We have to come clean...a recent study by Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute says that research participants scored an average of 94% on memory accuracy. This high level of accuracy was observed regardless of the participants or the time that had elapsed since the event occurred.

However, we have 6% to work with and add to memory-stacking!

Memory-stacking is all about filling our children's memories with good and beauty from their upbringing and their family, and not memories of "we-nevers or I-nevers" or fighting with siblings...or being forced to gasp do chores ALLLLL the time.

All jokes aside, the human brain has a major slant toward the negative. It's a protective mechanism, and it has an important job...but it shows up even it when it isn't needed.

It's easier than it should be to get to the end of the year and question whether or not you've even done anything this year. 

It's easy for kids to just complain about what they didn’t get to do, or what they don't have...and it to REALLY FEEL like that's true...even when we know it isn't.

So …. in comes memory-stacking...

Mostly, homeschoolers must do one of three things to close their year with the state...

A Portfolio

A Evals

Testing

Depending on where you live and what flavor of homeschool you follow the requirements will be different...check HSLDA to see what your state requires.

But let's look at some out-of-the-box ways to say goodbye to this year's homeschool adventures:

It's nearing the end of year for us homeschoolers...it's time to choose a DONE day.

Deadlines are essential because they provide structure, direction, and motivation to complete tasks efficiently.

They prevent procrastination, foster accountability, and create a sense of urgency.

Meeting deadlines boosts confidence, tracks progress, and improves time management skills 

HOW… grab your calendar, open it up to May or June…you choose.

Close your eyes…

 Kidding! Kidding…

Let's discuss what has become one of my favorite mom decisions of 2024—and possibly the last five years.

There was a big movement after the Yes Day movie came out to incorporate being a YES mom into our lives. I don't know about you, but I'm already a yes mom. I say yes to 1,000 requests a day.

Neither my kids nor I needed me to find more ways to say yes each day or to create a day where I give in to every whim my kids have, but it did make an adorable, albeit impractical, movie.

What I really needed for my sanity—and I would say, for my family—was a day when I could say no, guilt-free, to the extras we're always squeezing in and instead say yes to the things on my to-do list that weren't red-tag items.

It might be a little brutal if you don't know the theory behind red-tag items, but you'll get the reference to motherhood after I explain it.

It's the end of September (or any homeschool month really), and it's likely that the 'new' of your homeschool year has started to wear off...maybe pushback has started to creep in...or get worse...

Maybe that one kid just takes FOREVER Or maybe you're fighting downright refusal from your kids when it's time to do their work…

We're back with our favorite board-certified behavioral analyst, and dear friend Renee Amato today and we're speaking right to the heart of our exhausted homeschool mommas.

What if you could take the best parts of home and school and put them together to educate your children? Add in a ton of community support, and that's what this week's guest has done! Listen in for a brand new perspective on the possibilities for homeschooling!

We sat down and asked the question…

What are some of our favorite homeschool resources…the ones that we come back to again and again…the ones we’d never want to be without?! And we’re sharing them on the podcast today!

Being in 'transition' is hard.  Homeschooling in transition?  REALLY hard (for most mommas).  But Kezia?  She's in transition, homeschooling in an RV, and is a lover of the outdoors!  Listen in to hear how she's navigating life while building the dream (quite literally)!

Two words...

Snack. Shop.

We want to talk homeschooling…more specifically….what an ACTUAL day in a homeschool can look like.

But, the reality is, every homeschool is different...because every child is different, every mom is different, and every family is different.

So, rather than just share what Tiffany and I do in OUR homeschools, we thought it would be amazing to reach out to other moms in our community and showcase all the real possibilities for homeschooling our families! 

In this episode we have Insiya, a Muslim woman, Wife, Homeschool Mom of three children under 6, Mental Health Educator and Entrepreneur. 

She's had 10+ glorious years as a counselor and trainer in the field of mental health between the Middle East and India and if that wasn't impressive enough, she's also been a research assistant at Stanford University.

Insiya, thank you for chatting with us today!    

We’re back, and we’re talking homeschool supplies today! Just like when you set up a beautiful nursery for your brand new baby, you can over-supply your homeschool!

The truth is, our homeschools don’t require all that much. So, we sat down and thought about what homeschool supplies we would go out and buy first if our own stashes were wiped out…

What do you need to start the homeschool year? Whether in your first year or your tenth, you’ll need these things!

We want to talk homeschooling…more specifically….what an ACTUAL day in a homeschool looks like.

But, the reality is, every homeschool is different...because every child is different, every mom is different, and every family is different.

So, rather than just share what Tiffany and I do in OUR homeschools, we thought it would be amazing to reach out to other moms in our community and showcase all the real possibilities for homeschooling! 

In this episode, we have Maddy, wife to James, and Mama to 6 kiddies (as she calls them). She lives in New Zealand in her House Bus and 'road-schools' her kids as they travel and explore their beautiful country.

She's a lover of holistic health & natural remedies, tiny living, dark chocolate, reading, being adventurous, all things pregnancy, birth & motherhood, especially in the context of God's amazing design…

In this episode, we’re talking about how we’ll be starting a new school year. Brittany has some fantastic ideas to share, and I have a few ideas as well.

Have you ever considered what homeschooling might look like in another country? 

Here in the U.S., laws can vary dramatically from state to state, and so can opportunities for learning and enrichment.  Can you imagine how that might look on an international scale? 

Well, our guest, Jenni Cassidy can!  She's a wife, mother to 7 (including 5 graduates), and she lives and homeschools her youngest two children in the UK!  She's also the co-director of Dumb Ox Learning AND she's a consultant for Mother of Divine Grace!

Figuring out your homeschool ‘why’ can feel like chasing a mythical unicorn…but it doesn’t have to be that way!

Brittany shares her process for figuring out her ‘why’ each year (because it CAN change), and how YOU can do that as well!

Today we’ve invited one of our homeschool heroes, Sarah Mackenzie here to speak with you and bring the hope, because that's what she's done for us for YEARS.

Sarah's the author of Teaching from Rest, The Read-Aloud Family and several picture books, including Because Barbara, which officially released March 5th of this year!

She's the host of the Read-Aloud Revival Podcast, which has been downloaded

over 14 million times in more than 160 countries, and is the publisher at the boutique publishing house, Waxwing Books.

Her best work, though, is at home in the Northwest, where she and her husband homeschool their six children.

The first question most homeschoolers are asked is…which curriculum do you use? And while this is a great question (and many of us have some excellent ideas about which options are the best), this can also be a source of pain for the overwhelmed homeschool parent (or the NEW homeschool momma).

Listen in as we chat about what we’ve used over the years, what worked…what didn’t, and how to choose from the endless options that are currently available.

What if your home could (largely) run without you?

What if your children (both younger and older) knew how to pick up after themselves (and were part of the team that picked up after the family as a whole)?

What if the necessary tasks of running a household were completed quicker and there was more time for FUN for everyone in the family?

Regardless of how you feel about chores, there is an abundance of research out there proving they CAN be a positive thing (think LESS Cinderella and MORE Cheaper by the Dozen)…

There are a MILLION ways to implement a chore system, but it IS a system, which means Brittany has one and she's been improving it every month for a LONG time.

We're so happy to have our fellow momma of many and delightfully inquisitive friend Renee Amato with us to answer some common questions about setting up and running a chore system.

Our guest today is all about elevating daily life with liturgical living practices in small manageable bites...and for our mommas of many...small and manageable is music to our ears!

She's a beautiful Catholic wife, educator, theologian, event planner, and trained ballet dancer. She specializes in the study and application of liturgical living, culture, tradition, & festivity.

After growing up in a family full of seasonal experiences, she married into a big Catholic family that was overflowing with liturgical tradition and fell in love with sharing it with others.

If the liturgy is for everyone, then a liturgical life is too.

So this begs the question...what ARE liturgical living practices? What does it look like to live a liturgical life?!