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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, homeschool
mom of five, grandma, and author of
the book Home Is for Hospitality:
Why Your Home and Homemaking Matter.
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're homeschooling.
And so as we are approaching that
back to school season, uh, I wanted
to review one of the core pieces
of advice I was given as a young
homeschooling mom, and now it needs to
be passed along to the next generation.
Inspect what you expect.
And so I'm joined today by Rachel
Younger, who has been applying this
principle in many different ways over the
course of many years of homeschooling.
Rachel has been married to her best
friend for 20 years, and she's in
her 10th year of homeschooling.
She enjoys gardening, reading a
good book, and having a cup of
coffee or tea with conversation.
So thank you for joining
me again today, Rachel.
Speaker 2: Yes, glad to be here.
Speaker: So in Convivial Circle, we'reâ¦
You're a mentor member
in Convivial- Mm-hmm
Circle, and we've done Art of
Homeschooling together many times.
Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
Speaker: It was a number of years
ago that you started implementing a
daily review, and I know it's changed.
Mm-hmm.
You know, we're always iterating.
Always.
But can you, um, remember or tell us
about, um, what prompted you to start
figuring that out, or what were youâ¦
Before there was a daily
review, what was happening?
Speaker 2: Oh, goodness.
Yes, I've been, I've
been thinking about this.
Um, and yeah, it's true that what
that looks like has varied over
the years, um, just different
ages, different personalities.
Um, I think when I began to give my older
son, who's gonna be a sophomore in high
school this year, his independent work,
when I was not sitting there and doing it
with them, uh, feeling the need to have,
um, a procedure for keeping track of what
he was doing and, and how he was doing.
Um, and I think back then
it was, it was very simple.
Um, I had a basket, and if he did a
worksheet or if he completed a math lesson
in his notebook, uh, it was put in that
basket, and I think I even made a label of
finished work and taped it to the basket.
I- labeling things isâ¦
I love labeling things.
I think he likes it, too, so that helped.
Um, which is interesting because now at
this end of it, he's very independent.
Um, if I read anything to him, it's
because I said, "I want to read this
book, so I'm going to read it to you."
And that has really changed.
Now he ⦠Now, we do have habits in
place because this means he now creates
a pile on his desk Of all the things
he's finished, uh, the books that he
read, whatever, and he narrated to me.
Um, and so I know those are the things.
I know what he actually worked on.
Now, I also, I also pulled out, umâ¦
The, the checklist has been an
important part of this daily review
because this is what I go back to.
Um, I have found if I put it off and don't
do it on a daily basis, half the time I
can't remember what was actually done-
Speaker: Yes
Speaker 2: days before.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2: And yes, that has come
back to bite me a couple of times.
Um, so with my little guy, who's not
so little anymore, who's starting
fourth grade this year, he gets, uhâ¦
What we have been doing is,
it's just, it's a checklist.
I fill it out we- each week.
Um, and it's just kind of, you
know, what we're doing on each day,
and we get Fridays off usually.
We, we still, we move things,
but I can mark it on here.
We moved it.
And this has been good because as I
work with him, and I'm, I'm pretty much
read- Uh, he reads a few things on his
own, but I'm reading quite a bit to him.
It lets him see, how do you check it off?
How do you do a checklist?
Speaker: Yes.
It's a skill.
Speaker 2: That does not really come
naturally to a great number of people.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker 2: My, my older kiddo, uh, this
is his last year's thing, and it- I'm
sure it's gonna look really overwhelming-
Mm-hmm ⦠if someone just looks at this
and they're like, "Ah, you did so much."
He gets a whole week's
worth is one column.
And he told me a couple years ago,
"Mom, just give me the whole week
at once and let me split it up."
And there are some parameters
that were laid down.
He has to do math one lesson
each day for four days.
That's kind of the minimum thing.
Um, history, you can't read
more than one chapter on a day.
Hmm.
Um, 'cause otherwise he would sit
and read all the chapters, get all
the history done on Monday, and all
the literature done on Tuesday, and
all the science done on Wednesday.
And it's like, no, we're gonna,
we're gonna space things out.
Um, and so it- it- it's probably hard to
see, but he comes through and he marks
it out in pencil, and so I can sit down
at the end of the day and see what he's
done, what he's marked out in pencil.
I come back over it, you
know, this is a, a pink pen.
I've used highlighter, um, at times, uh,
to mark over what I have then checked.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker 2: Um, so it's, it's
kind of, it's an accountability.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
For both of you.
Speaker 2: For both of us.
Have I actually looked at it?
I had to actually, you know,
take the effort to mark it out.
And I will confess, there have been
seasons when I sat down at the end
of the week and I'm like, "I have
not looked at anything all week."
Highlighter.
That's, that's on me.
Um, when Iâ¦
Yes, and moms fail, too, right?
Uh, and, and there have been times
when I am checking each day and kind
of going over what is he said he's done
that I can be like, "Wait a second.
You did not narrate this to me,
nor did you do a written narration.
Let's, let's go back to this.
Did you actually read it?
Yes, you did.
Okay, you say you did.
That's fine.
Go ahead and narrate."
You know?
I have found, you know, probably
every child, he has marked things
off that he didn't actually do.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker 2: And Iâ¦
This is a part of that growing up
process of trying to teach him, don't
mark it off until after you've done it.
Um, he does not, he does not relish that.
That, I don't know,
goes against his nature.
And I'm like, "Well, sorry, bud.
You, you, you need to adjust your
nature to match this expectation."
Um, I don't fight it real
hard, but there are theâ¦
It, it brings up more often the
you marked it off and didn't do it.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2: But if I'm not doing it
on a daily basis, and whatever it
is it looks like, if I need to go
through the basket, if I need to
clear the, the stack on the desk-
Just having that regul- daily just seems
to be a good, uh, interval for doing that.
A, a week is too long, but more than
one time a day, this is aboutâ¦
'Cause we, you know, we, um,
I'm a Charlotte Mason educator,
and she talks about letting
children stand on their own feet.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2: Um, giving them
the freedom to do their work.
And there's, there's, there's
a very big part of bringingâ¦
and now it's about teaching my
younger son how to do that on his own.
He's, he's going into fourth grade.
Um, he's watched big brother.
He wants to get the multiple weeks and
decide how it gets parsed out, and that
will be, that will be really rocky at
first, and it will be very clunky, and
we will have days in which it's, we
did this on Monday, and Tuesday, and
Wednesday, and now Thursday is a really
big day because he put things off.
Speaker: Which is a great experience
to have- ⦠at that stage.
Speaker 2: Yes, because in fourth
grade, a really heavy school day
is still done by noon or noon-30.
And, but, but he'll learn.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2: And so I'm, I'm trying
hard to figure out, and I'm, I'm still
negotiating this out with having an
older teen, um, who really wants to be
independent, who really wants to do his
own thing, and wants to be out there.
And that, that's great, but I'm not
gonna release you until I, until you
can communicate well with me what's
actually happening, what is your plan.
You cannot keep this
plan just in your head.
You need to bring me in on it-
This, uh, giving him the, the six
weeks, and actually I think this
next year he's getting a term.
Like, all three terms are
kind of laid out, and so he's
gonna get 12 weeks at a time.
For him to learn, don't get overwhelmed
looking at 12 weeks of worth, of,
of worth, worth of work, um, and
just to take it a week or a day at a
time, but keeping me in on the loop.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2: Um, yeah.
So I mean, that's a lot of what we've
done, and, and even the philosophy
behind why I'm doing what I do, it works.
And just giving them the chance to
experience the independence, but
at the appro- appropriate stage.
Speaker: Right.
Right, 'cause doing it, like
waiting for the end of the week
before having any accountability
is a lot of work to look over.
And the bigger that job is-
Yeah ⦠the more we are, you know,
likely to put it off and not do it.
And then it's multiple, like then itâ¦
All the lessons that we want our children
to learn in small, little reasonable bits.
Learning ourselves.
But when you- So true ⦠are
looking at it daily, you're keeping
up with what, what they're doing.
You, like, you have that-
Mm-hmm ⦠awareness, that tuned
radar that helps you have better
conversations, you know, casually.
Mm-hmm.
Or, you know, just to be able
to say like, "Wait a second.
Did you do that?"
Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
Speaker: But without nagging still,
which is if it's multiple times a day-
Right ⦠that starts borderline nagging.
Speaker 2: That's, that's a problem.
Yeah.
And it, it's so funny because you
just reminded me, I know you have
this experience as a student.
My sister did this.
My son did it when I got really
bad at following up on his work.
There was, it was probably two
months worth where he's saying,
"Yes, I'm doing math," but was
doing, you know, like one problem.
Speaker: Mm-hmm, just enough to- Just
to convince myself that I'm not lying.
But you are.
Speaker 2: When I discovered it, I was
like, "Okay, part of this is my fault,
I know, because I was not following
up and doing these daily reviews."
On the other hand, poo poo on you.
You know better.
So, um, yeah.
I, this is, that whole inspect
what you expect has played out in
school, and having to check on a
regular basis, and sometimes even
immediately- Mm-hmm ⦠uh, chores.
I, I need to check within a reasonable
amount of time when someone has swept
the floor, because the floor gets
unswept very quickly around here with-
Speaker: You can't necessarily tell
Speaker 2: when
Speaker: it
Speaker 2: was
Speaker: done
active
Speaker 2: children.
Yeah.
And even just kind of all the things.
Like, no, no, I expect
you to do it this way.
I expect you to do this kind of a job.
I've given you the freedom
to do it in your way, b- but
now I'm gonna check on it.
I'm gonna inspect things.
Mm-hmm.
Um, even as I watch these other young
ladies that I'm investing in who are
all high school, and the thingâ¦
You know, they've got jobs.
And some have store managers that
do inspect and some don't, and the
experiences are all very different.
You know, I want them to be used to it.
Right.
I want them to be accustomed to it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Yeah.
And you know, when we are inspecting,
it doesn't have to be, like,
with a, like, in order to find
fault or to get them in trouble.
When we're looking at what they're
doing and paying attention-
Right ⦠and noticing, we are caring.
Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
Speaker: And we can't expect our kids
to care if we aren't, if we don't care.
Speaker 2: If we don't care.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And sometimes, sometimes
that inspection does involve correction.
Speaker: Mm-hmm, for sure.
Speaker 2: If the floor is not well swept,
if the math isn't correct, you fix it.
But that experience of fixing itâ¦
'Cause I had, I had someone say to
me, a- actually it was, yeah, of it
is in failure that you really learn.
Speaker: Mm.
Speaker 2: It's in losing a game that
you learn the most about the game.
Um, and yeah, when you do the math wrong
and now you have to go back and fix
it, if you spelled a word wrong and now
you need to correct that spelling, when
you've written it illegibly and I can't
read it and you have to rewrite it,
you're gonna learn something out of that.
You're gonna learn how to write
legibly or spell that word.
Um, the, the- You're,
Speaker: you're engaged in a different
way when you're making a correction.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
A- and to understand, for my, my sons to
understand when they are corrected, this
is not a statement about who they are.
This is not a statement about
their value or anything like that.
And for them to learn to separate-
Speaker: Mm-hmm
⦠Speaker 2: the correction from, uh,
the understanding that they are loved-
Mm-hmm ⦠and they are accepted and
they are valued and desired, uh, that,
being able to separate those things.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker 2: I know that was really
hard for me as a teenager, being
able to, to separate those- And not
Speaker: take things personally.
Speaker 2: Not to take
things overly personal.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2: I wanna help them grow in it.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Yeah, and being able to take
criticism well and to see it
for the opportunity that it is.
Like, th- this is- Mm-hmm ⦠where
the real learning is taking place.
Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
Speaker: Yeah.
Thank you so much, Rachel
Speaker 2: Yes.
Yeah.
Glad I can share this.
I- it's, it's been a rocky journey
at times, this homeschooling.
Um, but we have figured it out, and I,
you know, as you seek how other people
have done it and seek that advice, I
wanna be able to offer what I've learned.
So thank you for giving
me a chance to do that.