What's your goal for second language learning in your homeschool? Do you want your kids to learn about a language or actually be able to communicate with that language? Adelaide Olguin of TalkBox.Mom takes the later approach. Her second language learning kits teach the entire family just a few useful phrases at a time in an immersive, whole-language approach. Instead of getting bogged down in grammar lessons and long lists of vocabulary words, you are using the language from day one.  This episode includes not only tidbits about foreign language learning but also general tips for dealing with homeschool stress, how to promote interest-led learning, and overcoming that internal voice telling you that you're not good enough.

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05:35 Adelaide lets her sons' questions lead their homeschool. 

07:08 Homeschooling is a chance to learn (relearn) what you missed/forgot from your own school years.

09:47 Adelaide's son's conversation with an archaeologist.

11:43 What is TalkBox.Mom?

12:11 If you're nervous about teaching a second language, remember that you taught your child their first language. 

14:17 Kids naturally extract language based on what they experience around them.

14:53 TalkBox.Mom doesn't start with grammar or vocabulary words. It uses the family dynamic to practice just one or two phrases at a time in a real life context.

17:21 The importance of fluency and how TalkBox.Mom builds it.

21:35 When you know other languages, it makes travel more interesting.

24:12 The typical classroom experience of learning a second language vs. the TalkBox.Mom approach.

26:18 Why Adelaide encourages skipping the grammar and vocabulary lessons and going straight to natural language use.

28:54 You don't need to actually learn the grammar formally to be able to use grammar correctly.

32:40 Get the free TalkBox.Mom starter pack for learning language while playing with a ball.

35:10 How to respond to errors, mispronunciation, etc. 

37:48 Adelaide's secret hack for when she gets super stressed about her homeschool outcomes. 

41:00 Adelaide's advice for fighting resistance, that internal voice that says, "I don't have time. I'm too late. I'm not good enough."

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Guest Gretchen Roe from Demme Learning says that math is like death and taxes: you don't get away from either one. She urges parents not to shortchange kids in their math instruction by claim they're just not a math-family.  

Learn how a mastery-based curriculum is student-centric, allowing a child to work at the pace they need to fully comprehend the skills (instead of the curriculum determining the length of lessons and how quickly you work through them). Find out why manipulatives are key to learning math and why some kids discard them too soon. Are your math lessons too long? Discover the ideal length of a daily math lesson. The day-to-day math we encounter as adults mostly comes to us in the form of word problems.

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05:44 Mastery-based learning, defined.

07:22 How Math-U-See is unique compared to other math curriculums.

09:07 About manipulatives for teaching math.

13:14 Teaching math to the artistic, non-mathy student.

15:17 Flexibility is a great sign of intelligence. Help your child maintain intellectual flexibility by teaching the higher math that they think they won't ever need.

18:08 Numeracy (mathematical literacy) in daily life.

21:20 The value of mental math when the cash register dies.

24:03 The ideal length of math lessons. (It's probably not 90 minutes!)

25:53 Don't let your own distaste of math color your child's experience. 

28:39 Word problems are the math of life!

29:22 Gretchen's advice to a parent who is struggling with homeschooling and considering giving it up.

In this second chat with Occupational Therapist Assistant Trish Cauthon, she and Janna delve into the many facets of executive functioning and how to support your child with those skills. Find out what trouble signs to look for in areas such as visual processing, bilateral skills, and fine motor skills. Trish shares simple strategies that can help as you guide your child without frustration through developmental milestones. 

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TIMESTAMPS

03:20 What is self-monitoring?

04:15 What is working memory?

04:52 Time management & the cotton ball trick.

07:55 Obstacles courses help retention.

08:48 What skills are essential for reading and writing and how we can help kids master them.

11:20 The signs that there's a motor issue.

12:26 How too much screentime can cause visual delays. 

13:20 How monkey bars relate to learning how to read. 

13:48 Bilateral skills. It's never too late to work on these.

18:48 Hand strength, grasp, fine motor skills and how they affect handwriting.

20:30 Simple tricks to assist vision issues that can affect reading.

22:44 What kids may actually mean when they say they're bored. 

23:16 How to handle a genuine concern that a child isn't mastering a skill that you think they should have already.

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

We invited occupational therapist assistant Trish Cauthon to the show to help you equip your young children for their two primary occupations—playing and learning. The field of occupational therapy encompasses multiple key areas such as: motor skills, sensory processing, emotional social skills, self-regulation, and executive functioning. Learn how long you can expect a child to pay attention to a cognitively challenging task. Get multiple suggestions for making learning more memorable so that it sticks. And find out if your expectations for your child are reasonable or not.

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01:52 What is a COTA and what does occupational therapy provide?

01:07 A simple trick with cotton balls to help kids regulate a sense of time.

05:24 Key skills needed at the preschool level.

07:32 A rule of thumb for how long kids can focus.

09:22 Why early elementary grade children can sometimes get overwhelmed with what seems like a simple project.

12:05 Children don't yet know how to react to mistakes and learn from them.

12:52 Some of our concerns/frustrations with our kids arise from not understanding what's developmentally appropriate for them.

14:51 The tremendous need for variety and breaks.

17:19 Learning how to learn.

18:49 Learning preferences.

19:50 Motor memory.

20:57 The value of asking questions when a child is struggling.

26:20 Ways to make homeschool lessons more tactile.

Aimee Eucce is our guest expert, talking about teaching reading with a phonic-focused approach called Play 'n Talk. It's a skills-based program so it works for any age child who needs these skills. Aimee has learning challenges that made reading hard, but this program worked for her as a child, and now she uses it with her own children. Read the full transcript here. Or watch on YouTube here.

05:08 How to turn any school topic into a play-based learning experience.

06:04 How the Play 'n Talk phonics program helped Aimee learn to read despite her dyslexia, ADHD, and a slight auditory processing delay.

08:39 The history of the Play 'n Talk program.

10:42 How it works: short lessons, audio lessons, a printed book, games that reinforce the phonetic concepts multiple ways.

14:11 How spiral learning is used and how that helps children with learning challenges.

15:35 There are no shoulds in homeschool. 

18:06 The signs of reading readiness.

22:22 Approach homeschooling like it's an adventure.

25:35 The rules of decoding.

28:39 The value of a sense of wonder. Loving to learn.

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Before your teen drives solo, you offer driver's education with lots of practice behind the wheel under your caring supervision. Naomi Dahl from Cell Phone Permit makes the case that homeschool parents should do the same for smart phones—give young people the tools they need to use mobile devices in healthy ways so they avoid addiction, cyberbullying, and phishing schemes. With this curriculum based on trust and open communication, parents can help tweens and teens navigate social media and productivity apps wisely.

06:30 Have a cell phone curfew each night when everyone turns them off. 

09:05 Cell phone use is damaging GenZ's peripheral eyesight and also their social skills. They would rather communicate over the phone than hang out with their friends in person. 

09:36 Cell phones and sex trafficking.

13:34 The importance of trust between parents and tweens/teens. 

18:24 Vault apps.

24:16 It's never too late to have these discussions with your teens. 

25:57 The problem with just saying no to cell phones and social media entirely.

29:47 Understanding how integral social media is in teens' lives. Even when they realize it's destructive, it can be impossible to abandon it totally or block toxic people.

31:23 Establish family time that's not just everyone on their phones—together but alone.

33:34 It used to be that parents wanted kids to turn off the TV and do something as a family. Now we simply want everyone to watch the same TV screen to find some semblance of shared experience (instead of everyone on individual devices).

35:29 Tablet use with babies and toddlers.

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

LAMP stands for Language Arts Mentor Program, an exciting new option for parents using BookShark who may feel intimidated about instructing their children in writing. Through the online support of writing coach Dave Myers, students get the feedback they need on their compositions so they can grow as proficient writers. Hear Dave's story from public school English teacher to homeschool dad and his thoughts on the superiority of homeschooling.

Dave: "...the best students are inquisitive. Right? They just ask question after question, after question. And as a parent or a teacher, that might drive you a little bit crazy. But really that's awesome because that kid's engaged and that's the key to being successful."

Dave: "And what happens with language arts is you're dealing with communication and words. And so there's all sorts of different ways that you can communicate the same idea, whether that's spoken or whether that's in writing. And so there's a lot of parents that feel like they want assistance with somebody who's more trained in manipulating language and working with language. And so that's where I came in."

TIMESTAMPS

03:05 A main contrast between homeschool and public school: freedom vs. regimentation.

05:22 Sunday night planning for the homeschool week.

06:58 The joy of deviating from the lesson plans!

10:51 An overview of the Language Arts Mentor Program and how Dave is involved in it.

14:39 Dave's introduction to BookShark curriculum and his amazement at all the books kids read in a school year compared to what is covered in public school.

18:17 BookShark's 4-day schedule and the flexibility it provides.

22:44 The ways that LAMP helps students grow as writers: sentence structure, different genres, and organization.

27:44 The key to good writing = It's easy for the reader.

30:53 How reading is the foundation of a proficient writer.

33:55 Slowing the pace and giving kids options/autonomy. This strategy helps young writers develop their voice.

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Hear how Michigan Bookshark Virtual works for any family in Michigan and how it might be exactly what you're looking for in your homeschool journey—the perfect blend of print curriculum with online support and accountability. With this program, students are mostly learning via reading, discussing, hands-on experiments, and math manipulatives. Only about 25% of the time are students working on the computer. So this isn't a typical computer-based, highly screen-dependent program. It's a book-based program with a virtual component for assessment, grading, and recordkeeping. 

Jen Myers: "...being an educator, one of the things that I looked at was the standards. I went through each grade level, each subject to really comb through that to see, 'Is this meeting grade level?' And when I saw that it covered the standards and benchmarks for Michigan, I thought, 'Well, this could be a great fit for our families who do want the option to learn online.' And so then as we started to use it with our families, I just kept hearing more and more positive feedback on how much they loved the materials, loved the curriculum, loved the supplemental activities, loved having online teachers work with their kids. Here they had been homeschooling and everything was on their shoulders as far as preparing the curriculum, doing the grading. And now, these parents were able to step to a facilitator role where the curriculum is set for them and there's other teachers grading, especially like with the language arts. They loved having someone else grade the papers that their students were writing."

Our guests are Jen Myers, Partnership Program Director at Alpena Schools, and Gwyn Domke, the BookShark Coordinator. Find out about your eligibility to receive FREE curriculum through Michigan BookShark Virtual: 

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02:10 Gwen's introduction

03:05 Using a standards-based curriculum like BookShark.

04:07 What online teachers an provide via MI BookShark Virtual.

04:47 An overview of MI BookShark Virtual.

06:30 How much of MI BookShark Virtual is screen-based.

07:59 The advantage of leveled (vs. graded) curriculum.

09:50 Why parents find BookShark do doable and flexible.

13:20 Easy to travel!

14:32 Teaching multiple children together with a single program.

15:54 The math options available. 

17:35 How MI BookShark Virtual provides accountability. 

21:47 The process of getting started.

Find out why homeschooling is the education of the future with Bex Buzzie, a public school teacher and homeschooler. Bex's infectious enthusiasm will pump you up about the many advantages homeschooling provides your children. 

This episode is the first of season 3 of the Homeschool Your Way podcast. We have a great line-up planned for you this season, so be sure to subscribe. 

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

TIMESTAMPS

01:53 Bex talks about her show: Homeschool Advantage podcast.

06:02 How Bex has a foot in both public school and homeschool worlds.

09:56 Bex's homeschool hack is to go one inch wide and ten feet deep with unit studies.

12:18 Bex's mission is to encourage parents that they can homeschool well, even if they work. 

13:47 Bex says the exodus of teachers from public schools means there are quality instructors a homeschool parent can hire for their own kids.

17:31 Teaching electives in the homeschool.

20:37 Homeschooling provides room for experimentation.

21:47 How to reframe failure and build resilience in kids.

27:57 Bex's advice for homeschool parents: "What I would say is parents who have been homeschooling, encourage those people who are on the fence to jump off the fence and to jump into homeschooling because their life will never be the same. They're going to go on a journey."

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Have you ever wondered if you are smart? Do your children ever ask you if you think they're smart? What is smart anyways? Today's episode explores the theory of multiple intelligences. An IQ test isn't the only way to measure intelligence. My guest, Dana Fohr, discusses the eight ways your kids are smart. You may just be surprised by what you hear. 

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QUOTABLE

Janna: "[Our children a]re not just another person living in your home that you have to feed and drive around and look after and clean up after. I mean, it does feel that way sometimes in the thick of being at home and homeschooling your children. But when you really get to know them and see what motivates them and as they start to mature and you're like, 'Oh my gosh, you're a really cool person. You're neat.' And it's such a privilege to have the time when I homeschool to be able to do that with my kids."

TIMESTAMPS

02:09 The value of giving kids autonomy.

04:32 Book referenced: 8 Great Smarts by Dr. Kathy Koch | The 8 intelligences, outlined and defined: 

07:32 How multiple intelligences is different from how IQ is traditionally measured.

08:58 How an understanding of multiple intelligences can impact our homeschool.

13:34 Sometimes you can identify a child's special gifts by looking at what annoys you. A child who's constantly in motion? Could be body smart!

14:36 The difference between correction and criticism.

22:32 Get help from others who can teach your kids from various strengths/smarts.

24:34 How to be smart with your smarts.

25:38 How to help a well-rounded child who doesn't have extreme smarts in one particular area.

27:23 About being the best.

36:25 The need for constant adjustment as a homeschooler.

★ If you'd like to share an aha moment, an inspirational quote, a homeschool hack, a book you're loving, or a suggested podcast topic/guest, leave a comment at bookshark.com/podcast. We'd love to feature your reflection on a future episode.