April 7, 2025 • 32 mins
Prepare to be whisked away into the heart of homeschooling as Olivia Rian shares her treasure trove of knowledge on the Blossom and Root curriculum. Through our engaging discussion, listeners will grasp how this unique educational framework beautifully weaves together language arts, science, and nature study from preschool through the elementary years. Olivia, with her practical insights, unveils the delights and challenges of pairing Blossom and Root with programs like Wild Math and Easy Grammar, ensuring a rich tapestry of learning for every child. As we journey through the curriculum's evolution, you'll discover its increasingly user-friendly approach from the third grade, allowing for a smoother daily teaching experience.
This episode isn't just about curriculum choices; it's an invitation to reimagine the classroom under the sky. Join us as we share inspiring nature-based science activities that promise to ignite curiosity across grade levels. From weather journals for eager first graders to the intricacies of physics for budding fourth-grade scientists, Olivia articulates how everyday practices like gardening and composting bring complex concepts to life. Together, we map out the rhythm of daily lessons, integrating art and literature into a seamless educational dance. For those seeking to nourish their child's learning with the freshness of the outdoors and the flexibility to tailor education to individual needs, this conversation sparkles with possibilities.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Homeschool How-To Find my
Curriculum, a series where wetalk all about curriculum.
I've been interviewinghomeschooling families for over
a year now on my main podcast,the Homeschool How-To, but I
really wanted to zero in oncurriculum.
There's so much out there.
How do I know what would workbest for me and my child?
How do I know what works forone child would work for the
other?
I might like the curriculum I'musing now, but how do I know
(00:25):
there's not a better one outthere, especially if I don't
know all the curriculums?
And what about supplementalcurriculum?
Should I be using that too?
This series is to help youdecide just that.
I'm going to interview parentswho are using all the
curriculums so that you candecide the absolute best way to
unfold your homeschoolingjourney.
The absolute best way to unfoldyour homeschooling journey.
(00:51):
Welcome everyone With us.
Today I have Olivia Ryan fromMaryland and she's going to talk
to us about Blossom and Root.
Welcome, olivia, thank you forbeing here.
Hi, so I don't know anythingabout Blossom and Root.
I'm really excited to hearabout this curriculum because I
feel like we hear about the samecurriculums kind of all the
time and you don't know if it'sbecause those are really good
(01:12):
curriculums, or if those justhad really good marketing behind
them to become so popular, youknow.
So I'm so excited to talk aboutthis one.
Now, what ages and do you usethis for for your kids?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
So we started with Blossom and Root.
I actually started with mydaughter when she was in first
grade, but then I went back andI used it for my son in
preschool.
So we started in preschool andfirst grade using the curriculum
, but it goes up to fifth, sixthgrade and it covers language
(01:46):
arts, science and nature.
Oh, okay, it gives suggestionsfor other subjects such as, like
, I think, wild math.
Is they like to pair that withblossom and root?
Oh that's interesting, butthey're not the same company,
not the same company, no, butyeah, I've used different parts
(02:09):
of language arts, science andnature over the years.
In some years I kind of mix andmatch with other curriculums,
but I especially love theirpreschool curriculum and their
science and nature.
I didn't use their first gradelanguage arts, or I did use it
(02:30):
once.
I didn't love it though, and Iso I used a different curriculum
for first and second grade,kindergarten through second
grade for language arts, but Ireally love once my daughter got
really solid with reading.
I love their literature withthird grade and up Now language
arts.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Okay, is that just like reading, writing and
spelling?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Reading, writing, grammar they do a little bit of
grammar copywriting.
Each week.
You have a reading selectionand she'll have two journal
entries and she draws about whatshe learns and usually the
first journal entry is somethingto do with the reading, like a
(03:13):
question, and the second journalentry is her favorite part of
the reading and then theyusually play with vocabulary and
write a poem or do somethingcreative with vocabulary in the
reading and then something withcopywork and grammar.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Okay, all right.
So let me break this down alittle bit further, just to like
really drill in.
So you use it for language arts, science and history.
Did you say Nature, nature,nature study, nature study.
Okay, perfect.
So we have like those threethat you and is it one
curriculum that encompasses allthat, or are they three
(03:51):
different books that you need topurchase?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
You can buy the full third grade and you'd get like
all three of those in thirdgrade or fourth grade.
Okay, but you also willseparately buy the science and
nature and use like a differentlanguage arts or something.
Okay, they let you buy languagearts separately or science and
nature separately, or you canbuy the three together Gotcha.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Okay, so that that makes it a little bit clearer.
Now, is this what they callopen and go, or do you have to
like prep beforehand?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I would say third grade on.
My kids are more independentwith language arts, absolutely
open and go Um with science andnature.
There's a little bit of there'sa little bit of prep, because I
I've tried other sciences and Ireally like how this one um,
(04:45):
there's always there'shighlights and main points they
read, and then there's videosthat they watch or books that
they read and I find a lot ofthe books free on YouTube and so
I have to set those videos up.
I pull them up on the computer,read the highlights and then
they just sit down, they watchtheir videos, they write what
(05:06):
they learned, they draw aboutwhat they learned and then I set
up the science experiment.
So I think maybe when she's infourth grade right now, maybe
when she's in fifth grade, she'dbe able to look at that and set
it up herself.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Okay, there's a little prep work with.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
I've taken that step and set it up herself.
But okay, there's a little prepwork with.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
I've taken that step and set it up for her with the
nature and okay.
So the nature and the sciencehave the little bit of prep work
.
Language arts is pretty openand go pretty, yeah, pretty much
open and go.
Okay.
So you talked a little bitabout what the day to day would
look like with the curriculum,with the language arts.
Um, you know as saying that youknow she would have the
passages and and the reading,and actually, well, you kind of
(05:51):
talked about it too when youtalked about the video.
So maybe just break it down forme, like what does a day in
your life look like for yourchildren doing this?
Do you have it where they do acertain subject first and second
and third, and what is it kindof go through?
And like the bird's eye view,looking down.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah.
So with language arts theywould start, they break, they'll
break up the reading for theweek and see how much they need
to read each day and thenusually with Bossman Root, it
gives you a layout of how youcan do it for the week.
So my daughter will usually doa journal entry Monday, a
journal entry Tuesday, thevocabulary on Wednesday and the
(06:37):
copywork and grammar on Thursday.
Third grade on, though I dopair easy grammar with Blossom
and Rooks, I feel like they needmore grammar than that.
I don't feel like there'senough in the curriculum, so she
does a separate grammarworksheet, but I think it still
(06:58):
helps.
It's still an activity she cando with the book that she's
reading, and she's read somereally fun books like wonder and
the secret garden and umalice's adventures in wonderland
, so it.
So she'll do the readingselection and then something
each day that correlates with itand the.
(07:19):
In the curriculum all three, orat least the science and
language arts.
There's 36 weeks and one weekis like one lesson that you
break up for the week.
Okay, so you kind of decide.
It's more open-ended.
It's not like you know the goodand the beautiful, where you
have a lesson a day that'salready broken up for you.
(07:40):
You kind of decide how much youwant to do each day and how you
want to break it up over yourschool week.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
All right, yeah, so that depends on do you teach all
year long, do you take a summerbreak, do you want to do five
days a week, or you know, maybetry to condense it into three or
four.
So that's good to know, allright, so what now?
You're talking about threedifferent ones.
So we'll just say, for thelanguage arts, what, in a
nutshell, do they learn fromlike the beginning of the third
(08:08):
grade year to the end?
Or, you know, what sort ofinformation does it encompass?
Like you talked about reading,like I know that's kind of it's
an open thing, especiallybecause you're talking about
three different subjects.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
It's kind of a large question yeah, well, they, um,
they began like studying themesand literature and like symbols
and literature.
I really.
I mean, I really like how shereads six or seven books for the
whole year, so she really getsto.
And there's there'saccompanying projects,
(08:41):
literature projects.
She can do with them, so shereally goes deep into the
literature on and there's kindof a theme for each year, like
this year, for fourth grade isreally focused on heroes.
So there's everything from likeNorse mythology to just all
sorts of different books.
They do start with I don't know, off the look.
(09:03):
Yeah, no, that's fine, likeLike they have to look.
They start with grammar, I meanlike nouns and verbs and
identifying them and punctuation, capitalization.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
And even for like the science.
What kind of stuff does that?
Are you learning at the thirdgrade level in that year?
Speaker 2 (09:21):
So there's like a different theme each year.
First grade was my son's doingfirst grade right now and it
focuses on like the earth and um, like natural disasters.
And then, um, I can't remember,I can't remember second grade,
but third grade is animal or no.
(09:43):
Second grade's plants, okay,you like study a different plant
every week.
Third grade is animals, likethe animal kingdom.
And fourth grade had we had likephysics and engineering for the
first half of the year and thenshe's doing anatomy, anatomy
and physiology for the secondhalf of the year, like learning
(10:05):
about different parts of thebody and how the systems and
organs work.
So each science year has tofocus on something different.
And again, I love how it's setup because I've tried, I've
tried like Good and theBeautiful Science where, and
they've actually really improvedit I feel like they've made it
more for the right level ofstudent.
(10:27):
Before, like I was trying to doit with a kindergartner and it
was going way over their head.
But I love how, um, the scienceis, like it's suited to your
child's level and becausethere's videos.
Kids love videos, they lovestorybooks.
Even in fourth grade she stillhas like storybooks that she
(10:50):
reads for her science.
I mean more in fourth gradethere is more science videos
like SciShow Kids and like lastyear, she did a lot of like
animal videos of from differentbiologists and things like that.
But I just feel like it's veryengaging.
They're very engaged in thecontent because they're watching
(11:12):
the videos and then they can dothe experiment afterwards.
That kind of helps them behands on with whatever they
learn that week, whereas when Iwas trying to read like a
chapter of science with them, Idon't know, I was totally losing
them.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
When I hear you say experiments, I'm just thinking
of like a lot of work for theadult.
What is an example of anexperiment or two that you've
done?
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Let me look, pull up.
I have it pulled up right here.
Baking soda everywhere Not thatthat's the end of the world but
are they everyday experimentsor once a week?
They're just one for the weekand sometimes we skip it, but
they always one for the outdoorlearners.
They say the table lab, crowdthe crafts and projects families
(12:01):
.
So there's kind of a different.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
I love that yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
So whatever like works for you, like works for
you and some sometimes I don'twant to do any prep and the
experiment is walking outsideand like identifying, like a
certain tree or something orit's, it's or a nature walk or
going walking on the beach.
It's not necessarily a bunch oflike prep work, right.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
With pouring in the what do they call them?
Beaker cups and stuff.
All right, right, that makes ita little bit more like doable,
so that's good, I'm glad I askedNow how do you differentiate
the nature then?
Because it sounds like a lot ofthe science is kind of nature
(12:54):
stuff.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Are they separate?
They try to make the nature,then, because it sounds like a
lot of the science is kind ofnature stuff.
Are they separate?
Uh, they try to make the natureactivities coincide with the
science.
For the year, like with firstgrade, we did um because like it
was what lots of weatherrelated activities.
So she did like a weatherjournal where she went outside
and like, looked at what, whatthe weather was that day and the
(13:17):
temperature, and wrote it downand drew what she saw outside
for the weather.
And she did like a book offirsts where she had to go get a
leaf or something outside andglue it into a book and identify
what the leaf is.
Oh, that's cool.
And then for fourth grade rightnow, with fourth grade, I mean,
I'm trying to make theconnection here Sometimes it's a
(13:39):
little bit more vague becauseshe's doing physics and
engineering and the human bodybut the whole entire science or
sorry, nature this year isfocused on starting a garden, so
it starts in the fall, fall,winter, spring and summer and
all the prep.
So she's learned, you know, shestarted a worm farm and she's
(14:04):
learned just about compostingand soil and seed, seed prep,
and so we're right now we're atthe stage where we're starting
to plant the seedlings, that'scool.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
I learned zero of that in school.
As you're talking, I'm sittinghere trying to go.
Did I learn this stuff inelementary school and just
completely forgot?
Like either I learned it andthey taught it in a way that was
so boring I didn't retain anyof it, or they I don't know what
we did for all these hours Isat in public school.
(14:37):
I don't know any of this stuff,and that's.
That's just so cool.
I love that, especially thegardening.
How long does your day takewhen you're at least for these
three lessons?
I know you talked about havingother curriculums and I'll ask
you again what else you add inat the end of that too.
So how long does all of thistake?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Okay.
So for preschool and they havepreschool for basically age
three, which I usually skip.
Preschool for three-year-oldsit's never been much done, much
for my three-year-old beforefour-year-olds.
I totally do preschool forthree four-year-olds and I'd say
(15:19):
it's only about 30 minutes aday and with the preschool they
have like composer study, wherethey study like composer, like
Beethoven, and then they do afamous artist like, such as
Picasso, and then they do likean art project that focuses on
the artist they're learningabout and it's usually things
that you already have around thehouse and then they do like a
(15:41):
kitchen classroom activity,letter activities and a story or
poetry selection for the weekand you just break this up.
That's preschool the whole week.
Yeah, wow, it's.
It's very like hands-on and notI don't feel like it's
overwhelming, but I guess thatis kind of maybe a lot for a
(16:01):
preschooler.
I love the story, poetryselection.
So we usually there's like alittle like a book we read and
we talk about it.
I think we did like Little BlueTruck or something and you know
, you go outside and play in themud.
I mean I, yeah, I definitelylike the forest school stuff
(16:22):
with preschool, but we did dosome of this not all of it with
preschoolers, just for fun, andit was fun listening to, like
looking at a painting and likelistening to a song and just
talking about it.
But I will say, when I startedBlossom and Root, I went to the
material list.
I bought everything on thematerial list.
(16:44):
I bought all the books it said.
And I've definitely changedsince then.
I just kind of I get things asI go, because you don't always
use 50 toilet paper rolls forwhatever it's asking, you know,
and I like I don't buy everybook.
I like I said you can go to thelibrary or there.
(17:07):
A lot of them are on YouTubewhere someone reads.
I don't even know it's legal,but yeah, they read the story,
yeah the read alouds.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
I do that.
I listen to that all the time.
That's how I listen to johntaylor gatto's uh, dumbing us
down.
A woman reading on youtube Ilove.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
I love that it's on youtube because it's just like
save.
They're just fun to watch andit's just saved so much time and
it's like an easy resource forhomeschooling or any kid.
We've done books as well.
Sometimes the book will be onbooks V-O-O-K-S.
So anyway, preschool takesabout 30 minutes Language arts
(17:44):
with the reading each dayBecause, like I said, I do it.
Third grade on I've usedsomething else for first and
second grade.
I'd say it's about 30, 45minutes for language arts, just
the language arts, just thelanguage arts.
Probably more like 30 minutes aday with her getting up to even
fourth grade.
(18:04):
Probably about 30 minutes.
Science we actually do it allin one day because I try to do
um, because I'm in maryland, wehave subject requirements, so we
do science on monday, historyand art on tuesday and thursday
and health on wednesday, so I doall of the science in one day
(18:27):
and so it's about an hour, 30minutes to an hour, depending on
how many videos um is on thesuggested list yeah, that's a
neat idea yeah, I've always.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
I'm just, I'm a minimalist, I feel like, and I
just want to just do it one daywell, yeah, and then you're not
shifting their like way ofthinking, like, okay, we're
supposed to be like discoveringthings right now and now we're
supposed to learn about lettersand writing.
You know, I can understand why.
Maybe it makes more sense if itonly takes an hour to just kind
(19:00):
of do and a lot of it is likevideo watching to do that in one
day, that's a cool idea.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Yeah, I feel like it uncomplicates things.
I feel like it'd be harder todo a little bit of something
every day.
I mean, we're doing that withlanguage arts but with yeah,
with science it's, we just do itin one day.
And then nature about 30minutes, depending on what
they're doing.
They've made like a bug hotelit's.
Usually they are sent outside.
Sometimes they need to gooutside and use their five
(19:27):
senses and there's like a naturejournal where they come in and
write about it.
I really believe that spendingtime in nature is something you
can enjoy your entire life.
If you can identify birds andtrees, it's something like very
peaceful and calming that canyou can enjoy your entire life
(19:48):
and I think should be part ofschool curriculums and kids
should get I we're part of thewhole 1000 hours outside, fun
movement and try to spend lotsof time outside.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Yeah, and I didn't grow up that way.
And even moving into this housein upstate New York where, you
know, my husband owned it beforeand I'm like, oh my gosh, you
can't even get internet out hereLike this is insane.
And I was like spring bug sprayspray like all over the house
(20:19):
to kill every bug when I firstmoved in.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
And then now, like 10 years later, I'm like let's put
up some bee homes, bring thebees back yeah, I've had to
adjust living in the forestspiders like I used to just
scream when I'd see a spider andnow I can seriously look at a
(20:42):
really big spider and be likethank you for your service.
Those nasty mosquitoes as longas it's not in the house.
But I've walked outside andjust seen really big spiders and
we still I mean, we'll stilltry to spray around the house so
they'll not come inside, butwe've had some fun.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Oh, that's so funny, but I yeah, it's so important
that kids learn the because andand that's why I had no
appreciation for it.
I didn't know, like, what gooda spider could do, or you know
the birds, just even that wehave turkey vultures that live
in the tree outside our houseand like how they clean up
roadkill or you know all deadanimals, and just it's so
(21:25):
beautiful how it all like fitsin.
I love it.
Do you remember how much thesecurriculum costs off hand?
If you don't, that's fine.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
No, I I think for everything, if you bought all
three no-transcript paper.
(22:05):
I didn't know about that.
I think the homeschool printingcompany is one of them and
they'll just print and bind yourbook and it's like a fraction
of the cost compared to likegoing to FedEx or something.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Could you also like take it to your local library I
don't know how either by emailor USB or something, and have
your library printed out.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Oh, probably I haven't tried that.
But yeah, my library is like Idon't know.
I think order a print orsomething.
I can't remember.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Oh, okay, so it might add up All right.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
So it sounds like the website is the best, the
cheapest route.
Yeah, doing like a homeschoolprinting website, and I just do
the like what they need for thescience notebook, the language
arts notebook and the naturenotebook, what they need to
write in, and then I use mycomputer to read, like the
highlights for science, and setup the videos and okay.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
I don't print a higher curriculum so now do you
think your kids enjoy thiscurriculum?
Speaker 2 (23:07):
yeah, I do, I do.
I think they really enjoy it.
My daughter loves the readingselections and my.
They both love science.
My daughter and son love thescience.
Um, I think it's good for thembecause they both love to draw
and they're able to.
I guess it's less I don't knowit's less regurgitating than
(23:30):
maybe other curriculums with,say, like a test afterwards,
because they are just writingwhat they learned, drawing about
it and then applying it withthe experiment okay, so they all
kind of intertwine and connectyeah, so I do like that.
But I guess you you have to like, look back.
(23:52):
You can't just, I mean, with aworksheet.
You can look at a worksheet andsay, okay, this is what they
learned from today.
You know, I have to look at.
Okay, what did they write about?
What did they glean from thisvideo, like what stuck out to
them and what's important forthem to know before we go on to
next week right, and then so canyou do this with multiple kids
(24:15):
at the same time?
Speaker 1 (24:16):
you think it sounds like you could if you had
separate writing sheets.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Yeah, and I have thought about that.
It's because, like my daughter,like I said, is in fourth grade
and my son's in first I couldif she I feel like if she hadn't
already done all these sciencesI could have just had them sit
and do it together and I guess Icould have had him jump forward
(24:40):
and do whatever science she'sdoing and then go back to the
other ones, because they don'tnecessarily build on each other,
like you could learn aboutanimals before you learn about
plants.
But I think you definitelycould, if you had kids in
different grade levels, do thescience and nature, because
we've already for nature thisyear.
(25:02):
It's like we already did a lotof the nature activities and I
let him, when he was younger,participate in those.
So I focused less on the firstgrade nature this year and
focused more on the garden forboth of them.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Now you said that you use a different curriculum for
first and second grade.
Can I ask which one you use?
Speaker 2 (25:21):
The good and the beautiful.
I like it's.
It's not for every kid, it'sdefinitely more prescriptive.
I think it's more basicallywhat you get at public school,
butchool kind of situation.
But my son I just I believe youdo whatever's right for your
(25:44):
kid and he did really well withthe preschool books and learned
to read.
I don't think, like I said,it's the best reading curriculum
.
I think there I I kind of wishI hadn't used it for my daughter
because I didn't like no, youknow, it's the best reading
curriculum.
I think there I I kind of wishI hadn't used it for my daughter
because I didn't like no, youknow, that's where we started.
We started homeschooling whenshe was in preschool and we just
(26:06):
did the good and the beautiful,like you said, cause that's
what everyone did and it reallydidn't work for her with
learning to read like it did.
But it didn't.
But it did work for him, forhim and so for him I just stuck
with it through second gradebecause he's learning to read
really well with it.
But with her we actuallystopped the good and the
(26:29):
beautiful after kindergartenbecause I felt like it was just
not working for her and we didblossom and root instead,
language arts.
That, and then I feel likedoing the first, the second
grade Good and the Beautifulkind of got her to the level I
wanted her to be at, to whereshe could go back to Blossom and
Root and be at the readinglevel she needed to be to read
(26:50):
this huge stack of books forthird grade with Blossom and
Root and be able to keep up withit and be able to keep up with
it.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Well, I'm glad it worked out, but it just is a
testament to how you knowsomething that didn't work for
your daughter did work for yourson.
Like, every kid is different,even within the same family, and
that's why I wanted to startthis curriculum series, because
it's like, how do you know whatone to pick when you don't know
what each one is really about,like what what's inside of them
(27:17):
and what the learning style is?
So that's super helpful for youto be able to explain all that
to us today.
So you are going to continuethis curriculum with your son as
as he goes through yeah, Idefinitely with the science and
third grade.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
I'll start him with the blossom and root, third
grade and he'll read the booksthat she read and I'll already
have it.
But I, yeah, I like how it'sheavily literature focused.
I like because I feel like I'venoticed, at least with good and
the beautiful, there's just somany, um, they don't read.
(27:55):
I don't.
I mean they have readingselections in the book and they
tell you to go read, but it'snot focused on the book.
Okay, and I like how ilma isvery focused on each book that
they read and like they delvedeeper and it's like classic
literature.
It's not all classic, some ofit's modern, but it's not
(28:15):
necessarily something that thegood and the beautiful produces
a lot of their own literature,which is kind of funny.
It's like not something theywrote, necessarily it's.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Yeah, that's interesting.
Now is this is Bostman areligious or secular curriculum?
Speaker 2 (28:32):
It is secular and I mean I like that with science
because I can add what I wantwith religion into it, like I
can like add what we believepersonally with religion into it
, instead of reading somethingwritten out by somebody else.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Yeah, yeah, no, I agree, all right.
Well, I was.
That's all the questions that Ihad for you about the
curriculum.
Was there anything that Ididn't ask, that you wanted to
make sure that you touched uponor think people should know
about?
Speaker 2 (29:03):
like I said, I love the nature focus of it.
We started blossom and rootbecause I was homeschooling
before that, but we started atmy in-laws backyard during 2020
and so it was really peaceful,like connecting with nature
through the curriculum andhaving something to do.
And now that we like live inour own forest and we can learn
(29:24):
about nature using Blossom andRoot, it was just a great start,
like a shift for our homeschool, shifting and focusing more on
the nature.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Yeah, it's nature based and so I love it with our
forest schooling and yeah, Ipicture you just like walking
out your front door and likeliving in a mushroom, like in
the middle of the forest.
Yes, in my head that's what I'menvisioning.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Yeah, we're in the middle of the woods lots of
trees and lots of houses.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
That's so great.
Well, I do invite you to comeback onto the main podcast to
tell us all about yourhomeschooling journey and what
even got you into it and how youincorporate the forestry part
to it.
So hopefully, people willcontinue to listen, but in the
meantime, where can people findyou?
You do have an Instagram pagewhere you kind of chat about
that, right, yeah, so I have theNavu Sun Farms.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
That's kind of our homesteading farm account where
we do a lot of.
We have quail and goats andthat's part of the homeschool
and but I also have I mean thatwould say that's my public
account.
I do have an author account,author Olivia Ryan.
That one's more private.
But yeah, finding me on navusun farms and I try to post more
(30:41):
about our homeschool journey onthe, what we do day to day on
that account with the animalsand with school spell that for
us um n-a-u-v-o-o-s-u-n-f-a-r-mokay, all right.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
And then, yes, you're an author as well.
You've written eight books.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Yeah, I have three children's chapter books.
I grabbed one just to haveright here.
It's just about a detectivebeaver who solves a nutty
mystery.
Yeah, so they're supposed to beeducational.
We have a glossary in the backteaching about North American
mountains and the Victorian era,and I also write clean romance.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
But those are my, I'd say, homeschool educational
books, book, and I'm like and Ilove the process, even just
homeschooling Cause I'll say tomy son, like can I read this to
you and you kind of edit, tellme what you don't like about it?
And I can like just envisionyou doing that with your kids as
(31:45):
you're writing that.
Yeah, Like, what do you thinkabout this?
So cool, All right, Well, Ihope.
Um, you know people check outyour page.
I was looking at it.
It's really fun and informativeand I look forward to chatting
with you further on the mainpodcast about how you got into
homeschooling.
Thank you, Olivia.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
I hope you enjoyed this episode.
Thank you so much for listening.
Please consider sharing thispodcast or my main podcast, the
Homeschool how To with friends,family, on Instagram or in your
favorite homeschool groupFacebook page.
The more this podcast is shared, the longer we can keep it
going and the more hope we havefor the future.
Thank you for your love of thenext generation.
Welcome to the Homeschool How-To Find my
Curriculum, a series where wetalk all about curriculum.
I've been interviewinghomeschooling families for over
a year now on my main podcast,the Homeschool How-To, but I
really wanted to zero in oncurriculum.
There's so much out there.
How do I know what would workbest for me and my child?
How do I know what works forone child would work for the
other?
I might like the curriculum I'musing now, but how do I know
(00:25):
there's not a better one outthere, especially if I don't
know all the curriculums?
And what about supplementalcurriculum?
Should I be using that too?
This series is to help youdecide just that.
I'm going to interview parentswho are using all the
curriculums so that you candecide the absolute best way to
unfold your homeschoolingjourney.
The absolute best way to unfoldyour homeschooling journey.
(00:51):
Welcome everyone With us.
Today I have Olivia Ryan fromMaryland and she's going to talk
to us about Blossom and Root.
Welcome, olivia, thank you forbeing here.
Hi, so I don't know anythingabout Blossom and Root.
I'm really excited to hearabout this curriculum because I
feel like we hear about the samecurriculums kind of all the
time and you don't know if it'sbecause those are really good
(01:12):
curriculums, or if those justhad really good marketing behind
them to become so popular, youknow.
So I'm so excited to talk aboutthis one.
Now, what ages and do you usethis for for your kids?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
So we started with Blossom and Root.
I actually started with mydaughter when she was in first
grade, but then I went back andI used it for my son in
preschool.
So we started in preschool andfirst grade using the curriculum
, but it goes up to fifth, sixthgrade and it covers language
(01:46):
arts, science and nature.
Oh, okay, it gives suggestionsfor other subjects such as, like
, I think, wild math.
Is they like to pair that withblossom and root?
Oh that's interesting, butthey're not the same company,
not the same company, no, butyeah, I've used different parts
(02:09):
of language arts, science andnature over the years.
In some years I kind of mix andmatch with other curriculums,
but I especially love theirpreschool curriculum and their
science and nature.
I didn't use their first gradelanguage arts, or I did use it
(02:30):
once.
I didn't love it though, and Iso I used a different curriculum
for first and second grade,kindergarten through second
grade for language arts, but Ireally love once my daughter got
really solid with reading.
I love their literature withthird grade and up Now language
arts.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Okay, is that just like reading, writing and
spelling?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Reading, writing, grammar they do a little bit of
grammar copywriting.
Each week.
You have a reading selectionand she'll have two journal
entries and she draws about whatshe learns and usually the
first journal entry is somethingto do with the reading, like a
(03:13):
question, and the second journalentry is her favorite part of
the reading and then theyusually play with vocabulary and
write a poem or do somethingcreative with vocabulary in the
reading and then something withcopywork and grammar.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Okay, all right.
So let me break this down alittle bit further, just to like
really drill in.
So you use it for language arts, science and history.
Did you say Nature, nature,nature study, nature study.
Okay, perfect.
So we have like those threethat you and is it one
curriculum that encompasses allthat, or are they three
(03:51):
different books that you need topurchase?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
You can buy the full third grade and you'd get like
all three of those in thirdgrade or fourth grade.
Okay, but you also willseparately buy the science and
nature and use like a differentlanguage arts or something.
Okay, they let you buy languagearts separately or science and
nature separately, or you canbuy the three together Gotcha.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Okay, so that that makes it a little bit clearer.
Now, is this what they callopen and go, or do you have to
like prep beforehand?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I would say third grade on.
My kids are more independentwith language arts, absolutely
open and go Um with science andnature.
There's a little bit of there'sa little bit of prep, because I
I've tried other sciences and Ireally like how this one um,
(04:45):
there's always there'shighlights and main points they
read, and then there's videosthat they watch or books that
they read and I find a lot ofthe books free on YouTube and so
I have to set those videos up.
I pull them up on the computer,read the highlights and then
they just sit down, they watchtheir videos, they write what
(05:06):
they learned, they draw aboutwhat they learned and then I set
up the science experiment.
So I think maybe when she's infourth grade right now, maybe
when she's in fifth grade, she'dbe able to look at that and set
it up herself.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Okay, there's a little prep work with.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
I've taken that step and set it up herself.
But okay, there's a little prepwork with.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
I've taken that step and set it up for her with the
nature and okay.
So the nature and the sciencehave the little bit of prep work
.
Language arts is pretty openand go pretty, yeah, pretty much
open and go.
Okay.
So you talked a little bitabout what the day to day would
look like with the curriculum,with the language arts.
Um, you know as saying that youknow she would have the
passages and and the reading,and actually, well, you kind of
(05:51):
talked about it too when youtalked about the video.
So maybe just break it down forme, like what does a day in
your life look like for yourchildren doing this?
Do you have it where they do acertain subject first and second
and third, and what is it kindof go through?
And like the bird's eye view,looking down.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah.
So with language arts theywould start, they break, they'll
break up the reading for theweek and see how much they need
to read each day and thenusually with Bossman Root, it
gives you a layout of how youcan do it for the week.
So my daughter will usually doa journal entry Monday, a
journal entry Tuesday, thevocabulary on Wednesday and the
(06:37):
copywork and grammar on Thursday.
Third grade on, though I dopair easy grammar with Blossom
and Rooks, I feel like they needmore grammar than that.
I don't feel like there'senough in the curriculum, so she
does a separate grammarworksheet, but I think it still
(06:58):
helps.
It's still an activity she cando with the book that she's
reading, and she's read somereally fun books like wonder and
the secret garden and umalice's adventures in wonderland
, so it.
So she'll do the readingselection and then something
each day that correlates with itand the.
(07:19):
In the curriculum all three, orat least the science and
language arts.
There's 36 weeks and one weekis like one lesson that you
break up for the week.
Okay, so you kind of decide.
It's more open-ended.
It's not like you know the goodand the beautiful, where you
have a lesson a day that'salready broken up for you.
(07:40):
You kind of decide how much youwant to do each day and how you
want to break it up over yourschool week.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
All right, yeah, so that depends on do you teach all
year long, do you take a summerbreak, do you want to do five
days a week, or you know, maybetry to condense it into three or
four.
So that's good to know, allright, so what now?
You're talking about threedifferent ones.
So we'll just say, for thelanguage arts, what, in a
nutshell, do they learn fromlike the beginning of the third
(08:08):
grade year to the end?
Or, you know, what sort ofinformation does it encompass?
Like you talked about reading,like I know that's kind of it's
an open thing, especiallybecause you're talking about
three different subjects.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
It's kind of a large question yeah, well, they, um,
they began like studying themesand literature and like symbols
and literature.
I really.
I mean, I really like how shereads six or seven books for the
whole year, so she really getsto.
And there's there'saccompanying projects,
(08:41):
literature projects.
She can do with them, so shereally goes deep into the
literature on and there's kindof a theme for each year, like
this year, for fourth grade isreally focused on heroes.
So there's everything from likeNorse mythology to just all
sorts of different books.
They do start with I don't know, off the look.
(09:03):
Yeah, no, that's fine, likeLike they have to look.
They start with grammar, I meanlike nouns and verbs and
identifying them and punctuation, capitalization.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
And even for like the science.
What kind of stuff does that?
Are you learning at the thirdgrade level in that year?
Speaker 2 (09:21):
So there's like a different theme each year.
First grade was my son's doingfirst grade right now and it
focuses on like the earth and um, like natural disasters.
And then, um, I can't remember,I can't remember second grade,
but third grade is animal or no.
(09:43):
Second grade's plants, okay,you like study a different plant
every week.
Third grade is animals, likethe animal kingdom.
And fourth grade had we had likephysics and engineering for the
first half of the year and thenshe's doing anatomy, anatomy
and physiology for the secondhalf of the year, like learning
(10:05):
about different parts of thebody and how the systems and
organs work.
So each science year has tofocus on something different.
And again, I love how it's setup because I've tried, I've
tried like Good and theBeautiful Science where, and
they've actually really improvedit I feel like they've made it
more for the right level ofstudent.
(10:27):
Before, like I was trying to doit with a kindergartner and it
was going way over their head.
But I love how, um, the scienceis, like it's suited to your
child's level and becausethere's videos.
Kids love videos, they lovestorybooks.
Even in fourth grade she stillhas like storybooks that she
(10:50):
reads for her science.
I mean more in fourth gradethere is more science videos
like SciShow Kids and like lastyear, she did a lot of like
animal videos of from differentbiologists and things like that.
But I just feel like it's veryengaging.
They're very engaged in thecontent because they're watching
(11:12):
the videos and then they can dothe experiment afterwards.
That kind of helps them behands on with whatever they
learn that week, whereas when Iwas trying to read like a
chapter of science with them, Idon't know, I was totally losing
them.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
When I hear you say experiments, I'm just thinking
of like a lot of work for theadult.
What is an example of anexperiment or two that you've
done?
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Let me look, pull up.
I have it pulled up right here.
Baking soda everywhere Not thatthat's the end of the world but
are they everyday experimentsor once a week?
They're just one for the weekand sometimes we skip it, but
they always one for the outdoorlearners.
They say the table lab, crowdthe crafts and projects families
(12:01):
.
So there's kind of a different.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
I love that yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
So whatever like works for you, like works for
you and some sometimes I don'twant to do any prep and the
experiment is walking outsideand like identifying, like a
certain tree or something orit's, it's or a nature walk or
going walking on the beach.
It's not necessarily a bunch oflike prep work, right.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
With pouring in the what do they call them?
Beaker cups and stuff.
All right, right, that makes ita little bit more like doable,
so that's good, I'm glad I askedNow how do you differentiate
the nature then?
Because it sounds like a lot ofthe science is kind of nature
(12:54):
stuff.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Are they separate?
They try to make the nature,then, because it sounds like a
lot of the science is kind ofnature stuff.
Are they separate?
Uh, they try to make the natureactivities coincide with the
science.
For the year, like with firstgrade, we did um because like it
was what lots of weatherrelated activities.
So she did like a weatherjournal where she went outside
and like, looked at what, whatthe weather was that day and the
(13:17):
temperature, and wrote it downand drew what she saw outside
for the weather.
And she did like a book offirsts where she had to go get a
leaf or something outside andglue it into a book and identify
what the leaf is.
Oh, that's cool.
And then for fourth grade rightnow, with fourth grade, I mean,
I'm trying to make theconnection here Sometimes it's a
(13:39):
little bit more vague becauseshe's doing physics and
engineering and the human bodybut the whole entire science or
sorry, nature this year isfocused on starting a garden, so
it starts in the fall, fall,winter, spring and summer and
all the prep.
So she's learned, you know, shestarted a worm farm and she's
(14:04):
learned just about compostingand soil and seed, seed prep,
and so we're right now we're atthe stage where we're starting
to plant the seedlings, that'scool.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
I learned zero of that in school.
As you're talking, I'm sittinghere trying to go.
Did I learn this stuff inelementary school and just
completely forgot?
Like either I learned it andthey taught it in a way that was
so boring I didn't retain anyof it, or they I don't know what
we did for all these hours Isat in public school.
(14:37):
I don't know any of this stuff,and that's.
That's just so cool.
I love that, especially thegardening.
How long does your day takewhen you're at least for these
three lessons?
I know you talked about havingother curriculums and I'll ask
you again what else you add inat the end of that too.
So how long does all of thistake?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Okay.
So for preschool and they havepreschool for basically age
three, which I usually skip.
Preschool for three-year-oldsit's never been much done, much
for my three-year-old beforefour-year-olds.
I totally do preschool forthree four-year-olds and I'd say
(15:19):
it's only about 30 minutes aday and with the preschool they
have like composer study, wherethey study like composer, like
Beethoven, and then they do afamous artist like, such as
Picasso, and then they do likean art project that focuses on
the artist they're learningabout and it's usually things
that you already have around thehouse and then they do like a
(15:41):
kitchen classroom activity,letter activities and a story or
poetry selection for the weekand you just break this up.
That's preschool the whole week.
Yeah, wow, it's.
It's very like hands-on and notI don't feel like it's
overwhelming, but I guess thatis kind of maybe a lot for a
(16:01):
preschooler.
I love the story, poetryselection.
So we usually there's like alittle like a book we read and
we talk about it.
I think we did like Little BlueTruck or something and you know
, you go outside and play in themud.
I mean I, yeah, I definitelylike the forest school stuff
(16:22):
with preschool, but we did dosome of this not all of it with
preschoolers, just for fun, andit was fun listening to, like
looking at a painting and likelistening to a song and just
talking about it.
But I will say, when I startedBlossom and Root, I went to the
material list.
I bought everything on thematerial list.
(16:44):
I bought all the books it said.
And I've definitely changedsince then.
I just kind of I get things asI go, because you don't always
use 50 toilet paper rolls forwhatever it's asking, you know,
and I like I don't buy everybook.
I like I said you can go to thelibrary or there.
(17:07):
A lot of them are on YouTubewhere someone reads.
I don't even know it's legal,but yeah, they read the story,
yeah the read alouds.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
I do that.
I listen to that all the time.
That's how I listen to johntaylor gatto's uh, dumbing us
down.
A woman reading on youtube Ilove.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
I love that it's on youtube because it's just like
save.
They're just fun to watch andit's just saved so much time and
it's like an easy resource forhomeschooling or any kid.
We've done books as well.
Sometimes the book will be onbooks V-O-O-K-S.
So anyway, preschool takesabout 30 minutes Language arts
(17:44):
with the reading each dayBecause, like I said, I do it.
Third grade on I've usedsomething else for first and
second grade.
I'd say it's about 30, 45minutes for language arts, just
the language arts, just thelanguage arts.
Probably more like 30 minutes aday with her getting up to even
fourth grade.
(18:04):
Probably about 30 minutes.
Science we actually do it allin one day because I try to do
um, because I'm in maryland, wehave subject requirements, so we
do science on monday, historyand art on tuesday and thursday
and health on wednesday, so I doall of the science in one day
(18:27):
and so it's about an hour, 30minutes to an hour, depending on
how many videos um is on thesuggested list yeah, that's a
neat idea yeah, I've always.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
I'm just, I'm a minimalist, I feel like, and I
just want to just do it one daywell, yeah, and then you're not
shifting their like way ofthinking, like, okay, we're
supposed to be like discoveringthings right now and now we're
supposed to learn about lettersand writing.
You know, I can understand why.
Maybe it makes more sense if itonly takes an hour to just kind
(19:00):
of do and a lot of it is likevideo watching to do that in one
day, that's a cool idea.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Yeah, I feel like it uncomplicates things.
I feel like it'd be harder todo a little bit of something
every day.
I mean, we're doing that withlanguage arts but with yeah,
with science it's, we just do itin one day.
And then nature about 30minutes, depending on what
they're doing.
They've made like a bug hotelit's.
Usually they are sent outside.
Sometimes they need to gooutside and use their five
(19:27):
senses and there's like a naturejournal where they come in and
write about it.
I really believe that spendingtime in nature is something you
can enjoy your entire life.
If you can identify birds andtrees, it's something like very
peaceful and calming that canyou can enjoy your entire life
(19:48):
and I think should be part ofschool curriculums and kids
should get I we're part of thewhole 1000 hours outside, fun
movement and try to spend lotsof time outside.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Yeah, and I didn't grow up that way.
And even moving into this housein upstate New York where, you
know, my husband owned it beforeand I'm like, oh my gosh, you
can't even get internet out hereLike this is insane.
And I was like spring bug sprayspray like all over the house
(20:19):
to kill every bug when I firstmoved in.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
And then now, like 10 years later, I'm like let's put
up some bee homes, bring thebees back yeah, I've had to
adjust living in the forestspiders like I used to just
scream when I'd see a spider andnow I can seriously look at a
(20:42):
really big spider and be likethank you for your service.
Those nasty mosquitoes as longas it's not in the house.
But I've walked outside andjust seen really big spiders and
we still I mean, we'll stilltry to spray around the house so
they'll not come inside, butwe've had some fun.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Oh, that's so funny, but I yeah, it's so important
that kids learn the because andand that's why I had no
appreciation for it.
I didn't know, like, what gooda spider could do, or you know
the birds, just even that wehave turkey vultures that live
in the tree outside our houseand like how they clean up
roadkill or you know all deadanimals, and just it's so
(21:25):
beautiful how it all like fitsin.
I love it.
Do you remember how much thesecurriculum costs off hand?
If you don't, that's fine.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
No, I I think for everything, if you bought all
three no-transcript paper.
(22:05):
I didn't know about that.
I think the homeschool printingcompany is one of them and
they'll just print and bind yourbook and it's like a fraction
of the cost compared to likegoing to FedEx or something.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Could you also like take it to your local library I
don't know how either by emailor USB or something, and have
your library printed out.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Oh, probably I haven't tried that.
But yeah, my library is like Idon't know.
I think order a print orsomething.
I can't remember.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Oh, okay, so it might add up All right.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
So it sounds like the website is the best, the
cheapest route.
Yeah, doing like a homeschoolprinting website, and I just do
the like what they need for thescience notebook, the language
arts notebook and the naturenotebook, what they need to
write in, and then I use mycomputer to read, like the
highlights for science, and setup the videos and okay.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
I don't print a higher curriculum so now do you
think your kids enjoy thiscurriculum?
Speaker 2 (23:07):
yeah, I do, I do.
I think they really enjoy it.
My daughter loves the readingselections and my.
They both love science.
My daughter and son love thescience.
Um, I think it's good for thembecause they both love to draw
and they're able to.
I guess it's less I don't knowit's less regurgitating than
(23:30):
maybe other curriculums with,say, like a test afterwards,
because they are just writingwhat they learned, drawing about
it and then applying it withthe experiment okay, so they all
kind of intertwine and connectyeah, so I do like that.
But I guess you you have to like, look back.
(23:52):
You can't just, I mean, with aworksheet.
You can look at a worksheet andsay, okay, this is what they
learned from today.
You know, I have to look at.
Okay, what did they write about?
What did they glean from thisvideo, like what stuck out to
them and what's important forthem to know before we go on to
next week right, and then so canyou do this with multiple kids
(24:15):
at the same time?
Speaker 1 (24:16):
you think it sounds like you could if you had
separate writing sheets.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Yeah, and I have thought about that.
It's because, like my daughter,like I said, is in fourth grade
and my son's in first I couldif she I feel like if she hadn't
already done all these sciencesI could have just had them sit
and do it together and I guess Icould have had him jump forward
(24:40):
and do whatever science she'sdoing and then go back to the
other ones, because they don'tnecessarily build on each other,
like you could learn aboutanimals before you learn about
plants.
But I think you definitelycould, if you had kids in
different grade levels, do thescience and nature, because
we've already for nature thisyear.
(25:02):
It's like we already did a lotof the nature activities and I
let him, when he was younger,participate in those.
So I focused less on the firstgrade nature this year and
focused more on the garden forboth of them.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Now you said that you use a different curriculum for
first and second grade.
Can I ask which one you use?
Speaker 2 (25:21):
The good and the beautiful.
I like it's.
It's not for every kid, it'sdefinitely more prescriptive.
I think it's more basicallywhat you get at public school,
butchool kind of situation.
But my son I just I believe youdo whatever's right for your
(25:44):
kid and he did really well withthe preschool books and learned
to read.
I don't think, like I said,it's the best reading curriculum
.
I think there I I kind of wishI hadn't used it for my daughter
because I didn't like no, youknow, it's the best reading
curriculum.
I think there I I kind of wishI hadn't used it for my daughter
because I didn't like no, youknow, that's where we started.
We started homeschooling whenshe was in preschool and we just
(26:06):
did the good and the beautiful,like you said, cause that's
what everyone did and it reallydidn't work for her with
learning to read like it did.
But it didn't.
But it did work for him, forhim and so for him I just stuck
with it through second gradebecause he's learning to read
really well with it.
But with her we actuallystopped the good and the
(26:29):
beautiful after kindergartenbecause I felt like it was just
not working for her and we didblossom and root instead,
language arts.
That, and then I feel likedoing the first, the second
grade Good and the Beautifulkind of got her to the level I
wanted her to be at, to whereshe could go back to Blossom and
Root and be at the readinglevel she needed to be to read
(26:50):
this huge stack of books forthird grade with Blossom and
Root and be able to keep up withit and be able to keep up with
it.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Well, I'm glad it worked out, but it just is a
testament to how you knowsomething that didn't work for
your daughter did work for yourson.
Like, every kid is different,even within the same family, and
that's why I wanted to startthis curriculum series, because
it's like, how do you know whatone to pick when you don't know
what each one is really about,like what what's inside of them
(27:17):
and what the learning style is?
So that's super helpful for youto be able to explain all that
to us today.
So you are going to continuethis curriculum with your son as
as he goes through yeah, Idefinitely with the science and
third grade.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
I'll start him with the blossom and root, third
grade and he'll read the booksthat she read and I'll already
have it.
But I, yeah, I like how it'sheavily literature focused.
I like because I feel like I'venoticed, at least with good and
the beautiful, there's just somany, um, they don't read.
(27:55):
I don't.
I mean they have readingselections in the book and they
tell you to go read, but it'snot focused on the book.
Okay, and I like how ilma isvery focused on each book that
they read and like they delvedeeper and it's like classic
literature.
It's not all classic, some ofit's modern, but it's not
(28:15):
necessarily something that thegood and the beautiful produces
a lot of their own literature,which is kind of funny.
It's like not something theywrote, necessarily it's.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Yeah, that's interesting.
Now is this is Bostman areligious or secular curriculum?
Speaker 2 (28:32):
It is secular and I mean I like that with science
because I can add what I wantwith religion into it, like I
can like add what we believepersonally with religion into it
, instead of reading somethingwritten out by somebody else.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Yeah, yeah, no, I agree, all right.
Well, I was.
That's all the questions that Ihad for you about the
curriculum.
Was there anything that Ididn't ask, that you wanted to
make sure that you touched uponor think people should know
about?
Speaker 2 (29:03):
like I said, I love the nature focus of it.
We started blossom and rootbecause I was homeschooling
before that, but we started atmy in-laws backyard during 2020
and so it was really peaceful,like connecting with nature
through the curriculum andhaving something to do.
And now that we like live inour own forest and we can learn
(29:24):
about nature using Blossom andRoot, it was just a great start,
like a shift for our homeschool, shifting and focusing more on
the nature.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Yeah, it's nature based and so I love it with our
forest schooling and yeah, Ipicture you just like walking
out your front door and likeliving in a mushroom, like in
the middle of the forest.
Yes, in my head that's what I'menvisioning.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Yeah, we're in the middle of the woods lots of
trees and lots of houses.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
That's so great.
Well, I do invite you to comeback onto the main podcast to
tell us all about yourhomeschooling journey and what
even got you into it and how youincorporate the forestry part
to it.
So hopefully, people willcontinue to listen, but in the
meantime, where can people findyou?
You do have an Instagram pagewhere you kind of chat about
that, right, yeah, so I have theNavu Sun Farms.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
That's kind of our homesteading farm account where
we do a lot of.
We have quail and goats andthat's part of the homeschool
and but I also have I mean thatwould say that's my public
account.
I do have an author account,author Olivia Ryan.
That one's more private.
But yeah, finding me on navusun farms and I try to post more
(30:41):
about our homeschool journey onthe, what we do day to day on
that account with the animalsand with school spell that for
us um n-a-u-v-o-o-s-u-n-f-a-r-mokay, all right.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
And then, yes, you're an author as well.
You've written eight books.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Yeah, I have three children's chapter books.
I grabbed one just to haveright here.
It's just about a detectivebeaver who solves a nutty
mystery.
Yeah, so they're supposed to beeducational.
We have a glossary in the backteaching about North American
mountains and the Victorian era,and I also write clean romance.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
But those are my, I'd say, homeschool educational
books, book, and I'm like and Ilove the process, even just
homeschooling Cause I'll say tomy son, like can I read this to
you and you kind of edit, tellme what you don't like about it?
And I can like just envisionyou doing that with your kids as
(31:45):
you're writing that.
Yeah, Like, what do you thinkabout this?
So cool, All right, Well, Ihope.
Um, you know people check outyour page.
I was looking at it.
It's really fun and informativeand I look forward to chatting
with you further on the mainpodcast about how you got into
homeschooling.
Thank you, Olivia.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
I hope you enjoyed this episode.
Thank you so much for listening.
Please consider sharing thispodcast or my main podcast, the
Homeschool how To with friends,family, on Instagram or in your
favorite homeschool groupFacebook page.
The more this podcast is shared, the longer we can keep it
going and the more hope we havefor the future.
Thank you for your love of thenext generation.
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