On this episode, we have two guests, Nathan Otto and Shelby Otto. Nathan and Shelby are homeschool graduates who are both doing amazing work in the sciences. We talk about homeschooling and sibling relationships, community college, and pursuing passions that your parents (and educators) don't have expertise in.

CONTRIBUTE your own response to this episode's interview questions for a chance to be featured on the final episode of this season!

• (00:00) - Intro with Nathan and Shelby Otto!
• (03:16) - How the Ottos ended up in the Sciences
• (10:40) - The community college experience
• (13:40) - How homeschooling prepared for what came next
• (19:24) - Break
• (20:16) - Post-homeschool FOMO
• (28:35) - Haunted by misconceptions?
• (32:10) - Things that could've been done differently
• (35:17) - One thing they're thankful for from homeschooling

In this episode, Susan Wise Bauer and Susanna Jarrett interview Heather Quintero, an early homeschool graduate and homeschool veteran parent. Heather shares her inspiring, and sometimes hilarious, experiences and joins us for a discussion on the importance of allowing your children to fail.

• (00:00) - Intro with Heather Quintero
• (00:43) - Heather's homeschool history
• (14:45) - Journey from then to now
• (18:38) - Decision to homeschool her own kids
• (25:39) - Break
• (26:32) - Homeschool doesn't have to be to excel beyond in school education
• (37:37) - Regrets and things Heather would've done differently
• (46:04) - One piece of advice
• (48:37) - Outro

In this episode, we’re joined by Julie Bogart, author and creator of the Brave Writer curriculum. Julie shares laughter, insights, and hard-won wisdom from her years of homeschooling five children.

Find Julie Bogart's curriculum at bravewriter.com and her author website at juliebogartwriter.com. Check out her latest book: Help! My Kid Hates Writing: How to Turn Struggling Students into Brave Writers! And if you enjoyed this conversation, check out The Brave Writer Podcast—we highly recommend it!

• (00:00) - Intro with Julie Bogart
• (00:55) - Julie's history with homeschool
• (03:05) - Julie's first encounter with homeschooling
• (07:01) - Fears before starting
• (09:13) - Choosing an ideal method over time
• (15:43) - What "being flexible" looks like
• (28:43) - Break
• (29:52) - Being in the thick of it
• (41:58) - Looking back on the journey
• (48:21) - Julie's new book!
• (50:53) - Outro

In this episode, Susan Wise Bauer and Susanna Jarrett interview Susan’s son, Chris Bauer, for the inside scoop on what it was like to be homeschooled by the author of The Well-Trained Mind.

• As promised, here is the "Daniel fingers!" blog post Chris mentions.
• At 50:53 Susan mentions her history growing up in a fundamentalist cult, for more on her story check out Season 1, Episode 1:
  Our Education Journeys, or Season 4, Episode 1: Honest Reflections on My Homeschool Experience w. Susan Wise Bauer

• (00:00) - Intro with Chris (Christopher) Bauer
• (01:25) - Chris was the test case
• (02:52) - Who is Chris?
• (09:45) - Chris' homeschool experience in 3 words | Consistent, flexible, and varied
• (10:30) - Earliest homeschool memories
• (16:23) - Typical homeschool days
• (23:51) - Susan invites negativity
• (27:07) - The rest of Chris' homeschool day
• (30:19) - Break
• (30:21) - Chris' biggest challenges
• (34:05) - How homeschooling shaped Chris' life
• (39:17) - Beta testing WTM
• (45:32) - What would Chris change?
• (47:00) - What Chris is passionate about
• (48:03) - Definite do and don't for Chris' hypothetical future children
• (52:04) - Outro

In this episode, Susan Wise Bauer shares an honest reflection on her journey—from being homeschooled herself to becoming a homeschool parent and a leading voice in the homeschooling community.

As promised in the episode, here is the link to Susan's blog posts about daily life homeschooling four young children!

• (00:00) - Welcome to season 4!
• (01:53) - Susan's homeschooling story
• (13:28) - Susan's decision to homeschool
• (20:50) - Break
• (23:03) - The use of "Classical Education"
• (25:09) - Managing life and The Well-Trained Mind
• (31:01) - A picture of a homeschool day
• (33:42) - Proudest thing as a homeschool parent
• (36:57) - A piece of advice
• (42:14) - Final thoughts
• (42:50) - Thanks for listening!

In this episode, Susan Wise Bauer and Susanna Jarrett finish their discussion about college admissions for homeschoolers with two homeschool college admissions experts, Holly Ramsey and Michele Evard.

• Holly Ramsey’s Website
• Michele Evard’s Website
• Holly and Michele’s Book (Use promo code: HOMESCHOOL10 for 10% off the book and everything else College UnMazed sells)

Show Notes:

• 2:06 Holly recommends Georgia Tech’s college admissions blog for ALL families in the college admissions process, regardless of whether or not you plan to apply to Georgia Tech. Here is the referenced article about the “highschool hallway test.”
• 7:58 Holly and Susan recommend creating a practice common app account.
• 11:40 Susan mentions her son’s homeschool transcript, which is available here for your reference.
• 21:16 Susan mentions that the CollegeBoard has an article about creating a school profile. You can find it here.
• 45:05 Holly recommends the College Unmazed College Data Organizer, a free tool for comparing colleges.
• 54:50 Holly recommends using the Student Aid Index Calculator to figure out which colleges you can afford.
• 55:11 Holly also recommends Big J Educational Consulting’s chart of schools that lists average merit award and what percentage of students get award.
• 56:45 Holly lists two reputable scholarship finders that aren’t selling your data: (1) CareerOneStop Scholarship Finder sponsored by the U.S Department of Labor and (2) JLV College Counseling.
• 58:50 Susan mentions Harvard as an example of a school that may be prohibitively expensive. However, while the sticker price is $60,000+/ year, the university has a large endowment and can cover most of that through merit and need-based scholarships. Here is a link explaining.

  
  

• (00:00) - Intro with Holly Ramsey and Michele Evard (again!)
• (00:13) - Make sure you listen to part 1!
• (00:58) - Things you *can* do for college admissions
• (01:28) - Do document your home school journey
• (09:38) - Core 4 documents
• (09:48) - 1 - An official transcript
• (14:52) - 2 - Course descriptions
• (19:55) - 3 - Home school profile
• (23:16) - 4 - The counselor letter of recommendation
• (32:39) - Break
• (32:40) - The personal essay
• (38:20) - Do make a list of "good fit" schools
• (51:48) - Do consider price tags
• (01:00:46) - Do consider alternatives
• (01:11:03) - Wrapping up

In this episode, Susan Wise Bauer and Susanna Jarrett discuss what NOT to do when navigating the college admissions process as a homeschool family. They are joined by two educational consultants and college admissions experts, Holly Ramsey and Michele Evard.

Show Notes:

• Holly Ramsey’s Website
• Michele Evard’s Website
• Holly and Michele’s Book (Use promo code: HOMESCHOOL10 for 10% off the book and everything else College UnMazed sells)

Links mentioned:

• 3:42: Independent Educational Consultants Association (Holly and Michele are part of this organization, the other association they mentioned is HECA)
• 19:49 Methodology on How US News and World Report Rank Colleges
• 28:48 Holly mentions Colleges That Change Lives as an example of the many smaller schools that may be a great fit for your student.
• 29:42 Holly’s recommendations for finding right fit colleges: New York Times Build Your Own College Rankings and Georgetown Return on Investment Chart.
• 32:29 Holly recommends MEFA Student Aid Index calculator to determine what kind of aid you can get.
• 37:52 Holly recommends Loper App (the dating app for colleges)

• (00:00) - Intro with Holly Ramsey and Michele Evard
• (06:42) - What not to do while thinking about the college application process
• (07:07) - Don't worry about what your third grader is doing
• (17:44) - Break
• (18:38) - Keeping on topic
• (19:02) - Don't worry about "Ivy Leagues"
• (34:33) - Don't get emotionally invested
• (40:39) - Don't shape your curriculum to have a good looking transcript
• (48:48) - Come back next week for the "Do-s"!

In this short bonus episode, Susan Wise Bauer and Susanna Jarrett talk to one of our amazing listeners, Kim! Kim shares an important personal story and a correction to our previous statement about IQ testing.

Where to find Kim:

Blog: www.kimrankin.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HoldMyWords

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/holdmywords/