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Christian homemakers need encouragement and motivation to stay the course. Homemaking and homeschooling can feel overwhelming, but they don’t have to be. If you’re a Christian mom longing for a well-ordered home, a peaceful homeschool, and a joyful heart—without the stress or burnout—you’re in the right place. Moms can be productive and peaceful when grounded in Scriptural truth.
I’m Mystie Winckler, homeschooling mom of five, founder of Simply Convivial, and your guide to managing both home and heart with faith and focus. Here, we talk about biblical homemaking, sustainable homeschooling, and cheerful productivity—all through the lens of organizing your attitude and embracing your God-given calling.
In each episode, you’ll find practical homemaking systems, homeschooling strategies, and mindset shifts that will help you manage your home without perfectionism or frustration. We’ll tackle topics like:
✔️ Christian homemaking routines that actually work
✔️ Productivity, mom-style
✔️ Homeschooling with peace—even when life gets messy
✔️ Time management for moms (without rigid schedules)
✔️ Decluttering your home & your attitude
✔️ How to be diligent, not just busy
Motherhood is a marathon, not a sprint. You don’t need more willpower—you need a grace-filled, biblical approach to managing life at home. Let’s cultivate faithfulness, embrace joy, and build habits that make home a place of peace and purpose.
👉 Subscribe now and start organizing your home and heart—cheerfully.
Speaker: Welcome to the Christian
homemaking podcast, Simply Convivial.
I'm Misty Winkler, homemaker,
homeschooling mom of five,
grandma, and author of the
book Home Is For Hospitality.
Convivial means living together with joy,
and that's the kind of home atmosphere
that we want to create in our homes
Especially if we are homeschooling.
And so today I'm excited to welcome
back Lawrence Scott to the podcast.
Lauren makes her home in the foothills
of the Arkansas Ozarks, where she and
her husband Nathaniel are raising their
two teenage boys on the Scriptures,
living books, the great outdoors and
lots of meaningful work experiences.
Lauren writes about the Christian
life, books, and homeschooling
at keptandkeeping.com,
where she encourages Christian women
to rest in grace and labor in love.
Lauren is also the secretary and founding
board member of Arkansas Homeschool
Network, a new statewide homeschool
organization that aims to support, inform,
and equip Christian families in their
pursuit of independent home education.
Thank you so much for joining
me again today, Lauren.
Speaker 2: Thanks, Missy.
I'm glad to be here
Speaker: I had kind of two motives for
having you on for this episode, and one
is to talk about independent homeschooling
because I think it's such a critical issue
right now, uh, politically and socially
that, uh, homeschool families not get
entangled with taking government money.
Uh, I think that's very important
for the home education movement
and home education freedom.
But then also, I think it's such a
great example of, um, finding your
calling as kids get older, it's a stage
that is often not talked about, and
I've seen more and more conversations.
Maybe it's because I'm also in this
stage of graduating students, having
teenagers, and wondering what's
next, or what should I do with this
experience that I've accumulated?
Is there, is it any good for anything?
And so what you are doing right
now is such a good example of, uh,
taking the experience that you've
had in homeschooling and using it in
service of the communities and others.
So I would just love to hear your
story of how you got into, um,
independent homeschooling to the point
of starting a whole state organization.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Well, I like to say that independent
homeschooling is what we've always done.
That's what homeschooling has
always been in America since the
birth of the modern homeschooling
movement in the '70s and '80s.
But even back before that, before
the public schools took over,
education was done independently.
It was independently funded, and it was
independently sourced, and largely it
was provided by parents in their homes,
um, and as they go about their days.
And so my family has really been one of
those traditional homeschool families.
I've always been a homemaker.
Uh, we've always lived on one income,
uh, my husband working to provide for
us, and we've always sought to keep
our homeschool expenses reasonable in
full faith that what we are able to
provide with the means that God has
provided will be sufficient, and it has.
Our kids are excelling, um, they're
starting 11th and 9th grades this year.
Speaker: Wow.
They're
Speaker 2: all high school.
Um, and like the launch pad
is just getting way too, way
too quick on the horizon.
But, uh, it's been so exciting, and
it has ⦠I have wrestled with those
same questions that you talked about.
What do I do when this is over?
I mean, I will cry.
I will definitely cry.
Um, but I- I've already been pouring
so much into, uh, my local community.
As my kids have gotten older, um, they're
independent in, in their schoolwork.
I'm overseeing it, I'm checking in, um,
I'm honestly able to pa- focus a little
bit more on my homemaking these days.
But, um, it's a beautiful
thing to see them grow and
mature and be ready for launch.
Um, but it did feel like there was this
kind of gap on the horizon, and I really
was not sitting there thinking, I know,
I will become a homeschool advocate.
Let me, let me enter that arena.
No.
Um, I like to say actually that
for about the first 10 or more
years of our homeschool journey,
I really had my head mostly in the
sand, and I was very content there.
Mm.
Um, if I'm knowledgeable of
what's going on in political
arenas, I will have an opinion.
And so the safest thing was just to
ignore most of that, keep my head
down, and just try to do a faithful
good job in raising my children.
And I think that was the
right thing for that season.
But where I am now, um, and really
it was in 2023 when the LEARNS Act
passed in Arkansas that established the
Education Freedom Account program that
homeschoolers weren't really asking for.
We weren't even sure we would be included,
and so I was kind of watching this with
a wary eye because I didn't think that
would be good for private schools either.
Um, but when it opened up to
homeschoolers, it was really clear that
we would be included in the program.
A friend of mine tapped me and
said, "Okay, I know you're kind
of not enthralled with this.
Can you research this?"
Um, and so I like to say, look, the
Lord really just dropped this in my lap.
Um, it was a first s- step was
to serve my local community.
Can you speak a cautionary word on this
so that we get to hear both sides of the
issue and families can actually consider-
consider well what to do about this thing
that's coming, coming available to them.
Um, and so I, as I started my
research, then it got personal 'cause
my family got hit with a price hike
immediately because of the assumption
that we had thousands upon thousands
of extra dollars just for education.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and so that, that just threw me
into researching this even further.
If it's happening to me,
um, then it's going to be
happening to other people, too.
Um, and that the mama bear
came out a little bit there.
But we've beenâ¦
Let's see.
Get back on track here.
So as I presented this information
to my local community, it really did
change some, some hearts and minds.
It opened people's eyes to at least
think that there's some things to
consider here when the government's
dangling money on a string, itâ¦
or carrot on a string, it is
not necessarily a good thing.
It's not necessarily a good thing.
Um, and so I got to share that
message with a lot more people, uh,
through this Valle sisters podcast.
It was an awesome opportunity to
get that out further, and I've so-
had so many people tell me that
that has deeply impacted them.
Um, but I was still in the position
of not having a single conservative
organization in my state that shared
my views and concerns about- Mm
the fact that state funding
comes with accountability.
It's taxpayer money.
There will be strings attached.
And so feeling like I was alone in
this, there was no organization that
would be a voice for independent
conservative homeschoolers.
Um, and so began to prayerfully
consider, well, who could be that voice?
And the Lord was moving
in me, but not just in me.
There were two other ladies in my state
who'd been talking for an extra year
before I even got, got on this path.
Um, and then in the end of 2025, beginning
of '26, we, we kind of found each other.
The Lord provided for us to find
out what the others were up to.
We met, um, and have been
working out plans ever since.
And we've added another lady
to our team, and I'm thrilled.
Honestly, these other ladies have more
homeschool experience, more nonprofit or
business management experience than I do.
And so I couldn't be more thrilled that
the Lord has just assembled some really
fantastic ladies that I honestly get to
learn a lot from, um, in this process.
But we've established the Arkansas
Homeschool Network to now be a principled
homeschool organization, um, looking
out particularly for independent
homeschoolers, making sure that our
voices are heard in Little Rock.
But more than anything, to provide a place
for us to be, be able to connect, to help
educate homeschool parents, um, not just
on the politics of things, but just on how
to homeschool well to the glory of God.
And so some of our key principles, um,
we operate from a biblical worldview.
We believe in parental authority,
that God gives children to parents.
And so they are the ones responsible,
uh, to provide that education
in every sense of the word.
Even if we outsource parts of it, which
we all do probably at some point, um,
we are still the ones who are directing
and providing and sourcing all of that,
um, and really are in charge of the
discipleship of our children before God.
Uh, and then from that flows this
idea of educational independence,
that it is right for the family
to be making these decisions.
It is right for the family to be
providing this for our children- And
it is not the calling of God for the
government to step in and take away
that, that responsibility at any point.
At any point So, let's see.
I think that pretty much covers Oh, yeah.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker 2: Uh, b- so August has been busy.
We've been, I've been spinning up the
school year, and we've also launched
the organization at the same time.
Speaker: That's super busy.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker: Well, it's, it's so good toâ¦
I love that you called it a principled
homeschool organization, because I
think that really s- so many, um,
aren't, are not even sure what that
means or what the difference would be
between one that's principled or not.
And anymore, we hardly realize what
it means to act on principle, because
a principle would be educating
my children is my responsibility.
And so having other people pay
for my children's education
contradicts that principle.
But so often, our default, especially
default on American, modern American
assumption, is if there's something
in it for me, how could it be bad?
Or if it works, it's fine, which is,
you know, just a utilitarian principle,
which is contradictory to scripture.
We, we don't want to be behaving
like utilitarians, that as
long as it works, it's okay.
We want to be having biblical
principles and then reasoning
out from those principles.
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
Speaker: What have you seen in your
work, and I know you've done, you
know, you've had other podcast episodes
with Scully Sisters and others, um,
and then many conversations with
people in your state and other states.
What would you say is the biggest
struggle people have as they try to f-
navigate that, to figure out what, what's
really at issue with government funding?
Speaker 2: I think that the biggest
knee-jerk reaction, the one I see
most often, is that either it's our
tax dollars that we're getting back
or it's our child's money, because in
theory it was like it would be going
to them if they were in public school,
so why can't we get at that ourselves?
So both of those boil down to I have a
claim on something from the government.
I'm entitled to this.
And if we look atâ¦
Generally conservatives, if they look at
the kinds of welfare programs on the other
side of the line, "Oh, that n- that's an
entitlement mentality and that's bad."
Um, it's like we don't catch ourselves
when we're doing the same thing.
Um, so I mean, I've heard all those same
arguments, like, "Well, you're privileged.
You're this, you're that."
Like, it'sâ¦
Are, are you hearing yourself?
You sound like the other side.
What's happening?
But, um, it's this idea of entitlement
and it's like I'm enti- Doing the
math, most of us are actually getting
back way more money from, uh, the
state to educate our children if
we take it than we pay in taxes.
That's not true in every single case.
Of course, if you're paying in
that much in taxes, you probably
don't need the kickbacks, but-
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Right.
Well, yeah, you'reâ¦
B- So you're not getting your money back.
That's-
Speaker 2: Right.
So what we're saying is that we are
entitled to forcing, violently forcing,
if you actually play this all out, if
someone refused, they would show up and
forcibly arrest the person for not paying
their taxes or seize their property.
It is a forceful taking of property
from someone else and saying that that
should be funding my child's Christian
education, and that person might not
believe at all the same things I believe.
And it does actually
flip around in reverse.
There will be people taking this,
these funds that are not Christians.
It, it's not like we're
the only ones that benefit.
And so I just think that there's
a lot of the actual workings out
of these sorts of programs that
people haven't really thought about.
So that's just like the knee-jerk reaction
is like, "It's my money to begin with.
It's my tax dollars," or, um,
"We're entitled to this for
some reason," and, and people
have to kinda work through that.
Um, but you also said, like,
without realizing theâ¦
How did you put it?
The, um, the dangers.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2: Right?
'Cause that's the other side of it.
Um, and we could get into that.
I did kinda want to say, like, what-
As far as a definition, independence,
I might want to clarify something
there- Yeah ⦠before I go on.
And that is that when we talk
about independent education,
it's not independence as its own
virtue, as though we go it alone.
Um, that is not actually the point.
We are independent from state interference
or, or any other authority that has
no business being involved in our
child's discipleship and education.
And what we are dependent on is
the Lord to provide and to provide
wisdom, and for his word to actually
guide our decisions and curriculum
and everything, um, in life.
And so we are also interdependent with-
in our fellowship with other believers,
and this is the way all homeschoolers
have done it forever, is banding
together, creating co-ops, um, and
creating other kinds of opportunities
where we share knowledge and share
experiences that benefit our families.
So we are not totally independent, um,
but we have to establish that there's
some clear boundaries of where God
gives jurisdiction to families, and
others should not encroach upon that.
That's what we're really getting
at when we talk about educational
homeschool independence.
So
I guess so, so some of the p- pitfalls
of taking the money, and so why, why
should we maintain this independence?
And not just, like, take the money, but
just try to say, "But leave us alone."
It's really not a sustainable position.
They will win eventually.
They have a right to say
what happens to state funds.
Yes.
You w- you can't win that.
Um, but I honestly think, like,
you can have strings attached, and,
and the strings and the regulations
have tightened every year since our
EFA program has been in existence.
Every single year the rules tighten.
It's kind of like, and
who was surprised by this?
You shouldn't have been surprised by this.
Um, it's completely predictable.
But I think something that isâ¦
that people probably miss in this
discussion that I think is so much more
critical to us as Christian parents is
actually the idea of formation, that
how we fund our highest priorities is
incredibly instructive to our kids.
It is.
Because are we conveying to our
children that we depend on the
government to provide, not just our
basic needs, but our every desire?
Because when you're talking about the
amount of money that's getting thrown into
homeschooling now, it does not meanâ¦
It, it's like 10 times more than
what you need to actually homeschool.
Um, and so we're, we're going
to be passing on that kind of
entitlement mentality if we have it.
Um, we are teaching our kids that the
source of our needs is the state, that
we are perfectly okay with whatever
hoops they ask us to jump through as
long as we keep getting the money.
That's compromise.
It is.
Um, and so our kids actually learn
from the environment that we create,
and that environment is made up
of the decisions that we make.
Um, I'm s- also, and I'm really sad
to report this, but it is having
an impact on homeschool communities
already in the state of Arkansas.
Um, I've heard directly from distraught
young homeschool moms telling me that the
community that they're a part of, much of
the talking shop among the moms involves,
"How are you spending your funds?
Did you find something else
to use up this last $1,000?
Um, how did you convince them
to pay for these bookshelves?
They told me no."
And it's likeâ¦
Uh, and I won't even get
into the, the obvious fraud.
No, I've heard stories.
But, uh, but there's all these ways
of f- of trying to say, how do you
justify your purchases to the state?
Um, and if it's just a basic educational
expense, well, now you're justifying
all of your educational choices, and
that puts you in a completely opposite
position to the state than what is right.
But, but back to the impact
on the community, um-
Basically, moms talking shop is
turning into moms gaming, talking
about how they can game the system.
And that is so not the same as how did you
coach your child through long division?
How do you ma- balance, you know,
preparing a meal for dinner when
they, there's, there's still
school on the table at 5:00?
Um, these are very, very
different kinds of conversation.
Um, and this is forming the culture
of the homeschool community.
These things are not of the same
quality, and I think we need to remember
scripture's warning that the love of
money is the root of all kinds of evil.
And so our children are gonna
be absorbing these things.
Um, and as we kind of noted, like-
More and more young people are
looking favorably at socialism.
And I think the obvious reason for
that is having grown up in a public
school system, which I did, but growing
up in that public school system,
today it is even further socialized
than it was when I was in school.
They're providing more and more of
your basic healthcare, counseling,
even food, and even supplies.
Um, they've made a lot of these
things universally provided, so
it's not even income-based anymore.
It's just like we provide everything.
And when you are trained in this, it
doesn't really matter what mom and dad
say, if the form of your life is that
every single day I'm dependent on the
state for a variety of basics, like
you are being raised in socialism.
You just are.
And so when we take state funds for our
homeschooling, we're actually inviting
the same mechanism into our homes,
and that also teaches our children.
Um, so we've mentioned there could be
strings attached, and there already are.
You have to take a state-mandated
test, um, or you have to take a, uh,
norm-reference test in the state of
Arkansas when you receive the funding.
Right now they're very generous, but
there's very loud, um, vocal calls for
homeschoolers to take the exact same
tests that they're, they're taking
in the public schools, and I, I think
that is pretty nearly on the horizon.
Like, that'll be pushed for this
sem- this legislative session.
Um, and I, as I've said, there's
been price, um, hikes and things
that are impacting all of us who
don't take the money, and that puts
more pressure on us to, to join in.
So, um-
Speaker: Yeah, you put more
money into the local community
and then the prices will go up.
It'sâ¦
That is, it's basic economics.
And, you know, you have things like piano
lessons and dance classes, and these
things that a lot of the money goes to.
And so you're going to be much more
free, you- you're gonna be much more free
spending money that's not yours, right?
Just free money.
And so if the piano teacher doubles their
prices, if you're taking government money,
it doesn't really matter to you 'cause
it's not affecting your home budget.
But for everyone who's not taking the
government money, it just puts that
right outside their reach, and then
they become more and more tempted t- for
that money because they're being priced
out of resources that they otherwise
could have, um, participated in.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
And that being priced out
is- isn't just hypothetical.
Yeah.
It's happening to my friends.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker 2: It's re- it's real.
It's here.
Yeah.
And the other, the other
thought is just that separation.
Um, private schools that take the
funds are no longer truly private.
Um, though I think that they actually
maintain a little more privacy
than homeschoolers do, just because
of the nature of homeschoolers
having to get every single purchase
approved, um, entered on ClassWallet
or else submitted through, like, a
reimbursement, sending in an invoice.
The state has a record of every single
purchase that a homeschool family
makes, whereas the private schools
actually get away with managing their
own budgets a little bit more in-house.
So homeschoolers are actually giving up a
considerable amount of their own privacy
when they sign up for state funding.
Speaker: So then what kind of work
do you do with the organization?
What, what is that being set up
to, to, to do and accomplish?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I'm the
secretary, and I'm learning a lot
about filling that role in itself.
Um, but we are gearing up for our
first capital day early, um, 2027.
Uh, we are gonna haveâ¦
We've got a welcome packet that
we're gonna send to members.
We've got a monthly
newsletter, email newsletter.
Um, and we'll have Arkansas Homeschool
Network's website is arhsn.org.
So if anybody out there listening is
in Arkansas, you can go to our website,
scroll down to where it says be the
first to know, and join our mailing list.
We'd love, love to have the
opportunity to connect with you.
Uh, we plan on actually doing
some workshops and things to help
equip, uh, homeschool families, um,
providing opportunities for just
getting together and, and doing,
um, some fun things together,
building networks across the state.
And I think that's one of the things that
we, we really sorely need at this point,
is that only about 50%, somewhere around
50%, um, of homeschoolers in the state of
Arkansas participate in the EFA program.
That means we still have half of us
that do not, and they currently don't
have a central hub for organizing,
for communicating with each other.
So a huge part of what we will be doing
is providing that opportunity, um,
for real encouragement because some of
the young, especially the young moms,
they've not been at this long enough.
I've got most of my friends, we're
like, "We don't need the state funds.
We don't want that."
Um, I've got a strong community around me,
but so many of these new to homeschooling
moms, everyone around them is taking the
money, and it's, it feels very isolating.
Um, especially, um, for one that I
know who, um, one year their co-op
was $40, and the next it was 400.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker 2: She just lost her friend group
because they, they went on without her.
So, um- Wow ⦠that's really happening.
So we wanna be able to provide support
for families in that situation,
and also be able to point them to
free resources that are out there.
And, and because we know that
it's actually going to be even
more challenging to maintain this
principled position of funding your own
children's education because the state
is making it harder by interfering.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2: Gonna provide
all the help that we can.
Speaker: Well, thank you so much.
I hope that this was helpful to inspire
more people to look into government
funding in whatever form it's happening.
I know it's happening in
most, if not all states.
You might know more.
Speaker 2: It has passed.
Many of the red states have passed,
um, funding programs, but the one big
beautiful bill has passed a national
program that the governor may opt into.
And so that can actually bypass the
legislature to where the National
School Choice Program can be accessed
by, um- Students in states that do not
already have an EFA or ESA program.
So it's concerning.
It's sweeping the nation really quickly.
Honestly, I knew it was gonna go
to the national level, but it's
happened a lot faster than I thought.
Speaker: Wow.
Yes.
So I hope people have maybe some new
reasons they thought of to think through
this more deeply and, you know, think
with more long-term consequences, not
just, "Oh, more money would be nice" , but
what are the consequences of that money.
And then also, just to be inspired
about the possibilities that, you
know, just to keep your eyes open for
those doors that God might open wh-
when you're in that season of, you
know, teenagers or graduating students.
There are needs and opportunities
in every community and every state.
And whether it's something similar
to the Arkansas Homeschool Network
or a co-op or, you know, a- so many
things that we can do to be active
in serving in our communities.
So thank you so much for
joining me today, Lauren.
Speaker 2: Thanks.
Glad to be here, Misty.
Speaker: And all those links to,
um, the network's website and to
Lauren's blog and all those things
will be in the episode notes.
All right.
Thank you.
Speaker 2: Thank you.