#140: From School to Farm: One Family's Homeschool Journey with Animals, Freedom & Real-Life Learning

Discover how one mom transformed her family's life by leaving traditional school behind for homeschooling on a 30-acre farm. In this inspiring episode, Brooke shares her journey from suburban Long Island to rural farm life, and why she chose to pull all five of her kids from conventional school.

What You'll Learn:

• How COVID sparked a complete lifestyle change and homeschool journey
• Why common core curriculum pushed one family toward homeschooling
• Real strategies for teaching reading, math, and science through daily farm life
• How to overcome the fear of homeschool paperwork and requirements
• Bridge Academy review: A curriculum that supports natural learning
• The truth about socialization and homeschooled kids
• Why boys especially struggle in traditional classroom settings
• Teaching real-life skills: banking, cooking, animal care, and more
• How to handle homeschool burnout and maintain patience

Special Guest: 10-year-old Savannah shares her honest perspective on school vs. homeschool life

Resources Mentioned:

• Bridge Academy with Leah McDermott (natural learning curriculum)
• Timbernook School outdoor learning approach
• New York homeschool laws and IHIP requirements

Whether you're considering homeschooling, already homeschooling, or curious about alternative education, this conversation reveals the beauty of child-led learning, the importance of play, and how everyday moments become powerful teaching opportunities.

Perfect for: Homeschool moms, parents considering homeschooling, farm life enthusiasts, natural learning advocates, unschoolers, Charlotte Mason followers

Cheryl's Ebook: Check out The Homeschool How To Complete Starter Guide- Cheryl's eBook compiling everything she's learned from her interviews on The Homeschool How To Podcast.

 
👉 15% off Tuttle Twins books with code Cheryl15

Let's Talk, Emergencies!- Grab it on Amazon!
What is the most important thing we can teach our kids?
HOW TO HANDLE AN EMERGENCY!

Chapters

• 0:00 Meet Brooke and Savannah
• 2:34 From Schooling to Farm Life
• 5:26 The Nudge Toward Homeschool
• 10:47 Ditching Common Core Pressure
• 14:56 Socialization, Manners, Real-Life Skills
• 20:21 Sleep, Schedules, and Self-Motivation
• 27:06 Patience, Risk, and Letting Kids Try
• 34:43 Play, Boredom, and Self-Directed Fun
• 39:25 Savannah’s Take: School vs Home
• 45:08 Learning Everywhere, Not Babysitting
• 50:35 Bridge Academy: Support and Paperwork

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:05

Welcome to this week's episode of the Homeschool How-To. I'm Cheryl, and I invite you to join me on my quest to find out why people are homeschooling? How do you do it? How does it differ from region to region? And should I homeschool my kids? Stick with me as I interview homeschooling families across the country to unfold the answers to each of these questions week by week. Welcome. And with us today, I have Brooke and Savannah. How are you guys both doing? Very good, thank you. Okay, so Brooke, your mom, and Savannah, your daughter, right? Homeschooled daughter. Yeah. This is so exciting to hear your perspective as well. Um, a little disclosure: we all actually know each other. Um, I've been to your farm. It is amazing. So thank you so much for being here today.

SPEAKER_01: 0:54

Yes, thank you for having us. We're excited to share our lives and what we are as homeschoolers. And um, as you know, Cheryl, I live here with my five kids. Savannah's the oldest out of all five. And we are, so to speak, living the dream, I guess you could say. And it's been an unbelievable ride. So I'm excited to share that with you.

SPEAKER_02: 1:12

Why don't you tell us what even got you into homeschooling?

SPEAKER_01: 1:14

Have you always homeschooled the kids? No, actually, we didn't. We started as putting the kids in school. It was kind of something that I followed. The Jones is like keeping up with the Jones, just keeping up with your neighbors. And I just never really thought anything of it other than you just send your kids to school and that's what we do. And I did the whole exciting, you know, getting them ready, first day of school signs, everything that really all of us do as moms, right? And thinking we're on this correct path. And I'm actually only here on the farm four years prior to that. I lived downstate on Long Island in a residential neighborhood. And my husband is a farmer back on Long Island, so I've always had that farm avenue to travel in, but my whole upbringing was not farm related or outdoors related. I was a rider and loved horses and followed that trail. But I grew up in a residential neighborhood, and school to me was never thought of anything other than that's what we do. We go to school, we send our kids there, and that's it. And then COVID hit, and I had uh, I had always joked with my husband about owning land, animals, and raising my kids with farm animals. And again, when I had that thought, I wasn't thinking about homeschooling. I just loved the idea of that life bringing that separate entity into their life of the daily chores, the animals, the commitment, the work, the ethic there that that would show them, along with school. And so my husband finally in 2021, when COVID hit, said, you know what, go find your farm. Let's do it. And I think he was kidding, but I took it seriously. And so off I went on this adventure to find this farm. And we luckily landed here in 21 on a 30-acre horse farm with Opportunity Galore. And when I bought this farm, it was an equestrian farm and it still is today. Although that can mean many things, because equestrian just means lots of stalls that I could put lots of different animals in that I like. So, but originally when we bought it, I made it a horse farm and all my kids went to school. The ones that were old enough, which had just happened to be Savannah. And Billy. Yeah, but Billy didn't go that first year, right? It was just you. And then Billy first year of school was up here. First year of school was up here. Savannah had school downstate, and then Billy was the first-time schooler up here. And my first year, towards the end of uh that first year, I had a friend come visit me from downstate who is K through fifth teacher, a friend of mine for over 25 years, who has always been an advocate and a follower of my dreams. And she came up here and I toured her through the barn, and she stopped me dead in my tracks down the main aisle of my barn. And she looked at me and she said, Why don't you homeschool, bro? And I looked at her and I didn't understand really what she was getting at. And I have such a big personality. I'm a very animated mom. I divide I actually say to myself, I'm kind of the Mary Poppins mom in my style of living with my children. I love to perform and teach and animate and be creative and do it in a fun way, where I become almost childlike myself with an adult manner. And I've always had that ability, which is why I do what I do today here and host events for children, because I absolutely love the two things that sparkle my eye are children and animals. And my dear friend knows that about me. And she saw my little journey here on the farm with farm animals, going from horses and kind of bringing in odd four-legged creatures that aren't horses for these kids to enjoy. And her thought to that day when she said to me, Brooke, why don't you homeschool? I looked back at her and I said, Well, I don't know. I I never really considered that I could do it. And she says, Anyone could do it. And she said, and what better than for someone like you who you play with your kids in fun and learning every day. That's school. And her biggest point to me is, and it's so true, and I didn't see it, I was so not in the realm of homeschooling when I bought this farm. And it's so funny because people think, well, you buy a farm so you can live this homesteading life, so you can keep your kids home and raise them in that style of living. That wasn't me. It was almost that it came in steps. And so the light just came bigger and bigger as I just lived the months that passed here, and people came into my lives in different ways and perspectives that showed me different avenues. And then she presented to me, and I will touch on this, you would be a great unschooler as well, homeschool, unschool. And she I said, Well, I don't know what any of that means. I'm gonna educate myself on it. I said, but it would be really neat, and this is the one fact she told me, you will never regret the time you will get back with your kids. And you will only see that if you're in that life. She goes, for me, her opportunity is not there, her circumstances are different. But she said, for you, you'll find the glory in that. And I left her that day and I thought, but I didn't act. And my cousin, a very close cousin, who's almost a sister of mine, who's been with me since I started this farm, alongside of my kids. She has two daughters, um, who are 10 and 12 today, is a big homeschool advocate, follows you as well. And we just happened to connect that, Cheryl, the other day, because I told her that I was going to be on your show, and she says, I follow her already. And I said, Oh, do you know how that I said, I'm gonna be I'm gonna be doing a little clip for her. Anyways, so she was one who also was so strongly advising the benefits of homeschooling and had then she started sending me information. So I had two close people to me start to send me information on homeschooling, the benefits, why we should try it, why we should do it as a whole country now. I feel globally. Okay. But um, and and I started to educate myself and think about it. And then I have to admit, I do not like the common core teachings in schools. I find it difficult for myself to even teach my children and have a way that I have to interpret it and re-deliver it and then get them to understand it that way to then bring it back into the school and have them pass these tests and all these things that are pressure. And that didn't come natural to me either. I didn't like that. I didn't like the idea of teaching something that I wasn't confident and actually struggling in myself. And I thought, if I could teach it in the way that I can teach it, and there's a connection instantly, that's beauty, that's learning and happiness. But if I teach and struggle and yell and say, Well, I don't, this is the way I taught, and you shouldn't, where's that gonna get me? And that was a big angle of it.

SPEAKER_02: 7:02

And I think that's on purpose. They want parents to not be able to teach their kids what they're learning in school because they want the kids to go to the teacher and not the parents, kind of getting that divide in the family home.

SPEAKER_01: 7:14

Right, that's absolutely right. And so those are the things that I didn't even have thoughts of at that point, but now my mind is so open. I've been doing this over two going into three years, and I just find myself soaking in all this information, seeing it in real time, real life, productivity with the children. People say, Well, how do your kids learn? Now, let me mind you now, so I did pull the children from school and decided I'm going on a homeschool adventure. What's the worst that could happen? Well, in my head, I'm going, you just send them back, right? And and I want to kill my words and zip my mouth for those, right? But we stand in a fear where we're a schooled mind. I was school. Many of us in my family, I mean, that's a big battle in itself. You can have a whole conversation on that. Is, oh, you know, your children aren't gonna be social. They're gonna miss out on some social aspects of life. And do you really think that's in their best interest? And the answer is, man, yes. I wish you could join me on this road and see the beauty and the growth. And yet, I find it so funny because, and this is not to pat myself on the back, it's an actual fact. Savannah's sitting beside me, she can vouch for this. Savannah, every time we go out, whether it's a store or a dinner or a gathering, tell me what I'm told mostly every time. You have well-behaved kids, and yeah. How great-mannered, respectful kids I have, right? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02: 8:28

I I agree with that. You do. Well, thank you. My son left there the one day and he said, Mom, those are the nicest kids I've ever met. I'm so happy. That's great. I meant to text you that and I forgot.

SPEAKER_01: 8:38

Thank you, Cheryl. That means a lot to me. And that is not scripted. This is real. This is because I'm able to connect with my kids as people, as children. I'm able to support their needs. I do believe a lot of that has to do with the ability to be so connected in a family and to raise them every day. I am teaching them. We're learning together, we're laughing together, we're learning real life together, we're in the car together. That doesn't mean though, that the children are just solely wrapped around mom and they have no external life. Please don't misread that. Today, Samantha's leaving me and going on a play date with a schoolmate that has stayed in touch with her for all these years. There's so many external avenues for these children to be social, but what they gain, which I think is so tremendous and what's not taught in school, is real life learning. And that today is a great example of that. This is a 10-year-old daughter who I offered the opportunity to be in a podcast about homeschooling. And her choice was to go early, well, actually on time to this play date, or to be a part of this. She's 10. She chose to sat here with two, sit here with two adults to listen to this conversation and enjoy it and learn from it. And said, I'll visit my friend in an hour or so. And to me, that's a great that is someone who is um a self-doer, self-thinker, um, seen a little bit beyond what a normal child would in just a school child, I think would just want to play. Like just get me out, I should go play. And Savannah chose the opposite, which is neat. But I do think that I being a parent that could be home with the child, and I know we can't have that for every child. I understand circumstances are what they are, but there is such warmth and beauty in that. Um, and if you're able to connect with your kids, and most moms we can, it's the stresses of our lives and the system that we have on us that pressures us to lose it with our children, not connect with our children. We're always on a schedule, we're always on a time, and that's another huge topic that I love. Cheryl, to wake up in the morning, I did it with school kids. Get out of bed, get you eat. Did you eat? Where's your homework? Where did you get it? Wait, your hair, you're a mess. Come on, you can't. I mean, chaos. Let's all face it. That's the truth of a morning school kid, six o'clock, we're waking these kids up. I have zero guilt about each child sleeping till eight, nine, nine thirty. I don't care. It doesn't matter. Yeah. It is a wonderful thing. Now, people well, that's you know, because that that's providing laziness. No, it's not. It's allowing a child to be a child. That's not to say, and I've read a statistic on this, a homeschool child has more self-worth and ability to understand a clock, to want to gain what they're looking to gain because they're self-achievers. They want to do, they want to learn. They're there's sponges out there that have not been manipulated and indoctrinated in a system. They're looking to learn because they want to learn. And I'll tell you right now, Savannah wanted a horse. And, you know, I didn't do that for years. This is not a privileged family. This is a family we work for the things that we get. We're learning in this bubble of our life. And I said to Savannah, well, you're gonna have to work for that. We're gonna do like a little work to own, right? This kid has no problem getting up every day on her own, going down to that barn and doing the work in that barn. And I don't think you have an alarm clock, do you, Savannah? No, no. Why is she doing it? Because she's just automatic. She knows she has to do it. She gets up. Is it at 8.02, 8.05? It's around that time. We don't care. She's up, she's out, she does her chores, and so do all the other children here. And it's a beautiful thing to watch. I could speak indefinitely about just the beauty of having your kids home with you. And then we're gonna go.

SPEAKER_02: 12:02

And I agree because yes, I used to get my son up for daycare so that I could get off to work that 10 hours a day, you know, at a six months old, he was with somebody else. And I do think that sleeping in, their bodies are going through so much. You know, they might be fighting a cold, they might be, you know, fighting a virus or whatever. They might be going through a growth spur, their brain might be going through a change, and they just need that sleep. And when you're rushing them out of bed to get them to school, they are so deprived of that. But do you ever have pushback from the kids? Like there are times with mine, and I know I come like my childhood was a little spastic, so I'm sure that makes me a little bit more spastic as an adult. Or, but you sometimes, I mean, my son, I'm like, I remember the one day I was like, Are you trying to kill me? Are you literally trying to kill me? And he was like, No, mom, if I wanted to kill you, I could find easier ways. So, do you ever have that? Or is there like a thing we have to do to switch ourselves off and be like, this is how I should really be handling this instead?

SPEAKER_01: 12:57

Right. So I think that any child can draw you to an intolerance of just you lose it, right? We all we all have to admit that nothing's perfect all the time and we all lose it. We all have our moments, right? I have a lot, I have a definite high tolerance for patience. I am a very patient mom. With myself having five kids, I put myself in a little bit of a different character, uh different category. Um, because and it's funny I touched that quickly. I never thought I would be a mom of five. I thought I would be a mom of two. I come from a family that is my sister and I, and actually, I grew up. And uh God saw a different path for us, and here we are with five. And I remember then going on podcasts, not about school, but about how do I live with five kids? How do I do this? Like, how do I survive? This is going to be crazy. And they were all a year apart, you know, a year and a half apart. So I didn't have big gaps within the children. And there's such beauty in allowing them to learn real life, real risks. Um, I'm not the mom that's, oh God, don't climb that tree or be careful, or I want my child to understand risk. I think that's a huge thing that makes my home a little more um, a little more humble or a little less chaotic, is that these little people, even though they're five and seven and nine and and ten and double on the five because they're twins, they understand what most kids I think almost don't. And that is the ability to see a reality and it in taking a risk. As simple as, I'm not gonna run around the stairs too fast because if I do, if I trip and I fall, then I'm gonna probably get hurt and I'm gonna need stitches, and that won't be good. And it's them thinking for themselves, not, oh, if I do that, mom's gonna get mad. Yes and no. I think actually before that is the thought for themselves. And how I teach that is allowing that fault. I remember going to Jim Boree when I was young and I had just Savannah. And I remember a mom being a mom very on top of her child, let's say, right? No, don't touch that, or no, don't do that, or watch your step there. And I'm just naturally not that mom. I'm kind of the mom is I do this. Savannah, you think you're gonna make it from that rock to that rock? I don't know if you will, but let me see you try. And the child will look at me like, you're gonna let me try this? Yeah, I mean, I'm not gonna say it's gonna work out good. It may not be good, but you can try. And what I've always done is that trying will only be because I have I'm pretty confident they're gonna make it. If they're not, I've always taught my kids if you jump from that rock to that rock, you're not gonna make it. And you're probably gonna fall and you're gonna need some help. And that's a guarantee that I'm telling you. And they will never do it. And the reason for that is because I've always taught real. I don't tease my kids, I don't joke with my kids. It's not saying I'm not having fun with my kids. We have so much fun. We have dance parties, we have, we, we, we laugh our little butts off. But when I say something that is that's hot, I wouldn't touch it, you're gonna get burnt. They take that as real. Because I don't trick my kids and do it all the way. Well, I never laugh at them for a fault. I never say, oh, you go around that corner, watch yourself fall, and when they fall, laugh at their faces. I've always taught that mom's gonna deliver the truth. And I think that really has helped me to have well-mannered children in teaching because that's not to say that I'm perfect either, that I may teach them a wrong. Today we were talking about politics, and I said, gee, I see this about President Trump, I see this about this person, or Elon Musk. We're talking politics, and I said, you know, Savannah, I'll tell you what I think, but I can't say I'm right. I can't say I'm wrong. I may teach you the wrong things. I'm just mom learning for the first time with you as my 10-year-old. Well, they'll turn 11. My first rodeo with you, 11, first rodeo with you 12, and so on and so forth. And I'm gonna make mistakes, but I'll own them. I'll speak of them. And we do that, and that's homeschool. That's the beauty of homeschool.

SPEAKER_02: 16:21

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SPEAKER_01: 17:14

That is it wrapped in a bundle that these children are learning adult emotions that I'm trying to interpret to them and teach them and have them learn aside me with my mistakes. But I think as a teacher, uh and actually as a human, because even if I had them in k in school, which I did, I still was like this way that I'm going to teach them risk and reason in real life. That's it. And my husband's a little different. You know, he'll tease the kids. And I will find one fault within teachings that I do in that way is that sometimes when they are teased, they have to think a little bit more and say, well, is that true? Because everything I'm told is mostly true. And I think that I've questioned myself in that and be like, my gosh, am I doing the right thing by teaching them this realness that I am? And the answer is, in what I've come up with so far is it's fine, bro. Because eventually their minds are going to develop over an age where they can unjustify what's right, wrong, crazy, logical, etc. And again, because I have this confidence in me to teach these kids along this journey, is I'm teaching everything real. And when I say real, I mean in the world of our lives as adults and littles, these kids have freedom to play. I think that play is so important. I met a wonderful lady who owns Jack and Jill Preschool. And I'm gonna give a shout out to her. She wanted to attend one of my events here at the farm. I said, oh my gosh, as a homeschooling mommy, how am I advocating for a school, right? Well, she's a preschool. And now one of the questions I asked her, because I screened her, I said, I'm big on um freedom of play, children being little, children playing. I do think curriculum is important. I think that life learning is important. I think you can combine those things and be genuinely impressed with what you're gonna get out of your child if you allow that. I think it's a scary role to play, but I think when played out and looking back, you're gonna see that success and you're gonna be like, that's incredible. And it goes back to when we're babies. Do we teach a baby um how to grab or how to crawl? Are we on the ground every day going one like this, like this? Okay, next one, next one. No, no. They're they're learning naturally. We don't give the children enough credit. We always think we have to show and teach and demonstrate and test. And when you pull all that away a little bit, okay, you see a result of what beauty is in humans, of what we're able to adapt to and absorb and then show in real life. And it's it's amazing. And so this woman at at this preschool, I had asked her this one question. And after after she answered this question, I said, I'll take you on. I think you're gonna be great here for what I advocate. And she said, I my question to her was what do you think is the most important thing for a parent to do for their children in today's world, right? And she looked at me and she said, Remove the four walls. Yeah. And what she meant by that is freedom, play. Yeah, let them outside. Be outside. And she's a preschool. Be outside. Let your kids be kids, let them get dirty. I have a little uh quote here that we use is let them be country. And that's on my website. I promote that here on the farm. And it really does mean let them play, let them be little, don't take their childhood away. These kids, I think, should be playing till six, seven years old. And after that, I think they should still continue to play and use their imagination. Why do we steal that from them? Why do we take that from them? I disagree with that. I know that there's a time it's like uh my grandfather always said, Don't worry, Brooke, your cut will heal before you get married. He's telling me that every time I would get cut as a little kid. And what he meant by that is time will heal everything and time will bring you to the next destination that you're supposed to be naturally. And if you just allow that to happen, it'll get there. We don't have to force it. A child will leave their childhood when they're ready. You're right, so you do.

SPEAKER_02: 20:35

And we spoke before uh we got on the call about just the fears around homeschooling and am I doing enough for my kid and providing enough for them? Is my kid playing enough? Is my kid being creative enough on his own? How can I construct him being creative, right? And I would always be like, Okay, Colin, do you want to try Legos? And you can build things, build anything. And he never wanted to do Legos. All his friends like Legos. There's Lego Club. He's like, no, mom, I don't want to do it. And so finally I'm like, or well, we had neighbors move in that actually had an 11-year-old, a little bit older than our son. And they spent the last two months together every single day outside, building tiny houses, building fires, looking for frogs and actually cooking frog legs, like making frog legs and eating them. It was so disgusting. And I'm like, okay, I said, Well, uh, Lego Club came up and he goes, Why would I build something out of plastic when I can build something real? And that was like his whole the reason the whole time. And I never thought past you're not being creative because you won't play with Legos. Meanwhile, he's like, I just needed the opportunity to go outside and build something myself. But Savannah, I want to ask you a couple questions too before we get back to mom. How did you like going to school versus being homeschooled? And you can really be honest with us. Like, there must have been something you liked about going to school. You made friends that you're still connected with today. What's the difference for you?

SPEAKER_00: 21:52

Yeah. Well, at school, I feel like I was like sitting there a lot and I was really bored. Where here I can like do a lot of things and I could like play with the animals, and I feel like I like that better because I feel like in school I just like sat there like most of the time, and I didn't really get to do anything. I was really bored. So like I felt like I really just want to play.

SPEAKER_02: 22:10

Kind of wasting your time. Do you think your younger siblings that never went to school will have the appreciation that you do? Because you knew what it was like to have to sit there all day.

SPEAKER_00: 22:19

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 22:21

They're probably gonna be like, I don't know, this is just what life is always like. Exactly. Right, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00: 22:25

Uh-huh. Yeah. And one of my sisters always asked me, I wish I won I wonder what it was felt like to go to school. And I was like, I didn't really like it. I don't think you would like it. Like, I liked playing at recess and like going to the gym. I liked like art class. Like some of the stuff was fun.

SPEAKER_01: 22:39

I think for Savannah's age too, when she answers these questions, I've asked her the same thing, Cheryl. And I do think it really just empowers that children need to be children a little longer than we give them. You know, because if you ask any child, I think, from this age group that fifth grade, fourth grade, third grades, their favorite class is usually art and gym. And that's not we shouldn't judge that at well originally yeah, I think a lot of feedback would be, well, of course they're gonna say that, that's the fun ones. And of course they're not gonna like the science or the geography or the math or the the And and so we're so in this mind of, well, they should be liking those things, but should they? I don't think so.

SPEAKER_02: 23:13

If you can make science fun, history fun, and like in homeschooling, combine them so it doesn't take you six hours. Hey, in 45 minutes, we can learn three subjects all intertwined in one. That's right. Because we don't have to babysit during the day. Like we're living life, not the school has to withhold these work hours so that the kids are babysat all day.

SPEAKER_01: 23:33

That's right. That's right. And the learning happens within our day. It's as simple, it could be in the kitchen, right? It could be outside. And I'll tell you too, boredom is something I think we should children learn from adults. When I was a kid, and Cheryl, you tell me, I don't think I ever could go to my mom and tell my mom I was bored. And maybe I have. Let's just say I did it five times. Whatever. On an average yearly basis, there's no way I went to my mom all the time. Well, and I was only my older sister who never played with me, by the way. I was kind of a loner. But I found ways to entertain myself. How? Well, I went outside, I dug, I went, I played with ants, I played in the dirt, I played with my bike, my scooter, I made up games in the garage, I put books out and I did a little bike path. I remember one time with a little scooter I had. I self-played, I self-enjoyed. I never blinked. I never thought about it. I never thought that I was um lacking of anything. I loved. But I just loved being a kid. These kids today, my five, here on the farm, there, there's a beauty to having the land. There is. And I can't say that that's you're not a benefit, because it is. But lucky for me, anything can get monotonous. Anything can get it's Groundhog Day every day, right? Even for a life of a of a perspective that I have, okay? It is the same day every day. Roosters crow every morning, chores never go away, and they stay the same. And so for a child to be picked up out of their life of what they think might be born in a residential and dropped here a year or two later of doing this life. On Christmas morning, too. These kids, we gotta work, right? There are no days off here on the farm. So the grass isn't always greener on that other side, is I guess what I'm getting at. But what I'm really trying to touch is boredom. So these kids have kids visit, and as homeschoolers think it's great, right? But boredom can set in to anybody's life, especially when it's it's a repetitive life, right? Like any work week. And I have to say, boredom is not a word used here on the farm. My kids find a way as homeschoolers, as creators, as learners, to figure out a way, whether it's inside, outside, at the barn, wherever it is, to do things. And I can't tell you if I had to count maybe on one whole hand because I got five. One hand, maybe what my kids have come to me in the four years I've been here told me they were bored. And I can't even say that that's true. I want to take that down to one hand. They figure out a way to enjoy their time and their space. They can separate and rejoin. Billy, my son, as a homeschooler, I believe in following their path and teaching within their likings. I find that to be much more successful than me opening the book and talking about today's curriculum or today's subject. So, what I like to do is pick out my subject in my head, naturally in my head, apply it to something that they're gonna do within the day, and actually not even discuss it as a topic. Why? Because that's real life, right? So I believe that I'm setting them up for their future of what's really gonna happen, that they're 18, 21, 25. But here on the farm, I'm applying it in a hidden way, a hidden agenda almost, right? So Billy will go down to the barn, he just recently did this. And tell me what he did, Savannah. What did he do when he wanted to in uh build? He has a little firehouse down on the farm. He loves firemen. And what did he build for every kid?

SPEAKER_00: 26:23

Lockers. So like he took pieces of wood and he drilled them together with the drill. Is that what you're talking about? Yeah, and he also built a fire pole, and he also built stairs, and then up on the off the stairs was like a whole meeting area, and then he put like a chair in there.

SPEAKER_01: 26:36

Yes. And then he put and then he eight years old, just turned nine.

SPEAKER_00: 26:40

And dad got him a bunch of like fire gear and all the other kids' fire gear, and they would play, and they had fake dummies that Billy took coats and like pants, and he taped them together and stuffed stuff. I don't even know what he stuffed me.

SPEAKER_01: 26:52

Yeah, I don't know either. Make dummies. Uh-huh. All of this was math and science in a beautiful day of him never knowing he learned any math and science. And at the end, all I could do is connect the dots and say, Billy, gravity. When you built that pole and you needed something sturdy, we talked about gravity. We talked about the landing. He cushioned the landing. We talked about um the lockers. I mean, angles, 90 degree angles that he applied on those lockers to make these successful things to hold this equipment. How many screws did you need to build each locker? Oh, mom, I needed 10. Well, how many lockers did you make? I made three. So how many screws did you get? Oh my, how do you 30 screws? Really? You just multiply. I don't know multiplication, really. You don't, because you just did it. And so this is what happens all the time. Every day. Every day. If you allow your child to live life and explore, you can apply your curriculum within it. And I think that's the biggest thing is homeschoolers. How am I going to teach my kids, right? I'm not good academically. I wasn't successful. I wasn't the best student. So how am I going to teach my kids? Stop. Deschool that mind. Apply your papers, your curriculum when you want in fun. When it goes out, close the book. It's okay. It's okay. Think about your life around that book, that there are things that are going to happen in that day that you could pull that subject right out and nail it right to your left side of that outdoor activity that just applied what you just were trying to teach at that table in that book. So the first thing I want to definitely tell your listeners is the homeschooling academy that we're part of, which is a school-accredited school that we're all going to graduate from. And it's an online school.

SPEAKER_02: 28:29

This is yes, the name parents want to know. Like if I work, what can I do to make sure my kids are getting what they need or just, you know, need a little guidance. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01: 28:39

And uh this is not only just a wonderful curriculum and a wonderful uh whole program she put together. There are resources beyond even hers that she uh allows you to achieve or retrieve on here. She's accessible through the phone. I've emailed her personally for questions. And her curriculum is based on natural learning. So you can apply it on your everyday in your kitchen, in your den, at nighttime watching movies. It's amazing what she has opened my mind to in learning that I'm like, that's learning. Oh, yeah, that is. Oh yeah, that works. And her name is Leah McDermott. And the name of her academy is Bridge Academy. Um, and she's pretty impressive. And what I also love about her, she will assist any new homeschool mommy in the paperwork avenue of what we're all fearful of will I do the paperwork correctly in whatever state you live in. She does actually not just nation, she's global. So she is qualified and her staff to guide you through the right paperwork that you will submit, your quarterlies, your IHIPS to begin homeschool. She will stay with you for every quarter and take you from the beginning of the year all the way to the end of the year. And to me, that was tremendous. Yeah, because it was beyond amazing.

SPEAKER_02: 29:50

If people, if they don't realize every state has different homeschooling laws. So we are in New York where it's very strict on what you have to do. It's Still doable, but it's like, yeah, you know, my gosh, I had in my phone, my IHIP was due and I missed it, and yada yada. This sounds like she takes care of all of that. I mean, with five kids, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_01: 30:12

It's amazing because it allows me to dedicate, allows me to dedicate the time to the teaching, the time to the children, which is what it's broke. And I and I've had moms tell me, I just don't think I could keep up with the paperwork. Like I feel fearful of being able to do that on top of teaching the kids, doing the laundry, doing the and I get that. And Leah McDermott has found a way for you not to be able to tell me that. And I love to deliver that to the audience and let them know listen, that part of it that you're scared of and afraid, removed. She cushions that, takes care of that. She's supportive. She emails your quarterlies directly to your email, you review. Um, and it's been amazing. She has a portal, so every child has their own descriptive ways of what they learned that month that you just type in what you want to type in and she applies it and she takes care of everything. And everything, like you said, is different in every state. That to me was the most unbelievable thing. And on top of it was her curriculum. I think it's brilliant. I think it's easy access. I think it's easy read. The worksheets are a lot of physical, which we love as our family. But there's also things on the on the computer too. But I love the idea that I could print out her worksheet or read it and then just do it in my kitchen on like a science project, right? Or even outside. There were a lot of things she had me do outside with sticks with the kids, teaching them things. Um, and that comes naturally to me. So I haven't even explored half of it. And I can only imagine with the wonderful things she has on there and great resources.

SPEAKER_02: 31:30

And just to give you a little taste of Leah McDonald's, I'm gonna link that in the show's description for anyone listening. You don't have to run and get a pen or anything. We'll link her website, right, in the show's description. And you said she also does, she supports unschoolers as well, right?

SPEAKER_01: 31:43

She does. She does absolutely, and she's wonderful. And I wanted to actually read you a few of her quotes, which do, I think, highlight an unschool mind as well as the homeschool mind. So she promotes both um and understands both, and there sees the delight and the beauty in both sides, which are really one and all, anyway. And a couple of the things I just jotted this down is she wrote, I want to raise children who are well learned, not well schooled. And I love that because that is so true. We want children that are well learned, not well schooled. And to sit in a classroom for those eight hours, right? And to to have a to me, it's a system and it's it, it's it's it's robotics. It's it's there is no mind, no thought, no creativity. They're taught what they had to learn, they recite it back, they have to remember it, they have to test on it, then they're approved or not approved, and then they're categorized again, and then this repeats, right? And to me, that's well schooled. But is that well learned for life? Absolutely not. How many kids, and you can see statistics of homeschoolers coming out of school or graduating, and actually, they're self-doers, they're achieving goals. It's it's proven. There are statistics that show that they are the doers and they have the ability to do that because they're homeschooled. Uh, another thing she wrote is when you remove the burden of the school mindset, learning is just a part of life. It's not a performance, it's not a requirement. It's just a thing you get to do while you live and discover the world around you. It's a joy to go through life learning new things. And she also said when you take a step outside the system, you start to see it for what it is: an illusion of importance, neatly divided into boxes that have very little to do with how we actually live and learn in the real world. No child is, yeah, no child is a one-size-fits-all model. It doesn't happen on a predictable timeline. Homeschoolers get to celebrate that. And we sure do. Because every child here in my house learns on a different level. And that is okay because I know they're all gonna excel and they do.

SPEAKER_02: 33:35

I read a book to my kids this morning about corn, because it's fall here, a kid's book, and I swear I learned more from these kids' books than I ever did in school. Right, right. It said how like one stalk of corn, the corn will only grow if the pollen goes from one to the other and it pollinates it. And I'm like, corn pollinates too? I had no idea, but the it that goes to what you just said. Where I'm learning about the life around me and if homestead, you know, you need to know that stuff.

SPEAKER_01: 34:04

It's so true. Oh my God. It's so true. It really is. And we're all gonna learn. So it's like life is learning throughout, it doesn't end when you graduate high school. It doesn't end when you graduate college. So why can't it begin and start at a young age and just go lifelong and real-world life, living?

SPEAKER_03: 34:19

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01: 34:20

And yes, we have a curriculum. And yes, we need our children to learn to read. And yes, we need to learn math. And there are basics that our children need to learn, and they will learn those things because we're gonna apply them, we're gonna teach them. We have these tools as homeschoolers to teach these things, such as Leah McDermott Bridge Academy and her curriculum. Um, but you can even trust, because I've tasted on it, I've I I I've done it, I've seen it, that naturally they will be sponges, as I spoke before, and learn things in real life learning. And manners, I was writing a couple of notes here. Uh Manners taught in real life. Yeah, so people say, Well, how do your kids learn and how are they, you know. So you leave your curriculum on the table and you go out for your regular day. Well, what else are they learning? And and I say, Well, my kids can go to the bank, right? They could put a card in a machine and actually take money out. That's pretty that's that's that's something they're really gonna now need to know, aren't they? Yeah, they can write it, they understand how to write a check. Go ahead, Savannah. What did you learn? Uh I learned how to pump gas at the gas station. Well, you definitely need to know that. Right. So she could pump gas at a gas station, use the card. So can Billy at eight. Dakota's learning. Those are silly things that I actually I don't even know when I learned those things. I I think I was older. I I don't think I was taught how to change a tire till my friend told me, but yet I needed to have a tire change when I was a teenager because I lost a tire. And I was like, I'm so happy my friend taught me. But did my mom teach me? No. My mom didn't teach me anything in real life. I learned all that just by fault. Well, why not? Didn't my parents not teach me that? Because they didn't have the opportunity. I was busy in school all day.

SPEAKER_02: 35:40

Yes. Right. I thought that like you just have to call triple A when you get a flat tire. Like that's the only option. I didn't know that you could just change a tire yourself. I still have never done that. But baby steps.

SPEAKER_01: 35:52

That's okay. But yeah, that's right. It is baby steps. But there are so many things, making phone calls, using the phone for the little ones, the five-year-olds, the six-year-olds, how do they learn numbers? Call that, right? Uh, how do we learn to the microwave? There's so many things as homeschoolers that I always say back to moms is your kid learns every day. And when I have people say, Well, how do your kids learn? I tell my kids to say, we learn every day in real life, not just on the computer, not just on our curriculum, but every day. So that's a big thing that I think is so lost in in society that we don't realize that happening.

SPEAKER_02: 36:19

It's huge. And you mentioned the word perform, and that really like struck a chord with me. That is literally what they're making these kids do, perform with the testing and all that. And who decides, right? The Rockefellers, they decide what our kids should learn at every age. That's so arbitrary. And you know, when we spoke on the phone before this call, you said something that sparked the idea in me, maybe with them testing our kids every other year in New York. I think it's like grade three or four and above. And it's like, well, I thought to myself, prove to me that all your fourth graders can do, can pass this test. You know, they're testing us homeschooling parents. Let's let's test the teachers. Oh well, are you? You know, it's like, can all of your kids in fourth grade pass everything? No. I'm guaranteed no, they cannot. So that's right. It is just, yeah, it's what a performance it all is. But how do you handle the reading thing? Since you are more like, let's bring it to you when you're you're interested in it, when your brain is ready to learn it. But that seems to be the one thing that people get stuck on when you say you're homeschooling. It's not like, do they know their multiplication yet? I mean, I don't feel like people really concentrate. Do they know about the Aztecs, Incas, and Mayans yet? Like they don't care so much about that stuff. But the reading, they feel like if you don't have them reading by age seven proficiently, then like your kids doomed forever, even though most kids in school at age seven cannot read proficiently. How do you handle that?

SPEAKER_01: 37:42

Yes. So I will admit to you that that was a very big fear of mine. And that could actually be the very reason why homeschooling wasn't really on my mind for years. I've heard of it. Um, and when COVID hit, it was, you know, a big boom there. But I think what you just stated was a very big doubt of mine is how am I gonna teach these kids if I'm not this big academic, you know, sit down and read for six hours.

SPEAKER_02: 38:03

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SPEAKER_01: 38:34

And so I've traveled down the truth avenue of all right, well, and I'm gonna be honest here because I think it's helpful where I go on a regiment and a schedule sometimes with these kids, right? We will sit down and we'll do book time, reading time. We have some apps that we do. Um, and that sometimes works out great, and then sometimes that falls apart on me, whereby I'm not getting the focus that I need. I will not sit the children down and force them to read or learn. But then you have the nervous part of it where you just asked me, well, what do you do when they're seven, eight, nine and they're not, you know, excelling? Well, they will, and I'm confident they will. Why? Again, it goes to everyday life. How? How brook? And let me tell you how interesting this is. I have a five-year-old son who's gonna be now first, kindergarten into first, which is Bryce and Brody. We have this now again, this happens to be at a barn, but it could be anywhere in our life. It could be in a bathroom with a sign, it could be in the kitchen with an ingredient sign. Down my barn aisle are animals' names on the stalls. And do you know just by repetition on a daily basis? Because a lot of things we do are repetition, and that's how I think people learn, right? When we study, we read it over and over again. But we're forced to read it over and over again. But every day when we go down the barn, we say, good morning, blue, good morning, this one, good morning, that one. And my son, I never taught it. I'm gonna tell you right now, I didn't teach the letter B, I didn't teach the letter A. I took that reading app out that I'm actually more focused on my seven and my nine-year-old on because they love it. That's why I do it. They love it. And my five-year-old goes, Mom, I want to sit down and do letters. And I'm thinking to myself, sure, let's do it. And I take that out and he's reading me the letters. And Cheryl, I'm going, Savannah. I'm thinking, do you what did you go over the alphabet with Bryce? No. How is that possible? Well, that's possible because he's just learning on repetition of everyday life. Mom, I remember below. He starts with the letter B. You know, so that's early stages, and that I grab that and I run with it. I believe when the interest is there and the showing of learning the to read on that age, you run with it. So now every day Bryce loves it. He wants to excel in that. So we're going ahead of the schedule, right? Or the system because I'm I'm able to do that. Now moving to the bigger ones, again, it's in the car. Okay. I think homeschooler, I don't know about you, Cheryl, but for me, I teach so much stuff in the car. When I'm driving around with these kids, all these curriculum I think we're we're we're inverted. We don't do anything. Our kids aren't social. Well, let me tell you, we have a very busy schedule, a schedule, and schedule. And we are able to do so many fun things that people think homeschoolers are stuck home in in this introverted life, right? A bubble. But I teach a lot in the car. And reading is one of them. Reading is huge in the car. How? Well, I say to my kids all the time, we go around the corner, what's that sign say? Yeah. Where are we? What town are we in? Lost. What is we named our GPS Judy? What's Judy say, Billy? I can't see that street. Oh, that's Lucy Lane, Ma. You were supposed to pass on Lucy Lane. Ma, you missed I-90. Oh, really? I didn't even teach you numbers yet. You know numbers? Yeah, I do. I know 90. You say it all the time. Again, they're sponges, they're learning every day. I can't emphasize enough. It's so important, so crazy. And so we take that and we run with it. I take it and I run with it. And I and I I um books are huge to me. I think reading is tremendous for kids, but I think that every kid's not the best reader. And I don't know if you have that, but I find my son isn't as big as a reader as this one.

SPEAKER_02: 41:30

Right. The boys just don't pick it up as fast. They just don't want to sit.

SPEAKER_01: 41:34

That's it. That's okay. Oh, you know what I saw this too the other day. I th I found this so interesting. Statistics were sh were it was something on Facebook, and I can't really uh devote myself to saying it was 100% accurate. I don't know the resources behind it, but it was logical. And it stated that a boy's testosterone at age five and six is so heavy that um their only way to exert that energy, that feeling that they get is through physical activity and being impulsive and being creative in their body and explosive, right? And unfortunately, when that age occurs, they're five years old, six years old, seven years old, and it happens. I think they talked about that occurring till 12. And boys are deemed crazy and nuts and just, you know, something wrong with them, right? And we put them in classroom. Well, that's just it. Okay, so we're looking at these little boys who are trapped in these bodies that just really need to play outside. I mean, there's another thing I'm gonna note quickly called Timbernook School, which is a woman who was a pediatric occupational therapist who left the world of system world and went and dove into an outdoor school. And she's impressive. I haven't dipped enough in her, but um, that avenue of looking into that dove me into this way of uh this this light that I was taught taught about the boys. And they so they talked about these boys are all being misunderstood, misrepresented as bad boys, right? Boys that aren't learning, and now they have to be evaluated, and then they're gonna be medicated, and then they're not gonna then they have to be and they're zoned, and I see all these kids. I'm telling you, I do host events here and I see children come to the farm and they're just they're their their childhood is stolen. The system owns and it's it's so bad. It's so bad, so it breaks my heart. I actually feel sorrow, sadness, right? And when I see a homeschool mom pop over with the light still in the child's eyes and the freedom, it is magnificent. There's nothing better. The journey has been amazing. I wouldn't change it for the world. I would push every mom, sell your house, get one job with one parent, and homeschool your kids if you can. You will never regret it. The time can never be taken away from you. You will have no regrets. You will get frustrated, you will get mad, you will, but it's real life. It's okay to get mad and yell and then kiss and say, I'm so sorry, I can't believe I did to you. It's teaching real. And it's us, mom, that can forgive. It's the mom that can reprimand and the father. That's as it should be. Not the teacher that has to say to the child, Oh, I don't know, you're gonna have to go to the principal office, you're acting a little bad, or maybe you're good, I don't know, maybe you're and it's just confusion. There's no direction and there's no discipline that's offered correctly. And there's no one even to look up to for the children. They don't know which way to go because our system's so bananas. So it means so much, I think, for me to advocate for us to homeschool if we can and make those sacrifices to do it. I would never change it. Um, and I'm not gonna say it's all peaches and cream, because you and I both know it's not. There are levels of frustration that we all seek out and we go, and I want to touch on that real quick because I didn't finish before. I have a very high patience, a high tolerance, and I find that less is more. So, in a state of mind that I want to react and I want to yell, I remove myself. And a lot of the times I'll say, You think about it, you work it out. You too work it out. When you're done, you come to me. I won't tolerate physical. That's something I won't tolerate in this house, and the kids just know that. Again, it goes back to my whole idea of I teach real and risk, and right is right, wrong is wrong, and you don't cross me. Period. And these kids, they're receptive, they're human, they understand, they want to please. They're they're just like you as an adult want to please your job, your people, your husband, your wife, your we all are looking to be happy and please each other. So are the children. They're not looking for bad avenues. The only reason they're going into bad avenues is because they feel like they're trapped and they need more freedom, you know, more to feel like kids. And I just think that as homeschoolers, we'll able to deliver that to our children as well, not just academically, but physically, especially for young boys. So many I see are misdiagnosed, and diagnosed is not even, shouldn't even be a term. They just need to be boys. Right. Well, very huge, very huge.

SPEAKER_02: 45:12

You're right. And like when I do fly off the handle, because I didn't have good representation of that as when I was growing up, I do say to my kids, I said to my daughter the other night, I said, Come here, give me a hug. I said, just like you were crying all through dinner and all through your bath, you have emotions that you can't handle right now, and that's your way of getting it out. I said, I yelled at you this morning because I couldn't handle my emotions. So I'm sorry, I'm gonna do better, and I know you want to do better. And, you know, that's just kind of like explaining it out because I mean, teachers aren't gonna go apologize to them later after they fly off the handle.

SPEAKER_01: 45:47

No way, and give an explanation for it. They're already on to the next child, the next option, the next thing, the next test.

SPEAKER_02: 45:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 45:53

And we have the beauty to teach that. And that to me, I really believe Cheryl will be the beauty in the light in the future that recites back to us. Our kids will stand out differently and in a good way. And they're gonna have a connection to their emotion, they're gonna have empathy, and they're going to connect to humans in a way that schoolers won't. And I'm not stereotyping it in a way, but it's not, it's it's the truth of the reality of human beings who we are, right? And what our childhood is a big deal. And we are products of our environment, right? And what better to have that true real emotion in that upbringing? Exclamation point. There's nothing better. There's nothing better. Because you were able to touch back on your child and say to your child, I'm sorry, mommy had an out, you know, mommy outlashed too, mommy got upset, and that's real life. And those to me connect the emotions together. Think about the boy in the classroom who shouts and yells and goes crazy, and the kids are looking at him going, eh, he's crazy. What's wrong with him? I don't know, he just got taken away, went to the principal's office. That's it. Done, over, ends. So that little child really wants to know what happened and why is that boy like that? And what is that? Are you talking about that? No, you're not. You're on to the test, man. You got to remember that what you got to recite the next day to remember to pass to get the A, so then you're not evaluated and say you're left behind and put in the wrong classroom and put with the wrong kids. And it goes on and on and on.

SPEAKER_02: 47:01

So your teacher can prove that she's doing what she needs to do to the district so that she can keep her job and the funding can keep coming. Funding, funding, funding. That's right, that's right. Oh, it is so convoluted. Okay. Any parting words? I know you had stuff that you wanted to make sure, and we're running up on the hour. Any parting words that you want to say? I know you kind of did close that out nicely, but I want to make sure you didn't leave anything out.

SPEAKER_01: 47:24

Yeah, no, I think that I definitely want to highlight our academy, Bridge Academy. I think is such a great opportunity for any moms that are thinking about homeschooling their kids. And I think that if you can make it happen in your life, don't hesitate, do it. There's so much support. I think that uh your children will blossom. And that's Bridge Academy, Leah McDermott. And and just to touch a little bit too, here on my farm, for anybody local that does follow you, Cheryl. I have a program here where I host events for kids to come and be free and wiggle out those wiggles and jiggles, be amongst animals, find themselves. I think that the outdoors is a is a place of serenity for children. It's for some adults too, if you allow it to embrace you. It's a beautiful place here on the farm. Host uh events that are public. I'll host small events. We'll do private tours. We do birthday parties. We're doing an October event, October 26th, where children can just come to be children. And that to me is my work's to me. I always believe in don't chase and my husband will differ. Um he'll laugh at this. I chase the dream. I don't chase the money, right? And that is what makes this place successful. Because I do see the beauty in the connection of these guys with the animals, with the outdoors, and opening my doors up to the public to invite those children in. When kids come to this farm, they're filled with happiness, they're free, they're running. Yeah, right? They're free, they're running, they're having so much fun. And we're able to offer that to them as a family. We host all of our events as a family. Savannah works the parties with us, any private small events that we do, even big ones. The kids are involved in working. Yeah, it's just straight up.

SPEAKER_02: 48:57

There's so much right there. Just the just it really is. We're running a business. I mean, talking to them about like this is how taxes work, this is how advertising works, this is how marketing works, you know, withholding money and costs, what costs we have to claim. And wow, all that is just so valuable for them that they'll never get in school.

SPEAKER_01: 49:17

Right. Absolutely agreed. And we talk about that, Savannah and I, and and the other children as well, is advertising, right? And how we promote the farm and what it gives us, and we talk about numbers and reality. Um, and sometimes we have events that aren't successful and we talk about why uh and how can we fix that? And what do you kids think we could do to make it better? And I like the mind of a child to tell me because these are children-based events. So I'll say, Savannah, what do you think we could do to improve that part of the farm? And so, you know, hearing from the kids is is a is a beautiful thing, and it gives them a moment of confidence to that's okay, to give an opinion. That's actually I I take it and I'll I'll I'll achieve it. I'll I'll change something. They're accountable for what they feel, and I will make it a reality. And that's important too, is allowing your child, I think, the freedom to express something and then have it delivered in reality. And they go, wow, I just can't believe she that that just happened. Savannah makes decisions sometimes with the animals on the farm, right? It makes them feel worthy.

SPEAKER_02: 50:10

Like you're worth something. Absolutely. That's the way that's so important. Yes. Because in school, it's not ever, it's just this is what you have to do. This is what you have to learn. Yeah, you have self-worth when you can make those decisions and then see it implemented. I hadn't really thought about that yet. That's so cool. Savannah, what's your favorite part about living on a farm now?

SPEAKER_00: 50:28

I like the horses.

SPEAKER_02: 50:28

Do you ride them?

SPEAKER_00: 50:29

I like yeah, I like riding horses. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 50:31

That's so cool. Yeah, that's awesome. All right, ladies, this has been so fun. You've inspired me to homeschool more, less. I don't know. Less in terms of like, you don't have to do that reading curriculum that I we paid for, or right.

SPEAKER_01: 50:46

And I think that that's okay. Touch on that. I dive in and out. I'm on this wonderful journey alongside of all of you. It's been beautiful. I don't know all the answers, but uh, what I can tell you is I see more light in being free with my children than I do on being strict. And I see a much happier result for both myself in my tolerance and my sanity and for that. And so be okay with that. And follow the people that I that I'm mentioning because Bridge Academy, Leah McDermott, is is a great leader to what I'm starting to really solely believe in. And she's magnificent also in her curriculum department. So I I really think everybody should check that out. Yeah. Again, Leah McDermott and Bridge Academy. Your natural learner is your natural learner. Okay.

SPEAKER_02: 51:31

I've definitely heard of your natural learner. So I just must not have connected it to Bridge Academy and Leah McDermott. Awesome. Well, thank you for clearing that up. That will be linked as well as your website or your Facebook page. I'll put that on as well. Because you know, that's also even if you're not local, it's a great resource to see what you are doing on the farm that people could kind of model that after, you know. I love it. You could even open up a school for kids coming in. Well, we don't want to add more work to your plate. But isn't that a great, like an outdoor school for kids all day being around animals? So wonderful. I love that.

SPEAKER_01: 52:04

It is. And I I offered a workshop last year and it was wonderful. And I I I'm thinking of a future in different ways for kids to come to the farm and explore and have that uh connection with learning with the animals. So definitely on my bucket list here.

SPEAKER_02: 52:16

So great. Thank you, Brooke. Thank you, Savannah. You guys have a wonderful rest of your day. Thank you, Cheryl. Be good. Take care. Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of the Homeschool How To. If you've enjoyed what you heard and you'd like to contribute to the show, please consider leaving a small tip using the link in my show's description. Or if you'd rather, please use the link in the description to share this podcast with a friend or on your favorite homeschool group Facebook page. Any effort to help us keep the podcast going is greatly appreciated. Thank you for tuning in and for your love of the next generation.