Homeschool Freedom Formula: How to homeschool AND run a business successfully with Jen Myers

This episode dives into the intertwining worlds of homeschooling and entrepreneurship. Guest Jen Myers provides insights into her journey from being a reluctant homeschooler to successfully integrating educating her children and running multiple million dollar businesses. This discussion unveils the transformational impact homeschooling can have on family dynamics, individual growth, and the pursuit of entrepreneurship. You will be introduced to the 'Homeschool Freedom Formula' program, designed to help parents navigate and balance the demands of building a business and homeschooling. The conversation emphasizes the importance of community, intentionality, and creating a tailored approach to education and entrepreneurship. Allie and Jen share their personal experiences and the lessons learned, aiming to inspire and equip other families to embrace their unique paths.

00:00 Introduction to The Conscious Family Project

00:37 Guest Introduction: Jen Myers

00:53 Jen's Homeschooling Journey

01:59 Challenges and Triumphs in Homeschooling

03:30 Balancing Business and Homeschooling

03:50 The Impact of Homeschooling on Children's Future

04:35 The Freedom and Flexibility of Homeschooling

07:20 Integrating Business and Homeschooling

09:33 The Homeschool CEO Community

11:25 The Importance of Self-Care for Homeschooling Entrepreneurs

13:18 Advice for Aspiring Homeschooling Entrepreneurs

17:37 The Homeschool Freedom Formula

37:43 Conclusion and Contact Information

Get connected with Jen Myers via Instagram @homeschoolceo or search for the Homeschool CEO on Facebook.

And if you are a parent who is currently running  a business or would like to start one while homeschooling, check out the Homeschool Freedom Formula. This program has been designed to address and support all of the complexities of being all in on your homeschool while being all in on your business. https://homeschoolfreedomformula.com/

Transcript

 Hey there loves. I'm Allie Adair Chung, and this is The Conscious Family Project, where we take the insane amount of homeschooling, parenting, and family lifestyle information out there and break it down into simple, actionable steps that set your unique family up for success. It is time for your brave decisions to reap big rewards.

For your family life to be brimming over with joy, for your relationships to be meaningful, connected and fun, and for you to fully step into the freedom that the conscious family lifestyle has to offer. 

Hey Jen. Oh, I'm so happy to have you here guys. Jen, I have been blessed to be learning from Jen and working with Jen for several years now. She's an incredible coach and I'm so, so, so happy to have you. Thank you so much for having me Allie. Yay! So, okay, we always start the same way here because the number one thing is homeschooling, and when you are a homeschooler or you've been homeschooled, you come from a completely different worldview.

So can you tell us a little bit about your homeschooling journey and like, how'd you come to homeschooling? Why are you a homeschooler? Those kinds of fun things. Yeah, Allie, I never thought I was going to homeschool. I was the most reluctant homeschooler. I thought homeschoolers were weird. Thankfully, it's a little bit different now, but back in 2003 when I started homeschooling, it was completely different than it is now. 

At the time, our kids were eight, six and five. They were actually in traditional school. Our youngest was in private school. Our older ones were in public school. And I was actually on my way to graduate school had just been accepted. Um, long story short, found out I was pregnant, surprise pregnancy. Our little guy, we call him our bonus baby, was conceived just a couple days before my husband's vasectomy.

So kind of one of those,  yeah, total surprise.  Um, and it was kind of just a bunch of different things. Our older kid, our oldest daughter was having problems in school and the teacher sat us down at a parent teacher conference and said, Hey, She's really behind and she's really struggling. And actually the public school teacher recommended homeschooling.

And I was like, yeah, yeah. And I was like, what would make you think I wanted to homeschool? And at this point I didn't know I was pregnant. And I was like, what would make you think I want to homeschool? Do I look like a homeschooler? Do I sound like a homeschooler? Absolutely. Am I wearing the denim jumper, right?

Exactly.  Exactly. Like what on earth would make you think that's what I was supposed to do? And another week goes by and we have a parent teacher meeting with our youngest child at the time, so number three, and he was in a private preschool. And the preschool teacher said, you know, I'm so sorry, but you cannot send this child to kindergarten next year.

And I'm like, why not? He's doing great, man. He's been reading since he's been three. Why can't he go to, he's ready. Like he is so ready for kindergarten and I am so ready for him to go there. And they said, cause he's at like a third grade level and everything. He is going to be bored out of his mind.

Later we'd find out he was on the autism spectrum and he just happens to be on the other side of that on the high end there. And hyperlexic. Yeah. Yeah. And so I. I was like, what am I supposed to do with him? And the teacher said, have you ever considered homeschooling? And I was like, no way to teachers in two weeks.

No. The next week I found out I was pregnant and I was like, yes, we're going to try this. We already had a thriving business at the time. Wasn't exactly sure how it was all going to work, but I decided since I was going to take a year off and stay home with the baby anyway, might as well try it.  And then when we combine the business and the homeschooling and the freedom of all of that, we just never went back.

We took it year by year. Every year it's looked a little different. And now our youngest, the one that started it all, he was homeschooled all the way through and actually just graduated college.  Early, like, like typically, like earlier than typical, right? Yeah, he did. He was my child. He severely dyslexic.

Didn't read until he was 10 at 16. He'd had enough of school, went behind my back, applied to college, got a full ride scholarship. Um, literally did everything behind my back, came home and said, mom, I just need you to sign the papers. I'm done homeschooling. And I was like, I'm sorry, what? And now he's going to be 19 in September and he's graduated working full time and doing awesome.

That's the best way to go behind your back.  Exactly. I was a little surprised, but it's so good. That's so awesome. I love that. I love this story because I think there's so many, and as the world adjusts, there's so many more families who are coming to homeschooling. Not really sure how this is all going to work out, but it's once you, once you feel that sense of freedom and you start realizing.

really how much, um, not control control is not the right word, but how much being a part of, um, like typical or traditional school impacts your day to day life and what you do every day and how your days run. It kind of opens this window of possibility or like, Oh, wait a minute. So I don't have to give eight hours to my child plus two hours of getting ready and driving on either end.

Hold on, like there might be more to this. So I love that you guys took it year by year and really got that sense of freedom and kind of dove in from there.  That's I think, I think what you're saying, Ellie is so important for anybody who's considering homeschooling, because I remember when we first tried.

I was like, Oh, I don't have to do two hours of homework every night with a child who was struggling in school during the day. Cause I remember those tears, it was exhausting and to have a child who spent all day struggling at school and then to come home and have two more hours of homework to try to keep her caught up.

I just remember the freedom that that felt of, Oh, we can just do this during the day and then she can just get it. And it's great. And she's happy and I'm happy. And our lives were so much better.  I've heard that story from so many families. Um, and I remember my, my younger sister and she's okay with me sharing this, but my younger sister was that kiddo who was struggling so much, um, and would come home and it would be hours of fighting and exhaustion.

And, um, when we found homeschooling as a family, it completely transformed her world and the whole family's world as a result, because when everybody is.  You know, when there's, there's somebody having that much of a hard time, it impacts the whole family. And now she looks back, she's going to hope she's having her first baby and she's going to homeschool, um, her kids, which I love and I can't wait for.

Um, but when she looks back, she's like, it was such a release of pressure. Like she felt like such a weight was lifted off of her when she, when we found homeschooling for her. Um, and it, I mean, just to hear that, to remember how much, um, How much each day was filled with like stress and frustration and anger and, and just a lot of stuff.

And the fact that she said that that switch was a release. I'm like, Oh, that that's exactly what we want, right? We want, we want freedom to enjoy each other. We want freedom to spend time together. Um, and then I love how you joined it with your business. So can you talk a little bit about, cause you weren't running like.

A tiny business at this point. Um, can you talk a little bit about what you were doing and what that started to look like when you got going? Cause I think that's a, that's a puzzler for most people.  It is. Yeah. So we had a seven figure automotive business. So we have an automotive repair shop. Uh, we, it was thriving.

We had seven mechanics that worked for us. My husband was there all the time. I was in there running the auto shop. Office running the back end, working with customers during the day. And then when we brought all three kids home and now a baby, all at the same time, what I had to learn was to integrate both sides of our lives.

And so what would happen is I set up a play center at the, you know, at the shop, literally in the office. So the kids would come, I would learn to give them tasks to help keep them busy. You know, even if it was, Hey, your job is to go talk with the customers today. You know, whatever that looked like, because we had to learn how to integrate them at some points we hired, you know, mother's helpers to come in when it was too much with the little one, but we learned to integrate it.

I learned to be really efficient  and systematize. And, you know, in the homeschool CEO community, we talk a lot about leveraging our time, energy, and resources. And what is that lever? I could pull to make sure I was getting the most in the business, you know, that I wasn't getting stuck on the busy work. 

But on the flip side, I had to do that in homeschooling too. Oh yeah. I, I learned that I couldn't cover every single thing I had outsourced. I had to choose to eliminate, delegate, you know, all of those things that I applied in business. I started to also do in homeschooling and vice versa. Yeah, I always say that homeschooling is like the biggest magnifying glass and you really start figuring out who you are and where your strengths are and what you might be spending time where you shouldn't but then you add a business to that and the magnifying glass gets bigger which can actually be really cool on the other side because you really are put in a situation where you Have to make choices that make things so much more free.

So that leads us to where you're at now. So tell us about what you do now, because what you do now is so cool. It's so different. So I built two seven figure businesses and then a multi six figure business,  and I was really lonely. I was like, I'm so tired of doing this myself. While homeschooling. I did it while homeschooling, yeah.

And so what would happen is I would go to the homeschool co ops, because I would want my kids to be, have other friends, because back then there wasn't as many options as there are now. Like there's so many more options now, but back then there wasn't drop off learning centers and micro pods, you know, micro schools and homeschool pods.

They just didn't exist. It was very traditional homeschooling. And so I would go to the homeschool groups and people kind of give me the sideway glance of you do what? Why would you want to do that? What, like, what is, why are you, is that crazy? What is wrong with you? Why? But then I would go to the entrepreneurial things and I would have the same reaction.

Like you, why would you want to homeschool your kids? Like, don't you realize it'd be a lot easier if you just built your business Monday through Friday, eight to three? I'm like, yeah. Yes, I am fully aware of the extra layer of complexity I have added to my life, but I wouldn't change it for anything.  And so what happened was I was running this, um, I was running my app Facebook ads agency at the time and I was running, driving down that road.

And I saw this billboard that said dream big. And I literally like felt the words homeschool CEO. And I was like, that's so weird. I'm like, Oh, That's what I am.  I'm an entrepreneur who homeschools. I'm a homeschool CEO because I, it's not a side hustle. Like I do it so differently and I went home and I literally Googled it and I'm like, that's so simple.

There has to, somebody has to already run this, right? Yeah. And they did it. I claimed it on all the social networks. I opened up a free Facebook community and the rest is kind of history. Now we have an international community of entrepreneurs who homeschool, who are, you know, Really embracing that freedom and flexibility for both their businesses and their families and building the life that they love on their terms. 

Oh, I love it so much. And I am a part of this community and I have loved being a part of this community so very much. Um, I, you know, I'm, I'm happy to be the oddball, but it is nice to be able to connect with people who love being with their children and love having, um, building something else as well that fills them up and doing it in their own way.

Not necessarily doing that grind because so much of the advice out there. On both ends, like for homeschooling and for business are very much like full time, um, hours in jobs, like building, grinding, doing hours and hours and hours of things.  And this community is like, no, we get to decide, right? Like we get to decide what that looks like, how much time we spend, how we can be the most efficient, um, and enjoy it because you're, I love what you said earlier too, I wouldn't have it any other way.

I love being with my kids. I love, um, having their light bulbs go off and being a part of their growth. And I also love building a business and serving my community. It's, I'm like, I feel so blessed. And I love that you have made a home for people to come together and be like, it's okay that we love these things.

Like we can love it and we can embrace it and we can build something that works for us. So I, I know I'm so grateful for the community and I just love, I love the story and how you got there.  So I wanted to ask you why, why, especially right now, because I know I've been talking about a lot, but like the world's changing, things are changing.

You just mentioned how homeschooling in general, like the hybrids, the learning centers, the micro schools, the pods, like the access online to classes and opportunities are expanding every day. Like things are changing. Why right now is it important to serve this segment of our homeschooling population to serve homeschoolers with entrepreneurship?

What, what is, what's the What's the reason to do that now?  I think it's because there's a couple of reasons, Allie. Like one,  every single day, literally there is not a day that goes by that I don't hear both sides of this story, both sides of this paradigm, either where a homeschool mom realizes their kid needs therapy.

You know, we're facing that right now, even our own family. And it's going to be, you Or we have a spouse who wants to leave a job or loses a job in today's market. Like we can't predict what's happening and to be able to provide for our families in this, in our, on our terms, without sacrificing homeschooling and without sacrificing our kids education and having them with us, we get to create that financial freedom.

Yeah, for our entire family. And then on the flip side of that, I talk to entrepreneurs all of the time who are like, I have this thriving business, but I'm chained  to the fact that my kids are on a traditional school schedule on Monday through Friday. We can't do what we want to do. They're being put in a box of, this is the rate that they're going to learn at.

This is what they're going to learn. And understanding that will. When entrepreneurs take kids out of that box and like unleash them for their full potential, they can learn and grow at their own pace. And some, in some areas it might be slower than traditional. In other places, they're going to be so accelerated.

And then when we combine the two of them together,  I'm seeing kids Think of things that we would have never thought of in a traditional school setting. I'm seeing them start businesses at young ages. I'm seeing them just the creative juices flowing for them. It's so amazing.  But I'm also seeing the women  who thought that they were going to have to give up their, their dreams and their ambitions because they thought, well, if I love my family,  then I need to hit pause.

Yeah. On my own dreams and ambitions that were pre pre children, because I want to focus everything on my kids, which is amazing and honorable.  But the thing is, it's not an either or solution. It's an, and we can have both, but we have to do it a little differently. Mm hmm.  Sometimes a lot differently. Yeah, it is.

It's it. It takes a completely different strategy when you know that your priority is your family and that you know the time with them and their education and their growth. But then that you're also going to make an impact in the world, not like you are making a massive impact in the world when you are educating your children.

And you can also make an impact in the world with your other talents and skills at the same time. And just having a community that gets that and, um, helps with the strategy to make it happen because it is there's, there's more and more of us all the time. Um, yeah. And I, I mean, we went down that path of needing to find, um, find funds for things that insurance wasn't going to cover, um, that our family needed.

And that is. There's so much pressure and overwhelm there. And you don't want to, um, when, you know, because you're watching your kiddo girl, you know, they need this thing. They need this extra support. Um, knowing that you can make that happen while still putting them first and getting them what they need is, uh, such a, such a blessing.

It's such a blessing. I love it. The other thing Allie too, is that I feel like sometimes us as moms, we have the mom guilt.  If I'm working, I'm neglecting my kids and nobody wants to talk about that part of it, right? And it's kind of the dark side of how do we balance kids and clients, but because I'm on the other side of it and my youngest is going to be 19, you know, 19, all the way up to 26,  my kids look back and they're like, mom, I'm so glad you showed us what it was like to achieve your dreams.

And, you know, three out of my four kids are entrepreneurs and they are so thankful that I set that example for them. And they look back and they pull from that. And that inspired them by watching me not settle.  It inspired them to go after that and to become, you know, to, to grow and be uncomfortable and do things that other people weren't doing and being okay with failure and trying different things.

And  when our kids watch us have a business, they're learning things that they don't learn in traditional school. They're learning how to fail. They're learning how to try different things. They're learning how to show up when nobody showed, you know, when, how to do that Instagram live when nobody's watching you and you keep going.

And  those are lessons that aren't learned in a book.  They get to be learned by real life. Yes. Uh, and modeling that modeling is always the best way to teach. Period. Like the best way for somebody to learn is to actually see and witness somebody go through it and experience it. And those, and those attributes, seeing someone do that, knowing it's possible, being comfortable with failing as a stepping stone to what's next.

Those attributes, those character traits last and serve in every area of life. Every area of life. And you know what? I, I will say, so like this morning, it's, it's my podcast day. Like I'm recording podcasts today, which means I got up out of bed with my sleepy three year old and cozy, cozy, comfy cuddle time and got dressed and ready.

And as I was coming in, my three year old was like, bum, bum, because he would just, would rather I would just snuggle up with him all the time. And there is that moment of like, Oh, I want that. But I love this too. And, um, I am going to go spend a ton of time with him later this afternoon. And we, he went with me to an event I had to do for my business yesterday.

And he's like, mom, you really, I should go with you to work all the time. You really shouldn't go by yourself. I'll come with you. Cause it was at the beach and he had a blast. Um, and we call it like our family business and we work it out. But sometimes I do feel that guilt. Um, Because I don't think there's necessarily a way to avoid it as moms.

But I can, I can choose what the rest of my day looks like. I can choose to get up early, spend a couple hours, and then dive deep into my kids and enjoying our time together later. Which I wouldn't be able to do, bring in income and do in any other Environment, I'd have to be gone for hours and hours without any choice.

That's I, so yeah, there is, I do feel that mom guilt sometimes, but I feel like the trade offs and the balance of it is so worth it. I agree. Yeah, absolutely.  Um, so, okay. So you, you've touched on this a little bit, but. What would you say are the biggest differences for homeschoolers homeschooling families when the homeschooling, the primary homeschooling parent is an entrepreneur?

What's different about homeschooling than if you are homeschooling and that is your primary, um, primary, uh, setup?  One of the differences, you have to learn how to integrate both sides of your life. I think so often we look for a one size fits all, and this, we look for this magic formula, right? Because it's, it's going to be the fast track to that success, but figuring out where the season is of your, you know, raising your kids and the season of your business and understanding that those two need to be integrated together and that you have to be really intentional with your time.

The one thing that I feel like as. As entrepreneurs who homeschool that we,  that it isn't, doesn't serve us is to just waste time, you know, to space out and waste time, like on social media and stuff. Like if we're on social media, it's got to be intentional. Everything we do gets to be intentional. And that's a blessing because we look back and we're like, you know what?

We were really intentional on how we spent our day. So I think that's one, like just being intentional with your time and integrating the  The other part is  making sure that we're spending time on things that matter. That's moving that needle forward, both in family, both in homeschooling and in business.

And so I think that's really different. I think when you're not just, when you're an entrepreneur who don't, who doesn't have that complexity of the homeschooling added to it,  we,  we can afford more time to just be busy, but not productive. Did that make sense? Oh yeah. Same thing, same thing with homeschooling.

Like we can just, if it takes eight hours of homeschool, no big deal. Like we, it's a long day, we need to fill the hours. Whereas when you have both, you have to really get laser focused on what's moving that needle forward so that you know where to spend your time. Yes. The biggest bang for your buck.

Cause you can fill in both areas. You can fill hours and hours and hours. You absolutely can. Um, but it also requires a lot of self reflection and paying attention to realize like, What is actually getting you closer and what is  I always say it's kind of like a vanity project. Like if you bring this really cute craft to your kids and you're like, okay, okay.

We're going to do this, this craft, but it doesn't, it's not reinforcing learning. It's not bringing a new idea, but it takes a lot of time. It really, essentially, especially if your kids you're pulling your kids along the way to do it, right. Which makes it take more time. It's really more of a vanity project then.

Um, then something intentional that's serving you both and that I feel like when you release that and you're like, Hey, we're going to spend this time that I have, I'm going to spend it doing something really impactful. Then you get so much more connected you make so much more progress, and you end up getting more time in your day without having to put more effort in.

Yeah, I think that what you just said is like the next key when you're balancing both, when you're balancing business and homeschool, letting go of the unrealistic expectations that your life is going to look like traditional business or traditional homeschooling, like just letting go of that idea and putting your blinders on and saying, what is best for my business and my children?

And you know what I'm saying? Like, Understanding it's gonna look different, but guess what? It's going to be beautiful and inspire, you know, inspiring your family. And it can be so amazing, but I guarantee you, it is not going to look like somebody who  they're homeschooling, you know, that is their full time job is homeschooling or somebody who their full time job is business while their kids are in traditional schooling.

It will look different. Yeah. And that's the cool part. Cause you get to create what that is.  So I agree though, you need the blinders on, you got to be really clear about what you want for your family, what you want for your business, and then blinders on and make sure that you're checking in with them and not checking in with the world around you  because it's overwhelming.

So this leads me to a question that I hear all the time, and I'm really curious what your take is on this. Um, families will say either if they're just going into the homeschooling world, Considering homeschooling and taking that on or, you know, adding a business to their homeschooling or they run a business from home and they're considering adding homeschool.

Anyone who's kind of stepping into this frame, I hear this question a lot, but what about time for me and like rest and, um, self care? Like, does that just, do you have to give that up completely when you take on these multiple roles? And I would love to hear your take on this. Yeah, absolutely not. Like I think we need to prioritize our self care.

I mean, it's kind of cliche, but it goes back to putting on a mask on first.  I am a major introvert. People assume because I run an international community, I must be an extrovert. I, but anybody who knows me really well, we'll say, Oh no, Jen is definitely an introvert. A hundred percent. And I learned early on because I hit burnout five years into the process.

I learned that I.  That prioritizing self care wasn't selfish. It was necessary for me to be the best mom, for me to be the best in my business, for me to just be my best self. And that is how I served my family. So that can look so different for homeschool CEOs. So sometimes it looks like hiring somebody to come in and take care of the kids, you know, once a week, and instead of trying  But more business work or, you know, that more productivity into that time slot.

Maybe it really is just taking care of ourselves. Maybe it looks like booking one weekend, a month or a quarter away at a hotel to work. I know a lot of homeschool CEOs do that in those two days. You would be amazed how,  how rejuvenated you feel after two days of, you know, no little people touching you and like time away,  prioritizing.

You know, what, what feeds your soul?  Because that's going to be different for all of us. I do think that's important when you're, when you're a homeschool CEO, understanding ourselves,  because your self care is going to look different than somebody else's, but it's equally important. It may look like getting a massage.

It may look like taking a bubble bath. It may look like booking a retreat and getting out of the area. It may, it may be a local hotel. You know, it could be a lot of things. It could be going to a coffee shop. Once a week while you know, somebody, whether it's a grandma, grandpa, you know, spouse can watch the kids and you can just get out of the house for a few hours, share with another homeschool mom.

Yep. Yep. How, you know, family swaps. I did that way where, you know, they, another  mom would watch my kids and I'd watch her kids one morning a week. You would be amazed the difference that makes.  Absolutely. Well, and I've done some of those things. I, I've done like a night at a hotel where the night and the, like the afternoon and the evening was just like, I'm zoning out mode.

I need rest. And then I'd wake up early in the morning and I'd get what would take me two weeks done in just a couple of hours. And it was incredible. Um, I also feel like I don't know. And maybe you have to let me know. Maybe this is just my, what I know about myself, but I feel like it's really important to also make sure you have time to think and process because this whole, when we're talking about being intentional, really being able to have time to consider what you've seen throughout the day, because when you're going from thing to thing to thing, you can miss the big glaring signs that that math is not working for your kiddo.

And that, that email sequence is not working for your business because you're moving. I feel like. A huge part of making this all work is making sure that you are scheduling time, setting time aside to actually process and think, which is that self care too, it's just like, like time that is quiet where you can just think through these things so that you can be as efficient and feel good about it.

Instead of feeling like you're racing.  Is that more of a personality type thing, or is that, would you say that's like true in everybody doing this kind of life? I feel like all of us need time to think, and I think because of the way that our culture is, our society, there's this pressure to always fill that time, and it almost, if you're not used to it, it's uncomfortable to sit in the silence with your own thoughts and to think through things, but I will tell you, It is, it is the most transformative work that you can do.

It is the actual most productive work. It kind of goes back to the analogy of sharpening the ax before cutting down the tree. You're thinking time and your reflection time is going to help you. Like you said, spot those, those areas, those blind spots, and think about like, what is the best way to do this?

Because yeah, you could just jump in and do it, but if you don't take the time to process, if you don't take a step back.  And process it and really think about it. You're going to make way more mistakes. And if you just hit pause and take that thinking time.  I promise because I see it over and over we're going to be so much more productive and what comes out on the other end we're going to be so much happier and satisfied and fulfilled with that than if we just jump in and just start doing the busy work all the time. 

Because it's so much and we're so like, um, We're so geared right now to just go into a Google like, okay, that was, that didn't go well. What do I do? How do I solve this? And just like keep zooming through and that's not keeping those blinders on that's just adding more and more input. I feel like that advice and what you just shared right now is good for absolutely everybody listening.

We all need to be Um, actually scheduling that time and making being intentional about having time to really think about and process what we're doing so that we can make these choices and be intentional. I love that. Um, okay, so that leads me to, um, What advice, what would you say is like If you have, if somebody is listening right now, because someone is, I know they are, someone is listening right now going, okay, I've always wanted to try, you know, adding this to, you know, maybe starting a side business or, oh, I, you know, I miss my consulting work and I would love to find a way to make that happen again.

Or somebody who's like, okay, my business is actually running pretty smoothly right now. Really want to bring my kids home, but they're They're white knuckling it, right? They're like, I, they feel that call. They're feeling that urge. They're listening. They're like, wait, this is possible. This is a thing.  What would be your advice for somebody who's feeling that like white knuckle urge to be like, Oh, I really want to know more. 

Okay, so it's two different answers. So with the, if you're a mama who you're homeschooling and you really have, you feel that call to start a business and that desire, um, reach out to, to me on Instagram. Um, we have a homeschool CEO community that will love on you and help you get started and lead you down that path.

And. Help give you the tools that you need for that.  If you're an entrepreneur and you're saying,  I think I want to homeschool, but I'm not sure, or I tried it during the pandemic and I failed because it was, you know, I just, I didn't like having the kids home. I couldn't figure out how to make it work or, but, or something, you know, recent events have made you question like, man, I have this ability.

I have the freedom and flexibility in my work schedule. I could do it, but I don't know. How to add that additional ball to juggle. Like, how do I add that extra spinning plate? Uh, Ali and I actually created a really incredible program called the homeschool freedom formula that really walks you down the path.

You can do it in a day. We created it because we know as entrepreneurs, you're busy and we need it to be efficient for you.  But it's not a cookie cutter solution and it helps you really understand how to make homeschooling work for you in a way that isn't going to sacrifice your business, and in a way that's not going to sacrifice or fail your kids either, so that you can really make both things work.

So my advice at the end of the day is  find the people who are doing what you want to do.  And ask lots of questions because they're going to understand  and brainstorm and have solutions and suggestions that you're not going to go find on Google.  Because we're living in the real life and guess what?

We're not posting all of this stuff all the time because we are busy raising, raising our kids and running our businesses.  Something's got to give. And so, but if you come into a community and ask questions and help figure out what works for you,  I think that is the best advice that I can give.

Absolutely. And know that there are people, there are people to look to because you, I feel like there's a lot of people like marketing to moms on starting businesses, but they don't necessarily understand homeschooling moms and what that looks like and what the layers, like you've said, the layers of complexity around that, or there's homeschoolers who maybe have started something on this side, but haven't made that like a business necessarily.

And so finding the people who are. Doing this and doing it with integrity and they want to share. They're happy to share with those things. So yes, I love that. I love this homeschool CEO community. Um, you can post a question in that group and people give you lots of suggestions of what has served them.

And they love doing that, but you guys, the homeschool freedom formula, I got to just a minute, Jen, I'm, I'm, I'm jacking us for a second. I, this was such a labor of love in the best way, because, um,  You know, I always knew I was going to homeschool, always knew I was going to homeschool. I, um, once I'd been homeschooled and had that experience, I knew that my kids were going to be homeschooled when I was getting, I've said this before, but when I was dating my husband, I was like, Hey, if this is going to marriage, you have to know that our children will be homeschooled.

Um, I mean, it was just, I always knew it. And I know that I'm kind of a, Unicorn now with that because there's just so many people homeschooling now are coming from a different place Um, but doing that and then and loving it so much. I really do. I love homeschooling my kids I love being present with them, but I also have this drive and this urge to serve in other ways and finding ways to make it work and finding people who could support me and And still be really good at what matters to me being really good at homeschooling.

My children matters to me so much, and I never wanted to drop that and figuring out how to run a business in a way that I love and serves my family and serves my people well, it's been such a.  It's such an incredible journey for me. And so, um, being able to share what I've learned and then bring in Jen's expertise so that other families can have this complete freedom and like build their own life was such an incredible experience.

Um, and the people who've gone through the course are, you know, amazing. Blown away. They're completely blown away. They're like, this is everything I didn't even know I needed. Um, it's so full. Yeah. As you're saying that I'm reminded of one of the gals. She said, I've been homeschooling for five years and she went through the homeschool freedom formula.

And she's like, this has revolutionized how I homeschool.  She's like, these are things I never thought of because she said. She was in a place where she was struggling to balance business and homeschool. Hmm. And she said, going through it made shifts in how she homeschooled and how she approached things.

And she said it helped her create that formula for her own freedom and flexibility. And she's like, this has changed our lives. And I was like, wow. You know, because we think sometimes, oh, it's just for brand new homeschoolers. But actually we had women go through it who had been doing it for a little while because they, because what happens is.

Many of us come from a traditional background where we think this is what homeschooling looks like, or this is what education looks like. And understanding how to integrate them requires, you know, changing it and modifying it for our lifestyle. And it was so fun. And it was such, you know, like you said, Allie, it was such a labor of love because we realized what's currently out on the market. 

Doesn't work if you're trying to balance both business and home school, it just does not work. And so understanding like this is what homeschooling can look like while running a business was just so helpful for so many people. And it was just such an honor to serve and to provide that for our.  Yeah, it really has been well because I think with the advice that's out there, what ends up happening is you trade one box for another box and like that's completely the antithesis of why you do this, right?

I mean, the reason you want financial freedom and to run a business is because you want That freedom part. And the reason you want to homeschool is so that you have the freedom to raise your children the way you want to and serve them as they grow. And so a lot of the stuff that's out there really takes you from the box that you left very intentionally left and puts you in a new box and that's unnecessary.

And so it was just so much gratitude for being able to put those ideas and team up with you and put that together so that we can show everybody like You don't need a box. We don't need a box. We don't do boxes. Exactly. There's no boxes in our world. We go right outside of the box and we're like, all right, what's going to work for you?

And you won't do it like me. And I won't do it like you, Allie. Like that's the beauty of running a business and homeschooling that we get to do it our way. Yes, I love that. Yes. Perfect. Perfect ending. That is exactly the entire purpose living life because you were chosen to be their parent. It's your family.

You guys get to decide and you get to love your parenthood. You get to love this journey. So I yeah, love that. Okay, Jen, where can everybody find you because I know they're going to want to come and ask you so many wonderful questions. Yeah, the best way right now is on Instagram. You can find me at homeschool CEO.

And then the second best place is come join our free community at, on just Google homeschool CEO community on Facebook. And we're there as well. Perfect. And then you guys, I will put all of that in the show notes, along with the link for homeschool freedom formula. If you have any questions about that, you can reach out to me too.

Jen, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me today. And I will talk to you soon. 

Hey friends. If you'd like to continue this conversation or you're looking for more resources, be sure to head to my website at Ali Adair Chung. com. You can also go to the show notes for this episode to find great free resources and my Instagram and Facebook handle. I can't wait to connect with you.