Episode 013: Reflections After Homeschool Graduation with Renee Robinson

My friend, also named Renee, is joining me in today’s episode! She is FULL of grace and wisdom. And I highly recommend subscribing to her substack!! Reneerobinson.substack.com

She and her husband felt called to begin homeschooling when her boys were in 7th, 5th, and 2nd grades. Renee shares openly about the ups and downs of that transition and why they continued homeschooling all the way through high school.

You definitely don’t want to miss hearing all the wisdom & advice for new homeschool moms from someone who has been at it for 13 years.

In this episode you will hear:

  • What was worth prioritizing? 
  • What she wishes she would have done differently? 
  • What it’s like to homeschool all boys
  • The advice an experienced homeschool mom would give herself
  • The thing that matters most in homeschooling.

A Few Recommendations:

As a response to my conversation with the other Renee, I wanted to share some of my most favorite books to just encourage your mom heart. Plus a few practical articles & tools that will help you teach your kids well at home.

Don’t stress about getting through everything. Just read a little each day. Most of these are short and you can get through one book per month or so.

Rabbit Trail on Math

I briefly mentioned this book, A Mathematician’s Lament. It’s blowing my mind. I’m still processing and will probably have to read it a few more times. So far, I’d recommend it to anyone involved in educating young children.

Even if I don’t agree with every single sentence or conclusion, his outlook on math education is brilliantly accurate and his solutions are inspiring.

For what it’s worth, my top 2 math curriculum recommendations these days are Math with Confidence (cheapest at Rainbow Resource) and Beast Academy (online or in book form).

Both of these math curriculums:

  • Explore math in a play-based, problem solving way
  • Help kids develop amazing number sense
  • Make math education a delight

Here is how we now use Beast Academy online. (The same company also has a higher level math program called AoPS, Art of Problem Solving. This material comes in various forms… just poke around the website to see what’s right for you.)

I got all my kids started on playing math with Preschool Math at Home, written by the same author who wrote Math with Confidence.

If neither of those works for you, my subsequent Homeschool Math Recommendations are Apologia Math, Singapore Primary 2022, Singapore Dimensions, and Math Mammoth.

As with everything homeschool-related though, you do you!!