Category Archives: Interview

Should I Homeschool?

Family, Interview, Lifestyle, Parenting, , , , , , ,

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E83 – During this quarantine shutdown time, many parents are faced with educational decisions for their kids including whether or not to homeschool. This is a conversation with Joelle’s childhood friend Ali, a former teacher and homeschooler of five kids here in California since 2004. She has a great perspective on the benefits and what it takes to homeschool, and talks Mouse through the whole process from her point of view. We cover why she chose to homeschool, whether to go with independent, private, or charter school education, her thoughts on ages and behaviors that are a good fit for homeschooling, which curriculum to choose, whether to use old school papers and books versus digital tools and computers, what is HSLDA and why it’s crucial, being under an umbrella school, filing a homeschool affidavit, hiring a teacher to oversee your paperwork and keep you accountable and on track, what a homeschool calendar and schedule looks like with grades, test-taking, field trips, outdoor learning, vacations, and structure, socialization and when it’s time for the kids to join outside classes, co-ops, or go back to public school, how to do science labs, language classes, SATs, taking junior college classes for credits, being on a 4-year college track, and what universities really think of homeschoolers.
Please check our Show Notes on www.MouseAndWeens.com to see a list of recommended curricula from Ali.
This episode is sponsored by www.HomeschoolBuyersCo-op.org
Sign up with referral code WEENS to get up to 90% off handpicked educational materials!
Song Credit: “Things Aren’t As Bad As They Seem” by Dan Mahony and Julianne Eggold
Voice Actor: Matt Thompson as Hank Hill
Please follow and contact us via Instagram, Twitter, Facebook @mouseandweens
Behind the scenes info on our private Facebook Group
You can get bonus content like outtakes, and hear this episode ad-free on www.patreon.com/mouseandweens

Teachers Back to School

Family, Interview, Lifestyle, , , , , ,

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 58:41 — 80.6MB) | Embed

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E81 – After catching up with how our summer quarantine single-lives vs mom-lives are going, we jump into an insightful conversation with Jennifer Campbell Martin, a 20-year middle school teacher in Long Beach, California. We get an educator’s point of view of what going back to school might look like, and are interested to hear about what the plans might be. Virtual learning vs on-campus? Will kids wear masks? How will schools do class time and rotations? Where will they eat lunch? Are teachers as anxious as parents? There are so many factors to consider, so we break it all down bit by bit. This is a fun, lighthearted but poignant conversation that will get all the gears moving as we get closer to back-to-school. What to do?!
This episode is sponsored by www.HomeschoolBuyersCo-op.org
Sign up with referral code WEENS to get up to 90% off handpicked educational materials!
Song Credit: “Robot Kids” by Julianne Eggold, guitar by Dan Mahony
Podcast shoutout: Unpredictably Us
All information and links will be in our show notes on www.mouseandweens.com
Please follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook @mouseandweens
Behind the scenes info on our private Facebook Group
You can hear this episode ad-free on www.patreon.com/mouseandweens

Your Brain On Facts with Moxie LaBouche

Interview, Lifestyle, Stories

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:50 — 61.6MB) | Embed

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E80 – What do you get when you mix Game of Thrones, burlesque dancing, goat farming, a million facts, and a bolt of lightning? You get Moxie LaBouche, one of our most interesting guests yet! Jump in to learn about the genesis of her Your Brain on Facts podcast and newly released book by the same name, her advice for writing and podcast editing, and thoughts on George R.R. Martin, The Last Airbender, and other nerd culture. We get into the coolest discussions about spontaneous human combustion, well-traveled corpses, spotted hyena sex, and echolocation. Then after a deep dive into the stories of identical twins with psychic connections and secret twin languages, we learn about creepy death dolls, and parasitic twins having heads with two faces! You will fill up your brain and be as fascinated by Moxie as we were, someone who can even make mud interesting!

Your Brain on Facts podcast, available on all podplayers
Buy the book!
Your Brain on Facts: Things You Didn’t Know, Things You Thought You Knew, and Things You Never Knew You Never Knew on www.YourBrainOnFacts.com/book at your local bookstore or on Amazon
Follow Moxie on
www.YourBrainOnFacts.com
Instagram & Facebook @yourbrainonfacts
Twitter @brainonfactspod
All information and links will be in our show notes on www.mouseandweens.com
Please follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook @mouseandweens
Behind the scenes info on our private Facebook Group
You can hear this episode ad-free on www.patreon.com/mouseandweens

Let’s Talk About Race

Celebrities, Interview, Lifestyle, Stories, , , , , , ,

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:24:57 — 116.7MB) | Embed

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E79 – We’re sitting down with some friends to talk, listen, discuss and hear thoughts on racism, black lives matter, George Floyd, and what we can do in our lives and families to work toward a solution. Our guests in order of speaking are:
(1) Ahmed Hassan, a long-time friend, landscape professional in northern California, best known for being the original host and co-creator of HGTV DIY Networks’ Yard Crashers. You can find and follow him on www.ahmedhassan.tv
(2) Angelo Moore, an LA artist, poet, musician best known as the lead singer of Fishbone. He is also Dr Madd Vibe with The Brand New Step, Project NFidelikah, and tours worldwide with Celebrating David Bowie. You can be a part of his amazingly creative, outlandish and thoughtful world by following his show on www.patreon.com/AngeloMoore
(3) Marlene Bell is an educational change maker and entrepreneur. A UC Davis grad, she taught for 27 years, became a diversity trainer and union organizer for the California Teachers Association, then their Assistant Executive Director in charge of more than half of the state. She developed curriculum in algebra for underrepresented children and is proud of her father’s legacy as the first African American optometrist on the US west coast in 1939 and founder of VSP. Marlene is now retired, a property manager of her building in Oakland, and runs a walnut farm along with her husband. You can visit her website at www.bellranch.net
(4) Michele Harper, an amazing force in the creative and healing spaces, worked her way up in the beauty, design, and fashion industries with iconic companies like Bergdorf Goodman, Sax Fifth Ave, Barneys New York. She is the first African American woman to be founder and director of an internationally acclaimed high fashion hosiery company ‘Look From London’ and now lives in LA and is a clinical hypnotherapist and aesthetician, working in sound and energy healing, reiki and color therapy. You can find Michele at www.breathefocushypnosis.com and usually somewhere in Angelo’s orbit because they are significant others!

Information and a transcription of this episode can be found in our show notes on mouseandweens.com and the video version on our YouTube channel. We’d love your feedback so consider rating and reviewing us on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser. Also please share and tell your friends because that is the best way we can grow! Follow us on all the socials @mouseandweens where we have been posting donation sites and causes that we believe in. Our private Facebook group has behind the scenes photos and our Patreon has commercial-free episodes, full unedited episode videos, outtakes, swag, and more bonus content, so we hope you become part of the family and join us there!
Music credits: “Wanna Be White (But I Can’t)” by Project NFidelikah
Used with permission from Angelo Moore, copyright Kobalt AWAL Digital Limited on behalf of Rat Pak Records; BMI – Broadcast Music Inc., ASCAP