Raising Wild Hearts
An inspirational show focused on growth from challenge and ideas to take the path less traveled. Ryann Watkin interviews experts and shares resources on education, creativity, nature, spirituality, mental health, relationships, self care, and more. Ryann is a passionate speaker, mom, wife, and educator who asks questions that provoke self-awareness, meaning, and purpose. Psychology, spirituality, family— and where they all intersect— is the heartbeat of Raising Wild Hearts.
Raising Wild Hearts
Charting New Paths in Education: A Deep Dive Into Homeschooling and Microschools with Candice Lehenbauer
Today we're joined by Candace Lehenbauer, Founder of Tapestry Academy in Boca Raton, Florida. This conversation with Candi is a deep dive into the heart of personalized education. From the initial hesitations to the confident strides forward, we explore the nuances of starting a microschool, the shift from fear to assurance, and the long-term commitment to nurturing your child's love for learning.
Learn More About the Florida Homeschool Association Here
Join The Microschool Florida for Parents and Educators Facebook Group Here
Learn More about FPEA and the Annual Homeschooling Convention in Florida Here
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I think we're still trying to define what the definition is of a micro school, because it's still kind of new-ish. But I actually personally think homeschools are little micro schools too, if you think about it. If you invite a friend over to do this little school thing with you, then you're kind of doing that.
Speaker 2:Welcome, revolutionary Mama, to the Raising Wild Hearts podcast. I'm Ryan Watkin, educator, mom of three, rebel at heart and passionate soul on a mission to empower and inspire you.
Speaker 2:Here we'll explore psychology, spirituality, parenthood and the intersection where they all come together. We'll discover how challenges can be fertile soil for growth and that even in the messy middle of motherhood, we can find magic in the mundane. Join me on my own personal journey as I talk to experts and share resources on education, creativity, self-care, family, culture and more. I believe we can change the world by starting at home, in our own minds and hearts, and that when we do, we'll be passing down the most important legacy there is healing, and so it is. Hello friends, welcome back to the Raising Wild Hearts podcast. I'm so happy you're here. So today we have a special conversation, which they're always special conversations, but this one is a little bit different. I'm helping in the Micro School Florida Parents and Educators Facebook group facilitating some conversations about homeschooling group, facilitating some conversations about homeschooling, micro-schooling and kind of the nitty-gritty logistical things that need to occur in order to become a homeschooling family, and then also like of course you know me, like I bring a little bit of the heart into it as well, because I do feel like, sure, it's a process that has certain boxes to be checked, but then there's also the heart and the calling behind it. So, that being said, this conversation is fantastic. I'm interviewing Candice Landbauer. She is founder of Micro School Florida and she is also the founder of Tapestry Academy here in Boca Raton, florida, and she talks about how she also has homeschooled her own children for a number of years, and so I thought you guys would really enjoy this conversation. We talk about a lot. I do want to mention before the conversation where I'm at in our homeschool journey. If you've been here listening for a while, you know how it's kind of gone. My oldest was going into kindergarten in the fall of 2020, and I was like absolutely not. And so we ended up homeschooling and I thought, hey, this is really great. It's not, you know, that bad I'm using air quotes and we continued over the next few years up until now, doing various forms of homeschooling. We were, and have been, members of different cooperatives where I've volunteered. We have done a drop-off cooperative, which is what we're doing now.
Speaker 2:My older kids are in school quote unquote three days a week right now, and always this time of the year, which Candy and I talk about a little bit in the episode this kind of like eject button that we have as homeschooling parents, always at this time of the year, in the spring, in my house we get or I get kind of like spring fever and we go what's, what are we going to do next year? Registration has already happened or is coming up for all the different schools. Do we want to stick with what we're doing? What worked, what didn't work? How are our kids doing? Are they thriving? Is there opportunity for growth? What's next? Dot dot dot.
Speaker 2:I'm personally feeling and leaning into needing more spaciousness in my weeks, and so I'm trying to figure out how I can make that happen and building up an infrastructure of care and education around my children that I can have that spaciousness that I need. And so, all that being said, it's just a really long way of saying I'm not quite sure what we're doing next year yet, which I need to remind myself is totally okay to be in that waiting space. So I wanted to share that with you guys, to be transparent and to share where I'm at in my journey and then where my kids are at in their journey as well, which more of it is really my journey. So, yeah, all right. So quickly, before we get into the interview with Candy, jump into the Florida Microschool Parents and Educators group on Facebook and you can see this video which is reposted in there so you can take a look at the video, which I haven't utilized video for this podcast yet. So it's actually like pretty exciting. So go check out the video. You can see my cute little background. You can see my mug, my morning vibes mug that I'm drinking my ginger turmeric kombucha out of currently, and it'll be a little bit of a different experience.
Speaker 2:Also, if you have questions for Candy she really is a wealth of knowledge that is a great place to hop in, no matter what state you live in, and post questions. There will be Q&A threads where you can post the questions or even just go to this video. You'll see it pretty close to the top. Go to the video and post a comment in there, post a question in there, whether you're an educator or a parent or both, it's a phenomenal resource. I will also link up all the resources we talked about throughout this conversation, which are many, down in the show notes, so feel free to click down there if you need more resources. Without further ado, let's jump into my conversation with Candice Landbauer. Enjoy, hello everybody. Hi, candice Landbauer. Enjoy, hello everybody. Hi Candy. Welcome to the Microschool Florida. Ask an Expert. I am so excited to be facilitating what is going to be an amazing conversation with an expert in the field. Candy, would you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your background, for those of us who don't know?
Speaker 1:you yet Sounds good. Thanks, ryan. My name is Candy. I go by Candice or Candy, but I run Microschool Florida, a directory to help parents and educators find each other, and I'm also a microschool owner. Right now, going on in some crazy other part of where I'm at right now is a lot of kids running around getting ready for a science Olympiad on Saturday, so we have lots of kids and I've been doing that for about six years. I'm also a homeschool parent for over 20 and I have six kids of my own, so we've been doing this non-traditional education for a good long time.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. I always love hearing from parents who've like gone before me. One of the first conversations I had was a owner and facilitator of a co-op and she's like, don't worry, like you're doing the right things. My oldest daughter was like five and I was like but I don't feel like it, and so I think that it's always so valuable to have somebody who's been in the shoes, like walking the talk, who can help guide us along our path. So thank you for that. I'm super curious, like before we jump into the nitty gritty logistical questions why did you decide to start micro school Florida? Where did that come from? Why did you decide to start Micro School Florida?
Speaker 1:Where did that come from? So Micro School Florida started. I was surprised because they give you like a hey, you've now been around for three years, but it started right after COVID. So all of the parents were on Facebook world saying I can't ever find a pod, I can't ever find a program, and I thought they're literally everywhere. You just don't know where to find them. And so I decided to just start making a list. And there you go. It just kind of started from an Excel spreadsheet list and then we started connecting people and we've done, I think, three or four little conferences to just have like 18 to 20 educators sharing what they do and then invite parents to come and ask questions. A lot of the families that I've had join my program come from one of those conferences or they come from the educators that I've met there, and then we refer students to each other. So that's a great way to network with each other. It's all about building relationships with each other. That's what a community does, and so it is a directory to help you find things, but I think more than that, it's finding a place to ask your questions and feel like it's going to be okay when you have never done it before it feels scary.
Speaker 1:So even my very first year homeschooling, I think back and I think how funny it was. So I was also pregnant at the time. But it was our daughter. She was doing kindergarten and they had the back to school open house for parents night at our local public school and I went to that even though I did not have any kids in the program. And then I'm walking down the hall and I'm checking out the kindergarten classroom and I'm thinking, oh my gosh, I'm totally ruining my child because she's not having this kindergarten experience. You know how that is. And the teacher is walking around meeting all the parents and so who's your child and who's your child? And then she gets to me, she goes, who's your child? And I said, actually I don't really have a kid.
Speaker 2:I crashed it. I crashed the event.
Speaker 1:That's great, my face was like 50 shades of red and her face looked like uh, what do I say now? This is really awkward. But anyway, she didn't kick me out or anything, but I left after that meeting. I came home and of course I was pregnant so I cried and I was like we're totally ruining our, ruining our child, and then my husband's like it's kindergarten, how hard can it be, let's just do it. And the whole ballgame changed after I had had my son, so he was born in February, and then we had March, April, May of just like not me being pregnant, but you know, it was like a different thing.
Speaker 1:And then I went to the homeschool conference which is up in Orlando. Every Memorial day weekend they have this conference and I went to that my very first year of homeschooling, and it completely changed my mind on what homeschooling was. I could see families that looked like my family I could see. I could just see it more. Up until that point I was just like we're just going to do it for one year. How bad can it be? Oh, this is horrible. Yeah, we're never doing this again. And then, after I went to the conference, I was like this is amazing. I got so many great ideas. We should totally do this next year. Look at all this stuff that I got and I just really felt empowered after going to a conference. So that's how it started.
Speaker 2:It's interesting because it doesn't have to look one way, like when I say that I'm a homeschooling parent. A woman in our new neighborhood the other night was like well, do your kids listen to you? And I was like absolutely not. No, they don't. And they listen to their teachers at the co-op where they go to, and so it's like for me it's like the best of both worlds a bit. It's kind of like a hybrid model. So with that I want to kind of break down what is a micro school? What's the difference between, you know, a co-op? What's the difference between a pod? Like are there differences? Is it all the same thing? With cute names and like tell us how to, as parents and educators too, how to discern the difference.
Speaker 1:I think we're still trying to define what the definition is of a micro school, because it's still kind of new-ish, but I actually personally think homeschools are little micro schools too. I actually personally think homeschools are little micro schools too, if you think about it. If you invite a friend over to do this little school thing with you, then you're kind of doing that. So in my mind I would say, if you have hired a teacher to help you do things, you're more of a micro school or a pod. If you have technically they'd say like you have project-based learning, but homeschoolers have that too. You have experiential learning. You've got, where you go on, lots of field trips Homeschoolers do that too. You've got a small group of kids. I think the difference is that sometimes you can have like a free homeschool co-op because I did that for years and where we would rent the community center for free, all the parents donate their time, and then everything was like the common thing was we all donated our time. But in micro schools you pay a tuition and then that person is able to make all those things magically happen.
Speaker 1:I know I hear all the time too that they'll say you're not really homeschooling if your kid goes to a micro school because how involved are you really? But I think my families in micro school are very involved. We're constantly asking about curriculum choices. We had a parent just change a curriculum for math just like a month ago because they're like this isn't really working. We gave some suggestions, we made a switch and the parent is very much involved in having the conversations about how fast and what's being taught and being able to pivot. Microschools are just really small so you can do that. Anyway, there are private schools that are also micro schools and you can be a private school or you can be a homeschool or doing that it's, or a tutoring business, doing a homeschool pod or micro school. They are very similar but there are different things. So if you are a private school, then you have to do the attendance and you have access to more scholarships as well. So, like, the funding is more if you needed that or wanted that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what it makes me think of is like a boutique style of education, like a boutique school, because you have a lot of say, you have a lot of awareness of what your child is doing and you have a lot of freedom to be able to pivot that like very quickly. Is that a correct assumption?
Speaker 1:For sure. And also sometimes the parents. If they've never been it before, they'll come and then they'll. They'll see pictures of their kid like doing all these things. Like they're updated very timely on what's going on. Like we use WhatsApp in our micro school to like share what's going on, and then I use Instagram and different things to share that way too, but you get to see your kid doing stuff all the time. It's not like you have to hear about it months later of this is what happened. You get really timely feedback, I guess.
Speaker 2:Yeah, totally, it's in real time. So you alluded to tuition scholarship. Let's break some of those things down. Like there are essentially correct me if I'm wrong two options. When you move to being a homeschooler in Florida, there's registering with your district as a homeschooler, and then there's the PEP or personalized education plan scholarship, and talk to us about the differences between those. Is everybody doing the PEP or some people still registering with the district, and why would you potentially want to do either?
Speaker 1:of those. I see both happening. Um, I don't know that the traditional homeschooling will just go away, because parents do really like that 100% freedom of I don't need to report my test scores anywhere and sometimes if you have a child with unique abilities, you don't really want to have the testing go on when the just regular homeschool route would work, with like a portfolio or a psychological examination, and if you're working with those professionals all throughout your school year, your parents, your student is not really nervous or scared around them. They're just kind of like oh, this is part of our, this is our protocol, this is what we do anyway. So I guess I personally we started doing testing when my oldest child was, I think, in fourth or fifth grade. We just did it kind of like, hey, well, let's try it out, and I thought it was a good experience.
Speaker 1:She did really bad in one area and did really great in another and I was like, well, yeah, I knew that already, but it was good to just tap on paper and then I could just stick it in a folder and go well, that was good to know. Let's focus a little bit more in this one area that you were weak on so you could take or leave the feedback, but you weren't really teaching to the test. I also kind of laughed because she was taking the test and she was reading the science part and she goes. That was really so interesting. She got lost in the paragraph and how fun it was to read that and I was like that was actually a test and you were trying to do it quickly, not go. I really liked that story of such and such. So yeah, my kid totally approached the standardized testing different than I you know, I love that.
Speaker 2:I wish all kids could approach it like that.
Speaker 1:I was a public school kid so I knew all about the testing. But she didn't, and so she went in going. I really liked that story. I'd love to read more about that. I love that. That's an amazing story.
Speaker 2:So you growing up in public school, I'm curious, why the call to homeschool? Did you ever have doubts? I'm kind of in this position recently where I'm going like, can I really do this? I have like a very active toddler. You know, I've got a podcast that I'm running. I've got all these things that, like mama wants to do, and so I'm having these doubts and I think that's pretty common. Along the way, and I think that's one of the things that I'm so grateful for, is the ability to have the co-op, the micro school, the different options for support. I feel like we have kind of an infrastructure and while it's different and less hours than a traditional option, it's still there, like it's still, there's still some support, so it's great. So what made you pivot is like question a. And then, did you ever have doubts along the way?
Speaker 1:I think I have doubts, like every day. I don't know about you, but that's just how it goes.
Speaker 1:There's a comedian, his, his, his. He does homeschool comedian stuff. It's called the family man. I don't know, I don't remember what his first name is, but he is curious. There's a comedian. He does homeschool comedian stuff. It's called the Family man. I don't know, I don't remember what his first name is, but he is hilarious and he talks about having the eject button, like your hand hovering over the eject button to be like and we're out of here. He just said get rid of that button. You don't need to have the eject button Always like ready to go. Oh yeah, anything bad happens. We're going to throw you on that yellow school bus that it goes by. You're on it tomorrow. And they just said they decided as a family they weren't going to do that anymore, that it wasn't just like a one year at a time. They were in it for the long haul and I've been doing this for over 20 years and I still I think I did for probably 15 years worth. We're doing it one year at a time and that's how we made it through.
Speaker 1:Once I started the micro school, I felt like I needed to have, like bigger vision. So I you know they always say, hey, what's your bigger plan? Like, what's your five-year vision? What's your 10-year vision? How do you see this moving forward? And I think families trust you a lot more if you have a longer range vision. So I started to change at that point.
Speaker 1:The reason I started my micro school was because I was burnt out with homeschooling. I was going all over the place and I'd also run these really great free co-ops. But when things are free, people don't really take them as seriously as something that you're paying tuition for. So when you pay tuition you show up. When it's free you're like, eh, we're just going to go to the beach today because, hey, we want to, and then I would rearrange all of our family's vacation time off everything around my free co-op and then we would sometimes be like the only people there or with like a couple of scrabbling people and I thought this is just not worth the effort that I'm putting into it.
Speaker 1:But I did it for a good long time, like the homeschool co-ops, and I love every single family that we got to meet with. And it always changed Like sometimes it would be around my kitchen table, sometimes it would be at a church, sometimes we'd be at a community center. Those were all really fabulous and I didn't run all of those. I would when I had young babies. I would join other people's co-ops, but I always would find that I could never find exactly what I was looking for, and so, because I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for, I would create my own thing.
Speaker 2:So that's, you know, that's just how it goes, spoke with so many founders who were like, well, there wasn't something that checked all the boxes for me, so I started it. And I was like, yeah, like, just start it. And it's amazing the freedom and the capability that we have to do that. And so if you're a parent out there thinking, wow, like I, I, there are some fits maybe, but like, maybe I can start my own, if you're really entrepreneurial minded, um, you know I, that's a really viable option to to start a school for your kids and all the other kids in your community.
Speaker 1:Once I discovered it. So there's a little tiny school in Wellington, it's called Wellington collegiate Academy. Uh, I, somehow. We went to a concert I was hosting a conference or a conference, a concert and they came to perform. Their choir did. They were really small, they have 35 kids in the whole school and then I thought I'm going to go. Somebody talked me into touring it.
Speaker 1:I went and toured and I pulled up and I was like what is this place? It's like in an old sheriff's department and it does not look all that awesome from the outside, but I almost well, I drove an hour to get there too. So I was like I'm here, let's go see this. Everyone says it's awesome. And I walked inside and it was actually peaceful and I thought, wait, there's middle school kids running around in here and it feels peaceful. And and then I was there for like an hour and I thought this is what we're talking about and I could not leave. I couldn't leave it alone, like after I saw that, just my brain over and over and over, and I invited the founder out to dinner with her husband and we talked for an hour. I filled up like a whole notebook full of notes on how they started it and I came home I was in a public speaking club called Toastmasters. I went to the club the next day and I said I'm going to start my own school. I was so on fire about it.
Speaker 1:And then, anyway, life changes. You know like you want to do something and then roadblock, roadblock, this doesn't work. What about that? All of that happened, but in the end I ended up starting my own program in Boca Raton, where I live, and it was awesome and I didn't know all the ins and outs. I just knew that I had kids, my own children, who needed something.
Speaker 1:I pulled my seventh grader out of the gifted magnet program at Boca Middle, which was kind of scary, because there's the you cannot ever come back in this program clause, and I was like my child, he was really in that and it was really hard to get in. And now I'm saying I don't think so, we're going to try something else. I was afraid that we were going to mess up. But you know, when you make commitments that are really big and your kids are on the line, you make sure that it is not going to fail and it's going to succeed. So you just, you just do it.
Speaker 1:And anyway, I'm just really, I'm grateful that I made the leap and my whole program is so different from when I first started, but at the core it's still the same, which is, you know, the kids having freedom to learn and lots of projects and experiences. And and I also just really love getting to know the whole family. There's just something nice about that instead of, hey, your kid can go play at such and such person's house but you have no idea who that whole family group is. So I love getting to know the families a lot more, and you get that a lot more if you're involved in a small group like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:In your ear off.
Speaker 2:No, it's amazing. It's so great because it's just. I love that you found inspiration from a tiny little school. I've never heard of that school in Wellington and that's amazing.
Speaker 2:And I feel the same about when I met you too. We were, we came by and we checked out your micro school and I was like, oh my gosh, you're, you're doing this. And then I said to you I, you know, I'm kind of like toying around the idea of opening my own school and you're like, please, like I'm so happy to help and I'm an open book and you're just so generous in your heart and sharing with your community. And that's one of the things that I just really want to highlight that we're really lucky to have you in this community. I happen to be, we happen to live close to you and close to the micro school, and I think it's really important for us to have that community and to know that there are people willing to help, because it does feel scary. It's like jump and the net will appear, but it still feels very scary and terrifying it does so that way.
Speaker 1:When you start homeschooling too. When you start homeschooling, it feels that way. And then when you enter a new grade level, so like you jump in an elementary, it feels, okay, I got this. And then they jump into middle school, you start getting like scared again. And then you jump into high school, you get scared again and you're like constantly reevaluating. But starting a micro school is the same thing. But for me, when I started mine, I just couldn't let that thing go and I was kind of mad because I could never go back to where I was, because now I had found something else, Although the new something else was really hard and it required a lot more skills that I didn't have yet, and so that was scary. You know that book that says what got you here won't get you there. That's what I was totally feeling like. I'm like I have seen what I want and I don't have a business degree and I don't know how to do all those business taxes and how do.
Speaker 1:I do insurance, and how do I do hiring somebody, and I didn't know all of those little things that come with running a small business and calling it a micro school. But anyway, I've flung the way and I've made all kinds of stupid mistakes, but I'm still alive and my business is still alive. So there you go.
Speaker 2:Well, it's interesting because that's literally project-based learning, like it's literally what it like you did, what you're doing for your kids in your school. Essentially, it's really cool.
Speaker 1:It's really cool. Yeah, my very first year. One of the adults that I hired to kind of help with math a little bit, they said so I'm just checking with you. You did file the 1099 forms for your contract workers right, and I was like what's a 1099?
Speaker 2:And it was right on top of that rose when it was supposed to be filed.
Speaker 1:I'm like I had no idea that even existed. So anyway, but it's okay, I still subscribed and we just keep making progress. But yeah, learned a lot. Yeah, I'm in micro school. We've done six years now and it's shocking the things that I've learned in that time period. It's like drinking from a water, like a fire hydrant. It's just like go, go, go. But I always say you're going to start something. So if you're going to start homeschooling or you're going to start a micro school, write down your why. Why are you doing this? Because you're going to hit some really big moments where you're like why am I even doing this?
Speaker 2:This is really hard, like yeah, yeah, there are, yeah, it's so funny right here on my board that I have here I've got my why is circled in the middle and because I have to look at it every single day, like every day. It's like the purpose that you bring to the world, the cause that you want to work for, the belief you have about your world, like your worldview essentially, and I think that's really important for us to have our finger on the pulse of. And as a parent who's maybe choosing to homeschool our kids or send them to a micro school, because it's a little different, it's a little like the path less traveled, like it's cliche for a reason, and then also as a micro school founder, it's you know you really have to have your your finger on the pulse of that. And start with why by Simon Sinek is a really great resource. I'm sure you're familiar with that. He's got a Ted talk and then he's got a book and it's, it's phenomenal, yeah.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Yeah, I was just trying to think of like just right now it's May, so lots of people are thinking, hey, do I want to homeschool in the fall or do I want to send my kid to a micro school? I was just trying to think of what resources you could have. If you're trying to go look through that, we put together a checklist. If you were going to be a parent trying to go find a different micro school, we have a checklist and I'll have to see if I can post that somewhere really important so you can find it.
Speaker 2:But the checklist is what to look for. Okay, it's like a PDF.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a PDF. We just created that last month on what to look for when you're looking for a micro school. But there's also the National School Choice Week. They have this really great page on micro schooling and anyway there's all kinds of really great resources out there to just help you in choosing what to do or even like how to get started with homeschooling. I definitely recommend the Florida Parent Educator Association homeschool conference.
Speaker 1:That's in Orlando slash Kiss Me area and anyway it is a Christian-based conference, which I was like I don't know about some of my friends if they really would like that, but it's evolving over time so I've seen lots of people that don't necessarily fit what that mold looks like and they have each one of the sessions marked if it's a faith-based session. So if you're not interested in that, you just skip that session and go to somebody else's. So I think they've done a good job at marking so you don't have to sit and listen to something you're like, seriously, we're not going to church together, we're just trying to homeschool. So I think they make it so everybody can kind of choose what they want and I like that. It's more open to everyone.
Speaker 1:That's my micro school is. I call it secular because I want to be open for everyone, but it doesn't mean I'm not a faithful person. I go to church with my own family, but I'm just not teaching it when I'm at school. And I think that you can find a lot of really great things at that conference, even though it is a Christian based conference.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's going to be my first year attending. I've heard in the past that it's absolutely wonderful, so I'm curious. I'll be attending, but what should we expect if it's our first year attending or if we're on the fence about attending and wondering if we could get value from it or not?
Speaker 1:It is really so huge. So if it's your first time, I would say pick one thing or another. You pick the curriculum hall or you pick the speakers, but if you pick both you might be a little overwhelmed. There's really so much. Think of it as like a parenting seminar. You don't even need to be homeschooling or like currently in it to get benefit from it.
Speaker 1:They've got all kinds of things on how to get your kids to do chores around the house. Or what do you do for a teenager who's feeling really rebellious? Like they've got something for every parent and educator or two. But yeah, I know I've spent so much money at that curriculum hall. It's ridiculous. So it might be good on your first go around to just say I'm not spending over a hundred dollars because you're going to find so many things and maybe take pictures of all those things that you really really like, and then you can go home and follow up with those vendors because they usually have coupon codes that they'll last for a few days after and um, yeah, but yeah so many years I'm like I just spent another thousand dollars on yeah stuff that I was just like, hey, that feels like a good idea.
Speaker 1:And then I'm like like why did I buy that? That's pretty, I need that. I know. So many times, yeah, I think I own the whole curriculum home, but yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2:So we can find out more information at FPEAcom and you can register for the conference there and it's got all the details and I'm pretty sure the schedule is up already so you can take a look at some of the speakers and like some of the different choices that we'll have. I personally am like super into education and so I'm going to skip the curriculum hall and go for the all the speakers. Like I just love hearing the wisdom, I love hearing the tips, I love you know and to take those home and to integrate, like I think I've found at different conferences I've attended, like pick one or two things that you really want to integrate in your daily life, because there is so much information out there and it can get overwhelming, and so like write down the one or two things and like keep it on a sticky note on your mirror and just remember like that's what you wanted to take away and integrate. So that might be a helpful tip too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm going to be in the curriculum hall too. So we have a booth there to like teach people about micro schools. And I was also going to say they do have all those speaking things on like audio so you can download them and so that you can have access to all of them. I really didn't go like me going to them over and over and over. I really didn't go back as much as I thought I was going to in listening to it again, but they were available and I would listen to like three or four of them after I came home. But most of it I think I got in person at the actual event.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I would agree with that, because you think you're going to go back and listen and life just gets lifey.
Speaker 1:In a whole year. Now the conference is again, totally, totally so.
Speaker 2:for you know, I really want to pinpoint this like for a parent who's considering going to a micro school, finding a micro school, possibly taking the leap into homeschooling, whatever that looks like for them, like whatever they're seeking. What advice do you have for that person who might be feeling like a little on the fence about it? Can I really do this? Is this really something like? What advice do you have for them?
Speaker 1:My advice is well, I always say pray about it, because you'll always get that answer. But for those who don't pray, just really think about is this going to make my child better? I get phone calls all the time from families that they say my child is so stressed, they have so much homework and tons of anxiety, they are hiding in the bathroom during lunchtime instead of like there's a lot of anxiety going on and I just think you don't have to go through that. But then they'll say I'm, my child feels like a failure if I pull them out to like, start this other way and maybe just start integrating now with those communities so that your child doesn't feel like a failure. They know what they're jumping into before you do it.
Speaker 1:And there's tons of groups and activities. I know that in South Florida we have lots of teen activities that we do and I'm not the only one who does this. There's lots of groups that do hey, field trips and this and the other. But if you get to know those kids you get together for game nights or field trips or golfing or whatever it is, then those kids you get together for game nights or field trips or golfing or whatever it is, then you're going to feel like, when it's time, it's going to be okay to make that transition.
Speaker 1:Teenagers seem to be a little bit more scared or feel like I'm a failure if I get pulled out of public school. But you don't have to feel like that and then when you do, you're like, oh my gosh, that was so much better. And the relief and the it's okay, I can now start from here, moving forward, instead of feeling like I'm never going to make up for what I've finished and you know it'll be okay. And just, yeah, plug into those groups and find I would even join.
Speaker 1:I'm in like 20 different homeschool groups, which sounds a little excessive, but I like seeing what's going on and even in the state where I grew up in, I still like to follow kind of what they're doing and homeschooling and I'll go, oh, that's a really good idea, I should try that here. Or, oh my gosh, I can't believe that group is having to go through that. That's a good thing to pay attention to. So maybe I can be aware of something like that will happen in my community too. I'll be more prepared, but just being plugged in, being online, you can really find lots of ways to be part of the discussion, whether you're contributing or not.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I would agree with that, and that's what's so great, too, about the Facebook group that you've created, which is Microschool Florida for Parents and Educators. So if you're listening to this later on in the podcast, you can jump in there, regardless of what state you live in, and you can get ideas and just kind of bounce ideas back and forth, and it's a really great place to go down in this video and to ask a question if you're feeling unsure about something, or to ask a question in a different thread in the group. It's going to be a phenomenal resource, whether you're an educator or a parent or both.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we have a lot of both parents and educators. That's fun. I took a little poll. I'm like we got a lot of people out there. That's fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what was the percentage?
Speaker 1:show, do you remember? It's looking like 25% are just parents, and then like 50, 60% are both parents and educators, and then we've got a little bit they're just educators. So anyway, okay, awesome.
Speaker 2:And so I would add to to the parent who's on the fence, I, my first answer would be like listen to your heart, ask for the guidance, like be prepared to receive that answer. I really am a big fan of that. And then, um, you know, keeping in mind too, cause I have, I mean, everybody's probably going to say this, but I have three like vastly different children. Like one of them I could homeschool all day. She could be like by my side, like my, like my parent, and we'd like just vibe the. The other one like doesn't want to listen to anything I have to say, and then the other one is just a wild toddler, and so like I've got a really varied and wide spectrum. And so, when I'm like thinking about it, just one of the tremendous benefits is like being able to individualize our. Our kids are so different as like the stars in the sky, and so being able to give them that individualized approach is just it's gold.
Speaker 1:So true, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so what if anything? Did we miss Candy through all of this amazing conversation?
Speaker 1:I think it sounds pretty good. I just really want people to. I think I was trying to really get the parents out there to feel like they have resources. There's a lot of educator and I'm not like the most amazing resource in the world for micro schools to start. I just want to inspire you, but I want to become that in the future. So I'm taking a training to learn how to teach other micro schoolers too. But anyway, work in progress, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, always. And so before we hop off then I just want to mention a few of those links. Obviously, jump in the micro school Florida Facebook group for parents and educators. Ask questions in there, engage in the group. Candy, like I said earlier, is an open book. She's so happy and willing to help and such a wealth of knowledge. The National School Choice Week website you had mentioned, fpeacom, which is the. What's the? What does the acronym stand for? Again, candy.
Speaker 1:Florida Parent Educator Association. Also, there is another conference that was in person last year but it is non-religious based and it's called the Florida Homeschool Association. They're doing an online virtual conference. This, I don't know, it might be soon. I'll have to look that one up, but that one is virtual this year, so that will be kind of cool to see how they do a virtual conference.
Speaker 2:Awesome. So we will try to link all of these resources in all the places. So, whether you're listening to this on the podcast later on or if you're listening to it in the group, look down below for some of the links and always just ask the questions. We can always reach out to help. Thank you so much, candy. You are amazing and your work at MicroSchool Florida is just totally mission-based and I love it, and I know you're providing value to so many parents and educators, so thank you on behalf of all of us.
Speaker 1:Thanks, Ryan. I love your podcast too. You're awesome.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much.