Introduction and Foundational Beliefs

We share why Educate Me Well exists and how a student-first mindset can reshape curriculum, discipline, and partnership across public, private, and homeschool settings. Faith, moral formation, and family engagement tie together with rigor, movement, and educator care.

• host background across teaching, special education leadership, and private school principalship 
• purpose for starting a faith-informed education podcast 
• curriculum rigor, mastery, and pace that fit real learners 
• moral and spiritual formation across different school contexts 
• movement, sunlight, and environment as learning supports 
• family involvement through respectful, useful conferences 
• mutual respect among staff and sustainable professional growth 
• keeping students first within laws, policies, and grants 
• hope-centered framing of student worth and future

If you have ideas for future episodes or questions you'd like me to explore, you can reach me anytime at admin@educatemewell.com and be sure to keep an eye on www.educatemewell.com

Contact Educate Me Well

• Email Tonya at admin@educatemewell.com
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• X: https://x.com/EducateMeWell
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/educate-me-well

Keep watching for the website to go live: https:www.educatemewell.com

We are just getting started! Check back for more info as we go along on our social sites. 

Thanks for listening and keep making a difference in the lives of children!

Transcript

Speaker 0:04

Welcome to Educate Me Well, the podcast that brings faith and education together. Hi, I'm Tonya, and I'm so glad you're here.

Career Background And Credentials

Why Start This Podcast

Curriculum Goals And Rigor

Faith, Morals, And School Contexts

Family Engagement And Respect

Children As The Core Focus

Public School Realities And Advocacy

Scripture And Student Worth

Closing And Listener Invitation

Speaker 1 0:19

Hello, I hope this initial episode finds all of you doing well. I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Tonya Dumdei. I am a retired educator. I've spent 25 years in the education field. 13 of those years was teaching in public school. Four years was spent at the public school district level as a special education administrator. And then my last eight years was spent in private school as a principal. I am married with three grown children. I have 10 grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and then two more great-grandchildren on the way. I've also volunteered as a court-appointed special advocate and also an angel tree coordinator. I've taught and directed Sunday schools for over 40 years. I was a youth leader with my husband for six years. And then I've just had a leadership in other various child-related groups, some at the state level, some local. And also I've been involved in some grant writing myself. I've been awarded several grants. So we may end up talking about that in some future podcast episodes as well. I've had a pretty full career and it's been wonderful. I've really enjoyed it. Lots of experience in various areas. And I've just decided that I wanted to start a podcast and share with all of you. So in starting the podcast, I sat down and I thought, okay, what do I really care about in educating children well? Because that is what I named my podcast. And I've had that name for a while because I really believe it's really important to educate children well. And so some of the things that I want to talk about in future episodes are things like the curriculum. You know, is it God-centered or not? Is it oriented to a test? Or what about testing? Some things like giving students opportunity to work at their own pace, or is a set curriculum really more important? Also, I believe in a rigorous curriculum. And so we may look at different curricula and see just how rigorous they really are. And what is my opinion on some things? And what are some guests' opinions on some things? Also, does the curriculum provide mastery overall? Or within the concepts? You know, is mastery what is mastery? And even some more things about curriculum. As we go forward, I will talk about those things. And to me, I think spiritual or moral positions is really important within education. You know, we don't hear a lot about the spiritual component in public school. I did teach in public school for quite a while and was involved in public school for a while. And I really believe that at least we could teach some moral values there. And so we'll talk about those things. What are good moral values? And, you know, sometimes those are not always politically acceptable. What does that mean? And how can we work in some great things in public school? And how can we do our devotion, you know, spiritually in homeschool or in private schools? And then I believe that God's word provides the ultimate guide for all of us. And so we'll get into some things about that. Also, I believe physical uh movement uh for children is really important, not letting them sit all day, but really getting that movement in. And so we'll discuss some things there in that area, getting them out in the sunshine. Also, I believe about family. Family is really important that they be involved in in schooling. You know, parent have parents have a great responsibility in their child's education, and so we want to include them and we'll talk about ways to do that. And then opportunities, you know, for parents to interact with the private school or with the with the public school. Conferences, what are conferences about in private private and public school, you know? Sometimes those are dreaded by educators and parents alike, even especially students, right? So, but they don't have to be, they're great things that can give a lot of meaning and information. So, and then about with family interactions and parents and teacher relationships, principal relationships, we think about respect, you know. Let's talk about mutual respect and and how can we create that atmosphere also within staff, you know. If you're in a school environment, not a homeschool environment, but you're in a public or private school environment, you're gonna want to know how to have mutual respect for each other. As long as we have mutual respect, it's it makes a great team and it makes a whole better environment for students. How we can have some self-care for our staff members in each other professional development. We want to always be learning. Those are just some areas that I really would be interested in talking about and thinking it about when we first created our private school at our church. One of the things that I wanted our students to know from get-go was that they were important in God's eyes. And this podcast will talk about the faith component of educating children well. That is a very important part of educating children well, in my opinion, that they know how to live morally and righteously. It prevents so many things from happening in their lives, and it protects them from so many things if they know that they are important in God's eyes. And so the scripture that we sat for our private school was Jeremiah 29 and 11. That was our school scripture. It was for I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. And I wanted them to know that no matter what else is happening in your life, you are important in God's eyes, and he's watching over you, and he's going to give you a good ending. Everything may not be well in your life. Always, you know, life throws us punches sometimes. But in the end, God has goodness for you, and as long as you give him that time, he's gonna help you out. So that was something that I wanted them to know. Let's talk about some foundational beliefs that we would want to think about in any environment, whether it be public school, private school, or home school. I really believe that sometimes we don't think as we get into the flow of working every day with children, sometimes we don't think about the actual children. I know that sounds funny, but sometimes we get so busy doing our jobs, you know, quote end quote, you know what I'm talking about, that we get into the processes and we don't really think about the child. And I've seen this in public school, I've seen this in private school, and I'm sure in homeschool, sometimes you just want to get it done. You know, you want to get the lessons done, right? So to me, one of the foundational things that we need to remember when we're working with kids in education is that they are the crux of the matter, they are the core of what we're all about. And I know in public schools sometimes there are so many laws that we have to think about those. I mean, yeah, they're important, but they are not as important as the student ultimately. And many of the laws have forgotten about the student. They think only about processes and the legalities and what do teachers need. And and yes, I've been there, teachers. I've been a teacher, I know what it's like. Most of my career was in public education and was in special education, and I was a special education administrator. And believe me, special education has more laws and guidelines than almost any part of education. And so I understand where you're coming from, and it is hard, but still, you know, we have to remember to step back every once in a while and just think: am I really putting my students first? Am I really putting as a leader? Am I putting the children first? We have to be willing to take risks and to stand up for them and to tell others in authority sometimes that I'm doing this for the child and to lay out what we are doing for the children and lay out reasons and things that we need to do legally, you know, to help the child, but yet follow the guidelines. So, and I know public school is a difficult area, but to me those are some foundational beliefs with public school. Also in private school, you know, we don't have all the legalities as much, especially in uh the state of Texas. I don't know where everyone else is from. You could be from a different state, but in the state of Texas, there are very few guidelines that we have to go by to run a private school. Now, the new grants that are coming that will provide money, those possibly will, of course they will. I know they will because I've already started looking at it, but they will require a whole lot more accountability. And accountability is good, don't get me wrong. But in private school previously, and if you're not accredited, there are not as many legalities to deal with. But still we get to the point in private school sometimes that we're so concerned about getting the lessons done and so concerned about running the day-to-day. I know I've been a private school leader, that we sometimes lose sight of the child, and and that we're doing this for the child. We're doing this for them, for their education, for their well-being. And so we need to stop every once in a while and just remember who it's all about and what we're doing. And pull ourselves back, go full circle, come back to where we began, and remember, hey, I'm doing this for the student. And then in homeschool, I'm sure mom and dad, there's probably times where there's just so much stress of having to handle it all. I haven't been a homeschooler, but my daughter has. She homeschooled all four of her children. And I know having to choose curriculum, pulling curriculum together, making those lessons, just trying to add in some everyday component to that to run your life, your daily life during the day, and also put in some real life learning in those lessons that it can get wearisome sometimes, I'm sure. And and you may just want to get those lessons done. But then again, as a as a homeschooling parent, you know, we have to stop again. Doesn't matter what environment we're in, we have to stop and remember what are we about? We're about educating our children and we're about educating them well. Thank you for joining me today on Educate Me Well. I'm grateful you spent this time with me, and I hope the conversation encouraged and equipped you. If you have ideas for future episodes or questions you'd like me to explore, you can reach me anytime at admin@ educatemewell.com and be sure to keep an eye on www.educatemewell.com. The website will be up and growing as new episodes are released. Until next time, keep making a difference in the lives of children.