The podcast episode introduces Eric Lurie, founder of Homeschool Joy, who aims to bridge the gap between traditional schooling and homeschooling. He emphasizes the importance of engagement over silence in learning and challenges the notion of standardized testing as the only measure of progress. Eric encourages creating a nurturing environment at home and offers practical tips like using mystery bags and focusing on real-world applications of learning. He concludes with a five-minute reset idea to connect with your child before transitioning activities. Overall, the episode promotes a holistic and personalized approach to education. Hello and welcome to the first podcast episode of Homeschool Joy. Whether you're listening while folding a mountain of socks, nursing a baby, or finally sitting down with your own cup of something warm, you are exactly where you need to be. I'm Eric Lurie, and if you could see me right now, I've got my favorite chai latte in hand, extra cinnamon today, and my well-worn copy of Teach Like a Pirate sitting right here on the table. It's a great reminder for me to keep things engaging, which is a big part of my why. I've been married for almost four years now, and while my daughter's only two, we are already deep in the trenches of family life. If you saw my sofa, you'd see a massive pile of laundry that is currently serving as a fort for a toddler. I'm right here with you. I'm the founder of Homeschool Joy, but my day job is still in the classroom. I'm a certified teacher with a master's in special education, and I still teach in public school system today. That might surprise some of you. Why would a public school teacher start a homeschooling podcast? Well, because I've actually been working closely with homeschool family since 2020, and I do things like creating personalized curricula, doing personalized tutoring, as well as helping create assessments that really allow for deep understanding of where your child is at and don't need to happen every single week. I do believe that I'm meant to be a bridge between these two worlds. I see the beauty in both, and I want to help you take the professional strategies I use every day and translate them into something that works for you in your kitchen table. I want to start this journey by being very clear. I love my work in public education. I have immense respect for the teachers walking the halls of schools. Our mission in schools is a wide mission. We are tasked with providing a foundation for hundreds of children at once. To do that fairly and effectively, we need specific tools, standardized schedules, bells, and uniform assessments. These aren't bad things. They are just the infrastructure for a large-scale system trying to have some consistency. But when you choose to homeschool, your mission shifts. You're in a deep mission. You aren't managing a crowd. You're nurturing a single or just a few hearts. Because you are working with one to however many kids you have, you don't need the management tools of a large institution. You don't need a megaphone to have a conversation at the dinner table. My goal for this podcast is to give you a permission slip. I want to help you declutter the whole school mindset. Just like we clear out the holiday decor in January, we need to clear out the ghosts of the traditional classroom that might be making you feel like you're Let me tell you, you aren't. You're just using the wrong tools for a deep mission environment. So now let's get practical. What does it look like to declutter that mindset? Well, it starts by rethinking two big concepts right off the bat. The sound of learning and the test. We often operate under this misconception that real school requires silence. But whether you are in a bustling classroom or a living room, silence isn't the goal. Engagement is. Learning is often loud. It's the sound of your child debating a history point with you. The sound of them singing a song about the water cycle or even the sound of them laughing while they build a Lego tower or a physics lesson. We often operate under this misconception that real school requires silence. But whether you are in a bustling classroom or a living room, silence isn't the goal. Engagement is. Learning is often loud. It's the sound of your child debating a history point with you. The sound of them singing a song about the water cycle or building Legos for a physics lesson. If your house isn't a quiet library, that doesn't mean a school isn't happening. It might mean engagement is. One of my favorite tools for creating that engagement is the mystery bag. Instead of just saying, open your books, imagine putting a bag on the breakfast table. Inside is a single object, maybe a seashell or a coin, something that hints at the lesson. You don't explain it. You just let it sit there. The question your children might ask is, what is this? Why is it here? And that right there is the sound of learning waking up. And then the second misconception or thought that we have when it comes to learning are the bubble sheets. We've been conditioned to think that if we don't have a multiple choice test at the end of each week, we don't have proof of progress. But honestly, those tests aren't always effective in the classroom either. They are often just the most effective way to grade a crowd. But I believe that we can use the standards as a map, not a cage. I don't need a test to tell me if a child has mastered a skill. I can often see that through their actions. While tests are helpful sometimes, and occasionally, doing one every week doesn't really show that. What can show that they understand a concept is when they're explaining it to a family member or when they apply a math skill when they're baking in the kitchen. That is the most accurate snapshot of learning you're ever going to get. We are looking for growth, not just letter grade. Looking at this podcast, I really want it to be a place where we can look at those ideas and think of it like a cozy little coffee shop where we're just sitting and having conversations about what's best for kids. And I really hope that we can create a community where we can do that. So, before I let you go, I want to leave you with our very first five-minute reset. These are quick ways to shift the energy when things are feeling really chaotic at home. Today's is the transition pause. Before you move from one thing to the next today, maybe it's from breakfast to playtime or from a lesson to a nap, I want you to take 60 seconds. No phone, no planner. Just look at your child and ask, what is one thing you're curious about right now? And simply listen to their answer. Don't try to turn it into a lesson unless they ask you to. Just connect with them. That connection is the foundation of everything we do in Deep Mission. So, thank you for being here for episode one. Keep it real. Keep it cozy. And remember, you've got this. I'll talk to you next week when we dive into rhythms over schedules.