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.

One of Stephen and Claire Jones's primary goals for their children is that they learn autodidact skills to become lifelong self-directed learners. In this episode they share four pillars that support this goal: great stories, fostering relationships, weekly mentor meetings, and the right guardrails.

Stephen is a professor in the business school at the University of Washington, Bothell campus. He teaches strategy and entrepreneurship, and does research on teams, trust, cooperation and conflict.

Claire has homeschooled all seven of her children, ranging in age from 24 to nine. She is the outgoing president of Leadership Education Academy for Families, which serves 30 families in the Snohomish, WA, area, where she developed much of the scholar program.

Angel's son Saul shares his experience being raised immersed in stories and freedom to direct his own education, including:

1. How he navigated attending school for the first time in seventh grade, and what he learned academically and socially.

2. His experience attending college at 14 and why he chose that path.

3. His work experiences.

4. His early experiences with risk-taking and how they led to curating an investment portfolio where he put all of his savings in the stock market.

Our conversation with Hannah and Dana continues as we dive into what it looks like to prioritize autonomy and process over results, and why that actually leads to better learning and growth.

Hannah and Dana's family of nine have traveled the U.S. in a tour bus and are now building their own earthen home together. What learning and growth has occurred through these real-world experiences with a common purpose--intellectually, socially, in skills and character development?

Jennifer Jarrett is founder of Leadership Education Academy for Families (LEAF) in Snohomish, Washington. She shares how she has raised her three children (now ages 21, 17 and 17) immersed in stories and meaning. Her goal for her children is a love of learning, along with the confidence and ability to learn on their own.

Jennifer also shares how she has used two of her passions--theater and science--as vehicles for powerful learning experiences that span subject matter.

You can find Jennifer's curriculum on her virtual homeschool marketplace CurriculumSquare. https://curriculumsquare.com/