Welcome to the Wild and Free podcast, Episode 78. I'm Ainsley Arment, and this week we're talking with

our friend Amber O'Neill Johnston about her new book, A Place to Belong, and how we can build

greater connection with our children, with our personal histories, and with each other in homeschooling.

There's so many differences, but at the end of the day, really, we are a with our personal histories and with each other in homeschooling.

There's so many differences, but at the end of the day, really, we are connected by our similarities as well. And I think that it's both. It's the diversity and appreciation and

teaching our children, and our children learn by watching us as well to appreciate diversity and differences

and variations, but also the kinship that is formed over similarities as well.

Plus, we'll share about some exciting events coming to the Wild and Free Farm Village this

summer. So grab a cup of coffee and join us on the front porch. Let's get started.

Having five kids ranging in age from 6 to 18 comes with its own set of dynamics.

Good things like having built-in babysitters after a decade of

never being able to go out on dates, and not so good things like feeling grandmotherly when I'm

around other mothers of preschoolers. But my children's interests overlap in more ways than you might

imagine. It's not uncommon for me to walk into the kitchen in the morning

and find all five of them huddled around the homemade Play-Doh

I set out the night before,

going head to head in a game of memory matching cards,

or working together to construct a Lego set

that my 12-year-old might be tackling at the moment.

When the oldest ones see me coming, they quickly move on to something else.

But it's too late.

I have already delighted in seeing them embrace their childhood, if only for a moment.

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