Alrighty… Mindy and Rachel have a bee or three in their bonnets… and they want to say a few things about who really counts as a homeschooler. Get ready! Per every episode, we start with our Homeschooling Moments of the Week (very Near and Far Bookend-ish this time!), give you ways to Make It Personal (one is sweet and one is … less sweet), and today we close with two hacks!

1:15 Homeschooling Moment of the Week: Rachel

2:07 Homeschooling Moment of the Week: Mindy

3:49 Topic Talk: But are You Really a Homeschooler?

4:27 Our definitions of homeschoolers/homeschooling

6:00 Why it’s not helpful to be exclusive with our definitions

6:28 Bookend Homeschoolers S1 Ep1 Know Your Why

7:55 Bookend Homeschoolers S1 Ep 2 Choose Your Method

8:45 Have you felt like people didn’t count you as a homeschooler?

11:21 Negative impacts of being exclusive

13:00 Bookend Homeschoolers S2 Ep7 Community with Meg Tietz

18:45 Positive impacts of being inclusive

21:07 Make It Personal: Near Bookends

22:50 Make It Personal: Far Bookends

24:38 Take This With You: Rachel (nerf math)

26:31 Take This With You: Mindy (liquid spill hack)

Don’t forget to download allll our FREE goodies for Fat Bear Week!

Bookend Homeschoolers on Instagram Mindy at gratefulforgrace

Rachel at colemountainhomeschool

We are super duper excited about this week’s episode! We bring you the challenge to consider doing hilarious and fun educational theme school moments, days, or weeks! Why? Let us share! We even provide help for you!! It’s Mindy’s favorite theme week of the year and we are here for it! AND we want you to be too! As usual, we start with our Homeschooling Moments of the Week, have some Topic Talk, then suggest ways for you to Make It Personal. We end this week with some (awkward, but wonderful) encouragement and a hack (recipe). Join us for Season 2, Episode 8! Fatten up!!!

1:30 Homeschooling Moments of Week

3:03 S1 E11 Car Schooling

5:25 Topic Talk: Why Take the Time to Do Something Hilarious?

12:28 S1 E39 Summer Reading Guide: Japan Olympics Theme

17:30 Fat Bear Week site

17:33 Fat Bear Week Katmai site

18:42 Katmai Bear Cams

19:20 Online Fat Bear Week Chats with Explore.org

19:22 Online Fat Bear Week Chats with Katmai Rangers

21:35 Fat Bear Week Explore.org Lesson Plans on Brown Bears of Katmai

21:36 Fat Bear Week In the Classroom

20:04 Fat Bear Junior

22:47 Download our Fat Bear Week Homeschool Guide and 9 other download sheets on our site!

24:25 Make It Personal: Near Bookends

26:06 Make It Personal: Far Bookends

27:00 Take This With You: Mindy

28:53 Take This With You: Rachel (recipe!)

Cole Mac&Cheese Bag of pasta into the IP, add 2c water. Cook 4mins. Drain. Add “a bit of milk, a bit of butter, and some cheese”. Cover for 4mins. Have a child stir for exercise. Enjoy on Mac&Cheese Monday!

Bookend Homeschoolers on Instagram Mindy at gratefulforgrace

Rachel at colemountainhomeschool

We are soooo excited to have guest Meg Tietz of Sorta Awesome! Join us awe we chat about why friendships for just you, the homeschooling parent, are so important. There is a lot here to glean and take to heart. As always, we start with our Homeschooling Moments of the Week and after our Topic Talk, we give you ways to Make It Personal. We close out with homeschooling hacks, advice, or … a gross recipe?

1:10 Meg Tietz of the Sorta Awesome Show

3:22 Homeschooling Moments of the Week (HSMotW)

3:25 HSMotW Rachel

433 Rachel and her inflatable globe

4:40 HSMotW Meg

Link for you about eels recommended by Meg and her boys

5:57 HSMotW Mindy

7:00 Topic Talk: Friendship and Community for YOU

7:18 Ep 5 Embracing Our Kids for Who They Are

7:28 Sorta Awesome Community

7:47 Meg’s Book???

9:14 Why is this important?

9:24 Sorta Awesome Ep 285: The Friendship Advice We All Need Right Now

9:31 Friend Forward Podcast

11:52 Benefits to having our own friendships?

12:33 Voxer app

19:24 What are the hurdles?

21:49 Doritos, Ding Dongs, and Cheese Whiz

22:37 Tips for homeschoolers with littles only?

25:03 Marco Polo app

30:18 What will Meg have to do differently now?

32:00 Bookend Homeschoolers S2 Ep 1 Transitioning Into or Out of Homeschooling

33:10 Make It Personal: Near Bookends

35:04 Make It Personal: Far Bookends

36:10 Take This With You: Meg (best social anxiety tip ever)

37:09 Take This With You: Rachel

38:25 Take This With You: Mindy (unusual cake)

Bookend Homeschoolers on Instagram Mindy at gratefulforgrace

Rachel at colemountainhomeschool

Meg Tietz on IG

Sorta Awesome Show on IG

Paul’s Grandma’s Pistachio Cake which he calls: The Best Ever Pistachio Cake

Mix the following: 1 box white or yellow cake mix, 1 box pistachio instant pudding, 3 eggs, 1 c club soda, 1 c oil, 1/2 c nuts. Beat all ingredients for 2 mins at medium speed. Do not overbeat. Bake in a bunt pan for 50mins. While cake is baking, make the following icing/filling using 3 c milk, 2 pkg Dream Whip, 2 box of pistachio instant pudding. Whip in a bowl for 5 mins until thick and chill. When cake is cook, cut into 3 layers. Put filling in between layers and ice the top and sides. Paul Brouse says, “You’re welcome.”

*Please note that many products linked are Amazon affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. Thanks for your support!*

An often requested topic that can be polarizing, but doesn’t have to be: Homeschooling preschool! Join us as we discuss preschool from a far bookend and a near bookend point of view! As usual, we provide ideas for making it personal, share our Homeschooling Moments of the Week, and end with a hack or encouragement!

1:36 Homeschooling Moments of the Week

4:07 Topic Talk: Homeschooling Preschool?

13:28 Rachel being a neuroscientist on the podcast

19:08 Physical development matters

19:33 Slingerland Institute for Literacy

20:00 Curriculum?

20:46 Counting Bears

20:54 Trudy Palmer’s The Gift of Reading

21:47 In One Ear (and Hopefully) Not Out the Other

22: 58 There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly

23:10 Caps for Sale

Brown Bear, Brown Bear

23:16 Honey for a Child’s Heart

23:28 The Hand That Rocks the Cradle

23:31 The Read Aloud Family

24:00 Learn From Mindy’s Mistakes

26:43 Beads to string

29:09 Make It Personal: Near Bookends

30:06 Make It Personal: Far Bookends

31:36 Take This With You: Mindy (birthday hack)

32:07 Birthday hat

33:00 Take This With You: Rachel (encouragement)

Bookend Homeschoolers on Instagram Mindy at gratefulforgrace

Rachel at colemountainhomeschool

We love our kids. Do we truly embrace who they are though? Season 2, Episode 5 finds Mindy & Rachel discussing the ways we can give the wrong message to our children and be inconsistent with our goals. Hear how to embrace your child for who they are! Of course, we start with Homeschooling Moments of the Week and provide ways to Make It Personal after our Topic Talk.

1:31 Homeschooling Moments of the Week

1:40 S2 Ep 4 Bookend Homeschoolers: Easy Art Appreciation

4:49 Topic Talk: Embracing Our Kids For Who They Are

16:30 How can we see that we are not doing this? Qs to ask ourselves

17:05 S2 Ep 3 Cultivating Inclusive Friendships

17:33 Ep 41 Mistakes We’ve Made

17:49 S2 Ep2 Keeping (or Getting) a Sense of Humor with Betsy Jenkins @homeschooling_withtheclassics (say and laugh at lies!)

19:50 Confusing moral vs preferred

22:30 Ways to keep this in check

28:06 Make It Personal: Near Bookends

30:42 Make It Personal: Far Bookends

33:12 Take This With You: Rachel (reminder)

34:20 Take This With You: Mindy (tip)

#cookingwithMindy on IG

Bookend Homeschoolers on IG

Far Bookend Mindy at gratefulforgrace on IG

Near Bookend Rachel at colemountainhomeschool on IG

*Please note that many products linked are Amazon affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. Thanks for your support!*

Today’s episode sounds like a difficult or lofty topic, but it’s not! We promise! Trust us. Hear some easy ways to enjoy the many benefits of art appreciation in our homeschools. As usual, we start you off with some Homeschooling Moments of the Week (no gross ones this week!) before we dive into our topic. After we provide suggestions to Make It Personal, we share a tip (Mindy’s sounds like a bad idea, but it’s not) and an enco uragement.

1:26 Homeschooling Moments of the Week

4:00 Topic Talk: Art Appreciation

Amazon Artist Calendars: Impressionists Calendar, Monet, Picasso, Matisse, etc… look on eBay too!

Some Master Artist project videos from Mindy (less than 30min lessons)

24:24 What Mindy Wishes She Had Done

27:20 Make It Personal: Near Bookends

28:12 Make It Personal: Far Bookends

30:10 Take This With You: Mindy (Can you even believe she suggests this?!)

31:55 Take This With You: Rachel

Bookend Homeschoolers on Instagram Mindy at gratefulforgrace

Rachel at colemountainhomeschool

*Please note that many products linked are Amazon affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. Thanks for your support!*

Today’s episode is near and dear to our hearts and it’s also a convicting discussion! Join us as Mindy shares how inclusive friendships matter and how the lack of effort hurts. We dive into the Whys, Whos, and Hows of this important topic for homeschoolers!

If you listened to Mindy on the Sorta Awesome show, know that there is a tiny bit of overlap, but that we hit some points not discussed there as well as hone in on homeschooling issues for this topic. It’s a different episode and a great flight!

1:28 Homeschooling Moments of the Week

2:35 Impossible Rubik’s Cube

4:20 Topic Talk: Cultivating Inclusive Friendships

4:40 Meg Tietz and Mindy on Sorta Awesome: Inclusive Play for All

5:30 Bookend Homeschoolers Bonus Ep 1: Our Adoption Stories (if you want to know who Daniel is)

9:53 Bookend Homeschoolers: Keeping (or Getting) a Sense of Humor with Betsy Jenkins of homeschooling_theclassics

12:00 Homeschooling kiddos with disabilities stats article

16: 16 Bookend Homeschoolers Ep9: What, Why, and How of Read Alouds

29:25 Make It Personal: Near Bookends

Special Books by Special Kids

33:15 Make It Personal Far Bookends

31:57 Take This With You: Mindy (tip)

32:45 Take This With You: Rachel (tip)

Bookend Homeschoolers on IG

Mindy at gratefulforgrace on IG

Rachel at colemountainhomeschool on IG

Could we be more excited about this episode?! NO! We could not. We are thrilled to have Betsy Jenkins, creator of homeschooling_withtheclassics, join us to share why keeping a sense of humor while homeschooling is so important. She made us laugh, but she also brought tears to our eyes as she reminded us of how our hearts can hurt if we can’t laugh at ourselves and homeschooling. Join us for a fabulous episode!

1:30 Betsy Jenkins from homeschooling_withtheclassics

2:30 Homeschooling Moments of the Week

6:44 How Betsy arrived at homeschooling_withtheclassics

9:50 Topic Talk: Keeping (or Getting) a Sense of Humor

13:27 Episode 41 Bookend Homeschoolers: Mistakes We Have Made

21:58 Important Note: If you are struggling with depression or anxiety, please talk to someone to get support. We care.

23:07 Make It Personal: From Betsy

25:47 Make It Personal: Near Bookends

29:20 Make It Personal: Far Bookends

30:23 Take This With You: Mindy (hack)

31:13 Take This With You: Betsy (epic one liner)

32:10 Take This With You: Rachel (little known show rec)

Bookend Homeschoolers on Instagram Mindy at gratefulforgrace

Rachel at colemountainhomeschool

Betsy at homeschooling_withtheclassics

Boring Betsy at talltimbers_willowlake

Welcome back to Bookend Homeschoolers! We couldn’t be more excited to start season 2! Many people are making transitions in their educational settings and we want to help! Listen to our ideas on how to make the switch into homeschooling or out of homeschooling smooth! Just like last season, we are also starting each episode with our Homeschooling Moments of the Week and sharing ways to Make It Personal!

1:42 Homeschooling Moments of the Week

4:17 Topic Talk: Transitioning into or out of homeschooling

Ep 27 Season 1 with guest Meredith Monday-Schwartz

14:41 S1E1 Bookend Homeschoolers: Know Your Why

14:47 S1E2 Bookend Homeschoolers: Choose Your Method(s)

20:03 S1E4 Bookend Homeschoolers: To Schedule or Not to Schedule?

20:54 S1E7 Bookend Homeschoolers: How Do I Get My Kids to Actually Do This?

27:00 Make it Personal: Far Bookends

27:51 Make It Personal: Near Bookends

29:43 Take This With You

Bookend Homeschoolers on Instagram Mindy at gratefulforgrace

Rachel at colemountainhomeschool

We can’t believe it and are so thrilled to find us wrapping up our first reason of Bookend Homeschoolers! Celebrate with us and hear some messages from listeners, take aways from the year, teasers for season 2, and more! (note: We will take a show break July 25 and return for Season 2 Aug 1!)

1:30 Homeschooling Moments of the Week

4:48 Ep 41: Homeschooling Mistakes We’ve Made

7:14 Mindy’s Memorable Moment #1 (from Ep 38: Summer Reading Guide #1)

8:37 Rachel’s Memorable Moment #2 (from Ep 8: How Do I Get Myself to Actually Do This?)

9:34 Listener call in: Juliann Krusting

10:50 Mindy’s Memorable Moment #2 (from Ep 40: Hosting Kids’ Book Clubs)

12:03 Rachel’s Memorable Moment #2 (from Ep 19: Homeschooling Extroverts)

13:19 Listener call in: Carlee Marlow

13:54 Rachel’s Memorable Moment #3

14:35 Mindy’s Memorable Moment #3 (from Ep 11: Car Schooling)

12:27 Heidi Jackson (westmorelandpodcast)

17:00 Rachel’s Memorable Moment #4 (from Ep 41: Homeschooling Mistakes We’ve Made)

18:11 Mindy’s Memorable Moment #4 (from Ep 27: Remote Schooling Tips and Tricks)

19:05 Listener call in: Megan Goodell

21:00 Insider Info on Season 1 and starting the show!

23:12 Rachel’s Take Aways

24:46 Mindy’s Take Aways

26:46 Teasers for Season 2

27:40 Make It Personal

28:24 Take This With You

29:44 Thank you, Meredith & Katyee at Currently Reading! <3

Bookend Homeschoolers on IG

Mindy at gratefulforgrace on IG

Rachel at colemountainhomeschool on IG