HS 196: The Introverted Homeschool Mom with Jamie Martin

HS 196: The Introverted Homeschool Mom with Jamie Martin

Links and Resources:

Show Notes:

Motherhood is beautiful; motherhood is hard. All moms understand this paradoxical truth. Yet introverted mothers face unique challenges. When our quiet nature collides with our often loud role, frustration and guilt result. We wonder why motherhood feels at odds with our personality, and in our darkest moments fear we’re simply not cut out for the job. This experience can be especially challenging for introverted homescooling moms!

Our guest today is Jamie C. Martin. Jamie is a wife, mom, home educator, and author. She describes herself as a highly sensitive, introverted mom who loves the countryside, writing, traveling, and reading. Some of her favorite authors include Louisa May Alcott, Jane Austen, L.M. Montgomery, and Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Jamie is the author of the best selling books, Give Your Child the World and Introverted Mom. She encourages homeschooling families at Simplehomeschool.net and is the host of the Simple Homeschool Podcast.

QUOTES:

“Parenting in this technological age is a challenge no previous generation has faced, but as our planet spins faster, the world and our families call out for the irreplaceable gifts that only we, as introverts, can bring. Our faith is needed. Our steadiness is needed. Our presence is needed. Our calm is needed. We are needed.” (Jamie C. Martin)

CONNECT WITH JAMIE:

Simplehomeschool.net

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

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

Show Transcript:

WENDY - Welcome to the Homeschool Solutions podcast, brought to you by Sonlight Curriculum and Homeschooling. Mom. I’m your host, Wendy Speake. Here on the show every week, you’ll get to listen in on some great conversations with wonderful guests, all designed to equip us as homeschooling moms.

And then once a month, we’ll be opening up the Bible together, applying God’s Word to our long, blessed, but often challenging days. It is my hope as we gather together in this space, we will encourage one another with some practical, Biblical solutions. I’m so glad you’re here.

Before we start the show, I’d like to thank our sponsor, Sonlight Curriculum. Complete homeschool curriculum you’re guaranteed to love.

And now, enjoy the show.

Well hello everybody. I’m so excited that you’re joining me today. I have a guest that I’m super excited about. Our guest today is Jamie Martin. Jamie is a wife and a mom and a home educator, and a wonderful author. I mean seriously, I like her writing. You know sometimes you can read a book, and it was the right message for you? And then sometimes you read someone’s words and you really like their writing. And then every now and then you get a book and it’s both of those things, so… And I love hearing her speak as well, cause she’s such a thoughtful speaker. So, what a guest she’s gonna be for us today.

She describes herself as a highly sensitive introverted mom who loves the countryside, writing, traveling, and reading. Basically, she’s me. Some of her favorite authors, and mine, are Louisa Mae Alcott, Jane Austin, Laura Ingalls Wilder… so many more. You guys, you’re gonna love how much she loves literature, and she’s really fun to talk to cause she brings all of that into her conversations as well.

A little bit of back story. Jamie met her British husband when she was just sixteen years old. She ventured overseas to volunteer with a humanitarian organization for the summer and when she came back home, she told her grandma that she’d met the person she was gonna marry. And six years later, she did. Together they have three beautiful children, and I’ll let Jamie tell you a bit about them.

Jamie is the author of the best-selling book, Give Your Child the World. But we’re really focusing on a more recent book that she released, just last year, cause it’s now 2020, called The Introverted Mom. Jamie, I’m so glad that you’re here with us today, welcome.

JAMIE – Wow, thank you so much, Wendy, that was such a kind introduction.

WENDY – Absolutely. So, I’ve given an introduction, but would you tell us a little bit about your family? I mentioned that your husband is from England. But you joke that your family looks a little bit like the United Nations summit when you’re all together. Can you tell us what that means and how you came to be a family?

JAMIE – Sure, sure, I would love to. Well, we’ve been married for 21 years now, and we have three children who are all teens. So, currently their ages are 16, 15, and 14. Really close in age, and the way we became a family, we had our biological son, Johnathan, first. And then, God really put on our hearts the urge to adopt. And we ended up adopting our son, Elijah, from Liberia, West Africa. About a year later, and then, we adopted our daughter Trishna from India at the age of 4, and she actually became our oldest at that time. So… and then, our two boys are younger children.

WENDY – Oh wow. You are a little United Nations unto yourself, that’s wonderful. And the Lord knew you had good plans and you discovered those good plans. And it all came together as a family, and I know that that doesn’t mean that it’s easy. But it is uniquely wonderful that He had a good plan and that you are working out that good plan together as a family.

So, I do love a good story, and I know you do too. And we’ll get to talking about lots of the stories that we love. But I remember when I got married, I use to love hearing people tell the story of how they met their spouse. And that’s why I added just a little note about your story with your husband there. But then I had my first baby, and I found that I was then... I always wanted to talk to people about their birth story. Like, how they gave birth or how they adopted their child. And now that I’m homeschooling, and I meet other homeschool families, I always wanna know, What’s the story? Like, what made you do this crazy thing? And so, that’s what I wanted to ask you. What in the world were you thinking when you thought that homeschooling was a good idea?

JAMIE – Yes, it is always fun to hear how people came to that decision. For me, it actually does go back to our… the story of our family, and when we were in the process of adopting our daughter. We knew that she was going to come home, and she would already be four years old. And so suddenly, because my boys were both toddlers, just two at the time. Suddenly the school decisions and things that had been, you know, a couple of years off, were suddenly right in my face.

And there was something that just felt a little bit wrong and sad to me about the idea of her coming home, having never been in a family before, and then the idea that now she was going to spend, you know, the majority of her daylight hours away from us. There was just a bit of a disconnect there. And so, I began to research homeschooling, having, like many people probably, a lot of stereotypes, about what it was, and wasn’t. I decided to just research all of the options that were available to us. Public school, private school, and homeschool. And when I looked into homeschooling and began researching it, that’s when my eyes were just really opened to… Wow, this could be a really incredible educational opportunity, and an incredible opportunity for our family. I was just completely taken by the idea of the freedom and flexibility that it offered. And for me, what sealed the deal was when I stumbled upon the website for Sonlight, the curriculum. And I saw how it was a literature-based curriculum, where they kind of centered the whole thing around these beautiful children’s books. And many of them came from and emphasized other cultured. And it was just the perfect fit for our global international family. And that’s when I just knew that we had to at least give it a try.

And now here we are almost 12 years later. Which was not what I expected, but it has been a blessing and, you know, a challenge, all at the same time, as most good things are both, so… That’s been a good thing for us.

WENDY - Okay so now that we have some context with your story, and we’re all picturing your family and your busy, blessed life, I’d love to dive right into what it is that you talk about with homeschool families. First of all, I think before talking about being an introverted homeschool mom, could you just set the stage for us, talking about understanding our personalities. Are we introverted? Are we extroverted? How that’s important, just in general. And then specifically, how it can help us understand our challenges during homeschooling days.

JAMIE – Sure. Well, for me, it came about in a really personal way, and not… I have just always loved calm, and peace, and books, and more contemplative pursuits. And I had taken personality tests here and there as a young person, as a early young adult. So, I knew, according to the paper, that I was an introvert. But I don’t think I really knew what that meant. And in some ways, I think I, you know, I had a nugget of connotation of what I thought that that meant.

So, when I became a mom, suddenly, the things that had been challenges, but challenges that were fairly easy to navigate when you’re not a mom. So, for example, introverts get drained by people time. So, if you have a busy workday or something, or a busy day at college, right? Then you’ll likely come home as an introvert and feel like you just need a little recharge. And for introverts, that comes mainly through time alone. But, when you’re single, or when you’re newly married, you can more or less, like, arrange to give yourself that time. That is a-whole-nother ballgame when you become a mom, which is just, a 24/7 position. And especially if you begin to… you begin to have multiple children, it’s just you’re outnumbered, it’s all over. And for me, I just found myself feeling uncharacteristically, you know, frustrated, angry, and we all deal with that at times, of course, but I think it was really not understanding my personality. So, I didn’t understand what was happening, why, and what I could do to help the situation. And so, it really just made me feel like a bad mom and heaped on all this extra load of “mom guilt”. So, I think for moms of either personality type, to really understand themselves before, you know, they have kids, or before they begin to homeschool. Or earlier on in the process. I think it can just really alleviate so much of that burden. It’s not going to, like, take it away, but it will explain so much. And that in itself is a huge gift.

WENDY – You know, I find that the more I understand about my husband, his… whether his personality, or his upbringing, the more empathy I have when I… when he does something or says something that hurts my feelings. I can say, Okay, I can see why he’s responding that way. I can see that he responds in short ways towards the kids, when he’s exhausted and they want something from him, and he hasn’t had any downtime. Like I can see that, and I use the word empathy, because it creates empathy for his wrong behavior, right? When we perceive wrong behavior, but the same is true about ourselves. Is that if we can get to know ourselves, and recognize… and of course, with our own children, remember when they were babies? People would say, well figure it out… are they hungry, are they sleepy, do they need a diaper change?

And so, we can turn that on ourselves and say, how do I get to know myself. Lord, you made me fearfully and wonderfully. So, can you give me some insight into how I was made? And what I was made for and why I respond in a negative way when my kids spill a juice in the middle of a homeschool day? Because I want to respond with more empathy towards myself and towards others. And I think that self-knowledge is really, really powerful.

And so, I love… I think that your book, Introverted Mom, has been really well received. And I wonder if that surprises you at all? Because there are so many mom books out there. But you’re talking about something that nobody else has talked about yet, which is, how do I understand myself in light of this job as a mom? With my personality. And I think that you felt kinda lonely in trying to figure this out on our own. So, first of all thank you.

JAMIE – Aww thank you Wendy. Thank you for saying.

WENDY – Empathy is just key, and so you’re allowing us to understand ourselves so we can empathize with some of our struggles. And then gain tools. So, I would love to transition into asking you, what are some of the tools that you developed specifically for homeschooling days? Because the name of this podcast is Homeschool Solutions, and we’re always looking for solutions. So, one of our problems is our personality doesn’t really lend itself to peaceful, longsuffering during, you know, explosive days with lots of kids. What are some of the solutions that you can help us discover?

JAMIE – Right. Well, first I think it’s really important to just understand that homeschooling can work so well for introverts. Because of the freedom and the flexibility that it offers. So, really, we are the CEOs of our homeschool, and so we can design it for ourselves and our kids, based around what we most need. We don’t have to base it on the school down the street, or anything else. And that’s a really powerful place to be. And so, we have a lot of, you know, we have a lot of control in making that work for us. And so that’s the first thing because I do think that even though you could say, well, maybe it’s not great for introverts. I feel like more and more people that I hear from and talk to, I almost feel like homeschooling draws introverts to it, because of the concept of really enjoying being at home. Really enjoying wanting to go deep with a few relationships. And of course, for us, that’s our children and our families. And then also this position that it gives us, where we do have so much freedom over our days and our time and our lives.

And so, I love that so, it’s all about coming into it with the understanding and then recognizing, okay, now that I know this, how can I logistically set up my day, our homeschool routine, our schedule, in a way that’s going to work for my kids, yes, but often we start with them, and we, like, figure that we have to figure the rest out.

But I think if we start with ourselves, then we can plug in, you know, what the kids need around that. And that way we’re really setting ourselves up for, like, long-term success and longevity. Because I think there are so many reasons, legitimate reasons, to stop homeschooling if it’s no longer right for you. And I do not believe, you know, homeschooling is the be-all, end-all solution for everyone by any means. But of all the legitimate reasons to stop, the one that makes me the saddest is when I hear people stopping, you know, purely because of burnout. Because I know, like, burnout is definitely inevitable. You know, whatever our personality types. But we can do things to kind of help.

So, I think that’s the first thing… is just to understand that. That we have that position, we’re not just, you know, powerless victims of our schedules or of our children’s behavior or whatever it might seem like, on any given day. And so, then it’s all about finding ways to get the downtime that we genuinely need. And so, from a practical perspective, I suggest that moms take a look at when it is that they notice that they start to run dry. So, for me, specifically, I find that every, like, hour and a half to two hours, in our homeschool day, I will start to feel myself, like, I call it, going under. Where I just can feel myself wearing thin. And so, what I encourage introverted homeschool moms to do is to aim for two… like around 15 to 20-minute breaks, actually during your homeschool day. So, I have this built-in to my… I keep my, kind of, our homeschool schedule and notes on my iPhone. And, where I can check it off with the checkboxes. And it’s just got our standard routine, it’s very flexible. But in there, as part of it, is like, the words “break” in the middle of the morning, and then the words “break” in the middle of the afternoon.

So I write a note to myself to make sure that I have to take a break sometime between 10:30 and 11:30. And then I have to take a break sometime between 1 and 2. Whenever it works, based on what’s going on that day. And that is just a game changer.

WENDY – That idea of taking a break isn’t new, except, my breaks, in our homeschooling days, have always been breaks for the children. I’ve been good at saying, Okay, we’ve made it through two pieces of curriculum this morning. Take a break. And they’ll go take a break, and I’ll clean up this, and then I’ll go do that, and I’ll spend my whole break preparing for the next thing and I don’t take a break. So, this is all gonna be really helpful to me because I realize… I had a good idea. But I’m not applying it to myself.

JAMIE – Yes, right. And it could be like, for me, like if I’m in the middle of a great audio book, then I might listen to that and chop vegetables at the same time. But it still has that little thing that just makes it feel like a treat to me, still. And that’s the key. Is that, just something that refreshes you. So, it might be, you know, scrubbing the kitchen sink and you’ve got a show on your phone, a 20-minute episode of whatever it is that you’re currently watching, and that would feel like a real treat. But at the same time, you feel like you’re accomplishing something.

Or, I mean, I will just sit in front of the fire, especially when winter comes around, and, you know, read a chapter of my book and it really is… it changes so much because it changes your experience of your day. And it also changes your experience of your children. Because it just gives you just more patience. I know Wendy, you talk a lot about Triggers and identifying what are our triggers, as moms, and how to kind of handle those, so that we don’t, you know, completely lose our patience. Yeah, and this is such a big help when it comes to that.

WENDY – Yes, absolutely. And when I actually got to endorse this book, and I did it through the perspective, I mean, I read the book through the lens of, this is a trigger. Not understanding my personality type, not getting any downtime, not getting that quiet personal space that I need. Actually, I have to tell you, Jamie, what I call it, that break. I call it healing time. It feels like, I don’t know if any of the listeners today have gone through seasons where you really good at getting to the gym, and you’re building muscles, and one thing that I learned about working is when you build muscles, you actually injure them. You tear them and they rebuild stronger. So, that’s my late person’s description of building muscle there.

But after you do a big workout, you have to have a good sleep and you have to give your body good food, so that when the body heals it heals strong. And so, you’re actually tearing down your body to build your body stronger. And I feel like when I’m with my kids, often times I’m doing hard work. It tears down my body, it almost feels like sometimes here I go, I’m working hard, I’m working hard, and I’m building muscle and I hope to see muscle built in them. But if I don’t have that built-in rest time, or healing time so my body can heal, my spirit can heal, then I’m just going from one heavy workout to the next, and then eventually, the body just breaks down. The relationships can break down. Homeschooling can break down, because, yes, you’re right, we can just give up. Because of that. But it’s practice… sometimes I think, I’ve got to take a break because I waited too long. And right there on your schedule. Like, nope, we’ve made it through these two pieces of curriculum. The kids aren’t the only ones that need a break. So do I. So, I love that. Yes, yes, I’m already learning something. And I love that you said something that refreshes you. Or we could even insert, something that heals you.

I’d like to take just a moment to thank another one of today’s sponsors, Medi-Share. An affordable and Biblical healthcare alternative. Find out more at mychristiancare.org for their ongoing support of homeschooling families, just like ours.

And now, back to the show.

WENDY – You mention often, literature. So, can you talk just a little bit about your love for literature and how you wove some wonderful stories into your story, Introverted Mom.

JAMIE – Yes, that’s one of my favorite things to talk about. I know so many homeschool moms are avid book lovers and that’s one of our favorite parts of homeschooling, is getting to read aloud to our children. And experience books together as a family. And it’s definitely like that for me. I had grown up with these authors that I just loved, that you mentioned at the beginning in the introduction, Louisa Mae Alcott, Ella Montgomery, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and later as a young mom was really when I got into Jane Austen.

And I was surprised to find, when I was researching starting this book, to find out that all of those authors, who had been some of my favorites, were also introverts. I mean, it makes sense if you think about it, but I had never thought about it in that way. And I knew I was going to write a book about being an introverted mom, but I didn’t know how I was going to structure it or a lot of those details. And one night as I was falling asleep, I just had this epiphany where I could see weaving the lives of these four other introverted women who are all such beloved authors, throughout the book. And so I actually pulled all of the chapter titles from different aspects of their work, and then their essays about them and their lives and what we can learn from them and their work that applies to applies to us even now as introverted moms.

So, it was so much fun to get to deep dive into a lot of that research and pull extracts from these ladies. They all had such unique lives and unique aspects of, you know, their work is different in a lot of ways, and yet this common thread of them being introverts. So, it was really interesting and fun, so fun, to look at their works through that lens specifically. And then pull out the take-aways that can really apply to us still. So…

WENDY – Would you mind sharing a story with us? From just one of the authors that you, maybe, identify with most of all? We’d love to hear a story.

JAMIE – Sure, I would love to share one. Let me think of what would be good. I think… well, the one of the four that I probably connect with the most is Lucy Maud Montgomery who wrote Anne of Green Gables, of course, which we all know and love. And, researchers think that she was an INFJ, one of the rarest personality types, also happens to be your type and my type, too, Wendy, right?

Yeah, and anyone who has read any of her work knows that she loves nature. And she weaves her love of nature into her writing so beautifully. Her love for her island, Princeton Edward Island. I’ve gotten to go there, which was such a thrill, and it’s as beautiful as it comes across in her writing. The essay that I wrote about Maud, as she was known to her friends, was really about dealing with loss and heartache. Because Maud had a lot of that in her life. And it’s so interesting how her work is kind of known for the opposite. And I think it’s such a beautiful picture of how God can take our really dark places and use them to bring light to others.

One quote that I would love to share that she actually wrote in one of her journals that was after Anne had come out and become really successful. And she wrote, “It seems that Anne is a big success. One of the reviews says that the book radiates happiness, and optimism, and when I think of the conditions of worry and gloom and care under which it was written, I wonder at this. Thank God I can keep the shadows of my life out of my work. I would not wish to darken any other life. I want, instead, to be a messenger of optimism and sunshine.”

And she actually wrote that when she was a young mom herself. So, her story is sad, but also hopeful because she kind of speaks to those hard places of what it’s like for an introvert to go through loss. And then, looking at her story, we can kind of decide and it helps us to realize, like, what we can do when we’re also going through those places.

So, she was a prolific journaler her whole life, like, from her teens, until literally the day before she died. And because of that, we have this amazing perspective, where it feels like, you know, we can look into her actual mind because she was writing, in some ways, unfiltered. So, I think that it’s so important for introverts, often writing really helps us to get things out. But in Maud’s case, she didn’t actually have a lot of safe people in her life that she could share with. And so, when I’m pulling out take-aways from her life, I suggest, like, using your journal, but making sure that you go beyond your journal, too. Because really, we were made to… we were made to live in community, and we were made to be vulnerable with other people, even if it’s just one other person. And that can really, it can lift our loads and lighten our loads. And sadly, she didn’t have that through a lot of her life, which made it a lot more difficult. And yet at the same time, we can see how God redeems pain through the way that her story has gone on to live and bring hope to so many people.

WENDY – Right, and I think that that’s a really good lesson for us as well, as introverts, to know that it’s important for us to prioritize relationships with real people. And that’s the whole point of weaving these other stories in, is that we can look at their lives, identify with them, feel identified with, and then pull some application, so… Just as you suggest, scheduling breaks for the benefit of the homeschooling mom. Scheduling relationship is really hard, and when plans fall through, and I thought I had to do something, or got to do something, I should say ‘got to’ … when they fall apart and we find out that we’re all just gonna be home on a Saturday… oh… can we have a collective sigh of relief? It’s just like… Knowing that I need to schedule in, not only rest, but also schedule in relationship, is really important. I had a friend of mine dropped off her child, and he hung out with one of my kids yesterday for a couple of hours. And I was thinking about some of these things, how I needed to get some time with some friends, because there’s always too much to do. So, it’s hard for me to justify doing it anyway, and really, I’d rather not, because I’m tired.

And so, I made… I purposed in my head… when Kathy picks up Eli, I’m going to ask her if she wants to meet for coffee one morning, or tea. You know, get kids settled and things, and let’s just… we live super close, there’s a tea shop right down the way. And we can do that, our kids are all old enough where we can do that. And she came and picked him up and I dropped the idea, and then, she’s like yeah, it’d be great, and we both sat there. I was like, okay, bye. And I didn’t even follow up! Because I’m like, all right, that’s just about as far as I can go right now, I’m too busy. But I’m encouraged as well. One, Wendy, schedule your breaks. Two, Wendy, schedule relationships. And even if you’re only a little bit out of your comfort zone but sharing the burden.

JAMIE – Yeah, someone… one thing that I’ve found helpful because I agree that that is so important, even for introverts. We need our people time too. Especially, you know, it might be with, like, one or two people instead of five or six people, like, it might be for an extrovert. But it is really, really important, and yet I find that that can be somehow… become another thing that’s on my, like, to-do list, that starts to really weigh heavy on my mind. And it starts to make me feel guilty, like, oh my gosh, I still haven’t scheduled time with such and such, I still haven’t texted someone… you know, and, so one thing I did just recently, and this has really helped me so I’ll throw it out in case it’s a help to any listeners.

I made a goal of connecting with people once a season. So, this started because there’s a friend of mind who she also lives just down the street, and she’s a busy kindergarten teacher and of course I’m a busy homeschool mom, and we just never see each other, even though we live just down the street. So, we determined that we would meet up once a season. And it’s so doable. And it doesn’t feel overwhelming. And so we just… whenever, you know, it’s winter, officially, it’s like I text her to schedule our meetup, and then sometimes, you know, we end up seeing each other at other times, but that’s, like, our purposeful catch-up time.

And so that worked so well that after, like, maybe a year of not really even seeing each other, except to kind of wave when someone would pass one another on the road, it was just working, because we were seeing each other regularly. And it reminded us, just because of the seasons changing, that I came up with, like, a whole list of, like, you know, my five friends that I wanna make sure I see every season. And it feels like manageable, but it’s also taking away that nagging feeling like, oh my gosh, I still haven’t seen this person. I can’t believe I haven’t… which can make me feel guilty. So that’s been a win solution for me. Yes, and...

WENDY – Yes, we made the same connection, and we used the same word – season. It’s been more doable. And we’ve missed each other a couple of times where we’ve had to cancel, but that’s really interesting. And for an extrovert, thinking, Once a season? You gotta be kidding me? I would drown in loneliness! So that’s ok.

And that’s the idea of understanding ourselves. So, this is through the lens of understanding what’s needed for, not just a homeschool… I’m mean, that’s just an introverted woman… but an introverted homeschooling mom. And so, just really applicable, and really helpful.

I loved in the story you read, and specifically the quote, from Montgomery, where she’s talking about the dark season of her life, and that it was still somehow perceived as though it was drenched in light. And I was thinking as you were reading that, a couple things. One, don’t we want that for our kids? We want to present a home life that is light and bright, and yet, there are times or seasons that feel so very dark. And the same verse that I was sharing with you before we started recording this came to my mind, which is John 8:12 and Jesus said, that when you walk with me, you won’t walk in the darkness, but you’ll have the light of life.

And so, regardless of what our personality, and regardless of what our challenges are, I think that the other practical application is, are we walking with Jesus? And I say this a lot, or I’m going to say it in episodes to come a lot, but the podcast is called Homeschool Solutions. And we do want practical solutions. But the overarching solution for every struggle, really is, are we walking with the light of the world during our challenges with whatever personality we have? Are we walking in his pool of light? And is it lightening our homeschool and our home, and our heart and our relationships? So, that’s my third practical application, is, Wendy, are you still staying close to the light of the world? Are you truly walking with Him? Because during those dark overwhelmed times, you still gotta be the light of the world here in your home.

Thank you so much, Jaimie, for all of this, for being with us today. Can you tell me, well, I think I’ll tell them first. I’m gonna tell them the best way I think, or the first way that I want them to connect with you.

If you are a homeschooling mom that is introverted, and if these messages already resonated with you, you can grab a copy of Introverted Mom, and like I mentioned at the beginning, it’s such a delightful read. It’s so applicable and it feels so good to be known. And I really hope that you will link on over from the show notes and grab a copy of Introverted Mom. And maybe that friend of yours, who’s another introvert, that you have a hard time connecting with, send her a message and say, I’m gonna read this. Let’s get together in a couple weeks when we’ve gotten into a few of these chapters. And maybe that’ll be your first seasonal get-together.

But Jamie has so many other wonderful resources on her website, she actually offers a… what do you call it Jamie?... a test. Like a personality test, for moms. So, tell us about that Jamie.

JAMIE – Yeah, that’s something new that I just rolled out a couple weeks ago and I’m really excited about it. I made a quiz and it’s called What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality. So, it just has 12 questions and they can answer it and probably like, a little over a minute. And then it just lets you know whether you’re an extroverted homeschool mom or an introverted homeschool mom. And then, I also send you, based on your results, a personality profile report that I created that has specific tips that help you organize your homeschool based on what your unique personality most needs. And then it also has tips for raising your kids that are, maybe, if you’re an introvert, that are fellow introverts, or children who are extroverts, or vice-versa.

WENDY – That resource… I did take the test, but that, I’ve gotta keep on digging, because that’s a great tool.

JAMIE – Oh yes, well if you entered your email after you take the test, then it should come straight to your inbox, so… I’ll make sure you get it.

WENDY – But I’m going to… I did take the test and I discovered that I am, surprise, indeed, an introverted homeschool mom. And this means that I recharge best with time spent alone, I already told you, I can that my healing time. Introverted moms, I learned from Jamie, offer incredible gifts to their families. This is a wonderful thing. God did such a good job when He made you introverted and then gave you the specific children that He gave you to raise and to educate.

One of the ways that you’re a gift to your family, introverted moms, is that you have a natural tendency towards quality. And depth. You love simplicity and you love to give grace, and just camp out in grace. Homeschooling can be ideal for introverts because of the freedom and flexibility it offers. Jamie already told us that. And I love it because when I think about being an introverted mom, and I’ve started the conversation, I was like, okay, how do we do this? And Jaimie pointed out, you need… no actually, we… many of us made this decision because of our introverted sensibilities. We have the flexibility to prioritize the things that we value most and do it with a rhythm that we value most.

And so, what a good reminder. There have been so many good reminders for me in this conversation. And then, Jamie, I have started a new practice, started just last year, and when I’m doing it also, this coming Lent, I do a 40-day social media fast. And I have found that that has helped me so tremendously much. It’s as though the online relationships and the online noise still are relationships and noise, and when I turn them off, it’s such a wonderful time of rest.

And it’s during that time, actually, that last year, I wrote out a couple of those people that I wanted to connect with, that I’ve been too busy for, or too overwhelmed for, and what’s one thing that I wanted to do? What’s that book I wanted to read with my kids, but I’ve not because I’ve just been clawing my way through homeschooling days.

And I get back into my natural rhythm because I turned off Instagram and faced the… or whatever off… or however else I’ve been connecting online. So, I wanted to throw that out as a possibility as well. I’ll put all of these links to the quiz, on Jamie’s website, to the book, and then I just wanted to read one quote from Introverted Mom for you guys. This is from Jamie, “Parenting in this technological age is a challenge no previous generation has faced. But as our planet spins faster, the world and our families call out for the irreplaceable gifts that only we, as introverts, can bring. Our faith is needed. Our steadiness is needed. Our presence is needed. Our calmness, needed. We are needed.”

Jamie, that’s such a… it makes me wanna weep a little bit, it’s such an encouragement because I think that in this culture, and I’m gonna say, even our homeschooling culture, we feel pressured to do more. Be more. Offer more. Do More play dates. Do more educational field trips. And you’re saying, no you’re actually the gift. And so, what a gift that is to us. Thank you, Jamie.

JAMIE – Thank you so much, Wendy, this has been such a great conversation, and I so appreciate all of your kind words.

WENDY – Thank you, and could you now, do two things for us as we say goodbye? One, would you tell us the very best way to connect with you? And maybe it’s something that I already mentioned. And then would you bless us by just praying for us, and then I’ll say goodbye from there.

JAMIE – Sure, I would love to. Yes, I would just recommend that you head to simplehomeschool.net, which is my main site, and you’ll see right there on the homepage, where you can take my personality quiz.

And let me pray for us as we close. God, thank you for this time to get together. Thank you for Wendy, and her heart as a kindred spirit and a fellow introvert. And I just pray for everyone who happens to be listening to this introverted or extroverted, that they would be one take-away, one thing that really touches their heart, that they would know, Oh, that’s for me. A gift from you, God, that they can apply to their days, and would you remind us, God, that when You look at us, You see us as exactly enough just as we are. Enough for our kids, enough in Your eyes, it doesn’t matter what did or didn’t get done today. We are chosen, because we are Yours. And we’re the perfect women and moms for this work. So thank you, Lord, in Jesus' Name, Amen.

WENDY – Amen. Thank you so much, Jamie.

JAMIE – Thank you.

WENDY – What a privilege it is to have these conversations with you each week. You are so busy, and I don’t’ take it lightly that you tuned in with me here for a weekly shot of encouragement. As a reminder you can subscribe to the Homeschool Solutions podcast through Apple or Google Play, and your positive reviews always help other homeschool families find us online.

Before we say goodbye, I’d like to thank Sonlight curriculum one more time. Not only do they support homeschool families, they are also big supporters of the Homeschool Solutions podcast.

Another supporter is the Great Homeschool Conventions. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to one, but I heartily endorse that you find one near you. Every year they host multiple conventions in various regions throughout the US. Find a location at greathomeschoolconventions.com. With dozens of incredible speakers, hundreds of curriculum exhibits, you will leave blessed, refreshed, helped, and encouraged. I will be in Texas, SC, Ohio, and of course, my home state, CA this year. I hope to see some of you there.

Until next week, visit homeschooling.mom for blog posts to encourage and support you along the way. Remember, Galatians 6 verse 9, Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. That’s a promise that I take to the bank every day and I hope you do too.

This is Wendy Speake, and I look forward to chatting with you again next week.

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