth and reviews to get it out in the world. The biggest thank you that you can give me is leaving me a review. And a nice one. I hope. By the way, this is how others find these episodes. If you do leave me a review, be sure to message me@supportnataliejill fitness.com with a screenshot of your review because I would love to send you a free digital download of my DSR journal as a thank you. And please don't forget to connect with me on social media at Natalie Jill Fit on Instagram and Facebook Sam.