Join me on the Raising Lifelong Learners Podcast!

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Recently, I sat down with Colleen Kessler on the Raising Lifelong Learners Podcast to chat about our out-of-the-box kids. I met her a couple of years ago at a homeschool conference and suddenly everything about homeschooling my kids clicked. There was a reason why following everyone else’s suggestions wasn’t working for us. It wasn’t meant to work for my kids, because they were “twice exceptional”.  Twice exceptional is the term coined to refer to people who are gifted but also have learning challenges or disabilities.  They are exceptional in more than one way. Her Raising Lifelong Learners blog has been a source of help and encouragement to me and I was honored to be a guest on her podcast.

Find Your Tribe

Finding your tribe of like-minded parents when you are homeschooling can be tough, but it is vital.  We all need people to cheer us on daily in the trenches of parenting and homeschooling, and who can empathize with the specific things we’re dealing with.  Having differently wired kids who have various learning and behavior challenges makes it more difficult to find people who relate to you and get your kids.  At the FPEA homeschool convention I found my tribe when I heard Colleen Kessler speak.

Colleen writes about raising smart, intense kids with both professional knowledge and life experience.  She was a gifted specialist in the schools before coming home to teach her own gifted kids.  I have learned a lot from her over the last 2 years when it comes to embracing my own giftedness and teaching my own twice exceptional kids.

Two Great Places for Quirky Community

The Raising Poppies group on Facebook is for families with outside-the-box, gifted, and twice-exceptional kids.  Colleen is one of the founders. These parents are my tribe: we can relate to the varied asynchrony of our kids.  Last week one of my kids was telling me about the holes in the atmosphere and is doing math that is two grade levels ahead of his age, but also daily asks for help writing his name.  The parents in this group get it and we all understand and support each other.

Colleen also has created a membership community to support outside-the-box families. I was excited to help pilot the program and my kids are benefiting more than I imagined from the virtual community connecting them to like-minded kids. What is unique about the Learner’s Lab is that it is a community for both our kids and us parents.

You can read my full review of the Learner’s Lab and how we include it in our homeschool. READ MORE

Listen in on the Podcast

On the podcast we are chatting about what our life is like in the trenches homeschooling differently-wired kiddos. I’ll give you a peek into our schedule, the rabbit holes we have been following, and how we incorporate online learning and Minecraft into our days.

Come over with me and take a seat and join the conversation at Raising Lifelong Learners!