Homeschool Coffee Break

If your homeschool feels like a never-ending pile of curriculum, co-ops, and pressure, there is a better way — and it starts with doing less.
This episode digs into what an elite education actually means, why most homeschool moms are overcomplicating & adding more things out of fear, and how simplifying your homeschool gives your kids more time to think, go deeper, and actually love learning. You will walk away with one practical step to take this week and a completely different lens for every homeschool decision you make going forward.
Homeschool moms who are exhausted from checking every box and still wondering if it is enough will find this episode both freeing and clarifying. Elite education is not about harder curriculum or longer school days — it is about raising kids who think critically, make wise decisions, and love learning for a lifetime.
What is covered in this episode:
✅Why fear drives homeschool overwhelm and how to break the cycle
✅What an elite education really means — and it has nothing to do with harder subjects
✅Why deep focus beats scattered assignments every single time
✅How doing less gives your child more time to actually think
✅1 thing to remove from your homeschool this week
Check out Raising Leaders, Not Followers and start giving your kids the elite (BEST) education they were made for.
Resources for You:
Raising Leaders, Not Followers Course
Show Notes:
What If the Best Education Actually Comes From Doing Less?
Most homeschool moms secretly wonder — am I doing enough? What if my kids fall behind? What if I miss something important? So what do we do? We add more and more — more curriculum, more activities, more pressure on everyone. But what if the best education actually comes from doing less? Doing less and doing it differently.
Fear Is Driving Your Overwhelm
I think too many moms are homeschooling from fear. The fear of not preparing your kids for the future. The fear they won't succeed. The fear they'll miss some opportunities. And this fear leads to overloading your schedules and chasing everything.
When's the last time your kids could just hang out, go outside and play, go shoot some hoops? Most moms think more is better. So they sign their kids up for multiple programs, all the co-ops, all the curriculum — and they still feel unsure about whether their kids are going to be ready.
Abraham Lincoln had less than one year of formal schooling. He was self-educated. He learned through reading, through reflecting, and through real life experiences. And he went on to be one of the most influential people in history. His education would not be complete according to public school standards — they've got a long list of things you're supposed to do and it's just busy work. But he developed into an educated person through thinking, through character, and through leadership.
What Is an Elite Education?
This is what I call an elite education. And I think most of you would like to give that to your kids — but you're not sure how. Elite education is not harder curriculum. It's not more subjects.
Elite education means thinking critically, understanding deeply, making wise biblical decisions, loving learning for a lifetime, and having a foundation of godly biblical character. This is what actually prepares kids for adulthood. The academics come along, but that is not the focus. An elite education prepares a child for adulthood.
George Washington Carver and Tuskegee University
George Washington Carver was born into slavery and had very limited formal education as a child. But he was curious. He spent hours in nature exploring and experimenting and teaching himself — because schools for Black children were not really available back then. He educated himself through observation and personal study, and he later became one of the leading agricultural scientists. He developed hundreds of uses for peanuts and other plants.
What made him exceptional was not a traditional school. It was curiosity, perseverance, and a love for learning.
He eventually started teaching at Tuskegee University, founded by Booker T. Washington. And this university was more than academics. Every student who came there had to learn a trade. Maybe they learned cooking and actually cooked the food for the other students in the dorms. Maybe they learned carpentry and built the buildings for the university. Everyone had a trade as well as a field of study.
And you know what happened in 1905? Tuskegee University had more self-made millionaires than Harvard, Yale, and Princeton combined. Because they had a different approach to education. It was more than just academics. They learned real life skills.
What Happens When You Simplify
When you simplify your homeschool, your kids have time to think. They go deeper instead of rushing through their assignments. Learning becomes meaningful because it has purpose and intention.
When you overload your children, all they do is check off the boxes. Retention drops drastically. Motivation disappears. That's when you get all those attitude problems and learning doesn't really happen.
A child that is deeply interested in one topic — just one topic — learns reading through books, writing through a reading journal, thinking through discussion. Reading, writing, discussion. That is real learning, not a bunch of scattered assignments.
You don't need to do more. You need a clear framework — a way to filter your decisions, a way to know that you are doing the right activities and studying the right subject areas for each of your kids.
What to Do This Week
Look at your current homeschool plan and remove one thing this week that is not serving your goals. If you don't have goals, you need to make a vision. We talked about that in an earlier episode. If you want to raise your kids to be leaders, you've got to have a vision for your homeschool.
And I want you to know — all three of my kids are in their 30s now, and they all love learning. I think a lot of it has to do with the foundation we gave them in their homeschool.
That is exactly what Raising Leaders, Not Followers gives you — a way to make wise and purposeful decisions for your upcoming year, for each of your kids. It helps your kids make wise decisions too. It gives your kids an elite education for life so that they can think critically, make wise decisions, have a love for learning, and have a foundation of character.
If you have any questions, let me know. It's not for everyone all the time — but it is for the mom or dad who wants to raise their kids with purpose, prepared for adult life, thinking critically, making wise decisions, and loving learning for a lifetime. Come check out Raising Leaders, Not Followers — the link is in the show notes.

You have done all the lessons, checked all the boxes, and finished the curriculum — but something still feels off. The problem is not your effort. It’s the role you have been playing in your homeschool.
Today, we talk about real mentoring examples that shift your kids from waiting for direction to thinking for themselves, and what it actually looks like to move from teacher mode to mentor mode in a real homeschool day. You will walk away with one practical step to take tomorrow and four questions that do more for your kids than any worksheet ever could.
Homeschool moms who are exhausted from carrying the weight of everything will find this episode both relieving and clarifying. When you stop delivering information and start developing thinkers, your kids grow in ownership and confidence — and you finally get to breathe again.
✅Why staying in teacher mode all day is burning you out and creating dependent kids
✅The difference between teaching and mentoring — and why it changes everything
✅Practical mentoring examples you can use in any subject starting tomorrow
✅4 questions to ask yourself instead of answering your kids right away
✅How transformation — not information — becomes the goal of your homeschool
Join the free masterclass mentioned in this episode and take your first step toward mentoring your kids to think, lead, and own their education.
Resources for You
Free Masterclass: 4 Steps to Raising Christian Leaders in Your Homeschool
Show Notes:
The Shift That Changes Everything in Your Homeschool
Have you ever done all the lessons, checked all the boxes, finished the curriculum, and you still feel like something is missing? Many moms are working harder than ever, but their kids still struggle with motivation, with ownership, with even really understanding what they're doing.
The problem is not your effort, Mom. It's the role that you've been taught to play in your homeschool.
The Traditional Mindset Is Burning You Out
The traditional mindset — and we're talking in the last hundred years, not 500 years ago — says your job, mom, is to deliver information and make sure it gets done. Check that checkbox off. But what does this do? It creates dependence. Your kids wait for you to tell them what to do. They follow the teacher. But they are not thinking, or learning, or studying independently.
And what are they going to do when they get out on their own? They'll just wait until the boss tells them what to do. They are not thinking critically and they are not making wise decisions.
Leaders are not created through constant instruction. They're developed through thinking, ownership, and taking responsibility for their own education. When you stay in teacher mode, you carry the weight of everything and everyone.
Now, there is a time to teach. You teach your five-year-old how to read or your eight-year-old the multiplication facts. There is a time to teach. But when you stay in teaching mode all day long, you are going to burn yourself out. You have got to shift from teacher to mentor — to coaching and guiding your kids as they learn independently.
The Simple Shift You Can Make Today
Instead of answering your child right away, I want you to pause and ask — what do you think you should do next?
When they finish an assignment and ask what to do, say — what do you think your next step should be? Give them a chance to think and make a decision. When they get stuck, ask — what do you think you could try first? When they ask for help right away, ask — what ideas have you already tried? When they rush through their work, ask — what do you think would make this better?
This begins to shift the responsibility off of your shoulders and onto your children immediately. It shifts them from waiting to thinking, from depending to deciding. It changes their attitude — and it will change yours. It trains ownership in their education in real time, not just in theory.
What Mentoring Actually Looks Like
A lot of people think mentoring is just letting go and not doing very much. It is not about doing less. It is about doing what matters most.
You shift from telling to asking. From managing to guiding. From controlling to training.
Think of it like a coach. The coach plans the drills and the strategy, but when it comes to the game, they are not pitching the ball or throwing the touchdown. They are on the sidelines coaching and guiding. That is what you need to do. If you are burned out, it's probably because you're doing too much teaching and you're still on that conveyor belt.
Instead of correcting every mistake in their writing, ask them to evaluate their work before they give it to you. Ask them — what do you think you could improve in this writing? You are training thinking, not just fixing papers. Especially by high school, they should be editing their own work themselves.
Mentoring Examples From History
This is really what early America was all about. Teenagers had apprenticeships. They learned under a mentor — blacksmiths, printers, farmers. They learned by doing, observing, and gradually taking ownership until eventually they could go off and do it all themselves. This built independence, life skills, and leadership.
Thomas Jefferson had a mentor named George Wythe who would assign books to read. They would write and they would discuss. That is an academic mentorship. And it produced one of the greatest leaders in American history.
Education back then wasn't just about information. It was about transformation. So my question to you is — what transformation is happening in your homeschool?
That is the difference between teaching and mentoring. If you are mentoring, you will see transformation over time. Your kids begin to take ownership. They think critically. They develop confidence. And you, mom, begin to feel less pressure. You have more peace. You can actually enjoy your homeschool again.
What to Do This Week
Choose one subject today or tomorrow and step back. Let your child take the lead while you guide with questions. Questions are some of the best ways to develop critical thinking skills and wise decision making. Step back from one subject for each of your kids and guide them with questions instead of instruction.
We've had moms say that course changed my mindset. It shifted me. And they say — my kids are loving their new teacher because she's not the dictator anymore. She's not the teacher of everything. She is mentoring them.
I would love for you to join me for my free masterclass — Four Steps to Raising Christian Leaders in Your Homeschool. We will be talking about questions and how to use them as one of the key steps in mentoring your kids. There are two different dates and times you can join. The link is in the show notes.
And be looking out for more information about my Raising Leaders, Not Followers course — it has helped so many moms and dads and kids see real transformation in their homeschool.

If your child acts like every lesson is punishment, the problem is probably not laziness — and this episode shows you what is really going on.
We are talking about how to motivate students not through pressure or entertainment, but through purpose and ownership. You will walk away with simple activities to try this week and a completely different way of looking at why your child resists learning in the first place.
Homeschool moms who are exhausted from pushing, bribing, and wondering what is wrong with their kids will find this episode both relieving and practical. When you understand what actually drives motivation in a child, you stop fighting the resistance and start working with who your child really is.
✅Why pressure and entertainment fail to produce lasting motivation
✅1 question to ask after any lesson that opens up real conversation
✅How one small choice completely shifts your child's attitude toward learning
✅Why motivation grows from meaning, not rewards
✅What it looks like when learning finally connects to real life
Grab the free masterclass mentioned in this episode and start raising motivated, purpose-driven learners today.
Resources for You
Free Masterclass: Four Steps to Raising Christian Leaders
Knowing Rediscovered Course (coming this summer)
The Missing Piece in Your Homeschool Vision
Show Notes:
Why Your Kids Resist Learning — And It's Not What You Think
If your child drags through school all day, resists every assignment, and acts like learning is punishment — that doesn't automatically mean you have a lazy child. Often the problem isn't laziness. It's a lack of purpose, a lack of ownership, and the feeling that they are just forced to learn these things. And that forcedness produces resistance.
Meaningful learning produces engagement. Kids don't need more constant pressure to go learn something. What do they need? They need a reason to care.
John Wesley Was the Fruit of Intentional Parenting
Last week we talked about Susanna Wesley and her sons John and Charles. I want to look a little bit at the fruit of what we talked about. Homeschooling should look like it has some kind of purpose and intention besides checking off the boxes. This is not theory. We see so many stories in history that show the fruit.
John Wesley is the fruit of Susanna's intention and purpose in raising her kids with a wide variety of types of education. He was shaped by a purposeful home. John Wesley grew up under Susanna Wesley's intentional instruction and discipline. The upbringing didn't simply train him to comply. It prepared him to think, to lead, and eventually shape others along the way. She prepared him spiritually, critically, academically — and he flew with it.
How are you raising your kids? Do they see any purpose in what they're doing? Or are they just sitting there waiting for mom to tell them the next thing to do?
Motivation Is Connected to Ownership, Not Entertainment
I believe motivation grows when a child knows that his life matters and his learning is going somewhere — instead of just doing something that someone told him to do. When a child feels like school is something being done to them, they're going to resist. They need to understand that learning is helping them grow into who God has made them to be.
If you're multitasking, come back to me for this one. Motivation is often connected to ownership, not entertainment. We think if we entertain our kids enough in school, they'll be motivated. That's not right. If every lesson feels like busy work, don't be surprised when your kids tune you out. Kids will lean in when they see some meaning in their lessons and their studies.
How to Start Connecting Learning to Real Life
I want to give you a little activity you can do this week. After your kids finish their schoolwork, ask each of them individually one simple question — why does this matter? Then zip your lips and listen. Don't turn it into a lecture. Use your two ears. Let it be a conversation.
They may actually have a reason. Or they may not have a reason at all. That will be very eye-opening — to see whether your kids think their learning really matters and what they have to say about it.
You want to start helping them connect their schoolwork to real life. My son Hunter was working on a paper and we were supposed to be studying Roman history. He didn't really care about history at the time. So the next day I said — what if we write it about Derek Jeter, the baseball player? Do you think he was motivated? You better believe it. He read the book. He was interested. Do you think he wrote a better paper? Yes. Why? He was motivated. He saw a purpose. He was interested in it.
We also ended up doing the science of baseball — the math and science of it — because he loves sports. All of a sudden he's interested because he sees a purpose. It connects to real life.
Give Your Kids One Small Choice
Let your child make one small choice in their subject. Ownership can begin with something very small. Hunter was also into animals, and one year he wrote the ABC Jungle Book — every page had a jungle animal with that letter, a paragraph about it, and an illustration. That was motivating because he thought those jungle animals were really cool.
You're not trying to overhaul everything overnight. I'm not telling you to do it all. Just pick one place where your child can make a choice about their school. One. And let them do it. Don't dictate. Don't tell them what to do. Let them learn their way. A little ownership in homeschooling is going to go a long way.
Does it really matter what topic they pick for their writing? No. Maybe your child is into animals, or dance, or boats — whatever it is. Especially in elementary, let them go to the library and pick a topic and get some books about it. It's that simple.
Traditional school trains children to wait for direction, and that produces compliance — but it does not produce motivation. We're not trying to raise kids who only work when someone is watching or when they get a reward. We want to raise kids who learn in all areas of life.
What This Looks Like in Real Life
I've had to learn the hard way too. Many times I told Hunter — no, you're going to write on this, you're going to do this — and it didn't work. They were not motivated. So if you've been feeling like you need to push your kids harder to motivate them, you are not alone.
Knowing how to motivate students starts with one simple shift — connecting their learning to purpose. That's where motivation begins to change. And that is a part of raising leaders, not followers.
I'm hosting a free masterclass — Four Steps to Raising Christian Leaders — and we will be talking about this very topic, including connecting your child's learning to purpose. It's completely free. The link is in the show notes. I hope to see you there.

If your homeschool feels like a scattered pile of tasks instead of a clear path forward, this episode is going to change how you see everything.
We are talking about homeschool vision — what it is, why most moms are missing it, and how two simple, practical activities this week can give your homeschool real direction and purpose. You will walk away with a one-sentence vision statement and a question that helps you evaluate everything you are already doing.
Homeschool moms who are tired of feeling reactive, copying everyone else, and second-guessing every decision will find this episode both clarifying and freeing.
When you build from vision instead of reacting to everything around you, your homeschool starts to feel like something you are intentionally building — not just surviving.
✅2 practical activities to do this week to add purpose in your homeschool
✅Why a homeschool without vision is just a pile of lessons
✅The 1 sentence that gives your entire homeschool a clear direction
✅The question that reveals if you are building something or just staying busy
✅Why reactive homeschooling is keeping you exhausted and stuck
Grab the free resource mentioned in this episode and start building a homeschool with real vision and direction today.
Resources for You
Homeschool Freedom Boot Camp: A 5-Day Live Experience (begins May 12)
Raising Leaders Not Followers Course VIP Wait List - FREE with exclusive benefits & events, just for our VIPers
Show Notes:
The Missing Piece in Your Homeschool: Vision
If your homeschool feels reactive, scattered, or like you're just trying to get through the day — you're not alone. A lot of us homeschool moms, homeschooling starts to feel like just a big string of tasks instead of a clear direction of where you are going. And some of that is because we are just giving our kids tasks. We are developing followers. They're not thinking for themselves.
Followers complete tasks. But leaders live from vision. A homeschool without vision is just a pile of lessons. A homeschool with vision gives you, mom, a path to shape your child, a path to make wise decisions, and a path to prepare for the upcoming school year.
Susanna Wesley Parented with Intention
I've talked about Susanna Wesley many times, but I want to go in a little different direction with her today. She was a mom who parented with intention. She didn't just drift around. She had 19 kids — and she raised a large family without her husband there many times.
And yet she still set aside time, even with a large family, to teach her children individually and regularly. About once a week or once every other week, she spent time individually with each of her kids. She didn't just manage behavior. She wanted to shape their minds and their hearts with a purpose.
Two of her sons, John and Charles Wesley, became very strong leaders in the Christian community. John Wesley began the Methodist denomination. Charles Wesley wrote over 4,000 to 6,000 hymns. They are the fruit and the results of an intentional mother.
I bet you would like your kids to be raised up like that — so that when they are adults, they are leading for Jesus and influencing for Jesus.
What Susanna Wesley Actually Did
Susanna Wesley realized education was more than academics. Here are a few of the things she made sure were going on in her home. She had a religious education that included daily devotions, time for worship and singing, and a Sabbath each week. She built routines — for sleeping, for meals, for dining. She worked on her kids being orderly and disciplined and taught them how to self-regulate.
Many of us need to be teaching our kids how to self-regulate, because when they have that self-control, they are going to grow up to be a different kind of person. I was listening to a podcast from Revive Our Hearts and they talked about a study done with four-year-olds. Each child was brought in and given a marshmallow. They were told — you can have it now, or if you wait until I come back, you get two.
About a third ate that marshmallow immediately. A third waited but not long enough. A third waited for the second marshmallow. When they followed up with these same kids at 18 years old, the ones who waited had self-control, could regulate themselves, and went on to have more successful lives. They had perseverance, strong work ethic, and could deal with frustrations and hard times. Even a four-year-old can begin learning to self-regulate.
She also was very purposeful in teaching manners. This is building character. She had a purpose with each of her kids and was teaching them far more than academics — because some of this other stuff is what will truly prepare our kids for adult life.
Do You Have a Vision for Your Homeschool?
Vision gives your homeschool direction instead of just a bunch of activities. It's what keeps you from making all your decisions based on feelings or what feels urgent. When you know why you are homeschooling, your choices get clear. You stop asking what do I do next and you start asking what are we building.
For me, I wanted to build my kids to think critically and think biblically. That is homeschooling and mothering with intention — and it is very different than reactive.
If you have a reactive homeschool, you're just chasing whatever the curriculum trends are, copying other moms because it looks like the right thing, changing direction constantly. But when you homeschool with intention and purpose, you are choosing tools and activities that match your family's goals. God made you different. He made your kids different. You need a vision for your homeschool.
Public school trains your kids to follow a system and wait for someone to tell them what to do. Christian homeschool vision trains kids to follow the truth.
Two Things to Do This Week
First, write one sentence that says what you want your homeschool to produce in your child. It doesn't need to be fancy — it needs to be simple and easy to understand. You might even put it on a sticky note wherever you sit down to homeschool or where you do your planning. Character, faith, confidence, wise thinking, a love of learning — what is it that you want to build in your children?
Second, pick one thing you already do in your homeschool and ask yourself — does this support our vision, or does it just fill up time? That one question can save you from a lot of busy work you don't need to be doing. You don't need more guilt, mom. You need direction.
What Happens When You Stop Copying Everyone Else
Janelle Kudson — she has seven kids — said she became so consumed with academics, and then God showed her there were more important things than just a rigorous academic experience. When she realized this, the way she saw homeschooling changed. She stopped measuring her success by checking off the checkboxes and started measuring it on a long-term foundation.
Are you building a long-term foundation? You may not see the results for years to come, but you should be making small steps each and every year to give your kids a solid foundation from where they can move into adult life. That's what happens when you stop copying everyone else and start homeschooling on purpose — your family's purpose. And that's really what raising leaders is all about. Knowing where you are going.
I've got a few events this month, and one of them is our Homeschool Freedom Boot Camp. We spend one day on vision and goals so that you can know exactly where you're headed. It is a five-day live experience — six days if you come as a VIP.
If you've been homeschooling reactively — just reacting to everything and copying everyone else — this is your chance to shift your perspective. Homeschool Freedom Boot Camp is where we start building a homeschool with direction, confidence, and purpose. And yes, this is the kind of foundation that leads right into Raising Leaders, Not Followers.
We begin on May 12th. Join here. You can also join the Raising Leaders, Not Followers VIP list for exclusive access to special bonuses and events in May. I can't wait to see you there.

Your kids can pass a test — but can they evaluate an idea, make a wise decision, or stand for truth when no one is watching? If that question makes you pause, this episode is exactly what you need to hear.
We are breaking down why the skills of critical thinking matter more than any answer in a textbook.. I’m also sharing 1 powerful habit that changes everything about how your kids learn and think:
✅The 1 daily habit that builds skills of critical thinking in any subject
✅Whether memorizing answers produces followers or leaders
✅Why asking questions is more powerful than any curriculum you can buy
✅What to do so you can see your kids start thinking
✅What it looks like when your child can finally evaluate ideas on their own
Grab the free resources mentioned in this episode and start building thinkers in your homeschool today.
Resources for You
FREE Read Aloud Magic
FREE Notebooking Pages
Become a VIP when you join the Raising Leaders Not Followers VIP Wait List
. . . . - Get extra perks as a VIP in May!
Show Notes:
Your Child Doesn't Need to Know the Answer — They Need to Know How to Think
Your child doesn't need to just know the answer. They need to know how to think and make decisions. A kid who can memorize facts but can't evaluate ideas is going to struggle in college, in work, and in life. Let's talk about a way to solve this problem today.
What Are You Actually Training Your Kids For?
I know you want the best for your kids. You want them to be prepared for the real world. You want them to have strong faith and discernment. But you're worried your kids may not be ready. You're tired of the idea that more school automatically means more success — that the more we do in school, the more successful they're going to be. These are myths.
Your goal shouldn't just be that your kid can pass a test. A test just memorizes — it analyzes facts. For me, our goal was that our kids would follow Jesus, think clearly and biblically, and make wise decisions when we weren't around. We wanted to prepare them for real life.
Schools teach answers. But leaders evaluate ideas. The problem is answers aren't enough. Schools teach to the test — it's the conveyor belt. Everyone does the same thing and gets a test to see if they've memorized all the answers. And it produces followers. Followers who just wait for direction. Followers who are waiting for approval or waiting for a worksheet to turn in.
Thinkers and leaders — that's what I wanted for my kids. Not necessarily the president of the United States, but kids who lead in their own life, in their home, in their family. If your child has only been trained to fill in the blanks, don't be surprised when they struggle to take ownership and they're just waiting for someone to tell them what to do.
So my question to you is — what are you training your children for?
Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Courage to Think for Yourself
I want to share a story about a man named Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He was a German pastor and theologian during Nazi rule. The surrounding culture was demanding conformity, fear, and silence. But he refused to follow. He was going to stand for truth. He kept asking what was right before God — not what was safe or popular.
Bonhoeffer did not let the culture tell him what was true. He was surrounded by pressure, but he chose his own conviction. That is what discernment looks like.
I don't remember the entire story, but I think it's important that we raise our kids to not have blind compliance to what everyone's telling them to do — but the courage to stand for truth. Spiritually, yes, but also in what they're learning. The history books are being rewritten, and we need to have discernment to know what is truth and what is not.
Kids learn in school that it's just about the right answer, not the right question. They're afraid to be wrong. Discernment is both spiritual and practical. And kids need to learn how to pause, reflect, and ask what matters — and make sure their thinking is biblically based.
Susanna Wesley Raised Thinkers
Susanna Wesley was the mother of John Wesley and Charles Wesley. She home educated her children in the 1600s and was known for setting aside time to teach each of her kids individually rather than just letting them drift. She emphasized spiritual formation, discipline, and thoughtful thinking. She would ask questions.
John Wesley went on to start the Methodist church. Charles Wesley wrote somewhere between 6,500 and 9,000 hymns. I can't imagine writing a hymn — that takes a lot of thinking ability.
Susanna Wesley's home became a place where children learned to think about God, truth, and obedience with purpose. She wasn't just managing a household. She was shaping her children in character and in thinking. She didn't raise them to comply. She trained them to think, to question, and to live under God's truth.
Again — what are you training your kids for? Just to do what mom tells them to do? Or to think critically and biblically?
The One Habit That Changes Everything: Questions
Okay, how do you actually do this? It's really one habit that changes everything — questions. You can use questions in any subject area.
When I started using questions, it helped me relax and not be so worried about a checklist. I didn't even need curriculum for every subject because we could read books and ask questions. When I was a school teacher, I was supposed to follow the curriculum and couldn't really veer off of it — and that didn't encourage thinking on the part of my students. When I started homeschooling and started using questions, it changed everything. I was much more relaxed and much more intentional. My kids could take ownership by following their interests.
I remember Hunter was into sports, and we were studying Roman history — which he didn't love at the time. But he did love sports, so we let him write a paper on Derek Jeter, one of the greatest shortstops in baseball. He learned about baseball science, math, history — all of it. And you can always ask questions like — why does this matter? What am I missing? What does this tell me about God, people, or truth? Did this person act the way God would want them to act? Did they have honor? And then — now that you've done all this, what are we going to do with this information?
How to Start Using Questions This Week
Take one subject you're doing this week. Instead of a worksheet, ask one question about that topic. Keep it simple. Don't overteach. Let the conversation do the work.
And here's my trick — when you ask a question, do not answer your own question. Ask another question. You know what happens when there's quiet and you can't handle it? You give them the answer. And what are you training your kids to do? To wait until mom answers her own question, and then we can move on because I don't have to think.
Allow some time for quiet and for them to think. If they don't know the answer, ask a different question until you can begin a conversation. This is not a system or a lot of extra things to do. It is a way of life.
This is how I teach my grandkids. This is how I taught my kids — in science, literature, music, art, math, history, character building, even cleaning the house. Why do I have to do this? Well, why do you think you have to do this? Turn everything into a question and let them come up with the answers. It's not about your children having the right answer. It's about asking the right question.
What This Produces in Your Kids
Imagine your kids as confident decision makers. Kids who recognize truth. Teenagers who can question lies because they've been thinking on their own. Young adults who know how to act without panicking. Faith that lasts beyond your home.
One of my students, Tracy Smith, said it so well — I love the idea of getting off the conveyor belt. Our kids are not cookie cutters. They all have unique thoughts, ideas, and talents that God has given them. If they are not given the opportunity to explore those, their gifts and offerings to this world are stifled. We need to allow them the chance to come to their individual conclusions — and they will give the world something to think about instead of the world telling them what to think.
Another student, Rose, said after taking our leadership course — this helped me see how I could teach my kids to think logically. She was encouraged by the real life stories she could relate to, and she said the methods were transformational.
You are not alone. These are methods that work. They are real and you can achieve them.
The two free tools from last week — the Read Aloud Magic e-book and the free notebooking pages — combined with this idea of questions are three tools that can help you raise your kids to think well and think on their own. Grab those links in the show notes.
And stay close to my emails and this podcast because I've got a boot camp coming up that is going to show you how to implement all of this in a real homeschool life. I can't wait to share more details. If you want to get on the waitlist, the link is in the show notes.