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Welcome to the creative homeschool podcast. And this podcast I'm coming at you to deliver you a weekly dash of creativity to make your homeschool exciting for your kids. But for you too, we're going to explore all of the different ways to creatively homeschool games, field trips, unit studies, writing activities, Kid businesses, art and more. I'm your host Julie soul, longtime homeschool mom, shenanigan enthusiast, espresso drinker, and founder and co owner of soul Sparkletts art. I've helped 1000s Dead creativity and joy to their homeschool, and I'm ready to help you today. Ready to get started? Let's go. Everyone and welcome back to the creative homeschool podcast. I'm your host, Julie soul. wanted to tell you a little story. Usually story start with a very specific thing that happened to me. And it has except for that it happens over and over. And I betcha as I get started, you're going to think oh, this happens quite a bit too. And it goes a little bit like this. You are out living life doing the things that homeschoolers do best that could be the restaurant at the store. Yesterday, we were at my fitness club, and my girls were with me. And inevitably you get this look, but most you get the question. The question sounds like this. Oh, school's out today, huh? And you feel it, you feel it? Because you know that in a second, you're about to answer that. No, it's not that you're homeschooling and then you know that the questions can follow. And these questions can feel really disapproving, and not in the way that they say that homeschooling is wrong. It's the little glances, isn't it? It's those little moments and those pauses, and those, oh, it's those moments that take us back to school, at least they do for myself, where you know that you gave the wrong answer. And everyone's kind of looking at you. And no one really says anything, but you just feel it. And that disapproval, that feeling that we might not be liked or approved for what we're doing can seep down. And even for those of us who have been doing this for a really long time, we're not immune to those feelings. But I will tell you this, it does get easier to handle these. So if you're a new homeschooler, starting out, don't give up these kinds of things. You just get used to dealing with them. But I wanted to share a few things for you to think about, especially unless you're going to outright lie. And I certainly don't advocate for that. And say yes, school's out. So one quick and easy way to defuse a comment when you have people who are watching you homeschool, is we need to remember a lot of people don't actually have any knowledge of homeschoolers whatsoever. They know homeschoolers from maybe a story. I know, when I was younger, there was one homeschool family in my neighborhood. And they kept to themselves. And they really didn't talk to anyone. Now, what I didn't know back then, was that homeschooling when I was a kid, homeschoolers weren't allowed to leave the house here in Michigan during school hours. So everyone thought that home schoolers are isolated and awkward and non social creatures. But they were kind of forced to do so. So that was my only understanding and experience with homeschoolers. And I try to remember back on that, that people don't know, especially older generations, you know, they haven't seen other things out there that homeschoolers can do, and be all of the activities. And so they don't know. Which brings me to this. Sometimes they're just genuinely curious. And they're asking questions, not because they're trying to ask them at you. But because they're trying to understand. And one of the best ways to show other people the most beautiful things of homeschool, is basically what the whole proof is in the pudding. So yesterday, at this experience, I have the same question us. And that didn't ask, Oh, school's out. But I could see a bunch of people looking at my kids because it's in the middle of the day on a Monday, which is not typically a time, you know, so they're wondering if there's something wrong. Are my kids out? Did they deliberately play hooky? You can see all the questions going through their minds. But the one thing they can see is that they're healthy. They're happy. They're joyful. They're kind. They're pursuing their interests. They're asking questions, they're holding conversations with adults that are just absolutely beautiful. And when you are out and about, and I encourage you if you're hiding away because you're worried about these questions being asked, this is one of the beautiful ways that we get to actually show people what homeschoolers are truly like. And I've talked about this with my kids too. I've talked about the fact that sometimes they're ambassadors, because they might be the first homeschoolers that anyone has seen. And like I said, especially older generations, but not always, but they're the first homeschoolers that people have had encounters with. So sometimes we unintentionally form our view, on the first time we've had or seen something, right. I know, I have whether or not I should or not, that's a story for another day, but other people are forming that also. And so that doesn't mean you have to talk to everyone. But when they see how happy and how kind, and how beautiful your kids are, when they're out and about the proof, will speak for itself. Also, one of the things that can come up really easily is home schoolers, we tend to have a lot of subjects that you don't really study in school, that are really kind of fascinating. And one of the ways that you can easily defuse something that does seem like it's going to get a little bit more negative than not, is by answering the question of what your kids have actually done that morning before you went out. Or you can insert in the previous day or even the previous week. For us, actually, my oldest was working on physics, I was working on grammar and cursive with my youngest before we went to swim, and nothing prepares people, they are not prepared for you to say, Oh, well, we were working on physics, grammar, cursive, insert anything here. And we came here for a quick swim lesson where they can work on this. And then we'll go back, have a break and dive back into robotics or mushroom foraging or, or whatever you want to put in there. But it's a really quick and easy way to throw people off who might have been ready to pounce, because they think that you're not doing anything other than swim. Now we know that these things are critical. We know that kids need to be out there exploring their interest and doing things like this. But if you want a really quick and easy way to defuse it, that is often the best way to do so. The second thing I want to talk about is that sometimes it's on us. Sometimes we unintentionally go into a situation like this, where we're waiting for it. We are waiting for them to tell us how bad it is. So we can attack that. When maybe they're just curious. Maybe they're just asking the question, because they want to know more. Maybe they've heard that their neighbors homeschooling. And they haven't really had the guts to ask, but there you are right in front of them. And they have questions. So maybe it's us. But as we paint the picture, right in front of them, of being kind curious, being nice, doing things, being able to blend academics and, you know, phys ed, being able to do volunteer work as so many of you do. What an amazing picture that we can paint just by being out there. And although sometimes we can encounter those situations where we can get those disapproving looks of while School's out, right? Because they're hoping that you'll say yes, and you won't admit to being one of those quote unquote weird homeschoolers. They're really not going to be able to feel the way that they feel for much longer. When the puddings right in front of them and the pudding is doing just fine. care everyone. Keep getting out there. Keep chatting, keep doing the beautiful things that you are doing on a daily and weekly basis, and keep on being you. Until next time,
