Episode 289: CM Graduate Panel with Jono Kiser
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Welcome to A Delectable Education, the podcast that spreads the feast of the Charlotte Mason Method. I'm Emily Kaiser, and I'm here with Nicole Williams and Liz Cattrall. Today's episode is part of our occasional series, Voices from the Conference. As you probably know by now, we at A Delectable Education host a virtual conference each February to hopefully bring some inspiration and encouragement to what is notoriously a dark stretch in the homeschooling year, at least for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere.

A few years ago, a worldwide pandemic, you may have heard of it, forced us to move to the online format and we discovered some benefits that we wouldn't have otherwise. Not only are Charlotte Mason educators from all over the world able to join us due to the virtual platform, so many have personally written to share how they wouldn't ever have been able to get away for a conference or retreat except online. So we are so grateful to have the opportunity to pour into the broader Charlotte Mason community in this way.

However, we know that many of you are still not able to participate and even those who do always long for something more. And that brings us to the voices from the conference series. We use these episodes to highlight one of the speakers or ideas that came out in a past year's conference. We hope you enjoy this little taste of the conference and we would love to have you join us at the next ADE at Home conference in February.

And this is really a treat for you today. This episode is recorded at ADE at Home session from 2024's conference, a panel of Charlotte Mason High School and post-high school students

candidly sharing about what their Charlotte Mason education has meant to them personally and how it has prepared them for life after graduation. So our wonderful John O. Kaiser is hosting the discussion. So whether you have high schoolers or little ones, enjoy this honest and open conversation to encourage you about the rewards that lie ahead. Okay, welcome everyone.

My name is Jono Kaiser, and welcome to our panel discussion today titled Kids Perspectives. We'll talk about that in a minute, because I have the privilege of moderating today's panel of, again, I'm going to say kids with disabilities.

quotation marks because we're actually privileged to be with some students who are not kids. I would say these are accomplished young adults that we're going to get to hear from together. So I'm very excited to go through this conversation with these wonderful people.

I want to give these participants plenty of time. Again, my name is John O'Kaiser. I'm a CM Lit teacher and composition teacher. I teach online and I've been doing that for a number of years.

And I love this method and I'm excited to talk with these students, former and one current who is almost done, which is exciting, about their experience. So let me introduce you to them and then we'll get right into our talk and I think it's going to be a lot of fun. So I'm going to start with Karis Berge. Karis, can you introduce yourself to us?

Hello, I'm Karis Berge. I'm 20 years old. I'm an undergraduate in Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California. In my third year, I'm double majoring in a Bachelor's of Humanities in their Honors College and Music with Heart Performance.

Excellent, excellent, fantastic. Thanks for joining us, Karis. Next we'll go to Barron. Introduce us to you, Barron. I'm Barron Miller. I'm also 20. This is my second year in college. I'm going to Des Moines Area Community College, and I'm working toward an engineering degree in probably industrial engineering. Fantastic, awesome. Thank you. And Sophie.

Hi, I'm Sophie Fiedler. I just turned 18 and I'm finishing my senior year of high school. Fantastic. And you are also working towards nursing, correct? Yes, that's the plan. Next year I'm going to Fox Valley Tech for nursing.

Fantastic. All right. Well, again, thank you guys so much for joining us for this discussion. I know that it's going to be very helpful for parents and teachers to kind of hear from you all and hear your experiences. And it's going to be, I think, a lot of fun for all of us. So I'm going to go ahead and I'll try and go around and ask you all these questions. You've been able to see some of them beforehand.

So let's just open it right up. So I'm going to ask you, what do you most value or appreciate looking back about your homeschool? And I'm saying homeschool slash CM education. And for this, I'll start with you, Sophie. What would you say? Again, you're still kind of in it. So there's there's a little bit of that going on. But looking back at the same time, what would you say?

Yeah, one of the things that I have just really appreciated over my, I've been homeschooled all 12 years. And we, our family does every morning, we do something called family gathering. And like at eight o'clock every morning, we sit down and we have breakfast together and we do like picture study. We do like our hymn.

Um, we do our Bible and like, it's only an hour, but I have had that my whole, whole 12 years. And I just really appreciate starting the morning like that, you know, like everybody sitting down all at different grades and, um, just having that routine and also just like spending that time with our family, I think is just really important to me. And I just really value that.

that time because I know like that's not you know a typical thing that you could do if you know you were going to public school or something but I think I'm just very grateful that you know we were able to do that and I really value um just having that time in the morning yeah such a rich way to start the the day that's that's lovely thanks so much that's great all right Baron what would you say is something that you would value or appreciate the most of that experience

I, so as a college student, a lot of instructors will give busy work as they're helping one individual student figure something out. I think the homeschooling in general is a more efficient use of your time because you can go from one subject right to the next subject, have all your books with you all the time. I think it's a very good use of time. Excellent.

Karis, what would you say to answer that? It's kind of a hard question because there's just so much about homeschooling that I look back on with like fondness. And I'd say one of the biggest things is like just being able to study a broad majority of subjects and like not

so specific. Like when you go to college, you kind of dial in on one specialty, but with like my experience, at least with homeschooling and with CM, it was, I just had a lot of opportunities to study a lot of different things I was interested in. And that was really impactful for like where I'm at today. And it just has helped me to be a better rounded person with like interests outside of just my main focus and

And I'd also say the ability to communicate with others outside of your peer group, because when you're homeschooled, you're around people of all ages, parents, adults, little siblings, your own age. And so I got the opportunity through homeschooling to lean into loving those who aren't exactly in my own place of life. And that's helped me a lot.

That's a great thing to bring up. Yeah, you are interacting with such a range of people and how you're able to learn how to communicate. And that's a really great thing. All right, kind of connected to this, were all of you, just so we can kind of have a set understanding of where you guys are coming from, were you all educated in this method pretty much your entire life? Or was there a time when you did something different? Yeah.

So have you been in pretty much, you said the majority of your education? Yeah, I've been homeschooled my whole life and we've done Charlotte Mason my whole 12 years. Like my first like experience with like, I would say like standardized testing was when I took the ACT. That was like my first like, oh, this is like what public school is like. But yeah, other than that, it was Charlotte Mason the whole time.

And people would probably want to know, how was that experience when you've been in Charlotte Mason and then you go to do the standardized test? What was the, what was the kind of feeling or the tone? Yeah, I was like kind of nervous about it because I was like, I've never really done tests like this before. And like, I mean, it's a weird test to study for anyways, because it's like, you don't know what, you know, you don't know what you're going to get. But yeah,

Honestly, it was not that bad. I was expecting it to be a lot scarier, like I was going to fail or something. But like, I mean, you can't really feel the ACT. But, um, yeah, it was really not that bad at all. And like, I actually, um, I'm dyslexic, too. So we were actually able to get accommodations to like,

I was able to like listen to the questions and like I had a longer time to complete it, which I don't know if a lot of people know you can do that. But it was really not that bad. And I think even being homeschooled and not experiencing that kind of testing before. I honestly don't think it was like it hindered me from like taking the test or like really affected my score.

That's great. It's good to know for those, I'm sure there are probably parents out there and teachers who have dyslexic students to know just in thinking like that, oh, there are accommodations that can be made. That's great to know. Barron, what about you? I was also kind of like Sophie said, a little nervous. I was very nervous, actually, when I took the ACT. But yeah, generally, I think it was very preparing for

for lots of different interactions I have with people. Kind of like Karis said, where there's perks and drawbacks to being homeschooled my whole life versus being exposed to other things.

But you were, so you were educated, homeschooled your entire life. Yes, yes. Yeah, good, good. Yeah, that's great. And you've already taken the ACT as well, and you got through it as well. So, so far, we're doing okay. Yeah. All right. Karis, what about you? Did you have any other experiences? Yeah, no, I was homeschooled my whole life. I...

My mom did some like textbook stuff in high school with me. I took a government and econ like high school course. And so I did a couple, I was the first born. So I did, I was kind of the trial kid with different stuff, but we stuck with, those didn't go great. We stuck with C4. Yeah.

Awesome. Well, that's great. So you kind of started to answer this a little bit, even in regards to the taking the ACTs, but kind of moving from that to our next question. We'll go back to you, Karis. How do you feel like your education has prepared you for life after high school? And for you, you're in college. This is your third year in college. So what would you say in answer to that? How do you feel like it prepared you?

Oh gosh, well, many ways. I kind of already touched on like the community and like interaction portion. But also because I'm in my school's Honors College and like humanities section,

There's it's just like roundtable discussions. It's very similar to what I did for many classes and many subjects with my family in CM. And so it's prepared me a lot for those classes. Let's see. Yeah, it's really helped with like it kind of.

put me ahead of some students in that course because a lot of them were coming from public school or private Christians and they were like, why do we read a book? What? And they're like, wait, the whole thing and just discuss it. And we don't have tests. Like, what is this? And so it was kind of cool to see like other people discovering that. And so that was a really cool experience. It's also helped me to,

desire, like more than just an A or like more than just, okay, get the work done and move on to the next thing. And it's helped me in my studies, just like what kind of the meaning of why I'm studying this and just getting as much fruit out of it as I can in the short four years that I have here. That's great. Awesome. Sophie, what about you?

Um, well, I think for me, cause like, I'm not quite out of high school yet. Um, it's a little harder to be like, Oh, like what, you know, what for sure is going to be like impactful or like, Oh, I see how this has, you know, helped me get through college or whatever. But I know for sure for me, um, like I mentioned before, I'm dyslexic and, um, I'm

I found that out like early middle school, I think. And like, it was pretty hard to like, for me, it was like reading and writing. And my parents really invested a lot in like finding tools and like, you know, getting accommodations for me. And I think being able to be homeschooled and have like my subjects and even like my time and how I,

like went through math or whatever, like being able to have that be flexible to like my needs or like what works best for me really prepared me to graduating because like now I have tools that I know work for me. Like I, you know, like I said at the ACT, like I was able to get accommodations for that. So I feel comfortable with like talking to, you know, teachers about that. And I think honestly, that has really helped me a lot being able to

find how I study best and writing best so then I can you know enter college and feel confident with like okay I can get through this because I've worked on these skills whereas I think you know it's harder if you're not homeschooled I think because there's not a lot of time to like really be like okay what what is going on here like what what are my struggles like how can we fix this and I think I really give a lot of credit to my parents because they were very like

they were really invested in that and really, you know, wanting me to succeed. And yeah, I give a lot of credit to them for where I am today. That's great. Yeah. And just recognizing that time. I think that's one of the things that a lot of us appreciate so much about the experiences. It does allow for that. And that's a great example. And Barron, what would you say about that? I think that,

It's kind of what Kara said, it gives you a very well-rounded pool of knowledge. So going into other fields, I can know a little bit. I don't know a great deal about any subject I haven't intensively studied, but I know a little bit about everything. So I can come in with a base knowledge where I can build on it instead of just...

you know, trying to start from the ground up. And it also teaches you time management. So like I was, you know, 30 minutes for math, 30 minutes for writing, 40 minutes for science. And when one subject goes on right to the next subject, I think that has well prepared me

um for time management yeah that's a good point i mean you don't think about that especially in uh being homeschooled there is a bit of self-discipline to that as well whereas you know when you're in another situation everything is done for you you have to obviously you have people who are encouraging you and sometimes when you need to go on to the next thing but yeah having that self-discipline is a great great benefit all right so kind of

Counter to that, or a little bit, and we'll start with you, Barron, is there something you wish you had appreciated more during your time or that you missed or kind of ignored during your education?

I, so art study was always that one thing that I didn't really care about. I ignored that for the majority. I was like, yeah, yeah, whatever. These art artists. But yeah, now I appreciate art more. I think we've gotten into a co-op a few years back. I'm out of the co-op now, but back then I really started caring about it and I wish I knew more about it then.

Also for narrations and essays, when I was younger, I don't do this anymore, but when I was younger, I wrote the bare minimum required. I did not enjoy writing, and now I'm the exact opposite. I love writing, and I write too much off times. But that's actually, the writing thing is very encouraging, I think, for a lot of parents, because some of the parents watching this don't have, you know,

kids your age or young adults, excuse me, your age. And to know that, you know, especially with some students, if you write that little bare amount, it's like, oh, my students never going to move on. But you're right. I mean, you might regret that you didn't apply yourself more, but eventually you did get to have a better appreciation. That's fantastic. My wife will be very disappointed to hear that you were so not interested in art in the the art field.

the artist and art curriculum writer that she is. So, yes, but you know, nobody's perfect, Barron, so that's all right. All right, Karis, now is there something that you missed or ignored in your education too that you're like, "Oh, I wish I had to go back." - Yeah, well, okay, to Barron's point,

I the art study was like one of my favorite things so that's so funny that that was one of your things but um kind of piggybacking off of him the narrations of like the written narrations it's like oh why do I have to do this and now I'm like oh I I shouldn't have had that attitude um going towards that but I'm gonna say in high school um it was Latin and

And I was like, why do I have to learn this? This is ridiculous. And I just didn't have like a good appreciation for it. So I kind of like, I don't know, I just did the bare minimum with that. And now I'm in two degrees that are both kind of founded in romantic languages. And it, I wish I had taken the time to learn,

study Latin more because it's just so fundamental to all the literature and all the like terminology that I'm using and I

Like I get by and I do well with all of that, but it would have been so much. I don't know. It would have I would have been able to make more connections. And in my education here, I think then like, oh, I have to go research or like look up all these Latin terms. And I'm like, oh, I know I saw these in high school, but I just kind of took that for granted. So I'm going to say Latin personally. Yeah.

That's a good choice. I took Latin in high school as well. And if it had to do with farmers or kings or death, I was pretty good. You know, Grickola, Rex, and Mortis. You know, I had those. Other things, not so much. So I can understand that.

All right, Sophie, again, you're still in the tail end of it, but is there anything even looking back now that you're like, oh man, I really could have used this? Yeah, I agree with both of you guys with narration. I was the same way when I was younger. Like, I just like did not appreciate narrating, especially when it got even to like, I think it was when I was starting to like have to write it, not like tell when I was the narrations. That was when I was like, oh, I don't really want to do this.

But like now, now that I'm like in high school, I'm like, I so appreciate that. And I will be continuing to do that through college. But I think something like that I didn't appreciate as much, especially I would say in my younger years was probably entering my nature notebook. I

it wasn't that I didn't like it, but like, I think because like, say we like had went on a hike and then we came back and I was like tired. So I didn't want to do it, but it was like, we wanted to do it in the, like, you know, that kind of period, right. When you got back, because it was fresh in your head, you maybe have a specimen or something, but I think I was just like tired. I'm like, why do I have to do this? I like, I have a piece of wood right here. Why do I need to put it in a notebook? But then as I got older and now I'm appreciating more, like,

I wish I had more to look back on from when I was younger. Yes, that's definitely something that I appreciate now. When I was younger, I definitely did not like my nature notebook. Yeah, it's good. Yeah.

All right, great answers. So we're going to shift gears a little bit. And if we have time, I'm not sure if you guys want to do this. We have had a few questions from the audience. So if we have time at the end, if you guys are willing to work on the fly, I might offer some of those as well.

And actually some of them, do you mind if I read a couple? Some of them are connected with what we're talking about now. And so I kind of want to hit it now before we get to some of the different things. So specifically, let's talk about, I think this is something that people...

in any homeschooling situation and method would kind of wonder about is science in particular. And I know you're in the humanities, Karis, but I'm sure there's maybe some science you're getting into. But with Sophie and Baron, I know Baron you had mentioned before we began the recording you're going, you wanted to go into engineering, and then with Sophie you're going into nursing. How do you feel like, particularly the Charlotte Mason method has kind of

helped you in the education method towards the sciences? And I'll start with you, Barron, and then Sophie, and Karis, you as well. I'm not going to leave you out, but we'll start with you, Barron. So I took several different branches of science, obviously, like biology, physics. So I think it prepared me well. Again, the well-rounded aspect, I know a great deal in all the different branches.

I personally went a lot on the physics aspect. I think I actually do not enjoy physics, but I just understood it very well. And then as far as botany and biology, I, yeah, I understood both of those pretty well. And I enjoyed those a lot more than I enjoyed physics. Nice. So you were able to, I like that emphasis of

you were able to see a range of them and then uh even though you didn't enjoy physics you understood it and you pursued it i think that's i think a lot of people be surprised that in this method you are exposed to such a range of sciences that's good uh sophie how would you answer that um actually science is like my favorite subject i love it i've i've loved every single one i've done like

Um, chemistry, biology, like human anatomy. Like I've loved all of it. The only one I didn't like was like a pre-chemistry, but it was just like,

reading about like the scientists it wasn't like doing experiments so that's probably why I didn't like it um but yeah I've loved all of them and like I think especially with like chemistry that was one of the subjects where I was talking with some of my peers and they're like I hate chemistry like I don't like it and it's because they did a lot of like formulas with like math problems and like I didn't do that as much I did more with like experiments and like you know

you know, like mixing chemicals and like stuff like that, not as much as like math. So I think for that aspect, I really appreciated Charlotte Mason because it was more with like actually learning it and like doing experiments. And even for like biology, I've done, I'm on my second year of just really diving into it because I've just enjoyed it so much. And like learning about like cells and anatomy and like, I mean, I've dissected stuff and like

you know, it might seem weird because you're not doing it with a class, but like, I love it. You can like literally order kits and like dissect frogs and like, what else have I done? Yeah. Like frogs, like a heart and just like, it's just in your kitchen, but it's so cool. And yeah, I think science can be really intimidating because it's like, you feel like you might be missing out because you're not doing it with a group.

um but honestly I've loved it and it's been my favorite subject and I honestly really enjoy not doing it with a group because it's like if there's something I'm interested in specifically I can go dive more and learn more about it like biology um and just like really learn as much as I can about little areas about that and I think

I think that's such a benefit to be able to really like hone in on what you're interested in, whereas like, you know, maybe in high school it's like well you just have to take these three like chemistry, biology, you know, that's what you need, whereas like you know homeschool it's like okay, like what are you interested in, and then

Really, you can dive in on that. But I love science. That's like my favorite. That's great. That's great. I do wonder, like as as a delivery guy, if they had to go to your back door and you were doing a dissection on the kitchen table and they're like dropping off something. There's a person in there like dissecting a frog on the kitchen table. You know, it's just homeschooling life, man. That's how it is. So, Kara, so what about you?

Yeah, so that was actually great to hear from both of you because I'm not in the science field. So that's really cool to hear how science has impacted your guys' lives so far. I am in, so in my humanities honors curriculum I'm in right now, this is our science semester. So taking me, giving me flashbacks to high school science. I loved high school science. I struggled with it a little bit at times, but it was never like a

comprehension thing. It was always a like attitude mindset thing. And I have a sister going into the science field and she is doing great and thriving in that. But for me personally, this semester, we're reading a lot of different scientists over the years and we're doing a chemistry. We just had a chemistry lab and that was super fun. But the thing I've noticed is that

I am the only one who is enjoying the course. Everyone else is either really disliking it or they're indifferent. And the big reason is it's either like something they're not passionate about and they don't know about, or the reading is just too difficult and it's just too confusing to read the scientists own writing. And, um,

I don't know. I'm, I'm enjoying it a lot because it reminds me a little bit of what I did in high school, definitely a higher level and more expectation, but, um,

Charlotte Mason definitely helped me like, okay, I don't have so much pressure on my shoulders to understand every single concept because it's not a textbook. You can't just read the terms and then get it in your head instantly. You have to read the literature and it's like, okay, get out as much as you can and we'll discuss that and

Yeah, so I'm really enjoying it and it kind of saddens me that no one else in my classes. But yeah, so that's my experience with science right now. I'm kind of in the middle of it.

That's great. I think that's super encouraging for parents to hear from all of you and even those who are going into specifically science-oriented disciplines and also those who aren't. But I love that you said like you're enjoying it and that's part of what's wonderful about the method is it teaches you how to enjoy such a range of things. I think that's a great answer. Last, I think probably last question in this vein, somebody asked do you feel like being taught minimal composition

didn't leave you with gaps, especially for those of you who have gone into college, but even like ACT, you still have certain essay requirements and things like that. So do you feel like that minimal composition did kind of hurt you or hinder you? How would you answer a question like that? We'll start with you, Sophie. I'd say probably

I don't know if it really hurt me, I would say. Like, I do a lot of writing with, like, all of my subjects, especially with, like, making entries in, like, my science notebook or, like, especially with, like, narrations and stuff like that. Or even, like, in your class, we did a lot of writing. And honestly, I think maybe because it's not as much, like,

this paper's due by the end of the week or something. Like there's not as many of like assignments, at least for me. Maybe there might not be as much like big papers, I guess, but I am writing a lot of like smaller, maybe like couple pages. And I think daily, I'm definitely always writing. And I think that has really

been a good skill to be able to like, be able to not just write huge papers, but like be able to write a couple paragraphs, but get everything in like everything you've read or, you know, studied or whatever. And I think that also is really helpful. Um, so honestly, I would say, I feel like I've benefited from not having to do just big papers, um, and doing small things too, because that, that's a good skill to have too, um,

And yeah, I would say I feel like I'm doing okay with writing, I would say. Great. That's good to hear. Karis, especially in a humanities-centered discipline, how would you answer that question? Yeah. So, well, with my music, there's definitely no gaps. Like I have papers for music, but that's just a whole other field in and of itself. But with the humanities, we

write a lot of papers because there's no tests or exams so it's all dependent on discussion and papers and I would say I I don't feel like I had any gaps in understanding or in learning in fact I feel like I used critical thinking more through high school and like I learned a lot of things about composition through the books I was reading and through the literature I was consuming um

So, yeah, I would say I don't really feel like I have a huge gap. I don't think I have a gap at all, really, because I don't know, just with that education of being raised on literature and these great books and stuff.

I never struggled finding words to say. I never struggled with like formatting or anything. And I had professors who, if I had a question about something they wanted grammatically, they would always answer. And it was never like I didn't understand something. And they were very easy to work with. I will say a funny thing is because I read so much British literature, I

Sometimes I default to British spellings. And so that's comical. But other than that, yeah, it's been great. Yeah. R-E instead of E-R for theater. O-U-R for color. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I can see that for sure. Excellent. Baron, how would you answer that question? So kind of along the lines of what Kara said, the...

books that I was reading at the time. I just read a lot even before I liked writing. And as I got into creative writing, any gaps that had initially, because again, I slacked on my narration. So

I any gaps that had developed because of that I quickly filled up as I wrote more and more and I would go in maybe six months later after I'd written and read something I'd written six months ago and be like that is the worst writing I have ever heard I've improved so much and that was pretty cool and I think that extra time that that I was given in my free time allowed me to

read all those books to write all that. So I think that plays a bigger role in our self-development than even some people realize. Yeah, that's great. I think that's a wonderful answer. That is something that I think parents especially fear is this idea of

well, are you really picking up on these things from your reading? I think that's three for three. All three of you have mentioned that having that experience and having that time to read and kind of invest in that and have it kind of-- I don't know. It seems a little too spiritual to say indwell. That seems wrong. But it's in there. You have it in you. I think that's really encouraging. So awesome.

Okay, so switching gears from the more academic side, there's a few things now that we can look at your life outside of maybe the school area, but still associated with it. Like,

Do you guys, this is something that is, I think, encouraged in the method as well. Do you guys have anything that you're involved in community-wise? Are there any outreach or service opportunities that you've been able to do? And what would those examples be if you have any? So Baron, I'll start with you. Anything that you have in that vein? Yeah, I worked in the Dallas Center clothing that our church hosted, which was

a cool experience just to watch people we'd never met come in here here's some you know it was that was a good volunteer kind of thing and then also I volunteered at a bible camp as first just staff you know working refilling the toilet paper um and then also I went another year as a counselor two years actually as a counselor so yeah fantastic awesome great Karis how about you

Yeah, I've had a lot of experiences, especially in summer with community service or any type of service work. So the past two summers, I have...

run ran a swim team for some homeschool families that I know and it got pretty big and so I've just I think I'm gonna keep doing that every summer just free just to keep up my coaching swim skills and to kind of pour back into my siblings and their friends in our little community and then at school I

we have to do our like service credits and stuff so I've been teaching music lessons um

I was a mentor lead for my humanities honors group. I was a mentor lead this year. I'll be hosting scholarship students in my home for this next year. And so kind of giving them like tours of the school and just letting them stay here while they're doing their little like seminars and stuff. So very, very involved in that kind of stuff. But yeah, it's been fun. Great. Awesome. Thank you. And Sophie.

Um, yeah, our church actually is really involved with like, um, community service stuff. We have, um, a warming shelter in town that, um, I've served meals at and, um, collected like, um, items to give to them. And our youth group, actually, we do like a service project every month and it's kind of more of like a one-time kind of a thing. So like we've like filled hope fridges or like, um,

We've like cleaned out like veteran museums and like got those all dusted and stuff like that. So I'm very involved with like community service stuff. And a lot of like more like one time kind of things of like we go in, do stuff for the community and not have like a

weekly kind of a basis things but then for like the warming shelter we have like monthly times when we you know collect items or like go in and serve meals and stuff awesome that's great now we're gonna let's stay with you for just a minute sophie and we're gonna switch to so you've got the service opportunities now what would you say your hobbies are what would you say uh

would kind of constitute a hobby for you? And I don't mean this in a pejorative way, just like something that you enjoy doing that's maybe not, you know, associated with your education or something like that. But what would you say to that? Um, well, I really love reading. Um, a big thing for me is I love like hiking and backpacking. Um, a goal for mine is I really want to take a solo trip this year. Um, go backpacking. I like, I just love going out, um,

just going out in nature and like especially being alone like I just love that um and I just have fond memories of it we always like go hiking as a family um but another thing I really like is cross stitch and I always get made fun of it because it's like it's an old person thing but I love cross stitch so yeah those are some of my hobbies fantastic and what's great is one of your hobbies hiking you can literally take your cross stitch with you and do that out there so that's perfect

All right, Karis, what about you? What would you say your hobbies are? Well, I'm fairly busy. It's kind of hard to have time for hobbies, especially with music. That's kind of all consuming of my time with practicing. But when I do have time, I'd say painting. Like I love paint by numbers. I love journaling, crochet. I'm going to have to bring back cross stitch. I forgot about that. That's really cool. I like painting.

I like hiking or just taking walks, trying to stay fit during the college, during the college years. Love reading, journaling. So a lot of like things that I just I just try to do like 10 minutes a day or something. It's something I enjoy. So, yeah, I'd say that.

Yes, it's tough when you're in the throes of college, and especially for a double major, and music is such a time-consuming major for that. So yeah, but those are all good things to try and work into your spare time as you have it. Barron, what would you say? I love how you put that, throes of college. As far as my...

just past time. I like creative reading and writing, and again, in college, I don't have a lot of time for these hobbies, but if I did, this is what I'd be doing, and making board games. I actually have been getting into that a little bit again. I always made little board games for my sisters, or just little, like, here's a toy, you point this way, and then it goes that way. We were just

play around making up games but I've been making more rules-based ones so that's a fun thing I also have gone backpacking before it does that's pretty fun I wouldn't say it's my my favorite hobby but it is fun we we do go on a lot of backpacking trips awesome so board games I'm gonna I'm gonna keep up with that because if you end up making your own board game I want to know about that because that would be really cool so uh awesome those are those are really great um

All right, so we've got a few more minutes and.

Let's think about things a little bit broader now. We know that some of you are in college and then you're going to be moving towards nursing, in your case, Sophie. But Baron, let's stick with you for a minute. What, and this is a big thing, this is a broad thing, and it's not a fun thing to try and answer in some respects, but if you were going to say the dreaded 10-year plan or where you see yourself in 10 years, that kind of thing, you don't have to be specific. I don't need to know like

where exactly you're going to be living. Don't give us your address or anything like that, but just a general sense of what you're thinking in the next 10 years. So I would prefer to live in like a more secluded home area. So, you know, have a small country house, a full-time job, maybe a big garden. I'm not a big outdoorsy person, but, you know, gardening is a good pastime.

And then work-wise, would you want to be associated with within the engineering field, correct? Yes. Yeah. So I would have a full-time job preferably. Yeah. Awesome. Great. All right. Sophie, what about you? This is such a hard question because it's like I can barely picture what I'm going to be doing next year. I know. I know. It's a tough one. Yeah. But my hope is nursing. I really want to...

either be in labor delivery or pediatric, not sure yet. But honestly, like, I really just probably want to be a stay at home mom, maybe homeschooling. But I think, for me, it's just like, I don't want to plan too much, because, you know, I don't know what God wants with my life.

But yeah, that's the plan. Hopefully nursing. So that's great. I think that's wonderful. And like you said, it's very hard. This is a hard thing. You're like, we don't, you don't know what's going to happen. So I think we completely understand. And Karis, what about you?

That was very well said Sophie, I would have to say 10 year plan. Definitely stay at home mom I want to homeschool my kids, and I want to do that whole world. That just meant so much to me growing up. And so the goal is to one day do that to future generation.

Probably teach lessons out of my home. I want to stay in the music world a little bit, possibly do some harp gigs or weddings here and there. But yeah, the end goal would be to be a mom and all that. And then just on the road to get there, I'm just letting God open doors. That is my goal, just to let him pave the way and

leaning into that and trusting that. Right now, I have a really big interest in possibly post-grad studies, maybe looking into music therapy. I'm not sure yet, but there's some things there with possibly working with kids or with elderly or going to hospitals.

depends, but so that's just, again, it's like letting God open that path. But yeah, 10 years, I'd love to be a mom. That's great. And there was a question that somebody asked, I think actually connects with a few things that you just said as well. Sophie, you mentioned some of this before, because somebody asked, this is a question that they posted on the

conference website, wanting to know, and this might be a little revealing for your parents as well, because they wanted to know that sometimes the question is positive that in homeschooling, you can see both the best and the worst of your parents. I was a homeschooled student as well, and we are homeschooling right now, so it's like all going together.

So they would like to know what you would view as the most valued elements of being that homeschool parent to kind of meet that need and that expectation for an educator, but also

you're working with some, all of you have siblings and dealing with the range of things. So if you were gonna say, what's the most valued element or quality or trait that you look back on and say, that's what I appreciate the most about my parents and how they were during the process. If you need a minute, that's fine, but I'll start. Sophie, you mentioned some of this already. And so I'll start with you and how you would answer that.

Yeah, that's a great question. I think both my parents were very and still are very involved with homeschooling. I think for me, it was a little like I'm like when you're talking about like both qualities, like my dad, he's a pastor. So like he's could come home whenever. So like there'd be sometimes when mom would be like, OK, I'm calling dad and then he'd show up and like we'd really like, OK, OK, we're sorry. But.

But I think just honestly, like my parents, and this is just like something I'm so grateful for is just being so invested and like, not just like, here's a textbook, go to your school. And I think just, you know, being there and like being willing to like be interrupted and like, can you help me with this? Or like, you know, can like, I'm not, this isn't working for me. Can we try something else?

And I think just being able to like,

be there as much as you can, I think is something that my parents are both very good at. And I really look back at that and admire that. And also definitely patience, for sure. And my mom has so much patience. And like, I don't know, I don't have, I've not, patience is not one of my like, strong points. But I think patience, for sure. My mom is so good at that. And

That's definitely a quality that really helps, you know, when there's kids running around and stuff. Awesome. Great answer. Baron, what would you say? So as far as the benefits of being homeschooled by parents, they know you best so they can work with you more effectively. I think for my parents in particular, they,

they care, you can tell, well, I mean, the fact that you're being homeschooled means they care enough to invest that kind of time into you if they are your teacher. Discipline sounds weird, but kind of going along with what Sophie said,

my mom was like able to you're having a bad attitude you're not doing what you should be doing so I'm gonna call dad and that like teachers can't necessarily do that they just students are free to mess up their grades however they want to yeah the dreaded I'm gonna call dad it's

I did experience that. It has an effect. Yeah. And Karis, what would you say? Okay, so...

Definitely a good question and good concern of like, oh, like you are around each other 24 seven. There's going to be arguments. There's going to be things that come up. But I will say one of the biggest things and biggest things I've learned in my life is humility, how to love and how to walk in love with one another and humility.

it takes a lot of humility to say, okay, like the Bible says, honor thy father and mother. And it's like, okay, I have to honor my parents in teaching and in parenting and in like all walks of life. And so, um,

sometimes that can be a challenge, but then when you're doing it with siblings and like, I'm the oldest. So there's a level of like example I'm setting and it gives a lot of perspective. It gives a lot of just, I've learned so much humility through that. And also just seeing my parents and how much they've invested and like the sacrifices they'll make for us and the selflessness they'll have it. I, I,

That just has meant a lot for me growing up and seeing that and wanting to walk like that in my life. And also, I think it's so great that my learning and academics are connected to my life. And it's like, oh, because a lot of times if you go to public school or like I'm in college, so it's kind of separated from my family. And I found that it's not as rewarding because...

Like, when it's so separate, you kind of, like, put everything into boxes, whereas when it's all at home, it's... And it's all, like, in the same thing. You just make more connections, and it's more rounded, and I...

I connect my education and my academics to how I want to live my life. And so, yeah, only good things to say. I love my parents so much. That's fantastic. I love what you mentioned there about it being connected to life. I'm sure there's elements of this in all of your all's homes.

Like when we sit down to eat, the picture study pictures that we're studying are up on the wall. And there'll just be conversation that will come up of, oh, that's so-and-so's, but they're doing Albert Dewar right now. And so they'll say, we have a new picture. And that way it's woven into life. I think it's a really great observation. And all of you kind of picked up on that. It's like you're having to live life during your education. It's not a separate thing. I think that's really well put.

All right, so in the last little bit here, this is kind of connected to that. And you almost started, Karis, I'm going to go back to you. You kind of started talking about this and learning humility and how you learn humility as the student and as the child. And that's a really interesting dichotomy. So if you were to give advice to younger students,

what would you say to younger students in just kind of a brief, like, here's the main thing I would want to encourage you to go ahead. Yeah. There's so much. Probably

Listen to your parents, respect what they say, because in the big scheme of things, even if you don't understand why they're saying what they're saying, there's always a reason, at least in like this homeschool world where parents just are so invested in their kids. I'd say just really lean into, yeah, respecting them, loving them, loving your siblings and, yeah,

Also, lean into, Barron brought this up as a strength that he liked from homeschooling, and it was not a strength for me, which was the time management. And really, like, don't, it's easy as a homeschooler to push back, I think, on the time management aspect because

I like we're homeschooled. I have all day I can sleep in and then start my school. And like, there's a level of like flexibility there that I love, but also respect your parents in their time, like wanting to ship, like teach you that time management, because it will help you when you graduate. And if you go to college or get a job, it will help you so much. So those are my two tips. Awesome. Awesome. Very good. Sophie, what would you say?

uh kind of piggybacking off what you said I agree for sure and like um I think for me as also the oldest like I think I would say like definitely like trust your parents and like you know this is their first time doing it too especially as the oldest it's like you know you're walking into high school and it's like they've never done this before and I think some of it is you know trial and error but like definitely trusting your parents and like listening to them because you

They're not just your parents in that moment too. They're also your teacher. And I think also too, another thing is if you're like interested in something, like wanting to do a sport or something, like, I don't know what's around for everybody, but like for me in middle school, I really, really wanted to play tennis. And my parents reached out to the athletic director and I played tennis through the high school all four years. And I think it's,

If you're interested in something like definitely talking to a parent, it might take a little more like phone calls and like, you know, trying to get information from people but I think there, there are opportunities for homeschoolers, especially to be a part of things that you might be like oh I can't do that because I'm homeschooled. But,

Definitely like reaching out because there's more opportunities than I think people think are available. It just might take a little more, you know, phone calls are a little more research, but I would definitely say if you're interested in something, definitely reach out and talk to someone because there's, there's more things around than I think people realize. Yeah, that's great. That's a good thing to encourage people. Again, it can be that last thing you don't think about as an opportunity. So that's, that's great. Baron, what would you say?

So I know this is probably not a struggle for a lot of students, but I am a very competitive person. So slacking off was never a big thing with me. I wanted to get the best grades. And I think going into college, especially, I would tell my younger self, at least, that the grades can become the goal when the goal is really learning. I think that's one of the big things that homeschooling can push is learning.

is the learning aspect rather than the grades aspect because in college now I'm like I'm getting all A's it's not like I'm oh whatever the grades don't matter that much but it is it can become such a stress where I'm giving myself two hours to do homework for a hundred percent that I could be getting 98 percent and spending one hour on so I'm

doing way too much work and being too competitive with that. So the grades are not the goal, is what I would tell a younger student. Yeah, it's a great encouragement. And I do think that's another benefit to CM because it's Charlotte Mason is, and you guys have touched on this a number of times, is more concerned with

how wanting to learn, learning and loving that than necessarily the accolades or whatever you're going to achieve. Those things can come. But it's more like enjoying the experience itself. Well, we've got just a few more minutes. So the last thing I'm going to ask you is near and dear to my heart.

It is if looking back at your education in high school, so we're only dealing with high school right now or not, not just high school, just your education. What is a book?

that a student must not miss okay so i'm going to start with you um baron we'll just go back around go ahead baron oh what okay so unless you need a minute and then i'm gonna somebody else who is probably still thinking yeah there's there's two different categories i and i told you this earlier but um

So there's fiction, thoughtful fiction, I think is a good category and then pure academic books. So for thoughtful fiction, I think Ender's Game is a very good book. It can really make you start to think. For academic, The Elements of Style by Strunk and White was a huge help with my writing. It's just for any composition at all, I think it's a nice book to have. It gets right down to the basics immediately. There's no...

No, that's great. The Strunk and White, no English teacher will have a problem with that choice. That's for sure. So, oh yeah, I guess maybe somewhat, but I don't know them. So, Sophie, what would you say?

This is such a hard question because like I have so many books that I'm just like oh I love them everybody should read all of them. But one book for sure that is very near and dear to my heart is The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom. I love that book so much and it was like one of the first books that I like really sat down and like really started like okay common placing and stuff like that and it's such a good book and I think because it's a true story

It just, and like just seeing how God's faithfulness just plays out throughout the whole book. I think everybody should read it. And that's definitely one of my favorite books. Fantastic. Awesome. Karis.

Okay. That was crazy. Cause that was my book. That was the exact book I was thinking of. That is like my favorite book. Almost ever. I would say, okay. So it's really hard to just pick one book to recommend. Obviously I would say the Bible. I think that is so crucial. But that one's understood. As in all of these lists. Granting out of that.

The Hiding Place is one of my absolute favorite books. Definitely wait till high school to read. I'd say it touches a lot of hard topics, but...

um, Hiding Place, Ourselves by Charlotte Mason. I read that throughout high school with my mom and a friend and her mom, and that was so rewarding. And, um, that friend and I are now in college, separate, separate areas. We only get together once in a while, but this summer we're planning on like reading it again together. So that's fun. And then, um,

At least one Shakespeare. Just like get one, at least one Shakespeare under your belt. You have to choose, you have to give a specific. We've got people asking for specifics here. So you have to give a specific Shakespeare. My favorite is Much Ado About Nothing. That's my personal favorite. I love that one. But there are so many good ones to choose from. I think...

I'm trying to remember. A Winter's Tale is like a not as popular one. I feel like that is pretty good. But yeah. Pretty good is not how you, A Winter's Tale is top tier. So yeah. I don't see Much Ado About Nothing is like my absolute favorite. It's also top tier. So that's, yeah.

We're going to have to stop. We're at 1145 and people would love for you all to continue giving your lists, but I'm afraid we're going to have to stop. Thank you guys so much. This was wonderful. Thank you all for giving your time on a Saturday in the morning. Karis, you are in California, so you had to get up early and I know it was earlier for you too, Sophie. I think Baron too, you guys are in central time, I think. So we so appreciate it. We so appreciate your all's time and it's been a great, great time to talk with you all. So have

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