This week I’m sharing my conversation with Marisol. She is a mom to three kids - an older son who has autism (and who deeply inspired parts of her journey including becoming a special education teacher in public schools), a 7 year old who she’s homeschooling, and then a sweet, brand new little nugget who was with her for this entire interview (hence my high pitched oh em geee look at herrrr voice lol - it was my first time seeing her!)
We talk about advocacy, homeschooling with an infant, the learning that happens all the time (and the knowledge that isn’t valued as much - like knowing your poop type lolol), de-schooling our brains, the confidence piece for homeschooling parents of trusting you’re enough and that you are capable of teaching your kid(s) (whether you’re a teacher or not), and so much more.
I’ll close by saying this (since you mentioned your homeschool room, Marisol): I totally created a homeschool space in our basement in 2023 mainly because I was tired of stuff being all over the house. And guess what? Stuff’s still all over the house, and lately we’re only down there to play piano, have dance parties, and build with legos 😆. So yes, relatable. The learning happens all over. It cannot be contained. Parts of this convo reminded me of Julie Bogart’s “stages of homeschooling,” one of which is “playing school”. She says,
“We recreate the classroom we remember: bulletin boards, workbooks lined up in magazine files, color-coded schedules. We’re trying to make learning look official, because that’s what we know. Over time, though, we notice a gap between the tidy plan and the messy reality of family life. Someone melts down, someone’s sick, someone’s building an elaborate Lego world during read-aloud time—and, secretly, we’d rather join them than fight it […] Eventually, we arrive at a place we might call “us schooling.” We’re no longer trying to fit someone else’s mold. Instead, we’ve pieced together an education that reflects our family’s values, capacities, quirks, and dreams. It’s not perfect. There are still hard days and unfinished assignments. But there is a growing sense of calm: we know our kids, we know ourselves, and we trust the learning that unfolds in the middle of real life.“
Resources from Marisol >
Logic of English - the reading and language arts curriculum she follows, though she supplements with lots of things, including these books:
Singapore math - one of the math curriculums they use
Khan Academy - according to her, the app is for younger students, web for older kids. They use both.
Teach your monster number skills
Mia academy - her “right now” solution, with a newborn
Also, this is the Shambhala center :) Meditation in Boulder.
As always, you can also watch this episode on YouTube.
