What's Your New Normal?  - HIRL Episode 160 What does life look like post-pandemic? Which activities are you are eager to return to, and what will you change going forward? From changing the family schedule, to changing the pace of life, to learning how to connect through the smart use of technology, these are the questions Fletch and Kendra discuss on this week's episode of Homeschooling in Real Life. Answers will differ from person to person and family to family, but one thing remains...

Blessed Are The Crisis Schoolers - HIRL Episode 159 How can you support your neighbor who is suddenly learning how to school their kids at home? What does it mean to "Love Thy Neighbor" during this Covid-19 pandemic? We are three weeks into the COVID-19 global crisis and families around us are settling into new routines. For some, this "new normal" is anything but normal or routine. These families are struggling to juggle family, work and this new version of schooling their kids at...

Hope Shifting and Covid19 - HIRL Episode 158 What does homeschooling look like in the face of a worldwide pandemic? How does sudden change affect the breadwinner in the home who is unexpectedly out of work? What happens when a homeschooling parent suddenly has everyone in the family home all day long? What do we talk about with our children? How do we balance sharing news, information, and our own fears? We’re dusting off the microphones and cranking up the volume as Fletch and Kendra...

A special replay!  We all have those people in our lives who prove to be a challenge to love: a grumpy toddler, a brooding teen, an irritable spouse, a controlling parent. How do we love them in spite of their unloveliness? What does the gospel tell us about our own unloveliness, and God's love for us? Tun in to this episode of Homeschooling in Real Life for a touching and deeply meaningful conversation about loving the unlovable. SHOW NOTES: Recommended Resources: None Follow...

Are you a homeschooling mom who needs to work? Are you contemplating a job alongside homeschooling? Join us for this episode of Homeschooling in Real Life as we talk with Jimmie Lanley, a mom who found the need to be employed but also wanted to continue educating her daughter at home with excellence. Jimmie is straight-forward and encouraging as she shares her experience and wisdom with our listeners. SHOW NOTES: Recommended Resources: JimmieLanley.com Get Social...

Author Kristen Hatton joins us for an important discussion that encompasses the world our teen girls are growing up in. From eating disorders to the impact of social media on a young woman's self image, Kristen's latest book, Facetime: Your Identity in a Selfie World, is a significant guide to pointing our teenaged daughters to Christ to find their acceptance and worth. Raising daughters? This episode is just for you.   SHOW NOTES: KristenHatton.com Facetime - Your Identity in...

During a recent homeschooling convention where we were speaking, an older gentleman approached the Homeschooling in Real Life booth and asked what we might know about grandparents who homeschool. He was planning to help his daughter homeschool her children, and he was there to gather information. The topic of grandparents who homeschool is an exciting one! The possibilities for how a grandparent might help out in the homeschool setting are endless, and the opportunities for discipleship are...

We have big dreams when we begin parenting: how many children we'll have, what we'll do together, how our relationship will be when they are adults. It doesn't take long for us to realize that we're not in control of who or how our children are, and soon we can find ourselves disappointed that we didn't have a child like X, Y, and Z.  How do we respond when we finally acknowledge that we are disappointed? How does the gospel inform our choices, our conversations, and our relationship to our...

Homeschooling is a choice born out of the freedom to choose what we feel to be the best educational option for our children. It should follow, then that if a family who has made the choice to homeschool then decides to put a child into a traditional school setting, fellow homeschoolers will support that freedom to choose, too. Unfortunately, that's not the reaction many receive when they announce they'll be returning to school. Instead of encouragement and reassurance, they often receive...

Apps! Mobile phones! iPads! Technology! It all moves so fast and changes seemingly overnight. How do we keep up with what our kids are asking to use or are being exposed to, even if we are trying to keep it all in balance? Join us on this highly informative episode of Homeschooling in Real Life as we welcome author and speaker Leah Nieman to discuss five apps every parent should know about right now. It's an up-to-the-minute conversation, but even if you're listening months or even years...

It's that time of year again - graduation is upon us and college is looming into the future.  In this replay of the Best of Homeschooling IRL, listen in as Fletch and Kendra interview Jean Burke of College Prep Genius with tips for affording college. ---- When our students hope to go to college, the perennial question remains: how in the world will they pay for it? We decided to return to the topic of affording college with College Prep Genius Jean Burk because we know she has valuable...

This week on this replay episode of Homeschooling IRL:  How does a homeschooling parent possibly educate older kids while at the same time juggling preschoolers, toddlers, and babies? Is it even realistic to think we could do a good job while spinning so many homeschool plates? On this episode of Homeschooling in Real Life, Fletch and Kendra talk about how they've managed to homeschool 8 kids, how to structure a day so that schooling actually gets done, and how mom can survive and thrive...

This week on Special Edition - Homeschooling IRL - Enjoy this episode replay sponsored by Christian Standard Bible!  Mid-January. Harumph. Are you feeling the mid-year slump in your homeschool, too?  In this episode of Homeschooling in Real Life, Fletch and Kendra talk about how the mid-year slump affects their homeschooling and give several practical ways in which you can beat the mid-year slump, too. SHOW NOTES: Recommended Resources: Lost and Found, by Kendra Fletcher Key...

This week on Special Edition - Homeschooling IRL - Enjoy this episode replay sponsored by Christian Standard Bible!    Join us as we welcome pastor, homeschool father, and family devotions author, Marty Machowski. We talk with Marty about family devotions and why we need to encourage each other as families to gather together around the Word of God.  These are wonderful books for families just like yours. They are easy to use, with ideas that are easy to grasp, and they teach to a level that...

This week on Special Edition - Homeschooling IRL - Enjoy this episode replay sponsored by Christian Standard Bible!  We are talking about Family Devotions for the Real Family on this podcast. You know REAL family devotions. The families with the toddler hijacking the deep discussion, and the teens are daydreaming, and mom is falling asleep because it's been a long, long homeschooling day. Can you relate to family worship that looks like this? Family worship can be trying for most families,...

"Out of Retirement" Update from Homeschooling in Real Life: Leaving Legalism Hey there, HIRLers! We’ve missed you all so much that we decided to come back for one more episode. We’re celebrating the Ultimate Homeschool Network’s 5th anniversary and catching you up on good ol’ Homeschooling in Real Life stuff. It’s fun frivolity and all the fluff you’ve come to expect. Happy homeschooling! Find more Homeschooling in Real Life episodes here Discussing the topics that you might not...

We home educators spend a lot of time educating our kids. But what about us? Are we taking the time to learn more, discover more, and be curious? This episode of Homeschooling in Real Life is dedicated to you, the homeschooling parent. We want to see you grow and thrive in your role as parent educator, and to that end we're talking about the reasons to educate yourself as well as the how-to. Let's get learning!   SHOW NOTES: Recommended Resources: Hoopla - Library digital...

Our listeners love when we podcast about the process of raising children into adulthood. But every time we talk about raising kids or the transitions into teen years or launching our adolescents out into the world, we are asked constantly for resources. On this episode we introduce our listeners to one of our favorite new resources for young men. Our old friend, Barrett Johnson from I.N.F.O. for Families, is releasing a new book called The Young Man's Guide to Awesomeness and we love what he...

When Cindy West reached out to us and asked to talk about something she's seeing in the homeschool community at large, we jumped at the opportunity. And it's this: Some homeschoolers feel they must adhere so closely to a particular homeschool philosophy that they have lost all their homeschool joy. Essentially, their homeschools are owning them. So what's the remedy? Tune in to "When Your Homeschool Owns You" to find out! SHOW NOTES: Recommended Resources: Cindy West can...

We are talking about Family Devotions for the Real Family on this podcast. You know REAL family devotions. The families with the toddler hijacking the deep discussion, and the teens are daydreaming, and mom is falling asleep because it's been a long, long homeschooling day. Can you relate to family worship that looks like this? Family worship can be trying for most families, and on this episode of Homeschooling in Real Life, we talk with a dozen dads about what it looks like in their homes....

On this week's special back to school replay with Fletch and Kendra, they talk about Extracurricular Overkill.  When is enough too much? On this episode of HomeschoolingIRL, Fletch and Kendra answer a letter from a listener who is wondering how to filter extracurricular activities into your homeschool. When should you say yes? When should you say no? We invite good friends Nate and Ali Miller into the studio to talk through the topic of extracurricular overkill. Listen in as we discuss how...

Moms of teen boys, this episode was made for you! What happens to those boys when they become teenagers and why are they so hard for moms to manage? Fletch and Kendra have raised three teen boys so far and they have lived to tell the tale . . . Fletch pokes a few sticks at dads on this episode who have turned all the schooling over to their wives. Kendra also has some definite opinions on the subject of moms, homeschooling, and teen boys. She thinks the teen years can be extra great for...