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