002: Shannon Wendt Reveals How She Created Her Family Culture

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My guest today is Shannon Wendt, who is here to share thoughts about her homeschooling journey.  Shannon lives with her husband, Zach, and six kids in western Michigan.  They are both business owners.  Zach owns West Michigan Rocks, which is a real estate company.  Shannon makes unique, handcrafted mothering and Catholic jewelry.  Her business is called Organic Mama’s Shop.  The Wendt children range in age from 2 weeks to 11 years.  Shannon has been a homeschooling mom since 2008.

Shannon covers the following topics in our discussion:

• Shannon and Zach knew early on in their marriage that homeschooling was for them.  They felt a clear call from God to educate their kids in this manner.
• The driving force behind their decision was to develop the “Wendt family culture” instead of letting a “school culture” govern their lives and schedules.
• Shannon admits that scheduling is her Achilles’ heel in homeschooling.  She has done much research and is still making adjustments to get it right.
• The Wendt children have experienced a combination of homeschooling and going to school this year.  Shannon feels that this arrangement works well and gives the kids “the best of both worlds.”
• Shannon reveals that homeschooling is not always “fun.”
• The Wendt’s have instituted family rosary prayer to help teach the children to pray for specific things and see the results.  It has brought peace to their busy household.
• Shannon encourages extracurricular activities for her children, but not at the expense of family time.  For this reason, 4H involvement has worked out well.

Shannon’s advice to anyone looking to homeschool is to consider their strengths and weaknesses.  Homeschooling offers a more flexible family schedule, and there are unlimited resources to help.  Anyone can make it work if it’s what you want to do.  “If God calls you to do it, then He will equip you!”