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PODCAST · education

Trailblazing Homeschool

by RJ and Melissa Whaley

RJ and Melissa Whaley from Trailblazing Homeschool (formerly You Just Got Homeschooled) bring you a podcast all about homeschooling in the trenches. Learn from real-life homeschool families how to leave public school, how to homeschool, and how to find the best path to education for your own family. We cover topics like schedules and routines, homeschool curriculum, finding a homeschool community, and encouragement for when things get hard. RJ has been a teacher and educator for over 10 years and Melissa has been a homeschool mom for 5 years.

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Episodes

  1. Finding your Homeschool Vision

    What's the difference between a mission statement and a vision? How do you make a homeschool plan that actually works for your family? Join us in this conversation all about setting a vision for your homeschool plans, routines, and rhythms. Follow along with the Homeschool Foundations Workbook...

  2. All About Learning Styles Part 2

    We hear a lot about learning styles in the world of education, but do we actually know what that means? We are exploring multiple facets of learning styles and going through three areas of this topic in part two of two on learning styles and how studying them can help you in both your homeschool...

  3. All About Learning Styles Part 1

    We hear a lot about learning styles in the world of education, but do we actually know what that means? We are exploring multiple facets of learning styles and going through three areas of this topic in part one of two on learning styles and how studying them can help you in both your homeschool...

  4. Creating a Family Mission Statement

    Today we are working through an important foundational step to a successful homeschool journey, creating a family mission statement. A family mission statement is a guiding document to help you make decisions in your family and homeschool journey. This is the first exercise included in our...

  5. How many hours should we do school?

    We are addressing a very common question in the homeschooling world, "How many hours should we do school?" There probably isn't a new homeschool family that haven't asked this question, but you may not know that this is a controversial question. If you look in any homeschool group you will get a...

  6. Finding Your Homeschool Style

    In this episode, we are reviewing the 6 most popular homeschool styles: Traditional, Classical, Charlotte Mason, Unit Study, Unschool, and Eclectic. Our goal for walking through these styles is to expose you to them and help you begin to find your own homeschool style. What we have discovered is...

  7. Homeschool Schedules and Routines

    RJ and Melissa discuss various homeschool routines and schedules. We dive into our own family's routines and how they have evolved throughout our 5 years of homeschooling so far. Melissa mentions block scheduling and how we are using suggestions from various sources to help manage our home…

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  8. Why leave public school?

    What's the deal with public school and why should we leave it? If you are feeling overwhelmed with deciding if a traditional public (or private) school is the best choice for your kids then take a listen to this episode. RJ gives us a little history of why public school operates the way it does…

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  9. Our Journey to Homeschool (S2 E2)

    In this episode, we share more details of our personal journey to homeschool from how we were schooled growing up to how we found ourselves homeschooling our own kids. Are you enjoying our show? Please make sure to rate and leave a review. Make sure to follow us on Instagram…

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  10. New Name New Host (S2 E1)

    Welcome to Trailblazing Homeschool! We have a new name and a new host joining the podcast. We are the Whaley’s, married college sweethearts with 5 crazy kids. We have been homeschooling since 2016. RJ has been in the field of education for 15 years with a Master’s in education. Melissa is a...

  11. 97. Which Way To Go?

    In this episode I explore several different paths that our children can take to a future career, highlighting how technology has changed what’s available to them and how the path less taken might be the better choice.

  12. 96. Learning What isn’t Taught

    In this episode I discuss some of the things I heard about what schools gonna look like in the fall for public In private school kids and what it’s really teaching them.

  13. 95. Quick, Easy, and Cheap - Quick Start to homeschooling.

    In this episode I discuss some tactics on how to get started homeschooling for a little or no money with as little stress as possible.

  14. 94. Panic

    In this episode I discuss how panic affects us when it comes to homeschooling. And how we can see the snowball effect of panic in our world and what that looks like an individual scale in our own homes with their own kids and what we can do about it.

  15. 93. Just Plant

    In this episode I discuss some life skills that I learned from watching YouTube that are very appropriate to homeschool.

  16. 92. Why Be Normal?

    In this episode I discuss the interaction between being weird and being normal and whether or not it’s a good thing for us to push our kids to be normal.

  17. 91. Summer School?

    In this episode I discuss the real value of summer and why it should not be packed full of more academic activities.

  18. 90. How to Treacher All Your Kids at Once

    In this episode I discuss the importance of integrating curriculum and how we can use the integrated curriculum to teach every grade level and every subject more or less at the same time.

  19. 89. How We Became Cogs in Someone Else’s Machine

    In this episode I discuss the origins of public school in the United States, scientific management of people, and how we really learn.

  20. 88. What is Traditional School?

    In this episode I discussed the nature of traditional school and whether or not what we think of our school is actually traditional

  21. 87. Creating Structure During A Weird Time

    In this episode I discussed ways in which we can create structure during a time when normalcy has been disrupted.

  22. 86. Education at home vs homeschool

    In this episode I go through an article published in the Washington Post talking about the disruption caused by cOVID-19 to education and the things they got wrong in their assessment of homeschool and individualized education.

  23. 85. What Are your options when it comes to educating your kids

    In this episode I discuss the range of options on how to go about educating your kid from public school to independent homeschool and everything in between.

  24. 84. What COVID-19 is Revealing About Education

    In this episode I discuss how educational institutions have reacted to the COVID-19 outbreak. What it shows us about their motives and what we can do about it.

  25. 83. Why Do We Make Idiots

    In this episode I take a short passage from Shop Class as Soulcraft and discuss why it is and how it is our society has created idiots and wondered why people are unhappy.

  26. 82. Book Review - Shop Class as Soulcraft

    In this episode I give a brief review of a book titled Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew B Crawford which makes the case for the importance and validity of the trades.

  27. 81. Why we should get outside

    In this episode I discussed the importance of spending a little time outside why it’s good for us as humans on a variety of levels and what could be some consequences when we dont

  28. 80. What can happen behind closed doors.

    In this episode I discuss an experience I had recently well helping a special ed student where are the special Ed teacher insisted that we follow the rules over the well-being of the student.

  29. 79. What are You Building

    In this episode I address two contradictory views of the purpose of education and talk about what our goal should be in educating our children.

  30. 78. Hey! That’s Not Fair

    In this episode I go over the mentality of the public educations system and why homeschooling is not only a more organic way to learn but also a more effective way to teach.

  31. 77. I’m back! What I’ve been doing and seeing

    In this episode I discuss what I’ve been doing for the last couple of weeks and some trends I’ve been seeing in the wider society concerning education.

  32. 76. Higher Education on the Cheap

    In this episode I discuss the purpose of education and a few paths to get that education in a cost effective manner.

  33. 75. Do as I say not as I do.

    In this episode I talk about leadership and parenting and why it’s important for us to show our kids in addition to telling them.

  34. 74. Cheating and How to Find Good Info

    In this episode I share one of my favorite memories of catching kids cheating but explain how to help your kids learn to research well.

  35. 73. This Might Buy You a Little Time and Peace of Mind

    In this episode I discuss an idea but I’ve come across that might be helpful in helping you do you a little bit of time back by spending a little bit more time now.

  36. 72. Back to the Grind

    In this episode and discuss the importance of taking a break And how we can set a good example for our kids but it looks like to rest and what it looks like to get back to work on the time for rest is over

  37. 71. Reflection of 2019 as a teacher, homeschooler, and person

    In this episode I take a look at what I’ve learned in the big takeaways of 2019. Looking specifically at the areas of change as an educator, experiences as a homeschool parent, and as an individual.

  38. 70. Learn to Teach

    In this episode I discuss how teaching can be one of the greatest tools for learning.

  39. 69. Homeschooling Illegal? Yes in some places

    In this episode I discuss illegality of homeschool in places around the world and what might motivate a country or state to make public education mandatory as well as why it’s important to think critically about the issues surrounding homeschooling.

  40. 68. Life is Busy

    In this episode I discuss how busy life can be and how that impacts us as individuals as families and in our pursuit of educating our kids and offer some insight that I received about how to contextualize this season of life.

  41. 67. Some Cool Tools

    In this episode I discuss some tools that may help your planning and implementation in day to da life as well as a couple of tolls that might help provide content in areas that are difficult for one reason or another.

  42. 66. Exploring the Road Less Traveled

    In this episode I discuss why it’s important for us to break free of some of the shackles of the academic world while encouraging our students to grow and learn as individuals so they are ready to engage and ever changing world.

  43. 65. How the future should impact education

    In this episode I discuss how the future should impact the way in which we educate our kids and how there is much to be learned from the past to help us do so.

  44. 64. What to remember when life is busy

    In this episode I discuss the busyness of life and what I try to remind myself to not get overwhelmed by it all.

  45. 63. Spacial Learn and the Mind Palace

    In this episode I discuss One of the ways in which our brain is able to remember things add a technique called the mind palace that can help you memorize things using this type of memory.

  46. 62. Why Experience is so Important in Learning

    In this episode I discuss the importance of experience and learning and how you can use it to deep in learning.

  47. 61. Your Brain is Plastic

    In this episode I discuss why learning throughout life is so important plus some neuroscience and machine learning just for fun.

  48. 60. 85% may be Magic

    In this episode I follow up on the idea I’ve got enough versus perfect with some evidence that comes from a recent article I read.

  49. 59. Good Enough vs Perfect

    In this episode I discuss how sometimes we get caught up in achieving perfection for ourselves and our kids and how a shift away from demanding perfection could be HST what we need.

  50. 58. Learning from Holidays

    In this episode I discuss what I’ve learned about holidays and what can be learned from holidays if we’re intentional about it.

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ABOUT THIS SHOW

RJ and Melissa Whaley from Trailblazing Homeschool (formerly You Just Got Homeschooled) bring you a podcast all about homeschooling in the trenches. Learn from real-life homeschool families how to leave public school, how to homeschool, and how to find the best path to education for your own family. We cover topics like schedules and routines, homeschool curriculum, finding a homeschool community, and encouragement for when things get hard. RJ has been a teacher and educator for over 10 years and Melissa has been a homeschool mom for 5 years.

HOSTED BY

RJ and Melissa Whaley

CATEGORIES

Frequently Asked Questions

How many episodes does Trailblazing Homeschool have?

Trailblazing Homeschool currently has 107 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.

What is Trailblazing Homeschool about?

RJ and Melissa Whaley from Trailblazing Homeschool (formerly You Just Got Homeschooled) bring you a podcast all about homeschooling in the trenches. Learn from real-life homeschool families how to leave public school, how to homeschool, and how to find the best path to education for your own...

How often does Trailblazing Homeschool release new episodes?

Trailblazing Homeschool publishes regularly with 107 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.

Where can I listen to Trailblazing Homeschool?

You can listen to Trailblazing Homeschool on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.

Who hosts Trailblazing Homeschool?

Trailblazing Homeschool is created and hosted by RJ and Melissa Whaley.
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