Learn what makes guitar (or any musical instrument) the perfect homeschool hobby and extracurricular activity in this episode with John Futch. John has been playing guitar for 25 years and has taught music for over twenty years in his hometown of Lexington, KY. In 2017, he and a friend created First Frets, an online guitar and ukulele program that takes students from beginner to advanced, one step at a time. First Frets is a great option not only for individuals, but also for homeschool families, co-ops, and private schools. If you have a musically inclined child, this episode will inspire you to imagine the possibilities playing guitar can open for your family.

••• — ••• — •••

LISTENER COUPON CODE

04:34 How John's father ignited his passion for guitar.

07:08 John's introduction to formal strings instruction.

09:08 How Covid-19 shutdowns opened the door for once-in-a-lifetime Zoom lessons.

10:15 John's perceptions of the financial realities of being a musician and how that led to music being only a college side-hustle.

13:40 The birth of John's company First Frets—a recorded option for students who needed a way to make up missed lessons.

18:55 Music is like basketball in that you can enjoy it in iterations of one, two, or up to five people. Why music is the perfect hobby and extracurricular topic.

21:37 So many parents also wanted to learn guitar that John created a family plan for his lessons.

23:40 How to handle kids who don't want to perform in front of others, for example, in a recital.

24:48 Playing purely for the love of music.

26:26 How to maintain interest in an instrument when you're a clumsy beginner.

27:34 How music instruction impacts other academic areas and brain development. [John references This Is Your Brain on Music by Daniel J. Levitin.]

30:05 John's homeschool hack—pacing.

31:54 Music can be more than a hobby. It actually can be a career, even if you aren't in a hit band.

••• — ••• — •••

Thanks to show sponsor BookShark. Request a homeschool curriculum catalog or download samples at bookshark.com.

Have you ever felt totally stressed out by the holidays? Or oddly disappointed when they were over? Janna Koch and her guest Kelly Scimeca chat all things holiday blues: the symptoms, the causes, and how to keep them from ruining your cheery vibe. 

LISTENER COUPON CODE ★Request your coupon code to use on any purchase at bookshark.com.

TIMESTAMPS

01:52 Introduction to Kelly

02:52 Chore charts as a solution to the always messy house

03:52 What are the holiday blues?

06:22 How your own grief can be transferred to your kids

07:55 The expectation to make everything homemade at the holidays

11:03 How anxiety can blossom and grow, ruining your enjoyment

12:38 Common symptoms of the holiday blues

14:25 Reframing your expectations to you aren't overwhelmed

16:22 How to tame unhealthy or emotional eating

18:14 How isolation can impact holiday blues

19:31 Learning to say no

22:28 Self-care is not selfish

24:19 Get family input on your holiday plans

27:00 How slow and steady is the mantra to overcome the holiday blues

28:01 If you need additional help, reach out to a therapist. Dial 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

Thanks to show sponsor BookShark. Request a homeschool curriculum catalog or download samples at bookshark.com.

Why add Black, Asian, and Native American voices to your homeschool? Our podcast guest for this episode is a specialist in this area. Belinda Bullard has successfully graduated three children through homeschooling with a literature-based approach. Her business, Blessed Heritage Educational Resources, provides multicultural history curriculum featuring the African-American presence and contribution. If you'd like to give your children empathy and the ability to understand history from multiple viewpoints, tune in!  

06:50 In teaching homeschool history, be willing to be comfortable with the uncomfortable.

09:09 Study primary sources such as the Constitution itself. 

14:21 Teach your children about biases in news outlets and how to evaluate internet sources for credibility.

17:51 Aim to use first person voices, namely autobiographies. 

25:30 Expose your children to festivals, movies, books, people, etc. that reflect a variety of viewpoints. 

31:05 What's the evidence that your children are digesting their history studies?

Music is a mental superfood—truly enjoyable and beneficial for both brain and soul! Music awakens imagination and even boosts math skills. Join host Janna and her guest Dana Dominiak as they talk about Piano Prodigy—a video game that teaches kids both music theory and how to play the piano.

About our guest: Both a video game entrepreneur and a professor of Computer Science at Lewis University, Dana Dominiak has extensive experience in both games and education. Dana's companies have created many hit video games for Nintendo and other platforms including Dragonball Z: The Legacy of Goku series for Atari, and My Little Pony and Hello Kitty for Hasbro and Sanrio. Dana holds a PhD in Computer Science in AI from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. Mostly, she just really likes to play video games.

• — • — • — • — •

02:44 The art vs. computer science misconception.

05:53 How Prodigy Factory games boost creativity.

08:12 What's the value of music education?

13:29 Music can be hard to measure. Piano Prodigy provides levels, ribbons, medals, etc. that give a sense of tangible progression.

17:13 Music is one of the multiple intelligences. Listen to this podcast.

18:06 The creativity inherent in math.

21:48 Music wakes up the brain. 

24:50 Playing music versus listening to music.

• — • — • — • — •

Anyone can be imaginative. Our job as homeschool parents is to give our children a toolbox with enough variety of options to foster their creativity. Both reading and writing are key vehicles for imagination! 

About our guest: Nancy Jo Wilson is a homeschool mother and science fiction writer. Visit her author website here. She's homeschooled for 20+ years in four different states. If she hasn't personally experienced a homeschool hiccough, she knows someone who has. With her sister Carole Jean Flodin, also a homeschool veteran, she wrote The Generic Literature Guide which helps parents find educational value from any novel. 

• — • — • — • — •

04:38 The importance of the parent-child relationship.

06:46 Don't stop reading aloud to your kids.

08:36 Why is imagination a valuable goal for your homeschool?

10:34 Nancy's example of when her son was paralyzed with indecision and how she should have handled it.

13:31 Being free as a parent to deviate from your curriculum and be creative.

14:06 How to bring more imagination to a workbook-based curriculum.

16:27 What does imagination mean?

19:04 Nancy Jo's tips for reluctant readers.

22:48 What about graphic novels?

25:16 Realize your kids may not learn the same way you prefer.

Special guest Kathleen Cotter Clayton from RightStart Math believes that homeschool math can be so much fun that you fall off your chair from laughter. In this episode, she helps parents find the beauty, the fun, the giggles—even the joy—of math. Math is not math for math's sake. Math is a tool to solve actual problems. And when kids learn to concentrate steadily on math, they will feel empowered and refreshed!

• — • — • — • — • — •

TIMESTAMPS

03:56 What's wrong with saying, "I'm not good at math."

05:06 Math is like reading — it's everywhere around us, a skill we use almost constantly.

07:17 Playing basketball may not be easy, but it's fun. Math is the same.

09:32 Why moms need to be especially careful about saying they are bad at math.

10:24 RightStart Math is built on fun games.

12:08 Emotional associations with math.

14:15 There are various branches of math. So you may be weak at some and strong in others.

17:08 Practical ways to make math more fun.

20:15 Staying present as a homeschool parent.

21:58 Learning how to concentrate and the benefits it brings.

27:07 Three steps of learning: concentrating, working through it, and then putting it away.

30:37 The practical applications of math.

If you are scared to homeschool high school, fear no more! Special guest Ann Karako of It's Not That Hard to Homeschool has successfully homeschooled five teens through high school graduation. In this episode she shares her insights about dual enrollment, homeschool styles, the family dynamic, gap years, and more.

03:34 The inspiration behind It's Not That Hard to Homeschool and how Ann found her niche with homeschooling high school.

07:16 Ann says the family dynamic is far more important than the method of homeschooling. 

08:04 Ann defends the "school at home" approach to homeschooling.

11:54 Dual (or concurrent) enrollment for teens.

15:13 Colleges don't expect freshman to come with dual enrollment credits.

17:02 The importance of family discussions if your kids use dual enrollment.

18:56 About the gap year (between high school and college).

22:24 Even question college. Is it a good choice for your teen?

23:33 The teen years often present new parenting and homeschooling challenges you may not have been prepared for. We also realize some of our expectations for our children too lofty or don't fit the child.

26:19 When our teens surprise us, we can either we can be humbled by it or we can double down and start being more authoritarian.

27:08 The case for taking additional higher math.

28:51 Making decisions with/for your teen: When Your Teen Hates Homeschooling High School

34:28 A big fear about homeschooling high school is that your teen will miss out on opportunities. 

41:25 There's no need to grade daily work. Let teens sleep in!

At its core, etiquette is a set of skills that we use to help others feel valued. Our polite (or rude) behaviors send unspoken messages about what we cherish. If your kids could use help with being more refined or kinder to those around them, this episode with special guest Monica Irvine is for you! Visit Monica's site at The Etiquette Factory and learn about her curriculum that teaches manners. She says that purposeful parenting means creating and recognizing opportunities for our children to practice generosity, compassion, and empathy. That's what etiquette is. 

• — • — • — • — • — • —

★Request your coupon code to use on any purchase at bookshark.com.

TIMESTAMPS

03:27 How Monica entered the homeschool world.

04:35 A homeschool hack: Use documentaries at lunchtime for history lessons.

07:28 What inspired Monica to create a curriculum to teach etiquette.

10:28 Teaching out of correction has a negative connotation. So teach manners as part of your homeschool for better reception.

14:41 Why etiquette is as important as language arts and math.

16:02 The unspoken messages that rude (and polite) behaviors send.

20:42 It's bad etiquette to point out someone else's bad etiquette.

21:46 Monica' motivation for being polite: "I would never want my laziness to cause someone else inconvenience."

24:14 What is honor? Who is an honorable person? What makes a civil society?

31:54 Knowing etiquette can help kids who feel anxiety in social situations.

35:02 The skill of noticing.

• — • — • — • — • — • —

Nicole the Math Lady has a unique approach to math mistakes: When errors happen, instead of feeling like a failure, accept mistakes as part of the learning process. Teach your kids not to be perfect math problem solvers but perfect math fixers. Nicole explains how she uses her own bloopers to encourage kids to embrace imperfection and keep trying.

SHOP SAXON MATH: https://www.bookshark.com/saxon-math

VISIT NICOLE'S SITE: https://nicolethemathlady.com/

03:26 How to approach mistakes with math or getting the answers wrong. Teach your kids to be a fixer.

06:43 Math is layered. And it can take multiple exposures to fully grasp a concept. 

8:23 MATH = mistakes acceptable to help

08:36 An analogy of wedding mishaps. Figure your error curve, how many bloopers you can accept. 

11:32 How Nicole used the small mistakes in her teaching videos as an example to her students to embrace imperfection. 

14:46 Apologizing to our kids when we make mistakes.

15:30 Why Nicole loves falling on her sword and admitting her errors.

18:00 Letting kids teach the material.

20:50 How "We're not a math family" can limit your kids.

22:16 Your kids have zero idea how their lives will turn out, all the careers they will have. 

28:11 Savor the parts of homeschooling you love, and outsource the parts you hate.

Past math trauma or thinking you're not good at math will impact how you approach math in your homeschool. If math is a weak spot for you, tune into this episode with special guest Nicole Thomas of Nicole the Math Lady. She actually became a homeschooler after she started teaching math online. Nicole encourages us to stop thinking about math solely in terms of numbers, formulas, and processes but to turn it into challenges that actually relate to something you're interested in—like how many more Pringles you could fit into a can.

SHOP SAXON MATH: https://www.bookshark.com/saxon-math

08:30 Despite being an educator, homeschooling wasn't an easy transition. 

10:37 How Nicole brilliantly outsources homeschool tasks to her son's grandparents—via videocalls.

16:32 Making a triangle of math instruction: the child, the parent, and Nichole. 

19:47 While history and language arts can be integrated and can generate an emotional response, math feels separate and a bit cold. 

21:08 Nicole gives an example of teaching geometry with a Pringles can. 

24:12 Solving real life problems is more important than memorizing formulas.

25:32 Nicole loves math because it's everywhere and it doesn't have to be explained or learned in a mathy way.

26:35 Learning styles research says teach with multiple styles (not necessarily one preferred style).

28:27 Getting help with teaching and grading math in the homeschool setting.

31:56 Corny brain breaks