What Even Is This?

In the debut episode of the Latecomers Homeschool Podcast, host Katy introduces herself as a homeschool mom, shares her family's journey from public charter school to homeschooling, and outlines her vision for the podcast. Katy discusses her background, the reasons behind their decision to homeschool, and reassures listeners that this space is for everyone curious about homeschooling, regardless of where their children currently attend school. She aims to provide information, resources, and a welcoming community for those exploring or starting late with homeschooling. Katy also introduces a segment called 'Homeschool Word of the Day.'

Transcript

 Hi, welcome to the latecomers podcast. This is our very first episode.  I'm really pumped.  My name is Katy. I am a homeschool mom.  And every time that I say I'm a homeschool mom, I think about Amy Puller's character in mean girls. And she's like, I'm not a regular mom girls. I'm a cool mom. Um, so just know that that's playing in my head.

Right now. Uh, but we're here today because  I, 

anyway, so on this first podcast, I'm going to let you know, like, what even is this? What is this thing? Who even are you? And why do I even care? Um, so we're going to dive into all of that. 

First things first, like I said, my name is Katy. I'm married to Austin. We live in Fort Worth, Texas, and we have three kids. They're all middle school age. So sixth, seventh, eighth grade, we had our kids really close together. Um, and we did regular school. We were at a charter school, but it was like a a free public charter school.

Um, we were at a charter school from day one of kindergarten and for my oldest, it was day one of kindergarten through, um, until Christmas break of his seventh grade year.  Um, my daughter was in sixth grade when we pulled her over Christmas break and then our youngest son,  um, completed that year. So his, Two older siblings came home.

He was not yet in middle school. He was finishing his last year at the elementary school, which we really loved and  wanted to keep going with, wanted to let him finish out some of those big milestones that you look forward to. Um, when you're looking ahead and you see, you know, the big kids doing big kid stuff and like graduations and special parties and getting special privileges and, you know, all those types of things.

And we all know no matter what kind of schooling you had, that there is a huge shift when you get to middle school. Now, for us, that shift is one of many reasons why we started to think about other options for educating our kids. Um, I'll go more into my story on this podcast in the future. I'll go more into it probably on social media too, but.

For now, that's the basics of what you need to know as far as where I'm coming from.  We did a lot of years in the school system. I, Have such a place in my heart for public schools and for educators. I would love to see a little more reform. I would love to see more support for teachers. I would love to see more,  a lot of things change, obviously, or I wouldn't have pulled my kids home.

But just know that if you're here listening and your kids are still in school and you don't even know for sure, if you want to homeschool, please know that this, you are welcome here. This is a place for all different types of people. Um,  even though I obviously am excited about homeschool,  I feel so confident that this was the right move for our family and this is what God has for us.

Even though all of that is true, I also know that A, not everyone is called to the same things. B, not everyone can do the same things. C, it's a privilege. Like I, I totally see that you have to,  not everyone can. homeschool. Uh,  and public schools are so important for our communities. They are so, so, so important.

So please know that. Um, and with that, you probably are already seeing that this is a very different kind of homeschool podcast. Uh, this is not your typical homeschool podcast vibe, and I'm,  I love the homeschool podcasts that are out there. Some of them that are out there. I,  uh, have listened to many hours of homeschool podcasts and read a lot of things and I'm definitely more of an auditory learner.

So I've mainly listened, like if it's a book and they have an audio book, I'm checking out that audio book. But, uh,  I really. I'm so thankful for all the women who  take the time to share information and share their experiences. The only caveat being when I was looking for something,  I found little to nearly no information or experiences from people who started homeschool later in the process.

And I totally get why. I mean, I'm not an expert. Why do I have a podcast? We'll get to that, but  there was just  not much out there. The things that I did find were usually related to COVID and COVID school, which was horrible and no one wants to replicate that.  So that wasn't very helpful either when I'm listening to people talk about COVID school.

You know, it just, so here we are.  And that brings us back to what even is this? Like I've already mentioned, this is a space where I want. Everyone to feel welcome. If people are curious about what our thing is with homeschool, how we do it, or if you're curious about homeschool for yourself, I want you to feel welcome here. 

Absolutely. If you have also started homeschool with older children, I hope this place is your jam. I hope this is a community where you feel understood and where the questions that you have don't make you feel self conscious or Any of that, and we bring our own experiences. My experience is that we had, overall, we had a good experience in the school, the traditional school system.

I also know that that's not everyone's story, but I hope that if you decided to make that change later in your child's life, that this is a place for you to learn. I mean There's so much to learn in the homeschool world. So this is a place where  I'm going to share actual information and resources and things that I've learned because My personality is definitely one that I love to like research and learn everything I can learn about something before I jump in.

And I absolutely did that. And I still have so much more to learn, but I would love to share some of that actual information, actually help people feel equipped.  Also, I'll be chronicling Really transparently what it's been like for us. I know that's a, just a big question people have is what is that like when you start homeschool for the first time with tweens and teens?

So I, I actually just not with a podcast in mind just for my own, like, I don't know, but like catharsis, I recorded some just voice memos along the way of how I was feeling. Kind of checking in with how homeschool is going, how I was feeling about it, those types of things. And so I'll be pulling those from my old past voice memos and I'll also be sharing things from our current,  current life.

Um,  every once in a while, I'm really excited to occasionally have some interview style I talk to moms who are different than me. That's the goal is  you're going to hear from my perspective a lot. I love hearing other people's perspectives, even when I know I'm not. Trying to change to emulate what that person does, but I know that I'll get some nuggets.

Like I will, no matter how different we are, I will get some nuggets. If I don't get nuggets for myself, I will at least gain understanding and empathy for people who are different than me. And that's also extremely valuable. So  expect that in the future. I'm really, really excited to talk about that kind of thing.

Um, so that's what this is. It's as simple as that. It's, it's not anything crazy groundbreaking. Like I said, I'm not an expert. I'm just here to be myself and to share and, and share things that I wish someone had been sharing when I was starting out. Um,  now we'll get to the question, who even are you? So I already mentioned.

I'm Katy. I'm married to Austin. We have three middle school aged kids. We live in Texas, which is noteworthy because in Texas, as far as right now goes, we have a lot of freedom for homeschool. And I know that's not everyone's situation. I know every state is different. And some states have a lot of freedom, and some states have very little freedom, and some states have  Yeah.

There's just all different situations. So that's why I do want to mention that we live in Texas. Um,  let's see, 

I,  I already shared with you our, you know, overview of our, of our journey. I never ever planned on homeschooling. I mean,  when I meet someone new who didn't know me before I was a homeschool mom, I'm always, I always want to tell them, no, you don't understand. And like, it's easy to jump to conclusions or stereotypes. 

But I really didn't see myself homeschooling my husband would bring it up brought up the idea I think what I was pregnant with our first and I immediately shut it down Immediately shut it down For one thing to be honest I just didn't want to like that just the desire was on my heart and let me just say that  I think that is somewhat of an underrated thing in the Christian world.

Yes, sometimes God  asks us to do things that we don't have a strong desire for. But I think a lot of times, especially when it comes to a lifestyle, even if you don't selfishly have the desire, if God is calling you to something, He puts the desire for obedience to that calling in your heart and therefore there is some level of desire to follow through.

I didn't have any of that. Okay. Um, so that was the first reason that I didn't plan on homeschooling. Second reason is that I grew up in public school and I had a pretty good experience. I mean, not perfect, uh, not perfect by any means. I mean, there was definitely some things that I wouldn't want my kids to go through,  but I mean, my high school years, especially.

Middle school too, a little bit, but high school especially, I mean, I had the best best friend that anyone could have. We were like sisters. I was in the marching band. It was so fun. Um, and that's one thing that I'm sad that my kids don't have is marching band. Um, not that, I don't even know if they'd want to be in band, but.

I have some cherished memories and people in my life that I got from public school. My husband, that's not necessarily his story. So we had very different perspectives on just the experience of living through public school because we both went to public school but had very different experiences. Also, another reason why I never I literally never considered homeschool an option because my mom retired from the education system.

She was a teacher for a really long time. And then she was an elementary school librarian and she was awesome at it. My dad, when I was really young, I don't have a personal memory of this, but my dad was, um, a public school band director. I mean, this was really ingrained in me. And my parents never bashed on other ways of educating, you know, educating your kids, but because my parents are great, and my mom was a baller teacher, I just had these really rosy lenses that I was viewing the world of education through public school. 

So starting off as a young mom, that wasn't in my mind that we needed to do homeschool because I, my perspective was very,  biased.  So, and then  last, the last reason why I didn't want to homeschool or didn't plan on homeschooling, honestly, just totally straight up with you. I didn't know anything about it.

All I had was stereotypes and misconceptions that I was working from. So I just didn't know much about it. And not to mention from the people that I've talked to and what I've observed as an outsider, now insider,  I think homeschool has changed my life. A lot over the past 5, 10 years. So, I mean, I think I did have misconceptions and stereotypes in my mind, but I also know that homeschool has come a long way. 

So, those were all the things in my mind, and maybe those are some of the things in your mind. Maybe that's what's kind of holding you back is some of those things. Maybe it's just good old fashioned fear. Maybe those are factors in your mind and you're weighing that against other things and you're not sure where you're gonna land.

I mean,  I, it would mean so much to me if people were listening who weren't just homeschoolers, but they were people who were just doing what I was doing and researching and exploring your options.  So.  So that is who even am I? And then the last question I want to talk about is like, why should I even care?

 I,  I, I, 

why you should care   is because I think that as parents, sometimes we make a decision once and we're married to that decision and  it's hard to stop and know when to re evaluate and adjust and adapt. It was very hard for me. I'm not naturally a person who loves change. Whenever a change is proposed, I, it, it could be a small change.

It could be a big change. I'm probably gonna say no at first when I'm proposed with a change. And then it might take 30 seconds. It might take a year.  I'm probably eventually going to be like, okay, let's circle back and talk about that. What does it actually look like? Maybe, maybe that wouldn't be so bad. 

So I totally get that it's hard to know when to Stop and reevaluate. And so for me to make this drastic of a change in our life was a big deal and that was one of many ways that I knew that God was calling me to this because I had the desire. That's the biggest thing I tell people when people ask what made you make this change and Usually I say it was kind of death by a thousand cuts, you know, it was, it was not just one big thing, but the biggest reason is that I had such a strong desire to do it once I started learning what homeschool can be.

I wanted, I just wanted it. Like I was all in and excited. And if you knew, you know, hearing all those reasons why I had not planned on doing it when I was younger and my kids were younger and now taking this 180 where I am so thrilled about it,  that to me is major evidence of God leading my desires, God leading my path. 

So if that's where you are and you're just, Pulling that thread to see what happens next.  I'm so happy you're here.  If you've already pulled that thread and you're like, Wow, the little sweater that was the traditional school system for our family has just unraveled because now I'm all in on homeschool.

And you have older kids and you're figuring it out. I'm so pumped you're here. Let's be friends.  Please, uh, follow, make sure you're following me on social media. I would really love for that to be a place where we can make connections and build relationships and, and share all types of resources and encouragements and those types of things. 

Another thing that we are going to do on every episode  is we're going to have a homeschool word of the day, because there is so much homeschool jargon that When you start researching, you could easily feel lost because you're like, dude,  I don't know what a co op is. I don't know what twaddle is. I don't know what all these different methods of homeschool like Charlotte Mason and eclectic and classical conversation than this and that.

Like there's so many things. It's a whole new world.  So, we're gonna just do a little homeschool word of the day and we're going to, you're gonna get a My version of the definition,  but I like to think of this as like, I'm just here as your gal pal, kind of breaking it down for you.  Today's word of the day  is twaddle.

Okay, twaddle is the silliest word to me. I think it's really funny  and it's such a, Twaddle normal homeschool word, but I'm like, this is a funny word. Okay. It's just funny.  But twaddle,  here's the thing. I didn't like do this, like super big deep dive on the word,  but I'm pretty sure it is rooted in Charlotte Mason, which I will define on a future podcast.

Don't be scared. Okay. That's just a method of homeschool that is very literature based and Uh,  like, live your life,  read books, be in nature, okay? That's like, the overall vibe, and we'll dive more into it on a future episode.  So, in Charlotte Mason homeschool, um,  the word twaddle, you'll see a lot. But, All different types of homeschoolers will use that word.

Twaddle is what us public schoolers would probably call busy work.  So it's work for the sake of work. And when you were in the public school system, or private, I guess, teachers are teaching so many students.  And I get it. My mom was a teacher. Like I said, I was a substitute teacher. And.  You need to keep those kids engaged with something all the time, not just for behavior, but just to be able to keep a structure to the day. 

If you have more, if you have any children, I was going to say if you have more than one, but I mean, really, if you have any children, but especially if you have multiples or if you have a big family, you know that if mom gets distracted, if mom gets on the phone, On a phone call, on Instagram, whatever.

She's distracted and the kids have five minutes a piece. It's going to take you an hour to get them back to whatever it was, whether it's chores, whether it was working on a project, practicing for a sport, it doesn't matter. That five minutes is going to cost you an hour.  Okay? So at.  school can't be having that happen with a teacher in a classroom with 20 kids or more. 

So it's just kind of constant little worksheets and little things to do and keeping you busy and it's not necessarily  vital to  the comprehension  or retention of what they're learning.  So it's, it's, it's. It's just kind of getting reps in, getting reps in, okay? So, homeschool,  this world, very anti twaddle.

Very anti twaddle. Twaddle's a bad word, man. Like, don't do twaddle. And, twaddle, maybe, sometimes, I feel like,  it can even come off a little condescending.  Um, of like, yeah, we don't, we're not gonna do twaddle.  Um, yeah. But I mean, once you start homeschooling, you, you see how if you get into the busy work, into the twaddle,  you'll like lose your kids, um, for that school day because  it's more about quality than quantity   with homeschool.

So with  A classroom setting you're trying to get those reps in. So if you think about it from, like, a weightlifting point of view, which I'm sure everyone on here is a bodybuilder, right? So you totally get this analogy, um, if you think about it from that, uh, like that metaphor. Okay. So one approach. is you could lift lighter weights.

You could do 20 reps of a weight that's not like super duper heavy or you could do 5 or 10 reps of a weight that's really heavy.  Both things are capable  growing muscle. Both things are capable of getting you to your goal.  So my perspective on twaddle is that in the classroom, there's a place for it. In homeschool, there's really not.

Um, you really want to go for like, you want to do less reps, heavier weight. You know, you want it to be like quality, less quantity of time, less quantity of like worksheets type of things. Not that you won't do any worksheets, but  that's just my two cents about twaddle. But now you know what it is.  At least you know what it is well enough that if someone, if you go to like a homeschool conference and somebody mentions twaddle, you're not like, What are you talking about?

Okay, so that was your first homeschool word of the day. Thank you guys so much for being here. I cannot tell you how much it means to me. If you even mildly liked this podcast, and you're curious what is gonna happen next on here, please like and rate the podcast on your podcast platform. Um, I Make sure you subscribe so that you automatically are getting new episodes or else, let's be honest, you're going to forget.

You're not going to remember to come, like, look for this again.  And then the biggest thing that would help so much, I'd be so grateful for, is if you would share about this on your social media.  That would mean the world to me. Nothing is as flattering as a recommendation to your friend. I mean, that,  That's we all live off friend recommendations.

That's basically what Instagram influencers are, right? Cause we don't want to buy something without someone telling us they've tried it on.  So  thank you guys so much. Make sure you like, and subscribe to the latecomers homeschool podcast today, and we'll catch you next time.