Elevating Motherhood

Get the Homeschool Bundle Here: https://www.fortheloveofhomeschooling.com/?ref=loribeth
If you've ever felt like your kids are happier, calmer, and more engaged after spending time outside, you're not imagining it. There is something incredibly life-giving about learning inGod's creation. The beautiful part is that outdoor learning doesn't have to be a special event or an elaborate field trip. It can become a natural extension of your homeschool day.

Today's guest is Rachel Tidd, author of Wild Learning, Wild Math®, and Wild Reading™. Rachel is passionate about helping families and educators use the outdoors as aclassroom, showing us that subjects like reading and math don't have to stay at the kitchen table. Instead, nature can become one of our greatest teaching tools.

In this episode, Rachel shares practical, simple ways to weave outdoor learning into your everyday homeschool, along with the many benefits children experience when they're given theopportunity to explore, move, observe, and learn outside. Whether you're homeschooling preschoolers, elementary-aged children, or simply looking for fresh inspiration, I think you'll come away with ideas you can put into practice right away.

So grab your favorite drink, head outside if you can, andjoin me for this encouraging conversation with Rachel Tidd.
 
Please Visit Today's Sponsor:
 The For the Love of Homeschooling Back-to-School Mega Bundle, Volume 6 is officially here, and if you're looking for fresh inspiration for the school year ahead, you're going to love this.

For just $25, you'll get over 100 digital homeschoolresources covering everything from language arts and math to history, science, nature study, geography, art, planners, encouragement for moms, and so much more. Altogether,these resources are valued at more than $799, but they're only available at this price through August 10th.

I've actually been purchasing these bundles for years because they're such an incredible value. But this year is extra special because I'm one of the contributors!

When you purchase Volume 6, you'll also receive my homeschool planning workshop—the same planning process I teach at my homeschool retreats, use in private coaching sessions, and rely on every year to plan my own homeschool. I truly hope it helps you create a peaceful, purposeful school year.

You'll find the link to the bundle in today's show notes. Don't wait--the bundle disappears after August 10th, and onceit's gone, it's gone.
Full Show Notes at: www.elevatingmotherhood.com

WOW! 200!
From the bottom of my heart...thank you.
Thank you, friends, for showing up week after week and supporting the Elevating Motherhood Podcast for nearly six years. Whether you've been listening since Episode 1 or you just recently found this little corner of the internet, I want you to know how grateful I am that you're here.
This podcast has always been for you.
It's been an incredible privilege to have conversations with authors, educators, experts, and fellow moms who have encouraged us to become more intentional in our motherhood, homeschooling, parenting, and faith. Together, we've explored everything from raising confident children and creating meaningful family culture to finding joy, purpose, and peace in the everyday work of motherhood.
Reaching 200 episodes feels like more than a milestone, it feels like the beginning of a whole new chapter.
Over the next few months, I'm opening my heart in a way I never have before here on the show. This is Part 1 of a new series where I'll be sharing the years-long journey that led me to what I now call calm, confident motherhood. I'll be sharing the stories, mindset shifts, lessons, and convictions that transformed the way I approach motherhood and, ultimately, the way I experience it.
My hope is that these episodes don't simply encourage you, but that they help you see what's possible. That motherhood doesn't have to feel like something to survive. That peace isn't reserved for a select few. That confidence can be cultivated. And that, little by little, we can become the mothers we hope our children remember.
Thank you for allowing me to be a small part of your motherhood journey. It is a responsibility I don't take lightly, and I pray these conversations continue to encourage and equip you for years to come.
If the Elevating Motherhood Podcast has encouraged you over the years, would you help me celebrate 200 episodes by leaving a rating and written review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify? Reviews help more moms discover the show, and they truly mean more than you know.
Thank you for listening, for sharing episodes with friends, for sending thoughtful messages, and for being part of this wonderful community.
Here's to the next chapter. I'm so glad you're here.

The What
Well, in recent days, podcaster Jennifer Welch and her co-host, Angie Sullivan, shared their colorful thoughtson homeschooling after a caller expressed frustration that stupid people she went to school with were choosing to homeschool their children.
What followed wasn't simply a disagreement with homeschooling. It was a stream of insults. Homeschooling wascalled "the worst, worst, worst." Christian parents were portrayed as people who fear critical thinking. Homeschooling was described as selfish, andraising children with a Christian worldview was likened to child abuse. Parents were called "dumbasses," plenty of f-bombs were dropped, and the following day Jennifer doubled down on her view of homeschooling.

What struck me wasn't simply that they disagreed with homeschooling. People are free to have different opinionsand make different educational choices for their families.
What struck me was the confidence with which they spoke about a community they seemed to know very little about.

Their comments reflected a picture of homeschooling that simply doesn't resemble what modern homeschooling lookslike in America today. And judging by the response online, I wasn't the only homeschool parent who noticed.
I think many of us in the homeschool community were genuinely gob smacked. Wondering how someone couldspeak with such certainty and such contempt about something they clearly didn't understand. And when I say "ignorant," I mean it in the truest sense of the word: not knowing.
I wanted to talk about it almost immediately. Not because I wanted to keep an internet argument going, but because I needed to process what I had just heard. There wasn't really time to sit down with friends and think through it together. It was one of those moments where you hear something and your mind just starts turning.

I felt shock. Then disappointment. Then anger.
But if I'm honest, the emotion I kept coming back to was sadness.
Sadness that millions of homeschool families are still viewed through stereotypes that are decades out of date. Sadness that children who are being lovingly educated at home could someday hear adults describe families like theirs with such contempt. And sadness that so many people listening probably assumed those caricatures were true.
Because words matter.
When someone with a platform reaches millions of people, those words shape opinions. Opinions shape culture.Culture influences policy. And policy affects the freedoms families have for generations to come.
That's why I felt compelled to respond.
I posted an open letter, not because I needed Jennifer & Angie to agree with me, and not because I felt insecure about my decision to homeschool, but because I believe homeschool families deserve to be represented truthfully.
But here's the thing: this episode isn't really about Jennifer Welch.
Long after this particular controversy is forgotten, homeschool families will still encounter the same questions, the same assumptions, and the same misconceptions. So today, I don't want to spend our time dissecting one person's comments.
Instead, I want to talk about why homeschooling is worthdefending, not because every family should homeschool, but because every family deserves the freedom to thoughtfully choose the educational path they believe is best for their children.
Link to IG Open Letter: https://www.instagram.com/p/Da4hZvRFGfa/
FULL SHOW NOTES AT: WWW.ELEVATINGMOTHERHOOD.COMPlease visit our sponsors: www.elevatingmotherhood.com/sponsors

Buy Jennifer’s Book Here: https://amzn.to/4wiwDLS

Today I’m so glad to welcome Jennifer Pepito backto the show.

Jennifer is the host of the Restoration Home podcast, bestselling author of Habits for a Sacred Home, andfounder of The Peaceful Press, a homeschool curriculum provider many of us know and love. Her writing has been featured in Wild + Free, Commonplace Quarterly, and HomeEducating Family, and she’s been a guest on 1000 Hours Outside, At Home with Sally, and The Read Aloud Revival. Shelives in the mountains with her family, where her days are shaped by reading aloud, tending the garden, and building a home life rooted in rhythm and beauty.

And if you’re a mom who has ever felt the tension between what homeschool “should” look like and what your child actually needs… if you’ve wondered whether there’s a more peaceful, more meaningful way to educate without losing depth or vision—this conversation is for you.

Today we’re talking about her newest book, The Inspired Homeschool: How History’s Heroes Light a Path Toward Joyful, Confident Learning. In her book, Jennifer pulls from the lives of historical figures, along with research and biblical wisdom, to help us reimagine education through literature, nature, work, and story—so we can raise children who are curious, grounded, and confident in who they are becoming.

Here are some of my favorite quotes fromJennifer’s book (& the interview):

“Raising my hand too often and too excitedly to answerquestions was met with frustration from teachers.” - page 27
 
“My personal ideals for our homeschool don’t have to be yours, but if you don’t know your why, you will continually bow to outside pressures and create stress for your children in the process.” – page 29
 
Not wanting our kids to learn from a system that is hostiletoward our faith.
 
“Young children are great imitators, and if we haven’t yetcrushed their natural desire to help by setting unreasonable standards or expressing disappointment in them, they can be great helpers.” – page 47
 
“The atmosphere is you.” – page 49
 
Beauty: Effortlessly incorporate beauty…such intentionality.

“Mason particularly emphasized the habits of attention,obedience, right thinking, and right acting.” – page 63
 
Habits: You’re the one who showed me that virtues andhabits are interconnected.
 
“Homeschooling in the modern age requires tremendous powers of attention, as we must forcibly tear ourselves away from a highly distracting culture and learn to settle into the beautiful and short season of homeschooling our children.” – page 74
 
“I wanted to give my children the world, so I gave theminspiring books.” – page 79
 
“It’s hard to understand why traditional schools keeppushing the factory model, and why they’ve replaced classic literature with hopeless victim narratives.” – page 126

FULL SHOW NOTES AT: WWW.ELEVATINGMOTHERHOOD.COM

Follow LB on IG: @loribethauldridge @elevatingmotherhood

Please visit our sponsors: www.elevatinghomeschool.com/sponsors

Whether your baby is still in diapers, you’re in the middle of the school years, your teenager just got their driver's license, or you've recently become an empty nester, the relationship you hope to have with your children when they leave home doesn't begin the day they pack their bags.

It begins today.

It begins with the culture you're creating in your home, the words you speak, the trust you're building, the way you respond to change, and the example you're setting.
In this conversation, we talk about what it really feels like when your children begin leaving the nest—not just for them, but for you and even for the siblings they leave behind. We discuss the grief that can catch you off guard, the joy of watching your children become independent, and the mindset shifts that help us parent with open hands instead of clenched fists.
You'll hear us talk about becoming an "open nester" instead of an "empty nester," why it's so important not to keep our kids small, how to prepare them with the life skills and confidence they'll need to launch well, and why it's never too late to change the patterns in our homes.
One of my favorite reminders from this conversation is something Amy says: "You can't talk to your kids enough." And Jennifer's encouragement not to keep our kids small has stayed with me ever since.
If you've ever wondered how to prepare your children to leave home while also preparing your own heart, I think you'll find so much encouragement here.
And if your kids are still little, don't skip this episode thinking it's for someone else. The foundation for launching our children well is laid years before they ever leave. The attitudes, habits, and relationships we cultivate now matter more than we realize.
So grab a cup of coffee, settle in, and enjoy this conversation with my sweet friends, Jennifer Ford Berry and Amy Debrucque.
 
In this episode we talk about: 
 Open nester vs. empty nester
The transition from needing you all the time 
The change that happens when kids get their driver’s license
Daily independence vs. financial independence
Differences based on boys vs. girls leaving the nest
Differences with number of kids
Grieving unexpected things with their departure
Song: Crowded Table by Highway Women
Every flight is different
Mindset through our whole motherhood journey
The parallel between school breaks and when your kids fly the nest
The selfless nature of motherhood
Kids still at home with their siblings leave home
Life 360 App
Giving them messages of security and encouragement
Making sure we lay a secure foundation and not one of nagging and mistrust
Learning from our realizations and taking action from there
Pivoting and adapting
WE NEED TO MODEL FOR OUR KIDS
It’s never to late to change
How moms change when kids leave the nest
Mistakes they made when their kids first left the nest
Being more aware
Figure our what draws your kids in and what drives them away
Taking up hobbies as a mom in this season for rejuvenation 
Talking with moms who have gone before you in this season
Acknowledging the grief
Preparing your child to launch – was there a list of skills you want them to have before they leave home? 
Open communication within a family
Becoming less offended
“You can’t talk to your kids enough.” -Amy Debrucque
Realistic expectations
Talking through how to navigate situations
Building up their courage
Dealing with homesickness
“Don’t keep your kids small.” – JFB
And so much more...full show notes at: www.elevatingmotherhood.com
 
Link to Jennifer’s Podcast: The Make Room Show https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/make-room-show/id1664260193
  
Link to Amy’s Podcast: Life on Purpose Podcast
 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/life-on-purpose-podcast-with-amy-debrucque/id1498212623
 
Elevating Motherhood Links: 
Website: www.elevatingmotherhood.com
Instagram: @loribethauldridge @elevatingmotherhood
 
Please Visit Our Sponsors: www.elevatingmotherhood.com/sponsors