1KHO 584: Homeschooling is a Long-Term Play in a Short-Term World | Greta Eskridge, Adventuring Together

Summary

Podcast Summary: The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast

Episode: 1KHO 584 – "Homeschooling is a Long-Term Play in a Short-Term World"
Host: Jenny Urich
Guest: Greta Eskridge, Author of "Adventuring Together"
Date: September 28, 2025

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Overview

In this heartfelt and practical episode, host Jenny Urich and returning guest Greta Eskridge dive into the challenges and joys of homeschooling as a “long-term play in a short-term world.” Drawing on Greta’s unique experience—as a homeschool graduate, public high school teacher, and homeschool mom herself—the conversation reassures and inspires parents navigating homeschooling, focusing on the enduring values of togetherness, freedom, and intentional childhood. They explore how decisions today impact family and child development for generations, and how embracing imperfection, focusing on relationships, and shielding childhood from screens can yield lasting fruit.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Homeschooling as a Long-Term Journey

• Perspective and Experience: Both Jenny and Greta are veteran homeschoolers with children in or through the teenage years, and Greta brings a tri-fold perspective: homeschooled student, traditional teacher, and homeschool parent.
• Facing Self-Doubt: Acknowledging that most parents fear “doing it wrong” and worry about their child’s future—especially in the absence of traditional benchmarks.
  • Greta shares a moving story of her own mother’s homeschooling doubts and a powerful moment of affirmation years later.

    "For all these years...I still worried, did I do it wrong? But I’ve watched all these women, I’ve heard you speak, and everything...is what we did."
    —Greta Eskridge recounting her mom’s conference experience (07:23)

• Change and Adaptation: Homeschooling isn’t about perfection; over the years, parents adapt, drop what isn’t working, and grow alongside their children.

2. Embracing Childhood and Togetherness

• Celebrating Multi-age Experiences: Homeschooling naturally fosters sibling togetherness and mixed-age friendships, which run counter to society’s tendency to separate children by age or stage.
  • Greta emphasizes adventure and family traditions as building blocks for lifelong bonds.

    "It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey...they can have big adventures together."
    —Greta Eskridge (14:42)

• Building Shared Experiences: These multi-age, shared adventures and learning times create a “shared language”—memories and relationships that last well into adulthood.
  • Example: Greta’s 19-year-old son hosts a party welcoming siblings from ages 13 to 25, illustrating lasting family connections (21:04).
• Vision for Tired Moms: Greta validates the exhaustion and messiness of raising multiple young children, urging moms to "start small" (14:42) and focus on relationships over perfect outings.

3. The Importance of Safeguarding Childhood

• Resisting Early Exposure: Homeschooling offers the ability to limit damaging screen exposure, bullying, and pressures found in traditional schools.
  • Greta reframes protection as “giving your kids the best, not just restricting." (27:43)
  • Notable anecdote: An 8-year-old in public school exposed to inappropriate content during class (27:43).
• Intentional Tech Choices: Waiting on smartphones and social media until late high school, making decisions case-by-case, and focusing on hands-on, imaginative, and outdoor play.
  • Jenny: “By pulling your kids out of that system, there is less pressure to have the phones, there’s less pressure to be on the phone, and then there’s just less of an opportunity for them to see something...in the classroom.” (31:38)
• Long-Term Focus: Both screen exposure and negative peer experiences can have lifetime effects; homeschooling can provide a precious window to nurture and protect.

4. Valuing and Modeling Adaptation

• Demonstrating Flexibility: Jenny and Greta discuss the benefits of parents modeling adaptability—admitting when something isn’t working and switching course (49:56).
  • “It is so valuable for our kids to see us fail, to see us say, this isn’t working. Let’s do something different.”

    —Greta Eskridge (49:56)

5. Learning at Individual Paces and Embracing “Holes”

• Rejecting Standardization: Traditional grade levels mask the wide variance in real student ability. Homeschooling enables tailored learning, group studies across ages, and following student interests.
  • Greta’s insight as a former school teacher: “In my classroom of all 9th graders, every kid was at a different level… In our homeschool…we can share and help each other with areas where one person is struggling.” (36:28)
• Letting Go of Fear: There will always be “holes,” whether in school or homeschool. The goal is to cultivate lifelong learners rather than covering every possible fact.
  • “If our goal is…to say, I want to make sure my kid is a lifelong learner, then that changes everything.”

    —Greta Eskridge (46:24)

  • On leaving things to discover: “But isn’t it delightful when there’s something left for them to discover as an adult?”

    —Jenny Urich referencing Sarah Mackenzie (48:04)

6. Rediscovering Yourself Through Homeschooling

• Personal Growth: Contrary to the stereotype that mothers “lose themselves” by homeschooling, Greta and Jenny testify that it has let them uncover new passions and creativity.
  • “I have not lost myself, I’ve found parts of myself I didn’t even know were there.”

    —Greta Eskridge (40:32)

• Mutual Enrichment: Homeschooling is a “creative endeavor” benefiting both parent and child (40:32).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Homeschooling Fears:
  “For all these years, even though you [my children] graduated from high school and college and you’re successful, functioning adults, I still worried, did I do it wrong?”
  — Greta Eskridge recounting her mother's words (07:23)

• On Kids’ Freedom and Homeschool Fruit:
  “Giving them that freedom, even though it doesn’t make sense necessarily in the moment, but believing it will be purposeful in their life and powerful in some way… That is just one of the best gifts of homeschooling.”
  — Greta Eskridge (12:33)

• On Shared Family Culture:
  “...There was just this expectation that everybody could play with everybody...from the teenagers down to the toddlers. That was the way our homeschool group worked and that was the way our family worked. And that’s a gift.”
  — Greta Eskridge (19:56)

• On Safeguarding Childhood:
  "We want to give our kids the best...I want to give my kids the opportunity to have a childhood that’s not tethered to a screen, including learning.”
  — Greta Eskridge (27:43)

• On Lifelong Learning and Holes:
  “You won’t be able to teach it all. Your kid will have holes. And that is okay. They would if they were in traditional school as well.”
  — Greta Eskridge (46:24)

• On the Value of Homeschooling:
  “Homeschooling was one of the greatest gifts my parents ever gave me, and I’m so honored to be able to pass it on to my kids.”
  — Greta Eskridge (53:12)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:26] Episode begins—introducing Greta Eskridge and her background
• [04:51] Greta’s story: Her mom’s homeschooling doubts and later affirmation
• [11:06] Jenny’s “homemade ravioli” story: The impact of small moments and maternal support
• [14:42] Greta’s advice for moms: Building togetherness through small, messy adventures
• [19:13] Societal push for separation vs. homeschool togetherness
• [27:43] Safeguarding kids: Screens, peer pressure, and protecting childhood
• [36:28] On milestones, individual learning paces, and rejecting standardization
• [40:32] Finding yourself through homeschooling; personal and mutual growth
• [49:56] Modeling adaptation and flexibility for children
• [53:12] Final encouragement for parents: “Keep going. The relationship is the thing that lasts.”

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Final Thoughts and Encouragement

Greta closes with a powerful message for any parent who is new, uncertain, or discouraged:

“Homeschooling was one of the greatest gifts my parents ever gave me, and I’m so honored to be able to pass it on to my kids. ...The thing that lasts is the relationship you’ve cultivated through all that time together, through the hard times and the good times. It’s a gift that you’re giving to your kids, and one that is deeply meaningful and it lasts. So keep going...” (53:12)

Jenny encourages listeners that they are “doing more right than you think”—that showing up, investing in connection, and walking the long road together are the things that matter.

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For Further Inspiration:

• Greta Eskridge’s books: “Adventuring Together,” “100 Days of Adventure,” and “It’s Time to Talk to Your Kids About Porn”
• Jenny Urich’s new book "Homeschooling"
• Embrace small steps, reframe fears of “holes,” and trust the long-term process

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This episode is a must-listen for both new and seasoned homeschoolers (and any parent who values intentional family life), offering wisdom, reassurance, and practical encouragement in an authentic, relatable tone.

Transcript

[Jenny Urich]

Hey, friends. Jenny Iric here. Before we jump into today's conversation with my dear friend Greta Eskridge, I wanted to share a quick note. We actually recorded this episode all the way back in May as a part of the launch for my new homeschooling book called Homeschooling. But because of some sound quality issues, it's taken me a little extra time to edit. It's much better now, but still not perfect. So thank you so much for extending grace for a few little hiccups or. Or quite a few little hiccups. You may hear. I chose to release it now as the final episode in our September Sunday homeschool series because Greta's words are exactly what families need as we're kicking off this new school year. This conversation is heartfelt, practical, and deeply encouraging. My hope is that as you listen, you'll feel reminded that you're not alone. You're doing more right than you think. And the investment you're making matters for generations. Thanks for being here and for being part of this community that lifts each other up. Let's dive in.

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[Jenny Urich]

Hey, here we go. Welcome to the 1000 Hours Outside podcast. My name is Ginny Urich. And back for time number five. There's hardly been any people who've been on five times. Greta Eskridge, welcome. Hello.

[Greta Eskridge]

I'm glad to be here.

[Jenny Urich]

How come we're such good friends? I just like you so much. I know there's something about you. You're very endearing. And right away, oh, well, I feel.

[Greta Eskridge]

The same about you. So I think it was just destiny. This was the plan from day one.

[Jenny Urich]

This was the plan. And I've gotten to interact with your kids a little bit, and I know I'll interact with them more. We're doing a conference together here coming up in Florida, fpea, which I hope people come to. It's super fun. It's like the biggest one in the world. And you and I are doing a session together. You have A bunch of your own sessions. And I know you're bringing some of your kids with you. So I am really thankful that you are coming on to talk about homeschooling. I have a new homeschooling book coming out and people can grab it. It literally is just called Homeschooling. So yay, Yay for that title.

[Greta Eskridge]

I love it.

[Jenny Urich]

I'm so excited about it.

[Greta Eskridge]

I'm all about the straightforward titles. Let's just let everybody know what we're talking about and it's great.

[Jenny Urich]

What is your book about? It's about homeschooling. You've written some phenomenal books. We've talked about those together. Adventuring together, 100 days of adventure, which is a great book for the summer. And talking to your kids about porn. So talking about titles that are very straightforward, you've got some of those too. So you are giving this perspective of someone who was homeschooled and then also chose to homeschool your four kids and now you've got ones that are in their late teenage years and you really have been impactful to families around the world about screen usage and living hands on and just the beauty, the beauty of doing life together. So like I said, thank you for being here and thank you for being such a light about these really important topics.

[Greta Eskridge]

Thanks. I. I love talking about stuff that really matters and I want to share that stuff with anybody who will listen to me. So, you know, I'm so on board with your message and what you're sharing because I think we are. That's one of the reasons why we're friends is because we share a lot of the same passions and we both love to talk about the stuff that matters most and that's going to make, I think, a lasting impact on families for generations.

[Jenny Urich]

Yeah. So one of the biggest things that people say when it comes to homeschooling and making that decision themselves is I think I might do it wrong or I'm nervous I'm going to do it wrong. I'm nervous I'm going to mess my kids up. And homeschooling, really. And not everybody does it for the entire time. But in your case and in my case, we're in it for the long haul. Long haul. And homeschooling really is this sort of long term decision. And there are things that I have changed over the years, which I would imagine there's many things that you've changed too. Things that you did in year one that you don't do in year six and vice versa. But to Me. That doesn't necessarily mean that you did it wrong. You know, you change and you grow. Nothing really feels like, oh, I messed them up. Even though in those early years, you're nervous that you might. Can you talk about having hindsight now? Hindsight with kids that are older? No one's in the toddler ages anymore. No one's in diapers. Can you talk about hindsight, about your decision? Are you glad you did it? Why are you glad you did it? What should someone be thinking in terms of long term ramifications?

[Greta Eskridge]

Oh, man, I have so many things I want to tell you, so many stories because I have been blessed with a really unique perspective about homeschooling because I was homeschooled myself, and then I was a public high school teacher for five years before I started having kids. And then now I've homeschooled my own kids, two of which have graduated. So I feel like I have these windows into all these different worlds. So if you will allow me, I'd love to tell you a story from one of those windows, which is being homeschooled myself. And my mom fearing that she was doing things wrong. And I remember distinctly being in, like, eighth grade and her coming into my room as I was laying on my bed reading a book, because that was my most favorite thing to do in the world. And her saying, have you even done any school today? And I would say, yeah, like, and I would show her my lesson plan, which I wrote, and I would say, you know, here's the math I did, which I'm going to be really honest with you, was the most minimal amount I could do. Here's the science I read. You know, I did some writing, I'm reading all these books. And she would get kind of panicky, and then she would look at it and she'd be like, okay, well, you know, you are doing something, reading a ton, and I'm just going to trust that it's all going to be okay. And that was her, like, every few months, kind of freak out and panic and worry that she was doing it wrong. Well, fast forward 20 plus years. She came to hear me speak at a homeschool conference. And it's hard for me not to cry when I share this story because it was so powerful. It was the first homeschool conference she had ever attended. Even though she had been a homeschooler, she never went to homeschool conferences because they stressed her out. She was afraid she was doing it wrong. And then she came to hear me speak at this Homeschool conference. And she listened to me and all these other speakers. And at the end, I went to her, and I was like, mom, how did you feel? How was this your first homeschool conference? And she said, I am so glad I came, because.

[Jenny Urich]

Oh, no.

[Greta Eskridge]

As well. And I realized that I didn't do it wrong.

[Jenny Urich]

Okay, guess what, Greta? This is the worst thing ever.

[Greta Eskridge]

It cut out fuzz. Okay, where do I go back to? I saw your eyes were closed, and I was like, wait.

[Jenny Urich]

Like this. I'm so glad I came because. And then it stopped. And I was like, wait, I want to know. I'm so glad I came, because.

[Greta Eskridge]

Okay. And she said, I'm so glad I came because for all these years, even though you and Ben graduated from high school and college and you're successful, functioning adults, I still worry, did I do it wrong? But I've watched all these women. I've heard them speak. I've heard you speak. And everything that they're saying is what we did. We loved you. We cultivated relationship with you. We gave you freedom to learn in the way that worked best for you. We let you read tons of books, or in the case of your brother, go out and build a BMX track in the field across the street, because that was his passion, and that's what filled him up, and that's where he learned best. She's like, we didn't do it wrong. We did it in the way that worked for our family. And it looked different other people. And sometimes I felt bad about that. But she's like this now. Like, in her. She was, like, 7 years old. Gave me the freedom to know we didn't do it wrong. And I share that story because I think it's so valuable for us all to know that those worries can haunt us and pull some of the joy from the experience which happened for my mom. But even though she had those worries, she still trusted the process and believed that what she was doing was right for our kids, her kids. Because she was watching us thrive. And when she was tempted to compare us with other people, she still knew in her heart that this was best for her kids, because they were home with her in a place where they were safe, where they could thrive, where they could grow in their individual passions. And she loved being with us, and we loved being with her. And that hindsight that I have, not just of my own, but of hers, man, that's invaluable.

[Jenny Urich]

I think that so much of what we do is short term. It's one grade, and then you graduate from that grade and then you're onto the next teacher. And it feels like this accomplishment. Accomplishment. You finished the third grade, you finished the fourth grade, you know, you finished middle school. And this is really a long term decision. It's a decision where you have to kind of wait. And I had this experience speaking about homeschool conferences, and actually this happened in Florida. So I want to share it because I don't know if I've shared it on here before. I have this guy on our podcast named Nathan Lippy. He's a chef, which I feel like is a cool chef name. Chef Nathan Lippy. And he works for Blackstone, the Blackstone Griddles, where you cook on the cooktop and you can make a thousand of things, which is great for if you're homeschooling and you're going to have your friends over. And so he came on our show because I'm like, well, Blackstone's great. It's like, great for the summer. You're out grilling. And I didn't know anything about him. He comes on the show and I found out he was homeschooled. And he told this story about how when he was young, 8 years old, that he was cooking 8, 10 something, a kid, elementary school, he really liked to cook, and no one in his family really cooked. And so he was watching these cooking shows, he had the freedom to do it. And his parents, I guess, were out one day. And here he is, he's like, home, I guess, by himself, or maybe there's an older sibling, I don't know. But he's home and, like, they're out and he. He decides to make homemade ravioli. Like, homemade from scratch, like with the flour. And you make the well and you whip the egg in the well and you make the dough. And he said there was like leftover queso in the fridge, and he puts the queso in and he parbo. And then his mom comes home and the kitchen's destroyed, as you would expect, because he's in elementary school and he just made homemade ravioli. But he tells this story about how she says, well, can you clean this up? I'm going to eat the food. And so she sits down and she eats his ravioli. And she looked at him and she said, oh, my goodness, like, you made this? How did you make this? I've never had anything so good. And he said, that was the moment when I knew what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.

[Greta Eskridge]

Oh, wow.

[Jenny Urich]

As an elementary schooler, the power of a Mother. So get this, Greta. I told the story. I told the story at fpea, the Florida conference I keynoted last year. And so I'm on the stage and there's thousands of thousands of people in there. And I told that story because you just. It's the little things sometimes you don't know. Like you're an author and your mother let you read and read and read and read. You just don't know. And I told the story and I had no idea. But get this, his mom was there.

[Greta Eskridge]

Oh, my gosh, I'm crying.

[Jenny Urich]

Oh, you sent me this note.

[Greta Eskridge]

Wow.

[Jenny Urich]

Hey, Jenny. Just wanted. I had no idea. No idea she was there. I never even met her. She didn't come and say hello. It's a huge conference. I had no idea. But he sent me a note a couple days later. He said, hey, Jenny, just wanted to drop a line to tell you something that was truly a blessing to me and my family. I unfortunately didn't get to make it to the FPE conference in Orlando this year. However, I got a text from my mother. She was there. She was in the room when you told my and her story. I don't know what it feels like to be a mother, but I now know what it feels like to be a son whose mother got to hear about her impact as a mother from a stranger. Thank you for unknowingly blessing our family and telling my mother's story of what solid parenting looks like. We are blessed beyond compare.

[Greta Eskridge]

Oh, my gosh. That's beautiful.

[Jenny Urich]

Wow. You just don't know. It's a long term play. Homeschooling is a long term play in a short term world. Yeah.

[Greta Eskridge]

And it's so much about, for me, I believe homeschooling is so much about offering our kids that freedom to do just like that boy did. Or like you said, my mom letting me read a million books, my son letting him draft every day because that's what he wanted to do with his life. Like giving them that freedom, even though it doesn't make sense necessarily in the moment, but believing that it will be purposeful in their life and powerful in some way and important. That is just one of the best gifts of homeschooling.

[Jenny Urich]

Yeah. So you stick with it and you listen to things like this, you listen to other people's things and you say, that's what I want, that's what I want. And you know, in 20 years, in 30 years, that's what I want. And so you make a decision based off of that. So I'm Gonna hit a couple topics. The premise of the book is you're doing it right just by doing it. The premise is that there are things that you are already, already doing right just by choosing to homeschool because you've stepped out of it. You know, a systematic learning environment, you're tailoring it to your kids. And so you don't have to pick the perfect curriculum and you don't have to have the perfect schedule. There are things you are innately doing right just by choosing home education. And so I'm wanting to focus on a couple with you. The ones that we've talked about in the past, ones that we really connect on, and the ones that you talk about in your books. And one of the big ones, because you have this phenomenal book called Adventuring Together, which is just one of my favorite books. That was one of the first podcast episodes. I think in this whole podcast you and I were talking about yearbook Adventuring Together. When you homeschool innately, your kids have multi age experiences. And if you, if you have more than one kid, they have more experiences with siblings. That's just innate. That's not something that you choose, it's just what happens. So you celebrate the beauty of togetherness. You do really special things and you do them all the way through the teen years. You have your adventure day, you talk about your own childhood. Can you give some perspective to a mom who's got four kids under seven and just thinks togetherness sounds like it's going to be really hard and it's going to be really messy and it's going to be really exhausting. But give her a vision for the future.

[Greta Eskridge]

Well, first I want to affirm that it is going to be hard and messy and tiring, and that's okay. I think it is important to be honest that investing in the future takes hard work in the present and that hard work is not a bad thing. If you are mentally and emotionally prepared that yeah, it's going to be messy. And kids, somebody might have, you know, to go pee in the woods and somebody else is going to run out of snacks because they ate them all in the car when they weren't supposed to, things will go wrong. But that's okay. You always pack extra snacks and you, you know, try to rem to pack extra potty supplies for those accidents in the woods. It could happen to them, it could happen to you. It has happened to me. It's one of my favorite stories that you, you prepare for those things and you start small. And what I mean by that is when you have four kids, seven and under, you're not starting out on a, a five mile hike uphill in full sun as your adventure day. You're going to start by visiting a nature center, you know, that is gut marked trails and drinking fountains and maybe a friendly docent who could answer some questions for from your curious kids. And that's where you start. And you still pack all those snacks and extra clothes and potty supplies and all the things you're going to need for that seven and under. And you're going to say we might make it one mile maybe because they're going to stop and look at every stick and rock and talk about all the bugs. And that's okay because it's not about the destination, it's about the journey. And so all of those things that you do when your kids are little are preparing you so that when they get older, when they're teenagers or even young adults, they will be going on a not just a five mile hike, but maybe a ten mile adventure. And they're going to be backpacking, spending the night and packing their own food and they're not going to be stressed out if they forgot something because they know how to make do. But all of that happen with those little adventures that you did with them when they were small, teaching them to have grace under pressure and teaching them that a mistake or a forgotten item is not the end of the world. They're going to grow into these people who can not just have big adventures but they can have big adventures together because that's again, it's not the destination, it's that journey. Like, yeah, we want to have cool, exciting things that we do, but what we really want to do is those cool, exciting things together. And I have to say that here I am 15 years into doing that and that is what has happened.

[Jenny Urich]

Talk a little bit more about the together part because this is our society. I talked to this man named Todd Wilson who is the smiling homeschooler. He is one of the best speakers on homeschooling in the whole country. He's so funny and so relatable. They have a lot of kids and now he's got grandkids. And he talked about how when he was growing up, he had siblings. He said, you know, everything in life pushed us away from each other. You're in this grade, I'm in that grade. We don't sit on the bus together. You're in a different grade than me. What college are you going to go to? Where are you Going to go off and do your own life. And he said now with his own kids, I think that there's six of them and most of them are grown. Some of them are in their later high school years. He says, like they want to be together all the time. Almost, almost to the point where it's like an issue. He's like, there's just, they're over all the time. The grandkids are over all the time. They all live within like 10 minutes of each other. They get married, they married the girl from the up. They, you know, so everyone's there and all the grandkids. And it's like if someone drives by and sees that the other siblings there, then they stop by too. And so they're just like their food all the time and parties and all of that kind of stuff, which I think is its own. It's hard, you know, it doesn't really necessarily get easier now you're facilitating for more people and more personalities. But it is beautiful, but it is very different. And that's a long term thing. It's very different than you have your life, you have your life, I have my life. All of our lives are separate. What could someone look forward to if they struggle through those years where they're trying to, you know, teach someone to read and the baby's crying and the toddler threw up and someone had an accident in the house and they spilled this cereal on the floor, but you're really not supposed to eat cereal because you should be eating something healthier and all of these things. There's a long term thought there though, about those relationships.

[Greta Eskridge]

Well, I agree with the happy homeschooler that society really does want to pull our kids apart. And one of the beauties of homeschooling is that it actually pushes them together. I found when we would have a play date, there were like siblings would come over to play with my kids and they were groups of siblings and they all played together and they would kind of just ping pong from, you know, person to person and age to age and, you know, from boys to girls. And it didn't really matter that somebody was, you know, in fourth grade because my kids never even knew their grades anyways. So grades are not an issue. They're homeschoolers. What grade am I in?

[Jenny Urich]

I don't know.

[Greta Eskridge]

I'm 12, you know, so it didn't matter what ages or what grades people were. They just all were able to play together. And that was a real gift because that facilitated my kids not just being friends with other kids of all different ages, but they were able to be friends with one another because there was just this expectation but that everybody could play with everybody and it didn't matter who was on what team or played what sport or was in what grade. We were always playing together from the, the teenagers down to the toddlers. That was the way our homeschool group worked and that was the way our family worked. And that's a gift. See now the fruit of as my kids are young adults and older teens, they still love to be with one another and they still love to be with all different ages.

[Jenny Urich]

And then they have common language because everyone knows the same people. Yes, it's a really big difference. You know, when I was growing up, I have my friends and my brothers had their friends and I knew their names, but I didn't know them. Yeah, yeah.

[Greta Eskridge]

I mean my 19 year old just had a birthday party last week and he had at his birthday party everybody from, you know, 25 year old law student down to his 13 year old little brother and everything in between. You know, a young couple, they're expecting their first baby and boyfriends and girlfriends and then younger teens and they played this game where they ran through the neighborhood and knocked on people's doors and talked to people. They were, they were engaging in like an old fashioned, you know, game from my team.

[Jenny Urich]

Oh, shoot. No, I heard you and now I.

[Greta Eskridge]

Don'T hear me at all.

[Jenny Urich]

Oh, now I do. Now I hear you.

[Greta Eskridge]

Why are we having such bad luck?

[Jenny Urich]

I don't know. Okay. But I know where you were. It might be my Internet. Maybe my Internet's bad.

[Greta Eskridge]

Mine's fully, it's got all the bars.

[Jenny Urich]

Okay, it just says old fashioned game from my childhood. Okay.

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[Greta Eskridge]

So they were playing this old fashioned game from my childhood and it was just so fun to see this big group of kids that were that was just like you wouldn't normally see them all together and yet it worked because this was the world they had grown up in, where everybody just was jumble of all different ages, all different interests, all different kinds of kids. But it works because that is the beauty of, like you said, shared language, shared memories, shared books, shared experiences, shared life.

[Jenny Urich]

And that is a really lifelong gift, because then, even when you get together, when you're older, it's almost like it's, you know, you have, like, a lot of shared experiences. I know you were homeschooled, but, like, if you get together. And actually, my experience isn't the best either, but because my high school was humongous, it was like 6,000 kids. You didn't really have, like, a solid group of friends. My youngest brother managed to figure it out, but I didn't really figure it out. But I did get together, like, with some kids I went to elementary school with, a middle school with a couple of years back, and everyone was talking about these different parties, and I was like, I wasn't allowed to go to anything. So, like, they all had this shared language of, like, remember when we were at so and so's house? And I was like, nope. And remember when we were at SO And I was like, nope. And that's sort of similar to how it would be when you get together as adults with your siblings. Like, remember that? Remember this? Remember that, teacher? Nope, nope, nope. But in your case, everybody remembers because they all were there for a lot of the things, not everything. But that really does foster togetherness for a lifetime as opposed to not having that at all. And so it's just something to think through. The mixed age experiences, the sibling experiences, the togetherness. Your book Adventuring Together is wonderful. To learn more about that, I want to talk about another one that we haven't talked about yet in terms of something that you're doing for your kids. And some people would say this is controversial, but I don't think that it is. One of the things that you're doing for your kids just by choosing to homeschool is that you are safeguarding them in certain ways because they're just not going to be exposed, or at least you have a little bit more say so in their exposure to different types of screens and things like that in the schools. Obviously they're giving out iPads. We all know these types of things. But I just talked to this man the other day, Greta, and who said that he was in 400 schools in the past year, and he said in every single classroom he went in, at least two to three kids were playing Minecraft or Roblox. On a phone while the class was going on. So safeguarding is sometimes viewed as a negative thing. You can't bubble wrap your kids forever. But I don't ascribe to that. I do think that we are supposed to in a lot of ways keep our kids back protected at their different developmental ages. And so this is something you really talk about, you're talking about with your book about pornography. You talk about kind of like a tech restraint and being purposeful about what kids are exposed to. So can you give us a little bit of your philosophy there in terms of safeguarding and then we'll talk maybe a little bit more about logistics.

[Greta Eskridge]

Well, I think my philosophy would be that we want to give our kids the best. And so if that's our frame of reference, rather than what are we restricting them from and you know, how are we putting them inside this, you know, giant fence? That's a different point of view. I think I want to give my kids the opportunity to have a childhood that's not tethered to a screen, including learning. So much learning is done on screens now. And I hear from parents all the time. They're telling me, you know, somebody just told me last week her, her child is eight, a Chromebook to do their schoolwork in or schoolwork on the Chromebook in class and one of the kids sent porn on the Chromebook and you're like, how can that happen? They're eight. Who knows how it happens, but it, it's happening. So shouldn't we then say, let's do something about it? Those are the kinds of things that are informing my decisions. One, I want to give my kids the best, which means learning all different ways, not just a screen, but also, yes, protecting them from so much of the damaging stuff that is on screens. Because we all know, know that no matter how many firewalls are up and how much, you know, protections are put in place, things slip through the cracks. And some of that can be incredibly damaging to kids. So why wouldn't we take the position? I wouldn't just throw my kid into my 6 year old into a rated R movie and say, oh well, I want them to learn to be tough and to know what the real world is like. No, we would say this isn't best for them at this stage. I need to give them the best. That's my philosophy about and screens and learning on screens and learning in other ways. Let's give them the best. Let's understand they're not ready for, for everything the world wants to throw at them. I'm not ready for everything the world wants to throw at me. So surely my kids aren't yet either.

[Jenny Urich]

Do you think that we gloss over how damaging some of these things are? So screens, bullying, some of those types of things that happen often during childhood?

[Greta Eskridge]

Yes, we do. And I think that probably comes from part of our own experiences, our own pain that we don't want to deal with. I mean, I just spent last weekend with a group of people, many who had been hurt by things that they saw on screens or in magazines because they were older when they were young children. And it has haunted them into their adulthood and created harm to them and then to others that they loved. We can't gloss over it. We need to address it and then, like I said, offer our kids something better, something different.

[Jenny Urich]

If you want to learn more, you've got a fantastic book called talking to your kids. Is it. What is it called? It's called talking to your kids about pornography. I should.

[Greta Eskridge]

It's time to talk to your kids about porn.

[Jenny Urich]

Did I say it wrong at the beginning?

[Greta Eskridge]

You've got a lot.

[Jenny Urich]

Did I say it wrong?

[Greta Eskridge]

I can't even.

[Jenny Urich]

I did say it wrong at the beginning. It's time to talk to your kids about porn. I did say it wrong at the beginning. I was like, this doesn't seem right then. There's a lot of information in there. I really love the book because there's a lot of information about what to do and how to have a less of a tech pull in your home. And in your case, you wait. You wait until later high school for social media, for phones in general, for a smartphone in general. And, you know, you talk about case by case, like one kid needed access for scouts or a different program. And so you take a case by case. It's not like you're staunch about it and have these hard lines in the sand that you don't flex for, but you really make a case for waiting and show the beauty that happens when you do wait on those things. And so by pulling your kids out of that system, there is less pressure to have the phones, there's less pressure to be on the phone, and then there's just less of an opportunity for them to see something on a school bus or it's literally in the classroom. I mean, that is the thing. And, you know, I mean, I read that book, American Girls by Nancy Jo Sales. It's a decade old.

[Greta Eskridge]

Me too.

[Jenny Urich]

It's happening in the classroom while the class is going on. So there. I think that safeguarding is a Big blessing of homeschooling. And it's not perfect. And of course we're not trying to control our kids completely, but it allows you to filter that to a degree, especially with how much stuff is out there that kids can be exposed to in this day and age with the screen based things. So another thing that's like all of the things we're talking about are long term. You say, look, there's these people you talk to, they're still talking about the damage from their childhood. People do the same thing with bullying. I mean, those words and those experiences, they last the whole thing. So we're really thinking long term here with the decisions that we're making. I'm curious about this. You had a slower childhood and that's something that you're able to choose. You know, you pull your kids out of the system with a lot of pressures and things slow down at home and you do really special things. Kids are drawing. I always talk about your cinnamon rolls at Christmas. You know, you have your book club and you make it really beautiful. And in order to do those things, you have to slow down a little bit. Are you seeing that as your kids get older that they have a little bit of that ingrained in them that they don't have to. To hustle so much and have so much anxiety and stress?

[Greta Eskridge]

Well, it is really interesting because now, you know, I mean, I have a son who's like, you know, thinking about getting married and wanting to homeschool his own kids and, and so like, for him, thinking about how to make that happen. And there is this element of like, well, I do need to hustle, vessel and I do need to make this work because I want to be able to prepare, to care for my family. And then my next son is. He's thinking the same things, even though it's a little farther ahead. How can I prepare for my future and what do I need to do? And so I think that that is in there, but the motivation is different. It's not like, how can I get ahead so I can be sure to get this amazing scholarship because that's what I'm supposed to supposed to do, or how can I get ahead so I can make lots of money and be successful and have a fancy car, but it's like, how can I work hard and be successful so that I can have a family that I can invest in and create memories with and give them the same kind of childhood that I had? I mean, wow, that feels really important. And it speaks to me that they recognize what matters most in the world. And I will say one other thing that. That my kids are really able to do is, is to recognize when things feel like it's too much. I'm too busy. I'm kind of disconnected from the things that matter most to me. And they know how to pull away. And that might be at home, just, like, chilling out with a book. It might be going surfing. It might be just, you know, sitting out in the back of the yard and, like, whittling a stick. Or it might be going on a backpacking trip and just, like, going away for two days and, like, really cutting themselves from off from technology and emails and busy life. Like, they recognize what matters most, and they also recognize when they need that break and they know how to find it. Those are. Are things that I wanted them to have. Like, that is why we lived the life that we did, so that they could then make it a part of their own life.

[Jenny Urich]

Right. When you have this rhythmic adventure day, for example, they know what it feels like to unplug and just disconnect and to just be out in nature or to just go somewhere new. And what does that feel like? And then you have that habit. It's ingrained. It's like, in your neural wiring. So, you know, like, when the stress starts to pile up, you know where you can turn to that makes you feel better. And I love that, Greta. It's like, of course, everyone wants to work hard and they want to better themselves, but it's for a specific purpose. They're preparing for something in particular. And what they're preparing for is a life like they had growing up.

[Greta Eskridge]

Yeah, it's a gift.

[Jenny Urich]

Yeah, that's really beautiful. I think then they know what they want, as opposed to it being. It's really ambiguous. I think when it's just a college diploma or, you know, this grade, that grade, it's a little bit more ambiguous. You don't totally know. And so for them to have something concrete to know what they're working for, it's really, really exciting. Can you talk to the parent who's nervous about. This is always a big one, about milestones and about standardization and about ahead and behind. This is like. It's like it. It's all messy, kind of. Right. It's like, well, you're doing it together. So some kids are going to learn things in the second grade, and the other kid learned it in the fifth grade. And it seems so wrong to do it that way, but it works again.

[Greta Eskridge]

I have that incredible gift of having been, for example, A high school teacher for five years between my own homeschooling journey and homeschooling my own kids. And one thing I learned right away as a teacher in a traditional schoolroom, in a traditional school system was that in my classroom of all 9th graders, every kid was at a different level. So they were in the same grade and they had been in the same grade the whole time, but they were all at different levels. Some were reading at the 12th grade level or college, and some were reading at the third grade level. They had different interests, they had different strengths. And I was teaching to 35 ninth graders that were all over the board. That's important to know because we are doing the same thing in our homeschool, except it's with way less than 35 kids. And there's just, you know, this difference of we can share and help each other with the areas where one person is struggling. We have the freedom to say, there's more time to learn this thing you're struggling with. There's the freedom to, you know, sail ahead if you're like, I love this and I just want to do more of it. Whereas in the traditional school system, there isn't that freedom because we have to somehow keep this group of ninth graders that are really all different, all acting like it's. They're all exactly the same and we're doing all the same thing at the same time because that's what somebody decided. And so I just think you have this gift as a homeschooler to be able to address your kids level they're at and give them freedom to go fast or to slow down and work together. We did so many subjects together as a family and. And man, they learned a lot from each other that way.

[Jenny Urich]

Yeah. I mean, and then it's such a beautiful thing because I think that the interest of one child, it just permeates to the other children because they're so into it. And I think that the same thing is true for us as adults. When you've got a friend that's interested in something, they're going to come over and teach you sourdough or I've got a friend, she brought me tallow. I mean, lotion, I guess, is that. I don't even know what it is. I'm like, it's wonderful. But her interest, I'm like, I want to learn how to make this. This is wonderful. Makes my skin feel fantastic. So the interests of other people, I think they permeate into our own lives in such a good way. And so that Happens at home because there's time for it and space for it. And in a school classroom, you don't really get to do that because you're supposed to do what the teacher tells you to do. And so the things that you're interested in and learning, they don't. They don't really spread out to the other kids, at least not too much.

[Greta Eskridge]

There's just not as much time.

[Jenny Urich]

Yeah. And not as much, I think space for exploration and then talking about it, you know, and. Yeah, which. Which, like you said, it just goes back to time and having things sort of pre. Planned out, and there's not much wiggle room around that. So, you know, you do a lot of subjects together. It doesn't matter what grade if the kid is learning. I liked the Apologia books. It was just like, you know, there was like six or seven books and elementary school, and we just, like, did some. You pick one, you know, and. And we learned together. And it was like, I don't know. Is this the third grade thing? Is this the second grade? I don't know, like. And I've got a toddler, and we're all gonna just do it together. And I'm gonna learn, too. I learned along the way as well. Can you talk about. I think there's a big, I would say, misconception that you lose yourself as the mother. I mean, I found the exact opposite to be true in my life. It is counterintuitive, though. I mean, it seems like if you could put them all on the school bus and then freedom, you know. But I have grown so much. I mean, it has really been wonderful for myself. I wasn't expecting that I would not make that to be my top criteria or priority, but it seems to be sort of a side effect. Can you talk about someone who would be confused? And they would say, you have four kids and you're, you know, still doing book clubs and you're throwing parties and you've got adventure club, and you've got. And you're. And you're doing all of this. Don't you feel like you have nothing left of yourself?

[Greta Eskridge]

Well, I always say that homeschooling has been the most creative endeavor of my life because I am getting to learn from my kids. With my kids, I am learning to understand them as individuals, their emotions, their personalities, what makes them excited. So I'm, you know, studying child development. It's psychology. It's all these things as I study them as little humans. And then, like, I never knew I loved science. And then I became a homeschool teacher, and I had kids who loved nature and bugs and books about those things. And suddenly I love science. I love nature study. People ask me if I'm a a marine biologist when we go to the tide pools because I've learned so much about sea life that I never knew before and never even knew that I cared. So I haven't lost myself. I've found parts of myself I didn't even know were there. And yes, it's hard work being a mother, being a parent, giving to others is hard work. But I would say the same as when I was a classroom teacher. It was hard work. And no one ever said to me there or haven't you lost yourself in, in this job? They would say how incredible that you're giving so much to these students. I really don't think of many people saying that to me as a homeschool mom. How incredible what you're giving to these students. But it is incredible. Yes, they're my kids and I love giving to them. But I loved giving to my students in my classroom, too. It's just a different way. And I never will, never, ever regret homeschooling my kids because it has opened up the world and made it so much bigger than it ever was before.

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[Jenny Urich]

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[Jenny Urich]

That's a really, really interesting answer, Greta, because it ties into the very beginning where we're talking about that you were homeschooled. And it could be like, you know, a slight to your mom that you didn't know you liked science. Like something was missed there. And so that would be the fear, right? That would be the fear, I think. Or a fear that a parent would have. Like maybe my kid likes tuba and I don't get a chance to expose them to the tuba in our homeschool. I don't know much about it and you know they're gonna miss out. But the point is, is that life is long and things come back around.

[Greta Eskridge]

Amen. Yes.

[Jenny Urich]

And maybe.

[Greta Eskridge]

And we'll never be able to give it all ourselves. Sorry I interrupted you.

[Jenny Urich]

No, it's so true. I just talked to this man. He was saying, you know what everyone's supposed to learn The Pythagorean theorem. He's like, well, why don't we teach every kid, like, you know, how to saddle a horse and how to fix a well and, and how to change your oil. I mean, we. It's. You can't learn everything. You just can't. And actually, some of the things that we miss are probably pretty important things, like how do you make cinnamon rolls and omelets? And, you know, I mean, there's lots of things in life that are good to learn about and we don't learn them all. And so I think that fear of. That they're going to have holes. Well, yeah, everybody has holes.

[Greta Eskridge]

Yes. That's actually, I think something that can be very freeing for parents as they enter into homeschooling is to know you won't be able to teach at all. Your kid will have hol. And that is okay. They would if they were in traditional school as well. Because there's no teacher in traditional school or homeschool or no school that is going to give your kid all that they need. And the beauty is, as we go through life, we will have other opportunities to learn things, to see, oh, wow, I didn't know how to do that, or I didn't know about that, or I didn't know I cared about that and I wouldn't. I'm going to learn it now. Now. So to just acknowledge from the get go, there will be holes. I can't do it all. And my kid is going to be okay. If our goal is instead of saying, I'm going to make sure they know everything, if our goal is instead to say, I want to make sure my kid is a lifelong learner, then that changes everything.

[Jenny Urich]

Yeah, Sarah McKenzie said something to me one time and she wrote this wonderful book called the Read Aloud Family. And she's got a great podcast and lots of, lots of great materials. Like we did her Christmas curriculum. I mean, Christmas school, it was wonderful. But one of the things that she talked about was you kind of feel this pressure, like you want your kids to read all the classics, you know, when they're home with you, and you want to make sure that you had, you know, did you read the whole Little House on the Prairie? And like, Amber Johnson, she puts out this whole book of like all these other books that you could read, and there's so many things like that, and you feel like, oh, there's not enough time. Or I missed. And what Sarah McKenzie said was, but isn't it delightful? I hope it was Sarah. I think it was when there's something left for them to discover as an adult.

[Greta Eskridge]

Yes.

[Jenny Urich]

Or to discover when they become a homeschool parent and they're like, oh, wait, I never read this and I really like it.

[Greta Eskridge]

Yeah, I know. I was actually just looking through a list of, like, the great books or books everybody should read. My husband's going on a trip and he, he wants to take a good book. And we're going through the list and I'm like, man, we've read so many of these. And I was kind of bummed because I wanted there to be some that we hadn't read. And there were so many we had read that it was hard to find something. And then we were kind of picky about the ones that we hadn't read that we didn't want to. But I. But it goes with what you're saying. Like, it's good to have things that are left.

[Jenny Urich]

Yeah. Yeah. So instead of looking at it as holes, you're looking at it as, like, you know, everyone gets more pass throughs. And if you've created a child who loves to learn, they're going to continue to learn and have all sorts of things that fill in those holes that matter. Some of the holes don't matter. And we take up a lot of time, I think, of childhood teaching things that. That maybe are not applicable or don't really matter and taking up time that could be given to other things. And so there's just so much pass through in life where you get to go around again and go around again and read the books you missed and learn the things you missed. I mean, I missed so much. They say that you forget so many of these things and, yeah, it takes up so much of your time. And so, in summary, I can't. I'm like that. That's so lame. I don't think I've ever done that before. Yeah, that's ridiculous.

[Greta Eskridge]

You should leave it in.

[Jenny Urich]

Yeah, leave it in. All right. I want to hit two last things.

[Greta Eskridge]

Okay.

[Jenny Urich]

You're adapting in real time, and this is going to happen all the way through parenthood. You're always adapting. You're talking about kids that are on the cusp of maybe getting married. You know, you're talking about, you know, two have graduated, but two haven't. Can you talk about the benefits of kids seeing the parent adapting? Yeah.

[Greta Eskridge]

Oh, yeah. It is so valuable for our kids to see us fail, to see us say, this isn't working. Let's do something different. I. That feels like a hallmark of my homeschool Experience of us saying like this. Do you guys even like this? I can't stand it. And they're like, we can't stand it either. And then saying, okay, you know what? Let's find something else to do. That is a really important thing to show our kids that they'll be parents one day, that they'll be adults one day, and they're going to choose the wrong thing, or they're going to start with something that was great and then it turned not so great, and that they have the freedom to say, this isn't working for us. Let's do something better, man. I love that we can be honest with each other that way and that they know that that doesn't mean it's a fail. It means it's an opportunity to do something better.

[Jenny Urich]

Yeah. And what a thing to model. I think it's a. I think it's one of the most important things to model because life goes all over the place. It doesn't go in a straight line. And so we model. And I think that they can know to come to us, too. When they're like, I'm trying something, it's not working. Do you have any thoughts on it? And they have the permission to change, to change course. It's a really big deal. Greta is such a joy to get to homeschool together. Like, you know, they talk about. It's like the billions, the odds, you know, that you're even here, and then the odds that you're here on Earth at the same time as someone else, and then the odds that you're on Earth at the same time and homeschooling at the same time as them and walking through and kids that are similar ages and gonna be at the same conferences and giving talks together. I mean, it is truly such a gift you have. You mean. And have meant so much to me.

[Greta Eskridge]

I don't know if that's a silly thing to say about you. It's not silly. Words of affirmation are my love language. You. You are pouring into me right now, and I feel the same about you. Thank you.

[Jenny Urich]

The books I've read of yours and the conversations that we've had, they're deep and they're challenging and they're delightful and they're enlightening. And I'm just really grateful that our paths have crossed in these ways and will continue to cross in these ways. And I am really impressed by your children, their art, their creativ. They, like, go for it. You know, they're putting out these coloring sheets and they're, they're, you know, one of your kids illustrated a book of ours and they, and he was so incredible at it. Like the everything, the communication, the organization. And I'm like, I don't know, he was like a teenager. I was just super impressive to see that long term fruit of all of the days of messy floors and muddy hands and, and meals that you know, are not, maybe not as gourmet as you would like them to be. Entire nights and early mornings, you see the fruit over years and years of time. And I think we'll continue in these conversations because now we're going to see the fruit of these kids starting their own families and making their own decisions based off of the values that we've instilled over the course of decades of time. So what a gift to have this time together. I really, really appreciate it. Can you leave one message, one final message for a parent who is on the fence about homeschooling or who is a new homeschooler or even a veteran homeschool schooler, but is maybe feeling like quitting or feeling like they're not doing it right?

[Greta Eskridge]

Oh, I will say, as an almost 50 year old former homeschooler, that homeschooling was one of the greatest gifts my parents ever gave me and I'm so honored to be able to pass it on to my kids. And so I feel confident that your kids will say that about you one day when you're struggling, you're sitting on the couch next to them, somebody's crying. Maybe you're both crying because reading is hard or spelling is hard or math is hard, that those things aren't the things that last. The thing that that lasts is the relationship you've cultivated through all that time together, through the hard times and the good times. It's a gift that you're giving to your kids and one that is deeply meaningful and it lacks. So keep going and read Jenny's book because you guys, I'm not kidding, you're gonna love it and you're gonna be so encouraged. Her words are what we need when we're struggling to keep going. So that's my plug and I'm glad to give it.

[Expedia Announcer]

Martha listens to her favorite band all the time. In the car, gym, even sleeping. So when they first finally went on tour, Martha bundled her flight and hotel on Expedia to see them live. She saved so much, she got a seat close enough to actually see and hear them sort of. You were made to scream from the front row. We were made to quietly save you. More Expedia made to travel savings vary and subject to availability. Flight inclusive packages are at all protected.

[Lululemon Announcer]

Hey, girl, this is a legging emergency. My favorite Lululemon leggings, the ones you.

[Greta Eskridge]

Got me years ago.

[Lululemon Announcer]

I think they're a line.

[Greta Eskridge]

Maybe.

[Lululemon Announcer]

Well, I just got back from my trip and I think I left them at the BnB. Girl, I need to replace these. Could you send me the link to where you got them? I need a pair asap. Also, my birthday's coming up, so. Anyways, thanks, girl. Talk soon.

[Greta Eskridge]

Looking for Your newest Go To's Lululemon what's New gear drops on Tuesdays. Every Tuesday, head to lululemon.com to shop. What's New Gear.