Learning Is a Lifestyle

The Everyday Educator podcast is your weekly reminder to open your eyes to the world as your classroom, your encouragement that you don’t have to homeschool alone, and your lifeline for practical tips and resource suggestions for the road ahead.

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Listen to the Latest Episode

Ready or Not? Evaluating Your Child’s Homeschool Readiness

Wondering if your child is ready to start Foundations? Join Delise Germond and Lisa Bailey in this episode of Everyday Educator as they discuss practical signs of school readiness for preschoolers and early learners. Discover how to prepare your child for Classical Conversations Foundations, navigate emotional development milestones, and build essential skills like following directions, fine motor development, and independent play. Learn when to start formal learning, how to give constructive feedback as a homeschool parent, and why emotional intelligence matters as much as academic preparation. Whether you’re new to homeschooling or evaluating your child’s readiness for Foundations, this episode offers encouragement and actionable strategies for starting your homeschool journey with confidence. Perfect for parents of toddlers, preschoolers, and early elementary students considering Classical Conversations or home education.

What you’ll learn: •    How to recognize signs your child is ready for formal learning •    Ways to develop attention span and help children follow simple directions •    Activities that build fine motor skills and handwriting readiness •    Strategies for teaching emotional intelligence and naming feelings •    How to create routines and expectations together as a family •    Why sensory learning and developmental milestones matter •    The key differences between homeschool and traditional school readiness

This episode of Everyday Educator is sponsored by Summit Ministries:

Do you want your child to have conversations that challenge, encouragement that endure, and friends and faith for life? Summit’s Student Conferences equip young Christians with the hope, clarity, and confidence they need to follow Jesus boldly in today’s world. It’s not just about getting apologetics answers. Students learn how to live winsomely and bravely in today’s world.  Visit summit.org/cc before March 31, 2026, and lock in the early bird rate. Save an additional $250 when you use the code CC26. Want your child to have conversations that challenge, encouragement that endures, and friends and faith for life? Grab their spot now at summit.org/cc

A dad teaches his son how to fix a bike

About Everyday Educator

Everyday Educator began in 2015 with a simple purpose: to help other parents leap over the hurdles and steer around the potholes encountered on the homeschooling journey by laying out simple systems to apply the classical tools of learning.

Now, the show has reached over one million downloads and is enjoyed by homeschool families all over the world.

Enthusiastic lifelong learner Lisa Bailey, often joined by fellow everyday educators, comes alongside listeners to offer much-needed encouragement, present practical tips, and suggest helpful resources to make homeschooling a little more doable.

You don’t have to do this alone. Everyday Educator will encourage, equip, and inspire you to continue on the journey with excellence!

Meet Lisa Bailey

Lisa Bailey has been a homeschool mom for more than twenty years and is the mother of two Classical Conversations Challenge program graduates. She has served in a variety of positions at Classical Conversations since 2004 and most recently serves as a Lead Curriculum Developer at Classical Conversations Multi-Media. As host of the Everyday Educator podcast since its humble beginnings, Lisa considers herself blessed with the unique opportunity to encourage homeschool families across the nation and around the world.

Lisa Bailey headshot