Well This Wasn't The Plan!

2. Bring On The Kids!!! Here's What the Kids Think About Homeschool

• Carson and Teran Sands • Episode 2

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What happens when three kids convince their full-time working parents to homeschool them? Our family is about to find out.

When our 10-year-old daughter first suggested homeschooling over a year ago, we responded with an emphatic "No way!" As two parents juggling demanding careers, taking on the role of teachers seemed completely unfeasible. But as we listened to our children's experiences in public school, something shifted in our perspective.

Their excitement about learning beyond worksheets—about sleeping in rather than rushing through chaotic mornings—convinced us to take this unexpected leap.

This podcast documents our family's real-time journey into homeschooling. We're sharing everything honestly: the triumphs, the struggles, and yes, those inevitable moments when math problems cause frustration or when siblings test each other's patience. We're learning to expect the unexpected, navigating this new territory together, and discovering what education can look like when tailored to our children's curiosity and learning styles.

If you're enjoying the podcast, we'd love if you'd share it with someone else who might connect with our story!

Speaker 1:

I would probably say that you get to be around your family a lot, probably go visit your grandparents, and things that you wouldn't get to do if you're at school, because usually people do sports and stuff. So on the weekends, when you're not at school, you have sports to do, so then you won't be able to do all the stuff you would do at home. That's why kids are like oh my gosh, I'm so excited for the summer. They don't realize that they don't like school. I mean, they're always like I love school so much, I can't wait to go. But then, like every day, they're like mom, can we not go to school today? And but they don't really realize that.

Speaker 3:

But in the summer they're always like, yes, we're two full-time working parents who just made a crazy decision.

Speaker 2:

After four years in public school, we're homeschooling our three kids and documenting the whole thing.

Speaker 3:

Never in a million years did I think we would be homeschool people.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to well, this wasn't the plan podcast.

Speaker 1:

I'm Slate and school's in the kitchen. Now I'm Scotty. We say start. When I say so, I'm Sailor and this whole podcast was my idea.

Speaker 2:

This podcast is our real-time journey, unexpectedly juggling homeschool jobs, parenting and everything in between.

Speaker 3:

Follow along each week as we document how it's going and share the good, the bad and the ugly, because we know some days are going to be ugly and we're not holding back.

Speaker 2:

We're learning to expect the unexpected, so let's get into it.

Speaker 3:

Let's go let's get into it. So we've talked about our decision to homeschool and what we think it will be like and what we think maybe won't be so good. But now it's time to bring on the kids and hear what they have to say about homeschooling.

Speaker 2:

This episode will be a little bit less polished. You know, what we want to hear is what the kids really think. So there's no script, there's no anything like that. That's how we want most of these episodes to be.

Speaker 3:

So, and a few people had mentioned to me that, or they implied that we were forcing the kids to homeschool. So I thought this episode was really important, just so that you could hear from the kids what they think about it, so that people aren't assuming that we're ripping them out of school and forcing them to homeschool, because that's not the case.

Speaker 2:

Oh yes, we're forcing them to have us become unpaid teachers. That was definitely the plan.

Speaker 3:

Because we all know it would be easier to just send them to school. But we can break that all apart in a different episode. This episode is all about the kids, so we have some questions to ask them. We're going to introduce you to everybody, and just be mindful that it's kids. They're moving around a lot and it's going to be a little crazy. So, for the first time ever, we're going to introduce the kids. We have Sailor. She's our oldest, she's 10 and she would be going into the fourth grade. We have Slate, who's seven, and he would be going into second grade next year. And then our youngest is Scotland, who goes by Scotty pretty much all the time, and she is five, about to turn six, and she would be going into first grade. So I wanted to start this off by giving a little credit to Sailor. So it was all her idea to have a podcast. So, sailor, why did you think it would be a good idea to have a homeschool podcast or a family podcast where we all talk about homeschooling?

Speaker 1:

I just really thought that if kids about our age would listen to the podcast, they would think that, oh, I really think that homeschooling might be good for our family and they'll start to like think about what else they want to learn other than like the regular stuff in school, like math and reading right.

Speaker 3:

I think that's cool. So you are actually the first person that in this whole family that ever said the word homeschooling and it was your idea that we would do it. And do you remember how me and dad were like, no, we're not homeschooling you.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, I was. I was like I think that's going to happen.

Speaker 3:

We were like no say, there, we have a full time job. Like how are we going to homeschool you? And this was, you know, at least a year and a half ago, if not more, and we thought it was just this crazy idea. But sailor really wanted to homeschool. And then fast forward all these months later. Not only are we homeschooling and we're doing what you said, but we're having a podcast, because you had the idea to have a podcast. So what are your hopes for this podcast, what do you want to happen with it and what do you want us to talk about?

Speaker 1:

I want all the parents and kids to want to start homeschooling, because you can learn other things. That's not just something you would learn when you're older, something that's really important. So when you start driving, driving then you can go places by yourself. You know how to get around in the airport and know how to cook, so then you'll know things.

Speaker 3:

So when you're older, something that we talk about all the time in this family is life skills. We tell them taylor, you have to do your laundry, because you're going to need to know that. Or when we travel, we make sure that we let them be in on it so that they're learning. So what you're talking about is learning all the things that you don't get at school, and it's kind of hard for us to teach you that whenever we have you in school eight hours a day. So here we are. We are doing the podcast. That was all your idea, and I think that it's going to be a really good way for us all to sit down as a family and talk about how it's going, because, let's be honest, you're not going to love homeschooling every day, but did you love going to school every day?

Speaker 1:

No, not really. I thought it was the same thing every day and I mean there was nothing that really happened, Right?

Speaker 3:

So there's going to really happened, right. So there's going to be some good days. There are going to be some bad days where you're like, oh, I hate homeschooling, I want to go back to school, and we're just going to talk about it and we're going to use these podcast episodes to check in every single week and then let's talk about. What you had said about the podcast was that you really are interested in learning how to do Canva and how to edit the podcast, which I thought was cool.

Speaker 1:

When I started to tell my mom and dad about homeschooling, I didn't really know what it was about. I just thought it was the same thing at school. I mean, we would have everything that we did at school, except for, you know, we would not have to wake up early. I thought we would do school all day. I didn't think we would learn how to cook or navigate ourselves in the airport. I didn't think about that stuff. I just thought I would be home all the time and we would still get a lot of stuff. I just didn't really know what it was.

Speaker 3:

So you thought you would just be doing basically your same day at school, but you would do it at home.

Speaker 1:

Yes, but I still really thought it was a good idea, and now I think it's even better.

Speaker 3:

So you think it's even better now that we're not really going to be sitting down doing schoolwork for that many hours and we're going to get to do things that maybe you pick out. So if there's something you want to learn, you get to do it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Now we want to hear from some of the other kids and while we did say this is not scripted it's not we did give the kids these questions in advance, just so they could spend some time thinking about it and come up with some good answers. But we haven't heard these answers. So I warn you you might hear something crazy. All right, slate, tell us your name and how old you are, and one thing you like to do when you're not in school my name's Slate.

Speaker 1:

I'm seven years old, and when I'm not at school, I love to read okay, what do you like to read? I like to read um Dave Billy. Books are really funny and and the dog main ones have lots of action.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, what else does he write?

Speaker 1:

He writes Cat Kid Comic Club and Captain Underpants, and he also writes Super Diaper Baby. They're all really funny.

Speaker 2:

They do sound really funny. How did you feel about public school?

Speaker 1:

I felt very bad. I hated it because I didn't learn anything, because I was way above everybody else in a lot of the subjects.

Speaker 2:

Oh, okay, that is true, though you were advanced projects. Oh, okay, that is true, though you were advanced, and so you know, when you were sitting there and they were teaching the rest of the class the things they needed to learn, they were things that you already knew. So did you think that was kind of boring?

Speaker 1:

Yes, everything I basically did was sit and write down stuff.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that does sound boring. I had that same experience when I was in school and, unfortunately for me, homeschool wasn't really an option, but I do understand that pain. What was something that you did like about public school? What was your favorite thing? Pe, pe, yeah, that's a good one. I bet a lot of kids feel the same way. Okay, so was there anything that was hard in school?

Speaker 1:

Well, our teacher made us color a lot.

Speaker 2:

Do you like to color?

Speaker 1:

No.

Speaker 2:

I didn't like to color either, and that was one of my least favorite things about school. I'm not an artist, don't want to be an artist, and I really didn't want to spend an hour coloring. So is there anything that you'll miss from your old school?

Speaker 1:

My friends. They're really nice. The one that I'm going to miss most of all is Grace and Gentry.

Speaker 2:

Oh, that's nice. So what do you think homeschooling will be like?

Speaker 1:

I think I'm going to have really fun.

Speaker 2:

So tell me something that you're excited about and something that you're nervous about for homeschooling.

Speaker 1:

I'm really excited about that. We're going to learn to cook, because I love eating.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, me too. I love to eat and I like to cook. You've already been helping me cook, and now we'll have a lot more time for that. But what's something you're nervous about? I'm not nervous about anything, really. Oh, that's good. Okay, I like the confidence. Is there anything that is surprising to you?

Speaker 1:

That it's only two hours.

Speaker 2:

That's true. At least that's our plan. We think we can get it all done in that amount of time. Of course, if y'all are uh, right now, y'all are all at the top of your class for math and reading and all those things, and we're going to keep up with all the map testing to make sure that you stay that way. So if we need to spend a little bit more time to keep you there, then we will. If not, then we won't.

Speaker 3:

Okay, Scotty B, are you ready to talk?

Speaker 1:

Yes, okay, tell everybody your name and tell them how old you are.

Speaker 3:

My name is Scotty and I'm five. Can you tell us about school? Did you like school?

Speaker 1:

No.

Speaker 3:

You didn't. What did you not like about school?

Speaker 1:

That we had the color and like it took a lot of time to like make sure it's the right color and sometimes you think it's the wrong color.

Speaker 3:

Okay, so a lot of coloring. Same with Slate, which I understand because you're at school for a really long time, and whenever other kids are being taught something, then the other kids need to sit and do something. So when you're in kindergarten and first grade, unfortunately that's a lot of coloring, right? Yes, can you tell me what you're most excited about when it comes to homeschooling?

Speaker 1:

I'm excited to cook because I wanted to know how to cook, because it looks like fun.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so one of the things we've been talking about with the kids is that we're going to cook a lot at homeschool, so they're going to take turns cooking the meals with us. So in the morning when we have breakfast, maybe Sailor will do it on one day and then she'll help and get to like learn that, and then the next day slate will help me and the next day scotty will help me, and then we'll just have one kid in the kitchen for all meals so that they can slowly learn all the things all I'm like only one person, the same person every single time yeah, so one person will get to cook for the day with me or dad, and we've just learned that getting all the kids in the kitchen at the same time is just too much chaos.

Speaker 3:

Lately what we've been doing is letting one kid help at a time, but sometimes that just doesn't happen, especially during the school year. You know we're in a hurry or we're at sports or whatever, so we're all looking forward to them being able to cook with us a lot more often so they can learn lots of things. Are you excited that in homeschool you get to be outside a lot? Yes, what do you like to do outside?

Speaker 1:

I like, like, if you have a playground and I like to like go on the monkey boys and like do them a lot of times if you have some.

Speaker 3:

What's something that you think that you'll miss from school when you're homeschooled?

Speaker 1:

I'm gonna miss my teacher and my friends.

Speaker 3:

You loved your teacher this year and it was really hard to say goodbye to her and you had a really good friend. But we will definitely be doing things to make some new friends.

Speaker 2:

Now you got to hear from Saylor a little bit earlier, but we want to circle back around to her. So, Saylor, tell everyone your name, how old you are and one thing you like to do when you're not in school.

Speaker 1:

My name is Saylor. I'm 10 years old. I like to do gymnastics and competitive cheer when I'm not at school.

Speaker 2:

So tell me how you felt about public school.

Speaker 1:

I did not like it at all because I had to wake up early, non-stop work and we did not go outside very often.

Speaker 2:

I remember you telling me about that, not just non-stop work, but repetitive work, doing worksheets on the same topic over and over.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that was a little bit getting. That was getting really boring actually.

Speaker 2:

I think for some kids it might be necessary. Repetition might be important for some people to learn.

Speaker 1:

But they should go to like other classes.

Speaker 2:

Maybe so For the kids that don't need the repetition, it can be painfully boring. What was your favorite thing about public school?

Speaker 1:

boring. What was your favorite thing about public school? I liked field day and talent show and field trips and I just really liked learning about science because we didn't do lots of worksheets on science, so then there was like lots of different things.

Speaker 2:

So it sounds like all the things that you liked were things that are outside the norm of actual school Field day it's a day that's different from all the other days. Or Field day it's a day that's different from all the other days. Or talent show day it's another day that's different from all the days. And then science it was the one thing that you actually did some science experiments and got to do some hands-on learning. So it sounds like that's the reason. Yes, maybe more than anybody. It sounds like standard schooling is not really your cup of tea.

Speaker 1:

No, not really.

Speaker 2:

Now that's not to say you didn't do. Well, tell everybody did you get? What kind of grades did you get?

Speaker 1:

I got A's Sometimes I mean sometimes I just wasn't paying attention and I got B's.

Speaker 2:

On papers, but on your report cards. What did you get, oh?

Speaker 1:

all A's.

Speaker 2:

All four years that you were in elementary school, straight as yeah all, as that's right Every year. And not only that, but what other award did you win?

Speaker 1:

I got the Accelerated Reader Award because I had the most AR points.

Speaker 2:

The most in your class. No, the most in your grade.

Speaker 1:

No.

Speaker 2:

The most in the class? No, the most in your grade. No, the most in the whole school. Yes, okay, now I'm not just saying that just to brag on my kid, or maybe a little bit, but also I just want to point out that this isn't a kid that is doing badly in school or that struggles with learning. This is a kid that is excelling in the school, at the top of her class, making straight A's, and the number one reader in the school at the top of her class, making straight A's and the number one reader in the school, and you know, it's just the way that some of these things are set up.

Speaker 1:

Okay, you want to. You want to tell people how many AR points you got? Yeah, I got 270 points.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome, that is a lot of. That was a lot of Harry Potter books, a lot of babysitter club books. But hey, a lot of that was a lot of Harry Potter books, a lot of babysitter club books. But hey, we'll get more into that later, when we do our book club and say there, you know, you actually liked all your teachers too, right?

Speaker 1:

So I miss them so much.

Speaker 2:

Okay. So you see, this isn't a problem with the teachers. We were at a great school. She had great teachers that she really likes. It's the. It's the system. The system is the problem. It's what they make the teachers do.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I totally agree. It's definitely not the teachers. We've had some amazing teachers and we don't want this podcast to come off like we dislike the teachers.

Speaker 1:

I want to shout out to my two third grade teachers I had were Miss Perry was my reading and social studies and I had Miss Underwood for my math and science.

Speaker 3:

And we love them and they are amazing people and amazing teachers. But one thing I did want to say we all are talking about reading. I wanted to touch on this how much time did you spend at school reading?

Speaker 1:

Not a lot. I mean we like did some reading things to help us be able to read better, but we never really like read stories in books. I mean we mostly just did worksheets on books basically, which was not fun.

Speaker 3:

So out of those points that you had to read the books and take the test on for AR, you weren't actually reading at school. All of that had to be done at home, right, right. So that is another kind of big problem we had is that our kids love reading. We put a lot of work into making sure that they love to read because it's so important, but really they have to do all of this outside of school whenever there's only a tiny bit of time left in the day.

Speaker 1:

I wasn't the only one reading Accelerated Reader. My amazing brother has a few things to say about his AR points. I wasn't just the most in my class but the most in my grade. But the most in my grade. The principal was very surprised to see that I had over 100 points.

Speaker 3:

I had 109.5 and that's really impressive for a first grader bud. A lot of first graders are still working on learning to read and you read a lot of books. We're so proud of you.

Speaker 2:

Okay, let's ask Slade another one, because I actually peeked ahead at his answer on this one just a second ago and I really want to get this one in there.

Speaker 3:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

So, slade, what are? And we did not tell him to say this, he came up with this on his own. What are your hopes for homeschool?

Speaker 1:

Basically. So skip ahead grades because it doesn't matter about your age, it matters how smart you are, basically.

Speaker 2:

Now I think the reason Slate knows about that as a possibility is just because, like Sailor mentioned earlier, I think they were a little bit afraid that homeschool was going to be basically the same thing, except just at home, and so I was trying to tell them how. No, if you get all of the material down that a second grader needs to know, even if it's only the first semester, then we'll move on to third grade material and we'll just keep going until we get to something that's hard, and so you won't be wasting your time doing worksheets on the same thing that you already understand and he was really excited about that, so excited about being able to move on when they have a concept and just move on to something else.

Speaker 3:

All right, the last question for slate. If you were going to tell other kids about homeschooling, how would you explain it to them?

Speaker 1:

I would say that it's very fun because you can sleep in only two hours and not a lot of worksheets.

Speaker 3:

I like it All. Right, Scotty, are you ready for some more questions? If you could tell other kids who don't know about homeschooling what it's like, what would you say?

Speaker 1:

schooling what it's like. What would you say that like you should be homeschooled and and you should have more fun and not to sit around doing worksheets every single day going to school and you want to get to sleep in. You'd have to get ready so much times it's true.

Speaker 3:

Are you looking forward to sleeping in and not being rushed every morning?

Speaker 1:

yes, I don't really like being like waked up early. It's not very like fail, because because you have to like wake up and you're still tired and like you don't want to get just right away because you're still tired and you feel like you don't know what you're gonna wear and like you don't want to get dressed right away because you're too tired and you feel like you don't know what you're gonna wear and like you're too tired to get stuff it's.

Speaker 3:

It's kind of hard in the morning when you're waking everybody up and me and dad are like go go, go, go go because we don't want to be late, right, and you're ready to not do that every day. Yes, you can sleep in a little bit and then start school, whenever you wake up.

Speaker 1:

Yep, and it's really. It's really. I'm really glad now because we get to sleep in. It's not only like the whole day and like so much hours, but it's only two hours.

Speaker 3:

Yes, school will be a lot shorter and it's more fun. Exactly Okay, Sailor, tell me what you're most excited about when it comes to homeschooling.

Speaker 1:

I'm just really excited to sleep in, like Scotty said, and I'm excited that well, in the mornings, when you wake up, mom and dad will be working until like 10. So then you won't, when you start doing work, you won't be so tired and you won't be like, oh my gosh, I forgot this question because I'm so tired in the morning and I'm just really excited to go on all the vacations, because people won't be at the airport when it's school time, because most people go to school.

Speaker 3:

That's true. Is there anything that you're nervous about?

Speaker 1:

I'm not nervous at all. I'm mostly excited, awesome.

Speaker 3:

I like that. I like that answer. So Sailor mentioned that we've already talked about our schedule plan and you guys know that me and dad have to work in the morning, right yeah? And what are you going to be doing in the morning whenever we're working till 10?

Speaker 1:

so right now I've been like not really sleeping in. I've been kind of waking up, like what we've been at school, since it's still summer, but I think I'll probably sleep in a lot, probably just like wake up, listen to my audiobook color, maybe read. Maybe, if Scott and Slay are awake, we can like play quiet game yeah, so well, that sounds like an amazing morning, does that sound?

Speaker 3:

way better does that sound way better than rushing out the door every day? Um, yeah, of course it does. I was kind of feeling like and you said this to me once that the only time we had together was in the morning, when we're yelling at you guys, come on, come on, come on, let's go.

Speaker 1:

And then at night when we're saying it's bedtime, it's bedtime, it's bedtime yeah, I say that actually a lot after schools and and I'm so glad that it's summer now, because I mean school is just not our thing it's not our thing.

Speaker 3:

We're not having to rush you to go do anything. You just get to wake up, listen to your audiobook, relax, like maybe go outside play a game with your brother and your sister. That sounds like an amazing morning.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah.

Speaker 3:

Oh yeah. So we've talked a lot about how homeschooling will look and our plans for it. Is there anything that surprises you about our plans and our hopes and dreams about homeschooling?

Speaker 1:

Not really. I'm just surprised that you and dad were like, okay, let's just start homeschooling, because at the first part of the year we were not thinking about that.

Speaker 3:

No, I told you absolutely not. I also said that once you wore me down a little bit I said maybe when Scotty could read, and that would be like a little bit down the road.

Speaker 1:

But we started this reading lesson thing and she got me to be able to read.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, she can read now for sure. I just it's really easy for you and Slate to sit down and do like a worksheet because you already have you can read. You can read the worksheet. You can do simple math, like it's really easy to help you guys do a worksheet because we've done some summer ones and stuff.

Speaker 1:

But when you can't read, scotty needs a lot of help right now yeah, and then you can't really like if we're homeschooled and then we're all doing our own worksheets same, not the same level, you know. Yeah, and scotty doesn't know how to read and she's like Sailor or Slate. Can you tell me what this says? And I'll be like Scotty I'm trying to do what I'm supposed to do and then we'll never get it done, right?

Speaker 3:

So that was one of my reasons. Was that? No, if we were to ever homeschool which I was like we're not, we're ever homeschool which I was like we're not, we're not homeschooling it would have to be once all of you guys would be able to do some of it on your own?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, but you weren't for sure at all at that point. You were like, even if we would read? I was like you're probably going to say no, Even if we could read.

Speaker 3:

I said no. Like a hundred times, we were like nope. And here we are on our homeschool podcast. So if you could plan out your dream school day, what would it look like? What would you do?

Speaker 1:

Probably a lot like homeschooling, probably like not that much works. We would go outside for most of the day and when I went into third grade it was a lot different from second grade, like we did not play or did anything like that, it was just like worksheets, worksheets, worksheets all day. And we would always be so happy when it's time for like lunch or on recess, when we get like a few minutes outside. And sometimes it wasn't the best weather because you know like at Christmas time we weren always there, but it would be too cold and sometimes it was too hot or windy and it's pretty strict because the school is always like it has to be below 90 degrees or we can't go outside.

Speaker 3:

Right, they have some pretty strict guidelines. I don't know what it is actually on paper, on what it is, but what you actually did, y'all didn't go outside a lot. Simply, y'all didn't go outside a lot. Simply, y'all didn't go outside a lot. And so what I'm hearing is a perfect day for you would be to learn a little bit, but not eight hours, yeah, and to be outside a lot of your day. That would make you happy, I still want to learn a lot.

Speaker 1:

I mean there's like so much things in life to learn, but I mean I don't really want to learn a lot. I mean there's like so much things in life to learn, but I mean I don't really want to. You know what you said I don't want to learn for eight hours.

Speaker 3:

You don't want to sit at a table for eight hours, but what if you went?

Speaker 1:

We can learn outside, Like learn about animals and nature for science, and then we could actually if our teachers were like okay, let's do a worksheet.

Speaker 3:

We could go outside in the butterfly garden and do it outside. That would be actually really nice. Yes, if you can't tell, sailor has a lot of energy and you know she's in third grade. She still want you still want to play you want to go outside, you want to do recess and you want to, you know, get your wiggles out and it's hard to sit for that long. It's not fun.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'm really crazy a lot.

Speaker 3:

So your perfect day would be you get to get a lot of energy out and you get to learn a lot of things, and the learning might not be sitting at a desk, it might be traveling, it might be going to the science museum, it might be going to the park, all kinds of stuff.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I feel like maybe every week we'd have a field trip to like go to a museum or like a park or something.

Speaker 1:

That would be something to learn at, like if we went to a fossil dinosaur fossil museum or there could be, like, different fossils and stuff there, or could be history, because history is not my thing I do not like history, but I think it would be fun if we, like went to a museum and read, read all the signs and looked at the cool stuff and the videos on those little posters I think are cool because they, like show you what it actually looks like yeah, I think that's awesome idea.

Speaker 3:

There's no reason, when you're homeschooling, that you can't do a field trip every week. Now that might mean field trips to different places, but everywhere you're learning something.

Speaker 1:

I feel like if we're homeschooled, we're pretty much gonna have a field trip every day, because maybe, maybe a few days in the month we might like stay home and like have a lazy day. We still like do work and stuff, but maybe have like a movie night or game night for sure.

Speaker 3:

Another thing that we're trying to do is life skills. So that's going to the bank with your dad opening up your own bank account, things like that. Those are also field trips when you're homeschooled, because you learn life lessons.

Speaker 1:

But going to the bank is not fun going to the bank is not fun.

Speaker 3:

Going to the bank is not fun, no, but do you think it's something that you need to learn to do?

Speaker 1:

No.

Speaker 3:

Okay, sailor. Last question for you today If you could tell other kids about homeschooling what it's like, how would you describe it to them?

Speaker 1:

I would probably say that you get to be around your family a lot, probably go visit your grandparents, and things that you wouldn't get to do if you're at school, because usually people do sports and stuff. So on the weekends, when you're not at school, you have sports to do, so then you won't be able to do all the stuff you would do at home. That's why kids are like oh my gosh, I'm so excited for the summer. They don't realize that they don't like school. I mean, they're always like I love school so much, I can't wait to go. But then, like every day, they're like mom, can we not go to school today? And but they don't really realize that. But in the summer they're always like, yes, yeah, I think you're right.

Speaker 3:

Kids need some downtime, time where they're not going to school and then going to camp, and then going to practice and then going to a game all week long. You need time to be a kid.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's what I meant. You're right, all right.

Speaker 2:

Those are all really good points that you made and, oh man, I have so much more, so many more thoughts about homeschool and everything that I want to share. But this episode was a lot about the kids and it's already running kind of long, so we mentioned it before the school year even started and then we talked about it all year long.

Speaker 3:

And then, by the time school is out, they were so ready to be homeschooled and so, as you can see, we've talked about it a lot. But I like documenting this because we all have these like hopes and dreams of what it will be like and hopefully we can make that happen, but also we know there will be bumps along the way.

Speaker 1:

I think that we'll have the best time ever at homeschooling.

Speaker 2:

We're going to remember that and I think you will like it better. I think there will be days that you are mad at us Because we're making you work on maybe something that's in math, that's hard and frustrating, but we're going to have to make you do it anyway and you might get annoyed with us. I'm sure I'll hear the phrase. When am I even going to use this in life a bunch of times?

Speaker 1:

For sure. Yeah, there's a lot of things that I think about that I mean sometimes when you're older you might have a job in math I mean it's a little bit of percentage because there's lots of jobs but sometimes I just think that it's not good to like know some of the things. Like in school we were learning about pickles, so in third grade, so I was like that's not a good life skill.

Speaker 3:

Well, there's a lot of things in school that we probably won't touch on as much, and that's not a good life skill. Well, there's a lot of things in school that we probably won't touch on as much, and that's actually one of the good things about homeschooling is that you can pick the things that you're focusing on what's important to you, what's important to your family. That doesn't mean that you get to skip math or history or science or any of the important things. It just means that some of that other filler stuff we get to fill with stuff that we really want to do and stuff that really excites you.

Speaker 2:

We always joke about the Johnny Appleseed thing because they always learn about Johnny Appleseed and you got to make a full hat, you know, and send it up there.

Speaker 2:

The thing is we're not picking on the teachers for doing that.

Speaker 2:

First of all, I don't even maybe they make them do it. But even if they don't, I'm sure they're just trying to find a way to split up the drudgery of the normal day-to-day stuff that they have to do with the kids, to help the kids have a little bit better time. And I can totally understand that, because people pay property taxes and a lot of people have regular jobs and some of that money is going to guarantee that you have childcare from eight to three, and but that kind of is part of what school is. For a lot of people it's not just learning, it's also childcare, and so a lot of times they're like well, we're going to fill some of the time with this other stuff.

Speaker 2:

Maybe if my kids never learned about Johnny Appleseed it wouldn't be the end of the world. Maybe it's a little bit more fun than some other lessons, but you're homeschooled. That's stuff that you can just skip and they can just go and read a book that they want to read or go do something else so we were going to thank all of the kids to wrap up the podcast.

Speaker 3:

Thank you for sitting down and talking to us today, but all we have left here is sailor. So sailor is going to help us wrap up the episode, and thank you so much, sail, for sitting here and talking to us and giving us all your homeschool wisdom.

Speaker 1:

It's only me, because the other two wanted to go play.

Speaker 3:

We've been here for a while, as you can imagine, trying to sit down with three kids and microphones and a computer. It's harder than it sounds.

Speaker 1:

I mean I am the oldest, I mean a five and a seven year old might want to go like outside or something.

Speaker 2:

And I think in future episodes we definitely want to hear from the kids. I don't know that we'll do a lot of episodes, it's all three. I think we might get a lot more useful information if we bring in different kids on different episodes. Say, there's pointing to herself yes, you will be on a lot of the episodes because it was her idea.

Speaker 2:

Sure, sure, but uh, in general, as long as you know we have the kids one-on-one, I think we they will do better. They'll enjoy it more. They liked the part where they got to talk they just didn't so much enjoy the part where other people.

Speaker 3:

This is boring For real, though. Having them sit and talk just really like fires me up about it and reminds me why we're doing this, because sometimes when we talk about it, I get a little nervous and a little scared, like what are we doing here? But hearing from them just keeps putting all of those reasons at the forefront of my mind so that I can get fired up all over again.

Speaker 1:

That means we might have to talk about it all the time, which will be good, because then you will never regret it.

Speaker 3:

Well, we're gonna be checking in weekly. So this week we might be like, yay, we love homeschooling. And next week we might be like, oh, it's the worst week ever. Mom and dad made me do all this stuff. Everyone was fighting can they go back to school? We're gonna have the good, the bad and the ugly I don't think that'll happen.

Speaker 1:

I think we'll love homeschooling and in no days we'll think it's bad. No days we'll be like I want to go to school. I mean, sometimes we might, because we might want to get away from our family a little bit, because you know all the time with your siblings and mom and dad, that's a lot sometimes we need to get.

Speaker 2:

Uh, taryn, I need you to cut out that part where she says we're gonna love it every day and send it to me as a ringtone and I'm gonna save that for every time that there's an issue are you actually gonna cut it out, mom?

Speaker 3:

no, we're gonna keep it in there, but I'm sure we'll be listening back to this episode in the next few months.

Speaker 2:

All right. Well, I think that we're getting close to the end here. Saylor, do you want to wrap us up?

Speaker 1:

If this episode made you think about something or made you smile, please send it to somebody, because they might like it too. And this was a kids podcast. So, kids, I'll see you later.

Speaker 3:

Bye, and that's a wrap the kids are eagerly awaiting their very first podcast review, so if you have a minute and you enjoyed this episode, will you please leave us a review? Thanks,