Kelly Rigg (00:00.654)
Oh, yes. So funny how it always asks, do you want to leave? Yes. Run away. Okay. I'm sorry. I know. I'm like, okay, got to get back in the mode. I almost feel like we should just talk about it first and then dive into it. But no, go. No, don't because we'll say all the good stuff and then we won't be able to repeat ourselves. Exactly.
Hey guys, welcome to our first proper episode of the Big Home Ed Conversations. So this is going to be a podcast where we're going to be breaking down and discussing the sometimes huge challenges, but the actual delights as well, that we experience home educating our kids. So if you're seriously considering home ed for your family, or if you're already a seasoned home edder, we really hope that you're going to find something valuable here. My name is Kelly. I'm a home education mentor and coach and mum of two very likely neurodivergent children.
And my co -host Ashley is a really good friend of mine and fellow home educating mom of three incredible girls. She's the next teacher as well. So she's got some really interesting insights. And we're gonna be chatting this week about expectations versus reality. So first of all, let's say hello to Ashley. So you actually know that she's here. How are you Ashley? You did okay. I'm good, yeah, glad to be here. Good.
We thought we'd start these episodes off with a little bit of just fun insight into our lives. So I thought I'd tell you a story about this week. It's a great lead into the idea of this expectations versus reality actually. I was out on an incredible walk with a group of friends. We meet up on Thursdays sometimes and just get outside. We call it sort of rambles with the kids. And on this particular occasion, we had a lovely time. It's so sunny. It was one of those really beautiful warm days we've had recently. But we...
We reached a point where truly they had gone completely feral. And I use the word playfully. People keep telling me I need to rebrand as free range, but working on it. But they literally were t -shirts off, so muddy, digging in a massive hole they'd found. And they were just literally laughing their heads off, just digging and digging and digging with these little spades we'd brought to play on the beach. It was like a little lake beach.
Kelly Rigg (02:22.318)
And honestly, the looks we were getting, as people come past. And I think I worked very, very hard to remember that I do not care what other people think. Like, I don't know about you, Ashley, but when you're out and about with them, you're just like, no, they're kids, they should be dirty. Like, they're having a brilliant time. Like, they're learning, they're having a great time, they're making friends. But my goodness, they were so filthy. And every now and then I forget that we're out on a weekday with school -aged children, with people going, why aren't they in school?
and why are they so filthy and why aren't you stopping them doing what they're doing? It's really weird, isn't it? And I think this is, as I say, as I get into the subject for today, we've got like this really weird situation I find as you start home educating where you do feel really conscious of what other people are probably thinking of you and your decision and what you're about to do. What was your experience of the early days? Like, how did you find it?
Yeah, it was definitely a shift pretty early on as to what I thought things were going to look like and then what they actually turned out to be. So coming from a traditional schooling background myself and then seeing what's on Pinterest and Instagram, you kind of get this very beautiful idea of what homeschooling is going to look like.
And then you very quickly come into the reality of, well, sometimes my kid just doesn't want to do that. Or, you know, it's a beautiful day. And so I don't want to sit down and start with reading. I want us actually to go to the park and enjoy the weather because we don't know what it's going to be like the next day. And really having to balance even now as my kids get older and more one by one, they're kind of coming into a little bit more of a...
older position, they're starting to need to maybe do a little bit more reading, a little bit more math than they have before. And balancing all of that, it's again shifting, right? Because when doing stuff with one child is very different than with three. So, so yeah, it's, it's been a journey. And I've definitely had to re -examine what I want out of homeschool and what my kids need from that, versus what I thought maybe it was going to look like. Yes, big time. And I think,
Kelly Rigg (04:49.774)
definitely for myself as well, I think those early days, I was very academic in school. Although I definitely would like reflecting back as an adult and one of the reasons why I've decided to home educate was definitely the, can't speak today, this is going well, is a recognition that I myself, although I was a high achiever in terms of academic grades and all the rest of it, that actually that had an awful lot of knock on effects to me.
as a person, my confidence, my friendships, my passion, personal interests, like I didn't really seem to have any. I didn't really know what my direction was. Like I felt a lot of my adult life has kind of just been waiting for instructions and kind of waiting for someone to tell me what I should do next. And so there was an awful lot that I was very conscious of. I didn't want to perpetuate in my home education journey, but I didn't have any concept.
of what that really looked like. I had no friends who home educated, especially not in the unschooling way that we tend to do it. Not that we're like true, like radical unschoolers, but we're most of the way there. We do our best. And ultimately I have come from a very academic mindset myself as well and having to really, like I imagined that the day to day would be quite challenging. Like we all have this kind of image that we kind of get told that,
you need qualified teachers to teach them this stuff. You've got to do it all exactly the right order that you best not miss anything. And like you've got so much to cover and there's like the stress, right? The pressure that's kind of being put on you to think that it's going to be really, really challenging. And I've been really lucky. And I think this is something which I say with a huge pinch of salt, because I appreciate that an awful lot of people will have children with additional needs who have now school trauma, who have got mental health issues going on.
maybe they have got some developmental delays in various different capacities. And it isn't always easy to keep up with the national curriculum and what it's actually asking of them. Because again, we will agree that it's likely started too young and it's like, we can get into all that, we'll get into it in time. But the point is that I was really convinced that I probably was going to mess it up and that I was really hoping that I wouldn't. And I was like, oh no, I'm passionate about this. I want to give it a try.
Kelly Rigg (07:12.302)
But I was really challenged by that. I mean, obviously you yourself have tried to explain it right? So you understand what it's like covering a curriculum and making sure you're keeping up with that. Like it does feel stressful. Yeah. And you can really fall into that rabbit hole too of like, let me read a million different articles and or look at different guidelines around what a child needs to learn by each grade or each age mark. And,
the list can be vast. So you can really overwhelm yourself and if you're not careful, overwhelm your child. And so it's one of those things where you have to be really aware of what are we trying to accomplish here? How do we do that in a way that's still playful and is gonna actually have meaning for my child? But then also if you're in a situation where you do have to meet those goals, then what am I looking at?
are my true requirements. So for example, in the states, there are by state various things that you might have to do, whether it's a portfolio review every year or an interview with a teacher every year. But there's, and there are actually a few states that don't have any requirements, which is lovely, if you happen to be so lucky to live there. But if you don't, and you have to follow certain regulations, which can even just be
schooling 180 days a year or whatever the breakdown is for that state's traditional schooling. Usually it mirrors that. So if you're trying to do that, then that's one thing that you have to consider that you still, regardless of unschooling or whatever version you are on kind of that scale of homeschooling options.
I'm going to style as I should say, you still might have to meet those requirements. And then when we were in Italy homeschooling for my daughter's first and second grade year, so year two, year three here, we had to have her sit with the grade instructors, like the teachers for that grade at the end of the school year. And so we had to submit not really a portfolio, but.
Kelly Rigg (09:27.906)
it ended up being about six or seven pages each year, stating what she went through. And then they would then test her on that. And she would actually go in with two instructors for about an hour. And I have no idea what went on in there. I would ask her, but you know, being, you know, six or seven, she was like, I don't know how they asked me my name and something. And I will never forget this. This is such, such a homeschooling fail. After her first,
her first one that she went in, she came out and the teachers were still talking. And so she came out first to me and I was waiting. And this was during COVID. So it was also like, I could have pushed to be in the room, but I know they didn't want me in the room. And so I was like, it's fine. I'll wait outside. I'm sure she'll do great. And so she came out and she was like, well, everything was really good. Yeah. Well, I had met and spoken to the teachers ahead of time. We like casually chatted in the hallway. So I was feeling okay.
I mean, like, I couldn't trust them and tell them that we do. I mean, they probably just say, watch TV. Like, was actually worried about that. I'm like, great. Thanks. Okay. So she came out. Yes. So these are all the things we did last week. Yeah. He put them top of mind. So she would do that. No, she's she's good. And so she came out. And I was like, how'd it go? She said, good. And she said,
But they did ask me to write my name and I didn't know how to write my last name. Oh, that's true. Because you think about it, if your child is going to school, then they're writing their name on the top of every paper every day, five times a day in every class. And she writes her name, but the amount of time she writes her last name was none. She's my only live. That was just so funny.
I was like, okay, we will, that is my takeaway. We will work on that. But she, she did great. They, they were like, oh yeah, she, she's totally fine. Onto the next grade. So we kind of took that little piece and now, now she's good at writing her name, obviously. I had a little moment like that myself. Sometime last year when I realized that they didn't know the months of the year. And I was just like,
Kelly Rigg (11:46.734)
I'm not entirely sure why we haven't really covered this. I haven't really talked to one. It's like, obviously we say like, oh, it's May or whatever. They didn't grasp the concepts. We're not talking, we have seven and a four year old. So like, we're cool. We've got plenty of time. We're working on this. We're going to have these moments. And I think, so like, the idea is that we're coming into this thinking we've got to make sure that we've covered everything, that we've got to make sure we know everything by the time there's 16, right? And if you've got an academic mindset,
and you've been through that yourself, then you are likely to come into home education or be considering home education from the standpoint of, I've got to make sure that they can do XYZ, pass GCSEs at age 16, A -levels at age 18, and then go on to university and become incredibly successful people who have a wonderful wife or husband, several beautiful children, buy a lovely house and live a perfect life. And somehow all of that feels like it's on your shoulders and it's...
utterly hilarious how as parents we seem to think that we have this much influence over our children, which we fast realize, home educating children, which is basically like herding cats, is essentially nonsense because actually we are here to facilitate and support and guide and love and treasure, sure. But mostly...
we're here to learn about them and to understand what they want and what they need and where they're trying to go themselves and just try and help them with that. Right. And I mean, yes, hopefully teach them to read, do some maths and pass any exams that they're going to need to pass in order to do whatever they want to do one day. But ultimately, I mean, for me anyway, it's taken well, three and a half, four years of home education for me to really reach a point now where I'm starting to understand that.
Although we need a little bit of gentle structure through our week, that actually I can trust them, that humans are curious beings. We want to understand the world around us. We want to understand the space and the vastness of the universe. We want to understand how to cook incredible food. We want to understand how to take care of a garden. Like there's things that we want to do and that children do want to do.
Kelly Rigg (14:03.342)
whatever it is that they might be interested in, it could be anything. And there's so many millions of different things you can be learning about and doing that, yes, a curriculum can be really great to give you some gentle structure if that's what you need or inspiration or just something to kind of keep you kind of just checking back in with, as you say, developmental goals and guidelines. But ultimately, if you can embrace the idea that actually what you're doing,
is you're just living your life and that your children will learn and want to do incredible things all the time. And that ultimately learning doesn't stop at 16 or 18. And I think I'd love to ask this question of you actually as well, because I've been thinking a lot about this recently is this idea of, of why we feel like education stops at that point, why we've got to achieve so much by that point. And like where that mindset comes from. And I know from my perspective, it's the fact that obviously,
we felt like sitting and doing like the idea of like failing my GCSEs and having to come back and resit the whole of year 11 and then reset all of those exams again. I was like, please no. Like I don't want to have to do this again. Like I'm so stressed and I'm so bored of it now. And I just want to go and do something else. I want to earn some money or I want to go and learn something interesting. I want to learn the subjects that I want to learn about. Like,
was so desperate to get away from structured education and to do something that was more for me that I wanted to learn about, that the idea of messing those up was so stressful. And I think that we have this idea, obviously, that we've got to get our kids to that point at like at 16, they've got to be able to do those exams because the next step is waiting for them. That I really think can sometimes...
stopper learning. Like when I did finally leave structured education, I left it just after A levels. I just ran. I didn't learn anything new. Like I didn't actively go back to seek more education for years afterwards. Like I just wanted to just be free. And it's taken me ages to get that love of learning back. Absolutely ages. Yeah, I think you kind of hit the nail on the head when you said like, you were ready to do something for you. And I think that's one of the things that
Kelly Rigg (16:25.646)
I've really found in homeschooling is like, I might find what I think is this like, beautiful topic to explore, you know, whether it's, I don't know, I don't know, just recently we were doing oceans and I was super excited to kind of dive into that. And the girls have been into it. But at the end, they're like, okay, so now let's go read my horse book, or let's go read my snake book. And I'm like, okay. So, you know, that is something that I was actually thinking like, Eliza's like, we were talking about this. So like, kind of a side
side note here, but in the car, I was like, well, you know, today we were driving to the art class and I said, what's something you guys want to learn about? And my middle daughter was like, snakes. And we have exhausted snakes, I thought, but apparently not. Oh, I was thinking today, okay, maybe what I need to do is like, I want to get some geography in there. So maybe what we're going to do is what snakes like snakes by country, like we're going to find out.
which snakes are in each country and then we'll make a little map about it. And she can have, you know, so I won't go into all of what I was thinking for this, but the point being that like, if it's not relevant to them, and it's not something that they want to do, it's just not going to stick. And I found this so similarly, I think in the States, when we grow up, it's all about graduating high school at 18, and getting into a good college. And so it was just my friends and I talk about this because,
we said like there was just never a question if we were going to college or not. It just wasn't a question. You were going. It was just a question of where. And so that was something that was just drilled into us. You have to get good grades immediately. Like so from the, from day one when you're six years old, good grades. So you can get good scores. Um, so you can be in the highest level of your class, right? So you can get good scores on your SATs so that.
that was a huge indicator of school acceptance, so that you could get into a good university. And then at the end of that, when you graduate at 22 years old, you're gonna get a good job. And it doesn't matter if it's a job you want. It was never like you're gonna follow your dream. It was like, nope, you're gonna get a good well -paying job so you have money. Like that is it. You can buy yourself a house and you can get married, you can have your babies and you can get on with serving the economy.
Kelly Rigg (18:49.486)
Yes, exactly. And I get where that came from. Like, I understand that the generations before us didn't have the same opportunities. And they saw that, you know, money was obviously a huge concern. So being financially stable is something that I think our parents, at least in America, were very focused on. So having that financial stability and, and in their mind, this was the right thing for them to instill in their children, right, to give them financial stability.
so that they could buy a home and kind of live that American dream. But I do think that it came at the cost of following your interests of maybe pursuing a passion that wasn't viewed as lucrative at the time. Now, obviously, the job market is totally different now than what it, there are positions that exist today that didn't exist when I was graduating high school. And so it's totally different, but in their minds that...
you know, I know my parents, you know, kind of discouraged me from following certain paths. And we're like, No, you should do this in college, because that's gonna, that's gonna give you financial stability. And what you're looking at doing is more artistic and likely would not provide financial stability. And so that's a bad choice. And I think that what I try to constantly do, and I do certainly sometimes have that mentality, like, okay, if you want to do that, you're not gonna make any money.
and that might be challenging. I just think it in my head. And I just want them, because I do truly want my children to be happy. And I want them to pursue their passions. And I have confidence that they will find a way for that to put them in a position where they are financially stable. And at the bare minimum, I know they'll be happy. And that is super important. So yeah, but it is a challenge, right, to...
you know, kind of incorporate their passions into a lifestyle if you are in a traditional school setting because the requirements on them are just so extreme that that they are going to kind of fall into that just wave of good grades, good grades, good grades, you know, to pass the test. And then and then just to your point, walk away because you're done. And that's how I was too. I was like, get the grades. And I don't remember any of that stuff now.
Kelly Rigg (21:13.454)
And I think what's really fascinating about that when you think about like all the different subjects that we likely covered when we were in school, like all the different, every term would have been a different subject in like Vikings or like the Judas or whatever, right? And like how much of that is still in there? And hardly any. And it's, I think it's often because when you can lead a horse to water, but you can't force it to drink. So they can put subjects in front of kids, but they can't expect them to necessarily want to do them. And so, I mean, this leads us very tidily onto the point of like,
some of the actual negatives, the stresses, the frustrations in home education as well, because obviously this podcast is not just gonna be about like how amazing is home education. Like at the end of the day, there are still some real struggles. And I think one of the biggest struggles around kind of the eye face anyway, is obviously the fact that you've got two children. I've got one boy, one girl. The eldest is very much,
It's so funny because they're so gender stereotyped. I have no idea how it happened. Like we really work hard to avoid it, but who cares? So my eldest is a boy and loves dinosaurs and football and sharks and snakes and scary stuff and running around like a lunatic. And my youngest is a little girl and she loves pink and sparkles and unicorns and rainbows and has...
But a moment, I mean, we seem to have moved into giraffes. So thank goodness for a real animal that exists in modern day that we can talk about. But all she has wanted to learn about forever has been unicorns. And of course, again, she's four, so we'll work on it. She'll get to the point where she'll have other interests, I'm sure. But she she's just so funny. And she's literally just like, I want to learn about unicorns. And just like, again, like you say, like, I have exhausted unicorns, kids, like, they're a myth. We're literally just covering the same like.
lots of different countries have myths about unicorns. Yay. And like, as you said, there's loads of fun stuff you can do. And obviously, there's loads of great resources out there that incorporate unicorns into it. They're fun for her to be doing and all that. So anyway, it's fine. You can you can work with whatever subjects they chuck at you. And I think the the truth is that they they have both kind of they both have their various interests. So they're sorry, my point, I will get there eventually. So the point is that they they are siblings.
Kelly Rigg (23:33.198)
So number one, they are siblings. And I really, really expected that home education would mean much closer, much more able to rub along together. Like me and my sister were constantly at each other's throats. And I sometimes kind of, when I look back at it as an adult, I do consider the fact that I was in a different year group to her. I had different friends. You kind of get inflamed with that sense of being older that you really don't see a lot of in the home -made community. Like you don't, you see 12 year olds.
hanging out with seven year olds playing dinosaurs, no questions asked, like no weirdness whatsoever, like just super nice and enjoying each other's company. And so I really expected that there'd be more tolerance and I expected they'd be more patient with each other. But ultimately, we're still dealing with really stereotypical sibling issues.
which I just I don't know why I didn't really expect that like I just thought that they'd have a closeness that would kind of overrule that somehow. And I guess in some ways, maybe they do. And I'm maybe kind of just experiencing my level of it. And maybe it isn't as severe as it can be. But they they my goodness, the squabbling and I mean, some days, it can be so disruptive because obviously, you're trying to help one to do something and the other one doesn't want you to and they want your attention for something else. And I think that it is challenging, but I've only got two and I appreciate that it gets harder than you had, I'm sure.
But yeah, like I think I've been quite frustrated by that recently, actually, like it has actually been a real challenge for me lately, is finding ways to meet both of their needs at the same time, and my own, and the wider world, of course. I forget that. And the clients and jobs and things I've got to get done as well. And to like, it can be really tricky to manage those multiple personalities and interests. And obviously, if one wants to learn about snakes, the other one doesn't, and then you've got to have the row about what you're covering that day. And it's just, it can be really frustrating.
And I think as an adult, I then have to just really work on filling my cup, making sure that I'm not really tired, hungry, stressed before I try and sit down to do stuff with them, that I'm taking that time to rest, I'm taking time out for quiet, like these active sort things I have to do to make sure that I am not always rising to these irritations with anger.
Kelly Rigg (25:52.494)
But this is a really important point that the reality is that as a home educating mum, I am no more patient with the kids than any other parent on the planet. Like they are still children, they're still very real children and they still have their very real squabbles over the person putting their rubbish too close to them on the back seat of the car. They make every other parent on the planet go absolutely nuts. So.
Yeah, I'm sure that you'll agree with me. Actually, like, you're not. Yeah, I'm laughing because I'm like, Yep, never had that happen before. Nope. Yeah, I think I have to blame, like the Instagram for that, because obviously, no one is showing these moments when they're saying we're a homeschooler, like they're showing the lovely table settings and their children painting together. And then, you know, then they're feeding the chickens outside and then they're on their five mile hike and then they're preparing.
dinner together with fresh bread and, you know, freshly picked vegetables from the garden. And like, I think that all of those components do come into play for all of us. Just not on the same day. That is definitely an achieving day. Yes, yes. And so that I think that's the thing is like, learning to let go of that can be really hard. I find it hard for me. I think it just depends on the type of person you are.
But there are times when I've planned like what I think is gonna be a really great day and I'm really excited about it. And maybe I have one kid that's also like really on board that day. Got a good night's sleep, ate breakfast, whatever. But my other one or my youngest one is just not wanting to be out of my arms or one of my two older ones are just not feeling it and feeling like they're gonna just complain about everything that day. And so it does, it's hard cause you're like,
I put so much time into this, like, let's do it together. And so you're right, they are siblings. They are still gonna have that rivalry. They're also just gonna have bad days, just like we would. And so you do still have the general, not even necessarily against school, but just like, I don't wanna do what you're telling me to do today.
Kelly Rigg (28:07.022)
Like if that's school, that's school. If that's getting dressed, it's getting dressed. Like I just don't feel like I'm gonna not do what you want me to do. And so those things are gonna happen. I mean, we would all post about it if it actually was something other people wanted to see, right? But I think, you know, it kind of goes against the inspiring side of home education, but it's certainly the real side. And so I know, I think part of that too, speaking of expectations and reality is that I kind of thought that I would,
as what I consider myself to be somewhat creative. I kind of thought that I would just have all these creative ideas and all the time in the world to create these amazing lessons and experiences that are, you know, learning but hidden, you know, so they don't actually realize that they're learning while we're doing what's just a really fun game or a really fun project. And it's like the reality of that is that that time does not exist. We're still going to swimming lessons, going to art class, going to piano, you know, doing
co -ops with other home editors were doing field trips were, you know, very involved in the community and with others. And so sometimes you just have to take math for the sake of math. And I think, you know, that's also hard to build into that because I had this vision of these like, you know, beautiful days spent together all smuggled up on the couch reading or around the table with a candle lit in the middle.
and our freshly baked muffins that we're eating while we work on whatever it is we're working on. And some days do, that does happen some days and I love that. But it certainly doesn't happen every day. And so, sometimes, yeah. That gives us such a horrible hardness too, right? That self criticism if we're not meeting those goals, if like when we set these expectations and we hope that they're gonna look how they look and especially if we spend a lot of money, like if you pay for a trip out and it really doesn't go great and.
Like all these different things that we're ended up being really hard on ourselves and equally sometimes really hard on our kids. And we can feel really frustrated by the night. I know like not wanting to continue with something that you've been doing for a while and they've been doing really well. You've been paying a lot of money for lessons or whatever, right? That there's so many moments when we can have an expectation of what it's going to look like. The reality looks different, whether that's good or bad. And that can have a real knock on effect to how things continue. And I think that the truth is that if we can actually.
Kelly Rigg (30:34.158)
kind of dig into ourselves and recognize in ourselves that we are wanting it to be a certain way, recognizing the why. So looking at the fact that we are thinking, I want my kids to experience this incredible outcomes. And we'll get into this in more depth in other episodes as well, because it's a really important point really, but this idea that we want them to experience this, how they experience it. Really what we're doing is we're doing that for ourselves. We're saying that this is what I would have loved to have had when I was a child. And...
Truthfully, even if we only achieve a tenth of that dream, like we're actually creating an incredibly different story for our kids, that it's a very different trajectory. It's a very different outcome. And like I have experienced your baking and I have experienced your baking moments with us all doing amazing stuff around a table together. And I know that it's, it is chaos. And I think that ultimately the beauty is still there even when the chaos is right screaming in our actual bases.
And I think this is the reality that I really wish that people understood is that you don't have to be the most patient parent, you don't have to be the most relaxed parent, and you don't have to be the most creative or the best baker or the best anything. You just need to be their parent and you need to love them. And that's literally it. And the rest of it comes, the rest of it is chaos and it's messy and it's frustrating sometimes and it's still beautiful, even though it's all those things. And I think that that's...
that is a really hard thing for people to realise that they don't, it doesn't have to look any certain way for them to be like, you can jump in, even if your life is an absolute nightmare right now, and you really didn't even know how you're going to cope with it. Like you will find a way, like you will find the muddle. And sometimes, like if you're thinking about it, you think this is something which is going to benefit your family, that the chances are it will.
And it's one of those things where giving yourself the opportunity to actually feel into what you want your life to feel like and look like and like to notice what expectations you have, notice what the realities end up being and make some shifts and changes and like accommodate the realities a little bit better each time that actually you do start to enjoy it even though it's messy, even though it's not what you want to go necessarily. Yeah, well, even if you had asked me pre -kids, if I ever thought I would find myself,
Kelly Rigg (32:58.606)
homeschooling. I will first of all, I probably wouldn't have even known that it was possible. And because I had a traditional schooling upbringing, I didn't know any homeschoolers growing up, it wasn't something that was common in my area. And so I think I thought it was just for like, strict religious reasons. And that would be the only reason you would do it. And and while I think that probably does exist, obviously still even today, there's just, I think just too many more people that have embraced.
the opportunity to homeschool and I know not everyone can so I consider myself really lucky in that it's something that our lifestyle allows us to do. But I think that you know amongst the hecticness of it because it is hectic it is definitely most times 24 seven with your kids. So it's definitely something you you kind of learn as you go just like anything like when you had a child and brought them home from the hospital.
you had no clue what you were doing that first time around and you learned and just incorporated all of that knowledge into every day moving forward. And I think even though so many days are exhausting and maybe don't come out the way that I thought they would, I am still so thankful for all the beautiful moments that happened throughout that day and for the closeness I have with my children. And we only get them 18 years, right? Until they're off and doing their own thing in so many cases.
Yeah, so I just, I want to have these moments with them for as long as it makes sense for us and for them. And I think that I would never, I wouldn't, I don't regret making the decision to homeschool. And I just, I don't ever feel like I would willingly give it up. It would have to be due to a particular circumstance that we would ever walk away. And I think, yeah, just like you said, it can be hard, but it can also be amazing. And there are so many good days and wonderful days. And I'm just like,
you see their progress. And it's just like drops in a bucket, right? Because it's not, there's no instant gratification from this role. It's something that over time, you're like, oh my gosh, look at that. Yes, yes, we did talk about that the other day. My youngest was telling me about scorpions being nocturnal. And I was like, oh my gosh, like, we talked about that for a go or something. It was just the cutest thing. And so I was like, oh, look at this. Like, yeah, anyway.
Kelly Rigg (35:22.574)
So you do find just some wonderful experiences then. I think that if people are able to and they're wanting to, it's a wonderful thing to take the chance on. I don't think they would regret it. No, I don't think they would either. Well, thank you guys so much for today. I think we've had, again, a lovely conversation. And I'm hoping that you guys feel so too. Please do make sure you do come and share your thoughts with us. Come and talk to us on social media. I am at...
Off -roading motherhood and Ashley is I will get this eventually Homeschool in progress. Homeschool in progress. That's it. I must remember this. I'll get them get into my head in the future at some point I'm sure So do come and follow us do come and say hi to us and do obviously subscribe to this podcast And we hope to speak to you again next week. Take care guys. Bye
