The 3 Pillars to Build A Strong Foundation for Your Homeschool with Meg Thomas [episode 85]

Kelsey Sorenson [00:00:00]:

You are listening to episode number 85 of Wife Teacher Mommy, the podcast, the 3 pillars to build a strong foundation for your homeschool with Meg Thomas. I just loved hearing how simple and profound these 3 pillars are. And Meg is the host of 1 of the top homeschool podcasts out there. So you are in for a treat. And if you’re a school teacher thinking this isn’t for you, don’t go anywhere because these pillars will work for you too, trust me. Whether you’re in the classroom or your own home, so much of it is widely applicable. So, let’s go.

Kelsey Sorenson [00:00:32]:

Hey teacher with all you gotta do someone’s got to take care of you. Whether it’s the time or resources you lack, like teacher mommy, they have got your back.

Kelsey Sorenson [00:01:12]:

Welcome to Wife Teacher Mommy the podcast. I’m Kelsey Sorenson, a former elementary teacher and current homeschool mom. And even though I’ve been a resource creator since 2014, I’ve realized that printables alone aren’t all you need in order to thrive as a teacher or homeschool parent. That’s why I also created this show and got certified as a life coach to help you finally kick burnout to the curb and feel confident with whatever challenges come your way. With the right mindset strategies and new teaching inspiration, you’re going to be well on your way to your best teacher life. Now let’s go. I am coming to you today, fresh from my team retreat with Team Wife Teacher Mommy, which was so much fun. And this had been in the making for a while. Like I’d originally planned a team retreat like before COVID and then COVID happened and then we just never got around to doing it again. But I’m really excited that we did this and I got us a villa in Park City, Utah, which was so much fun and it was a nice little staycation for most of the team. Carol, Megan, Rachel and Kinsey traveled from different places in Utah to join us. And Kelsey, my not me, but my other team member named Kelsey. She came in from Arizona and flew here so we could all get together. And it was our first time being all together as a team in person. So it was so much fun. Like we get together on Google Meet each week as a team, but this was our first time all of us have been together in 1 room and it was so much fun. I had met Kelsey in person just 1 other time when we went to the Taylor Swift concert, which was fun, but nobody else on the team had met her in person yet. So it was a lot of fun. And what we did while we were all together is we did a lot of planning for Educate and Rejuvenate. We made sure that we have everything in line and ready to go for this event. And we plan lots of fun giveaways. I’m like, how can we make this even more exciting and even better and even clearer than last year. So that is what we did. We also planned some really new and exciting things coming for Wife, Teacher, Mommy Club members. Just even more we’ll be adding. There’s already a lot when you join the club, so we want to make sure that nobody’s like overwhelmed when they join us. We’re working on making that experience even more streamlined when people join us. But then also, when you stay with us even longer, we’re going to add to some additional perks that people might not be quite ready for when they first join. But then the longer you’re with us, there will be more perks that you’ll be able to unlock. And we’re really excited to reveal that here soon. And we also just had a lot of fun together. Like we did a photo shoot, which you may have seen some of the photos that we shared on Instagram or Facebook. We’re going to be like incorporating some of those on the website. We also took some silly reels that are fun. We took some pictures with our planners of us holding them. Really excited about our physical planners that we’ve launched. They’re just so cute. And we had so much fun just talking for hours and being together. And the energy and fun of coming together and getting excited about what we’re doing with our work, getting more passionate about it, coming together was really exciting. And you can have this same experience when you join us at Educate and Rejuvenate, where all of us, all of my team, we become your personal team, but also all the presenters, all of the attendees all come together and there’s this energy when you come together. It’s so much fun. So if you don’t have a ticket yet, I would love for you to join us at Educate and Rejuvenate. And in case you’re listening and you’re like, wait, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I mean, if you’ve been listening to past episodes, then you probably do because we mentioned it a lot, but it is our summer event. We call it the education event of the year for a reason because we brought in some amazing keynotes. We have Joe Dombrowski, Mr. D, we have Christina Kuzmich, who is an incredible internet sensation as our keynotes. And then we put together an amazing lineup of speakers. We have this year, uniquely, we have a teacher track. So a full lineup of speakers, specifically for school teachers. And then we also have a parent chat that are for homeschool parents, but also you can choose your own adventure because I feel like teachers can learn things from homeschoolers and homeschoolers can learn things from teachers. So you can pick and choose your own adventure. Whatever sessions look interesting to you, you are able to watch. And then we also start each day with a workout. We have life coaching during the main event. We have panels, we can interact with the presenters. We have lots of giveaways, so many giveaways, you won’t even believe it. Like just $5 gift cards all over the place along with some bigger giveaways as well. So it’s just such a great time. So go to educateandrejuvenate.com to learn more. And it’s happening June 27th and 28th, 2023 for this upcoming 1. If you’re listening after that though, don’t fret because there will be other chances for you to join us at events. We’re doing Educate and Rejuvenate every summer and every winter and then in between we have lots of other fun events too like in end of July I’m doing a three-day teacher transformation So be sure to check that out. And also I would love to meet up with you in person too at the Teach Your Heart Out Cruise in 2024. You can go to sailwithwifeteachyourmommy.com to learn more about that. That is going to be such a great time. And the first time we get together in person as a Wife Teacher Mommy community, They’re letting me do my own wife, teacher, mommy meet up on the boat, which I’m so excited about. And we have lots of bonuses for those who join using my special link to join us at the teacher hot outcruise in 20 24. And when you join that now, you only need to put $200 down and then you can make the rest of the payments over the course of a year, which they’re trying to do to accommodate so you can make it fit into your budget. So, I mean, it’s a cruise. That’s why it costs a bit more, obviously, But we’re really excited about that. OK, so let’s get into today’s episode. I am excited to be talking with Meg Thomas. She’s the podcast host of Called to Homeschool. And I’m really excited to have her on because when I was deciding to homeschool, I actually listened to her podcast to kind of help me get ready for that. And so it’s really cool kind of full circle here now that I get to have her on my show. And like I mentioned before, everybody can learn from this episode, especially if you are a teacher and a mom who has kids. And if you are a homeschool mom, you’ll get a lot of this. But even if you’re a school teacher and you don’t have your own kids, you, I promise you’re still going to learn these pillars that you can apply in your classroom as well. But for those of you who do have kids, you are going to find this even more helpful. And there are 3 pillars, spoiler alert, they are your mind, heart, and habits. And Meg is going to share how you can use those to build a strong foundation in your family, your homeschool, or your classroom. So a little bit about Meg. She is known as the hippie mama. She’s married to the best guy ever and she has 7 children that she adores. She’s a veteran homeschooling mom with over 15 years of experience and a lover of all things natural. She loves running CrossFit and playing with her family. She is also a certified coach through the Life Coach School and specializes in helping homeschool parents. She helps parents build relationships with their children and create peace in their homes so they can teach their children anything. Okay Let’s dive into our interview now Okay, Meg, I’m so excited to have you on the podcast today, Thank you. I’m so excited to be here. Okay, so we are going to be talking all about your homeschooling journey. I mean, for the beginning, we’re going to start talking about like why you decided to start homeschooling, but also how you kind of work into your lifestyle and build a strong foundation for those who are considering homeschooling or who are homeschooling or are homeschooling, but maybe they feel like they could find a stronger foundation with it. So excited to have you. Yeah, I’m excited to talk about all those things. Can you give us a little intro just about you and what you do for homeschool parents? Yes, So I’m Meg Thomas

Meg Thomas [00:08:47]:

and I live in Utah with my 7 children, husband and 7 children, I can’t forget him. And we have been homeschooling. We just finished our 15th year of homeschooling. My oldest 3 are now graduates. I don’t know like what like people, but they’ve graduated, they’re adults now, I guess I should just say, and doing really awesome things with their lives. I now have some bandwidth where children are moving out and I don’t have, so I’m not homeschooling as many kids that now I go out and I help other people who want to homeschool. I’m really good at creating a homeschool that can just flow and be part of your life. I love that I don’t want to give up my hobbies and my dreams. A lot of parents I see who do that end up being resentful or even frustrated and angry. So I’m out doing Ironman sometimes and I am like having my own dreams and have my business that I get to help and coach people with their homeschool journey and then get to play with my kids and party. So that’s just like the very basics of me.

Kelsey Sorenson [00:09:49]:

That’s awesome. I love that you’re able to still find time to do all those things for yourself while you’re homeschooling and running this incredible business that you have. Like you’ve been able to find that right balance for you. So that is awesome.

Meg Thomas [00:10:01]:

It’s a ton of fun. So can you tell us what started your homeschooling journey? Like, why did you decide to homeschool? Where did the idea come from? Was it like an easy decision or was it something you debated over? Yeah, it’s interesting. I never was planning on homeschooling. And I don’t know, like, so I started 15 years ago and it wasn’t popular yet, right? Like it wasn’t, it was still really weird and you didn’t have a lot of resources yet and whatnot. And so it was weird to me as well. I never wanted to homeschool. My first 5 kids were born within 6 years. So like, it’s just kind of a blur and crazy. And I remember even creating an Excel spreadsheet of like, this is when all my kids will be in school all day. And like, then I can think again and breathe again and all these sorts of things. So like it was the last thing from my mind. And then we did a preschool, like everybody does, a cute little preschool. Lady was adorable. First year was super sweet. Second year, she was teaching my oldest to read. And I go, I don’t like the way you’re teaching him how to read. Like this doesn’t make sense. And she’s like, well, I just, I want to, I want to follow the way the schools are doing it. And I was like, Oh, well, I don’t know if I like that way. Right. So I switched to a private preschool that was more phonetic base, which I prefer. And then we were like, okay, we’re going to do the private school route. So we did 1 year of private kindergarten. So at this time I have a kindergartner, 2 preschoolers, a one-year-old pregnant with my fifth baby, like total chaos. Right? Like, and if you’ve done private school, You have to do hours at the school, right? Oh yeah. So like I’m there with my huge belly, the whiny baby, all the things. And I was like, okay, whatever. Like for my babies, I’m willing to do anything. So you’re paying all this money. And then at the end of the year, my oldest couldn’t read. And I just went, what? Oh yeah. Like that was ridiculous. And it wasn’t academic issues or dyslexia. It’s that the kid is a master at just being quiet, and he’s not a problem. And he was like, if I’m just quiet, I can do whatever I want. And the teacher, she was so sweet. But she was like, oh, fantastic. That kid will just sit and look at books. So after that summer, I just felt the strongest call. Like, this is gonna be amazing. If you trust me on this journey. So he did 1 month of first grade. It was so chaotic that I ended up pulling him out after first grade and now he’s 21 So we homeschooled the rest of his journey and now he’s an adult and doing really cool things That’s awesome. And yeah, it really is because with teachers like, you know, I work with teachers I love teachers, but they have so many kids in a classroom. So if a kid is quieter or whatever, you might not realize their needs, but if you’re working with them one-on-one with homeschooling, that, that does really help for that child, for those who are able to do it, you know? Right. And it’s so, it was so crazy. So we took his whole first grade year and just learned all the basics again, right? Like here are all the phonetics, here are all the diphthongs, here’s everything blended together. And we did like really basic stuff. And by fourth grade, this kid was reading the Odyssey. And like, he is still to this day, my most voracious reader. And he like, he’ll blow your mind. Cause he’s like, what’d you think about chapter 13 of this book? And I’m like, Oh, friend, you’re going to need to refresh my memory. Like, I don’t remember. Yeah. So it just like, it was so brilliant that we just got to go at his time, like his space. And he’s actually done that with a lot of subjects where he’s like behind, behind, behind, behind explodes and like jumps, leaps and bounds ahead. And so it’s been fun to go at all of my kids, different timelines. That is so awesome. Yeah. How you can work with your kids like one-on-one

Kelsey Sorenson [00:13:31]:

and I’ve loved that about homeschooling too. And like you, I did not plan on homeschooling either. I remember when I was actually going into my elementary ed degree, my uncle being like, Oh yeah, you can use that. Like you could homeschool if you want, not that you need a degree to homeschool, but that was just a comment that he made. And I was like, I just laughed. I’m like, yeah, no way. I’m never gonna be homeschooling. And now I’ve been doing it since 2019.

Meg Thomas [00:13:52]:

And I foresee that continuing. So it’s interesting the journeys that life takes us on that we’re like, no, there’s no, like never say never, you know? Because- and I have to tell your listeners too. And I don’t think I talk about this enough, but I was a closet homeschooler. So like I, when we would meet people, I was like, do not tell anybody we’re homeschooled, like, let them get to know us, let them see we’re normal. And then we can let it slide in. But I would like, I would prep my kids like, do not tell anybody we are homeschooled. And we would move. And I was like, shh, don’t say anything yet. Like let them get to know us. And so it was funny because now here I have a podcast and my Instagram that I’m like, yay homeschooling. But for a long time, I was like, I don’t want anybody judging us. I don’t want anybody to treat us differently. And now I’m out here celebrating it. So totally different.

Kelsey Sorenson [00:14:40]:

So different. I can relate to that too, because when I was deciding to homeschool, I was really afraid to even tell my parents that that was our decision. And that is like, you know, I got licensed as a teacher. I know I’m capable. Like I taught in classrooms, so I know I’m capable of the teaching part. But I was just worried about what people would think or if my like in the neighborhood, I was worried that, you know, the kids would be treated differently than the other kids in the neighborhood that weren’t going to the same school. So, I mean, for some it really is like a true concern. And I think it’s getting more normalized now. Well, and I think there’s so many education options

Meg Thomas [00:15:15]:

that like there’s so many charter schools and there are public schools, but there are also private schools. And then there are so many hybrid programs. So like, they’re like, yeah, I take a couple of classes at the high school. And then we actually have a trade school. So a lot of kids are doing cosmetics or welding or Neltech. And so like, I feel like because there are so many options, it’s like, oh, okay, homeschool is just another option. So it’s feeling less weird. So I do admit to people now that we homeschool, but it took me a few years to feel confident to start with that information.

Kelsey Sorenson [00:15:46]:

It’s so funny how like our brains do that. We’re like, oh no, I can’t tell anybody because I’m nervous of what they’ll think. When you start homeschooling, is there anything that you wish like now that you wish you now could tell past Meg about homeschooling or that others who like are thinking about it that you would tell them? Yes, I would. So for me, I feel like, I think my homeschool model is based on 3 different pillars, right?

Meg Thomas [00:16:11]:

Their mind, their heart, and their habits. And so, a lot of education has been straight the mind, right? Like I want my kids to read, I want them to know math, I want them to do all these things, which I think, yes, those things are important to know and to be a part of society and all those things. Like, yes, those things I think I gave way too much weight to in the beginning. And I was really worried about certain things or how we would appear if my kids didn’t know something somebody in elementary school knew. So there was a lot of fear. And I put a lot of weight there. And as I’ve continued to go, realizing how much their heart, focusing on that connection piece and inspiring them. Beautiful music, beautiful artwork, doing my own things. Even something is like my triathlon, how much that inspires my kids to take care of their health. So like just that connection piece of loving on them, what are you interested in, that really heart piece and opening up to that because then the mind piece gets so much easier and I’m not fighting them to do school. And then that last piece is habits of like, so your house can function. So everybody just does their own laundry. Everybody cooks, everybody cleans, everybody runs the yard. And somebody asked me, how do my husband travels quite a bit for work? So they’re like, how did you do this? And I said, because my kids, Like we are such a team that we had all these habits. So if I would go back, I would let like young Meg know, like there’s 3 pieces. The mind piece is important, but don’t forget the other 2.

Kelsey Sorenson [00:17:43]:

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Speaker D [00:18:21]:

I’m Angela Watson, creator of the 40-hour Teacher Workweek program. We’re kicking off the next cohort of 40-hour this summer and I want you to join us. Over 55, 000 K-12 educators have already used the 40-hour program to maximize their contractual hours and stop working endlessly on nights and weekends. Visit 40htw.com to learn more, including how to attend our free online summit on July 9th and 10th, where you can learn time-saving tips from other classroom teachers. That’s 40htw.com.

Kelsey Sorenson [00:18:56]:

As I started mine, it was all focused on the mind piece too. And I think, I never thought of it exactly the way you put it. So I love that because it just totally makes sense. Like they need the mind piece, but they also need the like social emotional, the heart and the habits. Like habits are so important for like all the other things that are happening around the house. Like, and I feel like that’s the last 1 that we’re finally, the 1 we’ve been tackling lately is like, okay, we gotta get some better habits in our home. Like I’ve been working on them for myself, but we gotta work on them with our kids too, so. Yes, so it’s fun, I’m just gonna do a little plug. I just created my new workbook, 30 days to ease into homeschool.

Meg Thomas [00:19:32]:

And like the first part are all just habits. Because I know like we all go to mind first, but like, great, your kid can read, but you’re losing your mind because you’re also running the whole entire house and doing all the grocery shopping and cleaning everything and cooking everything. So like taking some time to slow down and just being like, let’s clean a bathroom. We’re gonna spend a week and we’re gonna learn how to clean a bathroom really well. Like I haven’t cleaned a bathroom in what, like 5, 8 years, because I was able to turn it all the way over to my kids. So just having awesome habits like that helps homeschool to last long term. Yes, because then like those things that you might have been worrying about, they can take care of if you just take a little bit of time up front to teach them and build those habits. And it’s so fun because like I want my children to have all 3 pieces as adults too. Right. So my children did a lot of my kids started college quite young and my daughter actually got her associates at 16. So they got that mind piece, but then they’ve moved out and I want them to know how to take care of themselves. Like, can they do their laundry? Can they cook? Can they balance the check? I don’t know. We don’t have checkbooks anymore, but you know, but balance their finances and really understand their bank account. But being able to do those types of things, because I have a child who lives in Thailand and a child who lives in a different state and they’re doing all these really neat things. I love knowing that they have habits that support themselves and that they also know how to be connected to other people and to have their hearts open and they know how to learn and study and grow in all those different ways. Yes. I love all of this. This is so important. So now that we like talked about all those things, like ability to habits and all of that, how can our listeners build that strong foundation that you’re talking about with their homeschool? Yes, I think like as with any habit, make it easy. Make it small, make it simple and build upon it and be realistic when you’re dealing with children, right? So like I have a 6 year old and he’s not gonna go clean my bathroom, But my 16 year old, he’s pretty darn good. So as you are building a lot of those habits, you have to, like sometimes I’ve seen, especially with teenagers because they’re like, my teenagers just won’t go and do some of these things. When you go look at what your teenager is doing, sometimes you need to help them remove some habits that are not supporting. We actually got rid of smartphones. We don’t do smartphones for our kids anymore. That’s been powerful. I can’t testify how much that has been helpful. We don’t do video games, and we actually don’t really turn on the TV. And so we don’t have, we do, we do have a TV, but we just do like a Friday night movie night kind of thing. Right. Um, but like, so getting rid of those things that would take up their time so that they can use their time to actually do those habits. Cause a lot of teens, I don’t, I don’t even know how old your kids are, Kelsey. So mine are 9. No, I don’t have a teen yet. My oldest is 9. Yeah. So we don’t have smartphones yet. Okay. But like a lot of times they’re like, I just don’t have time. I don’t have time to clean my room. So looking at what is going on and are there habits that aren’t supporting them so that they don’t have time and helping them put those priorities. And so you can build those foundations, but just go nice and slow and pick 1 thing at a time. Like we, we call them tutorials. And I was like, here’s how we put away Tupperware. We’re just going to come sit here and we’re going to all practice putting in Tupperware. So it was like 1 cupboard and we’re going to learn how to put it away. Right. Just like made it really small and simple or doing a lot of things together. Laundry we did together for years until they were like, we’ve got this. We can do it on our own now.

Kelsey Sorenson [00:23:01]:

Yes, this is all so smart. And I’m like, I love all your thoughts and ideas. And even thinking like, oh, how can I incorporate that into my own homeschool? So this is, or my own just home in general. So this is really great. And it’s so fun that like with homeschool, you get to add these in and like have a subject be meal prep. Yeah.

Meg Thomas [00:23:18]:

Like, Hey, this is the way our family eats and this is, so we’re going to meal prep on Mondays as part of our lessons. Or we’re going to do something like that. Like we just have, you have to cook so many meals and like, that’s part of your skills as you grow up in our house. And so my 12 year old has to master 2 dinners. So that’s part of his schooling is learning how to cook for himself and for, well, for the family, really.

Kelsey Sorenson [00:23:38]:

Yeah. I’ve just been barely starting to teach my 9 year old, like some of those skills and yeah, it’s nice that he can now like make himself like certain things and everything. Yeah.

Meg Thomas [00:23:48]:

Yes. It just like upfront, just like any habit upfront, it feels kind of painful, right? Like, oh, I have to change this and I have to do it a little bit differently. But like, the payout is huge. Just like saving your money. At the beginning, putting a hundred bucks in an account. You’re just like, I thought a hundred bucks could have been used for something fun. But then after a couple of years, you’re like, Oh, that a hundred bucks is a hundred bucks is now thousands of dollars. And I can, you know what I mean? And then you start getting that big refund and that pay out as you invest in these foundations and these habits. Absolutely. I love this.

Kelsey Sorenson [00:24:21]:

Okay. So you’re speaking at our educate and rejuvenate event, which I’m so excited about. We’ve added more speakers this year who were speaking to parents, but I know yours is applicable to teachers as well. I feel like anybody can learn from your session. Can you share a bit about what you’re going to be teaching? Yes. So 1 of my favorite things to do is to teach

Meg Thomas [00:24:41]:

like parents or teachers how to have a successful classroom, how to have a successful teaching experience and what obstacles are in the way. And it’s funny because like, as we’ve evolved and like certain things are easier in life and like, why is teaching still hard? And whether that is in a classroom or in your home, like, shouldn’t it just be easy by now We have smartphones for crying out loud and or we can turn on our thermostats from our cell phones and drive a car can be like controls from our cell phones, right? So like we have all these fancy things and like why is teaching so hard? Why are there so many obstacles in the path? And so I am excited to show you kind of what some of those obstacles are, how we get around them, which then create that amazing environment where your children or your students kind of the same thing, right, are open and receptive to your teaching, which is so fun. So you’re not teaching to a wall and not pulling teeth, but getting to a place where, and it’s because I don’t only just teach my children, right? I teach in co-ops and I teach in other classes. And so like I had to be able to implement that, not just within my home, but with every arena I teach in. So it’s so fun to see when people start implementing these things, they’re like, they’re not fighting me to do math anymore. Like, I didn’t even think this was an option. It’s like, it is. And it’s so fun when you get there. So much fun. I cannot wait to watch your session. It sounds amazing. So I’m really glad that you’re participating this year. What else do you have to offer our listeners? Like in the meantime, I see some things with homeschool, but like everybody wants a step-by-step guide. Like if you want to go on a diet, you don’t want somebody to be like, I don’t know, I guess like throw, go to a gym and you’re like, but what do I do at that said gym? Or like eat some protein. Like what protein do I eat? You know what I mean? It’s like, we want specific actionable steps. So what I did, it’s called 30 days to ease into homeschool. And they are actionable steps that you can do each day and you can take multiple days with some of the steps if you’d like, right. But to learn how to not only get your homeschool year planned, but build it on a really, really strong foundation. So it gets to be a lifestyle because just like somebody else who started a diet and ends a few weeks later, I want, if you want to homeschool, I want you to be able to do it long-term if that’s your goal. Right. Um, and so that has to, it has to become your lifestyle. If that is your goal to do it long-term. Well, this workbook sounds amazing. So can you send me the link to that and I’ll put it in the show notes so everybody can grab that workbook

Kelsey Sorenson [00:27:12]:

and also be sure to grab your ticket to educate and rejuvenate. It’s going to be so much fun. Now, before we close Meg, is there anything else that you want to share with our listeners?

Meg Thomas [00:27:22]:

Oh, you know what? This will be fun. I got to share this on a panel the other night and I was with these really cute moms and 1 of them was Like, you only get your kids for 18 years, so try to pack in as much goodness as you can. And I just sat there thinking, and I go, I’m actually going to say something different than that. They’re always your children. So My 20-year-old actually is way more receptive to me now than maybe he was at 15. And so, just as you’re thinking about, and this could be, I mean, this would be parents, so even if you’re a school teacher, this would be for your own children as well, but any of your homeschool listeners, sometimes we get on this timeline that we had to teach our kid everything by 18 and we don’t, we failed and we panic and we try to shove everything in. And when it’s like, wait, hold up. I can teach them good habits and the heart, the mind, the habits, all those things, but like, they’re always my kid. And as I have built that connection with them, they’re always going to be asking me questions. They’re always going to be wanting my teaching. And it’s so fun to watch them as adults. They’re way more receptive, like asking tons more questions. I’m upset. How do I process this? This girl did something and instead of being 16 and angsty, now they’re in their twenties and like, I’m ready. Like I’m ready for your teaching. So just like relax. You don’t have to teach everything by 18. You get to teach them forever. And I’m learning some things like this year of Arthur homeschool was so fun and I’m in my forties and it was my first time I learned these things and I was okay. Right. So it’s like get off the timeline and just like open up their hearts so when they are ready to learn it. So like that’s my like, just relax and enjoy the journey. I love that. And yeah, cause they’re lifelong learners. We’re lifelong learners. That’s something I always love to say is like, we never stop learning, right? There’s no timeline on this. So I love that. Yes. Because that put a lot of pressure on me too. And then it wasn’t fun anymore. And so when I took away that pressure, I was like, then we get to just have fun and we’re learning because we love it. Not because we’re panicking. I love that. Thank you so much for sharing that Meg. This was an awesome interview and I know that all of our listeners, whether they’re teachers or homeschool parents are going to be able to learn something from this. So yeah. So where else can our listeners connect with you online? My website is www.coachmegthomas.com and that is also my Instagram and Facebook handle and YouTube channel is Coach Meg Thomas. So you can find me in any of those places. Awesome. Thank you, Meg.

Kelsey Sorenson [00:29:58]:

And we will see you at Educate and Rejuvenate And hopefully those of you who are listening, we will see you there too. If you enjoyed this podcast, be sure to hit subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. And if you’re ready to take the next step, Come grab your ticket to join me at Educate Amber Juvenate, the education event of the year on June 27th and 28th, 2023. This year, we have 2 incredible live keynotes, Joe Dombrowski, aka Mr. D, and best-selling author and video creator, Christina Kuzmich. We have over 60 incredible speakers speaking on topics such as math, language arts, reading, social-emotional learning, classroom management, homeschooling, and tackling burnout. We start the day with a workout together each morning, we have panels with the presenters, and you’ll even get to join live live coaching with me and even raise your hand if you would like to be coached. Plus we give away tons of prizes throughout the event too. It is the best PD you could ever attend and all of this is happening from the comfort of your own home. It’s just $19 for a ticket and past attendees have said that this is what finally lit a fire under them to enjoy teaching again and that it was well worth every penny. Go to educateandrejuvenate.com to learn more about the 2023 event or if you’re listening to this later that link will show you what’s up next as we will continue to do events like this. I hope to see you at Educate and Rejuvenate.