“Be resourceful, because that's modeling for your kids that one person doesn't have all the answers.” -Debbie Sharp

“Be gentle with yourself, and make yourself a learner also. Because if you put yourself in that same spot, it puts you in a different mindset. And that's a great benefit for your kids to see.” -Denise Powers

“If you do it right at their level, you're always challenging them a little bit, and you're always teaching them a little bit at the same time.”  -Aditya Nagrath

Episode Description:

You know how everyone says it's good to have a sense of humor in times of stress? 

Well, this pandemic was a weird one. And it’s not even about the virulent nature of the disease — it’s about us— the parents and how we are “parenteaching” our kids in the strangest ways possible. Nothing has prepared us for this. We didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into when we “agreed” to homeschooling during the pandemic.

As we can imagine, with the world falling apart all around us, and our kids being cloistered in by live-in teachers, it's a bit of a challenge to get an education going. We thought it was a breeze, but a few days later, this little exercise we're doing in trying to educate our kids has turned out to be the most shocking demonstration of how much we really don't know when it comes to…um...anything academic. It's total chaos and that is why it's hilarious!

In this episode, Jay sits with Gonzo Parents, Debbie Sharp & Denise Powers. Listen in as they share their personal stories of the funniest and most adorably silly instances while homeschooling their kids during COVID. They also share how they have adapted to limited learning resources, overcame challenges, and helped their children go beyond traditional learning and explore more of who they are and what they truly want to do.

Next to them is our expert guest, Aditya Nagrath, the co-founder of Elephant Learning. Dr. Nagrath discusses the challenges of being a parent teacher, how parents can guide their children to have a more positive view of their education, and how to empower children to believe in themselves and have a deeper, more meaningful motivation to learn and grow.

Parents may feel helpless, but gonzo parenting is all about the trial by fire learning experience of how to become the parents we wish had. And when we’ve come out on the other side of this roller-coaster ride, maybe we can look back with a little perspective.  But until then, let’s hear from our guests…

Click https://gonzoparenting.com/ for shownotes and resources.

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Episode Highlights:

With Our Gonzo Parents

02:24 Meet GP Debbie Sharp and GP Denise Powers

10:06 Not So Soon!

16:02 The Gap in the Education System

19:27 Parenting + Teaching 

32:13 Make Yourself a Learner, Be Gentle with Yourself

38:16 You Were a Parent First

43:06 Let Them Be Kids

49:10 Transparenting 

With Our Expert Guest

59:51 Empowering Your Kids

01:04:23 The Ego Trap

01:10:31 The Challenge with Being a Parent Teacher

01:16:15 Help Your Kids Develop the Right Attitude for Learning

01:20:31 Help Your Kids Build Self-Esteem

01:25:12 Help Your Kids to Want to Learn

01:27:22 Help Your Kids Believe in Themselves

Resources: 

Gonzo Parenting: Finding Comedy in the Chaos with Jay Rooke

Gonzo Parenting Facebook Group

Who’s Learning Now- Debbie Sharp (Gonzo Parent)

Khan Academy