The Power Transformation Podcast
The Power Transformation Podcast hosted by Alethea Felton, celebrates the resilience, determination, and hope of entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and visionaries who have conquered adversity and various challenges to create meaningful lives.
With her own inspiring journey of living with autoimmune disease since birth (and now thriving), overcoming severe stuttering, and more, Alethea's authenticity adds depth to intimate conversations with her guests who have overcome extraordinary obstacles.
Alethea's heart-centered, introspective, and engaging style elevates this podcast into a movement that inspires listeners to embrace their inner strength, cultivate empowerment, and rise wiser, stronger, and more courageous to achieve their next level of success.
The Power Transformation Podcast
115. Homeschooling as a Path to Resilience, Creativity, & Joy with Amanda Schenkenberger
Step into a world where homeschooling meets wonder and creativity with Amanda Schenkenberger, a homeschooling expert who turns education into a joyful, fun, imaginative journey. In this episode, Amanda shares her personal story of being a 2nd generation homeschooler and describes how homeschooling can reconnect families with their core values, fostering a balanced, meaningful life in a hectic, stress-filled world. Whether you're curious about homeschooling or seeking fresh ideas, this conversation offers practical tips and inspiration for parents everywhere.
Connect with Amanda
Episode 115's Affirmation:
I use my gifts and talents to help those closest to me and to serve greater good.
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What if your biggest setback is actually your greatest setup for success? Welcome to the Power Transformation Podcast, where I, your host, alethea Felton, the Resilience Architect, have inspiring stories and real conversations with people just like you, those who are determined to rise above and thrive beyond life's challenges. Here we celebrate the courage and hope that it takes to reclaim your power, rewrite your story and step into the life that you were destined to live For. Now is the time to create your power transformation. How amazing are you to have made it to yet another episode of the Power Transformation Podcast. Welcome to this movement. This is more than a show. The Power Transformation Podcast is a movement, and you are a part of it. I'm your host, alethea Felton. It is such an honor to have you in this space today. Thank you for those of you who have been with me since the beginning. I value you. You mean so much to me, and welcome to those of you who are brand new to this show. If you haven't already, go ahead and follow and subscribe.
Alethea Felton:This show is in high demand, and I don't say that arrogantly. What I mean is I have so many interviews ready. I have guests in queue and people who want to be a part of this movement and because you are a faithful listener, you have kept this in the top 5% and our goal by the end of the year I am believing it will be in the top 2% or 3%. It could even be a top 1% show by the end of the year, but I am grateful to have this show in the top 5% and it is because of you who are listening and sharing. And today's guest is someone who is absolutely phenomenal, amanda Schenkenberger, and she is a homeschool guru. Her story is truly transformative and powerful and if you know anyone who is a homeschooling mom specifically, they want to hear this episode along with you. Even if you don't have children or don't have children in the home, or if your kids go to a traditional school, public or private, still listen to this episode, because this woman is a mastermind I mean just a guru, expert when it comes to homeschooling, and she helps homeschool moms in so many ways truly change their lives, to be rid of the anxiety and the extra stressors that come with homeschooling, as well as juggling a family and those responsibilities. Let me tell you I don't have children of my own, but I know for a fact, being a parent, especially a mom. A stay-at-home mom is a full-time job and no compensation in the world can account for that. So we're going to jump into this interview because her story is quite interesting and you will glean something from it, even if you've never had her experience.
Alethea Felton:Let's go ahead and start with our affirmation. I'll say the affirmation once and you repeat it and we'll jump right into this interview. I use my gifts and talents to help those closest to me and to serve the greater good and to serve the greater good. I am so thrilled today to have this amazing guest with her beautiful smile. She is so warm in spirit, so glad when I met her and so glad that we connected, and that is Amanda Schenkenberger. Amanda, welcome to the Power Transformation Podcast.
Amanda Schenkenberger:Well, thank you, alicia, I'm so happy to be here.
Alethea Felton:I am so honored to have you and prior to this, of course, the audience learned a little bit more about you. So we're going to dive right into June. Excuse me, bless you, sneeze, I'm not going to edit that out. I'm like why didn't that happen before? I pressed record. But anyway, we are going to jump right into this interview because there's so much for you to share and you have such a story of transformation, and even in the work that you do. But I like to always start with an icebreaker question so we can get to know you better. And so, amanda, this is the question for you If you could choose and don't think too hard about this, this is really, really fun If you could choose any fictional character, whether it's from a story, a movie, a TV show, to be your homeschooling assistant for a day, that could help you out, who would it be and why?
Amanda Schenkenberger:Oh, my goodness, I love this question. Ok, so this might sound funny, but I would choose Alice from Alice in Wonderland. Might sound funny, but I would choose Alice from Alice in Wonderland. So at the beginning of the movie her and her mom are reading outside and Alice is all distracted and this is where she begins to enter Wonderland. And I would choose her because sometimes I can be just like the mom, like Alice, listen to your lesson. But I want that fun and that whimsy and like, oh, the flowers and the daffodils talk to me, and the babbling brook. You know, I want those things in our homeschool. So I would choose Alice from Alice in Wonderland.
Alethea Felton:Oh, I love that answer. That is so, and you know it's been years since I read or even saw the cartoon of Alice in Wonderland. So the fact that you mentioned that it did trigger something in my memory where I said that is how it starts. I totally forgot. That's how it happened. It's not like she just woke up and was in Wonderland. There was something leading to it and that is a perfect answer. Now, is there a particular subject you would have her even maybe co-teach with you?
Amanda Schenkenberger:I would nature study, just like you know, like, like get out and just like imagine. I think there's so much power in that, especially when we have young children, and I think we lose that as we get older. And so a lot of people are like, oh, you seem so young and yes, I am, but I also spend my days with young children and they just have this just beautiful innocence and imagination about them. That I really do feel like keeps me young and free spirited, and so I would really want yeah, I would want her to like lead nature study and then she'd be like making up all these things and I'm like that's a great idea.
Alethea Felton:Exactly. That's really really fun and and cool. So now this is a question, and I was going to ask you the standard question that I ask all of my guests. Who is Amanda Schenkenberger? But I want to be a little creative here. Okay, if your oldest child could describe you, who would they say you are?
Amanda Schenkenberger:Well, recently we've watched Mary Poppins and he's like we've watched Mary Poppins and he's like mommy, you're kind of like Mary Poppins and I'm like that number one I don't sing, so we're not talking about that but she in the newer Mary Poppins they go to visit her like strange cousin and they arrive at the wrong time and she's like, oh, I forgot, well, it's now or never, like I just have that kind of like uh, spitzbaugh, we're gonna do this now, um kind of attitude. So he says I'm a little bit like Mary Poppins, but maybe, probably he'd say she's a little. She maybe wears army gear, she's a little bit, I'm a little bit more militant of Mary Poppins.
Alethea Felton:Wow, I love that and you know, look, I'm dating myself. But I totally missed the fact that they even have a new Mary Poppins. I'm going to have to check that out because I know it's great OK.
Amanda Schenkenberger:Yeah, emily Blunt does Mary Poppins and Emily Blunt, she does a great job. So we have both of the old and the new one.
Alethea Felton:OK, well, well, I will check it out and I am familiar with that actress, so thank you for that. I will check out the new one, but either way, it is a compliment that they said that Mary Poppins. That's really sweet and it's truly a compliment because Mary Poppins, in spite of her quirkiness, she kept the children safe and she really loved them and they knew it, and so what you do is truly from your heart, and so you do something that we've all heard of and it's called homeschooling. But there's a more personal journey behind it, even in terms of your company that you have with it and how you help others. But you're a second generation homeschooler, and so can you share some insights into your own upbringing and how being homeschooled shape your views on both education as well as family life.
Amanda Schenkenberger:Yeah, those are two really good questions, so I want to take the first one about education, because this one was super clear to me. So I got to be homeschooled until my high school years, but there was probably a period of like three, maybe four years where my family, we moved states completely up, up rooted ourselves from our, our homeschool family, you know. You know, family and um moved to a new, a new city and um, then my parents, unfortunately their marriage, fell apart and so we we had a farm, we had horses, so we had to get rid of all of our animals and it was a really, really dark time for me early on in my life. And comparing that hard season with my childhood, which was spent outdoors with animals riding horses, it was a very drastic contrast.
Amanda Schenkenberger:And when my life was more idyllic, I had very little formal learning. I remember my dad teaching me how to read, and it's a cool story. My dad is completely deaf. He has been my whole life. He's a lip reader and so he could see the sounds on my mouth and I've asked him multiple times. I'm like you really taught me how to read.
Alethea Felton:He's like yes, I did.
Amanda Schenkenberger:I was like mom didn't do anything. He's like no, it's like I don't remember her doing anything. I remember doing it with you. So I had this great connected learning experience with my dad. And then I remember hard moments like trying to learn double digit multiplication and I'm like oh, I'm crying. But everything else I pretty much don't remember being educated. It was all just life and play and enjoyment.
Amanda Schenkenberger:And then flash forward to this really rocky tween teen season that I had a lot of upheaval and then I went into public high school. So, looking at an educational perspective, I didn't have much going on when I was younger. I had a lot of great life, though In those tween teen middle years I really had nothing. It was really hard. My parents were going through a lot and this is the entire reason I ended up getting put into public school because we're like Amanda, like doesn't like my Amanda needs some kind of education, and so I'm entering a public school career at I think I was 14. And I'm terrified because I know in my mind the last two years of my life I haven't learned a thing. I actually I actually spent hours building websites, which paid off in the end because the websites building was new and I was like the internet was kind of new. So that's actually how I spent my time and really helped me as an entrepreneur. That was just a side note, but I knew I had no formal education during those hard years and before it was really limited.
Amanda Schenkenberger:And so I remember walking into my classroom for the very first time and I'm like trembling, I'm sweating, thinking okay, what if I raise my hand at the wrong time? What if I have to pee? What if I say the wrong thing? Does everybody know I'm homeschooled? And of course I had this impending doom, feeling that I was going to fail because these kids had spent their entire lives in public school training academically. Kids had spent their entire lives in public school training academically, and that's a huge adjustment, yeah, yeah.
Amanda Schenkenberger:And so I'm thinking there's no way I'm going to fail. I'm not. This isn't like, this isn't for me. And then Alethea, the first time the teacher posted grades you know who's at the top of most of her classes you, me, me and I was like, oh, my goodness, these kids have been stuck inside for most of their life and what I literally thought was chained to a desk. I've been outside playing with animals and I can come in here and do better than all of them. I'm pretty sure I know a better way to learn, and so from an educational standpoint, and I graduated in the top 3% of my high- school Impressive.
Amanda Schenkenberger:Like I applied myself. I understood how I learned and that was all gifted to me through homeschooling, and so I knew immediately I was going to homeschool my own children and I knew a better way to learn than a structured classroom. Now, obviously I did learn in that, but I didn't like there is a better way to learn, in my personal opinion, based on my experience. So it really shaped my view on education and what it could look like and what are the better ways to do it. Now, from a family standpoint, I'll be quicker on this answer.
Amanda Schenkenberger:Like I said, my dad taught me how to read and we used hooked on phonics, and so it was like this little car. You tracked around this little track and I remember moving that little car and being so excited to do this with my dad. You know he worked all day and then he came home and he would teach me to read, and so learning got to be this really connected, back and forth, enjoyable experience where, hey, I was seen, I got one-on-one time, it was valuable, I learned some skills, it's fun, and so I get to do it with the people that I love. So I saw learning as a family thing, not something that you go away to do so. It had really big impacts on my views with education.
Alethea Felton:And it's interesting that you would say that, because for some listeners and viewers who might not know and of course I share this with you is that I'm a former educator of 20 years in public schools and so I did teaching, leadership, hr, all of that. So I really had a path and I was national board certified. And I say that because throughout my career I did on occasion not often, but I did and I mainly taught middle and high school. But I did have an occasional student who had been homeschooled and then made the shift into public school and what I noticed this is the truth I noticed that the kids who were homeschooled did often excel higher than the ones in public school, and I found myself having I never really did a one size fits all approach to my instruction anyway, and I taught English most of my years and I taught Spanish also for a couple of years, but specifically as an English teacher, what I did was I would give that child them as well as some other higher achievers more challenging work to really get them.
Alethea Felton:Now I would raise every child to that level, but what I'm saying is that I noticed that the homeschool child was often bored.
Alethea Felton:They needed more interaction, and so it's interesting you would bring out the fact of you were in nature. You did so many more hands-on and that's what I tried to bring into the classroom and, honestly, that's not the way that traditional public schools are set up to be. So I'm a former public school educator who actually has no issue if a person tends to homeschool, and I found in my experience sometimes people would view it as a us against them thing, and I didn't see it as that. It's just an option. So when it comes to the option, you shared what your experience was. That solidified that. But you've also talked offline with me about homeschooling as being a catalyst for healing and that was major to me. So share for us a personal experience or a story from your journey that actually illustrates and demonstrates how homeschooling has been a healing process for your family, for your family, and how can you go about helping other families cultivate a similar environment of healing.
Amanda Schenkenberger:Yeah, that's. Thank you for asking that question, and the story I want to share comes from when I have four boys now, but this is back when I had three boys and you know, aletheia and I are entrepreneurs and I've been doing this entrepreneur thing for like 10 years. And it's just in my blood. Yes, I'm definitely what you would call a high achiever. I have lots of energy, I'm very ambitious.
Alethea Felton:There's nothing wrong with that Right, right.
Amanda Schenkenberger:And so I have been trying to learn how to balance this motherhood entrepreneurial journey for a long time, and initially I did an exceptionally poor job of it. Our life circumstances we had decided for my husband to go back to school and so he was working hard, full time in school and I was the breadwinner and homeschooler and all the home things and it was too much for me to carry. I wasn't well, what do I want to say? I just wasn't ready for that and I had a lot of I didn't know it at the time I had high functioning anxiety and I couldn't even tell you at that point in my life what anxiety was, but my life was riddled with it.
Amanda Schenkenberger:And so what would happen is here I am trying to work and I have all these small little children I am trying to manage and work and then, at certain times, teach, and what would happen is just like a child would. They would come and interrupt me and, as the person who is like this isn't just a hobby or I can take a break to come spend time with you, like I have to do this, I have to earn money. There's nobody else earning money for our family right now I would react in in awful ways my words. I call it my lava monster season because the words and the tone that would come out and pour just this awful bitterness onto my children and I know you don't have children yet, alethea, but you probably witnessed kind of when the light of children's eyes dim and that hope and that sweetness kind of fades from them, and that would happen, that would reoccur so often, and it was.
Amanda Schenkenberger:It was a really hard season, I know, for them, and it was really hard season for me because I knew what I was doing but I felt helpless in my situation. And so for a lot of moms just in general, especially homeschool moms, we're learning how to balance home education. Obviously I had prior experience with homeschooling so I had an idea of what it could look like. But new moms they're completely shifting their paradigm of what public school looks like, what homeschooling could look like, and fielding a whole bunch of children at once. There's a whole bunch of newness. And so I know there's other moms out there who have been reacting that way and they feel consumed with guilt and it's and they also feel helpless to change.
Amanda Schenkenberger:And so what? What ended up happening? And I'm a believer and God knows I like Disney. So he's talking, he talks to me through Disney movies and I was watching Moana, it had just come out with my kids and in Moana there is this island called Te Fiti and she's this life giving giving island, but her heart gets stolen and then she, like, goes to sleep and then Moana's job is to restore the heart of Te Fiti. So the ocean gives it to her and she's on this great journey to restore the heart of Te Fiti. Well, the main boss, big baddie keeping her from Te Fiti is Te Ka, this lava monster who's like bent on destroying Moana and getting the heart.
Amanda Schenkenberger:And so, you know, at the end of the climax of the movie, moana gets past Te Kaa, she gets to where she thinks Te Fiti is and she realizes Te Fiti's not here. Where is Te Fiti? And she turns around and she looks at Te Kaa and she's like, oh my gosh, that's actually Te Fiti. And she asks the asked, the ocean to part so Te Fiti, te Fiti, te Kha can come to her. Because you know, when lava hits water, it, it freezes up, and so the ocean parts and Te Kha just comes tearing down this, this ocean parting, and Moana sings this beautiful song and she says you know, this is not who you are. I know who you are.
Amanda Schenkenberger:And she reunites Teka with her heart and she becomes Te Fiti again. Wow, that's powerful, you know Powerful. And God says to me he's like, right now you're Teka, but I see you as you are. I created you to be this life-giving mother like Tefidi. This is not who you are. I know who you are and I just need to reunite you with your heart. And so I'm like, of course, bawling at this point of like God talking to me and watching Moana, and from that moment, things didn't turn around right away, but from that moment, I realized that the way I was showing up wasn't who I really was. The mom that I was showing up as this, this lava monster pouring ugly words out on her kids, that's not who I was. God created me to be this loving, life-giving mother.
Amanda Schenkenberger:I just needed to be reunited with my heart. And so there was a long journey, you know and a lot of times I'm still on it um of of me stepping into what it looks like for me to be Te Fiti a life-giving mother, and homeschooling. A lot of people would have told me had they known what was going on. They would have said you need to put your kids back into school and take some time for yourself. But I knew that wasn't what I actually wanted, and so I used homeschooling as a catalyst for my healing and my family's healing.
Amanda Schenkenberger:Because, number one, homeschooling gives me the most amount of opportunities to walk through my challenges, because my kids are right there with me and I have the strongest motivation I will ever have as a person, because I'm doing this for my kids. If it was for me, I don't think I would do it, but because it's for my children, okay, I'm going to try again. I'm going to have grit and perseverance, I'm going to get on my knees and pray All those things. I have the most opportunities and I have the most motivation I'll ever have in my whole life, and homeschooling gives you that opportunity. Maybe your situation isn't as bad as our situation was, Maybe it's oh, we just have a lot of conflict or we're not very connected. Homeschooling gives you the gift of time so that you can work through these struggles, because you can avoid them all day long or push those feelings down or run away. They're not going anywhere. You have to learn how to walk through these heart struggles and that's what homeschooling gives you.
Alethea Felton:And I'm sure and I don't want you to delve deeply into this because I don't like to take any of my guests off guard, but just a comment that I'm thinking about is it also had to have such a profound effect on the relationship between you and your husband, which then could even cause that front as parents, both parents being stronger and more bonded and the kids feeling that and seeing that. So it has such a profound, influential effect from the headship all the way down to the children, and that is absolutely transformational, wow, wow. And so when you think about your family's identity, values and legacy, let's kind of talk about the homeschooling curriculum. I know there are certain things through your state that you have to teach, but how do you incorporate those family values also into what you're teaching your children in their day-to-day learning?
Amanda Schenkenberger:Yeah, that's a really good question because when we sit back and think about academics, academics and relationship and values, like it's actually all very easily interwoven through homeschooling and thinking about, you know, just looking at a curriculum that you would choose, for example, we want all of our curriculum to honor God because we're Christians, and so that means that I'm going to choose something that recognizes God and helps my kids see the beauty of nature. I love nature. So, you know, for example, we use the good and the beautiful. It brings in like Renaissance style art and it's just gorgeous and teaches them to write poetry, and you know all these beautiful things. And he talks about God. So, curriculum wise, that really influences how, like, what curriculum I choose, because there's so many out there.
Amanda Schenkenberger:Now, as far as like, weaving family values into what we do, that actually that character piece is actually really easily done because, number one, we can bring in like our family value of doing things with excellence, right, so we aren't going to finish something quickly so we can go and play.
Amanda Schenkenberger:If it's not done in excellence, we need to slow down and complete this in excellence, because that's one of our family values. Another value is, you know, we want to honor each other and we want to honor people who have different beliefs than us. We live in an area where there are a lot of people who are different from us, and we believe that everybody is like God's creation is inside of them, and Jesus wants them saved, and and so they're. They are so valuable, they are the most valuable things on this planet and we get to treat them as such, and so you know that, being brought into um into our homeschooling, and how we treat each other and how we treat our neighbors and how we treat people on the street, all those things are very easily interwoven into our homeschooling experience, because we're doing life together.
Alethea Felton:Exactly, and I like the whole concept of giving your children an awareness of people that are different, because, with it being 2024, this is just my opinion I think about when I grew up in the 80s and in the 90s and I was in college in the early 2000s.
Alethea Felton:I think about just from when I was in school systems and teaching diverse groups of kids, from the wealthiest to kids who were impoverished, all types of lifestyles and backgrounds.
Alethea Felton:But to know the pressures that are on kids nowadays just so much pressure, and I'm not talking about family pressure, but just how much they're so exposed to and even the kids who come from what would be considered the best of homes, you've literally got to just continue to pray over your children because parents could raise their kids right and then, once they're out of the nest, they still choose whatever life they tend to have.
Alethea Felton:But I think that the exposure to differences doesn't give them as much culture shock. And when I use the word culture, audience, I'm not talking about color and race, because there's so much with culture. You can be the same race and have totally different cultures. So I'm not talking about it from that aspect, but just the culture shock of everything. And so, with that being said, that can take a toll of kids' mental health in terms of what they're experiencing now, the pressures around them. And so you're also a mental health practitioner, and so, from that angle, health practitioner, and so from that angle, what unique insights do you even bring into your homeschooling approach to ensure that the mental and the emotional well-being of your children are prioritized even in the midst of academic learning?
Amanda Schenkenberger:Yeah, with that, everything centers around the main, like the primary educator, which in the most cases is mom. There's lots of dads who are homeschooling, which is awesome, but I'm focused on moms, and when mom is doing well, she is then able to help her children do well. And this you can see this in mom being able to regulate and then share that regulation through co-regulation. And so when I can teach mom how to stay calm or balance her nervous system, or give her some insights maybe how her brain is working, so that she can see maybe her child's brain is working the same way or maybe it's working differently, those sort of things when we begin to understand ourselves better, we can then understand our children better.
Amanda Schenkenberger:And when that primary educator is a strong pillar, then if one of our children has a huge struggle for example, my oldest broke his ankle and needed surgery, um, a whole, but like that brought on a whole new, all the things I'm sure. Yeah, oh my, I know it was a lot, um, but when I'm a strong pillar, then I can offer my strength to him and he can have his, his heart, like the hardness and all I see, and I can stand in the fire with him because I'm not bringing the fire and I am not on fire. I can stand in the fire with him because I've been steeled through strength and calming, and that's that's what I can offer when I am in charge of my mental health, and I'm strong in that way.
Alethea Felton:Wow, yeah, it struck me just like that when you said that is that that is so key. Is that the healthier you are, then the healthier that your children will be. That really goes hand in hand, and I think that that's a huge aha moment for just not parents but people in general is it almost goes back to the adage that a crew is only as strong as its captain, and so when the captain is well put together and strong, then everybody else is going to feel that. Or a team is only as great as their coach, and so, at the end of the day, as the mom, you are the coach and, yes, we acknowledge dads out there homeschooling, but you're a mom, you are a mom and you love your kids and you don't know what it means to be a dad. So I understand your focus and your emphasis even on moms, and so you've shared how, even with homeschooling, how it can. It's just a huge way of blending the home life with the academic, and it's just not about smothering kids.
Alethea Felton:That's a huge misconception. Is that, oh, school kids are, you know, helicopter parents or they smother them, and I've even heard people to say kids who are homeschool really have a disadvantage when it comes to their social interactions with other kids, interactions with other kids. But I've had people I know personally, friends who were homeschooled who told me years ago about how that's not necessarily true. So could you even touch on that to clear up some myths about homeschooling, specifically one where it says children who are homeschooled are sheltered and they don't get to interact with other kids?
Amanda Schenkenberger:Yeah, that's something that comes up in almost every single conversation, so it's a good one to talk about. And how I like to start this is, if I like to say homeschooling is an amplifier, right, it works like an amplifier. And if your family is already weird, homeschooling is not going to help.
Alethea Felton:I see what you're saying, yeah.
Amanda Schenkenberger:You know if, if it's a family that has a lot of quirks or maybe is intending to shelter them, um, yeah, those kids are going to come out with some quirks and be sheltered. But with homeschooling, now we'll start with my experience as a kiddo. Obviously it was still weird, homeschooling was weird, and people would ask me, oh, where do you go to school? And I would say, oh, I'm homeschooled.
Alethea Felton:I didn't think about that.
Amanda Schenkenberger:Yeah, but you're not weird. And I was like thank you, what do you want me to say? And that was because my parents were intentional about getting me out, and so I was actually in an equestrian sport on a team. It's called vaulting, if you want to look it up, it's gymnastics on horseback, and I was on a team. So there was an individual sport and then there were girls I was typically the youngest and boys all the way up to like 18 and 20. And we would do moves on the back of the horse together, and so I was learning to work with a team. I was with kids who were various ages, letting them coach me, me share my talents with them, me work with horses, you know. So I had a lot of opportunity, socialized and because I was homeschooled, I actually got sponsored and I went to Europe to do this sport and compete internationally.
Amanda Schenkenberger:Some of the kids who were chosen to be sponsored actually couldn't go because the public school they were attending said you'll miss too many days, you'll have to repeat this grade. And I was like, are you kidding me? This is an opportunity of a lifetime. Pull them out of school. So I got that opportunity because I was homeschooled. Now, that was my personal experience. So this myth of homeschoolers being weird has been around for a long time. Nowadays, because the homeschool population is growing so rapidly, there are co-ops being developed, I would say, like on a daily basis almost, of families trying to get together their kids so that they can interact with each other, they can go play, they can develop some social skills, and I've been a part of many of these. Some of these co-ops we have, I don't know like up to 50 children just outside playing, and you know what I actually got to choose this co-op. I know what kind of people these are, and so I get to be, while my kids are in their formative years, be selective with the type of people they're socializing, and it's not just a random like oh, I hope you get those kids in your class that I'll probably never know. I get to hand select the kind of people my children grow up with.
Amanda Schenkenberger:And, like I said, we live in a very in our area it's not. It's known for being progressive and we're Christians, so the things just don't go together. So we have a lot of people we get lots of exposure to. Like my oldest and I, we have gone downtown and we have served food to the homeless and we talk a lot about the different kinds of people who live near us. Oh, and our neighbors? Oh yeah, you know they have different values, aren't they so kind though? You know all these different things, we have exposure everywhere. I mean, they go to the store. Here's a perfect example Now this last Friday I got to take my oldest to a live shark dissection and it was so cool.
Amanda Schenkenberger:There was like a jazz band playing while they were doing the shark dissection and the speaker was talking. And we're in an auditorium of hundreds of people and the speaker is asking a question. Guess who spoke up to answer the question? Your son, my son? Oh, I know, electroreception is da-da-da-da-da. I don't remember what he said, I don't know, and I was like oh, I wasn't expecting that. And so he actually has the social skills and the courage and the confidence to be in front of this entire auditorium and be like oh, this is the answer to the question. Yeah, Like, okay. So if you're intentional, then it's not going to be a problem, but if you're already weird and you're trying to shelter your kids.
Amanda Schenkenberger:Well, that's what you're going to get.
Alethea Felton:So amazing, and not only did that show his socialization, but that was really a transformative learning experience, and so that was. That was really, really fascinating, and I'm glad he also had the courage and the confidence to actually speak out. Girl, sometimes it was like pulling teeth trying to get students to even share, and so the fact that he would be so willing in a group of strangers, that is outstanding. And so let's kind of shift here because time is coming to a close, but I like this whole theme about what it does to kids inchooling, or even those, amanda, who are considering homeschooling. They may have some doubts, fear or maybe even anxiety about homeschooling effectively. So if you were to talk to that group of people, what would you share?
Amanda Schenkenberger:with them. That could be encouragement or practical advice so that they can get rid of that hesitancy or struggle in order so that they may embrace homeschooling fully. Yeah, that's. I think a lot of parents, even those who are currently homeschooling, still deal with a lot of self-doubt and that often comes back to this feeling of I don't feel qualified to homeschool my children and I don't think I'm enough, or maybe I don't have enough patience, those sort of things. So thinking about am I qualified to homeschool? Well, who taught their child how to put on clothes? Who taught their child how to eat with a spoon? Who taught their child to brush their teeth and make their bed? Guess what that was?
Amanda Schenkenberger:You and homeschooling is really. Yes, there's academics involved, but it's really just an extension of parenting. That's all it really is, and there are tools and resources and support out there to help you in this journey. So, when we're thinking academics, you've got curriculum to back you up. You need structure. You can talk to somebody about me. You need to grow your confidence. Again, that's kind of my ball field too, but there are so many resources out there to help you do this. You don't need to know it all, and that's the beautiful thing. You guys get to learn together, and that's one of the things I love about homeschooling, so you don't have to worry about being qualified because there's been lots of resources created for you.
Amanda Schenkenberger:And then this whole I'm not enough for my kids gets into like a really deep, like emotional place. Am I enough for my kids? And if we're already wondering that, we probably would already be wondering that as a mother, just in general, that even as a homeschool mom, and my encouragement to you would be well, what would be enough? Ask yourself that question, what would be enough? And that's really not something we can answer. And so what we can do is show up as our best and we can define what that is, whether you're considering homeschooling or not. That's a great thing for us to do as moms. What's my best self? What would I be doing in these situations? And then we can start stepping into that and showing up as our best selves. And if it is quote unquote, not enough, we've still done our best and we can feel good about that. And then we can help navigate the rest.
Alethea Felton:Yes, indeed, and in terms of that navigation, the joy about you is that you help other homeschooling parents specifically moms navigate, and you also provide some coaching services. So share with us briefly what you do, how you help, and if someone's listening or watching and they want to connect with you, how can they go about doing that?
Amanda Schenkenberger:Yeah, that's. I would love to share that. So I am actually a homeschool coach and this is where I fuse, like life coaching and mental health me being a mental health practitioner and I'm also a sensory specialist and executive function coach I like put all these together inside of homeschool coaching, and how I help people is I do like private one-on-ones, but mostly is through my programs. I've developed programs for homeschool moms to help grow personally and enhance learning while taking a hold of their mental health. So all of my programs really encompass all these things, and so working with me, you know, would be entering one of those programs or if you were looking for some one-on-one coaching, that's something we can do too, and if you want to connect with me, you can do that by emailing me at amandahomeschoolfamilylegacycom, and I'm always hosting different free workshops and I've got different freebies and the one I wanted to share this one is for currently homeschooling moms and it's called the 7 Self-Care Secrets Busy Homeschool Moms Need.
Amanda Schenkenberger:The one I wanted to share this one is for currently homeschooling moms and it's called the seven self-care secrets busy homeschool moms need, and so I'm going to give that link to Alethea and she can share it where where she shares this stuff. Yes, and then that that's a good. That's more of a training about our nervous system and understanding, if we're living in overwhelm, how we begin to exit that. So that's what that training is all about.
Alethea Felton:And I also have a good friend now who homeschools her children or she did at one point and she was homeschooled herself.
Alethea Felton:But I'm going to reach out directly to her, even prior to this being aired, to even give her the link and to send her your website, because she more than likely still has a lot of contacts in different homeschooling networks, so that we can get your information out there more.
Alethea Felton:And so, as we wrap this up, amanda, the closing question I have for you is this Well, first of all, I'll say I think that what you're doing is so special.
Alethea Felton:You're the first homeschool coach I've ever met in my life, so that was new to me. But then again, maybe I'm just not exposed to a lot of people in that world, but it's definitely a specific niche and I've interacted so many people who, more and more and again this is not to disparage the public schools I left my career on a high note, retired early, on a wonderful note, and I'm still an advocate of public schools. However, I know a lot of people in my personal life who especially people that are older parents or just parents who don't like what school systems are doing now, even other teachers and educators and school leaders that I know who have said behind closed doors that they want to shift out and homeschool their children or put them somewhere where somebody else can homeschool them, things like that. So that's really an honor for you as a homeschool parent to hear, as a homeschool parent, to hear. So what are you most proud of?
Amanda Schenkenberger:on this journey of homeschooling your children, amanda, that my boys are in love with me. They love me. My oldest yesterday. I love you, mommy. I'm sorry I'm saying that so much.
Amanda Schenkenberger:He's in the tween years, so there's lots of hormones flooding um so we have really high highs and really low lows right now but, just that they want to be around me and they love me, like well, I mean, at the end of the day, that's like I mean, obviously, you know, I want my kids to know Jesus and they do and and those things, but like I'm, I'm proud that we have a great relationship, that's that's what I'm most proud of and I am very, very happy that they have you, and I sincerely do hope and pray from the depths of my heart that the Lord will bless you with long life, good health.
Alethea Felton:The Lord will bless you with long life, good health, prosperity for both you and your husband, so that you can be involved in your children's lives for many, many years to come. That's very important and I just continue to hope the best for you. Thank you for the work you are doing and it was such an honor having you today on the Power Transformation Podcast. Keep the work you are doing and it was such an honor having you today on the Power Transformation Podcast. Keep the work going and thank you for your presence.
Amanda Schenkenberger:And thank you, Alethea, for creating this space where people can come and be encouraged that there is power in transformation.
Alethea Felton:Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Power Transformation Podcast. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Power Transformation Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to follow or subscribe, leave a five-star rating and write a review. It helps us inspire even more listeners. And don't keep it to yourself. Share it with someone who could use a little power in their transformation, someone who could use a little power in their transformation. Until next time, keep bouncing back, keep rising and be good to yourself and to others.
