Episode 165: How to Build Executive Functioning on the Homestead

Intro + Homestead Education Resources

Hi and welcome back to the Homestead Education Podcast.

I just want to remind you that you can get all of my Homestead Education books on my website for a new way of teaching agriculture to today’s youth and aspiring homesteaders by focusing on small-scale farming and self-sufficiency. They’re also available on Etsy and through many state EFA programs and charter programs. If you’re a school or co-op and need invoicing, please feel free to reach out to me directly.

Update on Ranger

So last week I came on, maybe it was two weeks ago, and talked about my dog Ranger, our Great Pyrenees livestock guardian or farm guardian, who went missing. I just wanted to start out right off and say we haven’t found him. So we have some plans.

We have been very lucky that one of our labs, who was like Ranger’s best friend, has pretty much taken on his job. And so that’s been really nice. However, we do know that long-term we need another livestock guardian.

All the prices we were seeing were just really out of our range. We were iffy on a puppy, and we were iffy on an older dog.

We actually had somebody pop up on Facebook here in North Idaho that had some dogs for sale very much in our price range, but said that they were willing to go lower for a working family. We were so excited and reached out to them. We asked if they would be willing to trade for pork or beef, because we have that on hand all the time through our USDA butcher. They said they were, and so we’re making plans.

It’s going to be about a five-hour drive one way for us to go get this little guy. It’s a male, and he’s just now ready to go. We’re super excited, and he looks a lot like Ranger. We’re trying to be on the bright side of that.

I’m not giving up hope that Ranger may still come back. There have been a lot of stories of Great Pyrenees that lure off wild animals and don’t come back until the next season, or they get lost in the woods and eventually return. If that is the case, that’s okay, because we were planning on getting a new puppy in the next year or so for Ranger to start training. So this is a positive, and we’re very excited.

Naming the New Dog

We don’t have a name picked out yet. If anybody has some really great name ideas, I think we’d be open. We’re very stuck on Ranger, so it’s kind of sad for us.

We have a very distinct set of names for our dogs and our kids. They all kind of go together. We have Savannah and Wyatt, Branch and Wade. Those are our kids, not our dogs. For our dogs, we have Duke, Dixie, Cash, Hutch, and Buck.

We like old-fashioned Western names, especially short names. I don’t want to be outside yelling something long when you’re calling dogs on a ranch. You need to be able to call them quickly.

If you have any ideas like that for a male, I’m excited to hear them. I always love unique ones. My husband keeps turning down Zebediah, so I think we have to think of something else.

New Year Reflection & Seasonal Depression

I wanted to cover the Ranger thing right away because I know a lot of people have been worried. Unfortunately, I don’t have good news, but I do have happy news for our family.

This episode is one I look forward to every year. I am very much a new year, new me type person. I can get down on myself, and I have really bad seasonal depression. I talked about it last year. I grew up in California, and living in North Idaho has made it even harder. I take vitamin D and sit under a light.

This time of year is just hard for me, so I try to excite myself by jumping onto the new year, new me wagon. I get a new planner, fill it out, buy the kids planners, go seed shopping, and reflect back on my year—what I’ve accomplished in my business and my life, and what I want to change.

This has actually been my best year in a few years. I’ve stayed on top of my seasonal depression. I’ve hired somebody to help me in my business. The business has been growing and giving me the opportunity to create more and be more present with my family.

Two weeks ago, my husband was appointed our local fire chief. A year ago, that would have been very hard for him to take that position because of how busy we were. Having someone on our team now makes it feel like there’s a third adult, and that makes it really nice. When the opportunity came up, I could say, honey, I’m proud of you, and I’m here for you. That’s really exciting.

Podcast Milestones & Sponsorships

This will be my fifth year podcasting. This is my 165th episode. We’ve had close to 300,000 downloads. I know that’s nothing compared to some bigger podcasts, but each one of those downloads is someone connecting with my family, learning, and sharing. That’s a huge compliment.

I recently updated my stats for sponsorship forms. If you’re looking for a way to sponsor my business by advertising yours, I am looking for a new sponsor. I only like to have one at a time. I don’t water down recommendations, and I only work with businesses I believe in.

It’s not cheap in the sense that I don’t give cheap recommendations, but it is pretty inexpensive cost-wise. If you have something amazing, reach out. I love helping small businesses.

When I reran my numbers, I found that I went from a top 10% podcast globally to a top 5% podcast globally. Thank you so much. Apple Podcasts changed how they counted downloads, and it made numbers look worse across the board. It’s been a year since that change, and seeing where I’m at now is really exciting.

New Year Word Instead of Resolutions

Something I do every year is choose a New Year word or phrase instead of a resolution. It has helped me so much. Resolutions can make you feel like you failed and fell off the wagon. With a word, it’s about focus. When you stray, it’s just an opportunity to circle back.

I’ve used words like intentional and growth. Last year was really hard, and I chose the word soar or soaring. It didn’t feel like I lived up to it, even though we actually did really well. Looking back, maybe it wasn’t the right word for that season.

This year, I’m choosing a phrase: reemerge, redefine, and bringing it home.

Some of what I’m working on is still coming to fruition. Some of it is focusing on my family again after years of the business running our lives. We’re dialing back travel and focusing on our kids—twins heading into their senior years, an eight-year-old discovering reading, and a five-year-old who needs more intentional teaching.

Executive Functioning & Homesteading

I want to help families and children this year. Even if you don’t have kids, this still applies.

I struggle with executive functioning. I have ADHD and trauma, and sometimes I struggle to start or to finish things. That’s all part of executive functioning.

We have an epidemic in this country where executive functioning and life skills aren’t valued. I see kids without basic skills, even from families that value responsibility.

I realized executive functioning needs to be tied to cause and effect—and sometimes consequences. We focus on natural consequences whenever possible.

On the homestead, cause and effect is visible. If you don’t water plants, they die. If you don’t feed animals, there are real consequences. That builds responsibility in adults and kids.

Homesteading is bringing things back home. It’s opting out of systems on a sliding scale. Homeschooling is homesteading. Homemaking is homesteading. Growing food is homesteading. It’s staking a claim on your home and building it.

This builds executive functioning skills for adults, neurodivergent kids, and kids with developmental disabilities. I’ve seen it firsthand in my own family and through my work.

Free Executive Functioning Resource

I created a free download called Executive Functioning for Homestead Kids: How Real Responsibility Builds Capable and Confident Learners. This applies to adults too, and I’ll link it in the show notes.

Executive functioning is the set of skills that help us plan, focus, follow through, manage time, and regulate emotions. These skills aren’t learned on worksheets. They’re learned by doing.

I also included age-appropriate homestead chores and responsibilities, from gathering eggs to participating in butchering at different levels.

Student Planners & New Launch

Last fall, we released the Homestead Education Student Planner for teens. It tracks school, work hours, sports, livestock projects, budgets, and more—all in one place.

We now have Junior Homestead Planners launching. My daughter is printing and binding them right now. There will likely be a launch discount.

These planners give kids tools to build executive functioning skills. When families aren’t on board with organization, it’s often because they don’t have the tools.

Closing

I hope everyone learned something and keeps growing. I have one more episode before winter break, and then we’ll be back strong with season seven.

Thank you everybody, and I will see you soon.