The More Sibyl Podcast

The More Sibyl Podcast Presents: 아이의 호기심을 지켜주는 법| 32 Years of Homeschooling: What Ms. Sundae Taught Me (Again) | Episode 10 (2026)   What if the problem isn't how your child learns, but how we expect them to? Thirty-two years. Six children. One mother who decided that raising lifelong learners mattered more than perfect grades or impressive transcripts. In this episode, I welcome Ms. Sundae back to the podcast, four years after our first conversation. Back then, I couldn't imagine homeschooling my own child. Then life took me to South Korea, where I found myself doing exactly that, and struggling! So, naturally, I went back to the woman who had been doing it for over three decades. Ms. Sundae shares the lessons, mistakes, and unexpected rewards of homeschooling six very different children. We talk about the daughter who spent an entire year learning fractions, the children who turned their creative interests into businesses and careers, and why her greatest accomplishment might just be raising children who genuinely enjoy one another's company. We also explore learning through play, unschooling, neurodivergence, socialization, parental burnout, and knowing when to abandon a curriculum that simply isn't working. But perhaps the biggest lesson is this: our children don't all need to learn the same way, at the same pace, or on someone else's timetable. Whether you're homeschooling, considering it, or simply raising a child who learns differently, this conversation offers practical wisdom and a much-needed reminder that education should make room for the child, not the other way around. Read blog here: https://mosibyl.medium.com/32-years-of-homeschooling-3f5e83b8b1be  

The More Sibyl Podcast Presents: I've known this woman all my life. Or at least I thought I did. When I received my Fulbright fellowship to South Korea, my mom packed up her life in Nigeria and moved across continents to help me care for my children. Seven trips to the Korean embassy (yes, SEVEN! ), countless uncertainties, and almost a year in a country where she didn't speak the language. All because her daughter needed her. But somewhere between being her daughter and becoming a mother myself, I realized how much I still didn't know about the woman who raised me. So, I finally got Gwamma on the podcast again! We talked about her childhood in a Nigerian village, her dreams of becoming a doctor, her journey into motherhood, and her life in Korea. We also discussed what she wishes she'd known at 40, her future dreams, and her advice for grandmothers and daughters navigating different generations and cultures. And, of course, why she still thinks I share too much of my life publicly. Her sacrifices have also made me wonder whether I'll ever be this kind of grandmother. Because packing up my life for almost a year to raise grandchildren? Ah, I have travel plans! But perhaps I'll think differently when that time comes. More than anything, I loved getting to know my mom as a woman with her own stories, hopes, and dreams, beyond being my mother. Have you ever asked your mother who she was before she became your mom? And do you know what she still dreams of becoming? Read blog here: https://medium.com/@mosibyl/my-first-village-our-korean-chapter-7d8eb8773780 

The More Sibyl Podcast Presents:  Up next on my love-letter-to-Korea series...Kaitlin Barclay is a military veteran and a military spouse of almost fifteen years, now living in South Korea for the second time. The first time, she was in her twenties and mostly there for the nightlife. This time, she came back to do it right, and it changed her. Kaitlin has lived both sides of military life, first as a service member and now as a spouse. She tells me about six isolating months in a suburban house with a yard, and the huge apartment complex that changed everything. We get into beauty standards, being stared at for her fair skin, the whiplash of going home, and why "you're not allowed to age" here, though that's slowly shifting. We talk about the gyopo gray area, where foreigners get a grace that Korean-Americans often don't, and about being visibly tattooed across three continents, including in a country that only recently legalized tattooing. She shares the story of a subway stranger who tapped her shoulder, not to scold her, but to help. We also talk about what it costs a military spouse to keep a career alive while someone else's orders move her life every few years. Kaitlin holds three medical certifications, two bachelor's degrees, and a master's, and has still ended up working at Dunkin' Donuts and a pet store. She explains how volunteering became her bridge to paid work, the A3 visa rules nobody warns you about, and her non-negotiables for anyone hoping to thrive in Korea, not just survive it. It's honest, funny in places, and it doesn't flinch from the parts of expat life nobody puts on Instagram. “You truly need to experience everything, everywhere, as much as possible. And you need to be able to just take it in for what it is. But at the exact same time, prepare for some of the things to change you, in some of the best and worst ways possible.” Go listen to the full conversation. This one's for every military family, expat, sojourner, and anyone who's ever had to rebuild a life somewhere without instructions. Read blog: https://mosibyl.medium.com/kaitlin-barclays-korea-6409cde9ee65 

The Relationship Room Presents: Someone posted that they just bought a house. In the comments you see things like: how dare you be happy. That's where this episode starts, a real online story about a woman who admits she got jealous of her own friend, and cut her off. Ada and Mo! use it to crack open the one thing nobody wants to admit out loud: Envy. Mo! doesn't buy the excuse. If jealousy is reason enough to cut someone off, she says, you'd eventually be alone on an island, because there's always somebody doing better than you. Then Ada makes a confession of her own: she’s not jealous of people’s looks, or their money. What catches her attention is their joy, the visual of it, the persona of a person who just seems happy no matter what. Social media, Mo! says, didn't invent envy. It just multiplied it. Before, comparison meant keeping up with one neighbor. Now it means measuring yourself against thousands of strangers online, most of whom wouldn't say to your face what they'll type in a comment. Then Mo! goes even further back, to childhood, to parents comparing your report cards and IQ scores to those of other kids, to women raised to compete for one seat at the table. Comparison isn't a social media problem at its core. It's a self-worth problem, and social media just gave it more room to grow. By the end, Mo! offers the only comparison she says is actually fair: not to the woman next to you, but to who you used to be. Listen now to hear how it all connects. Read Blog here: https://mosibyl.medium.com/the-room-conversations-envy-comparison-and-self-worth-a658b87f06ed

The More Sibyl Podcast Presents: Let me introduce you to the two characters: Mo! the 언니 and Taj the 동생. We met in Seoul as neighbors and fellow Fulbright Scholars, and somewhere between spontaneous hallway conversations, shared meals, trips around Korea, and plenty of laughter, our 언니–동생 bond took shape. In this special episode, part conversation, part time capsule, we reflect on our Nigerian and Haitian-American immigrant experiences, our very different generations, and what happened when Korea took us outside the lives we had always known. We talk about racial burnout, learning to slow down, receiving kindness without keeping score, and realizing that you don’t have to be extraordinary to be worthy of love. Taj also takes us from her childhood in Port-au-Prince to Miami, NYU, global health research, and eventually Fulbright. She shares what happened when she rediscovered an autobiography she wrote in eighth grade, and realized she had already lived many of the dreams her younger self wrote down. And, of course, we investigate Taj’s very questionable understanding of U.S. geography. Is Oklahoma next to Arizona? 😂 This conversation is about Korea, but more than that, it is about coming home to yourself and the Fulbright experience that made that homecoming possible.   Read blog here: https://mosibyl.medium.com/from-haiti-to-seoul-coming-home-to-herself-dd1272a9d588