Episode 1: Why We Chose Homeschool After Public School
You’re listening to Episode 1 of Modern Homeschool and we’re diving into who I am, our public school experience, the turning point for our family, and how homeschooling is going so far. My mission is to help modern families homeschool with structure, flexibility, and a life they love, so let’s get started!
Episode Highlights:
1. Who I am
2. Our public school experience
3. The turning point for our family
4. How homeschooling is going so far
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! Welcome to Modern Homeschool, the podcast where families thrive together by learning how to create a life of freedom, connection, and education that actually works. If you're curious about homeschooling, thinking about starting or already in the thick of it, and wondering if you are doing right by your kiddos, you're in the right place. I'm your host, Chanty Macias, and here. We talk about real life homeschooling for modern families, flexible routines, working parents travel, learning, raising confident kids, and creating a life around your family first, because homeschool isn't just school at home. It's a whole new way of living and learning. Let's do this!
Hey, hey everyone! It's official. Welcome to episode 1 of Modern Homeschool! OMG. We're at it again. Only this time, I'm not alone. In my previous podcast, Preschool Made Easy, I talked about all things preschool, which is my expertise, it's my background. But I'll be honest, something felt like it was missing. Fast forward a couple of years, and I am so pumped to be speaking into a mic again! This time I'm bringing back up. We've got my husband Laz, and our daughter Ari, who will be joining me for one episode each month and they cannot wait!
All right, enough about us. Let's talk about you. Why this podcast? Why our story, and why homeschool? Well, lots of reasons actually. You may have been drawn to listening to this because you are either already homeschooling, planning to homeschool next year or thinking about it, or maybe you're just curious about this whole idea and want to see if it could actually be something you dive into. You may also just be a friend in real life or online, and no matter which of these it is, I am so, so very grateful you're joining me and even more excited to share all the things with you.
Before I dive into our story, I wanna take a quick moment to introduce myself, because if you're gonna be listening to this podcast, I want you to know who you're learning from. Hi, I'm Chantal. My friends and family call me Chanty, and now you're in the bestie circle too! I'm a mom, wife, a former educator (well, let's be real, once a teacher, always a teacher) and a curriculum designer. I've spent years helping families make learning, feel simple, engaging, and actually doable. To quote one of my favorite assistant principals, I'm truly living my best life. Education has always been something I've been really passionate about, but not just in the traditional sense. I've always believed that learning should feel meaningful and flexible and connected to real life. Not just something kids have to sit through, you know, at a desk all day, but something that they actually experience and enjoy. And that belief is a huge part of why we made the decision to homeschool.
So let me also share what you can expect from this podcast. This show is for parents who are thinking about homeschooling, parents who are, who have just started and feel unsure, and parents who want a simpler, more intentional approach to learning. We're gonna be talking about things like how to get started. That's the number one question I get in my dms all the time, and I love it so much. It fuels me up! What homeschool actually looks like, how to choose curriculum, how to create a rhythm that works for your family, 'cause it ain't a cookie cutter one, I'll tell you that. Not everybody uses the same methods, right? And how to do all of this without burnout. Just as important, I wanna be really clear about what this podcast is not about. This is not about doing homeschool perfectly, Pinterest type. We ain't doing that. We don't have time for that. This is not about recreating school at home either, or adding more pressure to your plate.
On the contrary, we are simplifying things around ' And also this is not about saying homeschool is the only right choice. This is about giving you clarity, confidence, and really simple tools so that you can make the best decision for your child and your family. And with that, let's get into our story and how we went from public school to choosing homeschool.
So I wanna start with something that might feel a little bit familiar, just, just a little teeny bit. Have you ever looked at your child's school experience and thought, Hmm, this should be working, so why doesn't it feel right? Not necessarily in a dramatic way, not in a, oh, something is terribly wrong way, but in a quiet, hard to explain way, like something's just off. If you've felt that before, you are not alone, because that's exactly where our story started. We didn't start out planning to homeschool. In fact, we fully expected public school to be the path for our family. It's what we knew. It's where I spent most, if not all of my career. I was very proud and it's what most families do, right? It's what society tells you you should do. And honestly, it felt like the right choice. We pictured structure, friendships, lots of them, learning, growth. All the things that school is supposed to offer, and for many families it does. But for us, over time, something just started to feel different than what we expected. And this part is important. Okay.
Because it wasn't just one big moment, it was a series of small ones. Little things that added up and some of the moments where we noticed were like, pressure and stress during testing seasons. Oof. This one will always be number one. I have my own philosophy as a former educator over, you know, stressing your kids out during testing and like dealing with the pressure that comes from admin and the school system and the district where, you know, you have to kind of like get it in your kids' head that they're gonna be testing and they have to do their best. And I have always been from day one of me being a teacher, I was a 22-year-old teacher in Miami, Miami. And I fought the system from day one. I always made it a point to never tell my kids that they were being tested. You know why? Because I already had been mentored by some of the greatest teachers and everyone had agreed. If you don't tell your students that they're testing or you remove as much stress as possible from these students, they are going to perform their best. And this was something that really hit me as a mom very hard because if I wasn't stressing my kids out in my own classroom, who were not children that I brought into this world, why should my child have to feel all the stress and pressure and anxiety that came with testing? It wasn't fair.
Another moment where we noticed it was exhaustion at the end of the day, and I don't mean just exhaustion, I mean brutally exhausted, tired, sleepy, upset, hungry, overstimulated, overwhelmed. It was like this complete negative side of her personality that we had never seen before. And I understood why, but it felt like there was nothing really that I can do about it, you know? And another moment was just like this feeling that our connection with our child was slowly slipping away. And that's the one that I couldn't handle. And again, this isn't about blaming schools or teachers. On the complete contrary, because every single one of her teachers have been and still are my very close and personal friends that I have taught with, and I love them dearly, including my own sister, by the way. And we have been so incredibly blessed to have had them throughout the years. This is about recognizing when something just isn't the right fit for your child. At one point I remembered thinking "it feels like we're spending so much time but not getting meaningful time with her in return." And that was really hard for me to admit because when something is normal, you just assume it's working.
Now the turning point wasn't a single event. It was a question. "What if there's another way?" And honestly, homeschool didn't feel like a real option at first. You know, we had all the same thoughts. Most people do. I'm a teacher, so would I realistically make this better or worse for her? Can I work and homeschool at the same time? Full-time, part-time? Doesn't even matter. What about socialization? This is one of the biggest questions I get also, but once we started looking into it, everything kind of began to shift. We realized that homeschool doesn't have to look like school at all. There are so many different ways to do it, and families like ours we're already doing it very successfully, I may add. And suddenly it went from feeling impossible to feeling very possible.
But let's be real. Even when something feels possible, it doesn't mean that it feels easy. We had some fears, some doubts, you know, pretty big ones. What if we make the wrong decision? What if she falls behind? What if this is too much for me to manage? But at the same time, we had this growing sense that staying where we were didn't feel right either. And eventually we realized something doing nothing was also a decision. So we chose to try something different, not because we had everything figured out. Mm-hmm. But because we were willing to figure it out. And almost immediately when we started, we noticed a shift. Things felt calmer, slower, more connected. Learning didn't feel forced anymore. It felt natural. We had more time, more flexibility, more room to actually enjoy the process. And one of the biggest things, it felt like our child was finally able to learn in a way that worked for her, not a system and not a standard. But just her, and we were getting our girl back.
Now if you're listening to this and thinking, " Okay, girl. I love this idea, but I have no idea where to start," which is the number one question I get asked the most in DM's, I did create a little something for you. It's called the Modern Homeschool Command Center, and it's a free tool designed to help you organize your week, map out your homeschool rhythm, keep everything in one place, super easy to use and feel less overwhelmed because getting started doesn't have to feel chaotic. You can find the link in the show notes and download it.
If there's one thing I want you to take away from this episode, it's this. You don't have to follow the default path just because it's the most common one. You're allowed to ask questions. It's your kid! You are allowed to explore other options, and you are allowed to choose what works best for your child. Even if it looks different, especially if it looks different. Thank you so much for being here, especially for this very first episode. It truly means so much. In the next episode, we're gonna be talking about what homeschool actually looks like day- to -day and how simple it can be. Be sure you're following along so you don't miss it.
I hope you're pumped for all the exciting things happening here and if you have any special requests or just wanna say, HEY, hit me up on Instagram at chanty dot macias or TikTok, we're live and popping over there, too, at chanty macias, and let me know what you'd love to hear. All right, that's all for now, and I'll see you in the next episode of Modern Homeschool where modern families thrive together.
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!