School Choice Series: Public School Options with Emily Fenlaw:: [Ep 561]
Don't Mom Alone Podcast
Don't Mom Alone Podcast
4.9 • 2.3K Ratings
🗓️ 23 February 2026
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In part three of my School Choice Series, I sit down with my friend Emily Fenlaw to talk about all things public school. With four children who have experienced everything from traditional public school to the talented and gifted program, an all-girls school, and an arts-focused school, Emily has navigated the many options and transitions that public education can offer.
She also shares candidly about parenting children with ADHD — walking through 504 plans, medication decisions, and the ongoing process of learning how to support executive functioning at home. Through it all she learned to be a student of her child to discover the best path for them.
My hope with this series is to share a variety of school choice stories so you can hear different experiences and perspectives. As you listen, I encourage you to pray and seek God’s guidance, asking Him to bring to mind exactly what you need to know for your family’s journey. Trust Him to walk hand in hand with you, year by year, as you make decisions and navigate each step of your children’s education. Here is some of what we cover:
- The beauty of building relationships with families from all walks of life
- How introverts and extroverts can uniquely flourish in public school environments
- You can only make the best decision you can with the information you have
The challenges of public school and navigating relationships with other parents
- School Choice Series: Private to Public School with Misty Persefield:: [Ep 560]
- School Choice Series: Homeschool to Private School with Kris Habashy :: [Ep 559]
- The School of Dependency on Christ :: Wendy Speake [Ep 240]
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey y'all, welcome back to the Don't Mom Alone podcast. |
| 0:10.1 | I'm your host, Heather McFaddean, and this is the place where I get to walk alongside you |
| 0:13.9 | and connect you with people and resources so you know that you don't mom alone. |
| 0:19.1 | In this episode number 561, I'm welcoming to the show, my in real life friend, Emily Finlaw. |
| 0:26.7 | Before choosing during the path and post in a continuing arc is to be a student of your child or your children. |
| 0:36.6 | If one thing isn't quite working, give it a little |
| 0:39.2 | more time. And if it's just not working at all, it's okay to make a change. Remember that our kids |
| 0:45.2 | are the adaptable ones. We are not the adaptable ones. We're the ones who have a really hard time. |
| 0:53.3 | We as the parents have an adult because we're kind of, we're kind of set in our ways. We're like, who have a really hard time. We as the parents have an |
| 0:54.4 | adults because we're kind of, we're kind of set in our ways. We're like, oh, this is how life |
| 0:58.1 | should be. We're the ones who have a hard time adapting to changes and choosing change and then |
| 1:05.0 | adapting to it. This is the third episode in our school choice series, and I sat down with my friend Emily, |
| 1:13.7 | finlaw, who is a mom of four, which you'll hear about. |
| 1:16.8 | We've known each other since back when our kids were babies, just like my other two guests. |
| 1:23.7 | Emily is going to share her journey through a variety of different public school options, |
| 1:28.7 | whether it's the traditional feeder route or whether it is for talented, gifted, or a school |
| 1:35.1 | just for girls. You'll hear all about that, and she has some great thoughts. If that's the |
| 1:39.7 | route you're considering, I always enjoy hearing from Emily. And make sure if you haven't listened to the other episodes, check them out. |
| 1:46.4 | And if you know a mom who has younger kids, maybe share these episodes with her because it might give her encouragement to trust God or to explore options she may not be exploring. |
| 1:58.4 | So let's get right to it. |
| 2:00.9 | Here we go. |
| 2:02.3 | Emily, welcome to the Don't Long Alone podcast. |
... |
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