Episodes

Last month, Fletch read an interesting article in The Washington Post called, Racism in Schools is Pushing More Black Families to Homeschool Their Children. The title alone was enough to get him interested, but in the article the writer discussed why there has been such a sharp rise in African American Homeschooling. We thought this was a good discussion to have with our listeners, so we pursued the author for an interview. Dr. Ama Mazama, professor of African American Studies at Temple Univers...

Whether it’s burnout or lack of content, the average “brand new” podcast will not survive beyond 7 episodes. At Homeschooling In Real Life, we are NOT average. That is why we are celebrating the past 50 episodes of our podcast with you! You have to join us for this fast paced run down memory lane. We take our listeners on a brief tour through the best of the HomeschoolingIRL podcast. It’s fun, deep, interesting, and we worked very hard to mill out the content that will challenge you to think an...

What if someone told you that you had no right to be angry? What if you could live a life that was defined as unoffendable? What would it look like to not be offended by the things people say and do, or by the way they treat you? And what if you could smile and relax, knowing that God has covered every offense with his inexhaustible love for you? Homeschoolers, let’s face it. We are quick to be offended. Whether it’s outsiders who watch us and don’t like our educational choices or fellow homesc...

Homeschooling your special needs child can be tricky and challenging. It can also be one of the biggest hidden blessings in your family. Are you homeschooling a child who has special needs? Guess what? So are Fletch and Kendra. Join us on they episode as we get on the phone with Wendy Hilton of Hip Homeschool Moms to discuss the challenging journey and unexpected joys of homeschooling a child with special needs. Join Fletch (from theMangoTimes) and Kendra (from Preschoolers and Peace and Kendr...

As homeschoolers, many of us do a great job taking care of our children, their schoolwork and all of their curriculum, but often we miss taking care of our own marriages. That is where Barrett and Jenifer Johnson come in. We know the Johnsons from their ministry at I.N.F.O for Families and their past visits on the HomeschoolingIRL podcast. Now we are happy to introduce you to their new adventure, The Real Marriage Podcast. We think you are going to love it! You might remember Episode 13, when w...

How important is it for us to practice transparent parenting with our children? What should you do when your children ask you questions that are just too personal or too painful to answer? If we do practice transparency, will our kids simply follow our example? In this episode, we sit down with marriage and family therapist, Chris Oneth, to discuss the topic of transparency in our parenting. We answer these questions and many more as we talk through this very difficult topic. Join us as we dis...

Join Fletch once again as he travels back into television history and shares the second half of his top 10 lessons he has learned from the TV dads he was raised with. In the middle of getting their home ready to sell, Fletch heads back into the studio alone for this episode (don’t worry, Kendra pops in to say hello!). As he continues on the second half of his list, Fletch finds some basic life lessons from Howard Cunningham, John Robinson, Tim Taylor, Gomez Addams, and Cliff Huxtable. What les...

On the HomeschoolingIRL podcast, we have spent 44 episodes telling stories of other homeschooling families. We continue to share one major theme: Live in the gospel and stop shifting your hope onto the world or religion. On this episode, we shift gears and finally share our own story of losing our religion and our recovery from “gospel amnesia.” From that hot summer morning in the summer of 2008, when we found our 7-week-old baby in a coma, we share the events that led to a massive overhaul in ...

Top 10 lessons from TV dads? What could we possibly learn from a bunch of characters on television? Join Fletch as he takes a trip into television history and shares his top 10 lessons he has learned from the TV dads he was raised with. This episode was recorded straight from the Teach Them Diligently Homeschool Convention in Nashville, TN. While Kendra was busy meeting other homeschool parents and presenting her sessions, Fletch pulled lessons from Mike Brady, Charles Ingalls, Homer Simpson, ...

What comes to mind when you think of homeschool conventions? Most people either love them or hate them! In the span of a few days at a homeschooling convention, you can easily get overwhelmed by the huge vender halls and rows upon rows of curriculum choices. The workshops span topics all over the homeschooling spectrum, not to mention discussions about parenting, marriage and general life. On this episode of Homeschooling in Real Life, Fletch and Kendra are talking homeschool conventions, cons...

Answering Homeschool Critics Homeschool critics seem to be everywhere and some of us have had our share of uncomfortable conversations about our choice to homeschool, how we’re going about it, whether or not we’re qualified to teach our own kids, and even what they’re learning. Learning how to answer homeschool critics, especially those who are close to us, sometimes requires us to offer a soft answer. Other times it requires us to be very direct and set firm boundaries in our conversations or...

It’s very common for homeschooling moms to feel as if we spend all day telling the kids what they have to do, and then at the end of the day, dad swoops in and saves the day! And while we love that our kids are excited to see dad (or mom, if it’s reversed in your home), it can be a bummer to feel like we are the “have to” parent and they are the “get to” parent. Does this sound like your house? It can be frustrating for mom when it seems like dad has all the fun! With a healthy dose of reality ...

Fletch and Kendra are back in the hot-seat for another round of questions. On this 40th episode of Homeschooling In Real Life, we are answering questions from our listening audience again. Questions we tackle in this episode include: What do you do with the college kids that live in your home and interrupt your homeschool life? Any advice for incorporating an adoptive child into your homeschool family? Plus a follow-up question from Episode 36 where a homeschool mom asks about making the more d...

Let’s be real folks! It’s February and the mid-year homeschooling doldrums can hit any of us. One of our listeners sent us a great email with five questions all about homeschool challenges and wanting to throw in the towel. As we read through the questions he asked, we decided to combine all of them into one podcast and return to a popular theme and call this episode, I Love Homeschooling But I’m Totally Burned Out. Don’t be confused. You may think this is an episode for just the homeschool mom...

We were contacted a few weeks ago by HIRLer Derek Anderson who asked: Could you talk about the challenges of owning a home business as a homeschooler? For many homeschoolers, owning a home business is the dream. The idea that small business ownership provides the ultimate in freedom and flexibility for a homeschool family is sought by many. The ability to introduce your homeschooled children to your vocation and the world of business seems like a perfect fit for homeschool families. However, as...

We are talking about relationships and asking the question, “Is it possible to be friends with our homeschool kids?” Most homeschooling families seem to have a good understanding of curriculum to use with their kids. Conventions and conferences often address how to teach math, writing and language. As parents we also have a natural understanding for disciplining our children and what household management should look like in our homes. However, what we often find lacking in homeschool families i...

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! We love to surprise our listeners with fun stuff! We are super excited to announce that Homeschooling In Real Life has become a WEEKLY podcast. That’s right! Each and every week we plan on releasing a brand new show for you. But here’s the deal: great content and interviews take a lot of time and we are a busy homeschooling family just like you. So, on the off weeks, we will be putting together a shorter show that requires less production (and less coffee for Fletc...

Sometimes our listeners ask tough questions of us, and then our most meaningful episodes are created. On this episode of HomeschoolingIRL, Fletch and Kendra respond to listener Cindy, who asked, “What if your child is the black sheep of the homeschool group, the one the kids won’t play with?” It’s a tender topic, and one that requires an extra measure of grace and the gospel. How do we help our black sheep homeschooled kids, and maybe more importantly, how do we love the black sheep homeschoole...

Kimm Crandall was the perfect homeschooling mom: she had her curriculum chosen carefully, her children lined up quietly and obediently in the church pew, and her home-ground wheat bread delivered piping hot from her oven. She was doing everything “right”. Still, God seemed angry with her, and she felt as if nothing she did would make Him happy with her. As she polished up the outside, she was dying slowly on the inside, bound up by her own good works and suffocating under the lack of grace with...

So you don’t have a teaching credential and you’ve never been to college. Does this make you unqualified to teach your kids at home? Continuing our series of “I Love Homeschooling But…”, we get real with the idea of feeling inadequate to teach your children and discuss, “I Love Homeschooling, But I’m Not A Good Teacher.” Join us on this episode as we sit down with two guests: private school principal and homeschool father, Steve Wilkins, who works through the question of homeschool teacher capa...

So you love the idea of homeschooling, but you are totally disorganized? Is this a deal killer? Should you pack up your kids and send them off to the local school house where they will be kept on track by rigid teaching plans that maintain scope and sequence? It’s time for us all to get real with one another. Is your lack of organization thwarting your efforts at homeschooling? At the end of the day, the week, the month, are you constantly playing catch-up and putting out the fires caused by di...

And I hate teaching science. And writing. Or . . . Let’s get real homeschoolers, most of us have at least one subject we don’t enjoy teaching. What? That is difficult to justify when we are the ones in charge of teaching all the subjects. So what is a homeschooling parent supposed to do when there are core subjects that must be covered but there is no motivation by mom or dad to get that subject done every week or they feel unqualified to teach it? On this episode of HomeschoolingIRL, Fletch ...

On this episode of the HomeschoolingIRL podcast, Fletch and Kendra begin a new series called, “I Love Homeschooling But…” and discuss the topic of having your kids with you All. The. Time. We really do love this aspect of homeschooling, and many of us want to spend the best hours of our kids’ days with them. But the reality is, there are days when we feel as if we’re all breathing down each other’s necks, and that can be difficult to navigate with grace. Joining Fletch and Kendra in the studio...

Homeschooling can be a difficult choice for families to make. It takes time, planning and hard work when you decide to school your children at home. That decision is made even more difficult when you are doing it alone. LaToya Edwards and Mary Jo Tate are single homeschooling moms who have successfully learned how to keep their children home through careful organization and a sharp budget. On this episode of Homeschooling In Real Life, Fletch and Kendra sit down with LaToya and MaryJo to discus...