Ep. 105 - Homeschooling and SEL - with Emma Westphal, Dawn Navaratnasingam, and Liz Sheffield

Homeschooling has really come up in the world thanks, in no small part, to the pandemic we all just lived through.

In this episode we get to learn from 3 parents who share heartfelt insights that have led to, literally, expanding and deepening their definitions of parenthood, family life, and even how they perceive the role of education for kids, and for ourselves.

Of course we got into one of the main issues people raise around homeschooling: socialization / social-emotional learning… We explored some realities about different kids’ developing sense of self, experiences and influences that crush a healthy sense of self, and what it looks like when a healthy sense of self has not been crushed.

This was definitely not a Black + White, Either/Or, One-Size-Fits-All kind of conversation… in other words, some kids sense of self develops much better away from the big school environment, while for other kids it’s the exact opposite. One of the many things I so much appreciated about this conversation was the openness and flexibility, dedication and love with which each of today’s parents addressed the wide variety of their homeschooling challenges, including curriculum selection, finding meaningful and supportive community, homeschooling multiple children, homeschooling neuro-diverse kids. We even got into the fascinating topics of de-schooling and un-schooling… and identifying personally relevant resources - some of which are included in this show’s notes.

After this conversation, Emma wrote that she enjoyed our conversation, because it gave her an opportunity to step back and reflect on her family’s life through the homeschooling, de-schooling and unschooling lenses, which helped her to know, even more solidly, what she thinks and what she knows to be best for her family’s wellbeing!

The resources Emma shared (which you can find in this show’s notes) are created by current or veteran homeschool mamas who know the territory because they’ve lived it. (Emma, who described a little of her work as an acupuncturist, can be found on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/earthonmyskin/)

www.90minuteschoolday.com

www.bravewriter.com

www.bewildandfree.com

You will also want to check out Dawn’s site, which I learned about after this conversation, but as soon as I saw it, I extended another invitation to her, asking her to share her knowledge and expertise as a Board Certified Holistic Health Coach since 2013, who has helped her son overcome learning and behavioral challenges by making simple changes to his diet. Dawn’s website is: dawnnavacoaching.com.