Illuminate Communicate, LLC

03/20/2026

Looking at a clinic that offers speech therapy services and I see the wait times.

For little later talkers 12 months is a big setback. Late talkers can make so much progress with just a few good tools in mom and dad's hands.

So when kids are on my waitlist for therapy, I like to give mom and dad other options: names of other SLPs that might have availability now, courses where I explain the how and why of what to do at home, or options that get them started with me through once a month sessions and weekly video coaching so we can get started now.

The (not so) wild part is how much progress parents see after "just" our consultation, "just" a few lessons in one of the classes or challenges, "just" a week or two in weekly video coaching. But it's not "Just" when its good tools in the hands of good parents.

One of my families new I had a couple months till a spot would open up. They had chosen me as their even though I gave them names of others. They started work after our first meetup with their late talker on my homework and the More Words and Stories course. They completed three lessons over the 6 weeks they waited.

When they started, their little hade 2-4 word phrases but by the time they started with one on one therapy, their child was using larger phrases and 5+ word sentences with bits of filler and jargon because the child was moving towards more. The best part was those parents seeing the fruit of their hard work and knowing how much impact THEY could have with those good tools. And that was with a consultation and a course, the families with weekly video coaching are getting an even deeper level of support and individualized training with me.

Waitlists hurt my heart, so I have made so many tools so parents and kids don't get stuck waiting. Tools that can be read in 5 minutes and tried out TODAY without being a whole big thing... because the biggest job I have to help you as a parent besides putting tools in your pocket, is helping you feel less overwhelmed.

You are the secret sauce and I know you can do it. If you are looking for help with the "how" I have a few free consultations open for families in Indiana, Florida, and Texas for the next two weeks to see if weekly video coaching could be a good fit.

02/26/2026

For the mama who is watching her child work so hard to find their words...

I am opening up a handful of spots this month for something I have never offered before. No waitlist. No driving. No sitting behind the observation window wondering what is happening in there. A good fit for

- families that find teletherapy and in person sessions tough, but want to work with a speech language pathologist.
- families that want more support between therapy sessions or as a supplement to speech therapy at school.
- moms that want training from someone that knows that moms are their child's best teacher.

Here is what it looks like: you send me a short video each week of you and your child together. I watch it, and I send you a short video back with exactly what to work on and how to weave it into your real week, in the little moments you already have.

This is a different telehealth service as another way to support a parent who is equipped and consistent and encourage practicing in short, focused bursts across the week during real conversations with mom. Not one long session. Not drilling at the kitchen table the night before therapy. Just you, knowing what to do, doing it a little at a time, all week long with me in your back pocket.

Because it is telehealth, it is open to families where I am licensed: Indiana, Florida, and Texas. If you need support and are not there, please look at my membership Speech Therapy Tools For Home.

I am piloting this for one month and spots are genuinely limited. If you have a late talker or a child who needs to grow their language skills and you have been waiting for something that fits your life, message me and let's see if it is a good fit for your family. 💛

www.illuminatecommunicate.com

02/16/2026

Don’t miss the largest gathering of homeschool families in Indiana! I will be a speaker at the IAHE Parenting and Homeschool Conference on March 13 & 14 in French Lick. I can’t wait to meet you!

My Workshops:

🟣PlaySchooling 2.0 | Making a Unit Study Out of Anything
🟣Dyslexia and a Reading-Ready Brain | How to Build Brain Skills That Make Reading Click
🟣When Your Child Communicates Differently (with Jacquelyn Carnes)
🟣Home at the Heart: When Working Moms Homeschool

Bring the whole family! Come for the community, the workshops, the exhibit hall, and the family activities.

Register today!
https://iahe.net/conference/

01/28/2026

February's PlayKit is Coming!!!!

I am hard at work on the February Playkit! Did you know that if you join Illuminated Homeschoolers during the month of February... you get the January playkit (all about hibernation with Cozy Creatures) too?

This is some super Charlotte Mason meets playschooling curriculum for kids age 3-8yrs with speech therapy tools built right into the book guides, games, songs, puppet read alouds, and more.

at $47 a year.... it's a great way to play your way through preschool, kindergarten, and 1st grade with one child or more. We do it with four, because our 11 year old joins in the fun every time!

01/09/2026

PlayKits are BACK! and planned each month. Play to learn WITHOUT WORKSHEETS, with a low to no prep Charlotte Mason inspired 4 week unit study about Hibernation, migration, and Cozy Creatures! Speech therapy tools inside, with accountability and support inside the community.

There's even a free trial for 7 days to scoop it up and take a peek!

If you were diving into Cozy Creatures with YOUR family this month, what would you focus on?

🐻 Hibernation and animal adaptations?
📚 Reading cozy books together?
🫶🏻 Sensory bins and hands-on play?
❄️ Speech and language practice with a winter theme?
🥳 Something else entirely (like science, music, or math?)

I'd genuinely love to know—it helps me understand what matters most to families like yours.

If you haven't looked inside yet or seen what other moms are saying about my speech therapy tools inside the membership, take a look here: https://www.skool.com/illuminated-homeschoolers-1324/about

🐻

11/28/2025

When one of my boys was still barely talking, I remember walking through the halls of the developmental preschool where I worked. As a homeschool graduate myself, I had never considered public school, but with my little guy not really talking yet and my stay at home husband's hands so full with 4 very small children, I was worried and wondering. For about a half a second, I pictured it—little backpacks, drop-off, a structured room full of new faces. Me providing speech therapy with all the other kids I worked with.
And then I pictured him… and I just knew that for that sweet boy, right then, it would have been far more dysregulating than helpful.

So I pushed away those doubts and worries about homeschooling (that I hadn't had before!) and dove into teaching my husband what to do at home.
And you know what?
Homeschooling gave us exactly what he needed—connection, calm routines, movement breaks, flexible learning, and allll the space to explore without pressure. It let us follow his rhythm and needs, not a schedule.

It was such real life confirmation of why I LOVE homeschooling for pre-verbal and late-talking kids.

Not because it’s perfect… but because it’s personal.

Kids bloom when they get:
one-on-one or one-on-few connection (with their favorite grown up
free play with occasional extra "sparks" from you
freedom to go at their pace
simple strategies that don’t overwhelm
a mama who’s willing to try small things consistently
I could go on, because that’s the heartbeat behind Illuminated Homeschoolers.

Inside, we build little “campfire” moments together:
five-minute practices
cozy challenges
simple speech-friendly routines
printables + trackers
encouragement and accountability from a homeschooling speech language pathologist
and tools that actually work at home
No overwhelm.
No pressure.
Just steady, noticeable patterns and tools built for growth woven into your real family life.

If this story made you think, “Oh… maybe this could work for us…”
you’re in the right place. Truly.

This community is FREE till December 1st. I would love to see you join! Sending the link, with Admin permission, to folks that comment below. Ask me questions, or simply comment "S'More Words" down below for the link.
Come join us. Pull up a chair by the fire.

Let’s work towards adding speech and language tools to your already built for cozy homeschool, to grow better—in connection, confidence, and communication—right where they are. 🧡

10/29/2025

Get answers to your questions about how your homeschooler "sounds" when they talk. Learn when should they say certain sounds clearly, plus next steps in the cozy but doable mini challenge.

10/10/2025

✨ Illuminated Homeschoolers: Building Speech & Learning Through Play ✨
😰 When your child doesn’t learn the “normal” way — maybe they’re preverbal, always on the move, or just don’t click with worksheets — it’s easy to feel stuck.
The gentle truth:
❤️ Kids learn best through play, but it’s hard to know how to guide it.
❤️ Most resources feel too academic to work — or too fluffy to be useful.
❤️ You want learning that feels real without losing the joy of play.
That’s why I built this space — a cozy campfire for homeschool families walking this unique path.

Inside you’ll find:
📚 A free resource library (to get started confidently)
🔥 The spark of sharing ideas and being inspired by others
🔦 Practical ways to build speech, language, learning into good books & great play
🌌 A growing community of parents nurturing kids who don’t fit the mold

Let’s make play the heart of our homeschools, so your child can grow with confidence in their own way. Come on in and sit with us✨

❤️ Homeschool grad & mom

09/10/2025

Great moms just need good tools to help their kids speak more clearly and communicate confidently. These are some kind words from some great moms, that have used some of those tools!

09/08/2025

Today is the 10th anniversary of when I started working with kids (in public schools) for speech therapy.

It was a lot, but manageable that first assignment. I was covering a maternity leave for a semester. The SLP was apologetic for the "high" caseload of ~65 kids, but after working in nursing homes it was energizing and refreshing (and... less work). Kids made progress and I was able to graduate kids faster than I brought them on, which put me in a great spot to do more for kids that needed more.

But it didn't stay that way. Indiana has such high caseloads for public school speech therapy that new grads don't want to stay or come here. That makes the shortage worse, which makes caseloads worse. The national recommendation is 40-50 kids depending on ages and responsibilities. In one job I worked with 165 kids unofficially, because I couldn't evaluate them AND work with them. I've had friends with caseloads in the 140's for years.

What does that mean for parents? If your child is in a group of 3-10 kids, they will make less progress, most likely. Children need 50+ repetitions in relatively short period of time to make a clinically observable change in a goal for sounds.

Your SLP may have a heart of gold, but 50x 3 kids in 20 minutes is a big ask, even when behavior is perfect and the kids don't feel led to show and tell everything that has happened since they saw her last (IYKYK :) ). I will barely mention what happens when 3 kids becomes 5-6 or they each have more than 1 goal apiece. 😅

If you have school speech therapy here are my thoughts:

Send a message to learn more

07/22/2025

A great resource for homeschool families, especially of high needs learners. From dyslexia to speech delay, there is a lot of support in Supporting High Needs Learners at Home - Online Conference.

(and it's not like other girls (um... or other online conferences.)

Prepare to be refreshed rather than sold to. No one is going to be bombarding you with emails and FB notifications for upsells. We speakers didn't pay to sell or speak. We don't get your email list. I know that's probably not the best selling point (I should talk about how helpful the workshops are and how cool the other speakers are!), but if you are burnt out on conferences know that this one isn't a hype fest.

This is the simplest, most straightforward conference I have ever been a part of. Why?

Because the host is serving. Her goals are to cover the cost of running it and to keep this as a resource that others all over the world can use for years. And with the workshops and speakers already sharing their knowledge that the attendees get to keep forever, it's pretty cool.

More than Just Sessions, it's got:

❤️Family Connection Time

😎Afternoon Family Activities including story time and show-and-tell sessions where kids, teens, and parents can participate together – because learning is a family journey.

😮Evening Teen Activities designed specifically for your teenagers – art sessions, Rubik’s cube challenges, LEGO builds, and other engaging activities that honor their need for both independence and connection.

😁Parent Evening Activities
Special adult-only evening programming including Brené Brown watch parties, virtual happy hours, and “The One Thing Club” – because parents need community and encouragement too.

📙Virtual Resource Fair
Connect with carefully selected vendors and resources that truly understand high needs families.

🤗Connect with other families and find your tribe.

Take a peek in the comments!