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If you thought homeschooling at home was
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tricky, imagine taking your
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homeschooling adventures all around the
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world. This is the Exhomeschoolers Club
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and I'm your host, Jacob Gooden. If
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you're new here, this is where we talk
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about the good, the bad, and the ugly of
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growing up a homeschool kid. And if
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you're not new here, if you're a
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returning uh viewer, guest, audience
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member, welcome back. We love having
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you. Before I get into it, just a quick
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reminder. If you're not on the email
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newsletter, jump on that, okay? Top link
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down below. Get on the newsletter. I
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only send it out once every two weeks or
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once every week. And it's just things
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about the latest episode, things I'm
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reading a little bit homeschool news,
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all that kind of fun stuff. But enough
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of that. Let's get into our guest.
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Today, I'm joined by the wonderful Robin
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aka BG Barnstormer. and uh we are going
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to talk all things about taking your
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homeschool kids on the road and
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traveling the world with them. Robin is
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a homeschool mom or was a homeschool
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mom. So, she's kind of also an ex
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homeschooler in a lot of ways and uh she
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did just that. So, without further ado,
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Robin, welcome to the exhomeschoolers
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club.
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>> Jacob, thank you so much for having me
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today.
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>> Okay, let's get into it. So, I know
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you've got three kids and currently they
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are what 11, 13, 15, something like
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that. Yes, we have one having a birthday
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soon. So, we're we're calling it 111
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1315 cuz she insists that she's existed
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for 13 years. So, we have this battle
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every year, but approximately 11 1315.
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>> Okay. Yeah, I have a sibling like that,
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too, who's kind of like I'm actually
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this. Um, but you started homeschooling
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about 7 years ago at this point. You did
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you did six years of homeschooling and
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then you've done now like half a year
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maybe.
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>> Yeah. It was 2018 when we started
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homeschooling and we homeschooled
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exclusively until 2024ish.
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So, however many years that is.
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>> Well, walk me through that thought
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process of like, okay, let's let's
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homeschool the kids. Let's let's take
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things away from the public school
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system, I guess.
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>> Well, and honestly, it was an
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interesting dynamic. I had wanted to
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homeschool for a while, but the long
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story short, I had some health issues
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when the kids were little, and so I had
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a lot of fatigue and um my husband had a
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rotating schedule. he's in aviation, so
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he, you know, whether he was working in
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an office job uh at a simulator place or
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whether he was a week on week off or his
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schedule rotated in other ways. We
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thought about it early on, but then we
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did not actually kind of take that
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plunge into homeschooling until May of
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2018 when we moved from Kansas to
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Virginia. And at that point in time, he
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had gone to a regional airline. And his
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schedule was going to be very dynamic.
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And what I mean is he had um eight days
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off a month. But those eight days off
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were what I like to call eightish days
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off a month. So let's just say he had a
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Tuesday, Wednesday off, then he would
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get home Monday night, possibly late,
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maybe sleep in Tuesday morning, and then
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we'd have a solid 24 hours before he
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really had to get back to packing and
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getting stuff back on, you know, wash
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the laundry and everything else. So he
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was really gone roughly five, six days
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at a time and then home. And often his
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home days were midweek. And so that was
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one of the biggest things that made us
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want to start homeschooling is because
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if we were going to have any family
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time, it was going to be on a Tuesday,
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Wednesday, or Wednesday, Thursday. And
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so we decided pretty early on that,
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okay, the kids at the time were four,
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six, and eight. And we're like, okay,
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it's just like you're learning letters
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and numbers and colors like, you know,
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if I'm terrible at it, there's a school
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right down the street and we'll we'll
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just send them to school and if we love
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it, then this will be really great
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opportunity for our family. So, with a
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rotating uh pilot schedule and wanting
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to have some family time, that was
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really the first start that kind of put
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us into the plunge of of homeschooling.
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>> No, I totally get the the like weird
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schedule thing. I had roommates at one
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point and I live in Nashville and they
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do the band touring thing and we all we
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all ended up with these weird schedules
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and so yeah, our weekends would be like
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you said like Tuesday, Wednesday,
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Thursday um sometimes and it was just
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like really bizarre and we'd be out in
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the middle of the week and people were
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like why are you drinking on a Tuesday?
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It's like well because
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>> it's our weekend guys.
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But um but uh yeah, obviously you're not
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taking your kids out drinking, but um
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but I love that you guys were like,
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"Okay, look, dad's only going to be
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available these days of the week. Let's
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figure out how we can make the kids
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available those days of the week as
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well." Because I mean, I loved hanging
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out with my dad when I was a kid. Like
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he worked from home at one point and it
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was just like it made the homeschooling
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dynamic so much more fun. And like we we
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went and did fun things on those days.
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like it was knew, hey, it's our day with
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dad. We're going to go to a museum.
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We're going to go like whatever. But um
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walk me through a little bit of like
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home school days cuz you at this point
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are you're not on the road at this
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point, right? You're just kind of
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>> stationary home. The the people on the
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road call it a sticks and bricks home,
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but we have a stationary home now. And
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we were on the road full-time for three
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years. And now we call ourselves part-
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timerrs because we travel part-time in
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the RV, sometimes internationally or
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anywhere in the US depending on what
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like this last week my husband um wanted
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to hop up to Canada to see the Northern
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Lights. I was like that might be
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amazing, but this week we're getting
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ready to go on another trip in a couple
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weeks and I said I don't think it's
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probably a good choice for our unit to
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take a quick trip for 24 to 40 hours,
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come back, you know, shake up the little
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snow globe and then go again. So
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sometimes we have to be a little
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strategic. is quite the wanderlust and
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so he's like, "Hey, we could go to fill
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in the blank location this weekend." I'm
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like, "Okay, we have a soccer game and
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kiddo has this going on." So sometimes
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we have to balance the the fun with uh
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with reality. But yes, we were on the
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road for three years and now we have a
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stationary home and we travel part time.
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>> So those early years of like getting
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plugged into the homeschool community,
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did you have did you build any
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communities? Did you do the very like
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traditional like, hey, we're just kind
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of like, I don't want to say isolating
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ourselves, but for lack of a better
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word, like isolating ourselves, like
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everything's at home, or did you plug
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into like homeschool communities where
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you were at?
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>> For us, we did plug in immediately to a
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community. We actually did I don't know
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how many of your people are into
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different types of communities, but we
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plugged into a classical conversations
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community, um, also known as CC. And we
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specifically chose that one partially
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because it was one day a week and it was
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on Tuesday at the time for us. And so
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the time and the day worked really well
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for us. I tried to figure out like what
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type of homeschool mom I was going to
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be. And I remember doing a ton of
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research to be like, am I a is it called
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Charlotte Mason? Is that one of them?
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I'm It's been a while since I've looked
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them all up.
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>> That's familiar.
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>> I think it's that one. Or are you this
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type? Are you this type? Like I don't
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know what I am. I just love to learn. Um
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I'm a pilot by trade in the background.
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And so I am not new to teaching. It's
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just not teaching people in an airplane
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that are may or may not know what
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they're doing. Teaching kids color seems
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a lot less threatening to me. So, um, we
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plugged into the CC community because it
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was a classical approach. And so, if
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you're not familiar with what that
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means, it basically means if you're
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learning about, let's just say lobsters,
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or as the people in Maine say, lobsters.
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If you're learning about the lobster,
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um, then we would learn about, you know,
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what type of animal it is, where does it
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live, what does it eat, what color is
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it, anything about it. So, my
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four-year-old would be like, "Oh,
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lobsters could be red or whatever other
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color. I don't know a ton about lobsters
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anymore. I haven't studied them in a
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while." Um, but they could be multiple
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colors. And then, um, the older ones
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would be learning more about the
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scientific like what, you know, genus
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and species and whatever else that
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they'd be learning about. And so the
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idea of a classical approach is you're
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learning about generally speaking like a
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topic and then learning at whatever
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level but everybody's learning the same
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topic which was really fun because you
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know I was a new homeschool mom. I
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didn't have a lot of idea and the CC
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community gave us like a three-year
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cycle. So one year we would be doing one
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thing the next year we would switch to
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something else. So it gave me really
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interestingly enough like quick plug-in
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content and then outside of their
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curriculum which again was one day a
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week we did our reading, writing and
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arithmetic. So, it kind of gave me like
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um some geography, it gave us some
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history, it gave us some other stuff.
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And then we could explore in those
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topics as much as we really wanted to.
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So, it was a really great like I don't
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know, maybe a rubric or like an outline
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to say this is where we're starting and
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then we can expand from here. And as a
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homeschooler, I'm I'm sure you know,
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sometimes you expand those interests and
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you get really into other underwater sea
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creatures and you're like, "Okay,
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lobsters are cool, but have you seen the
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starfish? They can grow backst. They're
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so cool." Right.
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>> I I kind of relate with that. I didn't
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do classical conversations. My my
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cousins did. Um so I have a little bit
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of familiarity there with it. But I love
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that like but we also kind of got
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plugged into a home school community
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where my mom was like okay at home I can
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handle the basic stuff. I know how to
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teach writing and math and all those
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different things. Yeah. The three Rs,
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right? Reading, writing, arithmetic. Um
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and um and then yeah, let's like let's
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kind of like get some help on some of
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the outside stuff. And so we had group
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our thing was group solutions and that
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was every two weeks a single day very
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classroom structured so it was three
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classes and you had a lunch break and
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you had you know we were around other
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kids and so it gave us some some social
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uh some social things and uh as someone
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who had been public schooled I was like
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this feels like school again you know it
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was a good fit uh at the time but we got
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those fun things of like science and
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leaning into something
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>> and one thing that's really fun about
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having a community to plug into is that
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it's like instant friends who are doing
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something similar, who are really
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relating to those struggles, whether
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you're brand new or your kid is
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struggling with reading or something
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else. And for me, that was absolutely
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critical because if you remember from
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the beginning, my husband was gone like
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literally all the time. And so, I didn't
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know anybody. I was in a brand new
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neighborhood. Not everybody spoke my
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language. And oftent times, everybody
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was in public school around us. And so,
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it's not like my kids had a lot of
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neighborhood friends. We did eventually
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find some, but in that area, we were
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just outside DC cuz we were living near
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the Dulles airport. Um, a lot of people,
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both people worked and the kids went to
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school and then they did after school
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activities, so they didn't have a lot of
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what I would call downtime between, you
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know, the school and the dinner or after
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dinner and and so that was a nice
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plugin. And then it also gave me a group
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of people that were like, "Oh, hey, your
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kid is struggling here. Here's some
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suggestions or we use these three. This
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one was my favorite, but these other two
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are pretty good, too." And so that was a
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really great resource group as well. And
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of course, instant friends, like that
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was that was really help helpful.
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>> I was going to say too, cuz that was
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like a big thing. My mom talks about
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that a lot when I had her on the show
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previously and she talked about yes,
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it's important for like socializing the
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kids. Like that's what we hear about a
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lot in the homeschool world. It's like
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the kids need to be socialized, but also
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mom and dad also need to be socialized,
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too. So it's like,
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>> is it about the kids or is it about the
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parents? That's the question I have.
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>> That's a good question. But but having
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both is important because to your point,
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it's like if someone's down the line,
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right, who's got a kid two, three years
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older than you, they can kind of help
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guide you as far as like, hey, don't go
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down this path with the curriculum. It's
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not worth the while.
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>> Really truly. And I I'm sure we'll talk
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about it at some point, but I've got two
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kiddos who uh struggled with reading and
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I was given a curriculum and it was um I
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really loved it personally. It was like
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teaching kids to read in 100 easy
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lessons or something like that. I don't
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know who the author was. Um, but it was
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like this book and it had 100 lessons
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and it was short lessons. It was
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fantastic. It was like literally open do
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the lesson done. It was my kind of
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curriculum. But what I noticed is about
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I don't know 75 way 75 lessons in my
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daughter was really struggling with a
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couple different things and she slammed
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the book and she goes these are not easy
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and I had to laugh because I was like
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okay so obviously there is something
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going on here that this feels really
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hard. So then I started looking with my
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friend who had recommended it, which I
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again I love the curriculum. It made it
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really easy to do. It was a great way to
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teach it. I said, "Hey, this is a thing.
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What can I do now?" And she's like, "Oh,
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hey, yeah, no problem. Let me let me
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give you a couple of other suggestions."
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So that was really helpful cuz her kids
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were quite a bit older than mine at the
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time.
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>> Well, let's let's talk about that a
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little bit of like kind of the the
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learning challenges that can kind of
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come with homeschooling because
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it's one of the strengths. It's also one
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of the weaknesses of homeschooling. is
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like the strength is like when your kid
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is struggling, you have the ability to
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the flexibility and the ability to
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change and to adapt and find the thing
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that works for them, you know, and and
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cater things to their learning style.
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The the con is that sometimes those
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things go unchecked because if you're
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not a traditionally trained teacher,
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maybe you don't know the signs to look
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for um of like, okay, hey, this kid is
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struggling in this area. And so that can
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go unchecked. Not saying it did in your
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case because obviously you guys did some
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things about it, but like
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>> sometimes it's a slower identification
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process for sure.
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>> Right. It might Yeah, it might just be
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kind of sometimes though like, okay,
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maybe we're just like not getting there.
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Maybe I'm not doing a good enough job
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getting us to the place we need to be.
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>> Um, so where when did things start? You
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said you started to realize like, okay,
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we're 75 lessons in my my my daughter is
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struggling. She's saying it's hard, but
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also like I'm just realizing she's not
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picking this up. Like where was that the
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trigger to be like, okay, something
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needs to change here?
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>> Yeah. So it it was interesting. So my my
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middle kiddo, her name is Alice and my
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younger one is named Walter. So Alice
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and Walter both had different reading
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difficulties. And so it was interesting
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and hard for both of them. And so when I
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saw when she slammed the book and she
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goes, "This is not easy." Which an
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average kid who has no general issues
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with learning something, I mean my kids
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are very quick at some things, but some
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things are going to be harder. Like my
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son, my 15-year-old just told me the
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other day, he's like, "Um, yeah, I'm
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doing whatever for science and next year
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is going to be chemistry." And I'm like,
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okay, so chemistry might be your jam.
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Maybe this isn't your jam, right? So
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some kids are going to be quicker at
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picking things up than others. So my
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daughter Alice actually started having
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an interest in learning and reading
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early. Now, what was interesting is as
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we were teaching her the the vowels and
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the sounds and all the things is the way
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her brain works is she more like picked
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up words versus just sounding out words,
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which is not the way most children learn
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to read. And my friend who was further
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ahead in the journey than I am in
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homeschooling was like, "Oh yeah, well
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if they are learning the word
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philosophy, if they've never seen the
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word philosophy, they need to know fu
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and then ill a, you know, and sound it
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out." But my daughter is interesting
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because she would pick up words and I'm
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like, "Okay, let's let's sound out ran,"
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you know, and she's like, "It's ran."
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I'm like, "Okay." So I started noticing
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things like that. like she wasn't what I
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would call on the curriculum trend the
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way an average kid might be. Now
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remember I say average there's kids on
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both ends of the spectrum here. And then
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my little guy his issues were different.
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Like he is now considered dyslexic
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dyslexic and disgraphic. And we may talk
00:14:36
about that in a bit. But basically, I
00:14:38
noticed in that book, and this is a
00:14:40
really great like pro tip for parents
00:14:42
who are just starting in reading, is if
00:14:44
there is a line below the word and your
00:14:47
child can read the word like ran again,
00:14:50
um then they can like their eyes can
00:14:53
track and their finger can track. But if
00:14:54
there's no line, then it's easier for
00:14:56
your eyes to wander if you have a
00:14:57
tracking issue. Now, a pro person who is
00:15:01
a reading specialist might be like, "Oh,
00:15:02
yeah, that's a beginner." You know,
00:15:04
totally. I know that. Well, what was
00:15:06
interesting I noticed with Walter is
00:15:08
when there was no line below the word,
00:15:09
he had trouble tracking. And so I was
00:15:11
like, "Okay, let's use a ruler. Let's
00:15:12
use a thing." And then it progressed to
00:15:15
be what I knew was dyslexia. But he
00:15:19
would mix up his letters, his P, uh, B
00:15:21
and D, P and Q, and then like there was
00:15:25
just like more frustration. And I don't
00:15:26
know, I call it the pirate A. I don't
00:15:28
know what it's called. You know the A's
00:15:29
that have the little hook on top?
00:15:30
>> Yeah. It's like the Is it the amper
00:15:32
stand or so or something like that? It's
00:15:33
kind of like I've never It's like
00:15:35
swirly.
00:15:36
>> Yeah. I've never really cared to look
00:15:37
into the name of it, I'm just like it
00:15:38
looks like a pirate. It has a little
00:15:40
hook. So, I actually wrote a book and I
00:15:42
can share that here at the end of the
00:15:43
podcast. But, um I was very specific in
00:15:45
choosing my font because when I have
00:15:47
children who are learning to read and
00:15:49
they don't know the the pirate A versus
00:15:51
the regular A. And then if you know the
00:15:53
I versus capital I with like the little
00:15:56
lines on top and bottom um versus with
00:15:58
no lines on top and bottom. And if the
00:16:00
kids are already struggling with reading
00:16:01
and they are having to spend so much
00:16:03
mental, emotional energy figuring out is
00:16:05
that an I or is that an L? What is that
00:16:07
letter? Okay, the G has a little swirly
00:16:08
but that doesn't look like a regular G.
00:16:10
I started to see some of those types of
00:16:12
things. And so my best advice knowing
00:16:14
what I know now would be if you have
00:16:16
questions or struggles with reading,
00:16:17
pull in a specialist early and have an
00:16:19
evaluation done. Uh we were on the road
00:16:21
and this was actually during the time of
00:16:23
COVID, so between 2020 and 2023. And if
00:16:26
anybody out there is like, "Oh girl, I
00:16:27
hear you. I remember that time there was
00:16:30
a lot of hard and difficulties for
00:16:31
everybody during that time and so it
00:16:34
wasn't like I could just go to a reading
00:16:36
specialist and everybody was so like
00:16:38
inundated with being overwhelmed with
00:16:39
the pandemic at that time like things
00:16:41
were just chaotic and so during that
00:16:43
time it was like okay have we made
00:16:45
progress and so I started really seeing
00:16:46
like are we making progress and can I
00:16:49
figure out what is the problem like is
00:16:51
it just the letters is there again
00:16:54
dyslexia going on is is is there
00:16:56
something else and so my daughter Alice
00:16:58
when we were figuring out with her we
00:17:00
did end up finishing the 100 easy
00:17:02
lessons which were a little bit more
00:17:03
difficult for her at the end. Um my
00:17:05
younger one we stopped because we
00:17:07
started seeing other things like I said
00:17:08
with the tracking and some dyslexia and
00:17:10
so we're like okay we need to figure out
00:17:11
so we switched to a different curriculum
00:17:13
to work on some different stuff and it
00:17:14
did make it easier but ultimately we did
00:17:16
end up finding a specialist to help us
00:17:17
figure out that it for my younger guy it
00:17:19
was dyslexia and disgraphia and for my
00:17:21
older one um still navigating through
00:17:23
some of those difficulties cuz some
00:17:24
other stuff came up during that time.
00:17:25
>> Yeah. As someone who grew up in a house
00:17:27
with dyslexic people, uh I I am not
00:17:29
dyslexic. So to me, like the tracking
00:17:32
like I I have always been kind of maybe
00:17:34
above average when it comes to reading.
00:17:35
>> Yeah. And some people it's so easy and
00:17:37
lucky ducky. We're lucky little ducky.
00:17:40
>> Exactly. Like like Yeah. I I my mom and
00:17:44
I would just read these massive books
00:17:45
and like talk about them and my my dad
00:17:47
and my sister who both kind of more
00:17:49
struggle with the dyslexia stuff. They
00:17:51
would always just be so frustrated
00:17:52
because they were like, "We love the
00:17:53
story."
00:17:55
>> When you when you you talk about it,
00:17:56
they're like, "That sounds so
00:17:57
interesting. I want to read that,
00:17:58
whatever." But they could not do it. And
00:18:00
the way that they described looking at a
00:18:02
page of words was just like a word
00:18:04
jumble. They were just like, "It's it's
00:18:06
piecing all these things together, which
00:18:07
like I know there's a couple different
00:18:09
ways to view dyslexia and things like
00:18:10
that, but for them it was just like word
00:18:13
jumble craziness." And um I was like, I
00:18:17
I can't imagine reading like that. It
00:18:18
just doesn't that do struggle with that.
00:18:21
That's when um we actually started
00:18:23
audiobooks very early. Now for me it was
00:18:26
out of desperation as a roughly
00:18:28
sometimes solo single pilot mom of my
00:18:30
husband was just gone and at the end of
00:18:32
the day I had been up
00:18:33
>> from 7 in the morning all day long doing
00:18:36
all the things um for weeks on end. I
00:18:39
mean this was like a two-year stent that
00:18:40
he was there doing this and so I was
00:18:42
absolutely exhausted at the end of the
00:18:43
day and so we started getting into
00:18:44
audiobooks and so for kids whether they
00:18:47
have reading difficulties or not
00:18:48
audiobooks are absolutely instrumental
00:18:51
in at least in our journey because the
00:18:53
kids could then pop on their audiobook
00:18:55
and they were just so excited to listen
00:18:58
because there's tons of information
00:19:00
about reading loud to your kid and all
00:19:01
this stuff and if you're a parent out
00:19:02
there who's like I literally don't have
00:19:04
time or maybe you struggle with reading
00:19:06
I know I have gone through some eye
00:19:07
therapy myself and I have 2020 vision,
00:19:09
no issues at all. And there was some
00:19:12
other um some other things that were
00:19:13
identified after my son Walter ended up
00:19:15
going to a reading specialist and then
00:19:17
to a vision specialist, which honestly
00:19:19
was a little validating because I'm
00:19:21
like, I knew my kid was like having
00:19:23
trouble, but it wasn't like the normal
00:19:25
trouble. He's got great vision. He has
00:19:27
no issues, but there was something that
00:19:29
was a little bit underlying and
00:19:30
something difficult for him. And so the
00:19:33
uh vision specialist was able to help do
00:19:34
some different exercises over the period
00:19:36
of several months. and then that really
00:19:37
helped him improve as well. So, you
00:19:39
know, don't be discouraged if your kid
00:19:41
is having trouble. Just give them the
00:19:43
opportunity to learn in a different way.
00:19:45
And that is probably one of my favorite
00:19:47
tips is audiobooks are great. They're a
00:19:49
great resource. And my kids have
00:19:51
listened to dozens and when we were
00:19:52
traveling, we would listen to them in
00:19:53
the car as a family. And then it was a
00:19:55
great talking point so they could
00:19:56
participate right in the story. And
00:19:58
then, you know, they're still building
00:20:00
vocabulary. We always make the joke at
00:20:02
my house that like we would we would sit
00:20:05
and do school and my sister and I are
00:20:06
three years apart. So, but similar to
00:20:08
what you were talking about earlier with
00:20:10
like kind of having a topic and that we
00:20:12
were just at different levels going
00:20:13
through the same topic together, we
00:20:15
would do similar things. And so,
00:20:17
>> my mom would sometimes read whether it's
00:20:19
history or whatever. And I would just be
00:20:21
sitting there taking notes
00:20:23
>> very like very traditional school kid
00:20:25
like just like, "Okay, I'm I'm in this."
00:20:28
and my sister is over in the other side
00:20:30
of the room bouncing on her little
00:20:31
trampoline and like annoying the heck
00:20:34
out of me. But she if she didn't do
00:20:36
that, if she didn't have that second
00:20:38
activity happening, her brain it went
00:20:40
one in one ear and out the other. And um
00:20:43
and so she needed that thing that was
00:20:45
going to was going to lock it in there
00:20:46
and that just so happened. Jumping on
00:20:48
the trampoline, knitting, whatever it
00:20:50
was. And and so to your point, it's just
00:20:53
figuring out what is the thing that's
00:20:54
going to get that information locked in
00:20:56
your brain. And it could be audio books,
00:20:58
could be jumping on trampolines, could
00:20:59
be any number of things.
00:21:01
>> Yeah. And I love that you specifically
00:21:03
brought that up because my my middle
00:21:04
daughter Alice is neurodeiverse on the
00:21:07
autism spectrum. I don't know what the
00:21:08
ter current term is going to be forever,
00:21:10
but that is something that we learned
00:21:12
and the term that we learned is called
00:21:13
regulation. So if your child is not
00:21:16
regulated, learning is pretty much
00:21:18
impossible from my experience
00:21:20
personally. I mean, I'm not an expert in
00:21:21
that, but learning is a lot more
00:21:23
difficult. I think too one of the other
00:21:25
things that I've learned more now my
00:21:27
when we got started because I was eight
00:21:29
when we started as well and my sister
00:21:31
was five so she did all the way through
00:21:34
home school zero K to 12 and then I did
00:21:38
second grade through 12th grade uh and
00:21:40
jumped a grade in there as well. But one
00:21:42
of the things that in the beginning my
00:21:44
mom was really rigid on like we start
00:21:45
school at this time and we do x you know
00:21:48
we're going to do this for an hour and
00:21:49
then we're going to do this for an hour
00:21:51
and you know yada yada yada. day was all
00:21:53
planned out that quickly went out the
00:21:55
window because it was just like this is
00:21:56
not how this is gonna operate.
00:21:58
>> I think every homeschool parent is
00:22:00
probably laughing right now because
00:22:01
they're like yeah
00:22:03
>> I every home school kid knows that
00:22:05
struggle of like mom came in with a plan
00:22:07
and we said nah that's not going to fly.
00:22:09
Um
00:22:10
>> I think we can do a music person, right?
00:22:12
We can make a little tune. No, no, no,
00:22:13
no, that's not gonna fly. But uh as we
00:22:16
what was cool was by the time I was
00:22:19
exiting high school, my mom had leaned
00:22:20
into like well when is your brain fully
00:22:23
firing and that's when you're going to
00:22:25
do school. And so there was also a
00:22:27
bigger level of like we were responsible
00:22:29
for our own schooling at that point just
00:22:31
because we were older. You know, there
00:22:33
were times where my brain was going at 2
00:22:35
a.m. and she was like, you know, rather
00:22:37
than be like, you know what, go to sleep
00:22:38
right now. You have to be in bed right
00:22:40
now. She was just like, you know what,
00:22:41
just do school. I don't really care and
00:22:43
then yeah, you're going to sleep till
00:22:44
noon tomorrow. But like who cares? Like
00:22:46
it's not that big of a deal because you
00:22:48
got it done.
00:22:48
>> Yeah. And I love that because that's
00:22:50
exactly what we've done for our daughter
00:22:51
Alice. Um she is most optimally
00:22:54
functional between, let's just say
00:22:56
generally speaking, noon to 10:00 p.m. I
00:22:59
am most optimally functional about 6:37
00:23:02
until roughly 9. So we have had to learn
00:23:06
how to be flexible with our schedule.
00:23:08
And I think that's another tip to
00:23:09
parents is I understand there might be
00:23:12
days where you need school done by two
00:23:14
or or whatever whatever that looks like.
00:23:17
But like separating out the school work
00:23:19
that's like okay what is your
00:23:20
responsibility for us it was your
00:23:22
responsibility is writing and maybe math
00:23:25
if they could do it independently
00:23:26
depending on what lesson they were on
00:23:28
and then reading depending on where they
00:23:30
are might have to be done with me. But
00:23:32
as far as like other stuff like you know
00:23:34
if you're not in a group that does like
00:23:36
history and other things together then
00:23:38
you know maybe history time can be
00:23:39
flexible in in the evening or you know 2
00:23:41
in the afternoon and finding the time
00:23:43
that they are most optimally working is
00:23:45
ideal. In fact, now, and I'm sure we'll
00:23:47
talk about it soon, is we have
00:23:49
transitioned into an online public
00:23:50
school system, which allows us that
00:23:52
flexibility to work around her optimal
00:23:55
hours. And she has meetings at certain
00:23:57
times that she does need to go to, and
00:23:58
some of them she watches on replay
00:24:00
because she needs that extra processing
00:24:02
time to really absorb the information or
00:24:04
hit the pause button while she finds the
00:24:05
document to open to take the notes or
00:24:07
whatever. Um, but it's been really
00:24:09
helpful because if I hadn't have had
00:24:12
those three years of homeschooling on
00:24:14
the road or before, well, two years
00:24:17
before we hit the road, so really five
00:24:18
years in that time sp time time period,
00:24:21
I probably wouldn't have the complete
00:24:24
understanding of how important it is to
00:24:25
be flexible and to really teach the kid
00:24:27
how to learn. So homeschooling, you're
00:24:29
not just learning things, you're
00:24:31
teaching them how to learn.
00:24:32
>> Yeah. I wanted to kind of
00:24:35
>> we've kind of danced around it a little
00:24:36
bit, but I want to talk about so you did
00:24:39
roughly two years in a home in a in a
00:24:41
sticks and bricks and then you were like
00:24:43
now okay now we're going out in an RV.
00:24:45
So you had already mentioned your
00:24:47
husband's kind of got this like wander
00:24:48
lust always wants to be out traveling
00:24:50
the world. It seems like you also kind
00:24:52
of have a little bit of that as well.
00:24:53
So, like can we talk about that decision
00:24:56
because that's not just a like overnight
00:24:58
like hey we're gonna buy an RV and just
00:25:00
like go and and especially with three
00:25:02
kids like and we're going to homeschool
00:25:03
them and we're going to do like
00:25:05
>> I've been in an RV. It is not big. Um
00:25:08
it's smaller than my apartment and I
00:25:09
live in a tiny apartment
00:25:11
>> usually.
00:25:11
>> Yeah.
00:25:12
>> So So walk me through that decision and
00:25:14
then like a little bit of like what it
00:25:16
looked like on the road.
00:25:17
>> Yeah. Um it's actually funny. Some
00:25:19
people plan for years to go in an RV. We
00:25:23
made a decision in a weekend and that
00:25:25
probably sounds a little crazy to some
00:25:27
people but um we our life changes very
00:25:30
rapidly. Um in aviation there was a
00:25:33
period of time where every two years one
00:25:36
or both of us had a different job
00:25:38
because aviation can be a roller coaster
00:25:41
of an industry. We were looking at this
00:25:44
two-year stent in Oklahoma or not
00:25:46
Oklahoma, sorry. We lived in Oklahoma at
00:25:47
one point but that was in Virginia.
00:25:49
you've lived a lot of places.
00:25:51
Um, we were in Virginia and we knew it
00:25:54
was going to be two to three years and
00:25:55
we said, "Okay, after that time is up,
00:25:57
where are we going to go?" Wherever your
00:25:58
job is. That's that's the plan. Well, in
00:26:01
September of 2019, he brought up the
00:26:04
idea because at that time he had
00:26:06
interviewed for an airline and um did
00:26:08
not get that job at the time. And then
00:26:09
he had gone another couple opportunities
00:26:12
were popping up and we're like, "Well,
00:26:14
this one is in, you know, this state and
00:26:15
this one's in this state and this one's
00:26:16
in this state." He's like, "Well, we
00:26:18
where are we going to live?" And so out
00:26:21
of the opportunity of not knowing where
00:26:23
we were going to be came the idea of
00:26:25
what if we live in an RV? And I'm like,
00:26:29
"Well, I mean, maybe we should look at
00:26:31
one." I mean, because he's like, "Well,
00:26:34
if I have to do training and I need a
00:26:35
place to stay, then I can have the RV."
00:26:37
And then it, you know, because some
00:26:38
places do or don't provide hotel or
00:26:40
accommodations for training. And so that
00:26:42
was a big thing. So, he's like, "If I
00:26:43
get hired in, you know, March or
00:26:45
February or whatever, you guys will have
00:26:47
a couple months here in the Sticks and
00:26:49
Bricks home and then I could have the
00:26:51
RV." And I'm like, "Yeah, okay. That
00:26:52
that makes some sense." So, in September
00:26:54
2019, we went to a local RV store and we
00:26:57
looked at RVs. And I'm like, "Oh, it's
00:27:00
basically an apartment on wheels. You
00:27:02
got a kitchen, you got a bathroom. I
00:27:04
mean, it's a little cozy, but like, you
00:27:07
know, we've moved a lot. So, at this
00:27:09
point for us, it wasn't any really big
00:27:10
deal. I had never been camping in an RV.
00:27:13
In fact, I can quote myself when I was
00:27:14
like, we had first gotten married. And I
00:27:18
was like, why in the world would anybody
00:27:19
ever want to own one of these, let alone
00:27:22
have one, live in one, travel in one.
00:27:24
And so, you know, people, the joke is,
00:27:27
if you want to hear God laugh, tell tell
00:27:28
him your plans, right? And so, I can
00:27:32
definitely say I ate my words. And not
00:27:34
only did we own an RV, we lived in one
00:27:36
for three years, we still own an RV. and
00:27:38
we love love RVing. And so for us after
00:27:41
that weekend in September of 2019, we
00:27:44
talked about it and I was like, "Okay,
00:27:47
I mean, I I could see it. It's basically
00:27:49
going to be 6 to 12 months. We can live
00:27:51
in this thing and then we'll figure out
00:27:53
where we're going to be." And so by
00:27:55
October, within 2 weeks, we had bought
00:27:56
an RV and we started renovating it. It
00:27:58
was beautiful. Um absolutely gorgeous. I
00:28:00
don't know if you post pictures, but
00:28:01
maybe I can send some pictures for you
00:28:03
and uh share our first RV. It was
00:28:05
gorgeous. And um yeah, we renovated over
00:28:07
the winter and then moved in in the
00:28:09
spring and hit the road. I believe it
00:28:10
was
00:28:12
trying to think if it was March or April
00:28:14
of 2020. And as the rest of the world is
00:28:16
aware, that is when the pandemic kicked
00:28:18
up and everything was crazy and
00:28:20
everything was shutting down. And so for
00:28:22
us, we actually had a completely we
00:28:24
bought like a 2012 model, so it was
00:28:26
completely paid off. Um, and we had a
00:28:29
perfect little bubble to be in that gave
00:28:32
us a bit of security in a time where the
00:28:34
world was a little crazy.
00:28:36
>> So, walk me through a little bit of like
00:28:38
how do you homeschool in that type of
00:28:41
environment? Because like I think
00:28:43
>> you brought up like, you know, your your
00:28:45
oldest kind of like needing to like hum
00:28:47
and whistle as as they work. Um, and
00:28:50
then your middle one being like being
00:28:52
like, "Bro needs to shut up. like I
00:28:55
cannot focus while that is happening.
00:28:57
Um, and so all of a sudden you're in I'm
00:29:01
I'm guessing 40 45 feet foot RV
00:29:04
something like that.
00:29:05
>> 35 foot and square feet. I'm not going
00:29:07
to do the math, but it was somewhere
00:29:09
between maybe two to 300 square feet. So
00:29:11
yeah. Yeah. How does that work?
00:29:12
>> That is tight quarters. And I
00:29:14
understand, you know, um we have a
00:29:16
mutual friend, Patty Hunt, who has the
00:29:18
Inspired Travels with Patty podcast, who
00:29:20
we we've both been on that show, but uh
00:29:22
but yeah, she always is like, you know,
00:29:24
you also have the outside world, you
00:29:26
know, that's part of that becomes part
00:29:27
of your living quarters. And I'm like, I
00:29:29
understand that, but like I live with
00:29:31
one other person. We live in a 700 750T
00:29:34
apartment. Like during co we wanted to
00:29:36
kill each other um at times. So, you
00:29:40
know, I'm like, you fit, you know,
00:29:42
another h full-sized human being and
00:29:44
three little ones in that in in a space
00:29:46
half that size.
00:29:48
>> How do you not strangle yourself? And
00:29:49
then also, how do you be productive and
00:29:51
get any school work done at that
00:29:53
>> period? Yeah. Now, learning in a small
00:29:55
environment, we actually got a clam
00:29:58
tent. Now, we have a gazelle tent just
00:29:59
because the clam, you know, were out
00:30:01
over time. Um, that was after many
00:30:03
years. It was a great great unit in case
00:30:05
anybody has a clam tent. They last a
00:30:06
long time. We bought our secondhand
00:30:08
because that's what we could afford at
00:30:10
the time. Um, but we would set up tent
00:30:13
the tent outside and so we typically had
00:30:16
um we didn't have the words at the time,
00:30:17
but they were regulation tools. We had a
00:30:19
hammock that had a foldable stand
00:30:22
because some RV parks that we went to
00:30:24
did not or had a rule that you couldn't
00:30:26
put hammocks on trees. So, I think it
00:30:28
was like you can find them at Walmart,
00:30:29
Amazon. Um, I think the brand was Ozark
00:30:32
Trails from Walmart that we had got our
00:30:35
uh folding hammock stand. It was
00:30:36
fantastic. So, we actually had the
00:30:38
hammock set up out there. And so, if you
00:30:39
remember, Alice loves to wiggle while
00:30:42
she works, not whistle while she works,
00:30:43
she wiggles while she works. And so, she
00:30:46
um might be out there hanging out on the
00:30:48
hammock. And we would do her math orally
00:30:50
outside. She had some struggles. She can
00:30:53
write and things like that, but there's
00:30:54
something. And we were still figuring
00:30:56
out at the time what the connection is
00:30:58
between writing and thinking and
00:31:00
working. Like, we weren't quite sure
00:31:01
what was going on, but we knew math for
00:31:04
her, she could do the math. it was just
00:31:05
going to be out loud and she could see
00:31:06
it visually, but if she had to do the
00:31:08
writing while she did it, there was some
00:31:09
holdup and we weren't really sure. I'm
00:31:11
not an occupational therapist, but I was
00:31:12
able to then communicate with the
00:31:13
occupational therapist when we started
00:31:15
working with one. These are the things
00:31:16
that I'm seeing. And they're like, "Oh,
00:31:17
yeah, that's called blah blah blah." I'm
00:31:18
like, "Oh, perfect. You know what that
00:31:20
is? Great. We've just always done math
00:31:21
orally." So, for us, we would separate
00:31:23
the kids out into different zones. So,
00:31:25
one might be outside working on
00:31:26
something, one might be in their bunk
00:31:27
working on something. And then the
00:31:29
little one, he was 6 years old at the
00:31:32
time, so he had a lot of play time. And
00:31:34
when the kids were little, I would
00:31:36
rotate through the hours of work. So I'd
00:31:38
be like, "Okay, Walter, you're going to
00:31:40
be, you know, playing in the bunk room
00:31:44
during that time. Theo, you're going to
00:31:45
be in my room working." And I actually
00:31:47
want to talk about that. I'm going to
00:31:48
come back to that. Hang hang on to that
00:31:49
thought with my bedroom. And then Alice,
00:31:51
I'll be working with you outside for a
00:31:52
little bit and then we'll swap. And then
00:31:54
Alice can go work in my bedroom and then
00:31:55
Theo can come outside if we have to work
00:31:57
on something. So we did a lot of like
00:31:58
little like rotation stations, I guess
00:32:00
you might call it. And that worked out
00:32:01
really well. Um, as far as my bedroom,
00:32:04
that was actually recommended to me by
00:32:07
um, actually a therapist at one point. I
00:32:09
had questions about going, well, we had
00:32:12
worked through some different things in
00:32:13
therapy with one of the kids for some
00:32:15
different stuff. And the therapist said,
00:32:16
"Okay, with you guys hitting the road,
00:32:17
it's going to be really important that
00:32:19
everybody has their quiet space, quiet
00:32:20
time. So, if you need a quiet space,
00:32:22
then create a place in the in the rig
00:32:25
where they can get away." I'm like,
00:32:26
literally, we have four bunks. Two
00:32:28
bunks. Four bunks. Yeah. two on each
00:32:30
side a living room and then my bedroom.
00:32:32
So, what we did is every day I would
00:32:34
make my bed and I had like a little
00:32:35
quiet like corner, a little quiet like a
00:32:38
a box of things that was like um what
00:32:41
what like the different types of games
00:32:43
like you could do like a dot to dot or
00:32:46
you could do um you know remember the
00:32:48
game rush hour with the little cars.
00:32:50
It's like a plastic game things like
00:32:51
that. Things that would get you out of
00:32:53
your emotional brain into your thinking
00:32:54
brain. And that's what one of the
00:32:55
therapists had recommended. They said
00:32:56
hey this will be a really great tool. So
00:32:58
if people are having big feelings, they
00:32:59
can go to your quiet space, your quiet
00:33:01
corner, and then they can get out the
00:33:03
stuff and then have a little quiet time.
00:33:04
And so that was actually instrumental to
00:33:06
us as well is designating a place that
00:33:09
people wouldn't be going generally that
00:33:11
they could go be quiet if they needed
00:33:13
quiet time. And that was really helpful
00:33:15
for us. So, if anybody else, and that
00:33:16
works really great in a sticks and
00:33:18
bricks home, too, is we still have a
00:33:20
quiet corner where there is a box of
00:33:22
stuff that you can go and get um just
00:33:24
like a little tub of toys and they're
00:33:26
thinking toys, things that get you into
00:33:28
using tactile something. And um it's a
00:33:31
really great tool. So, very regulating.
00:33:33
>> You know what's crazy is that like even
00:33:35
I'm 29.
00:33:37
>> I still do that to this day. Like I I
00:33:39
still buy Legos. I still like when I am
00:33:42
stuck in the the just like I can't get
00:33:44
out of the flywheel of like
00:33:46
>> I have to fix this problem. I have to
00:33:47
fix this problem.
00:33:49
>> If I can just turn it off for a second
00:33:51
and go do anything else.
00:33:53
>> Journal, do a puzzle. Sudoku is great.
00:33:57
But like Lego is like so tactile and I
00:34:00
just like
00:34:01
>> just putting things together. Do a
00:34:02
little challenge of like build only with
00:34:04
the color, build the ball, build a
00:34:06
whatever
00:34:08
>> it your brain will solve the problem.
00:34:11
>> Yeah.
00:34:11
>> In the back of your head while you're
00:34:13
not thinking about it and then you'll
00:34:14
come back and you're just like
00:34:16
>> fresh new eyes, fresh new emotional
00:34:18
state, fresh new whatever. And that just
00:34:20
it's like
00:34:21
>> literally the best problem solver I
00:34:23
think I've ever had. And once I
00:34:24
reconnected with that of like toys are
00:34:27
great.
00:34:27
>> Yeah. And I think that's the thing and
00:34:29
and you alluded to it being like you're
00:34:31
in a small space. How do you do it? Is
00:34:33
for us we would separate out you know
00:34:35
different zones or different times and
00:34:36
we would rotate through. The other thing
00:34:37
is knowing your own limits and it's
00:34:39
going to amplify everything that's
00:34:41
unsolved undelt with. And so basically
00:34:42
in a small space
00:34:44
>> having regulation tools to use and that
00:34:47
could be taking a walk outside um
00:34:50
sitting in a quiet space. My daughter
00:34:51
loves to be cozy, so we have a weighted
00:34:53
blanket we put on top of her, and she
00:34:54
loves to be cozy under that, and that's
00:34:55
very regulating for her. Um, but
00:34:57
learning how to regulate your body, I
00:35:00
think, has probably been my greatest
00:35:01
adventure in my homeschool journey is
00:35:04
because it can be really hard and
00:35:06
frustrating when your kid is having a
00:35:08
hard time, you don't know how to help
00:35:09
them, and you're like, "Okay, I'm gonna
00:35:12
have to get some resources, but I can't
00:35:13
solve this problem today." And then
00:35:16
learning how to not only take a deep
00:35:17
breath, but like do something that helps
00:35:19
your brain really regulate. You know,
00:35:22
some people like the game Candy Crush or
00:35:23
whatever. I'm not a big on the
00:35:24
electronic. I'm more I love the tactile
00:35:26
stuff because it does something
00:35:27
different in your brain. And I'm not a
00:35:29
psychologist, but I know from like our
00:35:31
rules at home is when you're frustrated,
00:35:33
you remove yourself and you calm down
00:35:36
and then you come back and talk about
00:35:37
it. So remove yourself, calm down, come
00:35:39
back and talk about it. And so if you
00:35:40
need to remove yourself from situation,
00:35:42
then you need to go and find something
00:35:43
to calm down. And we would use the quiet
00:35:45
corner to find something, whether that's
00:35:48
writing or coloring or drawing or
00:35:49
playing the rush hour game or some other
00:35:51
type of thing. And we're always looking
00:35:53
for stuff. A lot of science museums as
00:35:54
we would travel had really cool things
00:35:56
and we're like, "Hey, that'll go in the
00:35:57
quiet corner. That'll be great." And it
00:35:59
was fantastic because there was always
00:36:01
something new. And at different points
00:36:02
we had like light brights and different,
00:36:04
you know, things that we could put the
00:36:06
little pieces in a little snappy
00:36:07
container and then the kids could
00:36:09
literally just go and pick out their
00:36:10
color. And when they get in that
00:36:11
thinking brain, it helps to calm down
00:36:13
and do other stuff, you know, psychology
00:36:15
wise. I'm not the therapist, you know. I
00:36:18
just have really great people who know
00:36:19
really great things.
00:36:21
>> Yeah. No, but like you said, I think it
00:36:23
it just translates to everybody, too. It
00:36:25
was just like sometimes you just have to
00:36:27
like turn it off for two seconds and go
00:36:29
do something
00:36:30
>> that is just totally out of the norm and
00:36:33
like it gets you in a different place
00:36:36
and breath work can help with that too
00:36:37
of just like learning how to regulate
00:36:39
your breathing and and and stuff like
00:36:41
that. But it's just it you have to get
00:36:43
out of the mindset and that's where we
00:36:45
get just stuck. you get stuck in the
00:36:47
repeat and repeat and repeat and you're
00:36:49
bashing your head against the wall
00:36:50
trying to figure this thing out or
00:36:51
trying to solve a problem and it's just
00:36:53
like this is not working like do
00:36:55
something different you know
00:36:56
>> I do have to tell parents though uh
00:36:58
silly putty does not come out of things
00:36:59
very well um I don't know what it's made
00:37:01
of it is a table toy for us so in case
00:37:04
you need to know that silly putty is a
00:37:05
table toy learn that out on accident
00:37:07
>> I wanted to kind of we we've kind of
00:37:09
brushed on it a little bit of like your
00:37:12
kids having their their brains are wired
00:37:13
a little bit differently
00:37:14
>> sure
00:37:15
>> and one of the big fears. I I know from
00:37:18
growing up with with my friends who we
00:37:21
we also all of us were very different.
00:37:23
We were a wide variety of kids. We had
00:37:26
dyslexia, dcalcula, we had autism, we
00:37:28
had asberers, we had just like anything
00:37:31
you could imagine like and the the great
00:37:33
thing is it taught me I think a lot of
00:37:35
patience for people because I was just
00:37:36
like you never know what you're going to
00:37:38
get on any given day uh with any of my
00:37:40
friends. But there was also, I think, a
00:37:43
lot of fear from parents around getting
00:37:46
their kids tested or getting them
00:37:48
diagnosed because and I I don't know if
00:37:51
it's a failure thing or or what cuz it's
00:37:56
not a failure. It's just it's just your
00:37:57
brain is wired differently. It's not a
00:37:58
big deal. But like I I know that there
00:38:00
was a lot of this fear and this this not
00:38:03
wanting to do that for your kid. And and
00:38:06
I've always been of the philosophy and
00:38:08
my family has always been of the
00:38:09
philosophy. It's like once you know what
00:38:10
it is, well then you can actually take
00:38:12
steps to like make it better or it's not
00:38:15
even make it better. It's just you know
00:38:18
that you know the tools you can learn
00:38:19
the tools to to operate like we've been
00:38:21
talking about. And so what kind of was
00:38:25
there a fear for you of like okay
00:38:27
putting putting a name to some of the
00:38:29
things that you were realizing like okay
00:38:31
my kid is not operating the way that I
00:38:33
thought they were going to operate or
00:38:35
were you like no like we got to get this
00:38:37
I got to know what is going on here.
00:38:39
>> Yeah. So that's a that's a really great
00:38:40
question. I'm glad you brought it up
00:38:41
because there's a lot of times where I
00:38:43
wondered should I have quote unquote
00:38:45
found out earlier? Should I have done
00:38:47
something sooner? And the thing is is my
00:38:49
all all of my kids are general average
00:38:52
kids. You know, they're rough and tough,
00:38:53
they rumble, they you know, they play in
00:38:55
the dirt, they do this, they do that.
00:38:56
They were just average kids. And I did a
00:38:58
ton of babysitting growing up. So, I was
00:39:00
pretty familiar with different learning
00:39:01
phases and stages and things like that.
00:39:03
What I noticed is that when my kids were
00:39:06
having a hard time, and that's the
00:39:07
phrase that I learned from a friend of
00:39:09
mine. They said, "Are they giving you a
00:39:10
hard time or are they having a hard
00:39:12
time?" And I really loved that phrase
00:39:15
because it's like my kid doesn't wake up
00:39:16
every day thinking, "I'm going to make
00:39:18
my mom's life really hard today. I'm
00:39:20
going to be a jerk. I'm going to scream
00:39:22
and yell and throw tantrums." No, they
00:39:25
only usually get to that point when
00:39:27
they're having a hard time and they're
00:39:28
so overwhelmed they can't physically
00:39:30
control their bodies anymore. And so I
00:39:32
noticed with um Alice that she was
00:39:36
having a hard time with a lot of
00:39:37
different stuff in different areas. And
00:39:39
I'm like, for example, food was one of
00:39:42
them.
00:39:43
but it wasn't anything she was allergic
00:39:46
to. It wasn't It's like she just really
00:39:48
preferred this applesauce brand and this
00:39:49
cheesestick brand. And I was like,
00:39:52
"Okay, so we can kind of cater a little
00:39:54
bit within reason because, you know, I'm
00:39:56
the mom who I cloth diapered. I made my
00:39:58
own baby food. I did all the things cuz
00:40:00
I really enjoy that stuff." But at the
00:40:03
point where my kiddo started dropping
00:40:05
foods, where my kiddo was having not
00:40:08
only a hard time with reading, but then
00:40:10
other things like that were were making
00:40:13
learning difficult because food was
00:40:15
becoming difficult. So then learning was
00:40:16
becoming difficult because if your brain
00:40:18
doesn't work then you can't really learn
00:40:19
anything. So I started seeing these
00:40:20
things and I'm like at what point would
00:40:23
a diagnosis be helpful? And so for us um
00:40:26
we were at the end of our time on the
00:40:28
road and that was actually one of the
00:40:29
reasons we got off the road is my
00:40:30
husband had a change in his company to a
00:40:33
different position internally and that
00:40:35
required us to be stationary in one
00:40:38
place and then also it provided us the
00:40:39
opportunity for Alice to get some
00:40:40
services and some support and
00:40:42
evaluations that we needed. And so my
00:40:44
best advice is with food related things,
00:40:48
if you're not sure, if you're starting
00:40:49
to see food things, they can't chew,
00:40:52
they're getting really selective, go and
00:40:54
find a local place that can help you
00:40:57
with food stuff. Because I've spent
00:40:59
roughly 5 years figuring out this food
00:41:02
thing and from the age of 5 to 10, Ella
00:41:05
started dropping foods and it was like,
00:41:07
"Oh, I don't like PB&J." Okay, well, you
00:41:09
can have ham and cheese. Not a big deal.
00:41:11
Kids go through these selective phases.
00:41:13
And I love the word selective because
00:41:15
they're actually very they're they're
00:41:18
selecting their food very strategically.
00:41:20
Um I actually just went to a training
00:41:22
last night about selective eating and
00:41:25
supporting kids who have food
00:41:27
difficulties and they were talking about
00:41:30
their food profile. And I had no idea
00:41:32
that there was such a thing because I'm
00:41:34
not a food expert. I just really like
00:41:35
food. And I discovered that Alice
00:41:38
prefers soft food. Sometimes crunchy
00:41:40
food like pretzels or goldfish. She
00:41:42
likes um either room temperature or warm
00:41:46
foods. And understanding why her food
00:41:49
got so selective is because part of and
00:41:51
I've known this part of it is because
00:41:52
she couldn't chew it. But I wouldn't
00:41:54
have understood the indepth point of
00:41:57
that issue until much later. Like it it
00:42:00
I didn't realize she had a severe
00:42:01
undervite. I didn't realize as she lost
00:42:03
her teeth between ages 5 and 10, she
00:42:05
wasn't literally able to chew her food,
00:42:07
which is why we saw her slowly drop
00:42:09
foods. And now I can look back and say,
00:42:11
"Wow, that makes a lot of sense." But at
00:42:13
the time, dropping one or two foods is
00:42:16
not a big deal. Like, okay, you like
00:42:17
strawberry yogurt, but not vanilla
00:42:18
yogurt. Yeah, you're still eating
00:42:19
yogurt. That's pretty good. But I didn't
00:42:21
realize at the time how selective she
00:42:24
had gotten until we were so far in and
00:42:26
she had started to get braces and
00:42:28
started to have other things that that
00:42:30
was a really big piece of our food
00:42:32
journey. And she was not actually
00:42:34
diagnosed on the autism spectrum until
00:42:36
age 11. So, if you can imagine, one day
00:42:38
I have an average kid, no reason to
00:42:41
think anything's unusual, and then the
00:42:43
next day it's like, what what does this
00:42:45
even mean? So, had I maybe known more
00:42:48
about food stuff and other stuff
00:42:49
earlier, I might have been able to get
00:42:51
into food therapy with her to be able
00:42:53
like with an occupational therapist, a
00:42:55
food specialist, to say, "Okay, this is
00:42:57
what we're looking for. This is how
00:42:58
we're going to give you those tools like
00:43:00
we talked about before to help her
00:43:03
continue to progress." Now the reality
00:43:05
is is with her severe underbite which we
00:43:07
didn't know at the time um that is like
00:43:10
a dental work issue which we didn't
00:43:12
really discover until we started looking
00:43:13
into braces. And so it's it's a
00:43:15
multiaceted approach specifically in our
00:43:18
situation. But for an average person who
00:43:20
doesn't have the food difficulties who
00:43:21
doesn't have some of these other stuff
00:43:24
Alice was also emotionally having
00:43:27
emotion I'm going to call them emotional
00:43:28
meltdowns more than I thought an average
00:43:31
was for her age. And so that's when I
00:43:34
started saying that phrase of are they
00:43:35
giving you a hard time or are they
00:43:37
having a hard time? And I didn't realize
00:43:39
that there was a lot of other sensory
00:43:40
overwhelm because I had no reason to
00:43:43
believe that her brothers who were loud
00:43:45
were a problem. I mean, they're boys, of
00:43:47
course they're loud. When we actually
00:43:49
did testing, we discovered that for her
00:43:52
specifically, auditory overwhelm was
00:43:54
huge. I had no idea. And so if you have
00:43:57
thoughts or concerns about your kid, my
00:43:59
biggest thing is just to say go get a
00:44:01
test done. like we did one um I don't
00:44:04
remember exactly her credentials but
00:44:05
she's some type of doctor of something
00:44:06
of another and um we did a full-on
00:44:09
evaluation and it was a bit expensive
00:44:11
but at the same time like having that
00:44:13
diagnosis allowed us now to get services
00:44:16
that we would not have been eligible for
00:44:18
other otherwise and that's probably the
00:44:20
biggest reason to or not to get a
00:44:21
diagnosis is if for example Walter had
00:44:24
some speech issues he could do in-person
00:44:27
speech but because he didn't have the
00:44:28
autism diagnosis he could not do virtual
00:44:30
speech
00:44:31
So that can also be and now I know
00:44:34
that's going to continue to change as
00:44:35
insurance and CO is not as much of a
00:44:38
thing anymore but like that is a very
00:44:40
difference in having a diagnosis versus
00:44:42
not. Walter does not qualify in those
00:44:45
same areas that Alice did. And so
00:44:47
Alice's needs allowed her to have extra
00:44:51
supports and services that Walter will
00:44:53
not qualify for because his needs are
00:44:55
not in what is now the DSM5 as the same
00:44:58
level of her needs. And so they have to
00:44:59
quantify it in some capacity. And so as
00:45:02
far as like insurance and like diagnoses
00:45:05
and things go, if there is something
00:45:07
that your kid is struggling with that
00:45:08
they need help with that requires some
00:45:10
type of specialist, that is where I
00:45:12
believe a diagnosis can be really
00:45:13
helpful and supportive. And I also
00:45:15
completely understand why people don't
00:45:17
want to have the diagnosis. But my best
00:45:19
suggestion is if you need a specialist,
00:45:21
if you need support, get it early
00:45:23
because that could be the difference
00:45:25
between having the tools and then also
00:45:28
going through a lot of extra struggles
00:45:29
later. And my best advice is get the
00:45:32
tools. Don't make everything a hammer
00:45:33
and just smash everything. Get the the
00:45:35
specialized tool for your specific
00:45:37
situation.
00:45:38
>> Absolutely. I mean, that's what I've
00:45:39
seen with with my friends, too. It's
00:45:41
just like Yeah, there were the families
00:45:43
that did that did it. My my family went
00:45:45
through some of that. we got diagnosis
00:45:47
for for different things and so it was
00:45:49
like and it gave us
00:45:51
>> it gave us a name for what was going on.
00:45:55
Yeah. Which then it gave us the tools
00:45:57
because we could then go research that
00:45:59
and that that gave us
00:46:02
>> now I look at it and I go it also gives
00:46:04
us as kids it gave us like agency over
00:46:06
our own bodies as well because we're
00:46:08
like we know understand what I'm just
00:46:09
wired a little funky language to
00:46:12
describe what you need is that song
00:46:14
bothers me. Okay, I'm going to put my
00:46:17
headphones on.
00:46:18
>> Cool.
00:46:18
>> Right. I have a I have a friend growing
00:46:20
up who he had um uh I believe it was
00:46:24
asberers. Um I could be mixing it up.
00:46:26
But anyway, generally neurodeiversity of
00:46:29
some sort. Yeah.
00:46:30
>> Yeah. But he um he would get very
00:46:33
overwhelmed by like having all his
00:46:34
friends over, but he loved having us all
00:46:36
over.
00:46:36
>> But we just knew, hey, he's going to go
00:46:38
in the other room. He's going to go
00:46:39
chill, be alone for a while. Sometimes
00:46:41
he'd come back and hang out with us.
00:46:43
Sometimes he wouldn't. And his parents
00:46:44
were cool. They were just like, "Hey,
00:46:45
you guys are already here. Pizzas are on
00:46:47
the way. Movies are in the DVD player.
00:46:49
Like, just do your thing. If he's if he
00:46:51
wants to come back out, he'll come back
00:46:52
out." Kind of a thing.
00:46:54
>> What great parents to be able to
00:46:55
communicate that to other kids because
00:46:57
so many kids will internalize that be
00:46:58
like, "Oh my gosh, I hurt their
00:46:59
feelings. Oh my gosh, I upset them. Oh
00:47:00
my gosh." And then that energy, anxiety,
00:47:03
whatever you want to call it, is like,
00:47:04
"Oh, I don't want to go over to Joe's
00:47:05
house because Joe doesn't like me being
00:47:07
there." No, Joe loves you being there.
00:47:09
They just get really overwhelmed. So
00:47:11
that's
00:47:11
>> Exactly. And so it gave us like like you
00:47:14
said it gives us the tools and then it
00:47:16
also the thing is also when you know it
00:47:19
then like you said you can communicate
00:47:20
it to other people and you can educate
00:47:22
them on it and that's where I always
00:47:25
tell people I'm like I learned patience
00:47:27
at a very young age because like I just
00:47:29
knew so many people who had literally
00:47:31
any number of things. I mean, and it was
00:47:34
just it it taught me to just be like,
00:47:36
"Okay, sometimes things are going to go
00:47:39
really slow. Sometimes things are going
00:47:40
to go really fast, and it's okay.
00:47:41
Sometimes people are going to get angry
00:47:43
for no reason. Some people, you know,
00:47:44
and they're going to struggle with their
00:47:45
emotions and whatever."
00:47:46
>> And so,
00:47:47
>> again, it just gave us
00:47:49
>> it gave us power over those things in a
00:47:51
lot of senses because we just knew what
00:47:53
was going on. And so even now I have
00:47:55
friends who were in our late 20s, early
00:47:57
30s who are getting diagnosed with stuff
00:47:59
and they're like, "Oh my gosh, like for
00:48:00
the first time in my life, I feel like I
00:48:03
have kind of control a little bit over
00:48:05
like what is going on with me because I
00:48:06
have I have something
00:48:08
>> to label it as and now I can do my do my
00:48:11
research and figure out what I need."
00:48:12
And so I think it's great for your kids
00:48:14
that they're going to get to grow up
00:48:15
with kind of this like, okay, this is
00:48:17
what's going on with me and this is why
00:48:19
this bothers me and this doesn't bother
00:48:21
me and this is why I act this way. And
00:48:23
hopefully they can communicate that with
00:48:24
other people
00:48:25
>> and educate their friends to be like,
00:48:27
hey, like I'm a little different. It's
00:48:29
all good. Like, you know, come on this
00:48:31
ride with me.
00:48:32
>> Well, and we all we need all types of
00:48:33
people in the world, you know, people
00:48:35
who see things differently than we do.
00:48:37
My daughter always says it's like I'm a
00:48:39
different operating system. You're a
00:48:40
you're whatever and I'm a I'm you're a
00:48:42
PC and I'm a Mac. You're this and I'm a
00:48:44
that. And it's so interesting because
00:48:47
once she had the language to describe to
00:48:49
other people that yes, I can do this. I
00:48:53
just need to take my time and do it this
00:48:55
way. Then they would not be frustrated
00:48:57
that she was taking longer.
00:48:59
>> Knowledge is power. Yes.
00:49:00
>> That's what I always say.
00:49:02
>> I want to talk a little bit about now
00:49:04
the school journey cuz now So you no
00:49:07
longer a homeschool mom, but you guys
00:49:09
are doing on their home class.
00:49:12
>> I'm not in their curriculum. So I'm
00:49:14
>> right. So not the traditional homeschool
00:49:17
approach of you picking every
00:49:19
curriculum. They are now enrolled in
00:49:21
public school online, but you guys are
00:49:23
still able to travel the world and still
00:49:25
kind of do things at your own pace to
00:49:26
some degree. So talk to me a little bit
00:49:28
about like that decision of of what led
00:49:31
led into that and then and then let's
00:49:33
talk about like what's coming for this
00:49:34
next year.
00:49:35
>> Yeah, I'm so excited. Um, so we started
00:49:39
their online public school journey in
00:49:42
2024, fall of 24, because that first
00:49:45
year of getting back, I was like, we
00:49:47
just need a year to kind of like settle
00:49:48
in because there's been a lot of changes
00:49:50
in our life. And at that point, we had
00:49:51
been on the road for three years. Now we
00:49:53
have a stationary home and figuring out
00:49:55
how to settle in. We were in some
00:49:58
different therapies with Alice for a
00:49:59
period of time trying to kind of figure
00:50:01
out exactly what support she needed. And
00:50:03
so we had kind of a transition year to
00:50:05
get into the home school or to the
00:50:06
online school system. So we knew we
00:50:09
wanted flexibility. Colorado is I think
00:50:11
they call it a choice state choice
00:50:14
school something. Basically you don't
00:50:16
have to go to your neighborhood school.
00:50:17
You can choose what school you can get
00:50:18
on their weight list then they can call
00:50:20
you up if you make the list or however
00:50:21
their system works. So basically we
00:50:24
looked for an online school that would
00:50:27
provide flexibility and we really wanted
00:50:29
something um especially for Alice that
00:50:32
was flexible that she could sleep in a
00:50:34
little bit because we know and we've
00:50:36
always known she does not do mornings
00:50:37
well even when we've traveled um in the
00:50:40
airlines or uh on the road if we have to
00:50:43
be up and gone before 8 a.m. we have to
00:50:46
really prep her for that and we knew
00:50:47
that was going to be difficult. So, the
00:50:49
school that we found is an online school
00:50:51
that has four days of school a week and
00:50:54
they have basically a checklist that
00:50:56
they email you or they have posted in
00:50:58
their um online area where they have all
00:51:00
the different subjects and then they
00:51:02
have a list of everything that you do
00:51:03
and this school's been in existence for
00:51:05
like 20 plus years and so we felt really
00:51:06
confident that they kind of had it
00:51:08
figured out. I know after COVID there
00:51:10
was a lot of like online school and what
00:51:11
does that look like and my oldest had
00:51:14
done a different online school. It was
00:51:15
uh Montana Hybrid Academy, which is
00:51:17
fantastic. By the way, the thing with
00:51:20
that one though required him to be in
00:51:22
front of a computer so many hours. Um,
00:51:24
but there it was a really fun learning
00:51:26
environment for him. So, there's a lot
00:51:28
of different environments and types of
00:51:29
learning. That Montana hybrid was
00:51:31
fantastic for that time that we had that
00:51:33
like gap year of going into the public
00:51:35
online school and trying to figure out
00:51:36
what we needed to do. But what we
00:51:38
decided for Alice specifically is that
00:51:41
wasn't going to be the best learning
00:51:42
environment for her because she needed
00:51:43
to have frequent breaks. she needed to
00:51:45
have certain things that were going to
00:51:46
really accommodate her needs. And so the
00:51:49
school that we do now, it has that
00:51:52
checklist. It is, you know, everything
00:51:54
is recorded of course for online stuff.
00:51:56
But basically, it allowed her to receive
00:51:59
special services for not only reading,
00:52:01
but some math support that she needed
00:52:03
and then potential other supports as we
00:52:05
continue to evaluate what her needs are.
00:52:07
And then same thing with Walter, he was
00:52:08
able to get some extra reading support
00:52:10
uh that if we were not in the public
00:52:13
online school, we would have to pay for
00:52:15
specialist reading. Now, I don't know if
00:52:17
any of your listeners have looked at or
00:52:19
paid for specialists. They are very
00:52:20
expensive and typically weekly or
00:52:23
monthly. And now through the public
00:52:25
school system, we are able to get some
00:52:27
of those services um either for free or
00:52:29
most of it covered. and then we can do
00:52:31
like a reading camp in the summer that
00:52:32
is much more affordable than weekly or
00:52:34
monthly, you know, paying for those
00:52:36
services. And that was really something
00:52:38
that was important to us is to get the
00:52:39
services not only as cheaply as
00:52:42
possible, affordably if possible, but
00:52:43
that public school provides, which is
00:52:46
key for a lot of people who who need
00:52:48
those supports.
00:52:49
>> Like I mentioned before, like I have
00:52:50
family members that Yeah. have some of
00:52:52
those learning things. I've been to the
00:52:53
specialist office. I've sat in the
00:52:54
waiting room waiting and and I yeah, I
00:52:56
remember hearing
00:52:57
>> Yeah. the bill cost and being like that
00:53:00
is
00:53:00
>> and we did for a period of time during
00:53:02
that kind of like gap year where we were
00:53:04
figuring out what we needed to do and
00:53:05
what was going to be the best for our
00:53:07
situation. We did have one and I
00:53:10
remember the specific one that we had
00:53:12
found was very rigid in their system and
00:53:14
we're like we need to have 20 to 30
00:53:16
minute lessons and they're like we do 45
00:53:18
minute lessons. I said can we do them
00:53:20
twice a week and depending on where you
00:53:22
go to depends on what services they
00:53:24
provide. Um, but we knew at that time I
00:53:27
don't think we had a diagnosis yet um,
00:53:29
of dyslexia, disgraphia or autism
00:53:32
officially, but I do remember that we
00:53:35
were very sure that what we needed and
00:53:39
what was going to be provided needed to
00:53:40
be very specific. And um, so it's great
00:53:43
because now with the like Walter has a
00:53:46
reading I don't know if they call him
00:53:47
tutor or specialist. I'm not sure what
00:53:48
their their title is, but he has several
00:53:51
times a week short lessons. They work on
00:53:53
very specific goals and they're really
00:53:55
fantastic. They love their jobs. They
00:53:57
love what they do. They love working
00:53:58
with kids and Walter really enjoys it
00:54:00
for the most part as well and is
00:54:01
building a lot of confidence in reading
00:54:02
and they've um if you do have a kid I
00:54:05
think it's called Orton Gillingham or
00:54:07
something like that there for dyslexia
00:54:09
disgraphia. Um I don't know how it's
00:54:12
spelled but it's like Orton Gillingham
00:54:13
or something like that. So, if people
00:54:15
aren't familiar, that is supposedly one
00:54:17
of the best um curriculums or methods to
00:54:20
teach a kid um who is dyslexic or just
00:54:22
graphic with different stuff. So, that
00:54:24
is something that we've learned in our
00:54:25
journey uh from getting tutors and
00:54:28
specialists and then now working in the
00:54:29
public school system. And I I just I
00:54:32
have nothing but uh praise for the
00:54:34
people who are trained in these
00:54:37
different things because I knew when
00:54:40
Walter was having trouble with reading
00:54:42
early on that there was going to be
00:54:44
needing some support and I could get
00:54:46
trained but I also had Alice who had
00:54:49
other difficulties and I had to kind of
00:54:51
decide am I going to become that
00:54:53
specialist and I think you've talked did
00:54:55
your mom become a specialist at some
00:54:56
point for your sister. I don't know to
00:54:58
what degree. I know she went through
00:55:00
some training. I don't know that she was
00:55:01
like fullyfledged specialist, but she
00:55:03
definitely knew what she was doing to
00:55:05
some degree. And so, but yeah, it was
00:55:07
one of those things where then my mom
00:55:08
had these tools, this tool set that she
00:55:10
was able to then other kids who had
00:55:12
dyslexia.
00:55:13
>> Yeah.
00:55:13
>> Could come to our house and be like,
00:55:14
"Okay, let's let's do a quick lesson."
00:55:16
And it could be 20 minutes or it could
00:55:18
be 45 minutes or if it was going really
00:55:20
well, maybe it was an hour and a half.
00:55:21
And so, yeah, we did all the like the
00:55:23
B's and the P's and the D's and the Q's.
00:55:25
like we did the Sharpie on the thing and
00:55:27
yeah all that stuff. So
00:55:28
>> which is such a great service to the
00:55:30
community if you do become a specialist.
00:55:32
I think in my situation I had Alice who
00:55:34
had other difficulties, Walter who had
00:55:36
different difficulties. None of them
00:55:37
were the same difficulties. And so if
00:55:39
you have if you're a parent out there
00:55:41
who has kids who have different
00:55:43
difficulties, don't be afraid to pull in
00:55:45
the support and the troop of other the
00:55:46
support of the troops of other people
00:55:48
who are able to take that weight off of
00:55:50
you because the goal is to support the
00:55:52
kid, not that you have to do it all. I
00:55:54
also wanted to bring up so I mean one of
00:55:56
the great things about the fact that you
00:55:57
guys are doing the online schooling is
00:55:59
you also still get to travel. Yeah. And
00:56:02
so you know you had sent me a whole list
00:56:04
of like hey here's all the trips like
00:56:05
we're planning. Yeah.
00:56:06
>> And what one of the things when we
00:56:08
chatted uh the other day was also that
00:56:10
you were talking about one of the great
00:56:11
things about traveling is the
00:56:13
experiential learning aspect of it. So
00:56:16
>> where are you guys going and what what
00:56:18
is like what is the learning goal when
00:56:20
you guys get there?
00:56:20
>> Yeah. So this fall we are getting ready
00:56:23
for an Australia and New Zealand trip.
00:56:25
And we um love love love experiential
00:56:28
learning. That's something that no
00:56:30
matter what people's situations are,
00:56:32
whether they have a diagnosis or not, it
00:56:34
can be super um supportive of just
00:56:38
creating that memory and locking it in.
00:56:39
So like my kids remember going to the
00:56:41
battlefield and learning about whatever
00:56:43
the historical event was. They may not
00:56:44
remember all the dates and all the
00:56:45
people, but they're going to remember
00:56:47
that battlefield and they are going to
00:56:48
remember very vividly how these troops
00:56:50
came up this way and these came up in
00:56:51
this way and why did they do that? That
00:56:52
was a bad idea, but they didn't know
00:56:54
because they had never been there
00:56:55
before, right? And so, you can read
00:56:57
about it in a history book, but once you
00:56:59
go experience it, it's it's a game
00:57:00
changer. It really is. I mean, if you
00:57:02
have ever been international, I'm just
00:57:04
going to pick on like the Eiffel Tower,
00:57:05
it is awe inspiring to look out and be
00:57:07
like, "Wow, like this is so cool." Um,
00:57:10
and so or like if you go to London and
00:57:12
you see Big Ben, which fun fact is the
00:57:16
name of the bell inside the clock, not
00:57:19
the name of the clock. Isn't that
00:57:20
interesting? Um, that is interesting.
00:57:22
>> You learn these fun facts along the way.
00:57:23
And so going to the place, hearing like
00:57:25
in the US, you have a lot of national
00:57:27
parks and we've been to a ton of them.
00:57:29
Like over a hundred of them. They're
00:57:30
incredible. And doing Junior Ranger
00:57:32
books and things like that. But then
00:57:34
when you go to the location, like we're
00:57:36
getting ready for New Zealand and
00:57:38
Australia, so we're gonna go um snorkel
00:57:40
on the Great Barrier Reef for my
00:57:41
daughter's birthday and that is
00:57:43
something that we have studied in the
00:57:44
books, but she was so excited. We took
00:57:46
like a local snorkeling lesson to like
00:57:48
learn all this stuff. And so now they
00:57:50
know how to like go down and to clear
00:57:52
their masks and all the things. And um
00:57:54
that's going to be an experience that
00:57:55
they're not going to forget. And they
00:57:57
might actually build on that. So like
00:58:00
the law of readiness, like I talked
00:58:01
about is when you're ready to learn, you
00:58:02
will learn. Like they know the basics.
00:58:03
they had the cliff notes, but now
00:58:05
they're going to be able to absorb so
00:58:06
much more because they're getting that
00:58:08
actually hands-on experience. So,
00:58:10
that'll be a really fun trip. And we've
00:58:11
also been starting to listen to
00:58:13
podcasts. My I think my Theo sent me the
00:58:16
other day uh something about kiwis and
00:58:18
invasive species of the islands and lots
00:58:21
of different stuff. And so hopefully
00:58:23
we'll get to see some koalas while we're
00:58:25
over there. Um and also they eat so many
00:58:28
eucalyptus leaves. I'm like, how do they
00:58:30
end up so fluffy? I don't I don't know.
00:58:32
I just I think they're just fascinating
00:58:33
creatures. So yeah, we we love the
00:58:36
hands-on learning and then it also gives
00:58:37
us an opportunity to explore and to
00:58:39
question like, "Oh, I didn't know that.
00:58:41
That's really interesting. Why did they
00:58:42
do that here?" And then that can dive
00:58:44
back into history. So it's a multiaceted
00:58:47
approach to learning, which makes it
00:58:48
really fun because you're questioning
00:58:50
everything and you're absorbing
00:58:51
everything all at the same time.
00:58:53
>> I I love that. I love that. I think too
00:58:55
when when kids have the ability to have
00:58:57
like a not typical school experience, we
00:59:01
end up learning these really unique
00:59:03
skills that like,
00:59:05
>> you know, it it and not to say the
00:59:07
public school kids don't have that, but
00:59:08
it's just but we have these
00:59:09
opportunities sometimes to get certain
00:59:12
skills that
00:59:13
>> we wouldn't have otherwise. And it it's
00:59:16
>> it can be fun. I mean it just you know
00:59:18
me and my buddies we all owned different
00:59:20
we had different businesses and we had
00:59:22
different skill sets and we go help each
00:59:23
other build cars or you know someone
00:59:25
come over and we you know like I loved I
00:59:28
I built guitars for a while like you
00:59:29
know stuff like that. It was just like
00:59:30
just weird stuff we were interested in
00:59:32
and you and
00:59:34
>> they were skills that now we get to look
00:59:35
back on and be like
00:59:37
>> I know how to do that. I like to talk
00:59:39
also about like learning a skill,
00:59:41
studying a place like going to
00:59:43
Disneyland, Disney World and we studied
00:59:46
the history of Disney before we went. We
00:59:48
made that an experiential learning trip
00:59:49
and then they so much appreciated all
00:59:52
that Walt Disney did to create this park
00:59:54
to do this thing. So something as simple
00:59:56
as going to Disney can be that
00:59:58
experience, right? And I think
01:00:00
>> the fun thing about hands-on
01:00:03
experiential learning is that everything
01:00:05
is a learning opportunity. With that,
01:00:08
I'm going to give you an opportunity. I
01:00:09
know you've got a book, you've got a
01:00:11
blog. How can people find you? How can
01:00:13
people connect with you?
01:00:14
>> Absolutely. Thank you so much. Um, so my
01:00:16
name is Robin. My pen name is bgbarnntor
01:00:21
and you can find me on my website
01:00:22
www.bgbarnstormer.com.
01:00:25
And you can also I have a blog up there.
01:00:28
I don't always update it like weekly or
01:00:30
monthly. Right now I have been pouring
01:00:32
into other creative projects, but I do
01:00:34
have my book. It's a children's book.
01:00:36
It's called Yucky Weather. And um on my
01:00:40
website there's a little um tab that has
01:00:43
my book and you can find the link there.
01:00:45
Um you can also order it on uh Amazon or
01:00:47
Ingram Spark. And if you're ordering it
01:00:49
in the fall of 2025, I do recommend you
01:00:52
order on Amazon or Ingram Spark because
01:00:54
I'll be doing traveling. So I will not
01:00:56
be able to give you an autographed copy.
01:00:58
If you can wait a little bit longer,
01:00:59
I'll be back uh mid December and I can
01:01:01
send it out hopefully before Christmas.
01:01:03
But um I'm also on Instagram and
01:01:05
Facebook at BG Barnstormer. And in case
01:01:08
you're wondering why I have my pen name
01:01:09
B stands for Birdie and my name is
01:01:11
Robin. My brother called me Birdie
01:01:13
growing up. And my kids G is for Guyeta,
01:01:16
which is cookie in Spanish. My kids call
01:01:17
me Cookie. It's kind of like an internal
01:01:19
family joke, but I love cookies. I love
01:01:20
eating cookies and making cookies. And
01:01:22
then the uh barntormer is a pilot from
01:01:25
the 1920s and 30s that would travel from
01:01:27
place to place performing aerial stunts
01:01:29
and uh they would sleep in a barn. They
01:01:31
were called a barnstormer.
01:01:33
And as a pilot, as a traveler, I just
01:01:36
feel like BG Barntormer encompasses all
01:01:38
of who I am. So, it's kind of a fun play
01:01:40
on every aspect of my crazy awesome life
01:01:42
that I live and the adventures every
01:01:44
day.
01:01:44
>> Yeah. Go check out everything that Robin
01:01:46
just mentioned is going to be linked
01:01:47
down below as well. Go check out her
01:01:49
book if it's something you're interested
01:01:50
in and her blogs. She's got some
01:01:52
wonderful blogs. I'm going to link one
01:01:53
that she sent me that talks about uh her
01:01:55
daughter and her a conversation that her
01:01:57
and her daughter had that I thought was
01:01:58
beautiful. And um but is there anything
01:02:01
I've missed topic-wise? Anything I want
01:02:03
to hit on?
01:02:03
>> I neglected to tell you my book. It's
01:02:05
called Yucky Weather and it's about life
01:02:07
perspective. It is a bedtime story aimed
01:02:10
at ages kids 3 through eight, but it is
01:02:13
definitely appropriate for kids of all
01:02:15
ages and even adults. And the story is
01:02:17
called Yucky Weather because when my
01:02:19
kids were little, they were looking
01:02:21
outside, literally outside the window in
01:02:23
Virginia, and they're like, "Mom, it's a
01:02:24
yucky day. What are we going to do?"
01:02:26
And so it actually inspired me to write
01:02:29
this book about what you can do on a
01:02:31
yucky weather day that you can't do on a
01:02:33
sunshiny day. And it's a book about life
01:02:35
perspective and enjoying every day no
01:02:37
matter what kind of day it is. So it's a
01:02:38
very special book to my heart and
01:02:40
inspired for my children. Um all the
01:02:42
characters are inspired for my children
01:02:43
as well. And I was very specific. It's
01:02:45
actually a seek and find book. You can
01:02:47
find a duck and a frog on every single
01:02:49
page. Um, I chose a font that was
01:02:51
friendly for early readers, especially
01:02:54
kids who are dyslexic and disgraphic and
01:02:56
um, colors and everything. It's just a
01:02:58
very gorgeous book. So, please check it
01:03:00
out. And thank you so much, Jacob, for
01:03:01
the shout out for that.
01:03:02
>> Of course. Yeah. And if you don't have
01:03:04
kids like me, you can either buy for
01:03:05
yourself or buy for somebody else or you
01:03:08
can also encourage your local libraries
01:03:10
to go buy a copy or even buy a copy for
01:03:12
your local library because, you know,
01:03:14
that is something we need to support our
01:03:16
local libraries. But, um, all right,
01:03:18
Robin, this has been fun. I've really
01:03:20
enjoyed having a conversation with you,
01:03:22
and I appreciate you sharing so openly
01:03:24
about your family and your homeschool
01:03:25
experience,
01:03:26
>> and I'm stoked to hear about your your
01:03:29
guys' upcoming trips and what and how
01:03:31
they go. Um,
01:03:32
>> well, and to remind your listeners,
01:03:34
remember, learning is a change in
01:03:36
behavior as a result of experience.
01:03:38
That's what we learned in life school.
01:03:39
So anytime you have an opportunity to
01:03:42
learn something and you take that
01:03:44
forward with you, like I said, it's a
01:03:46
change in behavior as a result of
01:03:47
experience. So keep on learning and
01:03:49
every day, every aspect of life, no
01:03:50
matter where you are and no matter what
01:03:52
learning looks like for you.
01:03:53
>> I love that. Thank you once again,
01:03:54
Robin. And to my audience, thank you
01:03:57
guys for listening. If you stuck with me
01:03:58
this long, you know all the things to
01:03:59
do, right? Like, comment, subscribe,
01:04:01
leave a review, do all of the things. If
01:04:04
you've got any questions for me, for
01:04:06
Robin, for any of my other previous
01:04:08
guests, shoot me an email,
01:04:09
01:04:11
And uh until next time, we'll see you.
01:04:14
Peace.
