Jennifer had stubbornly rejected homeschooling as an option. She thought it was child abuse, so when public and private schools did not create the environment she wanted for her kids along with many other life circumstances she swallowed her pride, humbled herself and tried out the homeschool option. Terrified and worried about getting it right, she forged ahead, and the results were far better than she could have ever imagined. She now boasts three homeschool graduates who are successfully fulfilling their dreams and is excited to share with you her journey from reluctant homeschool mom to homeschooling advocate.

Jennifer Edlund

Jennifer's Facebook page

Jennifer Edlund’s journey from a reluctant homeschool mom to a passionate advocate for education at home showcases the transformative power of personalized learning. Initially skeptical about homeschooling, she was propelled into this world when traditional schooling didn’t meet her children's needs. What followed was a remarkable evolution in her approach, leading to the realization that fostering a love for learning is far more important than adhering to rigid curricula.

Jennifer shares her insights on the importance of allowing children to explore their interests, emphasizing that true education happens not just at a desk but through real-life experiences. Now, with three successful homeschool graduates, she inspires others to embrace the joys of education at home, proving that it's never too late to start this rewarding journey.

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Herb: 00:00:20

Today I have the pleasure of introducing Jennifer Edlund. Jennifer had stubbornly, stubbornly rejected homeschooling as an option. She thought it was child abuse.

So when public and private schools did not create the environment she wanted for her kids, along with many other life circumstances, she swallowed her pride, humbled herself, and tried out the homeschool option. Terrified and worried about getting it right, she forged ahead, and the results were far better than she could have ever imagined.

She now boasts three homeschool graduates who are successfully fulfilling their dreams and is excited to share with you her journey from reluctant homeschool mom to homeschooling advocate. Welcome, Jennifer. It is lovely to have you here. Thank you for joining us today.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:01:04

Thank you for inviting me.

Kristina: 00:01:07

It is so awesome, because as we are rolling into season two, you're going to be about episode five or so into season two of our Bringing Education Home podcast.

It is one of those things that we promise our audience this year is to bring more parents on who homeschooled or in the middle of homeschooling, to give some inspiration, to talk about what might be some of the ups and downs and just to really let people know that, you know, this really can work. So that is so amazing that your bio said reluctant, not really wanting to, and then doing it. So thank you for being here.

Herb: 00:01:38

Yeah. Because another interesting thing that's going on right now is so many people want to homeschool, but they're really afraid of it.

And it's like, oh, I want to homeschool. I want to get my kids out of the education system. But then when it comes time to actually do it, they. They don't. They. They back away from it.

And it sounds like you weren't given that choice, were kind of forced into it, and then found a joyful way to go through it. So we're hoping you're in spot. Your.

Your story will help inspire more people to actually start properly educating their kids instead of leaving them in the public. Public education system.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:02:12

Maybe.

Well, I want to thank you for providing this forum for people to come and listen and get different perspectives, because you give so many different perspectives, which is good because we all come from a different angle.

Kristina: 00:02:25

So that's our first question. What was that reluctance? What was that thing that really kind of held you back besides what you said in your bio? And what was that catapult forward?

What really flipped that switch for you? Let's start with that part of your story, please.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:02:38

Okay. So my reluctance was growing up with cousins who were homeschooled, and they didn't seem to know anything.

I remember playing a game where we were, you know, finding the states on a map, and they couldn't find them. They knew it was number 12 in the game that they played, or they knew that. And, you know, where's Minnesota? Which is where I lived at the time?

And they were like, well, I think it's north. And they pointed at the North Pole, and they asked me if I lived in an igloo.

No, we live in houses, just like you, but we have furnaces, which, you know, where they lived, they didn't really have furnaces. So that was really disheartening. And I didn't see that they were educated and, you know, they all turned out fine.

But I felt like their parents had just robbed them of certain socialization things and just, like, general knowledge that I thought everyone just had. And so I really. And all of the homeschool stuff that I saw were, you know, kids wearing overalls and the mom matching a matching denim jumper.

And I was like, I don't. That is not our family. So those were some of the reasons why I didn't want to homeschool.

The biggest one, however, was that I did not think I was capable of homeschooling. I didn't enjoy teaching. I wasn't a natural teacher. I. I'm really bad at math, and I kind of like it that way.

I mean, all of those things made me think that I was probably incompetent to homeschool.

Kristina: 00:04:21

All of those things that we kind of talk about through this, you know, think realizing that you are more capable than you think, that you are more empowered than you when it comes to your child's education, and then all those socialization things that we know now with the super involved parent, it's not really an issue. But I bet you're going to tell us more about that in your story.

Herb: 00:04:39

Yeah.

And actually, before we get a little farther, I actually want to thank those people that did that only early homeschooling, because they did pave the way. They did make the mistakes. They did start to figure out what worked and what didn't. And.

And so, you know, what we have now as homeschooling options is so much more amazing than what they had when they first started. Because.

And we call it education at home instead of homeschooling, because if you try and replicate the school system at home, you're going to kind of run into the same problems that you have in the public education system. So now we talk about more gearing it towards Teaching children how to learn instead of what to learn.

And then if they start following stuff that they love to do, then the learning just comes from every direction and it really broadens them out.

So very thankful to the early homeschool people for having the weird kids and having the courage to do that because we've evolved so much from that now.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:05:43

But we had to start somewhere 100%. And I see now that my perspective was so based on the fact that I was going to a public school school.

And so I just did not understand what was happening at all. And my idea of what was important as a 12 year old and as a 16 year old is much different than my idea of what's important as a parent.

Kristina: 00:06:07

Yeah, absolutely. So what was that catalyst? What sprung you and your children into homeschool? What was that turning point into the.

Herb: 00:06:15

Overalls and not knowing the map? What, what, what, what threw you over the fence into the world of the weird?

Jennifer Edlund: 00:06:22

Yeah, a couple oldest was an amazing reader. And between the summer of kindergarten and first grade, he read Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little.

He read all the, all the thicker, bigger books and he understood them. And when he went into first grade, his teacher tested him over and over and over again and wasn't very happy with where he was.

And she put him in the lowest reading group. And so he was coming home with, you know, a chicken that he colored that said hen pen men. I said, what? Why? What is this for?

And he said, well, this is for reading so that I can read things that rhyme. And I thought, this is not appropriate. So I went round and round with the teacher.

Finally she allowed the special ed teacher to test him rather than her. And he was reading at the sixth to seventh grade level.

So then, you know, then she was mad because she had to get extra books in her class and he had to go out for special advanced reading education and all that stuff. Stuff. And it really didn't go very well.

And meanwhile, his sister was in private school because I had called, I was late to register her for it because I didn't know or I didn't pay attention is probably more likely. And there they were having shortages of space in the school.

And so the district literally said to me, we just need to ship your daughter over to this school school for one year and then she'll be back with her neighborhood. And that word ship really stuck with me because in my mind, you ship a box, you ship items, you don't ship people.

I mean, I guess technically people do get on an airline, but they have A choice. Right. So.

Herb: 00:08:34

And if you've ever watched a movie where they're called. When they're on an airplane, they're called souls. They're not called boxes.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:08:41

Yes.

Herb: 00:08:42

Like with how many souls on board?

Jennifer Edlund: 00:08:44

Yes.

Herb: 00:08:44

What they talk about completely different. They don't. They don't ship people on airplanes either, or on boats. How many souls were on board?

Jennifer Edlund: 00:08:53

Yeah. Yes. So I had switched. I had started her in private school and I was like, the district will never touch my daughter. And they haven't.

So anyway, I then moved my son over to private school as well. And I think after second grade I did. He had a fabulous second grade teacher. I love her still, she was wonderful.

But I couldn't do the two schools thing anymore, so I moved him over to private school. And that proved to not be a great experience really for either of my kids. They did not have.

My daughter is very slightly dyslexic and so she was having a tougher time reading. It wasn't that she couldn't read, it was that she couldn't read out loud. And I was like, people like me. Same thing.

So when as she was going into second grade and he was going into fourth grade, I pulled them out of school and that happened amongst of amongst other life situations that were going on. So it proved to be I'd made the choice and then it just was proved to me over and over again that that was the right thing to do.

So I spent that summer reading everything I could because, well, I want to get them an elite education is what I wanted. So I studied. What is an elite education? What do the wealthiest parents, the top 5.5% people in the world, what do they want for their kids?

And I very quickly discovered it really matched what my heart wanted for my kids was the ability to have imagination, understand social structures, understand that whatever they wanted access to, they could network a way to get to that. And that the world was full of possibilities.

Not that you moved with the same aged students the whole way through school and then you get dumped out into the world and wait, what? I'm an adult now, what does that mean? So I read a lot of John Taylor Gatto and John Holt and then a lot of other things as well.

But that was kind of where I landed. However, I started with classical education. Very regimented classical education.

Kristina: 00:11:17

Yeah.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:11:18

Because I wanted it well rounded. Yeah.

Kristina: 00:11:20

And I love that because you're talking, what I'm hearing you say is that you wanted to produce humans, you wanted to produce someone who could handle lots of different Things and not necessarily just the book knowledge you were hoping for.

That well rounded, full bodied person that we really propose here at Vibrant Family as well as like we want the holistic education, the whole child education. They have life skills and they have academic skills, they have social skills and they have learning skills.

Herb: 00:11:49

And it's so much more than just being able to look at a map and say, that's Minnesota, that's Oregon, without having any sort of emotional attachment to it. It's like, yeah, okay, so you know that, but do you know that? You know? And so. Right. And so, yeah, teaching facts instead of teaching how to learn.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:12:08

Right, right. And yeah, so, so that's what we did. Classical education, by the way, was a disaster for us.

We could with three kids, one of which was four at the time. We did eight subjects a day. It took us about two hours.

Herb: 00:12:25

Yeah, that's what, that's kind of what we talk about. It's like people, that's why we don't call it homeschooling here. We call it education at home. Yeah.

If you try and replicate school at home, then you end up with the same problems that, that the public school has because their kids aren't supposed to sit for six to eight hours a day at a desk. That's not, that's not normal.

Kristina: 00:12:43

Or even two hours at four years old.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:12:46

Two hours of regimented stuff is just not how our brains work. That's simple and it really disturbs the learning process.

So I just stopped schooling at that point and we took the rest of the year and just tried to figure life out with all of us at home.

Herb: 00:13:05

I love it when you're, when you're figuring life out. You're teaching cooking, you got the kids cleaning, you have them doing stuff and it's amazing how much they learn while they're doing that.

But you're not teaching them so much.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:13:22

More than you can ever imagine. It just eventually we, we took that break and it was a very good break. And we did learn how to live together.

And I always think homeschooling is such a misnomer. Anyway, we were hardly ever home and school did not look like a school building at all.

It, it looks like going for walks, going ice skating for hours on end, going sledding down the hill, meeting up with friends, doing fun stuff, going groceries, just living life, grocery shopping and oh, we need new boots. So we'll go out and get new boots and all of the things, Opportunities to learn that come with that.

Kristina: 00:14:08

So if we were to put it in today's terms because of course, you did this several years ago because you said you've graduated your children, basically. Now, it would have been called unschooling because.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:14:19

Yes. Yeah.

Kristina: 00:14:20

And you were just living life, not using curriculum. You were just unschooling.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:14:25

Right, right.

Kristina: 00:14:26

Part that you said about when you just kind of like, put the curriculum away and didn't really school anything and got used to life. What we call that now in modern terms is deschooling, because you want to get the public education out of your mind and an angry iterating.

These for the people who are listening, who are curious, like, wait a second, I've heard these terms. I'm not quite sure what they are. Is that. Would you agree with what I said?

Jennifer Edlund: 00:14:48

Yeah, 100%. And.

Herb: 00:14:49

But it also. It also is not just abandoning your children. It's like, oh, we're out of school and you're over there and I'm doing our stuff.

You were including them in your life. You were building into them the habits you were building in the family structure.

It sounds like you probably still had boundaries and things they could and couldn't do. So that your kids just weren't running feral. They were part of the family and. And being educated in life. So.

So again, that's why we call it education at home. Right. Does that make more sense now?

Jennifer Edlund: 00:15:24

Yeah. Oh, it totally makes sense. And I hope that your listeners get that too. And yes, it is called deschooling.

And we did that for probably almost a year because we went through the summer and into the next year, and then I just started reading to them. That's kind of how we got back into a little bit of a routine, because we just lived in chaos.

I did have one who was already in hockey, and then my daughter was. Was doing horseback riding. So we had some activities we were going to, but other than that, it was just randomly.

Whenever we woke up, we woke up whenever we went to bed, we went to bed, and whatever we did during the day. So I just began reading to them and I read, oh, shoot, her last name is Bauer. But there's.

There's a very good set of history books that go from creation to ancient history, ancient to Roman Empire, and then Roman empire to modern times. I can't not. I can't think of who it is, what her name is, but her last name is Bauer. And we read those over and over and over again.

And one of the things that I think is so funny is my daughter hated history.

And so she would sit there on the couch like this Literally, those of you who can't see me, she was literally sleeping with her mouth open, something out. She doesn't do that anymore. I'm just gonna say she's an adult now.

Anyway, much later, when she was taking a college class on, I think it was world history, and she kept coming home and she's like, mom, how dumb are these kids? How do they not know this stuff? And I said, well, how do you know this stuff? She's like, I don't know. I just know it.

Kristina: 00:17:15

She was picking it up while she was sleeping.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:17:18

She was picking it up unconsciously. And so she aced every time.

Herb: 00:17:26

Yeah. And again, in public education right now, they'll. They'll kind of go over that, but it's just once, and they rush through it.

And then you take a test and you don't have to think about it anymore, and then they rush to the next thing. So, right. Right now, they're just rushing to tests. And the knowledge isn't sticking with most people.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:17:45

Right. And how we teach history in public schools and even in college is disjointed.

We learn, you know, state history in fourth grade, but we don't understand how that fits into the history of the United States. And we don't understand how the history of the United States began when, you know, before white people came and after, you know, we. We don't.

It's so chunked up. There's a lot of misunderstanding or lack of understanding of how events unfolded.

Kristina: 00:18:17

Right.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:18:17

And so the out of the box.

Herb: 00:18:19

Me, because, you know, you missed our intro, but it used to be we're both inside and outside the box. That. That comes to the dumbing down of America. That comes to. You can't. You can't control an educated population.

So our education system has been under attack to give us just enough to know, but not enough to really be able to embrace and move this amazing experiment, which is the United States, forward in a productive manner. So, yeah, that in homeschooling, you can actually get a hold of that and teach that and learn that and live that and love that.

And as a homeschooler, that that is what you're doing because you're taking your. Your sovereignty as. As a citizen of this experiment and being able to. It's the one place you have absolute control over your life is.

Is your children's education. But the schools won't let you know that.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:19:14

No. And it's interesting that you bring that up, because what you're talking about is, you know, thinking you're educated, but Realizing you're not.

And that's exactly where I was when I thought that homeschooling was child abuse.

Kristina: 00:19:27

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:19:30

And so even if you're like me, your eyes can be opened and you'll discover a whole amazing world and all of the gaps that were in your own education. And that didn't mean we weren't doing okay. We were doing fine, Right? Yeah. But we didn't realize the whole world we were missing.

Kristina: 00:19:50

So as you were going through some of these things, did you kind of take a tangent and go on a deeper dive on certain things when your kids kind of perked up? Like, oh, what.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:19:58

What about that?

Kristina: 00:19:58

Did you kind of, like, go deeper on some of those things? Or how did you kind of morph this into them? Learning a little bit more.

Herb: 00:20:05

Yeah. What was your next step after your year and a half of D schooling? How did you get back to reading? So you started.

You started with reading, and then how did you get back into the actual education aspect?

Jennifer Edlund: 00:20:15

Yes. So we started reading, and then we started going to the library.

And I am convinced that the only thing you need to get a true education is the ability to read and a library card. So I let my kids check out whatever books they wanted.

If it was something that could be kind of sketchy, we read it together so that we could discuss it along the way. I can. I don't remember anything like that, but I always was. I always watched what they were reading.

When my oldest read Dracula in the fifth grade, we had some conversations about it, you know, because that can cause nightmares, but we did that. My youngest, who was probably six or seven at the time, gravitated to the great courses.

So he would watch the DVDs and read along in the book, and then he would teach me. So I learned about all kinds of things, including Roman luxury latrines. So if you ever want to know about those, I can help you out.

Herb: 00:21:24

Again. And then we go back to vibrant family education. That.

That's a little hidden gem in what we do is because as you start educating your children at home, it's. You're educating the whole family. It becomes not about the children anymore. It becomes about creating a cohesive family.

And everybody's learning because as. Because our education was flawed. There's a lot of gaps in what we know. And as you're teaching your children, it's like you. You.

Those fill in those gaps, and suddenly your mind goes, oh, wow, now this and this and this. And then. And then this other gap gets filled in, and, wow, this and this and this. And it's like your whole worldview.

So even as an adult, it's like you. We talk about educating the children, but it's amazing what happens with the adults. It just like your child was teaching you.

How amazing is that, right?

Jennifer Edlund: 00:22:12

It is.

And what I discovered very quickly, which I always just said, I had an eclectic form of education because I got razzed a lot by some people, but because I was. Because I was homeschooling, and also because even my homeschool friends thought that I was really free range. And so I would just explain.

We have an eclectic style, so we kind of do different. We thread a lot of things together.

In reality, I was unschooling, and I created environment where they could delve in as far as they wanted into any subject, and that's what they did. And my oldest for a long time, I would say, well, what do you want to do when you grow up? And he said, play hockey. Okay, that's it.

What about when you're finished playing hockey? Well, I'll just play more hockey. And I said, well, you can do that if. If or when you make it to the NHL.

Usually players are finished by the time they're 40. What do you think you might want to do for the rest of your life?

Herb: 00:23:19

Coach. Coach hockey.

Kristina: 00:23:20

Coach hockey.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:23:22

I know you would think. But then it was, think, I want to push carts at Target if you can't tell. He was a very physical kid.

And before we would even read books, I would send him out to.

We lived in a cul de sac to run around the cul de sac until he was out of breath, and then he'd come in with still too much energy, and I'd send him out again. Sometimes he would go skating at noon and he wouldn't come back until 6 or 7 and call him in. That was how he was. And so it made sense.

He would do something, want to do something physical. And so while we read, we read books. I still have a Basu ball here. He would bounce around the house on.

Kristina: 00:23:59

This big old ball, Big yoga ball. That's what she's showing us. Yep, yep.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:24:06

Big purple ball or the big white ball. We used to have it popped. But he would bounce around the house and listen. And again. He knew he learned, and he knew he needed the kinetic movement.

Herb: 00:24:16

Could you imagine him sitting at a desk in a classroom for six hours a day while they crammed facts at him? You know, he would have always been in trouble. He would. They would have had him on Ritalin and Other drugs because your bad kid can't pay attention.

It's like.

Kristina: 00:24:33

And the best part about it is that you're bringing up exactly. Some of the things that we talk about with parents is like, as long as the child is learning, it doesn't really matter where they are.

They can be in the middle of the living room floor, they could be sitting in a chair. They could be hanging upside down, down off the back of the couch, if that's really how they learned. But, you know, let them kind of learn.

You let them use their learning style. Unless it's a specific task. If you're teaching handwriting, yes, they need to sit in a chair.

If they're having a guest speaker, yes, they need to sit down and pay attention and be polite. Specific instances. But otherwise, let them learn how they learn best.

Herb: 00:25:10

Yeah, if I'm doing video learning and it's not alive, I will be playing solitaire. I will be doing something and, and not looking and getting all of the information.

Because if I'm sitting and looking and trying to pay attention, then I start drifting off in my head and I lose more of it. But if I'm doing something, not thinking, but solitaire, whatever, it's like, it's.

Yeah, but then it's like I'm just getting all of this information and absorbing it.

And then I'll come back and I'll ask questions, I'll be there, but I can't, like, focus straight on it because it's like my body doesn't allow me to just sit there. But having a conversation is completely different, so.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:25:48

Agreed. And that's why even my daughter sleeping with her mouth open was learning.

Kristina: 00:25:54

Yeah, Absorbing.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:25:55

Yeah. So those were good things. So. And my. My youngest had his own style of learning too. He. Which has varied a lot.

Either he was very still and very intent or he was building with Legos or something. So he would switch between. Between the two.

Kristina: 00:27:51

That actually brings me to a question that I would thought of. It's like.

So when you first started, were you teaching out of kind of like your comfort, your learning style, and then later you kind of switched to maybe their comfort and their learning style or what? How would you talk about that?

Jennifer Edlund: 00:28:09

I was trying to hit all of the learning styles and I was following curriculum because, like I said, I was so afraid I was going to get it wrong. So we had Latin curricul and math curriculum, and history curriculum, and music curriculum, and they were taking piano lessons. And.

And I mean, like I said, it was eight subjects a day and it didn't take them long to get the work done. And it wasn't until I relaxed and just started reading to them, which is really how this all came about.

Was reading to them books because I believe the spiritual development is important. We read the children's story Bible and I think we went through the entire thing less than a month. So we just reread it over and over again.

We had that history. We read that the whole way through school science. We just, we would just read about various creatures or habitats or physics.

My kids favorite bedtime book was the Home Depot Home Repair Book.

Kristina: 00:29:16

Say that again.

Herb: 00:29:18

The Home Depot Home Repair book.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:29:21

You could learn how to tile and repair sheetrock and fix plumbing.

Kristina: 00:29:27

Okay. Are any of them in construction now?

Herb: 00:29:30

The book version of this old house. Those shows are amazing. I love those shows. Is it because it was creative and fixing and. Yeah, those were amazing shows.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:29:40

Yeah, we did not. None of them are in construction. My oldest son in 9th grade retiled our bathroom though, which he did a beautiful job.

And they all are very understanding of what it will take to repair or fix or maintain something. So that's good.

Herb: 00:30:00

I call that general competence. So that, that, that just general competence in life to knowing what this is about. It used to be called like common sense, but it's so uncommon now.

So that just general competence is such a beautiful won skill for a child to have.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:30:17

It is. It is. It was, it was really cool to watch them do that.

Kristina: 00:30:22

So do me a favor and move forward a little bit to those high school years because we have a lot of families like, oh, well, I can probably take care of the younger grades because, you know, teaching reading, teaching basic math, et cetera. But what about those middle school and high school years? Whenever things get so much harder, what kind of happened with your kids?

Jennifer Edlund: 00:30:39

So because we were already fully on the unschooling thing, I did, I did kind of keep track what they were thinking they wanted to do when they, you, you know, went out and got a job. Just for the record, I was always encouraging them to open a business. Not one of them ever opened a business. Okay, still not. And that's okay.

That being said, middle school was pretty easy because we were just kind of humming along. My middle, middle list is what I like to call her. But my daughter started to really get onto me. I don't know geography.

And I was like, what do you mean you don't know geography? And she would say, well, I don't know, I don't know.

She didn't know what she didn't Know, but what was happening was that her friends who were in school were complaining about their geography homework or were complaining about this, complaining about that. And one of the things that I did was I had foreign students. We hosted foreign students from time to time. Now, all of them happen to be from France.

Herb: 00:31:47

Okay.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:31:48

But they got to learn about a different culture because we couldn't afford to take all five of us over to France to learn the culture. So we brought a little bit of the culture to us.

Kristina: 00:31:58

Oh, I love that. That's a great idea.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:32:00

It was wonderful. And so she, you know, so I started asking her questions. I said, well, tell me what you know about France. And she told me about France.

And I said, tell me what you know about Sweden and Norway. Her. Her dad is Swedish and Norwegian, and I have some Sweden me. And so she tells me about that, and I said, now tell me what you know about Spain.

And she tells me about that. And I said, tell me what you know about Africa. Right. The whole continent. Well, she has an uncle who's from Cameroon. She lets me know about Cameroon.

I said, do you know where South Africa is? Or do you know any of that history? Yep, she knew some of that. Yeah. Tell me about Asia. Tell me about China or India.

Did the Chinese and Japanese, do they really like each other? No. Why is, you know, she knew it. She just didn't know she knew it. Yeah. So we. That was fine.

And then they started needing a little more help with math than I could give. They could all tell I wasn't very good at it, and so we. We joined a co op where they offered classes and they all took some math classes.

My youngest also took a lot of science classes because he was very interested in science. And then some general writing classes.

And that was one to two days a week for maybe, maybe two hours a day, sometimes more, depending on what classes they wanted to take. And then the rest of the week they were home doing what they did and they had some homework to work with.

And then the last two years of high school, in our state, we have post secondary education option. So they can take college courses for high school.

Kristina: 00:33:43

Yes.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:33:44

So those last two years, that's what each of them did. They started taking college classes, and I'm glad that we did it that way.

I had one that ended his first semester of college with an A, a B, a D, and an F. Okay. And I said, he hit. He tried to hide them all of that stuff. So all of that stuff.

And what I want to say is, you want your kids to fail when they're still at home. Because through that, we got to say, hey, here's the deal. We're here to help and support you. We're not going to do the work for. For you.

And when you're running into stuff, come talk to us. We, your dad and I have both been through college. We know how this works.

Kristina: 00:34:34

Right.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:34:34

And so that opened up the conversation for us to move along that child. It does very well in school. In fact, all three of my children have done very well in college to date. So. But we did that with all three of them. My.

My other one, my middle list. I will always. Shoot. I have learned so much from this child. She should have been the parent, and I credit her with that. But she. She always did great.

In fact, she would register herself. She would fill out the paperwork and say, here, mom, I need you to sign this. She would sign up for her classes.

She figures out stuff for her brothers when they're like, well, I don't know when to take what classes. She's like, sit down. And she figures it all out.

Kristina: 00:35:21

So that's awesome.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:35:24

So now they know when they're in trouble, when. Not when they're in trouble, but when they can't figure it out, ask someone. And they usually start with their sister. So that. That has been good.

And that was a good stair step from unschooling to, I want to say, more accountability. It really wasn't more accountability, but it was a more stringent method.

Kristina: 00:35:50

Formalized schooling, formalized education.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:35:52

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But they still got to choose mostly what they were taking, so that worked.

And then it was a pretty smooth process then into college at that point, which I didn't want any of my kids to go to college. I wanted them to just go start businesses. Right.

Kristina: 00:36:08

Well, that's one of the other things that we talked about.

You know, by the time they're done homeschooling education at home, they really probably have a good sense of what they want to do and where they want to go, because they've had those chances to explore. They've had those chances to try things out. They've had those chances to say, oh, you know, maybe I want to start a business, maybe I don't.

Maybe I want to learn more about this, maybe I don't. So that's one of the other beautiful things about this process with the children and people in general.

Herb: 00:36:36

Yeah. And kind of. Kind of we get people out of the homes, out of the unschooling a little quicker and getting them moving more in specific directions.

So not. Not back into the school way, but. But in helping them focus and figuring out what they want to do in goal setting, in creating a plan. And. And so we.

We actually focus a little bit more on. On that as well. So it's not just. It's not just kind of, oh, whatever. It's whatever for a while until you get into the habit.

And then once you start learning how to learn, it's like, okay, now let's focus in here and look at what else we can do and how to expand that so we rein it in a little bit earlier than college or we try and help parents get there a little easier.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:37:23

Yeah, well. And I call it the slow release, too. Right.

When we started deschooling, I was with them almost 100% of the time, minus hockey practice and horseback riding lessons. Right. Other than that, it was with them. And then as they grew middle school, they got a little more freedom.

High school, they got a little more freedom. Learning to drive, they got a lot more freedom because I totally trusted them at that point.

So the question, it stopped being, mom, when do I need to be home by? And it became me asking, are you going to be home for dinner tonight? Right.

Herb: 00:37:59

Yeah. And our kid, our rule was, it's like, if you're traveling, you let us know where you're traveling. It's like, I don't care where you're going. I don't.

But if you say you're going to be there, I want you to be there. And then if you're going there, I want to know when you're going there.

Not because I'm trying to keep track of you, but in case something goes wrong, I want to know where to go find your body.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:38:21

Right.

Herb: 00:38:22

And so, so that. So it's like. And I would say that it's like, look, I. You can. You have the trust, you have freedom, you have the trust.

I just want to know where to go look for you if something goes wrong.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:38:36

Right.

Herb: 00:38:37

And I would. I was very clear about that. It's like, it's your life. You're. You know, you have this freedom.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:38:42

Yeah.

Herb: 00:38:43

I just, I just have to be able to go pick up the pieces.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:38:46

Right. We also gave our kids a way out. So if they were ever out somewhere and things started happening that they were like, oh, this isn't good.

All they had to do was call us and say, I forgot to feed the fish, and we would come get them.

Kristina: 00:39:03

Nice.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:39:03

Yep. Like, we. And they could totally blame. My mom and dad are so bad. I mean, whatever they Wanted to say we didn't care.

We were there, out, and it never happened. And yeah, the question I asked was, what time will you be home for dinner? And if not, what time will you be home? Because. And I explained it to him.

I said, look, I do want to go to bed and I don't want to wait up all night for you to come home.

And sometimes they call and say, I'll be home at 3 in the morning, and then I might ask a few more questions because there's not a lot of good stuff that goes on after, you know, 11 or 12.

Kristina: 00:39:38

So as a good parent with expectations and boundaries to help keep them safe, those are positive, good questions. It's like a little check in is like, are you sure you're making a good choice here?

Herb: 00:39:49

My second big safety rule was when you're traveling, when you're in a car, when you guys are going places, do not screw around. Okay?

Jennifer Edlund: 00:39:57

Right.

Herb: 00:39:58

The car is not the place to be goofing around and having fun.

It's like, because if you do something and you cause an accident that hurts my kid, I'm gonna come find you and kill you if you live through it, you know? So my friend, we were actually the cool parents of our group, so of my, of my son's group.

So it's like they, they knew that it was, it was only kind of serious.

So whenever they were traveling, it's like when you get there, you can be as stupid as you want, silly as you want, but do not do stupid stuff in the car.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:40:31

Right?

Herb: 00:40:32

So that was, that was my second rules, like, let me know when you're moving. Don't do stupid stuff in a car.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:40:37

Yeah. Yeah, that's fabulous.

Kristina: 00:40:40

All right, so give us an update now. Where are your kiddos now?

Because you said that you've, you know, kind of accomplish this big feat of hating homeschooling, not wanting to do it, jumping in there, moving through it, and now feeling mostly accomplished.

Herb: 00:40:54

Also, add how awesome it is that your, your children are still talking to you and how many parents don't necessarily have that right now? So let's, let's wrap all of that kind of in the same kind of a thing.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:41:05

Sure. My kids love to talk to me and they come to me for advice, which is always a tricky place as a parent.

So good thing I have some training in being a coach because I know just to them questions, they already know the answers. They just want to hear that that's okay. So, so. But they do. They still come to me. I have two that are still living at home.

So we'll start with my oldest. My oldest son ended up. He's one of those ones kids that didn't know what he wanted to do. And it took him a while to figure it out.

He's going to nursing school right now.

He enlisted in the army National Guard first got deployed in that way, figured out that he wanted to be a nurse, came back home, bought a house in the town he's going to school in. Rents half of it out. Genius. And is going to school.

Herb: 00:41:53

I thought you said they weren't into businesses.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:41:57

He doesn't look at it as a business, and that's okay. He looks at it as a way to help pay his mortgage. So anyway, so he's going to nursing school. He'll be finished in roughly a year.

So that's pretty exciting. He's excited about what he's doing. And he'll be an ER nurse, which.

Kristina: 00:42:16

Fits his personality activity, I want to.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:42:19

Say lust for excitement and adrenaline, which is a good way to do that. Then. My middle list is a pilot. She graduated with her with a double major in aviation science and something else.

I don't remember what the second was. And a double minor. Like I said, they've all done very well at school. She was, I think, magna cum laude or something. I don't see.

I don't know these things. I wasn't that smart. Anyway, she graduated about just over a year ago, So a year ago last spring.

She's been getting her hours and she leaves at the end of December to go to her dream job and get trained to fly jets. So that's pretty exciting.

Herb: 00:43:05

Yeah.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:43:06

Yeah. And she's also my one who at 13 procured three horses and continued to teach me. So that's where my horsemanship comes from is her.

My youngest is going to the University of Minnesota right now. He's majoring in mechanical engineering.

Loves it, which we all think is very funny because he was the one who would throw fits when I tried to teach him about him math early on. And then he didn't even really want to learn that stuff in high school. But now he's learning it and it just comes.

I'm not saying he doesn't struggle with some things, but it really has come very quickly. And so my bottom line with it is get to know your kids, build relationships with them, allow them to socialize. Right. Don't sequester them away.

And your kids will be the ones that their coaches and whatever will be. You have such great kids. They even talk to Adults, Yes.

They can talk to the whole spectrum, and they don't lose that, and they don't lose that joy of learning.

Herb: 00:44:14

Yeah. There was one thing you said in there at the beginning of that, and you just kind of. It was almost a throwaway.

It's like it wasn't all that important. But you said, he picked it up quickly.

And that's one of the big, big, huge differences between the formal public education right now is when kids run into a problem. They're skipped over, they're left behind. There's gaps in their education, and they don't know how to learn.

They just try and pick up the next bits and go. But when you teach your children how to learn and they have a love of it, then when they do find what they want, when they do get.

It's like, oh, I want to go do that.

Kristina: 00:44:52

And if they struggle.

Herb: 00:44:53

And if they struggle, it's. It's not, oh, I'm struggling. There's a gap. I'm gonna get left behind. It's like, okay, I know how to work through this.

So teaching your children how to learn and not forcing it on it, then when they're ready, it's like, oh, I know how to get this. I know how to bring this in. And, you know, that was so important. And you just kind of. Just. Just kind of like.

Like, threw that in there like it was nothing. And it's like, no, that. That's the key. That is, like, that is one of the cornerstones. And. And it's like reading and learning how to learn are the.

The two biggest things, because you learn how to learn and you read, then. Then you. It opens up the world. So, I mean, you. You kind of. You started with reading to your kids and teaching them how to learn, and you just.

You just. You just, like, letting those go. And, like, that is so important. Congratulations. Well done.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:45:49

And I want to say, your kids already know how to learn. They may have forgotten by being in public school or in private school. They may have forgotten.

But when you open things up to them to explore what they're interested in, they relearn, and you can't force anything. And I think we do a lot of forcing because we think this age they should be learning this. Not necessarily. And they may never need that information.

There are tons of things I learned in school that I. I still don't need.

Herb: 00:46:19

Go ahead.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:46:20

I still don't need them. And the academics, really, that's the easy stuff.

Kristina: 00:46:24

Yeah.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:46:25

The hard stuff, that you enjoy yourself.

Herb: 00:46:27

Yeah. We've kind of talked with people who've started homeschooling their children at all different ages.

And there's one common thread on all of it and it's, I wish I had started it sooner. It's, it's never too late. If they're already in high school, you can still get that in.

Because the sooner they start learning how to learn, loving to learn and loving it, the better. So if, if, because it's like in high school, they're still not feeling safe, there's still gaps, there's still things they're missing.

So even if they're in high school, you can pull them out and, and get that in there so that they can, they can start building that back. If they're in middle school. Great. Never send them to school in the first place. Woohoo.

So it's like, it's never too late to start and the only regret you will have is that you didn't do it sooner.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:47:18

Agreed.

Kristina: 00:47:19

So now that you're so accomplished, you have all this extra time because you're not helping your kids learn, what do you do now?

Jennifer Edlund: 00:47:28

I am now a coach. I label myself as a transformational life coach.

Basically, anywhere in life you feel stuck or you find that you're sabotaging yourself, or you just don't know why things don't work out for you, but they seem to work out for anyone else around you. I get to help you with that. And when I say help, really you have all the answers yourself.

I just get to start asking you questions and talk with your unconscious mind so that your conscious mind becomes aware of it, and then we get them aligned and then the sky's the limit. Well, it really isn't even the limit. Yeah, there is no limit.

Kristina: 00:48:08

There is no limit. You can keep going. That's awesome. So you've taken your homeschool journey, helping your children now into helping other people with their journeys.

And I think that's a great compliment.

You know, it's a great transition for you as someone who is so invested in your children and now you get to take time for you, but you also still get to invest in others as you wish. That is amazing. I love it.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:48:29

Well, thank you. Yeah.

Kristina: 00:48:31

So do us a favor. Just in case someone's looking, which they probably are. They're here because they're learners. They want to know more. How do they get a hold of you?

If something you've said resonates with them, how do they get a hold of you to be possible their transformation coach?

Jennifer Edlund: 00:48:46

So the best way to get a hold of me would probably be to reach out on Facebook and I'm doing better at checking messenger now, but that would be a great way. Otherwise, I will be there. I will have a link with a freebie, and that would be a really good way to get a hold of me as well.

So what you'll get is a wheel of life. So you can just evaluate what areas of your life are really working and which ones are. Aren't.

And if you're starting out like me, you might have a little tiny wheel with. That's really bumpy and that's so. Or you might have a big, perfect wheel, in which case go. You keep going.

Kristina: 00:49:31

So, yeah, excellent.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:49:32

Yeah.

Kristina: 00:49:33

And absolutely all of this information that Jennifer was just talking about will be down in the show notes. So you'll click on those links or. Or something. Or find her on Facebook.

If you're watching on YouTube, her name is right there in the corner, Jennifer Edlin. So you'll be able to type that in and find her on Facebook, etc. So thank you so much for sharing with us today.

Herb: 00:49:51

Yeah, that's one of the fun things about transformational coaches is it's not about giving you the answer, because if they give you the answer and it's wrong, then you get to blame them. But the. The trick is to find the right question and they're good at asking questions. And so the.

The right question can spark in your mind to go looking for that answer and find it within yourself, because you do have the answers. And it sounds like Jennifer is really good at that. So. And because. Because of the way she's done, she's. She's just. She just flows into life so well.

So thank you for being here. It was been a pleasure talking with you.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:50:25

Oh, thank you. It was great talking with you too. And thanks again for inviting me to talk with you.

Kristina: 00:50:30

You are very, very welcome. And thank you for dropping all these wonderful little gold nuggets. So as.

As my audience is probably getting tired of hearing me say, find those gold nuggets, pick them up and take them with you. Put them in your pocket. Take them with you, but don't leave them in your pocket.

Pull them out and use them when you need them or go find the resources. Go find more gold nuggets from other people to help you and your family grow and develop so we can have happy, healthy, and successful kids.

Herb: 00:50:56

Yep. And again, thank you for being here. It was a wonderful conversation. You.

You touched on so many of the things on why we do what we do and to try and get parents to see these so that they can take control of their children's education, so that they can grow a stronger family, so that they can take the children out of the system and become a family again and grow as a family. And again, the hidden, the hidden joys of education. I learned so much from my daughter is just an amazing thing to hear from from your middle list.

And so thank you for being here. It has been an absolute pleasure to talk with you today.

Jennifer Edlund: 00:51:35

Thank you.

Kristina: 00:51:37

All right, audience, that is it for today. We are heading off to find some more adventures. Thank you, Jennifer, for being here. Thank you audience, for listening.

Please do us a huge favor and make sure you like and review our podcast so we can reach other people as well.

And don't Forget to visit vibrantfamilyeducation.com that's where you'll find out more information about us as well so that we can help you or you can help others do the best you can for your children. All right, everybody, bye for now.

Herb: 00:52:06

Bye for now.