Dominique is a mom on a mission. Through her website, Dommies Blessed, she supports families with breastfeeding, homeschooling, and caring for young girls with curls. Dominique has her own children’s book, One, and is a freelance writer. 

Started in 2017, Dommies Blessed produces weekly content and serves a predominantly female community interested in education and family life. 

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In this episode, you will learn:

  • What is homeschooling and how it could work for you
  • How to create and publish your own children’s book
  • Tips to help you with your finances during the Coronavirus pandemic

Acquania Escarne 0:04

You are listening to the Purpose of Money Podcast, a podcast where we talk about ways to build wealth and create more freedom in your life today. I am your host Acquania Escarne.

Hey guys, welcome to the Purpose of Money Podcast. Today, I'm so excited to have Dominique from Dommies Blessed. She documents how to do your journey of breastfeeding, homeschooling and caring for her girls. She has two little girls with curls. And as a woman, she is still learning and evolving and sharing her journey with folks like you online. Dommies blessed hopes to support and encourage other families doing the same. Hi, Dominique, how are you?

Dominique 0:49

Hey Acquania! Hey, everyone.

Acquania Escarne 0:52

I'm so excited to have you today. I want to first tell people how we met, which was virtually, right?

Dominique 0:58

Yeah.

Acquania Escarne 1:00

So we met on Instagram, which reminds me, folks, you can meet friends anywhere. So we first met on Instagram. I talked about the Purpose of Money Podcast. And Dominque reached out to say that she wanted to share her story, right?

Dominique 1:15

Yeah, yeah.

Acquania Escarne 1:16

So I'm excited today to share a little bit of how she juggles being a mom, but also an entrepreneur, and how she shares her story with others. So before we get started, can you tell more of our guests about you and your platform Dommies Blessed?

Dominique 1:34

Well, actually, I am kind of honored to call me an entrepreneur, because I just think so highly of entrepreneurs, I think I'm just like a beginner. Like I'm just burning the body. And I'm still kind of like figuring it out. And I wouldn't say I'm there yet, but I started Dommies Blessed in 2017, so we're going on that third year. And I started it because I'm a homeschool mom. And I've been home for eight years now, seven years. And so when my daughter turned six, she, you know, just didn't want to go to school. And so just my parenting style is like, I listened to my kids. That's how I was parented. My mom really, really listened to me, and valued my opinion. And I knew a little bit about homeschool, but I didn't like know how to do it. I didn't know that much about it. But I respected her decision on her education on how she was going to achieve her education. So when she did that, I was like, well, I need to do something for myself. And I don't know how I learned about blogging, but it just became like this creative outlet for me. And then I realized that other homemakers like that's how they start a lot of their businesses. But I didn't realize that until months after I had already been blogging and I was just like, "Wow, this is awesome if it allots you all these different opportunities."

Acquania Escarne 2:52

Hey guys, I hope you're enjoying the episode I just wanted to take a break to share with you one quick tip on how I am creating more free time in my life today. I'm a busy mom, entrepreneur and a nine to five employee. And I have to be honest, I used to use trips to the grocery store as an opportunity to relax and go up every aisle and take my time and sort of have Mommy Me Time. But since I've taken on more responsibility and extracurricular activities, I just don't have the time to go grocery shopping anymore. So I've embraced Instacart, which has helped me save hours of my life and get the grocery shopping done. without me having to step into a store instacart delivers groceries from your nearby grocery stores right to your home and saves you hours on shopping. You literally can do everything online or even from your mobile phone and most of the time, they can deliver the groceries within an hour. So you get the food that you need. You save time, and you create more freedom for you to do other things, which is what I love. Checkout instacart for yourself, I have a code that allows you to earn $10 off and a free grocery delivery on your first purchase. My code AESCARNE14C or check out the show notes where I have a special link now include the code there too, just for you. Hope you try it out and let me know what you think.

I wanted to ask you a couple of questions about homeschooling because I feel like some people don't really understand what homeschooling means. And they have these perceptions of what they think it looks like. So for those who don't know, can you kind of break down what homeschooling is for you and how you do it with your kids?

Dominique 5:04

Sure. So yeah, I mean, it's hard for me to like, kind of describe it in one, like a couple of minutes, because it's, it's so different. And it kind of challenges like all your thoughts about like education and stuff like that. So I guess the simplest way for me to describe it is there's a group of homeschoolers, and say, there's like a group of 10? We can all homeschool so many so differently. And the same way like they have like public schools, private schools, parochial schools, Catholic schools, everyone homeschools differently. But I'm thinking that traditionally, most people think of bringing school home. And while I know that there's home schoolers who do that, I've tried it, but it just doesn't work for our family. And what I mean by bringing school home meaning like, I think there's people who have like chalkboards, and they do workbooks, and they have scheduled times and scheduled classes. And we don't do that. It also can depend on the age on the age of your children that you're homeschooling. Yeah. And so to answer your question on how we do it, there's different philosophies in homeschooling I do Desi, which is basically family focused, so focuses on the family as a unit and making sure that family thrives and survives in the future. So that means you're focusing on just all the elements of the family and using those as learning opportunities. For example, in the family, some things that may come up are, you know, like, siblings have conflict, so, and they have conflict every day. So those are learning opportunities.

Acquania Escarne 6:39

So just to follow up on that you have a philosophy that you're following. So it kind of gives you the guidelines on where you can find teachable moments throughout the day. But how does it kind of fit in with regular schooling requirements that maybe your state has in place? How do you make sure you're complying with those?

Dominique 7:01

Yeah, that's a great question. So for I state, I live in Massachusetts, and, and then every city has its own requirements. So for us, we just have to register at the beginning of the year. So that is basically one page, front and back. And we fill that out, send that in. And then at the end of the year, we also do an evaluation, which there are four different types of evaluations that you could do you could have someone come to your house, you could do progress notes, you could send them a page from your workbook, or I forget what the last one is. But I just sent in a page from our workbook, our daughter's eight. So I send in like a math worksheet and like a reading writing worksheet that she does.

Acquania Escarne 7:42

And outside of the house, what are some things that you do to incorporate into her education.

Dominique 7:49

So I'm really focused on like child centered, so whatever she's interested in, that's what I do. So they're really, really into like gymnastics. And she showed interest in sewing. So I took her to an art, art school and they have like a teacher who teaches her how to sew. They made like button cushions, she made a hat, she made scarves.

So she whatever classes that she's interested in, I try to find classes thatare on those topics. So right now she's into so I've looked at robotics classes, she was really interested in the zoo. So we take classes there. The aquarium has classes, there's classes everywhere for any subject that your child is interested in.

Acquania Escarne 8:33

That's really, really cool. And in the summertime, do you guys take a break? Or are you also in school in the summer?

Dominique 8:41

That's a good point. So since it is family centered, I consider that homeschool all year round, but I don't want you to think that it's like super rigorous and my kids are like just being drilled all the time with academics. So I feel like we're focusing on strength now, you know, all the time. As far as classes in the summer, I mean, she did go to a theater camp because I thought she wanted to be an actress.

Acquania Escarne 9:04

How did that work out?

Dominique 9:05

So she didn't like the camp! So like we thought that she was a runner so we put her in track. And yeah, we just try a lot of classes even in the summertime to see what she likes she went to we did nature classes as well.

Acquania Escarne 9:22

That's pretty cool. So it gives you more flexibility. It sounds like to explore deeper things that your children find interesting and to dig deeper into those things. But if you realize she doesn't like it, then you just move on to something else.

Dominique 9:37

Exactly. So it's just and she's always growing in learning anyways. So we just as she grows and learns and has different interests, we expose it to her.

Acquania Escarne 9:47

So we're just having so much fun talking to each other that we decided to turn on the recording again. So conversation is about where we are. This is times of Coronavirus, and a lot of things are just not as we thought they would be. But I told Dominique, you know, last year around this time we had the government shutdown and this year we are dealing with Coronavirus. And so my opinion is, you really need to have your financial house in order because people who have their financial house in order have been faring the best in these circumstances. What do you think Dominique?

Dominique 10:24

Um, yeah, I mean, um, I think that well, I read a blog post and it was talking about how healthcare and real estate and I forget oh media, those are the three industries that are doing well. So for me, I kind of try not to panic and just figure out what is doing well, and try to pivot as you were saying before, that uncovered but I definitely want to know from you being the the leader of this financial podcast on what are ways that moms like me can be a weather storms like this?

Acquania Escarne 11:00

Absolutely. So first and foremost, having an emergency fund is key. I recommend, if you are a creative person, you need to have at least probably six months to a year saved. But for those who are just starting out, try to get a month ahead. So a month of a your monthly expenses in a easily accessible bank account is key. What does that mean? That means that you can access your money within one to two days if you needed to. It includes enough to cover three months of your expenses so that you can cover your house, your food, your spending money, any medical expenses, prescriptions, anything that you regularly pay for, you should be able to cover out of your emergency fund in the event that you have a loss of income or extenuating circumstances. And right now that's what we're in. There's a lot of people whose companies are not open for business, they're not making any income or they're not getting paid. And your emergency fund is what's going to really help you weather the storm. My other advice which I mentioned in my bonus episode about the Coronavirus, and how to weather the storm is that you need not to panic. The stock market is going crazy, everyone knows that. And the media, unfortunately is not helping by causing this panic about the stock market and investments. But my advice to anyone who's genuinely investing for the long haul is to not panic, don't cash out and to stay the course, you in most cases are investing in a retirement account. And even if you're a stay at home mom, you can have a Roth Individual Retirement Account, you can be saving for retirement as well. And you need to understand that you are not accessing this money right away. And so you really shouldn't care if there's been a 30% dip or the Dow is down or the S&P is up because you don't need the money right now. And if you lock in your losses by selling anything at this time, you're pretty much allowing yourself to miss out on any future gains that are going to come and trust me they're going to come. The stock market rebounds every time. 2008 was a really tough year for a lot of people in the real estate market and in the stock market. And 2009 a lot of people saw a huge positive return, some people almost regained all the money they lost. But anyone who sold off in 2008, they lost what they lost, they made their gains, then their loss is permanent by selling so don't sell don't panic, stay the course, have that emergency fund. If you don't have an emergency fund right now, do whatever you can to start one, $25 $50 per pay period, whatever you can do, and then saving that in a bank account that has a higher than normal interest rate we call them high yield savings accounts, making sure that you're making the most interest off of your money. That's the bang for your buck. I love those suggestions.

Dominique 14:03

Yeah, that's like really, really good. And I like what you said about like, just staying calm, because I think we freak out when we don't have a plan. So when you have a plan, and it's going good, then um, then everything goes well. And I also wanted to add some things, things that I didn't know about, like being a homemaker, I couldn't get a Roth IRA, because I didn't have income. So I just want to let you know your spouse can get one for you. I didn't know that there were spousal IRA.

Acquania Escarne 14:30

Yes.

Dominique 14:32

And then I was also going to say about student loans. Right now is like the perfect time because I guess Trump he he waived the interest fees, which I don't know about y'all but I pay about $200 just in interest. So it's the perfect time to make a dent on your principal which of course impacts your your, your payments going forward and will allow you to pay off your student loans if your goal is to pay it off.

Acquania Escarne 15:00

We do want to pursue debt free communities here. We are encouraging you to get debt free. So I definitely think if you need the break, take it. But yes, you are correct, the President announced the ability to defer student loan payments if you need to. But if you are having the income still coming in, why not pay it and save, like you said, on interest, it's a great opportunity to take advantage of times like that, because it means you'll pay less overall, which is great.

Dominique 15:28

Yeah, and then the last thing I was gonna say is learning to cook because a lot of people are running out and getting ramen noodles. But like if you have somebody in your family, or you know, somebody who can cook, meaning like they know how to stretch meals, or like cook nutrient dense meals that are really, really good and don't cost a lot of money? I feel like that is a very, very simple way because especially with the Coronavirus, you want to stay healthy. And so buying the cheap meals, it's better just a cook really, really nutrition nutritious, nutrient dense meals with a little bit of money than to buy.

Acquania Escarne 16:06

Absolutely. And that's another thing I've been telling people staying at home like this, don't eat too many snacks, but try to still eat healthy meals, healthy snacks, and do some exercise. I'm really afraid with my gym not being open that I'm gonna find myself having to start over when it comes to the goals that I've made as far as my endurance. So I'm trying to stay active, but it's hard. It's hard. Sometimes you're home, you're working from home, the kids are getting stir crazy. It can be a challenge, but we need to try to stay healthy. Because your healthy body keeps your mind and your spirit and everything in it's best performing state. So that's what I'm encouraging people to do and great advice tips. Thanks, Dominique.

So before we go, I want you to tell my listeners, how can they connect with you? Give a shout out to your platforms, your website one more time and any social media platforms where we can find you.

Dominique 17:03

Yes, so I'm most active on my blog. I post new content every Friday, and it's www.Dommiesblessed.com. But you can also reach out to me on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and it's just @DommiesBless. And yeah.

Acquania Escarne 17:20

Awesome. Thank you so much dominate. I really enjoy having you on the show.

Dominique 17:24

Thank you so much for having me.

Acquania Escarne 17:26

Thank you for listening to the purpose of money podcast. For more resources and information check out my website, thePurposeofMoney.com and while you're there, please sign up for our newsletter, so you'll have the latest information on new episodes and blog posts. Until next time, keep building generational wealth $1 at a time.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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