Action4Canada - How Homeschoolers Can Make the Most of Summer - A Discussion Panel with Homeschooling Moms

00:00:00.000 so i'm excited we've got two fabulous women here who are experienced homeschooling moms 1.00

00:00:10.340 and they are and i are going to talk about how to make the most of our summer

00:00:16.580 and our first guest is grace peters and we have laurie dunbar as well grace is from british

00:00:24.040 columbia and laurie's from saskatchewan and i'm just going to let them um introduce themselves tell us

00:00:31.300 how many kids you have what the ages are why you chose to homeschool and what keeps you going and

00:00:39.200 then we'll go into our questions about summer etc so grace go ahead and tell us about yourself

00:00:45.100 thank you doris so i'm grace peters and i am a wife and a mom living in bc i have four kids

00:00:53.100 um they are 10 15 16 and 18 i am homeschooling so the three younger ones my oldest she graduated last

00:01:02.980 year and yeah i'm a second generation homeschooler i was homeschooled i went to public school i went

00:01:10.840 to private school and i loved homeschooling but i never planned to do it myself um but god had

00:01:18.080 different plans for us and when we were going to enter my daughter into kindergarten the night

00:01:25.220 before we were going to register her or enroll her um i had no peace i couldn't sleep and i tossed and

00:01:31.940 turned and the idea of homeschooling kept coming to mind and i was like i don't want to do that i have

00:01:39.020 no plans to do that i want to go back to work and god just kept bringing it back and i couldn't sleep

00:01:45.240 that night and so finally after i don't know hours it was probably about three in the morning

00:01:51.420 i woke my husband up and i said i really think we need to homeschool god's calling us to homeschool

00:01:57.480 and he was like okay like whatever we'll we'll look into it and um see how it works and so when i

00:02:05.960 finally said yeah let's do this i finally got to sleep that night and so that was we are going into

00:02:12.120 our 15th year uh starting in september and all along the way um it's been hard there's times i

00:02:20.160 wanted to quit and god kept saying to keep going and now i'm so glad because um i wouldn't want it

00:02:28.160 any other way so yeah that's a bit about me um we are going yeah into our 15th year and i only have

00:02:36.560 three homeschooling now and yeah i don't know all right you just say anything else thank you oh a lot

00:02:44.160 more will come out as we keep going here and uh laurie dunbar um welcome and tell us about yourself

00:02:49.980 i'm from scatron and again i'm very similar in a lot of ways to grace i'm i was actually homeschooled

00:02:59.820 in grade three and loved it and a little bit in grade nine but never really thought of myself as

00:03:05.520 a as going into homeschooling i actually at 22 years old i got married to my husband who is a widower

00:03:12.360 and immediately became a mom of a five and an eight year old and they went into school just like normal

00:03:20.240 what we thought was normal uh well i finished my degree and then had a couple more kids a couple of my

00:03:28.100 daughters and um and started to watch my older two um their curiosity wane their desire to learn

00:03:37.820 diminish and all of these things and and uh and started to kind of think huh well insanity is doing

00:03:45.340 the same thing twice and expecting different results so started to think about some other alternatives

00:03:51.500 and started looking into homeschooling and um and thought well we'll just you know give it a try

00:03:58.140 we'll just you know do the first few years and and get them a good foundation took our older daughter 0.99

00:04:05.020 out of school uh middle of grade six and homeschooled her for five months and got her caught up in record

00:04:11.900 time and was really impressed with how that went but did eventually put her back into school

00:04:17.480 unfortunately um just with relational stuff we needed to do that um and started homeschooling

00:04:24.040 our younger ones and 14 years later we've just kind of gone okay well i think we'll do it this year i

00:04:31.580 think we'll do it this year and eventually we went into high school and and you know talked to our

00:04:36.640 daughters about it there is a christian school in our community um but our older two again had gone to

00:04:42.380 it and we weren't really excited about the results so i have learned along the way that that even though

00:04:48.580 i got into it for teaching them um just thinking that the education would be better i've actually stayed

00:04:56.460 in it because of the discipleship i really firmly believe that that education is discipleship

00:05:02.660 and i have absolutely loved to disciple my girls so now they are 16 and 18 my younger two

00:05:08.480 my 16 year old is going to be graduating this month at the end of this month and my 18 year

00:05:14.480 old graduated last year she's just finished uh a year of briarcrest college and has her business

00:05:21.800 certificate and going into music and then our older two are 24 and 27 so believe it or not i am a

00:05:29.120 grandma of two and our our oldest granddaughter is going to be four here pretty soon and they're

00:05:36.000 seriously considering homeschooling so part of the reason why i advocate for homeschooling so

00:05:42.000 strongly is because i want that freedom for my grandchildren that they can also be able to be

00:05:47.520 homeschooled if they're if my kids choose to um i have also served on the saskatchewan home-based

00:05:53.520 educator board for four and a half years i served as president for a year and really enjoyed my

00:06:00.000 journey helping others homeschool and um and being a bit of a liaison with the government

00:06:05.600 um and i'm pretty passionate about uh getting involved in politics and uh having our voices heard

00:06:13.120 because uh otherwise we're not going to have a nation we can recognize so um yeah so just being

00:06:18.720 able to stand up for our rights and uh and help others to see the value of of home education and

00:06:24.320 helping them to think outside the box is something i'm really passionate about so i'm happy to be here

00:06:29.440 today oh it's lovely to have you and um you know you've tapped into so many things i remember we took

00:06:36.560 it one year at a time to starting a kindergarten and by grade seven i went this is so fun i'm just

00:06:42.800 loving this we're doing this right to the end and uh so my kids were homeschool k to 12 and uh i just

00:06:51.440 loved it did we have our hard days oh yeah we did but we also got through them i mean we all have hard

00:06:58.480 days no matter what we choose in life right and grace i just tell us a little bit about the the thing

00:07:04.640 you do on the side with your social media yeah so i have a social media page specifically for homeschool

00:07:12.960 moms and it's a place where i like to encourage um moms on the journey and just all the different parts

00:07:20.720 that are part of the homeschool mom life so simplifying the curriculum schooling um meals 0.84

00:07:28.080 because everybody's got to eat and just the home management and taking care of the home because it's

00:07:33.600 a lot that we have to juggle and so i like to simplify that and just encourage others in that so yeah

00:07:41.120 all right so we're going to move into the actual topic here and as we move into the summer we

00:07:51.600 often think it's a it's a fun free time let's do nothing and just go to the beach and chill out

00:07:58.000 but there are some reality days where we could be a little bit more structured and and the kids could

00:08:04.160 keep learning um maybe away from the the classic you know uh pen and paper um format that we're used

00:08:13.120 to doing during the school year and the summer provides us opportunities to explore new things

00:08:19.440 and also tap into um what i call delight directed studies which is those things that just bring our

00:08:25.680 children so much joy and uh and personal growth um and so we can talk about that and we can even get

00:08:34.160 into the hard things about chores but uh um why don't one of you just start and tell us some of the ideas

00:08:41.760 you've come up with um with summer and maybe age appropriate and just before we do actually folks

00:08:48.720 we're going to create a uh a pdf that a handout you can print once this video is uploaded to the

00:08:56.640 our website which will probably be by the weekend we'll have a handout ready for you to print so you

00:09:01.920 just have a tool ready to go and uh whether it's a sunny day or rainy day um ideas to um keep uh education

00:09:11.280 rich in the home and continue on it brings you back into the fall season where you're not falling behind

00:09:17.840 the cracks as well so um grace why don't you go and let us know tell us what you what you've experienced

00:09:26.480 and some good things that we can do this summer yeah sure um so when my kids were younger um we would

00:09:34.480 take a break from the schoolwork all the books because i desperately needed a break um and so the

00:09:41.360 kids had a lot of free time we would do swimming lessons um lots of outdoor play days to the beach

00:09:49.840 we'd go camping um if it was a rainy day we would head to the library and grab books on whatever

00:09:56.560 subject that the kids were excited about at the time so for some it would be planes other people would

00:10:01.360 be horses and they would just spend the day reading and drawing and just kind of immersing themselves in

00:10:07.200 that topic um now that the kids are older um they some of them have jobs and so our summers look a lot

00:10:16.160 different but also um we tend to do our studies a little bit more over the summer not a lot um but

00:10:25.440 just to kind of keep in a routine because i was finding that when we would stop everything for the summer

00:10:31.760 it was really hard to get back into the routine in the fall and so um we'll do probably like one

00:10:38.720 subject a day some days nothing um but it's a lot of we have a lot of free time a lot of play a lot of um

00:10:48.480 just exploring the subjects that my kids are excited about so they'll search something google it and

00:10:55.440 you know just immerse themselves for the day in that topic um yeah so again going back to when they

00:11:03.440 were younger um they would do lego camps or they would they love to write plan and write a um a script

00:11:12.000 for a play and then they would perform for us and it's funny because now my uh three of my kids are

00:11:18.080 actually in musicals and they really enjoy that so that started when they were younger um yeah so

00:11:26.320 just a lot of um a lot of time to just do life and play and explore and that's yeah what our summers

00:11:36.400 look like how about you laurie that's great very similar in a lot of ways uh we usually do like

00:11:44.640 swimming lessons um going into like in the spring there's community soccer in our little town so

00:11:51.280 they've done that uh this is also a great time depending on their age to kind of take on maybe

00:11:56.800 a bit of a more challenging book for the older ones like a classic uh something that they can

00:12:03.520 challenge themselves to get through for the summer especially on those rainy days we like to bake we like

00:12:09.600 to uh like the summer is a great time to learn how to plan a garden or you know those conversations

00:12:16.160 while we're weeding i find conversations while we're doing things are great so being able to

00:12:21.920 have friends over we're really into imaginative play when they were young so we've got a a nice meadow

00:12:28.400 out back so they'd have lots of outdoor time and getting creative there my parents are from a farm

00:12:33.840 we're from saskatchewan so being able to get out there and and help out where we can with the garden

00:12:40.000 or with the farming um this is also a great time um just to be able to even connect with those that

00:12:47.360 they may not connect with regularly so things like you know maybe some grandparent time where

00:12:53.280 we ask a grandparent like one time we asked um my mother-in-law can you can peaches with the girls or 0.98

00:13:00.960 you know like things like that you just don't have time for normally um or you know okay we're

00:13:06.560 gonna learn how to do sourdough baking or we're gonna learn how to whatever it be like that their

00:13:12.640 interests or the things that you're like oh you know what i just never seem to have time for that

00:13:16.720 in the summer or sorry in the in the fall in the normal school year um one thing that we did when they

00:13:23.280 were younger to kind of keep their brains engaged was math competitions so we'd i'd print out a you know some

00:13:30.560 math facts and they'd have a little contest for like how who can get as many math questions done

00:13:36.480 in two minutes as they can just to keep those sharp um we'd also maybe do a history lesson every once in

00:13:42.880 a while or yeah like like grace was saying go to the library do some reading competitions i had one

00:13:49.280 daughter that absolutely loves to read and write plays and things like that so she would be able to 0.88

00:13:55.200 spend some more time doing those kinds of things um whereas my other daughter is super active so it's

00:14:01.360 important that she you know be um very active in the summer as much as possible so just you know like

00:14:08.480 those kind of things i also found really interesting depending on your child the importance of rest so

00:14:15.920 the importance of just taking a break and being able to come back to a subject i was always amazed

00:14:21.280 especially with one of my daughters that i actually launched her into the next year to be able to take 0.91

00:14:26.800 a brain break and she was actually my most academic one but being able to take a break really launched her

00:14:32.960 in music and um math and all these things like sometimes it just her brain just needed to develop that much

00:14:40.480 more and and take a break and then um she really made a lot of progress in the fall and i was really impressed

00:14:46.720 with that so um yeah just doing things like that um going to museums on rainy days or doing um you know

00:14:57.280 we tripped did a trip to drum heller and did the the dinosaur museum or you know like just doing things

00:15:03.360 like that that uh that we just don't maybe get time to do in the normal year or being able to do a

00:15:08.720 project with dad you know like um our girls are learning how to change their oil and change a tire and 0.98

00:15:15.120 and uh we've got some rental properties so they're learning how to take care of things and just

00:15:21.200 there's so many opportunities that like once you get out of the book work you can actually start

00:15:26.080 maybe even thinking outside the box for how to keep them busy um i was also going to just mention

00:15:32.880 at some point i'm just going to take the opportunity this is a book that i found really helpful i don't

00:15:39.280 know if you can read it but it's the ultimate book of homeschooling ideas and it just has some

00:15:44.080 great ideas in there even for for you know summer and things like that it's by linda dobson um and

00:15:51.760 then there's just you know there's books like like this one um this is obviously our province but it's

00:15:58.080 the saskatch the great saskatchewan bucket list so we got this one year and we went to a place called

00:16:04.320 big muddy and we just did a day trip it's like a two-hour drive but we'd never been there and we

00:16:09.360 explored little towns along the way and you know saw like we went to you know the town museum or

00:16:16.400 things like that and just be able to take advantage of you know just even around you just go okay maybe

00:16:22.560 we can't afford to get away to you know somewhere exotic or somewhere far away but maybe we can make it

00:16:29.040 a fun summer of doing um doing things around us that maybe we just have never taken the opportunity

00:16:35.360 to do so yeah so those are a few ideas to start you got me thinking about when you were talking

00:16:42.400 about weeding so these are the mundane things of reality there's weeding there's empty the dishwasher

00:16:48.080 there's um cleaning floors there's we might be a little bit more aggressive and actually cleaner

00:16:54.400 windows and uh i'm just looking around my house here right now what what would i be doing uh baseboards

00:17:00.560 oh how boring and mundane but they get dusty too right and how to make it fun and um sometimes that

00:17:08.720 is what we have to do but the one thing i always told my kids and i'm a musician and music runs strongly

00:17:14.640 through my family is even when you're working and doing the mundane chores it doesn't have to be in

00:17:21.200 silence why don't we turn the music on and we always had music on all the time and uh they

00:17:30.000 developed a love for music all three of them my youngest one um became a musician and uh so her

00:17:37.680 down time would be in her room um writing songs so now she's accomplishing her writing skills

00:17:46.800 and she's being creative by writing music she's learning um

00:17:53.840 she was learning how to play guitar i taught her piano but she really actually preferred the guitar

00:17:59.200 and she would spend hours just in her downtime space to make and write music and then she

00:18:08.640 i one year this is back in the day when uh garage band was an app i don't know if it's still a thing

00:18:14.480 but it was then and so she could record herself and uh i've got all those originals still in the hard

00:18:22.080 drive on my computer because you know there's some good memories there and that's where it all began

00:18:27.600 for her and um another example is my my my middle one she was the kind of girl where

00:18:35.360 if i lost my keys anybody i'd say where anybody know where my keys are she goes oh yeah mom they

00:18:43.280 would be uh on the desk in the school room under a piece of paper and it's like wow

00:18:52.080 she just had this sort of almost photographic memorable mind and uh i remember we were driving

00:19:01.520 we lived in a very remote area at that time and we would always there was deer everywhere and i'd be

00:19:06.880 driving i would see deer if they were in front of me but she saw a deer like everywhere she could see a

00:19:12.800 deer so there's something about the way she saw things and so um i looked into getting her photography

00:19:21.920 classes and uh she did them all year long and in the summer we we continued that she loved to make home

00:19:30.400 videos things like that she's learning tech um information on the laptop she's learning how to uh

00:19:39.600 create continuity in a video and then pictures how to capture the moment and today she's a

00:19:45.440 professional photographer so you never know where they're going to go and then like with my oldest

00:19:52.000 she's the reader the writer just read read read read so i had her really plugged in at the library

00:19:57.840 the local library and joined in all the competitions for reading etc and i did it actually for all three

00:20:04.800 that's one thing i think for me was important was to continue the reading through the summer

00:20:10.880 and it could be any book they wanted it to be as long as they uh did some reading but my oldest

00:20:16.720 loved to read and write and man can that girl write she writes when she when she's uh

00:20:22.560 she's on a mat leave right now but when she's at work she's always asked to write all the

00:20:28.000 forms whatever they need written the emails whatever she's the writer and so it's really

00:20:34.640 cool to watch now they're they're in their 30s how how they've developed from for the very earliest

00:20:41.280 years you start to see what they shine in what they're good at and then just opening up little

00:20:46.720 opportunities through high school and then what they gravitate to naturally as an adult it's pretty

00:20:54.080 cool to watch and i think it's it's awesome that you recognize that doris because um i'm a really

00:21:02.080 task-orientated person um and it takes a lot of intentionality to go okay i have things that i

00:21:08.320 could get that daughter to do but right now she's you know she is learning she is even if it's something

00:21:17.120 that you know it seems like recreational um being able to see that oh you know what she's she's

00:21:23.200 songwriting right now she's developing her musical skills she's you know even refreshing her herself

00:21:29.520 and like helping the pathways in her brain and all those kinds of things are really important to be

00:21:34.800 able to recognize and foster those things so so good for you that's awesome let me tell you i had my days

00:21:41.520 where i'm a task person too and there was days there was no time in the room bluffing and whatever

00:21:49.440 they had to help me because there was a lot of work to do and yeah it's good for them but yeah

00:21:54.960 creating that balance is definitely yeah definitely um any other comments to that grace did you want to

00:22:02.080 add before we move on yeah i just think like less is more as far as like scheduling because having

00:22:11.680 when kids have that time to explore they they figure out what they enjoy and they're they get to be

00:22:17.600 creative and um yeah it's really neat to see um like you're saying with your girls um when they have

00:22:25.840 the time what they gravitate towards and what they want to learn and what they enjoy and what they're

00:22:29.680 good at and when they have free time which i find with homeschool kids they have more free time than

00:22:35.920 kids in school but they have the time to explore and see what they enjoy and see what they're good at

00:22:42.080 and it's really fun to watch the kids develop and learn and what it is that they spend their time on

00:22:49.280 when they have free time so yeah yeah i was uh with my my grand sons last week at uh a park um that has

00:23:00.800 a creek there's a playground and a creek and a bit of a bush at the back and so we were doing the trails in

00:23:06.000 the bush they're both four they're cousins and um they found some loose bark and so they took the

00:23:14.480 bark and they're just whacking it and watching it break and behind the bark um i didn't want them to

00:23:22.160 peel it too you know they just took the loose stuff but behind the bark there was this red um i think it

00:23:28.880 was a termite but it was bright red almost orange red and we all looked at it and my mind went teachable

00:23:35.680 moment and so we talked about this thing and uh i told them that it lives there i didn't know

00:23:43.760 anything about it so here i'm humbled i'm having to learn what this thing is but um it was pretty

00:23:50.480 exciting to watch them both stop and both zero in on this red buck and it's those small small things 0.99

00:23:59.040 that just delight their heart yeah and uh when we when i was homeschooling then if i had the time

00:24:05.840 i'd take well if i had a phone and i had a picture we would explore that at least on the internet and go

00:24:11.680 take a few minutes it may not have been anything formal yeah but it's something that they could

00:24:17.040 discover and explore on their own to make it fun um so we've talked about teachable moments and um

00:24:27.360 um we've talked about down time and how important that is

00:24:35.280 what do you do when the child comes to you and says mom i'm bored

00:24:40.640 exactly just thinking about that because um i find that one of the one of the ways that i helped to

00:24:48.080 develop their imaginative play when they were little is to be able to go like take something maybe even out

00:24:54.240 of history one of our history lessons and go okay why don't you pretend that you're harriet tubman 0.90

00:24:59.760 and you're getting slaves to you know to canada or or why don't you pretend that you're this

00:25:05.840 historical figure and you've just discovered this or you know that kind of thing so even just being able to

00:25:11.440 to bring in some of our learning and be able to connect it with their imaginative play

00:25:15.520 was really helpful um and then another uh thing like i've got a i've got a four-year-old

00:25:21.920 granddaughter as well or almost four and being able to um she was just my my son just called me

00:25:27.920 yesterday on facetime and they were in the car and she was really bored and she was like can i call

00:25:32.720 mana and he was like yes i can do that so i just went okay willow how many colors do you see like can you

00:25:39.360 see orange can you see you know these different things and and being able just to get their their

00:25:44.800 head out of i'm bored and start to be able to go okay well you know like for a teenager my kids

00:25:51.680 hardly ever ever say that i don't remember the last time they said that but um you know being able to go

00:25:57.760 okay well you were really wanting to try this or you're really wanting to bake this this might be a

00:26:02.640 good opportunity or hey why don't you help me with this and you know like or let's go for a walk and

00:26:07.760 i i love chatting with my girls so i take every opportunity just to go why don't you join me

00:26:13.520 we're gonna let's do this together or that kind of thing and be able to um to just take the teachable

00:26:19.520 moment or or be able to inspire their imagination again because sometimes they just get in that

00:26:24.720 oh i have no idea what to do but being able just to kind of go okay well why don't we do

00:26:29.760 like what what about this and try to ignite a different part of their brain often helps

00:26:34.400 definitely grace yeah well my kids don't say they're bored anymore um they learned that if

00:26:43.760 they said they were bored i would have work for them um and now that they're older they all have

00:26:49.600 their their different interests so when they have the time they will go explore and do that um but when

00:26:55.360 they were younger um there was a lot of a lot of pretend play uh building forts and like i said

00:27:04.880 earlier doing skits together i had uh craft materials for them so that they could do art and craft um

00:27:14.320 yeah so they they learned to be kind of come up with their own fun um i didn't i didn't entertain them i

00:27:21.600 didn't turn the tv on often for them so they would just play together and one person would suggest hey

00:27:28.240 let's let's build a fort and so they'd all build a fort and they drag all their toys in there and

00:27:33.760 spend the day in there and so they just they work together to come up with things to do together and

00:27:39.840 have fun and it yeah it just it worked well when they're younger yeah yeah i was just thinking um

00:27:48.880 um if i was to do uh some of that stuff again i wonder if i if i had had a list on the wall of

00:27:59.840 things to do i don't know i don't know if it works but it could be worth a try to have a list um just

00:28:08.880 write out some ideas and you know and take some of the ideas that we're going to be posting and make a

00:28:14.560 sort of a chart and you know go to the library could be one like one of the things my kids love

00:28:20.640 to do my poor little dog but they put her on the leash and they made an obstacle course and the dog

00:28:26.480 and the kids all did the obstacle course together but the neighborhood kids would come over and i mean

00:28:32.880 talk about being creative it was so fun and i'd be watching from the kitchen window of them all just

00:28:37.840 going around and doing all this stuff in the obstacle course it's just such simple things

00:28:45.040 yeah one year we made a float actually a couple years we made a float for the town parade

00:28:52.160 and so the artwork became a big deal and how are you gonna make how are you gonna make this thing

00:28:58.560 happen on the on this flat deck trailer um we probably spent about two weeks on that

00:29:05.280 um but we also want them to be independent of us too we don't want because we have things we need

00:29:11.040 to do too we have our chores to do um what do we talk about chores because that's something uh we

00:29:18.480 want our kids to learn how to do how do you guys do that with your children uh well when my kids were

00:29:25.920 younger like quite a bit younger they always wanted to be involved and i think as parents it's really easy

00:29:32.480 to no i'll do it i'll do it because it's quicker and easier if we do it ourselves but i learned early

00:29:38.400 on that i needed to allow them to help so that they saw that it was a normal part of family life

00:29:46.480 but so there wasn't uh

00:29:51.200 so that it was normal for them i guess so that growing up as i got older it wasn't like oh i gotta

00:29:56.560 do chores it was oh this is what we do as a family this is just how it works um so yeah i started them

00:30:04.000 pretty young even if they didn't do a very good job just so that they got used to being a part of the

00:30:09.920 family routine um and now that they're older like each week everybody gets assigned a task and that's

00:30:18.000 theirs for the week and yeah it's just kind of the rhythm how we do things um when they were younger

00:30:26.320 um they would have their chores and i would check them to make sure that you know they did what they

00:30:31.760 were supposed to do and but now they're pretty independent when it comes to getting stuff done

00:30:39.280 how are you laurie yeah very similar at a very young age i tried to get them involved so you know by

00:30:45.840 even three years old they were you know sweeping or vacuuming the stairs or just something little

00:30:51.120 that they could be involved with and then as they grew they learned how to do more and more because

00:30:56.160 i really wanted them to be independent and be able to you know do everything that i could do so um you

00:31:02.080 know by 10 years old they were doing their own laundry or you know like i don't i don't vacuum my

00:31:08.400 house i don't mop they do it all they clean the bathrooms um but then when there's special tasks

00:31:14.480 to be done like okay we need to clean the windows this week or what have you like we'll we'll try to

00:31:20.000 you know tackle that together if we can um and things like you know mowing the lawn or you just

00:31:26.240 being able to be be okay with them maybe not doing the greatest job and learning from that and not um

00:31:34.960 not you know shaming them when they don't do it well but you know coming alongside them and go like

00:31:41.040 okay what if we do it this way or hey did you notice that the toilet bowls got dirty really

00:31:46.160 quickly this week we're gonna need to do them over again you know those kinds of things um just

00:31:52.480 learning from their mistakes getting them to help with cooking and being able to make simple meals

00:31:58.240 even from a young age um planning ahead because sometimes they want to make meals that i don't

00:32:04.320 always have the ingredients for so or being able just to go okay well you know what i know you can do

00:32:09.200 this but this week i want you to make this um and just challenging them in that way um so yeah just

00:32:15.920 getting them involved in like i want them to be able to do whatever i can do right so um yeah just being

00:32:22.720 intentional about going okay well this is something that they actually you know haven't done and and so

00:32:29.600 just trying to make sure that we um involve them in those kinds of things or yeah just equipping

00:32:35.680 them for life really because we're not doing them any kind of service if they can't do these things

00:32:40.000 on their own and do it do them competently like like grace my all my kids have jobs now and my youngest

00:32:47.920 just got a job recently and and the somebody was was just telling me how good of a job she's doing that

00:32:55.200 she's um she really understands the importance of doing things well and those things i think actually come

00:33:00.800 from chores so it's it's important to be able to teach them how to do something well do it thoroughly

00:33:07.280 do it timely um those kinds of things are all very important life lessons yeah no good stuff there um

00:33:16.800 it could even be a summer project for a mom right now is to develop um a a sort of a chore discipline or a 1.00

00:33:26.480 chore uh chart or something for the summer and um you know maybe the four or five year old can

00:33:35.280 learn to empty the dishwasher and then the the mom can focus her attention on the the heavier chores 1.00

00:33:43.600 and then as the children get older than the one who did the dishwasher is now actually washing maybe

00:33:49.040 the pots or washing the dishes or the younger one is learning to take the trash out and then as they

00:33:56.080 get older then you pass that on to the youngest again and then they develop and grow into older

00:34:00.720 ones one of the because my kids were quite close in age um one of the things i didn't want to become

00:34:08.480 a drudgery and i did create um a chore chart for the kitchen i needed help with uh emptying the dishwasher

00:34:16.240 washing the dishes um what was the third one there was three things because there's three kids

00:34:23.680 maybe it was their free day where they got to take the garbage out but they had to take it out like

00:34:29.040 they have to wrap it up go all the way downstairs into the garage to the garbage can come up and replace

00:34:33.520 the bag all that too right and some people have a compost so as a child we had a compost i had to go

00:34:39.520 back in the scary bush and drop it there in the dark it was so scary at night but i brought it back and

00:34:46.320 that was that was the only thing i had to do that day and i just remember like as a child when my mom had the

00:34:52.160 kitchen chore chart there was five of us how we all took turns and so to not create drudgery

00:35:00.080 the kids would um i think it was every week and they would have been between the ages of maybe

00:35:09.280 seven and up that we continued this so one week all they had to do was empty the dishwasher the next

00:35:18.080 week all they had to do was work with me at the sink whether it was washing all the big pots drying

00:35:23.920 them putting them away the other one was to take the garbage out and then the next week they all switch

00:35:29.040 and then they'd be and then they got really good at what they were doing and then at some point you

00:35:33.280 realize okay they've mastered this i still need the help now i'm going to relinquish that and put that on

00:35:39.840 them not that i never did dishes i did but i gave them more responsibilities so that it put me

00:35:46.880 somewhere else like preparing lessons for them for the next day or the next week etc so yeah it's

00:35:54.320 interesting how that works gracie do you want to comment at that you're nodding your head i thought

00:35:58.240 maybe you might want to add something just oh that's great yeah for my kids too like i have every week

00:36:03.920 they'll kind of rotate because they're older now somebody will do vacuuming for the week somebody

00:36:08.640 will do bathrooms for the week somebody will do um what's the other thing um somebody will kind of

00:36:15.520 look after the kitchen for the week and then also with the dishes one day it's one person they'll do it

00:36:21.280 for the whole day and then the next day one of them will do it for the whole day and so um yeah they

00:36:27.040 we've gotten into a routine so they know what to expect from week to week and they don't even have to

00:36:32.320 tell them anymore they'll just go okay this is my chore i'm going to go do it and so yeah that

00:36:37.040 started when they were younger yeah it's starting as soon as you can and and they want to they

00:36:42.720 desperately want to to do it when they're two and three yeah and then work with with the desire and

00:36:49.040 hopefully it doesn't wane yeah yeah but yeah i was thinking of it go ahead sorry i also found it

00:36:56.800 helpful to be able to take those moments and like for dishes for instance in the evening

00:37:01.120 um if you have time to make it fun so you know like we'll put on music like you said doris but

00:37:08.160 my husband and i love to swing dance so oftentimes he's swing dancing with the girls for a few songs

00:37:14.240 and then we get back to chores or whatever just being able to make it fun or have great conversations

00:37:20.240 or sometimes we'll we'll watch a a podcast or and then discuss it or you know just making use of

00:37:26.720 your time that you're all together in the in the kitchen anyways that we we do dishes together

00:37:32.320 so um yeah just taking advantage of those opportunities as a family and and create

00:37:37.280 bonding experiences has has been pretty fun those are great ideas for sure and yeah so i was thinking

00:37:44.720 if it's a summer project to develop some sort of a chore lifestyle this would be very handy moving

00:37:50.720 into the fall school year to continue one now you've sort of laid the groundwork and now it'll be

00:37:56.400 part of your your school life because those are just basic essentials that need to happen every day

00:38:02.640 and um why not take the summer to learn that i think it'd be a great idea um we're going to move into uh

00:38:10.880 moms and uh parents in most cases mothers are the primary home educators and uh we know there are some dads as well

00:38:20.960 and uh summer is also a great time to recharge for for parents and moms and and prepare and plan for the

00:38:28.640 fall and uh i know some of the things that i did but uh go ahead um grace you can tell us what are the

00:38:37.680 some of the things that we're in that season now we're moving into it that you're going to take the

00:38:41.920 time to recharge yourself and prepare for the fall yeah so i i find i guess you would call it recharging

00:38:53.040 for myself i recharge when i know i'm prepared if that makes sense like i because i feel like i can

00:38:59.840 relax a little more if that makes sense so preparing for the fall um like as far as the curriculum goes

00:39:09.360 i will go through and like declutter everything um sort it and organize it and have that ready

00:39:16.480 as far as like for the home um i like to have meals prepared ahead of time for the beginning of the

00:39:24.880 school year and for the fall because it's tends to be busier and we're trying to get back into the full

00:39:30.400 school routine so if i have meals in the freezer um it just takes one more thing off my plate um what

00:39:39.920 else do i do yeah that's kind of how i prepare for the fall um

00:39:46.320 um what about uh note taking lesson planning um i know for me i learned this more so as i moved into

00:39:56.960 the high school years while it was still fresh in my mind in april and may i would write notes this is

00:40:03.680 what we're doing in september this is where we finished off because because when i take my summer

00:40:09.760 break too i would sometimes forget what i was supposed to do in september and i would make notes

00:40:14.720 so that i was ready to go again yeah yeah so usually what i've gone through like our curriculum

00:40:20.720 and i declutter and get rid of like what's not working what we're not going to be using anymore

00:40:26.640 and then prepping stuff ahead i tend to use a lot of curriculum that doesn't take a lot of planning

00:40:32.880 like we just follow the lessons so that the kids can work more independently um but yeah i will write out

00:40:40.160 what we're going to be using um for each kid for each subject and have an idea of kind of

00:40:46.960 when we're going to start and just have that prepared ahead of time yeah how about you laurie

00:40:56.560 yeah so in saskatchewan we have to do some paperwork so um be able to get my my paperwork done for the end

00:41:04.320 of the year in june um a lot of a lot of homeschool moms around here actually try to do their paperwork 0.99

00:41:09.760 for the fall um in june to be able just to get that out of the way i've i've done both i've done it

00:41:17.680 in august when it's you know before it's due as well that uh being able to have that ready and and

00:41:23.200 prepared and my curriculum all ordered before the summer is has been really helpful for me and then

00:41:28.880 being able to recharge in the summer so that might look like you know making some coffee dates so that

00:41:34.960 you know like being able to catch up with friends that i haven't had time with or reading a book like

00:41:40.320 reading a parenting book or a homeschool book or being able to you know invest in myself as a homeschool

00:41:48.400 mom um being able to yeah just do those kinds of things has been really recharging for me and just the

00:41:56.160 break of routine being able to uh you know have some more time for for bible time for myself or you

00:42:04.320 know those kinds of things has been always just really refreshing for me uh letting creativity

00:42:10.320 creativity flow and rethinking some of the things that we've been doing like some of those things that

00:42:15.120 are okay that worked really well i'm just going to continue doing it that way and then some things

00:42:20.080 that you're just like okay but this really didn't work well let's let's maybe rethink some of those

00:42:25.920 things so um yeah just or or even listening to a book you know if you if you're gardening or you're

00:42:33.520 you know um you've got a few moments to yourself just investing in yourself um and being able to just

00:42:40.160 break up the routine has been kind of a big deal for me i've i've really enjoyed just not having as much

00:42:46.240 pressure during the summer where i can um maybe even do some things that that give me more life um i'm a

00:42:53.920 musician as well so maybe being able just to you know get creative again and do some songwriting or

00:42:59.520 you know just something that you might not normally have time for that you can just um you know the

00:43:04.480 kids are outside and everybody's busy and okay i could do that that chore i could you know whatever

00:43:11.200 but but i'm actually going to take the time and and just uh invest in myself um has been important for

00:43:17.280 me yeah no those are good points you um reminded me um this goes back to the provincial homeschool laws

00:43:26.560 what what is required of a homeschooling parent um in like you said in saskatchewan you need to

00:43:34.320 submit a learning plan it sounds like right yeah yeah and we don't need to do that in bc i don't think

00:43:40.560 alberta either um not ontario i i don't know about the east but um if anybody's watching this and

00:43:49.600 doesn't know do reach out to those associations those provincial association groups that i mentioned

00:43:56.480 that they're posted on our website at action for canada.com look under homeschooling revolution

00:44:02.240 and you will find your province there um it's very very simple nothing's too complicated

00:44:07.520 uh it's just knowing what's expected of you is important yeah that's right yeah um

00:44:16.800 i had a thought and it's gone and that's okay um grace did you want to add to that or

00:44:27.200 mom's recharging i one of the actually my thought came back um

00:44:31.520 um as an extrovert i always love to have people over and uh we would have potlucks

00:44:41.520 uh not so much the barbecue going because there's too many people but the yard was full of children

00:44:47.920 and the adults got to connect and summer for us was a good time for that

00:44:52.880 and uh if we didn't meet at somebody's house then we would all agree to meet at the beach

00:44:58.960 or um the ocean so i lived on the ocean and i lived near the lake so either one

00:45:05.600 and uh we would connect that way and even though it was work to prepare food

00:45:12.720 um everybody brought something so that took the pressure off but for me that was recharging because

00:45:18.160 i wasn't thinking about the the mundane the house the chores work uh anything i was just connecting

00:45:26.880 with people relationally and my children were building friendships and to this day these these

00:45:32.640 kids they hung out with when they were young are still friends in their lives as adults and i think the

00:45:41.040 payoff is showing now because we invested in spending time with other families and for like my husband he

00:45:47.760 was an introvert so he's like okay honey i'll let you do that

00:45:55.440 and uh but i think for him too he enjoyed that because um he met some really great dads to chat with

00:46:05.360 and just knowing that our kids were having a good time together was truly a blessing and it can turn

00:46:10.560 into a ministry as well when you're just being intentional to build relationships

00:46:15.440 relationships and in this day and age that what we've experienced the last four years of so much

00:46:20.240 division and separation um due to a lockdown and mandates and all that stuff it's so refreshing to uh

00:46:29.120 have um people in our lives that we can connect to and so that was one of the things we did in our summers

00:46:37.840 was uh extend um relationships outside of the home and invest in that

00:46:48.400 so we're going to wrap this up and i just wanted to give you both an opportunity to offer some closing

00:46:54.480 comments um grace why don't you go ahead sure um yeah i think i think as homeschool moms sometimes

00:47:06.800 we over complicate things and it just adds overwhelm and it feels it can feel heavy so

00:47:18.240 if i could encourage anybody it would be just to keep things simple um for the summer and use that time

00:47:24.320 to refresh and recharge and then even going into the school year it really doesn't have to be as

00:47:30.320 complicated as we think it needs to be i think sometimes we we feel like our kids are going to

00:47:38.800 miss out and so we pile on a ton of things and and then it's overwhelming and then it feels heavy and

00:47:46.720 then it can feel like a burden and so i would just say just keep things simple in your curriculum

00:47:54.720 in your schedule and your activities and how many things you're involved in um and don't feel like

00:48:00.880 you have to do everything just because there's a class available just because there's a homeschool

00:48:06.800 meetup doesn't mean you have to be part of it um i recently read something that said it was along the

00:48:15.040 lines of just because you have free time doesn't mean you have to say yes to something like you can

00:48:20.240 still say no and that was that was very encouraging to me because i'm actually an introvert and i recharge

00:48:28.560 being at home and you know doing things around the house puttering and just making sure things are in

00:48:34.480 order and i have friends who are extroverts and they always want to be out and doing things and

00:48:39.120 inviting us and i'm like i do have the time to go today but it's okay to say no it's okay to just be

00:48:45.440 home and be a family and and um keep it simple i agree yeah finding that balance for sure laurie

00:48:59.440 i would i would definitely reiterate just taking the pressure off but be able to maybe even just

00:49:05.280 choose one thing that you can go okay this is maybe what i want to um look into this summer

00:49:10.800 for yourself or for your homeschooling and be able to go just like um okay this hasn't been

00:49:16.400 working really well and be able to find the resources for that having conversations with friends

00:49:20.960 being on you know a webinar like this to be able to get creative ideas um reading a book that that might

00:49:27.760 address those things that um that maybe just one thing that you can learn and grow in um and that you

00:49:34.560 can take into your year would be really helpful um again i'm i'm a i'm a i love books and uh and

00:49:42.400 some of the the parenting books that i've found um i just wanted to mention is that okay doris

00:49:51.200 this is one of my favorite books loving your kids on purpose by danny silk um has been a great resource

00:49:57.360 for us i wish i had read it when my kids were even smaller be able to incorporate um the ideas

00:50:04.320 there but it just helps with having a stress-free home and i think that's really important so being

00:50:09.600 able just to take time to refresh yourself and knowing that your kids need refreshing too they

00:50:14.480 need a brain break uh just being able to balance those things of you know the occasional you know

00:50:19.920 learning experience but know that your kids are learning like you said doris out on a walk you know in

00:50:26.080 nature or uh in the car or wherever you are you can make these learning experiences but don't don't

00:50:33.520 don't put pressure on yourself unduly but but be able just to um recognize those opportunities and and

00:50:40.320 take them when they come and know that their brains are developing just as much in the summer as they are

00:50:46.320 the rest of the year and be able to to really um take the time to be able to uh let them discover

00:50:54.800 their passions and discover the things that they're really good at and and be able to recognize those as

00:51:00.320 learning opportunities as well as is uh is really important no i'm really glad you you mentioned

00:51:07.200 all of that um i was a very task-oriented homeschool mom and for me to slow down and

00:51:15.360 just go on these nature walks was i had to push myself because i was a i was i called my my brothers call

00:51:24.080 me the list lady and i felt better if i could mentally check the box off or cross the line

00:51:31.520 through or something um but uh now as a grandparent i'm leaning way back on this because i've realized

00:51:40.240 the value of just letting them explore and being engaged and being part of it and um of course as

00:51:49.280 as introverts and extroverts and as task people and as uh freedom uh what's the unschooling type

00:51:57.120 philosophy um it's finding that balance of incorporating all of that um because our children are all different

00:52:05.840 too some of them thrive on this and the other one thrives on that so being flexible to work with all

00:52:12.320 of that and i just also want to say like um when i remember back to my friends who were homeschooling

00:52:21.360 and they were very different in how they did their homeschool compared to me um they were the ones that

00:52:28.720 were like more uh flexible and less schooly less paper based their kids still went to college too

00:52:39.440 and they all you know like it it it it really is how you resonate with what's in front of you and how

00:52:46.800 god works in your life to uh be as most effective as you can for each child and you learn a lot about

00:52:55.760 yourself too and uh somehow it all comes together take care folks see you later see you next time

Action4Canada - June 14, 2024

How Homeschoolers Can Make the Most of Summer - A Discussion Panel with Homeschooling Moms

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