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well welcome back my ex homeschooler
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friends it is your friend Jacob Gooden
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and I've got a special episode today uh
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my friend Liz is joining me on the
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podcast today and Liz and I we kind of
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have a funny story how we met um this
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show I genuinely thought this show was
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really only going to get seen by a lot
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of people that I knew uh but you know
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the internet works in mysterious ways
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and uh Liz commented on one of my
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YouTube videos and I said hey you should
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shoot me an email and we can chat and so
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about a month ago I think we jumped on a
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zoom call and we just chatted for like
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almost two hours and just had a great
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time learning about each other and um
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and learning about each other's
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homeschool experiences Liz is a
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homeschool kid of the 80s and the 90s uh
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while I'm a homeschool kid of the 2000s
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and the 2010s and so it was cool to kind
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of compare notes and see similarities
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and differences and we're going to kind
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of talk about that today so first and
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foremost Liz welcome to the x schoolers
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Club thanks I still can't believe I'm
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actually doing this to be honest yeah I
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kind of Twisted her arm a little bit I
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uh to come on um but I'm so excited you
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have such a cool story and um I think
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our audience will be interested to hear
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so with that I mean share a little bit
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about your homeschool experience growing
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up like siblings how long were you
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homeschooled that kind of thing like
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let's set the stage a little bit okay
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well well first of all I'm a a marine
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brat my dad was in the um Marine Corps
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and so I grew up on andof military bases
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on the east
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coast and uh we're very we were very
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very Catholic um Ultra right-wing
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traditionalist conservative
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Catholic and my homeschool Journey
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began it was late 80s and it was for pre
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and
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kindergarten and then we took a break
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and I was in Catholic School regular
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Catholic school for first through third
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grade and then from third third or
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fourth grade so early 90s all the way up
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until uh through high school until I
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went to college so I graduated I School
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in
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2001 so it was most of almost all of the
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90s where I was schooled okay and I have
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one sibling one older
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sister and curiously enough she was
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never
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homeschooled that's uh okay that's it's
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something that I never questioned to be
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honest until recently where well
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actually to be honest when I started
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watching videos on on your channel um
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and talk and and hearing other people
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talk about their homeschool experiences
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and their families and then we had the
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conversation and I think you asked me uh
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why wasn't my sister homeschooled and I
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paused and I thought you know I never
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actually really thought about it I just
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accepted that she went to regular school
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and that I was
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homeschooled uh I asked her once
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straight
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out how come I was homeschooled and you
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weren't and she said that our parents
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gave her the choice now okay she's 5
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years older than me so a pretty big
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pretty big age
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G and
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uh H she we we just have very different
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personalities and I think my parents
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recognize that to be
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honest um I haven't had a conversation
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with my my dad about these types of
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things questioning why they um they let
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her go to school but kept me at
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home um but oh she did home school for
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one
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year okay I'm remembering now she got a
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of it I think I think that was it
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honestly I think she she tried one year
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hated it so badly and just it just
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didn't work at all on on many levels and
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so she wanted to go back to regular
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school my parents said okay
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fine um yeah so that that's that's the
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basics that's the basics okay yeah so
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one of the things we chatted about
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because and you would ask me about this
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when we chatted last was like cuz my
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homeschool experience was very
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I was involved with a lot of other
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homeschool kids and so I still had kind
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of this semblance of like somewhat of a
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classro at certain times and like things
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like that
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and I I'm trying to remember if you did
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or or didn't I remember you said you
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were a part of a Homeschool Group but I
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can't I I'm trying to remember the
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specifics on that yeah uh we were part
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of a Homeschool Group but it wasn't
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until I was in high school okay uh so
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from third grade to high school we were
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on our own and at one point when we
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lived on um when we lived on base there
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was a family just a couple of doors down
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from us that did homeschool as
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well but we did not coordinate at all I
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mean never I the only thing that we
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coordinated was our play times we would
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all be able to play together during the
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day and do home you know at home school
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times when everyone else was school
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right um but it was very isolating until
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I was in high school and um the thing
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was the particular church that we were
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at um that had the Homeschool Group The
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Homeschool
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Community uh oddly enough just just a
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fluke a chance there was nobody my age
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the closest person to me was four years
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younger so that means I was the only
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high schooler homeschooling in in the
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group you know and in the group they did
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organize a couple of group classes like
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what you me mentioned you know like um
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once or twice a week everyone in the
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same grade would get together and the
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parents would rotate you know teaching
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different
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things but I was I never could do that
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just because uh I was not the same grade
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I I was doing completely different
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things you know uh and because of that I
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was just thinking this morning actually
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when I was thinking about the call we
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would have today and talking I was
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reflecting on some things I hadn't
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really thought about before and I
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realized because I didn't have anyone my
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age to I didn't have any peers
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essentially homeschooling with me you
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know and so I hung out with the
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moms like all the time I had not really
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thought about that before until
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recently um and so I was in this very
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strange in betweene place where I was
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friends with the moms like they would
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talk to me as if I were an older woman
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like a young woman or another one of the
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moms they wouldn't um talk about
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different things when I was around but
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yet sometimes I would hang out with the
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with the kiddos or you know it it's just
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a very in strange in between Place yeah
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it's a it's a weird place to be because
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like you're like if you hang out with
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the kids like I don't know I I I've hung
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out with smaller with groups of younger
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kids than me and I tend to you tend to
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when you're the oldest one you tend to
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be like the leader of the group right
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you're kind the babysit you're the
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default babysitter yeah yeah exactly
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yeah um and then yeah and then hanging
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out with the moms just like that's a
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total you know totally different
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conversation that to some degree you can
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maybe relate to certain things but other
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things it's like you're not a mom yet
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you know like yeah you know so that is a
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weird place to be um I can't really
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imagine it um because I mean I grew up
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with peers um but did you have like did
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you have friends outside of the
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homeschool world of like kids in the
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neighborhood I'm sure also being an army
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brat that's like you're moving around
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place to place to some degree so that's
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also got to play some roles as well yeah
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generally speaking we moved I'd say
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every three years about every three
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years okay uh but by the time I was we
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were really hardcore homeschooling and
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then by the time I was in high school my
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dad had retired from the from the
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Marines he was still working um but
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there was no one in the neighborhood
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honestly um well that's not true and now
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I'm remembering Jennifer sorry Jennifer
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wherever you are in this world I'm not
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still in contact with you but she was
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and she went to public school she lived
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like in a different part of the
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neighborhood and I used to go and hang
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out with
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her um and I was part of the COO at our
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church so that's like the um that's like
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the Catholic um youth group for teens
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you know I'm trying to remember what sto
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stands for I think it's Catholic Youth
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Organization
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at the time
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um it was difficult for me I did not
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have any close friends um I was I was
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the weirdo to be to be honest uh I was
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the only homeschooler homeschooling high
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schooler in our youth
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group and there was a few people that I
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was friends with casually but um I mean
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this was before the age where everyone
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had cell phones so there was no like
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text and and stuff like that but I never
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visited anyone's house no one ever
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invited me over I saw people at church
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functions and youth group
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activities uh and that was it I think
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it's interesting too because I feel like
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by the time I was homeschool I mean I I
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was in high school it was 2010 2014 and
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so I mean yeah we had cell phones we had
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the internet we had a lot of ways to
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connect but also homeschooling was like
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it was just accepted in my hometown like
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there were so many of us yeah we talked
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about that before yeah yeah yeah and so
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I can't imagine I've been in very few
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circumstances where I'm the only
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homeschool kid there um and I don't know
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where that shift happened this is
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something I I definitely want to learn
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more about at some point but I know
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somewhere in that like late '90s to like
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the 2000s I feel like there was a shift
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where was like homeschooling became much
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more
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accepted um and I know a couple moms who
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homeschooled in the 90s um and they and
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maybe even some in the 80s and they kind
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of shared little glimpses of this like
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oh like we were afraid like the
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government's gonna come take our kid
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away and things like that that was a
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thing for sure yeah yeah yeah and so it
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was like you know we stay inside all day
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long and then we don't go out until it's
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like regular times where like when I was
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in high school it's like I I could go
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shopping at 10:30 in the morning yeah
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especially when I had my license it's
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like I go shopping at 10:30 in the
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morning get groceries whatever uh people
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still looked at me weird but then you
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say oh I'm a homeschool kid and they go
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okay whatever and they just brush off
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like I'm not there was no fear for me of
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like I didn't feel fear at least of like
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getting reported to the police or
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something like that for like oh he's
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skipping school it's like I'm kind of
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not because I already did it you know I
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did it last night or something like that
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but yeah um so I think there's there's
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that component as well but oh my God you
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said that and I just had a flashback to
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homeschooling and being like Oh it's 11:
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in the morning but I did I finished
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today so the rest of the day is just
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whatever you want to be I mean you do
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whatever because you have what you need
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to do each day and if you finish it
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earlier you finish it quickly okay boom
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you know just I just had a flashback to
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that I hadn't thought about it in years
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that's wild but kind of one of like it's
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like a great feeling and a terrible
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feeling all at the same time yeah yeah
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it's it's um it's it's a mixed bag for
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me when when I reflect on that and what
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what it possibly taught me about
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um life or or just work in general uh
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but going back to the difference and and
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in the possible shift where
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homeschooling became more well-known
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more accepted more normalized I can
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definitely remember um the the last year
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I was in high school so it was
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2000 um
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where I wasn't part of it but there was
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like Whispers rumors oh did you hear
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that the school on the next County over
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is accepting homeschoolers to to take
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science classes or you could join the
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sports team of that the public school
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even though you're homeschooler as long
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as you get a voucher from like the the
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county or the the state blah blah blah
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and I remember being am maaz we're all
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like oh wow wow okay you know this
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feeling of um
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changed changed and I remember and some
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people in the group some parents did not
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like that no they didn't like it at all
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because there there was this a lot of
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people wanted the separation and the
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separation was one of the reasons why
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they started homeschooling in the first
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place that there's definitely um not
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everyone was on board with the
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normalization of homeschooling or um
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mixing home schooling kids with regular
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school kids and make you know all of
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that they didn't like that um but uh I
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recently I recently had a chat with my
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mom about this exact thing because my my
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family was involved in two primary
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homeschool groups so there was group
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Solutions which was kind of a like uh uh
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every other week meeting class meeting
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and like teaching classes it was very
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like kind of more of a standard School
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type of thing so you had three periods
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you had a lunch
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break was really structured yeah it was
00:14:00
a lot more structured a lot of times it
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was more uh they tended to be fun
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classes I mean there were still like you
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could go take a science class but there
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was also a lot of just like um home X
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stuff or like here's like we did a games
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class where it was like we learned how
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to play a bunch of card games and so it
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tended to be a little bit more it was
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more about the socialization aspect I
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feel like than it was
00:14:22
about the actual education even though
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there was good education it just was um
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I don't know I think the focus was more
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on getting just actually giving kids
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more of a structured like here be in a
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room together and learn how to interact
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with each other um so there was that and
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then we also were part of this thing
00:14:41
called acheve which was the association
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of Christian Home Educators of ventur
00:14:45
County and um achieve was much more of a
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it was kind of a support group for
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homeschooling parents um but then we ALS
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achieve also offered things like
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graduation so all of the kids who are in
00:14:59
in the same grade we all got a
00:15:00
graduation capping down the full thing
00:15:02
we would rent a venue they did school
00:15:04
dances field trips uh curriculum sales
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like all kinds of um stuff and then a
00:15:10
lot of support for The Homeschool
00:15:12
parents where they could go and just ask
00:15:14
questions and help educate each other um
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and so anyway I bring this up to say
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achieve had a very strong stance on what
00:15:24
homeschooling was and for them it was
00:15:27
you are a are a private school and you
00:15:30
build the curriculum or not necessarily
00:15:33
build all the but you choose the
00:15:34
curriculum for your your students a very
00:15:36
traditional homeschool experience for
00:15:37
your kids group Solutions near the end
00:15:41
of when I was involved in it they were
00:15:43
opening their stuff up to families that
00:15:45
were doing independent studies um and in
00:15:48
that in our area it just looked like um
00:15:51
it was still the state
00:15:54
school uh curriculum but it was just you
00:15:57
do it at home right and and so it was
00:16:00
interesting because there was a lot of
00:16:01
push back on that like you were saying
00:16:02
like it was kind of this cross breeding
00:16:05
of like like oh okay we're letting like
00:16:07
the normies into this thing that like is
00:16:11
traditionally just been like very
00:16:13
traditional homeschool experience um so
00:16:16
anyway I I remember push back like that
00:16:18
happening vaguely um hearing more about
00:16:21
it now um from my mom who served kind of
00:16:24
like in both capacities as like a parent
00:16:26
and adviser in both of those things um
00:16:29
and she's like oh yeah no you would have
00:16:30
people who were just like I'm gonna
00:16:32
leave if you allow this to happen and
00:16:34
it's like yeah you know that kind of
00:16:37
thing so anyway that's a little bit of a
00:16:39
tangent yeah on my side but um but that
00:16:43
is interesting that it's right around
00:16:44
that like
00:16:45
2201 era where it seems to be shifting
00:16:48
into like kind of an acceptance and also
00:16:51
schools I mean schools in my area
00:16:53
recognized that homeschool kids could
00:16:54
come you could get vouchers to place
00:16:56
boards and yeah do certain things and
00:16:59
and you know that as well so yeah I mean
00:17:03
even uh let's see I graduated I started
00:17:05
college in 2001 and 1999 2000 when I was
00:17:10
applying to different colleges and
00:17:13
universities uh it was still a
00:17:16
question to us like in general to my
00:17:19
family to me in
00:17:20
particular how um a normal university
00:17:26
would uh how they would feel about
00:17:28
homeschooler if they would even accept
00:17:31
yeah um you know I took it I took the
00:17:33
SAT so I had all that but as to a real
00:17:37
high school diploma I don't have
00:17:40
one so I mean I couldn't I couldn't even
00:17:43
today if someone would Pro say well
00:17:45
prove to me that you graduated from high
00:17:47
school you have a high school education
00:17:48
sorry can't do it I mean I have my
00:17:50
college degrees after that so that be
00:17:52
good enough but at the time it was
00:17:55
definitely sort of up in the air okay
00:17:58
well we're applying to these
00:18:00
places will they accept the fact that
00:18:03
I'm I can do this and that I have a high
00:18:06
school education we don't know and now I
00:18:08
mean you could tell me if I'm wrong I
00:18:10
have the impression that colleges in us
00:18:12
don't they don't care anymore yeah it's
00:18:15
more about if you have the correct
00:18:17
paperwork so something I something I
00:18:20
learned recently So Cal I grew up in
00:18:22
California and California I guess has
00:18:24
some of the loosest homeschool
00:18:26
regulations but they do offer
00:18:29
um like curriculum guidelines um and
00:18:33
things like that um but some states have
00:18:36
much stricter like you're actually doing
00:18:39
uh standardized testing so even though
00:18:41
you home educate your child you have to
00:18:44
take them in for testing for all of
00:18:46
these things they keep transcrip you
00:18:47
have you have all this paperwork you
00:18:49
have to submit those types of things um
00:18:51
and so when it does come time for
00:18:52
college your kid should be well prepared
00:18:55
because all of that information is
00:18:57
actually there okay okay um and there's
00:18:59
private assessments as well where they
00:19:01
bring in not only the parents as
00:19:03
teachers but also like trained
00:19:05
professional teachers to come in and
00:19:07
assess where a child is at and place
00:19:09
thees things like that so okay you can
00:19:11
do that in California it's a little bit
00:19:13
looser um I don't know all of the
00:19:16
specifics so people do your own research
00:19:18
but um but yeah that's something I was
00:19:21
learning about my mom kept transcripts
00:19:23
for me um and had taken some classes to
00:19:26
to know this is how we need to structure
00:19:28
it and here's what he needs to get into
00:19:29
college and so okay she kind of but she
00:19:32
had started with that end goal in mind
00:19:33
of like if I homeschool my kids I want
00:19:36
them when they graduate to be able to do
00:19:38
what they want so okay she got the help
00:19:40
she needed to get me there yeah yeah she
00:19:43
had yeah she had that structure and that
00:19:44
goal the the framework in place to yeah
00:19:47
to follow through with that for yall
00:19:49
yeah but as far as like when I went and
00:19:51
interviewed at the college or got on
00:19:53
phone calls with them or anything like
00:19:54
that that never really came up as an
00:19:57
issue it was never anything they just
00:19:59
were like oh you have your transcripts
00:20:00
great like okay you did good in these
00:20:02
subjects you did poor in these subject
00:20:04
you know it was just very I don't know
00:20:06
it felt normal yeah yeah yeah yeah no I
00:20:09
think it is I think it is now honestly
00:20:12
um uh at the time for me I ended up
00:20:15
going to a religious
00:20:17
University and part of the reason for
00:20:20
that was they didn't ask questions they
00:20:24
didn't okay they didn't push too much to
00:20:27
to ask for transcripts or to be like
00:20:29
okay so what did you actually do or what
00:20:30
were your
00:20:31
grades um and I that that was one of the
00:20:35
factors into why I went to that specific
00:20:37
University let's talk a little bit about
00:20:40
that transition then like
00:20:41
into University it's kind of like your
00:20:44
first time out on your own out in the
00:20:47
Free World even though you're still kind
00:20:48
of in like I also went to a religious
00:20:51
University so I was still kind of in
00:20:52
that bubble of religion but yeah yeah
00:20:55
definitely was eye opening oh God yeah
00:20:58
uh wow yeah the the bubble was there
00:21:00
like I said it was very um
00:21:03
uh I I don't want to say conservative
00:21:06
yeah it was more in the conservative but
00:21:07
just religious it was just very
00:21:08
religious it was small small University
00:21:11
uh really they really heavily emphasized
00:21:13
um like uh students being in groups like
00:21:17
households and sort of
00:21:19
like I guess religious versions of
00:21:23
sororities and fraternities that's how
00:21:25
you would explain it yeah uh
00:21:29
but still still going into that
00:21:32
atmosphere and my sister actually lived
00:21:33
nearby so I saw my older sister you know
00:21:36
almost weekly I would see her around you
00:21:38
know uh it was it was hell I uh I was
00:21:44
physically ill for good I'd say good six
00:21:46
months I lost like 20 pounds because I
00:21:49
couldn't eat my my system just like
00:21:51
stopped working I was so homesick I
00:21:54
remember I couldn't even sleep in my
00:21:56
room in my I shared um a dorm room I
00:21:59
lived in the
00:22:00
dorm and I'd have I take my pillow my
00:22:02
blanket at night and I go down to the
00:22:04
chapel because every dorm had a chapel
00:22:06
that's how religious this this college
00:22:08
was and I'd have to go in the back of
00:22:11
the chapel with my blanket and my pillow
00:22:12
and that's the only way I would be able
00:22:14
to sleep I would go and sleep in the in
00:22:16
the little
00:22:17
church um and I'd call my my parents and
00:22:21
I'd say I can't do this I want to come
00:22:23
home and it was my dad who said no
00:22:27
you're staying there at least for the
00:22:28
first
00:22:29
semester uh you will come home for
00:22:32
Thanksgiving I was about it was about a
00:22:34
six- hour drive from from
00:22:36
home uh yeah so not impossible to get to
00:22:40
but you know it wasn't like I was in the
00:22:42
same town
00:22:44
right and so you know and I have my
00:22:47
sister and all of her um oh I guess this
00:22:51
is the part where I mentioned my sister
00:22:52
was actually none at the time so she was
00:22:54
in a monastery that was nearby the
00:22:56
university so I was friends with all the
00:22:58
nuns like all the nuns knew me you
00:23:00
know and oh Liz is going through a hard
00:23:03
time so they would all be visiting me
00:23:04
all the time and it's it's like I had 15
00:23:06
or 20 older sisters you know um watching
00:23:09
out for
00:23:10
me um and it was just I don't
00:23:14
remember what finally clicked because it
00:23:17
did it did finally click you know I'd
00:23:19
say in between Thanksgiving and
00:23:21
Christmas I was able to start eating
00:23:24
again um being able to sleep normally
00:23:28
um and then I was okay and you know I
00:23:30
continued with my my college life but
00:23:34
honestly I'm trying to trying to
00:23:36
pinpoint exactly why it was so difficult
00:23:39
for me to make the transition the the
00:23:42
classes weren't that hard academically
00:23:44
it was fine uh you know it wasn't it I
00:23:48
was able to to do everything it wasn't
00:23:50
that wasn't the problem uh I think the
00:23:54
the the two big ones were just being
00:23:57
away from my mom and dad
00:23:59
I mean I had spent up until then I was
00:24:01
18 years old and up until then I had
00:24:04
rarely even spent more than two or three
00:24:07
nights away from home I mean you know um
00:24:12
it was just so intense to be without
00:24:14
them uh and I think it was also being
00:24:18
with so many people my my own age and
00:24:23
people were not mean they weren't mean I
00:24:26
can't I can't recall at college I cannot
00:24:28
recall one person being mean or weird
00:24:31
about me being homeschooled people I I I
00:24:34
had it was it was rough in high school
00:24:36
at the youth group I had people um
00:24:40
definitely it wasn't bully territory but
00:24:42
it was Oz the weirdo and you know
00:24:47
right they would say things straight out
00:24:49
like oh she's cooky because you know
00:24:51
she's homeschooled or um I wouldn't know
00:24:54
things and they would laugh at it or
00:24:56
think it was funny or you know
00:24:59
you know regular Teenage banig Gans
00:25:02
being little fitthe heads you know but
00:25:03
at college no one was mean no one was
00:25:05
mean like that but it was
00:25:07
just I was
00:25:09
different I you just I couldn't get
00:25:12
around that the big things were we were
00:25:15
all Americans we were all Catholics we
00:25:18
were all you know same age um but I just
00:25:23
didn't understand what they were talking
00:25:26
about you know music
00:25:29
movies stuff like that it was like going
00:25:32
to a different planet and realizing
00:25:35
these people are speaking words that I
00:25:37
know but I don't understand
00:25:39
anything okay yeah it was it it was and
00:25:42
there were some other homeschoolers too
00:25:45
we would recognize each other you know
00:25:46
like you're walking the class and you
00:25:48
see someone and I'd be like oh long jean
00:25:52
skirt she doesn't wear makeup and she's
00:25:55
wearing like a uh a t-shirt from Cake
00:25:59
the band I'm like she's homeschooled
00:26:01
like it was just like like weird
00:26:03
combinations of
00:26:06
individuality it would be like oh H
00:26:08
School alert or um someone in class who
00:26:12
is constantly asking questions I'd be
00:26:15
like oh and at some point youd look at
00:26:17
each other and then after a few days or
00:26:20
after a few weeks you'd like sort of be
00:26:21
like so where did you go to school and
00:26:24
the Pres be like oh I was homeschooled I
00:26:27
like oh me too and it was like this yeah
00:26:30
this relief where you know we were
00:26:32
joking in our in our first talk about
00:26:34
like having gang signs or something like
00:26:35
there should be some secret homeschool
00:26:37
sign that you could flash someone and be
00:26:38
like yeah I understand but still it was
00:26:42
just I don't think I've been through
00:26:45
I've lived through some really intense
00:26:46
experiences in my life I'm in my 40s
00:26:50
now but honestly there there's very few
00:26:53
that can top that that first semester
00:26:56
where I went to a regular
00:26:58
College it was
00:27:01
just yeah I feel you I mean I didn't
00:27:05
have quite as big of a problem I feel
00:27:08
like uh with the sleeping and the eating
00:27:11
I mean I had some eating stuff I also
00:27:13
you know everyone says you gained the
00:27:15
Freshman 15 or whatever I lost 15 to 20
00:27:18
pounds also um and I think it was mostly
00:27:21
because I went from I was cooking myself
00:27:23
meals every day like lunch and then my
00:27:25
mom was making dinner or I was making
00:27:26
dinner or whatever I wait for cooking
00:27:28
like good healthy meals every single day
00:27:31
to eating cafeteria food that's true the
00:27:33
cafeteria food is just even the best
00:27:35
cafeteria it's going to be gross
00:27:37
compared to it was yeah it was not it so
00:27:39
I think I just my body was just
00:27:41
rejecting that um but I but I relate
00:27:44
when you say like oh I call I also
00:27:45
called my parents and I was like I can't
00:27:47
do this you know and and my dad same as
00:27:49
you was like well you're finishing out
00:27:51
the year or you're finishing out the
00:27:52
semester or whatever and um yeah and I I
00:27:57
had moved grew up in California I moved
00:27:59
to Illinois for college and so that's a
00:28:02
big I mean that's a plane ride away oh
00:28:04
yeah that's yeah yeah yeah and so I was
00:28:07
also like you I was just I was trapped
00:28:09
there so I was just like okay I'm stuck
00:28:11
here my folks were like Thanksgiving
00:28:14
rolled around they're like have fun at a
00:28:15
friend's house and I was like okay so
00:28:18
like you know I had made Thanksgiving
00:28:21
yeah okay but Christmas rolled around
00:28:23
and I was like okay I'm going home
00:28:25
finally uh we had extended uh um holiday
00:28:29
because our our school did a a January
00:28:31
term that was like a short it was a
00:28:33
three-week condensed class so if you
00:28:35
didn't take that you could just stay
00:28:37
home for I think it was like six weeks
00:28:39
almost and so I did that and the whole
00:28:43
time I was there I just wanted to be
00:28:44
back at school and my dad was like see
00:28:47
like you thought you hated it but like
00:28:49
now that you're back here you you want
00:28:51
to go back and you want to finish it and
00:28:53
so so it just became it became
00:28:56
abundantly clear that I was like okay I
00:28:57
need to do this so even though after
00:28:59
that I still kind of looked at like okay
00:29:01
maybe I could transfer to a school
00:29:02
closer to home or whatever yeah I
00:29:04
thought of that too transferring
00:29:06
closer it yeah once I got into it I
00:29:09
think I just hit a point where I went
00:29:12
I'm already here I'm already this far
00:29:14
done like why not just finish it out
00:29:16
kind of a deal you know like I've proved
00:29:18
to myself I can do it why not just go
00:29:20
all the way yeah uh so but I like you
00:29:25
also uh I also had to ID identify the
00:29:28
homeschool kids and what's funny I just
00:29:30
found out that a buddy of mine we were
00:29:32
in a band together freshman first
00:29:34
semester freshman year he was also
00:29:36
homeschooled had no clue I just
00:29:38
genuinely thought he was just a cool guy
00:29:40
he was just I thought he just was good
00:29:42
he was good at masking it apparently um
00:29:45
but oh I can talk about that that's
00:29:47
something I learned that's something I
00:29:49
learned today yeah so but to your point
00:29:51
I also I remember having to learn like
00:29:54
pop culture references and like listen
00:29:56
to bands and like all kinds of stuff
00:29:58
like that and it was just like it was a
00:30:00
crash course in pop culture really yeah
00:30:05
and for me this was like I said this was
00:30:09
2001 uh
00:30:11
2002 I I can't even remember if
00:30:14
Wikipedia existed at this point I mean I
00:30:16
remember knowing like Googling and doing
00:30:19
research on the internet and things like
00:30:21
that
00:30:22
existing but in terms of nowadays where
00:30:26
we're like oh I don't know something
00:30:27
okay
00:30:28
two seconds later oh okay now I do know
00:30:30
it that did not exist and
00:30:34
so what I did I I I remember at some
00:30:37
point realizing
00:30:39
okay uh I don't want to be the weirdo
00:30:42
anymore and I want to know these things
00:30:44
that everyone else
00:30:46
knows and I made the conscious decision
00:30:49
that I'm going to learn these things and
00:30:52
until I do know what everyone's talking
00:30:54
about I'm just not going to say
00:30:56
anything and so when someone brings up a
00:31:00
song or a reference whatever if you just
00:31:03
either keep your mouth shut or laugh
00:31:06
like everyone else is laughing even
00:31:08
though you don't know what everyone is
00:31:10
laughing about people just assume you
00:31:12
know you know you stop being you sto
00:31:15
being weird and when I was in high
00:31:17
school and when I first arrived at
00:31:19
College
00:31:20
um I was I guess it was my personality
00:31:23
but
00:31:25
uh I was I was the the odd one out like
00:31:29
I I I was a teenager who didn't care
00:31:33
about fitting in mhm uh which is a bit
00:31:37
odd it's odd and I even got that
00:31:40
reputation um a lot of the the parents
00:31:43
in our home school group would talk
00:31:44
about it openly in front of me oh Liz is
00:31:46
not a normal teenager uh we want our
00:31:49
kids to be a teenager like Liz because
00:31:52
you know she's not really like a
00:31:54
teenager like like our cultural
00:31:58
understanding of teenagers should be
00:31:59
rebellious or you should have problems
00:32:02
with them or you
00:32:03
know uh I just wasn't like that yeah but
00:32:07
anyways at College what did I do I
00:32:11
watched well this is going to date me
00:32:13
DVDs people in the dorm who had
00:32:16
collections of DVDs I'd be like oh when
00:32:19
you're when I'm when you're at in a
00:32:21
class can I go in your room and watch
00:32:23
stuff they're like yeah yeah we don't
00:32:25
care it's been hours it's been hours
00:32:27
going through what what are these movies
00:32:29
just watching watching
00:32:31
DVDs um and then during my summer breaks
00:32:35
when I'd be working I usually ended up
00:32:37
working at um like ice cream shops and
00:32:40
stuff like that so you would have hours
00:32:42
during the day where you're just sitting
00:32:44
around waiting for people to come in to
00:32:45
buy ice cream and we would have a little
00:32:48
TV in the back room and it was on VH I
00:32:53
made sure I wouldn't let anyone change
00:32:54
it I'm like we're watching VH1 it's
00:32:57
staying on VH1 and I'm watching all
00:33:00
those shows it's like I heart the I
00:33:02
Heart the 80s I heart the
00:33:04
90s
00:33:06
uh and I watched it
00:33:08
religiously and that's how I learned
00:33:11
about culture of my
00:33:14
generation yeah and now when I talk with
00:33:17
people who are my age I'm considered I
00:33:19
think I'm an elderly Millennial I think
00:33:21
that's basically where I fall my my
00:33:24
sister my older sister is X Gen X okay
00:33:27
um so there's a lot of genx things that
00:33:29
I will I I feel a part of but basically
00:33:32
I'm like the very oldest Millennial you
00:33:35
uh and when I get with other people my
00:33:38
age or even people in their 30s and we
00:33:41
talk about stuff and we all know these
00:33:45
things but I don't tell them that I know
00:33:47
these things because I studied these
00:33:51
things yeah like I I decided I'm going
00:33:54
to sit down and learn things as if I
00:33:57
were
00:33:58
um like an immigrant or or an English
00:34:02
language learner or something like you
00:34:04
know I learned your
00:34:05
culture and now you've accepted me as
00:34:08
one of you well and once you once you
00:34:10
get kind of caught up too it's like well
00:34:12
then you become like you then know how
00:34:15
to how to do the research and recognize
00:34:17
like things that are going to be
00:34:19
significant cultural like impact moments
00:34:22
right so it's like once you've kind of
00:34:25
learned that it's like okay like
00:34:27
Madonna's like like a virgin and then
00:34:29
like in the 90s you know it's like
00:34:31
friends is like massive in the 90s and
00:34:33
like all you know you start to pick up
00:34:34
all these things well then as time goes
00:34:36
on and you look at what's coming out
00:34:38
today it's becomes easier to kind of
00:34:39
pick up like okay this is going to be
00:34:41
really good this is going to be really
00:34:42
good this is gonna be big everyone's
00:34:44
into this like I don't know it's it's
00:34:47
different like I I don't know quite how
00:34:50
to explain it but it's
00:34:52
it's cuz I I don't know about you but my
00:34:56
my parents didn't to totally limit
00:34:58
everything I watched and listened to but
00:35:00
they definitely had there was a stronger
00:35:02
emphasis on like you're going to listen
00:35:03
to uh Christian music and you're GNA
00:35:06
watch
00:35:07
more PG content I would say um and so
00:35:12
there was definitely some moments
00:35:14
lacking but my my parents were also
00:35:16
products of the 80s so there was some
00:35:18
80s that kind of bled in there just
00:35:20
because you know they loved Prince and
00:35:22
Michael Jackson and Madonna so there was
00:35:24
some things that bled through uh but
00:35:27
there was a lot that was kind of like
00:35:29
okay like we you know what's the what's
00:35:32
the Christian version of that right um
00:35:35
we're going to go with that one you know
00:35:37
yeah um so my my parents were both
00:35:42
Boomers
00:35:44
and I'd say in terms of TV and music in
00:35:48
the house um TV the only channels we
00:35:52
really watched The Weather
00:35:55
Channel uh AMC and Turner Classic
00:35:59
Movies AMC when it was actual old
00:36:03
classic movies cuz now it's it changed
00:36:05
it changed at some point right and then
00:36:08
the the Catholic channels like um what
00:36:11
was what was that big Catholic uh EWTN I
00:36:13
think it's still around but um and then
00:36:16
music it was if it was from 30s 40s 50s
00:36:20
60s 70s cool they never limited or
00:36:24
thought oh 80s music I had no clue of
00:36:29
nothing anything I know from the 80s I I
00:36:34
I
00:36:34
researched and learned how to to to show
00:36:38
myself as an 80s child I I it was like
00:36:41
it completely passed me by I knew
00:36:43
absolutely nothing 90s um I got a little
00:36:46
bit more just because I was living with
00:36:49
my sister who was a teenager and she
00:36:50
went to normal school so okay you know
00:36:53
she'd go to school in the morning I'd
00:36:55
sneak into her room which was forbidden
00:36:57
of you know forbidden territory of
00:36:59
course uh she had Ena CDs or Smashing
00:37:02
Pumpkin CDs or 10,000 Maniacs or you
00:37:05
know the the you know the sprinkling of
00:37:08
90s culture that I I picked up from from
00:37:12
her uh and oddly enough because of that
00:37:16
how strict my parents were with movies
00:37:18
and music uh I could sit down with
00:37:21
somebody now who you know I would
00:37:24
consider old people or people who are my
00:37:26
parents age
00:37:28
and I know all the stuff they do yeah
00:37:31
like and they'll the people will be
00:37:33
constantly amazed they'll be like how do
00:37:35
you know all this like I I I'm friends
00:37:37
with people in their 60s and 70s like
00:37:39
actual real friends like I have
00:37:41
friendships and we met um in random
00:37:44
places in the world random countries and
00:37:48
um at some point when we become friends
00:37:51
or we click they'll be like you're why
00:37:53
are you like this because you know
00:37:55
you're old you're my you're old enough
00:37:57
to be my daughter like you're my son's
00:37:59
age and then at some point I would say
00:38:02
well I was
00:38:05
homeschooled and then they'd be like
00:38:08
oh oh okay okay like okay that makes
00:38:11
sense now you're you're you're you're a
00:38:13
little
00:38:15
bit off because of the
00:38:18
homeschooling that's a weird statement
00:38:21
I've brought it up on the show before of
00:38:22
that like when you when someone kind of
00:38:25
points something out that's a little bit
00:38:26
different you say oh well I was
00:38:28
homeschooled and then it's just like oh
00:38:30
okay it's this weird like cultural thing
00:38:33
where it's just like it's just like
00:38:35
you're get out of jail free card of like
00:38:37
I'm weird because of this thing right
00:38:39
like and it's almost like a backhanded
00:38:41
compliment in a way because um and I've
00:38:45
experienced that a lot because I've
00:38:46
lived for a long time outside the US and
00:38:48
at different periods of time uh I'll
00:38:51
meet people and they'll say things
00:38:53
like well you're so intelligent even
00:38:56
though you're American
00:38:58
americ I be like oh well thanks I think
00:39:03
or you they be like oh you're American
00:39:05
but you're not fat like H yeah okay and
00:39:10
it's the same way with homeschooling you
00:39:12
know there's um the people I meet who
00:39:15
know or have experienced the
00:39:18
homeschooling world and there's this
00:39:21
instant understanding with them like
00:39:23
okay we get it you know you m even even
00:39:26
if maybe they were secular are
00:39:27
homeschooled maybe it wasn't so
00:39:29
religious but still there's this level
00:39:31
of understanding um but if someone has
00:39:34
never had anything to do with that world
00:39:37
uh especially if they're older I think
00:39:39
now people like people who are more your
00:39:41
generation or younger I don't think they
00:39:45
correct me if I'm wrong but I I feel
00:39:47
like they think it they don't see it as
00:39:49
such a weird thing I don't know if it's
00:39:52
more normalized now or not it's still a
00:39:54
little bit
00:39:55
Fringe it's
00:39:57
that's a good question I
00:40:00
mean I get the
00:40:03
like every now and then I get someone
00:40:05
who's like who something weird happens
00:40:08
and and I go was I was homeschooled you
00:40:10
know something gets something weird gets
00:40:12
brought up like oh I used to be a mime
00:40:14
right and then and then I'm like oh well
00:40:15
I was homeschooled right and they go oh
00:40:17
that it just explains that right it's
00:40:19
just like a it's just like a slap the
00:40:21
Band-Aid on it be like okay that just
00:40:22
just I get it you know and then other
00:40:25
times it other times people go oh I
00:40:28
would have never I would have never
00:40:30
guessed that right and it's and to to
00:40:33
kind of what we've been talking about is
00:40:35
like I think part of it has to do with
00:40:37
when I got to college and I decided I
00:40:39
want to work in the entertainment
00:40:41
industry I also just did a lot of
00:40:43
research on like I wanted to understand
00:40:46
everything I you know deep dives into
00:40:48
like Taylor Swift and why she is who she
00:40:51
is today and like all you know pop stars
00:40:53
and culture and why why do we idolize
00:40:55
people and all these different things
00:40:56
right
00:40:57
and so I think because I've learned to
00:41:01
kind of mask certain aspects of who I am
00:41:04
I'm becoming more comfortable being like
00:41:06
this is who I am and just you know
00:41:07
whether you like it or not but but there
00:41:09
was a while where I would really mask it
00:41:12
um
00:41:14
and and yeah and then people would be
00:41:16
surprised when they would learn they
00:41:19
would find out right and they'd be like
00:41:20
oh that's kind of surprising you seem so
00:41:22
well adjusted and it's like well okay
00:41:24
but
00:41:25
like I'm I'm still like person I still
00:41:28
had friends like I learned you know what
00:41:31
is your idea of home it really boils
00:41:32
down to kind of trying to figure out
00:41:34
what that person's idea of homeschooling
00:41:36
is right yeah and when they talk about
00:41:38
it it's like for a lot of people I think
00:41:40
they think of isolation and they think
00:41:42
of oh you went to prom in the basement
00:41:44
with your sibling and or you didn't have
00:41:47
prom like me yeah or you didn't have
00:41:50
prom yeah yeah you know your education
00:41:53
was just watching videos on PBS and you
00:41:56
know Magic School Bus and things like
00:41:57
that and you know or you just learned
00:42:00
like your mom taught you all of like how
00:42:02
to run a household so you know how to do
00:42:03
laundry and chores and cook and all that
00:42:05
stuff but you don't actually know how to
00:42:07
like do math and you know it's like
00:42:09
stuff like that I
00:42:10
think when you I've I've just learned
00:42:13
you have to kind of start to talk people
00:42:15
down from the ledge of like well what is
00:42:17
your understanding of homeschooling and
00:42:19
then let me like kind of re-educate you
00:42:21
on like here's actually what's happening
00:42:24
um and of course there will always be
00:42:25
stereotypes around it but of course when
00:42:27
you can back people off of the like no
00:42:30
we're not all quite like that you know
00:42:32
it becomes a little bit easier some I
00:42:35
should also say um I mentioned that I I
00:42:38
live outside the US I've been here in
00:42:40
France for almost 15 years
00:42:44
now and um the homeschooling thing
00:42:47
really only comes up when I'm talking to
00:42:49
North Americans you know Americans
00:42:51
Canadians British people that I don't
00:42:54
really I'm not going to say too much
00:42:56
because I know very little about
00:42:58
homeschooling in England but it um I've
00:43:02
it's never come up in any conversations
00:43:03
I've had with um people from the
00:43:07
UK uh but people here in France or Italy
00:43:09
or um I work a lot with different people
00:43:12
from different Western European
00:43:15
countries uh first of all a high school
00:43:18
never really comes up but when it
00:43:21
does uh usually they they want they they
00:43:24
want to know something about a movie
00:43:27
they saw an American movie that had High
00:43:30
School in it and so they asked me as the
00:43:32
American that they know in their life I
00:43:34
have a question is this real like does
00:43:36
this actually happen the things that I
00:43:38
see in movies and TV shows right and
00:43:40
then I'll have to say well uh I was
00:43:43
homeschooled so I didn't experience that
00:43:47
but I do know that this is real this is
00:43:49
not real blah blah blah and when you
00:43:53
tell a European that you're homeschooled
00:43:55
the reaction they don't have a
00:43:58
stereotype because it's just not it's so
00:44:01
uncommon um it's not even on the radar
00:44:04
like in in North America in the US we do
00:44:07
have a stereotype of homeschoolers right
00:44:11
uh French people oh first of all they
00:44:14
they want to know what exactly is that
00:44:16
they don't they're not even clear what
00:44:18
is what does that mean you know and I
00:44:20
try to explain it to them and and I did
00:44:22
some research I talked to someone at my
00:44:24
job once um because I brought up me
00:44:27
being homeschooled and I thought it was
00:44:28
illegal in France and it's not it's not
00:44:31
illegal but it's just very difficult to
00:44:34
get the approval uh to H school it has
00:44:38
to be for very serious reasons usually
00:44:40
something about the health of of the
00:44:41
child or um if they have really severe
00:44:45
issues that um makes it much harder for
00:44:48
them to be in a classroom with other
00:44:49
kids you have to go through this whole
00:44:51
process of being approved by the
00:44:53
government and you know a lot of
00:44:54
paperwork well it's France of course
00:44:56
there's paperwork but but um they just
00:44:59
don't know so mhm when it will pop up
00:45:03
randomly in conversation I was
00:45:05
homeschooled oh okay and then everything
00:45:08
moves on there is
00:45:10
no reaction there is
00:45:13
no um assumption whereas when I'm
00:45:17
talking to Americans immediate like you
00:45:20
said there's there's the people who have
00:45:22
that strong stereotype and there's
00:45:24
people who maybe know a bit more about
00:45:26
it
00:45:28
um but I think that has contributed to
00:45:30
me sort of um not burying the fact that
00:45:35
I'm homeschooled but just forgetting
00:45:38
that that even really is a part of
00:45:41
me yeah and that was one of the things
00:45:44
that surprised me when your channel
00:45:46
popped up the the almighty algorithm of
00:45:49
YouTube I can't even tell you how or
00:45:52
where or why I I saw ex- homeschoolers
00:45:55
Club
00:45:57
and usually in the past I've never been
00:45:59
big about being like Oh homeschoolers I
00:46:00
want to know about this or uh for
00:46:03
whatever reason I clicked on it and then
00:46:06
I listened to a few things and a few of
00:46:07
the interviews you had people were
00:46:09
talking about being a homeschooler an ex
00:46:14
homeschooler and suddenly I was like oh
00:46:17
my
00:46:18
God I'm not the only one or maybe I have
00:46:23
this thing and it's not just because
00:46:24
it's a LZ thing but it's a homeschooling
00:46:27
thing and there's thousands of other
00:46:29
people in the US who are like me and I
00:46:32
never even for whatever reason I never
00:46:35
even thought of the possibility of that
00:46:39
it just never even entered into my mind
00:46:40
and so that's that's why I contacted you
00:46:44
when I when I first came on the channel
00:46:46
because it just blew me away I was like
00:46:48
this is what even is this you know I did
00:46:51
and yeah um a few let's see I oh gosh
00:46:55
I'm I feel like I'm old when I say this
00:46:58
I think probably 15 years ago 20 years
00:47:01
ago uh I did briefly look into some ex
00:47:05
homeschooling groups or I think there
00:47:07
was a Facebook group that I I briefly
00:47:09
was a part
00:47:10
of but it was very heavy stuff it was
00:47:13
like people who had been homeschooled
00:47:15
and
00:47:16
abused um by their family by The
00:47:19
Homeschool Community were things had
00:47:21
gone terribly
00:47:22
wrong and that had not happened to me I
00:47:26
do know people that it happened to in my
00:47:28
Homeschool Group you know but it was uh
00:47:31
obviously very um negative feelings
00:47:35
toward homeschooling itself and the
00:47:36
whole experience and I understood that
00:47:39
um but it didn't exactly fit with my
00:47:43
situation which was more which is more
00:47:46
of a mixed
00:47:47
bag of what I went through how I feel
00:47:51
about now the pluses and the minuses and
00:47:53
I felt like the channel here when I was
00:47:56
watching some of of your interviews some
00:47:58
of the with
00:48:00
people it it it felt more balanced it
00:48:02
felt like a mixed
00:48:04
bag um talking about The Homeschool
00:48:07
experience you know yeah well thank you
00:48:10
first first and foremost like that means
00:48:12
a lot because that was definitely much
00:48:16
more it became much more the intention
00:48:18
of
00:48:19
like I want to highlight the it's The
00:48:22
Good the Bad and the Ugly right it's
00:48:23
like
00:48:25
there you can have the wor experience in
00:48:27
the world um and and I would love to
00:48:30
share that if that's your story like I
00:48:32
and you want to put it out there I want
00:48:33
to give you the platform to do that but
00:48:36
for me my experience was just it was
00:48:39
much more positive um
00:48:41
and there's still I mean I think
00:48:43
everybody has things that they would
00:48:45
change about it and say Mom we should
00:48:46
have done this differently and I think a
00:48:48
lot of The Homeschool moms too also look
00:48:49
back and they go I would have done this
00:48:51
differently right it's like now we can
00:48:52
look back on it and and make different
00:48:54
decisions but um we can't go back in
00:48:57
time unfortunately um and so I do think
00:49:00
a lot of us have that mixed bag like you
00:49:02
said of just kind of like looking at it
00:49:03
and going the positives and the
00:49:05
negatives and and like you I also was
00:49:07
like researching ex homeschooler groups
00:49:09
and a lot of times it was drama groups
00:49:11
um and that's terrible and I I you know
00:49:13
and I'm glad that they are finding each
00:49:15
other and working on things together and
00:49:16
hopefully seeking uh help uh but I just
00:49:21
I knew I was like this needs to be a
00:49:25
little bit more of a Level Playing Field
00:49:28
and just kind Neal because there's a lot
00:49:31
of things we could talk we've talked
00:49:33
about like C switching and learning
00:49:35
things posts us getting out and learning
00:49:38
how to kind of like pretend to be normal
00:49:40
people and like um and all those kinds
00:49:43
of things it's like that homeschooling
00:49:45
has impacted Us in that way where we
00:49:47
have made decisions to do that with our
00:49:49
lives right
00:49:51
um and so I think those conversations
00:49:54
can be much more interesting and then
00:49:56
also to your point of
00:49:58
like it's very it can feel very
00:50:00
isolating it's like I knew I grew up
00:50:02
with a bunch of homeschool kids however
00:50:05
I don't talk to any of them so it's
00:50:06
really easy to start to feel very alone
00:50:09
in my experiences and looking back on it
00:50:11
and going this was weird right like am I
00:50:13
crazy this was weird or this was strange
00:50:16
or yeah this isn't normal you know and
00:50:18
so like that's part of why I wanted to
00:50:20
start the show was to talk to people and
00:50:22
and let people know you're not alone
00:50:25
yeah you're not alone hon
00:50:27
yeah that's one of the biggest things
00:50:29
that um I hit I'd say it wasn't until my
00:50:32
late 30s where I started feeling the
00:50:36
lack
00:50:38
of having people to go to to talk about
00:50:42
those years or like you said having a
00:50:44
question or feeling like am I the only
00:50:47
one where this happened to me or do I
00:50:49
remember this correctly because I'm even
00:50:52
the few people that I was more friendly
00:50:54
with in The Homeschool Group who were
00:50:55
younger than me
00:50:57
I lost contact with them over the years
00:50:59
um when I stopped being a regular
00:51:02
churchgoer I'd say the majority of
00:51:05
people dropped me and that's a whole
00:51:08
well that's a whole another podcast
00:51:10
that's a whole another interview but
00:51:12
that was one of the things that I
00:51:13
recognized in in your channel that made
00:51:16
me start watching things and
00:51:21
um helped fill that that that little Gap
00:51:24
I was feeling yeah
00:51:27
and honestly I was a little je sometimes
00:51:29
I watch the interviews and I'm jealous
00:51:31
because y'all were friends you talk
00:51:33
about what you used to do and I remember
00:51:36
watching the kids who were younger than
00:51:37
me who grew up with peers in the
00:51:39
homeschooling group and seeing just how
00:51:43
different their experience was from mine
00:51:47
and I'm glad I'm glad that people had
00:51:50
that I'm glad that it was a positive
00:51:52
thing you know because I
00:51:54
could I could definitely say that my
00:51:58
first
00:51:59
instinct um is to say my
00:52:03
homeschooling was a
00:52:05
negative like that's my my very my gut
00:52:08
oh it was bad but then you know a nanc
00:52:12
later I say oh
00:52:14
well no I
00:52:16
mean like we said before mixed bag uh
00:52:21
but I think part of the reason for that
00:52:23
was the the Oddity of my particular
00:52:26
situation in our group and with my
00:52:29
family and at that time of homeschooling
00:52:32
history if you can call it that MH you
00:52:35
know uh but
00:52:38
um honestly uh I I miss randomly meeting
00:52:44
homeschooled people because that can
00:52:46
happen when you're in the US you know
00:52:48
right yeah you know you're your
00:52:50
homeschool radar goes off with someone
00:52:52
at work or random people that you meet
00:52:54
or whatever and it will come up and it's
00:52:57
nice it's nice because um uh it's
00:53:02
definitely a subgroup a
00:53:05
subculture uh in the US I think anyways
00:53:08
from my from my experience yeah no I I
00:53:10
definitely agree with you and I
00:53:13
think to your point you brought this up
00:53:15
earlier it's like yeah we need to figure
00:53:17
out our uh our gang signal or uh
00:53:20
something some way to signal to other
00:53:22
people because um because or way of
00:53:27
way of tying a scarf or something weird
00:53:28
I don't know yeah uh we'll figure it out
00:53:32
if you have ideas um audience members
00:53:34
drop them in the comments below um
00:53:36
because yeah we need to figure this out
00:53:38
um are identifying marks to be like this
00:53:40
is who we are um but
00:53:44
uh yeah I think yeah
00:53:48
it's that's why again I wanted to do
00:53:51
this show because I felt
00:53:53
like I also like you kind of left
00:53:55
religion and left that Community that's
00:53:58
built there right it's like religion is
00:54:00
can be your whole world it can be your
00:54:03
whole community and everybody you know
00:54:05
and when you leave it um it can be
00:54:07
really hard
00:54:08
because I would say nine times out of 10
00:54:11
that that Community just leaves um they
00:54:13
don't want anything to do with you after
00:54:15
that or you don't want anything to do
00:54:16
with them yeah it goes both ways um and
00:54:19
and that's again isolating which again
00:54:21
goes back to all the homeschool stuff if
00:54:23
it can be isolating and lonely and all
00:54:25
these things and so I you know 2020 was
00:54:30
isolating for a lot of people and I
00:54:31
think this show birthed out of that
00:54:33
where I went I got to talk to my friends
00:54:35
again I gotta like get to know these
00:54:37
people again and like really you
00:54:40
know talk about just life but also what
00:54:44
we went through and and and now the fact
00:54:46
that like people like yourself Liz are
00:54:48
reaching out and being like Oh hey me
00:54:51
too I'm over here as well like yeah
00:54:52
let's have a conversation this is it's
00:54:55
it's amazing making so many new friends
00:54:57
so again thank you so much for reaching
00:54:59
out because uh one it put a smile on my
00:55:02
face when I got that comment and your
00:55:04
email and all that stuff but oh I also
00:55:06
was like oh my gosh I have to talk to
00:55:08
this person this person like has has
00:55:12
just I don't know I I was like I need to
00:55:14
hear this story that you know and so and
00:55:16
I'm thankful that you wanted to come on
00:55:18
and share uh a piece of your story with
00:55:21
the audience and hopefully give for
00:55:23
those of us that were a little bit later
00:55:24
in the homes School group kind of a
00:55:25
glimpse into
00:55:27
the 80s and the 90s of homeschooling um
00:55:30
and and and who you are today
00:55:34
so I mean I'm trying to I'm trying to
00:55:37
think of what else to ask you because
00:55:40
there's so many other ways to go but um
00:55:42
yeah but yeah I I will I'll just say
00:55:44
that thank you for so much for coming
00:55:46
and sharing is there any I don't know
00:55:48
story or thing that has has we've been
00:55:50
talking has popped in that you're like
00:55:51
oh my God I gotta I gotta leave the
00:55:53
people with this well this popped up
00:55:55
okay it's not funny uh but I was it came
00:56:00
into my head in the minutes before we
00:56:02
started the call because I was nervous
00:56:05
and thinking okay what what what can I
00:56:07
talk about or if he asked me about this
00:56:09
or that and you brought up 2020 and you
00:56:13
know the covid situation a lot of people
00:56:15
isolated and during that time for a
00:56:18
couple of months my my two oldest kids
00:56:22
uh were at home they usually go to
00:56:24
school down the street from where we
00:56:25
live but the schools were on lockdown
00:56:28
here in France too for a while and so
00:56:31
the teachers were emailing you know this
00:56:32
is what you do on the books and um it
00:56:37
was a moment where I clicked into like
00:56:41
Liz the
00:56:42
homeschooler I knew I knew how to do
00:56:45
this I also I I do you know I studied
00:56:47
education I have a master B in education
00:56:48
and it's it's been a few years um uh
00:56:52
teaching and I'm still in sort of an
00:56:53
education adjacent field with my job and
00:56:57
it was just like riding a
00:56:59
bike uh but at the same time I had a
00:57:03
very clear understanding
00:57:06
that I don't want to be riding this
00:57:09
bike right now I'm being forced to do
00:57:12
this but um honestly it gave me a a new
00:57:19
appreciation
00:57:21
of I don't know if you want to call it
00:57:23
strength perseverance whatever of our
00:57:25
parents usually our moms because our
00:57:27
moms are usually the ones who had the um
00:57:30
you know who bore the brunt of the the
00:57:32
education
00:57:34
homeschooling because I did not have the
00:57:38
patience I mean it drove me bonkers I
00:57:41
don't know if it was of course there's
00:57:43
the added stress of the pandemic and I
00:57:46
actually had a baby during a lockdown
00:57:48
during the pandemic so I had that too my
00:57:50
my third was born during that time but
00:57:53
um it was just another reminder of the
00:57:56
bag of homeschooling and going through
00:58:00
periods where I'll be angry or I really
00:58:04
um will be more negative towards adult
00:58:06
to my life who made decisions during
00:58:08
that time and
00:58:09
who uh raised me in that specific bubble
00:58:14
but then something will happen later in
00:58:15
life and as you grow as you're an adult
00:58:19
and you experience these different life
00:58:20
things you look back and something
00:58:23
clicks and you realize okay I definitely
00:58:25
learned something from this or you
00:58:29
appreciate or you realize how hard it
00:58:31
was for the the grownup because we only
00:58:34
see it through our lens as a as as kids
00:58:37
you know and we're looking back at the
00:58:40
experience um but it's really only part
00:58:42
of the story right and as I get older
00:58:45
and as I'm a parent um with my own three
00:58:49
children even though they go to regular
00:58:51
school
00:58:53
uh my homeschooling background does keep
00:58:56
on coming
00:58:57
up and it makes me appreciate or um have
00:59:03
less patience with regular school or the
00:59:05
way things are done but just overall
00:59:08
it's a part of who we are as ex-
00:59:10
homeschoolers and I really think as we
00:59:14
go through different steps in our life
00:59:17
whatever that may be you know whether we
00:59:19
have kids or
00:59:20
not
00:59:22
uh I would just encourage people and i'
00:59:25
I've watched a lot of the interview so I
00:59:27
I think most of the people you've talked
00:59:29
to I get a feeling are really um in tune
00:59:33
to learning things and paying attention
00:59:36
to to where they've been and you know
00:59:38
what's going
00:59:39
on uh but ex ex- homeschoolers
00:59:42
everywhere
00:59:44
just be
00:59:47
proud of being an ex-
00:59:50
homeschooler even if it was a traumatic
00:59:54
or awful EXP experience which I know
00:59:58
that exists for sure um I think it's
01:00:02
something to really appreciate about our
01:00:05
lives uh and ultimately I think it makes
01:00:08
us
01:00:09
stronger
01:00:11
and just as amazing and interesting as
01:00:13
everyone else honestly that was
01:00:16
beautifully said and I wholeheartedly
01:00:18
agree with you on that because yeah and
01:00:21
in talking with everybody that I've
01:00:23
talked with and hearing all the
01:00:24
different stories it's like
01:00:26
those experiences have shaped us into
01:00:28
who we are today and so be proud of that
01:00:31
and be proud of the person you are today
01:00:32
and choose to make
01:00:34
decisions going forward for your life
01:00:37
that are like that are great you choose
01:00:39
not to homeschool your kids you also
01:00:40
live in a country where it's a lot
01:00:41
harder to do that but you know that
01:00:43
that's for you that's not the move but
01:00:46
you're still very involved mom and love
01:00:48
your kids and obviously want them to
01:00:50
turn out the best they possibly can yeah
01:00:52
um yeah and you know and so anyway
01:00:56
that's lovely this has been a great
01:00:57
conversation and yeah I actually I can
01:01:00
go on and on and on so we should
01:01:03
probably you should cut me off now yeah
01:01:05
I was looking at the time I was like I
01:01:07
was like oh we just hit an hour um but
01:01:10
Liz this has been amazing and I'm I'm so
01:01:13
glad to now have you as an ex-
01:01:15
homeschooler friend uh me too I'm so
01:01:18
glad I found you all yeah
01:01:20
yes uh yeah ladies and gentlemen this
01:01:23
has been this week's episode of the ex
01:01:25
homeschoolers Club and if you enjoyed it
01:01:27
let me know um I've got more more
01:01:29
homeschool kids from the 80s and the 90s
01:01:31
coming very soon um and so you'll get to
01:01:34
hear more Amazing Stories like lizz's
01:01:37
very coming again very soon but uh if
01:01:39
you want to reach out to me there's two
01:01:41
ways you can do it you can either hit me
01:01:43
up on Instagram it's exhs Club um or you
01:01:47
can shoot me an email at exhs
01:01:49
01:01:50
uh I love to hear from you guys
01:01:52
obviously it connects us all um and uh
01:01:56
so yeah this has been Dax homeschoolers
01:01:57
Club until next week peace
01:02:02
[Music]
01:02:13
[Music]
