Ep. 133: homeschooling expert and supermom Erika Ward

How to Decorate

Ballard Designs

Arts, Business, Design

4.2 • 785 Ratings

🗓️ 24 March 2020

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

While we are inside and schools are closed for the time being, we thought an episode on homeschooling could be helpful. This week, we welcome Erika Ward, owner of Erika Ward Interiors, based in Atlanta, Georgia. As a mother of 5 who homeschooled her children through their education, this supermom has great advice for us on how to create a space that welcomes both fun and learning, what sort of things we can do to transform our home into a homeschooling space, and ways we can keep our home beautiful with our kids running around full time inside of them. What You’ll Hear On this Episode Why Erika decided to homeschool her kids, and how it helped her raise them in a way that was aligned with her values. How to schedule better so that you allow for learning, play, and fun. Ways to create spaces so that kids don’t feel trapped, but they also don’t feel too comfortable. How Erika transformed her home using tables and chairs to set exact spaces for learning, but also provided an area for her kids to get up, move around, and do the work they need to. Lunch and snack time can be a challenging area for homeschooling parents, and Erika explains her winning strategy. Hot tip for keeping the house looking great with little ones around full time - put all the beautiful things in spaces and crevices they can’t reach. Ways that we can get our kids to be accountable and tidy up in their playroom. Tips for designing a space that can stay functional and is worth the investment. Mentioned In This Episode: Erika Ward #5: Erika Ward #89: Traci Zeller

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to the How to Decorate Podcast from Ballard Designs. It's Caroline here. I'm not doing the
0:05.8	regular intro today, as you can tell, because in light of current events, Karen and Taryn and I aren't
0:12.5	able to get into a room like we normally do. We always record the show in person, with the
0:17.6	exception of one or two episodes, because we feel like that the conversation
0:21.4	flows better and the energy is just overall better. But because of everything going on, we're
0:27.9	trying out some new digital recording software, which is taking some getting used to.
0:31.8	I probably sound different than normal. But the other night, we actually record an episode
0:36.8	with a great friend of ours.
0:38.6	Her name is Erica Ward.
0:39.6	She's a mom of five, and she homeschooled her kids for many years.
0:43.4	And with so many families now faced with homeschooling and helping their kids through
0:47.4	schoolwork while schools are closed, we thought it would be a great time to pick Erica's brain
0:51.0	and ask her all of the questions you have homeschooling and kids' spaces
0:54.8	in general. She's a super mom, so I think you'll really enjoy this episode. I also wanted to mention
1:00.1	that one of our favorite aspects of the show is getting your emails and messages. Right now,
1:05.1	especially, we'd love to hear your feedback. What sort of topics would you like us to cover? Do you have
1:09.1	any questions for us? Please let us know.
1:11.6	Send us an email at podcast about our designs.net or comment on our Instagram post or on a blog post.
1:20.7	However you want to send us your feedback, we would really appreciate hearing it.
1:23.9	So with that, let's get to the show.
1:40.5	Music So with that, let's get to the show. Okay, so we are very excited because we have Supermom, Atlanta Interior Designer, Mother of Five, and former homeschooling expert.
1:53.5	I guess she's still an expert technically, but you do not homeschool anymore.
	...

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