This Devoted Life
What started as a Saturday morning coffee date turned into a podcast where we discuss our faith, family, finances and so much more!
In a world that is encouraging you to “live your truth” and to “follow your heart,” we want to encourage you to live Devoted to THE Truth. The Bible has a lot to say about how to live a victorious Christian life, and we want to share practical insight in how to apply those truths to your life as we endeavor to apply them to our own lives as well.
We are passionate about building and growing the nuclear family, as well as sharing our expertise and experience with finances, homeschooling, and over 70 years of combined biblical knowledge.
Join us as we live… This Devoted Life!
James and Shanda
This Devoted Life
32. Elizabeth Santelmann: Finishing the Homeschool Year Strong/Fascinating History/Snakes and Scripture
Have you ever felt that nagging guilt when your homeschool motivation wanes as the weather turns nice? Or when your spiritual disciplines take a backseat during busy parenting seasons? Our conversation with Elizabeth Santelmann offers refreshing perspectives on finishing the homeschool year strong while nurturing your spiritual life.
Elizabeth, a homeschooling mother of three boys, author, curriculum creator, and host of the Sunshine in my Nest podcast, brings authenticity and biblical wisdom to these common struggles. From her Oklahoma rattlesnake encounter during a weighted vest hike to her insights on medieval history across cultures, Elizabeth's passion for learning and teaching shines through in every story.
What truly resonates is her approach to both education and spiritual growth: small, consistent steps create lasting impact. Rather than striving for perfect homeschool days or idealized quiet times, Elizabeth advocates for finding success in manageable pieces. "It's easier to fill a glass with drip, drip, drip than bursts of water," she explains, sharing how a simple index card notebook filled with Bible verses transformed her devotional life during overwhelming seasons of motherhood.
The conversation ventures into fascinating territory as Elizabeth discusses her medieval history curriculum, which explores how Africa experienced a Golden Age while Europe endured the Dark Ages, and how the Great Wall of China rose alongside European castles. Her passion for showing God's hand throughout global history provides a model for teaching children to view all cultures through a biblical lens.
Whether you're a homeschool parent looking for end-of-year motivation, a believer seeking sustainable spiritual practices, or someone curious about how faith intersects with education, this conversation offers practical wisdom and heartfelt encouragement. Listen now and discover how small steps in faith and education can create mountains of growth in your family's life!
Resources: (May contain affiliate links)
Weighted Ruck Vest
Praying the Bible
Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life
Connect with Elizabeth!
Website: Sunshine in my Nest
Podcast: Sunshine in my Nest Podcast
Let's connect!
Website: This Devoted Life
Instagram: Devoted Motherhood & This Devoted Life Podcast
Email: podcast@thisdevotedlife.com
What started as a Saturday morning coffee date turned into a podcast where we chat about things like faith, family finances and so much more.
Speaker 2:In a world that is encouraging you to live your truth and to follow your heart. We want to encourage you to live devoted to the truth.
Speaker 1:The Bible has a lot to say about how to live a victorious Christian life, and we want to share practical insight in how to apply those truths to your life, as we endeavor to apply them to our own lives as well.
Speaker 2:If you enjoy this podcast, please leave us a review and share these episodes with your friends so that you can help them live this devoted life too. Welcome to another episode of this Devoted Life podcast. We are so excited because we have our first guest today, elizabeth Santelman. So she is a really good friend of mine but admittedly, we've actually never met in person, so she is an Instagram friend who I have just gleaned so much from. She's been an encouragement to me and I know she's been encouragement to those who are in her community, with sharing just some biblical wisdom and just trying to deepen not only her own walk with the Lord but those that are coming along with her, so I am just really excited to have her here. She is an author, speaker and the host of the Sunshine in my Nest podcast. She's also the creator of several homeschool curriculums and I'm sure she will be telling you about a new release which she will be talking about a little bit later.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she's a latte making Jesus, loving mom of three boys, and we're just so excited to have her here today. So welcome Elizabeth, it is so good to have you here.
Speaker 3:Yay, it's so fun to be here.
Speaker 2:I know my bio of you is just super short, so if you wouldn't mind, just maybe sharing a little bit more about yourself and about your family.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay, so I live in Oklahoma City and I'm originally from Illinois. I moved here for a ministry job because bringing people to Jesus and discipling them has been something I've been passionate about my whole life. I was telling a story recently to someone and it made them laugh, so I'm going to tell you really quick. Okay, I went to this Bible camp I don't know if you know like child evangelism, fellowship, like they have all those little backyard Bible clubs, and so I grew up super rural and so VBS was really hard for all the small churches to do.
Speaker 3:So I went and got trained how to do it and came back and we didn't have like usually there was like kind of like Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, like chapters that you could join, but we didn't have a chapter because we were so rural. So it was just like cold calling all these churches. I'm like, hey, do you want us to come? Like put a VBS on for you? And so like all summer we were jumping around doing that. So I loved working with kids and then ended up moving to Oklahoma city for a job like that and I was only going to be here for a year, but then I met my husband and it's been 14 years now, and I couldn't be happier about the situation, though.
Speaker 2:So what does he do? That's key. That's kept you in the area, then.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so his grandparents moved here like back before Oklahoma was very populated. And so like he's, he's Okie through and through, Like I at family dinner. They're like do you cheer for OU or OSU? And I took a 50 50 stab and guessed wrong.
Speaker 1:But no ostracized from the family.
Speaker 2:So basically, if you were to ever move away, it would be like uprooting him. And oh yeah, no when we were engaged because I it would be like uprooting him.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, no, when we were engaged, because I was not sold at staying in Oklahoma at all and I was like, would you ever like, you know, getting to know each other? Would you ever consider living somewhere else? And he said, yeah, you know, trying to get the girl all that you know, right yeah. But then after he got married he was like, well, I might be okay with Tulsa. I'm like Tulsa is still in Oklahoma, we're going to be here.
Speaker 2:Speaking of Oklahoma. I mean, you went for a hike yesterday and you saw something that us Michiganders are like. What did you see, hey?
Speaker 3:listen, this little Illinois girl was like what, yeah, so I've picked up I guess it's called rucking, like you put a weighted vest on and you hike or you walk, and so I have this friend that was really into it, and then I got really into it, so I bought my vest and I was like headed out, and now, listen, I'm going to call them mountains in order not to offend the ocean. These are very. They're not. They're not Rocky Mountains. No no.
Speaker 3:But compared to the plains, like they do stick up a bit, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. And again, compared to Michigan, they are definitely mountains, because Michigan's about as flat as you can get. I don't know.
Speaker 3:Michigan Hill might take it so.
Speaker 2:I don't know my mom's from Alaska and so when she moved to Michigan, I guess they like took her for a helicopter ride and they're like we're going to show you Michigan's mountain and they're like there it is and she's like where. And they're like there it is and she's going where, and she's like that is not a mountain, that's a hill. So I understand.
Speaker 3:Well, imagine, like pictures you've seen of Israel, like our mountains look a little bit more like that. It's very arid, very rocky. So I was like I am just going to next level this hike, I'm going to put my little weight of vest on and I'm going to like go and I'm going to summit this little mountain. So like I get, I get. I was four fifths the way up. I know that's very specific, but I would. I want you to understand how close I was to the top, like ace victory.
Speaker 3:And right in front of me was the biggest diamondback rattler snake that I have ever seen in my whole life um, and I was like, well, I will not be in, like I just backtracked I mean like how big do you think? It was like four or five foot like it looked probably yeah it was like. My friend, whose family is from here, said that's one of the biggest that he'd ever seen. So it was. He was a chunky boy, so thank you, that whole thing yeah, did it.
Speaker 1:Uh like, did it do anything when it saw you, or no?
Speaker 3:no, and so here's what I've learned from friends that are from here since then. I guess they don't really attack unless they feel super threatened and they've stepped over them before. And then the snake slithers away, so it's not like I feel like, do y'all have water moccasins up there?
Speaker 1:We don't, we literally don't have any.
Speaker 2:Okay, I think that there have been cycles of rattlesnakes in Michigan, but we've never seen any?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it's called like the Eastern Rattle or something like that, I don't know.
Speaker 3:So, like where I grew up in Illinois, like if you saw a snake in the water, you wanted to be as far away as possible because they'll like come at you. But I guess diamondbacks aren't that way. I guess I don't know, I'm not a snake person.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what a cool story, though I mean you survived, very Oklahoma-y, you made it four fifths of the way there, and now you can summit it next time.
Speaker 2:Well, I love that you were rucking at the time.
Speaker 2:I was a baby wearing instructor for years where I would actually go to like a hospital and teach new moms how to wear their baby and like baby, different baby carriers and different baby wraps and the one thing that I talked to them about was how the weight of their baby was actually so beneficial for them after giving birth because it helps, like remineralize your bones and just the bone density and stuff. So when when you said that you were rocking, I was like that is so neat and I kind of want to get a weighted vest now and I was going to actually chime in and ask where do you have a certain brand?
Speaker 1:Because that rucking is actually very um, uh, it's a big thing in my mountain hunting world. So there's like like go ruck makes these, uh, weighted vests. That are they. They, you know, sponsor a bunch of podcasts that I listened to and stuff like that. So I was just curious if you got anything special, or was it just like an Amazon purchase or what?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was Amazon. I asked my friend I'm like what do you use? And she sent what she used and she said just get something bigger than you think that you need, sure, and so I got a 20 pound to start off, and it seems reasonable.
Speaker 2:So can you add and subtract weights from it? I?
Speaker 3:think so, but, like I said, I'm a newbie, like this was like my second ruck and then I'm just naked, so like.
Speaker 2:I have seen so many women starting this now and I don't know if it's because of our age, like I'm like eking up on 40 here.
Speaker 1:And so like I have a couple years left, but all of the women I see are starting to do a lot of more.
Speaker 2:you know weight training and the rocking and stuff like that, so maybe that needs to be my next.
Speaker 1:Well, you know that you don't need any excuse for me. I will literally buy us a couple of vests before the end of the night. I usually just throw weight in my actual backpack. I have sandbags actually that I will strap into it, but you would probably laugh at him.
Speaker 2:He literally will be in like gym shorts, with his backpack on, with his sand weights, with his mountain boots on, walking on our treadmill at like 100% incline.
Speaker 3:I will say though, james, like Shanda's on to something because it is distributed, you know how like for baby wearing, you want a baby harness like a carrier that, like, helps distribute the weight. Like when you're lifting it it feels like a lot, but once you get it on, like you're probably doing way more than those of us who are wearing these vests are. But because it's like all in the back and you're in your backpack.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that makes sense. Yeah, it would be good training.
Speaker 3:I remember after I had our second I hadn't worked out hardly at all, but then I was like up like wiping fan blades for my sister and there was a mirror. I was like dang my legs, look good. But it was from like I love it.
Speaker 2:Well, I baby wore so much with my first because he would not sleep. Like literally every nap was in a baby carrier because I had gotten to the point where I was just in tears. He would not sleep. I was exhausted. And James one day was like you will not ruin him if you just hold him. And so every nap for the first year of his life was in a baby carrier and it seemed like with each consecutive kid I baby wore less and less. But I think it just was because there was so much going on.
Speaker 3:They didn't need it as much. What a good daddy, though, to be like. Just do it.
Speaker 1:It's really funny because I grew up basically up, uh, my, basically with two sisters and, um, and they were actually quite a bit older than me, but I essentially had like three moms, you know, my mom and then my two older sisters. So, um, even though I I'm into a lot of really manly things and you know I really enjoy the outdoors and all that stuff, I do like I I kind of cheated because I grew up around these women and they kind of taught me what to look for, what not to do, and I give a lot of unsolicited advice to you sometimes. Sometimes you're just like I'm just venting right now, just listen to me.
Speaker 2:I don't need you to fix it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thanks, I've heard the best husbands are the ones that grew up with sisters, so our son is actually in good shape then.
Speaker 1:Oh, he's got three.
Speaker 2:He doesn't love it right now, though. So you have I mean, you have three boys, and it's so funny, because I always thought that I wanted to be an all boy mom, and now I've realized very quickly why God gave me three girls. So what is it like being a mom of all boys Like, do you love it? Is it pure chaos? Is it? I don't know, tell me about it.
Speaker 3:So I went back to meet people who knew me as a teenager and hadn't seen me since I'd become a mom and they're like wow, three boys. We never imagined you with that. So like this is far from my imagination. I was hoping and praying for one. But I grew up my mom mostly had girls. I came from a family of six and then I had six nieces, before there were any nephews introduced into the chat. So like I was like well-versed in like crafts and story time and sparkles and hair and like all that stuff. All right, we're having a boy. When we got our first and then we our got pregnant with our second.
Speaker 3:We're like all right, we're having two boys, and then by the time we had our third, we, oh we, I. We found out early. I'm like I can't handle the suspense yeah and um.
Speaker 3:So when I opened that email and it said, oh boy, we both just started laughing because we're like, of course it is, but this sums up what it's like to raise boys, I think. So my husband grew up with as one of four boys and he also had two sisters, so we both came from families of six. But I called him one day and I'm like babe, like one of them just tackled the other one and like they both seem happy about it, but like is this just how it goes forever? Like it was right after our second started walking. He's like yeah, yeah, that's that's normal.
Speaker 3:And so there's been so many things that I'm like this feels like oddly aggressive and I call my husband. He's like no, that's just, that's just brothers.
Speaker 2:Well, we go through that because, I mean, our son does that to his sisters. So I am, I'm always asking James, I'm like he just seems so aggressive, which I know is normal, but the sisters don't reciprocate as much as a brother would. So I've always felt a little bad that he doesn't have a brother to like roughhouse with. But I have reminded him many times that I'm like God must think that you are extra special to give you three sisters, because there's not a whole lot of men that can handle three women Right right.
Speaker 2:So I just love how God makes the dynamic of every family so different. And I mean, obviously your three boys were meant for you, and our son and three daughters were meant for us.
Speaker 3:So yeah, yeah, we, I've started on. So our church, we have community group and discipleship group. So community group is when we all gather, like men and women, and we do that two times a week. And then we have discipleship groups where the women meet one week and then the men meet the other week, and so when Joseph is out with men, I've instituted should have had a sister night and I show them them every movie. The goal is every movie that a sister would have made them watch, so that way, like when they have a wife.
Speaker 3:They will like at least know what she's talking about yeah if the if, pride and prejudice is discussed like they will have a reference point on which to like access.
Speaker 1:That's a great idea that really is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, that's good for later well, I laughed because james, after we got married, um, I mentioned the movie seven brides for seven brothers and he had seen it and knew what it was and I was like, oh yeah, he was definitely a keeper and that was the growing up with three moms basically.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so my mom didn't have to fabricate these things, these were just the life at the church when I was old.
Speaker 2:Well, we are kind of winding down with our school year now, so do we want to maybe jump into the topic that really we were planning on talking about on the podcast today, and that is just keeping the momentum going towards the end of the school year, because it is so easy this time of year to really get burned out. In Michigan I know that it's been a long winter and as the days get nicer, my motivation to do school gets less and less, so I just start taking it outside because I'm like I can't sit inside and look outside and see it nice. So what are some ways that you, as a homeschooling mom, try to kind of keep this end of year fresh without hitting burnout?
Speaker 3:Yeah Well. So part of it is like it's going to be kind of geographically different. So in Oklahoma our July and August feel like the second long winter, because it's so hot outside you don't want to be out, and so we usually start school really early in the year. We start in like July, august, usually usually mid July, and then we'll take a break in October and then we start again. But this year is a little bit different because, um, the kids actually wanted to take a Christmas break. Usually we just like, cause the weather's bad, we keep on going Okay, but oftentimes we're done by the time the weather turns nice in April. Because I don't want like, if the weather's nice outside, we just want to go enjoy it because it's about to get super, super hot again.
Speaker 3:But for me and I think you mentioned you do this too Like for me, at the end of the year, planning for the next year is a big motivational piece, which is why, like, we're about to talk about curriculum stuff too, because, like writing and putting together lesson plans and starting to note like what went well and what didn't go well this last year, and instead of waiting all summer and then starting to make some decisions, like making those while all of the information is still fresh in my mind has been so helpful. But then, like the momentum cause I get a lot of energy from planning things, and so the momentum of like oh my gosh, yes, next year is going to be so amazing Like some of that energy leaks into the current year and like finishing strong and like putting that like great end mark on on the school year. What about?
Speaker 2:you Absolutely Well. It's funny because a lot of people would think that planning for next year would actually steal from the current year. But really I mean, you just said it and I'm going to second it it energizes me to keep going. Like where I'm sitting right now, I can actually see a stack of books that has been coming for next year and it's huge. Like there's like two stacks and my four-year-old was knocking them over accidentally earlier today. But seeing all those books coming in for next year is super motivating to me and I am just like I can't wait. But it also just reminds me why I love to homeschool and re-energizes like today's school.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, is there a certain book that's come in that you're most excited about?
Speaker 2:Oh, that's a really good question. I don't know yet. There are some books more that I am well, actually, I take it back. There have been a couple books and we talked about them on the podcast, actually, because next year our son starts some of his own like personal spiritual development books, um, and so there have been some that I have been pre-reading for him. One, um, it's called um, uh, do you remember what it was called? It's like praying the praying the Bible, I think, is what it's called. And then there's another one. It's spiritual disciplines of the faith or something like that, and so I've been reading through those books. It's by Donald S Whitney, so you can look up the author, but I can't remember the titles right now.
Speaker 2:But those have been good because I've been pre-reading them because I wanted to make sure that obviously if I'm putting something that is going to inform his faith, that I need to make sure that what I'm putting in his hands is good. And so far those books have been phenomenal. So am more vetting because I wasn't entirely sure that I loved the book choice. So that's just kind of been part of you know, schooling is making sure that I'm pre-reading the books and making sure that what I'm giving to my kids is good. So I know that you have spent tons of time vetting books recently because you came out or are coming out with a new curriculum on medieval time period. So can you kind of walk us through like what you have been doing for that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so last year okay, so I had been using some pre-made lesson plans and our kids go to a two day a week Charlotte Mason school. It's like CMI accredited and like like Charlotte Mason, charlotte Mason. So I got to substitute teach there like the last couple of years and like watching the way that they were doing stuff, I kind of felt like what I was doing at home was just kind of like well, me, you know, like important, but not that you know, I don't know, and so like it kind of unlocked something in my brain is like it totally counts, like if you're just reading to your kids like you don't have to know everything to teach.
Speaker 3:You just have to know where to find the right books and so, um, I had.
Speaker 3:There was a couple of things as I was looking for curriculums that I kept bumping into that to me were a problem, and it didn't matter what time period we were studying, everything kept flipping back to either European history or American history. And I was like there there was so much happening in the world, like if we're studying world history, like what, what, what was happening in the continent of Asia right now? You know what was happening in South America, like I, I get 1850s England, okay, like I love a good story from 1850s England, but what, what, what was happening in Africa. And so I put together lesson plans. I started like looking for all of these books, um, that like stack up like what was happening in each time period at that you know at the same time, um and Shana, I know you've done like some Alvieri stuff this past year, and so has book of centuries been part of that.
Speaker 2:Yes, so Dawson has been doing one for a couple of years now because we started one with a gentle feast. But this year I've actually been really bad about remembering to have him put something in his book of centuries but yeah, he just did this week put several people and he likes to do people. He doesn't do events or things like that.
Speaker 3:But he likes to do the people people, he doesn't do events or things like that, but he likes to do the people Very cool, yeah. So like watching my kids, like before we had started. I started when they were way little and I actually encourage people. I know Alvieri says, wait till they're like fifth or sixth grade and then, if you're going to buy the hardcover volume, yeah, I'll probably do that because they scratch them out.
Speaker 3:But what I started noticing is my really tiny kids. Like their eyes were lighting up because we put bible characters in there and we felt like, as we're doing devotions and we put um, like all these things in and they're like, oh my gosh, like this and this was happening at the same time moments. So it's like okay, if we're studying all the continents, they're gonna get to line these things up and like it's gonna make sense to them in a way that like it hadn't fully made sense to me until we were reading it, and like my dad was a history major. So like we knew history really well, but like not as well as I think, as my kids are, because of like filling out these timelines and so it has been so much fun for us and like so for medieval history history I've been pre-reading I had no idea like there was a golden age in africa, like where africa was like the dominant continent while europe was in its dark ages, and I'm like why didn't I ever learn that in school?
Speaker 2:why do we not know this?
Speaker 3:I don't know, I don't know and like it's so hard to find. Like wouldn't that makes for some cool stories? Yes, yeah there's, like this, emperor named Manzamusa who, like they, figured out how to get across the Sahara desert. Like when, without any sort of technology and like no water, like they, but they could navigate it. It's incredible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so is that kind of the exploration kind of what spurned that golden age, or was there something else that happened?
Speaker 3:No kind of what spurned that golden age, or was there something else that happened? No, so they were sneaky. They found gold in africa and so they were filthy rich.
Speaker 2:But they.
Speaker 3:It was like this super carefully guarded secret. They wouldn't show anybody where the gold mines were. What ended up being the fall of, if I understand correctly, is like somebody ended up figuring out where they were at. So they were like thriving and successful and wealthy for as long as they could keep this like really like. It was like their own conspiracy theory because, like, a lot of people were in on it. But like it wasn't like you couldn't, you couldn't tell it broadly, so yeah, that's funny.
Speaker 2:So obviously it probably wasn't the whole continent of af, but was there like a specific location that this was happening in?
Speaker 3:So this would have been on the West middle West coast, okay, and so that's the other thing that's really fascinating from a faith perspective and especially with a lot of the conversations that are happening culturally and politically. Yeah, like you have like this, that particular culture was very Muslim but at the same time some of the greatest Christian theologians that like came, came from Northern Africa, northeast Africa, and so like people who we quote all the time, I had no idea they were from Africa and so like kind of part of what we're doing in the curriculum is like it's a lot of holding both and like you have the strongest Christians creating some of the best theology of the early church that are coming from here, and then you also have, like, some really strong Muslim roots starting to spring up here and it's just, it's so, it's so cool.
Speaker 3:I'm sorry I know I've said the word cool way too many times.
Speaker 2:No, but you can tell that you're passionate about this, Obviously, like I mean, I've done a ton of homeschool curriculums over the course of the past seven years, but when I hear someone who is so passionate and can articulate her passion for it, I mean I can already tell that the curriculum is going to be amazing because you've put so much effort and just love into it yeah, and we put you on the spot and you're just nailing it okay, so it gets better, though y'all like great wall of china was going up at the same time my aztec incas, like all during the middle ages.
Speaker 3:So when you're thinking about castles and knights and like monasteries and like all these kinds of things, like all those things are happening simultaneously. The rise of islam like it's so interesting to think about it.
Speaker 1:That is really fascinating. I love that era but really I mean think of what all happened during the phase of history that you're talking about. That really shaped us into what we are today. It's amazing.
Speaker 2:I know Dawson studied Marco Polo this past year and he just loved the relationship that he had with the Khan of China and he just kept talking about that real weird relationship because, like, I guess he was actually a servant but he was also a friend but he was kind of there against his will and wasn't allowed to leave but yeah he and so it's just fun to see what our kids grab onto and just really, um, it makes history come alive for them it does, does, yeah, biographies definitely do that, you know.
Speaker 1:I mean people's stories are very compelling usually, you know, unless you, you know, aren't relevant enough to you know, even be learned about. But yeah, it's. I remember, you know, as a child hearing about, you know, patrick Henry and the Patriots and stuff, and you know just being moved by them. And then you know, obviously, people of all walks of life throughout history, but yeah, I mean, really it's the people as much as the stories and the facts that I remember, yeah, as a Charlotte Mason homeschooler, were you able to find enough living books for this curriculum?
Speaker 2:Because it seems like if this was something that was so well known, like we would, we would have some of these books, right, but um, I'm, did you have to really do a deep dive to find some really good books on this?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so some of them came fairly easily and I try really hard if possible to do award-winning books, cause like James is spot on, like stories is what wins us, and like if we we don't understand. But the other thing that I wanted was like I wanted somebody who the person who was writing it if possible to be from the culture they were writing about, because I've noticed, like the depth and storytelling you can get if you're like from there, and so we also do like a lot of christian missionary stories too, um, which makes, if you understand the culture first, like a lot of their story makes sense, um, but it was almost impossible to find some and so, like, um, finding anything from africa during the middle ages was hard, and anything from south america.
Speaker 3:And the sad thing in studying is because, when the conquistadors, like, came and took everything over, like the, the, let's see, let me, let me make. The aztecs, I think, were the ones that were like prolifically writing, like they had libraries, like the libraries in egypt and alexandria, and they burnt all everything. Like we have very few manuscripts left because, like, everything was destroyed, and so, um, finding stories from like that area was really challenging. But I'm so lucky to have so many people from around the world because, um, the uk is a commonwealth and they want, like, so, they, the way that the british do education is a little bit different, and, um, they do more deep dives into other cultures, and so I I was able to find some books that have allowed us to deep dive into those. So it was like a long rabbit trail, and when I finally found that last book, I was so I may or may not have done a happy dance.
Speaker 1:It was like the key that unlocked that last portion. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's so awesome.
Speaker 3:Same way way with like pre-columbian stories of like native peoples, like so we're from oklahoma and like a huge percentage of the population here are like native american okay, and so like finding any stories like pre-settlement though was was also so challenging interesting yeah, there's also a really big gap after Columbus discovering.
Speaker 2:So, like next year our son is going to be reading 1493. And it's supposed to be those years in between where really no one talks about what was going on in America during that time period. So it's so fun as a Charlotte Mason homeschoolers who have these resources and to learn about different cultures but also study things that we I mean I personally did not learn about as a public schooler and I don't know if you did as a private schooler but it's really neat to kind of see these pieces being put together and just the stream of history. I once heard history described as, like you have a timeline, but that line running through the center of a timeline is Christ. So like you're going to have kingdoms rising and you're going to have kingdoms falling, but the center is always Christ. And the reason that we read history is because Christ is woven through all of history and you can see how, like, the eternal kingdom is moving forward, um, even with the rise and fall of all of these earthly kingdoms.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's you're gonna you're gonna make me nerd out on something else again I need like a full set of glasses, okay.
Speaker 3:So, guys, it's so cool. You know how, like in the bible, all of the stories are pointing to somebody better who's coming, coming. Like Jesus is coming. Like, uh, david is great, but he's not like the greatest. King Abraham is the patriarch, but he's not like the father of all, like everything's like giving like drip, drip, drip, drip, drip. Still like who Jesus will be.
Speaker 3:And I was listening to this biblical professor and I was so glad I did it before I was studying ancient history, because some of the myths in ancient history y'all are very, very dark. Like it is, like it's, there's a lot of like human sacrifice or like all these types of things. And he said, though, like you know how there's, um, there's a grace that we can receive from Christ, but then there's also common graces in the world, like we have water, we have air. And he said, in storytelling you can see the common grace of God, because not everything is revealed the same way it is in Old Testament literature, but there's like little pixie sprinkles of truth that cause all the nations of the world to look to Christ. That cause all the nations of the world to look to Christ. And one of the coolest examples of this that I have is we were invited down to the Choctaw Nation to visit and you know some of like.
Speaker 3:Depending on what First Nation is like, they have different ideas about religion, so I wasn't quite sure what we were about to step into, but when we got there, there was like a full gospel presentation as like their introduction to their nation, because they're like we believed all of these things about God, the creator and the giver of all things, and like they had a. They had a belief that there was something that was coming that was greater. And so when the, when the Christians came in, like Christian missionaries came and started sharing the gospel, they were like their own mythology had already primed them I'm getting goosebumps. Yeah, primed them to believe in God. Yes, so as we were reading Greek mythology, we would like we would compare and contrast, like what does this look like compared to what we believe? What things are similar, what things are different?
Speaker 3:And like I'm hopeful that as we release them into the world, like having thought through other major religions already or other stories, that they're equipped and like ready to go, because they'll have a better answer for some of the things. I think that might've stumped me, like coming from like so it's fun, we're all represented here, like we have a public school or a private school or a homeschool or um, and like some of the protection we give our kids is really good in the early years. But I think some of that introducing and like helping them like think about things I find helpful. So yeah absolutely.
Speaker 2:I remember in college um, I can't remember what the name of the class was, but it was a literary class and we read several creation stories from several different cultures. And I remember the teacher being like all right, guys, do you have any thoughts on this? And I raised my hand and I said the one thing that I can see from every single culture is that all of them are representative of the biblical account of creation, whether they were made from corn or from dust or something like a God, a creative being created from a physical object, man. And I remember my teacher I mean this was a very not Christian college she just was kind of like oh okay, you know, but it's so. You know, as a Christian, I was looking at it, going how can they not see this? That it all points back to like where did they get their story originally? They got it from the original creation, you know.
Speaker 2:And even our son said that just recently because we studied early American history, so we have read a lot about like indigenous people and their belief system, and our son was like man, a lot of it sounds like biblical accounts and I was like bingo, like you are getting it, you know. And so it is really neat that as we, you know, introduce them to different cultures, but they still have that biblical foundation and they're still looking through it, or through a biblical lens, that it actually deepens their faith, it doesn't distract from their faith. Yeah for sure yeah, definitely so okay.
Speaker 1:Well, that was good. I'm glad you nerded out on that.
Speaker 2:I was like do we want to jump back? Into like how we finish out the homeschool.
Speaker 2:Yeah well, it's funny because I am actually going this week to a homeschool conference, and so I love doing that this time of year Because once again this one is with a delectable education is down in Tennessee this upcoming weekend, and every time I come back from a homeschool conference and I love going to one in this like weird springtime, because not only does it make me excited for next year, but I come back re-energized for the remainder of our school year too. So I don't know, do you speak at any in the upcoming future or are you going to any?
Speaker 3:Well, I mean I've spoken a few. Ours have usually been in May, but I do try to do some sort of continuing education every year as a homeschool mom because I don't want to, I don't want to ever just like sit and float. You know there's so much to learn about all of it. So, like last year, I do feel like that helped. I did CMI with the Alvieri. It does a core teacher's training and so it was like a. It counted for 32 hours of of teacher training, I guess, and so you know that was really. It was really encouraging again, just like dig into some things a little bit deeper. Like you said, it does end up inspiring you as you're like trying to finish out the year, um, and I love that like get outside and to. I think it also helps us see like what are the essentials and like what are. You know, I do think I approach nice days and stuck inside days very differently so like but okay, so from the beginning.
Speaker 3:One of the things that I've done is, like for each kid I pick a problem area and if we've done that particular subject or worked on that particular area, like I consider it, we have had a homeschool day.
Speaker 3:And part of that was I know you've talked a little bit about postpartum depression too and stuff and like the energy that it takes sometimes just to like get moving on the thing. Um and so part of what I noticed is like if I felt like I was failing all the time, it was harder to be motivated. Yeah, and so giving myself like an easy like ah, I've been successful. Ended up usually meaning I did even more than I would have if I thought I had to do the day perfectly.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Like if I've worked on reading with my first second grader or if I have, if I've done handwriting or like some sort of like grammar writing work with our oldest, like I consider that I have had a homeschool day.
Speaker 2:And again.
Speaker 3:Oftentimes, like once you get started, it's like setting that timer for five minutes and starting to clean usually clean 30 minutes after that. You know Cause, like once you get started, it's hard to stop and I do kind of find that with homeschool. But I've been known to like carrot and stick myself and to like put a little jar and like, okay, we have to do 20 more days, to like drop a little thing in every day. So, like a visual representation. I don't know there's some fun ways.
Speaker 1:Yeah, A little sports analogy would be like you're just starting with those layups and you're getting some easy wins and then all of a sudden, you're back out to some free throws and then some three-pointers.
Speaker 2:Well with going to the homeschool conference this upcoming weekend. I'm leaving on a Thursday, so I was looking at our schedule for this upcoming week and I was trying to cram five days into three and I was like this is probably not going to happen, but this is the ideal. And I am going into this upcoming week knowing that it probably won't all get done and I'm trying to show myself and the kids a little of grace and not just get overwhelmed by the amount of stuff we have to get done.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you don't want the kids to get overwhelmed. Exactly they can definitely feed off of that energy that.
Speaker 2:You know you have to cram all of this in and yeah, and then then they're not really learning because it's just being done for the sake of being done.
Speaker 3:Yeah, my husband, joseph, joseph should actually be in here too, because he does like ice cream charts and like we have this thing. It's like a puzzle and like they stick pieces to it and when the picture is complete, and in order to get one you have to do math with a good attitude, or you?
Speaker 1:have to have like independent start.
Speaker 3:And so toward the end of the year, when he starts noticing some of that energy is waning, like he'll get out the ice cream chart and like they get a chance to like, and then we all go to Brahms. Brahms is a Oklahoma only uh ice cream place, and so we go to we go to.
Speaker 1:Brahms when they fill out the self-start chart. That's awesome. Yeah, ice cream is a great motivator.
Speaker 2:I think it is for me too. Well, how do you, as the mom, then stay motivated, like personally, you know, like because I know sometimes, like when we're heading into busy seasons or we're like winding down with something, our spiritual life can also kind of wind down and I know that you're passionate about like discipleship of women and just keeping them motivated and growing in their faith. Like what are some things that you recommend or you know, do yourself as you come into these winding down days?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I think it kind of circles back to like that, starting small, or, james, you said it was like the layup, is that?
Speaker 1:right, okay, all right.
Speaker 3:So, like I think sometimes we can get this idea of like what the ideal quiet time or the ideal Bible study time looks like, and then and again maybe this is just me, but if I don't hit the ideal, then I feel like I'm failing, and and so a big thing for me in that too has also been to be like, okay, what? How do I take this down to the smallest form? Because the Bible says that his word doesn't return void.
Speaker 3:But we also know, through human history we've not had copies of the Bible at our fingertips and that hasn't kept people from being strong in faith. And so what does it look like to engage with? You mentioned the spiritual disciplines. What does it look like to engage with those on a daily basis? But it doesn't have to hit like that ideal day type of thing. And so I had this kind mom friend at church one day, like I. She could probably sense I was overwhelmed, or maybe she just remembered what it was like having two kids and um. So at the end of her baby shower I was one of her hostesses she slipped this little notebook. It felt like the churchy equivalent of a drug deal, honestly. She like took this little index card notebook into my hand and she's like hey, when I don't have time for Bible study, I've just written some verses on these cards and I just like flip open to one and um like think about that for the rest of the day and like that's that's my quiet time.
Speaker 3:And it transformed the way I looked at Bible study and it's kind of what the email curriculum that Shanda was referring to has turned into, because I came home and I like I've memorized books of the Bible y'all and like I came home and started crying Cause I couldn't think of any Bible verses to put in my book.
Speaker 3:Cause it's like my brain was just so fried. I understand it's so fried, and so my gift to local people started being like I would make little notebooks after I started finding verses to put in mine and, instead of handing it to them empty, like I would fill it with some of my favorite verses and be like, if you don't have time, like just flip it open and like you know. And so then it started to be more widely distributed with Instagram stuff. But and same way with prayer, Like I was. I had this idea because of all of these faithful Christians.
Speaker 3:We read so many Christian missionary stories which were so inspiring to my faith as a kid, but I think it also gave a very static idea of what prayer needed to look like for me. And so, like I grew up with the story of Praying Hyde who they said, like you know, his knees were all roughed and calloused because he was kneeling by his bed and praying so much. I'm like I don't have time to kneel and pray, Like my newborn is stopping at six o'clock in the morning, and so learning, learning to turn my concern for a friend into prayer, or like some of these, like tiny, tiny moments, and I feel like in, in those tiny little things. My faith has become stronger because it's easier to do. It's easier to fill a glass with a drip, drip, drip, drip, drip than it is bursts of water, and so like doing, doing tiny, tiny things. Um, there's a poem you've probably heard it, Shanda cause. It's very common in little drops of water.
Speaker 3:It is. Yes, we've talked about it on the, but it's so true. Like you know, the sands the sands come through an hourglass, a tiny bit at a time, and you don't have to get a dump truck load in order to have it to have it count or to make a difference.
Speaker 2:Well, the Bible talks about being instant in prayer and it also says to pray without ceasing. And I think about those two verses when it comes to just being busy, and it's like if something is going on right now, I can pray, you know, and it doesn't have to be long. It's like when a friend texts and you know something has happened. It only takes a few moments to lift them up to the Lord and obviously we want to be able to take time to just like bathe in prayer too. But those little prayers throughout the day are what sustain us in these really busy seasons, especially when there's, like, little kids.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think they can almost be the most genuine times too. Oh, absolutely yeah, and I think they can almost be the most genuine times too, Not that the other times are disingenuous, but just. They're just real and they're raw. And you know we shouldn't be paralyzed by perfection and need to have this idealistic thing. I mean, this is real life that we're living, right, you know? It's not like you can just fabricate all of these things, especially with little kids at home.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Like what you have talked about just makes me kind of chuckle, because when we had like real little kids and I was just feeling completely drained, I came up with what I called my five, five, five plan and it was I can find five minutes and I can find five minutes to pray, I can find five minutes to read my Bible and I can find five minutes to read a book, even if it's just like one page, like those little drops will add up, and I mean most of the time it didn't even equate to five minutes. But I was like in my super busy day if I can't find five minutes and we're just like way too busy, you know.
Speaker 3:Or on the days where everybody's throwing up like there's gospel, rich or you know scripture, rich music that you could just turn on in the background and get that vibe. You both strike me too as like high feeler type of people. Is that accurate? Like?
Speaker 2:I actually know um. I am very well, are you more?
Speaker 3:analytical.
Speaker 1:So I am definitely more analytical, but I also have that kind of um I don't know what the right word you know softer side and I think my emotional intelligence is, you know, higher because of you know kind of how I was raised and things like that.
Speaker 2:Hormones completely took me by surprise, because I was the type of person who was like very even keel, like very kind of, maybe type A a little bit. And then when I had kids, I was like what are these things? I'm feeling, I didn't know. I felt like this, so I've become more feeling as a mom, like he literally was, like where did my wife go?
Speaker 1:Where did you take her? I need her back.
Speaker 3:So for me, I'm like a high field person, so like if I have a friend who's going through something, like a high field person. So like if I have a friend who's going through something like it's I, I feel like I, I am more likely to cry from somebody else's story than I am something happening in my own life.
Speaker 3:And so if a friend tells me something that is really hard, like I'll think about that Like the whole next day, it just like pops up and like over and over. It was really encouraging to me and I don't know, with the more analytical way y'all are, if this will help or be encouraging at all or not. But, um, like there was a verse that talked about, like, how the spirit intercedes for us to the father and I'm like, oh, groanings are not words. Like I had this idea, like I had to think words to God in order to pray, Cause like that's how I was doing it in group context.
Speaker 3:If the father can hear the spirit's groanings, that is prayer. Like can he hear my groanings and like, see how overwhelmed I am for my friend's situation? And like, when I don't have words to even know what to say about this, to turn like with, since the spirit lives inside of me, can he turn that to prayer? And I feel like a different level of my faith. Um, happened when I realized like I didn't have to use, like all the right churchy words to God either.
Speaker 2:I remember that very distinctly after our miscarriage. I remember just sitting there and crying with the Bible open on my lap, and I remember that very distinctly after our miscarriage. I remember just sitting there and crying with the Bible open on my lap, and I'm like I can't even read right now, let alone pray Cause. But I remember thinking that verse though, where I was like I don't need to, like God knows what is going on, he knows what I need, he knows that I desire to have his help, and I just kind of like sat there and basked in that. So I know exactly what you're talking about and it is very powerful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and like your comment about churchy things. Yeah, I mean it can become very like pharisaical. You know where you have to like check these boxes, or you have to say these words or whatever. Right.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like yes, love it, I love that. Uh, you shared that because it is um, yeah, I, I would say, in general, I feel way less than I should.
Speaker 1:And you know just um one thing I cause I will like when I'm driving, when I'm, you know, by myself, I never, ever listen to music. I'm always trying to learn, I'm always trying to, you know, listen to audio books or read books or, you know, listen to podcasts, things like that, and sometimes I like I'll just stop myself and I'm like I need some music, I need some emotion brought into my life and and then, like you said, I need some emotion brought into my life and then, like you said, as you're praying that just raw emotion can be so powerful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I pray regularly that God will give me more empathy and more compassion, because I know that I parent better when I can think about things like from my kids' perspective, or just realizing that, I mean, I'm a sinner just like they are, you know, and I need Jesus just as much as they do you know, and so, like I said, that's something that I actually pray more for in my own life, so that I can just become more like Christ.
Speaker 2:You know, because he took compassion. He looked under the field and it was white, as with harvest, and he had compassion unto these people. You know, like he saw that they were hungry and that they needed food and took compassion on them and, yeah, like I just he was moved with compassion.
Speaker 1:He was moved with yeah, yeah, yeah, usually the bible um I can't say every time, but um most times when the bible talks about compassion it literally uses the phrase moved with compassion so there is is like an action that's involved in that. Yeah, it's really good yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh man. Well, this was good. It's like I am yeah. I have enjoyed chatting with you and I hope that you know the people who were able to listen in on this conversation are able just to feel encouraged, not only like, maybe, if they're homeschoolers, with their upcoming school year, but if they aren't just able to continue to grow in their faith and just to know that there are men and women out you at all and um, and so it's always fun to meet new people and to learn a little bit, uh, about other people.
Speaker 1:But, um, did you have any um list or certain things that you wanted to? You know, get out, I guess, during this podcast or share?
Speaker 2:Or do you have a book that you've been reading that you want to share?
Speaker 3:Yeah, A book I've been reading. Oh, let reading. Oh, let's see. I'm trying to think like are you, would you like a novel or a non-fiction, whatever?
Speaker 1:I would say both yeah, whatever you want to share.
Speaker 3:Okay, so we just finished. Um, we just finished. Runner in the sun um for school it was. It's in the alveary. It might come up at some point. I found that out after like it was part of my research last year, but it is such a fun story. It's about this boy they live in like the Pueblo type houses, like in the cliffs, and like he takes a trip down to South America, and the boys were laughing and gasping in horror at this kid's adventures, and so that one was kind of fun Non-fiction, though.
Speaker 3:I just picked up the Goldsworth trilogy. Okay, she's chunky. My favorite Bible teacher is Nancy Guthrie, and I've been to her biblical theology workshop a couple of times and both times she's mentioned this book, and I just love the way she teaches the Bible, and so I was like, if that's the one that impacted her most, I think I need to get myself a copy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if it worked for her, it's got to work for you, right, yeah, I mean, I don't know about that, but we'll see what we can learn.
Speaker 3:So that's what is currently on the nightstand.
Speaker 2:It's currently on the nightstand oh awesome. Well, thanks for sharing that, but I think we're kind of running out of time because we got to go pick our kids up, but this has been great, so thank you for joining us, maybe we'll have to have a part two.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because I don't want to put an end to something that's good, but, like you said, we have to pick them up from youth group in a while.
Speaker 2:Yeah, awesome, awesome, all right, Well, I guess we'll close with that. So until next time, we want to encourage you to seek God, love your spouse, hug your kids and stay devoted. Thank you for tuning in to this Devoted Life podcast with James and Shanda. We appreciate your support in sharing biblical, uplifting truths with the world. If you found value in this episode, please leave us a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback helps us to improve the show and we'd love to hear from you. Be sure to hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. To learn more about how to live a life devoted to God and family, head over to thisdevotedlifecom. You can also follow me, shanda, on Instagram at devoted underscore motherhood. Thank you again for listening and we look forward to seeing you next time on this Devoted Life podcast.