Moms Unschooled Moms Unschooled

Are you a feminist? Feminism is a cultural construction and has different meanings and looks throughout time and each of our lives. Erin and Sarah talk about what feminism has been in the past, how they see it today, and examples of raising kids who understand feminism. “I think the unschooling part about this is really deciding for yourself what feminism means to you?”-Sarah

Resources shared in the show:

“Redefining the f-word: what does feminism look like today?” Global News https://globalnews.ca/news/3292948/redefining-the-f-word-what-does-feminism-look-like-today/

The End of Men by Christina Sweeney-Baird

How to reach us:

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Email us at momsunschooled@gmail.com

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Who we are:

Erin and Sarah are moms who enjoy each other’s unique cul-de-sac “mom perspectives” so much they want to share their thoughtful and sassy ponderings with other moms around the world.  Collectively they are moms to 4 school-aged kids, and world travelers in their journeys as United States Marine Corps spouses. Erin is a homeschooling mama of three munchkins that loves running (slower than most people walk), traveling, and can recite the alphabet backwards while opening a bottle of wine. Sarah is a curious minded mama of one small human, enjoys writing, takes forever to read a book for leisure, and can order McDonald's at a Japanese and German drive through.

Music from YouTube Audio Library [Aka YAL]

Music provided by RFM: https://youtu.be/Ia6NYheR8Eo

Erin and Sarah talk about the myths and truths of what working from home entails, especially for moms. Working and learning remotely takes self accountability and self-motivation, but moms have more possibilities than ever today with online and remote working opportunities.

1:51

Sarah talks about her own professional background that has never been in a traditional office and her belief in the power of mental breaks and deep mental work.

5:03

The Pearson Global Learners Study from August 2020 says that education is forever changed and learners are shifting where and when and how they want to learn and online learning is here to stay: for better or worse.

7:08

How does a mom start online working?  Sarah and Erin brainstorm some ideas of careers moms can start out by learning onlining and growing a business, even if it’s remote.

9:22

One of the important sets of skills for a digital workplace includes self-discipline, motivation, and time management in protecting your time for deep thought when it’s your time to work.

14:31

Remote working opportunities are allowing employees, especially stay-at-home moms new

opportunities to jump into the workforce, but not at a full 40-hour commitment away from home.

17:36

Sarah addresses her pet peeve of “soft skills” and how remote workers need soft skills as much as hard skills in the remote workforce. Knowing multiple languages helps remote workers find diverse benefits and job opportunities.

Resources shared in the show:

Fiverr.com

Remote.co

Vitamintalent.com

Aquent.com

Pearson Global Learners Study

How to reach us:

Follow us on Facebook 

Subscribe on Youtube

Email us at momsunschooled@gmail.com

Shop Moms Unschooled Products: https://teespring.com/stores/moms-unschooled

Who we are:

Erin and Sarah are moms who enjoy each other’s unique cul-de-sac “mom perspectives” so much they want to share their thoughtful and sassy ponderings with other moms around the world.  Collectively they are moms to 4 school-aged kids, and world travelers in their journeys as United States Marine Corps spouses. Erin is a homeschooling mama of three munchkins that loves running (slower than most people walk), traveling, and can recite the alphabet backwards while opening a bottle of wine. Sarah is a curious minded mama of one small human, enjoys writing, takes forever to read a book for leisure, and can order McDonald's at a Japanese and German drive through.

Music from YouTube Audio Library [Aka YAL]

Music provided by RFM: https://youtu.be/Ia6NYheR8Eo

E26: Kids and the environment

Erin and Sarah are joined this week by Erin’s friend Michelle who wears many hats as a mother and woman of the world.  She has put a lot of thought and discussion into her community about ways to be conscious of the environment in everyday living. Erin shares her awe of how and why Michelle’s family finds ways to be environmentally conscious and the ladies talk about how other families can take steps to be conscious and aware of our actions.

3:00

Michelle says her family tries to be mindful and intentional in planning and making decisions and it starts with shopping only once a week. She shares her strategy of taking her time to make a list and only buying what they need for the week.

6:22

Michelle says she talks with her kids about reducing waste in all aspects of life from how they get up the street (walking or biking vs. driving) to not wasting time and resources.  Michelle’s religion drives her to take their intentional path of not wasting even though they are blessed with plenty in their lives.

9:57

Source reduction and having less of everything is the top priority followed by looking towards reusing everything possible.

12:00

Two things to do today as a family:


Focus on the next purchase you make, no matter how large or how small--Ask yourself “do I really need this purchase?”

Focus on food waster--Pope Francis said: ”Wasting food is like stealing from the poor.” Over 30% of food in the world is wasted, so every piece of food is important.


16:32

Michelle encourages families to not be overwhelmed by all the little things, or the enormity of big statistics about our actions in the world. Erin shares a book with lots of tips for families:  “10 Things I Can Do To Help My World” by Melanie Walsh. Getting kids’ buy-in is essential to start the discussions and work on Earth Day and beyond.

Resources shared in the show:

10 Things I can do to help my world by Melanie Walsh

World Wildlife Foundation Symbolic Species Adoptions

How to reach us:

Follow us on Facebook 

Subscribe on YouTube

Email us at momsunschooled@gmail.com

Shop Moms Unschooled Products: https://teespring.com/stores/moms-unschooled

Who we are:

Erin and Sarah are moms who enjoy each other’s unique cul-de-sac “mom perspectives” so much they want to share their thoughtful and sassy ponderings with other moms around the world.  Collectively they are moms to 4 school-aged kids, and world travelers in their journeys as United States Marine Corps spouses. Erin is a homeschooling mama of three munchkins that loves running (slower than most people walk), traveling, and can recite the alphabet backwards while opening a bottle of wine. Sarah is a curious-minded mama of one small human, enjoys writing, takes forever to read a book for leisure, and can order McDonald's at a Japanese and German drive-through.

Music from YouTube Audio Library [Aka YAL]

Music provided by RFM: https://youtu.be/Ia6NYheR8Eo

Learning about money and finance is different for every family, but ultimately future adults need to learn about where money comes from, how much living life costs, how to save and invest,  and the value of every dollar.  Sarah and Erin talk about their experiences of how much and how they talked with their parents about money growing up and invited Lynn (Sarah’s husband) to share his own, and different, the perspective of growing up. “I think it's on the parents to teach the habits, allowing them to have the experience. There lessons and discussions of those lessons and overall guidance when it comes to finances.”  -Tracy

3:19

Start early, even as early as age 3. Finding everyday ways to talk about money in day-to-day purchases can help put money in a realistic perspective for kids. Kids ask parents tough questions and parents need to answer in terms kids understand at their level to foster a conversation of learning.

12:45

Families need to have strategies to help kids understand saving money to help them understand it beyond just what Mom and Dad say they should when they are older. Work experience and what kids pay for in their teen years is different for every family from working a fast-food job to focusing on grades and athletics.

22:55

Tips for younger kids include the basic understanding of money as a tool and the emotional vs. functional purpose and use of money.  Helping kids understand how much money they’ve spent on their favorite toys, or things they didn’t care about soon after spending the money helps put the perspective of where the money goes and the value.



Resources shared in the show:

How to Talk to Kids About Money Without Creating entitlement or Fear: https://selfsufficientkids.com/talk-to-kids-about-money-parents/

How to reach us:

Follow us on Facebook 

Subscribe on Youtube

Email us at momsunschooled@gmail.com

Shop Moms Unschooled Products: https://teespring.com/stores/moms-unschooled

Who we are:

Erin and Sarah are moms who enjoy each other’s unique cul-de-sac “mom perspectives” so much they want to share their thoughtful and sassy ponderings with other moms around the world.  Collectively they are moms to 4 school-aged kids, and world travelers in their journeys as United States Marine Corps spouses. Erin is a homeschooling mama of three munchkins that loves running (slower than most people walk), traveling, and can recite the alphabet backwards while opening a bottle of wine. Sarah is a curious minded mama of one small human, enjoys writing, takes forever to read a book for leisure, and can order McDonald's at a Japanese and German drive through.

Music from YouTube Audio Library [Aka YAL]

Music provided by RFM: https://youtu.be/Ia6NYheR8Eo

E:24 Saving Curiosity in Our Kids

Box cutters, water fights in the house, and not painting pumpkins orange might not be traditional lessons for kids, but they are examples of ways to spark curiosity for kids.  Erin’s “ultra hunky husband,” Chris, joins MomsUnschooled again to share his ideas about encouraging kids to be curious and what he learned from listening to a parenting book about curiosity (while “daydreaming”).  “Understanding how it works is beautiful, but if they have to go through that process, every time as a 40 year old, they're never going to have time to explore those mysteries that they want to explore.” -Chris

3:48

How do parents encourage and preserve curiosity in kids?  Chris’ recommendation of Curios by Ian Leslie.  The book is different from the basic parenting books in helping parents understand the way kids think and the effect parents have in raising future adults. Explaining why or how to kids in the moment of something happening is a huge take away for adults to foster the desire to explore.

9:19

Children from 3-5 will ask an adult 40,000 why or how questions because they aren’t trying to be annoying, they genuinely want to know why.  They trust adult’s answers to know or find the answers. Teaching kids that sometimes parents don’t know the answer builds life long learners with the example of always asking questions and seeking answers.

12:03

Diversive curiosity is about being flooded with information and never getting deep down.  Epistemic curiosity drives deep into what you want to know about.  Technology is a blend of finding the right opportunity for epistemic curiosity for kids, adults and the family.

15:00

The value of memorization as a learning tool is being challenged in traditional education and serves kids with setting fundamental knowledge of basic subjects.  Encouraging mistakes and exploration allows kids to learn these fundamentals and build curiosity.

21:00

Asking open ended questions and putting kids in situations that they get a chance to make decisions on their own helps lead to curiosity. Parents can find opportunities to teach kids instead of doing everything for them, even in mundane tasks like creating a sandwich and using their creativity to get it done.  Even though it’s faster and easier sometimes to just get the job done for kids, providing kids the chance to explore with independence requires extra effort and patience for parents.

Resources shared in the show:

How to reach us:

Follow us on Facebook 

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Email us at momsunschooled@gmail.com

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Do you like being a mother? Erin and Sarah talk about the idea of not always enjoying motherhood. Some moms have stronger feelings than others, but this episode helps moms get unschooled about the darkness of motherhood and how moms can control the outside expectations vs. their own reality. “The reason we've created this podcast is so moms don't feel alone and, and here, this is something that is very lonely if we don’t address it.” - Erin

0:01:32

What does a clinical psychologist say about the feeling of not liking being a mother?  The problem is moms don’t talk about these feelings enough…even with other moms who have all been there before.

0:05:53

Talking about the challenges of motherhood can help moms accept that you’re not a bad mom and feel more secure in their roles.  Not every moment is perfect with kids around, but we see it through every day, even when it’s hard.

0:08:14

Parenting is long and thankless, but the “perfect mom” displayed on social media doesn’t encourage us to be our own family.

0:11:02

Cultural norms for motherhood today define what moms “think” how they “should be,” regardless of education or career growth the mom made before having kids. Expectations of being a “happy Mom” or a “good parent” are different than reality.

0:14:10

Stress affects every person in different ways.  The same stressor might even affect you differently next week than it did today.  Not every mom relates to the same stresses of parenthood, but we have to support each other in the general idea of stress.



Resources shared in the show:

“I Do Not Like Being a Mother” Psychology Today article by  Carrie Barron, MD https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-creativity-cure/201307/i-do-not-being-mother-0

I love my kids, but I don’t love parenting by Liz Kreiger on Today’s Parent: https://www.todaysparent.com/family/parenting/i-love-my-kids-but-i-dont-like-parenting-and-i-know-im-not-alone/

How to reach us:

Follow us on Facebook 

Subscribe on Youtube

Email us at momsunschooled@gmail.com

Shop Moms Unschooled Products: https://teespring.com/stores/moms-unschooled

Who we are:

Erin and Sarah are moms who enjoy each other’s unique cul-de-sac “mom perspectives” so much they want to share their thoughtful and sassy ponderings with other moms around the world.  Collectively they are moms to 4 school-aged kids, and world travelers in their journeys as United States Marine Corps spouses. Erin is a homeschooling mama of three munchkins that loves running (slower than most people walk), traveling, and can recite the alphabet backwards while opening a bottle of wine. Sarah is a curious minded mama of one small human, enjoys writing, takes forever to read a book for leisure, and can order McDonald's at a Japanese and German drive through.

Music from YouTube Audio Library [Aka YAL]

Music provided by RFM: https://youtu.be/Ia6NYheR8Eo