Featured today in The Dizzy Traveler’s “Spotlight Interview”
is a dear friend of mine, who also happens to be a super hero from Georgia! Her
name is Jordyn Rollins Coffin and she’s a traveling, baking, crafting, mother
of 6 AND she’s homeschooling all of them. She refers to herself as Almost
Supermom.
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| Beautiful Jordyn |
Jordyn, you and I met on an infamous press trip to Florida
about a year ago, and we instantly hit it off. Put up in a beautiful house in
Orlando for part of our trip, you and I had bedrooms that shared a Jack and
Jill bathroom. So naturally, I nicked us, Jack and Jill. And the rest is
history.
Arthur:
Jordyn, when I first met you, I heard you rattle off
the list of things you share with your readers on your blog and social media. The
one thing that made my jaw drop was that on top of everything you do, you found
time to birth 6 children and you home-school all of them. Why did you make that decision
. . . the homeschooling part?
Jordyn:
Homeschooling happened out of necessity at first. My oldest
daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was just 2 years old.
Unfortunately, our elementary school was unable and unwilling to hire a school
nurse (budget cuts) that could help her with her shots and monitoring her blood
sugar, so we made the decision to home-school her until she was able to take
care of all that on her own.
Turns out homeschooling suited us pretty well and we
continued it with the other kids as well. We always leave it up to them what
they want to do each year (whether or not they want to go to traditional
school) and they always opt to stay home. It’s hard to beat sleeping in and a 4
hour school day!
Arthur:
I recall you mentioning once that you make a
conscious effort to join up with other homeschooling parents, to bring your
kids together and socialize . . . parties and dances. Are there many
homeschoolers in your area?
Jordyn:
Our county has the highest number of homeschoolers in the
state! I don’t know the exact numbers, but I know they are growing every year.
Homeschooling is become a more mainstream option and parents are enjoying the
educational freedom and the ability to provide an out of the box learning
environment for their kids that homeschooling allows.
Arthur:
You not only do everything I mentioned at the top
but you’re also an accomplished photographer. Seriously, there are not enough
hours in the day. How do you find the time to do everything? Do you prioritize
or say I’m doing a craft project from such and such a time while the kids are
studying? How does it work?
Jordyn:
In a perfect world, I try to squeeze in something related to
the blog or photography each day at a certain time. The reality is I fit things
in wherever I can. I work on social media while waiting at my daughter’s piano
lesson or write an article or 2 while the kids are working on schoolwork.
I’m incredibly lucky to have a great support system within
my family! My kids pick up my slack with chores and meals (my 12 year is pretty
much the next Martha Stewart) when I get overwhelmed and behind and if things
are really crazy and deadlines are looming, my amazing husband will book a
local hotel room for me so I can get caught up in peace.
Arthur: .
Other talents you share with your readers are sewing
projects and recipes. Do you get up at 5 a.m. to fit it all in a day? People may
be wondering now if you’re a “Type A” personality but you’re certainly not.
You’re a cool, calm, and groovy person. Ah, maybe that’s the trick?
Jordyn:
Ha! 5 a.m.?? Now that’s funny. You know how much Jill loves
her sleep! Honestly, I thrive on chaos. I can’t stand being bored and I can’t
stand when everything is exactly the same as the day before. Being able to change directions at the drop of
a hat is essential for getting everything done J
Arthur:
I’m not sure if you like it but you’ve become my “go
to” computer solving geek. Whether it’s making a code work in a file or finding
out how many people are not visiting my website, you know the answer to
everything. Did you take classes to learn all of this? I search for answers on
the Internet constantly to no avail, yet you seem to know it all AND find the
time to get back to me.
Jordyn:
Everything I know, I was self- taught. My husband is a techy
guy, so that helps, but mostly I just read everything I can and then play
around with it until it works. I have crashed and burned many times to get to
this point of “knowing it all” lol! You should have seen me 4 years ago, I was
a hot technical mess that couldn’t even upload a picture!
Arthur:
Travel is a big part of you and your family’s life.
It must be challenging to do it with 8 of you.
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| Jordyn and the family on the road! |
Jordyn:
It’s not as challenging as you would think. My kids are born
travelers and love to be on the road. The key is flexibility and spontaneity. I
go into every trip knowing that nothing will go as planned and just rolling
with the craziness. We have had some pretty incredible adventures just because
something didn’t go as planned on a trip.
Arthur:
And now you are also on the lecturing circuit
sharing your expertise. Where can readers catch you next?
Jordyn:
I don’t have any speaking engagements booked at the moment,
I’m using the rest of the year to learn some new blogging/writing/photography
tricks. I’ll be learning at SitSumATL in October and Type A East at Disney
World in October as well!
Arthur:
And I know you love everything Disney? Did that
passion ignite when you were a child or did that evolve when you started having
children of your own?
Jordyn:
I went to Disneyland a couple times as a kid, but the Disney
love I have developed after seeing it through my kids’ eyes. Disney vacations
are still our favorite in fact, we are surprising the kids with one for
Christmas (shhhhhh…..don’t tell!)
Arthur:
And last but certainly not least, how does your
husband fit into the equation?
Jordyn:
My poor husband. That man is a saint lol! He has put up with
my crazy for the last 18 years and there is no end in sight lol!
He is always there behind the scenes to make sure everything
that needs to be in order is in order. He is the yin to my yang, the moon to my
sun, the calm to my crazy and I don’t think I could do any of this without him.
Arthur:
Jordyn, anything you’d like to add to this Spotlight
Interview?
Jordyn:
I think I’ll just leave my favorite quote:
“Stuff your eyes with wonder, live as if you’d drop dead in
ten seconds. See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for
in factories.” – Ray Bradbury
Jill, you are not the “Almost Supermom” you ARE the
“Supermom” and I’m in awe of you. You inspire and amaze me constantly and I’m
sure your thousands of readers feel the same.
Much love - Jack
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| A fave pic of ours when we met on a press trip through Florida! |
ps...You can visit Jordyn at her Almost Super Mom site...http://www.almostsupermom.com
or at her photography site www.jordynmichellephotography.com
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