Episode 72: Johanna Nichols and Martha McAlpine

On homeschooling as reclaiming learning, prioritizing in a busy household and the gifts of boredom.

Making the decision to homeschool [2:03] Keeping rhythms with non-attachment [8:57] Being driven by children’s interest. Choosing. Focusing [12:31] Reclaiming our learning. Giving ownership to the children [21:48] Interoception. Subtracting and letting kids get bored [23:14] Surviving as a family. Choosing values and saying them out loud [27:15] Being generous with yourself so that you can be more generous [32:10] Recognizing developmental stages [38:42] Working while homeschooling. Knowing your priorities. Love languages [39:56]

Johanna Nichols is a mama to 4, an artist and Waldorf inspired homeschooler. Professionally trained as a chef, everything she thought she knew about food changed when her first son was diagnosed with severe food allergies. Her life's work is creating ceremony and rituals that re-connect us to the earth, health and home. She is deeply focused on the empowerment of women and creates circles and courses that honor how we can lead and live in a way closer to the earth, her seasons and the lunar cycle. Children come to her house from blocks away for bandaids and know she is never too busy to apply lavender to a sting.

Martha McAlpine is a student, a listener, a leader. A homeschool mama, a Love, a professional yoga teacher. She has been a workshop facilitator, a multimedia producer, and an information architect for Fortune 500 companies during the .com boom. Her studies include a degree in Comparative Literature from Princeton University and a master's degree in Experiential Curriculum Design from Harvard's Graduate School of Education. She has practiced and taught yoga publicly and privately for over 25 years and leads the philosophy portion of the YogaWorks advanced teacher training in Baltimore. Her passion and purpose is to teach how to connect our self to our Self. Having traveled and lived around the world, she now lives with her kids outside of Baltimore, MD overlooking the Patapsco river.

RESOURCES

Martha McAlpine
Johanna Nichols
Guided Within Collective
You are your child’s first teacher, Rahima Baldwin Dancy
Waldorf Schools
Love Languages
Parenting Passageway