Episode 24 - Happy Homeschooling for Thriving Families with Ashley Wiggers

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If your homeschool feels a little hurried or perhaps even stressful, you’ll love the perspective of Ashley Wiggers!

Ashley and her husband Alex pour their second-generation homeschooling wisdom and experience into their magazine, Homeschooling Today. They are blessed to have columnists who join them in sharing creative ways to enjoy the freedom and joy that homeschooling can provide.

You’ll feel inspired by Ashley’s focus on prioritizing both quality education and love of learning – the goals of so many happy homeschooling families. You’ll feel calmed by her easy manner and practical suggestions for making your homeschool a place both you and your children will thrive. You’ll appreciate the wide variety of resources she offers. When you check out Ashley’s magazine and website you’ll feel like you’ve entered the home of a friend who wants to walk alongside you as you navigate your homeschooling journey because that’s exactly who she is.

Ashley shares thoughts regarding why she herself was homeschooled and why she chose to continue the method with her own children. She briefly relates some of her own learning struggles and how her mother made the right choice – homeschooling – to ensure that Ashley felt nurtured, capable, and ultimately, academically successful. Ashley relates wisdom and suggestions from mentors who supported her own mother and who continue to support Ashley herself. She tells us why homeschooling can feel scary and what to do about that. Her vision for the relationships that can be built through homeschooling and the beauty of home education is balanced with an excellent curriculum and resources. There is something for everyone – unit studies, math ideas, nutrition information, toddler behavior management, geography, activities, printables, and even a dose of humor. And don’t miss out on a free 6-week unit stud y as well as a digital download of a recent publication of Homeschooling Today magazine! In short, Ashley shares great information for every homeschooling family and children of every age

Meet The Guest

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Ashley Wiggers grew up in the early days of the homeschooling movement. She was taught by her late mother, Debbie Strayer, who was an educator, speaker and the author of numerous homeschooling materials. It was through Debbie’s encouragement and love that Ashley learned the value of being homeschooled. Currently, Ashley is the Editor-in-Chief of Homeschooling Today magazine, Public Relations Director for Geography Matters, and the author of the Profiles from History series. She is blessed to carry on her mother’s legacy by being a part of Amanda’s publishing team, speaking at homeschool conventions. Ashley makes her home in Somerset, Kentucky, with her loving husband and their two boys.

Show notes are below

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Quotes from Ashley Wiggers

Both my husband and I love of what we do because we get to help people see the value and if the rewarding, amazing things that homeschooling enables us to do and also the reality. It’s not easy, but it is very rewarding.

You’ll feel inspired by Ashley’s focus on prioritizing both quality education and love of learning - the goals of so many happy homeschooling families.

[My] mom had this amazing experience under her belt of actually being an educator, teaching in a classroom, and then homeschooling her own kids and seeing how, when you’re homeschooling, you can do it in a much more beautiful, relational way because you’re not just trying to fill your child’s head with educational facts and information. You’re trying to introduce learning to them and help them love learning. That’s what she did for us.

I still love learning today because of the way that I was taught. It was about reading aloud together and doing activities and experiments and field trips and all of those things that make it memorable.

Some of us are afraid of math. Kids who grew up afraid of math are now second-generation homeschooling parents afraid of teaching math…It’s really not as scary as we make it out to be.

We want [our magazine] to be inviting and refreshing so that when a weary mom picks it up, she can be refreshed by the beauty of it and also the encouragement inside and the reality…if it’s not real, it’s not going to help anybody.

[Through our magazine] we are journeying with you through the seasons of life and through the seasons of homeschooling.

The magazine is…not focused on everything in homeschooling but really curating the type of homeschool that we feel is the most beneficial for kids, the most beneficial for adults, too, because you’re not just focused on the rigorous academic side of things and you’re not so busy and overwhelmed and stressed out.

I feel like my big goal in life is to help people homeschool with boldness and to take up that mantra that “You know what? Yes, this is kind of scary because you are taking on the education of your child, but don’t let fear push you in the wrong direction.”

Our focus is equipping parents to have that mindset where we’re not just trying to survive it, to push our kids through it, but we’re trying to enjoy it.

[Homeschooliong] is creating wonderful memories that I’m excited about my kids and I creating together.