Raising Lifelong Learners

In this bonus episode, Colleen and Shawna answer a homeschooling mom's question about doctors, therapists, and homeschooling. What do we do when doctors don't support our decision to homeschool? How can we prepare for therapist visits and doctor appointments? When is it time to switch to a more homeschool friendly doctor?

Have you ever wanted to ask a homeschool graduate what they thought about their homeschool experience? Are you curious about what an adult life after homeschool looks like? Colleen gets all the answers from Samantha Shank, a brilliant homeschool graduate, highly successful business owner, and highly gifted, multi-talented individual. 

Education and achievement doesn't have to look like school, and it doesn't have to follow a prescribed path. In this audio-blog episode, Colleen shares the reality of rethinking achievement and how homeschooling helps our gifted children thrive. 

Homeschooling high school, particularly when your child is gifted, has its own unique set of challenges and rewards. In this conversation with Heather Woodie, from Blog, She Wrote , Colleen explores the ins and outs of homeschooling gifted high schoolers. Encouragement, practical tips, and real examples you won't want to miss!

Self-care has become an increasingly popular topic in recent years, and for good reason. As parents, we simply have to take care of ourselves in order to take care of our children. But what about our kids? How do we help them learn coping skills and emotional regulation? Join Colleen and Shawna as they discuss practical strategies for their own self-care and for their kiddos. 

We are convinced homeschooling is the best way to educate our gifted and 2E kids, through self-directed learning and unschooling.  This week, Colleen speaks with Robyn Robertson of Honey, I'm Homeschooling the Kids about unschooling. The conversation continues at https://raisinglifelonglearners.com/episode107

Research shows that parents are pretty accurate when identifying their young children as gifted.  Today's episode is an audioblog of a post that first appeared on the website, where Colleen asked parents to think back to when their young children were infants or toddlers and share in their own words what traits and characteristics made them realize their child was gifted.  More over at the website...

Today, Colleen speaks with Penny Williams of Parenting ADHD and Autism about how we really need to be okay with who our neurodiverse kiddos are and learn how to celebrate their differences. Parenting them takes intentionality.  This is a terrific conversation to glean wisdom from two parents who have faced struggles that are common in parenting atypical kids.

Today, Colleen and Shawna Wingert have a conversation about mindset, specifically to help gifted and 2E families move away from rigid and inflexible thinking. They also discuss the incredible resources inside the RLL membership community, The Learner's Lab .

Today, Colleen speaks with Brian Weisfeld, girls' entrepreneurship advocate and author of The Start Up Squad , about how encouraging an entrepreneurial mindset can be a key component to helping all kids, boys included, to develop important life skills, follow their passions, and reach their full potential.

This week, Colleen has a conversation with Shawna Wingert about  connection: how important it is to foster connection with your kids, encourage the relationships between siblings, and build a culture of connection as a family and as part of your community.

Listen as we speak with Cindy West of Our Journey Westward about how she has used project-based learning to interest and excite in her homeschool, and her recommendations on how to get started on the path to this form of learning in your own home.

We're celebrating our 100th episode with favorite snippets and comments from the past 99 episodes, all related to our quirky, gifted, and/or 2e families.

Today's episode is guest-hosted by Shawna Wingert of Different by Design Learning who shares the first chapter of Colleen's book Raising Resilient Sons: A Boy Mom's Guide to Building a Strong, Confident and Emotionally Intelligent Family. 

In this podcast, Colleen speaks with Kendra Fletcher, long-time homeschooler and teacher of all things literature, on how enjoying the study of literature helps our kiddos to see it's importance for themselves and for humanity.

In today's episode, Colleen shares an audioblog of a Facebook Live where she outlined how we can engage and empower our kiddos in their own learning.

Today, Colleen speaks with Dennis DeNoia how giving his kids the freedom to pursue their interests has helped them be better learners.

Today, Colleen shares an audioblog - an article by Jen Vail from the website - with ideas on helping when the world overwhelms your child.

In today's episode, Colleen speaks with Jessica Peresta about the importance of music in our families and in educating our quirky kids.

Listen today as Colleen offers 7 tips and strategies for boosting emotional resilience in kids, and learn how to help them adapt to overcome challenges.

In this episode, Colleen speaks with Suki Wessling, homeschooling parent, writer, musician and online instructor at Athena Academy about helping our kids to learn to set goals and flourish as authentic individuals in lives of their own design.

Every family can use some help finding activities, especially those that help our kids to flouish! Listen today as Colleen shares an audioblog — an article by Jennifer Vail that first appeared on the site — stock full of ideas to help your kids thrive when they are stuck inside.  

In this episode, Colleen speaks with Celeste Davidson, author and professional writer-educator of Bardsy, a unique virtual community where supportive members gather to enjoy, create and share stories while also gaining access to interactive courses and tools to build their writing skills.

Today, Colleen discusses some of the specific social and emotional needs our gifted kiddos may have and how we can help and nurture them through these struggles.

In today's episode, Colleen speaks with her mentor, Dr. Jim Delisle, about the social and emotional needs of gifted children.