If you have ever loved (or hated!) a book, this podcast episode is for you! Literature can be a joy and an educational experience rather than simply a necessary drudgery. Just ask Dachelle, mom of two homeschoolers and one homeschooling graduate, and owner of a literature curriculum company.

Dachelle is not only entertaining and lively, but she is inspiring as well!  In this episode you’ll hear how she withdrew her kids from traditional school in order to restore their love of reading and learning (spoiler alert…it worked!). Her conviction was that her kids were actually missing out by being educated in a traditional school system and she set out to do something about it. You’ll laugh along with Trish and Dachelle as you hear about relaxed homeschooling, teaching with living books, ditching the workbooks, and incorporating friends into your homeschooling journey. Find out why rabbit trails are a good thing when home educating your children and how hands-on exploration can bring life to your homeschool. Dachelle relates how her book club grew into a curriculum company, shares about the programs and courses she has to offer, and does it all with contagious enthusiasm. Join Dachelle to learn more about the beauty and inspiration of Rabbit Trails and Magic Dust! You’ll be so glad you did!

This podcast will inspire tired homeschooling parents to revisit the joy they held as they began their homeschooling journey while leaving behind any former doubt. New homeschoolers will get a front seat view of how beneficial homeschooling can be in so many ways…including socialization! You will be inspired and uplifted as you listen. Grab a cup of coffee (or tea!) and prepare to feel like you’re participating in a conversation with old friends. Oh! And get ready to be excited all over again about guiding your children toward their best future and reaping the fruit that can come with homeschooling.

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Meet The Guest

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Dachelle is a homeschooling mom of 3 and a self-proclaimed book addict. She loves chocolate and has been known to hide it from her children. She can often be found hiding in the closet reading a good book (or even sometimes just an okay book) and enjoying a jar of Nutella — don’t judge. She shares about her homeschool adventures at HideTheChocolate.com when she’s not creating book clubs at LiteraryAdventuresForKids.com.

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Show notes are below.

This episode is sponsored by Apologia. We are HUGE fans of Apologia and we both have used this curriculum throughout our homeschool journeys. This series is literally our favorite science series offered in the homeschool arena. We encourage you to spend a few minutes visiting their site to see why. Or visit our website to see the many articles we have written about it.

Quotes from Dachelle McVey

We didn’t have any fabulous reasons for homeschooling…we weren’t doing it really for any reason other than I just wanted to play and have fun.

I was the mom that was pulling her kid out of school to go on trips and having to explain to the principal how “he’s not going to be here because we’re going to Disney World this week,” or “he’s not going to be here because we’re going to Italy.”

We homeschool for the freedom and the joy of doing what we want to do.

There is this idea that classical poetry, which is sometimes extremely difficult to read, especially if you’re a teenager…that you have to have somebody explaining it to you. I never liked that idea because I always felt like you should read it and get what you got out of it and not what a teacher told you it was supposed to mean.

We have discovered that children are going to learn through reading whether it is them reading it or you reading it or an audio book reading it, so we really encourage any type of reading.

We have people who have children who read at four and whose children don’t read until 8 or 9. We don’t want to discourage a reader. We want to make it easy on them to get into a really good book. We have some easy, fun books that are like Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs but we have some grammar in there and some writing projects in there so we’re going to pull all that in there but also learn some fun things about weather…we try to encourage all those types of things.          

You’re not going to like every book you read. We are totally open to that.

That’s what homeschooling is about…that’s what education is all about…is when you can get a kid that will share their innermost thoughts and feelings. That’s what writing is. That’s what literature is. It is sharing those different thoughts and expressing yourself.

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Curriculum and Books mentioned in this podcast episode:

 

Resources mentioned in the podcast and other important links

Info on Dachelle:

• Dachelle’s blog: Hide the Chocolate
• Book Clubs and Membership: Literary Adventures for Kids

Curriculum and Books mentioned in this podcast episode:

• Literary Adventures for Kids
• Poetry and a Movie: A Poetry Study for High School
• The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
• Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
• Peter Rabbit
• Mr. Popper’s Penguins
• Winnie the Pooh
• Stellaluna
• Tolkien’s version of Beowulf
• Mary Poppins
• Space Camp with Homeschool Road Trips

How to make homeschool fun!!

• Believe in Unicorns Coloring Book: 50+ Beautiful Mythical Unicorn Coloring Pages.
• Diamond Painting Kits for Adults, Teens or Tweens
• Our game recommendations on Amazon on how to make homeschool fun!
• Homeschool Road Trips
• Fun Printable Site: Only Passionate Curiosity
• Our snarky irreverent view of homeschooling: Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers