HGTV favorites Ben and Erin Napier opened up about their year of “doing hard things,” revealing the one “non-negotiable” they live by in their household.
Erin and Ben Napier Home School Their Children
The “Home Town” stars recently started homeschooling their daughters, which they said was part of their “We Can Do Hard Things” year.
“The 2025 is when we did the doing,” Erin told People in an interview published Thursday, December 11.
Ben added, “We started homeschooling…The kids. And we’re doing it. [Every time] when we say it, people are like, ‘Oh, did you hire a tutor?’ And we’re like, ‘No, we’re the tutors.'”
According to Erin, they’re working to give their children the childhood they both had growing up.
“Homeschooling. It’s not a non-negotiable, it’s what we’re trying this year,” she said, adding, “But they’ve never had devices, they’ve never held phones or tablets or iPads. We’re trying to live like it’s our childhood again.”
Instead of photos and tablets, the family—which includes daughters Mae, 4, and Helen, 7—enjoys family movie nights nearly “every night.”
“We let them watch things on TV, all of us together as a family. We have a movie night like every night, and it’s not like we don’t have TV time,” Erin continued. “We’re watching like ‘Berenstain Bears’, we watched ‘Prancer this week. So living slower.”
Erin Napier Revealed Her Daughter Is Following in Her Footsteps
The HGTV stars’ eldest daughter is seemingly following in her mother’s footsteps, Erin revealed in September.
“Copying masterworks was my greatest joy as a little painter, now Helen is giving it a try. Starry Night, by a seven year old,” she captioned a photo shared via Instagram on September 14.
The image showed a painting by 7-year-old Helen, an apparent replica of Vincent Van Gogh’s famous “Starry Night” piece.
“When I was bored was when I was most creative,” Erin previously explained of her childhood during an episode of “The Heirloom” podcast with friends Jim Rasberry and Josh Nowell. “Boredom created great things.”
She continued, “And that is exactly who Helen is now.”
Erin and Ben met in college in December 2004. The mother of two recalls her now-husband confessing his love for her within the first week of dating.
“We haven’t really ever spent any time apart since then,” she explained in a Friday, December 13, Instagram post.
They went on to tie the knot four years later in November 2008, before welcoming Helen in 2018 and Mae in 2021. The pair is raising their daughters in Laurel, Mississippi, where they film their home renovation series.
Helen’s got some real talent. Her “Starry Night” rocks!
She’s like her mama! Very creative! I’m convinced “it’s in the blood’”!