Bookend Homeschoolers Mindy Brouse and Rachel Cole

We enjoyed every episode of Bookend Homeschoolers. Sharing with you, discussing subjects, and tackling topics that we face as homeschoolers, from the Near and Far Bookend views has been a delight. In our podcast finale, we bring you some special thoughts to end our show.
1:40 Homeschooling Moment of the Week: Rachel (Sam’s improvement with therapy and excitement for reading)
2:57 HSMotW: Mindy (Paul Louis and the mug warmer resurrection)
5:39 Best part of being a Near Bookend: Rachel
7:30 Best part of being a Far Bookend: Mindy
9:40 Our Adoption Stories
9:55 What I wish every Near Bookend Knew: Rachel
11:07 What I wish every Far Bookend Knew: Mindy
13:05 My favorite parts of doing the podcast: Rachel
14:47 My favorite parts of doing the podcast: Mindy
16:00 Which episodes I wish everyone would listen to: Rachel
16:58 All guest episodes :)
16:34 S1E2 Choose Your Method(s)
17:47 S2E22 Homeschooling in the Kitchen
18:50 Which episodes I wish everyone would listen to: Mindy
18:54 every single episode :)
19:14 S2E3 Cultivating Inclusive Friendships
19:47 S2E36 with Adam Brooks Bullying, Building Confident Kids, and Bridging the Communication Gap
20:36 S2E37 C’mon, Audiobooks Don’t Count as Reading, Right?
21:25 S1E21 Evaluating Our Curriculum for Diversity with Kaytee Cobb
21:30 S2E2 Keeping (or Getting) a Sense of Humor with Betsy Jenkins
22:26 S2E5 Embracing Our Kids for Who They Are
23:51 S2E14 Being the Bad Guy
Listen to all of the episodes
25:18 Memorable Moments: Rachel
28:00 Memorable Moments: Mindy
28:30 S2E34 Hanging Our Hat on How Our Kids Turn Out HSMotW
29:13 Bonus Episode Our Adoption Stories
29:34 Including YA in Our Homeschooling with Jeff Zentner
32:50 What I haven’t gotten to say: Rachel
33:17 What I haven’t gotten to say: Mindy
Bookend Homeschoolers on IG
Mindy at gratefulforgrace on IG
Rachel at colemountainhomeschool on IG

This episode we answered questions sent in by listeners. A wide variety of topics here for you today… behavior, curriculum, guilt, storage, and interference. We were honored to chat about your requests!

1:37 Homeschooling Moment of the Week: Mindy (PL getting the Tender Heart Award)
3:05 HSMotW: Rachel (Zeke and his map skills)
4:56 Question 1: How and when would we step in with another teacher with our kids?
7:15 S2E36 with Adam Brooks
11:30 Question 2: What do we keep?
16:46 Question 3: How do we keep kids from fighting all day and how can we homeschool if our kids can’t get along?
24:52 Question 4: When do I start looking for a different curriculum?
25:57 S1E15 Evaluating the First Semester
25:03 S1E31 Prepping for Next Year
29:17 Question 5: How do we handle guilt if we can’t make homeschooling work?
30:09 S1E1 Know Your Why
30:28 S2E2 Having (or Getting) a Sense of Humor with Betsy Jenkins
Bookend Homeschoolers on IG
Mindy at gratefulforgrace on IG
Rachel at colemountainhomeschool on IG

Readers around the world debate this topic and homeschoolers are no exception! For our last regular episode for the podcast, we talk audiobooks verses print and ebooks. Where do you fall in the discussion? Hear us out (see what we did there?)!
2:10 Homeschooling Moment of the Week: Rachel (puppy food teaching)
4:26 HSMotW: Mindy (Esther and Drawing 1 in dual enrollment)
6:22 Topic Talk: Print vs Audiobooks!
7:10 Benefits of audiobooks
12:56 Andrew Pudewa’s talk: Nurturing Competent Communicators
13:45 Research to support audiobooks
20:56 Recognize our issues in accepting this
25:32 S1E9 Read Alouds: What, Why, and How? (to check out the audiobook apps)
26:41 Make It Personal: Near Bookends (choose an audiobook for the fam and one for you)
28:48 Make It Personal: Far Bookends (if you still aren’t convinced, read the research)
30:14 YA helps reluctant readers S2E31 YA Reading with Jeff Zentner
30:30 Audiobook narration speed chat
Bookend Homeschoolers on IG
Mindy at gratefulforgrace on IG
Rachel at colemountainhomeschool on IG
 
Some of the research for you to peruse:
National Literacy Trust
Tech & Learning
Reading Trust
TIME Heath Research
Book Riot

What an episode we have for you this week! It ended up twice the length because we just couldn’t delete any of the good info Adam brought us, but it’s more than worth it… we promise! Today we have Adam Brooks on the show to share with us about bullying and all that is involved, can lead up to it, how to handle it, how to prepare our kids for it, and more. Seriously, this may be our best episode. Listen to every minute, even if you have to break it up, because you will learn so much and add to your parenting tool bag in many many ways! We have some powerful, humorous, and amazing Homeschooling Moments the Week to start you off.
0:50 Guest: Adam Brooks
1:13 Homeschooling Moment of the Week: Rachel (Sam stepping in to defend Gideon)
4:10 HSMotW: Adam (sitting through a 5th grade music concert)
5:12 HSMotW: Mindy (hearing humpback whales under water)
6:17 Adam Brooks: Speaker, Educator, Advocate, & Communication Enthusiast
7:00 Topic Talk: Bullying+
7:15 Wrong mindset that can make bullying unexpected
8:41 Types of bullying
8:55 Terms to clarify: drama, bullying, and harassment
11:52 Problems with zero tolerance policy
13:00 How can parents lessen the risk of bullying, if anything?
17:30 How many times do we need to talk about big topics?
19:00 Compounded conversations are the worst
20:00 A big tip to help our kids talk to us about big topics
22:36 When should you talk about big topics?
25:26 How to Raise an Adult by Julie Lythcott-Haims
26:00 Drive-A-Logue Big topic help for family communication
50:31 A problem with us, questions, and kids
33:25 What are signs that our kids are being bullied?
35:00 How to navigate when kids don’t want to talk a change in their behavior?
38:00 What if we are coming to this late in our kids’ bullying experience?
42:00 What can we say/do if the bullying is happening? Cheerleader vs Coach vs Referee
44:35 Also, and! Not Yes, but!
46:00 Group/crowd bullying and instigator(s)
48:30 Unselfie by Dr. Michele Borba
50:25 What should we avoid doing?
54:00 Rachel shares a personal struggle in their home, knowing others may relate: How to handle when one child is provoked by a sibling intentionally to get responses AND cause the other child to be the “bad kid” ?
56:25 Rosalind Wiseman and Cultures of Dignity
Tiny Guides by Cultures of Dignity
FREE Tiny Guides by Cultures of Dignity
57:25 Teaching kids to recognize their cues, triggers, feelings, etc. and what to do to help work stress, anger, frustration out
59:30 Saving Our Sons: A New Path for Raising Healthy and Resilient Boys by Dr. Michael Gurian
59:44 Why we shouldn’t have our sons write down what happened, they felt, etc.
1:01 How oxytocin affects us in being able to rationally talk through something and the only two things that can bring that hormone level down
Bookend Homeschoolers on IG
Mindy at gratefulforgrace on IG
Rachel at colemountainhomeschool on IG
Adam Brooks on IG and his site and at Drivalogue
If you work at a school/center/camp/RTC, we humbly suggest you hire Adam for a talk. Or two.

Listener requested episode, part 2! Aubree asked about narration and dictation and we love these tools, so here is a discussion on dictation.
1:30 Homeschooling Moment of the Week: Mindy (Paul Louis persevering and succeeding at logic work)
3:18 HSMotW: Rachel (puppy labor and delivery)
7:27 Topic Talk: Dictation
7:33 S2E32 Narration: What, Why, and How
7:45 What is dictation?
9:21 How Mindy has used dictation
12:03 How Rachel has used dictation
21:00 Why it’s ok for a discrepancy between use of grammar and dictation
23:04 Remember what you are focusing on at the time
25:18 Make It Personal: Far Bookends (“test” your older kids by having them try a dictation via dictating a text to them)
26:08 Make It Personal: Near Bookends (start dictation via a grocery list)
Bookend Homeschoolers on IG
Mindy at gratefulforgrace on IG
Rachel at colemountainhomeschool on IG

We had such great conversations with Heather Schwarzen that we had her back for a Q&A from listeners! Hear some GREAT tips, plus some doggie doula, spices, and finicky kid talk!
1:35 S2E27 Homeschooling Kids with Learning Challenges
1:36 S2E28 Homeschooling Kids with Intensive Cognitive Disabilities
1:52 Homeschooling Moment of the Week: Rachel (dog in labor and being a doggie doula)
3:00 HSMotW: Heather (reorganizing a kitchen cabinet and the 9yo alphabetizing all the spices)
4:15 HSMotW: Mindy (Jubilee’s pickiness and success with the BambinoLUK)
4:18 MiniLUK Heather shared about in S2E28
6:30 Topic Talk: Q&A on homeschooling kids with learning disabilities
6:33 Q1: How to handle family pressure?
9:00 S1E24 Handling Unsolicited Criticism
13:15 Q2: How to help other kids understand the time needs of the one child?
17:32 Q3: How to help a kid who refuses to sit still and do school?
21:54 Q4: How to get with a private therapist for an evaluation?
24:33 Q5: When do you give up on certain skills?
28:30 Q6: What to do if a (speech) therapist doesn’t like your child?
32:12 Q7: What to do about sleep issues?
Bookend Homeschoolers on IG
Mindy at gratefulforgrace on IG
Rachel at colemountainhomeschool on IG
Heather Schwarzen at to sow a seed on IG