What happens when a former teacher can't get her own five-year-old to learn the alphabet? Katie Vieira is back (she was on episode 157, where she shared why she left teaching to homeschool). This time we're talking about what homeschooling has actually looked like since. Spoiler: her first year was unschooling, and her daughter turned down every lesson Katie tried, even ”let's just find the letter A.” For someone who taught whole classrooms, that was hard. She had to decide whether to push or to wait. She waited. You'll hear what that same daughter is doing now, at eight, and why Katie calls it a risky game that doesn't always work out. We also get into:

• Why a former literacy teacher uses no reading curriculum (and the pushback she gets for it)
• Literature vs. Pinkalicious, and why kids should be allowed to put a book down
• The screen meltdowns that sent her to the book Glow Kids, and how that became her own children's book, Into the Field: Tennessee Summer
• My eight-year-old writing a persuasive essay to earn a bigger dirt bike
• The bingo board that changed her homeschool mornings with little ones underfoot
• Free field trips you probably don't know about, and how to find them
• Her advice if you're not a teacher and think you can't do this

If you've ever panicked because your kid won't do the lesson, or wondered whether you're doing enough, this one's for you.

Find Katie on Instagram @intothefieldbook and at katieviera.com. Check out episode 157.

And if you're in your first month of homeschooling, my guided walkthrough, The Homeschool How To: Your First 30 Days, is coming soon.

Ready to homeschool but wondering where to start?
📘 Grab my book, So You Want to Homeschool? Everything You Need to Know Before You Start
🎓 Need a step-by-step plan? Check out Cheryl's mini-course, How to Work and Homeschool
📚 Still wondering, ”What do I actually teach?” My guide walks you through exactly what homeschool families focus on by age and subject.

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