Homeschool Coffee Break

What if one simple daily habit this summer could reduce screen battles, spark meaningful conversations, and build your child's character — all at the same time? Summer reading activities do not have to be complicated to be powerful.This episode shows how 10 minutes a day of read alouds can transform your summer into something your kids actually remember . . . with practical ideas for every age from elementary all the way through high school:✅Why read alouds are the single most powerful summer reading activity you can do✅Age-by-age ideas for elementary, middle school, and high school that actually work✅How one question after any chapter sparks real conversations without any pressure✅Simple hands-on activities that pair perfectly with any book your family is reading✅Why stopping read alouds when kids can read on their own is one of the biggest homeschool mistakes✅Why 10 consistent minutes beats any elaborate summer learning plan every timeGrab the FREE Read Aloud Magic and start your summer reading activities this week.Resources for YouRead Aloud Magic (free resource — favorite read aloud books, tips, and ideas, linked in show notes) Show Notes:One Simple Summer Habit That Does More Than Any CurriculumWhat if I told you there is one simple habit this summer that could reduce screen battles, build family relationships, improve reading skills, spark meaningful conversations, and create memories your kids remember for years? It doesn't require expensive curriculum, elaborate lesson plans, or hours of preparation.Many homeschool moms during the summer are thinking — should we keep schooling? What if they forget something? Do I have enough time to take a break? What if summer learning could feel more like family connection and less like school?Summer is the perfect time to shift from worksheets to stories, from checklists to conversations, and from assignments to curiosity.The One Habit: Read AloudsRead alouds give you so much more than just reading. They give you leadership. They give you learning. They give you character development. They give you family bonding and family conversation. And best of all, one book can work for many ages.I still remember when Steve was reading the Little Bridges series to our kids. We were driving in our giant van and all of a sudden the kids started talking about how that grandpa in the story was so crotchety. They said they'd never want their grandpa to act like that. Did I ask them questions? Did I give them a multiple-choice test? No. They had been so involved in the story that they were comparing the grandpa's character to their own grandpa's. That is family bonding, character development, and family conversation — all happening naturally.How to Get Started This WeekIf you are not reading aloud, especially in the summer when things slow down, I want to challenge you to pick a book today or tomorrow and start reading 10 minutes a day. Before breakfast, after breakfast, before bed, during lunch while the kids are eating and you have their full attention.Don't overthink it. Consistency matters more than length. It is better to do 10 minutes every single day this summer than to do 30 minutes today and then nothing for five days. Schedule it. Put it on your calendar so it actually happens.What C.S. Lewis Knew About Stories and ImaginationC.S. Lewis lost his mother when he was very young, and books became a refuge for him. He spent countless hours in mythology, fairy tales, and classic literature. That imagination was what inspired the Chronicles of Narnia, Mere Christianity, and The Screwtape Letters.He said — reason is the natural organ of truth, but imagination is the organ of meaning. He believed this is where children grasp meaning. Through stories, children encounter courage, sacrifice, honesty, loyalty, and faith before they are even able to explain those things. Read alouds feed both the mind and the heart. They do more than teach reading skills. They shape your kids' imagination, character, and faith.Too often when we start school, we squash that imagination — sit down, do a bunch of workbooks, read this short story and answer these questions. That is not education. We need to protect curiosity and imagination. How did we get to where we are with technology and creativity? Because someone had imagination. And a lot of times that starts with really good books.Summer Reading Activities for Elementary AgesFor elementary-aged kids, focus on wonder, curiosity, and family connection. Picture books, chapter books, family read alouds are all great places to start. Read under a tree. Go up in a backyard fort. Spread out a blanket at the park. Read during popsicle time. Build a blanket fort and read underneath it. Listen to audiobooks in the car.Make it fun. Draw your favorite characters. Create a craft related to the story. Act out scenes. Create a treasure hunt based on a book.Laura Ingalls Wilder's mother Caroline was a certified school teacher who believed in education and literacy as essential, not optional. Even during the difficult frontier years, no matter where they lived, she prioritized teaching her children to read. And those family experiences became the inspiration for the entire Little House series.What if you read Little House in the Big Woods this summer? Make homemade butter. Learn a pioneer chore. Cook over a fire. Compare pioneer life to modern life. Easy, fun, and meaningful — not just reading and writing.Summer Reading Activities for Middle SchoolMiddle schoolers often become passionate about specific topics. Right now my 11-year-old is into history and has been reading historical fiction. Maybe your kids are into horses, planes, ancient history, missions, nature, or sports.Let your child pick the topic — not you. They will be so much more interested. Then let them read three kinds of books on that topic — a fiction book, a biography, and a nonfiction. For Hunter, that looked like a fictional baseball story, a biography of Derek Jeter, and a book on the science and math of baseball.Ask one question after reading each day — what surprised you? What would you like to learn more about? What would you have done differently in that story? Then maybe do one extra activity. Watch a documentary, go to a museum, cook a related meal, build a model.These things develop critical thinking skills, ownership, and independent learning. I didn't want my kids to always have to do everything a teacher told them. I wanted them to think for themselves, plan for themselves, and make choices for themselves.Summer Reading Activities for High SchoolMany moms stop reading aloud when their kids can read on their own. Big mistake. Many stop in high school. Even bigger mistake. Teens still need discussion. They still need to develop their listening skills. They need exposure to great ideas. And they still need family connection.We still read aloud in the morning, and Steve would read to them several evenings a week. For older kids, try a Christian biography, a mission story, historical fiction, great literature, the classics, or an apologetics book. Don't be afraid of a classic just because the vocabulary feels heavy — the ideas are worth it.Ask questions like — what character stood out today? What would you have done in that person's place? How does this compare to Scripture? What leadership lesson do you see? Choose one biography or one classic and read it together, then discuss it once a week. Over ice cream. At a coffee shop. On an evening walk. Keep it simple.Bringing It All TogetherPair your read alouds with simple summer experiences. If you're reading about Harriet Tubman, go outside at night and look at the North Star — she followed it to guide enslaved people to freedom. If you're reading about a historical time period, bake something from that era.Just last week we were reading Why Don't You Get a Horse, Sam Adams? and we made Johnny Cakes for breakfast — which we found out are actually called journey cakes because you could take them on a long journey and they wouldn't go bad. She was telling her dad all about it when he got home that evening. That is learning that sticks.Summer becomes intentional, relational, and memorable — not just educational.You don't have to recreate school. You don't need elaborate plans or expensive curriculum. One book. One conversation. One family read aloud can inspire a love of learning. And inspiring a love of learning? That's the easiest thing read alouds do.To help you get started, grab my free Read Aloud Magic resource in the show notes. It has 20 to 30 of our family's favorite read aloud books, tips for how to run read alouds, and simple ideas for turning books into meaningful family learning experiences — no workbook required.Will you take the read aloud challenge this summer? Start this week — just 10 minutes a day. That's all it takes.

What do you do when you're walking with God but your spouse isn't? Erin Cox shares her powerful testimony of marriage restoration that started in a living room encounter with Jesus and led to a complete transformation of her family.✅ Why "Christianese" was actually pushing her atheist husband further away ✅The 1 book that changed how she loved her unbelieving spouse ✅ How 1 Peter 3 became her daily prayer strategy ✅The moment the Holy Spirit told her exactly what to say after years of silence ✅ Why God can save anyone—even in a living room with no one else aroundReady to discover hope for your marriage?Grab the resources mentioned in this episode below!Resources MentionedGet your FREE Basic Pass to Life Skills Leadership Summit 2026 to give you confidence that your kids will be ready for adult life: https://HowToHomeschoolMyChild.com/lsls26I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, by Norman GeislerSacred Influence, by Gary ThomasErin Cox is a seasoned homeschooling mom of four, ranging from elementary age to young adult. Alongside her husband Danny, she serves over 100,000 homeschool families through publishing Charlotte Mason and Classical education curricula, all from their homestead in central Alabama. When Erin isn’t wrangling sheep, Australian shepherds, two rambunctious boys, or her energetic grandbaby, she enjoys audiobooks, podcasts, and the occasional quiet moment with embroidery. Connect with her at ShopGentleClassical.com and LifeAbundantlyBlog.com. You can find her on Instagram and Facebook.

Thirty years ago, we never imagined we'd be navigating conversations about gender identity and sexuality with our children, but here we are. In this powerful conversation, Dannah Gresh from Pure Freedom Ministries shares biblical wisdom and practical tools to help you confidently guide your kids through today's confusing culture.In this episode, you'll discover:✅Three key Bible passages every child needs to understand about their body and identity before the world tells them lies✅How to have age-appropriate conversations about gender and sexuality without robbing your children of their innocence✅The critical difference between accepting and affirming when someone you love is walking through gender confusion✅Why your child's maleness or femaleness is directly connected to reflecting God's image in the world✅Practical strategies for responding with both truth and compassion when your kids encounter gender ideology at school or onlineReady to equip yourself with biblical truth? Grab the resources Dannah mentions in this episode to start these important conversations with confidence.Get your FREE Basic Pass to Life Skills Leadership Summit 2026 to give you confidence that your kids will be ready for adult life: https://HowToHomeschoolMyChild.com/lsls26Resources Mentioned:It’s Great to Be a GirlLies Girls BelieveLies Girls Believe Mom’s GuideLies Young Women BelieveLies Women BelieveIt’s Great to Be a BoyLies Boys BelieveLies Men BelieveDannah Gresh is the founder of True Girl, a ministry dedicated to providing tools to help moms and grandmas disciple their 7–12-year-old girls. She is the co-host of Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth’s Revive Our Hearts podcast and Revive Our Hearts Weekend. She has authored over twenty-eight books, including a Bible study for adult women based on the book of Habakkuk. Dannah and her husband, Bob, have just released a new book and limited-series podcast called Happily Even After which tells their marriage redemption story. They live on a hobby farm in central Pennsylvania.Show Notes: Introduction: A Topic We Never Imagined FacingKerry: Well hey everyone, Kerry back here with Life Skills Leadership Summit. Today I'm excited—not because of the topic, because it's a really difficult topic on sexuality and gender—but Dannah Gresh, I've just gotten to know her from a distance through podcasts and Revive Our Hearts and reading one of her books as well. But I do know that she has got a lot to say on this issue. So Dannah, thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate it.Dannah: Oh, I am so honored and delighted. Thank you for having me.Kerry: So before we get started, let me just pray for us and we'll let God guide this conversation.Father in Heaven, thank you. Thank you for today. Thank you for Zoom. Thank you that we can have a conversation and we can share it with many, many people. We thank you that you are sovereign, that you're the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and we can rest in that no matter what's going on around us. And there's a lot of mess going on around us, but we can have our hope in Jesus.We just thank you for Jesus and the bond that we have in Him through the blood that He shed for us. I thank you for Dannah being here. I pray that the things that you want said will be spoken through this conversation, that you will be glorified, and that the ones that are listening, you will just really touch their hearts and show them what types of practical steps or spending more time in the Word—whatever you want them to do—and just to be led by the Holy Spirit. We pray all these things in Jesus' powerful name, amen.Dannah: Amen.About Pure Freedom Ministries and PartnershipKerry: Okay, for those of you that don't know, Dannah has Pure Freedom Ministries and this has two parts: True Girl and Born to Be Brave. By the time y'all listen to this, you probably already heard one of my kickoffs because we do one on Sunday night before the whole week and I'll explain it.But they are our organization that we are supporting through this Summit. So we'll take the profits that we make on anyone that upgrades from free to VIP. If you upgrade to VIP, 5% of our profits will go to this organization. And then some of our speakers—you've probably heard about the ones that have chosen to—if they decide to donate 5% of their commissions, then I will match that 5% as well.So hopefully, you know, that will be just a little way that y'all can support what Dannah and her team are doing. So I just want to make sure everyone understands that before we get going.Dannah: What a blessing. Thank you so much.Dannah's Story: From Teenager to Ministry LeaderKerry: Well, let's before we start this topic, can you just tell people a little bit about yourself?Dannah: Sure. Well, I love Jesus first and foremost, and He is the best part of everything about my life. I came to know Him when I was a really little girl through Child Evangelism Fellowship five-day clubs. I just love Child Evangelism Fellowship to this day because I remember that moment when I surrendered my heart and my life to Jesus. So precious.But fast forward—at the age of 15, I was a teacher for Child Evangelism Fellowship. I was teaching Sunday school in my church to three-year-olds, and I loved the Lord like crazy. But I was in a Christian dating relationship and was blindsided by sexual temptation.I just thought that was not possible in my life because I loved the Lord so much. And it became this great shame and this great heartache of my life until I was about 26. I just really understood that even though it had been so long since I'd experienced that sin and chosen that sin, I hadn't really received the redemption and the freedom that Christ died to give me.When I did, my life changed. And I had to get out my megaphone—my proverbial megaphone—and tell teenage girls. And then as I was doing that, ministry just kind of exploded.I was praying, "Lord, let me graduate to college girls and adult women." And the Lord said, "What about my little women? What about my 10-year-olds and what about my 9-year-olds and what about my 8-year-olds?"I was like, "Lord, that's really great. Somebody needs to do children's ministry, but what about me graduating from high school girls to the older women?" And He was persistent. The Lord just kept opening doors.Before we knew it, we really are one of the largest ministries that takes biblical truth to 8 to 12-year-old girls. And now we have boys—we just added them in the last few years—through live events, box subscriptions, Bible studies, online Bible studies, at-home Bible studies with mom. We want to put mom in the driver's seat. We believe that's what God's Word says—that mom and dad belong in the driver's seat of a child's moral development.Now we fast forward to this year. We live in a time and a day and age when the government and a lot of different political entities believe that parents aren't equipped to make moral decisions about their children. Well, we still believe they are.And now I understand why the Lord has put us in this critical position. One of the things we've done really well through the years is take whatever the difficult issues of the day are—when we started, that was AIDS—and we look at it through a biblical lens.Today, that biblical lens that we look through, we're looking at the issue mostly of gender and identity. And when you think about how do we talk to an 8-year-old about that biblically without robbing them of their innocence, and also just the depression and anxiety these kids are at the tip of the spear...Teens have long been at the tip of the spear, but the enemy has moved the line backward. And now it's those 8 to 12-year-olds that really are having to grapple with things that their little hearts and minds aren't ready for. But we know how to do that in a way that's safe and biblical and most importantly keeps mom and dad in the driver's seat.The Trends We're Seeing in Gender IdentityKerry: That is so good. And I know I'm on y'all's True Girl mailing list, and so they have things and I have downloaded a few things just to find out exactly what they are. I'm giving my daughter some of y'all's books as well. I think it's the Lies Young Girls Believe, something like that. I'm not quite sure what it was.But I do have to tell you, all of a sudden I have one more connection with you because I grew up with Child Evangelism Fellowship and I became a believer at a Good News Club. I started, went to their CEF training as a teenager, and then we did the five-day clubs in Houston. So I was like, oh wow, that's so interesting. Small world.Dannah: They are a fruitful ministry. Look at us—we're passing, we're the fruit, we're passing on fruit. We're the fruit of their fruit.Kerry: My parents, they're in their 70s and 80s, and a while back they would lead Good News Clubs in the public school for like five years. They're still going on with it and all. So I love it. It does work.So okay, so we are in a just a strange time. And if you had asked us 30 years ago, we'd be going, "No way, we wouldn't be dealing with these issues." So what kind of trends are you seeing right now when it comes to gender identity and sexuality?Dannah: Well, you know, I would say heterosexual is definitely not in style. And what we see is a lot of teens claiming to be pansexual, where they're just willing to erase anything that has a baseline of truth to it and embrace everything. Basically, is what pansexuality is.A lot of teens in terms of gender are saying they're non-binary. That's just what's in style right now. And you might say, "Well, but there really is a problem. There are some kids that definitely struggle with gender dysphoria."Absolutely, that's true. Historically, we've known for decades that children—a very, very small percentage of them—are born with things like Klinefelter syndrome, fragile X syndrome. These are syndromes like Down syndrome where there are chromosomal abnormalities in that child's body.And the parents and the physicians have to work together to decide, how are we going to raise this child? Most cases, they can take a blood test and they can determine this child is clearly male or clearly female. But we have some issues that we're going to have to deal with because of these syndromes.But in most cases, they can really figure out what's happening there. And so that's the good news. But I think it's an important thing for us that we have to be compassionate because for some people that you meet on the street that you're not quite sure—are they male or female?—that's not a choice. It was something that they were born with. That's very difficult and painful. So we have to be careful.But on the other end of the spectrum, what we're seeing right now is—well, let me explain it this way. In about the year 2011, there was a shift from transgenderism being predominantly a male problem to now, it is today predominantly female. You see more teenage females transitioning than males.So the intellectually honest sociologists will say, "What happened to make that really dramatic shift happen?"And I think probably the person that's been bravest about it is a woman named Abigail Shrier. She's a journalist, not a believer as far as I know, conservative though, and yet very intellectually honest. Some parents kept writing to her and saying, "We need somebody to research this."And she brought together some of the bravest sociologists, some of the bravest intellectually honest ones. And what they found was clusters of girls transitioning. So in other words, a school district or a school or a city was seeing a lot of girls transitioning, and there were pops of this all over the United States.Now if this were a more intellectually honest occurrence, you would have seen it happening more evenly over the culture. But that's not the case. What's happening is cluster contagion. And that's what we're calling it now, which basically is peer pressure causing girls to say, "I don't feel comfortable in my body."Now let me remind you, there aren't very many of us that felt super comfortable in our body in seventh grade. But we weren't having somebody sit there next to us and telling us that might be because you're not really a girl.So I guess what we're seeing is a lot of confusion. Majority of what we're seeing is mass confusion that we need to prepare our children for and that we need to speak into truthfully. But we can't forget the compassion because there's a sliver of people struggling right now where this really is a deeply painful thing and not something that they chose.Why This Topic Is Critical Right NowKerry: That is something. So I mean, to me it seems pretty obvious, but why do you think this topic is so important right now?Dannah: Well, it's—let me say, take that from two angles. One reason it's important is because your children are being lied to, and we need to speak truth into their hearts and into their minds. We have to put so much truth into them that there's not room for the world's lies.When they see or hear a counterfeit, they immediately know, "That's not what I learned from God's Word. That's not what I learned from my parents whom I trust to be true." And they come to you and they say, "Hey, I just heard this." And you help—might not know the answers, but you help them figure out.But here's why I think it's really important, and this is why it's been important since the beginning of time. In Genesis 1:26 and 27-28, in that chapter we see God saying that He's made us in His image. And then He could have listed almost anything about us that would have made us like Him—our language proficiency, our ability to compose sonnets, our creativity, the fact that we would figure out how to defy gravity and fly to the moon. All these things about us are so God-like. Our even our emotions—animals are emotive, but not to the degree that we are.And yet God says one thing: "In the image of God He created them, male and female He created them."Our maleness and our femaleness is a distinct part of representing the image of God on this lost world. That's why it matters more than anything. And that's what our children need to know more than anything.How Parents Can Communicate God's TruthKerry: That is so good. I mean, it really is. We need to—and I love what y'all do is always going back to the Bible, you know. And this is a Christian conference. There's plenty of things out there for parents, but we want to make sure we're always going back to the Bible.So what are some things that parents could do? Like you want them to—one of the things that I know I've heard you say many times, we need to speak truth to our soul, but first we have to teach our kids what the truth is. How can parents communicate God's truth in regards to gender and sexuality and identity?Dannah: Well, I obviously encourage them to get them in the Word and some of these key passages that talk about our bodies. And I basically have three key passages that I think our kids need to study about this. I write about them in It's Great to Be a Girl. My husband and one of his co-authors writes about them in It's Great to Be a Guy. That's for kids aged 8 to 12, somewhere in that range.First one is in the book of 1 Corinthians. It says that our bodies exist to glorify God. That the purpose of our body is to glorify God. You know, we get really sidetracked and we think our bodies are for us to feel good, for us to feel pleasure, for us to look good and be this just vision of beauty or handsomeness, whatever it is.Our bodies were created to glorify God. That's why they exist—to showcase Him, to give honor to Him. That's why we dress carefully and tastefully and modestly. That's why we use language that's becoming and careful. That's why we don't get into the dark.I'm always concerned when we get into really dark-looking countenance and clothings and styles because Jesus is light and He is love and He is joy, and we want our countenance to reflect that. But my body doesn't exist for Dannah. My body exists for God.Then the second thing is the one I just mentioned earlier: Genesis 1:26 and 27, that the purpose of my body—how I glorify God—is as a female or male image-bearer. Because glorifying Him—I like to say that the moon glorifies the sun, okay? The moon doesn't have any light of its own, but it reflects the light of the sun, and that's why we have a full moon. They're so beautiful.Well, in the same way, we have to look like God. That's what glorifying Him means. And Genesis 1:26-27 says we do that best in the defined roles, the binary roles of maleness and femaleness. So they matter. They're important.And then the other verse that I think is really important is in Romans 12:1 and 2. It says, "I beg you brothers, by the mercy of God, that you present your body as a living sacrifice."So when my body, which was created to glorify God, doesn't feel like glorifying God as a female image-bearer of God, it becomes a sacrifice to God because I choose to live sacrificially according to the purpose of my body as a female image-bearer.Now I don't know that those are the only passages that your children need to get into, but those are three of the big ones that they need to memorize, dissect, be familiar with, understand. And that's going to give them more than studying all the counterfeits. That's going to give them the fuel they need for the conversations that are going to come up in their lives at one point or another.Age-Appropriate Conversations About TruthKerry: That's so good. Because we don't know what's going to happen in 20 years, you know, and what things they're going to need to know.When you think about even these three passages or talking about truth at different ages, because you've talked about 8 to 12 and then we've got teenagers, would you approach them differently or do you have any suggestions about that?Dannah: Well, with teens, of course, I'm going to be a lot more forthright. Although more and more—we just had a mom communicate with us that her child is attending a private school, not a Christian school but a private school. And just this year, the daughter came home and said, "Hey, we have Teacher X teaching at our school." And I'm not going to say the name. And it's not Mr. X or Mrs. X, it's Teacher X.And of course this mom said, "Well, do you know if Teacher X is male or female?" And she kind of said, "Well, this is what I think, but that's probably—they're trying not to look that way." So there's obviously some gender confusion there.What was really interesting is that when they have a student teacher, this parent had previously gotten a letter that said, "This is the teacher, this is what you need to know about them, I want to introduce them to you, they'll be starting on this date, they'll be ending on this date." In this case, that didn't happen.So that child is in about fifth grade. So we're not—and I've heard in my own school district of kindergarteners who are being told, "You get to pick your pronoun in my class. Maybe you weren't allowed that opportunity at home, but in my class you get to choose what you are, who you are."And so more and more we are having to have more of a conversation that we want, especially if we've chosen for our children not to be homeschooled or not to be in a space where their teaching is governed by truth. And that's not you, but it may be your friends, and it may be someone you're conversing with or having coffee with, you know, needs to know—hey, some crazy stuff is happening in some of these schools.And they don't believe it until it hits them. And then that's how this mom was. She's like, "I heard about it in California and I heard about it in this state and that state, but my state?" Yes, your state.So I think it's really important that we let them drive the questions though. So at high school we maybe are being, you know, we're talking about transgenderism, we're talking about all the different language that is used—the LGBTQ+, non-binary, binary, pansexuality.Mom, dad, you got to do some vocabulary work on this one. You've got to know the words, and that's going to help build your credibility. If you have a child who has been exposed, if you don't know a word, just say, "I'm not really sure what pansexuality is. Let's look it up and learn together, and then we're going to go to God's Word and figure out what He says about it."But when you're under, I would say 12 years old, I would just stick to God's truth. And what you're going to find, and what we have found as we have taken moms and daughters through It's Great to Be a Girl online Bible study or It's Great to Be a Guy online Bible study, is that studying it in the Bible and having mom and dad sitting there talking with you about it brings up the questions.They'll say, "I heard that so-and-so down the street has two dads," or "I heard that this friend at church has a brother who's becoming a sister." And you have the opportunity then to talk to them about that stuff.But I really like to let them drive that rather than us introducing things. And there's such a fine line there. And what I want to say is we don't—we have to be very careful about being afraid of the topic of sex because God isn't. He's not afraid of the topic, and we don't need to be afraid of it.But there are developmental phases where our children are more ready for some of these things than others. And if you can delay some of these conversations until they are developmentally ready, I think that's wise.The Importance of Reclaiming Biblical SexualityKerry: I think that's really good. And I appreciate you saying that we need to talk to them about sexuality more than just what sex is or how do we have kids, that type of thing. Because I know I heard on one of y'all's podcasts, you know, if we don't reclaim the sexuality and what's going on, the world is going to take over, which is what it's doing. And the church really does need to understand it. And if moms and dads don't, they need to do some research and stuff.Dannah: Well, and Ephesians 5:31 and 32 says, "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." And then it's almost like the Apostle Paul has ADHD or something. Because it's like he changes the subject. He says, "I'm really talking about Christ and the church."And this verse probably more than any other in Scripture tells us that marriage is meant to be a picture of the love Christ has for His bride, the church. But you can see that taught from Genesis to Revelation. It's a very important picture in the body of Christ.And if we do not wake up to really protect and defend that picture, we're going to wake up one day to see the gospel completely marginalized—not just marriage, but the gospel.And I guess my question for all of us is: if sex and marriage really does represent the love of Christ, the gospel, how motivated is Satan to see that picture destroyed in our lives, in the lives of our children? We have to be vigilant. We have to be informed. And we have to be so full of grace for those moments when we mess up or our kids mess up.Navigating With Grace and CompassionKerry: Yeah. And I think you just said that—I was coughing—grace and patience. Because you're talking about having compassion for these people that are really dealing with issues. And I think sometimes the church gets so, "Oh my goodness, look at them, they have children that are homosexuals or whatever."And yet we—I mean, no, we don't tolerate—I mean there's a blend between tolerating, but we also need to show grace at times because the compassion of God is what draws people back. The kindness and stuff. Would you have anything to say about sort of where you draw the line? And not that we want to judge people, but we do want to come alongside.So we've got moms here that want to help with their kids, but then they may have people in their family or in their church or something. What are maybe some practical things that they could do to handle these situations?Dannah: Well, some practical things are teaching our kids grace. Teaching them a gracious response.Bob and I, my husband and I, discipled a young man for many years who is non-binary now. Young adult man. And we still will have lunch with him. He doesn't live locally, but when he's coming through, he still wants to visit with us and talk with us.I got a birthday text from him that said, "You're like my second mom," because we have blessed him with our love and our presence, which is genuine. It's not fake. We adore him. He is easy to talk to, intelligent. We had so many high hopes for how he would—and still do—influence people for Christ.But we do not—we accept, but we do not affirm. We accept, but we do not affirm.So he knows—one of the last big conversations we had about his journey into homosexuality and a non-binary lifestyle was very pointed where my husband said, "I believe you've been set apart, and I believe that you have different desires, and that you have to obey the Lord with Romans 12:1 and 2. You need to sacrifice your desires for the purpose of your body glorifying Christ."And it was a very pointed conversation. And we haven't talked about that since then, but he knows where we stand.So we're honest, you know. One of the things that's really a challenge right now is the question of pronouns, right? Do we use the pronouns or do we not use the pronouns?And with this individual, I avoid using pronouns because the pronouns he wants are "they" and "them." I will not do that because God's Word commands me not to lie, and it's not truthful. However, I'm not going to rub salt in a wound of all the struggles that he's walking through.So I do my best to navigate through just not using either his new name that he wants or the pronouns. He knows that's what I'm doing.I know another woman who—she did transition for nine years. She had her breasts cut off, she had hormones, she was bearded, she was talking like a guy, she lived as Jake for nine years. Her name was Laura.Her mom stayed on her knees, stayed in a prodigal prayer group. And when it came to the name—she wanted to be called Jake—her mom said, "I can't call you that, but I know it's going to offend you. Can I call you honey? I'll do that."And it was a compromise they made together. So you see, accepting but not affirming is a really important line we have to make.Because this is the question that Rosaria Butterfield asked in a recent book that she's written. I believe the title is Five Lies of Our Post-Christian Culture. But she says, "Is your church, is your home, is your family a safe place for someone to repent of their sin of homosexuality or gender—" I'm not going to call it confusion, but rebellion. Okay?Because gender confusion, I would say, is probably going back to some of those syndromes I'm talking about, right? You're going to feel some confusion when you're not quite sure how your body is showing up, right?But gender rebellion, I would say, is what my friend Laura went through. She knew she was a girl, but she wanted to stick it to her mom and stick it to God. And she did for nine years. And then the Lord got a hold of her heart.But partly, I think the Lord got a hold of her heart because her mom never accepted Jake, never accepted the lie, never used the pronouns. And yet she still loved and accepted the child.Kerry: Fine line.Dannah: So good.The Reality of Dealing With These IssuesKerry: Yeah, we've got to love. And I, for one, I mean, these aren't just teenagers. You know, I had friends whose kids have transitioned, and the parents, the mom and the dad don't even agree on the pronoun issue, you know. And that's a really hard thing.What I really like about what you just said is she communicated with her daughter and they talked about it instead of just doing this and then, you know, that child getting angry and then blocking them out of your life kind of thing. And so communication just seems to be vital as well, even if they're going down that path.Dannah: Yeah, so communication before and after is key. And it's not easy. It's hard. And there'll be tears on both sides and disagreements. But you want to walk through it in such a way that you maintain a place where they know what the truth is and they know where to come when they finally do understand what the truth is.Kerry: Yeah, I always tell—because I host a prodigal prayer group too—and the two things I'm always like, we can always love and we can always pray. You know, we cannot change them, but we can pray and we can never give up. You know, God's not giving up on us, so we shouldn't be giving up on our kids or other family.Dannah: Yeah. And you know, when it comes to praying, I find that people that I love that aren't walking with the Lord—they might be offended if I start asking them, "Who do you think Jesus is?" But they're never offended when I say, "How can I pray for you?"They might define it differently, but it keeps that door open of them knowing, "I care about your spirit. I care about your spiritual life. I care about you." They know that praying is important to me.And when I just say, "How can I pray for you?" their hearts often just flood open with things that they want prayer for.How Did We Get Here?Kerry: That's a really good point too. Okay, let's—how have we talked about all this? How do we get where we are today? Because, you know, like we said, 30 years ago we would have never thought—yeah, you know, there was homosexuality back then, but that was pretty much it. How do we get here?Dannah: Oh, I think that it's how we got here is, you know, we were an Augustinian worldview. The United States of America had this worldview that was predominantly established by Augustine, St. Augustine of Hippo. He believed that love was the highest good in humanity and that that love should be reflective of the truth of the Bible.And that really was the worldview of our culture. And that meant that there was one man and one woman marriage.And then when it really started to break down, honestly, was Freud, who felt that the highest good was sex. He thought that that was the highest need in a human body. And so the conversation started to change as Freud, who did bring us some decent diagnostic tools in terms of understanding and being more aware of our emotions and our mental health—but psychology doesn't do anything, really, if you look at the stats of recovery from psychological methods. Hardly anything outside of Jesus.I mean, single-digit recovery. In my mind, if I'm having some mental health problems, I don't want to go to a place that can give me a single-digit percentage chance of getting better.But then enter Alfred Kinsey. Alfred Kinsey came into the scene, and he was a very unwell man emotionally and mentally. And so he was really excited about the things that Freud taught and believed that he could prove that not only was his theory correct—that our highest need was sex—but that most of the sexual things that these prudish Americans thought were, quote-unquote, sinful were actually very normal behavior. Things like homosexuality and even pedophilia.And he said, "I'm going to prove that those are okay." So he did the Human Sexuality Volume 1 and Volume 2 reports. And his research was really horrific. He hired pedophiles who had been jailed for pedophilia to conduct experiments on children.And it was really child sexual abuse that was recorded in those volumes. But nobody talked about that. Nobody said who did the research and how did you get it done. At that time, it just became the playbook for the sexual revolution of the '60s.But they said, "Look, look, we do want sex. We do need sex." And then the sexual revolution—during that time, a virgin in college named Hugh Hefner read those volumes that Kinsey wrote and said—and this is a quote—"I'm going to be Kinsey's pamphleteer."And as you know, then he went on to create his pamphlet, which was Playboy, normalizing objectifying women. I'm not going to call it anything other than what it is.And so it was this—it was a lie we all wanted to believe. Not me, not you, but the culture wanted to believe because it justified their sin and their desires instead of controlling them. They could justify those sins and desires.And I think when we had about a 30-year climb to making gay marriage legal, but that was kind of a floodgate moment. You know, I feel like from the night that the White House was covered in rainbow colors until today, it's just been a floodgate of Sodom and Gomorrah-esque sin.And whereas it was this slow, steady climb for decades, now it's just a playground.Signs of Hope and BacklashDannah: Now, I am thankful that we're seeing some—I guess what I would call backlash against some of this. In Canada, this year—last year, rather—we saw the first case where a patient who underwent transgender gender reassignment surgery is suing the physician for what happened to her body.Because she said, "I came to you with a mental health problem, and when I was very mentally unwell, you told me the solution was to cut up my body." And she's suing that doctor.Tavistock, which is a gender assignment clinic in the UK, has been shut down because so many of the doctors and nurses are saying, "You only saw these patients two or three times before you let them self-diagnose that they were gender-confused and began treating them." And the doctors and nurses said, "That's not okay. We didn't adequately find out if they really did have gender dysphoria. We're just letting them self-assign."And that's still happening in the United States. But because Canada and the UK are ahead of us, I'm encouraged that we're going to start to see backlash very soon.So don't stop using the correct pronouns. Don't stop calling girls "she" and "her," and don't stop calling boys "him" and "his." Like, we are not crazy. We just feel crazy because the conversation happening in our culture is a little mad.But we are going to start to see a backlash in the next five to 10 years.Kerry: It sounds depressing, but it is encouraging.Dannah: And our hope is in Jesus, who we know can—always, just like I didn't think the education system could ever get fixed, and then COVID hit. And I was like, "Oh my goodness, look, God can do something when it looks like everything's falling apart."He can do the same thing with the gender and sexuality issues. And—excuse me—and even our hope isn't even in this world. I just have to say that. Like, more and more, as it gets crazier and crazier, it makes me hungrier for heaven and the new heaven and earth that we will know after Jesus' return.And for anybody, you know, who maybe you're listening to this and you're the one that cut up your body, you allowed that to happen—you know, when Jesus returns, the new heaven and the new earth, He's going to perfect you and receive you as He created you and fix everything that this world can't fix. And there is such hope in that.Kerry: That is so good. Thank you so much. And yes, He can. And He redeems ashes to beauty all the time. So amen.So I know y'all have some resources that I think would be helpful. Could you share a little bit about that?Resources to Help FamiliesDannah: Sure. Well, I mentioned It's Great to Be a Girl and It's Great to Be a Guy. Those are two books that we take parents and kids through an online study on, but you could do it at home. You can do it as part of a homeschool curriculum.Another book that I have is Lies Girls Believe and A Mom's Guide to Lies Girls Believe. Those go together because I think this extends beyond gender. It's a battle for truth.And the interesting thing about truth is that we know Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." He was truth. So this whole conversation is an assault on Him.And so that book, and Lies Young Women Believe, introduced teen girls and tween girls to really studying: What is truth? What does it mean? And how do I figure out when I'm believing a lie? And what God's Word says about it, and what is true?So I would say those are really important books. We're working on Lies Young Men Believe, but we also—my friend Aaron Davis just wrote Lies Boys Believe. So good tools.We've had lots of friends tell us they've used them as homeschool curriculum. And I would love to see you explore them. They are great. They really are.Kerry: I have—well, I've done Lies Women Believe. And then I will say, too, for those of you—this probably doesn't pertain to a lot of you—but they have them in Spanish. I used to work in El Salvador and go down there once a month and work with a school down there. And we started with Lies Women Believe, but they had a teen girl Bible study, so then they did the Lies Young Women Believe.I don't know if they've done the girl, but when I was looking at your site, I was like, "Oh, they have Spanish books too." So if y'all are in another country, just know that there are resources for you there as well.Dannah: So wonderful.Closing EncouragementKerry: Well, as we close, is there anything you would like to say just in closing?Dannah: Just I think it's so important right now that we are just so deeply in love with Jesus. It's one thing to know all these things in our head, right? But until it gets here...The reason we have prodigals prodigalizing and the reason we have deconstructors deconstructing is because there was a lot here, but we didn't quite maybe get it here. And so what I'm learning is that I can't push it here in the kids I'm teaching, but I can do what I need to do to sit at the feet of Jesus and minister to Him in worship, in prayer, and opening the Word.I don't want to just know the facts of what I read in my Bible this morning. I want to know that I had an encounter with Jesus.So my prayer for you is not just that you would know the facts about all these hard conversations that we're having to have right now, but that more than anything else, you would be so in love with Jesus that your heart beats to reflect His image.And so I pray that for you, and I pray that for your children too.Kerry: Oh, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Thanks for just taking a little time out of your day to be with us. I really appreciate it.Dannah: Oh, it was so good to be here, Kerry. Thank you. God bless you. I pray that you're so blessed by this conference.Kerry: Very good. Well, I am Kerry Beck with Life Skills Leadership Summit. We'll talk to you next time.

Feeling like you're falling behind or failing your kids? The biggest problem in your homeschool isn't the curriculum or the schedule—it's the lies you quietly believe about yourself. In this episode, we're exploring identity exchange: getting rid of the lies in your head and walking in the calling God's given you.Kerry shares lessons from Jamie Winship's "Living Fearless" and the story of David—who learned his identity as warrior, musician, poet, and king while watching sheep in obscurity, just like God is forming your identity in the ordinary moments of homeschooling.What you’ll learn in this episode:✅Why identity exchange matters: the lies ("I'm not organized enough," "my kids need a real teacher") shape everything you do✅What David's story teaches us about learning our calling in ordinary, obscure seasons✅How the enemy attacks Christian homeschool families with little deceptions, not big temptations✅Why "always" and "never" statements are lies (only God always does something right!)✅Your homework: Ask God "What lie am I believing?" and write it down (we'll work on truth next week)Ready to start your identity exchange? Download the FREE Biblical Truths Printable mentioned in this episode—sample truths Kerry speaks over herself daily plus a blank page for your own. Grab your copy of Jamie Winship's book Living Fearless! Podcast: Stop Negative Thinking for You & Your KidsWell, hello everyone, this is Kerry Beck with Homeschool Coffee Break, where we help you stop the overwhelm so you can actually take a coffee break from your homeschool, your home, your family. Every once in a while, we need a break, and we need to refresh ourselves.This episode is being published at the very beginning of 2026, and so this morning, I actually was listening to some podcasts. I had heard some of these stories before, I'd read the book, and I was like, this is what I need to share with my moms, because I believe this is a great way to kick off the new year.Because I don't know about you, but I have a feeling that y'all are feeling a little overwhelmed and stressed out. You feel like you're falling behind, or you're failing your kids. And what we need to realize is the biggest problem in your homeschool, your family, is not the curriculum, is not the schedule, but it is the lies that you quietly believe in your head. You believe them about yourself, as a mom, as a homeschool mom.Learning About Identity ExchangeWhat I want to do today is it's going to be at least a two-part series. We're going to talk a little bit about how we can get rid of those lies, and we can walk in the calling that God's given us. And this really will affect your homeschool. It truly will.I want you to know that what I am sharing today comes from things that I have learned from a man named Jamie Winship. He wrote a book, Living Fearless, and it is Living Fearless, Exchanging the Lies of the World for the Liberating Truth of God. You can get a link to it in the show notes below. When I went on my prayer walk this morning, I really thought through some of these ideas all over again. What is my identity? Let's exchange the lies in my head for my true identity, my true calling from God.If the things I share today are helpful, I would love for you to share this with one person.The Lies We BelieveLet's talk about this for a second. When you're in the midst of homeschooling, you're rushing around, you're doing your math, and you're switching the laundry from the washer to the dryer, you're snapping at your kids, and then at night you're lying on your bed going, I'm ruining them. I'm not cut out for this.But let's be honest, that is not the truth. And you're not the only one that's ever thought that. Because a lot of Christian moms keep that reel in their head, the little script in their head. I'm not organized enough to homeschool. My kids would be better off with a real teacher. I'm just so inconsistent, I can't even hear God clearly.Well, those are lies in your head, and they shape the way you walk through your day. How you plan your day, or you avoid planning at all. Some of you Type A people got that checklist, those lies are affecting that checklist. Or, I don't know what it is, type B, C, or Z, one of them, you just don't even plan at all, because you're just avoiding it.Those lies affect the way that you react to your kids when they are struggling. When you invite God into your lessons, or you just push through. Which one are you?I believe the lessons that I've learned from Jamie Winship about my identity, and about the false identities, the lies, like, I'm a failure, I feel shame, I am inadequate. They keep us stuck. And we can't really hear from God when He is speaking a new name to us.You know, Revelation 2:17 talks about, if we walk victoriously, God is going to give us a white stone and a new name. I'm going to talk about that in the next episode. But we need to be able to hear that new name.David's Identity in the FieldsWe're going to go to the Bible, and we're going to talk about a young man named David. I'm sure you've all heard it or sung the song, Only a Boy Named David. The reason he could kill Goliath is he had been preparing. He was walking in his identity.You know, when they came to find the future king, his dad had even forgotten about him, that he even had that son who was out watching the sheep. How would you feel if your parents forgot you? And I don't think most of you... some of you probably had some rough childhoods, but David overcame.You see, David was called. He was called to be a warrior, a musician, a poet and a king. Where did he learn those things? He learned them when he was watching the sheep from ages 10 to 13, during those middle school years. He wasn't in a palace classroom. He was learning his identity on the field, just like your kids should be learning. Yes, even in middle school, your kids can be learning what their identity is.So today, I'm going to talk to you, Mom, and then we're going to close out by talking about what you can do with your kids as well. You see, David was a warrior. There were lions and bears that were wanting to eat these sheep, and David had to protect the flock with a slingshot, and he already had practice before he ever got on the battlefield.He was a poet. He was a musician, he was writing songs to God, practicing worshiping God all alone on those hills of the sheep and the shepherd, watching them. He was a future king. He was learning leadership lessons in total obscurity, because he was faithful in the small things. God could put him in charge of bigger things as he grew into an adult.Your Ordinary Season Prepares YouIt's the same with you. God can use your ordinary season to prepare you for your calling. He did that with David. His ordinary life as a shepherd prepared him to be a king.It's forming your kids' identity in your living room, at your kitchen table, in their bedroom. It's the small homeschool moments. Those are training grounds for your kids' future calling, and they are current trainings for your calling right now, as a Christian mom, as a homeschool mom as well.You see, I know we have some homeschool moms, and it may be you. We could just call you Sarah. And you're constantly thinking, I'm not patient like all the other moms. I yell too much at my kids. My kids are only going to remember my anger. I had a fear my kids were going to remember the back of my head facing the computer, because I would work in the afternoons.And that was not true, because I know they have some good memories of things that we did growing up. And you may be feeling, oh, my kids are just gonna think all I'm doing is yelling at them. And then all of a sudden, someday during your history lesson or your math lesson, your son says, hey, mom, I really like how you always make learning fun, even when you're stressed out.And all of a sudden, you're in shock, because that internal lie up here in your head is a lie. And you are being too harsh on yourself. You are thinking you are a failure, when that's not true. You know, I think about it, because we did do fun things, and yet I felt like there were times I was snapping at my kids. And hopefully, they are going to remember the good things, the things that you are truly, who you truly are, because you're walking in your calling.Two Voices in Your HeadYou have two voices in your head, just like Sarah, the homeschool mom. It's the lie that we are permanently angry, we are failing our kids, and the other side is the truth. Where her son actually spoke truth to her, because she was a mom who cared enough to just keep showing up, even on the hard days.And I believe that's who you are. You are a mom who keeps showing up, even on the hard days. Just like David's real identity was known by God in the fields. Sarah's real identity as a loving, persevering homeschool mom was visible to God, even while she believed the lies.So we have got to get rid of these lies, and we're going to talk about that right now. Because, let's see, things that you're like, I always do this, or never... always and never statements. I learned that from my husband, Steve. He was like, do not say, I always do this, or I never do that. Because that's just not true. Only person that always does something is God. Only person that never does something wrong is God.You may have shamed things from childhood, or accusing thoughts that you're accusing... you're hopeless. Let's take those away, and let's go to God's voice, because that is the enemy talking. And we are fighting a battle, and if you are homeschooling, and you are a Christian family, that target is on your front. You are in full frontal assault. The enemy is attacking you, and he is telling you lies every single day.They don't come like, oh, don't believe in God. They come in little bitty deceptions like, I'm not doing enough. I'm failing my kids. I need to be more like someone else. Well, God didn't make you to be someone else. He made you to be you.God's voice is specific, it is loving, and it can be convicting, but also hopeful. So I want to encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit today, what is one lie that I am believing, and that I could take out of here and get rid of some of that overwhelm and some of the stress?Help Your Kids with Identity Exchange TooIt's the same with teenagers. Maybe you have a teenager who struggles with reading and says, I am just stupid. I'll never get this. Well, that's a lie. And that's what the enemy wants her to believe. And you as a mom, you may feel that sting, because you may have struggled with that same vibe when you were a teenager. Maybe you're still struggling with it, you know?And we need to remind our kids, hey. David walked in truth. He could fight Goliath, because he practiced when he was a middle schooler or a teenager. And you, as mom, can prompt her and say, reading is your lion and your bear that you are about to kill, and we are going to overcome it, because God gives us the truth, and He gives us everything we need.And He will give you the ability to be able to read and move forward in the things that He's called you to do. I read this one story where they said, okay, write, I am stupid on a paper, and then scratch it out, and let's write the truth. I am God's daughter, learning to be brave like David. And then tape that truth on the wall and say it every single day.Speaking Truth Out LoudYou know, there was a time when I was driving home from the Gentrys, who live about 3 hours away, and we'd had a party, and things were going on in my head, and I eventually just left. I was coming home anyway, but that enemy was lying in my head. I had all this rejection, not from Gentry, but from things that had gone on, and I'll share that story more next week. But I had these lies in my head that I needed to get rid of. And I had to replace them with truth.And so, what did I do? When I got home, either that night or that next morning, I wrote these truths down. I have since actually written a printable, and I'm going to read them to you, because this is the goal. You are going to... your homework is to name a lie and write it down so we know what it is, and then we're going to write a truth about that, and then we're going to say that truth over and over.And I said these out loud for months, I wouldn't say years. I still will pull them out and read them, and I want to read them to you, and every single one comes from a deception from the enemy.Like Jesus, I am chosen by God to be holy. And let me just say, saying it out loud is good. It gets into our brain waves, and it changes the way we think. Did you know your brain grows and grows new synapses every single night? And so we need to retrain the way our brain thinks.And so these are some things that I wrote down and said out loud so I could get rid of those lies and speak the truth to myself. Like Jesus, I am chosen by God to be holy. I am chosen by God for great honor. I trust in Jesus. Therefore, I am not put to shame. God loves me, and always takes care of me.I am precious to God because He bought me with His Son's blood. I am a daughter of the king, a princess. I live in the light, shining for Jesus all day long. I control my thoughts, my words, my food, my drink.I receive God's mercy and grace, so I give grace, mercy, and forgiveness to others. I leave my case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly. I speak with words. I speak with pure and reverent behavior in a quiet and gentle spirit. And I wait quietly on God. Now, that's a hard one. Especially when you've been waiting for something for years, and not like, oh, I'm waiting for a house or a car, waiting for people's souls to turn back to God.I am patient. I am kind. I always forgive. I forget offenses against me. The Holy Spirit renews my mind and attitudes every day. God never leaves me, never abandons me, never fails me. I listen well. I trust in God to fight my battles. He wins my battles.We're going to talk a little bit more about getting to those truths next week, but if you would like a copy of these along with a blank page where you fill in your own truths, and we'll have these next week, you can look in the show notes, and there will be a link to those, completely free for you.Your Homework This WeekSo, I want you to take a deep breath. If you can, close your eyes. If you're driving, do not close your eyes. And I want you to ask, Jesus, what lie am I believing about myself as a mom? Don't filter, just notice whatever comes.God already knows it, so don't try hiding your bad thoughts about yourself. He knows what you believe. He knows what I believe. So just put it out there and be honest with yourself. That is called confession, where you truly not... I'm sorry for this, God. Confession is truly admitting the lie that you are believing.And I would say write it down this week, and you might write a few things down. God already knows you're not surprising Him. Confess it means you are agreeing with Him that it's not from Him, that it's a lie. And then next week, we're gonna just start with one of those lies.So, spend this week asking God, what lies do I believe? And then I want you to do this with your kids after you have already experienced this, and listened to God. And do it with your kids, and if you're not sure, pray with them, especially any kid that's 10 and up, even 8 and up, probably.They are probably thinking there are some lies, and you may even know what they are. You might be able to point them in direction, or you might let them pray and let God truly speak to them. So they can begin hearing the voice of God. We're going to talk a lot about the voice of God next week.That's all it is. We're not gonna worry about the truth, we're just gonna worry about the lies that we believe. We're gonna be truthful to ourselves. Brutally truthful, and then we're going to move forward.If you want more help, I would encourage you to get Jamie Winship's book, Living Fearless. There's a link in the show notes to that as well. He will take you even deeper than what I am sharing in these two episodes. You can also get my free biblical truths, daily truths, and I would encourage you, we'll start talking about that, speaking them out loud every single day.Thanks for spending time with me. If any of this hits home, please share this with just one friend, maybe another homeschool mom, that this might encourage. That would mean the world to me. I'm Kerry Beck with Homeschool Coffee Break. We'll talk to you next time.

What if your homeschool didn’t feel like a checklist, but a life-giving journey? In this Best of Homeschool Super Heroes Workshop episode, Julie Ross shares the tools of a Charlotte Mason education and how they can bring peace, beauty, and connection to your home.You’ll learn how to apply these tools—atmosphere, discipline, and life—in a way that nourishes both your children and yourself. This gentle philosophy isn’t about replicating school at home; it’s about building something far more meaningful.Here’s what you’ll take away:✅ What it really means to create a homeschool “atmosphere”✅ How habits form the foundation of discipline (without nagging)✅ Why ideas are the most powerful food for the mind✅ How to foster solitude, attention, and curiosity✅ The secret to cultivating beauty and truth in your homeThis week only, you can grab my Charlotte Mason Tool Kit for 50% off as a way to put these ideas into practice without overwhelm. Mentioned Resources: Charlotte Mason Tool Kit - SAVE 50% with code: CM50 Show Notes: Welcome to the Three Tools of a Life-Giving EducationHey, hello everyone. Welcome to the three tools of a life-giving education. I'm so excited to talk to you today about these amazing tools that we have for free.Charlotte Mason said, "Education is an atmosphere and a discipline and a life more important than the curriculum you're using." That's just one of the tools. Any resource you use can be shaped and guided according to these three tools to give your children a life-giving education.Before we dive into today's talk, I just want to introduce myself. I'm Julie Ross. I'm the creator of the Charlotte Mason curriculum, A Gentle Feast. I'm a homeschool veteran of over 20 years. I have five kiddos—one has graduated recently from college and then the other will be a senior in college in neuroscience next year. And then I have three teenagers that I'm still homeschooling.So I've been homeschooling for a while. Before that, I was a public school educator and I helped start a private Christian school. So I've been in the educational space for about 30 years now. And I'm also a certified Christian life coach. So I'm going to bring in all my experience as a teacher, as a homeschool mom, as a coach, and bring that all in and hopefully give you a really practical look at how these three tools of a Charlotte Mason education can help transform your homeschool.Tool #1: Education Is an AtmosphereSo let's start off with the first one. Education is an atmosphere. What in the world does that even mean? That seems so bizarre. Atmosphere, what does it have to do? How is that a tool to help guide our education?I would say this is in fact one of the most, if not the most important tool. Charlotte Mason said, "Therefore, we are limited to three educational instruments: the atmosphere of environment, the discipline of habit, and the presentation of living ideas." Going back again to the motto, education is an atmosphere, discipline, and a life.So, what are we talking about when we're talking about the atmosphere of your home or the home environment? This is from a Parents' Review article. That's the magazine that Charlotte Mason edited. And this author wrote, "There are many important aspects of home life, from first training to highest education, but there is nothing in the way of direct teaching that will ever have so wide and lasting an effect as the atmosphere of home."And the gravest thought concerning this is that in this instant, there's nothing to learn and nothing to teach. The atmosphere emanates from ourselves as the parents. It literally is ourselves. Our children live in it and breathe it and what we are is thus incorporated into them. There is no pretense here or possibility of evasion. We may deceive ourselves in the long run. We never deceive our children. The spirit of home lives in what is more—home atmosphere is accentuated in them. Atmosphere is much more than teaching and infinitely more than talk.And when I first read this quote, I was unbelievably convicted. Because the atmosphere of my home at the time was not what I wanted. It was not what I wanted my homeschool to be like. I felt like I was a drill sergeant constantly giving out orders, constantly wondering like why is this not done? This was supposed to be done minutes ago. Everybody get in the car. We got to go to this and we were just hurry hurry hurry stress stress stress stress.And I was like, this isn't why I homeschooled. This isn't the atmosphere I want to create. Because Charlotte Mason is saying here, this atmosphere that you might not even realize is what is going on in your home is going to have such a lasting effect on your children.What Atmosphere Do You Want to Create?I wanted my children to feel like school and learning was just part of life and it was this beautiful atmosphere. I wanted us to have deep connections. I wanted my kids to be curious. I wanted them to have time to be creative. And I realized that by me being stressed out all the time, I was actually hurting my children and creating an atmosphere of our home that was not conducive to learning.And so if this quote really convicts you as well, I have some hope. So basically what she's saying is that education is an atmosphere. Our children are breathing it. We can't see it, right? And that these become the ideas which rule their lives. They're getting this from us.So, we are the thermostats of our homes. We're setting the temperature. We are either making it really hot, really stressful, really high pressure environment, or we can make the atmosphere of our home peaceful, joyous. Isn't that what we all want, right?So, what words would you use to describe the current atmosphere of your home? This might be something you've never even thought of before. Because before I read Charlotte Mason's teaching, I never—all I was thinking about was like our to-do list and am I choosing the right curriculum and what does our schedule look like and never considered how I was showing up and how that was affecting the temperature of our home. What word would you describe the atmosphere of your home?Common Homeschool Thoughts That Create StressAnd I want you to think about if you've ever had these thoughts in your homeschool: We are so far behind. My child is so difficult. It shouldn't be this hard. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm going to mess up my child. We are constantly butting heads about school. My child is not working up to their potential. I'm overwhelmed.Have you ever had any of these thoughts? I'm guessing most of us who are listening to this have. I know I have had all of those. That's why I wrote them down.If we want to change the atmosphere of our home, we have to be willing to get really honest with ourselves, be willing to pause and to ask ourselves, what am I thinking about my homeschool on a regular basis?How Your Thoughts Create Your AtmosphereWhen I read these words to you, how does that make you feel? For me, I feel like I have a weight like right here. Like I can't breathe. I feel all shame, guilt. You might feel afraid, discouraged, disappointed.And when we have these feelings, which are coming from what we're continually telling ourselves, our continual thoughts and stories, and we have these feelings, it affects the way that we show up. And we're not showing up as our most calm, peaceful, loving selves. And that's creating an atmosphere that we don't want.So in order to create the atmosphere that we do want, we have to look at taking our thoughts captive and by telling ourselves a different story.Charlotte Mason put it this way: "Let not the nervous, anxious, worried mother think this easy, happy relation with her children is for her. She may be the best mother in the world, but the thing that her children will get from her in these moods is a touch of her nervousness, most catching of complaints. She will find them fractious, rebellious, unmanageable, and will be slow to realize that it is her fault. Not the fault of her act, but of her state."So, not the fault of the actions, even though those do have such a great effect, but it's coming from your state, your thoughts. What are you feeling on a regular basis? And are your children catching that?I used to think my children complain all the time. And then I realized, oh, I'm the one complaining all the time. Why is it taking you so long to do that? That should have been finished already. I can't believe you don't understand that. Why do I always have to come back up after you and clean up? And then I wondered why they had bad attitudes. Right?I had to turn the mirror around and look at myself and say, "What am I producing in this atmosphere? How am I showing up?"Changing Your Thoughts to Change Your AtmosphereAnd like I said, we can focus on our actions and be like, I just need to respond in anger less. I just need to respond with a more gentle voice. Yes, that's all true. But we can't just will ourselves to change our action without changing our state, without changing the thoughts that we're thinking on a regular basis.So change your thoughts and change the atmosphere of your home. It sounds easier, really. It sounds a lot easier than it actually is. But when you get into the practice of it, most of us don't even know what we're thinking ever. We just live our lives on autopilot. So, we're just always in reaction mode.So, taking the time to pause and say, "What do I actually think on a regular basis? What am I telling myself about myself as a homeschool mom or about our homeschool, about my kids, and how is that affecting my mood and then my actions?"So, how do we change our thoughts? So, first of all, be mindful throughout the day. Start to take notice, which means you actually have to have margin in your day to pause. Think on purpose. Tell yourself what you're going to think instead. And I'll give you some hints for that in a second.Training Your Brain to Find the GoodAnd then start to find the good. Our brains are naturally wired to keep us safe. So they will find all the things that are wrong. If I said, "What's not working in your homeschool?" You probably could tell me 10 things. And if I said, "How have you been successful in your homeschool this year?" That might be a little harder for you to think of something because our brains naturally look for what's wrong to keep us safe.And so your brain is doing that all day long. It's looking for all this evidence and all these things that are wrong. We need to train it to start finding the good. That means starting to celebrate the small things. Oh my goodness, my son just shared his pencil with his sister. Oh my goodness, like that read aloud. That was so impactful. Oh my goodness, like we went on our nature walk and nobody got hurt.Start to have gratitude for those small things and it will change the way your brain is seeing things that are already there. You're already doing good things. Your brain's just naturally filtering them out trying to find the things that are wrong.Thoughts to Tell Yourself on PurposeSo let's go back to this telling your brain what to think on purpose. We're going to be intentional here. If we're intentional about the atmosphere that we want to create in our home, we have to be intentional with what thoughts we're telling ourselves.So, telling yourself what to think on purpose. Here are some thoughts you might want to try on and see how they fit and start repeating these to yourself. You can journal about them. You could put them on a post-it note. You can embroider them on a pillow. Whatever works for you to start to train your brain to think differently.So: I am the perfect person to homeschool my children. I am on a journey and progressing at the perfect pace. I respond with patience, trusting that all things are working for good. I am grateful to be homeschooling my children. Good things happen every day in our home. I have control over my thoughts, feelings, and energy. I am present and focused during our homeschooling. Our days are full of beauty, laughter, and rich ideas. I will not fear because I work in cooperation with the divine teacher. Mistakes are an opportunity to learn and grow. I am becoming better each day.So, come up with your own if these don't really resonate with you. What are some truths? It might not always feel true. Do I always feel like I'm the perfect person to homeschool my children? Absolutely not. But is that true? Yes.Write those things down and start to tell yourself these stories instead. Start to change your thoughts and see if that affects the atmosphere of your home and what you are working. Work on yourself. Put on your own oxygen mask. Train your brain to start to think differently so that you can show up as your highest, most loving, most calm, most peaceful, most engaged, most curious, most playful self and see how that changes the atmosphere of your home.Tool #2: Education Is a DisciplineAll right, moving on. Charlotte Mason said, "Education is a discipline." By education as a discipline, we mean the discipline of habits definitely formed and thoughtfully, whether habits of mind or body.So the word discipline, you might think of something else, but what Charlotte Mason is referring to are the habits. We have to discipline ourselves to do things on a regular basis. The more we do something, the more neuropathways it makes in our brains and then it becomes a habit. It's not something we have to think about.The Habit of AttentionOne of the habits that's really important to foster is the habit of attention. Charlotte Mason talks about how important that is. We need to have the habit of attention so that we can be focused and really engaged on what we're learning.So this comes from her work, A Philosophy of Education: "Another misconception we have concerns attention. We think that to capture a child's attention with persuasion, dramatic presentations, pictures and visual models. But the fact is a teacher who succeeds depends on his charismatic personality is merely an actor who belongs on a stage."Okay, so this takes the pressure off you. You don't need a bunch of props, games, videos to make every lesson fun in order to gain your child's attention.We now know that attention is not one faculty of the brain and it's not a definable power of the mind. It's the ability to turn on that power and concentrate. We have that attention there. Can you turn it on when you need to? By capturing a child's attention with gimmicks, we waste our time.The ability to focus the attention is already there in the child as much as he needs. It's like a forceful river just waiting to obey the child's own authority to turn it on. Yes, it's capable of stubbornly resisting attempts to be coerced that are imposed from without.What we need to do is recognize that attention is one of the appetites and then we'll feed it with the best we have in living books and knowledge. But paying attention is something the child has to do on their own. We can't do it for them.Feeding Attention with Living BooksIt's not for us to be the fountain of all knowledge. We don't know enough. We don't speak well enough. We're too vague and random to cope with the capability of creatures who are thirsty for knowledge. Instead of pretending to be the source of their education, we must realize that books, the very best books, are the source. And we must put that resource into their hands and read them for ourselves, too.So, our children have this amazing ability to pay attention. And I'm sure you've seen this in your own kids. When they're so focused that nothing you say to them like they can't even hear you. When does that happen? When they're really engrossed in something that they care about, right?Whether that's they're playing a video game or a TV—and sadly that's really damaged our attention spans. But if your child is like making something with Legos and they're so into it, like they're so focused on it, they don't realize what else is going on in the world.And we want to capture that attention when it comes to our school lessons. But most of what we give kids is so dry and so boring that we're actually training them in the habit of not paying attention. And we want to give them the very best book, Charlotte Mason says, because that captures attention.And I'm sure you've read a really great book, right? And you're like so engrossed in the book and your kids are, "Hey, mom, are we ever like going to get to eat today?" And you're like, "What? It's 5 o'clock already?" Right? You like couldn't put the book down.That was like a living amazing story that captured your imagination, that captured your attention. And we want that for our kids. We don't need to come up with all these games and gimmicks to get their attention. If we give them really good books, they'll be like, "Oh, no, wait. Keep reading." That's what we want. That's how we foster this habit of attention.The Power of Short LessonsAll right. And then we want to build some other habits into our school day. So, a habit of attention is so key because that's going to get them to focus. Charlotte Mason also encouraged short lessons. By having short lessons, it's easier to pay attention.Do you know the average adult attention span now is less than 30 seconds? But we're expecting our children to pay attention for 45 minutes of a grammar lesson. That's so unrealistic.Charlotte Mason had short lessons. They didn't have 45-minute lessons till they were in high school. And that's very few subjects actually. And when they're young, a lesson might only take 5 to 10 minutes. By being able to focus, be interested in it, caring about it, you're able to go through school in a shorter amount of time than having these subjects drag on and on and on and on and on.Okay, so I wanted to mention short lessons as well. Okay, so let's move into some other foundational habits that you might want to consider building into your homeschool.The Habit of Outdoor TimeSo the first one is the habit of outdoor time. Charlotte Mason talks a lot about this, but we need to make it a habit. It's not just something like, oh, I hope when we have extra time, we can go do something outside. It needs to be something that is so vital.Here's what she said. This is from volume one: "It is infinitely well worth the mother's while to take some pains every day to secure in the first place that her children spend hours daily amongst rural and natural objects and in the second place to infuse into them or to rather cherish in them the love of investigation. A love of nature implanted so early that it will seem to them thereafter to have been born in them will enrich their lives with pure interests, absorbing pursuits, health, and good humor."So she says the mom has to take pains to secure outdoor time. So it might not always be easy. It might not always be pleasant. That's the thing about a habit, right? When you first starting to build a habit, like going to the gym, it's hard. The more you do it, the easier it becomes, right? You don't have to think about waking up and brushing your teeth. You just do it. It's habitual.So we want to create this pattern of loving nature, of investigating and being curious and having wonder about God's creation and being outside. And so we build that habit again over time. So at first it might be a little painful, but eventually it will build this love of nature within your children.So looking at how can you make this a habit in your day, in your week so that it's something that starts to happen naturally and it's not so hard to get outside.The Habit of RoutinesAnother habit is having routines. So in the book For the Children's Sake, which if you have not read this and you're interested at all in Charlotte Mason, this is my go-to book. You must try this one. She says routines form habits. So if you want to have good habits, you need to add routines into your homeschool day.She says, "Take the area of human relationships. Routines do not make the relationship, but they are the frame upon which we hang our experiences. Some families do not have a routine of eating meals together anymore. Anytime goes for snacking. People rush about at a thousand activities, any one of which could be good. But what is the sum total? Without the priority of a framework, nothing much happens. Few conversations, little time of togetherness."A family decides to read a book together whenever there's time. But invariably there's no time. It is essential to have these basic routines. Children love routines. It frees their attention again—this habit of attention—for the activity at hand.Later on, other routines help the child along. When planning routines, priority must be given to the most important things. The person matters. Whether it be child, husband, wife or friend, we all need time to talk, read, relax and work together. Our relationship with God matters. Where is the time to be found for that? I am a part of his creation. Where will I have time to get out and enjoy nature? Again, that other habit of being outside.There is too much work to be done and I am finite. I need to accept that reality and plan the time and priorities carefully.So, when you are planning out your school year, think about what are the priorities for you. Do you want to build in these habits of being outside, of reading together, of spending time in God's word? Make it a routine. The more you do something, the stronger that habit will become and the easier it will be to make that happen.So, as you're planning out your school day, what are the routines that can make these habits form more easily into your day? And you're not always having to make a million decisions all day about do we do this next, do we do that, do we decide to go here, do we do this? By having these routines, it eliminates a lot of that decision fatigue, which will be so helpful.The Habit of SolitudeAnd the next one is the habit of solitude, which might be something you have not thought of. And I think it's really interesting. I'm going to have to put my glasses on here because I have this quote on my phone and it's really hard to read. Bear with me one second here.All right. "For the right use of programs"—at Charlotte Mason's programs—"two things are necessary: solitude and independence." Okay. For the right use of the programs, two things are necessary: solitude and independence. Children must have these.Nursery children come off fairly well in these respects. They get time where they can wander and dream alone in the garden. But this happy state ends where schoolroom life begins. Lessons, walk, and lessons again. Always in company, always having something that must be done now.Miss Mason devises the timetables—that's those short lessons I was talking about—which cover such reasonable hours as to leave time over for the solitude. But parents are often very culpable in thinking that tango—isn't that so funny—or some other new thing must be learned as well. The much needed time for solitude is used for plans which necessitate hurried journeys always in the company of a responsible person who feels it's her duty to talk in an instructive way.And the thinking time, the growing time, the time in which the mind is to find food is diminished and the child becomes restless, tiresome, irritable, disobedient. Everything that a child who is reputed to be difficult can be. The parents marvel and say, "But we are giving him the best education that can be procured. We are neglecting no opportunities."Kind, generous parents, you are giving your child every opportunity but one, and that is self-development. By your generous care, you are safeguarding him from ever using his own mind, ever relying upon himself in any way.The child who at first found interference irksome later depends on it so much that he is unable to work without the constant prodding of a mentor. I believe that this is the prime reason of the oft repeated lament of teachers and professors: Little ones are so eager. Older children are less keen. Adults are dull.Wow. If you want to feed your child's mind, you have to build in times of solitude into your day. Time when your children are alone with their imaginations, when you're not hurried from one thing to the next.And there's so many amazing opportunities now for homeschoolers that weren't around when I started. But it can be so easy to pack our day where we're constantly on these hurried journeys. And our children don't have time to think, to be alone with our own thoughts, and to allow these ideas start to form and take root in their mind and to develop their imagination.So, make sure you're leaving time for the habit of solitude in your day.Questions to Consider About HabitsSo, here are some questions to consider when it comes to building good habits into your homeschool: How am I fostering good habits in my own life? So, we have to start with ourselves. If we're not building good habits in our own life, we are not going to be good models for our children on how to stay consistent with something, how to will ourselves to do something that we actually don't really want to do. We need to model that first for our kids.Does my homeschool routine make good habits easy? Again, routines are going to be the tracks that these habits are going to go on and that's going to make everything so much easier in your day.And what's one habit that would bring more ease to our homeschool day? What's one thing you could start maybe even this summer that could be a habit that gets built that's going to make things easier come fall?Tool #3: Education Is a LifeAnd then the last one is education is a life. In saying that education is the life, the need of intellectual and moral as well as a physical sustenance is applied. The mind feeds on ideas. Therefore, children should have a generous curriculum.Education is a life. It is living. We want to give our kids a life-giving education. We're not just feeding their mind, but we're feeding their whole personhood, their physical body, their moral body, them as spiritual beings, right?What Does the Mind Need to Grow?But what does the mind actually need to grow? Are we feeding it the proper food? Charlotte Mason would say a mind can only be fed upon ideas. We can stuff a bunch of information in there, she says, but it's like sawdust in the cogs of a machine.We're just filling our children with a bunch of information. They might look really stuffed and like they know a whole lot, but there's no depth to what they're actually learning. Only ideas can take root and be the proper food that your child's mind needs.So what is what do we mean by that? What's an idea? So she says an idea is more than an image or a picture. It is so to speak a spiritual germ, a little seed endowed with vital force and with power that is to grow and produce after its kind.It's the very nature of an idea to grow. As the vegetable germ secretes that it lives by so fairly implant an idea in the child's mind and it will secrete its own food and it will grow and it will bear fruit and it will inform a succession of like ideas.Charlotte Mason calls this the science of relations. These little ideas that come into our children's mind through the books that we're reading, through the art that we're looking at, through the music, through the being out and investigating out in nature. These little seeds when they have time for solitude to grow, they will grow on their own and they will connect to other ideas.We don't have to put all the connections and make a cute little unit study where everything all goes together for our kids. Their brains are naturally going to make these connections as these ideas are growing. Those synapses are going to start connecting. And it's such a beautiful thing to watch because this is their own brain doing the hard work of digesting all this mind food that we're going to give them.Where Do Ideas Come From?So the proper nourishment of ideas, what does this mean? What does this actually look like? What are we putting in here on a regular basis?So first of all, ideas come from stories or books that are written in a narrative fashion. So even high school chemistry, believe it or not, even high school physics can be written in a narrative fashion where there's an idea, there's something that captures your imagination. It's not just a bunch of facts.She says, "I think we owe it to our children to let them dig their knowledge of whatever subjects for themselves out of the book. What a child digs is his own possession."So, as a teacher, we're not having to learn all the information. We're not the fountain head of all knowledge. We're not having to digest all the material and put it together and then teach it to our kids. We are putting them in touch with real books where the authors are passionate about the subject and those books are the ones that are teaching our children. They're the ones that are feeding their minds with all these amazing ideas.We also—and this is like a common misconception with Charlotte Mason is oh you just read books all day. No, children are also doing things with their hands and ideas can come from these things as well. They have these natural objects. They're outside. They're out in nature. They're investigating. They're exploring. They're learning these gross motor skills. They're working with handicrafts, with wood and leather and clay.They have natural objects. They're seeing the birds and the plants and the trees and these things that are outside. They're observing. They're understanding cause and effect and making conclusions about the way the world works. They're looking at art and using science things. All of these grow ideas in a child's mind. So it's not just books but books and things.Cultivate Your Own MindAnd then you need to cultivate your own mind. If you want to be pouring ideas into your children, you need ideas coming into your own mind. She says we need not say one word about the necessity for living thought in the teacher. It is only so far as he is intellectually alive that he can be effective in the wonderful process which we glibly call education.I love this. Only so far as he is intellectually alive. So you need to make habits of feeding your own mind with these ideas through books or things or trying new things, learning new skills or habits so that you are growing your own mind and then you can pour that forth into your children. That's what makes you a living, growing human and that will inspire them as well to follow this kind of lifelong educational path.The Danger of Education Without IdeasCharlotte Mason said it is possible to pass even the university's local examinations with credit without ever having experienced that vital stir which marks the inception of an idea. And if we have succeeded in escaping this disturbing influence while we have finished our education, when we leave school, we shut up our books and our minds and remain pygmies in the dark forest of our own dim world of thought and feeling.You can check off all the boxes and pass the tests and never have an idea that changes and shapes you as a person. And that is such a scary thought and such a grave defect of our modern industrialized educational system.Charlotte Mason is advocating for something extremely different. By having the atmosphere be one that fosters connection and creativity and curiosity, by having routines and habits that make learning possible, by having living ideas coming through books and things, your children will constantly have these seeds of ideas planted into their minds that will grow and shape them as full people who, as Charlotte Mason uses this word I love so much, become magnanimous citizens.She says, "How large is the room upon which their feet are set?" And you get to have the amazing opportunity to use those three tools of a Charlotte Mason education to provide your child with an amazingly large room full of beautiful, rich, good, and true ideas.Get Started with These ToolsIf you want to get started using these tools and you're like, I have no idea how to even start. And you want to bring some truth, goodness, and beauty into your homeschool day, I have a free morning time packet. All you have to do is scan that QR code. It's called Times of Togetherness. And there's some other fun activities in there as well to help your family develop the habit and the culture of coming together and looking at scripture, listening to hymns, looking at beautiful art and poetry to grow that goodness in your hearts and minds and to fill yourself with these living ideas.So if you want to grab that, you can grab that there. I would also love to connect with you. My curriculum, A Gentle Feast, can be found at gentlefeast.com. I also have a podcast where I encourage modern homeschool moms to create a life and homeschool they love. It's called The Feast Life. You can find it in all the podcast platforms.And then we also have a free Facebook group if you'd like to join. Just learn some more about this philosophy, connect with other like-minded moms. It's a really great, wonderful group of moms in that Facebook community called The Feast Life Community. Just search for them on Facebook and you will find us.So, thank you so much for listening. I hope this is helpful. I hope you'll be able to look at your homeschool for next school year and say, "What kind of atmosphere am I creating? How can I use this tool of habits to make our days smoother and easier? And then what living ideas are coming forth from what I'm choosing to use in our homeschool? And am I feeding my children with the kind of rich ideas that their minds actually need to grow upon?" So, thank you so much for listening. I really appreciate it.