How to Keep Homeschool Consistent When Life Isn’t

Pam Barnhill [00:00:01]:
Are you ready for homeschooling to feel joyful again? Do you long for support as you learn alongside your kids? Welcome to Homeschool Better Together, a podcast about building a homeschool experience that works for your family. I’m Pam Barnhill, and it’s time to step out of the overwhelm and into the wonder. Let’s do this. Hello. Hello. Okay. So I am joined today by Adrienne Denison, who I feel like I’ve known forever. At least, like, six or seven years now, we had met in California back when Adrianne lived in California.

Pam Barnhill [00:00:44]:
She is a second generation homeschooler. I love that. A proud homeschool grad who has spent the past twenty one years dedicated to the high calling of motherhood. She and her husband, Dan, have homeschooled their four children who are now 18, 16, 13, and 13 from the very beginning. She’s a California native, and she is now embracing a slower, more connected life in Mississippi where everyone is in each other’s business, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Oh goodness, girl. Now that you’re in the South, we can talk about this. She brings her homeschool and university education into her daily life, equipping her children with faith, wisdom, and a love of learning.

Pam Barnhill [00:01:27]:
Adrienne, welcome to the podcast.

Adrienne Denison [00:01:29]:
Well, thank you, Pam. I’m so excited to be here. It’s like a dream come true.

Pam Barnhill [00:01:33]:
So excited to have you. Okay. So let’s talk about some of these moves. When I reached out to people in the community and I’m like, hey. We want to do this series on kind of homeschooling in different situations because we know that there are always people out there who are looking for a little encouragement and inspiration. You immediately kinda popped up and said, we have been moving a lot. So you moved across the country a few times since COVID. Like, how many moves did you make?

Adrienne Denison [00:02:04]:
Well, really, we only made one since COVID, but that move involved several trips. Like, we moved across thinking we’d be there. We had to move back ish and then move back again. So I guess we did do three, now that I think about it, but it was really one big move.

Pam Barnhill [00:02:23]:
Okay. One big move, but it was, like, in three different stages.

Adrienne Denison [00:02:27]:
Exactly. Exactly. Yes. Okay. So, so glad that I had implemented your different processes because I knew when we were moving the first time excuse me. We were supposed to leave July. I knew have your entire year of school stuff together in one box ready to go because you don’t know what’s gonna happen. And I don’t I can’t tell you how important that was because I knew exactly what needed to go back and what needed to go here.

Adrienne Denison [00:02:56]:
And when I needed something, I was like, I needed that box item over there. This is what I need.

Pam Barnhill [00:03:02]:
And and it was all together. Yeah. Definitely putting all everything in one place and having it all together and ready to go. So this was like a a whole situation where it was a move, but it it happened in stages and it just took a lot. It sounds like a lot of logistics.

Adrienne Denison [00:03:20]:
Exactly. Exactly. We were kind of in two c c we do classical conversation. We’re two communities, one in the South in Mississippi, one in the West in California, and just trying to navigate that. It was interesting.

Pam Barnhill [00:03:38]:
It was interesting. So how long did that take to do? Like, you said it was, like, a move, a move back, and then a move again, you know, until you finally got settled. Was this over a period of a year or two did it, like, stretch over two school years?

Adrienne Denison [00:03:52]:
It was six months, really. Okay. But the interesting thing was as I was packing up in California, and this would’ve been spring twenty twenty three, my youngest, the twins who are 13 now, they were going into seventh grade, and my son was going into ninth grade. So not only was I moving, but I was also transitioning from elementary and junior high to junior high and high school. So I got the opportunity to, like, get rid of the stuff that I need that I might have attempted to keep. But I also knew because I’ve been doing autopilot for so many years, I knew what I needed to succeed this coming year. And so I just kind of I started with that. I pulled that stuff out, put it aside, and then went about my business packing.

Adrienne Denison [00:04:41]:
So

Pam Barnhill [00:04:43]:
So is a move something you would recommend to moms to help them clean out the elementary stuff that they’re never gonna use anymore?

Adrienne Denison [00:04:50]:
Yes. If you wanna go crazy in the process. But I’m very thankful for good friends, and those good friends not only came and helped me go through it, they also took stuff to their homes. And I didn’t feel as like, that collection, I’ve worked so hard to collect.

Pam Barnhill [00:05:08]:
So Yeah. No. I I 100% agree. I actually discovered long ago that for me, personally, trying to sell things online or trying to go somewhere and set up a table and sell things, it was just gonna be a lot of work and an exercise and frustration. So if I could find a family to bless

Adrienne Denison [00:05:27]:
with me,

Pam Barnhill [00:05:28]:
you know, there used to be a little missionary family in town, and I would, like, pass stuff down to them, and then they got called away. Mhmm. And since then, I I have another friend who, like, comes to visit me, like, once or twice a year. And every time I have a little box sitting there waiting for her, it’s like, okay. Go through the box. And then whatever she doesn’t take goes to the library sale. But you’re right. It does.

Pam Barnhill [00:05:49]:
It makes you feel so much better when you know that that stuff is going to a home where they’re gonna love it and use it just as much as you did when you were spending all that time and energy and money putting things together.

Adrienne Denison [00:06:02]:
And being a second generation homeschooler, I was on the receiving end of that Yeah. When I was a young mom. And I had these older moms passing the torch with their books, but also their wisdom. And, you know, we didn’t have a lot of money, so I’d bring it home and use it and then pass it on. And it’s just really a neat opportunity to invest in the next generation of homeschoolers in a personal hands on way.

Pam Barnhill [00:06:27]:
Yeah. I love that. I love that so much. Okay. So let’s talk about this. You mentioned that this gave you the opportunity to purge. What were some of the other logistics of packing, house hunting, you know, finding a new place to live, settling into a new place, how did that mesh with your homeschooling? How did you balance the homeschooling and all of that other stuff?

Adrienne Denison [00:06:50]:
It worked out well because we’d lined it up our initial leaving, we’d lined it up at the end of the school year. K. So it was a combination of finish the school year well, start packing as I’m able, but you already have a plan, Adrian, through I think it was May that the school was was going on. And I knew once May hits between May and July, that was the time to focus on school. But I didn’t have guilt about not doing school because I’ve already finished my plan. We’re already done with that. That’s in the rearview mirror, focus on the next thing. And then as we came to Mississippi, I was supposed to use July and August to get settled, which I did, but then we ended up moving back in August to then move back to Mississippi in November.

Adrienne Denison [00:07:35]:
So that the period between July and November being in California with, like, half our stuff here, but I had my books. So we could keep going, and I knew what I needed to do. So that was really helpful.

Pam Barnhill [00:07:47]:
Right. And your kids were doing classical conversations at the time as teens, which, you know, is a whole different kind of program than their elementary school program. And I imagine in some ways and you had, like, one, just going into high school, two, just going into into the junior high, the middle school program there. And I imagine in some ways, it was both a blessing and a curse.

Adrienne Denison [00:08:11]:
Exactly. Culturally, California must appear very different, so we had to navigate that. But the cool thing and, really, this is I mean, this is a CC in general. You can talk to anybody across the country, and they we all know you do science here in seventh grade. We all know you do mock trial in eighth grade. We all know you do the science paper in ninth grade. And parent can talk to your teens, and you already have that relationship coming into a new place. So that was really helpful.

Adrienne Denison [00:08:40]:
That was kind of something different. And I forgot the other part of your question. I’m sorry.

Pam Barnhill [00:08:44]:
Oh, just the now the curse part. The curse part was It’s a lot of work, love.

Adrienne Denison [00:08:50]:
Do a community thing without community. And I’m so thankful for the moms in both places who just spent a lot of time talking me through, talking me off the ledge. I mean, I think you and Don also talked me off the ledge at one point. Like, just roll with it. Keep going, and it’ll work out. So Yeah.

Pam Barnhill [00:09:08]:
How did your kids handle the change in workload moving in like, making that big transition as they were moving into the new workload? You know, because those are kinda pivotal points in the CCI program.

Adrienne Denison [00:09:18]:
There are I know it’s interesting you brought pivotal points because I really feel like there’s a big pivotal point in third grade where it’s like, okay. You know, you need to do more than just twenty minutes one or two days a week. You need to do at least three to four days a week of 20 to 30 to you know, whatever you decide is important in your minimum viable day, but you need to, like, be diligent. And then, you know, fourth, fifth, sixth grade, you’re starting to say, okay. We need to spend the morning most days. Mhmm. So in seventh in my opinion, seventh, eighth, ninth grade, okay, you need to be home or make provision for your kids to do school wherever you are. That might look like backpack homeschooling because we’ve done that where my older daughter needed her developmental therapy, so we were doing it in the car or at the table at at therapy.

Adrienne Denison [00:10:09]:
But the beauty of of autopilot you know, I I love your program. Like, it helps me to look at where God has us in that season. It helps me to assess our needs and assess what will make make us successful. So my kids, they roll with it, and, I mean, a lot of it was me as a parent providing the opportunity that whether that’s time or motivation or, you know, help or having those conversations. Oh, yes. We moved. I know it’s hard. I’m here for you.

Adrienne Denison [00:10:45]:
But the school part, I didn’t have to think through school in that process. I just need to figure out how to make it work in that season.

Pam Barnhill [00:10:54]:
Yeah. Yeah. I love that so much. And so, really, you know, my next question was kinda like, how did your homeschool routine change from place to place?

Adrienne Denison [00:11:03]:
Oh, it changed it big time.

Pam Barnhill [00:11:04]:
Oh, really? Okay. Because I would have thought the fact that you were doing cc here and you’re doing cc here means you were able to stay consistent. But tell me about this big time change.

Adrienne Denison [00:11:12]:
Different. You need to. Are you really believing understanding the heart and the vision for your homeschool and then taking what matters in ditching the rest? It doesn’t matter what your friend’s doing. It doesn’t matter what someone online is doing. It’s what is best for my family in this season and owning that.

Pam Barnhill [00:11:34]:
So what were some of those changes that happened?

Adrienne Denison [00:11:37]:
So, you know, speaking, like, in therapy mindset, you know, we did a lot of audiobooks in the car. I didn’t read aloud as much. Mhmm. And I would save the quiet subjects for therapy, you know, and then realize when we got home, it’s time to play outside and be kids. You know? And then or, you know, we might, hey. We have a great day of school and therapy. We might stop at Starbucks on the way home and get a cake pop, you know, and make it special in that way. You You know, if you’re at home, it’s like, I don’t care if you’re in your pajamas.

Adrienne Denison [00:12:12]:
I don’t care sorry. Close your pants. Like, but, like, your pace is, like, you just need to relax. So we we were all go go go, like, that day at home. You know? And it looks a little different. But, you know, there’s days you’re doing school on the trampoline with boys. You know? It’s like Yeah. You can literally do, in my opinion, all your schoolwork on the trampoline except for, like, writing because they can answer questions verbally.

Adrienne Denison [00:12:36]:
They jump, like, jump, jump, jump. And so moving to Mississippi, you know, I’ve really prioritized social interaction. And it might mean, hey. Some of this stuff is gonna wait until later in the year. We’re gonna focus on building those relationships here. And, you know, we’ll catch that stuff later. But then in other days, it’s like, no. We just need to do school.

Adrienne Denison [00:12:59]:
I’m sorry. I you know? So

Pam Barnhill [00:13:02]:
Yeah. That’s interesting. I you know, I had not thought about it. I mean, it’s just common sense, but we were talking about this earlier before we started recording. Like, we’ve always homeschooled in the same town. Right? We’ve never we’ve changed houses once, but we’ve never moved towns. But it perfectly makes sense that you would say, you know what? For the first month or so here, academics can take kind of a back seat while socializing, making new friends.

Adrienne Denison [00:13:28]:
We also make we also get a huge habit in Pennsylvania where it’s pretty hot in the summer. Not as hot as the South, but we actually do a lot of our school, believe it or not, in July and August. Because you start the new school year, you start counting your days. Yeah. But it’s too hot to be outside. Who wants to be outside? But you better believe when it comes fall, y’all wanna be outside both here. I mean, a lot of places. And, like, kids have gone back to school.

Adrienne Denison [00:13:59]:
But the cool thing is at that point, going into those break times, I already have six or eight weeks of school under my belt. We already have the habits in place, and we’re taking a day off. And it feels like you’re playing hooky and getting some free time with friends, which is amazing. So yeah. And that gets into, like, the whole, you know, how you count your days, and I love your way that you say, hey. Divide your months that you’re doing school by however many days you have to get school. And I’ve always landed on, I think, with, like, around nineteen days per month for my school year. That sounds pretty cool.

Adrienne Denison [00:14:34]:
So once you nineteen days in the month, you’re, like, on top of it. And if you go into July, August, September, you already hit twenty, twenty five days. You can

Pam Barnhill [00:14:44]:
You have days you bank.

Adrienne Denison [00:14:45]:
You have freedom Yeah. To after school, come back to it, but you have freedom to do whatever you want. And it just really feels amazing. So

Pam Barnhill [00:14:53]:
Yeah. So you’re talking about magic number schooling, and that that’s just a a kind of scheduling that we talk about. And that you’re right. The beautiful thing about it is, first of all, first benefit is, like, nineteen days. Like, they’re thirty one days in this month, and I’ve only got to homeschool nineteen days to stay on track. That sounds so doable. Right? And then, then the second thing is you’re right. You can bank those days.

Pam Barnhill [00:15:17]:
And, yeah, my family was the same way. We were always, like, super gung ho in August and July. It was so hot, and we were, like, ready to go. I was motivated. I mean, the kids are always, like, you know, the motivation really wanes.

Adrienne Denison [00:15:33]:
Doesn’t matter what time of year. They don’t wanna start it. You gotta get the treatment.

Pam Barnhill [00:15:36]:
Yeah. Exactly. But I was motivated, so I can get us up and get us going. And, yes, banking those days then and putting them in your bank. So later, when you’re less motivated or the weather’s a lot nicer, 100%. Yeah. What advice would you give to a homeschool mom facing a big move? I mean, you’ve already said, like, get all of your stuff together and put it in one spot and have it with you, and then maybe spend a little bit of extra time focusing on making new friends and meeting people when you get there and let the academics take a a slightly back seat for the first month or so. So those are some great tips already.

Pam Barnhill [00:16:14]:
But what else would you say?

Adrienne Denison [00:16:16]:
I think for me, packing up, I was just struck with gratefulness to god how he had met us there because I remembered buying certain materials that we either did or didn’t use. But God took the faithfulness and the diligence autopilot, you know, blessed it and made it enough. My kid my kids were educated in that season. So it just kind of encouraged me as I went into the move that, hey. I can do this too in God’s strength, and that’s that’s great. You know, simple meals, both places. You know? Go when you’re the place you’re leaving, go to those favorite restaurants. Go, in our case, go to the beach.

Adrienne Denison [00:16:55]:
You know? Spend those time with friends. Pack. You know? Do all the things. And then, you know, really allowing yourself and your children to kinda grieve that change. I’ve been reading a really great book, dark cloud, deep mercy. It’s about lament. I didn’t really get didn’t know about that back then, but just lamenting that, hey. This is hard, but god is faithful.

Adrienne Denison [00:17:18]:
And it’s it’s okay. You know? And I really spent a lot of time as we were looking at where to go and when we got here, really plugging into our community, getting those extracurriculars that I wanna make kids do trail live, you know, finding the sports, homeschool sports teams, you know, RCC community and kind of prioritizing that because you really get a fresh start in your schedule, and you don’t have all the obligations. No one knows that you did x, y, and z here, and you’re kinking transitioning here. So just embrace that kink and all the benefits of it, but then also, you know, go find a good coffee shop in your new town because you’re gonna need it. So

Pam Barnhill [00:17:57]:
I love that idea of getting a fresh start. Yeah. It’s like, okay. The schedule’s like, we’re here in a new place. The schedule’s blank. So now we can maybe be a little more intentional about how we fill it up, you know, what we put in it, those kinds of things.

Adrienne Denison [00:18:12]:
Right.

Pam Barnhill [00:18:12]:
Yeah. Okay. I want Exactly. Exactly. But, also, like, realizing a lot

Adrienne Denison [00:18:16]:
of things stay the same, but you still have to get up and do school. It’s not glamorous. It just has to be done, and that’s you know, I think do you guys still do the consistency boot camp that you used to do?

Pam Barnhill [00:18:28]:
Oh, we’re like, as we are recording this, we are doing it right now. When people are listening to this, the next one will be in October. So yeah. So you did consistency boot camp?

Adrienne Denison [00:18:39]:
Oh, multiple times, and I love consistency boot camp. I don’t do it right in this season because we’re just there’s too much going on with all my kids, and, honestly, we do school. Funny story about consistency boot camp. If you do it right, your kids are gonna wake up on Saturday and say, oh, I have to do school today. And you can keep that real quiet, but they eventually catch on, and that was a funny conversation. But it’s like, we have this routine. It works. And if you’re doing it all the all the days, then it takes a couple hours.

Adrienne Denison [00:19:13]:
You’re on to the next thing, and everybody’s kinda sorted out. So, yeah, there’s more than one way to skin the cat.

Pam Barnhill [00:19:19]:
Sneaky mom.

Adrienne Denison [00:19:20]:
I’ll just take the commercial break. And to be be clear, girls, I’m not paid to say this. I did this podcast because I love Pam and her stuff. Dawn and all of them are amazing. All the things that are available, are there tools for you? Do you guys still do the basket one, two, three for CC, the books? The book

Pam Barnhill [00:19:38]:
Once CC started their morning time that they do now, we kind of like, they just they weren’t it wasn’t cost effective to maintain those baskets.

Adrienne Denison [00:19:50]:
Got it. Okay. Well, basket one, two, and three was amazing. I think I the very first thing I did with you oh, man. My my account on your site is on the old ED shots step shot site. Like so I’ve been around for a long time. But one of the first live things I remember doing with you was boot camp. Oh, wow.

Adrienne Denison [00:20:10]:
Consistent Yep. And I think I did the very first one. I think my materials are from, like, or whatever 02/2015, ‘2 thousand ’16, whatever you guys first did.

Pam Barnhill [00:20:21]:
Of 02/2016. Yeah.

Adrienne Denison [00:20:23]:
Like, it came as such a crucial time for me because I was in that transition stage of my kids were, you know, between first, second, third, fourth grade. You know, navigating that, you know, you have this freedom in homeschooling, but you gotta do the school. So that really set a really great base going into our upper levels. And then when you came out with autopilot, that was the year we had moved from Pennsylvania to California. And at the same time, making another transition, my son was going into fourth or fifth grade or something like that. The girls were in third grade. So all of a sudden, I didn’t have little people anymore. They all needed the consistency, but, also, I was in a new place, new plan.

Adrienne Denison [00:21:07]:
How and I we weren’t in that super structured years of CC yet. You know, how do I navigate that? What’s the difference between an open and go curriculum versus writing my own? You know? It it just helped me to kind of figure that out, and I had a plan that was 02/2018. So I did the live autopilot that year, and then I did this the second year, I did it again. It was funny because it was less work the second year because I’d already done the first year. And I was so glad though because that second year ended with COVID. Yeah. Everything shut down, and we didn’t have any of the outside pressures or helps to keep going. So I had a plan.

Adrienne Denison [00:21:53]:
And I just kept doing that plan, you know, through that year. And then we did autopilot live again the next year. And I remember asking you, what do I do if they open up or don’t open up? And you’re like, Adrian, just work with what you have and realize you can change the plan, but you just need to do the plan you have now, which I was so thankful for because being in California, we didn’t open. Yeah. So it was like, you just I was so glad that I just invested in what I had. I knew how to make a plan and go with it. So, yeah, I mean, I don’t know. I I always recommend your stuff to people, and the smart ones listen.

Pam Barnhill [00:22:31]:
Oh, thank you.

Adrienne Denison [00:22:32]:
The smart ones listen. And it just I mean, I was even telling my husband today. He’s like, oh, yeah. I remember you saw her at the convention. I’m like, yep. So, you know, anyway

Pam Barnhill [00:22:44]:
That’s awesome. Oh, thank you. Okay. I wanna talk about that part of the move you said that you were getting ready to move in June, July, and August, and you had finished school and you felt so good about finishing strong. Good boot camp graduate there. And when did you plan? Because for the following year. Because most of the time with autopilot, we talk about planning in the summer for the next year. So how did you move across country that summer and get your planning done, or did you do it later?

Adrienne Denison [00:23:12]:
I actually did it earlier. Oh. As I was packing up, I I did my plan, and I knew enough bubble was gonna happen in Mississippi. I did the plan. I had to adjust the plan. We moved back. That was a bit of a thing. But, again, that was August, September.

Adrienne Denison [00:23:30]:
But, again, I’d already laid the foundation. I had been doing this was 2023. I had been doing boot camp and autopilot for five years at that point. And I had the resources. So, again, you just know a lot of it’s internalized now. I don’t even like, I’ll just I’ll usually open up the book, or I’ll look at the website and just kind of cruise through. Do I need to do x y z? But I don’t have to do all the things. But I also have the tools, and I know who to ask for help if I need help.

Adrienne Denison [00:24:02]:
So there’s that. So I did my planning really May and June, which was both cool and kind of a bummer. But then I also kinda revamped the plan in August when we moved back and then revamped the plan again. We moved here in November. But at that point, we were at Christmas break, so I kind of just packed you together for a little while. And then

Pam Barnhill [00:24:25]:
it was more of a periodic review than yeah.

Adrienne Denison [00:24:28]:
Exactly. Exactly.

Pam Barnhill [00:24:30]:
Well, and you hit upon something that I I think sometimes people look at autopilot, and they’re like, oh, tens 10 steps. She says it’s gonna be like, I have to do 10 steps. And it is harder the first year. People ask all the time, like, how long does this take? And I would say the first year, you know, if you have three or four kids, it’s gonna take you about twenty hours. But you’re right. Right. You’re only gonna do that twenty hours one time. And then the next year, you’re exactly right.

Pam Barnhill [00:24:58]:
It’s going to feel so much easier. And I joke now I don’t always say it publicly, but I joke now that I can plan my entire homeschool year in about four hours on one sheet of notebook paper. Okay. Yeah.

Adrienne Denison [00:25:11]:
I I agree with that.

Pam Barnhill [00:25:12]:
Because I’ve been doing it.

Adrienne Denison [00:25:13]:
And it’s actually and, like, because you also talk about open and go, I realized as much as I like those pretty planners, as much as I like all that stuff, I’m in an open and go program.

Pam Barnhill [00:25:22]:
Yeah.

Adrienne Denison [00:25:23]:
Adrian, just realize that you have that. Find somewhere else to be creative. You don’t need to rewrite the entire guide in your planner because your kids don’t care. So but also really great thing is using Sarah McKenzie’s spiral notebook. Yes. That’s a really great way both in the quick and dirty days of trying to move, but also while you’re trying to get autopilot going. The challenge with autopilot if you don’t do it live, like, with, like, the long day or whatever we did the first year is you can get perfectionistic. Yeah.

Adrienne Denison [00:25:57]:
And reality is you just need to do it and, you know, keep working. Something is better than nothing and keep moving the direction. Practice homeschooling. Be just it’s never gonna be perfect. Right.

Pam Barnhill [00:26:10]:
And we do. So we don’t really we did it live. I last year or the year before. We don’t do it live a lot anymore, but we do still have we have a couple of really handy tools. I mean, one is finishers club, and I think you’ve joined us for that before. Oh, yeah. That’s awesome. And that’s where you can like, we meet weekly in the summer.

Pam Barnhill [00:26:29]:
So even though we don’t sit there all day and do it, sometimes I think the weekly is easier for moms to do.

Adrienne Denison [00:26:35]:
Oh, yeah. For sure.

Pam Barnhill [00:26:36]:
And so you can do that. But then, also, we have those pacing guides, and those came along probably after you were already an autopilot pro. But we tell you, like, if you wanna plan your your year in two weeks or if you wanna plan your year in a weekend, this is how much time you need to spend on this this module. And these are the places where you’re going to get stuck, and perfectionism comes up a lot in those getting stuck places.

Adrienne Denison [00:27:02]:
Well, in that first year, I don’t think husbands understand the value. Mhmm. But that second, third, fourth year, they know that if mama has time to plan, it helps everybody go better. And so just realize you might have to navigate that calendar for that first year. Hang in there. Do your best, but then also be accountable to the plan you made. And realize once your family sees the plan, they’re gonna do the plan. So, you know, just keep rolling.

Pam Barnhill [00:27:33]:
So how do you be accountable to the plan you made when you move and then move unexpectedly two more times?

Adrienne Denison [00:27:42]:
I think sheer stubbornness at that point. But, again, we still had community. I had friends doing it both there and here. Our kids had friends doing it there and here. So, you know, if you’re in the same cc group age group, even if you’re offset by a week or two or three, you all are still kind of doing the same thing. So there’s that. But, honestly, I knew that if I want to finish homeschooling my kids well, I couldn’t quit. Yeah.

Adrienne Denison [00:28:20]:
My son was in ninth grade. I don’t do grades before ninth grade. I barely did grades in ninth grade, so I have to. Like, I knew we had to keep going, and I know my kids well enough to know that if I break the habit of doing school, they’re really good at finding something else to do with their time. Yeah. And I’m really bad at talking them into doing what we’re supposed to do because, you know, you’re the the whole they go hide up in the room with Legos. You’re like, oh, it’ll be it. Just let them play.

Adrienne Denison [00:28:47]:
I can’t be so quiet. An hour later, you’re like, that was a really bad idea. So it’s just they’re older now. It’s not like that. But yeah.

Pam Barnhill [00:28:54]:
Because They can still find things to do with their time, though, that are not Absolutely.

Adrienne Denison [00:28:59]:
Like, books, books, everywhere, books. Yeah. Yeah. If your kids love books, one of my best tips is sticker the book stickers and the library plastic over it. Color code label by level. Because no matter how hard you try to keep your curriculum together, they like the books you have up there. They want to read that books, and you want to encourage that. But if you label it, I can say, hey.

Adrienne Denison [00:29:27]:
I need all the books to save one on them. Go find me all the books. You have to bribe them for a quarter per book, whatever. Get your stocks that way. You’re not saying, oh, I need Billy Budd. Mhmm. Who’s gonna find Billy Budd in all the bookshelf, all the boxes? But if you find the the label Right. Then they know where board.

Pam Barnhill [00:29:47]:
So I can imagine that’s so helpful when you’re moving for sure.

Adrienne Denison [00:29:50]:
Or even in general now, I’m I need to find books for next year, and I’m like, okay. I know I know we labeled most of them for the next levels. I just need to get the kids riled up and, you know, go find them.

Pam Barnhill [00:30:03]:
So let me touch on something. You follow really a prepared curriculum. What is there to plan? Why do you need something like autopilot?

Adrienne Denison [00:30:15]:
I need to premake my choices. Because within CC, I still have the freedom to choose what’s important. I have the freedom to choose how we’re going to accomplish the assignments and what my expectations are of my kids. I also need to sit down and reevaluate every year. Is this serving our goals and our vision for our homeschool? Let’s see. Trying to think all the different like you said, I could do it in a couple hours checking off the list. You know, I do have a special needs daughter, so her stuff changes more every year. But even within a prepared curriculum, I have four children who are all very different.

Adrienne Denison [00:30:55]:
They’re all created in God’s image differently, and they all have different needs. And if I want to homeschool in a personalized specific way, I need to take that time to evaluate the goal, where we’re at, and what we need to do to to help each child specifically. And then also, you talked in the I think in the last module about sitting down and visualizing your school day. Turn you know, like, I think you use the analogy of ice skating. Mhmm. So I’m left just sitting down. Okay. What do I wanna look this year to look like, and how are my days gonna look like? Is my schedule gonna work? You know? A lot of it is getting, like, music lessons on the days we want, making sure we’re home on specific days.

Adrienne Denison [00:31:45]:
I really like we have CC on Monday, which I don’t love Mondays, but we do it, especially. But I know Tuesday is the day that I need to protect as my open day. That’s the day that we start school with inventions for the week. Everybody has time to just really dig in, and then that sets us out for the rest of the week. If we don’t take that day, you know, that doesn’t work. So those are the kinds of things. They’re probably more logistical Yeah. Than than not.

Pam Barnhill [00:32:12]:
But that’s a big part.

Adrienne Denison [00:32:13]:
Like, some of it’s also just, hey, Adrian. You’re doing this because the best for your family, be thankful and move on. Don’t try to, like, overcomplicate it. So

Pam Barnhill [00:32:26]:
That’s a good lesson. That’s a good lesson, and I’m glad that that’s I’m glad that’s what you’ve gotten out of autopilot is that, first of all, don’t overcomplicate it. And then you said earlier, you still have a lot of decisions to make, and reducing decision fatigue is the number one goal of the autopilot program. Because when we get into the school year and we are suffering from that decision fatigue, that’s when we give up. And that’s when we Right. We stop doing

Adrienne Denison [00:32:54]:
school. I hope that, like, February is is a hard month to homeschool in. But if I have done my autopilot well and we have started back up well at the beginning of the year, that’d be actually kinda cool because it just rolls. All I the only fight I have is, Adrian, get up, get dressed, get that coffee, get the kids to the table, and go. Don’t not, oh, what am I gonna do for my curriculum? Or, oh, what’s for dinner? Or, oh, I’d rather go off this field trip. Or, oh, I really hate like, no. It’s just you don’t have to argue with yourself. It’s like, just get moving and do the next thing.

Adrienne Denison [00:33:28]:
So

Pam Barnhill [00:33:29]:
I love it. Do the next thing. We’re gonna end on that. Do the next thing.

Adrienne Denison [00:33:33]:
Do the next thing. Yeah.

Pam Barnhill [00:33:34]:
Love it. Yeah. Well, Adrienne, thank you so much for coming on and chatting with us about the craziness of your move, and we’re so glad you’re settled now and enjoying life in Mississippi where everybody’s in your business. It’s the same way in Alabama, but we just appreciate you so much. Thank you.

Adrienne Denison [00:33:53]:
Well, thank you for having me. Like I said, it’s a dream come true, and thank you so much for investing in moms like me, helping us do homeschool well and to have the opportunity to be successful and be thankful and do this vocation really well. So I’m thankful for y’all.

Pam Barnhill [00:34:09]:
Thank you. That’s our show for today. Be sure to follow, subscribe, and leave a review so you never miss out on the wonder of homeschooling better together. To stay connected and learn even more about the Homeschooling Better Together resources and to join our free community, visit hsbtpodcast.com. Until next week, keep stepping out of the overwhelm and into the wonder.