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I Grew Up Thinking Public School Was Evil!

October 17, 2025 / 46:56

This episode features Jacob Giddon and guest Stephanie discussing their experiences growing up in homeschooling environments. Topics include transitioning from homeschooling to public school, the structure of homeschooling, and the challenges faced by homeschool families.

Stephanie shares her journey of being homeschooled through high school, her family's approach to education, and her eventual transition to public school at El Camino. She discusses the differences in structure between her homeschooling experience and public schooling.

They talk about the responsibilities of older siblings in large homeschooling families and the lack of formal education structure in Stephanie's upbringing. Stephanie reflects on her decision to homeschool her own children for a couple of years before transitioning them to public school.

Jacob and Stephanie also address common misconceptions about public schooling within the homeschool community, emphasizing the importance of parental involvement in children's education. They discuss the positive experiences Stephanie's children have had in public school.

The episode concludes with advice for parents considering homeschooling, highlighting the flexibility of the approach and the importance of finding a supportive community.

TL;DR

Jacob and Stephanie discuss homeschooling experiences, transitioning to public school, and the importance of parental involvement in education.

Episode

46:56
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What is good my exhies? It's your boy
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Jacob Giddon. We are back for another
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week of the exhomeschoolers club where
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we talk about the good, the bad, and the
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ugly of growing up a homeschool kid.
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This week, my friend Stephanie is
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joining me in the clubhouse. Now,
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Stephanie, I've known Stephanie for a
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long time, okay? And her and her family
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are some of my nearest and dearest
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homeschool friends. But Stephanie is
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going to share all about her homeschool
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experience, transitioning out of that,
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getting married, having kids,
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homeschooling her own kids for a few
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years, and now them transitioning into
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public school, and what she's kind of
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learned in all of that experience. It's
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a fun conversation and I hope you guys
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enjoy. Do me a favor, if you enjoy this
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episode, share it with a friend, okay?
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Shoot them a text, shoot them an email,
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shoot them a DM, whatever you got to do,
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send this episode to them and so uh they
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can check it out for themselves. And
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with that, let's jump into a
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conversation with my friend Stephanie.
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Well, Stephanie, welcome to the Exomes
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Schoolers Club. It's so good to see you.
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>> Thank you. Thank you for having me.
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>> Oh my gosh. Um, we've known each other
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for a very long time because, well, you
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babysat me. I I don't know if it's
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necessarily babysitting cuz I wasn't
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totally a baby, but you you would come
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hang out with my sister and I and take
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care of us when my parents would go on
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date night or, you know, have something
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fun. So anyway, we've known each other
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for a very long time. Um,
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>> you've seen me uh I'm I'm not even going
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to go there. We But you've seen me
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>> as a as a little child. You probably
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have some stories that you could share
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that would totally embarrass me.
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>> We'll keep those saved later.
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>> Yeah. But um but you also homeschool
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kid, bigger homeschool family than mine
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and uh were definitely your whole family
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was very much like a part of my
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homeschool journey. But I would love
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>> do the quick breakdown for us of like
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your homeschool experience and walk me
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through day in the life at the house
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with the siblings. Yeah.
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>> Yeah. So, I was homeschooled all the way
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through my sophomore year of high school
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and then I went to El Camino. Um, I my
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whole family, all my siblings
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homeschooled all the way through.
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They did the achieve graduation.
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I was the only I believe I'm the only
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one who didn't do the achieve. I got my
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GED
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um after I dropped out of El Camino. I
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got my GED. Um, but all of us were
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homeschooled basically all the way
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through.
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>> Wow.
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>> From from
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very beginning to
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achieve graduation.
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>> And there's six of you guys.
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>> There's there's uh six troll. Yes. So I
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have five siblings. I have two brothers
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and um three sisters. Had a
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>> Hey, it's okay. Sometimes I have to
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question how many siblings I have and
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it's it's one, right?
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>> Yeah. So I have five siblings.
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>> Okay. Very cool. So,
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I didn't realize your brother because
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you have an older brother and then every
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other sibling is younger than you, but I
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didn't even realize that your oldest
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brother was homeschooled all the way
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through, too. That's kind of wild.
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>> Yep. Yep. Yeah. He did the achieved
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graduation, then went to VC and then
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went to Channel Islands and then he has
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a uh a degree in history.
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>> Okay.
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>> And now he's in the the military.
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>> Okay.
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>> Currently. So talk talk to me a little
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bit about like typical homeschool day
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because some people have the very like
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structured where mom and dad kind of
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build like a very like traditional
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school experience at home for their kids
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and then there's like
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>> maybe a little bit more unstructured
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where it's like every day is going to be
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a little bit different.
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>> Which category did you guys fall into?
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We fell into the very rare uh where
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homeschooling day was rare, very
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occasional actual homeschooling.
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Um very inconsistent.
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>> Mhm.
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>> Um
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where we I would say on average we
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probably did 30 minutes to an hour of
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school
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twice a week. Um, it was very, yeah, it
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was very sporadic. Um, my mom
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really had goals and dreams of like
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having routines and having everyone sit
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down and, you know, be self-sufficient
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and do their schoolwork and it it just
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fell through the cracks. It never really
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became what she wanted. Um, as an adult,
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I can look back and totally understand
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how that happened. How having six
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children and trying to homeschool each
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and every one and then having your
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youngest daughter be disabled, like that
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is so much work. Totally understand how
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it fell through the cracks. Um, so yeah,
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it was very sporadic and very rare that
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we would actually sit down and do school
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work. very not structured and focused
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mainly on math and reading. Those were
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the two subjects that we
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did. I mean, hey, they're important, but
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I I kind of relate to the like my when
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when we started homeschooling, my my mom
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was pretty strict on I mean, my sister
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was in kindergarten, so I mean, how
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strict are you going to be with the
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kindergartener? But like I was second
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grade, she definitely tried to give like
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a structure, and within a couple years,
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it kind of went out the window. I mean,
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we had
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>> some structure to it, but it definitely
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went from like, okay, we're going to be
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sitting down at the table at 8 a.m.
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every day, and we're going to, you know,
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30 minutes for math and 30 minutes for
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reading and 30 minutes for science, and,
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you know, it it went out the window
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pretty quickly where it became like,
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okay, we know we have to get all this
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done.
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>> Now, it's just a matter of like when we
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get it done and how we get it done. Um,
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but I know too like I I'm wondering too
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because I've been having more
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conversations with people who come from
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a larger homeschool family and so like
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also is there a level of like
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six kids is a lot of kids to have in
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your house and like
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>> you know we didn't outnumber our parents
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at my house. So but I know that
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sometimes in those larger families the
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older siblings then become like teachers
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and almost parents to like the younger
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siblings. Is that something that took
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place in your house?
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>> Somewhat. Yeah. Not. We didn't take over
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teaching.
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>> Okay.
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>> At all. But it definitely took over a
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lot of babysitting, a lot of uh keeping
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an eye on kids, a lot of making sure the
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chores are done and doing laundry and
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you know that type of thing. Um but we
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didn't I wouldn't know how to teach
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because I didn't know.
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>> Yeah.
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>> I didn't Yeah. But a a lot of a lot of
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babysitting, a lot of being responsible
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for be younger kids, a lot of uh if
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something happened like one of us got in
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trouble, it would be like, well, you
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were in charge, so it's your fault type.
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>> Okay.
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>> Like the responsibility would fall on
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the person in charge.
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>> Okay. So, school wasn't necessarily
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happen at your house, but was there did
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you guys have any like extracurriculars
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or co-ops or anything else outside of
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the house that was maybe I don't want to
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say more structured, but like maybe gave
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some semblance of some of structure?
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definitely more structured. But yeah, we
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did group solutions. Um,
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>> y
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>> I'm I can't remember how old I was when
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we joined.
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>> It was before I went to El Camino and
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that was my sophomore year. So I I would
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probably say probably 13 to 15. We I was
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13 years old to 15. We did group
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solutions. Um, and then that kind of
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forced us to have a structure. That
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forced us to actually have someone else
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hold us accountable that wasn't our
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parents, right? cuz you know what's my
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mom going to do that much. Um but having
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a teacher especially a male teacher I
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was like oh I have to read this book. I
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have to do this book report. So we had a
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lot of structure. There's a lot of my
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mom probably liked that where we were
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>> right
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>> had a teacher actually grade our paper.
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It was not something I was used to. Like
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I remember being so stressed out that I
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had to like read a book and do a book
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report because I didn't know how to do
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that. I didn't know how to write a
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report. I didn't know how to what the
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structures were, what the format was or
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anything. And so it was uh you know, it
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was tough, but I survived.
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>> Yeah. Well, I think it's it's
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interesting when
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I'm going to call it like the comeback
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that like I think a lot of like
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homeschool kids who maybe have like that
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lack of education like the the drive
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they then have when like they are put in
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a situation where it's like okay I have
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to deliver. It's maybe not instantaneous
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where it's like, yeah, there probably
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was some bad grades to begin with, but
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like you pick it up a lot faster, I
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think, than than uh would be expected.
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Like if that if that makes sense. Like I
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heard this saying one time that was like
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it was like let's not totally worry
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about like
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something about like kids kind not
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getting left behind, but kind of like
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struggling, but then there's a point
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where sometimes it kicks in where
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they're like, "Okay, I get this." And
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then it's like this rapid succession to
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get back get to the point where they're
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like, "Okay, now I'm delivering work
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that is actually like I know how to
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write a book report or I know how to do
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a science lab or something like that."
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So, did you have that where you're like
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it kicked in where you're like, "No." Or
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you just were like, "I'm totally faking
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it." And try to figure out and maybe get
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a passing grade.
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>> Um, let's just say I might have
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plagiarized something.
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>> Hey, we've all been there.
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>> But I did take Mrs. Yep's writing class.
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I've just heard I just that just popped
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into my head. I took two years of Mrs.
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Yip writing. Um, and so I did have some
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structure, I guess, with writing.
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>> Um,
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I know looking back at my writing, it
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was really bad, but
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>> that I mean,
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>> yeah, it's not real,
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>> but I Yeah, I did not get to the point
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where I'm like, oh, I this is clicking
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for me. Like I to this day I still
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struggle with punctuation and correct
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spelling and writing and basically all
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forms of all the subjects, math,
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science, all that stuff. I I I still
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very much struggle. My kids are
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14 and 12 and they have surpassed my
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threshold for education. Like everything
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they're doing now in school, I have no
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idea what what how to help them.
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>> Wow. So
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>> I it is luckily my husband is very smart
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and he understands all that math stuff.
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English reading writing definitely
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clicks a little more for me because I
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love to read
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>> and um so I'm able to kind of
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>> weasel my way through that. But
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>> hey I mean you read enough books after a
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while you just like subconsciously start
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to pick things up of like oh this is how
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a sentence is structured. You know what
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I mean? Like
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>> or like oh that's what that word is.
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Okay. I've never seen that word before
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in my life.
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>> Exactly. And yeah, I mean, shout out
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Mrs. Yip because Mrs. Yip definitely she
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was a big instrumental person for me too
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in like
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>> getting my my writing to where it was in
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college and stuff like that.
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>> Yeah.
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>> Yeah, she was a class that I I
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plagiarized the um actually it was an
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Adventures of Odyssey thing that I
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plagiarized.
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I don't know why I should say that, but
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yeah, I totally uh almost word for word
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a scene from Avengers and Odyssey, I put
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mix it into my story.
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So, hey,
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you know, you know, you know what's
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funny? And not to go on too much of a
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tangent, but Adventures in Odyssey was
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is like such a it's such like an A+ like
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not I'm not saying the content of it,
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but just like the delivery and the
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remembrance that we all have for it. Oh
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yeah.
00:11:45
>> Um it's such a like
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>> I was talking to somebody recently and I
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was like I feel like a lot of us got our
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love for like theater and acting and
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like
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>> that kind of thing
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adventures and Yeah.
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>> Exactly. Adventures and Odyssey. So, you
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know,
00:12:00
>> Dobson and Focus on the Family might not
00:12:01
have done a a bunch of amazing things,
00:12:03
but that is one of the good things that
00:12:04
they gave us.
00:12:06
>> Yeah, that is Yep. I will give them
00:12:08
that. Adventures in Odyssey was
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amaz I to this day I still there's still
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scenes from Adventures that my siblings
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and I will talk about.
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>> Yeah.
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>> And like quotes and stuff and I'm like,
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you know,
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>> it's good. It's funny because I will
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listen to audiobooks or uh like radio
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theater type things and I just always
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compare it to that and I'm like it's not
00:12:30
as good. It's not as good. There's very
00:12:32
few things that I found that are are
00:12:34
equally as good or even remotely uh as
00:12:37
good. And so just like man they really
00:12:39
they dialed that in. Whatever they were
00:12:41
doing in that studio they were cooking.
00:12:43
So
00:12:43
>> they got it. Yep. Yep.
00:12:45
>> I wanted to hit on so you talked about
00:12:47
Okay. El Camino for those people who
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don't really know. Can you like quickly
00:12:51
break down what El Camino was?
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>> Um, I believe it has changed a little
00:12:55
bit since I was there. Um, but it's an
00:12:58
independent study school where you
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go about once a week and you do one
00:13:06
subject at a time and you
00:13:09
kind of go speedrun through that course
00:13:12
and then you move on to another subject.
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And so you can complete like all four
00:13:17
years of high school in about 2 or 3
00:13:19
years if you're really quick. So, and
00:13:22
then you do take college classes at the
00:13:25
same time and those college classes
00:13:27
count for double high school credits,
00:13:29
>> right?
00:13:30
>> So that can also boost your graduation.
00:13:33
>> But yeah, so it just required one day a
00:13:36
week to visit with your teacher, turn in
00:13:38
homework, and do your tests. And then
00:13:40
everything else you did on your own.
00:13:42
>> And how did how did that go? like that
00:13:44
transition was that
00:13:46
>> um was that a transition that you chose
00:13:48
of like okay I want to do this or your
00:13:49
your parents were like okay we're kind
00:13:51
of like done with you like we need we
00:13:54
need something different uh in your life
00:13:56
and then how did like the overall
00:13:57
experience go cuz you you brought up
00:13:58
doing GED so um
00:14:00
>> I didn't know I was being enrolled in
00:14:02
Elena now
00:14:03
>> okay
00:14:03
>> I didn't know my mom I was in the car
00:14:07
with my mom we showed up to the school
00:14:10
we walked in and I was enrolled
00:14:13
>> I was sitting at the table with this
00:14:15
teacher, Mrs. Hwitt, who was super nice,
00:14:18
and I left with textbooks and a uh how
00:14:22
many chapters I needed to read out of
00:14:23
this textbook. And I'm like, so I didn't
00:14:25
know I didn't know that I was being
00:14:27
enrolled in El Camino until I was
00:14:28
enrolled in El Camino.
00:14:29
>> Okay. So, big shock.
00:14:30
>> So, it was it was a shock to me.
00:14:32
Absolutely.
00:14:33
>> Okay.
00:14:34
>> I don't know my what my mom's thought
00:14:36
process was for it. I've never asked
00:14:39
her. I probably should. Um,
00:14:42
and I was the only one who was also
00:14:44
enrolled in El Camino. None none of my
00:14:47
other siblings, my mom made them go to
00:14:48
El Camino, so I I don't I don't know her
00:14:52
thought process behind that, but so I
00:14:54
did El Camino. Um, what was the other
00:14:56
question?
00:14:57
>> How how was that like experience like
00:14:59
then transition? Obviously, you're
00:15:00
independent study, so you're doing most
00:15:02
of the work still at home, but like the
00:15:03
classroom environment. I mean, you did
00:15:05
group solutions, so I'm sure you were
00:15:07
somewhat familiar with that, but like
00:15:08
>> Yes. Was it was it a big shock or not
00:15:10
really? Or was mostly the shock of like,
00:15:12
oh my gosh, now all of a sudden I have
00:15:13
all these subjects and textbooks.
00:15:15
>> Yes, that was the main shock was does
00:15:18
the
00:15:19
the actually being like, okay, here you
00:15:21
have, you know, two weeks to get through
00:15:23
this, you know, 500page health textbook
00:15:26
because they how they structured that
00:15:28
class that I took was like every like
00:15:31
four chapters you took a test and so it
00:15:32
was just like you just read and then
00:15:34
answer the quiz and so you did move
00:15:35
through it very quickly. Um, and a lot
00:15:38
of kids who went to group solutions were
00:15:40
actually at El Camino.
00:15:42
>> I think that was a very common um,
00:15:46
place for homesooled parents to set
00:15:48
their high school age kids.
00:15:50
>> I don't know that my family ever looked
00:15:52
at it. We looked at some dual enrollment
00:15:53
stuff, but yes, it was very common
00:15:55
because a lot of homeschool kids,
00:15:58
there's kind of this stigma.
00:16:03
I don't want to say it's a myth, but
00:16:04
there there was definitely this thinking
00:16:05
of like homeschool kids getting into
00:16:07
college is much harder than a
00:16:09
traditional public school kid getting
00:16:10
into college, which at this stage I
00:16:13
don't know that that's 100% true, but at
00:16:16
the time there were definitely was that
00:16:17
because even when I was going to college
00:16:18
and I went 2014 when I graduated, uh it
00:16:22
was like
00:16:24
>> I felt like I had to work harder than
00:16:26
public school kids to get into college.
00:16:27
So anyway, but my point being that
00:16:29
things like El Camino, dual enrollment
00:16:31
were, I think, really pushed in the
00:16:33
homeschool community because it gave you
00:16:35
that college credit where all of a
00:16:36
sudden you weren't transferring in as a
00:16:38
freshman where you had to prove like,
00:16:40
oh, I've done all this work. You had
00:16:41
already shown like, I can take college
00:16:42
level material, succeed, and so you
00:16:45
should let me in essentially.
00:16:47
>> Yeah. Yeah. I remember when I was being
00:16:50
enrolled in El Camino, I was a sophomore
00:16:53
age, but I didn't have any homeschool
00:16:56
credits to prove that I was a sophomore.
00:16:58
So, I was enrolled as a freshman,
00:17:01
>> okay,
00:17:01
>> when I should have been a sophomore. So,
00:17:02
I was pushed back a full year already,
00:17:05
>> right,
00:17:06
>> when I enrolled. So, that was a bummer
00:17:09
to to, you know, be held back
00:17:12
essentially.
00:17:13
>> It's frustrating, right? you're like,
00:17:15
you know, 15, 16, and it's like all of a
00:17:18
sudden you're being told like, well, you
00:17:19
can only do the the work of a
00:17:21
14-year-old, you know, it's like that's,
00:17:23
>> you know, that's not what anybody wants
00:17:25
to hear ever.
00:17:26
>> Yeah. Yeah. So, it's Yeah, it was a
00:17:28
interesting
00:17:29
>> So, you also brought up GED and and
00:17:31
doing that. So, what like
00:17:34
what did was it dropping out of school
00:17:36
and being like, "Okay, I'm just going to
00:17:37
do GED or like
00:17:39
>> what what was the decision there?"
00:17:41
>> I was engaged. So, I got engaged at 18.
00:17:44
I got married at 19. And since I was
00:17:47
held back, I wouldn't have graduated
00:17:50
until I was about 20.
00:17:51
>> Okay.
00:17:52
>> So, I kind of at that point was like, I
00:17:54
I'm an adult. I'm 18 years old. I can
00:17:58
just drop out, get my GED, and just be
00:18:00
like, wash my hands at school. So, that
00:18:02
was kind of my thought process behind it
00:18:05
of like, I'm literally going to get
00:18:07
married next year. Like, why am I here?
00:18:10
I don't need this.
00:18:12
Um, and so I I remember going to my high
00:18:16
school counselor and being like, "Hey,
00:18:19
like I'm I'm done now." And they're
00:18:20
like, "But you're going to be uh labeled
00:18:23
as a high school dropout." And I
00:18:24
remember being like, "All right." I I
00:18:27
did not care at that time. And I had a
00:18:30
good friend at church who was also
00:18:32
getting her GED. She was like, "Let's do
00:18:34
it together." So, we signed up and took
00:18:37
the classes and then took the test
00:18:38
together and we and that's when I got my
00:18:41
GED.
00:18:41
>> I don't know that much about the GED.
00:18:43
Obviously, it's
00:18:45
>> supposedly the equivalent of the high
00:18:47
school diploma, if not maybe a little
00:18:48
bit better. But
00:18:50
>> was there were you you were just like,
00:18:52
I'm done with school. I'm just like
00:18:54
gonna get like the high school level
00:18:57
thing and then just like be done or were
00:18:58
you ever thinking like okay maybe
00:19:01
college, maybe something else in
00:19:03
addition to that?
00:19:05
>> No, I besides some classes at Ventur
00:19:08
College, I never thought I would be
00:19:10
going to college. That was never in my
00:19:12
future. Um yeah, it was not in the cards
00:19:16
for me and I never thought I would. I
00:19:18
was like, I'm just going to get married.
00:19:19
I'm going to have my GBD.
00:19:21
I'm gonna be a stay at home mom was kind
00:19:23
of my thought process of like I don't
00:19:25
need an education because
00:19:26
>> that was gonna be my next question was
00:19:28
like you know because like I was at your
00:19:30
wedding um
00:19:32
>> shout out valley Baptist
00:19:34
>> 17 that was 17 years ago on the on the
00:19:37
6th.
00:19:37
>> Oh my gosh. Well, congratulations.
00:19:39
>> Thank you.
00:19:40
>> On the 6th of September
00:19:41
>> September. Okay. Okay. Very cool. Well,
00:19:44
yeah. Congratulations. That's 17 years.
00:19:46
That's a big deal. Yeah.
00:19:47
>> Um,
00:19:48
>> but
00:19:50
so the plan was, okay, get married, stay
00:19:53
at home mom, have kids,
00:19:55
>> home,
00:19:56
>> do the good Christian wife thing
00:19:58
basically.
00:19:59
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Doing what I that was
00:20:01
that was what I grew up like that is
00:20:04
that is the thing. And so I was doing I
00:20:06
was doing the thing.
00:20:08
>> And so you did you did end up having
00:20:09
some kids and you did homeschool them
00:20:12
for a little while
00:20:13
>> for two years.
00:20:14
>> How did that go?
00:20:15
>> It was hard. Okay.
00:20:17
>> It was that was
00:20:20
I might rewind a little bit. We went in
00:20:25
to homeschool like the idea behind it
00:20:27
was we wanted to be the main influence
00:20:30
on our children, right?
00:20:32
>> The main source of guidance for them was
00:20:37
us and the church and Alana programs and
00:20:40
you know all that. Um,
00:20:43
we didn't think
00:20:46
the government really had a place to
00:20:48
educate our children because it's a
00:20:51
secular world and
00:20:54
they're only going to lead them astray
00:20:56
was kind of our thought process behind
00:20:58
it. Uh, also the flexibility of
00:21:01
homeschooling. Uh, my husband's family
00:21:04
big campers, love to camp, love, you
00:21:07
know, traveling. So that was also a big
00:21:09
plus was the flexibility the be the
00:21:11
ability to take textbooks on the road
00:21:14
and just go all right finish like that
00:21:16
the flexibility I think is a really big
00:21:18
u aspect as to why
00:21:21
we wanted to and the fact that we wanted
00:21:23
to be the main um educators for our
00:21:27
children.
00:21:27
>> That's a big re I mean you you pull
00:21:29
homeschool communities and you ask them
00:21:31
what what's the reasoning behind you
00:21:32
homeschool your kid. the majority of
00:21:34
people maybe this is I think this number
00:21:36
has gone down a little bit but I mean
00:21:37
the majority of people it's like the
00:21:39
religion we want to control like
00:21:42
>> and and that's not always like the worst
00:21:44
thing in the world but it it definitely
00:21:46
is like that's a big motivator for a lot
00:21:48
of people
00:21:50
>> as opposed to it there being the
00:21:51
motivators of like well my child has a
00:21:54
learning disability or you know or like
00:21:57
you said flexibility to go on the road
00:21:59
oh my gosh I've met so many people now
00:22:01
who like RV and like that's they're
00:22:03
they're road schooling and I'm like
00:22:04
that's insane but also like so cool that
00:22:07
like you get to go everywhere um in the
00:22:10
country whenever you want and like it's
00:22:12
not an issue you know and your kids are
00:22:13
getting a great education and also
00:22:15
getting to see the whole world and some
00:22:16
people do the world traveling thing and
00:22:18
like that's
00:22:19
>> that's insane that's awesome
00:22:21
>> um huge plus to the homeschool community
00:22:23
for that one.
00:22:24
>> Oh yeah.
00:22:24
>> But um
00:22:26
>> so at what point were you like okay this
00:22:28
is not working then? like you said 2
00:22:31
years you were like okay this is not
00:22:32
working or or was there other reasons
00:22:35
that you were like okay we need to send
00:22:36
the kids to school now
00:22:38
>> there was um a handful of other reasons
00:22:42
um but
00:22:44
I think in those two years I learned a
00:22:47
lot about myself a lot about
00:22:51
how the lack of my homeschooling
00:22:55
education
00:22:57
the lack of that I didn't know how to
00:22:59
homeschool school. The only
00:23:02
um
00:23:04
the my only influence I had was a
00:23:06
chaotic and nonstructured homeschool
00:23:09
experience. So,
00:23:12
I didn't know how to create schedules
00:23:14
and be have a routine and
00:23:18
be, you know, self-sufficient and get
00:23:21
the kids going. So, that was really hard
00:23:24
for me. And I
00:23:27
did group solutions because I was like,
00:23:28
"Oh, structure structure." And
00:23:32
again, there's a handful of other
00:23:34
reasons that I not totally comfortable
00:23:36
going into, but um
00:23:39
>> it was
00:23:42
it was really hard to do it and to have
00:23:44
the responsibility of my kids education
00:23:48
on my shoulders who
00:23:50
>> I'm not educated in, you know,
00:23:54
very well. So, it was it was a lot of
00:23:57
pressure. It was a lot of I am I setting
00:23:59
my kids up for failure for choosing to
00:24:03
homeschool my kids for, you know, just
00:24:05
to so I can be the only influence on my
00:24:08
kids when I'm not very educated. So I
00:24:11
didn't think it was a really good um
00:24:17
experience for them. So I wanted to do
00:24:20
something different. There's this like I
00:24:23
think expectation and even I had this I
00:24:25
think in high school of like okay I'm
00:24:26
gonna like get married and have kids and
00:24:28
then I'm going to homeschool them
00:24:29
because that's what what I knew and even
00:24:30
though I went to public school for two
00:24:31
years I was like this is what I'm going
00:24:32
to do like this is like the better
00:24:34
education this is the better thing.
00:24:36
>> Yeah. And as I've gotten older, I've
00:24:38
realized like I think I could do it, but
00:24:41
I definitely
00:24:43
I I understand that like there are
00:24:46
things lacking in my education that like
00:24:49
there are just huge holes where I'm
00:24:50
like, I know that I couldn't fulfill
00:24:52
this hole. And so that's in
00:24:54
homeschooling, you need the co-ops and
00:24:56
you need the support system to help you
00:24:58
with those types of things. But also
00:25:00
there's also public and private schools
00:25:02
that like can kind of also fill those
00:25:04
gaps where instead of having to also
00:25:06
then have the pressure of you're also
00:25:07
not only just mom, you're also teacher,
00:25:09
you're principal, you're like all these
00:25:11
other things, all these other roles in
00:25:13
your child's life, you can just be like,
00:25:14
"Okay, I'm just mom, but I can also now
00:25:16
be an advocate for them in school and be
00:25:19
like,
00:25:20
>> you know, let's get you the best
00:25:21
education to get you wherever you want
00:25:23
to go." Because I'm sure your kids have
00:25:24
dreams of like what they want to do and
00:25:26
who they want to be someday.
00:25:28
Well, how do we get you there? Let's
00:25:29
like actually figure that out and let me
00:25:31
go on this journey with you as opposed
00:25:33
to that just like, okay, I'm going to
00:25:35
have control and I'm going to like kind
00:25:37
of
00:25:37
>> set you up to then potentially do the
00:25:39
same thing that, you know, my parents
00:25:41
set me up to do.
00:25:42
>> In the moment when I was deciding to put
00:25:45
them to public school or keep them
00:25:46
homeschooling, I didn't know really why.
00:25:50
Not why, that's not the right word, but
00:25:51
like now looking back, I can see like,
00:25:54
oh, this is so much better for them.
00:25:56
this was this was the right choice. Like
00:25:59
they have
00:26:02
their education has they're they're so
00:26:05
much better off now in public school
00:26:07
their education wise than they were when
00:26:09
I was homeschooling them.
00:26:11
>> And so I think looking back I can
00:26:13
definitely say like I did make the right
00:26:14
decision. I wonder too because one of
00:26:17
the things you and I chatted a couple
00:26:19
weeks ago kind of preparing for this,
00:26:21
but one of the things we talked about
00:26:22
was like public school being evil and
00:26:25
that being a stereotype that gets
00:26:27
perpetuated a lot in the homeschool
00:26:29
community.
00:26:30
>> I think I have a little bit of a
00:26:31
different perspective only because I
00:26:33
went to public school for the first
00:26:34
couple years of my education. So, I
00:26:36
never viewed it as like totally evil. I
00:26:39
think I always viewed it as like lesser
00:26:41
than homeschool because I was like, "Oh,
00:26:43
well, I felt I felt smart as a home
00:26:46
school kid." Like I and I had great
00:26:47
opportunities and I'm like, "I would
00:26:48
never have this in public school."
00:26:50
>> Yeah.
00:26:50
>> But there definitely is that stigma of
00:26:52
like public school bad, homeschool good,
00:26:55
that kind of a thing. So, did you have
00:26:56
that? And if you did have that, how has
00:26:59
that transition now that you're like,
00:27:00
"Okay, now I got two kids that have been
00:27:02
public school for a while." That was
00:27:04
what we were kind of told growing up
00:27:06
that
00:27:08
if they weren't Christian, they weren't
00:27:10
good. Um, and public school, since
00:27:14
there's no God in school, it was bad.
00:27:17
Um, my mom would use this example of if
00:27:20
there is one rotten fruit, moldy fruit,
00:27:22
and you put other good fruits around it,
00:27:25
the good fruit is not going to change
00:27:26
the moldy fruit. The moldy fruit is
00:27:28
going to mold all the other fruit. And
00:27:31
so that was kind of the attitude towards
00:27:33
public school like if you went there you
00:27:35
would become bad, you would become
00:27:37
secular of the world. Um you know they
00:27:43
they would teach science, they would
00:27:45
teach you know evolution.
00:27:47
Um and that was a no no for us. So it
00:27:52
yeah definitely
00:27:54
grew up with the mindset of public
00:27:56
school was evil because
00:27:58
there's no God in public school
00:28:01
>> and they were going to everything they
00:28:03
were teaching you was them trying to
00:28:06
tell you there's no God. They're going
00:28:07
to prove that there's no God. Evolution,
00:28:09
you know, creationism is not real. that
00:28:11
whole spiel and and then just being
00:28:14
exposed to things we weren't exposed to
00:28:16
at home like rock and roll music or
00:28:20
drugs and cigarettes and drinking.
00:28:23
Um, so that like I think we grew up
00:28:27
thinking of school was like like those
00:28:29
movies from the '9s where you're like,
00:28:31
"Oh, the bad boys are smoking in the
00:28:33
bathroom." You like that vibe was what
00:28:36
we thought
00:28:37
>> like, "Oh my god, that's what all
00:28:38
schools are."
00:28:39
>> And now experiencing elementary school
00:28:43
through middle school and my daughter's
00:28:45
now a freshman in high school. Um,
00:28:47
obviously nothing's perfect, right?
00:28:49
>> But I think it outweighs like her
00:28:52
getting this education that she's
00:28:54
getting now outweighs like the couple of
00:28:58
rude friends that she's come in contact
00:29:00
with. They're like, you know, I have not
00:29:03
seen anything in their schoolwork that
00:29:04
I'm like, this is or their homework that
00:29:07
they've come home, oh, I do not agree
00:29:09
with this. This is bad for them to be
00:29:11
learning. Um, and I think it's really
00:29:14
opened my eyes to that. It's not Mike's.
00:29:18
Again, I can only speak from Mike's
00:29:19
experience. It's it's been really good.
00:29:22
It's been
00:29:23
>> very encouraging. All the teachers that
00:29:25
we've met with, you know, parent teacher
00:29:27
conferences and after school nights,
00:29:29
they've all been so kind. So, like you
00:29:32
can see that they want the best for the
00:29:34
kids that they are teaching. They have a
00:29:36
passion for teaching and they are have
00:29:39
are educ they're they are educated and I
00:29:41
love that that they
00:29:43
have this drive to educate children and
00:29:45
they're doing a good job and they care.
00:29:47
Like I just dropped my daughter off at
00:29:49
school but we dropped my son off first
00:29:51
and she sees her eighth grade teacher
00:29:53
and she's hanging out the window going,
00:29:55
"Hi teacher." Like she loved her teacher
00:29:59
at her middle school. like that makes me
00:30:01
so happy that she has fond memories of
00:30:04
teachers and has a fond experience of
00:30:06
schooling.
00:30:07
>> Yeah.
00:30:08
>> And uh I think that's very, you know,
00:30:11
definitely outweighs the couple things
00:30:13
that we've had like bullying or you
00:30:15
know, like my siblings don't bully me or
00:30:18
I didn't bully my siblings at home. Like
00:30:20
I lived with my bullies. Okay. No,
00:30:22
>> you make a good point because I think
00:30:25
the the other thing my my dad and I talk
00:30:27
a lot about this and I tell this story
00:30:29
all the time. So people who listen all
00:30:30
the time, they know that I'm going to
00:30:31
they know what I'm going to say right
00:30:32
here. My dad and I read The Da Vinci
00:30:34
Code, and that was one of those things
00:30:35
where it was like this opposing belief
00:30:37
that obviously was really pushed in the
00:30:39
religious
00:30:40
>> sector of like this book is evil and
00:30:42
wicked. And we read it and we're like,
00:30:43
this is a fiction book. This is like
00:30:45
national treasure. This is,
00:30:46
>> you know, hilar this is a great book. Um
00:30:49
and so but it it we it sparked this kind
00:30:52
of like conversation that we started to
00:30:53
have around like well when things enter
00:30:55
your life that you disagree with or they
00:30:58
don't believe in you can have a
00:31:00
conversation with your kid around those
00:31:01
things
00:31:02
>> still letting them be exposed to it but
00:31:04
also being able to reframe it into
00:31:06
whatever your worldview is. So yeah,
00:31:09
parents are Christian. They were able to
00:31:10
say, "Okay, well, we don't believe this.
00:31:11
We don't believe that, you know, Jesus
00:31:13
was married and had children and all
00:31:15
these types of things that
00:31:16
>> again, it's a fiction book that we're
00:31:18
talking about." But it's, you know, and
00:31:19
so I think that's something that got
00:31:22
missed a lot for the homeschool
00:31:23
community that we grew up in of like
00:31:25
>> there was that we isolate our kids. We
00:31:28
put them in these very Christian
00:31:30
environments where everything is agree,
00:31:31
agree, agree, and everyone's on the same
00:31:33
page. And so when they are met with the
00:31:36
world, we're kind of unprepared where
00:31:38
like your kids maybe have had some more
00:31:40
exposure to somebody who thinks
00:31:42
differently than them or has different,
00:31:44
you know, beliefs and and they can
00:31:46
actually like maybe have a conversation
00:31:48
around it uh and have a little bit more
00:31:50
of a stance that they can like defend um
00:31:53
about their their belief systems. But it
00:31:55
also opens up conversations in your
00:31:56
house where you and your husband can be
00:31:58
like, "Okay, well, maybe we need to
00:32:01
learn about this or, you know, uh,
00:32:03
something like that."
00:32:04
>> Yeah. No, there's been times where, you
00:32:07
know, I my daughter will have friends
00:32:09
over and I can hear the conversations
00:32:10
they're having and that's when as a
00:32:13
parent, I'm still very involved in my
00:32:15
kids' lives. I can be like, "Hey, like
00:32:17
we don't that's not a topic we're going
00:32:19
to talk about here. Like that is not
00:32:21
appropriate." you know, you're still
00:32:23
stepping in and being very involved.
00:32:26
Like I I don't want to uh put out the
00:32:29
impression that once my kids in public
00:32:30
school, I'm like hands off. Like, you
00:32:32
know, I'm very much still involved. Like
00:32:35
I met all their teachers. I still, you
00:32:38
know, very much involved in their
00:32:40
education and what they're learning and,
00:32:42
you know, still guiding them through
00:32:45
that. The other thing that you said that
00:32:47
really resonated with me was like your
00:32:49
daughter like waving at her eighth grade
00:32:52
teacher and like h being like this is
00:32:53
like there's core memories there
00:32:55
obviously there's good memories
00:32:57
>> and that's kind of some kind of a mentor
00:32:59
figure or just like an adult figure in
00:33:02
your daughter's life that like
00:33:04
>> they they love and will be memorable and
00:33:06
like I have people like that in my life
00:33:08
that I'm very fortunate that my parents
00:33:10
didn't isolate me totally where I had
00:33:12
those extracurriculars where I have
00:33:13
people like Tim France in my life who
00:33:15
I'm Mhm.
00:33:16
>> He was my guitar teacher. He was
00:33:17
amazing. He was that guy for me that was
00:33:20
like a safe space outside of my parents
00:33:22
and an adult relationship. And I think
00:33:25
>> homeschooling can not always but can
00:33:27
limit that sometimes. Uh where it's like
00:33:31
mom and dad are like my best friends. Um
00:33:34
kind of a thing. Um, and it's like, you
00:33:36
know, or or maybe not or may, you know,
00:33:38
but uh, but I just again it's like cool
00:33:41
to see that like you're involved in like
00:33:44
your kids's education and you're like
00:33:46
>> being an advocate for them of like,
00:33:48
okay, hey, these things are working.
00:33:49
You're meeting with the teachers. You're
00:33:50
doing, you know, you're being a parent.
00:33:52
You're being an involved parent. I think
00:33:54
that's that's what I'm hearing and
00:33:55
that's what I'm like, okay, yeah, that's
00:33:56
I that's what I envision is being good
00:34:00
and healthy.
00:34:01
>> Yes. I think that's a big part of like
00:34:03
why some people dislike public school or
00:34:06
they think it it's bad is again I don't
00:34:09
I can't say 100% certain but it's it's
00:34:11
the involvement of the parents in their
00:34:13
kids' lives being involved and being a
00:34:16
part of it and uh knowing who their
00:34:19
friends are and knowing who they're
00:34:20
talking to and knowing who they're
00:34:22
hanging out with in is a big part of why
00:34:25
I'm comfortable them going to public
00:34:27
school is because I'm involved and I
00:34:30
know the parents of my daughter's
00:34:31
friends and they are very involved. They
00:34:34
are very much in their kids' lives.
00:34:35
They're, you know, so I the I think that
00:34:40
makes the public school experience so
00:34:42
much better is seeing other parents
00:34:44
involved in their kids' lives and you
00:34:46
can you can see that in the kids. You
00:34:48
can see that they are happy, healthy
00:34:50
kids. And that's really that that is the
00:34:53
whole point of having children is
00:34:55
raising good, healthy kids. If my
00:34:58
parents can be better versions of their
00:34:59
parents and I can be a better version of
00:35:01
my parents, then like the next
00:35:03
generation can be a better version of
00:35:04
me, right? And that's what like what I'm
00:35:07
hearing. And like I think that that's
00:35:09
that's amazing. So, okay, I've got a few
00:35:13
other questions, but so let's say
00:35:16
someone's coming to you now. They have
00:35:18
kids, young kids. They're thinking about
00:35:19
homeschooling them or they're just
00:35:21
looking at school options and they're
00:35:23
like, "Okay, Stephanie was homeschooled.
00:35:25
she homeschooled her kids then took them
00:35:27
out. Like what what are you telling them
00:35:30
when they're asking like, "Okay, give me
00:35:32
some advice on this or give me just like
00:35:33
your thoughts on that environment and
00:35:36
what I should be asking questions on or
00:35:38
looking at and exploring." I think if
00:35:41
someone came to me and was like, "We're
00:35:43
thinking of homeschooling. What's your
00:35:45
advice?"
00:35:46
I would I think if they are cut out,
00:35:50
they are committed and they are like
00:35:53
gung-ho on it, like give it a give it a
00:35:56
try. There's you you can put your kid
00:35:59
back in school or like that's it's not
00:36:01
irreversible. You can you can flip-flop
00:36:04
as much as you want. Um I think if I if
00:36:08
they're
00:36:11
willing to do it,
00:36:13
all more power to you. I think it takes
00:36:16
a certain person and I don't think
00:36:17
everyone's cut out for it. Um,
00:36:21
but I don't know if I have like real
00:36:23
advice other than like there's no harm
00:36:25
in giving it a shot. No harm. There are
00:36:27
a really good co-op groups out there if
00:36:29
you're worried about like socializing
00:36:31
your children. There are so many options
00:36:33
now than there were, you know, back in
00:36:35
the early 90s when we were
00:36:36
homeschooling. So, I I think there are
00:36:39
so many options and there's
00:36:43
you can put him back in school if you
00:36:44
want to. I really think there's it's if
00:36:46
not irreversible.
00:36:47
>> I think that's that's a great way to
00:36:48
frame it because I think a lot of people
00:36:51
>> they view it as this like it's a it's a
00:36:53
definitive decision and it's like it's
00:36:54
it's actually like not in the same way
00:36:56
that like my mom would switch up like
00:36:58
the curriculum we used because it didn't
00:36:59
work one year. It's like that it's like
00:37:02
not a like done deal where it's just
00:37:03
like okay this is all we do now.
00:37:05
>> It's very flexible. It's it can be very
00:37:07
flexible where like one curriculum
00:37:09
clicks with one kid and the other you
00:37:10
need to buy a different curriculum cuz
00:37:12
everyone learns differently. Like my
00:37:14
daughter was very like she needed to be
00:37:16
jumping around and like she couldn't sit
00:37:18
still. But my son is very much like okay
00:37:20
I'm I'm sitting here and I'm going to do
00:37:22
my my homework. So I had to teach that
00:37:24
in two different teaching styles when I
00:37:26
was homeschooling them. Um and I think
00:37:29
it's it's you figure out what works and
00:37:33
being homeschooled is very flexible. So,
00:37:36
I think that is a big plus for people
00:37:37
who are, you know, moving around or very
00:37:40
uh outdoorsy or very, you know, they
00:37:42
like to go on trips a lot like that.
00:37:44
Bring your schoolwork with you. That's
00:37:46
fine. I agree. I agree. I think the
00:37:48
flexibility I think the flexibility is
00:37:50
one of the biggest selling points for a
00:37:51
lot of people because
00:37:53
>> again like we talked about, you get in
00:37:54
the car, you can go somewhere. I did
00:37:56
school at freaking Disneyland. Like I,
00:37:58
you know, it's like you can do whatever.
00:38:00
You can go up in the mountains, you can
00:38:02
go out to the beach, you can do
00:38:03
whatever. And it's like you're not
00:38:05
locked in a in a school house for
00:38:08
schoolhouse. What a anequated term
00:38:09
there. But you're not locked at school
00:38:12
for 8 hours a day. Um you can actually
00:38:15
like go out and explore and that's
00:38:17
that's really appealing. There's also
00:38:19
the appeal of there's the downside of
00:38:21
like well you also then are commit you
00:38:24
as a parent that you're committing to
00:38:26
every hour of my day is like with my
00:38:29
kids and like doing this. I'm all I'm
00:38:31
You have to buy allin on that.
00:38:34
>> Yeah, you definitely have to be
00:38:35
committed and um and stick with it if
00:38:38
you're going to
00:38:40
raise educated children at home. I was
00:38:43
wondering too like now that you I'm a
00:38:47
decade out and I know you're few years
00:38:49
older than I am. So, you know, like
00:38:55
has like what am I trying to say here?
00:38:59
Has
00:39:00
there been at all like a resurgence in
00:39:03
you of like a love of learning or like a
00:39:05
desire to learn any of that stuff that
00:39:08
you missed or do you feel like okay like
00:39:12
I missed it and like I just got to like
00:39:14
keep going on with life and that's like
00:39:16
it like and and then how do you explore
00:39:18
that like if you are like okay I want to
00:39:20
learn this thing like what are you doing
00:39:21
to like educate yourself on it? Yeah, I
00:39:24
think the last maybe
00:39:27
five plus years, I would say since co I
00:39:30
have
00:39:32
really
00:39:34
discovered a desire to to re-educate
00:39:38
myself on topics or on history, on
00:39:42
social issues that I had no idea about,
00:39:46
you know, years and years ago. And so I
00:39:48
I really do now have a desire to learn
00:39:52
um a lot of podcasts intaking a lot of
00:39:55
podcasts, a lot of reading um
00:39:58
documentaries, things I I'm able to find
00:40:01
something I'm interested in and then I
00:40:02
can deep dive on that and
00:40:05
>> you know educate myself on that topic
00:40:08
that I never would have found
00:40:09
interesting, you know, when I was 15,
00:40:11
right?
00:40:12
>> But now I'm like oh 36 I'm going to you
00:40:14
know deep dive into 911,
00:40:17
>> right? which I was my big recent um deep
00:40:21
dives. It's like just understanding that
00:40:24
there's more to it than what I heard and
00:40:26
thought. And again, podcasts and books
00:40:29
are my best friend.
00:40:31
>> I'm doing the same. Like the the gaps
00:40:33
that I have in my knowledge, I'm like,
00:40:35
okay, like let's get some books. Let's,
00:40:38
you know, listen to some podcasts. Let's
00:40:40
find a good documentary. Let's I mean,
00:40:41
there's so much information. And what
00:40:44
I've learned too is
00:40:47
uh I I talked about this like a few
00:40:49
weeks ago on on the show was like I used
00:40:52
to look at people like Ken Ham as like
00:40:54
this like resource knowledgebased
00:40:57
person. And it's really interesting now
00:40:59
because like
00:41:00
>> I've gone on his website.
00:41:02
>> Nothing is sourced. Nothing like there's
00:41:04
no there's no links to like where did
00:41:06
you pull this information from? And
00:41:09
>> and I'm like I don't like that as a
00:41:11
human being anymore. Like I'm just like,
00:41:12
"Oh, okay." Like I need to know like I
00:41:14
need to be able to, like you said, deep
00:41:16
dive into like, you know, like
00:41:18
Wikipedia, you know, at the bottom of
00:41:19
Wikipedia, they have all the links to
00:41:20
everything. That is where I go and that
00:41:22
is like I'm going down all of the rabbit
00:41:24
holes to every little thing.
00:41:26
>> Same with like documentaries. I'm like,
00:41:27
where did they get this information and
00:41:29
stuff like that?
00:41:29
>> Yep.
00:41:30
>> That's my obsessive educate on like a
00:41:33
very specific niche thing um kind of
00:41:36
personality. The one common thread that
00:41:39
I've seen with like talking to just all
00:41:41
of the homeschool community has been
00:41:44
this fact that like we all still have
00:41:46
this great desire to like learn things.
00:41:49
>> And I'm not going to attribute that
00:41:51
specifically to the homeschooling
00:41:52
education, but it is really cool to see
00:41:55
that it's like we all just really want
00:41:57
to still know things and like have that
00:41:59
desire to learn and and to to continue
00:42:02
to grow as people. So
00:42:04
>> kudos to you, you know. Oh, look.
00:42:08
>> Um, is there anything else that I missed
00:42:12
or have forgotten that we need to touch
00:42:14
on?
00:42:15
>> I don't
00:42:17
think so.
00:42:18
>> Okay. Any specific homeschool memories
00:42:21
pop into your brain while we've been
00:42:23
talking about this? Like I always bring
00:42:25
up like swing dance was like very
00:42:26
impactful for me, but like Oh yeah. Was
00:42:29
there anything like that that maybe was
00:42:31
like super unique to the home school
00:42:33
experience that you're like I have never
00:42:34
really heard anybody else like talk
00:42:35
about this kind of a thing happening?
00:42:39
>> Well, that's where I learned about mimes
00:42:41
was homeschooling. I was not Thank God I
00:42:46
was not a mime. I missed that by at
00:42:48
least a year or two and I
00:42:51
am so thankful,
00:42:52
>> you know. Oh yeah, be thankful.
00:42:54
>> Yes, I I uh Yeah, the minds. Um
00:42:59
I remember at Group Solutions taking a
00:43:02
cooking class,
00:43:03
>> okay,
00:43:03
>> called Clueless in the kitchen. And I
00:43:07
remember it being so much fun.
00:43:10
>> Yeah,
00:43:10
>> so much fun. And I I wish I can remember
00:43:13
I remember
00:43:16
one teacher, I think it might have been
00:43:19
Mrs. Perez and Mrs. Walrip. They were
00:43:21
group solution
00:43:22
>> parents
00:43:23
>> and um and I think they taught the class
00:43:26
and I remember I took it for two years.
00:43:27
So two years I was at group solutions
00:43:29
and it was I had a blast. That was my
00:43:31
favorite class because I didn't have to
00:43:32
like
00:43:33
>> read or study anything. I just had to
00:43:34
you know
00:43:35
>> Yeah. You show up, you cook a meal, then
00:43:37
you Yeah, exactly.
00:43:39
>> Yes. And it was fun because I did take
00:43:41
the recipes I learned and then I went
00:43:43
home and I cooked them at home. So it
00:43:44
was fun. That was a lot of fun.
00:43:46
>> Yeah. with social cooking class.
00:43:48
>> I took I think that class as well cuz
00:43:51
Yeah, I remember as well trip teaching
00:43:52
that.
00:43:53
>> Oh my gosh, she Yeah,
00:43:55
>> love her to death. Rest in peace, but my
00:43:57
gosh, she was amazing. And then yeah,
00:44:00
the first time I had sushi was that
00:44:01
class, which I mean granted it was not
00:44:03
su It was not good sushi, but it
00:44:05
>> but still
00:44:07
>> we didn't they didn't cook s or we don't
00:44:08
cook sushi, but I didn't have sushi. I
00:44:10
remember making homemade meatballs.
00:44:12
>> Yes.
00:44:12
>> Was one of them and that was really
00:44:14
really good.
00:44:15
>> Yeah. No sushi though.
00:44:16
>> Yeah. I mean, but hey, I mean, if it
00:44:18
gives you the incentive to be in the
00:44:20
kitchen, you know what I mean? Like I
00:44:22
explore in the kitchen, like I'm all for
00:44:24
it. That's
00:44:25
>> Yeah. I love cooking. So,
00:44:26
>> yeah, same. And I think it's it just I
00:44:29
think it's just it was a fun class that
00:44:31
got kids to do something that they
00:44:33
probably wouldn't have done before,
00:44:35
>> right? Yeah. I think that's the great
00:44:37
that was one of the good things about
00:44:38
group solutions was like you had this
00:44:40
mix of
00:44:42
>> like traditional classes, right? you
00:44:44
could take a science class or a math
00:44:45
class or whatever, but then you had
00:44:46
>> cooking, you had like homeck type stuff
00:44:49
or you had like there was a games class
00:44:51
like I learned how to play poker at
00:44:53
group solutions which is like hilarious
00:44:54
to think about. Um but you know or like
00:44:57
they had like like a boy scouts class
00:45:00
and like stuff like that. It was just
00:45:01
like
00:45:02
>> Yeah. Got like karate
00:45:03
>> and then my my mom did a scrapbooking
00:45:06
class.
00:45:06
>> Yes.
00:45:07
>> Yeah. And Yeah. Like Yeah. There was a
00:45:09
wide range of things you could do there
00:45:12
and it was I
00:45:13
>> Yeah.
00:45:14
>> Yeah.
00:45:15
>> Lot of fun.
00:45:16
>> Some good memories. Yeah. Tied in there
00:45:17
>> as well.
00:45:19
>> Well, Stephanie, this has been so much
00:45:20
fun. Um
00:45:21
>> I appreciate you coming on and sharing
00:45:23
your story. It's,
00:45:24
>> you know, I I love it. It's what I love
00:45:27
too is that like
00:45:28
>> we have very different and unique
00:45:30
experiences.
00:45:31
>> There's obviously some common threads in
00:45:33
there which is great and it's just fun
00:45:35
to like
00:45:36
>> it. I I enjoy hearing people's stories
00:45:38
and and getting them out there because I
00:45:40
know they're important not only for us
00:45:44
to like hear them and be like, "Oh, like
00:45:46
I'm not alone in in feeling this way,
00:45:48
right?" But also, I know that like
00:45:51
there's a current generation of
00:45:52
homeschool families
00:45:54
>> that hear these things and they go, "Oh
00:45:56
my gosh, I can do better or I can do it
00:45:59
differently." And that's
00:46:01
recently that's been a big motivator for
00:46:03
me to continue doing the show because
00:46:05
it's just like
00:46:07
your story, stories like yours, they're
00:46:09
changing the way that homeschooling is
00:46:11
is happening today. So
00:46:13
>> be encouraged
00:46:15
>> hopefully. And again, thank you for
00:46:17
coming on the show. It's been so much
00:46:19
fun.
00:46:20
>> Awesome. Well, for anyone listening,
00:46:22
this has been the Xomeschoolers club.
00:46:24
You know what to do. Hit the like, hit
00:46:26
the subscribe, do all of the internet
00:46:27
things that you know how to do to get
00:46:30
this show out to the most people. If you
00:46:32
enjoyed it, share it with a friend,
00:46:33
share it with a loved one, share it with
00:46:34
somebody who knows nothing about
00:46:35
homeschooling. Uh, but yeah, until uh
00:46:38
until next week, we'll see you. All
00:46:39
right, peace.

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 60
    Most heartwarming
  • 60
    Best concept / idea

Episode Highlights

  • Homeschooling Journey
    Stephanie shares her experience growing up in a large homeschool family.
    “I was homeschooled all the way through my sophomore year of high school.”
    @ 02m 01s
    October 17, 2025
  • Transition to Public School
    Stephanie discusses her transition from homeschooling to public school and the challenges faced.
    “I didn't know I was being enrolled in El Camino until I was enrolled.”
    @ 14m 02s
    October 17, 2025
  • The GED Decision
    Stephanie explains her decision to drop out and pursue a GED instead of finishing high school.
    “I’m literally going to get married next year. Like, why am I here?”
    @ 18m 00s
    October 17, 2025
  • Getting the GED
    She decided to pursue her GED with a friend, marking a significant step in her education.
    “Let's do it together!”
    @ 18m 32s
    October 17, 2025
  • Homeschooling Challenges
    She reflects on the difficulties of homeschooling her kids and the pressure it brought.
    “It was really hard to do it and to have the responsibility of my kids' education.”
    @ 23m 44s
    October 17, 2025
  • Public School Perspective
    She shares her evolving view on public school, realizing its benefits for her children.
    “I did make the right decision.”
    @ 26m 14s
    October 17, 2025
  • The Flexibility of Homeschooling
    Homeschooling offers incredible flexibility, allowing families to learn anywhere, even at Disneyland!
    “You can actually go out and explore and that’s really appealing.”
    @ 38m 17s
    October 17, 2025
  • A Desire to Learn
    Homeschoolers often share a common thread: a lasting desire to learn and grow.
    “We all just really want to still know things and have that desire to learn.”
    @ 41m 55s
    October 17, 2025

Episode Quotes

  • I hope you guys enjoy!
    I Grew Up Thinking Public School Was Evil!
  • Adventures in Odyssey was amazing!
    I Grew Up Thinking Public School Was Evil!
  • I was like, I'm just going to get married.
    I Grew Up Thinking Public School Was Evil!
  • I did make the right decision.
    I Grew Up Thinking Public School Was Evil!
  • That's amazing. So, okay, I've got a few other questions.
    I Grew Up Thinking Public School Was Evil!
  • We all just really want to still know things and have that desire to learn.
    I Grew Up Thinking Public School Was Evil!

Key Moments

  • Public School Transition14:02
  • GED Decision18:00
  • GED Journey18:41
  • Future Plans19:18
  • Parental Involvement34:03
  • Flexibility in Learning37:36
  • Exploring Education38:17
  • Desire to Learn41:55

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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What Happens When Homeschool Kids Finally Enter the Real World?
May 15, 2026
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54:04
What Happens When Homeschool Kids Finally Enter the Real World?
Welcome To The Ex-Homeschoolers Club!
July 18, 2024
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00:43
Welcome To The Ex-Homeschoolers Club!
The Hidden Harm Inside Popular Homeschool Curriculums
July 04, 2025
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02:23:10
The Hidden Harm Inside Popular Homeschool Curriculums
What Happens When Homeschooling Leads to Burnout Instead of Brilliance? | #36
May 09, 2025
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56:51
What Happens When Homeschooling Leads to Burnout Instead of Brilliance? | #36
A Public School Teacher's Honest Take on Homeschooling
February 20, 2026
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45:22
A Public School Teacher's Honest Take on Homeschooling