S3, Ep: 09: Homeschooling with a Disability

What better way to learn about the homeschooling journey, the highs and lows, than from a child? Tune into the special episode featuring Mandi's son!

Find Me Online:

• Website
• Facebook
• Instagram

Transcript

Mandi: Mandi Frantz here welcoming you to my podcast - Find Your Beautiful: Life Through the Eyes of a Christian Disabled Woman.  

[Upbeat Background Music]

Mandi: Hey everyone. It is a very unique episode that I have in store for you. First, let me say that you are likely to hear a ton of background noise from children to kids, and possibly even my husband. We have a lot going on with our move. We're actually moving today as you listen to this episode. We might even already have the truck unloaded [chuckle]. But, another reason this episode is really unique is because I'm recording during the day time. So during my other episodes, I like to record at night once my kids are asleep and I can turn off the TV and majority of the background noise so that I'm super clear, but today I am featuring a very special guest on my episode and so I had to record during daylight hours. So I apologize for any background noise or if I am unclear, but hopefully it will be worth it.

As you may know, last March we started homeschooling. Well, I should actually say we started remote learning with our son who is 6 years old and this is when his school closed down. Now, in all fairness, I know teachers and administration in the schools were all on just as much as a learning curve as we...as parents were. However, remote learning was very difficult for us. We really felt like we were doing most of the work and we didn't feel like our son was getting a whole lot out of it. The process of having to submit all the paperwork and print things and scan things all the time and trying to get everything in on time, it really just felt like another job for us. And it was just really hard and again, this is all at the beginning of the pandemic. So, after we went through that period of remote learning, we took the summer and really prayed and thought things through and decided that with schools likely being closed, or just not really being incredibly safe, we were going to homeschool. Now, I had actually considered homeschooling my kids even before I had kids. I've always liked the idea of homeschooling. I like the flexibility that it provides. I like that you can do it even if you are out of town or going on a vacation. I also really like that you get to create and choose the curriculum and that I didn't need to pay an expensive private school to teach my child faith values, or just life-skills that I think is still missing from a lot of schools, public schools and the curriculum today. So, I really did consider homeschooling at one point in time. However, life did happen and things didn't quite pan out that way, so when my son became school age, we decided that it was best to send him to a public school, which happened to be right across the street from where I was living. So it really worked out pretty well for us as far as distance and everything goes, but again, with the whole situation that was going on with COVID and the difficulties we had with remote learning, we decided that homeschooling was best and we decided to use a curriculum called Easy-Peasy. The website, I believe, is allinonehomeschool and the reason we decided to use this curriculum, first and foremost is because it is a faith-based curriculum, but it's not something that is kind of really badgering the kids with the faith information. It also just really aligned with our values and the way that we wanted to teach and we also really liked the fact that this entire curriculum is free. So, we didn't have to pay anything. We didn't have to pay for all of these books or materials to be shipped to us, which was really a great benefit. So we started using Easy-Peasy and I thought that it would be fun for you guys to hear a little bit from me and my son about the homeschooling journey. So, he takes up majority of this episode and I just wanted to share that it has been quite and interesting journey. I love a lot of the homeschooling process. I love that I do feel like he is very advanced. He is advanced in reading. He's advanced in math. I think that when he goes back to school, in fact, he may struggle because he was already having a bit of a hard time in school in sharing with giving answers because he is pretty smart and already knew a lot of the answers and I think that that might pose an even bigger issue now. [Chuckle] So I do love how advanced he is but, I guess one of the harder things is that there are a ton of distractions at home, especially with having a little one who is not yet in school and with me working full-time from home, we've had a lot of challenges with helping him to stay focused. So I would say that's probably our biggest struggle and, you know, I would really encourage people who are considering homeschooling to really go for it if you want to, but try to create an environment where, maybe, there are less distractions if that is at all possible. And also just to have a lot of grace for yourself and to just remember that learning doesn't always happen in the "classroom." There are plenty of life experiences that you can use as teaching moments.

So now I will stop this intro and let my son come on so that you can all hear things from his perspective as we talk about homeschooling and life in general.    

    

[Mandi voices Ad (ads change and will vary)]

[Doorbell Sound Effect]

Mandi: Do you want to say hello to everyone?

Xavier: Hi everybody. My name is Xavier Frantz. I am in first grade. I am 6 and when I go back to school, I'll be in second grade. Any more questions, Mommy?

Mandi: What is your favorite thing about school?

Xavier: My favorite thing is Thinking.

Mandi: Thinking in homeschool? That's what you like, the Thinking? 

Xavier: I just like Thinking.

Mandi: That's good.

Xavier: And math.

Mandi: Math?

Xavier: Yes!

Mandi: What are you learning in math?

Xavier: Fractions.

Mandi: Fractions.

Xavier: Excuse me, I burped.

[laughter]

Mandi: That's alright.

Xavier: [giggles]

Mandi: And do you miss going to school, regular school?

Xavier: Yes.

Mandi: What do you miss the most about regular school?

Xavier: My friends. My teacher.

Mandi: Is Daddy a good teacher?

Xavier: Yes.

Mandi: Is Mommy a good teacher?

Xavier: Yes.

Mandi: Who's the best teacher?

Xavier: Both.

Mandi: [laughs] That's a good answer. So, what is the hardest thing about homeschool?

Xavier: The hardest thing is, like, reading. Well because I don't like reading and I think Language Arts cuz I give Daddy hard times cuz I don't like doing worksheets either. Yeah.

Mandi: So you don't like worksheets and you don't like reading. But you like reading the nighttime stories, right?

Xavier: Yes.

Mandi: With Daddy?

Xavier: Yeah.

Mandi: Yeah, What story are you guys reading at night before bed? What's your bedtime story?

Xavier: My bedtime story is Narnia and another story with Lucy, Peter, and Suzie, sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. You remember Adam and Eve from the Bible?

Mandi: I do, but they're not...They're kind of like sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, but they call call them that in the book, right?

Xavier: Yeah.

Mandi: Yeah. So you're reading The Chronicles of Narnia? And you're on the second book, right?

Xavier: Yes.

Mandi: Yes. So you don't hate all reading, just some reading, right? 

Xavier: In my school.

Mandi: You just don't like doing your schoolwork reading. You don't like the story of Reddy Woodpecker?

Xavier: Yes, that is correct. 

Mandi: [giggles] Ok, well that makes sense. And what is your...

Xavier: I like Reddy Woodpecker, but I don't like reading it. I like listening.

Mandi: You like listening to it.

Xavier: Yes.

Mandi: Gotcha.

Xavier: Yes. 

Mandi: And what is your favorite thing to learn at home?

Xavier: At home, I like to learn how to move when I'm a grown-up. And to do a lot of stuff when I'm a grown-up, but not marrying cuz that is disgusting.

[laughter]

Xavier: Yack!

Mandi: You don't want to get married?

Xavier: No, I, eewww!

Mandi: Never ever?

Xavier: [giggles] Never! [laughs] What?

Mandi: You're so funny. But Mommy and Daddy are married.

Xavier: Yuck! [laughs]

Mandi: One day you're gonna have a girlfriend, and fall in love, and then you're going to get married. 

Xavier: Not true.

Mandi: Never ever?

Xavier: No! Ever.

Mandi: Alright. Well, we'll see. I'll make sure that you listen to this when you're older so you can hear how you said never ever ever.

Xavier: [laughs] You funny.

Mandi: Ok, so talking about school, if you could give other children advice about homeschool, if you could say it to other kids, to your friends, what would you tell them? How can they be the best at homeschool?

Xavier: If you listen and don't give your teacher a hard time and go all the way up to purple, you get a prize. 

Xavier: All the way up to purple? Is that your rewards? The rewards system?

Xavier: Yes.

Mandi: Yes.

Xavier: And if you reach red, you won't get a surprise. 

Mandi: [chuckle] Yeah. So what kinds of...

Xavier: It's at the end of class. At the end of class, if you're on purple, you get a prize sometimes.

Mandi: Mm-hmm.

Xavier: Sometimes, even if you're not on purple and you did a little good, then maybe, maybe, you'll get a prize. Teacher's decision. 

Mandi: Very good.

Xavier: Yes.

Mandi: And what are some of the surprises that Mommy and Daddy give you when you're a good listener in school?

Xavier: I think sometimes dessert.

Mandi: Dessert. And what's your favorite dessert? 

Xavier: Gum.

Mandi: Gum.

Xavier: Lollipop gum.

Mandi: Blowpops?

Xavier: Yes. 

Mandi: Mm-hmm.

Xavier: I eat them every night for dessert.

Mandi: Yeah, You wanna tell everyone the crazy thing that you did that Mommy had to tell you it was gross with your gum?

Xavier: Yes.

Mandi: [chuckle] Go ahead. What'd you do?

Xavier: I don't know. 

Mandi: Remember, you put your gum...Where did you put your gum?

Xavier: On the table?

Mandi: And you stuck it under the table for the next day, remember? Yuck! [laughs] Do we do that?

Xavier: And I didn't want my birthday boy badge to get lost so I stuck it on the cup. 

Mandi: Yeah, that's really gross.

Xavier: And then I decided to get the gum out and put it back in my mouth. 

Mandi: I know.

Xavier: And that was disgusting so I threw it out! 

Mandi: [laughs]

Xavier: I didn't like the flavor of table, yuck!

[laughter]

Mandi: Alright, well thank you...

Xavier: [inaudible]

Mandi: Thank you so much for letting me interview you for my podcast.

Xavier: Your? Mommy, for my podcast? 

Mandi: Your podcast?

Xavier: [laughs] Yes!

Mandi: Are you taking over my podcast?

Xavier: Yeah.

Mandi: Alright, do you want to say goodbye to everyone?

Xavier: Goodbye, thank you. [laughs]

Mandi: Alright, say, "We'll talk to you next time."

Xavier: We'll talk to you next time.       

[Bling]

Mandi: I hope that you enjoyed some good laughs right along with us and for all of our homeschooling families, if you have any tips or homeschool hacks, be sure to share them on my Facebook page or on my Instagram at MandiBox Beauty. And you can also download the Anchor mobile app to leave me a voice message that I can feature in a future episode.

Also, don't forget to check out the Find Your Beautiful Shop! I just launched a brand new item that is only going to be available for a limited time. It's the perfect gift for yourself or for someone you love on Valentine's Day. Be sure to check it out and shop and remember that 50% of all proceeds from purchases in the shop are going to be donated to KEEN New York, which is a non-profit organization empowering youth with disabilities by providing free programs of exercise, fitness, and fun led by volunteer coaches. You can always learn more about KEEN by visiting keennewyork.org (New York spelled out, not abbreviated) and you can visit my shop at the link in the description.

[Mandi voiceover to 'Compton' music]: With February being the month of love and a celebration of Black History, there's no better time than to delve into Netflix's newest show Bridgerton! Join me next week as we address some of the social issues it brought up. ‘Til next time Beauties!