Leverage the full power of stories with your homeschooler or co-op students by understanding the five levels or lenses through which you can explore a book.

Angel, Sandy and Claire also discuss what makes a story conducive to engaging discussion, as well as some of their favorite book discussions of all time.

We had the privilege of speaking with Amber O'Neal Johnston, a renowned advocate for inclusive education who shares her journey of homeschooling her four children while embracing the principles of Charlotte Mason.

Amber faced a significant turning point in her homeschooling journey when her daughter began expressing discomfort about her identity, questioning her skin color and heritage. This moment was a wake-up call for Amber, who realized her curriculum lacked diversity and failed to reflect her children's backgrounds. Initially, she considered abandoning the Charlotte Mason approach but soon recognized that she needed to adapt it to fit her family's unique needs.

Instead of simply emulating others, Amber started curating diverse texts and resources that celebrated the richness of Black culture and history. This shift not only enhanced her children's learning experience but also instilled a sense of pride in their identity, allowing them to appreciate the contributions of people like themselves to the world.

Many parents fears their child getting bored. We sign them up for lots of activities, sports and other lessons so they don't get bored. And when they plead boredom when they're at home with nothing to do, we often cave and let them watch screens. "After all, they've been so busy and learning so much," we might justify to ourselves.

In part two of our conversation with Claire and Stephen, they share the incredible things that can come from allowing our kids to have free time and letting them be bored, when we don't swoop in to rescue them and they have access to the outdoors, books, and other grown-up spaces and tools.