Episode 3: Why My Husband Said YES to Homeschooling (with Laz)
You’re listening to Episode 3 of Modern Homeschool and today, I’m joined by my husband, Laz, and we’re diving into why he was confident homeschooling was the best option for us, the fears that didn’t scare him (and why), and what support actually looks like from his perspective. My mission is to help modern families homeschool with structure, flexibility, and a life they love, so let’s get started!
Episode Highlights:
1. Why he was confident homeschooling was the best option for us
2. The fears that didn’t scare him (and why)
3. What support actually looks like from his perspective
Resources Mentioned:
FREE Homeschool Weekly Planner: https://www.chantymacias.com/weeklyplanner
Getting Started With Homeschool Guide: https://www.chantymacias.com/guide
Connect with your podcast host:
https://www.instagram.com/chanty.macias
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Hey, hey friends. I am so excited for you to join us today because you're about to hear from someone who you may have seen on my Instagram, but he hasn't been heard yet. In this episode, I'm joined by my husband, Laz, and we're talking all about what made him say yes to homeschooling in the first place.
Laz has been my greatest supporter, apart from my parents and family since day one. And I've learned over the years that his insight and experience are so incredibly valuable. When it came to homeschooling our daughter, he was not only on board, but never once hesitated to help me with anything she or I needed. Today, we're gonna ask him what he thinks of it all. Let's get to the show.
Hey, Laz hubby, thanks for joining me today. This is really exciting. Thanks for having me. I'm gonna enjoy this conversation. Yeah. So are we. Alright, the people want to know, how did you know that homeschooling for us would be an easy yes for you or made you think this might actually work?
You know, there's a lot of things that went through my mind, right. I think I think one of them is of course keeping our home as close and as among us as possible, having Disney World and having Disney parks here in Orlando, readily available, we can probably make good use of 'em in the sense that it's not always focused on going there and having fun in the rides is maybe using it as an opportunity to, to also learn. So having those dynamics really thought out, obviously your background being a teacher always helps in solidifying the journey in the sense that we know it's gonna be successful, that we're gonna focus on progress, we're gonna focus on seeing her, her knowledge and her intelligence really grow compared to just being in school and being distracted with all the other kids and the things that come through with school. So as we sat down and looked at does this make sense for us? I think it was very obvious. I think we immediately saw the benefits. Uh, if I had to redo it again, I wouldn't hesitate because I see a lot of the benefits, right? Us staying together, getting close to one another, and at the same time, having an opportunity to learn is a no brainer at my end.
Yeah. I a hundred percent agree with you. And she had such amazing experiences in school. For every one iffy experience or not a great one, you know, she had so many other positive ones, but we just felt like this would really be the best choice for us at this time in our lives. So yeah, I love that. That was awesome. We obviously had the same fears that a bunch of other parents have, especially because we both grew up in the public school education system. We know the ins and outs, we know the pros and cons. You've been with me even, you know, when I was a teacher and we didn't have her. So you know the system quite well.
What are some of the biggest fears that people have about homeschool that didn't worry you?
Two things. I think one is does this actually work? Right? And do we have a process that we can follow to make it work? Yeah. And I think that the goal is having the materials, having the time, having the schedule, you know, prioritizing things over others to make sure that that takes priority. Sometimes we're sitting at home and we're distracted with different things. Oh yeah. Whatever it could be and it's an opportunity for us to put a very focused plan in place of what comes in every day what we want to get out of every session what are the materials that we typically use, and just kind of build a system or a process that works right.
And you may see it work immediately. You may not see immediate results. And it's an opportunity for us to really sit down and assess changes that can be made. It's seeing the value of having that conversation of this is the route that we want to take, and is she actually learning anything are the things that we're using effective, et cetera. So I think my concern was the process and ensuring that we're not missing a beat, that she's still learning and, and she's still grabbing a lot of the new information and making it practical, similar to a school system, right? Similar, similar to what a teacher on a day-to-day basis will provide but we immediately addressed it because I think we have a good, strong background and we have good experience on looking at content and making it work, setting the time aside, removing the distractions and, and just planning. I think it was one of the, the most important things that we needed to do. Absolutely, and it, it worked right off the gate.
Yeah, a hundred percent agree with you there. And I would also add one of the concerns that a lot of people have is socialization. And that's something that you and I have talked about a lot, but I think that one's kind of been removed from our concerns because we've seen her flourish this year and just become a much more well-rounded positive child. And that's something that we were really excited to see and looking forward to. Speaking about socialization, what do you think about that? Or the academics now and the concern of her falling behind, or where do you see that going now?
No, I see it as a, as an opportunity to maybe explore other areas, right? Maybe getting closer to the family. Maybe family members are the same age, maybe spend more time with 'them. Maybe looking at opportunities where you may have like a co-op or maybe a place you can take or where other kids that are outside of school would typically gather. Or maybe even just using some of the parks as an opportunity to now focus on learning and socializing instead of just getting on the rides and doing other things. Right. So it is kind of picking up some of the, the traditional things that we know and what we're used to doing and maybe giving it a little bit of a different twist, right? We're gonna focus on learning and maybe socializing with with other kids and making friends, et cetera. So I love that. I saw it as a potential gap initially, but I think we've explored all of the options that we have available. And it, this doesn't have to be a requirement to maybe sit inside like a Disney Park. You probably don't have a Disney Park or something similar near you. Mm-hmm. But it could be maybe some social gathering setting or a co-op, or it could be like the local skating park or like a jumping, a trampoline park. Trampoline park, or something like that. They love those. It's just figuring out ways to maybe fill in the gap from that social interaction requirements that oftentimes kids need and have, I think is important and we included it as part of the planning, right? This is one of the areas that I was concerned with because everybody wants a friend. Yeah. Everybody wants to have a conversation with somebody. Everybody wants to interact. We saw that as part of the process that needed to be included to make sure that she's not missing out on how do I make a friend and how do I begin a conversation? How do I socialize with people, et cetera. So, and that goes hand in hand with some of the academics, right? just being able to give it a twist of learning and exploring and you know, the adventures that, that come with getting outside of the traditional realm of learning and exploring new ways of capturing and learning the same type of information.
Of course, and I'm so glad that you said that we kind of built in her socialization opportunities into our curriculum because it's an important life skill that we really wanted to take into account. It wasn't just, yeah, we're just gonna learn all the curriculum and the academic things, and then just that's it. Like you'll be fine on your own. So I'm glad that you mentioned that. Now when parents are making these decisions, like are they really gonna try to homeschool next year or when they're considering it, what would you say as the dad, as the main full-time working income providing person in our household, what would you say are the most important factors for other parents to consider as a team?
Yeah, I think, I think the first part is sitting down and having a conversation. Communication is first. Second is we sit down and we have a plan. We focus on the plan. Coordinate what each day is gonna look like, because I think that's absolutely important.
And then the third is sticking to the plan, right? Because you may see some deviations here and there you may see some, some areas of improvement, et cetera. But I think if you have a plan and we stick with it, and you have some good guidance that can help you achieve those goals, I think is gonna be, and I can tell you from experience, it is gonna be very successful anyways. We've seen it firsthand. Is it perfect? No, it, it'll never be perfect, but it gives us an opportunity to sit down, prioritize, identify things that are of importance, and then make the adjustments that are necessary.
I'm gonna throw in a really quick shameless plug here because I know that you mentioned that planning is such a crucial part of it, and I just wanna say that the Modern Homeschool command center has been so critical and super helpful in this. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, this is our planning system that we use to keep homeschool really, really, really simple. And you can find the link in our show notes.
Okay, one last question for you. Any advice to a parent who feels like they want to homeschool but their partner may not be as receptive as you were, or their partner may not fully support the idea of homeschool, they might just have their own concerns. What would you say?
I think it goes back to just sitting down and really having a conversation and to be honest, I think my wife did a phenomenal job just outlining the benefits beforehand. Understanding, you know, here's what we're planning on doing, here's the plan, here's the academic benefits towards it. I mean, of course having an educational background helps quite a bit, but is having a convincing plan or a convincing conversation. Understanding the value that at the end of the day, this is for the benefit of the family is, is to help us kind of stay together. Even more is helping us achieve the goals of growth and being able to focus on the academics. And at the end of the day, it's just spending more time with the family, right? I, for instance, have to, from time to time, hop on a car or hop on a plane and be somewhere and do things and work, but I know that back home with homeschool and, and just, our home in general. I know it's, it's taken care of and the plan is in place and we're seeing some benefits, but I think if you have an honest conversation, if you're outlining what the benefits will be and you make a compelling case, I mean, I don't think any husband out there will say no. I think every husband wants to see that from his or her wife and, and you know, those are things that we definitely want to promote and, uh, and there's definitely a lot of benefits. I would, I would never say no to something like that. If I had to choose again. I will definitely do it in a heartbeat because I've seen firsthand the benefits and we continue to see 'them, and we get, we continue to enjoy our time together. And I think that is of utmost importance. And of course, the time and growth that we're spending, on ourselves and our marriage and our family, I think is a no brainer in my opinion.
And that's one of the many reasons we love you. Well, thank you so much. This was amazing. Stay tuned because Laz is gonna be joining us for one episode every month, and the topics are gonna be changing. If you have a question that you wanna send in because you really, really want him to take over, let us know. Send me a message on Instagram or TikTok and we'd love to hear from you. Thank you so much, babe, for joining us today. Oh, thank thanks for having me. I'll send you the bill later. All right.
Thanks so much. We’ll see you soon, guys! Thank you so much for hanging out with me today. I truly love creating this space to support you on your homeschool journey. If you enjoyed this episode, I'd love to connect with you. Come say hi on Instagram or TikTok and tell me what resonated and what questions you still have. I read every single message and your stories help shape future episodes. And if you know another parent who's considering homeschool or needs encouragement. Share this episode with them so we can support more modern homeschool families together. Remember, homeschool doesn't have to look like school at home. It just has to work for your family. See you in the next episode!