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Well Carrie welcome to my podcast you're
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my first interview and um I'm so excited
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that you're here um one of my best
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friends from growing up and we're still
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friends to this day which means we have
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made it through the trenches and we're
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still
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friends but thank you so much for having
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me I'm very excited yeah well thank you
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for coming on um I wasn't sure that I
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was going to be able to get anybody on
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because you know you never know what the
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H school I'll take one for the team
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you're looking for
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others yeah the the lamb to slaughter um
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anyway uh but yeah just to like kind of
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give people like the down low of like
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how we know each other and we've been
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friends for a really long time I'm
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trying I like try to think back to I
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can't think of a time when we weren't
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friends or didn't know of each other
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like I I could not tell you how we
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became friends like I don't have a
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distinct memory in my mind that's like
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oh that's the moment and from then on we
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were friends you've just kind of always
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been there yeah I mean your dad was my
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guitar instructor so I know that prior
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to that I feel like we had met and and
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known each other but I was
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around uh I want to say maybe 13 12 13
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it was right in those those juicy years
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of
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adolescence exactly yeah so I feel like
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we've known each other basically Junior
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High through high school and that
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college adults yeah we've been good
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friends for a long time we went to prom
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together yeah that was something I was
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going to bring up
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too but we did we did go to prom
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together that was an
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experience yeah which we let's get into
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that at some point but
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um what like were you I wasn't
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homeschooled all the way through but
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were you a homeschool kid all the way
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through all the way through ever since
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kindergarten I have not except for
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college I have not stepped foot in like
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a public school that's crazy yeah and
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um you're the oldest you're the oldest
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of three oldest of three yep so you kind
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of got like the brunt of it like you
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kind of got like thrown in and you were
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like the test the test subject I was the
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test subject for a lot of things in all
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aspects of life whether it was
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homeschooling whether it was
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extracurricular activities church
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activities um just growing up in General
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Life stuff I was the the test subject
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older sibling the headliner the want to
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go through everything first and
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hopefully you know my younger siblings
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got it a little easier but I think we
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all we all experienced you know life in
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different ways as you do but yeah see
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Madison and I we went that's my sister
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we went through like it at the same time
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so even though we weren't in the same
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grade we were we were going through it
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at the same time so she was homeschooled
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all the way through um but I was second
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grade through high school oh I I feel
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like I didn't even know that you have
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not experienced homeschooling the whole
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way you actually went to a a was it a
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public or private school I went to I
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went to a public school okay and then
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yeah through first grade and then we
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moved to ohigh um yeah shout out to the
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the
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hometown still
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located yeah we moved from Ventura to
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ohigh and that was kind of like my
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parents had like decided to shift it and
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yeah it was like brutal because it was
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just like I was used to seeing friends
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every day
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weird and different yeah I got used to
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it but it was really strange to begin
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with whereas like you that's all you
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knew schoolwise was like a teacher dad
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steps in sometimes you know like but
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what did like a typical school day look
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like that you can remember and it could
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be at any point I know it probably
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changed a lot but it was constantly
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changing I will tell you that uh and
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that is one of the beauties of
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homeschooling I will say is that at
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least for my family we didn't always
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have a strict schedule where it's like
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everybody up at 7 or 8 you know school
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till 12: then lunch yada yada I think it
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was very much every day was different if
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we had to do you know piano lessons we
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were able to go do that if we just
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needed a day outside we could go hang
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out at the park and read if we you know
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wanted to take an art class we could do
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that so every day was definitely
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different I have very fond memories in
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the early days of our
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homeschooling where you know we would do
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some some English or math or history in
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the morning and then it would be time
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for be uh PE so uh our PE was go outside
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and find something to do very much yep
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um I had that too give Mom a break give
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Mom a break and Mom can stay inside and
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process everything you know that she's
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going through because it's a lot of work
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to homeschool and we would put on our
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roller skates and go out to our driveway
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and I remember roller skating with my
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sisters in circles I want to say an hour
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two hours at a time um we had a Giant RV
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in our driveway we would go in there and
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play house um we would or at least I
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would build contraption
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that I could some some sort of vehicle
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with like a dolly and a dog cage on top
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that I could pull my sisters around like
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it's weird to think about the PE that I
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had compared to what normal kids had um
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you know we are not a very sporty family
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so roller skating was about it um my
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sister's took gymnastics I took dance
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for a bit but that was the extent of
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yeah so no I remember that I mean you've
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seen my backyard it's like we had a tree
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swing and yeah we would like we would
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push each other out of the tree and
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swing on it and yeah just like be silly
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and roller skating was like a big part I
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mean also like within the homeschool
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community that we shared like they had
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roller skating day at skating
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plus um go to that and you know actual
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interaction with other
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people those were great it was I feel
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like it was like every like the first
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one of the Thursdays of every month it
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was like let's go to skating plus and
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you know roller skate and then I would
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jealous or I would
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um be very envious of everyone because
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they could all do the races they had
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like a race time where they would have
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everybody line up and skate around the
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rink and I I never was brave enough to
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conquer that but it was always really
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cool watching the cool kids in
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homeschooling compete in races it's so
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funny to look back and be like there was
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cool kids and then there was like the
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not cool kids and it's like no we were
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all just like not cool kids we were all
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just not cool but in my head I had to
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have like like I observed a lot of
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people growing up um within that
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community and there were definitely
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clicks there were definitely cool kids
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there were not as cool kids I always
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assumed that I was just a not cool kid
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because I always looked up to the older
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kids which I think is a normal thing in
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high school or Junior High anyways
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everybody sort of looks up to the next
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grade but um yeah that that's the funny
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thing about homeschooling for me too was
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there was definitely no shortage of
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clicks and jealousy and you know I feel
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like there might have been some bullying
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I don't know I didn't really experience
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it to the extent of no there for sure
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was there for sure was um and I've been
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I was on both sides of it so like you
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know uh I'm a different person now but
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yeah but I've been on both sides of that
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but you yeah EX exctly we yeah we we're
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all better people hopefully um because
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of our experiences but uh you brought up
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like clicks and it reminded me of like
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and just groups in general it's like we
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both one of the things that we shared
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was we were both mimes uh on the
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homeschool mime team if you have to
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Google what a mime is I will understand
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they're not super common at least I
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didn't really know what it was until you
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know I joined a team of mimes yeah so
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like for us it was interesting because
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most people like when you look up a mime
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like it's basically like some dude on
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the street corner in France who is like
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pretending to be stuck in a box or
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blowing up a balloon or you know like
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just really it's like a clown basically
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but like our M troop was very it was it
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was Christian Centric so but we would
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basically take music and put stories to
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it and then play characters silently
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play characters and like songs um and so
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I always I see there's like a meme on
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Tik Tok that goes around and it's the
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it's the like everything by life house
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and like it's always that song for
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anybody who has never been a mine but
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maybe you were in youth group and you're
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like I remember that sketch yeah think
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of like a bunch of people with like
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white grease paint on their face and
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like doing that song that it's that kind
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of a thing yep that's a good reference
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how long were you a mime I want to say
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five years I think okay around five
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years and I know I said earlier how you
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know didn't really know what a mime was
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um but before I joined the team my
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parents would take me to shows done by
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the mime team at the time which was
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called Grace in action and they were
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like the mimes before we had our own
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mime troop and so I would go watch shows
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that they would perform and had I just
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thought it was really interesting and
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cool and like to me that was what the
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cool kids were doing was being mindes
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and everything by life house I I didn't
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realize how common it was to do a skit
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to that song um I thought that was our
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thing I thought we made it up but then I
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started seeing videos of Youth groups
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doing it and I was like wait that's what
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we did did they copy us did we copy them
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like I mean that goes into like it's so
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interesting now cuz like I also went to
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a Christian college and so connected
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with more people who also kind of grew
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up in like similar situations and like
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but all over the country at that point
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point cuz I moved from California to
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Illinois and then now live in Tennessee
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and stuff so it's like it's interesting
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to connect with these people and they
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have like these similar like youth group
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stories like even if they're not a
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homeschool kid or like they have stories
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of like homeschool kids uh in their
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lives that they're like oh that's just
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they're a bunch of weirdos and it's like
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well yeah we were a bunch of weirdos and
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I'm like fully acknowledge that yes but
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I but I was telling somebody about that
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the um the Everything song and like oh
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yeah we but we were MIM so we would like
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we're all black and you know whatever
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and like we did that sketch but like we
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didn't dress up like that I'm like yeah
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you're one of the lucky ones um you know
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and uh so we did so many songs and like
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for everything too we had like Christmas
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songs and we had like um we had like
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Fourth of July like patriotic stuff that
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we did as well which it was a mime era
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if you will or the mime lore it was just
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people we were really popular I feel
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like or to me back now I felt like
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within the homeschool Community we were
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very popular we were really desired by
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Churches cuz that's what we would do is
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go perform locally to different churches
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and some were not local too if you
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remember we took the troop to Skid Row
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in Los Angeles yep and performed there
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like I feel like we went all over
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California um but we had so many songs
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and you're so right there was a
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Christmas season where the younger they
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had a an age limit for mime and then you
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know the younger siblings could join
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during Christmas and they had all these
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fun Christmas songs that we would do
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like the the library an extent of work
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we did we had mime camps which would be
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like a whole weekend where we would
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spend the night at a church and just
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practice and drill like mime songs like
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it was an it was a time for sure no it
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definitely was like an era and yeah I
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only did it for 3 years I did it like
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Junior High and then I think maybe my
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freshman year of high school yeah you
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weren't it wasn't too long that you were
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on the team I felt like I yeah I I was
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out of it pretty quickly like but it was
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so it's so weird cuz all of the kids who
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were part of that like we were also like
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theater kids and like musicals and like
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all that kind stuff which like that's a
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whole another era of like and that's
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also ironic too because mes you know
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can't talk but we were the most
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talkative musical group I think think
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ever like when we weren't performing we
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were singing theater songs in in groups
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we were talking we were you know it was
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yeah it was well it was the only time we
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got to interact with other people right
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so like cuz that's the thing with
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homeschooling is like it yeah you have
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your siblings or in some cases like if
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you're an only child like you have Mom
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and Dad but like you a big misconception
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is like oh well you don't have any
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friends you know hear that all the time
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well that's actually not true like yeah
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that that does happen all like oh you
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were homeless school did you have any
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friends what was your mom the teacher
00:13:32
your dad the principal it's
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like yes I did have friends I was not
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isolated I love telling people I'm like
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I went to prom with my mom like you know
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stuff like that
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um Ian don't get me wrong it was it was
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cringe like prom was cringe like a lot
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of the experience had cringey moments
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but we were never alone like we had our
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groups of people yeah it was a lot of
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parents just kind of like trying to give
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us somewhat of like a normal school
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experience right because like we had
00:14:01
field trips and that's the beautiful
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part about being part of a homeschool
00:14:04
Community is like I can imagine how I
00:14:07
would be if I didn't have that because I
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would have just literally been stuck at
00:14:13
home all the time right so it's like you
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know I at least got some semblance of
00:14:17
like normaly by like we had field trips
00:14:19
and we did school dances and we had like
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groups of people like the Mind troop
00:14:23
right it's like we had activities and
00:14:25
things that you could be a part
00:14:26
of but at the same time it was like it's
00:14:29
not the same I feel because it was like
00:14:32
the same people because we were a part
00:14:34
of this community of parents who came
00:14:38
together and said we want to homeschool
00:14:39
we want to homeschool our kids together
00:14:41
however it
00:14:43
originated and we would see the same
00:14:45
people every week it was like okay
00:14:47
Mondays were MIM practice so you get to
00:14:48
see your fellow mime friends you know
00:14:50
Fridays was group Solutions where we do
00:14:52
our our three periods and our classes
00:14:55
together with a lot of the same people
00:14:57
but it was a bigger group of people
00:14:59
like same people like looking back now
00:15:02
we were really close with everyone like
00:15:05
you had your people and outside of your
00:15:07
siblings like those were your close
00:15:09
friends the people you did everything
00:15:11
with you went to dances with you you
00:15:13
know graduated eighth grade and and high
00:15:15
school with you you know did classes and
00:15:19
mime and and shows with like it was the
00:15:22
same people um all throughout Junior
00:15:25
High and high school
00:15:27
so definitely were never
00:15:30
yeah yeah and I'm thankful for that and
00:15:33
that's very similar to I think a lot of
00:15:34
people's High School experience is like
00:15:36
they have their friends that go through
00:15:38
high school with them and like you know
00:15:40
do do life and then potentially go to
00:15:42
same colleges and like stuff like that
00:15:44
but
00:15:45
it's I it's hard to explain because like
00:15:49
until you do it you're like until you're
00:15:51
a part of it you're like no this is just
00:15:53
like so vastly different and um and like
00:15:58
even like the non homeschool friends
00:15:59
that we did have like they could tell
00:16:02
there's a difference right there's like
00:16:03
a social awkwardness and there's a you
00:16:06
know and there's just like also we were
00:16:08
like Christian homeschool kids so on top
00:16:11
of the hom school thing has yeah is like
00:16:14
The Homeschool thing already has this
00:16:15
kind of like awkwardness baked into it
00:16:18
but then you tack on like a Christian
00:16:19
element because most of us were
00:16:20
homeschooled for religious reasons yeah
00:16:23
and so parents were not teaching us
00:16:24
about Evolution right science was
00:16:29
in my family history science yeah
00:16:33
everything was like viewed through this
00:16:34
like Christian lens of like yeah
00:16:36
absolutely even like the jobs you're
00:16:37
going to do future down the line Randon
00:16:40
like is interesting because it's just
00:16:42
like this religious tied with education
00:16:46
upbringing that's a huge part and I
00:16:48
always wondered too actually coming out
00:16:50
of being homeschooled were there
00:16:53
homeschoolers that existed that weren't
00:16:55
Christian because all of the
00:16:56
homeschoolers I knew were Christian like
00:16:59
studied you know Christian values and
00:17:03
that's just what I assumed was the case
00:17:05
was that all homeschoolers were or Home
00:17:08
Educators were
00:17:09
Christians and that's probably not the
00:17:11
case and it always made me wonder what
00:17:14
someone who was homeschooled outside of
00:17:16
Christianity or a religious base what
00:17:18
their experience was like compared to
00:17:19
what mine was no that's a good question
00:17:21
I'm I I've thought that so like it's
00:17:25
been in the back of my mind every once
00:17:27
in a while I've been like hm
00:17:29
because obviously religion plays a huge
00:17:32
part into how you're educated so with
00:17:34
that lens there were definitely a few
00:17:37
thing several subjects that I learned
00:17:39
under the Christian lens that when I got
00:17:41
to college were completely different
00:17:43
talk about that like what give me an
00:17:45
example of that so you mentioned
00:17:48
Evolution that's a huge part um growing
00:17:51
up with in Christianity we were you know
00:17:55
taught about creation versus evolution
00:17:58
and
00:17:59
I similarly with you know some history
00:18:03
as well um God is the foundation of
00:18:08
everything you know from creation on so
00:18:12
when you get to college and you find out
00:18:14
God is I don't want to say nowhere to be
00:18:16
found but he's definitely not you know
00:18:20
Christianity God is not in the center
00:18:23
of anything that's taught and so you're
00:18:26
going to a science class in college
00:18:28
going
00:18:30
what's the big
00:18:31
bang like you've hear about it but
00:18:33
you're at least for my education we were
00:18:36
never told we were never taught about
00:18:39
other alternative
00:18:42
or what the rest of society was learning
00:18:46
about Evolution we were only taught
00:18:48
creation so yeah I I don't want to say I
00:18:52
had to unlearn Creation necessarily but
00:18:57
going to college and
00:18:59
talking to people who didn't know what
00:19:01
creation was and or didn't believe in it
00:19:05
having to learn oh I grew up in this
00:19:08
lens there's this whole other world of
00:19:12
people who believe in so many different
00:19:14
things about how the world came to be
00:19:17
and that was an incredible learning
00:19:19
curve for me to find oh not only is
00:19:23
Christianity God not centered in college
00:19:28
educ ucation high school education but
00:19:31
you know it it I don't know how to word
00:19:35
that but it was just it was it's like a
00:19:37
foreign thing to other people right
00:19:39
where it's like cuz I even going to col
00:19:41
like I went to a Christian college and
00:19:43
so most of the people on the we're on
00:19:44
the same page but I remember taking a
00:19:47
science class and he presented six
00:19:50
different options to Creation M and
00:19:53
there was like the the stuff we grew up
00:19:55
with which was like God created the
00:19:56
world in seven days or like six days and
00:19:59
then on the seventh day he rested right
00:20:00
and then like it's we're in a young
00:20:02
Earth and like all of these things right
00:20:04
and so it's like a very literal
00:20:06
translation of the Bible yeah and then
00:20:08
he was talking about a not so literal
00:20:10
translation of the Bible where it's like
00:20:12
God created the Earth but he he
00:20:14
basically kicked off Evolution which you
00:20:17
know slowly worked it way and like built
00:20:19
things right and then because the
00:20:21
concept of time shifts um it's a whole
00:20:25
complicated thing but but like because
00:20:27
the concept of time shifts the way that
00:20:30
we when it was written down right when
00:20:32
Genesis was written down it's like the
00:20:34
perception is like oh it was such a
00:20:35
short period of time it's like well it
00:20:37
actually wasn't but okay um that's
00:20:41
really cool that you're able to that and
00:20:45
that's something that we were never
00:20:47
really exposed to being homeschooled but
00:20:49
that's so cool that you had a professor
00:20:50
who was able to say you know we do have
00:20:54
the Bible but you know taking into
00:20:57
consideration time shifts and how things
00:21:00
were transcribed and translations and
00:21:03
you know really makes you learn that no
00:21:06
one really truly knows anything yeah you
00:21:10
know it's just who what you study and
00:21:12
what you P perceive and what you believe
00:21:15
and you know when you grow up in
00:21:18
schooling being taught this is fact this
00:21:21
is truth and then you go into this giant
00:21:23
world of a billion different facts and
00:21:27
truths it all comes down to you deciding
00:21:30
what you believe for yourself and that
00:21:32
was something that you know you believe
00:21:36
what your parents tell you and what your
00:21:38
peers tell you not and you can still
00:21:41
agree with that when you grow up or you
00:21:43
can find out for yourself this is
00:21:45
actually not something that you know I
00:21:47
want to run with so I think that's cool
00:21:50
that even within a Christian College
00:21:51
you're your professor was still willing
00:21:53
to consider all options and and weigh
00:21:57
you know so many other
00:22:00
well I remember he brought up the word
00:22:01
Evolution and half the people in the
00:22:02
class like grimaced at it like I'm
00:22:05
intrigued to hear what he has to say
00:22:06
about this right because you know he's
00:22:07
also presenting you know Darwinism and
00:22:10
all these things it's like another
00:22:12
trigger word there are so many words Dar
00:22:15
yeah it's like you did not hear growing
00:22:16
up exactly and I did a religions class
00:22:19
too with another professor who he would
00:22:22
it was it was a mix of like religion
00:22:24
studies plus apologetics a little bit
00:22:26
and so like the first day he's asking us
00:22:28
like what do you believe and all these
00:22:29
things like do you believe in a literal
00:22:30
translation of the Bible you know is
00:22:33
there storytelling and there you know
00:22:34
all these different things so he's like
00:22:35
asking he's trying to pick at people and
00:22:37
he picks on me in the class and I and
00:22:39
he's like asking me all these questions
00:22:40
and I'm like just spitting out I'm
00:22:42
spewing the normal responses and he's
00:22:45
like but why but why but why but why
00:22:47
he's like the little kid tugging on his
00:22:48
mom you know be like but why and I was
00:22:50
just like was like because my mom told
00:22:52
me you know because that's what the
00:22:55
pastor said and he's like he's like that
00:22:58
fine but you also have a responsibility
00:23:01
to judge for yourself what you actually
00:23:04
believe right it's like that's good and
00:23:07
I like that it was it was brutal like I
00:23:09
remember just being like I go went back
00:23:11
home and I was just like I back to my
00:23:12
dorm room and I'm sitting there and I'm
00:23:13
just like I hate this professor I hate
00:23:15
this professor I hate this professor
00:23:17
because he was pushing me really to like
00:23:18
a discomfort Zone where I was like were
00:23:20
they lying to me were they all of these
00:23:22
things right and so discomfort is is a
00:23:25
good place where you can actually learn
00:23:27
stuff and I found some of my hardest
00:23:29
classes and hardest teachers have been
00:23:32
the most valuable because that him
00:23:34
drilling you but why but why but why
00:23:37
really forces you uncomfortably to look
00:23:40
at yeah why and that went for multiple
00:23:43
subjects too it's like not only science
00:23:45
and religion but like math and like you
00:23:47
know the way we looked at these things
00:23:50
because our parents are not like they
00:23:53
don't know everything um right and it's
00:23:56
like they're taking on the
00:23:59
yeah exactly they're taking on the role
00:24:00
of teacher and like I had a mom who
00:24:02
thankfully had gone to college to be a
00:24:04
teacher so she kind of had some of those
00:24:06
skills but she wanted to specialize in
00:24:08
English so you know that was her
00:24:11
strengths and my dad was more math but
00:24:13
like they weren't creative people so
00:24:15
right doing you know that's why your dad
00:24:17
became my music teacher because they
00:24:19
were like well we have to hire somebody
00:24:21
to help our kid understand what this is
00:24:23
you know and and be creative yeah and
00:24:27
and then science was like you know weak
00:24:29
too it's like well let's find somebody
00:24:32
else who is stronger in science to help
00:24:34
our kids study you know and and that's
00:24:37
so cool I'm thankful for that because
00:24:38
yeah it put it more in a normal
00:24:42
classroom setting I would say like I
00:24:44
mean you knew this like you you come
00:24:46
over to my house and my mom would teach
00:24:47
engl this class right and she'd be like
00:24:48
here's the reading list here's the
00:24:50
whatever um and we would have like it's
00:24:52
six people but it's you know it's like
00:24:54
okay well we have a study group and we
00:24:57
can we're we have classmates who we can
00:24:59
like ask for notes about you know and
00:25:01
stuff like that so there's a sense of
00:25:04
somewhat of normaly
00:25:07
absolutely well and it's it's so cool
00:25:09
that you mentioned that too because you
00:25:11
know your parents being focused more on
00:25:13
the academic side my parents were
00:25:16
completely opposite like my dad being a
00:25:20
recording studio owner
00:25:22
musician um both parents college
00:25:25
graduates but in completely different
00:25:27
things than your parents my dad was the
00:25:29
first guitar major you know at at his
00:25:31
university and my mom graduated with a
00:25:34
degree in Film Production like not
00:25:36
something that you would look at and say
00:25:39
they're ready to be you know fullon High
00:25:41
School teachers to their kids but that's
00:25:45
what I admire them so much for is they
00:25:48
felt the calling that they were supposed
00:25:50
to homeschool us and they took that on
00:25:53
in such a different way and and everyone
00:25:55
was different and that's why I love how
00:25:58
you know your parents saw you had this
00:26:00
desire for guitar they leaned on my dad
00:26:03
to teach you guitar my mom definitely
00:26:06
needed support in the academic side and
00:26:09
so she would lean on your mom for things
00:26:12
like English classes um you know other
00:26:15
people for science classes math and they
00:26:19
would use their strong suits but also I
00:26:21
really respect them for leaning on other
00:26:24
people and valued members of the homeo
00:26:28
Community who knew what they were
00:26:30
talking about you know some parents who
00:26:34
they were so good at you know science
00:26:36
it's like okay we're going to send our
00:26:37
kids over to your house and you guys are
00:26:39
going to go through the science textbook
00:26:40
with them and it's like oh that's the
00:26:42
beauty homeschooling you can do that and
00:26:45
that's that's yeah I highly encourage
00:26:47
like anybody who's thinking about it is
00:26:49
like find that group of people because
00:26:51
when you do my mom did it on her own and
00:26:54
and maybe your mom was this way too or
00:26:55
your parents were this way too but my
00:26:56
mom really did it on her own for the the
00:26:58
first couple years and she was exhausted
00:27:01
it was just like it was utterly terrible
00:27:05
um it's like I look back on it it's
00:27:07
stressful it was stressful as a kid you
00:27:10
know to go from like I had gone to
00:27:12
regular school I knew there were
00:27:14
structure to like there is no structure
00:27:16
and like I even as a kid I remember
00:27:19
being like I don't think I'm learning
00:27:20
enough like I don't think I'm you know
00:27:22
or I'm really bad at this and her not
00:27:24
knowing how to help me because she's
00:27:26
like well I have to learn it too to the
00:27:28
point where by the time I was in high
00:27:30
school a lot of it was self-taught like
00:27:32
it was just like here's the textbook you
00:27:34
do your modular modular whatever mod the
00:27:38
modules modular
00:27:41
um um the modules and like you know
00:27:44
you're going to learn XYZ you know come
00:27:46
to ask if you have questions that kind
00:27:48
of thing but also what's cool about
00:27:50
homeschooling is like you can focus on
00:27:52
those areas of like strengths and
00:27:54
weaknesses right so it's
00:27:55
like I was more creative in high school
00:27:59
you were more creative person and so
00:28:01
like having parents that kind of like
00:28:02
push you in that direction to be like
00:28:04
okay yeah like more guitar lessons or
00:28:06
working in a studio or you know starting
00:28:09
your own business or whatever it was to
00:28:11
kind of like push you in a direction to
00:28:13
be like it's a tailored education as
00:28:16
opposed to like I had public school
00:28:18
friends who were just like oh yeah I go
00:28:20
and I learn this thing and then I just
00:28:22
like regurgitated during the test and
00:28:24
I'm like my history is like World War II
00:28:27
because I'm just like really into World
00:28:29
War II right now you know so my parents
00:28:30
were like you know watch every World War
00:28:32
II movie and read all books and you know
00:28:34
whatever it's like really hyper focused
00:28:36
and you brought up a PE earlier and I I
00:28:40
laughed because like my parents my my PE
00:28:45
in high school was paintball and airsoft
00:28:47
and like they funded it because they
00:28:49
were like that's PE but there was
00:28:51
regulations around big you're going to
00:28:52
play this this frequently and you're
00:28:54
going to go with these friends and like
00:28:56
but we got our friends parents will be
00:28:58
into it so I was like okay PE for a lot
00:29:01
of us was we went to a friend's house
00:29:03
and played Airsoft for 6 hours on the
00:29:05
weekend you know yep it just worked you
00:29:08
know it just that was just what you did
00:29:10
yeah
00:29:11
100% so I was going to bring up we we
00:29:14
kind of briefly mentioned it earlier but
00:29:17
um prom we went to prom together we did
00:29:20
and it was your senior year was I think
00:29:22
my junior year right I'm pretty sure and
00:29:25
uh super weird it was a fun experience I
00:29:28
it it's my favorite
00:29:30
prom that I've gone to I went to two you
00:29:33
got oh I only went to one number two was
00:29:37
worse but number one I I had fun you
00:29:41
know I did too I I I can't remember
00:29:44
truly who even put it on if it was I
00:29:46
think it was homeschoolers like just
00:29:49
collectively putting on a prompt from
00:29:51
what I remember it was the Calvary
00:29:53
Chapel School okay uh where we had group
00:29:56
solutions they had a school and then
00:29:58
they would put on Prom every year but
00:30:00
their their school numbers were so low
00:30:02
so they would invite the achieve kids to
00:30:04
come be a part of it so it was this mix
00:30:06
of like private schooled private
00:30:08
Christian educated kids who most of had
00:30:12
been homeschooled um and then just like
00:30:15
homeschoolers and the year we went that
00:30:18
was the year it was at a golf course
00:30:19
right it was at a nice golf course and
00:30:22
yep absolutely I mean you know that's
00:30:25
that's high school so harmones are aging
00:30:28
you don't know what's going on does he
00:30:30
like me does she like me I mean we were
00:30:32
just friends but you know you're looking
00:30:34
at everyone you're hoping you look okay
00:30:37
just everything's just at a level
00:30:40
2,000 at least inside for me you know
00:30:43
you you're so just I was very nervous
00:30:47
and I I can't think of why now but it
00:30:49
was just in general just nerves it was
00:30:51
my first big you know dance where my
00:30:54
parents weren't there and I'm just with
00:30:57
my friends and um and so it was very
00:31:00
very nerve-wracking but I ended up
00:31:02
having such a blast you know it was a
00:31:03
very structured event I will say I you
00:31:06
know having not been to a high school
00:31:08
prom or a public school prom I think a
00:31:11
lot of things that or the general
00:31:13
stereotypes of what people experience on
00:31:16
prom night is definitely not what we
00:31:18
experienced we went to a 2hour long prom
00:31:21
where it was dinner promptly and then
00:31:22
dancing and then the second the DJ
00:31:25
started playing Thrift Shop which was uh
00:31:28
you know had bad words in it I remember
00:31:30
them shutting down the Dance Floor
00:31:32
completely and cutting off the evening
00:31:34
and all right it is it is 8:30 or 900
00:31:36
p.m. it is time to go home and you
00:31:39
know and I I just remember I think we
00:31:42
all got in and out after or something
00:31:44
like that just to I think so decompress
00:31:46
something along those lines but it was a
00:31:49
very short evening from what I remember
00:31:51
it it was um yeah a lot of hype for kind
00:31:55
of nothing um to be to be hon
00:31:58
a lot of hype yeah cuz like for a little
00:32:02
bit of context like our experiences
00:32:04
going to school dances growing up was
00:32:05
like swing ballroom and catian dancing
00:32:08
so it was
00:32:10
very there was no grinding there was no
00:32:14
no twerking did not exist like or if it
00:32:17
did TW kicked out there was dress code
00:32:21
um and so like a very structured event
00:32:24
like yeah as a as a dude who had dad's
00:32:27
come and basically like don't touch my
00:32:29
daughter like that you know it's like
00:32:31
stuff like that very strict very yeah
00:32:34
exactly very never forget never forget
00:32:37
the yearly what they would call English
00:32:39
country dance where everyone wears
00:32:41
Bridgerton
00:32:42
clothes it looked like a scene from
00:32:44
richardton yearly English country dance
00:32:47
very proper very you know structured so
00:32:52
you were not seeing any immodesty you
00:32:54
were not seeing anyone you know dancing
00:32:57
inappropriately it was just yeah you
00:33:00
just have a good time well I think
00:33:02
that's what made prom so funny was
00:33:04
because like you and you and I were
00:33:06
friends we went together and then your
00:33:08
best friend went with my best friend
00:33:10
yeah and so the four of us went together
00:33:12
and I think uh another friend went with
00:33:14
us as well so I think there's five
00:33:15
there's five of us yeah there was five
00:33:17
of us in total and so we were only used
00:33:20
to having danced like swing music and
00:33:23
and so we get there and they're they're
00:33:25
playing pop music and it's like no one
00:33:27
knows how to to it right and so we're
00:33:29
like what are we supposed to do you know
00:33:32
and it's like we'll just go out there
00:33:33
and shake it you know we were so
00:33:35
uncomfortable I feel like our our the
00:33:37
couple that we went with started swing
00:33:39
dancing because that's what you know
00:33:41
that's what we knew I mean you hear a
00:33:43
song you grab a partner and you do the
00:33:46
Lindy Hop you don't just step side to
00:33:49
side we were I remember being so
00:33:50
uncomfortable just a wide dance floor
00:33:53
with the DJ and lights it was like this
00:33:55
feels slightly wrong this is not what
00:33:58
I'm used to yeah I think I was a little
00:34:00
bit more used to it only because well
00:34:03
you were just cool you were always like
00:34:05
outside of the crcy old school I feel
00:34:08
like like you you always just knew what
00:34:10
was cool I don't know I had I I don't
00:34:14
look at if you're watching the video I'm
00:34:15
very much a white boy but my I'm a
00:34:18
quarter Hispanic and my Hispanic side of
00:34:20
my family at Family reunions it's it's a
00:34:23
massive dance party so I think I was I I
00:34:25
kind of already had this like I know
00:34:27
what to do in the circumstance like
00:34:28
we're just going to go out there and
00:34:29
like you just shake it like you just
00:34:31
shake your booty and have a good time
00:34:33
you did and you just and that's what
00:34:34
helped me be more comfortable was like
00:34:35
okay so he's you know dancing however I
00:34:38
guess I can you know yeah and you make
00:34:41
stuff up right you're going to do you're
00:34:42
going to do the sprinkler and you're
00:34:44
pushing the lawn mower and you know it's
00:34:46
like you just being silly and goofy and
00:34:48
that was what it was all about and I
00:34:51
think what was nice was like our prom
00:34:54
experience was not because we were also
00:34:57
just friends I don't know about you I
00:34:59
can speak for you but my I didn't feel a
00:35:02
pressure to be like oh it's going to end
00:35:04
like it like it's not a movie right it's
00:35:06
not with like a romantic anything and so
00:35:09
it's was just like we're here to have
00:35:10
fun let's just have fun yeah it wasy it
00:35:13
was just chill and we were just yeah we
00:35:16
were exactly that Goofy and silly and
00:35:17
just friends and and I didn't feel any
00:35:21
sort of pressure or like you know really
00:35:25
desire to have anything more than just
00:35:28
having a good time and we did you know
00:35:31
once the nerves wore off and we had
00:35:32
dinner and and it was like hey just
00:35:35
breathe just go out on the dance floor
00:35:36
and I would never watch a video of me
00:35:39
dancing at that prom ever if that
00:35:41
existed I would never want to see it
00:35:42
again but you know it was my first
00:35:46
opening into um you know the world
00:35:50
of not even normaly just just what a
00:35:54
dance floor looked like yeah you want to
00:35:56
know what's so funny too is that like
00:35:59
um when when Maddie and I got married
00:36:03
and Carrie you Carrie DJ at our wedding
00:36:07
but like our wedding specifically was
00:36:09
like we are not playing any uh swing
00:36:11
music right and
00:36:13
so my it was weird cuz I had friends
00:36:16
come up to me and be like oh are you
00:36:17
going to play any swing music and I was
00:36:19
like no cuz like we're here to party
00:36:21
like we're here to have a good time and
00:36:23
not exclude people and they're like what
00:36:26
are you talking about I'm like we're
00:36:28
just gonna dance like I don't just go
00:36:29
out on the Dance Floor what about the
00:36:31
Virginia real you know are we not doing
00:36:35
Virginia yeah what about you know doing
00:36:37
all these awward dances from us being
00:36:39
kids and I'm like well half the people
00:36:41
here the people on my wife's side they
00:36:43
don't know how to do any of that so
00:36:44
they're just going to sit by and idly be
00:36:46
weirded out by like all of my friends
00:36:49
and I feel like at that time too you had
00:36:50
gone off to college you had lived you
00:36:53
know this whole different life and you
00:36:55
were getting married a lot of people
00:36:58
that were at your wedding I don't want
00:37:00
to say had not moved forward it you know
00:37:04
everyone moves forward in their own way
00:37:05
but they were
00:37:07
still experiencing The Homeschool dances
00:37:10
if that makes sense you know that was
00:37:11
still Forefront in their mind you know
00:37:14
maybe doing community college but you
00:37:16
had gone out stepped into this whole
00:37:17
other City whole other life whole other
00:37:20
you know world and came back you know
00:37:23
getting Mar I don't know how to quite
00:37:25
say that but it they and so they go to
00:37:27
to a wedding expecting oh there's going
00:37:29
to be swing dancing still in that
00:37:31
mentality of that's just what you do
00:37:34
yeah like let's talk about that a little
00:37:36
bit because like that was I think the
00:37:39
transition from being a homeschool kid
00:37:41
especially if you are homeschooled all
00:37:42
the way through high school to going out
00:37:45
and like starting a career whether
00:37:46
that's like going to College Community
00:37:48
College like just getting a job whatever
00:37:50
it is it looks so different for all of
00:37:52
us like yeah I immediately left I was
00:37:55
like I moved out yeah I had I did
00:37:58
College in 3 years I came back I lived
00:38:00
at home for a year um for some health
00:38:03
reasons and then and then I moved to
00:38:05
Tennessee and then I've been there ever
00:38:07
since right and so uh you know that for
00:38:13
me is what worked but a lot of people
00:38:14
like you said got stuck with like
00:38:16
Community College or they just existed
00:38:19
at home still and I think that plays
00:38:21
into like having parents who went to
00:38:23
school versus parents who didn't um was
00:38:26
like my parents college educated people
00:38:29
and so that was what they knew was the
00:38:31
next step and so they were pushing me
00:38:32
towards that or at least directing me in
00:38:35
this kind of
00:38:36
like they knew once you hit this age
00:38:39
you're an adult like you need to go make
00:38:40
decisions for yourself yeah and so kind
00:38:44
of that driving pressure where a lot of
00:38:47
homeschool parents I think get stuck is
00:38:48
they're like the end goal for them is
00:38:50
like get the kid through high school
00:38:52
right it's not get them out it's get
00:38:54
them through High School exactly and
00:38:56
they get them through high school and
00:38:58
then they go well what do we do now you
00:39:01
know and I did always REM your mom with
00:39:03
that I remember hearing like and I
00:39:05
remember being surprised when that was
00:39:08
you know your parents they had a very
00:39:10
firm feeling on that and I was like you
00:39:12
mean they kick you out at that age it's
00:39:14
like no not kicking out but similar to a
00:39:17
baby bird leaving the nest it's like all
00:39:19
right it's your turn to to go I had a
00:39:22
decision to make the decision was go to
00:39:24
school or get a job and pay rent and I
00:39:27
was like go to school that just made
00:39:29
more sense to me yeah and for what I
00:39:31
wanted to do with my life at the time
00:39:34
but yeah I think a lot of
00:39:36
people and there's no shame in that in
00:39:39
like being like Oh well I'm going to
00:39:40
stick around for a few years and figure
00:39:41
it out or whatever like there's were
00:39:43
taking Gap years and figuring out what
00:39:45
they wanted to do and I I truly think a
00:39:48
lot of us didn't really know what to
00:39:50
do after high
00:39:52
school you know it was like okay and
00:39:55
it's okay I mean that's that's a big
00:39:58
thing for everyone After High School is
00:40:00
okay what do I do now I feel the
00:40:01
pressure of the entire world you know is
00:40:04
there anything that you feel like your
00:40:06
parents could have done to kind of
00:40:08
like help you in that time period where
00:40:12
like cuz you I know you stuck around
00:40:14
home for a little bit and like you did
00:40:16
some Community College and working and
00:40:18
you know different jobs and stuff like
00:40:20
that but like was there anything like
00:40:23
that they they could have like been like
00:40:25
hey like here's kind of like a nudge and
00:40:28
like let's help you figure out what you
00:40:30
want to do you know I I think the really
00:40:34
cool thing about my parents is that I
00:40:36
never felt this immense pressure to
00:40:41
decide because they knew whatever I was
00:40:45
going to choose as a career path I would
00:40:48
do well in it and they I truly felt like
00:40:50
they would support me in any career path
00:40:52
that I chose and I didn't know what I
00:40:55
wanted to do and m i I found it randomly
00:41:00
you know at the time what I wanted to do
00:41:02
through a college class and that was
00:41:04
something that my mom always encouraged
00:41:06
me to do was you know if you think you
00:41:09
want to dabble your feet in this area of
00:41:12
life or this career take a college class
00:41:14
on it you like ballet there's a
00:41:17
community college that has ballet
00:41:19
classes take it and see if you like it
00:41:21
you know definitely realize that's not
00:41:23
my uh future career but I took a ballet
00:41:26
class because she encouraged it and and
00:41:30
so that's what I think was the beauty of
00:41:33
at least having my parents is sure there
00:41:35
was not this big push like you
00:41:37
experienced with your parents but they
00:41:40
were very much I never felt like they
00:41:43
had in their mind well you know she's
00:41:47
has a musician as a father it would be
00:41:49
great you know if she took the path of
00:41:52
recording studio engineer or
00:41:55
instrumentalist or singer I never never
00:41:57
felt this weighing feeling that you know
00:42:01
I was supposed to do a certain career
00:42:03
because they said so and I know a lot of
00:42:05
people experience that with their
00:42:07
parents of having high expectations for
00:42:09
their kids and I am thankful that my
00:42:13
parents
00:42:14
never you know forced me into anything
00:42:16
and they were willing to support me and
00:42:18
they have supported me whatever
00:42:20
Direction my life goes I do feel
00:42:24
like I'm trying to remember what the
00:42:26
original question was was there anything
00:42:29
they could have like you think like said
00:42:31
or done that maybe like would have maybe
00:42:35
like sped up that process for you or
00:42:37
like put you in a like cuz I think
00:42:40
that's where a lot of kids get stuck is
00:42:43
that like Mom and Dad are going to
00:42:45
support me and whatever and that's great
00:42:47
however like I I need them to like help
00:42:51
me kind of just like push like in that
00:42:53
initial starting Direction cuz like my
00:42:55
my parents like I said they put me to go
00:42:57
to college but after my first year of
00:42:59
college like I really didn't want to go
00:43:00
back and they were like well here's the
00:43:03
options right and so it was like they
00:43:06
weren't saying I have to go back like oh
00:43:08
we've already invested $330,000 in an
00:43:10
education for you they were just were
00:43:12
like well what do you want to do like
00:43:14
what is the alternative to like you
00:43:16
don't go back and I didn't know so I was
00:43:18
like okay well I'll go back for a
00:43:19
semester and I and then after semester
00:43:22
that's when I started to find what I was
00:43:24
looking for and so I was like I still
00:43:26
hated it like I did College in three
00:43:28
years because I just wanted out but it
00:43:29
was like also I had a direction of like
00:43:32
okay I can do this and this is General
00:43:34
enough that I don't need to 100% know
00:43:37
exactly what I have to do but it's good
00:43:39
enough and then I can get a job and I
00:43:41
can you know slowly evolve my career
00:43:43
over time into like different things
00:43:45
that interest
00:43:46
me yeah no that that actually that's
00:43:50
really good because I I do feel like if
00:43:53
anything there could have been more of a
00:43:55
push to complete something I am very
00:43:59
good and I'm very similar to my mother
00:44:02
in this aspect but I'm very good at
00:44:03
starting projects
00:44:05
starting jobs starting college and then
00:44:08
not completing things um the follow
00:44:10
through is something that I lacked a lot
00:44:12
more when I was younger I do feel like
00:44:16
maybe more deadlines or more of a okay
00:44:19
so you want to do this we'll support you
00:44:21
but you know you need to finish your
00:44:23
college education to get a degree you're
00:44:25
not you know so you can have that degree
00:44:27
to fall back on um because I I'm not a
00:44:30
college graduate I did several years of
00:44:33
community college classes at two
00:44:34
different community colleges I never
00:44:37
graduated so that push to actually
00:44:39
graduate and complete something I think
00:44:42
would have been really
00:44:43
beneficial um for me to have you know
00:44:46
and and thinking back I still loved the
00:44:48
colleges that I went to I got so much
00:44:50
good experience and that's how I decided
00:44:52
what one of my career paths was going to
00:44:54
be was through a college class but I
00:44:57
definitely think more of a
00:44:59
firm well if you're going to stay here
00:45:02
you need to start paying rent because
00:45:04
learning how to do something in life
00:45:07
like paying rent is something that you
00:45:08
need to learn how to do you know yeah
00:45:11
and that push to to okay guess what
00:45:14
bills are real that's a real thing you
00:45:15
know push to get a car push to get you
00:45:18
know your first phone on your own um
00:45:22
because again it's it's amazing that
00:45:24
they were so accepting and I ended up
00:45:27
thankfully being a a very self um
00:45:31
sufficient person and someone who I I'm
00:45:33
a self starter and I can get myself
00:45:35
through things but the push to actually
00:45:37
complete something like a college
00:45:39
degree I I probably could have benefited
00:45:41
from that a little bit but yeah and
00:45:43
who's to say you can't go back and
00:45:44
finish it you know if you really wanted
00:45:46
to you can that's a good point you know
00:45:49
most people once they start their career
00:45:50
though like they're on the path of like
00:45:53
I I even talk about my to my dad about
00:45:55
this it's like he doesn't have a
00:45:56
master's degree but at this point would
00:45:58
it benefit him any probably not you know
00:46:01
um just the life experience you get from
00:46:04
just life exactly he's got 20s something
00:46:06
odd years of of work experience under
00:46:09
his belt it's like that is a master's
00:46:11
degree yeah I consider it yeah and and
00:46:14
in anything you do you can be educated
00:46:17
and and this is not a big push to be
00:46:18
like oh everyone needs to go to college
00:46:20
like it's really not I have tons of
00:46:21
friends who have done like vocational
00:46:23
work and they they gone into the trades
00:46:25
and they do really well for themselves
00:46:28
go to military you know and and friends
00:46:31
who don't do any school after college
00:46:32
and are really successful what they do
00:46:35
um but but I do understand that push of
00:46:40
like you want to do this thing so like
00:46:42
let's put some guidelin let's put some
00:46:44
boundaries around it so that you can
00:46:45
like judge what success in that looks
00:46:48
like right and that's that's a big thing
00:46:50
for I think a lot of young people is
00:46:53
yeah well what does success look like
00:46:56
you know it's
00:46:57
like you know is it is it a money is it
00:47:00
a monetary thing is it it's so hard and
00:47:03
your your brain is just
00:47:05
spinning like okay what do I want to do
00:47:07
and what do I like and yeah well and
00:47:10
we're taught so much that it's like once
00:47:12
you pick a career path that's like what
00:47:14
you're stuck with right it's like you're
00:47:16
going to do this one thing for the rest
00:47:17
of your life and it's like that's
00:47:19
actually not really true it doesn't have
00:47:22
to be true it can be true um there's
00:47:24
plenty of people who do want to just
00:47:26
stick with my dad's had the same not the
00:47:28
same job but he's done basically the
00:47:30
same thing for the last for my entire
00:47:31
lifetime yeah um so 27 years 27 plus
00:47:35
years and it's like that's crazy to me
00:47:38
um I can't imagine doing that when I
00:47:40
like switch things up every six month
00:47:42
the same as you I know I'm the same as
00:47:44
you I get I don't want to say I get
00:47:46
bored but I get like this urge to like
00:47:49
okay let's switch it up let's let's do
00:47:51
something else exciting you know not
00:47:53
that I'm tired of what I do because you
00:47:55
know at the end of the day you do have
00:47:57
to work and you do have to bring in
00:47:58
money and whatever that looks like for
00:47:59
you sometimes it's not the most
00:48:01
enjoyable I'm thankful to have a job
00:48:02
that I love and I'm also doing side gig
00:48:05
work as well so it's yeah it's I can't
00:48:09
do the same thing every day I would go
00:48:12
ballistic and I think that probably
00:48:14
comes from the home school not every day
00:48:17
was different and I didn't have that
00:48:19
mundane you know 8: a.m. to 4: whatever
00:48:22
public school hours are um every day was
00:48:25
so different and now in my adult life
00:48:27
it's like nothing has to be the same
00:48:30
every day yeah hobbies are important
00:48:33
hobbies are really good and like and if
00:48:37
you can monetize them awesome you know
00:48:39
but not every hobby has to be monetized
00:48:41
um but you know knowing that about
00:48:43
yourself and knowing I I enjoy doing you
00:48:46
know XYZ it's like that's good you know
00:48:49
it it's a self you know it's a looking
00:48:52
Inward and and recognizing that like I
00:48:55
need this to keep saying and in my life
00:48:57
because yeah getting bored with the
00:48:59
mundane and yeah we grew up in
00:49:00
situations where it's like every day was
00:49:01
totally different you know and that's
00:49:04
what made it really fun like it to be
00:49:06
honest it always so fun yeah I I
00:49:10
remember being like when I got my
00:49:11
license and like I I had a car and I was
00:49:14
like off and doing my own stuff and like
00:49:16
I remember it was like 10:30 in the
00:49:18
morning and I'm like out doing the
00:49:20
grocery shopping for my mom or something
00:49:22
just I don't know why but I was just
00:49:24
like at a store for some reason at this
00:49:26
lady and she's like you're really young
00:49:27
to be here like should you be in school
00:49:29
and I was like oh well I I did school
00:49:31
last night like I finished school at 2:
00:49:33
this morning and I think and she was
00:49:34
just like she could not understand what
00:49:36
was going on and I was like she's like
00:49:38
no you're supposed to be in class and
00:49:40
I'm like no I I did my class last night
00:49:43
finished at 2 a.m. U I'm shopping I'm
00:49:46
grocery shopping for my mom today and
00:49:48
she's like I she just couldn't she
00:49:51
wanted me to like leave or something I
00:49:53
don't know it was really confusing
00:49:54
that's funny I swear people cannot
00:49:58
like understand how that that looks
00:50:01
because it is it's weird to see a a
00:50:04
teenager you know in a grocery store in
00:50:05
the middle of the day it's like
00:50:08
shouldn't you I co changed that for a
00:50:10
lot of people where it was like it it
00:50:12
threw everyone into a tail spin and then
00:50:14
that is that's why there's been a rise
00:50:16
in homeschooling because of that um and
00:50:19
parents seeing like oh maybe this isn't
00:50:21
super hard right or doing an at home
00:50:24
partially education
00:50:27
yeah you know there there's some
00:50:28
benefits to it and and things like that
00:50:30
so well and I can only imagine the
00:50:32
amount of resources there are now is
00:50:34
opposed to when we didn't have YouTube
00:50:36
you know growing up and um H you know
00:50:41
you had to purchase all the curriculum
00:50:42
yourself or or we would have curriculum
00:50:44
sales that was another Pastime or fun
00:50:47
activity I feel like every so often all
00:50:50
the homeschool moms would get together
00:50:51
and sell whatever curriculum they didn't
00:50:54
need anymore and so many families
00:50:57
benefited from it we benefited hugely
00:51:00
from that but that was just back then
00:51:02
you know now to be able to home school
00:51:05
the amount of resources that I'm sure
00:51:08
are available would just blow my mind
00:51:11
like that's a that's something I never
00:51:13
think about is like we had a lot of
00:51:15
great resources back then but now you
00:51:18
know I can only imagine yeah exactly
00:51:21
like Google is so much more powerful now
00:51:23
and you know being able to research and
00:51:26
learn on your own is like insanely easy
00:51:30
and so so with all of that being said if
00:51:35
you like when SL if you have kids or you
00:51:39
have people in your life who have kids
00:51:41
and they're like I'm thinking about
00:51:42
homeschooling like would you say yes or
00:51:45
would like would you be like that's do
00:51:48
it or or would you be like maybe maybe
00:51:51
some public
00:51:52
school you know I I would say person
00:51:56
personally if you know I don't plan on
00:51:59
having kids but if that were to happen
00:52:00
you know if however life goes I
00:52:04
personally would not see myself
00:52:05
homeschooling only because knowing
00:52:08
myself I don't feel comfortable with the
00:52:11
education that I've had and you know
00:52:13
with the extracurriculars and you know
00:52:15
the
00:52:16
artistic PE side of things I would
00:52:19
absolutely love that but re in reality
00:52:23
the academic side of things I would want
00:52:25
to rely on someone public school or a
00:52:27
private school to educate my children I
00:52:31
would definitely
00:52:33
encourage parents who are considering it
00:52:36
to give it a shot I I think that it you
00:52:40
know it definitely had some like
00:52:44
anything schooling wise it had you know
00:52:47
pros and cons but I would definitely
00:52:50
encourage it I would say you know if you
00:52:54
feel more comfortable with it if you you
00:52:57
feel strong in yourself um to be able to
00:53:01
provide that for your your children I
00:53:05
would definitely say go for it I would
00:53:07
also suggest to surround yourself with
00:53:10
other fellow homeschoolers because I
00:53:12
can't imagine my parents doing that with
00:53:15
me and my siblings alone with no support
00:53:19
from fellow parents from fellow groups
00:53:22
fellow
00:53:23
Educators um because that Community is
00:53:27
what really helped us survive
00:53:30
homeschooling I think without that
00:53:32
Community if you're just doing it by
00:53:34
yourself um the resources are very
00:53:38
limited and it's going to be a lot
00:53:40
harder I know that my parents leaned on
00:53:42
fellow parents so heavily sometimes to
00:53:47
you it was really a village rages
00:53:49
whatever the phrase is the village
00:53:50
raises a child or you know everybody
00:53:53
takes a village it takes a village thank
00:53:55
you everybody came together and uh for
00:53:59
all of us and we all were able to
00:54:01
benefit from so many different people so
00:54:03
I would I would say go for it if that's
00:54:05
something that you're interested in but
00:54:09
definitely surround yourself with you
00:54:10
know I'm sure there are communities
00:54:13
there are people who are interested in
00:54:15
the same thing um because that's I think
00:54:19
what made the experience so cool is you
00:54:23
know the entire Community I think it's I
00:54:26
think too it's just parents being
00:54:28
involved in their kids education is
00:54:30
really important right oh yeah it's like
00:54:32
whether you agree with what you know
00:54:35
what whatever your kid is learning if
00:54:37
you can be there and be learning it
00:54:38
alongside of them so when they have
00:54:40
questions they feel safe to come and
00:54:42
talk to you about it right questions it
00:54:44
AB absolutely that's how I felt with my
00:54:47
parents and like and with the community
00:54:49
that we grew up in in the village it's
00:54:51
like that was I felt safe going to other
00:54:54
parents and asking them questions around
00:54:56
too because it was just like the these
00:54:59
were also teachers in my life you know
00:55:01
and so that was helpful is like ask dumb
00:55:05
questions it just it makes life so much
00:55:08
better it feels dumb at the moment but
00:55:10
it's like just ask it because otherwise
00:55:13
you're not going to know right and then
00:55:14
yeah well the likelihood of them them
00:55:18
that person that you're asking that dumb
00:55:19
question to the likelihood of them
00:55:21
remembering oh I remember when I didn't
00:55:23
know that you know takes takes you back
00:55:25
and every every person that I like you
00:55:28
how you said that because every parent I
00:55:30
did feel comfortable with and it always
00:55:33
I mean at the time I didn't know it but
00:55:35
looking back the surrounding just love
00:55:38
and investment from all of the parents
00:55:41
and the mentors that we had was huge it
00:55:45
like you said it was always a safe space
00:55:47
and it was always something that you
00:55:48
could go to anyone the parents to to
00:55:51
talk to about um and and that's just
00:55:54
something I feel like you don't have the
00:55:55
connection with
00:55:57
teachers I mean again don't have much of
00:56:00
experience but they're there to teach
00:56:02
and then they leave whereas you know my
00:56:04
relationship with my parents is
00:56:05
definitely something that I am very
00:56:07
lucky to have not many people are you
00:56:11
know that lucky or that blessed to have
00:56:14
the relationship like how I do with my
00:56:15
parents and and growing up with their
00:56:17
investment too so I think homeschooling
00:56:19
played a huge part of that the other
00:56:22
question I would ask too is you know
00:56:24
people always say like oh yeah
00:56:25
homeschooling homeschoolers are weirdos
00:56:27
which we are but like does it get better
00:56:30
like after not being a homeschooler
00:56:34
for it's been 10 years for me um so that
00:56:37
means it's been 11 years for you um 11
00:56:39
years wow that's
00:56:41
crazy not to date ourselves or anything
00:56:44
but no but that's so weird to think
00:56:45
about and also like I'm still so young
00:56:48
you know to put it in perspective like I
00:56:53
how I would answer that is every
00:56:56
everybody's weird everybody goes through
00:56:59
a very weird adolescence whether it's
00:57:01
public school or
00:57:03
homeschooling
00:57:05
um and I mean it didn't stop me I'm
00:57:09
still weird but I definitely learned so
00:57:11
much um you know moving from
00:57:15
homeschooling and you know I get to the
00:57:18
point now where people ask me you know
00:57:21
if the topic comes up and I say yeah I
00:57:22
was homeschooled either they say yeah
00:57:24
that makes sense which I'm always
00:57:26
curious about that answer or just oh
00:57:29
that's cool what was that experience you
00:57:31
know and and I I definitely feel like
00:57:34
it's I don't know it it absolutely gets
00:57:38
better it changes um and and I I feel
00:57:40
comfortable in the space now where I am
00:57:42
my own person and you know I've I've
00:57:45
been able to take some things from what
00:57:47
I grew up learning and and I've been
00:57:49
able to find my own path and I think
00:57:52
that's I really value what homeschooling
00:57:55
gave me and and that's what becoming an
00:57:59
adult is like is learning who you are
00:58:02
and if that resonates with what you
00:58:04
learned growing up
00:58:07
and it it does get better you know I'm I
00:58:11
definitely you know I I know for me at
00:58:15
least it does get better I have seen you
00:58:17
know the the typical homeschooler uh
00:58:20
stereotype you where you stay that way
00:58:23
your entire life and I'm sure that
00:58:24
happens but in my case and I think
00:58:27
definitely in your case too like it
00:58:28
absolutely gets better
00:58:31
so yes uh yeah I look back at photos and
00:58:34
I'm like I'm like oh my gosh we were
00:58:36
cringy as hell um but but the other
00:58:39
thing the other thing that has been
00:58:40
great about homeschooling is like I have
00:58:43
lifelong friends who I grew up with and
00:58:46
you being one of them and I have other
00:58:48
friends too who it's just like I will be
00:58:50
friends with them probably until the day
00:58:53
I die I will be friends with them for a
00:58:55
very long time
00:58:57
and and it's this thing where you can
00:59:00
not see them for years I mean when you
00:59:02
were in college I didn't see you for you
00:59:03
know four plus years and you come back
00:59:06
and it it's just like nothing changed
00:59:08
you know you can still talk about the
00:59:09
old times new times but it yeah the just
00:59:12
solid people who are going to be in your
00:59:14
life forever well is there any other is
00:59:19
there anything else you want to share
00:59:20
any other cringy stories any other
00:59:22
tidbits of advice that you're just like
00:59:25
oh man people to
00:59:28
know uh I we could do a whole separate
00:59:31
episode of cringey stories so I leave
00:59:35
that for part two but um just you know I
00:59:40
say just just do you it's it's G to turn
00:59:43
out all right in the end it always does
00:59:46
it's all gonna be okay it's all gonna be
00:59:48
okay wow super uh Ted Talk Vibe of me
00:59:51
but um no this thank you so much for
00:59:55
coming on and chat this was so fun this
00:59:59
it's the reminiscing that gets me it's
01:00:00
like oh like certain memories that you
01:00:02
brought up I'm like oh gosh I completely
01:00:04
forgot about that you know yeah exactly
01:00:07
no and that's that's how I feel too is
01:00:09
like thinking back I'm like you know
01:00:12
there's things I blacked out or whatever
01:00:13
that I'm just like I then now I'm going
01:00:15
through old photos and I'm like trying
01:00:18
to kind of reinvigorate myself of like
01:00:20
okay what was like homeschooling like
01:00:21
again cuz like I said it's been 10 years
01:00:24
um it's been yeah a little over 10 years
01:00:26
at this point and it's like oh my gosh
01:00:28
like I remember doing these different
01:00:31
things that were just like some of them
01:00:33
super awful and awkward and you know
01:00:36
terrible but other things are just like
01:00:38
so great and they're just like such
01:00:40
strong memories of like you know growing
01:00:43
up and just having fun you know and just
01:00:46
being kids and being allowed to be kind
01:00:49
of the weird kids where we had interest
01:00:51
oh this was the thing I was going to
01:00:52
bring up this sparked my memory here we
01:00:56
go Carrie and I were in class together
01:01:00
in high school and we filmed an entire
01:01:02
movie together that we had a movie
01:01:06
premiere we had a red carpet we had all
01:01:09
of these crazy things two Preface on
01:01:12
that that wasn't the assignment okay it
01:01:14
was a British literature class we were
01:01:16
reading The Importance of Being Earnest
01:01:18
and it was an extra credit work if we
01:01:21
filmed a scene a scene from the book or
01:01:24
from the play you get extra credit I
01:01:27
don't know how it turned into what it
01:01:29
did but we filmed the entire
01:01:32
script yes we got our friends involved
01:01:34
we had like a cast of eight different
01:01:36
people I want to say we filmed at
01:01:38
different locations we had a movie
01:01:40
premiere like you said
01:01:42
like yeah I was looking back at photos
01:01:45
of my life right there we did a music
01:01:47
video your dad your dad let us record a
01:01:49
song in the studio and then we made a
01:01:51
music video we released it on DVD I know
01:01:54
it exists out there um my when my
01:01:57
grandfather passed away they found like
01:01:59
two copies of it in his house and I like
01:02:02
love watch it again I mean we had this
01:02:05
movie premiere at a friend's house and
01:02:08
we got doled up we had cake we had food
01:02:12
all of the members of The Homeschool
01:02:14
community and more like people from my
01:02:16
church came who I didn't really know
01:02:19
people came out to support like and it
01:02:21
was a threeh hour long movie don't
01:02:24
forget that it was long it was it we
01:02:27
spent a long time on it and I'm pretty
01:02:29
sure people were so tired of it by the
01:02:31
end because it I mean we were kids it
01:02:33
was so poorly produced because we didn't
01:02:35
have anything better you know but talk
01:02:38
about like the best I feel like it
01:02:40
happened over the course of six months
01:02:41
to like a year of just it was a long
01:02:45
time it was so much fun we learned our
01:02:47
lines we did the costumes like we asked
01:02:50
friends parents to film at their houses
01:02:53
like do dog one of a the best memories I
01:02:56
have with you is definitely
01:02:59
that yeah I had to bring it up just
01:03:02
because yeah like I said looking at
01:03:03
photos I saw some photos from it and I
01:03:05
was just like I was REM reminded of yeah
01:03:08
just it was awkward and it was terrible
01:03:10
but like looking back I wouldn't change
01:03:12
that for anything and how many public
01:03:14
school kids get to be like I filmed an
01:03:17
entire movie and had a red carpet
01:03:19
premiere for my not that many how many
01:03:22
home school kids not that many but for
01:03:24
us we did it we did the thing we had
01:03:27
golden stars we had cake we had popcorn
01:03:29
we did the full movie theater
01:03:32
backyard experience it was great it was
01:03:35
fantastic um that movie will not be
01:03:37
shown anywhere you cannot find it on the
01:03:39
internet do not go looking for it sure
01:03:42
the music video is still up there on one
01:03:43
of my old YouTube accounts probably is
01:03:46
yeah you can hear my voice cracking
01:03:48
linked down below no yeah links yeah
01:03:51
links in the show
01:03:53
notes probably not um don't go look for
01:03:56
it please yeah definitely won't be able
01:03:58
to to find it it's in the archives but
01:04:01
that that was just I mean we did theater
01:04:03
but there was nothing that compared to
01:04:05
to that and
01:04:09
just the effort I mean I'm I really hope
01:04:12
we passed that class I can't remember I
01:04:14
think we must have we did my mom gave us
01:04:17
all A's she was like the amount of work
01:04:19
that we put into that she was like more
01:04:21
work into that than actual homework yeah
01:04:23
did the actual class
01:04:25
yeah yeah I think everyone else in that
01:04:27
class was like what are they doing no
01:04:30
one got it and it was just whoever was a
01:04:33
part of it was a part of it and yeah
01:04:36
again I still don't even know how we
01:04:38
just thought of it but it it just
01:04:40
happened it was fun yeah yeah the super
01:04:44
fun so that's another encouragement for
01:04:46
parents and you know is like let your
01:04:49
kids be weird and do really fun corg
01:04:51
stuff because at the time we didn't
01:04:52
think we were weird I I mean I knew I
01:04:54
was not cool but like I never thought I
01:04:58
was weird until looking back it's like
01:05:00
God that is so cringe but at the time
01:05:02
that's just what you did you just you
01:05:04
just filmed a whole movie from a book
01:05:06
you just you know you just wore matching
01:05:10
superhero shirts because you could at
01:05:12
groups or whatever I don't know if you
01:05:13
remember that we definitely did that
01:05:16
yeah no we definitely did that and yeah
01:05:18
you just did you just did it you were on
01:05:20
the Mind team you did theater like you
01:05:23
just you took home economics CL for
01:05:27
girls y you
01:05:29
know and that's just what you did that's
01:05:33
yep that's just what it was so anyway
01:05:37
yeah well thank you for coming on I
01:05:38
really appreciate it thank you for being
01:05:40
my first
01:05:41
interview many more to come hopefully
01:05:44
you'll come back part two I would love
01:05:47
to do part two but also I would love to
01:05:48
hear this podcast is going to be so rad
01:05:52
because every person's experience is
01:05:54
different and it's so cool to open up
01:05:57
the conversation of the stories that
01:06:00
people have and you know what people are
01:06:03
going through now as far as
01:06:05
homeschooling you know I'm sure it's
01:06:06
different some things are the same but
01:06:08
it it's just going to be so cool to hear
01:06:10
what people have to say about their
01:06:12
experiences and I'm I'm very much
01:06:14
looking forward to that too so thank you
01:06:16
for This brilliant
01:06:19
idea well thank you and yeah if you're
01:06:22
new to the podcast because well this is
01:06:23
the new podcast so subscribe like follow
01:06:27
leave it a rating do all of the things
01:06:29
that you already know how to do and uh
01:06:32
let me know if you've got questions that
01:06:34
you want answered I will do my best to
01:06:36
make them be answered so all right until
01:06:40
next
01:06:41
time later
01:06:44
[Music]
