Summary:
In this first episode, Amy Milcic shares her heartfelt reasons for starting the Positively Homeschooling Podcast. With a background in mental health and over 14 years of homeschooling experience, Amy is excited to build a community for homeschool moms to find encouragement, connection, and tools for a positive homeschool experience. She explains how her journey with homeschooling has evolved and previews the topics she’ll cover—like mindset, stress management, positive communication, and homeschooling basics—all designed to help you enjoy a confident, joyful homeschool life.
Highlights:
- Introduction & Purpose of the Podcast: Amy opens up about her dream to start this podcast as a supportive space for homeschool moms. She wants you to feel encouraged and less alone in your homeschool journey.
- About Amy: Homeschool soccer mom of five boys, former mental health therapist, and creator of the Rock Your Homeschool blog. Amy shares how her personal journey and background in psychology guide her homeschooling approach and her goal of making learning fun and stress-free.
- Why Positively Homeschooling Matters: Amy describes her mission to help homeschool moms develop a relaxed, connected approach to homeschooling. She wants to provide mindset tools, practical strategies, and encouragement to create a meaningful homeschooling experience.
- Amy’s Homeschool Journey: A look into how Amy and her family transitioned into homeschooling and how her mindset evolved from feeling pressured by perfection to embracing a positive, relaxed approach. She’s now homeschooling three boys at different stages (high school, middle, and elementary) while two of her sons have already graduated, with one in college and one in a successful trade.
- Key Themes of the Podcast: Amy will cover topics like:
- Getting a strong start in homeschooling
- Setting a homeschool vision (understanding your “why”)
- Overcoming self-doubt and self-limiting beliefs
- Building positive communication and managing stress
- Developing time management and decision-making skills
- Practicing a growth mindset for parents and kids
- A Personal Invitation: Amy invites you to share your homeschool challenges, questions, and topic requests. She wants Positively Homeschooling to be a supportive resource tailored to real homeschool needs.
Connect with Amy:
Email your questions or suggestions for future episodes to Amy at rockyourhomeschool@gmail.com. She’d love to hear from you and find out what you need to help make your homeschool experience more positive!
Links Mentioned:
Prefer to read? I’ve put the transcript to this episode below! Let me know if you have any questions 😊
Welcome & Let’s Start Positively Homeschooling!
Hey hey! Welcome to episode one of the Positively Homeschooling Podcast!
I’m Amy Milcic, a homeschool soccer mom of five boys, and your host of the Positively Homeschooling Podcast.
You can also find me here at rock your homeschool.net where I share creative ways to make life and learning fun.
For this first episode, I want to share why I started this podcast, my hopes and goals for it, how it’s been on my heart for years, and why I’m finally going for. I’ll be chatting about topics that I think are important to cover. And I’d love to hear from YOU: What questions do you have about homeschool life? Do you need help in a certain area? Are you feeling overwhelmed?
Let me know by emailing me rockyourhomeschool@gmail.com. And let me know what you’d like to hear about here on the podcast.
My intention for this podcast is to create a space for homeschool moms to know that you are not alone. I’ll be talking about common struggles that homeschoolers face with tips and solutions for overcoming them. Plus, I’ll be sharing ideas and inspiration for enjoying a homeschool life you can feel good about, with a focus on mindset, relationships, communication, and more.
I’ll come back to some of those topics that I’ve been thinking about. But first, a little bit about me.
Introduction
Like I said, I’m Amy Milcic, a homeschool soccer mom to five boys. BB or (before boys), I worked as a mental health therapist for individual, family, and group therapy. One of my passions is psychology so stuff like self-help and mindset are totally my jam. And I have found that background to be extremely helpful as a mom, especially as a homeschool mom.
I’d love to chat about all that stuff and share ideas and encouragement with others to help them rock their homeschool. On my blog (Rock Your Homeschool), I have a mix of homeschool, mindset, and fun activities with a ton of freebies (in my VIP Resource Library – free for subscribers!). I absolutely love blogging. It’s been such a fantastic experience for me to learn and grow and connect with others.
When I first started my blogging journey, I had a blast doing some live videos and chats on platforms like Periscope (Do you remember that one?) And Facebook. So many awesome opportunities to connect with other homeschool moms! Unfortunately, platforms shutdown (like Periscope) or got really complicated (like Facebook). And those frustrations, paired with wanting to focus on helping my older boys through homeschool high school and graduation, had me pause with those types of videos and chats.
But in my heart, I always knew that I wanted to start this podcast – to continue sharing and connecting in more personal ways – and that’s why I’m finally going for it!
It’s just been on my heart for so long about how we positively homeschool with a focus on a relaxed atmosphere, relationships, connection, well-being, and way less stress. Before I get into that though, I want to share a bit more about why we got started homeschooling, how it went, and why we shifted to a more positive approach to homeschooling.
Our Homeschool Start and Lessons Learned
We’ve been homeschooling for over 14 years now. My two older boys went to public school for a few years. But, for a number of reasons, it just wasn’t for us. You can learn more about our story over on the blog on my about page.
Anyways, at that time, I was chasing a toddler and pregnant with boy number four. And then we decided to suddenly and very unexpectedly start homeschool.
I hit the panic button and signed the older boys up for a year of cyber school which is an option in our area. Well, let’s just say that wasn’t really our cup of tea either. So, I decided to look into and research how we could homeschool on our own. And like many things that I do, I researched and researched and planned and planned – and then did al of it some more. Maybe you can relate?
I was so excited to start this homeschool thing with my boys and I had all these ideas of what it was going to look like. I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve the night before our first day of homeschool. I’ll share more about that in the next episode, getting a strong and positive start to homeschooling.
For now, let’s just say that I over-planned the stuffing out of that day. We were all so miserable and ready to throw in the homeschool towel. Luckily, I came to my senses and I gradually learned to let go.
And here we are over 14 years later. I’m still in the homeschool trenches – and have quite a few years to go (my youngest is 10).
I have two homeschool graduates – one who’s gotten into a trade and been very successful with his work. And another who was in college and doing extremely well as a scholar athlete.
Currently, I’m homeschooling three boys – a high schooler, middle schooler, and upper elementary. I have learned SO much over these years. I’ve learned and grown with these boys. And I’m very excited to share about all of that and more. It’s why I started this PositivelyHomeschooling Podcast. I want to explore ways to help you deal with stuff that’s getting in the way of your homeschool success. Like, what’s really going on when you can’t seem to find balance or be consistent – and what you can actually do about it.
I’m bursting at the seams with ideas and tools and ways that you can feel more confident, positive, patient, and relaxed. So, you can let go and have fun with your kids while still thriving as a mom and as a woman.
So, now let’s look at what positively homeschooling is – what I believe it to be.
Positively homeschooling is for anyone interested in, just started, or has been homeschooling for years. It’s all about embracing where you are now and then learning and practicing skills to propel your homeschool and yourself forward.
Because let’s face it: Homeschooling isn’t always an easy gig. You’ve already got a lot on your plate as a mom. You know, with all those hats that you wear, like chauffeur and nurse, cook. The list could go on and on, right?
When you put on that homeschool hat, things change. Not necessarily in a good or bad way, but they change. Because now you’re responsible for the education of your children in your home where you live day in and day out. And, of course, you’re surrounded by all those things that need to get done with piles of laundry, mounds of dishes, scattered toys to trip you up. There’s just a lot of distractions and things that can build up, leading to a whole bunch of overwhelm, anxiety, and exhaustion.
But, you’re homeschooling for a reason. Perhaps by choice and it’s something that you have felt called to do for a long time. Or it might be something that you had no idea it was coming at you. And now you’re suddenly and unexpectedly homeschooling, like I was. But, either way, you are here.
Some days, homeschool life may seem like a bed of roses and you’re walking on air. Other days, you might feel like you’ve been sucked up into a tornado with a swirl of noise, motion and destruction.
I’ve experienced all of that and more. In fact, almost no two days have ever looked alike in our homeschool. For me and my personality, that was a lot to take in at first.
I certainly hope that my boys have learned all that they’ve needed to and more over the years. But, if I’m truly honest, I’m the one that has probably had to learn and grow the most. I had all these ideas of what learning was supposed to be, how it was supposed to look., when it was supposed to happen.
Some of my preconceived notions came from my own public school experience. And also from having two parents that were public school teachers. Other ideas came from society, social media. And not all of those ideas were bad. Not at all. In fact, some of those ideas actually helped me launch our homeschool and help it become what it is today.
But, the ideas of how things should be, or supposed to be, really got in my way. And almost stole the joy from our homeschool.
I got so hung up on finding the perfect curriculum or planner. I worried about my boys having gaps in their education. I couldn’t figure out a schedule that would work for our family. And most of all, I just felt like I wasn’t enough. That I wasn’t smart enough or patient enough, consistent enough. You name it – I wasn’t enough of it.
Which was complete and total malarkey! Because here’s the thing: I am enough. And so are you.
Positively Homeschooling helps you know that.
That’s why I’m here to talk about all those struggles, issues, and everyday stuff that can get in your way of enjoying homeschool life.
And I’m not just talking about the mess of books clogging up your shelves. Positively Homeschooling is about going to the next level. It’s about looking at what’s holding you back. And what you can do about it.
All that homeschool organization that you keep saying that you need to do, but you don’t? It’s not because you don’t have the right storage box or color coordinated binders.
So, we’re going to be looking at how your mindset (the way you think and feel about all of this stuff) and we’re also gonna look at what’s really blocking your amazingness – what you can do to move from stuck and overwhelmed and frustrated and yucky and scared to positively homeschoolschooling.
You see, I know that homeschooling can be a positive experience for all. It does not have to be miserable or chaotic or overwhelming. You can find your homeschool groove and enjoy it. So, here at Positively Homeschooling Podcast, a lot of what I’ll be chatting about will be for you. Your mindset, your wellbeing. And things that you can do to feel good about how your homeschool is going.
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A few examples of the topics that I’ll be covering:
- getting a strong start to homeschooling
- homeschool vision – your why
- self-limiting beliefs (thoughts and feelings that we have that hold us back from experiencing true joy in our homeschool and in our life)
- dealing with triggers in our homeschool and life
- being more proactive
- setting realistic expectations
- positive communication skills (both with our kids and with ourselves)
- stress management
- overcoming self doubt
- decision-making
- time management
- growth mindset (for both your kids and yourself)
I’ll also be inviting friends to come on and talk, as well as doing episodes like this one where it’s just me talking and sharing my experiences, tips, and hacks.
And remember: I really want to hear from you! I want to hear about your requests and your ideas for things that you’d like to hear about here on the podcast. Email me at rockerhomeschool@gmail.com and let me know. I’m really looking forward to this Positively Homeschooling Podcast and all that it can be with you. I thank you so much for joining me. I look forward to spending more time with you and sharing ways to help you rock your homeschool. Until next time, friend!
