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well welcome into the ex- homeschoolers
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Club I am your host Jacob goodon and
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today I'm joined by my lovely friend
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Alyssa Alyssa welcome to the show hi
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thank you Jacob for having me it has
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been uh we've been struggling with some
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technical issues uh on my end uh today
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so the fact that we're actually
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recording now is uh is good
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yeah but um Alissa I'm so stok to have
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you on the show we're going to chat
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about your homeschool Journey we're
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going to talk about what you're doing
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now and um you know I kind of wanted to
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set the scene of like we have known each
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other for I don't know I mean it's been
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a long time I feel like I say that with
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everybody but it's true we've known each
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other for a long time 14 years yeah I
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think so no it's 16 years 16 yeah
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because we met
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aana yeah it was back in 2008 so oh my
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God yeah yeah it's been a minute yeah
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that has been a minute oh my gosh so
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yeah I knew you and your sister Emily
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your older sister Emily um from Moana
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and I feel like we did like DBS stuff
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together and just like General
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homeschool things in the ohigh valley
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together so well very cool well give me
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a little bit of a breakdown before we
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get into like your homeschool Journey
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give me a breakdown of kind of like your
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family and set the scene for us of like
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siblings parents like who was
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homeschooled in the family and then for
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like how long and then we'll start
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talking about the education
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itself yeah for sure um so I have four
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sisters total um three older one younger
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and we were all kind of born in like I
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want to say like generational pairs so
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to speak because um you know my mom had
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or my parents had our first two and then
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a little over a decade later they had me
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and my sister um then a decade after
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that we had our little sister um so
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we're all very like spaced out in terms
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of age and whatnot um but yeah my dad
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was actually a first responder um till I
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was about 10 so he wasn't really around
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for most of the time which like okay
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fair and so my mom was the one
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responsible for all the the
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homeschooling technically um or if you
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could even call it that uh yeah no so
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give us a little bit of breakdown of
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that because I when we chatted before
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the show and kind of your homeschool
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journey is like very different than like
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mine like I grew up with a mom who she
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built out curriculum she bought
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curriculum we had like here's the agenda
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here's the modules and your experience
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is very different from that so talk a
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little bit about that yeah so initially
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what happened was from the time I was a
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baby till I was like five sixish um my
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mom had actually had me and my siblings
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all in background acting and so a lot of
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times um we were actually going back to
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for back and forth to La for like
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different
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shoots um so that was kind of like more
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of like a regular day for us but in
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terms of
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schooling uh my my mom was very weird in
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the in her she didn't really have like a
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set plan or anything her she had two
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main ideas one was either oh because
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you're a woman you need to stay home get
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married have babies that kind of stuff
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so like you don't need an education but
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on the other hand she was also would
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just randomly be like you need to start
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a business but wouldn't give us any sort
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of tools to actually be able to achieve
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that and so when it came to like Reading
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Writing math um our our sources of um
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learning was really just like watching
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educational shows on PBS like Between
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the Lions cyber Chi
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other like random reading and math shows
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oh and uh Magic School Bus which I want
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to say was my favorite one um it was
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either that or we would play like these
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educational computer games where again
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um they would have them set for
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different grades and so initially what
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it was is you know you start with the
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grade you're supposed to be in um but
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then my mom would like pressure us to
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like try to go for like next grade up
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but the thing was like we couldn't
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accomplished that because we did not
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have the we had not yet developed the
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abilities to be able to do some of the
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things that the next grade was going to
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do so it's very frustrating right
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because it's like math Builds on itself
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right you do you learn addition then you
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learn subtraction then multiplication
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then division that fraction and so on
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and so forth right and so when you when
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you're missing one of those building
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blocks it's like the whole thing just
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you can't even you can't do anything
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with it but that's wild I mean I had PBS
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in my repertoire to
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but but more as like I don't know a
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Supplemental Educational thing not so
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much of like this is your education um
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kind of a thing it's like bonus on top
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so that's really wild cuz I I I went to
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public school for a couple years um and
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then became a homeschool kid so I I kind
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of knew and then my mom also like I
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think she knew that she kind of needed
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to give me that structure of like hey
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here kind of a traditional classroom
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setting but but dang that is that is
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wild and was that like you were
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homeschooled all the way through yeah
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yeah I was um Emily was as well my two
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oldest sisters they were actually in
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public school till about I want say
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second or third grade and then uh my mom
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decided to pull them out um and my mom's
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claim to this was like oh the kids
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aren't happy in there and P them out but
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they weren't any happier at home either
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so it was kind of a kind of a l l
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situation at that point dang I mean
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that's that's so wild I I can't I can't
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even I can't fathom it because that's
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like just so not my experience and um
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but like so when it came to like old as
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you got older would like did there start
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to be any type of curriculum or was it
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always this kind of like just whatever
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you're interested in do some research on
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it watch some videos on it that kind of
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thing like did it ever shift um it was
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kind of a mix so as we got older it went
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from doing like oh watching the
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educational shows and watching and
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playing the computer games it went to
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here's a book do the work um but uh for
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me specifically that didn't really work
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because I am a kinetic learner um I'm
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not I'm not auditory learner I'm not a
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visual learner so like for me trying to
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learn like trying to read material and
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apply that to situations was not
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something I could do and my mom would
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just get really mad at me for not doing
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it and she'd be like you're not
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cooperating and I'm just like no I just
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I can't do it I can't do it um so there
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was that um but on top of that my mom
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was definitely definitely an undiagnosed
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schizophrenic and so she was kind of
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like one of the original um qinon people
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uh before qon like really like became
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popular in like what I want to say 2016
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2020 um I don't remember the era yeah
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more I feel like it was talked about
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more in 2020 but it was definitely
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starting to gain steam in like
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2016 yeah and so she was like one of the
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OG conspiracy theorists so rather than
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um you know like teaching about us about
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like history or science or anything she
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would have us watch these like two to
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three hour long like really click baity
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videos about how like I don't know how
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the government is like doing Satanic
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rituals to children or um like
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how space aliens are actually
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demons um so it's like that and then
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there would just be like random
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chemistry stuff and like I said it would
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be like a three-hour long video we
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weren't we weren't ever given any sort
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of like homework or like any activities
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do so we would just like fall asleep
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during the videos and then she'd get mad
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at us for falling asleep and it's just
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like what what do you expect me to do
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here like I don't understand what's
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going on because again not
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developmentally able to process some of
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the information that's coming in and on
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the other hand the information like that
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was being given
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was useless and I knew it was useless um
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to an extent um which it's
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and oftentimes I would always ask her
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I'm like why why don't you show me like
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how to do taxes or something like can I
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can I have something that I'm GNA apply
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to real life please and she was like
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this stuff is important so you don't get
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uh brainwashed or so you don't like
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become a witch or something and I was
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like that makes absolutely no sense but
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whatever it it's funny too you bring up
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the witches thing and I I was I was
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thinking about this the other day
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because in ohigh there was like there's
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and stuff and and I remember there being
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kind of yeah those conversations around
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like oh don't let your kids get close to
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people like that because they're they're
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witches and that's evil and that's
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wicked
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but wow okay
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um I'm speechless
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like because again I mean I I said it
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before it's like so vastly far from like
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my own educational experience and I
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think it's like the worst nightmare the
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worst case scenario nightmare thing when
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people think about homeschooling they
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think of like kids just being at home
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learning like whatever right just like
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you know unlimited access to the
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internet research what you want like
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play video games that kind of thing and
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pretty much everyone I've talked to up
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to now has had some structure of like
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okay here's like here's math and here's
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science and here's that and it's like
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you had none of that and so like I yeah
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I don't blame you for being frustrated
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by that and then also like like you said
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that you're a kinetic learner and so
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that's it's that's a whole another
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learning style in and of itself like I'm
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a visual learner I got to read it on the
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page to understand it I'm learning to be
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more of an audio learner but like that
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was just not me you know in in uh grade
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school and then there's also the issue
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of um because I I do like to talk about
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developmental um stuff a lot because I'm
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a teacher um or almost a teacher kind of
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teacher right now like I I teach after
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school classes I do like marine biology
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cooking stuff like that but on my way to
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becoming a teacher um but one of the
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really one of the things I think really
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was detrimental to me was um just the
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lack of I want to say medical
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intervention so to speak I'm not sure if
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that's the right word but essentially
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what happened was um I was non-verbal
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until I was about four and you know most
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children start Mak noises like what m
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couple months old start having like
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right they can form like short sentences
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by the time they're like two three yeah
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I had none of that and so rather than my
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parents being like Oh there's something
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wrong why isn't she talking they're like
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oh she's just being uncooperative but
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really it was a sign that I had um I had
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like a developmental issue and you know
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years later I find out I'm on the
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Spectrum which I'm like that makes a lot
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of sense um but yeah I think think
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especially one of the really and I think
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this goes for like more than just my
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family in general but I think one of the
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really important things is being is
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having some sort of like professional
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being able to kind of like monitor your
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kids development just to make sure that
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they're where they should be
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appropriately because if they're not
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then that can be a sign that something's
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wrong and that's one thing that teachers
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are actually like trained to notice like
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if a kid's like falling behind on like
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certain Concepts that they should be
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able to get then that would be the point
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where the teacher like recommends like
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hey like maybe you should take them to a
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specialist go get an evaluation and so
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that way if there is some sort of issue
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like developmental or or mental
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emotional issue then um the kid can get
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this thing called uh an IEP which is an
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educ individualized educational plan and
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they can adjust their learning to that
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in a way that right it will really help
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the student be able learn materials you
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know yeah well and it's it's interesting
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because I think that a lot of people
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think that homeschool is kind of that
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right like a lot of people they
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homeschool their kids because their kids
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struggle in a Traditional School setting
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and they need that more individual
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attention but also if you're educating
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all of your kids at home and you don't
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have an eye to pick up like okay this
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this child is learning in a different
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way then yeah like that can totally go
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missed unchecked and you know and then
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yeah here we are years later and it's
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like do you even know anything you know
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like like you have zero education to a
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degree and so that was kind of one of my
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questions too was like so you had this
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like severe lack of education but like
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how did you end up learning to like
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compensate for that and then like
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obviously like you're you're becoming a
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teacher now like that is that is no easy
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task and that takes some education so
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like what what was the pivot kind of
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point of where you went okay like I got
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to figure this out and nobody's helping
00:14:04
me or maybe somebody stepped in and
00:14:05
helped you but like was there a point
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where you figured out like okay I gotta
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I got to learn something yeah so I
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think what really started it was when I
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was I want to say 16 I did actually get
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to go to my first class in anything ever
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um like an official class with like a
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with like a professional teacher um I it
00:14:27
was a ballet class and I just remember
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being so scared just because I had no
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idea how a classroom worked I don't know
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how to behave and so there was just a
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lot of anxiety for that and there were
00:14:39
definitely times I did get in trouble um
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for like doing something like out of
00:14:44
order or like inappropriate because
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again I don't I didn't know how a
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classroom worked um so yeah I I was very
00:14:53
anxious back then um and eventually um I
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don't even know how this conversation
00:15:00
happened um but my dance teacher at the
00:15:03
time she came up to me and she was like
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Hey like you can do great things like I
00:15:07
believe in you and I think that really
00:15:10
changed things in perspective because
00:15:11
like I don't think I ever had anyone
00:15:13
tell me that like no one had ever told
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me like oh yeah if you want to do
00:15:17
something just put your mind to it and
00:15:18
you can do it and I was like okay um and
00:15:23
yeah that really stuck with me for years
00:15:25
and especially since I was like
00:15:29
I say 91 I had been super depressed just
00:15:31
because I knew I didn't have an
00:15:33
education and I knew that a lot of
00:15:36
people were be actively being given
00:15:39
tools to learn how to function in
00:15:41
society like Reading Writing History
00:15:43
Science all that stuff and I didn't have
00:15:45
that and so I for so many years I just
00:15:47
felt so hopeless and that led to more
00:15:52
mental health issues down the road right
00:15:54
um and so I kind of just felt like oh I
00:15:57
can't I can't go anywhere I can't
00:15:59
there's nothing I can really do I can
00:16:01
just take what comes my way and go along
00:16:04
and so I ended up uh getting a job at a
00:16:08
forced home I don't know if you've ever
00:16:10
been there in oh high but yep I got a
00:16:13
job there when I was
00:16:14
17 and so I was like slowly learning
00:16:17
like kind of how to be social with other
00:16:19
people because like although I I was
00:16:21
social sometimes it was with a like in
00:16:24
under the lens of like Christianity and
00:16:26
stuff and a bunch of other homeschoolers
00:16:29
who also don't really know how to
00:16:30
interact with the public um so like the
00:16:33
social aspect was a bit challenging um
00:16:37
but yeah anyways that happened and then
00:16:40
2020 hit uh I lost my job there I got
00:16:43
laid off and I think at that moment I
00:16:46
was like wait a second I can I can do
00:16:49
whatever I want like I don't have to be
00:16:51
stuck working this minimum AG job for
00:16:53
the West for the rest of my life um like
00:16:57
you know that was kind of the time to
00:16:59
reinvent myself um especially since like
00:17:02
my dance school closed um a lot of the
00:17:05
clubs and like Ministries I was a part
00:17:07
of like also shut down so I'm like okay
00:17:08
I can I can do whatever I want and so
00:17:12
initially I was trying to go for um a
00:17:15
GED uh but then shortly after I started
00:17:20
that I
00:17:21
actually um ended up being offered a job
00:17:25
at a dent practice and I think the only
00:17:28
reason
00:17:29
I I ended up getting that job was
00:17:31
because my then boyfriend at the time uh
00:17:35
his dentist was like looking for someone
00:17:38
to run the front office and they had
00:17:41
asked his mom and she was like oh like I
00:17:44
can't I still got a kid I'm
00:17:45
homeschooling but my son's girlfriend's
00:17:47
looking for a job and so you you know um
00:17:50
I went in um and I think if there's
00:17:53
anything that homeschooling did teach me
00:17:55
was I I learned how to like kind of
00:17:57
interact with adults
00:17:59
like more more than I did with kids
00:18:01
because like I never I never really saw
00:18:03
kids that much but I did I did see more
00:18:04
adults in general and so you know like I
00:18:06
know how like be polite you know I did
00:18:08
research like okay this is how you dress
00:18:10
for a job this is how like how you stand
00:18:12
this is how you ask questions and so I
00:18:14
was doing all my research for the job
00:18:17
ended up getting offered it and it was
00:18:21
just insane um because like with the job
00:18:25
it did pay me well enough to the point
00:18:26
where I was like oh like I can actually
00:18:30
afford like to go to Community College
00:18:32
like no issue um and so like when I was
00:18:35
looking up like oh like how to pick a
00:18:37
major and stuff um and I was doing the
00:18:39
enrolling process the one thing that I
00:18:41
did see was um a major for childhood
00:18:46
development and I was like okay like
00:18:48
this might be something I'm interested
00:18:49
in just because like something that I
00:18:52
was really passionate about was like
00:18:54
learning like what happened to me like
00:18:56
what was wrong what was right like what
00:18:58
can I do change things like for my
00:19:00
younger sister or for whatever future
00:19:03
children I have and I was like okay well
00:19:05
if I don't end up using this degree to
00:19:07
get a job I can at least use it to
00:19:10
understand myself better um and so I
00:19:12
started going for that and I really
00:19:15
relied on the help of um other people
00:19:20
who had been to college before me like
00:19:22
Elia for example um I know you had her
00:19:25
as a guest last week I think um but yeah
00:19:28
she was really help and being like okay
00:19:29
like this is how you enroll like this is
00:19:31
how you take notes this is how you uh
00:19:34
write um study questions or whatever and
00:19:38
honestly if it wasn't for her and like
00:19:41
the other people I had to support me
00:19:42
that time I would be here right now um
00:19:45
so yeah I ended up like I only started
00:19:49
doing like three classes semester
00:19:51
because I was working full-time in a
00:19:53
dental practice during covid um and so
00:19:57
it was just a major
00:19:59
it was a major life change for me and
00:20:01
then like being in the office setting
00:20:03
I'm also like learning more things like
00:20:06
oh how to like I'm in the process of
00:20:08
learning how to properly write um but
00:20:11
yeah it was so weird just to go from
00:20:13
like oh you know minimum wage job to all
00:20:16
of a sudden you're a manager at at a
00:20:19
tial practice and no one told me I was
00:20:21
going to be the manager um I only found
00:20:23
out like 10 months in well initially my
00:20:26
boss was like kind of getting annoyed at
00:20:27
me for like not doing like certain
00:20:29
things that a manager would do but he
00:20:31
didn't tell me that I
00:20:32
was um but yeah 10 months later it was
00:20:35
like oh Alissa is the uh office manager
00:20:38
and I was like that would have been
00:20:40
would have been great to tell me when
00:20:41
you were hiring me you know I would have
00:20:44
reconsidered if I was able to do this or
00:20:46
not but oh well I guess yeah you said
00:20:48
something in there that I think you said
00:20:51
two two things that really stuck out to
00:20:52
me one you had a ballet teacher that
00:20:54
told you like you are capable of great
00:20:57
things yeah which is
00:20:59
I think one of the most powerful things
00:21:01
that any kid can hear like I had parents
00:21:03
who who told me that most of my
00:21:05
childhood and grandparents and and
00:21:07
people surrounding me who kind of like
00:21:09
told me those things and even to this
00:21:11
day like people call me and if they say
00:21:13
like like if my dad tells me like I'm
00:21:14
proud of you on the phone I'm like oh my
00:21:16
God then I like get off the phone and
00:21:18
cry um kind of a thing and but like so
00:21:22
you said that which I think is super
00:21:25
impactful because yes it kind of shifted
00:21:27
some things for you
00:21:29
and then two you said that you wanted to
00:21:32
you wanted to Center your education on
00:21:34
like that early childhood development
00:21:35
stages because you wanted to figure out
00:21:36
what like was had gone on with you and I
00:21:39
think that's really cool
00:21:41
because when like I even know for myself
00:21:45
now of like when I run into issues it's
00:21:47
like that is where I put my effort into
00:21:50
learning is like what am I struggling
00:21:52
with okay let me go get answers right
00:21:55
let me listen to podcast read books take
00:21:57
a class do whatever I have to do to like
00:21:59
figure this out for myself because then
00:22:02
once you have that knowledge well
00:22:04
there's no reason you can't help
00:22:05
somebody else and you wanted to help
00:22:06
your little sister and figure out like
00:22:09
okay was there is there something wrong
00:22:11
with me you know not that it's wrong but
00:22:13
just like what is going on why why am I
00:22:16
the way I am so those two things really
00:22:19
stuck out to me um and uh that's insane
00:22:24
and I'm glad that I'm glad that
00:22:26
things have played out in a way
00:22:29
that I I guess you could say has more of
00:22:31
a happy ending um and I hope you feel
00:22:35
that way um yeah okay well that's good
00:22:38
um because yeah I
00:22:41
think man I can't I I still can't get
00:22:44
over like the lack of Education thing I
00:22:47
think is just is so hard again to Fathom
00:22:50
because it's like not my experience
00:22:52
whatsoever and then to be like okay I
00:22:54
got to go GED I got to take these
00:22:57
classes and things like that is is
00:22:59
insane but so so now so now you're
00:23:04
currently in college you're finish
00:23:05
you're finishing up College you're going
00:23:06
to be a teacher do you have a specific
00:23:08
area that you're going to focus in or
00:23:10
are you going to be just kind of like
00:23:11
primary grade school
00:23:14
teacher I really want to have my
00:23:16
concentration in or I want to get my
00:23:19
masters in um biology education um just
00:23:23
because for me like like I said uh one
00:23:25
of the one of my sources of Education
00:23:28
was watching Magic School Bus and you
00:23:30
know I loved watching like oh how does
00:23:34
mitosis work or how does light
00:23:36
refraction work and I just thought that
00:23:38
stuff was so cool and then I think the
00:23:41
thing that really put the nail in the
00:23:43
coffin um was when I was really young I
00:23:47
want to say I was five or something uh
00:23:49
my family decided to take a trip um to
00:23:52
go see the body World Expedition and I I
00:23:55
don't know if you ever got the chance to
00:23:57
like go to one of those when you were
00:23:58
younger I don't think so yeah so
00:24:00
basically what it is is they they have
00:24:03
real human
00:24:04
cabers um and they're set in display so
00:24:08
you can see like the nervous system you
00:24:09
can see different organs and stuff and I
00:24:11
remember that in one of the displays
00:24:14
there was like this glass box and it had
00:24:16
a brain in it um and there was a glove
00:24:19
that was attached to the box so you
00:24:21
could like pick up the brain and like
00:24:22
look at it and peel it around and I just
00:24:24
remember doing that I was so excited I'm
00:24:27
like oh my gosh
00:24:30
a um I think that got me overall just
00:24:34
like really excited to learn about just
00:24:38
how things work in the natural world
00:24:40
especially um and I think each person
00:24:44
who has been homeschooled can kind of
00:24:46
like say like oh they had like a moment
00:24:48
from like a field trip or a class or
00:24:51
something that really impacted them to
00:24:53
pursue a certain career or a certain
00:24:56
subject um and so from that was science
00:24:59
um and like I said like I currently am
00:25:02
an after school teacher for a private
00:25:04
company um and I did uh get the chance
00:25:07
to like kind of like assist teach for a
00:25:10
marine biology class for middle school
00:25:13
and it was just so fun watching kids get
00:25:16
so excited about like you know
00:25:18
dissecting a dog fish shark or a squid
00:25:21
and you know they're feeling around the
00:25:23
different parts they looking at it and
00:25:25
um in the microscope and like looking at
00:25:28
different cells and stuff and I think
00:25:30
that for me the thing that made me so
00:25:33
happy is just like watching those kids
00:25:35
get excited about learning right um yeah
00:25:39
and like for me like when I was younger
00:25:41
um I actually mentioned this in our call
00:25:43
yesterday like you know you'd have like
00:25:45
normal kids dream of like oh they want
00:25:47
to be a firefighter astronaut but for me
00:25:50
my dream was like I want to go take a
00:25:52
math quiz I want to I want to sit in a
00:25:55
classroom or eat at a cafeteria stuff
00:25:58
like that um so I think all of that was
00:26:01
just kind of like
00:26:03
really um like really a buildup for kind
00:26:07
of like me pursuing my career in
00:26:09
education and what not so yeah yeah no I
00:26:12
was gonna say I was gonna bring that up
00:26:13
because yeah you did mention that
00:26:14
yesterday of like yeah dreaming of yeah
00:26:17
going to school and being like a quote
00:26:19
unquote normal kid right um but but yeah
00:26:24
it does it is interesting because I do
00:26:26
think that there there are those moments
00:26:27
that like shape us right of like I know
00:26:30
for me going to Tim Franc music studio
00:26:33
and playing guitar and learning drums
00:26:36
and learning how like all the all the
00:26:38
music equipment worked like that shaped
00:26:39
a lot of what I wanted to do in working
00:26:41
in the entertainment industry and um and
00:26:45
so yeah I definitely I mean you could
00:26:47
see it like if you if you listen to any
00:26:50
of the episodes and you catch up with
00:26:51
the H school friends you start to see
00:26:54
certain things where you go this really
00:26:56
makes sense why this person pursued this
00:26:57
because like maybe you remember the
00:27:00
reason like remember them being really
00:27:01
into that or or whatever but that's so
00:27:04
cool I mean I think you're gonna make a
00:27:06
great teacher first of all thank
00:27:09
you and and the fact that you have as
00:27:13
much joy learning as you see the kids
00:27:16
like that's inspiring right is like I
00:27:18
think that kids get excited to learn
00:27:20
things when they have role models who
00:27:22
are also very excited to like learn new
00:27:25
things with them and teach them things
00:27:27
right and uh and biolog is definitely
00:27:29
interesting um it's uh I remember
00:27:33
dissecting stuff in school and I was
00:27:35
more grossed out by it I think
00:27:37
than intrigued but it is cool to like
00:27:41
learn obviously like okay this is a
00:27:42
heart ties into this does this you know
00:27:44
all these different things um is crazy
00:27:47
but man yeah I've only seen uh you
00:27:50
brought up the human cadav thing I've
00:27:52
only ever seen one human cadav it was
00:27:54
when I was in college we had a cadaver
00:27:56
lab so one time hated the smell hated
00:28:00
like being in the room with it felt
00:28:01
really disgusting but I mean Kudos few
00:28:04
for being into it yeah I I honestly
00:28:08
think that um there was kind of like a
00:28:12
multitude of stuff that like led to me
00:28:14
being okay with what some people would
00:28:17
consider more grory or disturbing like
00:28:19
like for example like I was talking
00:28:21
about how you know like me and my
00:28:22
siblings in background acting and so
00:28:25
there were definitely like shows that we
00:28:27
would go on that did did involve some
00:28:28
violence like um like I remember there
00:28:32
was this one show I think it was like
00:28:34
five or whatever but the scene was
00:28:36
basically like this weird like cop chase
00:28:39
or
00:28:40
something and what it was supposed to
00:28:43
look like was I got ran over by a truck
00:28:46
okay there was like that or like I
00:28:48
remember like having to go to um or
00:28:52
having to go to like a Ware prop
00:28:54
Warehouse to make a mold of my foot
00:28:57
because they're like oh yeah we need a
00:28:59
amputated foot for this scene or like
00:29:02
watching scenes of like my older sister
00:29:04
covered in blood because she was shot in
00:29:06
a driveby or she like died in an
00:29:08
overheated car so like stuff like that
00:29:12
um and also like kind of the horror
00:29:13
drama or to was very normalized to us
00:29:15
just because we like okay we know like
00:29:17
how this stuff works like we've lived in
00:29:18
it so it's not it's not really
00:29:20
disturbing to us but also um with my dad
00:29:24
being a first responder uh he would tell
00:29:26
us some pretty graphic stories at the
00:29:28
dinner table um about he was like oh
00:29:31
yeah you know and that person died today
00:29:33
and I'm like okay I'm just trying to
00:29:36
enjoy my plate of spaghetti uh but okay
00:29:40
so I think that made like the Gory stuff
00:29:45
or like what people think is gross like
00:29:47
pretty interesting to me just because
00:29:48
like I said I grew up around it um and
00:29:52
yeah I mean there there's like some
00:29:54
stuff where like I said my mom would
00:29:56
like force me to watch videos is about
00:29:59
like people like practicing like Satanic
00:30:02
rituals um so I wasn't really
00:30:07
perence and more at this point well I
00:30:09
mean I am deserved now uh but yeah just
00:30:13
stuff like that was so normalized in our
00:30:15
house and so for me to now like kind of
00:30:19
be pursuing like more spy stuff like oh
00:30:21
like how did these organs work and how
00:30:23
does this work um especially having see
00:30:26
like multiple like gory itions of those
00:30:29
things not being in your body um I think
00:30:31
that all just kind of that in like oh
00:30:34
like what Happ if that part's missing or
00:30:37
how would this thing be affected you
00:30:39
know yeah I feel like there was a lot of
00:30:44
good that
00:30:46
did um help me to like you know want to
00:30:50
be interested in science but there was
00:30:51
also a lot of bad too right and I think
00:30:54
recognizing that is important like for
00:30:56
example like I don't think I ever have
00:30:58
been shown videos of like I don't know
00:31:01
people getting sacrificed in rituals
00:31:04
that wasn't great or being told about
00:31:07
crappy stories from like being a first
00:31:10
respaw I shouldn't have told that stuff
00:31:12
you know like I wasn't ready but um
00:31:15
fortunately SL unfortunately it did kind
00:31:17
of shape me into who I am today and like
00:31:20
I can't can't do anything about what
00:31:22
happened but what I can do is I can
00:31:25
choose
00:31:26
to choose to let it impact my life in
00:31:30
either a good way or a bad way and
00:31:32
I'm I'm choosing to let it impact me in
00:31:35
a good you know yeah no and that's good
00:31:38
to hear and even just like catching up
00:31:40
with you and and chatting with you I can
00:31:42
I can feel that in your like personality
00:31:45
is like you you exhibit like hope and
00:31:49
joy and happiness um and those are all
00:31:52
things that I think are are emotions and
00:31:56
feelings that like we get to Cho
00:31:58
to experience um like you said and so um
00:32:02
so keep at it um please and I know that
00:32:05
you got me in your corner um if you need
00:32:08
anything um always but
00:32:11
um I think you know I I I tend to ask
00:32:15
people the kind of the question of like
00:32:17
oh well if someone came to you and they
00:32:18
wanted to homeschool their kid like you
00:32:21
know would you would you say yeah would
00:32:23
you recommend that for people I think I
00:32:25
probably kind of already know your your
00:32:28
response to this I can expand on it if
00:32:30
you want yeah but I I think in more of a
00:32:34
broad sense is like for parents who do
00:32:38
want to be involved in their kids
00:32:39
education
00:32:40
like what do you think are things that
00:32:44
parents should be on the lookout for and
00:32:47
like with a kid who maybe is on the
00:32:49
Spectrum and things like that as well of
00:32:52
like hey you know we need to get this
00:32:55
kid some help maybe we don't have the
00:32:56
tools but tools are out out there if you
00:32:58
have anything in that vein I would I
00:33:00
would love to hear about it yeah for
00:33:03
sure um
00:33:04
so I know not all parents might be able
00:33:07
to do this but like take a human
00:33:09
development class take a child
00:33:10
development class like learn what's
00:33:12
normal what's not normal so that way if
00:33:14
you see an
00:33:16
issue um going on with your child then
00:33:19
you can properly get them the help that
00:33:21
they need and also like just have
00:33:23
realistic expectations like don't try to
00:33:26
force your kid to become like a
00:33:28
piano or pianist at like four okay like
00:33:32
let let them develop as they should um
00:33:37
but yeah there there is however um I I
00:33:41
want to say especially in like younger
00:33:42
ages where really just um being able to
00:33:47
explore like the world around you is
00:33:49
really helpful um I know there are some
00:33:51
like TK Schools that do that and it's
00:33:54
called um like using the monory method
00:33:58
um which is just like oh children are
00:34:00
designed to want to learn about the
00:34:02
world around them so you know they do
00:34:04
that by you know doing playing little
00:34:07
games or just like touching stuff
00:34:09
tasting right all that so I think I
00:34:12
think especially like in the early years
00:34:14
like yeah like let them explore like
00:34:16
give them uh different things to explore
00:34:19
and then as they get older um just like
00:34:23
be aware of what's appropriate for them
00:34:26
to learn at that age and if there is a
00:34:29
parent that wants to H school and like
00:34:30
they do know like okay here's what I
00:34:32
should look for um I would also
00:34:34
recommend looking at um educational
00:34:37
standards where I don't know if you ever
00:34:39
heard of them but um specifically in
00:34:42
California they do have um like
00:34:45
standards for Learning and so you can
00:34:47
look at like oh what should a kid at
00:34:49
seven be able to do with math okay they
00:34:52
should be able to do a b and c um so I
00:34:55
think that is really important
00:34:58
like I said just do your research um and
00:35:01
I honestly don't necessarily
00:35:03
blame uh some parents for wanting to
00:35:06
homeschool their kids like for example
00:35:08
you see gun violence in schools and you
00:35:11
know I'm just like hey if you're worried
00:35:13
about that I totally get it like that's
00:35:14
something like I'm scared of sometimes
00:35:16
like when I go to work I'm just like oh
00:35:17
am I gonna am I gonna get shot today who
00:35:20
knows I right really hope not but um
00:35:24
it's an unfortunate thing that we are
00:35:26
currently dealing with um um in this
00:35:29
moment of History not fun but yeah uh
00:35:32
yeah like I said just
00:35:35
really instead of making your child into
00:35:40
who you want them to be you should
00:35:42
really be more focused on giving them to
00:35:45
giving them the tools to become the
00:35:47
person that they want to be because I
00:35:48
think so many parents or homeschool
00:35:50
parents especially like have like a set
00:35:52
of expectations like oh yeah my kid's
00:35:55
going to be a doctor uh a lawyer or
00:35:58
they're gonna be a pastor or something
00:36:01
but I think that putting expectations on
00:36:04
a child is very limiting to them and you
00:36:07
know it can also create feelings of
00:36:10
like I don't know disappointment I guess
00:36:12
you could say where the child could feel
00:36:15
like oh I'm not living up to my parents
00:36:17
expectations like it's my fault but in
00:36:19
reality if you if the only expectation
00:36:22
you should put on child is that or maybe
00:36:26
not expectation but like the only thing
00:36:28
you should be worried about is like
00:36:30
again giving them the tools to
00:36:32
learn um and give them
00:36:36
the sorry I'm likeing right now um I get
00:36:39
what you're I get what you're saying
00:36:40
though it's kind of like give them the
00:36:42
expectation is like whether it's an
00:36:44
expectation or not is kind of like give
00:36:46
your kid like the ability and the skills
00:36:49
necessary to like go be to live a happy
00:36:52
and fulfilling life really is like what
00:36:54
it is
00:36:55
exactly and you know I I've definitely
00:36:58
seen some families who have done a great
00:37:00
job at that uh like I remember I don't
00:37:03
know if you heard about it at the time
00:37:04
it happened but there's like that one
00:37:06
guy in The Homeschool Community who got
00:37:08
like a perfect sat scor and he was like
00:37:10
a little celebrity for a
00:37:12
minute that was not
00:37:16
me yeah I think this was back in like
00:37:19
2015 16 or whatever I don't remember but
00:37:22
yeah I I definitely think that some
00:37:23
parents did do a really good job of
00:37:26
homeschooling their kids like could of
00:37:28
those um my parents or my parent did not
00:37:32
are the one that was responsible for the
00:37:34
homeschooling right um so I really think
00:37:37
it also kind of comes down to to
00:37:40
researching like you know what's needed
00:37:43
um and I think some of it the reason
00:37:47
some people have not great homeschooling
00:37:49
experiences is partially because of the
00:37:51
laws that in place for homeschooling
00:37:53
because I think in our district like the
00:37:55
reason uh my my mom got away with like
00:37:58
not doing anything in terms of like our
00:38:00
education was because there was never
00:38:02
anyone like checking in on us there we
00:38:06
were never like forced to go to do like
00:38:08
any state testing or anything um so
00:38:11
literally she would just like fill out
00:38:12
the paperwork as a private school put in
00:38:14
the grades that she wanted send it off
00:38:16
right whatever it's a done deal and I
00:38:18
think when that happens that can
00:38:21
really hide a lot of
00:38:25
um I would say hide a lot of the needs
00:38:27
that children actually have been school
00:38:30
because you don't have anyone checking
00:38:32
in on them um because you're kind of
00:38:36
trusting the parent that oh yeah the
00:38:38
kids's fine in doing in whatever subject
00:38:42
they're doing but the reality is they're
00:38:44
not um and yeah I think that's just like
00:38:48
a flaw in like The Homeschool laws and
00:38:50
whatnot so yeah no and I was going to
00:38:53
add cuz like my mom definitely followed
00:38:55
a lot stricter to like the educational
00:38:58
standards of California and I know that
00:39:02
she was very involved um in or not very
00:39:06
involved but she was like very tied into
00:39:08
like people from Chia which so c h EA
00:39:11
and chia was like I I want to say it was
00:39:14
like Christian Home Educators of
00:39:15
Association or something like that but
00:39:17
basically they they would hold a
00:39:19
conference every year with um you could
00:39:22
go by curriculum you could take classes
00:39:24
like she was very much aware of the like
00:39:27
her biggest goal um for for me and my
00:39:31
sister was like I want them to if they
00:39:33
want to go to college I want them to be
00:39:35
able to go to college no problems and so
00:39:38
so we did standardized testing and we
00:39:40
you know followed all those protocols
00:39:42
and had transcripts and had all of that
00:39:43
kind of stuff and had everything
00:39:44
documented I think it wasn't until like
00:39:47
I don't know a couple years ago maybe
00:39:48
that they like shredded all the
00:39:49
documents finally but it was like tubs
00:39:51
and tubs of documents um all of our
00:39:54
school work graded kind of a thing that
00:39:56
she kept for years
00:39:58
um at least all the way throughout me
00:39:59
being in college um you know as evidence
00:40:03
right to say he did this kind of a thing
00:40:06
and um you know I'm sure it's you can
00:40:09
scan stuff now it's not you don't gotta
00:40:11
keep tubs and tubs of stuff but um but
00:40:15
yeah I think it definitely it helped her
00:40:18
because it gave her those those
00:40:19
guidelines of like hey my kid needs
00:40:21
these things and something I wanted to
00:40:24
bring up too was that the fact of like
00:40:29
you know there's
00:40:31
there's there's a thing that people say
00:40:33
of like if you see something say
00:40:34
something and I think that goes also
00:40:37
within the homeschool Community was
00:40:38
there was a lot of this kind of like on
00:40:41
the outside everyone kind of like oh we
00:40:42
all believe the same thing and
00:40:44
everyone's home life is is good and
00:40:45
glamorous and like you know it looks
00:40:47
good everyone looks good and on the
00:40:49
inside people were like in insane
00:40:52
situations and they had their own issues
00:40:54
and and um that type of thing and so
00:40:57
it's also the responsibility of those
00:40:59
people who are in your community to like
00:41:02
if they see that in the armor and
00:41:04
they get a glimpse inside of it say
00:41:06
something you got to bring it up and we
00:41:09
need to do better for kids right we need
00:41:11
to like protect them and make sure
00:41:14
they're in good safe environments where
00:41:16
they're getting the education that they
00:41:18
deserve and and need so I just wanted to
00:41:21
bring that up as well yeah yeah for sure
00:41:24
um yeah and that was also something I
00:41:26
want to talk about because I think
00:41:29
that especially with like religious
00:41:32
homeschool families like I think you can
00:41:34
agree with me on this that like the
00:41:36
majority of people that were
00:41:38
homeschooled were also very religious um
00:41:41
and a lot of them you know they
00:41:42
homeschooled for religious reasons but
00:41:45
um I think that can get dangerous to an
00:41:49
extent because like for me I was raised
00:41:51
in a cult um where they also like were
00:41:55
raised with like very similar beliefs
00:41:57
like oh women don't go school like their
00:41:58
job's to be a wife and mother while men
00:42:01
are supposed to be
00:42:03
protectors and yeah I I also think that
00:42:08
like I I have this one very specific
00:42:11
memory of like when I was younger I
00:42:12
think I was in Sunday school or like
00:42:15
some sort of like kids Bible group and
00:42:17
mind you I wasn't allowed to go anywhere
00:42:20
that didn't have the label of Christian
00:42:23
Jesus or Bible on it cuz then it was
00:42:25
consider considered world and you didn't
00:42:27
want to get
00:42:29
um brainwashed by the world so it was
00:42:32
very limited on to like who had access
00:42:34
to me or who I had access to and so some
00:42:39
but anyways back to the memory um I
00:42:42
remember
00:42:44
the uh the teacher at the time was like
00:42:47
saying something about
00:42:49
like I I don't remember if it was like
00:42:51
about your parents loving you or
00:42:53
whatever but I just like my little
00:42:56
autistic self didn't realize that this
00:42:58
was not a normal thing to say but I was
00:43:01
like said I love you in like five years
00:43:05
and at that point they're just like oh
00:43:08
okay moving on rather than recognizing
00:43:11
like oh you know because like here's the
00:43:13
thing um I think that like whenever we
00:43:16
had heard of other uh homeschool
00:43:19
children like bringing up like kind of
00:43:21
dark stuff like that the the thing we
00:43:23
were Tau were like oh they're just lying
00:43:25
for attention or whatever but it's just
00:43:27
like like kids don't lie about their
00:43:30
parents not loving them because that's a
00:43:31
not normal thing to say um yeah and so
00:43:36
it was kind of like when I did try to
00:43:37
bring up like some issues of stuff going
00:43:39
on my house people would just be like oh
00:43:41
honor your father and mother and not
00:43:43
recognize like oh hey you know maybe
00:43:47
there's something wrong here um yeah
00:43:50
yeah and so I think that religion and
00:43:53
homeschooling can get very dangerous
00:43:55
very quick um because like I said I was
00:43:58
raised in C um and there was also yeah
00:44:03
it it was just not good not good at all
00:44:06
um especially since I yeah I knew of
00:44:08
other kids who were
00:44:11
like who were I mean I don't know if I
00:44:13
like need to put trigger warning for
00:44:14
this or anything but there were like
00:44:17
multiple kids who were also homeschooled
00:44:20
um who I didn't find out until like a
00:44:22
bit later that they were like getting
00:44:24
abused by their parents like some of
00:44:26
them sexually some of physically or
00:44:28
verbally mentally like it's all it was
00:44:30
terrible but like again nobody was doing
00:44:33
anything about it because there was this
00:44:34
front of like one you're not allowed to
00:44:36
like make your family look bad like
00:44:38
you're not allowed to share
00:44:40
anything um and two if you say something
00:44:43
about your parents doing something to
00:44:44
you then you're lying because you need
00:44:47
to honor your father and mother and if
00:44:49
they're doing something to you you
00:44:50
probably deserved it which I think
00:44:52
really kept the cycle of abuse going on
00:44:54
um in a lot of the home families that I
00:44:58
knew yeah yeah no
00:45:02
I it's hard cuz I I agree with you I
00:45:05
mean I think that definitely that shadow
00:45:08
of like yeah don't like you know we're
00:45:10
putting on a front right it's like my
00:45:13
family it it happened multiple time you
00:45:14
know fighting all the way to church you
00:45:16
get out of car at church and the smiles
00:45:18
go on and everybody everything's perfect
00:45:20
everything's great right um and it's
00:45:25
it's definitely hard because how can
00:45:28
you how do you know right and then yeah
00:45:31
and also if you're being told that like
00:45:33
you know if a kid is saying this one
00:45:34
thing that like they're lying for
00:45:37
attention right and it's like that's
00:45:39
that's a dangerous slippy slippery slope
00:45:42
um yeah to to fall down and I think yeah
00:45:46
I definitely think that people need to
00:45:49
step up um within the church and I think
00:45:52
there's a large reason why so many
00:45:54
people have stepped away because
00:45:57
when when you read when you read the
00:45:59
Bible which like I don't know about you
00:46:01
I mean I was highly encouraged read the
00:46:03
Bible every day you know study study the
00:46:06
stories and those types of things and
00:46:08
the people and the places and the and
00:46:09
the things that happened in the Bible
00:46:10
that I read about I was I didn't always
00:46:14
see it lived out and so I think that
00:46:17
that informed my decision to walk away
00:46:20
from from religion because I was just I
00:46:22
was like I don't see it and you can you
00:46:25
can put the guys on it that's like well
00:46:26
it's human air and it's like okay yeah
00:46:28
but there's also no calling out on these
00:46:31
things that are happening right you know
00:46:33
a pastor molesting a child or you know
00:46:36
cheating on his wife and running away
00:46:37
with the secretary or you know kids
00:46:39
getting hurt by their parents you know
00:46:41
it's like there's nothing being done
00:46:44
aside from that person then needing to
00:46:46
be like ask for forgiveness right pray
00:46:48
for forgiveness and you know and yeah
00:46:50
then they're all good and it's like but
00:46:53
where's the accountability right yeah
00:46:55
doesn't work where is it
00:46:57
yeah and I think that Christians really
00:47:00
need to step up and show that like they
00:47:02
actually do want to take a stand against
00:47:04
some of the evil and some of the
00:47:05
wickedness that takes place within in
00:47:08
religion and that is like is just hidden
00:47:11
you know and so it it it's hard because
00:47:15
like you know
00:47:17
and there's no it's not an easy fix I
00:47:21
guess is the way is the way to put it
00:47:22
and also when you're talking about
00:47:24
people inside of a more like Behavior
00:47:28
it's very hard to break that right um
00:47:32
and you know and that's why you watch if
00:47:35
you watch a documentary about
00:47:37
scientology
00:47:39
or or Jonestown or Mormonism or whatever
00:47:42
you go like why don't these people leave
00:47:44
like they hate their life why don't they
00:47:45
just leave and it's like there's it's
00:47:48
that brainwashing thing that so many
00:47:50
parents were scared of us experiencing
00:47:52
if we went to anything that wasn't
00:47:54
Church involved or things like that and
00:47:56
and this this is again not to say that
00:47:59
every parent was this way but there
00:48:01
there is a large chunk of people who
00:48:03
homeschool their kids for very religious
00:48:05
reasons and it can tend to lean more
00:48:07
into like that cult-like
00:48:09
behavior and it's scary you know um and
00:48:12
so I think having those things in place
00:48:14
like you said having those the ability
00:48:17
to have people check up on kids uh and
00:48:21
families and make sure that the proper
00:48:23
things are happening and I don't know
00:48:25
what that looks like um
00:48:27
CS yeah but you know
00:48:32
it's that's important and I think we
00:48:34
need to push more and more for things
00:48:36
like that so yeah for sure and like I
00:48:39
remember specifically um I think this
00:48:42
was around the time that I realized that
00:48:44
there was starting to be a pattern but
00:48:46
um so fun fact for people listening out
00:48:49
there I was also part of the M team that
00:48:52
Jacob mentions almost what every week
00:48:55
yourself yeah
00:48:57
yeah I if I don't bring up mes it's the
00:48:59
new drinking game it's the X hom
00:49:00
schoolers drinking game if I bring up
00:49:02
mes if I bring up swing dance um and if
00:49:05
I tell the story of going to Disneyland
00:49:07
and doing school work at Disneyland um
00:49:09
take a drink um and if you don't drink
00:49:11
take a swig of water um but yes the mind
00:49:15
we were not on the team at the same time
00:49:17
but yeah same troop just different times
00:49:21
I think the only time we were ever on at
00:49:23
the same time was like I was a Christmas
00:49:25
mime while you were like still on the
00:49:27
team and then by the time I joined time
00:49:30
you were gone um but yeah so when I was
00:49:35
16 I became like one of the MIM leaders
00:49:38
and for like for those of you don't know
00:49:39
like being in the position of MIM leader
00:49:41
kind of meant like oh not only were you
00:49:43
in charge of like directing these little
00:49:45
skits or but you were also like
00:49:48
considered a spiritual leader in a way
00:49:51
which looking back that was really weird
00:49:53
because like why are these teenagers
00:49:55
being forced to like be mentors to these
00:49:58
Junior highers like that's kind of weird
00:50:00
if you think about it because teenagers
00:50:02
still aren't fully developed but aside
00:50:04
from that um yeah they had asked me to
00:50:08
share like my testimony or whatever and
00:50:11
I think what they did not realized the
00:50:13
cat of worms they were opening up at
00:50:14
that point um because people were like
00:50:16
oh I was sad but then I found God but
00:50:19
mine was like oh yeah I witnessed
00:50:21
domestic abuse and I struggled with
00:50:25
trying to un alive myself multiple
00:50:28
times um but yeah I remember at one
00:50:31
point like when I was sharing my story I
00:50:33
just like broke down crying like
00:50:36
inconsolably and like I ended up having
00:50:38
like a bunch of 12-year-olds like come
00:50:40
up and just like give me a hug
00:50:43
and I eventually like finished with my
00:50:45
story and then like after that I had so
00:50:48
many of those Minds like come up to me
00:50:50
and tell me like yeah like I'm also
00:50:53
struggling with depression or like yeah
00:50:55
I'm also I was also abused by my parents
00:50:58
and I think that uh really set in motion
00:51:03
two things really um one it really set
00:51:06
up my uh desire to help children in need
00:51:09
which was also another big reason as to
00:51:11
why I chose to become a teacher uh but
00:51:13
it also really made me realize like oh
00:51:16
like I'm not out like there there's a
00:51:19
connection between all of us like what
00:51:21
is it and what was that connection we
00:51:24
were all homeschooled and we were all in
00:51:26
cult so yeah
00:51:29
I like I said it it
00:51:32
can it it was a lot to process at the
00:51:35
time and it still is yeah and that's the
00:51:38
thing I think it's one of those things
00:51:40
where when you begin to unpack it you
00:51:43
find there's more and more right and and
00:51:46
it's it's a never ending stream of
00:51:48
everything right
00:51:50
and for those people who are no longer
00:51:54
religious uh like Alyssa and I you know
00:51:57
it's like just know there are other
00:51:59
people out here like you who you know we
00:52:01
hear you we see you um and uh I know for
00:52:05
me don't be afraid to reach out to me
00:52:06
I'm happy to always talk about it um
00:52:09
because it's it can feel very isolating
00:52:13
when it's like your whole world is
00:52:15
wrapped up in this thing and um and it
00:52:17
can feel very scary because like are you
00:52:19
going to lose everything you you've ever
00:52:22
known um and yeah and I think
00:52:27
to your point I think I I left the mime
00:52:30
troop for a couple
00:52:31
reasons the the basic reasons the
00:52:33
reasons I always told people was like uh
00:52:35
I'm just busy and like I'm trying to do
00:52:37
more with school and I was trying to
00:52:39
like do college and high school at the
00:52:41
same time and stuff like that but on a
00:52:42
deeper level I had seen some of that
00:52:46
like you're having high school kids
00:52:48
Mentor Junior High kids which I don't
00:52:50
think is a terrible thing but from a
00:52:52
spiritual
00:52:53
perspective It's tricky because we're
00:52:56
all still learning and so when you're 14
00:52:59
When You're 15 16 years old like you're
00:53:02
not a pastor you haven't gone to
00:53:04
Seminary you you read the Bible maybe
00:53:07
once um and all of a sudden you're
00:53:10
expected to kind of like spiritually
00:53:12
Mentor 12-year-olds and that's like yeah
00:53:15
that's that's a lot to put on somebody
00:53:17
um and it can definitely be really
00:53:19
conflicting and confusing and that was
00:53:21
like that was a thing that I was like I
00:53:24
don't want to do that that was not yeah
00:53:26
not for me no I also think that the
00:53:29
thing that was really concerning at the
00:53:31
time was you know rather than like I
00:53:34
don't know someone calling the police or
00:53:36
something calling authorities they were
00:53:39
like we should have you share your
00:53:41
testimony at other high schools and
00:53:43
middle schools and I was like okay um
00:53:47
yeah and also like again like not like
00:53:52
not none of the adults like actually
00:53:53
checked in on me or my family they're
00:53:56
just like I'm going to send you
00:53:57
scripture or I remember someone
00:54:00
literally had the audacity to come up to
00:54:01
me and they were like I knew a girl who
00:54:04
self hared I was like okay and and she's
00:54:08
like that's it I was like okay why are
00:54:10
you telling me this what what the
00:54:13
hell like yeah I think people didn't
00:54:15
really did not understand how to like
00:54:18
actively
00:54:20
approach uh people who were dealing with
00:54:22
mental health they're just like okay but
00:54:24
Jesus so it's fine right and I think
00:54:26
that goes I I know I I did an episode
00:54:29
recently and I talked about more about
00:54:32
like Purity culture and stuff which is a
00:54:33
whole another can of worms but it kind
00:54:35
of goes into this there's a lack of
00:54:37
Education when it comes to sex in in
00:54:40
church there's also a lack of
00:54:42
understanding around mental health when
00:54:43
it comes to church and I think a lot of
00:54:45
it has to do with they're very great
00:54:47
areas um and a lot of people like to
00:54:50
look at religion as like black and white
00:54:52
right there's good and evil and there's
00:54:54
nothing in between and um and I think
00:54:57
mental health Falls in that great area
00:54:59
where it's
00:55:00
like some people view it as like well
00:55:04
that's demons living inside of you right
00:55:06
and we need to cast them out right which
00:55:07
is like um uh to put it frankly
00:55:12
and you know and then there's other
00:55:14
people who actually recognize that there
00:55:15
is more to it than that um and then
00:55:18
there are the people in the middle who
00:55:19
just they recognize that there's more to
00:55:21
it but they don't know what to do about
00:55:22
it right and maybe they don't have time
00:55:24
yeah or the energy to to pour into that
00:55:28
and I think that the more that we can
00:55:30
educate people to understand that like
00:55:32
mental health struggles are very real
00:55:34
right um Suicidal Thoughts very real
00:55:36
depression anxiety all that Stu very
00:55:39
very real
00:55:42
um again if you see something say
00:55:44
something right or I was gonna say and I
00:55:46
think to just amately be like oh it's a
00:55:49
spiritual attack or oh it's demons
00:55:53
is say it's honestly like
00:55:56
you're not like there are so many things
00:56:00
that can impact a person's mental health
00:56:02
it could be economic status it could be
00:56:04
family life it could be relationships it
00:56:07
or just just straight chemicals in your
00:56:10
brain misfiring right like I remember I
00:56:12
had this situation a couple months ago
00:56:15
where for context um I have a condition
00:56:18
called uh pnes which is stands for
00:56:21
psychogenic non-epileptic seizures where
00:56:24
basically they're stress and due
00:56:25
seizures and so if I get too stressed
00:56:27
out I will start
00:56:28
seizing but yeah someone was like I
00:56:32
don't want to get to details of
00:56:34
necessarily what happened but someone
00:56:36
was saying something to me while I was
00:56:38
already really stressed out and so I
00:56:41
started having a seizure and their
00:56:43
immediate reaction was she's having a
00:56:45
spiritual reaction to what I'm saying
00:56:48
and I'm just like can you shut up like H
00:56:50
me my beds or something like yeah dude
00:56:53
like it's it there's so much ignorance
00:56:56
that comes with putting um linking
00:56:59
spirituality directly to uh mental
00:57:03
health while I do want to just
00:57:05
acknowledge like yeah I I mean although
00:57:07
I am not religious I do believe that
00:57:09
there are there the metap the
00:57:12
metaphysical exist um I will recognize
00:57:16
that and there are times where you know
00:57:18
spiritual stuff can get in and out uh
00:57:20
how just to label everything as a demon
00:57:24
and being like oh we'll just pray it
00:57:25
away like you're denying someone the
00:57:27
chance to get the help they need whether
00:57:29
it be therapy or medication
00:57:31
or I
00:57:33
literally literally anything else um so
00:57:38
yeah I just want to put that put that
00:57:39
out there yeah no I yeah I agree with
00:57:43
you um on that as well and again I think
00:57:47
it it comes down to education education
00:57:50
education right it's like the more the
00:57:52
more things the more things are talked
00:57:54
about and people are ask questions and
00:57:57
seek answers it's like the
00:57:59
more we're going to be aware of of
00:58:02
things and how we can help people and
00:58:04
recognize people I know for a lot of my
00:58:06
friends who have struggled with
00:58:08
depression it can even be as simple as
00:58:10
like they get a phone call from a friend
00:58:12
who's just like hey what's up what's
00:58:14
going on and that can be a game Cher for
00:58:16
them that's not always the case but you
00:58:18
know it can it can do something brain
00:58:21
chemical wise yeah you know and so small
00:58:24
things like that definitely go along way
00:58:26
but recognizing when your friends are
00:58:28
hurting and taking action on that is
00:58:31
very very important and so um yeah I
00:58:35
think this has been amazing because and
00:58:38
I'm glad we kind of went where we went
00:58:41
yeah yeah and because it's it's
00:58:45
important and I think people need to
00:58:46
hear the the point of the show The goal
00:58:49
of this show has always been it it
00:58:52
started as very much a way of me wanting
00:58:54
to just kind of like catch up with
00:58:56
friends and kind of fluffy and talk
00:58:58
about some of the cringe and things like
00:59:00
that and what I've realized in doing now
00:59:03
for a couple months now is that like
00:59:07
there is a lot of hurt there's a lot of
00:59:08
good but there's also a lot of hurt and
00:59:11
a lot of ugliness um under the surface
00:59:13
of a lot of what we did and experienced
00:59:15
as kids and so I think it's important to
00:59:18
put some light on that and say we can do
00:59:21
better right and um yeah yeah for sure
00:59:25
and
00:59:26
um so yeah I mean with that Alyssa I
00:59:30
don't know if you've got any final words
00:59:33
or if other stories have popped into
00:59:35
your brain but um this has been amazing
00:59:39
and I really I really do appreciate you
00:59:40
coming on and being like so vulnerable
00:59:42
and open with with the audience yeah for
00:59:46
sure if there's anything that I want to
00:59:47
leave off with is this is this is kind
00:59:50
of my life philosophy but if you speak
00:59:53
up you were giving someone else the
00:59:56
courage to speak up as well like I think
00:59:57
that was something I realized back in
00:59:59
that story I shared about like sharing
01:00:01
my testimony um but yeah but just just
01:00:05
by being open you're helping other
01:00:07
people and you know that's one of the
01:00:09
reasons like why I wanted to come on
01:00:11
here and you know share a bit of my
01:00:13
story because I I do believe that this
01:00:16
um show is really it's going to help a
01:00:19
lot of people and I hope you know that
01:00:21
Jacob like I think listening to it has
01:00:24
definitely helped me quite a bit so yeah
01:00:27
and honestly anyone who's out there
01:00:30
listening like if you have something you
01:00:33
want to share and you think it can help
01:00:34
other people share it like yeah that
01:00:37
that's my biggest encouragement to
01:00:38
anyone listening well thank you and that
01:00:41
means a lot
01:00:42
and yeah this show has definitely been I
01:00:45
think therapy for not only me but also
01:00:47
for other people and even for parents um
01:00:50
which has been the wildest thing to hear
01:00:52
from as well um and so yeah like Alissa
01:00:54
said if you have a story that you to
01:00:56
share like please reach out like whether
01:00:58
you want to be on the show or whether
01:01:00
you just want to catch up with me I'm
01:01:02
always down to chat so you can reach out
01:01:04
to me Instagram it's exhs Club um or
01:01:09
email is exhs [email protected]
01:01:12
I want to hear from you guys I want to
01:01:14
know what's going on you know and if you
01:01:16
got something you want to share like
01:01:17
please don't hesitate uh to reach out
01:01:20
because I want to share it um no story
01:01:24
is too big or too small um um and uh you
01:01:28
know and we help Nobody by remaining
01:01:30
silent so yeah and also like if anyone
01:01:33
for any reason like wants to like ask me
01:01:35
questions about my experiences you're
01:01:37
also welcome to reach out to me on
01:01:39
Instagram my handle is just the Mexican
01:01:41
person that's it uh so if you if you
01:01:44
want to reach out to me you're more than
01:01:45
welcome to I'm happy to answer any
01:01:48
questions that you may have so very cool
01:01:50
awesome yeah and I'm going to drop all
01:01:52
that in the show notes as well so uh so
01:01:54
you know if you listen on two times
01:01:55
speed like me being a weirdo um you can
01:01:58
you know catch it in the show notes and
01:02:00
things like that Alyssa this has been
01:02:01
amazing and hopefully you come back
01:02:04
again um and we can talk more things
01:02:06
about home school
01:02:08
life no just let me know when okay
01:02:11
sounds good and uh yeah like I said
01:02:15
before this has been the ex
01:02:16
homeschoolers Club you can reach out to
01:02:17
me on Instagram email me you know if
01:02:21
you're listening on your favorite audio
01:02:22
platform I would I would love a review
01:02:25
um whether it's good or bad um I'm open
01:02:28
to it all um and if you're watching on
01:02:30
YouTube leave a comment just say hey
01:02:31
what's up um you know and uh yeah but
01:02:35
aside from that this has been the ex-
01:02:36
homeschoolers club and until next week
01:02:39
we'll see you peace
01:02:42
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m
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[Music]
