This Golden Hour

In today’s episode, we get to spend time with Katharine Gordon, the passionate founder of Gnomes and Acorns , an online business dedicated to providing Waldorf-inspired toys, games, and resources for homeschooling families and others. Katharine, a seasoned educator and mother of three, shares her journey from a university student intrigued by the Waldorf education philosophy to an entrepreneur cul...

In today’s episode, we get to spend time with S.D. Smith from West Virginia, author of The Green Ember Series , Mooses with Bazookas , and co-author with his son, Josiah, of Jack Zulu and the Waylander’s Key . Best known for The Green Ember Series , Smith opens up about his creative process, the foundations of his storytelling, and his journey from being a homeschool father sharing stories with hi...

Proactive Homeschool Dad (PHD) Course PHD Course This Golden Hour

In today’s episode, we get to spend time with Deani Van Pelt, Kerri Forney, and Kathryn Avery from the Charlotte Mason Institute (CMI). Our conversation emphasized Charlotte Mason’s philosophy about relational education and developing relationships with God, people, the universe, and self. We addressed the challenges of homeschooling, including tailoring education for different children, transitio...

In today’s episode, we get to spend time with Chelsey Bahe from Minnesota. Chelsey is a professional nanny, auntie, writer, nature artist, and play advocate. She shares her passion for outdoor activity for kids, her innovative nature art, and her unique approach to child play and learning through exploration. She discusses the importance of children having the freedom to play, explore, and learn b...

In today’s episode, we get to spend time with Julie Bogart from Cincinnati, Ohio. Julie is a homeschool mother of five, grandmother of three, author, speaker, host of the Brave Writer podcast, and business owner and founder of Brave Writer. She is passionate about writing and providing resources to homeschool families and others, including excellent online courses. Julie was introduced to homescho...

In today’s episode, we get to spend time with Gena Suarez from Tennessee. Gena is a homeschool mother of 7, and she also has 9 grandchildren who are homeschooled. She is the founder and creator of The Old Schoolhouse, which started out in 2001 as a homeschool newsletter on eBay. Initially, The Old Schoolhouse was principally a magazine to connect homeschool families, but it has grown tremendously...

In today’s episode, we get to spend time with Jolene Fender from North Carolina. Jolene is an unschooling mother of three and a digital creator with an impressive following on Instagram. Jolene didn’t like the way the school system was dealing with teaching on Zoom during COVID, and this led her to start teaching her daughter the material instead. This gave Jolene the confidence to start homeschoo...

In today’s episode, we get to spend time with Ama Mazama from Philadelphia, but talking to us today from Guadalupe. Dr. Mazama is a professor and department chair in the College of Liberal Arts at Temple University. Her work is focused on Africology, African American studies, and African American Homeschooling among others topics. For several years, black families have been the fastest growing rac...

In today's episode, we get to spend time with Elizabeth Sexton and Dr. Ralph Hancock coming to us today from Brigham Young University campus in Utah. Elizabeth, homeschool mother of 3, was eager to pursue her education in political philosophy after her children had graduated. She enrolled in a class with Dr. Hancock, author and professor of political science at BYU. Together, Dr. Hancock and...

In today's episode, we get to spend time with Josh Mann from Missouri. Josh is the managing editor at the Lion News publication and a homeschooling father of 3. In this episode, we explore a range of topics from hitting stumbling blocks to navigating curricula in keeping children engaged. Sometimes students have a hard time learning in a classroom setting, but homeschooling provides more free...

In today’s episode, we get to spend time with Jessica Eaton from North Carolina. Although Jessica and I have connections to North Carolina and share the same last name, we're not related! After about a decade teaching Math in public school, Jessica and her husband, who was also a teacher, became disenchanted. Jessica was especially disheartened by the giant class sizes and seeing the ill-effe...

 In today’s episode, we get to spend time with Blake Boles from California. Blake is currently in Freiburg, Germany, and soon will be cycling in Chile. When Blake was attending the University of California, Berkeley, he began in the astrophysics program, but decided he did not want to research Science and started studying Education on his own. He came across the writings of John Taylor Gatto and G...

In today’s episode, we get to spend time with Nadine Lauffer from Pennsylvania. Nadine is a current homeschool student and the host of the How to Homeschool in High School podcast. When she was in fourth grade, Nadine's mom decided that she was going to homeschool Nadine and her little sister along with several friends from church. Eventually, the Lauffer's moved to a new state and did n...

In today’s episode, we get to spend time with Rebecca Zipp from Colorado. Rebecca is a homeschool mother of two children and creator of the blog, A Humble Place , which she started in 2012. Her first exposure to the homeschool world began when she became friends with a girl who was homeschooled when they were youth. Rebecca admits that when she started homeschooling it was partially driven by fear...

In today’s episode, we get to spend time with Jeff Park from Calgary, Alberta. Jeff is a father of four and the founder and executive director of the Alberta Parents Union, with expertise in policy research, advocacy, and political campaigning. Growing up in the southern States, Jeff attended Christian schools and was also traditionally homeschooled. From his successful debate experience at Libert...

In today’s episode, we get to spend time with Nephi Zufelt from Pocatello, Idaho. Nephi is a homeschooling father of five, mechanical engineer, business owner, leader in his local church congregation, and author of Katie Bell and the Wishing Well: A Story of Finding True Wealth, and The Big Startup Guidebook for Kids. Nephi and his wife had talked about homeschooling often when their kids were you...

In today’s episode, we get to spend time with Pat Farenga from Boston, Massachusetts. Pat grew up in New York and eventually ended up in Boston for postsecondary studies. After completing his Master's degree, and with the challenge of finding available work in the early 1980s, Pat ended up working at a bookstore in Boston. Unbeknown to Pat, this bookstore was below the office of John Holt, on...

In today’s episode, we get to spend time with Scott Postma from Idaho. Scott is a homeschool father of four and a grandfather of six, all of whom are homeschooled. He has a PhD in Humane Letters from Faulkner University, and he's the president and CEO of Kepler Education, a marketplace for live online classical Christian education. Named after the famous German astronomer, Johannes Kepler, Ke...

In today’s episode, we get to spend time with Chris Ronan from Seattle, Washington. Chris is not a homeschool parent or connected to homeschool really at all, except that he works for a company that facilitates an outdoor experience that many homeschool families enjoy: Geocaching. Chris is the senior public relations manager of Geocaching, and he also spends a lot of time training Geocaching volun...

In today’s episode, we get to spend time with Robert Flatt from Oklahoma. Robert is a homeschool father of 4 and the executive director of the NCHC (National Christian Homeschool Championships), a homeschool sports organization that began in the early 1990s. Robert's parents made the decision to homeschool when he was in first grade. When he was 13, his family moved from Pennsylvania to Oklah...

In today’s episode, we get to spend time with Steve Lambert from Kansas City, Missouri. Steve is a homeschool father of two, grandfather of 7, all of whom have graduated from homeschooling. Steve is the publisher of the famous Five in a Row curriculum, and he's the husband of Jane Lambert who created Five in a Row. The Lambert's started homeschooling in 1981. After more than a decade of...

 In today’s episode, we get to spend time with Samantha Shank from Los Angeles, California. When she was only 14 years old, Samantha started her own business, Learn in Color. Now, after more than a decade, Learn in Color is an online educational platform for parents and teachers that has reached thousands of homes and classrooms. Her useful Math cheat sheets and educational movie guides are Samant...

In today’s episode, we get to spend time with Dr. Jay Wile from Indiana. Dr. Wile has a PhD in nuclear chemistry and has taught at Ball State University, Indiana University, and other postsecondary institutions. While teaching at Ball State University, Dr. Wile had an experience with one of his top Freshman students who was asking insightful questions about what he was studying. When Dr. Wile lear...

In today’s episode, we get to spend time with Emily Jones from Utah. Emily is a mother of five and cofounder with her husband of Family Tech University. When their oldest son was about 11 years old, he started asking about getting a phone and Emily wanted to approach technology as effectively and responsibly as she could. She describes how miserable it was to research this topic online because mos...