The Wonders Of Homeschooling And Financial Literacy

#038 In this episode, we have Linsey Knerl. She is a mother of six who has been homeschooling and since 2004. Linsey practically produced and taught a small classroom, but at the same time, runs a small business. Along with homeschooling, entrepreneurship has led her to a freelance writing career that complements her own homeschool style. Linsey is also the author of Homeschool Hacks and is very passionate about the opportunities for home education. Today, Linsey is going to share with us what it’s like be a working mother and homeschooling kids. She shares her experiences about homeschooling and how home education has significantly helped her children become well-educated members of society.

Please go to Raising Financial Freedom.com for full show notes

Homeschooling vs. teaching in School

[2:26]

Teaching children at school is a different beast from teaching kids at home. You can't really homeschool and work at the same. With the Pandemic, every parent has experienced homeschooling their kids with virtual learning. But it can be done with the amount of hours a day that it takes to educate your child. It isn't as many hours as others would think from the traditional public school schedule. With younger kids, they can be educated in as few as two hours a day all the way up to high school. Formal instruction can take place in less than even four hours. And the rest is extracurricular, administrative, all those things that happen in the school day that aren't really learning related. 
[4:34]

You will stop looking for things sometimes when you just assume the school is going to provide opportunities for you. But if you're motivated and have initiative, the opportunities are endless for homeschoolers.



How Homeschooling is Understood by others

[16:34]

Having people over entertaining is almost impossible because people who don't homeschool, don't understand why you have so much stuff. It's very hard to do like a minimal lifestyle thing when you need 30 books for each child. It's just a different way of living. So for somebody whose kids are in school all day, it can be hard for someone else to deal with that much like energy. It can be a little hard to find your people if they're not also homeschoolers.

How Homeschooling affects the Future of your Kids 

[18:10]

Homeschoolers can't really blame anyone else. But if kids are doing that independent learning module, they're developing skills that once they get into college, then they will grow to become independent individuals and they will have an advantage when it comes to dealing with life on their own. If you do teach them the right things and raising them to be young adults and not just big children that go on and become someone else's problem, then there is a big difference.

How to Start Homeschooling your children

[21:34]

Whether you're going to do it full time, or you're just doing it like for a while to get through, start with the one thing your child really likes whether that's math, reading, science, or history. And tackle that with as much passion as you can along with the tools and resources to make it rewarding for them. Then build upon that. 

 Learn more about Linsey Knerl:

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Homeschool-Hacks-Education-Without-Losing/dp/1982171154

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lknerl?lang=en

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/linseybknerl

Website: htt

Transcript

[00:00:00] Eric: During the pandemic. We, as parents had to step up our teaching game and at times it can be nerve wracking, but Hey, we are parents. We are used to things like that. So we teach to our kids, whether it's voluntary or involuntary, it's the voluntary part that gets us. Anxious. And some of us may have fears or secondary thoughts of, Hey, am I teaching the correct things to my child?

[00:00:27] Or am I good enough to do this? Well, I'm here to let you know. Yes you are. And you are capable of doing a lot more. My guest today is Lindsay neural, and we are going to learn what is. To parent and teach your children on a full schedule while at home. Now, Lindsey is a mom of six who has been homeschooled in since 2004.

[00:00:53] And yes, she has six kids of various ages. So yes, if you think [00:01:00] you had it bad, trust me, Lindsay knows all about it. She practically produced and taught a small class. But at the same time, she runs a small business and entrepreneurship has led her to a freelance writing career that compliments her own homeschools style.

[00:01:19] So I'm excited. This is the first time. Interviewed someone who definitely gets a big feather and they have for homeschooling. So we need to get this started in, 

[00:01:32] Host daughter: come on, dad, stop 

[00:01:33] playing around and play the music 

[00:01:35] Eric: Sheesh.

[00:01:42] Introducer: Have you ever wondered why some people seem to have it all financially do well off parents simply hand their children money or is there more to this welfare? Welcome to raising financial freedom. The park. We are here to talk about everything you never knew to teach your children when it comes to starting their financial [00:02:00] future, the principles behind wealth and methods that are out there to teach your child about personal financial freedom.

[00:02:06] There was no real trick to earning other than learning. We are here to discuss, teach and grow with you. Raising financial freedom, the podcast with your host and concern parents, Eric yard. Let us get right into today's show.

[00:02:26] Eric: So now teaching children at school is a totally different beast from teaching kids at home. And you would think someone like Lindsey who has a full Brady bunch of kids would have a down pack and something like the pandemic will not be able to throw a monkey wrench in her. 

[00:02:48] Linsey: So as you can't really homeschool and work at the same, like simultaneous time, very easily.

[00:02:53] A lot of us experienced that with the pandemic and trying to do the virtual learning, but it can be done [00:03:00] with the amount of hours a day that it takes to educate your child. And it isn't as many hours as you would think from the traditional public school schedule. A lot of experts have found and even a lot of homeschoolers have found that with the younger grades can be educated.

[00:03:14] And as few as two hours a day, all the way up to high school, formal instruction can take place in less than even four hours. And the rest is extracurricular administrative, all those things that happen in the school day that aren't really learning. Definitely. You have to be more, I guess you have to take more initiative with homeschooling, so we can't just drop your kid off and.

[00:03:39] No, that they're going to get the social, the educational extracurricular. You have to do the work of finding those things for your child. But once you get out into that space and get comfortable, there's so many more opportunities that I've seen to find things that match your child's temperament and interests.

[00:03:58] My son was interested [00:04:00] in explosions, which I don't think is. Unheard of for a fourteen-year-old like they like to see stuff get blown up. And so we were able to find a university that was doing a virtual week, long explosion camp, where they just use chemistry and geology and all these different scientific principles.

[00:04:20] And they kept the kids interested for a full week on blowing stuff up. And he learned so much from that online course, but we wouldn't have found it if we weren't looking. I think you stop looking for things sometimes when you just assume the school is going to provide those opportunities for you. So there's definitely some give and take, but if you're motivated and have initiative, the opportunities really are endless for homeschoolers or small business owners.

[00:04:48] And so I think that's prepared us for life of kind of making it up as you go along. And if it's not working, you fix it. And. Constantly seeking new solutions and tools [00:05:00] and resources and always. Looking for new ways to do things because we're comfortable with that as a way of making a living. It made us a little less worried about how to do it as an education option.

[00:05:12] We're typically not as risk averse being entrepreneurs. We found a way to do it, and it's been a mixture of nights and weekends, the kids working independently while I'm working at my desk, we've just been very flexible and approach every opportunity we can to fit it into the day. Make it very rewarding for us and for the children, 

[00:05:34] Eric: certainly with a full plate on our hands.

[00:05:37] What exactly is Lindsay teaching her kids? And what's some of the tools that she used to teach financial literacy towards. 

[00:05:47] Linsey: Definitely. Although it looks different, sometimes it's a little less formal talks about the family budget or goals we want to set for the family forgiving or saving. And we do have some [00:06:00] formal instruction in there as well.

[00:06:02] Both a budgeting course. And then there's some software out there right now that allows the kid to actually go through like a stock market simulation or credit cards, simulation. And those tools are available to schools, but also can be purchased from like a homeschool standpoint. So you're just paying for your family to use it.

[00:06:19] So definitely easy to integrate formal learning as well as kind of casual conversations into the homeschool. 

[00:06:26] Eric: Out of the six kids that she has. I wonder which one of them actually gravitates the financial literacy. 

[00:06:34] Linsey: I have a 14 year old. Who's always trying to think of a side hustle, right? He's what can I make?

[00:06:39] What can I sell since birth? And then I have one who just refuses to spend anything. I think he's spent his birthday money twice on a pair of gaming headphones. Um, and he's never spent the rest. So he doesn't feel like he has to earn as much because his lifestyle doesn't require it. And then I have some kids that are just [00:07:00] younger, seven and 11, and they're curious, and they know.

[00:07:03] We can't buy things every time we go in the store, just because when they're at that phase in their life, but they all know how money works and they're all learning about how their role in the family affects what we spend and how our earning, how far that can go each time as 

[00:07:19] Eric: we can see in Lindsey kids, they are exorbitant and using information in all different sorts of ways as like any other kid out.

[00:07:29] But what about the environment? How is that affecting the kids themselves? They are basically around each other all day. And on top of it, Lindsey is also running a business from home at the same 

[00:07:44] Linsey: time. I know that they've never seen their mother and father working like kind of outside the home in different roles.

[00:07:51] Part-time work here and there, but we've always had the family business since they've been old enough to know better. And they go with us on business trips. They've been in the [00:08:00] room for client calls. I've actually hired my older children. Edit audio, take photographs, do some light coding. They're very involved in the business and they understand like last year when the pandemic kind of had us not quite meeting our sales goals, that cuts had to be made and they got why, because that's our business, but that's also mom and dad's paycheck.

[00:08:23] So they're very involved from that standpoint. We don't try to hide a lot from them just because. They're going to see it and be interested in it. And we want them to feel like they're a part of our successes. So 

[00:08:36] Eric: when there's a problem with the budget and they have no issues with pivoting in adjusting, 

[00:08:42] Linsey: they don't really have a choice.

[00:08:47] I say that because yeah, our hot water heater went out. We had some things go wrong last month and we had to sit him down and say, look, if you want this X-Box thing, you know what to do. You're going to have [00:09:00] to. Kick in and do some chores so that I don't have to do those chores. So then I could take on an extra client.

[00:09:07] They understand that time is money from that perspective, in that. If they want the business to grow, I can't be cleaning up after them. So to speak, they understand there's a relationship between how we spend our time and how much money we make, which I think is an important lesson. Definitely the relationship my children have with one another five boys are in the house.

[00:09:28] Now my daughter's off just graduated college and has her first out of college career. And my boy. They're home together and they don't have those kinds of trappings that you have in the public or private schools where you're isolated by grade or age. And your identity is tied into that. So they see themselves as brothers first, which means being a couple of years apart, isn't a big deal.

[00:09:52] And if one's struggling with math, the other one will just come alongside. I won't even have to ask, mentor that sibling and [00:10:00] go, Hey, man, I understand and give that guidance. And they're really close in a way I didn't really children could be, because again, I was public school. My sister and I weren't super close.

[00:10:11] So I didn't even know this was really possible. It's been an amazing side 

[00:10:14] Eric: effects. So now I know what you're thinking. There's a thin line between lecturing and actually teaching your kids and that line could get blurred sometimes, but I think you'll be able to find the sweet. In order to get through to them, 

[00:10:29] Linsey: you can make it as boring and rigid as you want.

[00:10:34] I love learning about things. So I will often say, Hey guys, there's this thing going on in the next city, let's get in the van and go watch. Or there's this new recipe that I heard about that like, we really needed to try as business owners, there's always new tools, right? New editing things, new workshops do conferences.

[00:10:52] So you can pull that kind of mindset in your homeschool. And have the core courses, very focused. You're going to do math in order. [00:11:00] You're going to do English language in order, but for a lot of the things, the extras are music, 3d printing, coding. There's so many things that can supplement that, that it's really up to you to just come up with it and find it.

[00:11:16] And it can be as. Out there as you want it to be. 

[00:11:19] Eric: Wow. That's interesting. That is very interesting. So, so when they talk to their friends, what are some of the differences that they tell you, uh, about what their friends are going through compared to what they are going through? 

[00:11:32] Linsey: The interesting thing is homeschooling has gotten so.

[00:11:36] It's grown in some communities so much, now that more than likely the activities that are good, they're going to is full of other homeschoolers. And so they may not be the only homeschooler in the group. The odd person out may actually be the public schooler, but they really just. There isn't a lot of differences other than my kids have a little more time in their day to explore hobbies or [00:12:00] interests or things that they want to do, because when they're done with their schoolwork in the morning or by noon or one they're done, and the rest of the day is really theirs to use.

[00:12:10] As they wish, but as far as prom, wallyball all the things that kids talk about and do sleep overs, going to movies, paintball, whatever it is like it's typical teenage life. Okay. 

[00:12:23] Eric: Okay. All right. When did you realize you had a passion for 

[00:12:27] Linsey: homeschool then? Like a lot of parents, we started out of necessity.

[00:12:32] We were moving a lot and we weren't in areas where. We felt the schools were going to meet our needs. My job was learning to read a little bit later. We didn't want to necessarily put her in special classes. We just, she just needed more time. We were moving a lot and it was a little bit hard on her and we just were going to take it one year at a time, but we saw such an incredible growth in her confidence and the things she wanted to learn.

[00:12:59] That we thought [00:13:00] this is working and we can work our schedule around it. So why should we stop? And so we just did that with each of our kids, and now I'm really super passionate about it because my kids are thriving and it's worked really well for us as a family. 

[00:13:15] Eric: So it sounds to me that homeschool is just absolutely great.

[00:13:19] You get to be versatile with teaching your children and on top of it, you get to spend so much more time. That must be the best point of all you get to spend a whole day with your kids or is 

[00:13:34] Linsey: it oh, it is not. So it's like parenting turned up to an 11, any parenting drama you can imagine just from raising a kid, it's all you.

[00:13:48] You are around it all day. You're hearing about it all day. You're the guidance counselor. You're the principal. You're the like, so if you don't do well with being that parent that can just [00:14:00] step in and get things under control, it's going to be hard. It's hard for me. I want to swell my boys, but we got to raise them up to be grownups.

[00:14:08] So that's my struggle. Any struggles you have as a parent is going to be magnified in a homeschool environment, but also. You have no excuse if your kid doesn't learn or you fail to do something, you can't blame it on the school. You can't blame it on this one mean teacher. Um, the buck stops with you. So that's the real deal of it.

[00:14:32] Eric: So, I mean, there's gotta be times where you need a time out where you, you just need a break. Do you get a break? 

[00:14:42] Linsey: So if I had my choice, I would never take a break because I'm just one of those people, but my husband gets upset and says, no, this isn't good for anybody. If you don't take a break. So what I used to do before COVID was my husband would let me go stay in like a nice hotel for a couple nights and just watch [00:15:00] movies and order in Chinese and recharge.

[00:15:03] Now I have an office space that I rent. Where I can do more of the writing that takes a lot of my attention. Do podcasts, interviews, just check out a little bit. I've found that's been really helpful for me, but everybody needs something different for some people. It might just be like 30 minutes in Netflix a night.

[00:15:22] And they're good. You have to know what you need and not be afraid to take it. 

[00:15:26] Eric: I don't know if I, maybe if it was a one or two for me, you know, one or two, but you have six. Oh, I would need to turn off like. A lot of days, 

[00:15:39] Linsey: they don't all, they're not all the same age. So I'm to the point now where if I'm on deadline for a project for a client, I can leave in the morning, go take two hours at my office and tell the kids you need to do math and history.

[00:15:56] A load of laundry, make sure the youngest brother [00:16:00] gets read to, and then I want you making some lunch for me. By the time I get home and they're getting there, they're teenagers 14, 16, 18. You're getting to that age where you need to be making some things happen. So I'm at a great place. Homeschool wise, if they all six were like seven years old, I don't know that I could do it.

[00:16:20] I've got some young men in the house. Now. I think the craziest thing is just. Having people over entertaining is almost impossible because people who don't homeschool. I don't understand why you have so much stuff. It's very hard to do like a minimal lifestyle thing when you need 30 books for each child, and then you need to hold onto those books.

[00:16:43] So you don't have to buy them again in two weeks. It's just a different way of living. And so for somebody whose kids are in school all day and they've got the kids away and they can scrub the floors without the kids running around on them and stuff like it can be hard for someone [00:17:00] else to deal with that much like energy and busy and like activity.

[00:17:05] So it can be a little hard to find your people if they're not also 

[00:17:09] Eric: homeschoolers. So we've heard about some of the tools that Lindsey likes to use, and we've also done. Heard about some of the trials and tribulations that she was going through. Well, what about the fruits of her labor? What was some of the results and would the children agreed on how they were taught school?

[00:17:31] Linsey: I wouldn't say it. If I hadn't seen it, I have the advantage of. Having had one leave the nest and hearing what other people say about the skills that she's developed. Financial skills is one example just because she was around us. So she got to hear us talk about money. A lot more. Financial literacy was a part of our homeschool curriculum, but also just taking ownership.

[00:17:58] Homeschoolers can't really [00:18:00] blame anyone else. Again, just like the parents. You can blame your parents, but if you're doing that independent learning module or we've got a job, a lot of homeschoolers, the kids have jobs in high school, or they would do volunteerism or whatever. They're developing these skills that once they get into college, We heard time and again, oh wow.

[00:18:21] Your daughter really knows how to take care of herself. She was the one in the dorm showing the other kids in the dorm, how to do their laundry. She was the one in the dorm that actually had medicine in her medicine cabinet like Tylenol and things. It was just the way we chose to raise her to be independent.

[00:18:38] It was easier to do because she was home with us. I don't know if she had been gone eight hours a day, we would have been able to pack all that in. And so we've seen firsthand just how, if you do teach them the right things and you are raising them to be young adults and not just big children that go on and become someone else's problem.

[00:18:59] There is a [00:19:00] big difference. It's interesting because you look at your kid and you love them, but also you see, like, we should have done this or we could have done that. Like, they're never just like perfect. But when you hear what other people say, you're like, oh, we didn't do that bad. And not only that, but she.

[00:19:20] Came out of it feeling like she had an advantage. So it wasn't just something we were seeing. She was like, oh, I'm so glad you homeschooled me. I'm so glad we did it this way. I felt like I had an advantage. I knew how to take initiative. I knew how to work hard. I had no one to blame, but myself and other people appreciated that about me as an employee or as a student.

[00:19:44] So to hear her say it worked for her. And that she's going to do the same with her children. That's the kind of validation I don't, I just can't imagine. It's pretty amazing. 

[00:19:56] Eric: If you had to do it all over again, what would be the first thing you, [00:20:00] I 

[00:20:00] Linsey: would stop looking at what everybody else is doing. Picking a curriculum or books.

[00:20:09] And just when I found something that worked for my individual child, just be okay with that choice. And I would maybe try to find some other parents who also worked or ran businesses 15 years ago. It was harder to find working moms who homeschooled. A lot of the moms were full-time home with their kids.

[00:20:27] And so a lot of my struggles. I had a hard time finding the right sounding board for, because the other moms in my groups maybe didn't work now. I think it's more common, especially with the COVID pulling a lot of kids in different directions and parents having to work from home. I think there are bigger communities of like-minded parents.

[00:20:48] To where you could find a group just for business owners or just for working moms or just for working dads who also homeschool. And if I could go and do it again, I would find people that were more like [00:21:00] me so that I didn't feel like I was the weird one and constantly like questioning if what I was doing even made any sense.

[00:21:08] Eric: What is the best piece of advice you can give to the parents out there who are looking to homeschool part-time or full-time. And just trying to do something better for the child. 

[00:21:20] Linsey: Sure. Whether you're going to do it full time or you're just doing it like for a while to get through, um, I would say, start with the one thing your child really likes, whether that's math or reading or science or history, and tackle that with like as much passion and like all the cool resources and tools that you can to make it rewarding for them.

[00:21:44] And then build upon that. If your kid is the one kid out there that likes math. Awesome. I haven't met that kid yet. You can start with math, but for most parents, they start sometimes with the subject, they feel most, most comfortable teaching, and that may not be the thing the kid likes. And now [00:22:00] they've just like had their first taste of homeschooling and it stinks.

[00:22:04] Lead with the dessert. It's okay. You'll find time. You'll add things in as you get going and you'll get it all in, but don't try to do all five subjects at once on day one when you really don't know what you're doing, because no one's going to have any fun doing it that way. Well, 

[00:22:17] Eric: Lindsey, I want to thank you for coming on the show.

[00:22:21] And how can the parents out there continue this conversation and what future projects you have going on for you? 

[00:22:29] Linsey: Sure. I'm on Twitter. I love Twitter. So I'm at El neural there. I saw you there today and my website is just Lindsey neurol.com and I've got my. Homeschool hacks, how to give your kid a great education without losing your job or your mind, which is available, wherever books are sold.

[00:22:48] And I'm just going to continue helping parents as they can. And growing my business, like a lot of you, I'm just taking it a day at a time and trying to find some normal. [00:23:00] That's my big, next step right now is just kind of keep going one foot in front of another. 

[00:23:05] Eric: I want to thank Lindsay one more time for coming on the show and sharing her story with us.

[00:23:11] What I've taken from Lindsay story is that there is definitely levels to teach in your kids, but how much time and effort you put in is totally up to. As you can see, Lindsay has a large family and she was doing it on a very big scale, but you can take small steps and build on each step that you take.

[00:23:34] So if you haven't started, do it get started, add money or financial literacy into your tool. And, and get your child's foundation started as always, I would like for you to share with other parents and subscribe or follow. But definitely share it with other parents. And until next time stay safe. [00:24:00] 

[00:24:01] Introducer: We really hope you enjoy this episode of by natural food of the podcast.

[00:24:05] Stay connected with us directly through raising financial freedom.com. You could also join the discussion on social media, which you can also find links on our website. If you would like to speak with us, please send us an email through info@raisingfinancialfreedom.com. And as always thank you for pushing your mindset towards a better reality.

[00:24:25] This concludes the most thought provoking portion of your day. Don't forget to please like, and subscribe to stay fully up to date until next time. Be kind to yourself and each other. .