Bringing Education Home

What happens when a child grows up on Ritalin, and what does it take to find your way back? Stephanie lived that story. She was medicated from a young age and believes it dulled her natural emotional development and left her with both a psychological and a physical dependence. Today she’s a self-described “wellness adventurist” who guides leaders back to clarity, regulation, and purpose. In this conversation, we talk honestly about the tradeoffs between a quick pharmaceutical fix and the slower work of healing from the inside out. Stephanie shares practical, non-pharmaceutical tools families can start using right away. These include tyrosine-rich foods like turkey, chicken, eggs, and pumpkin seeds; fish oil and targeted supplements when diet falls short; and cutting back on refined sugar and artificial dyes. She also walks through a simple practice of ten slow belly breaths that teaches kids to calm their own nervous systems, and Kristina shares how a classroom bell can become a cue to pause and breathe. We also look at the bigger picture: early school starts, packed schedules, and constant stimulation that push kids into a box and make a pill feel like the only answer. For families considering stepping down from medication, Stephanie is candid that symptoms can feel stronger for a while before they ease, and that patience and small, steady changes matter more than any big overhaul. We also talk about why any medication changes should happen with the support of your child’s doctor.

A gift from our guest - Nervous system reset mediation: www.sunkissedfire.com

The mediation is located near the bottom of the page.

Bringing Education Home is an educational podcast brought to you by Kristina and Herb Heagh-Avritt.

If you enjoy the show, we'd love for you to leave a rating or review on your favorite podcast app!

Please let your friends know they can listen for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or their preferred podcast app or online at Bringing Education Home.

Sponsored by Vibrant Family Education - creating Happy, Healthy and Successful kids

Follow us on these socials:

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LinkedIn

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Facebook Group - The Family Learning Circle

Facebook Business Page: Vibrant Family Education

Support Bringing Education Home

Copyright 2026 Kristina & Herb Heagh-Avritt

This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.

Elaine Belson tell stories about being a therapist, a late-in-life soldier, and now the self-authority coach — yes, she joined the Army at 42 and no, it didn’t involve a trench coat and cigar, though she does borrow Colombo’s curiosity. Her core message? Self-authority: make choices from your values and emotions, not from a permission slip you’re forever waiting for. We unpack how women (especially moms) tend to self-flagellate — juggling work, kids, expectations — and why embracing mistakes with curiosity (“What was I thinking?” not “Why am I awful?”) is the radical medicine we need. She get delightfully snarky about perfectionism and tender about boundary-setting: internal boundaries are not rude, they’re essential. We talk self-validation as radical self-care — putting yourself on the priority list without the guilt-laden Post-it. She mix humor with clinical insight so you leave feeling both seen and armed: small mantras, Columbo-style curiosity, and permission to be human. It’s coachy, warm, and unapologetically honest — like a hug that hands you a strategy sheet.

A gift from our guest: Free Discovery Call: https://zcal.co/esbelsonlcswc/15min

Our guest's podcast: The Self-Authority Podcast

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheSelfAuthorityPodcast

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-self-authority-podcast/id1896806907

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033miAn8hFJOZABoKG2zw1

Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/20e53fe9-cd7e-4fe6-b675-d6a012792dfe/the-selfauthority-podcast

iHeart: https://iheart.com/podcast/338817380/

Bringing Education Home is an educational podcast brought to you by Kristina and Herb Heagh-Avritt.

If you enjoy the show, we'd love for you to leave a rating or review on your favorite podcast app!

Please let your friends know they can listen for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or their preferred podcast app or online at Bringing Education Home.

Sponsored by Vibrant Family Education - creating Happy, Healthy and Successful kids

Follow us on these socials:

Facebook

LinkedIn

YouTube

Instagram

Facebook Group - The Family Learning Circle

Facebook Business Page: Vibrant Family Education

Support Bringing Education Home

Copyright 2026 Kristina & Herb Heagh-Avritt

This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.

We get to the point fast: homeschooling gave Kylie’s autistic son the individualized support and flexible routine the public school system just couldn’t provide — and that choice changed everything. I’m Kylie (well, we talk to Kylie), an autistic mom, advocate, and homeschooler, and I tell tales of sleep-wrangling, picky-eating diplomacy, and how tutoring + therapy + home rhythm make learning actually stick. We dive into the practical stuff — scheduling therapy as part of the school day, measuring progress with real-world wins (alphabet trains, singing the ABCs backwards — yep, backwards — not bubble tests), and why slowing down from “school-at-home” to a more playful, sensory-aware pedagogy saved our relationship and sanity. Along the way Christina’s mentorship and a tiny community of tutors and therapists become the scaffolding that turned panic into confidence, grit into advocacy, and isolation into connection. Expect candid stories, big-hearted advice, and enough quirky kid-mom moments (cats, cereal experiments, and all) to make you laugh while learning how to fight the dragon of a broken system and bring back the gold nuggets.

Autism mom , Advocate, and homeschooler.

Bringing Education Home is an educational podcast brought to you by Kristina and Herb Heagh-Avritt.

If you enjoy the show, we'd love for you to leave a rating or review on your favorite podcast app!

Please let your friends know they can listen for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or their preferred podcast app or online at Bringing Education Home.

Sponsored by Vibrant Family Education - creating Happy, Healthy and Successful kids

Follow us on these socials:

Facebook

LinkedIn

YouTube

Instagram

Facebook Group - The Family Learning Circle

Facebook Business Page: Vibrant Family Education

Support Bringing Education Home

Copyright 2026 Kristina & Herb Heagh-Avritt

This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.

Alex & Cassidy built the Vault because normal school + normal life felt like a bad combo meal — you get the carbs, none of the spice. Alex (and alongside Cassidy) and are parents, entrepreneurs, and fitness nerds who decided to stop complaining and start building: a homeschool hybrid, family wellness club, co‑working hub and hands‑on skills incubator all under one roof in Naples. They talk about how the Vault blends core academics with physical development (wrestling, BJJ, Krav Maga maybe on the menu), craftsmanship (plumbing, electricity), entrepreneurship, farm‑to‑table food and recovery tools. The upshot? Kids learn how to learn, not just which multiple‑choice box to check — and parents get their family time back without sacrificing growth or community.

In the conversation they get candid about our construction chaos (dump trucks out the window, literal land pads being built), the reasons we pivoted into this model, and the pillars that keep us honest: leadership, agriculture, craftsmanship and wellness. They also share nitty‑gritty wins — licensing ambition (100 Vaults in three years), why Florida’s school‑choice support helped them, and where people can find them (thevaultnaples.com). If you want a place where kids can be kids, eat properly, learn tools that actually matter and watch parents model doing the hard stuff (they call it Toughen Up), then yeah: this is their love letter to real family life.

Bringing Education Home is an educational podcast brought to you by Kristina and Herb Heagh-Avritt.

If you enjoy the show, we'd love for you to leave a rating or review on your favorite podcast app!

Please let your friends know they can listen for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or their preferred podcast app or online at Bringing Education Home.

Sponsored by Vibrant Family Education - creating Happy, Healthy and Successful kids

Follow us on these socials:

Facebook

LinkedIn

YouTube

Instagram

Facebook Group - The Family Learning Circle

Facebook Business Page: Vibrant Family Education

Support Bringing Education Home

Copyright 2026 Kristina & Herb Heagh-Avritt

This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.

ities pile on and suddenly you forget what you wanted; the cure is deliberate curiosity and courage. Who do you want to be? What matters? Living richly isn’t a bank balance metric — it’s health, wealth (aka time & options), love, abundance, and joy — and balancing those is how you live beyond your head trash. We also chew on the parenting mirror: children absorb what they see — the grumbling about work, the exhausted hustling, and the social-media scoreboard of "success." That gets internalized as head trash in them. So the parenting ask is simple but radical: model curiosity, let them tinker, give them emotional language, and resist turning their childhoods into 60-hour workweeks disguised as enrichment. We riff, laugh, and promise no guilt trips — only messy progress.

A gift from our guest: A quiz that will help you discover your Head Trash type. Knowing your type can help you understand the strengths and challenges that come with it, recognize how your Head Trash tends to show up and see where it may be getting in your way.

Visit: www.jenniferternay.com to do your quiz now

Jennifer Ternay helps successful professionals, executives, entrepreneurs and business owners who know something needs to change but can't seem to move. They overthink, second-guess, and convince themselves to stay where they are, often because money, responsibility or the fear of getting it wrong keeps them stuck. Jennifer helps them untangle the rational-sounding thoughts that disguise themselves as logic, responsibility or "it's not the right time." She calls it Head Trash.

Jennifer's Facebook page

@jenniferternay on Instagram

Jennifer's Website

Bringing Education Home is an educational podcast brought to you by Kristina and Herb Heagh-Avritt.

If you enjoy the show, we'd love for you to leave a rating or review on your favorite podcast app!

Please let your friends know they can listen for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or their preferred podcast app or online at Bringing Education Home.

Sponsored by Vibrant Family Education - creating Happy, Healthy and Successful kids

Follow us on these socials:

Facebook

LinkedIn

YouTube

Instagram

Facebook Group - The Family Learning Circle

Facebook Business Page: Vibrant Family Education

Support Bringing Education Home

Copyright 2026 Kristina & Herb Heagh-Avritt

This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.

In this episode, we sit down with Lawrence Harris for a candid conversation about generational disconnects and the very different worlds parents and teens can sometimes seem to live in. We talk about how curiosity can help bridge that gap—asking questions, finding common ground, and being willing to step into the things our kids enjoy, even when we don’t quite understand them. Lawrence also shares his perspective on the bigger picture of the world we’re living in today. We explore how constant exposure to alarming headlines and doomscrolling can fuel anxiety, and why gratitude and perspective can be powerful tools for shifting our focus toward what is going right. We talk about simple ways parents can counter fear-driven messaging and recognize the everyday things we often take for granted. Throughout the conversation, Lawrence brings humor, personal experience, and practical insight to the challenges parents face today. We talk about why parents don’t have to be experts in their kids’ favorite games, hobbies, or interests—they simply need to be willing to ask questions, listen, and let their kids teach them. It’s a conversation about connection, curiosity, gratitude, and finding common ground across generations.

Would you like to support this guest? Please leave feedback on the episode, you will get access to a free journal E Book: https://speakerhub.com/cta/dJPbq9

Bringing Education Home is an educational podcast brought to you by Kristina and Herb Heagh-Avritt.

If you enjoy the show, we'd love for you to leave a rating or review on your favorite podcast app!

Please let your friends know they can listen for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or their preferred podcast app or online at Bringing Education Home.

Sponsored by Vibrant Family Education - creating Happy, Healthy and Successful kids

Follow us on these socials:

Facebook

LinkedIn

YouTube

Instagram

Facebook Group - The Family Learning Circle

Facebook Business Page: Vibrant Family Education

Support Bringing Education Home

Copyright 2026 Kristina & Herb Heagh-Avritt

This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.

I knew right away Dan's main mission: he helps military‑connected teens (and honestly any kid who feels adrift) figure out who they are and build a real, faith‑rooted pathway forward — not just shove them into the nearest college funnel. We hang with Dan as he explains how he builds trust — the magic line is “Tell me about yourself,” followed by the glorious hypothetical “If money were no object, what would you do?” — and then he backwards‑designs experience, shadowing, and plan B options so young people can test, fail, pivot, and actually learn. I love how he blends decades of school leadership with a relational, pastoral lens: it’s coaching that’s equal parts common sense, tough love, and scripture‑anchored steadiness (no heavy proselytizing, just integrity). We talk about the real villains in this tale — helicopter parents, “college by default,” and fear of failure — and Dan gives sensible antidotes: curiosity, family conversations, and letting kids scrape a knee so they learn to get back up. The episode is full of practical gold nuggets — from how to open a dialogue with a teen to designing vocational experiments — delivered with warmth and a couple of chuckles. If you want your kid to be more resilient, purposeful, and mission‑ready (and maybe to stop defaulting to “just go to college”), this conversation is your cheat sheet to getting started.

Daniel has over 30 years of experience in public, charter, and private education, with more than 25 years in school, district, and/or organizational leadership roles, including Principal, Director, and Superintendent. Simultaneously, he has been a higher education instructor, serving in-person, virtual, and correctional center environments.

Daniel's Facebook page

@dansimonsolutions on Instagram

Bringing Education Home is an educational podcast brought to you by Kristina and Herb Heagh-Avritt.

If you enjoy the show, we'd love for you to leave a rating or review on your favorite podcast app!

Please let your friends know they can listen for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or their preferred podcast app or online at Bringing Education Home.

Sponsored by Vibrant Family Education - creating Happy, Healthy and Successful kids

Follow us on these socials:

Facebook

LinkedIn

YouTube

Instagram

Facebook Group - The Family Learning Circle

Facebook Business Page: Vibrant Family Education

Support Bringing Education Home

Copyright 2026 Kristina & Herb Heagh-Avritt

This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.

I sat down with Dr. Stephen Jones and we tore open the mystery of studying like we were peeling a banana—simple, nutritious, and a bit slippery if you don't know what you're doing. I tell you, Dr. Jones had that classic first-gen college arc: stellar high school, confused freshman year, then a whole-life pivot into helping students and parents not repeat the same faceplant. He walks us through the basics that actually matter: reading for comprehension (not just volume-of-words flexing), asking open-ended questions at the dinner table, and turning passive absorption into active application. We geek out over how experiential learning—plays, museums, STEM kits—makes concepts stick, and why finding your child's learning style (visual, tactile, or memorizer-extraordinaire) is a game-changer.

We also get real about logistics: time management, procrastination spirals, and the absolute power of routines (bag-by-the-door, clothes-out-the-night-before—tiny rituals, massive ROI). Dr. Jones peppers the chat with concrete tools—Pinterest boards full of activities, Stemfinity for hands-on experiments, and the magic of summer college programs that let kids try on campus life without committing to the whole adulting package. Parents take center stage here: we learn that being involved, curious, and humble about asking for help models the exact behavior we want our kids to internalize. Bottom line: studying isn't a mythical, soporific ritual—it’s a set of practical habits, exposures, and conversations that parents can scaffold from day one.

Dr. Jones is an Associate Dean in the College of Engineering at Villanova University and owner of SAJ Publishing and education services. For thirty-seven years, Dr. Jones is a teacher and eduprenuer who has helped students, parents, and professionals to reach their dreams. He has delivered presentations on numerous topics including how to study, finding scholarships, leadership, effective communication, organization, time management and innovative management practices. He is the author of five workbooks titled “Seven Secrets of How to Study” the “Parent’s Ultimate Education Guide” the “Ultimate Scholarship Guide” “Seven Secrets of How to Study.” These books provide an easy understanding of the essential skills a student and parent needs to succeed as k12 students and in college.

Dr. Stephen's Facebook page

Dr. Stephen's Website

Bringing Education Home is an educational podcast brought to you by Kristina and Herb Heagh-Avritt.

If you enjoy the show, we'd love for you to leave a rating or review on your favorite podcast app!

Please let your friends know they can listen for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or their preferred podcast app or online at Bringing Education Home.

Sponsored by Vibrant Family Education - creating Happy, Healthy and Successful kids

Follow us on these socials:

Facebook

LinkedIn

YouTube

Instagram

Facebook Group - The Family Learning Circle

Facebook Business Page: Vibrant Family Education

Support Bringing Education Home

Copyright 2026 Kristina & Herb Heagh-Avritt

This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.

We jump right into the big idea: play, movement and improv are the secret sauce Sarah uses to lure reluctant readers into actually wanting to read. First, we unpack practical tactics — one‑word‑at‑a‑time stories, yoga-play that has kids acting out characters, and the simple “paper window” trick so a kid only faces one line at a time — little hacks that reframe reading as fun instead of frustration. Then Sarah delights us with her chapter‑book world where an octopus investigator (yes, tentacles and all) solves mysteries, sneaks real animal science into stories, and gives kids a curious hook to push through the tough bits. We also get real about homeschool wins, eye checks, audiobooks, fan fiction, and the value of reading aloud or letting kids read short illustrated chunks until stamina builds. I loved how we weave the pedagogy with playful practice: meet the kid where they are, scaffold success, and slowly stretch their reading muscles. If you want approachable, evidence‑friendly ways to make stories sticky in your house, we serve up strategies, laughs, and a stack of resources that actually work.

A gift from our guest: Beyond the Page resource which are activities to inspire thinking outside the cover. https://sarahmcdavis.substack.com/

Sarah McDavis likes to do a lot of different things. Sometimes that causes problems, but usually it keeps her the right amount of busy. Sarah is a children’s author, illustrator, digital presence educator, book coach, kids yoga instructor, improv comedian, and founder of Wonder Creek Media and the Start Effect in Pittsburgh, PA. Her chapter book series for emerging readers set in a world where Finding Dory meets Zootopia and an octopus, Octo, P.I., solves mysteries

@sarahmcmarvelous on Instagram

Sarah's Website

Bringing Education Home is an educational podcast brought to you by Kristina and Herb Heagh-Avritt.

If you enjoy the show, we'd love for you to leave a rating or review on your favorite podcast app!

Please let your friends know they can listen for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or their preferred podcast app or online at Bringing Education Home.

Sponsored by Vibrant Family Education - creating Happy, Healthy and Successful kids

Follow us on these socials:

Facebook

LinkedIn

YouTube

Instagram

Facebook Group - The Family Learning Circle

Facebook Business Page: Vibrant Family Education

Support Bringing Education Home

Copyright 2026 Kristina & Herb Heagh-Avritt

This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.

We jump right into Ruth Wishengrad’s world where she crafts personalized “Happy Heart Songs” that blend music, emotion and neuroscience to literally anchor encouraging words into people’s bodies and lives—no fluff, just sticky, uplifting melodies that show up exactly when you need them. We geek out about the neuroplasticity behind repetition, movement and emotion. We also laugh about genre choices (reggae for rehab, chill beats for reflection, disco for chemo—yes, disco), because the right soundtrack matters and Ruth will happily make your anthem whatever vibe helps you thrive. So tune your ears, decide who needs a song (maybe you), and let us convince you that a custom tune might be the most delightful life‑hack you didn’t know you needed.

A gift from our guest: A free gratitude song and a little hug for the heart you can come back to anytime. https://happyheartsongs.com/grateful-song

Ruth Wishengrad designs personalized experiences that help others feel seen, loved, and celebrated. She is the creator of Happy Heart Songs, a heart-centered project that blends music, emotion, and neuroscience to create new ways of talking to ourselves. After noticing how deeply songs and lyrics shaped her own thoughts and feelings, she began exploring how repetition and melody could turn encouraging words into something people actually connect with and remember. With over 30 years of experience teaching, training, and coaching, Ruth turns encouragement into music that supports emotional well-being.

@myhappyheartsongs on Instagram

Ruth's Website

Bringing Education Home is an educational podcast brought to you by Kristina and Herb Heagh-Avritt.

If you enjoy the show, we'd love for you to leave a rating or review on your favorite podcast app!

Please let your friends know they can listen for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or their preferred podcast app or online at Bringing Education Home.

Sponsored by Vibrant Family Education - creating Happy, Healthy and Successful kids

Follow us on these socials:

Facebook

LinkedIn

YouTube

Instagram

Facebook Group - The Family Learning Circle

Facebook Business Page: Vibrant Family Education

Support Bringing Education Home

Copyright 2026 Kristina & Herb Heagh-Avritt

This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.