GOAT #48: Lessons Learned Writing Historical Fiction with Jenny L. Cote

Sometimes homeschoolers struggle with teaching history, but it *can* be made fun for kids of all ages through field trips, projects, even historical fiction!  Have you considered that we can instill a love of history in our children as well as provide opportunities for them to discover their part in the bigger "HIStory" of God?

In today's episode, Erin and Amanda speak with award-winning author and speaker Jenny L. Cote, who developed an early passion for God, history, and young people, and beautifully blends these three passions in her two fantasy fiction series, The Amazing Tales of Max and Liz® and Epic Order of the Seven®. Likened to C. S. Lewis by readers and book reviewers alike, she speaks on creative writing to schools, universities and conferences around the world.

Resources & Links
Find Jenny L. Cote on
Her website: www.epicorderoftheseven.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-l-cote
Interview on Fox & Friends
Facebook: @jennylcote
Instagram: @jennyl.cote

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Transcript

G48 Jenny L Cote

[00:00:00] Erin: Hello and welcome back to Go Homeschooling with Erin and Amanda. Today we have an award-winning author and speaker, Jenny Cody on our show today. Hi Jenny. 

[00:00:16] Jenny L. Cote: Hi Amanda and Erin. Thanks for today. 

[00:00:21] Erin: You're welcome. We're so happy to have you on. Um, you know, one thing about doing a podcast is that we get to meet all kinds of wonderful people doing amazing things, and especially within the homeschool community.

[00:00:33] Erin: And, uh, we're just really excited to have you on today to talk about lots of different, uh, things about your work, your, um, books that you've written. You've written two series The Amazing Tales of Max and Liz in the Epic order of the seven. Um, so do you wanna just jump in. Introduce yourself to our listeners and, uh, we'll get started there.

[00:00:54] Jenny L. Cote: I would love to. Hey, wonderful listeners out there. Um, well, it's an honor to be included in a podcast called goat. I never thought I'd be a goat, even though my main character's a goat, you know, so how awesome is that? So, um, yeah, so I'm Jenny Cody and I live in Atlanta, and I never knew I was gonna be an author when I grew up.

[00:01:14] Jenny L. Cote: We'll get to that in a minute, but I've written this series of Talking Animals. Through time and it all happened because of my real dog and my real cat Max and Liz Max is a Scottish terrier and Liz was a black cat. And I was watching them play fight one one morning and thought, when did dogs and cats first get on each other's nerves?

[00:01:34] Jenny L. Cote: And I thought, well, maybe when they were cooped up on Noah's a for a year, and then it was like, bing, you know, the floating light bulb appeared above my head. Mm-hmm. and. , what would that look like to tell the story of Noah's arc through the animal's perspective? And so the arc, the in the fire cloud just kind of exploded into my mind.

[00:01:50] Jenny L. Cote: And that's book one, the Adventures of the Animals heading in Noah's arc. And they foil a plot by a stowaway who's out to kill Noah, wipe out the human race. And so because they save the day, God, Jesus, them to save the day through pivotal points of human history working behind the scenes. Book two, the dreamer of the schemer in the Road, the story of.

[00:02:09] Jenny L. Cote: In Egypt book three, the Prophet and the Shepherd. And the star is Isaiah Daniel and the Christmas story before the Roman, the 12, and the king is the life of Christ told within the story of handwriting the Messiah. Book five, uh, and six were supposed to be one, but Jenny's pin got outta control. So it's all of Acts up to Rome, with the wind, the road, and the way, and the fire, the revelation in the fall.

[00:02:34] Jenny L. Cote: And now I'm on a six book series on the American Revolution featuring, featuring Patrick Henry and the Marquita Lafayette as my primary uh, characters. And then I'm gonna do CS Lewis in World War ii. Um, and the, you know, you might be saying, talking animals and all of that. How's that work? . Um, my books are historical fiction fantasy, okay.

[00:02:58] Jenny L. Cote: In, in that order. And so, um, the fantasy part of it is I look for those moments in history where we dunno how or why something happened. And the animals are the ones that I use as my, uh, you know, my, um, agents, if you will, to go in and make that happen. So I don't alter the history, but it's a way to make history come alive and make it super fun.

[00:03:22] Jenny L. Cote: and you know, the humans are clueless that these animals are anything other than the little talking animals. But I mean, these, this is full contact history. I mean, you got 450 to 650 page books here, um mm-hmm. . So it's a fun read for kids and adults as well to dive in biblical and uh, American history. So, yeah.

[00:03:42] Jenny L. Cote: So that's it in a big nutshell. I love it. . 

[00:03:46] Erin: I love that. Um, I think what I love the most about you, from what I've just been researching and listening to you talk, is the fact that you hit on biblical truth, historical truth, facts, and you make it fun for kids. Because as homeschooling moms, that is the trifecta, right?

[00:04:06] Erin: You've got all these things that we're looking. For our Christian worldview to enhance and to appreciate, and we wanna ra make sure that we're reading really solid, good, biblical and historically accurate books for our children. So how did that passion stir in you to create these series or comfort goal in your storytelling?

[00:04:31] Jenny L. Cote: Well, I tell you, you know, I, I grew up in the, um, in the cradle of American. there in Norfolk. My dad was a pastor, first Baptist Norfolk. Um, he actually, he actually founded Sea Baptist Church, was, was right by Yorktown. And my mom used to drive through the battlefields of Yorktown to get to the grocery store.

[00:04:51] Jenny L. Cote: And oh, and even as a young toddler, I had images in my mind. I could see the battlefield. And I was the toddler that ran down Duke of Gloucester Street, you know, in, in Williamsburg. So I was immersed in it. My mom was an English teacher also. Um, but so, you know, my grandmother, who lived to be 103, she said, what goes into the first of life goes throughout.

[00:05:15] Jenny L. Cote: all of life. And like I said, I never set out to be an author. I had no clue I was gonna be an author. But God set me up. He, he like wired all of these things into me. My passion for history, my passion for research, you know, my parents took me to every blessed museum there was, you know, and um, you know, so all of that was poured into me young.

[00:05:40] Jenny L. Cote: So my appreciation. has carried with me the whole time. And, and also that passion for excellence and to do something well and write research is my most favorite part about writing. And if I am going to wear the mantle of historical fiction author, I better have the history. Right. And, and like I said, so, so that genre, lemme go back to my, my, uh, I call it like my.

[00:06:09] Jenny L. Cote: My smores sandwich, you know, so the, you know, the graham crackers is the history and I exhaust all the history I could possibly know on, on a particular book. Like for instance, well, my American Revolution, I have a personal library. I'm nearing 400 books now. , um, in my personal library cuz I'm mm-hmm. I'm a book junkie and I, I can't check them out cuz I have to write in them.

[00:06:34] Jenny L. Cote: Um, yeah. and I exhaust, I've been to every place where the American Revolution happened, except for about two major locations. I go on site whenever I can, I talk to. every person I can, you know, grab by the throat and say, talk to me and tell me what happened. And, you know, and I, and I just drill historical experts on this cuz I've gotta make sure I get this right because it, it.

[00:06:58] Jenny L. Cote: I, I have such a respect for history that if I get one thing wrong, 200 years from now, someone's gonna be saying, the British are coming. The British are coming. No, that was a poem. That's not what they said. You know, so like, I, I've gotta make sure it drives me nuts. I find errors in books all the time. And, um, and so I don't, I, I, I take that responsibility very strongly as far as the historical accuracy.

[00:07:24] Jenny L. Cote: One of the things. . That's most important to me in the backs of my book is, is a word from the author. And this is where I say this was real. This was fake. This is where I took liberties. We're not sure what happened in this. This is what I ran with because cuz the fiction part of it is when I put words in George Washington's mouth or Patrick Henry's mouth.

[00:07:43] Jenny L. Cote: Mm-hmm. or whatever. Mm-hmm. . A lot of that I take from letters. or things that we know, biographies, but then, hey, I'm gonna have to make them talk, right? A lot of conversations. So I have to know their character, I have to make sure I am honoring them. Um, so that's the, you know, the, the three layer sandwich.

[00:08:02] Jenny L. Cote: So history comes for us, get that set. Then the fiction and then the fantasy where I interject the animals. Now, as far as the safety of my books, my number one commitment to parents is that their children are gonna be safe within the pages of my. Hmm. Um, and, and that is something from OI that I've said I will adhere to.

[00:08:21] Jenny L. Cote: And there've been a couple of times where I've written a couple of tough scenes and I've actually gone and done a survey with homeschool parents, you know, and on my Facebook page where I was really struggling, one was the crucifixion, uh, you know, in the discouraging scene. And I'm like, I don't wanna sugarcoat what happened.

[00:08:43] Jenny L. Cote: I don't wanna terrify a kid either. I wanna tell it right? And as authentically as I can. And I wrote like three different versions and I'm like, okay, parents, you tell me which should I go with, you know? And of course it was a third, a third, a third. Of course it was. So I went with what the Holy Spirit told me, um, which was the full on.

[00:09:05] Jenny L. Cote: Version. Mm-hmm. . Um, and I, I put a note to parents in the outline, if you have any concerns, this contains crucifixion, whatever, you know, I have not had one single issue complaint the whole time. You know, and again, God's my boss. I'm just a little dictation girl. He's the author. So, you know, I just, I just write what he was saying.

[00:09:24] Jenny L. Cote: But anyway, but I, I'm very committed to that and, and it breaks my heart having grown up with such wonderful literature. as a kid in so many safe books and not having to worry about stuff. And literally when I walk into a Barnes and Noble and I walk into like the tween section, it is so dark. I can almost physically feel darkness when I walk in there, um, and, and bookstores in those sections.

[00:09:54] Jenny L. Cote: And so I wanna be. and I wanna be a safe place for parents to not have to read every blessed word before they hand a book over to a child. Mm-hmm. . I love that. And in fact, I, I, I think I put a quote on the front of my website. Some mom said that. She said, you know, I stopped having to even look at your books anymore.

[00:10:13] Jenny L. Cote: Now they're gonna get adventure, they're gonna get excitement, they're gonna get scary. They're gonna get fun, but it's gonna be couched in, in truth and goodness and safety. Hmm. 

[00:10:25] Amanda: I gotta tell you. I love that. Go ahead, Erin. Sorry. Oh, go ahead. I was just gonna say, I, I have a friend of mine when, um, we first started talking about having you on, um, She was looking for, um, books for her teenager, her 14 year old, and that is so difficult to find and this is a kid that's incredibly sensitive, um, cannot talk about or watch medical stuff.

[00:10:53] Amanda: Like he really struggles with medical stuff, doesn't have an interest in violence, you know, and so there's, it's very difficult. It's certainly not romanticism, you know, there's, so it needs to be very G-rated, but also to the depth that a 14 year old, um, would be interested in. And that's, that's tough.

[00:11:12] Amanda: That's a tough. Kind of genre to be looking for. And so I told her about your books and, um, when we first started talking about it, and she was so excited, she's like, oh, I'm gonna have to talk to him about these. You know, this might be perfect. Um, because it does it, you know, it's gonna have the depth, it's gonna have the adventure that's appropriate, but also omitting.

[00:11:36] Amanda: the stuff that's not needed, you know? Mm-hmm. . And so what kind of age groups are you mostly geared towards? Does it go into teenage years? 

[00:11:44] Jenny L. Cote: Oh, yeah. Well, and you know, it's funny, when I first started writing the series, by the way, it does say two series, and I'm gonna explain that in a minute. But it's the same characters all the way through.

[00:11:53] Jenny L. Cote: I'll explain the difference in a minute. I started the Art three in the fire cloud geared to eight and 12, but I was kind of blown away by what actually happened. , um, tons of seven year olds. A couple of six-year-olds, which I couldn't believe, just devoured it. I'm like, really . Um, but then the teen, the tweens, and the teens and adults, mm.

[00:12:18] Jenny L. Cote: Half my readers are adults. I did not see that common and so progressively as, as I've written the books, they have gotten older, I think in scope. . Um, I still like to include my eight year olds, but if I had to really, if you had to pigeonhole me, I'd probably say 10 and up. But, um, my oldest reader that I know of, was like this 98 year old woman in Australia, and she said, oh, four generations in our household, love Max and Liz

[00:12:55] Jenny L. Cote: So, um, and, and another thing I, I had no idea that would happen with that, that these would be a family read mm-hmm. and especially in the homeschool community, and you'll have multiple ages and families like to read together. So you'll have a four year old and an eight year old and a 12 year old and a 17 year old.

[00:13:16] Jenny L. Cote: and they can all sit around and, and listen and, and be, um, entertained, educated, uh, you know, and that's one thing I love a challenge. I love to speak to a homeschool group that has all those ages in it, and I love to keep 'em all occupied. Mm-hmm. at the same time. That's a great challenge. That's, and again, y'all, this isn't something I was trained to do.

[00:13:38] Jenny L. Cote: This is how I know that God has inspired my pen, because I, I don't know how to naturally do that. Mm. That, you know, I mean, He, he just gives me these visions to write and I, I write what I, I write what I see. Um, but I, I do try to be sensitive to that. Now, your friend's son, he's gonna see some blood, he's gonna see lots of it, but, but it's gonna be, it's gonna be couched in real, real life without horror.

[00:14:09] Jenny L. Cote: There's a difference. Mm-hmm. There is, yeah. There's a difference in, um, in shed blood for a righteous holy cause. Mm-hmm. , whether it's Christ or Word American freedom. Yes. And horror for the sake of horror. Yes. Violence. You know what I mean? Absolutely. The intent. Mm-hmm. The intent is different. And also you can't appreciate what it took to gain our freedom.

[00:14:34] Jenny L. Cote: Unless you see what our guys went through and our women, you can't ha you cannot understand liberty without shed blood. Hmm. That's. on any level. That's 

[00:14:44] Erin: so true. So let's transition a little bit to talk about that historical relevance in teaching our children the history of our nation, um, our biblical history.

[00:14:56] Erin: Um, do you wanna talk a little bit about the importance of that and what you've seen culturally over the last, even just couple of years with, uh, covid and lockdowns and those kinds of things? 

[00:15:09] Jenny L. Cote: Oh, I'd love to. Um, well, I, I tell you, and, and I love how God goes before us. Uh, and he's there waiting when we arrive.

[00:15:17] Jenny L. Cote: Another one of my grandmother's quotes, and, you know, God inspired me when I set out to write these books. They were all just gonna be biblical, right? I mean, I, I, I had not planned to really go into the American Revolution in American history. and it was actually when I was still writing the first book, the Art Green in the Fire Cloud, and finishing that up.

[00:15:38] Jenny L. Cote: And I went to Colonial Williamsburg with my parents and I grew up in the area and it had been many, many years since I've been, and I, and I sat in the audience and listened to my dear friend Richard Schumann, who portrays Patrick Henry. And I felt so ashamed that I didn't know who this band was. All I remembered was seven little.

[00:16:00] Jenny L. Cote: gimme liberty, gimme nothing. That's all I knew. Didn't know who said it, didn't know the contacts or, and when I heard and I listened to who this man was and what he did and how he was the voice of the revolution and how he was the one, he was the first one to speak up against tyranny. He was the first one to say what everybody else was saying, thinking, but was too afraid to speak out and say, um, and it just took one voice.

[00:16:27] Jenny L. Cote: and Thomas Jefferson even, you know, says that it was Patrick Henry's voice that got the ball of the revolution rolling down, you know, the hill. And so that bold bravery of one voice to speak out when it's dangerous, when it's unpopular, when it's uncomfortable. Really grabbed me and, and he was a devout Christian man.

[00:16:47] Jenny L. Cote: And so I was like, I got, I gotta write a story. So as I started researching this, I would research the revolution while I was writing the other six biblical titles, right? Mm-hmm. . So, I mean, it's, you know, I've got multiple plates going in the air and researching several books at once. And, but I just found madly in love with Patrick Henry, and again, back to my roots, back to American history again.

[00:17:09] Jenny L. Cote: God set me up. He, he instill. My love for Williamsburg, my love for our founding history as a child, because he knew he wanted me to write America's story. So fast forward, um, it, and I, I say this thing really started with the statue issue, right? So I wanna, I wanna show you how perfect God's timing is. And only God could have done this 10 years before the voice revolution and the key with Book One and the Revolution came.

[00:17:40] Jenny L. Cote: I wrote the introduction to it because God just downloaded the scene and it's, they're in New York City, modern day, New York City. They're gonna flashback and they're looking at the Statue of Liberty and they're talking about the statue of Thomas Jefferson. Ah, the pen of the revolution and the statue of George Washington.

[00:17:57] Jenny L. Cote: Ah, yes. The Sword of the Revolution. And Patrick Henry, the voice of the revolution cuz of his voice, she's. Hmm. And so it's all about statues, right? And I mean, I wrote the prologue, set it away, didn't pick it up for 10 years. Fast forward to 10 years to Charlottesville and tearing down statues. The voice, the revolution of the key was coming out right when all this was happening.

[00:18:20] Jenny L. Cote: Hmm. and for the first time I hired a publicist who, and the goal was to get me on Fox and Friends right. To, to talk about, uh, the voice. Well, so I would write all these op-eds and stuff and we were trying to get me O on and, um, j you know, it's, it's kind of a, it's a tough thing. It's, it's a, it's a tough thing.

[00:18:40] Jenny L. Cote: But I wrote this op-ed about Charlottesville and they snatched me up and I got all Fox and Friends and I was able to talk about, , you know, tearing down our history and what that looks like if we lose our history and this next generation, if they never, they near never hear of it. But look how God, 10 years, 10 years ago I was writing about statues and God knew the precise week the book would come out.

[00:19:04] Jenny L. Cote: There would be the storm brewing and tearing down statues of our founding fathers right when the book was gonna come out. Mm-hmm. . So that was just incredibly cool. So you know, I, my Revolution series. When I think this battle against our history was really ignited. Mm-hmm. , and it's just only snowballed and propelled e ever since.

[00:19:27] Jenny L. Cote: Um, so that actually led me to write longer books because as I saw our history trying to be erased, I'm like, you know what? Okay, this isn't gonna be just one book on Patrick Henry. I'm gonna write the entire thing. in painstaking detail, and I truly feel that God called me for such a time as this to preserve our history.

[00:19:53] Jenny L. Cote: I mean, you're gonna. The kitchen sink of the American Revolution, those 400 books, all those that boring adult books, guess what? They're all in there. You're gonna get that content, you know? And like, what kid would pick up a 600 page biography on Patrick Henry? Zero. But you put my talking animals in there, they're gonna follow 'em wherever they go throughout history and they're gonna learn this stuff.

[00:20:13] Jenny L. Cote: And I, I'm telling for my own self edification, forget y'all, what I've learned, researching and un mm-hmm. and knowing my country and understanding. what it took. I mean, I love my, my freedom and my history before, but oh, oh my word. I would die for her in a heartbeat. Mm-hmm. , you know, I, I get it now and I'm, and we are throwing away with both hands, but I believe, guess what?

[00:20:38] Jenny L. Cote: It only took one generation to found this country a, a, a generation of incredible young. That God selected at one point in time. And guess what? He can do it again. It just takes one generation to turn this Titanic around. God can do whatever he wants. I don't know if he's done with America or not. And when Covid started happening, and I saw all of this and the government overreach and, and suppressing our freedoms, , you better believe the enemy knows how to push my button.

[00:21:06] Jenny L. Cote: It's like, why are you killing yourself to write these books? No one cares anymore about this and that. And Jesus said, Jenny, you keep writing. You keep writing what I told you to write until either I come get you or we all go, you know? Mm-hmm. results are outta your business. You write what I tell you to write.

[00:21:21] Jenny L. Cote: And so it's been such a blessing that I've had so many, especially in the homeschool communities and, and. Vacating and a mass exodus from the public school system, and they're craving this and they're like, we wanna teach our kids history, but how do you put in the fun factor and make 'em want to mm-hmm.

[00:21:39] Jenny L. Cote: And you wouldn't believe the comments like get from kids who are like, it was just dates and facts and boring. And now it's like, I can't wait to read the next thing and go study on my own and go visit museums. And I'm like, Haah, mission accomplishment, . You 

[00:21:52] Erin: know? Oh, I love everything 

[00:21:54] Jenny L. Cote: you're saying. , it is my passion to, to, to write these books for your community.

[00:21:59] Jenny L. Cote: Um, 

[00:22:02] Erin: I love that. I, it's just like stirring up all of this in me where I'm like, I wanna go grab my kids now and just head over to Same. Yeah. Williamsburg and take a trip. We've not been out east yet. I just, I think that you're hitting on so many fundamental things that a lot of homeschoolers, uh, see and that's part of why, you know, I personally wanted my kids to have a better.

[00:22:27] Erin: Grasp of information, uh, from a biblical view. And that's part of why homeschool, it's not the only reason, but it's a big reason. Um, and I think what you're hitting on too is as a child you were interested because you went and saw those places. You were immersed in it. You had a mother who wanted to show you those things, and you, you were able to do that.

[00:22:48] Erin: And I think that's inspiring to all of us. You know, we can read a book. . Um, and it, it is sometimes feeling just like facts and numbers and dates and people that we have no relevance to, but when you're out and immersed into the places they walked, the things that they've done, the, the buildings they've created, the statues they've made, or, or just seeing a statue of a person and un and wondering, well, why is that person important enough to have a statue in the middle of a square?

[00:23:14] Erin: And I think that. What a lot of times, you know, when I was watching the whole thing with statues coming down, it broke my heart as well because I feel like we come from this at a very similar angle and it's, it's depressing to see that. People are willing to throw out the good of the person with maybe one little side factor or something about that person's life that wasn't perfect.

[00:23:36] Erin: But if we look at anybody throughout history except for Jesus, there is not one perfect among us. And amen. Never be worthy of anything 

[00:23:45] Jenny L. Cote: like that. And I write the good, the bad, and the ugly of history. And you better believe, yeah, it's uncomfortable when I have to show the. Of the founding fathers, but you're gonna get it and you're gonna get 

[00:23:55] Amanda: mad.

[00:23:56] Amanda: We can't, we can't judge the people of the past with the eyes of today. You know that, that's exactly right. We can't judge them based on our own, um, what we know now. You know, what they were, that they were imperfect. Just like we're imperfect in a hundred years from now, that people can look at what we are doing and say, well, they're doing that wrong.

[00:24:14] Amanda: And that's, that's not fair to look at at people of, of history. Our eyes, we need to look at it, uh, through the eyes of the people that were there. And that's another reason your books are so important too, is because you're, again, you're immersed in it and you know that's you're being, you're able to kind of empathize with the situations and with things that are going on of the day and maybe understand that a little bit more.

[00:24:40] Jenny L. Cote: Right. Well, and one of the things I wanna share also with y'all, I don't know how familiar y'all are with my product with Epic Patriot Camp, um, because this accomplishes the history teaching, but also the writing and, and raising up the next generation of authors. Um, so about seven years ago, I went up. to cow pens.

[00:25:01] Jenny L. Cote: Uh, battlefield for the reenactment of battle of cow pens. January 19th, 1781. That's another thing. Go to reenactments. You'd want history to come alive with cannons firing and gun, you know, gun powder. Oh, I love it. You know, . So, you know, go to a reenactment somewhere. So I went up there and I met the, uh, director of the, uh, revolutionary Parks National Park Service.

[00:25:24] Jenny L. Cote: I said, , um, you want me to do a, a kids event sometime, you know, workshop I do creative writing workshops to homeschool groups and, and schools and, and non history and getting 'em excited. He said, could you do a whole week? And I'm like, A week. He said, we just got a government grant to create a writing camp, um, to teach kids how to tell stories and American history.

[00:25:46] Jenny L. Cote: I'm like, sure. So we developed Epic Patriot Camp and we held it in person. For about five years at Kings Mountain Battlefield and Cal Pens and Ana Virginia Great program kids. We had about 22, 23 kids at a time Freewriting camp. Um, and the way I designed it was to make kid care about history. You gotta make it personal.

[00:26:10] Jenny L. Cote: Well, how do you make it personal? Well, we assign them the identity of either a patriot or loyalist who was there at the. And so all week during us doing all these different fun stations and I'm teaching 'em how to research all the different ways you can research through books and museums and walking the grounds.

[00:26:28] Jenny L. Cote: they become that person. They dress in their colonial attire and they're John severe, and they're gonna be researching about their character. And every day they're writing and answering a question, how did I get involved in the American Revolution? What's my story? So it's very personal to them. And then, you know, we, we compiled their book together.

[00:26:46] Jenny L. Cote: Well, fast forward, COVID killed it. Covid killed up at Patriot Camp and I, I hated it cuz I was like, gosh, I wanna keep this going. So, uh, About this time last year, my, uh, writing friend Libby McNamee, who you should have on, she speaks to groups everywhere. Uh, her historical author, I said, Libby, let's do Epic Patriot Camp Virtual.

[00:27:08] Jenny L. Cote: Let's just see what happens. You know? Cause I, this is such a great program. Didn't, we didn't know what to expect, but we had 25 amazing kids last year and it was from three hours. once a week for four weeks, we did the same thing and it was writing the story of 1776. Okay. And we, they each were assigned, it was Abigail Adams or George Washington, or Lord Cornwallis or whatever, and they wrote the story.

[00:27:34] Jenny L. Cote: We worked with them. I did creative writing workshops. They were given assignments every week that we edited. We gave them feedback and then we said we, and these are all kids who are aspiring to be authors. . And so we published their book on Amazon. Oh my goodness. They're all, they're all published authors now.

[00:27:52] Jenny L. Cote: Wow. And so we were also teaching them the process. This is how, this is how you get published. Well, here, here's the, the coolest thing. Um, I just wanted to show you this copy cuz. They sign that. So Li and I were having a book signing in Yorktown at the American Revolution Museum. And so we asked them, would you carry our book and allow us to have a signing with these kids?

[00:28:15] Jenny L. Cote: So we had six families come, by the way, our 25 campers, they came from all over the us, Hawaii, and we had one kid from Australia. We had, you know, Washington, New York, Florida, Texas. It was fabulous. Ages 10 and 19. and they were fantastic group of kids. So anyway, but we had six families come. These kids got their book and had a signing at the American Revolution Museum in Yorktown.

[00:28:43] Jenny L. Cote: That's one of the most exclusive, wonderful things and, and real truly, I feel, and I, again, I didn't see this coming. This is one of the most important things I've ever done. Forget my books. Yeah, they're great and yeah, but this is a whole nother. dimension of what I do. Mm-hmm. , uh, I feel the mantle of responsibility to train up the next generation of writers who, who share the same commitment to excellence, to history, to getting it right and to doing it well.

[00:29:13] Jenny L. Cote: And so, uh, we're doing it again. You know, we're doing the epic story of, uh, 17 77, 78. This summer we're only gonna have 24 slots, and I'll be putting out information about that, uh, in the next probably three weeks. and that will open. But, um, it's, it, you know, it's a, it's a labor of love, but I feel that it's one of the most important things I've ever done.

[00:29:34] Jenny L. Cote: And, and also I wanna be, um, giving this workshop of how to do this to homeschool groups. Cuz this is a model that homeschool groups could use. Mm-hmm. everywhere. So, um, it works. 

[00:29:47] Erin: Yeah. That was gonna be my next question. How would you encourage homeschool moms to. Teach their children writing, because I know that as we have middle and high schoolers, a lot of times moms feel like failures at this point and just wanna put 'em back in public school.

[00:30:03] Erin: No matter how convicted they were to homeschool in the beginning, they feel like they're failing because their child is not up to snuff with writing or creative writing, or they don't know all of the literary. Uh, devices and things like that to teach their own children. So what would you say to moms that want to continue homeschooling through the middle and high school ages when it comes to language arts and writing?

[00:30:26] Jenny L. Cote: Well, you know, I can't speak to everything. I can tell you how I can offer my help, uh, to you for one, wherever you are. Uh, if you go to my website, epic quarter of the. Dot com. I have a school slash groups page, and you can see. , my creative writing workshops. I've got one for each book that I do. I have a couple of multiple ones for Revolution.

[00:30:52] Jenny L. Cote: Um, and I go to homeschool groups and I, and I do workshops and I love going wherever I can and I can do these via Zoom. But we are in process right now actually of filming these professionally filming these, and they're gonna be digital content that's gonna be available in, in about. Or so we're gonna hopefully get them all up because I can't get everywhere, right?

[00:31:12] Jenny L. Cote: and there's, there's only so much of, of me to get around to. So that's one resource that, that's coming. Um, and, you know, we're gonna try to keep the cost low on that. So, you know, some homeschool families wanting to get together and, and get this video content and then do it and do their own writing group and, and so forth.

[00:31:33] Jenny L. Cote: You know, that's one thing. Get Tori, get to your homeschool conferences. You know, I, I don't know the percentage of homeschool families that attend their state or local homeschool conferences. There are so many wonderful workshops there. Mm-hmm. to teach parents how to write, and, you know, not just me, you know, I try to, I, I try to speak at the F P E A in Florida, albeit the Southeast Homeschool Expo in.

[00:31:58] Jenny L. Cote: uh, to do that. If you want me to come out your group, you know, I, I certainly would be honored to do that. I'd love to get to more state ones, but regardless of me, there's so many wonderful, uh, instructors. So take advantage of these homeschool conferences to get to, to, and they'll teach you how to teach your children that.

[00:32:18] Jenny L. Cote: I undoubtedly, I know there are online classes for parents on how to do this, but find a good network of. , um, iron sharpens iron homeschool communities and, and associations and conventions that will teach you h how to do this because, um, I tell you, I, I don't know if I could have. Done this. I, I had one son and you know, I just stand in awe of what y'all do, especially math.

[00:32:49] Jenny L. Cote: Oh, . I would've been an epic failure. I would've been asking the same thing about math. Think it, math, you know, . Yeah. We're all gifted in those things and just realize, hey, guess what? You know, I applaud you all for what you're doing to cover all the subjects. Are you kidding me? Um, but guess. , our founding fathers were all homeschooled.

[00:33:13] Jenny L. Cote: They did all right, didn't they? father parents taught them and how the books taught them. So, you know what? Don't beat yourself up. Mm-hmm. , look at what they did. And again, put the, you know, onus back on your children too, to teach them how to learn. I think that's the most important thing that you can teach them is how to learn and then let them pursue.

[00:33:39] Jenny L. Cote: the subjects that they gravitate, that they're passionate about. If you teach them how to learn, they're gonna learn how to learn whatever the subject matter is. Does that make sense? Mm-hmm. . 

[00:33:51] Erin: Yeah, I was thinking earlier, . 

[00:33:54] Amanda: I was saying that earlier when you said, um, you know, God chose the founding fathers, uh, to rise up and do what they did, and he, he can do it again.

[00:34:04] Amanda: I was thinking the next generation, and, and they did it in one generation. Um, the next generation that'll need to do that will be homeschoolers. . 

[00:34:12] Jenny L. Cote: Absolutely. I, I already know that. Yeah. That, that is undeniable. Absolutely it is. And so that's why, you know, again, y'all are on the front lines, the heavy mantle of responsibility in the homeschool c.

[00:34:27] Jenny L. Cote: is huge, but that's what excites me and that's what encourages me. Do you know how grateful I am for what y'all are doing? And, and, and just y you know, my mom always says, you know, as evil increases, grace increases all the more exponentially. And despite the badness and the darkness that we've seen over the last few years in our nation, hasn't it been incredible to watch the rise of the homeschool community?

[00:34:56] Jenny L. Cote: And the resources, and that's what you call a counterbalance. Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. to offset, you know, and to be the light and to be that generation to rise up. And again, how else could they do it? But, okay, so pressure on, for homeschool kids, guess what Benjamin Franklin's favorite book was as an 11 year olds, the Bible.

[00:35:17] Jenny L. Cote: Blue Tars parallel lives. , you go, you go sit down and read Plu Tars parallel lives. Okay. About ancient Greek and Roman, um, heroes and villains. Yeah. And just think about being an 11 year old and that's your favorite book. You know? So they weren't, they were, our founding fathers weren't reading Captain Underpants.

[00:35:37] Jenny L. Cote: Mm-hmm. , they were reading Heroes of Antiquity. They were reading about rules of civility. They were studying. . Ancient governments, you know? Mm-hmm. , garbage in, garbage out. Okay. If you want your kid to rise up, you put good literature in their hands. And I'm not just talking me, I'm talking the classics. I'm talking tough stuff.

[00:35:56] Jenny L. Cote: That's another thing. I don't write down to them. I write way over your head. Yeah. Because people rise to the level of expectation that you give them. Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. . So I have been blown away. by how kids have risen to, uh, read my books. Now, this one example blew me away, and if you go to the bottom of my books tab, you'll see a video by Kyle that he, he did a, he did a song about his experience.

[00:36:26] Jenny L. Cote: Okay? Two years ago, I did a summer epic summer reading challenge to get advanced readers for the Escape in the Fox. My next book coming out, they had to read all of my books that were out in one. The seven year old did it twice. , . Wow. Seven. Mm-hmm. , you know, are you smarter than a seven year old? And of course, obviously I know he's a prodigy and not every kid is to to do that, but God has graced every kid with some skill, some gifts, some passion, and that's what needs to be nurtured.

[00:37:04] Jenny L. Cote: If you teach 'em how to pursue their. How to pursue this gifting that they've already been given, you know, um, they're gonna, they're gonna do fine. You know what, um, back to how I figured out I was gonna become an author, even though I, I had no, no clue. I mean, I, I was all over the map. I wanted to be a marine biologist in Swim with Dolphins.

[00:37:28] Jenny L. Cote: I wanted to design greeting cards. I wanted to be a singer on Broadway. I wanted to be a business woman. I mean, I was all over. . My brother, on the other hand, knew he wanted to be a surgeon by the time he was eight years old, so he's a general surgeon. Just as he set out to be at eight, I didn't know what I wanted to be.

[00:37:44] Jenny L. Cote: So when it came time for college, my parents said, Jenny, just go into marketing. You always had an angle going. You always selling something as a kid, you know, go into marketing. And so, you know, I did and I got two marketing degrees, and here's the cool thing. Of just following the path of, uh, uh, uh, to trying to figure out what you wanna be when you grow up.

[00:38:04] Jenny L. Cote: God led me to work at Scottish Wright Children's Medical Center. Hmm. Gee, what was our mascot? Oh, Scotty dog. Oh. And Jenny falls in love with a Scotty dog, and she brings one home, and then lo and behold, max, you know, , um, you know, inspires this, this, this whole series. So, but God, in, in order to make it as an author, you gotta have marketing skills, right?

[00:38:27] Jenny L. Cote: So, you know, sometimes we don't arrive to the plan that God has for us. Moses didn't figure out his real job since he was 80, until he was 80 , you know? Right. So sometimes our young people, our children are gonna figure. their path early and they know exactly what they wanna do. A lot of these kids who, who were an epic patriot camp, they know they wanna be authors.

[00:38:50] Jenny L. Cote: Now, I, I had no clue. So your child may know exactly what they wanna do now, and that might change. Of course it does. Some, it might be exactly what they wanna be. Others, it's gonna take a minute for them to figure it out. But, but you nurture it because if you follow your passion, you. . It's not work. It's, it's joy.

[00:39:10] Jenny L. Cote: It takes work, it takes effort. But, um, and you know, that, that to me is the greatest thing. You know, you raise up a child in the way he should go when he is old, not depart from it, to raise them to love the Lord, to, to listen, to follow their passions. And they're, they're gifting, you know, don't discourage whatever that gifting is because it came from God, not.

[00:39:34] Jenny L. Cote: Mm-hmm. , when I was trying to figure this out. And then I'll, I'll say this one more thing and then I'll, I'll be quiet. . Um, there's a book by Max Lato called Cure for the Common Life. And the premise of it is whatever God wired you to do as an adult, more than likely you were passionate about it as a kid.

[00:39:56] Jenny L. Cote: And so I read this book and in the back there's a little survey you take of yourself and I. Man, I was writing books about, you know, talking Fruit when I was a kid, when I was eight years old. So I was writing children's books as a child, but it never dawned on me, you know, till I was an adult that that's what I was really wired and meant to do.

[00:40:17] Jenny L. Cote: But God said, Nope, I need you to do this. I need you to get marketing. Cause make it an author. You have to have your marketing, da da da da da. You know? And he's led me all the way. Um, so, but, So when I met Phil Vischer, I said, I wrote fruit details long before you wrote veggie details . He said, I published mine.

[00:40:33] Jenny L. Cote: I'm like, fine. I was like, mother, mother didn't save my manuscript. So if your child wants to be a writer, save their manuscripts. . I'll 

[00:40:42] Erin: be quiet. Oh, Jenny, we love this. This is like, I love your passion and I think that's the thing is you can, you're exuding your passion. You can tell that what you have written in your.

[00:40:54] Erin: Is gonna come out just like your, your words now. And that's exciting. Like, I, now I wanna go grab all your books so I can read 'em to my kids. you with them. Yeah. Um, and I think that's the thing with homeschool moms too, is I, I don't know personally I love doing read aloud time with my family just because I don't wanna miss out on the cool stories that they're hearing or listening to or reading themselves.

[00:41:19] Erin: so. 

[00:41:22] Jenny L. Cote: About, that's one thing I wanted to mention was audio books. Okay, so we're in process of getting all my books on audio. So the arc three in the fire cloud and the dream of the schemer in the robe and the prophet, the shepherd in the star are all on audio. So the first three biblical and then the first two revolution are on audio.

[00:41:38] Jenny L. Cote: And Denny Brownley incredible voice talent in Nashville. Put them all, y'all, he did all the animal character voices. Scottish, you know, he did 150 different voices. Awesome. The number one complaint I have with parents with read aloud is like, I have to do all these accents, you know, so, So go to Audible.

[00:41:55] Jenny L. Cote: You'll see five of 'em there. The goal is to get them all up, but, but they are, they're dramatized and it, they take about six months to do so. They, they take a minute. Mm-hmm. . So they're there for you to, for. . So please check those out. Yeah, 

[00:42:08] Erin: that's awesome. One of the things I was gonna tie back to, you said you would fill us in on, you say it's not actually two series, it's one series with the same character.

[00:42:16] Erin: Oh yeah. So you 

[00:42:17] Jenny L. Cote: wanna explain that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So the first two books, the Art Three and Fire Cloud, greenber Schemer in the Robe are, I know the series title, the Amazing Tales of Max and Liz. That was the original series title. You know that I have. It became clear that this was gonna be bigger than just Max and Liz because I started developing this team, and so they are the prequels to Epic order of the seventh.

[00:42:41] Jenny L. Cote: So God is building this team. Of animals and by the third book, there's seven of 'em, and they're known now as the Epic Order of the seven. His team is complete. Okay? Mm-hmm. . So think of it as The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. It's the same characters all the way through. Okay? So don't get confused that it's too serious.

[00:42:59] Jenny L. Cote: Mm-hmm. Even though technically it is. It's the same animals. all the way through. And again, if you go to that books tab on my website, you'll see them listed all in order. So, so you know the order, and one reason we did not order the books like 1, 2, 3, 4, is that I may go back. In fact, I am gonna go back and write Jonah soon.

[00:43:18] Jenny L. Cote: I'm actually researching about Jonah, um, to, to insert another biblical book. So if I put Jonah in where I've already got three revolution books out, it kind of . Mm-hmm. chronologically numbers wouldn't really mean anything. So that's why I didn. Numbers on the, that's helpful. Yeah. 

[00:43:35] Erin: Um, well, in all of this conversation, I think the thing that's coming to my mind the most is when God places something on your heart and you're obedient to that, it blesses other people.

[00:43:45] Erin: So I just wanna encourage any of the homeschool moms listening, that if God has put a specific child in your home for you to parent that you have the ability to listen to what God is asking you to do and teach and share with that child and find that child's passions. , as I've seen through homeschooling in the past 11 years, is just like Jenny said, I'm finding my passions too.

[00:44:08] Erin: You know, when you're talking about, well, what did you do as a child? I would set up a classroom and I would teach my brother and sister and they wouldn't listen to me. So it's kind of gave me a lot of practice for my own kids. . , but. You know, it is, it is neat to look back on those things. So maybe mom, take a little minute to reflect on what are the things that you are passionate about as a child?

[00:44:27] Erin: What are the things that your children are passionate about? And maybe make that more the focus of your homeschool. Even just for like a day or an hour or a half a day. Just take some time to back off from the curriculum. Maybe grab one at Denny's books and start reading and maybe go to a field trip with a mu museum, a historical site, um, something like that.

[00:44:49] Erin: So just. outside the box a little bit. Maybe refresh your day a little bit if you're feeling a little bit wore down or burnout. I know it's, we're recording in January, so it's at that halfway mark of the school year, and I know it can be a little bit wearing if we're stuck on that repeat mode. Um, and that's what I love too about this podcast that Amanda and I are doing is we get to interview wonderful guests like Jenny, who are so passionate and expressive on what their, their visions are for what their career is and.

[00:45:20] Erin: I just think that it gives us an opportunity to look at ourselves and look at our own schools and evaluate those things and just encourage us to move forward closer to maybe what God is asking us to do in our own families and lives. So Jenny, uh, where can our listeners find you on the internet? Uh, you mentioned Audible.

[00:45:41] Jenny L. Cote: Audible, yeah. Jenny l Cody under Audible. Um, my website is Epic Order of the Seven dot. , so you'll find my website there. There's gajillions of information there. Every book has its own page and there's behind the scenes research stuff that I've, there. We didn't even get to my research and what I do. Um, but I, I travel extensively.

[00:46:07] Jenny L. Cote: I got, I go on site. There's a lot of fun stuff there. By the way, for the Roman, the 12 and the king. it, it's told within the story of Hannah Writing Messiah. So I actually sat in handle's composing room to right the scene of him writing Messiah in the ring where it happened. So God just opened up just crazy and I've spent two nights in CS Lewis's house and you know, wow, just God has just opened up so many doors and going on site.

[00:46:32] Jenny L. Cote: So I've got a lot of behind the scenes stuff there on the. Jenny Alco, Facebook and Instagram. Um, I got off Twitter a while ago. I might get back on, but, um, but I'll, I'll, I'll tell you another fun thing that's coming the summer that my friend Libby Mcna, may and I are gonna do, besides Epic Patriot Camp, we're gonna do these epic outings where we go to these historic sites and.

[00:46:56] Jenny L. Cote: Y'all can come and we're gonna set up like a little program if y'all wanna come hang out and tour these places with us. So on my website, we're gonna be setting up a page for our epic outings, but uh, we're gonna do one March 17th in Hanover, Virginia. Come join me at Valley Forge. Uh, may, uh, 20th or so we're gonna go to Kings Mountain this summer, Yorktown next winter, and Washington's crossing next December to reenact the crossing of the Delaware.

[00:47:22] Jenny L. Cote: So Oh wow. So there's a, you know, so y'all left Coast people. Come on e to come hang out with me, , and I'll get your kids fired up about history , they'll never be the same. . I love that. 

[00:47:38] Erin: Awesome. Well thanks for listening today, and you can find Amanda and i@gohomeschoolingpodcast.com and we'll link all of Jenny's information in our show notes.

[00:47:48] Erin: See you next time.