Homeschooling, Parenting, and the Read-Aloud Revival w/ Sarah Mackenzie 

Ditto!!!

First I’ve heard of her… wife and I will have to check this out!

I'm a veteran homeschooler and currently a mixed schooler. I have 1 homeschooled, 1 public schooled, and 2 in Catholic school. I can say that every option has its positives and negatives. Looking back in hindsight I did put way too much pressure on myself and went way too ambitious and too fast with the curricula. Come 2024-2025 school year I will be homeschooling my two youngest again and I have a completely different perspective. And, let me tell you, you're doing a good job. I don't know you, but just the fact that you care and are aware and look for resources like this interview means you are doing a great job homeschooling your littles.

@@MrsScott-bx8sb wow thank you. Everyone who knows I’m homeschooling belittles me so much and questions it. But there’s just something there telling me if it’s hard it’s the best choice for us. God bless you my friend thank you for the support please say a prayer for us

This curriculum might not be perfect, but you should check out Mother of Divine Grace School. They, an online school, have a great homeschooling curriculum which you can buy either just the books for or register and have actual school accreditation for everything. Do check it out!

🙂

She's truly a gifted teacher and inspiration! Check out Read Aloud Revival and the premium membership. It could really be a boon to your homeschooling and to your mama heart ❤

Same here which is why we had to stop homeschooling and get them the services they needed and were available to us from the public school. Not all cases are the same. We do what we can.

You may never see this but I just wanted to offer some encouragement, say you’re doing enough (God asks only for what’s enough), and suggest you tell your mom to kindly put a sock in it b/c these are your children, not hers. Wising you an uneventful rest of your pregnancy 😊! (There’s a short video on the Simply Charlotte Mason channel that may help: both guests’ parents were principals 😳 and she’s so gracious toward any critiques.)

I also have dyslexic kids and an autistic kid. All adults now. I homeschooled them. I recommend All About Reading and All About Spelling for the Dyslexic child and recommend you read all of Temple Grandin's books for your autistic child.

Same! I think it’s a great book that works…IF your kid likes it. It never occurred to me that my kid wouldn’t like it 😩 I even gave her a snack and told her it was “special time with mommy” … she was like “can we do special Lego time cause this stinks.” 🤪

I’m in my first and feel the same way… not sure if hearing that someone in their third year feels that way makes it me thinks it’s better or worse.. 😂

@EpoRose1 haha. I still feel so new, but also because every year something changes. I have a baby, another kid starts school, a kid starts Jr High..and in a couple years I'll have a high schooler. So once I get a routine down, we have to change things up 🤪

Good luck! You're a good parent.

I agree, I am a homeschooling mom and his smugness about homeschooling rubbed me the wrong way. Not everyone should homeschool and public schools are needed for those families. I think Sarah tried her best to make her stance known. If it weren't for her, I would have stopped watching.

Tbh, I feel the same about my private school education. 😅 Was it better than public school? Yes, but still far from ideal. They all have their tradeoffs, but I think it is easier for ppl to lump public school experiences together bc there is less variety from all the standardization vs there being all kinds of private schools and homeschools.)

My 26yo regrets sports🙃

Tell us your regrets about homeschool! I want to learn;)

It's not so much the regrets as about the limitations. Sometimes you're not able to give them what they need. Depends on the kid. If they were born with disabilities and mental impairments , all the homeschooling in the world isn't going to turn them into the next Edison. They just may be able to bag groceries by the time they're 20. With some help from public assistance and services you may be able to get the aid and training you need.

I think it’s hard because you’re probably talking to people who went to conventional school, and we have our own experience, which is often good stuff mixed with really messed up terrible stuff. So any feelings of a homeschooler “missing out” are quickly quelled by “well I couldn’t go to the bathroom in school because people were having sex in it.” 🥴 Or my teacher hit on me and cornered me one day. Or I was made to feel stupid. Or I had an eating disorder and no one noticed. There’s bad things that can happen everywhere, but since way more kids go to conventional school, when a homeschooler talks about abuse it’s like “yeah ok I’m sorry that happened to you, but since I’m not a psycho like your folks, my kids are going to have a helluva better time at home than at public school.” (Not really defending the position of not asking, but just thinking through the hang ups and reasons why people don’t ask to give perspective. I’ve met several adults who were homeschooled and I always ask them their experiences. But in each case there are now ways to mitigate the probs they seem to have dealt with, i.e. some states allow homeschool kids to do extracurriculars at public school, or have their own sports teams, people have more access to tutors and online content etc.) All that said, I am genuinely interested about your experience and curious about the gaps and things that were missed.

I read this a few years ago with my oldest, and now we're reading it aloud with the rest of my kids. It's just so delightful!

My personal opinion is that a family needs another adult in the home, preferably without their own children, but perhaps with children. So that could be a grandparent or relative, or a hired tutor, nanny, housekeeper etc. Even if the helper isn’t in the home at all times, even a few hours a week will lighten the load so much. Two parents was God’s design, but two parents in isolated single family homes is man’s design 🥴