00:00:04
all right all right all right we are
00:00:05
back in the ex homeschool club today I
00:00:07
am of course your host Jacob Gooden and
00:00:09
today I am joined by my friend Elizabeth
00:00:12
uh we have known each other for I feel
00:00:16
like I've known your family for a very
00:00:17
long time I knew your brother John
00:00:19
probably before you um but you were a
00:00:22
few years younger than I was more better
00:00:25
friends with my sister probably but um
00:00:28
I'm just GNA say right now as of as of
00:00:30
the recording of this you have been the
00:00:31
biggest fan of the podcast so far and so
00:00:33
I for
00:00:34
sure
00:00:36
um but uh but you have an interesting
00:00:39
homeschool story and I wanted to
00:00:40
highlight it
00:00:42
so you know give me a little something
00:00:44
were you what what did your homes School
00:00:46
Journey look like was it all the way
00:00:48
through um you know tell me tell me a
00:00:50
little bit about it right so I was I
00:00:55
have uh two other biological siblings uh
00:00:58
that were I I think they're were both
00:01:00
homeschooled all the way through I'm the
00:01:01
youngest by a lot um and then I have two
00:01:04
adopted siblings that became
00:01:05
homeschooled but I was homeschooled from
00:01:07
the very beginning up until the age of
00:01:09
16 when I was a junior in high school
00:01:13
and that's when I started doing a bunch
00:01:15
of different things other than just like
00:01:17
straight
00:01:18
homeschooling so was that because you
00:01:21
were like I I mean we talked beforehand
00:01:24
a little bit about this you were
00:01:25
starting to do college courses you were
00:01:27
doing some extracurricular stuff that
00:01:28
required you to do uh to actually be
00:01:30
like in you you're one of the lucky ones
00:01:32
you got to go to public school a little
00:01:33
bit even though it was independent study
00:01:35
but um what did that like transition
00:01:38
kind of look like what was what what all
00:01:40
was going on right um I I can't remember
00:01:44
the exact reasons why I started to do
00:01:48
all these types of schools so the story
00:01:50
was like I wanted to do track and field
00:01:53
and cross country and what better way to
00:01:56
do that through than through a public
00:01:58
school um so I kind of tried out at my
00:02:02
local high school and I remember the
00:02:04
girls were a little bit catty so then I
00:02:06
tried another high school and um in
00:02:08
order to be on the team I had to be in
00:02:11
the public school system so I started
00:02:13
doing independent studies and the
00:02:15
independent studies was at the community
00:02:18
college Oxnard Community College which I
00:02:21
was already going to at the time so it
00:02:23
was kind of just like a perfect fit the
00:02:26
high school was across the street so I
00:02:28
would go to my classes and then walk
00:02:30
over go to my track and field practice
00:02:33
and um for a little bit I was doing the
00:02:36
whole Community College Public School
00:02:39
track and Fields independent studies and
00:02:41
homeschooling and then that was just too
00:02:44
much for me so I dropped the
00:02:46
homeschooling bit and um I ended up
00:02:49
graduating from um the independent
00:02:51
studies system which is the public
00:02:53
school system um and I'm really grateful
00:02:56
I did because the principal really liked
00:03:00
me and she uh articulated all of my
00:03:04
homeschool courses to uh public school
00:03:07
like codes so my transcript uh was in
00:03:12
the format that was really nice to apply
00:03:15
for
00:03:15
universities um and I feel like that
00:03:18
really gave me a leg up because I was so
00:03:21
worried about that uh in high school
00:03:24
yeah that's one of the biggest fears I
00:03:25
think a lot of homeschoolers have
00:03:26
especially once that are looking to go
00:03:28
to college right afterwards is like what
00:03:31
does the transcript thing look like and
00:03:33
I know even for parents it's like it was
00:03:34
worrisome like how does it get formatted
00:03:36
and how this that and the other and it's
00:03:38
like you know it's a lot of I mean I had
00:03:41
a conversation with my mom the other
00:03:42
week and I was asking her this stuff and
00:03:43
she's like it's a whole education within
00:03:45
itself to try to figure out how to like
00:03:47
format all this stuff and you know home
00:03:50
schools in California are recognized as
00:03:52
private schools so their legitimate uh
00:03:56
you know education system but yeah it's
00:03:58
like getting everything right for the
00:04:01
college level is like is is wild and I
00:04:04
remember even when applying for college
00:04:06
maybe you had this too was like they
00:04:08
would they would be like oh we also need
00:04:10
this form or we need this other little
00:04:12
thing like I mean you kind of got lucky
00:04:14
because you had some of that transition
00:04:15
for you in high school but right it it
00:04:18
was really it was a hard transition
00:04:21
though because I remember getting ready
00:04:24
to start doing the whole process of
00:04:26
applying to University and my parents um
00:04:30
I was I think the only kid that they
00:04:32
were really like willing to let go to
00:04:35
university straight out of high school
00:04:36
because I was super passionate about
00:04:39
what I wanted to study and so they were
00:04:41
like okay you don't have to do the two
00:04:43
years of Community College and get your
00:04:44
AA like you can just like go do straight
00:04:46
shot to University um but I remember
00:04:50
preparing all that like the SAT the act
00:04:53
that was the first time I was in a
00:04:55
public school classroom and I remember
00:04:56
walking on the campus and just like fear
00:05:00
rolling over me because it was like a
00:05:02
dungeon like the gates are like a prison
00:05:05
they like lock them you have to check in
00:05:07
office and I was so dismal and I'm like
00:05:10
just shivering in my little chair
00:05:12
they're so tiny with all these other
00:05:14
students I was like oh my gosh this what
00:05:16
people do every day I I love hearing
00:05:19
that from somebody else because yeah I
00:05:20
just I felt the same way like I and I
00:05:23
did the multiple times I'm sure you
00:05:25
probably did as well and I did the
00:05:27
act because I I had start of also
00:05:30
looking at outside of uh like going
00:05:33
outside of the state for for college
00:05:35
which is what I ended up doing but like
00:05:36
and so act is accepted at a lot more out
00:05:39
of state colleges sat was like big for
00:05:41
California schools but um yeah but I
00:05:45
remember going in and just being like I
00:05:47
I remember yeah being so freaked out and
00:05:48
then every I felt like everybody else
00:05:49
knew each other and so breaks would come
00:05:51
and I was just the odd man out and it
00:05:53
just standing there eating my little
00:05:55
snack while we're on break for 10
00:05:57
minutes or whatever between seconds and
00:05:59
just like oh my gosh like and and
00:06:01
feeling dumb the entire time too just
00:06:03
feeling like I I don't have this like
00:06:05
you know yeah I wanted to like I
00:06:08
remember my mom took me to like Olive
00:06:10
Garden or like some soup kitchen
00:06:11
afterwards and I just wanted to puke
00:06:13
because it was just such an overwhelming
00:06:16
experience to be in the environment I
00:06:17
feel like I wish I was just like taken
00:06:21
through a tour of the school first and
00:06:23
then like my testing experience would
00:06:24
have been better I'm sure like all the
00:06:26
public school kids were like also
00:06:27
freaking out but at least used to
00:06:30
sitting in that classroom it was
00:06:32
just so crazy like I I remember for
00:06:35
track and field was the first time I was
00:06:37
on a public school campus and I had
00:06:39
never seen like all the lockers it was
00:06:41
like a movie I was like so this is what
00:06:43
goes on like I I like couldn't stop
00:06:47
staring at everything and I was just
00:06:50
like a sore thumb sticking out yeah no I
00:06:54
I feel you because even though I had
00:06:56
gone to public school previously I it
00:06:58
had been so long since that it was
00:07:01
complet it was so different for me um so
00:07:03
yeah like first grade going to public
00:07:05
school is like way different than going
00:07:07
in high SCH right um and uh oh my gosh
00:07:10
it's like foreign um but yeah I agree
00:07:13
like having a walk through and then like
00:07:15
I mean tests to are just like in general
00:07:17
no fun right and then also you're taking
00:07:18
a test that is going to help dictate
00:07:21
what colleges you get into that's
00:07:23
stressful and I I'm thankful my mom put
00:07:26
me in a critical thinking class before I
00:07:29
took these tests because the SAT the ACT
00:07:33
not as not quite as much but the SAT is
00:07:35
like critical theory based testing so
00:07:39
you don't actually have to know the
00:07:40
answer like you don't actually have to
00:07:42
know math science like you just know how
00:07:44
have to know how to look at a question
00:07:45
and determine what the answer is not um
00:07:49
right so I was thankful she did that
00:07:51
because yeah there was a lot of things
00:07:53
that I was like I am not smart enough to
00:07:55
know what this is yeah but okay I don't
00:07:58
know if this is just me that was my
00:08:00
first time taking a standardized test
00:08:01
and I had never used a Scantron before
00:08:03
so the Scantron was even like terrifying
00:08:05
to me I was like oh my God there's so
00:08:08
many bubbles like what is this but yeah
00:08:12
I I think I had done a couple in the
00:08:13
past I remember doing them in grade
00:08:15
school a few times and I think it mostly
00:08:17
was I know within the Homeschool Group
00:08:19
or some Homeschool Group in California
00:08:21
they did offer some standardized
00:08:23
testing so I wasn't totally shooken sh
00:08:28
shth I wasn't shook
00:08:30
by that um but yeah I think it mostly
00:08:33
had to do with my mom just wanted to
00:08:34
make sure I was in the right grades you
00:08:37
know um yeah yeah yeah and being held
00:08:39
back in the place I need to be held back
00:08:41
and pushed forward in the other places
00:08:42
but um but anyway we made it through we
00:08:45
we accomplished we did it we both
00:08:49
un yes yeah and uh yeah so you skipped
00:08:55
right into no no Community College which
00:08:57
yeah like you said is pretty St I did a
00:08:59
couple of classes yeah um at 16 but not
00:09:04
the full two years like the standard
00:09:06
homeschool mode was at the time so I
00:09:09
mean I just didn't get my AA but I did
00:09:11
like 16 17 and then a little bit of 18
00:09:15
okay so and then you ended up going you
00:09:17
went to UC Davis is that right yeah and
00:09:21
did you know right off the bat what you
00:09:22
wanted to study yeah I applied to Davis
00:09:26
because they had a major that I really
00:09:28
really wanted to do um when I was 12
00:09:32
I was I started to become crazy about um
00:09:36
infectious diseases specifically
00:09:38
parasites and I just read as many books
00:09:42
as I could and then it grew so it
00:09:45
started like macro like parasites and
00:09:46
then it was bacteria and then viruses so
00:09:48
I was just crazy about all those
00:09:51
pathogens um so Davis had a global
00:09:55
disease biology major and I'm like
00:09:58
that's for me I'm G to graduate from
00:10:00
Davis and then I'm G to go to med school
00:10:02
and I'm G to specialize in um tropical
00:10:05
medicine like infectious diseases and so
00:10:07
that that was the plan initially I mean
00:10:10
you obviously followed through somewhat
00:10:11
with the plan but where did where did
00:10:13
that plan change oh my gosh well the
00:10:16
plan changed when I got to Davis and I
00:10:18
was just like holy crap everything is
00:10:21
really difficult it's it's I think any
00:10:25
school in science is difficult but the
00:10:28
uc's are are brutal and um the science
00:10:32
and math classes like as most of us know
00:10:35
they're weer courses and they want you
00:10:36
to fail and so that was like a huge slap
00:10:40
in the face for me and coming into
00:10:43
college from being homeschooled the
00:10:46
adjustment was really difficult and I
00:10:49
don't think that I necessarily had a
00:10:52
good gauge for like balancing everything
00:10:55
um but I think realistically though the
00:10:57
biggest reason why I just decided not to
00:10:59
go down that path was because I was like
00:11:01
I like path the pathogens more than the
00:11:04
people and I feel like if you want to go
00:11:06
to med school you should definitely like
00:11:07
people more than do like the diseases
00:11:10
and like the pathogenesis and stuff like
00:11:13
that so and I and I heard had heard that
00:11:15
you have to study Insurance in med
00:11:17
school and I'm like nah and it was just
00:11:20
too much school it was too much school
00:11:22
yeah too much I I feel that it so you
00:11:25
talk about feeling like maybe a little
00:11:28
like under prepared for like being in a
00:11:31
college classroom and like was that
00:11:34
because I I don't know if your parents
00:11:36
were this way my parents were kind of
00:11:37
this way for a little while was that
00:11:40
like you kind of you would learn
00:11:42
something till you actually got it and
00:11:44
so there was no like the first time I
00:11:46
got a D was in college I had never
00:11:49
gotten a d before that because anytime I
00:11:50
did get a d i could just go back and
00:11:53
redo it um because the way my parents
00:11:55
had decided to teach me was well you're
00:11:57
just going to redo it redo it redo it
00:11:59
until you actually know what you're
00:12:00
talking about so when it get to college
00:12:02
and all of a sudden it was like you got
00:12:03
a D well shoot you know that sucks um
00:12:08
and then you get a c in this class and
00:12:10
you're like okay that's not good you
00:12:11
know what does that mean and I'm going
00:12:13
and I'm begging with the professor like
00:12:14
give me extra credit was it something
00:12:16
along those cuz I just felt unprepared
00:12:18
to like I didn't understand that it's
00:12:20
like once the grade was given there was
00:12:22
really no change in it kind of a thing
00:12:24
yeah I think it had to do with a lot of
00:12:26
different things honestly I think it had
00:12:28
to do the fact that like you could work
00:12:30
on something as a homeschooler as long
00:12:31
as you needed until you got it correctly
00:12:34
which is a great thing to learn but it's
00:12:37
also good to learn like hey I need help
00:12:40
more help for this than I can like do
00:12:44
myself um so you know getting help from
00:12:47
a tutor was something that was really
00:12:49
hard for me because I was so used to
00:12:50
just sitting there and being really
00:12:51
perseverant on something and you just
00:12:54
don't have that type of time in college
00:12:57
um I also felt really isolated and I
00:13:00
felt kind of stupid for asking for help
00:13:03
just because I didn't know what level I
00:13:05
was at compared to like you know other
00:13:08
students and
00:13:10
um it was like hard to say like oh like
00:13:15
I don't know this because I just
00:13:17
expected that everybody knew it because
00:13:18
there was just no gauge of like oh what
00:13:20
do people know and people like not know
00:13:23
um and then I think the last component
00:13:26
of it was just that you know I don't
00:13:30
feel like I was prepared well in the
00:13:33
math and sciences just the way that my
00:13:35
homeschooling Journey worked and um I
00:13:38
think that's one of the biggest things I
00:13:40
like tell people that have kids that are
00:13:42
thinking about homeschooling is just
00:13:43
like hey like if your kid is like
00:13:46
mathematically or scientifically
00:13:49
inclined um and you are not super
00:13:52
familiar with those subjects like you
00:13:53
know get make sure you're getting a
00:13:55
tutor make sure you're like taking your
00:13:57
kid to a class like that's not just
00:13:59
taught by you you know um because
00:14:03
teachers are taught how to teach and um
00:14:07
so many kids learn differently and I
00:14:09
just feel like I would have benefited a
00:14:11
lot if I had been taken out of like the
00:14:13
home and taught math and science
00:14:16
separately starting at an earlier age
00:14:19
yeah um do you think that had to do
00:14:21
mostly
00:14:23
with maybe it not being your mom's
00:14:26
strong suit of science and math or was
00:14:27
it also a choice of like the curriculum
00:14:30
that was used where I know for me I had
00:14:32
a lot of faith based curriculum and so
00:14:33
there's a lot of things in there where
00:14:35
it's like when I got to college and all
00:14:36
a sudden I was in college level science
00:14:38
I was like I was hating my life because
00:14:41
I felt dumb too because I was like I
00:14:44
only know a Christian viewpoint on
00:14:46
science I didn't know what evolution
00:14:48
looked like um so was it a mix of those
00:14:51
or or mainly one of those you know I
00:14:53
think it's a mix of those I mean we did
00:14:55
have the co-op classes for group
00:14:56
Solutions right like I met remember Mr
00:14:58
Panzer is like an oceanographer and so
00:15:00
he has a science back he was a great
00:15:01
science teacher love him um and I I did
00:15:06
learn a lot from those classes but
00:15:07
you're right the apologia textbooks uh
00:15:10
you know that are mostly faith-based
00:15:12
I they are good in certain aspects but
00:15:15
they really don't prepare you I think um
00:15:20
and you know I I try to remain neutral
00:15:23
too because I'm like you know I was
00:15:24
never in public school maybe public
00:15:26
school doesn't prepare you either you
00:15:27
know we all struggle in college
00:15:29
but I do remember I think Derry
00:15:31
mentioned this and you might have
00:15:32
mentioned this that like when I got to
00:15:34
college and I was learning about
00:15:35
Evolution oh my gosh I just was so quiet
00:15:38
in those classes cuz I was struggling
00:15:41
really hard I'm like I only have this
00:15:45
one perspective and I'm afraid if I say
00:15:47
anything people are going to be like
00:15:49
pointing fingers at me being like Oh my
00:15:51
gosh like do you even believe in
00:15:53
science um and in retrospect I oh I have
00:16:00
I kind of have an issue with those
00:16:01
apology textbooks because I don't think
00:16:02
you need to be shoving faith in every
00:16:05
single paragraph like they did um I
00:16:08
think it has a place but I think they
00:16:10
should be separate and um not so
00:16:14
intertwined you know yeah I I feel that
00:16:18
I
00:16:20
think I I even I went to a Christian
00:16:22
college so I I you did not go to
00:16:25
Christian college so I can't even
00:16:27
imagine that level of like I already
00:16:29
felt dumb compared to some of the kids I
00:16:31
was with but like I at least had this
00:16:33
kind of like background of like I knew
00:16:35
that for the most part of the majority
00:16:37
of people who were there also believe
00:16:38
the same thing I did maybe believed kind
00:16:41
of the same scientific side of things I
00:16:43
did but yeah when I got into science
00:16:45
class oh my God I have science from
00:16:46
religion class and it was kind of what
00:16:48
you're talking about it was like the
00:16:49
intersection of Science and uh Faith
00:16:53
right and but he would he but he also
00:16:55
could separate them and say hey when you
00:16:57
look at it just scientifically there's
00:16:59
all these different options and they're
00:17:00
all you know hypothesis and theories and
00:17:04
whatever else right if like we have all
00:17:06
these options over here and then here's
00:17:08
faith and here's how they intersect
00:17:10
right and here's how we can explain this
00:17:12
and this and it all coexists in the same
00:17:14
thing and I think that was something
00:17:15
that like you said with the apology of
00:17:17
science books it's like this is the way
00:17:19
and this is the only way or at least
00:17:21
that's the way to presented this is the
00:17:22
way literally only way yeah it's
00:17:25
literally just a textbook to teach you
00:17:28
how to defend your faith it's not a
00:17:30
specific science textbook like yes um
00:17:35
which I have a problem with because if
00:17:36
you're studying math you're just
00:17:37
studying math like if you're studying
00:17:38
science you should just be studying
00:17:39
science and then you can have your own
00:17:41
Bible class you can have your own
00:17:42
apologetics class and I I have no
00:17:45
problems I I still don't know where I
00:17:47
stand with Evolution sometimes I'm like
00:17:48
oh creationism and then oh like you know
00:17:52
the science super scientific point of
00:17:54
view um but
00:17:56
yeah that's funny I remember remember
00:17:59
getting to college and I started
00:18:01
watching uh what's the what's the guy's
00:18:04
name uh Bill Nye the Science Guy I just
00:18:08
videos on YouTube and I just started
00:18:09
watching them um and like and then Neil
00:18:13
degrass Tyson as well like just like
00:18:16
watching their videos to try to
00:18:17
understand science from a totally
00:18:18
different perspective because I I just
00:18:21
grew up Ken Ham was the Science Guy The
00:18:23
Creation Guy and um and my favorite
00:18:27
thing I think it came out when I was in
00:18:28
college
00:18:29
but uh Bill NY went to the ark uh that
00:18:33
kenam has built somewhere been there
00:18:37
have you I think it's in Kentucky I
00:18:39
don't know I think it's in Kentucky yeah
00:18:42
okay um so yeah super not super far from
00:18:45
me but uh uh yeah he went and basically
00:18:49
they debated as they walked through this
00:18:51
Museum that is built like the arc from
00:18:53
the Bible of like oh yeah your plaque
00:18:56
says this but you know it's actually
00:18:58
this right and they have their back and
00:18:59
forth and I thought that was so
00:19:00
interesting because I was like I stood
00:19:03
with Ken Ham for so long of like this is
00:19:05
this is the truth um and then to watch
00:19:09
things get torn apart I was like oh
00:19:11
maybe maybe not um right kind of a thing
00:19:14
so it's it's interesting I again I
00:19:18
wasn't even a science major so I can't
00:19:19
even imagine being where the majority of
00:19:21
my classes are going to be science
00:19:23
classes um yeah you know where it's just
00:19:26
completely different than you were used
00:19:29
yeah and you know I think a lot of
00:19:32
like um my fears going to college was
00:19:35
like oh I'm going to be like picked out
00:19:37
from the crowd and like oh no like
00:19:39
they're going to know that I was raised
00:19:41
thinking this way and I just I didn't
00:19:44
know what I thought at the time because
00:19:45
I was in all these classes but it was a
00:19:48
relatively I would say small part of my
00:19:50
entire curriculum like you know once you
00:19:52
get through the basic uh General Ed
00:19:54
science courses you get a focus on what
00:19:56
you want so it wasn't a super huge part
00:19:59
of U my education but I do remember it
00:20:02
being like a big thing when I was like a
00:20:04
freshman and a sophomore how do you feel
00:20:07
about like it you talk about also
00:20:11
feeling kind of singled out in the crowd
00:20:13
whether that's like just you you putting
00:20:15
that on yourself too but yeah like you
00:20:18
know uh Dar and I talked about like you
00:20:21
could smell the homeschooler on on you
00:20:23
like did you feel like you were that or
00:20:25
um I know sometimes that has to do with
00:20:27
just like the social skill that had I
00:20:30
mean we were more social kids just in
00:20:32
because we had things like group
00:20:33
Solutions and
00:20:35
Achi but uh but yeah I don't know did
00:20:40
that did that play any kind of role for
00:20:42
you where you felt just kind of like oh
00:20:45
yeah I definitely did it I felt it more
00:20:49
in uh Community College I I remember
00:20:52
everybody else went to Ventura College
00:20:55
and I was like oh my God like all my
00:20:57
friends are over there but I have to go
00:20:58
to Oxnard College because it's just way
00:21:00
closer I live in Oxnard and I had wanted
00:21:04
to go start taking math and science
00:21:06
classes at the age of 14 and my parents
00:21:09
wouldn't let me and I totally understand
00:21:11
where they're coming from um but finally
00:21:13
at 16 I was allowed to go and I like yes
00:21:15
I get to take biology I get to take math
00:21:18
and all these classes that i' had been
00:21:19
wanting to take
00:21:20
chemistry um and I remember very vividly
00:21:25
like sitting in the library and
00:21:29
staring at people just staring at people
00:21:32
I don't know like cuz I just felt like
00:21:34
they were so different like it was the
00:21:36
first time where I was just
00:21:38
like in an environment by myself and
00:21:43
just like supposed to be studying and
00:21:45
being like a little mini adult and I
00:21:48
remember this guy he noticed I was
00:21:50
staring at him and he like he got one of
00:21:53
the library attendants and like pointed
00:21:55
at me I was like I just like kind of
00:21:56
like shook out of it but I
00:21:59
I don't know it was just like a whole
00:22:01
new world for me and it's you know I'm
00:22:03
making myself sound like I didn't go
00:22:04
outside like I had I was in Scouts I was
00:22:08
in group
00:22:09
Solutions I you know did a bunch of
00:22:12
other stuff but it was uh I think it was
00:22:14
because I was by myself you know I like
00:22:17
I was like 16 my labmates were like 32
00:22:20
and I'm just like oh my gosh like what
00:22:24
the heck yeah no it is very different
00:22:27
because well especially Community
00:22:29
College too is is is different as well
00:22:32
because when you get to a 4-year
00:22:35
University you kind of you're with
00:22:37
people your age right A lot of times
00:22:39
yeah and and yes of course there's the
00:22:40
people who are older and every now and
00:22:42
then there's a person who's kind of
00:22:43
younger who's kind of has has gotten in
00:22:45
there too but like for the most part
00:22:46
you're in there with people who are like
00:22:48
your own age where yeah like in
00:22:50
Community College you get the you know
00:22:52
the mom who she didn't finish her degree
00:22:54
and now she's in her 30s and she's
00:22:56
trying to she's trying to make a better
00:22:57
life for herself or she just wants to
00:22:58
get her education you know or whatever
00:23:01
um and so yeah you have that vast
00:23:03
variety of people um that I just wasn't
00:23:07
used to my sister did Community College
00:23:10
and she would come home and she would
00:23:11
talk tell about her labmates and stuff
00:23:13
and then it would turn out it was like a
00:23:14
42y old man and I was like oh yeah what
00:23:17
like what are you talking about you know
00:23:18
I'm like I was just used to everyone
00:23:20
around me for my classes was you know
00:23:23
there was maybe a three-year age
00:23:24
difference between us at Max um and
00:23:27
every very rarely was it like a 10e age
00:23:30
difference uh oh yeah so um so yeah
00:23:33
that's that's kind of funny the I don't
00:23:36
know I I feel you though on the on the
00:23:39
needing to stare and needing to kind of
00:23:41
like feel it out a little bit because oh
00:23:43
yeah you know in addition I imagine U
00:23:47
Davis is not crazy far from home uh
00:23:50
obviously you were still in California I
00:23:52
moved from California to Illinois so I
00:23:54
also in addition to that I'm I'm stuck
00:23:57
there you know it's it's like I'm like I
00:23:59
make it's sink or swim at that point
00:24:01
it's like I make friends or I'm just
00:24:03
going to be that weird guy who's yeah
00:24:05
you know in his room goes to dinner
00:24:06
alone that kind of thing uh and so just
00:24:10
kind of had to push myself to be like I
00:24:12
gotta be I got to be out there and I got
00:24:14
to be a part of the group um as well so
00:24:18
oh yeah I I definitely pushed myself
00:24:19
super socially too and then I was like
00:24:21
oh my gosh the introvert started coming
00:24:23
in and I remember experiencing like so
00:24:25
much social anxiety because the
00:24:26
classrooms are huge they're yes huge uh
00:24:30
uh State School uh UC school and I was
00:24:32
just like that was just another
00:24:35
overwhelming part I don't know if you
00:24:36
experienced that too I don't know how
00:24:37
big your school was but it was not very
00:24:40
big I think our school
00:24:42
totaled couple maybe I don't know a
00:24:46
thousand students a little over a
00:24:47
thousand students so classroom sizes
00:24:49
were not massive but I also had done
00:24:51
that because I strategically I knew that
00:24:55
I was going to struggle at a really big
00:24:56
school because I needed a little more
00:24:58
one-on-one attention with professors and
00:25:01
tutors and stuff like that uh and then I
00:25:04
also chose the Christian aspect because
00:25:06
that was that was at the time that was
00:25:08
important to me um and so it was yeah it
00:25:12
was I needed that and I needed
00:25:14
classrooms of like five people every now
00:25:16
and then and yeah there was classroom of
00:25:17
50 students sometimes but a good number
00:25:20
of times it was like Max 20 kids in a
00:25:22
classroom which is a lot more manageable
00:25:24
you know it felt like group soltions
00:25:27
right it was like okay this like a group
00:25:28
solution setting um and I did want to
00:25:31
kind of like backtrack a little bit uh
00:25:35
because like you said you were
00:25:37
homeschooled all the way to 16 so that
00:25:39
is a long time um and I obviously you
00:25:43
were involved in a lot of the same kind
00:25:45
of things I was involved in with achieve
00:25:47
and group Solutions and things like that
00:25:49
was that always the case or did you also
00:25:51
have years where you just remember
00:25:53
feeling like I'm stuck at home it's also
00:25:56
all you ever knew uh
00:25:59
oh yeah yeah um I mean I had been in
00:26:03
group SS my whole life and we started uh
00:26:07
scouting when I was eight my mom started
00:26:09
a American Heritage Girls uh scouting
00:26:12
group in our city um and you know I went
00:26:15
to youth group and I I think I've heard
00:26:19
this a lot from other homeschoolers too
00:26:20
I do wish I did sports like as a child
00:26:22
and all the way throughout because I
00:26:24
feel like I would have been really good
00:26:25
at them um so I feel like that aspect
00:26:27
was missing but yeah I I felt really
00:26:32
isolated if I'm going to be honest my
00:26:34
whole
00:26:36
childhood um and I just wanted like you
00:26:39
know you see people every two weeks for
00:26:40
group Solutions was it or something like
00:26:42
that yeah just not enough not enough
00:26:46
yeah I I feel that I I I get that
00:26:48
feeling and also keep in mind y oh sorry
00:26:53
I my siblings are like way older than me
00:26:56
my brother's like eight years older than
00:26:58
me I think my sister's like 13 years
00:26:59
older than me and uh my adopted siblings
00:27:03
came in when I was around 8 years old
00:27:05
but they went to public school for a
00:27:07
while for a long while wow yeah so that
00:27:11
that also was yeah that's a hard shift
00:27:13
there too because like at least with my
00:27:16
siblings or with my sibling uh it was a
00:27:19
three-year difference and even when my
00:27:20
family was
00:27:22
adopting uh which didn't end up working
00:27:24
out but they were right around our age
00:27:27
well we had a three-year-old and then we
00:27:28
had like an 11year old uh and I was like
00:27:30
13 at the time so but they were right
00:27:32
around our ages as well but yeah I never
00:27:35
I'm the oldest so I never had anybody
00:27:36
that was so drastically further than me
00:27:39
um in life you know uh so that's also
00:27:43
like a weird there's an isolation to
00:27:46
that as well like you said yeah and like
00:27:49
I feel like nobody liked coming to
00:27:51
Oxnard too like there's the people in
00:27:53
Ventura and there's like the small group
00:27:55
of people in oxar like okay Jose who my
00:27:58
best friend Jose Lopez you interv
00:28:00
interviewed Laura um yeah they lived in
00:28:02
Oxnard and that was like oh my safe
00:28:05
place uh but there was a period of time
00:28:06
where we didn't hang out actually and
00:28:08
then other than that there was like very
00:28:10
few people who lived in O I felt like it
00:28:12
was just like the place that people
00:28:13
don't want to go except for group
00:28:15
solution you know I think I think you're
00:28:18
right I mean I grew up I yeah I grew up
00:28:20
in ohigh so it was like Oxnard was Far
00:28:24
first of all yes but then it was in by
00:28:26
far it's 30 minutes away it's like
00:28:28
nothing um but it's far you know and
00:28:33
yeah and then it was kind of sketchy
00:28:35
when when I was oh yeah so it was it was
00:28:37
not a safe place to just like go all the
00:28:39
time uh
00:28:41
but I don't know it's a little different
00:28:44
now the last time I was in Oxnard I was
00:28:45
like it feels so much better here you
00:28:47
know I I agree I grew up in a very
00:28:49
sketchy neighborhood so I could totally
00:28:51
watch for I understand why people didn't
00:28:54
want to come but I was still like guys
00:28:56
please come like I'm no yeah no it's
00:28:59
funny that you say you grew up in a
00:29:00
sketchy neighborhood I literally grew up
00:29:01
next to a drug dealer watch him get
00:29:03
busted OD all that kind of like just you
00:29:06
know I'm like stuff happened in my
00:29:07
neighborhood too so it's not like ohigh
00:29:09
was all that much safer uh to be very
00:29:12
honest but uh but yeah that's
00:29:16
hilarious anyway but one of the things
00:29:18
you brought up to me when we were kind
00:29:20
of pre-interview and and chatting about
00:29:23
topics was that you were a part of the
00:29:25
video production team that was group
00:29:28
Solutions right oh yeah yes okay tell me
00:29:31
a little bit about that cuz I never did
00:29:32
that um okay but I I remember watching
00:29:36
somebody's short video at some point oh
00:29:39
no yeah we were a group we were a club
00:29:42
but it was technically a class at group
00:29:44
Solutions and it was uh Mrs Burns's
00:29:48
class so uh that whole Burns family Clan
00:29:52
was totally involved in that and you
00:29:55
know there was people like Emily Aldrich
00:29:57
and Colin suers and Caleb
00:30:00
saard and we took this class for years I
00:30:03
I think I started when I was like 12 and
00:30:06
then I stopped when I left so like at 15
00:30:09
16 and it
00:30:12
was one of the best experiences at
00:30:15
homeschooling was making films with my
00:30:17
friends we would just spend hours uh
00:30:20
like having film days and doing the
00:30:22
weirdest scripts we'd all write scripts
00:30:25
and um you know I was the makeup
00:30:28
uh person I was a costume person I did a
00:30:31
bunch of different things I did editing
00:30:33
um it was a great group and Fun Stuff
00:30:36
very embarrassing films though they
00:30:38
they're not good but yeah yeah no I I
00:30:43
feel that I only ever made one movie and
00:30:45
that was for my mom taught
00:30:48
a uh I'm trying to remember if it was
00:30:50
American literature or what it was but
00:30:51
we made a fulllength movie of a of a was
00:30:54
that like the three hour
00:30:55
one the three-hour movie and I talked
00:30:58
about on our episode yeah that was yeah
00:31:01
super cringy so um you guys were way
00:31:04
better at editing and doing all that
00:31:05
kind of stuff than we ever were but yeah
00:31:08
I I forgot who all was in that group so
00:31:10
yeah when you brought up names I was
00:31:11
like oh my gosh I I remember these
00:31:13
things now Colin and I were like we were
00:31:16
like doing stuff together Emily Kira
00:31:19
Hatton we were Nick
00:31:21
Schneider um these were like my closest
00:31:25
friends we just have such good memories
00:31:28
together and we like we were so serious
00:31:30
that's the thing we were serious I was
00:31:32
looking through my emails the other day
00:31:33
and we'd have email chains we'd have
00:31:35
spreadsh sheets you know I would tell
00:31:37
this person to bring that and someone
00:31:38
would tell me to do this and we were
00:31:40
like on it especially Colin man Colin
00:31:43
was just and and he's still likeed that
00:31:45
today I'm pretty sure just that director
00:31:48
producer mindset you know yeah well
00:31:51
Colin now works in the film in the TV
00:31:54
film industry so um yeah I'm trying to
00:31:57
get him on the show because yeah I want
00:31:58
to pick his brain on on all that stuff
00:32:00
um but the last I talked to him I was
00:32:02
like your job sounds awesome uh but uh
00:32:07
yeah well that's super cool I'm glad it
00:32:09
feels like every homeschool kid kind of
00:32:10
had there was some overlapping of like
00:32:12
obviously a lot of us had similar
00:32:14
extracurriculars but uh but then there
00:32:17
was also like these really unique ones
00:32:18
as well and I know another one that we
00:32:21
shared was of course swing dancing and
00:32:23
you continue to swing dance to this day
00:32:25
um and I told you before we got on
00:32:28
pretty sure you have far surpassed what
00:32:29
I could ever do um but uh but yeah I'm
00:32:34
I'm trying to remember was I ever your
00:32:36
swing dance
00:32:37
instructor you know I honestly I don't
00:32:42
remember did the dances that well like I
00:32:44
didn't remember liking it like liking
00:32:47
dancing that much and I honestly I
00:32:48
didn't remember the basic steps like I
00:32:51
started last April and I was like at
00:32:54
like zero uh so I I think I mostly
00:32:58
remembered like the social interactions
00:33:00
and like the pizzazz of getting ready
00:33:02
for dance but you definitely probably
00:33:05
were my swing instructor to be honest
00:33:07
it's very possible I know I was for your
00:33:10
two younger siblings I remember that I
00:33:13
was I also was going through emails and
00:33:15
I had an email chain from your mom
00:33:17
asking if they could come even though at
00:33:20
the time they weren't homeschool kids or
00:33:22
something like that and I was like yeah
00:33:23
so you definitely were you definitely
00:33:25
were it's very possible so yeah you
00:33:28
forgetting is not on me though uh I must
00:33:31
not have been super memorable but uh
00:33:33
well I just don't remember like the
00:33:35
actual dancing itself I remember the
00:33:38
dresses getting measured and like boys
00:33:40
being shoved towards me and just having
00:33:43
a good time like all the other stuff
00:33:47
yeah yeah I yeah I have such fun
00:33:50
memories of those stock Ops were
00:33:52
definitely my personal favorite um just
00:33:55
cuz I loved like the Greaser 50 Style
00:33:58
oh my gosh yeah I have a I have a
00:34:00
picture that I found of me in a sock hop
00:34:03
dress with like a kenalin
00:34:05
twirling and it was at Point c a
00:34:07
pavilion and I'm like oh that's such a
00:34:08
good memory like I love it I love it you
00:34:11
have to send it to me so I can I can see
00:34:13
it um but uh it's cool that you're doing
00:34:16
that now too as like or you've picked it
00:34:18
back up um and uh are doing classes or
00:34:23
just is it just like a group that does
00:34:25
it now like oh yeah it's like my whole
00:34:27
life life now to be honest like I work
00:34:30
to make money so that I can dance all
00:34:32
the time um I started last
00:34:35
April and um I am now on some different
00:34:41
teams so I do I do Collegiate shag as
00:34:44
well which is like under the umbrella of
00:34:46
East Coast I do some Balboa I'm not good
00:34:48
at it though and um Lindy Hop primarily
00:34:52
but I'm on two different teams I have an
00:34:55
official dance partner now we've
00:34:57
competed and we won um medal which is
00:35:00
really cool and I have some events that
00:35:04
I'm flying to soon and I'm hoping to
00:35:07
compete in those like I really want to
00:35:08
be competitive um it's something that I
00:35:11
I love a lot and um yeah I do it every
00:35:16
day honestly uh it's so fun it's so fun
00:35:22
yeah it is yeah no I've been wanting to
00:35:24
maybe like pick it back up again because
00:35:26
you should such fun memories of it and
00:35:29
it's cool to hear that you're like
00:35:30
competing cuz I know that was a thing
00:35:32
for me for a while where I wanted to get
00:35:34
to that level um and I did smaller
00:35:36
competition stuff but to get to a level
00:35:38
to compete would be so fun I mean Taylor
00:35:41
bosar and I would watch videos of
00:35:43
competitions to like learn new steps and
00:35:46
uh all kinds of stuff like that so
00:35:49
anyway but oh man I love that you're
00:35:51
doing that that's like fantastic so yeah
00:35:54
so I know we've kind of jumped around
00:35:56
quite a bit we did like we did like a
00:35:58
brief and then we went to college and
00:36:00
then we went back to grade school and
00:36:01
early high school but now I want to kind
00:36:03
of jump past college
00:36:06
and uh graduation and entering into the
00:36:10
job sphere and like what you're doing
00:36:12
today um and uh and what's like on the
00:36:15
horizon so you know uh I
00:36:19
graduated in December 22 I want to say I
00:36:23
don't know why I can't remember exactly
00:36:25
but um I so I graduated with my
00:36:29
bachelor's in entomology and my minor in
00:36:31
art history and um I tagged the minor on
00:36:34
last minute and I feel like that was
00:36:36
like the best decision I made in my
00:36:39
whole college career in addition to like
00:36:41
switching my major to entomology from
00:36:43
Global disease biology um I had so much
00:36:47
fun taking those art history classes and
00:36:49
it really fulfilled like the creative
00:36:51
side of me that was lacking because I
00:36:54
you know was taking all the science and
00:36:55
math courses um
00:36:58
so I lived in Davis for a little bit and
00:37:02
I started working for pler County which
00:37:05
is like a county above
00:37:07
Sacramento um and I worked for their
00:37:10
Mosquito Abatement District uh also as a
00:37:13
laboratory
00:37:15
technician and um then I saw a job
00:37:19
opportunity for Sacramento Yello and I'm
00:37:21
like you know that's way closer cuz at
00:37:24
the time I was commuting commuting like
00:37:26
40 50 minutes and I was like this is not
00:37:29
sustainable like yeah also working at
00:37:33
like 7 6: a.m. um and being a dancer and
00:37:36
then commuting like that was just really
00:37:40
difficult so uh and it was also a salary
00:37:43
increase so that was like oh okay I'm
00:37:45
definitely going to try to get this job
00:37:47
so I've been working for um Sacramento
00:37:50
Yolo County for since December and
00:37:54
that's been going really well and right
00:37:56
now looking to get a state
00:37:59
job um I think that's just the natural
00:38:03
progression of where my career is taking
00:38:05
me I I love the reliability of having
00:38:10
the county benefits they're the same as
00:38:12
the state benefits um you know I have a
00:38:14
pension I have really good insurance I
00:38:18
have reliable like wage increases and um
00:38:22
you know it might not be as much pay as
00:38:24
like a private place but I just love the
00:38:26
stability of having a County Job um so
00:38:32
I'm hoping to kind of break into like
00:38:35
the agricultural side of pest control or
00:38:38
something like that with the state
00:38:39
that's super cool yeah no those uh yeah
00:38:42
those County jobs are sweet I worked for
00:38:44
the county and high school I worked for
00:38:46
a library cool yeah and so they yeah I
00:38:50
had like same deal I even at whatever
00:38:52
that was 16 17 it was like pension and
00:38:55
uh I didn't work enough to get full
00:38:57
benefits but I had some of them and I
00:38:59
still get mail about it but that's
00:39:01
awesome that's awesome to hear and like
00:39:03
uh it is it's cool to catch up with
00:39:05
people and here because I feel like so
00:39:07
many people have such interesting jobs
00:39:09
now and things that I would have I mean
00:39:11
I didn't know you super well but just
00:39:13
also things that I would have never
00:39:14
thought of even being a job uh you know
00:39:19
what I mean like I don't think of uh
00:39:21
Mosquito Abatement as a as a job title
00:39:24
that somebody would have right so yeah
00:39:27
so that's like so interesting um and I
00:39:30
was asking you before we came on which
00:39:33
uh you told me was probably not the case
00:39:35
but I was asking if down the line if we
00:39:37
would be able to pull Jurassic Park and
00:39:40
use uh mosquitoes to like clone
00:39:42
different animals and things in the
00:39:43
future but it sounds like that's a
00:39:45
negative on that I mean I am not into
00:39:48
genetics like that's above me for sure
00:39:51
but I I do I mean I told you about how I
00:39:54
worked for a vector genetics lab in
00:39:56
college and so their primary goal at the
00:39:59
time was to fight malaria using um
00:40:02
genetically modified mosquitoes and some
00:40:04
of the mosquitos that I took care of in
00:40:06
the
00:40:07
lab had a jellyfish jellyfish Jean
00:40:11
spiced into them and that made them
00:40:12
flues and so I mean weird things can
00:40:15
happen with genetics these days so who
00:40:19
am I to say what the going to look like
00:40:22
yeah we'll see uh yeah we're going to
00:40:25
have like Mega mosquitoes um that you
00:40:27
know not too far from now that are just
00:40:29
like the size of your face or something
00:40:31
um yeah I mean California you know one
00:40:34
of the things with my jobs job is that
00:40:36
we deal with invasive mosquitoes so
00:40:38
right now we have uh invasive 80s egypti
00:40:41
and80s alop pictus invading
00:40:44
California and uh they're not large
00:40:47
mosquitoes but they're very bright and
00:40:50
boldly colored and the reason why we're
00:40:52
worried about them is because they
00:40:53
transmit things like
00:40:55
Den um so I mean
00:40:57
mosquitoes are just a fun a fun thing
00:41:00
that's so I would never know that aside
00:41:03
from you just telling me that I would
00:41:04
never even my gosh that up of like you
00:41:07
know you want to hear my like one of my
00:41:10
craziest mosquito stories yes okay so in
00:41:15
college I told you I worked for that
00:41:16
Vector genetics lab and it was during
00:41:19
the pandemic and my main job was taking
00:41:22
care of mosquito colonies so you have
00:41:24
these insectaries which are these
00:41:26
temperature humidity controlled
00:41:28
rooms and you go in there and there's
00:41:31
cages of just thousands of mosquitoes in
00:41:34
each cage and you know my job is to feed
00:41:37
them and to make sure they're doing well
00:41:40
and mating and like all the life cycle
00:41:43
is being complete and stuff like that
00:41:45
but one year the lab couldn't go to
00:41:49
Africa to get a off free born eye um in
00:41:53
order to bring them back to Davis and do
00:41:55
genetic testing on them
00:41:57
um and so we're like you know I wasn't
00:42:00
going to go to Africa I'm too low on the
00:42:02
food chain for that but my supervisor
00:42:03
was like okay since we can't go and get
00:42:06
these anop from Africa what is the
00:42:09
similar mosquitoes that we have uh in
00:42:13
the Davis area and so they're like the
00:42:15
rice field mosquitoes
00:42:17
anaes uh Freeborn ey are similar to anes
00:42:21
Gambier which are in Africa and so we're
00:42:23
like okay we're going to try to go
00:42:25
collect wild anaes in the rice field
00:42:27
bring them back and try to get them jump
00:42:30
started into uh our colonies like try to
00:42:32
make them Colony mosquitoes and that
00:42:35
sounds fine to dandy like what you just
00:42:37
go out and trap mosquitoes you bring
00:42:38
them back you put them in the lab but
00:42:41
getting them to breed in the lab is
00:42:44
super difficult like the in Colony
00:42:47
mosquitoes have been breeding in lab for
00:42:49
Generations upon Generations upon
00:42:51
Generations like you literally just give
00:42:52
them blood after they've made it and
00:42:55
they'll lay eggs like that but um
00:42:58
yeah these wild mosquitoes would just
00:42:59
not lay eggs for us which was a huge
00:43:02
problem and so they're like okay um
00:43:06
we're going to need you to forcibly meet
00:43:08
them like we're we're down to our last
00:43:11
option you need to we need to do
00:43:15
something and so oh my gosh like when I
00:43:18
tell the story I'm like wow that's wild
00:43:21
um forcibly mating is exactly what it
00:43:24
sounds like you have to forcibly mate
00:43:26
mosquitoes and so basically you get a
00:43:29
tiny little
00:43:31
vacuum like the size of a pencil tip and
00:43:35
you stick the female mosquito on
00:43:39
there and then you take a male mosquito
00:43:43
and you kind of like introduce them
00:43:45
together like you're like okay it's sexy
00:43:47
time like you have to get the mail
00:43:50
started because the males have claspers
00:43:52
on the end of their abdomen so they have
00:43:54
to start trying to clasp so you need to
00:43:57
like get you know the antenna like the
00:43:59
pheromones in the room I don't
00:44:02
know and then after you do that after
00:44:05
your sexy
00:44:07
introduction you um have to and also
00:44:12
this is you have to knock out the mail
00:44:13
at some point I can't remember you have
00:44:15
to like put CO2 or like put them in the
00:44:18
fridge for a little bit but anyways
00:44:20
after you knock them out you have to cut
00:44:21
off their legs cut off their wings and
00:44:24
cut off their head and then mate them
00:44:28
and if you're really good at your job
00:44:30
you can make multiple females to one
00:44:34
male
00:44:35
um I don't think I was ever that good
00:44:39
but yeah that's just yeah that's the
00:44:42
story I like to tell you like entomology
00:44:44
is really weird like sometimes you just
00:44:45
have to do crazy things and and the
00:44:48
worst part about it was is like it
00:44:51
didn't even
00:44:52
work like they did really lay eggs like
00:44:57
they were
00:44:58
mated yeah they we definitely made it
00:45:01
them like I was a mosquito Matchmaker I
00:45:03
made it them but they didn't lay eggs
00:45:05
still and that's because they were picky
00:45:07
about where they wanted to lay
00:45:08
eggs so oh my gosh well I think you gave
00:45:12
me I think you just gave me the title of
00:45:14
the episode which is like uh mosquito
00:45:16
sex ed um or something along those lines
00:45:20
um because wow um that's a job that's
00:45:25
crazy oh my gosh um
00:45:27
yeah I just learned a heck of a lot
00:45:30
about mosquitoes just now um so I hope
00:45:33
you put on like the slow jams in the
00:45:35
background you l a couple candles you
00:45:37
made it happen it sounds it sounds like
00:45:38
it was a lot of fun to be honest you
00:45:40
know I thought about it it it was fun
00:45:43
but it was also really morbid when I
00:45:44
started thinking about what I was doing
00:45:46
you know like I kind of had to like
00:45:48
dissociate a little bit like
00:45:50
compartmentalize um I do think one of
00:45:53
the cooler parts though about the
00:45:54
reproductive cycle is I was able to take
00:45:56
out the spera out of the females and see
00:45:59
the sperm flowing inside of them um so
00:46:03
that was really cool like it was just
00:46:05
under a normal microscope I saw the
00:46:07
sperm flowing inside of um yeah wow it
00:46:13
bugs are fascinating yeah that's why I
00:46:16
studed them they're so
00:46:18
cool yeah and I don't even mean that
00:46:20
like sarcastically or anything like this
00:46:21
is legitimately I feel like I could
00:46:23
listen you talk about this all day um
00:46:25
like it's legitimately fascinating to me
00:46:27
um because yeah I was I was not a
00:46:30
science person and I hated like biology
00:46:32
and all that kind of stuff so just like
00:46:35
but but that was when I was a kid now
00:46:38
I'm I'm coming around to it so I hearing
00:46:40
it again oh okay that's uh that's
00:46:44
interesting and a necessary uh process
00:46:48
right now to kind of like figure out to
00:46:51
learn right we got we that's again the
00:46:54
whole point of science right is to
00:46:56
further our education
00:46:58
fur this planet and
00:47:00
it um it's such that's such an
00:47:03
interesting J oh mysh and uh keep up the
00:47:07
good work because that that's I don't
00:47:10
know what else to say so far I think you
00:47:12
have the coolest job of anyone show I I
00:47:15
mean that was in college I do more
00:47:18
mundane things now to be quite honest
00:47:20
but you know I keep those memories with
00:47:24
me oh man that's yeah I can't get over
00:47:27
it okay I gotta I gota I I just have
00:47:30
visuals now in my head oh yeah I have
00:47:33
wild stories but I I'll keep I'll keep
00:47:35
it to a
00:47:36
minimum um so we you kind of touched on
00:47:40
this earlier was I I always ask people
00:47:43
whether they're going to have kids down
00:47:44
the line or you know if they have a
00:47:46
homeschool family kind of approach them
00:47:47
of like and ask them like would you
00:47:49
homeschool your kids would you recommend
00:47:52
people homeschool their kids um and you
00:47:54
kind of said tutoring is a must uh when
00:47:57
you have a child who uh is maybe more
00:48:00
mathematically or scientifically
00:48:01
inclined but uh but in general I didn't
00:48:04
know if you had any other thoughts that
00:48:06
you wanted to expand on that with of if
00:48:08
you've given that any thought at all um
00:48:10
of whether you would homeschool your
00:48:11
kids or you recommend it for people you
00:48:15
know I like go back and forth I I have
00:48:18
emphatically said for the last couple
00:48:20
years like no I definitely would
00:48:22
not and um but you know my brothers had
00:48:27
a kid and I've heard him talk about it
00:48:30
and I don't really have like a finger on
00:48:34
where public schools are right now
00:48:35
except for that I've just heard really
00:48:37
bad things I I think ultimately though I
00:48:41
don't trust myself to give like a really
00:48:44
comprehensive education like I am not an
00:48:47
expert in math and science and history
00:48:50
and um all of these fields I think maybe
00:48:52
up to middle school I could definitely
00:48:54
ma manage uh or even maybe into middle
00:48:57
school but after that you know I would
00:48:59
probably consider private
00:49:01
school
00:49:03
um and but that's so expensive and I
00:49:07
think it also kind of depends on you
00:49:10
know whatever my partner wants
00:49:14
um I think the last couple people that
00:49:17
I've dated have been like oh my gosh I
00:49:19
would love to homeschool kids like
00:49:21
they've been so excited about it and you
00:49:24
know I have all these traumas right I'm
00:49:26
like no but they'll end up like this and
00:49:29
they'll end up like this but then I have
00:49:31
to remember like hey public school kids
00:49:32
like have their own set of things that
00:49:35
they had to deal with and like I have no
00:49:37
idea what that experience is like so I
00:49:40
really go back and forth I dep I think
00:49:42
it depends on like where you live to so
00:49:43
many variables yeah no I I 100% agree
00:49:46
with you I think the ultimate thing and
00:49:49
is always just like you got to figure
00:49:50
out what works best for your kid you
00:49:52
know and I think there's experimentation
00:49:54
that goes into that of like maybe you do
00:49:55
a year home school maybe you do a couple
00:49:57
years then you go to public school for a
00:49:58
couple years and you you figure out what
00:50:00
works for your kid and everybody's
00:50:03
different you know and there's so many
00:50:04
options now of just I mean there was
00:50:07
options when we were kids but there's so
00:50:08
many options even more now of like what
00:50:11
you can do uh when it comes to educating
00:50:14
your child
00:50:15
and I like that I like what you said
00:50:18
about kind of being self-aware of like I
00:50:20
know where my strengths lie and I know
00:50:21
where my weaknesses lie and so when it
00:50:23
comes to the weakness area I need help
00:50:25
let me seek out that
00:50:27
um that's that's huge you know um and
00:50:31
having done it I think you know what you
00:50:34
would probably do different from your
00:50:35
parents um and the areas that you would
00:50:37
help your kid that maybe your parents
00:50:40
just didn't know you know uh that's what
00:50:42
my parents always they're like we didn't
00:50:44
know what we didn't know you know yeah
00:50:46
exactly and they just tried their best
00:50:49
exactly they had to do you know they
00:50:50
tried their best and you know and hey we
00:50:52
turned out okay we we college graduates
00:50:55
we have careers
00:50:57
we have jobs we we pay our own bills um
00:51:00
you know we made it and that's that's
00:51:02
true for the majority of our friends is
00:51:05
like we we all made it and we're all
00:51:07
okay and uh yeah I tell I tell myself
00:51:10
all the time I'm like it's all going to
00:51:12
be okay like you know and uh I think you
00:51:15
make a really good point about each
00:51:17
child is different because I look at my
00:51:19
siblings and we've talked about this
00:51:20
before like we all had such a different
00:51:23
experience and I even like to say that
00:51:25
we all had different parents like none
00:51:27
of us experience the the parent the same
00:51:31
way as another person experienced the
00:51:33
parent um and so I think one of the
00:51:37
other things that is really important is
00:51:39
asking the child what they want I don't
00:51:41
remember being asked you know hey have
00:51:43
you ever wanted to go to public school
00:51:46
like have you thought about this have
00:51:48
you thought about this and I think one
00:51:50
of the reasons might might have been
00:51:51
because I was so introverted and so into
00:51:53
my books and my hobbies that they just
00:51:55
were like oh she loves this she'll
00:51:57
she'll be you know fine with this but
00:52:00
because I didn't know what public school
00:52:03
was like I I never had the option to
00:52:06
make an informed
00:52:07
Choice um and honestly public school was
00:52:12
kind of demonized a little bit like it
00:52:15
was like oh all those public schoolers
00:52:17
and um so I think just more education on
00:52:22
like the different School types and
00:52:23
allowing your kid to have a voice in
00:52:26
what they think is best for themselves
00:52:29
that's an interesting thing you brought
00:52:30
up I hadn't even thought about the
00:52:32
demonization of public school kids cuz
00:52:35
like I remember joking about that with
00:52:38
people but also I think a lot of
00:52:40
homeschoolers didn't know that I had
00:52:41
gone to public school and so I never
00:52:43
truly thought that about public school
00:52:45
kids I just you know would I just played
00:52:48
into it because everybody else was doing
00:52:49
it you know you know you don't want to
00:52:50
be the odd man out kind of a thing um
00:52:53
but that's an interesting idea there I
00:52:56
hadn't I hadn't heard that verbalized
00:52:58
like that in a while so of like public
00:53:01
school kids were kind of looked at as
00:53:03
like well you're kind of lesser than
00:53:05
yeah and I mean and and I'm all of the
00:53:08
non-Christian ideas right like like
00:53:10
you're GNA be swayed or you're going to
00:53:14
there's all these things that exist and
00:53:16
to be fair like I believe my parents
00:53:19
kept me out of public school for a good
00:53:21
reason like you know I might not be
00:53:23
aware of it now but maybe the area that
00:53:25
we lived in just didn't have good public
00:53:27
schools and that just was not a feasible
00:53:30
option but um yeah definitely was
00:53:34
demonized in more ways than one yeah
00:53:38
yeah no I yeah I for sure see that I
00:53:41
actually recently asked my mom why they
00:53:43
they homeschooled me and she she told me
00:53:46
that since I was a baby my grandmother
00:53:49
had been bugging her and been like hey I
00:53:51
think you should homeschool you know
00:53:53
they just I don't know she had just kind
00:53:55
of always been putting that in my mom's
00:53:56
ear and it wasn't until I was in second
00:53:58
grade my sister was going into
00:53:59
kindergarten and uh or preschool or
00:54:03
whatever and my my mom was like okay
00:54:05
let's just give it a shot and it had to
00:54:06
do partly with the schools in the area
00:54:08
we just moved the schools in the area
00:54:10
were not she didn't love them and so I
00:54:12
think she just kind of thought maybe
00:54:14
let's just give it a shot we'll see how
00:54:15
it goes if it's absolutely terrible we
00:54:17
can always go back you know um but it
00:54:20
was a struggle for her because she like
00:54:22
she was like I'm giving up my freedom
00:54:25
cuz both of my kids are about to go I'm
00:54:26
giving my freed toate them which I mean
00:54:31
being a mom is a whole job in itself
00:54:32
being a mom a teacher is oh my gosh I
00:54:35
can't even imagine so uh I am having
00:54:37
some parents on at some point so I'm
00:54:39
going to get some different perspectives
00:54:42
uh on that one as well and I am excited
00:54:43
your brother's coming on oh my gosh she
00:54:46
told me about it yeah I'm ex we had a
00:54:48
whole
00:54:51
conversation very cool well uh Elizabeth
00:54:54
is there anything you want to leave the
00:54:56
people with uh anything we didn't cover
00:54:59
any last memories that have been
00:55:01
unlocked while we've been chatting um
00:55:03
this has been it's been awesome to catch
00:55:05
up with you yeah no I thank you for
00:55:07
having me I I've Loved this podcast
00:55:11
series as you know and I've always
00:55:13
wanted to be on a podcast I love podcast
00:55:15
so much and um it's been such a Solace
00:55:18
for me to hear other homeschoolers
00:55:21
experience like homeschooling is a
00:55:23
really unique thing in itself but
00:55:27
hearing from homeschoolers that like
00:55:28
lived in the same area in the same group
00:55:31
I'm like oh my gosh like thank you like
00:55:34
you went through this too uh we're not
00:55:37
alone um I think last words shout out to
00:55:40
my mom you're right they did sacrifice
00:55:42
so much for us uh she has been my number
00:55:46
one supporter uh all the way up through
00:55:50
college and even now and she worked a
00:55:54
job to get me get through college and
00:55:57
she's just always been very crazy about
00:56:00
whatever I'm crazy about and so yeah I
00:56:03
love you
00:56:04
Mom yes that's right we love you Mrs
00:56:07
slag
00:56:09
boo awesome well thank you once again
00:56:12
for coming on it's been amazing catching
00:56:14
up with you and uh for all the rest of
00:56:16
you listeners uh you know do the things
00:56:19
that you normally do subscribe follow
00:56:21
like all those types of things I also
00:56:22
want to hear from you I have an email
00:56:24
account it's exh S A [email protected]
00:56:27
it'll all be in the show show notes um
00:56:31
and linked up there but if if you got
00:56:33
things questions if you've got people
00:56:35
you want to hear on the show whatever
00:56:37
you know um concerns compliments all of
00:56:40
the you know all of the things uh let me
00:56:44
know I would love to hear from you so uh
00:56:46
yeah this has been the XOM schoolers
00:56:47
Club until next week we'll see you
00:56:51
[Music]
00:56:57
[Music]
