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Did my dad HATE homeschooling me? | #20

December 11, 2024 / 01:26:46

This episode features Jacob G interviewing his father about their homeschooling experience and the evolution of their relationship. Key topics include parental involvement in homeschooling, the impact of educational conferences, and personal growth through challenges.

Jacob discusses his father's initial hands-off approach to homeschooling, where he was more of a principal than an active participant. His father shares how attending conferences changed his perspective, leading him to become more involved in Jacob's education.

The conversation highlights pivotal moments, such as the father's shift from being uninvolved to actively participating in curriculum selection and teaching. They reflect on the importance of adapting educational methods to fit the children's interests and needs.

Jacob and his father also touch on personal challenges, including the father's health issues and how they influenced his approach to parenting and education. They emphasize the significance of being present and engaged in children's lives.

In closing, they discuss the importance of advocacy for children's education and the value of being involved in their interests, fostering a strong parent-child relationship.

TL;DR

Jacob interviews his dad about their homeschooling journey and evolving relationship, focusing on parental involvement and personal growth through challenges.

Episode

1:26:46

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we are back for another ex-

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homeschoolers club I'm of course your

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host Jacob G and uh I'm continuing on

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this theme of interviewing parents and

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so this week I'm stoked my dad is here

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with me and uh we're going to have a

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good time we're going to talk about just

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kind of his involvement in my homeschool

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childhood and what he's doing today you

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know the growth that we've seen and just

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kind of chat about like our relationship

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and how it's kind of evolved over the

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years so Dad thanks for coming on hey

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well thanks for inviting me to your

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Forum so uh I'm so stoked to have you

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it's like I knew from starting that I I

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was GNA want to interview you and Mom

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and um and I'm glad that you guys are

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brave enough to put your stories out on

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the internet um because that's not for

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everybody so anyway well I'm glad to be

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a part of this I don't know I just it's

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and I I think it's I I appreciate what

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you're doing and and I've been

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pleasantly surprised that your podcast

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and and um it's uh so I'm happy to be a

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part of it awesome well thank you and uh

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okay so let's kick things off okay so I

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chatted with Mom we you know we talked a

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little bit about like the beginning of

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the homeschool years and you you were I

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don't want to say like not involved but

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you were definitely not you were not a

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part of really the curriculum aspect you

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were very much like principal you went

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to work in the morning you were there

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for discipline that kind of a thing but

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you were very like hands off of The

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Homeschool situation but then by the

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time I was leaving High School you were

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very much like in it I mean things

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changed you were working from home then

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you know but also you were like quote

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unquote like my teacher you were the

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person I reported to when it came to a

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lot of things and so I kind of wanted to

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you know talk about like what really

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changed um and so like what was that

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pivotal moment of like going from okay

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I'm not as much involved to like okay I

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think I want to be heavily more involved

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in this right so initially like like

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like you said initially I was when your

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mom was like oh I I think I want to

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homeschool the kids I was

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like fine do whatever you want don't

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expect me to be involved at

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all we and and I literally like I said

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that and I was was like I'm not going to

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have anything to do with this but if you

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want to do it go for it but it's all you

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right and and um so and and it wasn't

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that I was opposed to it it just that I

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was like I'm I'm not in at all I like

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just count me out and but what I saw

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was within the first year I could see

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the difference in the way way that you

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that you guys you and Madison just

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interacted with people I I could see it

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like I I could just you know at that

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time we were you know we we were

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teaching Sunday school we had you know

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you and and and how you you were with

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you know you and Madison were in

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comparison to other kids not to you know

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not to try and like you shouldn't really

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compare per se but like at at that time

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you know I could see I could see a

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difference yeah when you say like a

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difference are you talking about like

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like we were more socially like able to

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talk with like adults or like what do

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you mean by like a difference I guess I

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could see a difference yeah like I think

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um I could see one of the differences I

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could see was that you guys weren't

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afraid to talk with adults like you

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weren't as scared or as shy other kids

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um and you seem to be more uh

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comfortable with who you were and what

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you knew and how to express

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yourselves

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um so I could see I could see that

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difference right and and so it w and

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then and then one of the biggest things

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that that

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helped continue to grow me in my support

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for homeschooling was

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um you know was your mom inviting me to

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conference right one of the first

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conferences that we weren went to was

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like in Ontario you know and we were

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able to drive you know it they were all

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in the state of California but so we

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could drive and then we spent you know

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we got a hotel and we spent a couple of

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nights because it was a like a two-day

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conference or something and and um at

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that conference I saw other homeschooled

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dads

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speaking

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involved and I was listening right I I

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could I I listen to what they had to say

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and you know and so like it was CH it

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challenged me and it it inspired me and

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it started to draw me out and be

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like and God started changing my heart

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in that way right like I I

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I I I wanted to have a heart for my

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family and my kids and I did but like I

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I he started growing that desire and

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that heart bigger for me and and so that

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was the path that started it right and

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like like you said I was always like the

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principal and I was happy to be that but

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but as as

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my uh you know as my journey grew GRE

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and I I learned more about it and and I

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got more involved I was like okay well I

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can do this and I can push for this and

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and like you know and then and as I went

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to more and more of these conferences

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and and you know mom invited me in to

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like help select curriculum and look at

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curriculum and I could see the

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opportunities like like when we went to

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a conference and like there was a whole

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Lego curriculum that was like super

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exciting for me yeah because I was a

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Lego guy you were a Lego guy yeah I was

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like well we can connect on this and

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like this is this is awesome right like

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when I was in school that Legos wasn't

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you know part of curriculum at all and

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we could make Lego part of the

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curriculum and I was like yeah um

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so so seeing things like that and seen

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things like like you know cool stuff

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that boys like knives and axes and and

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night stuff and you know that stuff that

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spoke to me

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and and I thought could speak to you and

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you know as my son and and other things

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and so that's where you know my heart

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really started to change and and really

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see okay you know um I want to I want to

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not only just support it I want to

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really be a champion of it you know yeah

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like not just be like oh yeah do this

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it's okay but really like like well this

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is really a good thing uh this is um you

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know something we can do as a family you

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know and so so that's where where I

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started to see things and like in those

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conferences there were different

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speakers um male speakers that you know

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challenged me and like you know kind of

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called me out to be a better father a

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better husband

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been and and I wanted to to meet that

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challenge right I I felt like that was

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important well I think something that

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you you and I have talked about this a

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lot but it's

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like I I never I've never felt like oh

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my dad's just like not in my life if

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that you know like even when we were

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little kids and I was in public school

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or even before that it's like looking

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back in in those those memories it's

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like you were around we did stuff

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you know but but there was a definite

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shift when you started get involved in

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The Homeschool stuff where it shifted

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from dad wants to involve Us in the

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things that he wants to do to Dad wants

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to beol be involved in the things that I

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want to do and find the things that kind

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of like met in the middle right um and

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so because like I remember before we

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lived in ohigh we like in the condo I

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remember like sitting in the garage and

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like doing woodworking projects and like

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gluing together like your scrap wood

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stuff and like that was fun but that was

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like that was your thing that was what

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you enjoyed and that was how you would

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like de-stress right and and detach you

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know um not detach that's the wrong word

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but like that was your

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thing Escape kind of like it was as a

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form of you know you know hobby hobby

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you know a hobby thing and when we mov

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to ohigh I think the other thing too

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that's important to point out is that so

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we moved to ohigh we moved into a fixer

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upper house so that first year of

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homeschool we didn't have a kitchen we

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only had like one bathroom so like in

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addition to because it because I don't

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want it to come off sounding like you

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were just like I'm a hands off I want

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nothing to do with this you were having

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to work a full-time job then come home

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and like remodel this house so I think

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that plays a role in it too where it's

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like do I even have the bandwidth to be

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involved in this you know right um yeah

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that's that's stressful that that's true

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like like no there's some truth in that

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and like you're you're right like I was

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yeah I was coming home and like changing

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from my work clothes into my house work

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clothes and and you know after dinner I

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would go to work on the house and and

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until you know after you kids went to

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bed and and still work and try not to

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make it make too much noise and that's

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valid um you know and so yeah I did I I

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we took on a

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lot guess what I'm try our family take

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on a lot that's very true um and um no

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but I think I I think uh

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um I want to Circle back around to kind

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of where you're were saying like like

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you know like like your mom I'm so

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thankful for your mom in terms of like

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even when you guys were young

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kids young even babies right she

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encouraged me

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to be involved in your everyday stuff

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give you baths when I got home I could

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have a little nap time with you guys or

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or you know play with you before dinner

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or and then like give you the bath

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before bedtime and be a part of that and

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be so that I wasn't which was very

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different than the way I grew up okay

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so so that was and and it was very

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different than you know and

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me being around was a conscious decision

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because I wanted that because that was

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different than how you know my dad

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wasn't always around he was traveling a

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lot for work during the week he would be

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home during the weekends and then to

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your point too about you know when I was

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a kid if I wanted to spend time with my

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dad it was like okay on the weekends i'

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just kind of like follow him around and

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be a shadow and be involved with what he

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was involved with and like as I got

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older yeah he like would you know I was

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on a traveling basketball team and he

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would take me the games and stuff so he

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did he did dip in with that for me but

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he was an athlete when he was in high

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school so that wasn't like totally out

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of his wheelhouse you know um so so I so

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what I knew was you know and kind of

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what I you know when we were in the

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condo was like oh yeah I just follow me

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around enjoy what I do in my hobbies

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right but I had to

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learn um and part of the you know some

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of the homeschool conferences helped me

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learn this or or at least triggered the

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thinking um you know I need to enter

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into your world and you know like like I

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can't just expect you to like the things

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that I like that may be true in some

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cases it may not be true but I but if I

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want to

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establish rapport with you and

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relationship I need to enter into the

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things that you love and participate in

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those things so like that changed right

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like I tried to and I wasn't very good

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and even when we were working on a house

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like you wanted to help me but I wasn't

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very good at at at instructing you in

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how to do that right that was a I was

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going to break

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I was gonna I was gonna say the the

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comparison of like we have this joke of

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a story that if you pull up the

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floorboards I think it's in the living

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room you pull up the floorboards in the

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living room there is just a gigantic

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paint stain on the concrete thing

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because I wanted to mix the paint my dad

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was like yeah you can mix the paint

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here's the drill here's the big drill

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bit thing that comes off of it and then

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just was like do it and there was no

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instruction and my mom always

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I heard from the other room and I knew

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it was going to be a disaster and sure

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enough paint went everywhere but to

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compare that to then when I was I think

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we did yeah when I was in college to

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come home and we re roof the whole house

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and we worked very much as a team and

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there was a lot of communication and

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there was a lot of like okay let's do

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this let's try

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this it it's very different right like

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there's been this crazy it's just to

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give both sides of the spectrum right

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it's like the the lack of being a to

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explain it yeah as as as a communicator

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to communicate better you know and and

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that's and I've learned that you know

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through home stuff through work stuff so

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like like so yeah so I have improved and

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and learned and it's just

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like you know you you know you're you're

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learning as you go and and growing and

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changing and you know I'm not the same

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person today as I was when we first

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started home School in and right and so

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I'm a different person and I advocate

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differently and so but yeah that's a

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good point that's a good point like yeah

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well I mean you're talking about we

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started homes going like what 2006

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something like that uh I was eight we we

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bought well we bought our we bought our

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house we bought our house in 2004 okay

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so so we started this the fall of 2004

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was when we started oh okay yeah um yeah

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why did I do that math wrong I would

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have been I would have been 10 2006

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whatever no but like like uh that's okay

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like I just I know because like this

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we've been here 20 years right yeah and

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and it finally looks like you know mom's

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finally driving up to the house and

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going oh looks great right and and she

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likes the the Fig Tree and the the

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the you know the the nectarine the the

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apricot and like oh how the leafes are

00:16:04

changing and it looks good with the

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house and which is really satisfying

00:16:09

right but it's taken 20 years it takes a

00:16:12

while right it's not an overnight thing

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it's not you know I wanted to bring this

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up too and this is kind of pivoting a

00:16:18

little bit but okay so so you started to

00:16:22

get more heavily involved in our

00:16:23

education and I remember like it I think

00:16:25

it really to some degree started where

00:16:29

at night we would read books together um

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as a family and you would sit you

00:16:34

started just like sitting in with us I

00:16:36

feel like and we were just reading it

00:16:39

was like historical literature basically

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like

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fiction was one of them carry on Mr

00:16:47

bodic was one of them I mean and part of

00:16:50

that too

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like like that was I I also remember cuz

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I broke my hip and while during

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during all this period And I was sitting

00:17:01

in the living room and this Lazy Boy

00:17:03

working and you guys would read and I

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would hear these stories and I'd be like

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you know but I wouldn't get to hear the

00:17:11

whole book because I you know you'd like

00:17:13

read a couple chapters and then like

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like later when I wasn't around you read

00:17:17

more and i' jump in later and I best

00:17:20

part of the story and I was just like ah

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this is so good I got and I ended up

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reading several of those books myself

00:17:26

just because I I was like intrigued you

00:17:30

know by the story it was a good story

00:17:32

right yeah and but I think that's really

00:17:35

where like I started seeing you kind of

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like get involved in like our stuff and

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maybe there was more behind the scenes

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of like you helping Mom choose

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curriculum and things like that but I

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definitely felt

00:17:45

like when you started being involved in

00:17:48

like oh reading a book together and then

00:17:51

we talk about it you know and then like

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I mean you went from being like

00:17:55

principal cuz I mean yeah up until when

00:17:58

whenever you broke your hip which was

00:18:01

what we were in scho high school like

00:18:04

yeah freshman maybe um freshman

00:18:07

sophomore something like that so yeah

00:18:08

145 so you're talking about I mean

00:18:11

that's it's eight so what like six years

00:18:14

of

00:18:15

time you know that like that I feel like

00:18:18

was a big transition one in your life

00:18:20

but also in in we saw so much more of

00:18:23

you cuz it went from dad went to work

00:18:25

every day he would come home and yeah he

00:18:27

was involved in like story time and he

00:18:29

would go do homeschool stuff you would

00:18:30

you did homeschool stuff us come to

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groups you know do whatever go to dances

00:18:35

with us that kind of stuff but but that

00:18:37

was I think a big transition period too

00:18:39

where it was like all of a sudden dad's

00:18:41

around so he gets to see the inner

00:18:43

workings of a day today yeah

00:18:47

and yeah I feel like I don't know like

00:18:51

well part of that like like I think part

00:18:52

of it too okay so so what also brought

00:18:56

about some of the transition was

00:18:59

when you hit

00:19:01

puberty um quite honestly like the best

00:19:05

time of life right so like it's you know

00:19:08

and so when you hit puberty and you were

00:19:11

starting to bristle at Mom's instruction

00:19:16

right which is natural right which is

00:19:18

for a young man transitioning from a boy

00:19:20

to a young man you know that's a natural

00:19:23

part of life and and so your mom was

00:19:27

like I I really need help and um you

00:19:33

know thankfully she was able to express

00:19:35

that and thankfully you know I could

00:19:38

hear it and for me you know when I was a

00:19:43

young man at that stage I just needed

00:19:45

physical activity right so hence some of

00:19:48

the things that you know I would do with

00:19:52

you in terms of you know you came to my

00:19:55

work and swept the whole sidewalk box

00:19:59

and stuff like that for you know

00:20:00

punishment and other things like I would

00:20:02

just have you do labor to help get out

00:20:06

some of that extra energy and hormones

00:20:10

and everything because like that's what

00:20:11

worked for me as a kid but

00:20:13

also in in attending some of the home

00:20:16

school conferences there was a a

00:20:18

particular indivi there was there was a

00:20:20

speaker he happened to be an executive

00:20:24

or a manager at that focused on the

00:20:26

family at the time and he SP

00:20:29

and his his his his session really spoke

00:20:34

to me because he was

00:20:35

like I'm I'm in charge of my son's

00:20:40

homeschool right and how he did it right

00:20:43

and and like yeah as they're

00:20:44

transitioning from a boy to a young man

00:20:46

and and drawing them out and like they

00:20:49

take instruction from their fathers

00:20:52

better than their mothers right and it

00:20:54

doesn't mean so that really challenged

00:20:57

me and then that like seen this happen

00:20:59

with you like okay like I can do this

00:21:03

right like like he's doing it he's

00:21:05

working a full-time job as a manager

00:21:07

executive for this organization I'm not

00:21:10

an executive but I but and I have a

00:21:12

full-time job but I can do it we can

00:21:15

figure this out right and so part of

00:21:17

that was like and it wasn't like I would

00:21:20

sit down and do all the you know it was

00:21:22

a a lot of it was your mom would plan

00:21:24

the lesson plan and I would just

00:21:26

communicate it to you because you could

00:21:27

hear it from me better than you could

00:21:29

hear from her right right and and it

00:21:32

wasn't that I didn't have input it was

00:21:34

just that I you know you know yeah

00:21:38

things things pivoted during that time

00:21:40

because it went from it went from okay

00:21:42

so you know yeah mom is structuring

00:21:45

everything to okay so Dad is still going

00:21:48

to work um because yeah this was pre you

00:21:51

working from home and like Dad goes to

00:21:53

work but like I got a laptop I had I got

00:21:56

my first email address there like and

00:21:59

yeah we set out a structure and a

00:22:01

schedule and you were like okay you

00:22:02

email me when you're done with certain

00:22:04

things you know to say hey it done

00:22:07

checked it off the bucket list right and

00:22:09

so that way you knew that it was time to

00:22:11

like okay I can go and I can grade it or

00:22:13

we can you know whether it was you or

00:22:16

Mom grading it whatever you know it was

00:22:18

time for the review and then we'll

00:22:20

discuss it and and that kind of a thing

00:22:23

yes you brought up going to your office

00:22:25

um I have both very fond and terrible

00:22:28

memories of that place

00:22:31

um I yeah I was a little um

00:22:36

sometimes and I remember there was this

00:22:38

one day I don't I don't remember what

00:22:40

happened but yeah I ended up at your

00:22:42

office and I the worst show I ever did

00:22:45

at your office was clean just for for

00:22:47

the listeners for the listeners my that

00:22:50

was the principal's office right

00:22:52

fortunately fortunately I we where I

00:22:54

worked was only about 15 minutes away

00:22:56

from home so like I could run home at

00:22:59

lunch if things were happening which I

00:23:01

happened on multiple occasions and I

00:23:04

could pick you up and bring you back for

00:23:06

the rest of the afternoon and you had to

00:23:09

be in the principal's office for the

00:23:11

rest of for rest of the day right and

00:23:14

when I say it was brutal it was brutal

00:23:16

because a lot times it really just meant

00:23:18

you passed me off to one of like the um

00:23:23

the uh not supply room what am I

00:23:26

thinking of like the shipping room guys

00:23:28

so we had so Dustin was in charge of of

00:23:31

the shipping and he was also in charge

00:23:33

of the maintenance of the building and

00:23:35

stuff and so like when I got when I had

00:23:38

stuff when I was done with you in terms

00:23:40

of like I had you know like whatever I

00:23:44

could think of you had accomplished and

00:23:47

we're still sitting you know you know

00:23:49

there's two or three hours left of

00:23:51

before I going before we're going home I

00:23:54

just go down to desk and I go what jobs

00:23:57

do you have that you need need help with

00:23:59

here's here's hands to help you right

00:24:02

yep the worst thing I ever did and if

00:24:06

anybody Works in a corporate office you

00:24:08

know the disgustingness that is the

00:24:09

corporate fridge because everyone

00:24:11

forgets that their stuff is in there I

00:24:14

scrubbed this thing top to bottom

00:24:15

multiple times soda sticky soda residue

00:24:20

ice cream that was like you couldn't

00:24:22

even tell it was ice cream anymore like

00:24:24

moldy cheese like I have never seen so

00:24:27

much mold in my entire life like it's no

00:24:29

wonder I have an allergy to mold because

00:24:31

I mean we're talking about containers

00:24:33

that the mold was that grown its own

00:24:35

ecosystem inside of it and then it was

00:24:37

like coming out of the lids like it was

00:24:39

disgusting it was like the worst thing

00:24:41

ever and yeah you know what's funny and

00:24:44

not to not to really uh call out my aunt

00:24:47

who worked with you but my aunt Bera who

00:24:50

worked with you if she's listening um

00:24:52

I'm calling you out her initials are Bo

00:24:55

and that was listed on a lot of things

00:24:57

that ended up with mold in them um so I

00:24:59

threw away a lot of your containers Ain

00:25:00

Bertha um yeah those are just in a

00:25:04

landfill somewhere the stuff that people

00:25:06

bring and then like eat partially or

00:25:08

don't finish and then like leave and

00:25:11

forget about it and then bring something

00:25:13

else the next day that's the stuff that

00:25:15

you got to clean out that's man so

00:25:18

disgusting yeah there was that I I think

00:25:21

that was the worst I had to do filing

00:25:23

that was like super repetitive and dumb

00:25:25

that you know I remember somebody coming

00:25:26

through and being like why are you doing

00:25:29

this and I was like because I'm in

00:25:31

trouble and they're like oh that makes

00:25:32

sense and I was like I was like do you

00:25:34

guys even use these and they're like no

00:25:36

It's All Digital now like like what am I

00:25:40

doing um but yeah so that was yeah that

00:25:44

was uh that was punishment a lot of the

00:25:46

times but yeah you did like I think it

00:25:48

was good that you pushed me to do like

00:25:51

physical activity because one of the

00:25:54

things too was

00:25:55

like yeah when hormones are raging and

00:25:58

and just life is changing it was like

00:25:59

there's a lot of emotion there's a lot

00:26:01

of

00:26:02

whatever

00:26:03

and it got to the point where I just

00:26:06

kind of also learned that it's like okay

00:26:08

if I get frustrated just go mow the lawn

00:26:10

go wash the car like go do something

00:26:13

right go throw a ball at a wall like

00:26:15

just like do something and you get out

00:26:18

the the aggression the frustration

00:26:19

whatever it is yeah

00:26:22

and obviously there needs to be a part

00:26:24

of like actually exploring what that

00:26:26

emotion and where that stemmed from but

00:26:27

sometimes then of motion just boils up

00:26:29

you just have to like get it out first

00:26:31

in a physical form and it's a lot better

00:26:33

to like punch the lawn with a lawn mower

00:26:36

than it is to like throw a chair across

00:26:38

the room right and if you can get it out

00:26:40

in a positive way or you know like like

00:26:44

because I know as a kid when I was in

00:26:46

school and I you know I was in we lived

00:26:50

in

00:26:51

Minnesota and so one of the methods that

00:26:54

I you know if I get Ang you know if I

00:26:56

get frustrated at school

00:26:58

or with a teacher and I'd get angry so a

00:27:03

positive outlet for that was I could

00:27:05

come home and I could split wood because

00:27:08

we burned wood and so splitting wood

00:27:12

is physical labor you know you're

00:27:14

swinging a swinging a sledgehammer and

00:27:17

using a using a split splitter and stuff

00:27:20

like that and so like but then it also

00:27:23

benefited the family because it gave us

00:27:25

a wood pile that we could burn during

00:27:27

the winter and that was helpful right so

00:27:30

and then like I didn't have I didn't get

00:27:33

in trouble at school because I blew up

00:27:35

at a teacher so you know

00:27:39

so as as you know that's something that

00:27:43

when I was young it worked for me so

00:27:45

hopefully I could you know pass it on I

00:27:48

think it worked for me too I mean it's

00:27:50

still something that like it's different

00:27:53

now I don't have a long but yeah you

00:27:56

know it's figuring out those things it's

00:27:58

like yeah when you get frustrated it's

00:27:59

like go for a run go do whatever to

00:28:02

sometimes you just got to get it out and

00:28:04

once it's out then it's like it's a lot

00:28:06

easier to deal with it when it's not

00:28:08

just like in the moment sometimes then

00:28:10

you can yeah I mean it takes the it

00:28:13

takes it down to a level where all of a

00:28:15

sudden I can be critically thinking

00:28:17

about it yeah you know you also I think

00:28:20

as you grow I think too you learn to

00:28:24

start to recognize the triggers of

00:28:26

getting to that point of like yeah

00:28:28

you know when you're a hormonal teenager

00:28:30

it's it's like when people talk about

00:28:31

getting mad right and they see red like

00:28:33

I feel like there's a level when you're

00:28:35

a teenager that's just like it's kind of

00:28:37

that and it's not always anger but it

00:28:39

maybe expresses itself in Anger

00:28:41

sometimes but as you get older if you if

00:28:44

you listen to it right you can start to

00:28:46

recognize the trigger so you start to

00:28:48

realize okay why am I ramping up to this

00:28:50

point of seeing red right and and so

00:28:52

before that you can start to combat it

00:28:55

with things that don't involve having to

00:28:57

go chop wood right and so and then

00:28:59

you're able to kind of you can diffuse

00:29:00

the situation a lot faster I guess what

00:29:02

I'm trying to say yeah yeah yeah so and

00:29:06

like and then also the other point I I

00:29:08

would raised about

00:29:11

um uh taking over being more involved

00:29:14

with your schooling as you were older

00:29:16

and like and like having the office

00:29:18

situation and then you know and the

00:29:21

email you mentioned the email and stuff

00:29:23

but also like you had the schedule time

00:29:26

with me right like that was like

00:29:29

because because I worked you you you had

00:29:33

to be intentional about okay well I

00:29:36

need x amount of time for you of your

00:29:39

dad tonight so don't plan it you know

00:29:42

well I have to schedule appointment with

00:29:44

you so like so like which was important

00:29:47

which was good because like it helped us

00:29:50

you know get it done and and work work

00:29:53

on you know getting the task done but

00:29:55

also it taught you a skill set

00:29:59

um that's beneficial you know that's

00:30:02

transferable and beneficial for life too

00:30:05

right like so so you you know so now you

00:30:09

you know in your work you you have

00:30:11

schedule and you make appointments all

00:30:13

the time you know and that's something

00:30:14

that you're you started to learn in high

00:30:18

school as you were working with me right

00:30:21

like like so so that was another I think

00:30:24

that was you know so that was one of the

00:30:25

things um I

00:30:28

that and I mean even when like later in

00:30:31

high school when I started to kind of

00:30:33

have like my own jobs my own like

00:30:35

businesses and things like that it's

00:30:36

like a lot of times you and I would sit

00:30:39

down and I'd be like okay I have this

00:30:40

idea I want to do this thing right like

00:30:42

how does this make sense financially

00:30:46

right and it's like or like like I used

00:30:48

to I Bartered with Tim FR it's like I

00:30:50

would go be his janitor for a couple

00:30:52

hours a week in exchange for music

00:30:54

lessons great right it was a one for one

00:30:57

kind of a deal

00:30:58

you know but then I I taught my own

00:31:00

guitar lessons I taught my own dance

00:31:02

lessons you know I did a bunch of other

00:31:04

stuff that it was like okay like we

00:31:06

would sit down and be like okay here's

00:31:08

kind of what I'm thinking about charging

00:31:10

is this too much not enough does this

00:31:12

make sense like if I have to drive the

00:31:14

Ventura for this it should be higher you

00:31:16

know and so he also sat down with me to

00:31:18

kind of look at all these things from

00:31:20

just a like okay yeah you have your own

00:31:22

business but like it needs to make sense

00:31:24

if you're actually going to do it and

00:31:25

that's been transferable to now I have

00:31:28

business right and and that's been fun

00:31:31

like that's been fun for me right

00:31:33

because like I I have not been

00:31:36

entrepreneurial in in my

00:31:40

career but I've been in business and I

00:31:44

can help like it's been fun for me

00:31:47

because like I can help you think

00:31:50

through some things that I've learned

00:31:52

along the way just being involved with

00:31:54

business and

00:31:55

see you know the transactions and and

00:31:59

the the concerns and what's thought

00:32:01

about to help you think about those

00:32:03

things as you are entrepreneural and in

00:32:06

your endeavors right like okay consider

00:32:08

this consider this right these are costs

00:32:11

these are things to think about right so

00:32:12

like like it's been that's been fun for

00:32:15

me I think too that like this is really

00:32:19

looping back also kind of the beginning

00:32:21

of the conversation but you you getting

00:32:23

involved in things that also I was

00:32:25

interested in played a big part and I

00:32:27

think

00:32:28

us having the relationship that we do

00:32:30

today

00:32:32

because in talking to like my friends

00:32:35

and interviewing people on the show and

00:32:37

and kind of figuring out I was like

00:32:39

people have brought up like Jacob your

00:32:42

parents were around like we saw your

00:32:44

parent we saw your dad we never saw any

00:32:46

homeschool dads like we saw your dad you

00:32:49

know and then especially talking out

00:32:51

like the guys it's like I'm realizing

00:32:53

like you came in you would Airsoft with

00:32:55

us and you would you know we would work

00:32:57

on cars together we would whatever

00:32:59

little like you know we go roof

00:33:01

somebody's house we go help somebody

00:33:03

move you know it's like you did things

00:33:05

that I was passionate about with me

00:33:08

specifically Airsoft I think it's the

00:33:09

big um and yeah which I love I love too

00:33:13

so like you know what's so funny and and

00:33:17

for for people who yeah we brought up

00:33:21

you breaking your leg and what's so

00:33:22

funny is you broke your like

00:33:24

paintballing and I want to say that was

00:33:25

like one of our first I don't know that

00:33:27

you airos softed with me prior to that

00:33:29

or maybe once or twice but you weren't

00:33:31

really as much into it yeah yet I feel

00:33:34

like I feel like paintball was kind of

00:33:36

the the first big thing we did where it

00:33:39

was like we had airsoft stuff before

00:33:41

that

00:33:43

because um because I remember like we

00:33:47

had I mean we had our airsoft stuff

00:33:49

before I broke my my hip

00:33:53

okay maybe my memory is serving me wrong

00:33:55

but yeah yeah because I remember like

00:33:58

playing up at the hall Ranch which was

00:34:00

one of our places that we would play and

00:34:03

before breaking my hip right like and

00:34:05

then like when I broke my hip they let

00:34:07

me use the gator to drive around right

00:34:10

that's

00:34:11

right and then like we had the overnight

00:34:14

stay thing and we played at night and

00:34:16

then I like you know I up my game and

00:34:19

bought like really expensive night

00:34:21

equipment so that I could like you know

00:34:24

terrorize you guys because I couldn't

00:34:25

move around as good and

00:34:28

yeah

00:34:29

yeah that was one of my that's one of my

00:34:32

favorite memories right so

00:34:34

like so I had a job you know I had a

00:34:37

good job and I could buy so I bought I

00:34:40

bought a flashlight that was designed

00:34:43

for hunting with the optical you know

00:34:45

like super powerful to go on the rail of

00:34:48

my airsoft gun with the whole pressure

00:34:50

switch thing you know that I could have

00:34:52

right down at my at the grip level and

00:34:56

and all these other you know all these

00:34:57

other St kids right were just like oh

00:35:01

I'm getting a flashlight from Costco I'm

00:35:02

just going to tape it to my gun right

00:35:04

and then I'll just click it on click it

00:35:06

off right and so which worked but like

00:35:10

you know I I was like well I know I I'm

00:35:12

not as mobile so I can't I can't I gotta

00:35:16

up my game right so so my the funnest

00:35:19

part was I remember that night so David

00:35:23

David worth he had his he had a ghillie

00:35:26

suit even and it was pitch black and

00:35:28

he's wearing his ghillie suit and I just

00:35:31

I just hear movement and I light him up

00:35:34

and it's like a deer in the headlights

00:35:36

and he's like and I hear him go oh crap

00:35:40

and I could just see the Airsoft bullets

00:35:42

flying out of my gun hitting

00:35:45

him yeah I will say as if there are any

00:35:49

current homeschool kids listening into

00:35:52

this get your if you want good gear for

00:35:55

whatever sport you want to play get your

00:35:57

your parent into that sport because they

00:36:00

will fund it we had yeah we had some of

00:36:02

the nicer guns I mean we didn't even

00:36:04

have like the craziest stuff but we had

00:36:05

nice guns we had nice gear and yeah and

00:36:08

then when you couldn't make it I got to

00:36:09

still take all that stuff so yeah then I

00:36:11

had high powerered flashlights and

00:36:12

lasers and yeah night vision this and

00:36:15

all that stuff so um yeah so I forgot I

00:36:19

forgot about that

00:36:20

flashlight no crazy yeah it was worth it

00:36:26

um and the other well the other part too

00:36:28

like well I I was I was I I was thinking

00:36:32

about this that kind of got me some I

00:36:36

think got me well how do you get you

00:36:38

know got me some cred with your

00:36:42

guys was you guys were over at the house

00:36:47

playing around doing whatever right and

00:36:48

then then you guys were like at the

00:36:50

kitchen table like oh it's arm wrestle

00:36:52

right and and and especially David worth

00:36:55

and and like they're like oh yeah you

00:36:57

know and so I like well I'm like so I

00:36:59

was like I want in on this right and so

00:37:03

they're like uh you know David's like a

00:37:05

that's his dad who nothing right and so

00:37:07

I beat him and like and then that that

00:37:11

got me some cred I think with David at

00:37:13

least yeah yeah well I think so to kind

00:37:18

of go into more of your story too is

00:37:20

that like growing up like you've always

00:37:23

been like a thin fairly athletic person

00:37:26

but like you weren't running you weren't

00:37:27

being physically active and then when

00:37:30

you broke your hip you

00:37:32

really hit this stride of

00:37:35

like maybe it's a I don't know maybe did

00:37:38

the doctors say like you might walk with

00:37:39

a limp for the rest of your life because

00:37:41

like you went into just like I'm going

00:37:42

to be a runner now mode yeah like I well

00:37:46

what happened was you know they they you

00:37:50

know it it was long recovery long

00:37:52

recovery and I mean I was on crutches

00:37:55

for four months then

00:37:58

then after crutches my back was all

00:38:00

jacked up because of the change and all

00:38:02

the muscular musculars thing and the

00:38:06

pain from my back was worse than the

00:38:08

pain from my hip um and then you know I

00:38:12

did PT for at least a month if not more

00:38:18

and that PT helped me a lot but then

00:38:21

after

00:38:22

PT you know I'd sit in the office and

00:38:25

sit in a chair and then I'd get up to go

00:38:27

to the coffee station or whatever and

00:38:29

I'd start to

00:38:31

limp and and then it would work out

00:38:34

right but but I didn't like it but so

00:38:36

basically it was like I don't like this

00:38:39

right so in combination with that so so

00:38:42

so that was like I I don't want this so

00:38:45

then that I was like I have to do pt

00:38:48

like every day and not just like oh I

00:38:51

did my two months of PT and I'm good and

00:38:53

I can just live my life how I want I

00:38:55

realized that because because of my back

00:38:58

because of my leg I have to

00:39:02

consistently do this and so that changed

00:39:06

a lot of things in my

00:39:08

life and then with the cancer

00:39:12

diagnosis not too long after the hip

00:39:15

thing

00:39:17

um uh that also changed how I viewed my

00:39:22

health and and the importance of that

00:39:24

and so then you know I I really was you

00:39:28

know um int you know trying to be more

00:39:32

intentional about that and and just be

00:39:35

as strong and ready for anything as I

00:39:37

could be yeah and that's so that that

00:39:42

that change that changed the Dynamics

00:39:44

well we talked about you know like

00:39:47

getting mad right and doing something

00:39:49

productive right and it's like I

00:39:52

remember yeah when you got diagnosed

00:39:54

with cancer it was

00:39:56

like it it was a shock first of all to

00:39:59

all of us but then it was you kind

00:40:02

of I think a lot of people would go more

00:40:05

into a depressive state of just kind of

00:40:07

being like okay it's over like I don't

00:40:09

know like I and and even though to give

00:40:12

a little bit of context you have CL

00:40:14

which is chronic lymphatic leukemia

00:40:17

right you're stage zero one kind of

00:40:20

level so B right it's like a

00:40:22

non-existence but it's one of those

00:40:24

cancers where if it activates it's like

00:40:26

really fast

00:40:27

right right well I don't know if it's

00:40:29

fast but it's but it's it's a it's a

00:40:33

blood it's a blood cancer and it's um

00:40:39

it's inert right now uh like I've never

00:40:42

had treatment I'm

00:40:45

I'm I'm just it'll be 11 years this year

00:40:49

um since I was diagnosed and I think

00:40:51

part of that so like so to go along with

00:40:54

that part of it like so when I broke my

00:40:58

hip um part of my recovery was at that

00:41:03

time so I broke my

00:41:06

hip 2011 is when I broke my hip and so

00:41:11

part of that was that was the

00:41:13

year that that they found Usama Bin

00:41:18

Laden and they brought him to Justice

00:41:22

basically um which means they killed him

00:41:25

so but but um so so at that time so Navy

00:41:33

Seals is a big deal right and so like so

00:41:36

I was so so part of my thing and there

00:41:40

was all these stories and books about

00:41:41

Navy Seals and I got into reading a lot

00:41:43

of stories and books about nav seals but

00:41:46

part of it was like I realized that okay

00:41:50

in order to recover and then also with

00:41:53

the cancer diagnosis just like three

00:41:55

years like two two years

00:42:00

later I realized that I had to I needed

00:42:03

a mindset like that of an elite Warrior

00:42:07

right and so in Reading those books and

00:42:11

reading about that that you know those

00:42:14

types of

00:42:15

Warriors I need to have that kind of

00:42:18

mindset to to address the things that I

00:42:21

needed to overcome right like like what

00:42:24

I had to overcome was you know so in

00:42:27

reading these books it was like what I

00:42:30

had to overcome was like nothing

00:42:32

compared to what these guys had to

00:42:34

overcome in their life so it it was like

00:42:37

well I can do this because they did this

00:42:40

and it was far greater than anything I

00:42:42

had to do but so that helped me you know

00:42:47

in that mindset I guess is it was a more

00:42:50

of a mindset thing for me yeah well I

00:42:53

just remember like you know you would

00:42:56

get angry I mean you weren't an angry

00:42:58

person but like when you got diagnosed

00:43:00

with cancer it's like you would you

00:43:03

would you could tell there was a shift

00:43:05

in your personality of just I think you

00:43:07

were just kind of dealing you were just

00:43:09

figuring out what to do with that

00:43:10

information right and and I remember

00:43:13

yeah you just started going running and

00:43:15

it would be like two hours like in my

00:43:18

head I was like I'm you know my dad is

00:43:20

forc Gump at this point CU he would just

00:43:21

be

00:43:22

gone you would just go running for hours

00:43:25

um and then come back and and yeah and

00:43:28

then you started kind of like in

00:43:31

addition to running you were like okay

00:43:33

I'm going to do like push-ups and

00:43:34

pull-ups and like all this body weight

00:43:36

stuff and you like and you know and then

00:43:39

it's evolved over time and now you do

00:43:41

you know not always competitive but you

00:43:43

do like obstacle course racing and a lot

00:43:45

of like mud run type stuff and right

00:43:48

you're really good at it you're like top

00:43:50

of your class for your age range and

00:43:52

like it's it's insane because I think

00:43:55

for me it's it's crazy to watch because

00:43:58

like I have always thought my my dad's

00:44:00

in great shape he's fit he's athletic he

00:44:02

can lift stuff he can do you know he can

00:44:04

do whatever we play basketball you know

00:44:05

whatever he's good and then yeah and

00:44:09

then yeah 2013 is and even a little bit

00:44:12

before that but you just like all of a

00:44:14

sudden it was like complete change of

00:44:16

just

00:44:17

like I'm going to be super athletic and

00:44:20

to your point you went I have to have

00:44:22

this mindset that's different I want to

00:44:24

be right the best version of myself

00:44:26

right um and how do I do that well

00:44:29

here's here's what I do you know and so

00:44:32

I applaud you for that because it's you

00:44:33

know it's not easy it's not easy to do

00:44:35

that it's a lot easier to just kind of

00:44:36

be like well I guess this is life now

00:44:39

right and just like okay I'm always GNA

00:44:42

have a limp I'm gonna have cancer and

00:44:44

I'm just not going to change anything

00:44:45

it's just you know I'm just gonna do

00:44:47

life as it is and see what happens you

00:44:49

know but you didn't do that no it's it's

00:44:53

a it's it's it's a struggle and like

00:44:58

part of like like I I

00:45:00

really like you mentioned obstacle

00:45:02

course racing and I really enjoy that as

00:45:04

you know and I I it's kind of my hobby

00:45:07

and but I kind of look at it as as like

00:45:10

it it was help it's it's it's been super

00:45:13

helpful along the way

00:45:15

because I'm like because it helps me it

00:45:18

gives me um I can look back at it when I

00:45:22

have other challenging things in life

00:45:24

whether it's at work or in my person

00:45:27

life or whatever and I can say okay well

00:45:30

I did this thing so I can make it

00:45:32

through this thing right and and like

00:45:35

there's a

00:45:36

saying called the it's a well it's

00:45:39

attributed to Marcus quillis I think um

00:45:44

uh OB the obstacle is the way right so

00:45:46

like like it's not so the obstacle is

00:45:51

your way and it's like getting through

00:45:53

the obstacle not avoiding the obstacle

00:45:56

but finding a way through and over

00:45:58

through the obstacle so like like so I

00:46:01

use that as you

00:46:03

know um so doing obstacle course racing

00:46:06

I use it as as like okay so like I can

00:46:09

do these

00:46:10

obstacles and so when I run across the

00:46:13

obstacle in life I can just I figure it

00:46:15

out and I can make my way through the

00:46:17

obstacle whether it's an obstacle at

00:46:19

work or an obstacle in my personal life

00:46:22

or something it's like it's

00:46:23

encouragement for me to

00:46:28

push through that you know to figure out

00:46:29

a way to get through that obstacle right

00:46:32

um yeah no I think that's that's like so

00:46:35

important and like it's been inspiring

00:46:38

for me when I have stuff in my life

00:46:41

that's tough it's like okay well you

00:46:44

know my Dad could do this I can do this

00:46:47

you know it's like you know it's like

00:46:49

right um man can do it I can do it

00:46:52

exactly I'm like yeah he's way older

00:46:55

than I am I I should be able to do this

00:46:56

you know so it pushes me to want to be

00:46:59

that better version and and everybody's

00:47:01

different right but it's like I have

00:47:03

those own obstacles in my life that I go

00:47:05

okay I can get there it's just it so

00:47:09

it's just time sometimes it's just you

00:47:12

know I I I I constantly live by the

00:47:15

thing of like you know how how do you

00:47:17

eat an elephant you know well it's just

00:47:19

one bite at a time you know and so it

00:47:22

always just feels like there's a

00:47:23

mountain of stuff but you know it's just

00:47:25

that small step in the right direction

00:47:27

every single day and we get to choose

00:47:29

that for ourselves so I think that

00:47:31

that's really important and you know um

00:47:36

yeah and I got to see you run in the

00:47:39

first race I got to see you run you came

00:47:40

here to Tennessee got to go it was super

00:47:43

cool um I don't know that I'll ever do

00:47:46

that I I I it's kind of a pipe dream but

00:47:49

you know who knows we'll see maybe

00:47:51

someday but uh it's so yeah well I'm

00:47:56

working on James yeah yeah you gota yeah

00:47:59

you got to work on my cousin see if

00:48:01

he'll he'll do I think he'd do it so

00:48:03

actually he's he's like because yeah

00:48:06

he's he's he's kind of interested right

00:48:08

because he's he's been working out a lot

00:48:11

where he's at so good so I was gonna say

00:48:16

and we kind of we kind of touched on

00:48:17

this already but you know coming out of

00:48:20

the home school years so I graduated in

00:48:23

2014 Madison graduated I think 2017

00:48:27

2016 2017 something like 2017 I believe

00:48:30

it was um so you know that

00:48:35

was probably less of a pivot for you but

00:48:38

definitely a change in you and mom's

00:48:40

life so was that hard for you or like

00:48:44

did it feel empty after that or were you

00:48:46

just like I'm thankful I have like some

00:48:48

time

00:48:49

[Laughter]

00:48:50

again it was

00:48:53

uh I mean it was a bigger change for

00:48:55

your mom clearly she was more heavily

00:48:58

involved but but I mean like like with

00:49:00

Madison you know the high school years

00:49:04

you know I I was the math science guy in

00:49:06

the high school years your mom was like

00:49:08

well you're grading all the math science

00:49:09

stuff because that's your that's your

00:49:12

realm you know and she's the English

00:49:15

writing literature person which you know

00:49:18

I'm happy to have that be her realm and

00:49:21

um it was I think it was it was it was

00:49:24

easier for me because I had I had work

00:49:27

you know I I didn't like it

00:49:31

wasn't um it wasn't everything for me

00:49:34

and not to say that it was everything

00:49:36

for your mom um but it was a big part of

00:49:41

right of her her identity as well right

00:49:45

like like so and it wasn't completely

00:49:48

who she was you know she's her own

00:49:50

person but but but it was a big part of

00:49:54

what she had poured

00:49:57

Mo many many years into um and and you

00:50:02

know and I was involved with that but at

00:50:03

the same time I had my work that gave me

00:50:07

you know part of my identity as well

00:50:10

and and then I was you know I'm doing

00:50:12

this I was doing racing at the still and

00:50:15

stuff so um it was good like I I mean it

00:50:18

was

00:50:20

uh so what one of the things that

00:50:23

changed

00:50:25

is so those homeschool relationships

00:50:28

that were it was such a natural

00:50:31

interaction and interface and th those

00:50:35

kind of change because that interface

00:50:38

and those natural overlapping of your

00:50:40

life changes right it becomes less yeah

00:50:44

um so so some of those relationships are

00:50:47

you know I've had to be more intentional

00:50:50

about keeping some of those

00:50:51

relationships up some of those

00:50:52

relationships have not um are not as

00:50:56

robust as they once were um your mom's

00:50:59

been better at keeping those

00:51:01

relationships up and amongst her her

00:51:04

group of of ladies um which was bit

00:51:08

which was a very good thing right that

00:51:09

she had book clubs that she was still

00:51:11

participating in they still did you

00:51:14

know Fridays at the beach uh you know

00:51:18

okay we don't have kids now but we're

00:51:20

still go on the beach right like yeah

00:51:22

which was which is good which was super

00:51:24

healthy yeah I mean that's super health

00:51:27

and and like uh so that's been good I

00:51:30

think the part where um and as you know

00:51:35

like like we were involved with the

00:51:37

achieve on the achieve

00:51:39

board um and so even after we graduated

00:51:43

our students uh we were still on the

00:51:47

board it was hard to get people on the

00:51:49

board it was hard to get people engaged

00:51:51

to want to

00:51:53

volunteer you know they kept us on your

00:51:55

mom was to be done done like she wanted

00:51:58

to be done done and like and it was kind

00:52:01

it was kind of interesting because I was

00:52:02

like more like oh this is good I want to

00:52:05

advocate for this I want to be a you

00:52:07

know like I feel like I have more room

00:52:09

to advocate for this now right and your

00:52:11

mom was just like I'm done I'm tired I'm

00:52:14

ready to be done yeah and I was like

00:52:17

getting my second wind and just be like

00:52:19

well we have to Advocate and we have to

00:52:21

support and we have to encourage right

00:52:23

our role changes right we're not we're

00:52:26

not schooling we're not doing it but we

00:52:29

can be Advocates right

00:52:32

so um so that was that was a little bit

00:52:36

different right that's kind of shocking

00:52:37

right like like here I go from this guy

00:52:40

who's like do whatever you want I'm not

00:52:42

going to be involved at all till like

00:52:45

well we can stay on the board a little

00:52:46

bit longer like we need to be Advocates

00:52:48

and your mom's just like I'm done like

00:52:51

let's be done right right right she had

00:52:54

hit that I mean she had what 12 13 years

00:52:56

of that yeah she she had hit her her

00:52:59

fill and like yeah for me you know like

00:53:03

I clearly like I

00:53:06

wasn't as involved right I was involved

00:53:09

but like I so I hadn't you know I was

00:53:13

getting a drip she was getting you know

00:53:15

the whole spot on and so um so I was you

00:53:21

know still had energy and and and and

00:53:25

desire and

00:53:26

you know felt you know oh now's my time

00:53:30

to be a bit more of an advocate and we

00:53:32

can play a role a different role right

00:53:35

like more of a Consulting role or

00:53:39

a you know coaching kind of a role um so

00:53:43

I don't know so that was that was

00:53:45

different I mean we're we're we're

00:53:47

completely off now but but I would say

00:53:50

you

00:53:52

know what I also have found um

00:53:57

I would say that that I I still am an

00:53:59

advocate you know I I it's it's

00:54:02

interesting

00:54:04

because uh even just in September when

00:54:07

we were down in Anaheim for my race at

00:54:10

at Angel Stadium we spent the night and

00:54:12

I went to the jacuzzi to relax um there

00:54:17

was a couple in there and they were

00:54:18

talking

00:54:19

about school and their kids and and I

00:54:22

just was like oh are you guys teachers

00:54:25

and they're like no we're just ER

00:54:26

parents and so we got talking about you

00:54:29

know homeschooling and I and I was just

00:54:31

like well it's just like well it's good

00:54:32

that you're involved like you're engaged

00:54:35

whether you're homeschooling or whether

00:54:37

your kids are Traditional School or

00:54:39

whether private school or however I it's

00:54:43

really good to hear that you're so

00:54:45

engaged with your students with your

00:54:48

kids right and they were and they even

00:54:50

were trying to advocate for other

00:54:52

students that were in the classroom with

00:54:55

their students where

00:54:56

saw that they needed you know Services

00:55:00

different types of services so so that

00:55:03

was you know so that's you know so I'm

00:55:05

advocating for parents really yeah um

00:55:09

yeah and I I think that that's something

00:55:14

that you know a lot of people believe

00:55:17

right that that people homeschool their

00:55:18

kids like strictly for like religious

00:55:20

reasons or strictly because you know

00:55:22

they're like Doomsday Preppers and

00:55:24

they're like I don't want the government

00:55:25

anywhere near my kids education stuff

00:55:27

like that right that was maybe more of

00:55:29

an 80s and 90s thing but I mean maybe

00:55:31

it's going to be again today but

00:55:35

like and I

00:55:37

think you know and Mom's going to speak

00:55:39

more to this when we chat but it's just

00:55:42

like I think you guys did it more from a

00:55:44

place of like we want what's best for

00:55:46

our kids and their education and what is

00:55:50

that right is it right because I think

00:55:52

if private school had been the thing you

00:55:54

would have been like okay then private

00:55:55

school's thing if public school was

00:55:58

working then yeah public school would

00:55:59

have been the thing and it just

00:56:03

was homeschool ended up being that thing

00:56:06

that was best and there's obviously

00:56:07

always things that can be done better

00:56:10

but that's life you know that's

00:56:11

parenting right so so yeah so that's why

00:56:14

I say I'm an advocate for parents like

00:56:17

like I I and and you know like I

00:56:21

homeschooling clearly worked for us I

00:56:24

see homeschooling as a a

00:56:27

highly uh customized

00:56:31

education you know you're you're able

00:56:35

to meet identify and meet the needs of

00:56:38

your students your

00:56:41

kids uh and specifically address them on

00:56:44

a very customized basis um and so in

00:56:49

other situations and other scenarios

00:56:52

there's you know they're not able to do

00:56:55

that in and it you know in public school

00:56:59

it's it's it's a volume thing there's

00:57:01

just a there's a lot of students there

00:57:03

but that doesn't mean that you still

00:57:05

can't Advocate and be the best and

00:57:08

engaged with your student and help them

00:57:10

as you know if you know what's going on

00:57:13

you you're following their homework

00:57:15

you're engaged in what they're doing

00:57:17

you're you know like because we have

00:57:18

friends I have friend Zach Zach and

00:57:20

Diane his wife him and his wife they

00:57:23

homeschool their kids but they like home

00:57:26

schooled them for a few years in grade

00:57:28

school then they kind of went back to

00:57:30

school then they homeschooled them again

00:57:32

then they went back to high school so so

00:57:37

and and part of it is their kids in high

00:57:40

school wanted to participate in sports

00:57:43

so that was important to them but as

00:57:46

parents they were highly involved they

00:57:48

were Sports parents they were always

00:57:50

there they were helped them navigate

00:57:52

those

00:57:54

Waters uh you know

00:57:57

right you know emotionally through you

00:57:59

know how whatever you know whatever

00:58:02

those challenges were that they're

00:58:04

addressing in those situations they just

00:58:07

didn't like throw them in there and just

00:58:09

say well it's the Public School Systems

00:58:12

deal no it's there are kids we care

00:58:16

about them we want them to have the best

00:58:18

education they have and we're going to

00:58:20

be involved to make sure that that we're

00:58:22

involved with that education regardless

00:58:24

of what it is and that we can help them

00:58:27

think through things and give them

00:58:30

skills you know to do that you know yeah

00:58:35

whether they get them in school or we

00:58:38

supplement what they get in school or we

00:58:40

you know how however that looks you know

00:58:43

that's that's the important thing I

00:58:45

think yeah no and I I 100% agree with

00:58:49

you because that's what I'm realizing

00:58:51

talking to people is

00:58:53

like especially people my age are

00:58:56

starting we're becoming we're starting

00:58:58

to become parents people my age are

00:59:00

starting to have kids multiple of them

00:59:02

and they're going okay do I homeschool

00:59:03

do I do this do I do the other you know

00:59:06

and I'm I'm seeing what I see is a lot

00:59:09

of them going I just want my kid to have

00:59:12

the best thing possible so I have to

00:59:14

figure out what that is and for some

00:59:15

people they go my education sucked so

00:59:17

for me teaching is just not an option

00:59:20

right great that's fine you recognize

00:59:21

that within yourself but to your point

00:59:24

they're going to be there for every

00:59:25

Sports they're going to be there when

00:59:27

you know if the kid is struggling in a

00:59:29

class they're going to be there for that

00:59:30

kid to be like okay well what is it you

00:59:32

know we got to work with you and I think

00:59:35

we're coming out of there's this

00:59:38

argument to be made that there is a

00:59:39

generation of people who had children as

00:59:41

an accessory rather than as like because

00:59:44

they actually wanted to have children

00:59:46

and that generation of

00:59:48

people they really wanted they complain

00:59:51

about the education system but they also

00:59:53

have nothing to do with fixing it they

00:59:55

want they just want it fixed but they

00:59:57

don't want to actually Advocate or they

00:59:59

don't want to pick up a pinky to

01:00:01

actually help fix it right and I think

01:00:03

so hopefully we're coming out of that

01:00:05

now into more of a generation of people

01:00:07

who go no I in addition to advocating

01:00:09

for my kid and seeing the problems that

01:00:11

exist inside of the schooling system as

01:00:13

it sits in the US I want to be involved

01:00:16

I want to be involved and I want to

01:00:17

figure out what that means to help you

01:00:19

know because that's when it comes to

01:00:21

public private like that a teach teacher

01:00:24

even even in the home school Realm

01:00:26

there's that that that's important too

01:00:28

right like like having the volunteers

01:00:32

that are on the Committees for like an

01:00:34

achieve organization that we were a part

01:00:36

of right like like okay well how can you

01:00:40

you

01:00:41

know how do you help mold and guide this

01:00:45

organization to meet the needs of the

01:00:47

parents that are now involved in it

01:00:50

right and and we need those we need

01:00:52

those people right and we need that

01:00:54

engagement you know it's not just it's

01:00:57

not a Magic Bullet like you know oh I'm

01:00:59

just going to homeschool my kids and

01:01:00

it's all going to be you know you know

01:01:04

unicorns and Roses it's it's you know we

01:01:07

still have to

01:01:10

address things you know like how so and

01:01:14

and I still have to you know need I need

01:01:17

you know like I don't know there's

01:01:18

there's resources that I think are

01:01:20

helpful and and to get involved with

01:01:22

those resources so that you can that's

01:01:25

you like them best benefit from them but

01:01:28

also give back to them you know yeah I

01:01:32

was going to kind of not end with this

01:01:35

but I I do want to ask this question of

01:01:37

parents is and and for you I'm G to it's

01:01:40

a two-fold question so okay the first

01:01:43

part of the question is going to be for

01:01:45

parents who are thinking about

01:01:46

homeschooling their kids what is like

01:01:49

the one piece of advice you would give

01:01:51

them of just like whether it's like

01:01:53

think about you know think about this

01:01:55

thing that maybe they're not thinking

01:01:56

about um or you know or I would have

01:01:59

done this differently or whatever that

01:02:01

might be and then the second tier to

01:02:03

this question the second part of this

01:02:05

question is specifically for dads who

01:02:07

are about to be homeschool fathers and I

01:02:10

think this goes more for Just Dads in

01:02:12

general what is like one piece of advice

01:02:14

you would give them to be a better

01:02:16

father so take that as as you

01:02:21

will so for parents okay so so for

01:02:24

parents in general

01:02:26

[Music]

01:02:29

um I I think um one of the things that

01:02:33

comes to mind is is it is it is

01:02:42

um you can think outside the box right

01:02:46

like like it doesn't have to look like

01:02:48

Traditional School don't don't get

01:02:50

caught up in

01:02:51

that um I want to homeschool my kids but

01:02:55

it has to look like this right and I

01:02:58

think like initially that was one of our

01:03:01

things that we struggled with because

01:03:04

like you know both your mom and I had

01:03:07

used the Becca curriculum the Becca not

01:03:11

that it's not a good curriculum the

01:03:13

Becca curriculum in private schools that

01:03:17

we both had attended and and we liked it

01:03:19

and it worked well and so when we first

01:03:22

home school we picked that but then that

01:03:24

didn't work well in our homeschool

01:03:26

setting we felt like we had to do these

01:03:30

certain standards or do a pick a whole

01:03:33

curriculum right then we learned that oh

01:03:37

we can Cobble this together however we

01:03:39

want we can pick this we can pick this

01:03:43

over here we like this better over here

01:03:45

doesn't have to be one unified CCB now

01:03:48

some people maybe that works better for

01:03:50

some people for us it didn't work so

01:03:52

like I would just

01:03:53

encourage to

01:03:56

like we were for well I know for me I

01:03:59

was a little bit stuck in that box

01:04:01

initially but after you know at the end

01:04:05

you know like you and I we did history

01:04:08

by watching World War II history movies

01:04:11

or or war movies right that was one of

01:04:13

the ways we did history yeah and so and

01:04:16

that was a lot of fun that was kind of

01:04:18

cool but and there was things to be

01:04:19

learned from that and and so and then

01:04:21

there was also ways that we took books

01:04:25

you know and we took current books that

01:04:29

were

01:04:31

controversial um uh one of them was

01:04:36

um the D Vinci Code The Da Vinci Code

01:04:39

and we read it together and we discussed

01:04:42

it right and so and it was controversial

01:04:45

in our circles and and but but we

01:04:49

weren't as like don't be scared to take

01:04:52

that on and like bring a and open up the

01:04:55

discussion about well what do you see

01:04:57

and what are these characters like and

01:04:59

and what does this really mean and why

01:05:02

are people like up why is this

01:05:05

controversial right like right

01:05:07

especially the vi code because I mean

01:05:09

says in literally the first page of the

01:05:11

book this is a work of fiction um right

01:05:14

so right this is a novel this isn't you

01:05:17

know but part of it is like the way the

01:05:20

author sketches the characters right the

01:05:23

Char the main character is a

01:05:26

expert in his field and so you you know

01:05:29

so he writes him as an expert well and

01:05:32

he talks like an expert but then people

01:05:35

like just think of it as like well

01:05:37

that's an expert well it's a character

01:05:39

it's a novel he can write whatever he

01:05:41

wants right yeah like and the thing and

01:05:44

I think and one of the things that I

01:05:46

like about that like I like that we

01:05:48

could take those books and we could

01:05:51

discuss the ideas and we could talk

01:05:53

about well he's drawing these ideas from

01:05:56

this

01:05:57

painting of The Last Supper that was

01:06:00

done by Da Vinci who lived how many

01:06:03

hundreds of years after the first supper

01:06:06

even occurred so the painter in and of

01:06:08

himself is

01:06:10

doing a depiction of something that he

01:06:13

didn't see right firsthand and yet we're

01:06:16

drawing all these you know the the the

01:06:20

character in the novel is drawing all

01:06:22

these conclusions about the Life of

01:06:25

Christ from this picture that was in of

01:06:28

itself an interpretation of something

01:06:30

that he didn't firsthand witness and so

01:06:32

like I don't know like so that we could

01:06:33

talk about those things like right we

01:06:35

yeah we applied the thing is we applied

01:06:37

logic to things and arguments that

01:06:40

people were making around these tough

01:06:42

topics that it's like right yeah books

01:06:44

came out all the time that it was just

01:06:46

like right especially yeah growing up in

01:06:48

the church it's

01:06:49

like Rel people would just be up in arms

01:06:52

over these things and then when you

01:06:53

really break it down you go okay they

01:06:56

just don't like they don't like this

01:06:59

because they don't they just don't like

01:07:00

the way it portrays Jesus right right

01:07:02

even though it's a work of fiction it's

01:07:05

not real most people the average person

01:07:07

is not reading this and believing that

01:07:09

this is true it's really only people

01:07:11

inside of the church who are putting

01:07:13

this perception that anybody who's who's

01:07:17

not a Christian is reading this and

01:07:19

going thinking they understand the Life

01:07:22

of Christ it's like well I don't think

01:07:24

anybody was really doing that it's

01:07:26

possible there's always a possibility

01:07:28

but I don't think people were really

01:07:29

doing that but we we sat and had

01:07:31

conversation around it to be like this

01:07:34

is kind of

01:07:35

dumb right yeah and like and like you

01:07:38

know it's it's just like any other book

01:07:41

like like you know but like we read

01:07:43

historical books like Giant chm and car

01:07:45

Mr bovich and those are novels too right

01:07:50

and and it's not to say that the stuff

01:07:52

in those books are true they're not true

01:07:54

it's a story but it's a story of the

01:07:57

time so it's basically giving you an

01:07:58

illustration of what the period was like

01:08:00

and that's why that's how we use them

01:08:02

right yeah it's a good story same with

01:08:04

yeah the same with watching all the war

01:08:06

movies yeah same with watching all the

01:08:09

war movies we did it's a movie we would

01:08:11

watch Saving Private Ryan but then we

01:08:13

would also read you know a firsthand

01:08:16

account or we would do research onto

01:08:18

what actually happened and things like

01:08:19

that right and right so it's like yeah

01:08:22

this is an illustration of something a

01:08:25

visual illustration through a movie but

01:08:28

it's telling a story right it's not

01:08:30

necessarily factual it's just that it

01:08:33

gives you a flavor it's trying to give

01:08:36

you a flavor For What It's Like right

01:08:39

and yeah I don't know so like but I say

01:08:42

that to say don't get stuck like like

01:08:45

and we did you know and we tried to do a

01:08:47

Lego curriculum we did other things

01:08:51

right like so so so you know and we used

01:08:55

air soft as like you've mentioned before

01:08:57

in your podcast that was my PE Airsoft

01:09:00

was like exactly the way I did PE our

01:09:02

school was very untraditional at the end

01:09:05

right at the end there was curriculum

01:09:07

but there was very it it was not yeah

01:09:11

the at the start it was very like we're

01:09:13

just doing this is the curriculum it's

01:09:15

all from the same company and then by

01:09:17

the end it was like we're doing this

01:09:19

company's math and this company's

01:09:21

science books and this company's this

01:09:22

and that company's that right and then

01:09:24

we're designing our own what ever else

01:09:26

you know so it became something that

01:09:29

worked for us and so I appreciate you

01:09:30

saying that because I think I think

01:09:33

parents get overwhelmed at the beginning

01:09:35

of the because there's so many choices

01:09:38

well you don't want to do it wrong right

01:09:40

well what well there's not there's not a

01:09:44

wrong right there's there's you you you

01:09:47

start somewhere and then you you adapt

01:09:51

and you you Evol you know you you evolve

01:09:54

and you brow and what you you're

01:09:57

learning yourself and and you're you're

01:10:00

changing that and you're seeing what

01:10:02

works with your student you're

01:10:04

customizing the education as you go

01:10:06

along you know Madison's look different

01:10:09

from yours because we had learning

01:10:12

challenges that you didn't have and so

01:10:14

we had to figure out well you know how

01:10:17

can

01:10:18

she capture this information you know

01:10:22

and it was very different than the way

01:10:23

that you captured information so so so I

01:10:26

say all that to

01:10:27

say you

01:10:30

know try try as best as you can to think

01:10:33

outside the box and then

01:10:36

don't don't sweat it you know I guess

01:10:40

don't sweat it so hard your kids your

01:10:43

kids are sponges they want to learn if

01:10:45

you turn on that learning you know if

01:10:49

you if you find out what if you can

01:10:52

pursue what their interests are and and

01:10:56

and it doesn't mean that you don't add

01:10:59

in critical things it just means that

01:11:02

you can lean into their interest to give

01:11:06

them the energy and the desire to learn

01:11:10

if you build that in them and make and

01:11:13

and and teach them how to be

01:11:17

Learners I think that's the most

01:11:20

critical part right um so you know if

01:11:24

you can like that

01:11:25

fire um so that they become lifelong

01:11:29

Learners right and you're lighting that

01:11:31

fire so that you're finding their

01:11:33

interest you're stoking it it's not that

01:11:37

you're not adding in things that they

01:11:38

don't like that that they need or that

01:11:42

that they're critical to you know their

01:11:44

their learning and their adapting and

01:11:48

life skills but you know you can Stoke

01:11:51

it so that the you know I think the goal

01:11:54

is for them to become lifelong burners I

01:11:56

I think that's one of the goals right so

01:12:00

um I think that's the best I think

01:12:03

that's one of the best ways you can

01:12:04

serve your kids so that's what I that's

01:12:07

I guess that's some of the advice I

01:12:08

would give um for

01:12:11

dads fathers husbands um I would

01:12:16

say

01:12:19

um uh jump in earlier than I did um I I

01:12:24

would say you

01:12:26

know be involved as you can be like like

01:12:29

it was

01:12:31

really

01:12:32

[Music]

01:12:33

um uh I mean I was blessed by it all you

01:12:37

know

01:12:39

um like honestly as a kid you know I was

01:12:43

a Math and Science Guy especially numers

01:12:46

spoke to me they still do that's what I

01:12:48

do I'm an accountant um

01:12:52

but through homeschooling I become an

01:12:55

Avid Reader quite honestly because it

01:12:59

didn't matter like we we watched every

01:13:03

single movie ever made of Pride and

01:13:05

Prejudice and it didn't matter how good

01:13:08

the movie was mom always said the book's

01:13:11

better so I I couldn't believe it I had

01:13:14

to read the book and sure enough the

01:13:15

book is better well guess what the book

01:13:17

is always better in every single movies

01:13:20

even the movies that I love like Lone

01:13:24

Survivor I love the movie but the book

01:13:26

is better right like like like and I I

01:13:31

read the book first thank goodness right

01:13:34

so like but I but it's just the way it

01:13:36

is you know yeah books are better they

01:13:39

can be more detailed you it's different

01:13:41

they're different mediums of

01:13:44

communication right right but I say that

01:13:47

and I also say to Father like I would

01:13:49

say to fathers you know be more

01:13:52

involved be advocate be an advocate

01:13:56

for your your kids your wife what you're

01:14:02

doing um one of

01:14:05

the one of the important I we didn't

01:14:09

touch on this but one of the important

01:14:10

things that we learned to do that that I

01:14:14

actually learned through going to some

01:14:16

of these conferences was

01:14:19

actually a period while we were

01:14:23

homeschooling we were int

01:14:26

mom and I were intentional about um

01:14:29

going away uh for a couple of nights uh

01:14:33

we tried to do it like every quarter

01:14:36

like so every three months or so to you

01:14:40

know get away couple nights in a

01:14:43

hotel just time for us uh but also so

01:14:47

but what that did

01:14:49

was um I mean it was important for our

01:14:52

marriage you and our relationship

01:14:55

it was an important break for her

01:14:59

because the bulk of the responsibility

01:15:03

laid on her shoulders right and then but

01:15:06

and it was and it was also important to

01:15:09

get away because it could it removed her

01:15:11

from the environment right like it we

01:15:13

couldn't just stay at home

01:15:16

because all the concerns and the

01:15:19

responsibilities are still she looks

01:15:22

around and they're still there right but

01:15:24

if we could go to a hotel that was nice

01:15:27

she could she didn't have to look at the

01:15:30

laundry pile or the pile of dishes or

01:15:33

you know oh I have to plan dinner for

01:15:35

the kids right it was like removing some

01:15:39

of that and allowing you know giving her

01:15:42

a break giving us time to connect as a

01:15:47

couple um was was was important uh for

01:15:52

us and I think important you know and we

01:15:55

could talk about homeschooling stuff we

01:15:57

could talk about that and we could talk

01:15:59

about Direction and and where we wanted

01:16:01

to go and what's working what's not

01:16:03

working but you don't have to you can

01:16:07

it's opportunity to but um I I think

01:16:12

that that was that's important so so

01:16:14

like taking care of um of that and just

01:16:18

being um being involved being

01:16:22

engaged trying to

01:16:26

um

01:16:28

to figure out and enter into the world

01:16:32

of your

01:16:33

kids in their interests so that you can

01:16:38

develop those relationships like like I

01:16:41

think that's

01:16:43

um you know ideally we want people to

01:16:46

enter into our world right but like but

01:16:49

with your kids I think you need to find

01:16:51

out well what are where is their

01:16:53

interest lies so you can in with them

01:16:56

right because you're communicating to

01:16:58

them well this you are important to me

01:17:01

I'm entering in with you you know while

01:17:04

you were in school you enjoyed music and

01:17:07

guitar and like that was just not in my

01:17:10

realm or not in my wheelhouse but it

01:17:12

didn't mean that I couldn't you

01:17:15

know listen to you play and just like

01:17:18

talk about music that even though I was

01:17:21

very not knowledgeable at

01:17:23

all um yeah well just show interest

01:17:27

right and like support you and and W to

01:17:30

like like encourage that and see you

01:17:34

develop that and and and try right like

01:17:37

like I was not a musician I couldn't

01:17:39

really get the guitar I wasn't good with

01:17:41

my hands you know like but I could like

01:17:45

show me some stuff I'll try I'll I'll I

01:17:48

won't suceed very well but like I'll

01:17:50

just try you know and and I think that

01:17:54

that

01:17:55

attitude has really gone far in US

01:18:00

continuing to have a relationship it's

01:18:02

like to the degree that we do right it's

01:18:04

like I think a lot of people they have a

01:18:05

relationship with their dad but it's

01:18:07

like I see them at the holidays and we

01:18:09

play cards and you know or I call him

01:18:12

and and I ask him how he is and it's

01:18:13

like five seconds on the phone and then

01:18:15

it's like you know here's your mom you

01:18:17

know kind of a thing and and I think the

01:18:20

difference is that you showed me so much

01:18:22

respect when I was in high school when I

01:18:24

was younger of like you were into the

01:18:25

things that I was into and even when you

01:18:27

clearly weren't into them you at least

01:18:29

tried you know and now as an adult you

01:18:33

still do that the things that I'm

01:18:34

interested in you express an interest

01:18:36

and you ask me about them and you ask me

01:18:39

about those hobbies and you learn about

01:18:41

them and you enter into that world with

01:18:43

me right and I now want to do the same

01:18:48

for you it's like I know more about

01:18:50

obstacle corpse racing than I ever

01:18:51

thought I would right I have bought I

01:18:55

have bought you gear for presents and

01:18:57

stuff that I I didn't even know what it

01:18:59

was I bought my dad a big set of red

01:19:00

balls that hang in the garage somewhere

01:19:03

um uh for like finger exercising yeah

01:19:07

grip grip training um I tried to get

01:19:09

them in blue guys I thought it'd be

01:19:11

really funny gift um but they only came

01:19:14

in Red so yeah so anyway but I think

01:19:18

it's it's interesting because I think

01:19:20

that that has it's definitely shaped the

01:19:22

relationship that we have today and I I

01:19:25

think we have a good relationship

01:19:27

because we both I think mutually can

01:19:29

just meet in a place where it's like

01:19:31

maybe your thing isn't totally my thing

01:19:33

but I at least want to understand and

01:19:35

I'm willing to have a conversation and

01:19:36

learn about it because you showed me

01:19:38

that respect when I was young and

01:19:41

now I understand what you were doing and

01:19:44

I want to reciprocate right and that

01:19:46

also has gone far in other relationships

01:19:47

that I have so well good I'm glad to

01:19:50

hear that that's thank you well I love

01:19:54

you dad I love you thank you for coming

01:19:57

on the show this has been awesome it's

01:19:59

been a pleasure thank you for inviting

01:20:01

me and and letting me letting me just

01:20:05

give my two cents I

01:20:06

guess no I think it's important because

01:20:10

you know

01:20:12

I I'm meeting more more homeschooled

01:20:15

people and hearing their stories and

01:20:17

hearing about their dad's involvement

01:20:19

and then also meeting people who are

01:20:20

thinking about homeschooling and their

01:20:23

wanting to be involved in their son's

01:20:24

lives and like I don't know I just I

01:20:28

felt like it was an important

01:20:29

conversation to have because I felt like

01:20:32

your role in my hes school education was

01:20:34

different than most most people's and so

01:20:37

and I wanted it to be if anything else

01:20:39

people what I want you to get out of

01:20:40

this is hopefully an encouragement to

01:20:42

like just like my dad said be an

01:20:44

advocate for yeah your kids education

01:20:47

for if you're not a parent for kids in

01:20:49

your life education you know um one of

01:20:53

the things I would say say too for dads

01:20:56

is dads it's we do things

01:21:00

different we we you know um and it's

01:21:04

okay like like and and like I think I

01:21:07

told Su mom this when when I when when

01:21:11

we you know kind of were transitioning

01:21:13

to me leading your education I said well

01:21:15

it's going to look different right it's

01:21:16

not going to look how you necessarily

01:21:19

want it to look okay we're gonna you

01:21:22

know you're going to help me out a lot

01:21:25

lesson planning but the way it's going

01:21:27

to get implemented is probably going to

01:21:29

look completely different from what

01:21:31

where you think how you would implement

01:21:32

it right and that's okay dads do things

01:21:35

different it's not right or wrong it's

01:21:38

different and that's okay dads you you

01:21:43

it's important that's important too like

01:21:45

like the way that you do

01:21:48

things uh is important it has

01:21:51

value it it it can be it's meaningful

01:21:55

and it can look different it doesn't

01:21:57

have to look it it doesn't even have to

01:22:00

look like other dads it can be your

01:22:03

style and that's okay and um and just

01:22:08

embrace it um and work with it like like

01:22:13

and and use that you know and I think

01:22:16

that's that's okay like I think that's a

01:22:18

good thing it it it brings diversity it

01:22:22

brings you know diversity of thought and

01:22:25

just difference that you know kidss can

01:22:26

see oh well it doesn't always have to be

01:22:29

like this it can be like this and like

01:22:32

it's okay that Mom does it different

01:22:35

from Dad and we're still

01:22:37

gonna we may get to the same place but

01:22:40

we may take a different circuitous route

01:22:42

it's like like but okay it's still it

01:22:46

might be harder it might be funner it

01:22:49

might I don't know it's going to look

01:22:51

different but but we'll you know we'll

01:22:54

still we can still accomplish a lot so

01:22:57

yeah I want to leave on this one I I've

01:23:01

been having memories pop up in my head

01:23:04

okay and um I was GNA I was going to ask

01:23:07

you like your favorite homeschool memory

01:23:09

and but I feel like maybe I'm I feel

01:23:12

like homeschool I feel like Airsoft was

01:23:14

kind of the the key thing but I but I

01:23:17

had this other memory come to my mind

01:23:19

that I was like this is also I think

01:23:21

really fun when I was a kid my birthday

01:23:24

party were very like themed um and so

01:23:28

one year we did like marshmallow guns in

01:23:31

the backyard and I built them all and

01:23:34

like um but the but that's so that one

01:23:37

was important but the second one was

01:23:39

that I did a pirate themed birthday

01:23:40

party we all dressed as pirates and you

01:23:44

showed up as a pirate and I think that

01:23:47

like we had a we had a pirate flag

01:23:49

flying out the roof of our house it was

01:23:51

so much fun like you you helped

01:23:53

transform this whole house into a pirate

01:23:55

ship and yeah we put a plank off the

01:23:58

back we have exactly there's a cliff off

01:24:00

the back of our yard yeah people could

01:24:03

walk the plank yeah people weren't

01:24:04

walking the plank but we could if we

01:24:06

wanted to

01:24:08

um so I just think memories like that

01:24:12

are just like super fun and important

01:24:13

yeah do you remember was it was it the

01:24:15

pirate was it the pirate birthday that

01:24:18

we had the jello eating

01:24:19

contest yes yeah so that was did someone

01:24:24

like slurp down their fake mustache I

01:24:27

ate my mustache so so this birthday we

01:24:30

in addition to only like we dress every

01:24:32

we invited everyone to dress like

01:24:33

Pirates but then we also bought a bunch

01:24:35

of like fake mustaches and sideburns and

01:24:37

like all this stuff beards and all this

01:24:39

stuff that were just like stick on very

01:24:41

temporary we had swords for everybody

01:24:43

eye patches bandanas like the whole you

01:24:46

know she yeah and yeah and then we did

01:24:49

all these games that were like pirate

01:24:51

themed games and but one of them was

01:24:53

jealous slipping which I guess is not

01:24:55

really a pirate themed game but I don't

01:24:56

know we made it somehow pirate we made

01:24:58

it we get we called it something that

01:25:00

made it pirate yeah and uh but yeah I

01:25:03

slurped up my my mustach like I started

01:25:05

and I had a mustache and I ended and I

01:25:07

did not have a mustache so it's probably

01:25:10

still kicking around down there all

01:25:11

these years later but oh

01:25:15

well yeah yeah that was a lot of fun

01:25:19

anyway this this has been a blast and

01:25:21

thank you again for doing this because I

01:25:24

think it's important and and a lot of

01:25:25

people have been asking to hear from

01:25:26

parents so cool good well I'm I'm happy

01:25:30

to do this and thank you for inviting me

01:25:32

on and um I I just yeah I just I I wish

01:25:38

the

01:25:39

best uh for this and and the audience

01:25:43

that hears it yeah well thank you again

01:25:46

and for all of you guys listening

01:25:48

watching consuming thank you so much for

01:25:51

tuning in um if you want to hit me up

01:25:53

with if you've got homeschool stories or

01:25:56

you you want to tell me who else you

01:25:59

want to see on the show or you got

01:26:00

questions you want to answer or whatever

01:26:02

you can hit me up there's two ways you

01:26:03

can do it you can either email me it's

01:26:05

at exhs [email protected]

01:26:08

or you can hit me up on I think I'm on

01:26:11

Instagram Tik Tok and threads it's at

01:26:13

exhs Club um yeah either of those places

01:26:17

you can get a hold of me this has been

01:26:19

fun and until next week we'll see you

01:26:22

all right peace

01:26:30

[Music]

01:26:37

[Music]

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

80
Most heartwarming
70
Most inspiring
70
Best performance
60
Most emotional

Episode Highlights

A Shift in Involvement
The father's initial reluctance to engage in homeschooling evolves into active participation.
“I want to be a champion of it.”
@ 07m 21s
December 11, 2024
Building a Relationship
The father reflects on how their relationship changed as he became more involved in homeschooling.
“I never felt like my dad's just not in my life.”
@ 08m 15s
December 11, 2024
Learning Together
The family bonds over reading books together, marking a significant transition in their relationship.
“I started seeing you kind of like get involved in our stuff.”
@ 17m 35s
December 11, 2024
Cleaning the Corporate Fridge
A hilarious recount of the horrors found in a corporate fridge.
“The worst thing I ever did was scrub the corporate fridge.”
@ 24m 02s
December 11, 2024
Finding Healthy Outlets
Learning to channel frustration into physical activity like mowing the lawn.
“If you get frustrated, just go mow the lawn.”
@ 26m 06s
December 11, 2024
Adopting a Warrior Mindset
Transforming health challenges into motivation through a strong mindset.
“I realized I needed a mindset like that of an elite warrior.”
@ 42m 07s
December 11, 2024
Embracing Challenges
Overcoming obstacles is key to personal growth. 'The obstacle is the way.'
“The obstacle is the way.”
@ 45m 44s
December 11, 2024
Inspiration from Family
Family can motivate us to push through our own challenges. 'My Dad could do this, I can do this.'
“My Dad could do this, I can do this.”
@ 46m 44s
December 11, 2024
Finding Your Path
Life's challenges can be tackled one step at a time. 'One bite at a time.'
“How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”
@ 47m 17s
December 11, 2024
The Importance of Fiction
Discussing how fiction can spark conversations about real-life topics.
“It's a novel; he can write whatever he wants!”
@ 01h 05m 39s
December 11, 2024
Creating Lifelong Learners
Fostering a love for learning is crucial for children's development.
“Light that fire so they become lifelong learners!”
@ 01h 11m 20s
December 11, 2024
Engaging with Your Kids
Parents should enter their children's interests to build stronger relationships.
“You need to find out where their interest lies.”
@ 01h 16m 51s
December 11, 2024

Episode Quotes

I want to be a champion of it.
Did my dad HATE homeschooling me? | #20
The worst thing I ever did was scrub the corporate fridge.
Did my dad HATE homeschooling me? | #20
I realized I needed a mindset like that of an elite warrior.
Did my dad HATE homeschooling me? | #20
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
Did my dad HATE homeschooling me? | #20
Try your best to think outside the box!
Did my dad HATE homeschooling me? | #20
Dads do things differently, and that's okay!
Did my dad HATE homeschooling me? | #20

Key Moments

Father-Son Dynamics00:28
Growing Involvement07:21
Family Reading Time16:33
Struggles and Growth44:53
Obstacle Course Racing45:00
Parenting Perspectives1:01:43
Fiction vs. Reality1:05:11
Memorable Birthdays1:23:24

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

Behind the Homeschooling Curtain (My Mom's Tells All) | EXHS #19

December 04, 2024

01:16:14

Behind the Homeschooling Curtain (My Mom's Tells All) | EXHS #19

Was I Really the Dumbest Person in the Room? Growing Up Homeschooled

November 14, 2025

58:07

Was I Really the Dumbest Person in the Room? Growing Up Homeschooled

Did You Even Want To Be Homeschooled? | EXHS #10

October 02, 2024

57:11

Did You Even Want To Be Homeschooled? | EXHS #10

What Homeschool Parents Can Learn From Alumni Stories

May 29, 2026

02:23:10

What Homeschool Parents Can Learn From Alumni Stories

Do you wanna be on my podcast?| #38

May 22, 2025

19:33

Do you wanna be on my podcast?| #38

What Was It Like Being Homeschooled In The 90's? | #25

January 30, 2025

01:02:22

What Was It Like Being Homeschooled In The 90's? | #25

We Reunited After 7 Years… And Got Really Honest About Homeschooling | #33

April 10, 2025

53:58

We Reunited After 7 Years… And Got Really Honest About Homeschooling | #33

Do Homeschoolers REALLY Lack Social Skills? | EXHS #4

August 14, 2024

01:08:41

Do Homeschoolers REALLY Lack Social Skills? | EXHS #4

The Truth About Homeschool Kids | EXHS #1

July 24, 2024

20:09

The Truth About Homeschool Kids | EXHS #1

The Shocking Truth About Homeschool vs Public School Education | EXHS #22

January 09, 2025

58:11

The Shocking Truth About Homeschool vs Public School Education | EXHS #22

The Hidden Harm Inside Popular Homeschool Curriculums

July 04, 2025

02:23:10

The Hidden Harm Inside Popular Homeschool Curriculums

Is Stand-Up Comedy the Best Therapy for Ex-Homeschoolers? | #35

May 01, 2025

01:17:08

Is Stand-Up Comedy the Best Therapy for Ex-Homeschoolers? | #35