Let Me Help
Life doesn't come with a manual - but sometimes it helps to have a friend who's willing to share what's working... and what's not.
Let Me Help is where I share practical ideas, honest conversations, and encouragement for everyday women. From simplifying your home and strengthening your marriage to parenting, homeschooling, health, faith, and finding joy in the ordinary, I hope you'll leave each episode with something you can actually use - and hopefully a little more peace than when you pressed play.
I'm Ashley - a wife, homeschooler, author, and lifelong learner who's always asking, "How can I make life just a little better?" Around here, I share what I'm learning in hopes that it helps you, too. I'm glad you're here!
Let Me Help
#34: Through Her Eyes: A Conversation With My Daughter About the Life We're Living
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In this heartfelt episode, Ashley chats with her daughter Ellery about their homeschooling lifestyle, family routines, and life values. The conversation offers insights into intentional living, the importance of peace and organization, and the dreams of a young girl growing up in a close-knit family.
In This Episode:
- Homeschooling lifestyle and routines
- Family values and peace at home
- Children's dreams and future aspirations
Chapters:
00:00
Introduction and Purpose of the Conversation
01:23
Summer Excitements and Outdoor Adventures
02:10
Favorite Parts of Homeschooling and Daily Routine
03:46
Balancing Calm and Busy Days
04:54
Sleep Schedule and Weekday Routine
05:33
Family Life and Social Interactions
06:52
Living as an Only Child and Family Dynamics
07:53
Outdoor Activities and Family Bonding
08:45
Living Next to Family and Community Life
09:32
Family Peace and Home Environment
10:55
Organization and Respect for Personal Space
11:29
What Makes Her Happy and Self-Reflection
11:56
Creating a Happy Home and Chores
13:10
Mom's Love and Favorite Activities
14:10
Self-Perception and Personal Strengths
15:27
Future Dreams and Aspirations
16:17
Ideal Life and Family Goals
17:21
Dream House and Living Location
18:42
Living Close to Family and Community Benefits
19:15
What Matters Most in Life
19:28
What Makes Someone a Good Person
20:08
Advice for Other Moms and Kids
21:13
Reflections on Life and Small Moments
21:40
Closing Remarks and Life Inspiration
Let's Connect:
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If you've been listening this season, we've talked a lot about slowing down, living more intentionally, creating a life you don't need to escape from. And today I wanted to do something a little different. I want to hear from someone who is actually living inside that life with me every single day. My daughter Ellerie. Welcome to the Let Me Help Podcast, a lifestyle podcast packed with simple life hacks, organizational tips, real talk on faith and marriage, homeschooling insights, parenting encouragement, health and wellness conversations, and so much more. Whether you're busy juggling life, consumed in the chaos, or just craving some clarity, it's my intention to help make your life a little smoother. One episode at a time. Okay, guys, welcome back to the podcast. Today's episode is a really special one. And my hope for this conversation isn't that it sounds perfect, but that it feels real. Because at the end of the day, this is what all of those choices look like in real life. So, Ellery, do you want to say hello? Hi. I'm really excited for this because people get to hear me talk all the time, but they haven't heard from you in a while. So we're just gonna chat, okay? You ready for this? Yeah. Take a sip. Cheers.
SPEAKER_01Cheers.
SPEAKER_02So I have told everyone that you just turned nine. We're getting close to summer. What are you most excited about for summer?
SPEAKER_01Turtle hunting.
SPEAKER_02Turtle hunting. What do you do with turtle hunting?
SPEAKER_01Go in the boat with my cousin Drew and catch turtles. Sure.
SPEAKER_02In the pond, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Because we have a pond behind our house and it you guys like to hunt for turtles.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_02They're quick and they're hard to catch.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And he basically jumps in the pond. Yeah. For most of them.
SPEAKER_02So you and I spend a lot of time together. What's your favorite part about our days?
SPEAKER_01Learning.
SPEAKER_02Learning, which is what we call our homeschool. Right. So we've never really called it like let's sit down and do school.
SPEAKER_01We say Let's sit down and do some learning. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So what what do you like about being homeschooled? Or what's your favorite part?
SPEAKER_01To be home and where I can get to wear my pajamas until the afternoon, basically.
SPEAKER_02When you say pajamas, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_01Like comfortable clothes.
SPEAKER_02Lounge clothes.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So you wear your pajamas, but what does it look like in the morning time? You still have a routine. What do you do?
SPEAKER_01I brush my hair and brush my teeth and get some like comfortable lounge clothes on that's not quite pajamas.
SPEAKER_02Right. So for instance, right now you're wearing this adorable. Tell people what you have on right now.
SPEAKER_01I'm wearing this peach sweatsuit.
SPEAKER_02Your grandma got it for you for Easter, right? It's like a coral lounge set. It's super cute. So you still have to get dressed for the day. You don't get to just be in your jam jams all day.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Cause some people might think that homeschool kids don't have to get ready.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But we still get ready for the day.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Right? So what does a normal day look like for you?
SPEAKER_01Wake up, brush my teeth, brush my hair, get dressed, then go downstairs, get some breakfast, and then do learning and then free time.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. It's springtime, so we're gonna start to begin our mornings outside with walks, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Do you enjoy that?
SPEAKER_01Yes, I do.
SPEAKER_02I think that that really makes a difference with our learning when we first kind of wake up, get ourselves a little bit ready for the day, get some water in our systems, go for a walk, then come back in.
SPEAKER_01Do learning.
SPEAKER_02Jump into learning while we make breakfast. How about making breakfast? How's that gone this year?
SPEAKER_01Pretty good.
SPEAKER_02Because that's something kind of new and fun.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because I've started to make my own.
SPEAKER_02Yep. Make your own eggs and toast and get your fruit all cut up and everything, right? Yeah. That's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So let's see. What do you feel like your days are like? Do they feel calm? Are they busy? Are they rushed? Are they relaxed? Like how would you describe how it feels to be home?
SPEAKER_01Well, it's like some days were rushed, like yesterday, to get up, go to church, and then go to the theater for Easter and then go to grandma's. Yep. So that was kind of rushed, but most of the time it's like not that rushed. We get to sleep in.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, what time do you usually wake up? People are probably curious about our schedule.
SPEAKER_01Eight seven thirty.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you're usually up by eight. I think if you sleep past eight, that's good. Rare and it's sleeping in.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But you're probably not up usually before seven.
SPEAKER_01I'm like up seven thirty.
SPEAKER_02Probably, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Or at 7.15.
SPEAKER_02What time do you go to bed?
SPEAKER_01Like nine, but kind of 10-ish.
SPEAKER_02Yep, I'd say probably not earlier than nine, but not later than 10.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Right.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so you described Sunday being busy, but how would you describe our like Monday through Friday? The weekdays.
SPEAKER_01Monday through Friday.
SPEAKER_02You know, the days that we do learning. How do you describe the feeling of those days?
SPEAKER_01Friday's not that rushed, but we do have my cousin over for learning. So it's like fun. It's like one of the funner days for learning. Um, and the other days are calm and fun and kind of relaxing.
SPEAKER_02We kind of have different things that we do each day, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Tuesdays you either come with and you get to do homeschool with some of your friends, right? For in Brooklyn. And there's on Fridays, we usually have um my our niece with us. So she has her cousin here. So two days out of the week, I'd say she gets to do school or homeschool with other kids. Yeah. And then I don't know, like Fridays, like we clean the house on Fridays. So that has a different, you know, we grocery shop one of the days, right? Yeah. So every day kind of has something different built into it. But we're pretty, we do pretty much stay on routine, don't we?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Do you like that about our life?
SPEAKER_01I do.
SPEAKER_02Why?
SPEAKER_01Well, it's just like not as busy as other people's lives. Like, for instance, like other people who have like public school, they have to get up really early and they're kind of rushed. So I like about our life that I can sleep in and I don't have to wake up by like seven a.m. every day.
SPEAKER_02I've had two kids get up earlier than seven to go to school.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, like six, I don't know. I've never been.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so you have always been an only child. What's that like? It's fun.
SPEAKER_01Like sometimes it's really fun to have some alone time, but sometimes it's kind of boring not to have someone to play with. So in the summertime and like late spring or early spring, I s will go to my cousins a lot more often. But it's really nice to have some peace and quiet.
SPEAKER_02So for those people who don't know, we my husband's brother lives right next door to us.
SPEAKER_01With five kids.
SPEAKER_02With five kids. And we live in the country, so we're both kind of secluded. There's like some fun woods just between our house, and the kids really enjoy outdoor life.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You know, like we already mentioned, searching for turtles in the pond and going through the woods. What are some other things that you guys like to do?
SPEAKER_01Well, my well, from the five cousins, uh, the youngest one likes to capture frogs. I don't really like frogs, they're kind of slimy and groves. I do, I will hold them sometimes though.
SPEAKER_02But you go along for the adventure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Or salamanders, yuck. But I still go on the adventures.
SPEAKER_02So they're a little bit more um crazy. I was gonna say adventurous or daring than you. But you seem to fit right in.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So do you ever wish you had your own siblings?
SPEAKER_01I do sometimes.
SPEAKER_02But you know that they'd live here with us full time, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Or we could just send them to my cousin's house.
SPEAKER_02No, that's not how that works. I think you kind of live the best of both worlds, being that we have cousins so close. Yeah. I really look at that as an answer to prayer and a godsend to probably to them and to you, because when they need a little bit of a break because they have so many siblings, they can always come over here, right? Our door is always open. This is like a second home for them where they can come and have a little bit more of a peace and quiet situation. And when you're bored here or looking for some adventure, you can always go over there and find some random stuff. Yeah, some chaos and some fun, right? What do you think our family does differently than other families that have more kids? Like, what do you see as the difference?
SPEAKER_01Peace.
SPEAKER_02Why? Do you see other like do you see big families as being chaotic?
SPEAKER_01Yes, that's really funny. For instance, my cousins.
SPEAKER_02What does it feel like to be a part of our family?
SPEAKER_01Um, happiness, love, and peace. Be quiet.
SPEAKER_02That sounds like I told you to say that to people. Why do you come up with those three things?
SPEAKER_01Because it's true.
SPEAKER_02So you keep kind of saying peace and calming in our house. Is that important to you?
SPEAKER_01Well, I feel like it's comfortable not to be like other people screaming and having a TV on the whole time.
SPEAKER_02So we do not, we really rarely turn our TV on. I mean, at nighttime we have it on when we're ready to sit down and relax and watch something, but we are not a family that has the TV on a lot. And we notice when we go to other houses, so many people keep their TV on all the time.
SPEAKER_01On like full volume. And it's kind of disrupting and annoying.
SPEAKER_02It's a lot of um, it's just a lot of noise when you're not used to it. So maybe that's a tip for some listeners. If they have chaos in their life and maybe they don't even realize that they have their TV on full blast, right? Well, pro tip, maybe just turn that down or off. What do you think is special about our family?
SPEAKER_01What I think special is Well, what do you think special is like our calming and how we like to keep our things organized? And like none of our houses are messy.
SPEAKER_02Do you like that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Do you think that you'd be like that if you had more siblings, or it'd be harder to be a little bit more organized?
SPEAKER_01Probably a little harder.
SPEAKER_02How do you feel when people come and mess with your stuff?
SPEAKER_01Um, I'm kind of annoyed.
SPEAKER_02Oh my gosh, you probably get that from me. You think you get that from me or dad? You okay. What do you love most about your life? My life? This is personal now. You don't have to think about it just me and dad and you as an only child, but just you personally. What do you love about your life?
SPEAKER_01What I like about my life is um well here, how about this?
SPEAKER_02When do you feel the happiest?
SPEAKER_01I feel the happiest around my family.
SPEAKER_02Um, what makes a home feel really good to you?
SPEAKER_01Our home or just at home?
SPEAKER_02Our home, but maybe like when you get older, when you have your own home, what will you want it to feel like?
SPEAKER_01Clean.
SPEAKER_02Clean.
SPEAKER_01Happiness, joyful.
SPEAKER_02Want people to be getting along and enjoying each other in the house and being happy about their days and their let's talk about that. What about when we have chores to do? You know, for instance, this morning we've already made breakfast, done dishes, done some learning. Um typically in the mornings I have you pick up, like clean up your room a little bit and that kind of stuff, right? What what does it feel like to have chores to do?
SPEAKER_01Well, it's like medium fun. Medium fun? Yeah, it's like not the well for me, it's not the happiest thing to do right as I wake up. But it's also pretty fun to organize my things. So like medium.
SPEAKER_02So maybe just the timing of the day?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, probably. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So it sounds like you really cherish your mornings. You don't like to be rushed and you don't want to have to jump into something right away in the morning.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So remember when I put a picture of you online and I asked people some questions that they wanted to ask?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Okay. They some people want to know what do you love most about your mom?
SPEAKER_01She loves me.
SPEAKER_02How much I love you.
SPEAKER_01And uh I just really like how much she loves me and takes care of me.
SPEAKER_02I love taking care of you. That's one of my favorite things. What's one of your favorite things that we do together?
SPEAKER_01Shopping.
SPEAKER_02Like grocery shopping or yeah, grocery shopping. What do you love about grocery shopping? Cause I love it too. I just I bet you people might think that that's kind of funny. Like, what? I love grocery shopping. Well We do.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because I get to see Auntie Kim. Mm-hmm. And I don't know, it's just fun.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I don't know, it's just really fun.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Um, how about what are some things you really like about yourself?
SPEAKER_01Do we just do this one?
SPEAKER_02No, this is that was about your life. Now this is about you.
SPEAKER_01Oh, um, what do I like about myself?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um I like how I'm a leader. And I I like my smile.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And yeah.
SPEAKER_02I love that you're a leader. That's one of my favorite things about you. What do you think you're really good at?
SPEAKER_01Uh what I think I'm really good at? What I think I'm really good at is probably I don't really know actually.
SPEAKER_02You don't? I don't.
SPEAKER_01This is actually it should be an easy question. I don't. Well, you're good at a lot of things.
SPEAKER_02I know.
SPEAKER_01I can't think of any for some reason.
SPEAKER_02When I look at you, I mean, throughout the entire time being your mom, even as a baby and as a toddler, you have always been such a good listener. You are very respectful, you follow the rules, you don't want to get yelled at. You just don't ever want to rock the boat, like make any sort of drama or problems. That's a really good thing.
SPEAKER_01And I'm terrible.
SPEAKER_02Oh, sorry, go ahead.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Um, and I'm a really bad liar, which is good.
SPEAKER_02That is good. Not she cannot tell a fib. You can see it right on her face. And I tell her that's a wonderful thing.
SPEAKER_01But for April Fool's Day it was not that great. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02She had a hard time with April Fool's Day trying to mess with us.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Future. What do you want to be when you grow up?
SPEAKER_01Like as a job or anything.
SPEAKER_00Well, for my job, I want to be a um, okay. I want to be a cashier for my job.
SPEAKER_02Because you want to scan food? Yes.
SPEAKER_00It's fun.
SPEAKER_02What else? What about when you get like older, older?
SPEAKER_01Get retired. You want to retire?
SPEAKER_02If you could do anything in the whole world, what would you do? Be cashier. No. You are thinking too small. Like you always talk about going to space, swimming with orcas, like anything in the entire world, Ellery.
SPEAKER_01Oh, that's these orcas.
SPEAKER_02Swimming with orcas?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Or having a pet orca, which is probably illegal.
SPEAKER_02I don't think you can have a pet orca, but what are some of your dreams for your life when you get older? What do you want life to look like when you're an adult?
SPEAKER_01Um, probably have a clean house and go to s like what do you mean?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, like that. What do you want your life to look like? Are you married? Do you have kids? Do you want to be a mom one day?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02How many kids do you want?
SPEAKER_01Two.
SPEAKER_02Two.
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02Uh boy and a girl, two boys. What are you thinking?
SPEAKER_01Two girls.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so you want a clean house, you want some kids. What do you want your relationship with your husband to look like?
SPEAKER_00I want him to have a job.
SPEAKER_02Yes, I hope he does. What else?
SPEAKER_00Like, I want a job like you where I can still be at home with my kids, but also still have a job.
SPEAKER_02Yes, that's a blessing. It's a blessing in my life. That would be awesome for you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02What do you want your marriage to look like though?
SPEAKER_00I don't really know how to think about that since I'm only nine.
SPEAKER_02Well, do you want to like laugh a lot with your husband? Do you want to b like build a business together? Do you see your guys, you know, traveling and working a lot, or do you see yourselves like being home and relaxed a lot?
SPEAKER_01Like oh, also one of the things that I want like to be in the whole entire world is also I want my house to kind of be like a bakery kind of.
SPEAKER_02You live in the house and then it's the bakery also?
SPEAKER_01There's like a part of my house is a bakery, but like a pe like this part would be a bakery, then up there would be actually my house.
SPEAKER_02Okay. I like that idea. Where'd you come up with that?
SPEAKER_01Um, a filter.
unknownOh.
SPEAKER_01Like when I was on your phone looking at like filters. Um, it I did one that has a job and it had me as a bakery and I'm like, I kinda wanna do that. So yeah, that's how I decide that.
SPEAKER_02Where do you want your house to be? Where do you want to live?
SPEAKER_01Up on our hill.
SPEAKER_02So explain that. People probably don't know what that means.
SPEAKER_01Um, so we have a hill and me and my cousin want to build a house on it. Or we want so like up like up the road, we have a house that has a slide built into it. So either like buy that house or build a house on top of our hill.
SPEAKER_02You want to live nice and close to us? Yes. I do. I hope that that comes true.
SPEAKER_01I hope too.
SPEAKER_02Because I I think a lot of people think it could be stressful to live next to family, but what have you found with living next to family? Fun and loving. It's fun, right? You've always got people to count on, or if you need anything, they're right next door. What do you think matters most in life?
SPEAKER_01What do I think matters? Um, like what does that mean?
SPEAKER_02Like to anybody, what's the most important part of life if you had to tell somebody?
SPEAKER_01What's the most important part that I say safe?
SPEAKER_02That you stay safe? Yes. Okay. So in your mind, safety is the most important part. Yes. You want to feel safe? What makes somebody a good person?
SPEAKER_01Believing in the Lord.
SPEAKER_02Believing in the Lord. Why would that make them a better person?
SPEAKER_00Because wait, that's a great question, actually. Well, because they get to go with the Lord, so like they can come up to heaven.
SPEAKER_02Mm-hmm. And while we're down here before we go up to heaven, as we're walking through this life, when you have a relationship with Christ, you can rely on him to have to help you make better decisions.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Right? So when we're walking with the Lord and we're confused about maybe something that we should do or not do, we can ask the Lord for guidance and he steers us in the right direction. Right? I agree with that. Yeah. Is there anything you would want other moms or kids to know? Mm-hmm that listen to this podcast. You know, a lot of people I think are just curious about our life that we are an only child family and that we homeschool. Is there anything that you want people to know about either of those things?
SPEAKER_01If you want to homeschool, homeschool.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Oh, I love that. That is so simple and it's so true. Do you know a lot of people deep down they have a desire or they're curious about homeschooling, but they don't think that they could do it. What would you tell them?
SPEAKER_01If the Lord's telling you to homeschool, you should do it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I love that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I'm not gonna lie, that got me a little emotional. But this is why I wanted to do this episode because we can talk all day long about routines. And I have been I have been talking a lot during this season of the podcast to to these women who are listening about slowing down and building a meaningful life. But at the end of the day, this is really what it looks like. You know, this is our daily routine. This is our life. And I know not every season is easy. We've had really hard seasons too. And we're in one in some ways. Right now, we're in a hard season. But I hope this conversation reminds you of something really simple and really important. The way you're living your life is shaping someone, our babies, our kids, our nieces. Our nephews, maybe our neighbors or our coworkers, people are watching and people are picking up on the way you're living your life. And that doesn't mean you have to do it perfectly. It just means that the small everyday choices, they do matter. They matter much more than you think. And I truly believe that God is present in those small ordinary moments, in the conversations, in the time together, in the life that you're building one day at a time. So I just want to thank you for being here for this season. This one meant a lot to me. Uh, we're gonna take a short little break as we bounce into spring here and enjoy a little bit of summer, but we will be back. And until then, I just want to remind you to go love your life right where you are. God has a plan for you and you are meant to live on purpose. Ellery, you want to say goodbye? Bye. Bye. Bye. Thanks for listening. I hope there was something that blessed you in today's episode. If you enjoyed it, would you take a second to subscribe to the show or leave a quick review? It helps so much. And if you know someone who could use a little boost, please share this episode with them. Until next time, take care and thanks for letting me help.