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There's a ton of reasons that people
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choose to homeschool their kids. And
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today my guest is going to share what
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made their family of four, pack up
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everything, move into an RV, and travel
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across the country and do just that. I'm
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Jacob Gooden, and this is the
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Exhomeschoolers Club, where we talk
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about the good, the bad, and the ugly of
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growing up a homeschool kid. If you're
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new here, welcome. Glad it's your first
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time. And if you're returning, hey,
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how's it going? Welcome back. So glad to
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see you. Before I bring my guest in,
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I've got a favor to ask. If you have not
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signed up for our email newsletter, I
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would highly appreciate it if you did. I
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send out every two weeks when these
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episodes come out, a newsletter just
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with things about the episode, a little
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bit more of a deeper dive, um, as well
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as some resources, books I'm reading,
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things I'm watching, stuff that I find
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interesting. So, if that's interesting
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to you, top link in the description, in
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the show notes is going to be to the
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newsletter. And with [music] that, let's
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get into our episode.
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>> [music]
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>> All right, Kayla, welcome to the Ex
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Homeschoolers Club. I'm so pumped for
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[music] you to be here. Normally, I talk
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with ex-h homeschoolers. Today, I'm
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talking with like a current homeschool
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mom. Um, but welcome to the Ex
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Homeschoolers Club. I'm going to give
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you an honorary pass here. [laughter]
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>> Hi. Thank you. It's great to be here.
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>> So, tell me a little bit about how you
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got into homeschooling. Um, we talked
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before about you guys having some some
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issues with more of the public and
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traditional school settings, but kind of
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give us your story of like what led you
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down the path of homeschooling and and
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and why why basically?
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>> Yes. So, our journey started even before
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my son was in school. So, he was in
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preschool and was getting in a lot of
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trouble. Uh he had an issue with biting
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and that is an absolutely not acceptable
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thing in daycarees or any school setting
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and he would always be in a fight
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orflight mode. So if he was getting in
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trouble or he wasn't getting something
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done, he would either run or fight his
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way out of it. And that started pretty I
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want to say he was about three or four
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years old when we started really having
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some issues and we took him to several
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different daycarees.
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One of the daycarees we took him to um
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he
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got into a bite was biting. He was put
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into the principal's office. He spent
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hours in the principal's office. Um,
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he when I went to pick him up, he was
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still in the principal's office. He was
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by himself. There was nobody there.
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He was balling his eyes out. He just had
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a handful of Legos to play with. And
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that was it. And I found the principal.
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I asked her what was going on. She's
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like, "Nobody has been in here. I don't
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know why he's crying." She said one of
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the teachers had, my son had said one of
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the teachers had grabbed his face and it
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scared him. Like, well, this is
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absolutely unacceptable.
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you can't be doing that. So, they kicked
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us out of the school.
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We had to find a new and this was
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preschool. So, we had to find a new
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preschool. Within two weeks, he was in
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trouble for biting again. Was kicked out
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of that school. And he didn't understand
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what was going on. He was
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very concerned about why do these
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teachers not like me? Why am I not
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allowed to go back to this school? Mom,
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what did I do wrong? like he did not
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understand what was going on. We had him
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tested to see if he was on the spectrum,
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but because he was only four years old,
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they he was too young and they couldn't
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determine whether or not he uh was on
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the spectrum or not.
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So went to another daycare, still
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getting into trouble, still unable to
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like the punishments that they have are
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you can't go on field trips, you got to
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be in the corner, you got to go to the
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office. Like
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>> so he just felt very alone and didn't
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understand why. We get him into
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kindergarten at the public school, same
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thing. He's alone. He's getting in
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trouble. He's in the principal's office.
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I mean, kindergarter getting suspended
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from school. Um,
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so the summer between,
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let me back up. By the time we got to
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kindergarten,
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um,
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I had been talking to a friend who had
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said, "Maybe get him on an IEP. Maybe
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that'll help." So, we did that. We I
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mean, we tried everything. Like, so we
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got him on the IEP. We went through and
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talked to all the teachers, the
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principal. We were in the rooms talking
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to them all the time trying to get this
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figured out to help him the best that we
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could. And by the summer going from
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kindergarten into first grade, he was so
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depressed
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and he had overheard
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me talking to my husband about an
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incident that happened at the um in town
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where somebody had fallen asleep in
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their car and summers are hot, windows
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up, the person actually passed away from
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being in their car and my son overheard
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me talking about this to my husband. him
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and he told my son told the day daycare
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teachers that he was going to sit on the
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bus and
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just stay there until it got too hot for
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him. And
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hearing that from the daycare teachers,
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the daycare teachers are the one that
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told me that I am a nurse by trade. And
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I know from schooling that if you have
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somebody who is talking about suicide,
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the first thing you need to ask them is,
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do they have a plan? Because if they
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have a plan, that means they're serious.
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They're not just willy-nilly talking
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about it or bringing it up as a joke.
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So, I asked him, I'm like, "Honey,
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what's going on? Like, are you serious?
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Like, do you have a plan?" And he said,
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and this breaks my heart. He said to me,
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"Yes, I'm going to stab myself in the
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stomach."
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>> And I said, "Baby, you know that's going
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to hurt really bad." And he said, "I
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know, but then this will all be over
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soon and it'll end quickly." And that's
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when I knew he needed some serious help.
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Like he didn't understand why he was
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always getting in trouble. He didn't
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understand why the teachers didn't like
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him. He didn't understand any of it.
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>> We took him to a counselor who decided
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he needed to immediately be admitted.
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And he spent a week in the hospital in a
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behavioral health trying to figure out
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what was going on. He was diagnosed with
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disruptive mood dysregulation disorder
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and ADHD.
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and he did have a hard time being in the
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hospital setting. Uh we were told he was
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throwing chairs and
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he was he struggled there too. And but
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when he was sent home from the hospital,
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they didn't send him home with a
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psychiatrist. They just gave us
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medications and said good luck. Like
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okay. And the medication that they gave
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us was not
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he struggled with it. like he went very
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lethargic immediately.
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>> So, we called the hospital. They're
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like, "Sorry, you need to find a
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psychiatrist." Well, they're all booked
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out. We couldn't find one right away.
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So, we had to go to his um family care
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provider until we could get into a
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psychiatrist, which was months later.
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So, it was about uh January of his first
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grade year, and he was upset with
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school. And like I said, he goes into
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the fight orflight modes, and he decided
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to run away from school. and they had to
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send the police out to go get him. We
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called his psychiatrist. The
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psychiatrist had him admitted again. And
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this kind of behavior continued on. We
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kept trying everything, meeting with the
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IEPs,
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still dealing with suspension, still
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dealing with just all of the behavior
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issues. So, fast forwarding into he went
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into an intermediate school. until he
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was in the fifth grade and at this point
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he's 11 years old and
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there's not as much tolerance for
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behavioral issues,
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>> right?
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>> And he's still having the same issues.
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And we were told when he left the
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elementary school that if he doesn't
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figure this out, there's going to be
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some serious repercussions. And we saw
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that
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within his fifth grade year, he got into
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a fight. Um, and
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the parents of the child that he was
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fighting with decided they wanted to
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press charges against him and he was
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suspended from school. So, we got a
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lawyer. We're going to fight the
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charges. I mean, he's only 11. We didn't
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want him to already have a record. and
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we made the decision to put him in a
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school for autistic children. Even
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though he doesn't have the diagnosis of
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autism, we decided that that was
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probably what was going on and
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that was the best route to go. While he
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was in the school for autistic children,
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he did what he has been known to do and
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he got into another fight. At this
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point, a teacher's aid said that she was
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in fear of the other child's life
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because he had put that child in the
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headlock. So, he from there was arrested
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and taken to Lutheran Social Services
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where we had to uh have a custody
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hearing in order to get him back into
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our care.
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And we had a six-monthlong legal battle
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to fight not only the charges that were
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on him that the parent of the uh child
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had pressed on him before, but now we
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also had felony assault charges because
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of he put a child in a choke hold and
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that is a very serious offense. After
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six months of the legal battles, um he
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was deemed unfit to stand trial due to
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his age and his diagnosis. And at that
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point, we had hit our breaking point.
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Like we just could not keep going down
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this path. It was obviously not working
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for him. It wasn't working for us. We're
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spending thousands of dollars in legal
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fees. We have tried everything. Doctors,
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hospital, we didn't know what else to
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do. So, we just decided to sell our
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house, move into an RV, and start
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homeschooling. And initially, it was
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just going to be an eight-monthlong
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reset.
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And it worked and things got better.
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We've been doing this for three years
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now.
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>> Wow. Well, firstly,
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that it it's a heavy story, but I thank
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you for sharing and um Absolutely. I'm
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glad that I'm glad it's nice when things
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have a happier ending. Um, and it seems
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like it seems like things have turned
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around and that's that's good. And we're
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going to talk about more more about
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that. So,
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>> leading up to that, had you considered
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homeschooling before just selling
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everything and moving into an RV or or
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were you really no, you were like,
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>> "We're going to just find a school that
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works at some point and that's going to
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be the route."
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>> I don't know anything about
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homeschooling. I didn't I didn't want to
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relearn all of that. I had no idea what
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I was doing. So, but I mean, we had hit
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our breaking point. Was like, "All
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right, well, we're going to figure it
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out."
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>> So, that first kind of year of doing it,
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what like
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I I come from a homeschool family where
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my my mom very much built our
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curriculum. She chose every little
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piece. I think the first couple years
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she maybe had like, hey, I'm just gonna
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pick a curriculum brand uh and and pull
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everything that they have, right? Um but
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how like tell me a little bit about that
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because because you
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how old are your kids now?
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>> Uh my son is now 15 and my daughter's
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nine.
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>> Okay. So yeah, I mean and you're you're
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still in it. So, it's very much like it
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things have changed, I guess, is what
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I'm trying to say. But I was
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homeschooled back in I graduated in
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2014. Um, and and things like that. So,
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so how easy was it to find your first
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set of curriculum where you're like,
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"Okay, I'm going from like I have no
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clue what I'm doing when it comes to the
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homeschool world to like, okay, we're
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rocking and rolling. We've got the first
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set of stuff. Even if it's not working,
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you're like, okay, I at least got
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curriculum on the table that I can use."
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>> Yeah. So, I went to Amazon and I just
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went to find some workbooks that were
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appropriate and
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I was just winging it. My mistake that I
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made that first year was trying to mimic
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how the school system sets up their
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curriculum. So, I had it set up where
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we're getting up at this time. We are
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going to do this class at this time and
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we're going to try and get through this
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many pages until this time and then
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we're going to switch and go to this
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topic and then we're going to switch and
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go to this topic. And these books, they
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did not come with a teacher
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aid with it. So, I'm trying to go
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through my son's fractions like I don't
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I don't know. We [laughter] have to look
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this up. Like
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>> Yeah, you did. You had the workbook, but
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you didn't have the teacher guide to go
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with it.
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>> I just had an answer key.
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>> Yeah. I Yeah. You were like, I don't
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know the the steps between.
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>> Yeah. Like I don't know how they got
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there.
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>> No, I feel I I relate to the kind of
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mimicking the public school system
00:13:54
because I started homeschooling when I
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was in second grade. I was 8 years old.
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And um and my mom kind of did that, too.
00:14:02
She kind of was like, "Okay, we're going
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to do the very like we're going to be up
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at 7:00 a.m. and we're going to be at
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the table by 8:00 a.m. and and we're
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going to, you know, do math for 30
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minutes and get this much done and then
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we're going to do this for 30 minutes
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and then this is an hour and, you know,
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all these different things." And she had
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this grand plan in her head
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>> and within, I don't know, maybe a week
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or two, that whole plan just got thrown
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out the window. She was just like, "None
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of this is working." Um, [laughter]
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we were all frustrated at each other. We
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were pissed off. I had already gone to
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public school, so I just wanted to be
00:14:30
back with my friends. Um, but
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>> it was definitely
00:14:35
>> it's definitely a learning curve right
00:14:37
at the beginning where you're just like,
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okay, like this this isn't working. So,
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so as things weren't working, what
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what's going through your head? Are you
00:14:46
like how are you solving this problem
00:14:47
now that you've created again for
00:14:50
yourself where you're like, okay, now
00:14:51
nothing is working still. So, traveling
00:14:54
around the country, I actually went to
00:14:56
go and pick up an Amazon box.
00:15:00
Uh, and you know, when you're traveling,
00:15:02
it's not going to be delivered to my
00:15:04
house. I don't have a house anymore. So,
00:15:05
I have to go to a station to go pick up
00:15:08
my Amazon. And while I was there, I was
00:15:11
just chitchatting with the guy. It was
00:15:12
like a Wednesday in the middle of the
00:15:15
day. He's like, "Why is your kid not in
00:15:16
school?" Oh, well, I'm I'm
00:15:18
homeschooling. and he started telling
00:15:20
me, "Oh, I homeschooled my kid for so
00:15:22
long. This is the issues that we had."
00:15:24
And we just got into a conversation and
00:15:25
he was like, "We used this online
00:15:27
program and it was really great and it
00:15:29
really helped my kiddo." I'm like, "I
00:15:31
didn't even know that existed." So then
00:15:34
I started researching it. I'm like,
00:15:35
"What are these online schools look
00:15:38
like? What is there that's out there for
00:15:40
them?
00:15:41
What's, you know, what is available to
00:15:43
me? How much does it cost?" and I found
00:15:46
a program that
00:15:48
I really thought looked interesting and
00:15:52
we we started with a couple of different
00:15:54
ones that were free first
00:15:57
and the kids really enjoyed that a lot
00:16:00
more than the workbook. So, we started
00:16:01
with a hybrid of the workbooks and a
00:16:04
free online program. And my kids really
00:16:07
gravitated towards the online
00:16:10
because it was more animated. It was
00:16:13
easier to follow.
00:16:15
So then that following year, we're like,
00:16:17
okay, we're going all in on an online
00:16:20
program. And it really worked and it
00:16:22
really helped. And even with my son
00:16:24
being in high school now, the program
00:16:27
that they have is more interesting. and
00:16:30
the way they present it is more
00:16:33
entertaining. So, he'll actually sit
00:16:34
down now and
00:16:37
knock his schoolwork out. He doesn't
00:16:39
need to ask me about any of it because
00:16:41
if he has any problems, he can re rewind
00:16:44
it. He can rewatch it. There are more
00:16:48
options for him to help him get through
00:16:50
it. And then same with my daughter. If
00:16:51
they have problems, they do still come
00:16:53
and ask me and I will help them as much
00:16:56
as I can. And if they don't understand
00:16:58
something, they do have that option of
00:17:01
redoing it. So if like they failed it,
00:17:03
okay, you failed it, you didn't
00:17:05
understand it, just do it again. No big
00:17:08
deal.
00:17:09
>> Versus in the school system where you
00:17:11
fail it, you failed.
00:17:13
>> Right. Right. We're already on to the
00:17:15
next thing. Yeah. At that point.
00:17:16
>> Yeah. No, I I I agree. I think that's
00:17:18
one of the things that like my my math
00:17:20
program was on DVDs and Yeah. I would
00:17:23
sit there with the remote and I'd be
00:17:24
like, I don't understand. Like you
00:17:26
talked about fractions. fractions was
00:17:27
hard for me too. I like would sit there
00:17:29
and rewind and rewatch and rewind and
00:17:32
re-watch, you know, and um and yeah, I
00:17:34
think my parents very much believed in
00:17:37
the the learning style of like learn to
00:17:40
understanding right like you're just
00:17:42
going to do it over and over and over
00:17:43
again till you get it. And and if you
00:17:44
got to do it a couple different ways,
00:17:46
you'll do it a couple different ways.
00:17:47
But like
00:17:48
>> you're going to get there and it's
00:17:49
important that you understand this,
00:17:51
especially things like fractions, right?
00:17:52
That's something we kind of use, maybe
00:17:54
not in our everyday lives, but we we use
00:17:55
that a lot. [laughter]
00:17:57
>> Yes.
00:17:57
>> You know, there's a lot of things like
00:17:59
that where it's just like, you know, it
00:18:01
actually is much more valuable to do
00:18:03
like you were saying the repetitive over
00:18:05
and over and over, go back, rewind, have
00:18:07
mom as a tutor is is helpful where it's
00:18:10
like, mom, I really just don't
00:18:11
understand this lesson. Okay. Well,
00:18:12
let's let's look at it together and let
00:18:14
me see if I can explain it a different
00:18:15
way. I can imagine with the internet
00:18:18
it's definitely
00:18:20
it's I mean I still ask the internet a
00:18:22
bunch of questions about stuff I don't
00:18:24
know. So I'm sure that getting the
00:18:25
answers you need is way easier now than
00:18:28
it was back then because even if you
00:18:30
don't understand a lesson I'm sure you
00:18:31
could find a YouTube video of somebody
00:18:33
explaining a different way that makes a
00:18:34
lot more sense. And that's one of the
00:18:36
things that we try to teach too is
00:18:38
instead of that memorization and
00:18:42
being able to word vomit all of the
00:18:44
information, being able to figure out
00:18:47
how to find the answers,
00:18:49
>> right?
00:18:50
>> Which I think that's important. If you
00:18:51
don't know how to find the answers,
00:18:54
that makes things even harder,
00:18:56
especially as an adult.
00:18:57
>> Yeah.
00:18:58
>> You can't memorize everything. When I
00:19:00
got to college, my uh one of my
00:19:02
professors my first semester was like,
00:19:04
"In this class, you were going to become
00:19:06
expert Googlers and you're going to know
00:19:08
how to do everything." And that was sure
00:19:10
enough, by the end of it, we knew how to
00:19:11
find anything we wanted on the internet.
00:19:13
If we needed to get in contact with
00:19:14
somebody, we could find their email. We
00:19:16
could, you know, anything you wanted to
00:19:18
know about that person, we could we
00:19:19
could pretty much find it. Um, we knew
00:19:22
how to internet stock, which probably is
00:19:23
not [laughter]
00:19:25
>> Yeah.
00:19:25
>> the greatest thing in the world, but we
00:19:27
we knew we knew how to find a lot of
00:19:29
information and it was it was important.
00:19:31
We got the answers we wanted. Um, I was
00:19:33
going to ask too with
00:19:36
being on the road and you know
00:19:40
there's a lot a couple of the families
00:19:41
that I've talked to who have done the RV
00:19:43
homeschool life, they they kind of they
00:19:46
do this cool thing where they pair what
00:19:48
they're learning with places they're
00:19:50
going on the road. Um, could be
00:19:52
Gettysburg, could be, you know, anywhere
00:19:55
in the anywhere in the country,
00:19:56
sometimes anywhere in the world. Have
00:19:57
you guys done anything like that where
00:19:59
you've focused in on, hey, we know we're
00:20:00
going to go to this area. Let's learn
00:20:02
some of the history there or or do you
00:20:04
you use the RV experience as more of
00:20:06
like, hey, we're going to learn a bunch
00:20:07
of stuff when we get there.
00:20:09
>> More on the second side. We're just
00:20:11
going to learn a bunch of stuff when we
00:20:12
get there. And then it does correlate
00:20:13
with things that they're learning later
00:20:15
on. So, we have done when we went out to
00:20:19
the east coast, we did Paul River's
00:20:23
Midnight Ride and we went to Lexington,
00:20:26
we went to Concord, we did go to
00:20:29
Gettysburg, and when my daughter did
00:20:32
eventually get into those lessons in her
00:20:35
history class, she was able to
00:20:40
uh relearn all of that. So, she had seen
00:20:43
it before and she's like, "Mom, I'm
00:20:45
learning about Lexington and Concord and
00:20:47
I've been recording all of our travels
00:20:51
and things we do and I've been putting
00:20:52
them up on YouTube." So, when we got to
00:20:55
that lesson in her schooling, she was
00:20:57
able to pull up the YouTube video,
00:20:59
recall the memory of what happened, and
00:21:02
go, "Oh, yeah. I remember that."
00:21:06
>> That's awesome. I I love that because
00:21:08
like I'm also like Revolutionary War
00:21:11
history is so interesting to me and and
00:21:13
that was my one of my biggest areas of
00:21:15
study and so in more recent years doing
00:21:18
a lot more East Coast travel and like
00:21:20
seeing these places like I went to
00:21:21
Boston last year for the second time and
00:21:23
I was just like, "Oh, this chapel was
00:21:26
that and this this street is important
00:21:28
because of this reason and and all of
00:21:29
those things kind of came flooded back
00:21:31
because that pairing the the knowledge
00:21:35
that you have with like an actual task
00:21:38
or a place or something is just like
00:21:41
>> I it really locks it in. I've I've come
00:21:44
to realize it just really locks it in
00:21:45
the brain where you're like, "Okay, I've
00:21:47
got this now." Um [laughter]
00:21:49
>> and um I I Yeah, that's amazing. I I
00:21:53
wanted to ask going back to your son a
00:21:56
little bit and kind of some of the some
00:21:59
of the mood things and the and the ADHD
00:22:01
and and um I know it's undiagnosed but
00:22:04
potential autism in there and things
00:22:06
like that. How have you guys learned to
00:22:07
navigate that? Because you know the
00:22:10
things like mood swings and and getting
00:22:12
in fights and and some of the the things
00:22:14
that trigger those those responses.
00:22:17
How have you guys learned to like manage
00:22:19
those and maybe come out of some of the
00:22:22
awful things that happened when you were
00:22:24
in the public school system?
00:22:26
>> A lot of it is just communication and us
00:22:28
sitting and talking about it. He has
00:22:30
learned to communicate with us better. I
00:22:33
will say he is a teenager now, so now I
00:22:36
have that. But [laughter]
00:22:39
he has not been in a single fight and
00:22:43
he's around kids all the time. I mean, I
00:22:46
think that's a misconception of
00:22:48
>> us being in an RV and moving around
00:22:50
like, "Oh, you don't see any kids
00:22:51
anymore. Your kids aren't socialized."
00:22:52
No, he's around kids all the time.
00:22:55
>> He's got plenty of friends and he has
00:22:57
not been in a single fight. He hasn't
00:22:59
had any of those issues. Um, if he's
00:23:02
frustrated with school or just needs a
00:23:06
break, for example, like right now, he
00:23:08
he's out fishing. He just needed a
00:23:10
break, so he went fishing. That's his
00:23:13
that's his happy place. That's where he
00:23:15
goes if he needs some time to himself.
00:23:18
And being out in nature and doing some
00:23:23
sort of calming activity has been
00:23:25
extremely beneficial for him.
00:23:28
>> Yeah. going outside just touching
00:23:29
touching grass as as like as simple as
00:23:33
that sounds. It it truly is one of like
00:23:35
the most calming things in the world
00:23:37
because like getting back in touch with
00:23:39
nature and
00:23:41
>> we we all kind of come from dust um to
00:23:43
some degree, you know, we're all made up
00:23:46
of the same stuff. Um and so that that's
00:23:49
that's awesome. And um it's cool too. I
00:23:52
I I don't know if you guys are a part of
00:23:54
any of these, but I have heard about
00:23:56
some there are some RV groups that are
00:23:58
like homeschool groups, right, that kind
00:24:00
of meet and and maybe don't travel
00:24:02
together, but there there are meet there
00:24:04
are homeschool RV meetups across the
00:24:06
country, right?
00:24:08
>> Yeah, there are a lot of families that
00:24:10
will meet up. In fact, where I'm at
00:24:12
right now, um I'm at Fireflies Hills in
00:24:16
Kentucky, and they have a lot of
00:24:19
programs where they'll bring in
00:24:21
different RVers. We just recently had a
00:24:24
Halloween. It was a two-week long
00:24:27
Halloween bash, and one of the things
00:24:28
that they focused on was the Day of the
00:24:31
Dead. So, we got to learn about the
00:24:34
Mexican culture and incorporate uh world
00:24:38
schooling for all of the homeschooling
00:24:40
kiddos out here. And they get to meet
00:24:42
other kids who are doing the same things
00:24:44
that they're doing, which is great. And
00:24:46
it was a whole good learning experience
00:24:48
for all the kids.
00:24:49
>> That's awesome. Yeah, Firefly Hills is
00:24:52
super cool. I haven't had a chance to
00:24:53
go, but um yeah, but actually self
00:24:56
little selfish plug, the uh the podcast
00:24:59
Inspired Travels with Patty. I edit for
00:25:01
that show. And we actually just had, as
00:25:03
of recording this, it just came out
00:25:04
today. This episode's going to come out
00:25:06
a little bit later, but as of today, go
00:25:08
check it out. Inspired Travels with
00:25:09
Patty. We had um the owner um I'm
00:25:12
blanking. Tony uh Tanya Tanya.
00:25:14
>> Yes. Um Tanya was on the podcast talking
00:25:18
a little bit about that and and some of
00:25:20
the other things that she does. But
00:25:21
Firefly Hills looks amazing. I'm really
00:25:23
I'm
00:25:24
>> hopefully we'll get there someday. I'm
00:25:26
I'm I'm in Tennessee. I'm not that far.
00:25:27
Only only a handful of hours. [laughter]
00:25:30
There's a lot of things to do out here.
00:25:31
We're in the Red River Gorge. If you've
00:25:34
got kids, this is a kid heaven out here.
00:25:36
>> Oh, yeah. Yeah. Go Yeah. Go check out
00:25:38
their website because they have like a
00:25:40
fairy garden and they've got all kinds
00:25:41
of really cool unique stuff that Yeah.
00:25:44
is like very um it's just it's just
00:25:47
super cool and unique. Very very
00:25:48
different from most places I've seen.
00:25:50
>> I wanted to ask too with So, you've been
00:25:53
you've done the RV life thing for three
00:25:55
years now, right? Is that what you said?
00:25:57
Three years. And so,
00:26:02
have you guys found a favorite spot that
00:26:04
you like to go that that you know is is
00:26:07
that memorable thing? And maybe it's
00:26:08
just yours. Um, I'm sure everybody's
00:26:10
kind of got their own opinion on it, but
00:26:12
but do you have a favorite spot that you
00:26:13
guys have hit up?
00:26:14
>> Yes. And it really just depends on which
00:26:16
person in our family you ask because we
00:26:19
all have a different favorite.
00:26:21
My son, for example, so we've hit all 50
00:26:24
states. That was kind of our mission in
00:26:26
the three years. We wanted to go to all
00:26:28
50. We made it. We've been to all 50. Uh
00:26:31
my son's favorite spot is Hawaii. He
00:26:34
really enjoyed boogie boarding in Maui.
00:26:36
Uh my daughter loved Alaska.
00:26:40
Uh my son uh my husband
00:26:44
remember which one was his favorite,
00:26:46
[laughter] but mine is Utah. Southern
00:26:49
Utah.
00:26:50
>> Okay.
00:26:50
>> I really like uh Hurricane Utah is
00:26:53
probably one of my favorite places.
00:26:55
>> Okay. Yeah. I love I love Utah. I grew
00:26:57
up in California and so been to Utah a
00:27:00
few times and it's beautiful. It's it's
00:27:02
one of every state is so unique and it's
00:27:04
awesome that you guys have hit all 50.
00:27:06
That's that's incredible. That's an
00:27:08
amazing feat. Uh so kudo kudos to you
00:27:11
guys. [laughter]
00:27:11
>> Thank you.
00:27:12
>> One of the things that I think is great
00:27:14
about homeschooling is the ability to
00:27:16
individualize the schooling to what your
00:27:19
kids need. And you have two kids. I'm
00:27:22
very sure they're very different. Um I
00:27:24
have a sister. Our schooling was very
00:27:26
different. We both had different
00:27:27
challenges in school and things like
00:27:29
that. And that was one of the things
00:27:30
that
00:27:32
like I talked about at the beginning, my
00:27:34
mom at the beginning tried to mimic the
00:27:36
public school system where it was very
00:27:38
much the same for both of us. Even
00:27:39
though we were in separate grades, but
00:27:40
it was very similar structure throughout
00:27:42
the day. And by the time we were
00:27:44
graduating, by the time I was
00:27:45
graduating, we were like on completely
00:27:48
different wavelengths. Just the way that
00:27:50
we did math, the way we did science,
00:27:52
everything was just vastly different.
00:27:54
And a lot of times different
00:27:56
curriculums, different learning styles.
00:27:58
There was a period where I was a night
00:28:00
owl and I was just like, I'm going to
00:28:01
work all night and sleep till 10 or 11
00:28:05
in the morning kind of a thing. And so,
00:28:07
how have you seen that play out like
00:28:09
with your kids? And
00:28:12
what kind of adjustments have you had to
00:28:13
make to to accommodate those?
00:28:15
>> Honestly, my kids are the exact same
00:28:17
way. Like, and it just kind of varies.
00:28:20
Sometimes my kids will want to do their
00:28:22
schoolwork at night or they'll want to
00:28:24
do it first thing in the morning. It
00:28:26
just depends on what they've got going
00:28:27
on in that day. Um yeah, they have
00:28:29
different learning styles. Uh my son,
00:28:32
for example, he learns better if he's
00:28:34
listening to music. So
00:28:37
I will allow him to have earbuds in and
00:28:41
listen to music while he's learning
00:28:43
because that helps soothe him,
00:28:45
>> right?
00:28:46
>> Uh my daughter, not so much. She needs
00:28:48
it silent.
00:28:50
>> Yeah. Yeah. No, that's that's huge.
00:28:54
Music is
00:28:56
I'm kind of with your son. I a lot of
00:28:58
times I'll put it on the TV. I'll put
00:29:00
like lowfi or classical music or
00:29:02
something on the TV. Um and uh yeah,
00:29:04
there's a lot of there's a lot of
00:29:06
studies around what it does to the brain
00:29:07
and how it activates certain parts of
00:29:08
the brain uh to learn. But there are
00:29:11
other times like your daughter, I'm I'm
00:29:12
that way too. I'm like got to put on my
00:29:15
noise cancelling headphones. I want the
00:29:16
world to be utterly silent. Don't talk
00:29:19
to me. Don't mess with me. Um, yeah,
00:29:23
that's very cool. The other thing I
00:29:25
wanted to ask you about, this is
00:29:26
something that you and I talked a little
00:29:28
bit about uh when we had our first kind
00:29:30
of our pre-in if you will, but um you
00:29:34
had mentioned that you have a very
00:29:36
strong and you kind of brought it up on
00:29:37
this interview too, but um you love the
00:29:40
reconnection with nature and you see
00:29:42
that as being super beneficial for your
00:29:44
family and your kids. And so I'm
00:29:47
interested like, you know, if someone is
00:29:50
feeling disconnected, what do you what
00:29:52
are your recommendations or what are or
00:29:54
do you have some favorite things that
00:29:55
you're like, this is how I reconnect
00:29:57
with nature and and it's kind of a
00:29:59
reentering is the way I view it of like
00:30:01
yourself. So
00:30:03
>> anything in that vein,
00:30:04
>> you know, just getting outside. It is so
00:30:06
important to get out there. We tend to
00:30:08
spend our lives in a box inside
00:30:12
fluorescent lights. Um, where I worked
00:30:15
as a nurse, we didn't even have windows.
00:30:19
I didn't know what it looked like
00:30:20
outside. I didn't know if it was
00:30:22
raining. I didn't know if the sun was
00:30:23
out. I never knew what was going on. I
00:30:25
was just in a room all day long under
00:30:28
fluorescent lights. And that's a lot of
00:30:30
like office work, same thing. School,
00:30:33
same thing. You are in your seat, locked
00:30:36
in your box, fluorescent lights. You're
00:30:39
not getting any of that vitamin D from
00:30:41
the sun. You're not getting that wind.
00:30:43
you're not feeling nature at all. And
00:30:47
there's a lot of studies out there that
00:30:49
show that we are all vitamin D deficient
00:30:52
because we're not getting enough natural
00:30:54
sunlight. There are lots of studies that
00:30:57
show that being outside and being in
00:31:00
nature helps calm our nervous systems
00:31:03
and relaxes us and makes us feel better.
00:31:07
So that's why I started my um blog is to
00:31:13
give people some of those studies and
00:31:16
help people reconnect with nature. So
00:31:18
you can find me at wandering past limits
00:31:20
where I talk about how nature not only
00:31:23
has affected my son and helping him calm
00:31:27
his nervous system. Like I said, he's
00:31:29
out fishing right now, getting that
00:31:31
fresh air. Uh because, you know, he gets
00:31:35
ramped up,
00:31:36
>> he goes outside, he comes back a whole
00:31:38
new person. He feels better when he gets
00:31:41
back. And we all need that. We all need
00:31:44
to get outside and calm our nervous
00:31:47
systems.
00:31:49
>> Yeah. No, 100%. And yeah, shout out to
00:31:52
your blog, Wandering Past Limits. Link
00:31:53
is going to be in the description or
00:31:54
it's popping up on the screen if you're
00:31:56
watching this. Um, is that also like
00:31:58
social handles and stuff also wandering
00:32:00
past limits? But yeah, go to the
00:32:01
website. I'm sure it's I'm sure it links
00:32:03
out to everything um [laughter]
00:32:05
necessary there as well. That's that's
00:32:08
the great thing about websites. They're
00:32:10
kind of the hub for everything. Um, I
00:32:12
agree with you on the nature thing. I
00:32:14
think it's
00:32:15
>> it it has changed.
00:32:18
I I got locked into like co really
00:32:21
locked me in the house and I became a
00:32:22
hermit and I just really didn't
00:32:24
>> I didn't want to go outside. I didn't
00:32:26
want to see other people, didn't want to
00:32:27
do anything. And in more recent years, I
00:32:30
I try to go for a walk most days. I try
00:32:32
to go outside a little bit. I sit near a
00:32:34
window now, so I'm getting some
00:32:36
sunlight, you know, things like that.
00:32:38
>> But yeah, going outside and just like
00:32:41
enjoying and breathing fresh air and
00:32:44
like touching the ground and getting
00:32:46
dirty um [laughter]
00:32:48
is like amazing. It It really does.
00:32:52
>> It's weird. It's It's like a drug. It
00:32:54
just It really resets you. It's Yeah.
00:32:57
So, highly encourage it if you're
00:32:58
watching this,
00:32:59
>> you know, when we're done. Yeah. When
00:33:01
we're done, go outside, go touch some
00:33:02
grass, go experience the outside. Um
00:33:05
[laughter]
00:33:06
and uh Yeah. And and report back on uh
00:33:09
on how it made you feel? Well, uh well,
00:33:11
Kayla, is there anything I haven't hit
00:33:13
on that we need to talk about? Um when
00:33:16
it comes to homeschooling, when it comes
00:33:18
to being on the road, when it comes to
00:33:20
resetting our nervous systems, is there
00:33:22
anything I haven't touched on yet?
00:33:25
No, I don't think so.
00:33:26
>> Okay.
00:33:27
>> Yeah.
00:33:28
>> Yeah. Well, thank you so much for coming
00:33:30
on and sharing your story. And I'm glad
00:33:32
I'm glad that you guys have worked and
00:33:34
figured out,
00:33:36
you know, some things that work for your
00:33:38
family. And that's that's the beauty
00:33:40
about homeschooling, right? Is that it's
00:33:41
finding the thing that works for you and
00:33:43
and you know, providing the best
00:33:45
education for your kiddo. And that's
00:33:47
something, you know, as an ex-h
00:33:49
homeschooler, that's the thing I try to
00:33:50
encourage current homeschool families
00:33:52
and people who are thinking about it to
00:33:53
do is like what does your kid need and
00:33:56
let's get them that, right? And how do
00:33:58
we how do we accomplish that?
00:34:00
>> I have one last question before I let
00:34:01
you go. And that is
00:34:04
if a family is coming to you and they're
00:34:06
thinking about homeschooling,
00:34:08
what are you how are you advising them?
00:34:11
What are you where are you telling them
00:34:12
to look? If they're coming to you and
00:34:13
they're like, "Hey, we're thinking about
00:34:14
this little Johnny, little Debbie,
00:34:17
they've got, you know, whatever." Where
00:34:20
what are you feeding them to first? What
00:34:22
is kind of your your go-to advice there?
00:34:25
>> Give yourself some grace. Give yourself
00:34:28
time to figure out what works best for
00:34:30
your family because not everything is
00:34:32
the same for every family. It takes time
00:34:36
and
00:34:38
enjoy that journey. I know it's hard to
00:34:39
say enjoy that journey. It's a rough
00:34:41
journey, but
00:34:42
>> [gasps]
00:34:43
>> Enjoy the journey getting there and
00:34:45
finding what works best for your family.
00:34:47
Sometimes those workbooks are what your
00:34:49
kids need. They didn't work for us. We
00:34:52
tried it. It didn't work. Sometimes
00:34:54
those online schools, they're great and
00:34:56
they help. Sometimes even that doesn't
00:34:57
work. I know there's a lot of different
00:34:59
options of unschooling is another big
00:35:02
one where parents are just going out and
00:35:06
letting the kids learn
00:35:09
by going to places and that's how
00:35:11
they're learning about it. So, there's
00:35:13
so many different options out there. Do
00:35:15
your research and find out what works
00:35:17
best for you.
00:35:18
>> And there's always communities. That's I
00:35:20
think the other thing is is
00:35:22
>> homeschooling tends to get lumped in
00:35:24
this bubble of very antisocial. And the
00:35:26
reality is there's actually a lot of us
00:35:27
and there's a lot of communities and
00:35:29
there's a lot of forums and there's a
00:35:31
lot of there's a lot of shows like this
00:35:32
one. There's a lot of shows with current
00:35:33
homeschool families. Um but there's
00:35:35
always someone to reach out to and you
00:35:37
never know like you said talking to the
00:35:38
Amazon guy and he was like I
00:35:40
homeschooled my kids. You never know who
00:35:42
you're going to run into out in the
00:35:43
wild. Open up that conversation and uh
00:35:47
>> Absolutely.
00:35:48
>> Yeah, for sure. Well,
00:35:49
>> yes, there are a lot of places to go. I
00:35:51
didn't know that either first starting,
00:35:53
but there are a lot of communities.
00:35:55
>> Oh, yeah. No, I I Yeah, I didn't I grew
00:35:59
up in a very big homeschool community
00:36:01
and I I I didn't really realize the
00:36:04
number until I started doing these
00:36:06
interviews and I started talking to
00:36:07
people all over the country and I was
00:36:08
like, "Holy
00:36:10
>> they're everywhere." Excuse my language,
00:36:11
but they're they're everywhere.
00:36:12
>> Yeah, they are.
00:36:14
>> Yeah. It really blew me away. So,
00:36:15
>> yeah.
00:36:16
>> Yeah. I was like, "Wow." Well, Kayla,
00:36:19
this has been fun. I appreciate you
00:36:20
coming on. Thank you for being
00:36:21
vulnerable and sharing your story and
00:36:23
and what has worked for your family. And
00:36:26
again, I I'm I'm looking forward to
00:36:28
checking in with you, you know, every
00:36:29
now and then and hearing where things
00:36:31
are at and and how things are going. So,
00:36:34
keep us up to date.
00:36:35
>> Absolutely. Thank you so much for having
00:36:37
me. I appreciate it. It's been a it's
00:36:39
been fun.
00:36:40
>> Good. Good. And uh and to my exhies,
00:36:43
this has been the X homeschoolers club.
00:36:45
Do all the things that you know how to
00:36:46
do. Like, subscribe, leave a comment,
00:36:48
share this with a friend that needs to
00:36:49
hear it, and uh until we see you. Peace.
00:36:58
[music]
00:37:06
>> [music]
