Year 4
- Noggin Educational Foundation
- May 14
- 3 min read
At the end of 2018, David and I were invited to be guests on a podcast. It was our first time doing anything like that. While this kind of thing is right up David’s alley, I’ve never been a fan of speaking off the cuff. Still, they wanted to talk about Noggin, and as the primary promoter of our work—I agreed.
As expected, David was a natural, and I managed to get through it well enough. On our way out, the station manager stopped us in the hallway and said, “You guys should do a podcast.” I laughed and quickly responded that podcasts were more my husband’s thing—and politely declined.
God laughs at our plans. Sure enough, I felt God nudging me to reconsider. David and I began talking about how much we’d learned—and still had to learn—as parents navigating the education system. Even though David was a seasoned teacher and I worked in education, we lacked the support and knowledge we desired to help our kids. I’d long thought there needed to be a space for parents to access this kind of insight—originally imagining it would take the form of a blog.
After the God-nudge, I realized a podcast was the perfect platform to support parents. At some point, the name School Dazed: Help for Moms and Dads of School-Aged Kids came to me. The title reflected exactly how we felt much of the time—dazed and overwhelmed trying to keep up. We decided we didn’t want the show to be just about us; we wanted to bring in experts—people who could speak directly to the issues.
In January 2019, I decided to move forward—with lots of research and a healthy dose of fear. We went back to the same podcast studio where we’d first been guests. Their setup included equipment and an engineer, which made us sound and look professional from the start.
David and I were amazed at how many people were eager to join us—from local school district officials to a Mount Everest–climbing memory champion, to guests from as far away as Australia. It became clear that people were actively looking for a platform to share their stories, experiences, and expertise. And to our shock, listeners from all over the world wanted to hear what they had to say! To this day, School Dazed has been downloaded in 30+ countries.
Producing and co-hosting the show was a lot of fun and a lot of work. I took the lead on research and often came up with way too many questions. I wanted to be fully prepared—not just for myself, but to represent the curiosity and concerns of other parents like us. David was the perfect co-host yin to my yang. He brought the comic relief and years of classroom experience, while I was the well-researched and eager-to-learn-more mom. It was truly a labor of love that required a significant investment of time and energy. Eventually, that time commitment is what led us to sunset the show after 96 episodes.
We hope that someday the time and resources will align for School Dazed to return. Even now, I’ll catch myself in a moment and think, “That would make a great episode!” Our little show continues to get thousands of downloads, and we are grateful it still has an audience. David and I truly treasure the show, the time we shared exploring something new, and pray that it continues to inspire and encourage parents today.
Click below to explore Seasons 1-4!
2019 Timeline
January- School Dazed: Help For Moms and Dads of School-Aged Kids podcast launched
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