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So, you're an ex-h homeschooler with a
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story to share. I want to hear it. Hey,
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what's up, guys? I'm Jacob Gooden, host
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of the Ex Homeschoolers Club. That's
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right, the best exhomeschooler show this
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side of the internet. And, uh, if you're
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new here, welcome in. If you're
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returning, welcome back. Uh, that's
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right. Today, I'm talking about why you
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might be the perfect guest to come on
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the show. And, uh, you know, I'm going
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to talk about the stories that I'm
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looking to feature. Uh, I'm going to
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talk about the process of actually like
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doing the interview and I'm going to
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share, you know, a little sneak peek at
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some of the questions you might get
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asked. So, if at any point during this
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conversation you go, "Yes, this is me."
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I want you to do something. Shoot me an
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email at
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[email protected]. Say, "Hey, Jacob, I
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want to come on the show. Let's get that
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conversation rolling." First things
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first, let's talk about why I'm doing
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this. I wanted to make an episode be
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about this because I just know how
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intimidating it can be to like first of
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all be on a podcast but secondly reach
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out to a podcast and ask to be a guest.
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Okay, that imposter syndrome sets in.
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You start to question question like is
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my story all that interesting? Does my
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story even matter? Am I an interesting
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person? And let me just stop you right
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there, okay? Because everybody's story
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is so unique and so different. And what
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I've learned is that I think some of the
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most powerful stories come from the most
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unsuspecting people and from the people
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who don't think they have a great story
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to share. Okay. So, if you've been
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homeschooled or been involved in the
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homeschool world, whether it was good,
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bad,
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ugly, somewhere in between, this show
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might be the place for you. And I want
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to get that that ball rolling. So, shoot
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me that email. Okay. Now, let's talk
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about some of the topics I'm interested
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in pursuing. Now, know that this list is
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not expansive, extensive. Uh it doesn't
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cover everything, okay? These are just
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some of the topics that recently have
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been on my mind. I've been thinking a
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lot about and I want to touch on them.
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So, first and foremost, big family
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versus small family homeschooling. Okay,
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I come from a small family. It was two
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of us being homeschooled. Uh but I know
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kids who came from families of 12 and uh
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they have very different experiences
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with the homeschool world than I do. So
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if that's you whether either side of the
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spectrum um I want to hear from you,
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okay? I want to know uh I want to know
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your story. Secondly, I want to talk
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about neurode diverency and
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homeschooling. So whether you were
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diagnosed, undiagnosed, growing up with
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autism, asberers, uh freaking ADHD, like
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any number, dyslexia, uh if your brain
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just functioned a little bit
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differently. Uh I want to hear about
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your experience. I want to know whe what
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whether it was good, was bad, whatever.
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I I'm I'm interested in pursuing more of
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that. Uh and kind of being the dumb guy
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in the room who could just ask
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questions.
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Uh, so yeah. Number three, I want to
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touch on
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LGBTQI plus uh stuff. I know I might
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have missed some letters. I hope I
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didn't, but um their experiences. I grew
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up in a in a very religion-based
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Christian home education system. Okay.
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LGBT was like not really talked about,
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and when it was talked about, it was
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usually with a negative light. And so,
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one, I'm interested to know what it was
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like growing up in an environment like
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that. But maybe you didn't grow up in an
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environment like that. Maybe you grew up
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somewhere where it was very accepted and
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very normal. Um, and I want to hear I
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want to know. Um, so if that's you,
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reach out. Number number four, I don't
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know. Next one. Next one. Um, this is a
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little bit down in the dumps, but I do
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want to talk about abuse and
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homeschooling and what that looks like.
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Um, I know that's kind of a dark place
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and I promise I will put a disclaimer on
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that episode if and when it comes to
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fruition, but I am interested in it. I
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didn't grow up in an abusive household.
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Um, at least in in maybe the traditional
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sense of what we think abuse is, but if
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you feel like homeschooling was an
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abusive area for you, I'm
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I'm I want to hear from you. Uh, I want
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to know. Next one I want to hear is
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growing up in an like agnostic
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homeschool environment. Like I said
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previously, I I grew up in a Christian
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environment. Okay, that was everyone I
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knew was a Christian. Or so I thought.
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And so if that wasn't you, right, if you
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grew up maybe you didn't have religion
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in your house or maybe you had a
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different religion, right? Maybe you
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grew up with Islam or Judaism or or
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something else, Mormonism. Uh I I think
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it'd be really interesting to touch on
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those and how they play a role uh in in
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the homeschool world, right? and what it
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looks like to be homeschooled without
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them um is something I'm interested
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because that's just not my experience.
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Uh next one on the list, the impact of
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purity culture uh and what happens
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after. I've talked about this before.
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I've shared my story. I've had a couple
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people, we've talked about purity
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culture a little bit. Again, it's a
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religious thing. uh tends to be a
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religious thing, but um it's something
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that is near and dear to my heart
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because it's something I deal with on
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the regular and am still working through
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some things. And so um yeah, so if
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that's you, you want to talk about it,
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let's talk about it. Next up on the
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list, what do we got? Whether the
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curriculum you used helped or harmed
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you, right? If you got a favorite
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curriculum, like I loved Math, you see,
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that helped me understand math so well.
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Um, I still kind of visualize it in my
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brain sometimes. If you don't know what
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I'm talking about, Matthew C was
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amazing. Um, it's like block building
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math, uh, essentially. And, um, yeah,
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so if you've got a curriculum that is
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just, you know, the love of your life,
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or maybe it's the the spawn of Satan in
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your
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opinion. That's something I'm interested
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in in in exploring with you. Next up,
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uh, let's see. What do we got? Stories
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from parents. Okay, I know I've had a
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couple homeschool parents on. I've had
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my parents on. Uh the wonderful Mrs.
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Brooks has come on this podcast as well.
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But if you're a homeschool parent or
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former homeschool parent, I want to talk
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to you. I want to kind of pick your
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brain. I want to know, would you do it
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again, right? What would you change?
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What do you tell other parents who are
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looking to homeschool their kids now?
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What kind of advice do you give them?
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Uh, I I
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think one of the main goals of this
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show, it started really as a way to just
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reconnect with people. It was a
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networking thing. Um, and reconnect and
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hear people's stories. But I've realized
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that one of the goals that I have of
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this show is to help the next generation
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of homesooled people. Uh, whether it's
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parents, whether it's kids, I want to
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give them hope that that things can be
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better. And I want to push them to be
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better than my parents were than than uh
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than we were as homeschooled kids,
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right? I want them to be that next uh
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that next iteration, if you will. So, if
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you're a homeschool parent and you want
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to chat, let's chat. Hit me up. Um and
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then the last thing I've got on the list
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here
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is how does homeschooling look today as
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compared to back then? So, this is for
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current homeschoolers or homeschool
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parents. Um, or maybe people who just
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got out of it, right? Uh, I've been out
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of home the homeschool world for about
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10 years now. Uh, so I'm a little rusty.
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Uh, I've been doing my research and
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learning and and you know, connecting
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with some some current homeschool
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families and some current homeschool
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educators uh, and things like that. But
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I want to know. I want to know whether
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you just graduated, whether you're still
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in it, whether you're still a parent
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teaching in the home school world. I'm
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kind of interested to pick your brain a
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little bit, find out what's maybe
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different, what's the same. Uh how have
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things evolved? So again, if you heard a
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topic in there that you're like, I can
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talk about that. Maybe you didn't hear a
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topic that you could talk about, but
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maybe you've got a different topic.
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Shoot me an email at
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exhsclubgmail.com. Okay? Okay, I'm going
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to keep plugging it because I expect
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emails. Okay, I'm expecting them. Let's
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move on to what it looks like, okay?
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What the actual interview process is
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going to look like for you. Um, every
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interview is slightly different, okay?
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But some of the things remain the same.
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So, let's go through it. Number one, I
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always offer to do a pre-in chat. It's
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usually over a phone. Maybe it's a Zoom
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call, but you know, if you're just
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nervous or you want to just get to know
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me uh in a
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non-recorded, non pressure scenario, we
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can do that. Okay? It's just a sit down
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chat. You and I, we're going to hang
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out. We're going to get to know each
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other. We're going to ask stupid
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questions. Um it also helps me sometimes
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with creating the questions that I'm
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going to ask in the interview and where
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you want to take it and where you feel
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comfortable taking it. So, if you're a
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nervous person like I am, this can be
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really, really helpful. Um, just to kind
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of like ease the nerves a little bit.
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Okay. But once we've done that and
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you're like, I'm coming on the show.
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Okay. The first thing is going to be a
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guest intake form, I'm going to email
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this to you or send you a link. You get
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to pick a time and date that works best
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for you. Um, it's got a couple questions
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in there about, you know, it's got the
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easy stuff like your name, your email
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address. It'll ask you a couple of
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things about like topics you want to
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discuss. It'll ask you if anything's off
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limits. It'll ask you uh if you want to
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join my join my email newsletter, which
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hint hint, you should do that. Link in
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the description below. Join the
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newsletter. Um but yeah, it's just some
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general questions to get things set up.
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Then you'll get an email and that email
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is going to have some further
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instructions. Um and uh it's basically
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going to be all the things you need,
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right? So, your the date and time of
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your interview, all the links you need
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to to do it. Um, you know, if you've got
00:10:02
headphones, wear them. If you've got a
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microphone, let's use it. Uh, I
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currently use a third party service to
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record that's called uh Descript. So,
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it's got links to that. It'll walk you
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through the whole process of how you set
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that up. You know, probably best to do
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it on a computer, not on a phone. Uh,
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that kind of stuff. It's it's the
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technical mumbo jumbo. Um, next up, the
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actual interview. Okay, so what's great,
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I have uh some services that uh
00:10:30
basically will send you reminder emails.
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We'll send you one 24 hours before our
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interview, send you an hour before our
00:10:35
interview, and I think it sends 15
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minutes before the interview if I'm not
00:10:39
wrong, but you'll get at least get two
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emails before your interview just
00:10:42
reminding you, hey, it's coming up. Um,
00:10:45
but yeah, we're going to jump on a call
00:10:46
together. It's going to look very much
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like a Zoom call. Everyone's done a Zoom
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call at this point. Um, but yeah, we're
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going to hang out. We'll chat for a few
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minutes. We'll get comfortable. We'll
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shake out the nerves. We'll do what we
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need to do. We'll take care of any tech
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issues. And then we'll press record and
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we'll just get right into it. Okay?
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We're going to ask questions. We're
00:11:04
going to have a good time. We're going
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to laugh. Maybe we're going to cry. Who
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knows? Um, it's going to be a good time.
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I promise you. And, uh, last up on the
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list is publishing. Okay. After we've
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recorded, it's going to the editor.
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That's me. Okay. Uh, I'm going to edit
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this bad boy down. And, uh, that's the
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great thing about recording with me. We
00:11:24
edit the show, okay? So, if at any point
00:11:26
during the conversation, you need a
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break, you need to take a take a breath,
00:11:30
maybe you said something out of turn,
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maybe you just said something, you're
00:11:33
like, "Ah, I want to rephrase that." We
00:11:35
can edit it. We'll make it, we'll fix
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it, okay? Um, not a problem. Now, when
00:11:40
the episode goes live, um I usually will
00:11:44
tag you in an Instagram post, um with a
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little clip of the episode, um uh and
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I'll shoot you a message on Instagram
00:11:52
and say, "Hey, our episode's out. Like,
00:11:54
thanks for coming on." That kind of a
00:11:56
thing. Uh if you don't have Instagram,
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that's okay. I'll shoot you an email.
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I'll let you know it's live. Send you
00:12:00
links. All that fun stuff. And really,
00:12:03
at that point, it's up to you what you
00:12:04
want to do. I love when people share it.
00:12:06
I love when people are proud of it and
00:12:08
they send it to all their friends. Um,
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but I understand if that's not you. I
00:12:11
get it. Um, but it is nice when they
00:12:15
when people do share it. But overall, I
00:12:17
want the experience to be as low
00:12:19
pressure. I want it to be collaborative.
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It's meant to be a conversation, right?
00:12:23
It's meant to be a back and forth. Of
00:12:24
course, I'll have a whole list of
00:12:26
questions that I can ask you um that we
00:12:28
can go for, you know, hours on end uh
00:12:31
talking about. But I also want you to
00:12:33
feel open to ask me questions about my
00:12:35
experience if that's what you want to
00:12:36
do, right? that makes you feel
00:12:38
comfortable. Um especially if we don't
00:12:40
know each other from the past or
00:12:42
anything like that, it's sometimes nice
00:12:43
to get to compare notes, so to speak. Uh
00:12:46
that's kind of the fun part of this. So,
00:12:50
uh yeah. So, hopefully that has put your
00:12:53
mind at ease. Again, if you're hearing
00:12:55
this and you're going, I could do this,
00:12:58
shoot me an email,
00:13:00
[email protected]. Say, hey, Jacob, I
00:13:03
think I'm ready. So, last up, let's talk
00:13:06
about some of the questions. Okay, so
00:13:07
these questions
00:13:09
typically I send out, these get sent in
00:13:12
that email, that pre-in email. Um, just
00:13:15
to kind of get your brain turning a
00:13:18
little bit. Okay. Um, and in general, if
00:13:20
you've listened to the show before, you
00:13:22
know, you've heard these questions
00:13:23
before, you know kind of how they go.
00:13:25
But number one, I'm going to ask you
00:13:27
about a day in the life of your
00:13:28
homeschool world. Okay? Right? I want to
00:13:30
know what did it look like? like did was
00:13:33
mom getting you up and having you in the
00:13:34
classroom by 8:00 a.m. Was it really
00:13:36
chill? How many siblings you got? Um I
00:13:40
want to know a little bit about just
00:13:41
like life in general. Was every day the
00:13:43
same? Was every day not the same? Who
00:13:45
you know? Um I want to know that. Okay.
00:13:48
Kind of our our jumping off point into
00:13:50
getting to know you as a person. Um then
00:13:54
we're going to get into like what are
00:13:56
you doing now, right? How has
00:13:58
homeschooling shifted into you, you
00:14:00
know, your world today? Uh, does it play
00:14:02
a role? Does it not? You know, some
00:14:04
people choose to identify still as a
00:14:06
homeschooler like me. Um, it's still
00:14:09
very much a part of my identity and
00:14:11
something that I would argue is kind of
00:14:14
a selling point. Um, if you want the
00:14:17
package. Uh, but,
00:14:20
uh, you know, I want to know what you're
00:14:22
doing now, right? I want to, you know,
00:14:24
we're getting to know each other, so to
00:14:25
speak. Uh, and then I'm also gonna ask
00:14:28
you about like a distinct or vivid. This
00:14:32
could
00:14:33
be good, bad, ugly, but like this
00:14:36
distinct memory of your home school
00:14:37
world. Uh, for me, I remember very
00:14:40
vividly the first day I took ballroom
00:14:42
dance class, which was associated with
00:14:44
my homeschool world. And, uh, I was I
00:14:49
hated it at first, and I fell in love
00:14:51
with it. It created some of the best
00:14:53
friends I could have ever asked for. Uh,
00:14:56
I met some of the coolest people and I
00:14:57
get to tell people I was a swing dancer
00:14:59
back in the day. So, um, you know, it
00:15:02
really it worked out, so to speak. Um,
00:15:05
yeah. So, there's that. Um, I'm also
00:15:08
going to ask you like, you know, cuz I
00:15:11
get asked this of like you were a
00:15:14
homeschool kid. Would you homeschool
00:15:15
your kids? Would you recommend people
00:15:17
homeschool their kids? Like, I want to
00:15:19
I'm going to I want to know your take on
00:15:21
that, right? Would you say yes? Would
00:15:22
you say no? Would you say, "Well, if it
00:15:24
was different in this way, I would
00:15:25
consider these things." Uh, I want to
00:15:28
know. I That's like I said, one of the
00:15:31
goals of this show is to create an
00:15:34
impact for the next generation of
00:15:36
homeschoolers. Of course, it's also to
00:15:37
be a therapy group and, you know, a
00:15:40
connection point for former homeschool
00:15:41
kids to, you know, we have some similar
00:15:43
experiences whether you grew up in
00:15:45
Michigan or California or Texas or
00:15:47
whatever. Um, you know, there's usually
00:15:50
some overlap there, but
00:15:53
uh, you know, this show it can be so
00:15:56
much more than that. So, again, those
00:15:58
are just a couple questions to give you
00:16:00
a little taste of like what you can
00:16:01
expect. So, last call. If this sounds
00:16:05
like you, if this sounds like something
00:16:07
you want to do, shoot me an email at
00:16:10
[email protected]. So, that's my
00:16:12
plug. I know this is a little bit of a
00:16:14
shorter episode, but that's okay. I'm
00:16:16
going to give you a little tease of what
00:16:18
I'm working on. Um, I've got a couple
00:16:21
episodes in the works right now. One,
00:16:23
with some amazing guests. They're going
00:16:24
to be really, really fun. Um, but two,
00:16:27
I've been doing some reading. Okay. Um,
00:16:30
I talked briefly before about how purity
00:16:32
culture is a big deal for me. It's
00:16:34
something that I'm very passionate
00:16:35
about. It's something I'm very
00:16:36
passionate about dismantling
00:16:38
um, and and having better sex education
00:16:41
and purity conversations with people in
00:16:44
the future. And so as a result of that,
00:16:47
I have been reading probably the most
00:16:49
notorious purity culture book of all
00:16:51
time, and that is I Kiss Dating Goodbye
00:16:53
by Josh
00:16:54
Harris. One of the worst books I've ever
00:16:57
read. Um, I've also read his follow-up
00:17:00
book that was more about marriage called
00:17:02
Boy Meets Girl. And uh, also one of the
00:17:05
worst books I've ever read. Um, so I'm
00:17:07
rereading both of those. I had not read
00:17:09
Boy Meets Girl. Um, so I read that for
00:17:11
the first time. very interesting to read
00:17:14
a book. Um, we're going to get into it,
00:17:16
but but the tease is that these are
00:17:18
terrible books, okay? Do not read them.
00:17:20
I'm reading them so you don't have to.
00:17:22
Um, we're going to talk about it. We're
00:17:24
going to talk about how damaging this
00:17:26
could be and how at 14 years old, oh my
00:17:28
gosh, if I was being handed some of
00:17:30
these books and told, "Yeah, read this
00:17:31
and it's good for you." I would have
00:17:33
taken it as as ultimate truth. Um, and
00:17:37
reading it now, while I don't think that
00:17:40
every 100% every piece of advice in
00:17:43
there is bad,
00:17:45
um, it definitely needs to be
00:17:47
questioned. And, uh, I will give the
00:17:49
disclaimer. I know that Josh has like
00:17:52
has distanced himself from these books.
00:17:54
They're no longer in publishing. He very
00:17:56
much he's renounced them. Um, and he has
00:17:59
done, I think, some to kind
00:18:02
of, I don't know, do penance. um for for
00:18:07
the harm it caused. Um but yeah, so it's
00:18:11
just again something I'm passionate
00:18:13
about is the purity culture movement. Um
00:18:15
and I want to talk about it. So I've
00:18:17
been reading those books. Those are
00:18:19
still a little ways off cuz I'm putting
00:18:21
together just some more in-depth uh
00:18:24
looks at them than just me kind of like
00:18:25
reading and throwing together something.
00:18:27
I wanted to really take my time with it
00:18:28
and make something I'm very proud of. So
00:18:30
those are coming. Hint hint. but they'll
00:18:33
probably still be a month plus away. So,
00:18:37
in the meantime, I've got some cool
00:18:38
ones, some cool episodes coming with new
00:18:40
friends, with old friends. Uh, we're
00:18:42
going to touch on some cool subjects.
00:18:43
So, with that, I'm going to close things
00:18:45
out, but do me a favor, join the
00:18:48
newsletter, follow me on Instagram,
00:18:50
follow me on Tik Tok. Uh, all the links
00:18:52
are down below. You know what to do.
00:18:54
You're you're a normal person who
00:18:56
understands how the internet works. Uh,
00:18:58
go give me a follow, shoot me an email.
00:18:59
again, exhs club
00:19:04
uhgmail.com. Uh and uh yeah, so until
00:19:07
next week, this has been Jacob Gunnen
00:19:09
signing off. Peace.
00:19:18
[Music]
