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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 Simply Convivial,
the Christian homemaking podcast.
I'm Misty Winkler, homemaker,
homeschooling mom of five, grandma,
and author of Simplified Organization:
Learn to Love What Must Be Done.
Convivial means living a full
life together with joy, and that's
what we want our homes to be.
My goal is to see as many women as
possible become engaged, competent,
and cheerful Christian homemakers.
And today I'm joined by another
homeschool mom, Jennifer Pepito.
Jennifer is the host of The Restoration
Home podcast, and bestselling author of
Habits for a Sacred Home, and she's been
on the podcast before for that book.
Her latest book is The Inspired
Homeschool: How History's Heroes Light a
Path Toward Joyful, Confident Learning.
She's been homeschooling for over
25 years, her seven kids, and, um,
she's been on many podcasts, and
she lives in the mountains where
she enjoys reading aloud, working in
her garden, and watching the sunset.
So thank you so much for
joining me today, Jennifer.
Speaker 2: Thanks for
having me today, Misty.
What an honor to get to chat with
a fellow veteran homeschooler.
We can call ourselves that.
I, I didn't think about that, you know?
For, I, I didn't call myself
that for a long time, 'cause
that would be Cindy Rollins or-
Speaker: I know.
⦠Speaker 2: you know, some of
those ladies, but no, I think
we, I think we've earned it.
We have grandchildren, so.
Speaker: Grandchildren,
that's the cred right there.
Mm-hmm.
And I'm excited about this book
because I love biographies, and I think
biographies are so helpful because
they give us those real-life stories
that help us expand our experience.
And I also have actually heard
people say that homeschooling
was invented in the '80s.
Speaker 2: Ah.
Sorry.
Speaker: And I'm pretty
sure that's not true.
So now you ha- you have a book, right?
So is that true or not true?
Speaker 2: Not true.
I mean, from my, from myâ¦
According to my research,
Jesus was homeschooled.
So next time someone says,
"Well, what would Jesus do about
your children's education?"
Speaker: So how did you, uh, find these
different biographies and pick the
people that you highlighted in this book?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, because
history was homeschooled, it was
actually hard to narrow it down.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker 2: And, and it was so much fun
thinking about it and really praying
about it, because I wanted to highlight
people who, whether they were Christians
or not, who would highlight some of the
virtues that we hold dear as Christians.
And so I, uh, I landed
on people like Booker T.
Washington just had such a, such
a beautiful model of a work ethic.
Mm-hmm.
Berthe Morisot, an artist, not necessarily
a Christian, but highlighted through
her art just the beauty of motherhood.
Um, C.S.
Lewis, who wasn't homeschooled the whole
time, but he was, you know, in high school
he was t- taught in a home by a tutor,
not, um, not in a school setting, and then
his early years was also homeschooled.
And so, so many people in history
were homeschooled, it was really
easy to find enough people.
It was harder to ch- to
narrow it down and choose.
But I was, you know, I was kind
of writing it with the mind of
Charlotte Mason's principles.
And so that was another thing I wanted
to highlight is, like, living ideas.
I highlighted Elizabeth Gooch.
Uh, habits, I highlighted
Benjamin Franklin.
The atmosphere of home, I
highlighted Laura Ingalls Wilder.
And so it was really fun to look at
the Charlotte Mason principles, look
at, uh, amazing people in history who
were homeschooled, and then just lay
out, like the whole book actually lays
out a homeschool plan for people- For
a more Charlotte Mason literature-based
homeschool routine, but it, it makes
it a lot more approachable and, and
hopeful, I think, even because you can
see how these people with very imperfect
childhoods and very imperfect educations
still grew up and changed the world.
Speaker: Yeah.
At a time where they didn't
ha- they couldn't buy a box
curriculum set, but they had-
Speaker 2: And probably for the good.
Honestly- Yeah.
⦠probably for the better.
Speaker: Which was one of
your surprising favorites?
Is that, is that possible to narrow down?
Speaker 2: Probably
Blaise Pascal, actually.
It was soâ¦
You know, I'm not, like, I'm more
of a history and literature buff.
Um, my children, you know, were
really well-educated in the
humanities, and probably I could
have done better in, um, math.
And so, you know, Blaise Pascal was
a mathematician and a scientist, and
really had a lot of m- maybe natural
genius that way, or natural bent.
Like, his dad was trying to delay math
instruction, which I've read a lot of the
Blue Doran's work, and they also- Mm-hmm
⦠recommend delaying math instruction.
And so his dad was trying to delay
that, and Blaise actually started on
his own, you know, trying to figure out
mathematical and geometric equations.
And the other thing that was so
interesting about him is just
his, his mom was actually gone.
He was, uh, hi- his mom had passed,
and so his dad, on his own, had
the ideal of wanting to give
his children a better education.
So kept them home.
This was, I don't remember the dates,
but I think it was, like, France maybe
1700s or, you know, a, a while ago.
And so there were probably other options
for a boy of a decently middle-class
family, but his dad felt like
homeschooling was the best for his kids.
And, uh, and just, you know,
really- Um, really worked to find
the best opportunities for his son.
And that was inspiring as well, you know,
just to see a father put so much interest
and care into the education of his son.
And then of course, Blaise Pascal is
a genius, but he's the one who came up
with Pascal's Wager, which is basically
if you, you know, if you believe
in God, what do you have to lose?
If you don't believe in God,
you have everything to lose.
And so, you know, just hisâ¦
He was so smart, such a, such a
scientist, such a mathematician,
and yet also such a man of faith.
And so that was probably
the most surprising andâ¦
'Cause all, some of them were obvious.
Like, I've loved Elizabeth
Goudge's writing for years.
We're doing a book club study of one
of her books in the Restoration Home
community because there, out of her
novels, there are so many beautiful,
deep lessons about family life.
Uh, C.S.
Lewis.
Joan of Arc is one of my heroes, and
I write a whole chapter about her.
But Blaise Pascal wouldn't have
been an obvious love of mine, and
yet I, I grew to really admire
and respect him and his family for
the way that they, um, raised him.
Speaker: That's a great one.
That's amazing.
I didn't realize any of
that, so that's awesome.
I know a couple summers ago,
I read the big, thick Eric
Metaxas biography of Bonhoeffer.
And when it's explaining his childhood
and his mother She was homeschooling them.
Like she, again, was intentional.
She knew what she wanted
her children to have.
And it was describing like her
priorities in poetry and singing.
I'm like, she did morning
time before it was aâ¦
Like, it doesn't have to be a
thing or a curriculum program.
You're like, "These are our priorities.
This is we're, what we're gonna make
time for in our life and in our family."
And intentional families
have always been doing that.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
And which, which is what we're
called to do in Deuteronomy.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
We're called to these things, teach as
you walk, as you rise up, as you lie down.
And so it's such a fallacy and a real
travesty, honestly, for Christian families
to be handing their children over to a
godless state to raise and inculcate.
Like, throughout history, great men
and women were raised on, b- by their
parents on God's values and word.
Like, um, Alfred the Great,
I have a children's picture
book about Alfred the Great.
He's another one who united the kingdoms
of England, taught his people the Bible.
You know, there's probably still,
like, pagan outliers at that time
in history, and yet he united
them around the word of God.
But it started with his mom
teaching him the word of God.
And so I think we underestimate, like
we overestimate the power of standards
or a boxed curriculum or a trained
teacher, and completely underestimate
the power of our own love for God,
our own love for virtue, and our own,
uh, passions in teaching our children.
Speaker: Yes.
So true.
So who is this book for?
Who, who would benefit the most from it?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think any
homeschool family, and I think
also the relatives, the questioning
relatives- ⦠of the homeschool family.
So I think for the moms who are, you know,
wanting a guide to help homeschooling,
a gentle guide that is, um, interesting
and engaging and not overwhelming, I
think it's gonna be excellent for them.
But also for those, those relatives who
are saying, "Well, you know, well, that's
weird," or, "What about socialization?"
All those questions, I think, it's
gonna be really reassuring for those
relatives to see all these geniuses
in history who were homeschooled, and
the, the beauty and virtue and treasure
that came out of those values of some
alone time, some deeper thinking, some,
uh, some instruction from parents.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
What, uh, I'm curious, um, did
ha- did having access to books,
that hasn't always been a thing.
That's kind of, to me, feels like a core
of being able to provide an education.
And, you know, many people were maybe
even not necessarily homeschooled
so much as self-taught because
they had access to lots of books.
Like, lots of books is very core to my
homeschool and, and to an education.
But some of these people were
living in a time where there
really weren't that many books.
So what kind ofâ¦
How does that living ideas
and access to books and all of
that play out through history?
Speaker 2: Yeah.
I think that's such a good question
because some of the people who I was
most impressed with, uh, Joan of Arc,
Jesus, even Leonardo da Vinci, possibly
didn't have a lot of access to books.
But I think sometimes we are
loading our children up with so
much information, they're actually
missing out on divine revelation.
You know, God is always speaking.
He, he is a present
help in time of trouble.
But sometimes we're researching
ourselves to death and, and doing the
same thing to our kids, overfilling
them with information so that
they really have no capacity to
be still and know that I am God.
Or to, you know, be the ones who,
um, like Moses, uh, you ca- came
upon a burning bush and stopped
and listened to the voice of God.
And so I think it was really compelling
to see that it's not even, like, I think-
Home schoolers today should be reading
aloud to their children, absolutely.
Like, if you're not reading aloud
to your children, you're not really
passing on values to your children.
Like, if all they're doing is sitting on
a computer doing, you know, teaching to a
test, you're not really passing on values.
But it, you know, if, if you are somebody
who is reading your- reading the word
of God and passing on that to your
children, that's even better probably
than reading a lot of other books.
And, and I love reading
books to my children.
I think we've, we've, you know,
passed on a whole worldview to our
children through the books we've read.
But I think that it's not necessarily
just this amount of information.
Charlie Mason talks about spreading
a feast, but I think sometimes we're
over-spreading the, the, the feast,
and our children also need a little
bit of time to be quiet and wonder.
And that was, you know, the genius
of Leonardo da Vinci, was that he had
a lot of alone time to just observe
the natural world and pay attention
to what he saw and ask questions
about it and be curious about it.
And Joan of Arc, you know, she
had a lot of time in nature, a
lot of quiet time, and she had
You know, I just, I read Mark
Twain's biography of her.
He wasn't even a believer, but
he could just see the, the virtue
and the quality of person that she
was, and a lot of that was just
cultivated in quiet times in nature.
And, and, you know, being quiet and
still enough that when God told her to
go lead her, her people into battle,
she listened, and not just listened,
but had strategies for battle that
experienced generals were am- amazed by
Speaker: Yeah, I think that's so
important, especially now where if we
have time alone without other people maybe
in the same room, we often still are not
alone because we have our phone, we have-
we put noise in our ears all the time.
And so that kind of quiet time and
alone time that you're describing
is completely different than what
even adults, much less children,
often have the space for anymore.
Speaker 2: It is true, and it,
it's a, it's a tragedy of our day.
I think it's gonna really cost us as
humanity in terms of the creativity
that comes out, what we produce,
that we don't have alone time.
'Cause, you know, for me, a lot of my
best ideas for, you know, Peaceful Press
curriculum or, um, books I'm writing come
on a walk, come when I'm on a hike or, you
know, they come in those quieter moments.
And if we, as people are, are constantly
listening to music, listening to
podcasts, and I obviously produce a
podcast, I'm glad people listen, I'm
sure you feel the same way, but there
does have to be some time where we're
just quiet and giving ourselves time to
process, and our kids need that as well.
And I think, you know, as
homeschoolers, sometimes we think,
"Oh, no, there's not enough."
Like, I know people will do, like, a
Peaceful Press day of curriculum, and
it's so fun, and they're so engaged, and
they're like, "But maybe I'm not doing
enough, and we need to add on some extra
curriculum so that we're doing enough."
But what about just giving your
children time to think about what you
read and what they learned that day,
and see what comes out of them having
a little bit of time to process?
And I think to some
degree, it's almost aâ¦
It could be partly a theological
argument because, you know, we- the Bible
says we're made in the image of God.
We're image-bearers, but I think
sometimes we're still looking
at ourselves and our children as
unredeemed, as before the redemption,
before the restoration of all things.
And so then we don't trust that
they'll be up to any good if
they are doing, if they're having
a little bit of personal time.
Do you know what I mean?
Theyâ¦
And, and this is- and I'm not talking
personal time on a computer, 'cause
that's not the same thing at all.
I'm talking, like, a little bit
of free play in the afternoons.
Like, Charlotte Mason recommended that
children have the greater part of their
day spent outdoors in free play, and, you
know, that was hard for us in our family
with a lot of children, a lot of chores.
We had a little farmstead.
But there's gotta be a few hours
a day where your children are able
to just play out what they learned.
We don't have to copy the public schools.
They're not turning out good products.
Like, they are burning out kids so that by
the time they graduate, they really have
no ideas of their own and no curiosity.
And this, the world we live
in right now with, with AI, an
information-based education is not
the main thing because information
is just too easy to get really fast.
What would be more important is
cultivating virtue and critical thinking
skills and emotional intelligence
and a relationship with God.
Speaker: So true.
I know I remember just, like, watching
my kids when they were in those younger
years, and if they were outside and
their play, like, ended up incorporating
things that they were learning and
reading about, like, how muchâ¦
And, and that did happen.
That is actually normal.
But you need the space for that to
happen and the time for that to happen.
But that is so much more valuable to them
and such a better use of time than any
kind of directed craft project I could
have come up with to help make it fun.
It's like it, they didn't need a,
me to have a creative craft project
to make it fun and relatable.
They needed the ideas, the
stories, and then time outside.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think it's so
important for parents to pay attention
to that because, you know, the core
of a Charlotte Mason education is that
you read and your children narrate.
But often in those early years, their
narration's gonna be a little stilted.
Like, they're not gonna be
able to give you a full written
picture of what you read, but they
probably will be playing it out.
You'll probably, if you take a moment
to observe what they're playing,
they're probably actually retelling the
story very well in their imaginative
play and making a lot of connections.
This is why, you know, even teaching
history through literature, like,
your children reading about pioneers
and then in another lesson learning
about, um, Davy Crockett or Abraham
Lincoln living in a pioneer cabin.
Like, the connections and the
understanding of where they came from,
the understanding of the, of the life,
the worldview of that time is going
to be so much clearer to them if they
just have also some time to process.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Yeah, and it's out- outdoor play also.
Like, some of those stuff
would come out in their DUPLOs.
Like, what are they making with
the DUPLOs in the afternoon or
drawing, where it's just, it's up
to them, and they're, they areâ¦
It's that processing.
And we can't do that for them,
but they need the space for that.
So where can people find your book?
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Um, if you go to
inspiredhomeschoolbook.com,
you can find the links to
order on any of the book sites.
And I had some pre-order bonuses up,
a free planning workshop, a master
book list, and I'm gonna leave a
few of those up for people who are
purchasing while it's available to ship.
Speaker: Awesome.
All right.
So go grab your copy while some of
those bonuses are still available.
The Inspired Homeschool, How
History's Heroes Light a Path
Toward Joyful, Confident Learning.
Thank you so much for
joining me today, Jennifer.
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me, Misty.
What a fun conversation