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@thehandpickeded

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Old Towne Orange and OC Homeschoolers, I need your help! 🍊

Send this to the first person you thought of, tag them below, or reshare to your stories to help me spread the word.

I am opening a few Tuesdays and Thursdays at our Handpicked space and I am looking for 2 to 3 aligned people who want to host something meaningful inside an already established homeschool community.

This might be:

• An experienced tutor ready for a consistent home base
• A workshop host who values small intentional groups
• A former teacher who misses leading
• A mom in her “what do I do with myself now” stage
• The friend who keeps saying you should start a book club

Or maybe it is:

• Math or ELA tutoring
• A literature circle for kids or moms
• Creative writing
• Sewing or fiber arts
• Study skills or executive function
• A niche class you have been quietly dreaming about

If someone immediately came to mind, tag them.
If it might be you, head to the site and fill out an application.

This space is curated. Relationship driven. Depth over volume.

There are only a few spots available and I will be reviewing applications personally.

Link in bio for details. by @thehandpickeded

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5 months ago

I’m backkkkk!!! A little reintroduction post for ya! I missed this space! by @thehandpickeded

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5 months ago

The most valuable thing your teenager may learn in high school isn’t how to write a five paragraph essay.

It’s how to communicate an idea with confidence.
How to ask thoughtful questions.
How to disagree respectfully.
How to think critically about what they’re reading.
How to articulate what they believe and why.

At Literary Launchpad, great books become the starting point for meaningful conversations. Through literature, discussion, writing, and hands on experiences, students practice the kind of communication that carries into college, careers, friendships, and everyday life.

Because sometimes the best conversations happen after the book is closed! Join us!

Mondays | 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Grades 7–8

For more info, tap on the link in our bio! 📚 by @thehandpickeded

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23 days ago

by @thehandpickeded

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2 months ago

For fear of sounding like we don’t care about academics, I want to share a little about how The Handpicked Education got its start.

At 7 years old, my son didn’t “grow out of it.”

He struggled to grasp reading, struggled to concentrate, struggled to pay attention, struggled to sit still. I was convinced he had dyslexia and ADHD. Surely by now this was the age where things were supposed to click.

And as a mother, you constantly wrestle with trying to discern what’s worth worrying about and what simply needs more time.

As an early childhood educator, I saw the signs, but I also believed I was already doing everything I could to help him.

What I eventually realized was that it wasn’t just one thing working against him. It was many developmental pieces overlapping at once.

Primitive reflexes became one of the biggest missing puzzle pieces for us.

It’s something I’ll talk a lot more about over here, but the short version is this: primitive reflexes are automatic movement patterns babies are born with to help them survive and develop. As children grow, these reflexes are supposed to integrate. When they don’t, it can impact focus, coordination, emotional regulation, reading, balance, sensory processing, attention, and learning.

And honestly, discovering this completely changed the way I viewed early childhood education. I had always heard about other countries waiting to start academics until age 7, but it wasn’t until I lived it that I finally understood why.

It’s also why I care so much about movement, play, nervous system development, emotional safety, sensory experiences, and building strong foundations before rushing heavy academics.

Not because academics don’t matter.

But because I believe children deserve the support that actually prepares them for learning well.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering how my son is doing now… he turns 15 this year and his favorite subjects are writing and history!

Feels a little surreal considering where we started 🥹 taken in Orange, California by @thehandpickeded

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2 months ago

The reason I haven’t heavily marketed this yet is because I care deeply about what it becomes…

Not in an exclusive way, just in a very intentional one.

I’m not trying to build a massive program for everyone.

I’m trying to create the kind of environment I think a lot of teens quietly need right now —

calm,
creative,
welcoming,
thoughtful,
and real.

A place where they can work independently, build meaningful friendships, create things that matter to them, and slowly grow into adulthood without constant pressure to perform.

That’s the vision behind The Studio.

More to come soon.

The Studio @ HP — for our Junior High + High School Homeschoolers 💛

Launching this Fall 2026. Visit the link in bio to join the interest list. by @thehandpickeded

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2 months ago

The Handpicked House has been a long held dream of mine. I always imagined our home filled with children, filled with laughter, filled with art projects, and play things sprawled about, with a yard for reading in, a treehouse for adventures, and a real sense of community and belonging.

For a long time I had hoped it would happen while my own kids were still young enough to enjoy it. But as time went on, and the years passed, the dream felt further and further out of reach. I began to hold this dream for other people instead. A far off future thought that maybe, if it didn’t happen, I could trust it wasn’t meant for me to pursue and maybe, things work out for the better.

This year, it became a reality that I could very well finally build what I’ve always wanted to, not just for others, but for my kids too! They could experience the very thing I had hoped to create just for them! And the very thing I had hoped to share with all of you. 🥹

After 12 years of hosting so many of you in my own backyard, I am so happy to finally announce, The Handpicked House is finally OURS!

From the front door to the Orange tree hanging over our back fence, this space has been curated just for homeschool families.

A place for connection.
A place for support.
A place for creativity.
A place for meaningful, intentional, living learning.

The Handpicked House will host a number of programs to support Homeschooling families here in Orange County.

First up — The Nest, our preschool to elementary program! 💛

Applications are now open to join :)

Visit the link in our bio to receive the program brochure and application link 🏡 by @thehandpickeded

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3 months ago

My husband and I have been talking a lot about quality time remaining—QTR.

We know we have a lifetime ahead of us with our kids. But somehow, as they get older, it feels harder to make that time intentional.

We’ve been fishing together for 18 years. It’s one of the greatest joys of our lives to sit by the water and watch the excitement on our kids’ faces when they catch a fish.

We’ve been through all the seasons with them — some days they’re all in, rods in hand, fully engaged… other days, it’s hit or miss, and we’re practically begging them to give it a try.

But you know what I love about it?

Fishing doesn’t rush you.

It forces you to put your phone down.
It asks you to be patient.
To watch the water.
To listen.
To notice.

You can’t speed it up.

And it’s in those quiet moments, the ones that feel slow or even a little boring, that something shifts.

For them. And for us.

Every week we leave Fishing Club, there’s this quiet sense of renewal. A kind of peace that only comes from letting the outdoors do what it was meant to do.

And that’s a gift.

If there’s anything we hope Fishing Club gives to families, it’s this:

Quality time doesn’t have to be complicated.

Sometimes it’s just a bag of worms, a fishing rod…
and a little space to slow down together. by @thehandpickeded

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3 months ago

If you haven’t yet joined our interest list for The Nest @ HP, our NEW early childhood + elementary program, LAUNCHING THIS FALL, head to the site now!

Information on programs + pricing goes out the end of this week. :)

www.thehandpickeded.com/thenest by @thehandpickeded

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3 months ago

Please pass this along to fishing club members! My email is having some issues!

See you all tonight, same place + time!

***This session of fishing club is currently at capacity, if you are interested in future sessions, please visit the link in our bio to join our interest list! 🎣 by @thehandpickeded

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3 months ago

Somewhere along the way we decided nature was for the little ones. And then quietly, without much conversation, older kids aged out of it.

Maybe it’s because they look more capable. More independent. Like they’ve outgrown the mud and the wonder.

But capability and wonder aren’t opposites. And some of the most profound moments I’ve witnessed have been (MY) older kids — 9, 11, and 14 — finally be given permission to just BE outside. No performance. No product. Just time, trees, fresh air, the dirt and each other.

I think we stopped building those spaces because we assumed they didn’t need them anymore.

I’m not sure that’s true.

After spending some time with our friends in Chattanooga this week fishing so much, I think they might actually need it more than ever.

What do you think? Why do so many nature groups stop after the early years? by @thehandpickeded

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3 months ago

We’ve been in TN these last few days fishing with our best friends. We fished the infamous Chicamauga Lake and Soddy Daisy Lake and even found some secret spots!

Swipe to see the Beaver carcass we discovered and the bass our friend caught!

Just getting prepped for Fishing Club again this Friday when we get back in town! 😉 🎣

See you there!

*** Fishing Club is now full, if you are interested in future sessions, please visit the link in our bio to join our interest list! by @thehandpickeded

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3 months ago