Teaching Asian American History at Home with Essie and Hsin-Fu Wu from Resilient Panda

Homeschooling parents Essie and Hsin-Fu Wu know firsthand the importance of teaching children a history that reflects the full story of America. When they couldn’t find resources to share Asian American history with their sons, they created Resilient Panda History, guides designed to help families of all backgrounds bring these often-overlooked stories into their homeschool days. In this Homeschool Conversation, Essie and Hsin-Fu join me to discuss their homeschooling journey, the surprising discoveries they’ve made while researching Asian American history, and why these lessons matter for every family seeking a rich, diverse homeschool education.

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A Family’s Journey into Homeschooling

Essie and Hsin-Fu Wu’s homeschooling journey began in 2019, sparked by a desire to travel together as a family. When their oldest son’s second-grade classroom wasn’t a good fit, they decided to homeschool temporarily so they could join Hsin-Fu on work trips. That “temporary” decision became a lasting lifestyle, one that proved especially providential when pandemic shutdowns arrived months later. Their approach to homeschooling is rooted in shared family experiences, travel, and a deep connection to heritage.

Creating the Resilient Panda History Guides

While homeschooling, Essie discovered a gap in available resources for teaching Asian American history. Inspired by Amber O’Neal Johnston’s materials for Black American history, Essie sought an equivalent for Asian American heritage…only to learn it didn’t exist. Determined to fill the void, she began researching and creating her own guides. Personal experiences, like visiting local museums with Chinese and Japanese American history exhibits in Arizona, and witnessing the effects of misconceptions about Asian identity, fueled her mission to share these stories more widely.

Why Asian American History Matters for Everyone

Essie and Hsin-Fu believe Asian American history is American history, offering a valuable lens through which to understand the nation’s diversity. Essie points to Frederick Douglass’s 1869 “Composite Nation” speech, which celebrated immigration as a source of strength and innovation. Hsin-Fu emphasizes the common threads among immigrant stories (shared desires for freedom, opportunity, and a better life) and how minority histories, such as the Chinese American role in establishing birthright citizenship, directly shape modern American life.

Surprising Discoveries in Their Research

Both Essie and Hsin-Fu have been struck by unexpected historical details. Hsin-Fu noted how Asian Americans have influenced U.S. civics, such as the landmark Wong Kim Ark case on citizenship and the significance of Loving Day for interracial marriage rights. Essie was surprised by the strong Christian heritage among early Chinese, Japanese, and Korean immigrants, something she discovered in places like Hawaii’s Plantation Village and Korea’s Immigration Museum.

Highlights of Asian American Achievements

The Wus’ research has uncovered far-reaching contributions, from Feng Ru’s pioneering aviation work on the West Coast to cross-Pacific educational exchanges that shaped leaders like Sun Yat-sen and Syngman Rhee. They also share stories like that of Tie Sing, a Chinese trail cook whose elaborate meals on a Yosemite expedition helped inspire the national parks movement.

Book and Documentary Recommendations

For families exploring Asian American history, Essie recommends:

• Mountain Chef by Annette Bay Pimentel (younger readers)
• Mamie Takes a Stand by Crystal Lee (middle grades)
• Step Up to the Plate, Maria Singh by Uma Krishnaswami (tweens)
• Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata (older readers)

Hsin-Fu suggests the documentary Far East, Deep South, which explores Chinese American history in Mississippi and its intersection with Black American experiences.

Poetry to Enrich History Studies

Essie offers two poetry selections: “My Church” by Tokiko Inoue, written in the Gila River incarceration camp, and “Quilt” by Janet Wong, a reflection on multicultural family heritage. Both pieces help students connect emotionally with historical narratives.

Personal Reading and Homeschool Encouragement

Recently, Hsin-Fu has been reading The Prophet and the King by Todd Newman and Navigating a Restless Sea by Peter Denning and Todd Lyons. Essie’s current reads include Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer and Jing Jiao, a history of the earliest Christian church in China.

Their best homeschool “reset” tips? For Essie, it’s remembering tomorrow is a new day and finding joy in her children. For Hsin-Fu, it’s cooking a meal together and reconnecting over shared activities.

Connecting with Resilient Panda History

A homeschooling mom of two boys, Essie wanted them to know they are part of a long heritage of Asian Americans contributing here in the US. But when she couldn’t find materials to teach them that, she and her husband developed their own! They are passionate that all people are made in God’s image and that as Paul discusses in I Corinthians 12, diversity makes us stronger. Hsin-Fu was born in Taiwan to parents who were from China. He lived in Indonesia before immigrating to the US as a tween. He served in the US military for 20 years before settling down in Tucson, Arizona.

The Wus share their resources at resilientpandahistory.com, on Facebook, and on Instagram. Their downloadable guides on Chinese, Japanese, and Korean American history can be used alongside any curriculum. They also offer a free guide to Asian American history in Arizona and a timeline resource to help families see how events and migrations connect across history.

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Use the discount code PODCAST25 for 25% off all of their guides, timeline, and bundles, which are already discounted!  

Key Takeaways

• Homeschooling Beginnings – The Wu family began homeschooling in 2019 to allow for family travel, and it quickly became a lasting lifestyle.
• Filling a Resource Gap – Essie created Resilient Panda History guides after discovering no existing Asian American history resources for homeschoolers.
• Asian American History is American History – The Wus stress that these stories benefit everyone, offering new perspectives and highlighting the value of diversity.
• Influence on U.S. Civics – Landmark cases like Wong Kim Ark on birthright citizenship and Loving Day laws on interracial marriage have lasting impacts.
• Christian Heritage – Many early Chinese, Japanese, and Korean immigrants to the U.S. were Christians, shaping community life and activism.
• Historic Achievements – Asian Americans have contributed innovations, leadership, and cultural exchange, from aviation to the national parks movement.
• Book & Film Recommendations – Titles like Mountain Chef, Mamie Takes a Stand, Step Up to the Plate, Maria Singh, Weedflower, and the documentary Far East, Deep South enrich studies.
• Poetry for Connection – Works like “My Church” by Tokiko Inoue and “Quilt” by Janet Wong offer personal, emotional entry points into history.
• Homeschool Reset Tips – Essie focuses on delighting in her children; Hsin-Fu reconnects the family through cooking together.
• Free & Downloadable Guides – Resilient Panda offers resources on Chinese, Japanese, and Korean American history, plus a free guide for Arizona sites.

You May Also Enjoy:

• A Place to Belong (with Amber O’Neal Johnston)
• Story-Formed, Wonder-Filled Homeschooling (with Amber O’Neal Johnston)
• Life Giving Motherhood (with Min Hwang)
• Multilingual, Multicultural, Multigenerational Homeschooling (with Rachel from “Seven in All”)
• Don’t Miss these Books about Japan for Children!
• Can You Haiku? Learn and explore the poetry of haiku with children of all ages!

Check out all the other interviews in my Homeschool Conversations series!

Amy Sloan: Hello friends. Today I am joined by Essie and Hsin-Fu Wu. As a homeschooling mom of two boys, Essie wanted her sons to know that they are part of a long heritage of Asian Americans contributing here in the U.S. But when she couldn’t find materials to teach them that, Essie and her husband developed their own. They are passionate that all people are made in God’s image and that as Paul discusses in 1 Corinthians 12, diversity makes us stronger. Hsin-Fu was born in Taiwan to parents who were from China. He lived in Indonesia before immigrating to the U.S. as a tween and he served in the U.S. military for 20 years before settling down in Tucson, Arizona. And I am delighted to get to chat with you both today. So here at the beginning, please tell us a little bit about yourself, your family, and how you got started homeschooling. And Essie, I’ll let you start and then your husband can join in with his side of the story.

Essie: Well thanks Amy and thanks for having us. We’re really excited to be here today. And I’m from Michigan and I lived there till I was 12. And then I came to Phoenix and lived in Arizona, went to college here in Tucson at U of A. And then we settled here in Tucson when our kids were really small. And then we started homeschooling when our oldest was in second grade. And my husband was traveling a lot and he wanted us to travel with him. But you know, they like take attendance at school. So I was like, I don’t know how that’s going to work. But then his second grade class actually just, we loved the school, but the classroom just was not a great fit anyways. And so we decided to take him out and homeschool just while his dad was traveling, then we could travel with the dad. Providentially, it was fall of 2019. So then, you know, the shutdown came and it was really nice because we were already at home. And then my other one started kindergarten that next fall. And so I said, well, you know, we’re home. So let’s just do home. So we’ve been homeschooling since then.

Amy Sloan: Oh, that’s amazing. I love stories of kind of accidental homeschoolers, you know, and then you’re kind of like, I think I kind of like this. Let’s keep going. Do you have anything to add?

Hsin-Fu: Let’s see. Well, if there’s any interruptions, this is our dog Mando, who likes to say hi. And then the other part is, I became a Christian when I was in college at the University of Kansas. And so my background, having grew up, born and raised in Taiwan, went to the public school system in Taiwan, and then coming to the United States, and then went to middle school and high school here in public school, and then going to the university here. It seems homeschooling was foreign to me until it like, like what, as you said, almost is providential, but certainly by necessity. And I think with with my business travels, and then also personal travels, if you would, it seemed like a great idea to have this educational opportunity as one of the intentions and the purpose for traveling and living. So that’s why we’ve been doing it since fall of 2019.

my Sloan: And I like hearing too, from both of you, it was part of like something that was about your whole family. Like this was a lifestyle you wanted as a family, you wanted to be able to travel together, to not miss out on those experiences together. And so homeschooling provided a good fit and a good opportunity for that. But then I know as you began homeschooling, and it was, I assume, fitting in once shutdowns were over with travel plans and goals, you started thinking, wait, I can’t find these resources for Asian American history. So how did you guys get started making the guides at Resilient Panda for Asian American history?

Essie: You know, I’d always thought like, when my kids were babies, I thought, oh, I’ve always been interested in history and heritage and genealogy. And I thought, oh, if I ever homeschool my kids, I’ll homeschool them off their genealogy. Like, oh, you know, this person, you know, did whatever, you know, this person fought in this war, you can kind of connect to a lot of things. And it’s kind of Charlotte Mason-esque, I think, because you, you know, but we don’t actually do that exactly. I tell lots of stories, but I think my kids would think that was kind of boring. But I’ve always wanted them to know their heritage. So when we moved to Southern Arizona, I didn’t realize that there was so much Chinese American heritage in Southern Arizona and Japanese American heritage in Arizona until we started going to these little local history museums, because I love the like, you know, ability to travel when you’re homeschooling and go to this museum. And I was like, every museum has a little section about the Chinese. So I started learning more about that. And I remembered when my dad would, he would go exploring in the mountains in Northern Arizona, and he would find Chinese coins or Chinese pottery around in the mountains where there used to be mines. So I wanted my kids to know that there is a long Chinese heritage going back into the 1880s of Chinese Americans here in Tucson. And I was using Heritage Mom, Amber O’Neal Johnston’s materials for Black American history as a supplement to the history curriculum we were already doing. And I emailed her and I said, you know, I love what you have. Where could I get an Asian American version? And she said it doesn’t exist. So I was like, oh, okay. And then I overheard somebody ask, it was another child asked my older son, if the US ever went to war with China, Korea, or Japan, whose side would you be on? And I was surprised that someone asked, like, I, that was not a question I ever expected anybody to ever ask my son. His dad was in the military 20 years, the US military. So then I thought, you know, I guess we need to keep telling the story of Japanese American incarceration during World War Two. So that people know, you know, but none of those people were ever convicted of espionage or any anything like that. On the contrary, they really served with distinction in the military. So that’s when I was like, well, I’m going to do the research for my kids anyways. So well, I kind of used Amber’s guides. She has these, like, heritage packs. I used those as a guide and got started.

Amy Sloan: Yeah, Amber is great. She’s been on the podcast twice before. And I love her resources and her books. So I’ll put a link to those in the show notes as well. But I think that’s so great that you’re like, well, it doesn’t exist. I guess we’re going to make one. Because it’s so important for children to be connected to their own heritage and culture, of course, to know where they personally come from. Actually, one of my daughters, there’s a painting in her grandparents’ house of a great, great, I lose track of how many greats. It’s a lot of greats, grandmother, as a little girl. And one of my daughter’s history projects in high school was she created a recreation of that dress and sewed it. And it was a really neat thing. She learned a lot and it felt connected to an ancestor. So there’s that part that is valuable for your children to be connected to their heritage. But I also think it’s really important, kind of like you were saying, you were using Amber’s resources to learn more about Black American heritage and culture. It’s really important, even for those of us who don’t have Asian American heritage, to also learn more about this, for instance, the Japanese incarceration. So what would you guys say? Why would you encourage people maybe who are like, well, I mean, this is interesting, but we don’t have any Asian American heritage, so why would I want to learn about this? What would you kind of say? What encouragement would you give to them?

Essie: Well, first of all, I think because it is American history. And it is another lens to look at American history through. I think sometimes if you approach a subject that maybe you’ve heard multiple times before through a different lens, you’ll learn more or you’ll just remember because it’s not the same old, same old. It’s very interesting. And I think part of the, like you said at the beginning, what makes us stronger is our diversity. Frederick Douglass had a speech in 1869 called the Composite Nation speech. And in that speech, he was actually arguing for Chinese American immigration because the Chinese had come with the railroad, the Gold Rush and the railroad. And then people were starting to say, oh, you know, actually, I don’t think we should allow these Chinese to immigrate. And Frederick Douglass had this speech, the Composite Nation speech, where he said, actually, I think we should let the Chinese in and the Japanese and everybody else. And he said, basically, the secret sauce of America’s greatness is her diversity. He said it allows us to innovate in really breathtaking ways because we get people who have different perspectives and different experiences. And, you know, even just you see that in the Chinese that came over to work on the railroad, they had been working with dynamite for, you know, generations. And so then when they needed a dynamite through the Sierra Nevadas, they had techniques and ways to handle that that, you know, made the project go better. So I think that we want everyone to see that. And, you know, like you mentioned, you know, with the Japanese incarceration, we want to normalize Asian Americans in history, and that we want people to see that Asian Americans have been in this country for a very long time, all over this country, not just in California and Hawaii, but been here since the 1800s, even earlier. 1587 is the earliest Asian American on what is now the mainland US. And that was Filipinos who came with some Spanish. So yeah, that’s why we do think it is important, just like, you know, we teach our kids, you know, Latin American history, because we live in the borderlands, but also Amber’s Black American history materials.

Amy Sloan: Yeah. Hsin-Fu, I’m interested to hear from you if there’s something that’s really surprised you, as you have learned and taught Asian American history, you know, to your children and helped develop this curriculum. Has there been anything that surprised you?

Hsin-Fu: What I like about bringing up or presenting Asian American history is that it is, it could be a way for Americans to see the commonalities between the different ethnicity and heritage, and to see how we were able to get along or not. But I think through the understanding or awareness, at the very least, of how each ethnic groups brought with them the strengths and brought with them the strengths and the diversity and also their cultural nuances, and of course, the cuisines, that makes us Americans better understand our own country and our own heritage as a nation rather than as a particular subgroup. So, that’s how I would answer the question of why it would be good for everyone to know about Asian American history. And again, it’s not just Asian American history, but you know, as he has mentioned, the Black American history and experience as well. And then, you know, about, you know, the whites who came and others in their experiences. And I think one, with respect to what I found surprising, was the commonality of purpose. Why did people come to the United States? Or why did the early settlers came? And for freedom, for just for freedom, for just freedom, for economic opportunities. And then, and then the other surprising but taken for granted way was, well, the way they sought new opportunities and how they dealt with it here through hard work and then trying to make where they’re now, the place they’re now, better than where it was before. And I also see the commonalities of, well, it’s actually kind of nice to have some nostalgia or some reminiscence of the place where they came from. So, they brought their culture in. So, I think learning these histories or the different subgroups and then concerning as a whole helped me better understand the whole of American experience and then how we become a better citizen and then how we become a better citizen too. And so, with regard to another discovery, if you would, is how, specifically to the Chinese American history and experiences, how Chinese Americans have impacted civics in the United States. So, for example, I think I took our immigration process for granted, but that was because of Wong Kim Lark, in his case, which determined birthright citizenship. So, I thought, oh, okay, so my kids were not, well, I think more specifically my 13-year-old was born on a United States Army base in Seoul, South Korea. He wouldn’t have become U.S. citizens had it not been the birthright citizenship law. And then also, with regard to civics, SC&I just celebrated our anniversary last week. And then the 12th of June is actually Loving Day. And so, we wouldn’t have been married without that law has been passed. So, there’s a better awareness of how the histories of the minorities and the histories of our heritage affected how we live today. So, those are the two surprises that I can think of.

 Amy Sloan: I actually, of course, by the time this comes out, it will be months in the future, but it’s funny that you bring that up, because I actually just today picked up some library holds, including a picture book about the Loving family. And so, if anyone is not familiar with that story, reach out to me. I’ll give you the book titles. But yeah, I was talking to my kids recently about how this is not ancient history. Like, both sets of grandparents are alive, you know, like our kids and teens when this is going on. So, this is not old news and still impacts us today, for sure. Essie, how about you? Anything that has surprised you as you’ve kind of learned more and have begun to teach this topic?

Essie: I didn’t realize that so many of my kids especially Korean, Japanese, and Chinese immigrants were Christians. And I remember I went to the Hawaii Plantation Village on Oahu, and they had these like, it was a real working plantation, and now you can tour it. And our tour guide had been a child on that plantation. She said her dad had used an abacus to keep the books, and I was like, wow. So, they had these different cabins, and they’d be set up like, oh, this was like a Filipino cabin, and this was a, you know, a Portuguese family cabin, and this was a Buddhist Japanese family cabin, and this was a Christian Japanese family cabin. And I thought, oh, wow, I didn’t realize there were that many Japanese American Christians then. And then, in learning the Korean American story, when we were in Korea, we went to Korea’s Immigration Museum about the people who, you know, left Korea to start the Korean diaspora. And the first main group that came to the United States were mostly Christians. And a lot of the early Korean Americans were Christians, and they were very active trying to support Korea, which was fighting for its independence at that time against Japan. And a lot of their motivation for that was their Christianity, and how they set up their communities. And same with Chinese American history. There was an 1885 court case by Mamie Tape and her family, Chinese American family, who were Christians. And they wanted her to go to their local public school, but they weren’t allowed to, and so they took them to court. And so, I just didn’t realize that there also is a Christian heritage in Asian American history.

Amy Sloan: Yeah, that is really fascinating. And maybe your next project can be, you know, writing some picture books, doing a little bit more digging into those stories, because that’s fascinating. Well, you’ve already, both of you have already talked about many things. I think that you wish people maybe knew more. I mean, it might be something that’s unfamiliar to folks. But is there anything else that you haven’t mentioned that you wish people knew and understood about Asian American history?

Essie: I think I would say just how long and wide and deep it is here in the United States, that actually Asian American history, not to mention, you know, Pacific Islander in Hawaii, like Native Hawaiians, but Filipinos came in 1587. The first permanent settlement was 1763. So, on our webpage, resilientpandahistory.com, there’s a page that has Asian American history sites all around the country. I just thought I’d collect them and put them there so people could look and see like, oh, I didn’t know there was an Asian American historic site in North Carolina, or in Minnesota, or in Philadelphia. I’ve even been surprised how many there are and just how many, you know, important innovations or things happen because of Asian Americans, like the first airplane to fly on the West Coast was an Asian, was a Chinese American, Feng Ru. And actually, Sun Yat-sen invited him to China. This is like 1910 or 1911. He said, look, come over here. He did. He’s the father of Chinese aviation. And there is a lot of, you can see a lot of cross-Pacific pollination, basically. There was like a foreign exchange, or not a foreign exchange, but a foreign students program in New England in the 1800s, where young Chinese men came and lived with families in New England and studied. And a lot of them went back to China to be like the father of railroads in China or things like that. And then a lot of people who were really influential came here or studied here. Like, I think the first leader of, like Sun Yat-sen lived in Hawaii. He was educated here. Then he went back and became the first leader of China after they got rid of the emperor. Sigmund Rhee, the first leader of South Korea, tell me if I’m getting some of this wrong, also was educated here. There’s a lot of this back and forth. And you see a lot of creativity, you know, in art and food and even like innovation and inventions. And I think that that cross-pollination has been really helpful for everyone in ideas and techniques. And I think that makes us stronger.

 Amy Sloan: Yeah. Hsin-Fu, would you add anything to that?

Hsin-Fu: So one surprise was the story of Tie Sing, who supported a well-known businessman, I forgot his name right now, who was championing the establishment of national parks. And so Tie was the trail cook for this millionaire, billionaire’s entourage of editors and writers and other influential people who could support such an establishment of the national parks. So the group went on a two-week journey through what is now Yosemite, I believe, if I recall correctly. And so as the trail cook, Tie Sing had to be responsible for planning and organizing and making the meals. And he didn’t just make simple camp food, but he had the spread of silverware, china, literally a figurative I suppose, and delicious, delicate pastries and other cuisines. And then, I think if I remember correctly, he would also make fortune cookies with little fortunes to help advertise and advocate for the establishment of national parks there. Now, what made the journey so unique to me is the challenges of a trail cook making such fine dining meals and having to consider the logistics of that and dealing with the harsh environment and terrain and then dealing with accidents and having to compensate for that and how he still was able to deliver the fine dining experience on the trail. So I thought that was quite a surprise and I wish that I could, you know, live through that and be part of that experience.

Amy Sloan: Yes, I would like to camp like that, please. That sounds great.

Hsin-Fu: That’s right.

Essie: And we know all of this from a children’s book, a picture book.

Amy Sloan: Okay, because that was going to be my next question. I know that asking for favorite book recommendations is like the worst question because there’s millions, but do you have like a few maybe to whet our appetite? And then of course I know you share more in your resources, but tell me this title and then maybe a few others for a variety of ages.

Essie: Um, Mountain Chef is this one we were talking about because it’s really fun, you know, you can’t have everything about like, oh, there was exclusion and discrimination, blah, blah. Some, it just needs to be like fun and creative and, you know, making fortune cookies from scratch while camping and then his fortunes were in English and in Chinese and they were things like, may you always remember the mountains or something like that. So that was cool. Um, there’s a newer book that we like called Mamie Takes a Stand, which actually was written by a Christian author. And she includes like some of her background, why she’s doing it, because she also believes all people are made in the image of God. And it was the family from San Francisco in the 1880s, who was advocating for equal access to education. Um, like for older kids, um, I had my Asian American history class that my son was in at our local co-op read a book, Step Up to the Plate, Maria Singh. And it’s a chapter book, so like eight to 12 years old. And it’s, it’s a really fun book. You learn a lot about, um, World War II home front in the United States. And the main character, her dad is a Sikh immigrant from India and her mom is Mexican American. And so you, it has a lot of stuff like Rosie the Riveter and baseball and rationing and collecting scraps of metal and, um, saving your bacon fat. But also it has, you know, that, um, California’s 1913 alien land law. Her parents couldn’t own the land they were farming because it was illegal. And her mom lost her citizenship when she married her dad. It was illegal for her dad to become a US citizen at the time. And then when her mom married him, she lost her status as a US citizen. So things like that. Um, so I like that book. And then older kids, um, there’s a book called Weed Flower. It’s a chapter book about, um, Japanese American incarceration, like historical fiction. Yeah, that, those, those would be a few.

Amy Sloan: Those are some great ones. Do you have any titles to add?

Hsin-Fu: I think for me, um, it would actually be a documentary called Far East, Deep South, um, where, um, I guess this rapper from LA somehow had to, um, found out that he has, um, heritage from Mississippi. This Asian American, Chinese American rapper from LA, um, found out that his heritage actually came from Mississippi. And so he went to figure out what that, uh, was and then talking to, um, both the, uh, Chinese Americans that are still there and the Black Americans that are still in the area about, um, that. So, so that was, that was, um, surprising for me also in the sense that, well, I didn’t know that, you know, there is a Chinese population and a history, um, in Mississippi. And then, um, also, um, the, the interracial, uh, experiences.

Amy Sloan: Yeah.

[00:29:14] Hsin-Fu: Yeah.

Amy Sloan: I don’t, I don’t think of Mississippi as, as a hotbed of Chinese American history, but now I’m realizing I need to go to your website and find places maybe on my, you know, off of my radar that might be interesting and fascinating to learn more about. Wow. Well, along with reading wonderful books, a lot of my listeners really love to include beautiful memory work, um, in our homeschool day, you know, poetry, things like this that are related to what we’re studying. So do you have a poem recommendation that might support our Asian American history studies?

Essie: I have, um, two. Can I give two? Oh yeah, definitely. Okay. One, it’s called My Church by Tokiko Inoue, and you can find it online for free. There, there’s a link in our Japanese American History Guide. It was written by a Japanese American high schooler who, um, was in the Gila River, um, incarceration camp south of Phoenix. They published, um, a book of their poetry, and I was surprised again by how many of these poems mentioned God or prayer or faith or things like that.

And, um, so I found that very interesting and like a way to connect with history, like a person who was living through it. The other thing is there’s a, she’s Chinese and Korean American, um, named Janet Wong, and she’s a poet. She has a book called A Suitcase of Seaweed and More, and it’s all kinds of poems about all kinds of things. She has one called Quilt, and it’s got her family, like her kids have Chinese, Korean, German, all kinds of heritage, but it applies to pretty much everyone’s family in the United States. Quilt, our family is a quilt of odd remnants patched together in a strange pattern, threads fraying, fabric wearing thin, but made to keep its warmth even in bitter cold.

Amy Sloan:  I like those. Those are really beautiful. I will definitely put those, um, in the show notes for this episode too. Yeah. All right. Well, this has been absolutely amazing. Thank you guys for taking the time to chat with me today. Uh, here at the end, I want to ask you the questions that I ask all my guests. Uh, so the first is just what are you personally reading lately? And let’s start with Hsin-Fu this time.

Hsin-Fu: Well, one book that I’m reading now is called The Prophet and the King by Todd Newman. He is a, um, a friend, uh, and a former colleague, uh, and, uh, he’s writing about the Prophet Jeremiah from a person perspective. And I liked the book so far, uh, because it kind of helps me visualize the, um, experience of the Prophet Jeremiah. And, um, I was really curious of how he would describe how Jeremiah was put in the cistern and that his descriptions of that was really visceral. And I felt, um, um, I, I felt the way he, uh, he wrote about Jeremiah and Baruch, his, uh, servant, really innovative and really thought provoking for me. So that’s one book. And then another book that, uh, I am reading is called Navigating a Restless Sea by Peter Denning and Todd Lyons, who are, um, faculty at the United States Naval Postgraduate School. And they wrote about, uh, sorry, and they’re, the book is about, uh, innovation and how to think of innovation beyond just an idea. It is really about adoption of the idea. And so much of the innovation process is no longer about coming up with great ideas, but actually convincing the community of practice how to adopt it. So I found that really interesting and motivating.

Amy Sloan: That makes me think about homeschool planning because it’s really easy to make a plan. It’s really hard to actually get it done, right?

Hsin-Fu: Yes. So, so, so I like it because of how it’s generalizable and how some of the techniques about, um, sensing and envisioning and then, uh, communicating is, uh, it’s got, it goes beyond just the technical innovation process, but like you said, any type of, um, uh, effort that you need to get people on board.

Amy Sloan: How about you, Essie? What are you reading these days?

Essie: Um, I’m reading Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer, which is kind of about, like, habits of Christianity, contemplative habits. Um, I’m also reading a book called Jing Jiao, the earliest Christian church in China, which is about the Christian church in China in the six and seven hundreds, which I didn’t even know there was a Christian church in China back then.

Amy Sloan: Yeah. That is fascinating. That sounds like a really interesting title. All right. Final question. Essie, what is your best tip for turning around a homeschool day that is going all wrong?

[00:35:10] Essie: I just try to remember that tomorrow’s another day, that this day is a drop in the bucket, and if I can find a way to delight in my kids, then that’s a win. Because I feel like if my kids know what it’s like to be delighted in, that’s what they need. So I try to focus on that.

Hsin-Fu: Um, I think, uh, working together at the end of the day on a meal. Uh, the kids like to cook and so, um, so that seems to be helpful to kind of get everyone together to work on a meal and then to, um, be food critics and talk about how this meal tastes and, um, what could make it better.

Amy Sloan: Yeah. And it’s like what Essie was saying, right? It’s the reorienting. It’s the children know you delight in them, you know, wanting to delight in one another as a family and reorienting towards each other. I think a lot of times in those tricky, tricky days that we all have as families, um, it can be easy to, to orient away from each other, um, but a lot of times the restoration and the joy comes when we dig back in with each other. So, well, where can people find you guys all around the internet?

Essie: Um, we have a website, resilientpandahistory.com. Um, we’re on Facebook and also Instagram. Um, Facebook is discovering, uh, it’s resilientpandahistory.com, discovering Asian American history with kids and Instagram is resilientpandahistory.com. And, um, we sell our guides. They’re, um, downloadable. Um, we’ll give you a discount code. There’s Chinese American, Japanese American, and Korean American guides and they all are made to work together or to be a supplement to any history curriculum that you’re already doing. It’s made to eat, like it just tells you this time period, just add in this stuff. Um, we also have a timeline. Um, if people don’t already have their own timeline or book of centuries where, you know, you can put stuff in and then you can kind of see how the connections are happening. Like, oh, uh, in Chinese American history, they had the 1882 Exclusion Act. Okay. So now that’s when the Japanese and the Korean really start coming in because they need labor and so that you can see how things are playing off each other. Um, yeah. And if you live in Arizona, we have a free guide, um, about Asian American history in Arizona. So.

Amy Sloan: Oh man, it’s too bad I live so far away. You need to come and do one for the East Coast. I will have links to all of those things in the show notes for this episode over at humilityanddoxology.com and I’ll make sure to put the coupon code in the show notes as well. So check that out. If you are listening or watching, make sure you take a minute to share this episode with a friend you think would be interested in learning more about Asian American history. And until next time, happy homeschooling.