Episodes

Are you starting your school year? We are! Let’s gather around the teacher’s lounge and gear up for another year of teaching our kids at home. Fletch and Kendra are starting their 19th year of homeschooling with a bang and letting you in on the fun. On this episode, they are also imparting 5 questions to ask yourself as you head back to school this year. Join us and let’s get the school year rolling! SHOW NOTES: Recommended Resources: None Follow Fletch/Kendra: Fletch Twitter Kendra Twitter F...

What happens when classroom teachers decide to homeschool their own children? How do they make the transition from classroom management to managing the personalities around their kitchen table? If you are a classroom teacher considering homeschooling your own kids, you’ll appreciate this episode and the conversation with former classroom teacher Jolanthe Erb, who brings ten years of homeschool experience to the discussion. We talk about issues unique to the classroom, how homeschooling is differ...

How does a homeschooling parent possibly educate older kids while at the same time juggling preschoolers, toddlers, and babies? Is it even realistic to think we could do a good job while spinning so many homeschool plates? On this episode of Homeschooling in Real Life, Fletch and Kendra talk about how they’ve managed to homeschool 8 kids, how to structure a day so that schooling actually gets done, and how mom can survive and thrive during the demanding years of homeschooling multiple ages. SHO...

Hard times! As much as we might like it to be, life is not all ponies, rainbows, and watercolor daisies. On this episode of HomeschoolingIRL we discuss the issue of homeschooling when life gets hard. Difficulties can look different in every family – marital stress, tragedies, health challenges, financial loss – and we’ll consider how each of these hardships can put unusual stress on a homeschooling family. What is our response? What should it be? Join us as we interview homeschooling mom and b...

Some of our best episodes have been created as the result of our listeners’ great ideas, and this is one of those episodes! We’re talking all about leaving younger siblings with older siblings in the role of babysitter: the ins and outs, the expectations, and other various aspects of that realty. We hope it sets the stage for good discussion with your own kids and allows you to successfully encourage your own in-house babysitters. SHOW NOTES: Recommended Resources: None Get Social With Us: Fol...

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...

Special Replay Episode: When we talk about the desperate need to get it right, Fletch is quick to say, “Oh! You mean homeschooling in the age of Pinterest?” On this episode we are talking about how to homeschool when we feel like we just don’t measure up to the other homeschool moms we know. We are joined in the studio by Kym Smythe, Sabrina Justison and Vicki Tillman, three of the sisters from 7SistersHomeschool.com and The Homeschool Highschool Podcast. We discuss how to handle the competition...

What’s Your New Normal? – HIRL Episode 160 What does life look like post-pandemic? Which activities are you are eager to return to, and what will you change going forward? From changing the family schedule, to changing the pace of life, to learning how to connect through the smart use of technology, these are the questions Fletch and Kendra discuss on this week’s episode of Homeschooling in Real Life. Answers will differ from person to person and family to family, but one thing remains true for...

Blessed Are The Crisis Schoolers – HIRL Episode 159 How can you support your neighbor who is suddenly learning how to school their kids at home? What does it mean to “Love Thy Neighbor” during this Covid-19 pandemic? We are three weeks into the COVID-19 global crisis and families around us are settling into new routines. For some, this “new normal” is anything but normal or routine. These families are struggling to juggle family, work and this new version of schooling their kids at home. Follo...

Hope Shifting and Covid19 – HIRL Episode 158 What does homeschooling look like in the face of a worldwide pandemic? How does sudden change affect the breadwinner in the home who is unexpectedly out of work? What happens when a homeschooling parent suddenly has everyone in the family home all day long? What do we talk about with our children? How do we balance sharing news, information, and our own fears? We’re dusting off the microphones and cranking up the volume as Fletch and Kendra discuss t...

A special replay! We all have those people in our lives who prove to be a challenge to love: a grumpy toddler, a brooding teen, an irritable spouse, a controlling parent. How do we love them in spite of their unloveliness? What does the gospel tell us about our own unloveliness, and God’s love for us? Tun in to this episode of Homeschooling in Real Life for a touching and deeply meaningful conversation about loving the unlovable. SHOW NOTES: Recommended Resources: None Follow Fletch/Kendra: F...

Are you a homeschooling mom who needs to work? Are you contemplating a job alongside homeschooling? Join us for this episode of Homeschooling in Real Life as we talk with Jimmie Lanley, a mom who found the need to be employed but also wanted to continue educating her daughter at home with excellence. Jimmie is straight-forward and encouraging as she shares her experience and wisdom with our listeners. SHOW NOTES: Recommended Resources: JimmieLanley.com Get Social With Us: Follow Fletch/Kendra...

Author Kristen Hatton joins us for an important discussion that encompasses the world our teen girls are growing up in. From eating disorders to the impact of social media on a young woman’s self image, Kristen’s latest book, Facetime: Your Identity in a Selfie World, is a significant guide to pointing our teenaged daughters to Christ to find their acceptance and worth. Raising daughters? This episode is just for you. SHOW NOTES: KristenHatton.com Facetime – Your Identity in a Selfie World San...

During a recent homeschooling convention where we were speaking, an older gentleman approached the Homeschooling in Real Life booth and asked what we might know about grandparents who homeschool. He was planning to help his daughter homeschool her children, and he was there to gather information. The topic of grandparents who homeschool is an exciting one! The possibilities for how a grandparent might help out in the homeschool setting are endless, and the opportunities for discipleship are inde...

We have big dreams when we begin parenting: how many children we’ll have, what we’ll do together, how our relationship will be when they are adults. It doesn’t take long for us to realize that we’re not in control of who or how our children are, and soon we can find ourselves disappointed that we didn’t have a child like X, Y, and Z. How do we respond when we finally acknowledge that we are disappointed? How does the gospel inform our choices, our conversations, and our relationship to our kids?...

Homeschooling is a choice born out of the freedom to choose what we feel to be the best educational option for our children. It should follow, then that if a family who has made the choice to homeschool then decides to put a child into a traditional school setting, fellow homeschoolers will support that freedom to choose, too. Unfortunately, that’s not the reaction many receive when they announce they’ll be returning to school. Instead of encouragement and reassurance, they often receive condemn...

Apps! Mobile phones! iPads! Technology! It all moves so fast and changes seemingly overnight. How do we keep up with what our kids are asking to use or are being exposed to, even if we are trying to keep it all in balance? Join us on this highly informative episode of Homeschooling in Real Life as we welcome author and speaker Leah Nieman to discuss five apps every parent should know about right now. It’s an up-to-the-minute conversation, but even if you’re listening months or even years from it...

It’s that time of year again – graduation is upon us and college is looming into the future. In this replay of the Best of Homeschooling IRL, listen in as Fletch and Kendra interview Jean Burke of College Prep Genius with tips for affording college. —- When our students hope to go to college, the perennial question remains: how in the world will they pay for it? We decided to return to the topic of affording college with College Prep Genius Jean Burk because we know she has valuable information ...

This week on this replay episode of Homeschooling IRL: How does a homeschooling parent possibly educate older kids while at the same time juggling preschoolers, toddlers, and babies? Is it even realistic to think we could do a good job while spinning so many homeschool plates? On this episode of Homeschooling in Real Life, Fletch and Kendra talk about how they’ve managed to homeschool 8 kids, how to structure a day so that schooling actually gets done, and how mom can survive and thrive during t...

This week on Special Edition – Homeschooling IRL – Enjoy this episode replay sponsored by Christian Standard Bible! Mid-January. Harumph. Are you feeling the mid-year slump in your homeschool, too? In this episode of Homeschooling in Real Life, Fletch and Kendra talk about how the mid-year slump affects their homeschooling and give several practical ways in which you can beat the mid-year slump, too. SHOW NOTES: Recommended Resources: Lost and Found, by Kendra Fletcher Key Life Ministries with...

This week on Special Edition – Homeschooling IRL – Enjoy this episode replay sponsored by Christian Standard Bible! Join us as we welcome pastor, homeschool father, and family devotions author, Marty Machowski. We talk with Marty about family devotions and why we need to encourage each other as families to gather together around the Word of God. These are wonderful books for families just like yours. They are easy to use, with ideas that are easy to grasp, and they teach to a level that will eng...

This week on Special Edition – Homeschooling IRL – Enjoy this episode replay sponsored by Christian Standard Bible! We are talking about Family Devotions for the Real Family on this podcast. You know REAL family devotions. The families with the toddler hijacking the deep discussion, and the teens are daydreaming, and mom is falling asleep because it’s been a long, long homeschooling day. Can you relate to family worship that looks like this? Family worship can be trying for most families, and o...

“Out of Retirement” Update from Homeschooling in Real Life: Leaving Legalism Hey there, HIRLers! We’ve missed you all so much that we decided to come back for one more episode. We’re celebrating the Ultimate Homeschool Network’s 5th anniversary and catching you up on good ol’ Homeschooling in Real Life stuff. It’s fun frivolity and all the fluff you’ve come to expect. Happy homeschooling! Find more Homeschooling in Real Life episodes here Discussing the topics that you might not find covered a...

We home educators spend a lot of time educating our kids. But what about us? Are we taking the time to learn more, discover more, and be curious? This episode of Homeschooling in Real Life is dedicated to you, the homeschooling parent. We want to see you grow and thrive in your role as parent educator, and to that end we’re talking about the reasons to educate yourself as well as the how-to. Let’s get learning! SHOW NOTES: Recommended Resources: Hoopla – Library digital borrowing Khan Academ...