Back to School 2023: Passionate Teaching and the Joy of Homeschooling

“I think ultimately what God wants is to refine us in this homeschooling process. It’s not like we’re the ones that have it together and we’re teaching these children to get it together. It’s that we’re all people that need refined, and we’re all people that need to depend on the Lord. And it’s just something we’re all working through together.”

Aby Rinella

This week on the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast, Yvette Hampton welcomed Aby Rinella back to share her enthusiasm for teaching and the joy of homeschooling – in our 2023 Back to School series. Aby Rinella is a former public school teacher and passionate homeschooling parent who believes in making education an a joy for her children. In this post we’ll dive into her favorite tips for keeping homeschooling fun and making the most of this important time and share a few important insights from Yvette too.

Immersive Teaching and Literature-Based American History:

“I love sitting with them because it’s about relationship building… It’s about understanding them as individuals and sitting with them where they’re at.”

Aby Rinella

Aby Rinella’s infectious love for teaching shines through as she explains her excitement for sitting with her children and diving into American history. She shares, “I love sitting with them because it’s about relationship building… It’s about understanding them as individuals and sitting with them where they’re at.” Aby’s approach ensures that her children feel valued and understood while they delve into the rich tapestry of American history.

Her preferred method to teach American history is through literature-based curricula. By using engaging stories and narratives, Aby sparks curiosity and fosters a deeper understanding of historical events. This approach allows her children to connect emotionally with the complexities of America’s past, leading to a more comprehensive learning experience.

Embracing Changes and Incorporating Audiobooks:

As a homeschooling parent, Aby embraces flexibility while managing multiple core subjects. To streamline her curriculum, Aby integrates audiobooks for appropriate subjects. She recognizes that this will provide her children the opportunity to listen and learn independently, fostering self-reliance while still immersing themselves in engaging content.

Nurturing Passionate Learning:

Aby Rinella shares her excitement about teaching anatomy and physiology, with a particular focus on natural medicine for her high school-aged daughter. The joy is palpable in her voice as she expresses the fulfillment and enjoyment she finds in teaching a subject her child is passionate about. By nurturing her daughter’s interests, Aby creates an environment that fuels curiosity and a love for learning.

Balancing Co-op and Family Time:

“I was a mess last year because I didn’t follow my own advice.”

Yvette Hampton

Addressing the balancing act that most homeschooling parents face when it comes managing teaching, co-ops, supplemental classes, and family time, Yvette Reflected on last year’s over-programmed hectic schedule. She shares, “I just signed my kids up for co-op without thinking it through – or praying about it – and it turned into this crazy, chaotic mess.” However, she learned big lessons from this experience and has made significant changes for the upcoming year. To make things more manageable, both of her girls will be attending the same co-op on Mondays and Wednesdays. This new arrangement allows for a more manageable schedule, providing focused time on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays for building relationships and completing academic tasks, and allowing Yvette to get important work done on Mondays and Wednesdays while the girls are in classes.

Watch or listen to part 3 here.

One of the most encouraging take-aways from this conversation is that even after many years of homeschooling, Aby and Yvette don’t have it all together – and that’s ok. They both understand the fear that so many moms feel as they set out on their homeschooling journey – and every year after – wondering if they will be able to teach their kids effectively. But every year, both Aby and Yvette are reminded that THEY really aren’t capable – but GOD! The same God who gave them their children and called them to train them up equips them with everything they need to teach (and parent) with love and grace. And he will do the same for you! Trust him. Rely on him. He is faithful.

As we dive in to the new school year, let us always remember that. He is faithful.

Then, step out. Commit to the work of parenting and homeschooling with excellence. It is a high and worthy calling. Learn and engage effective teaching methods, embrace necessary changes, and nurture you children’s passions. Build strong relationships with your children on this homeschooling adventure and remember, each year brings new lessons and opportunities for growth.

And when you fail – and you will – call on the one who called you. Cry out to Him for strength, help, and provision. Then regroup and get back to it, but don’t miss the opportunity to learn from your mistakes and to use this opportunity to teach you kids to do the same.

Recommended Resources: 

📚📖 Ready to start homeschooling? Download your free Homeschool Survival Kit today!

🍿🍿🍿 Stream Schoolhouse Rocked: The Homeschool Revolution for FREE today!

❤️ ❤️ ❤️ Are you in need of a fresh vision for your homeschool? Join us for 4 days of Homeschool Encouragement at the Homegrown Generation Family Expo. Use the coupon code PODCAST to save 25% on registration today! 

Resources recommended in the podcast:

Apologia Science Curriculum

The Fallacy Detective: Thirty-Eight Lessons on How to Recognize Bad Reasoning

Torchlighters Study Guides and DVDs

Foundation Worldview Bible Curriculum

Elizabeth Urbanowicz, of Foundation Worldview, on the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast 

World History – Master Books

Foundations in Personal Finance – Dave Ramsey

Reading Roadmap – Center for Lit

Corrie ten Boom: Keeper of the Angels’ Den (Christian Heroes: Then & Now)

Corrie ten Boom Christian Heroes Devotion/Workbook 

George Muller: The Guardian of Bristol’s Orphans (Christian Heroes: Then & Now)

George Müller Christian Heroes Then and Now Guided Devotional

She Dwells on James Tween Christian Devotional

She Dwells on Colossians Tween Christian Devotional

The Book with No Pictures, by BJ Novak 

Bible Project Book Overview videos 

How to Homeschool: A Step-by-Step Guide with Kristi Clover

Getting Started in Homeschooling – Israel Wayne on the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast 

Discussion Questions:

1. How do you feel about the speaker’s approach to teaching American history through literature? Do you think this method would be effective for your own children?

2. Have you ever felt overwhelmed by managing multiple cores or subjects? How did you handle it, and did you find any resources or strategies helpful?

3. What are your thoughts on incorporating natural medicine into the study of anatomy and physiology? Do you think it adds value to the curriculum? Why or why not?

4. Reflect on your own experiences of signing up for extracurricular activities or co-op classes without thinking it through. How did it impact your schedule and overall homeschooling experience?

5. How do you prioritize building relationships with your children in your homeschooling routine? Do you find it challenging to balance academics and fostering strong connections?

6. Have you ever had to switch or change curricula in the middle of the school year? How did it affect your homeschooling dynamic? Would you recommend the Foundation Worldview curriculum based on the speaker’s endorsement?

7. How do you approach math education in your homeschool? Do you prefer teaching directly or using computer-based programs like CTCMath? Share your reasons for your preferred method.

8. Discuss the importance of studying God’s Word in your homeschooling journey. How do you ensure that your children receive strong biblical teachings and have opportunities to explore their faith?

9. Share your experiences with field trips and how they have enriched your homeschooling. Have you discovered any hidden gems or unknown places in your local area?

10. Reflect on your own expectations as a homeschooling parent. How do you handle it when things don’t go according to plan? How can you shift your mindset and let go of control to foster a more positive homeschool experience for yourself and your children?

Questions Asked and Answered:

Yvette: “Tell me about your passion for teaching and what you’re most excited about this school year.”

Aby: “I just love sitting on the floor with my children and diving in. I love that moment when they start to understand something new, and their eyes light up.”

Yvette: “What subjects are you most excited to teach this year?”

Aby: “I’m really passionate about teaching American history. It’s literature-based, and we just dive into the stories. It’s so exciting.”

Yvette: “Managing multiple grades and subjects can be challenging. How do you plan to handle it?”

Aby: “I’m a little nervous about managing two different cores this year, especially with my high school daughter. So, we’ll probably rely on audiobooks and other resources to make it work.”

Yvette: “You mentioned teaching anatomy and physiology using the Apologia curriculum. Can you tell us more about that?”

Aby: “Yes! I’m so excited about teaching anatomy and physiology this year. We’ll be using the Apologia curriculum, and I love that it has a focus on natural medicine. My daughter is really interested in that, so it’s a win-win.”

Aby: “Last year, you mentioned you were a ‘mess’ due to poor planning. What changes have you made for this year?”

Yvette: “Last year, I didn’t follow my own advice and signed my kids up for co-op classes without really thinking it through. It ended up being so hectic. This year, both my children are attending the same co-op on Mondays and Wednesdays, and my older daughter will be able drive them soon. It’s going to be much more manageable.”

Aby: “How do you plan to schedule your work hours and make time for focused schooling with your children?”

Yvette: “I plan to schedule my work hours around co-op time so that I have more focused time with my children on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. I’m really looking forward to having that dedicated time for building relationships and completing academic tasks without feeling rushed.”

Yvette: “You mentioned changing your curriculum this year. Can you give us a peek into what you’re using?”

Aby: “Absolutely! We’ve been using a Bible curriculum for our family devotions and individual devotions. Last year, we started using the Foundation Worldview curriculum, but had to pause it. This year, we’re going back to it, and I highly recommend it, especially for younger kids.”

Yvette: “Tell us about the changes you made in math education last year and what curriculum you’re using now.”

Aby: “Last year, I initially tried using teaching textbooks, but I felt disconnected from my kids’ progress. So, I went back to sitting with each kid and teaching math directly. We’re currently using Master Books for math, but there are other options like BJU that can work too.”

Yvette: “You mentioned using Apologia for biology and the Foundation Series for studying the Old Testament. Can you tell us more about those?”

Aby: “Absolutely! Apologia is a fantastic curriculum for biology, and I love that it’s biblically sound, solid, and well-written. And the Foundation Series is a great series that comes in a box and is suitable for children at different levels. We’re currently reading through the Old Testament together, starting with Genesis.”

Yvette: “You mentioned enjoying cooking together with your daughters. How does that play into your homeschooling?”

Aby: “I love that my daughters enjoy cooking together because it’s a great way to incorporate practical life skills into our homeschool. Plus, it’s a fun bonding activity!”

Aby: “What are your thoughts on field trips and exploring the world?”

Yvette: “Field trips are incredibly important! They allow kids to explore the world around them. We love going on family day adventures and randomly driving to discover new places. It’s refreshing and provides a change of scenery.”

Yvette: “You mentioned struggling with expectations in homeschooling. Can you share more about that?”

Aby: “I have this vision of how things should go in our homeschool, but often, it doesn’t align with reality. I get frustrated when my children don’t cooperate, and it’s discouraging. I need to give my expectations to God and stop getting upset when things don’t go as planned.”

Read the full transcript:

Yvette Hampton:

Hey, everyone, this is Yvette Hampton. Welcome back to the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast. I am back this week with Abinella and we are going to talk about the school year. It is a new school year and summer’s over. You guys are already into your school year and we’re going to talk about what this is going to look like. We’re going to discuss what’s ahead for us for this school year, what we’re excited about, just kind of a wrap up of what is going on. We’re going to talk about some of our struggles and fears and stuff because.

Aby Rinella:

We have lots of those.

Yvette Hampton:

And then we’re going to talk about in the last episode, making homeschool fun and some fun ideas for you that you can implement this year to make your homeschooling fun for your kids. Did you know that, Abby?

Aby Rinella:

I’ve never heard you say that. I know.

Yvette Hampton:

I don’t know why I wasn’t saying that before. But yes, that’s a big deal. It is a big deal. And it’s up to like twelve months. So you could use it for like a whole year and then say, you know what, this didn’t work for our family and they will refund all of your money.

Aby Rinella:

That’s awesome.

Yvette Hampton:

They really stand behind their product and they’re great at teaching math. So if you guys need them, ctcmath.com. Well, Abinella, welcome to the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast.

Aby Rinella:

Thanks for having me.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, we’re talking about school and about homeschooling. It’s what we do here. It’s what we do here. How’s your summer been? I mean, it’s so funny. You and I have been so busy that we’ve cut each other like ships passing in the night.

Aby Rinella:

I know.

Yvette Hampton:

Pretty much this whole past summer, it’s been kind of crazy. So how was your summer?

Aby Rinella:

Summers fly. It’s like if all these you think it’s going to be forever. Our summer didn’t start till July because June was, well, actually okay. We were done with school at the beginning of May. Everybody take a big breath. So we had a really long summer, but May and June were really cold, which was amazing and we loved it. So I feel like we got a really good summer in. And so by the time this airs, we have been back to school for quite some time. So it was an awesome summer. It was relaxed, it was fun. I don’t feel like we just crammed so much in that it was a whirlwind. And then when it was time to go back, we were ready.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. What was your favorite thing that you did this summer?

Aby Rinella:

Went and visited family in Montana. It’s always our favorite thing because we have cousins and we play and it was hands down the highlight.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. We haven’t been to Montana yet. No, it’s one of our states that we have. Not yet.

Aby Rinella:

It’s actually where all my family’s from. I’m the first generation Idahoan, actually.

Yvette Hampton:

What are people in Montana called? Montana? oeans.

Aby Rinella:

What would they call the that’s a Idahoans? Montanans. Montanans.

Yvette Hampton:

Montana.

Aby Rinella:

I think you’re a montana. That’s a good question. I think you are a Montana. I’ve heard my family says you’re from Montana. What was your highlight of the summer?

Yvette Hampton:

Oh, man, our summer was good. It has been probably the best summer we’ve had in the past many years because we didn’t do any traveling. And here’s the thing, we love to travel. We love going to conferences and seeing people and meeting people and speaking and showing the movie and doing all that fun stuff. But at the end of last summer, my girls were like, and we’re done. We don’t want to travel next summer. And so we said, OK, so we haven’t. We did one really small conference in Oklahoma City, which was only about an hour and a half from us. And it was like a one night thing. Garrett and I went and we were part of a couple of panels and showed the movie and stuff. And that was really fun. But other than that, we didn’t do.

Aby Rinella:

So you had like a real summer?

Yvette Hampton:

We did.

Aby Rinella:

Not. A working summer.

Yvette Hampton:

No, it wasn’t a working summer. Except for podcasting, of course, which is always fun. That almost doesn’t feel like work to me.

Aby Rinella:

Right?

Yvette Hampton:

It doesn’t, actually. It’s just talking to people. So it has been good. Both of my girls went to camp, and that was their first time going to church camp, and that was really fun. They really had a great time going to summer camp. And so just building friendships, like, it has been a summer for all of us of meeting people and building new friendships and strengthening other friendships that we already had in the works.

Aby Rinella:

Right.

Yvette Hampton:

It was good. It was a good summer. Awesome. But it was exciting to jump into the school year, too, at the same time.

Aby Rinella:

And your last school year with your oldest, which kind of made it your last summer with your oldest. I mean, not last summer ever, but your last, like, going in between school year and summer.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. Next summer I will not be school planning for her.

Aby Rinella:

No. And that’ll be probably her last summer off. Because once you get into the real world, you don’t get summers off.

Yvette Hampton:

Well, that’s been kind of funny. So she had a job. She got a job this summer. And so that’s been just kind of a new thing. She’s had a job before, but she’s working in the mall, at a T shirt store in the mall. So that’s been a different thing for our family.

Aby Rinella:

Right.

Yvette Hampton:

I’m trying to coordinate her work schedule with my recording schedule, and everything else that we have going on has been a little bit tricky. But yeah, it’s our last summer with her, not as an adult, because she’ll be 18 in December, and so next summer she’s going to be an adult. I mean, I fully expect her to still live at home next summer. But yeah. Abby it’s so weird getting here. I’m like, how in the world are we here already? And it’s been hard. So many can’t. It’s weird because I know that when we get to the end of the year, we have a graduation meeting in just a couple of weeks and so we’re already planning for her generation. We go to this big co op. There’s like 1200 kids from K through twelve and so I think there’s maybe like 30 seniors in her co op. Wow.

Aby Rinella:

In just the co op?

Yvette Hampton:

Just in the co op. And so they do a graduation for this co op for all the seniors, which is really great. But we’re already planning for that. I don’t know if this is a thing. This was not a thing when I was a kid. Seniors, of course, because we’re from La. So seniors, 30 years ago when I graduated, we all went to Disneyland. We went to grad night at Disneyland. Wow. And that was like the big thing. Everybody did that and it was really fun actually. You would dress up like there was a dress code and it was strict. The girls had to wear dresses, the guys had to wear a tie and like Disneyland and slacks at Disneyland. Yeah, you couldn’t wear jeans. And we were there. They would let seniors in. They had senior nights for a whole month, probably because there were thousands of schools that would go. And so for the whole night we would get to go. When Disneyland closed all through the middle of the night into the next morning when it opened up, had the whole park was full of seniors. It was really fun. Well, now, I thought that was a big deal. Now all these kids go on senior trips and I mean, like some of these kids I don’t know if this is like everywhere, if this is just like an Oklahoma thing, but they like, we’ll go to Europe and all these crazy things. I’m like, honey, we don’t have money for you to go to Europe.

Aby Rinella:

Wow.

Yvette Hampton:

So I don’t know what we’re going to do for her senior trip, but we’re thinking about it and to do it.

Aby Rinella:

Or are you just like, this isn’t what we do?

Yvette Hampton:

Well, here’s the thing. It’s peer pressure, abby you know how to stand against that. This is homeschool mama. Peer pressure. Like, all the other kids are doing senior trips and so what are we going to do?

Aby Rinella:

I’m like, just your senior goes. Just your senior?

Yvette Hampton:

Well, no, so sometimes it depends on the family. Like sometimes the whole family will go or sometimes like the senior and mom or senior and dad. Or sometimes like a group of seniors will go with a couple of adults. I don’t know. So now I feel like we have this crazy thing that we have to plan for, which will not be Europe unless I don’t know. Money starts growing on our tree or something, but I don’t know. So we’ll do something special for her, I’m sure. And we have several months to save.

Aby Rinella:

For a mission trip.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, well, we could do something like that. I know lots of people do stuff like that. I don’t know. I don’t know what we’re going to do. To be continued. We will let you know at the end of the year. What? Brooklyn.

Aby Rinella:

I knew a ton of kids that did the senior trips, but yeah, it was a big thing when I was in high school. Really? Yeah. But, I mean, I didn’t it was like, get a job.

Yvette Hampton:

What did you do? Did you do something special?

Aby Rinella:

I graduated high school. That’s pretty darn special, right? I feel like that aby.

Yvette Hampton:

Anybody can graduate high school. That was special.

Aby Rinella:

I guess I didn’t feel that. I guess maybe I grew up so much not going with that flow that it didn’t even faze me.

Yvette Hampton:

I don’t know.

Aby Rinella:

Or part of me, too, is like, my parents are paying for my college. They’re paying for I would not even want them to have to pay for something like that. I guess I never even expected it nor really thought about it. I did do several missions trips in which I raised my own money and did these amazing trips, and those were life changing, and I would suggest that for everyone because it was just, okay, I’m done with school now. How can I serve and see what’s going on in the world and just see the bigger picture of outside of my own little teenage drama bubble and what’s everybody doing, and what am I supposed to do? So I think that was probably my most life changing post high school experience.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. That’s amazing. Garrett and I met on a missions trip.

Aby Rinella:

Did you?

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah.

Aby Rinella:

I didn’t know that.

Yvette Hampton:

To Mexico?

Aby Rinella:

Yeah, I did a mission trip to Mexico my senior year. It was.

Yvette Hampton:

Did you?

Aby Rinella:

Life changing. So there you go. Send her on a missions trip to.

Yvette Hampton:

Mexico, and she’ll meet her future husband.

Aby Rinella:

And she’ll meet her future husband.

Yvette Hampton:

It’s amazing.

Aby Rinella:

Perfect.

Yvette Hampton:

So what are you looking forward to most this year as you’re just getting started out in the year and a whole nine months ahead of you?

Aby Rinella:

Well, we’re, like, at that season where I’m looking forward to everything. Do you know there’s that golden couple of weeks where right.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. I look forward to the honeymoon phase.

Aby Rinella:

Yes. I’m in the honeymoon phase.

Yvette Hampton:

I’m looking the homeschool honeymoon phase, all of it. Yeah.

Aby Rinella:

I always look forward to settling in. I look forward to just the pace of home school, the routine in the mornings, the cozying into the house. That’s always what I most look forward to.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. What about you?

Aby Rinella:

Yeah.

Yvette Hampton:

This year I think I’m looking most forward to being more structured, as weird as that.

Aby Rinella:

Yeah, you keep saying that. You’re going to be more structured this year.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, this summer, God’s been just really showing me some different things about I am such a scattered person. I try to do ten things all at one time and I know that it’s not good. Multitasking is one thing, but I will try to multimultimultitask. Right. And so I’m like trying to do laundry and clean the house at the same time as doing school with the girls.

Aby Rinella:

Right.

Yvette Hampton:

And you would think I had learned this many years ago, but you know, this isn’t working out so well for us. I really need to focus. So I’m taking after Abby and I’m actually blocking out, like for real, legitimately blocking out 4 hours to 5 hours a day, depending on what we have going on of just school, like phones away. And I’ve been preparing my girls for this. This is how it’s going to go down. And so I have to do that. And I’m looking forward to knowing that that is what our homeschool day is going to look like and it won’t be perfect. I’m not under any illusion that it’s going to play out perfectly every year.

Aby Rinella:

You’re going to get so much more done in such a shorter amount of time because you’re not going to be so distracted and you’re not going to have to constantly refocus the kids. Refocus the kids. I think you’re just all in and I bet you are going to find it takes way less time than you think when you do it that way.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, I think so. I’m sure. Yes, that’s going to happen.

Aby Rinella:

I think the biggest thing is if you said if you put your phones away. That was a game changer for me when during that school block I put my phone in another room so I couldn’t even look at it right. I think it cut my time in half.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. Well, so this is what happened last year. At the end of last year, I was like I was such a mess last year because here’s what happened and I think I’ve explained this a little bit. We were traveling almost all of last summer and I had signed up for these co op classes. But honestly, it was like, do as I say, not as I do. I did not even follow our own advice on the podcast. It’s not that I didn’t pray at all about it, I just didn’t think through it. And to be honest, I probably didn’t pray about it nearly as much as I should have. I did not really commit all of that to the just. We were getting ready to leave for this big road trip at the beginning of summer last year and I had to sign the girls up for their co op classes before we left. So I just did it without really thinking it through. Well, then it ended up that they had co op on Mondays, brooklyn was Monday and wednesday, lacey was Thursday, and then I recorded on Tuesdays. Oh, that was so it was we were basically we it was weird. And then that gave us Fridays and Fridays we were trying to catch up on life and laundry and dishes and grocery shopping, all that stuff. And so it made it impossible to have just some really good solid time at home this year. Both of my girls are doing the same co op on Mondays and Wednesdays, and it’s not all day, but for the few hours that they’re going to be it’s, they have the same schedule. And then Brooklyn is driving now, so she’ll drive them for a good part of the year, which will be great. And the I’m only going to schedule my work hours to record and do Schoolhouse Rock stuff while they’re at co op. So basically that gives me Tuesday, Thursday and Friday to be able to be home with them. And I’m so excited to be able to have this time with them where I can really focus on just building that relationship with them and schooling and getting the academic stuff done that we need to get done without having the stress of like, oh, we don’t have time. And now I feel like I’m rushing and having to do all these other things at the same time.

Aby Rinella:

I try to do the same thing. We do like a one or two day out and then I try to schedule everything in chunks so that we have most days just at home without having to go somewhere. Because for us, if you have to go somewhere, say at ten, it’s not like you’re going to start school before I just feel like it’s a wash of a day.

Yvette Hampton:

Right.

Aby Rinella:

So I try to do everything all in one or two days and then we’re just home getting school done the rest of the days, right?

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. So what are you doing for curriculum? Like, I would love to know what your curriculum is looking like this year. What are you using? I don’t need every detail, but what are some of the things that you’re using? Because we get asked this a lot all the time.

Aby Rinella:

People actually I’ve gotten it well, at this time of year especially, I’ve gotten so many private messages, what are you using? And like you and I always say, I hate to share that because I don’t want people to think that that’s what they should use.

Yvette Hampton:

Right.

Aby Rinella:

But I do just share, okay, this is what I’m using. It doesn’t mean it’s what you should use. But every year is different. Every year you learn like, oh, I didn’t like that, or I did like that. So I’ll just plow through. So for math, well, we’ve gone back and forth, but we’re back starting last year, we’re back to I sit with each kid and teach math. I feel like I loved teaching textbooks for a season, but I feel like I kind of lost track. I mean, I feel like I was disconnected with what was going on with the kids and they were passing lessons, but I don’t know how much they were getting. So I reeled it back in last year and I sit down with each kid and teach math. I won’t always do that, but just so I can really see where they’re at and then feel good if I need to let them go. Do like, A, teaching textbooks, and there’s lots of options for that. We just happen to be doing master books for that. But there’s BJU has a great but that’s one big difference that I switched up last year is I am sitting down and actually teaching math to the kids again like I did when they were little. Okay, I’m going to plow through so.

Yvette Hampton:

Wait, let me ask you a question on that. Okay. So when you get to those higher math levels, if you get to a point where you just don’t know how to teach that particular level of math, what do you do there?

Aby Rinella:

Well, I think I’m a math I love math. I love math. So I haven’t gotten there yet because I love it. And we’re in high school. I may end up getting there with my son because he’s pretty advanced, but I love math. So I did math. I mean, I chose to do extra math in college, but if I were to get to that point, the I probably would go back to A teaching textbooks or a CTC or something where someone else is teaching them and I can just sit with them and monitor. Um, right. So I’m a terrible person to ask that because I do love math, which is probably not the norm for most.

Yvette Hampton:

But lots of moms do. So I love that.

Aby Rinella:

I genuinely do.

Yvette Hampton:

And I take that and run with it.

Aby Rinella:

And I think that’s why I can also sit with them and teach them because I like it. Okay, so something I’m most excited about okay, also just for history and literature, we’re sunlight people, and we’re doing American History. My older kids are on their second year or their second go around, and my youngest is on her first. And I love American history. I mean, I love it, and it’s all literature based, so we get to read so many amazing books together. I’m a little nervous this year because there’s more with two I’m having two different cores going, so I’m going to have to figure out there’s going to be a lot of audiobooks, let’s just say that. But I’m super excited about American history. But what I’m most excited about is this year we’re doing anatomy and physiology, so I feel like I finally have it dialed. I love apologia. I love apologia’s. What is it? The young explorer series. So we’re using that as our spine. Even though I have elementary, middle school, high school, that’s going to be kind of the spine. And then for my older kids, I’ll dive deeper. So for my high school daughter, we’re doing a natural medicine class to go in line because she’s so into that. Last year, we talked about we did an ethnobotany where you learn about how your local plants can be used as food and medicine. And she loved it. So we’re taking it next level, and we’re doing, like, a natural medicine course to go with anatomy and physiology. And I think I’m most excited about that this year because it’s something new. It’s something finally when they get older, you’re like, this is what you love. This is what you’re passionate about. And so you get to just find all the things for that. And so I’m super excited. She is so excited. The first time I’ve seen her, so really excited about a subject matter.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah.

Aby Rinella:

And then I haven’t used okay, this is the last thing I want to share the Fallacy Detective. We do a lot of this logic stuff, and I think that that’s important for lots of I think it’s important for homeschool, families to be doing is logic just to help with the world we live in. It’s not a logical world. People don’t logically debate things.

Yvette Hampton:

Right.

Aby Rinella:

And so we’re doing that. And then I want to show you this. Did you get this? I got this in the mail. You know the Torch lighters?

Yvette Hampton:

How did you get that in the mail?

Aby Rinella:

Do you know the Torchlighters videos? Right?

Yvette Hampton:

Yes, of course.

Aby Rinella:

So you get a DVD and it has, like, 16 of the stories of the different and they’re all missionary for people that don’t know they’re missionary stories or people that have impacted I mean, how would you describe it? I would say missionary stories.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah.

Aby Rinella:

Then there’s this book. So you watch a movie and then there’s a whole chapter on studying that culture, studying that person, studying the biblical things in their lives. I don’t know how I’m going to fit it in. I have no idea. But it looks super cool.

Yvette Hampton:

That’s a great morning basket.

Aby Rinella:

That’s what we’re going to do it for is in the morning basket. And it’ll kind of go along. Maybe I’ll do, like, every other day when we’re doing our Bible or maybe once a week. I don’t know. I haven’t figured it out yet. I’m just super excited about it.

Yvette Hampton:

So you said you got it in the mail. Like, did you not order it? And they just randomly sent it to you? Are they just randomly sending it to Americans all over the place?

Aby Rinella:

It’s a funny story. It came in the mail, and it’s a full book of curriculum and the full DVD set. So I was like, I don’t remember buying this. And then I thought maybe they mistakenly sent it to me and I didn’t pay it for it, so I called them because I’m like, either need to pay you for this or I need to send it back. And they’re like, oh, you must have forgotten. But like nine months ago, we did a promo and we were sending them out for free if you signed up for our newsletter. Well, I had totally forgotten, so apparently I did sign up to get it.

Yvette Hampton:

Oh, that’s cool.

Aby Rinella:

I know, it was a super fun surprise. And it’s from Voice of the Martyrs.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, that is really cool.

Aby Rinella:

Voice of the martyrs. So I’m super excited about checking that out.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, we’ll link that in the show note. We’ll link all of these things in the show notes so that you guys have access to them. Okay, great. That’s a great lineup. I know.

Aby Rinella:

I think I’m most excited. History and science.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. So cool. It’s so funny. Every year it’s different, and sometimes I think, well, no, we’re just going to stick we really like this curriculum. We’re going to stick with this for the next five years. Right. And then the next year comes and I’m like, oh, this one looks like it’s going to be a better fit for this year. And sometimes we continue on with what we’ve done. But yeah, this year we’re kind of changing it up a lot on most things, which is really yeah, it’s exciting. So I’m excited about what we’ve got going on for both of my girls for Bible. So okay, you guys know, we always do our family devotions and then we do our individual devotions, like my girls do their Bible reading time. I do mine, Garritt does his. We do that separately. But I also like to have a Bible curriculum, which I don’t know, maybe that sounds like a lot because we also incorporate Bible into the different subjects. But I feel like you can’t get too much of God’s Word, right, and learning about the so last year we did an episode with Elizabeth Urbanowitz, and she talked about her foundation worldview curriculum, and we started that last year, but we were finishing up another Bible curriculum and I couldn’t do both. It was just too much. So we paused that one. And so we’re starting that one up again this year and doing the Foundation Worldview curriculum with Elizabeth Urbanowitz. So super excited, super solid. I mean, I cannot more highly recommend it. It’s actually geared more towards younger kids.

Aby Rinella:

Oh, really?

Yvette Hampton:

But I’m having Brooklyn do it with us anyway when she can because she’s got a much heavier load this year. So when she can do it with us, great. If she’s not available to do it, then I just do it with Lacey and that’s totally fine. And then oh, man, it’s so funny because my girls are really getting deep into the study of God’s Word this year. They are also with their co op, both doing a Bible class that’s taught by a local pastor, and Brooklyn’s doing one called New Testament Survey. And Lacey’s doing one called how to Study the Bible. And it’s kind of tricky sometimes, I think, trusting someone else to teach Bible to my kids because I want to make sure that they’re solid in their theology and all of that. So that’s not something that we take lightly. But this guy seems like he’s solid. So they’re both doing that. Brooklyn is doing biology through Apologia. They have just an amazing biology. I mean, you were talking about apologia on Monday, and I love apology of science. It is so just biblically sound and solid and it’s well written. It’s really fun. So she’s doing Apologia biology.

Aby Rinella:

And it is their middle school, high school. It is a rigorous science. I mean, it’s not fluff. It is very much going to prepare them for whatever they have coming up.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, I mean, they’re set to do it’s like college ready for sure. Science. So you did those what was the Early Explorers?

Aby Rinella:

The Early Explorers is the elementary and early middle school.

Yvette Hampton:

Right, which is fantastic. And then their high school one is pretty rigorous. But it’s so good and it’s so interesting, the videos that go along with it. Sherry Selikson, who’s actually been on the podcast, she does the biology videos and she’s amazing. And they’re just so well done. Like, they really have done a great job with Kit. So there’s those. And then for history, I don’t have all my curriculum in front of me, but for history, we’re doing Master Books. This is the first time we’re doing Master Books history. But this is their world history. And I’m actually doing this with Brooklyn this year. And I love it because Master Books has a really great middle school history, but it’s a three volume set and that’s what I’m going to use with Lacey next year. But this one is just a one volume set, so it’s more of a condensed world history. Like, these are the really important things you need to know about world history. And again, because it’s master Books, kit is a strong biblical worldview.

Aby Rinella:

I’ve heard of master books for years. I mean, you hear of everything, but you can’t do everything, right? But I just last year started digging in and started to do a few Master Books things and I really like it. Yeah, I mean, their math is so biblically. Like, I feel like my kids are getting a Bible lesson while they’re doing math.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, it’s pretty they’re great. So Master Books actually they publish I don’t want to say all because I’m sure it’s not all of it, but a good majority of the curriculum and books put out by answers in Genesis.

Aby Rinella:

Oh, really?

Yvette Hampton:

So ken Ham brian Osborne Dr georgia Purdum lots and lots. And they have a ton of authors in addition to them. Israel Wayne is with Master Books. They just have a lot of really good, solid Christian authors and publishers. Angela Odell wrote the middle school world. History curriculum. So, I mean, just people that I really trust. So master books, I mean, I feel like Apologia and Master books, BJU Press, like those are ones that you can’t go wrong with them, with teaching anything from a biblical world.

Aby Rinella:

Really just grab any it’s not a whole thing. Like you can just piece what you want from the it’s not like you’re buying everything like say a Becca. I mean, you can just pick and choose. And they’ve got some cool electives that they have this engineering I don’t know, I’ve been really impressed so far as I’ve some master book stuff.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, they’re great. And then for Lacey, she is doing this writing and grammar from BJU Press. She’s in 7th if you want to give her a grade name this year. But she’s actually doing 8th grade writing because she’s done writing classes last couple of years and that’s what she was ready for. So she’s excited about doing that. And then just as like supplements you were talking about your torch lighters.

Aby Rinella:

Yeah, that’s supplementing our Bible curriculum. And the logic is like some supplemental.

Yvette Hampton:

Yes. Yeah. Extras. So for our morning basket, two of the things that we’re doing this year are I actually have some friends from California who went to my church and they wrote this. It’s kind of a study guide on the heroes then and now Corey Ten Boom book. And then this is a study guide that goes within it’s on finding forgiveness, which I feel like every human needs to read. And for kids. Especially Corey Ten. Boom. I love this woman I’ve talked about on podcast all the time. She’s my hero.

Aby Rinella:

That’s fine too.

Yvette Hampton:

I love her. So we’re doing that book and it’s just a simple book study, but really brings out some great questions for the girls on what does forgiveness look like. And Corey Ten Boom was, you know, she’s a great example of that. And then they have another one. This one is George Mueller. And this one is the Power of Prayer.

Aby Rinella:

And so if you’ve read that man yes.

Yvette Hampton:

So this book too, one of my very favorites.

Aby Rinella:

Yep.

Yvette Hampton:

He’s amazing. And so we’re going to go through both of these and the Lacey is going to also my friends actually wrote this other little devotional on the Book of James and the Book of Colossians. And so I’ll link all of these in the show notes so that you have them. But these are just sweet Bible studies. I remember when I was in middle school doing just my own kind of individual Bible studies and they really impacted me right. Because it was just through my quiet time. And so these are perfect for Lacey’s age. She’s twelve. So I was wondering how old is she? And then the last thing is, I’m always looking for book lists. Always.

Aby Rinella:

Okay.

Yvette Hampton:

You use sunlight, so you get books.

Aby Rinella:

I go with sunlight. And I know people that don’t use sunlight, but they always get their book list. And then Sarah Mackenzie’s book lists read a lot of revival, those two book lists, I trust. 100%.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. Yes. Well, this one is from center for lit. It’s reading Roadmaps. And we had Missy Andrews on the podcast.

Aby Rinella:

They spoke at our convention this year.

Yvette Hampton:

Did they?

Aby Rinella:

Yeah, that’s right. Yep. Center for that was there. And they are amazing.

Yvette Hampton:

Missy Andrews. They are great. They are fantastic. And so he’s actually coming on the podcast soon. Adam is. And this Reading Roadmaps is really cool because it goes by grade. So like, this one is 7th grade. It goes by grade and then gives a really great book list, and then it just gives a little description of the plot of each book. So that is a fantastic book list. It’s called the reading roadmaps.

Aby Rinella:

So are you using center for lit stuff or just their book list?

Yvette Hampton:

Just their book list.

Aby Rinella:

Okay.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. And that’s for K through twelve. And so you just look at whatever grade you’re looking for book lists for. I love this resource. I recently found this. Well, I found it because Missy told me about it. And I think it’s such a fantastic book list. So we’ll link all of those things. But that’s what we’ve got going on as far as curriculum. And it’s exciting.

Aby Rinella:

I have to share because I forgot, but for Bible, because I got excited about that torch lighters. But for our Bible, we started last year. So you guys know that I am like a not consumed junkie. I am all in with not consumed Kim.

Yvette Hampton:

Sorgis not consumed.

Aby Rinella:

I love that because all my kids can do it because she has things at different levels. But she started a new series called the Foundation Series, and it comes in a box and it’s a whole bunch of different ones. So we’re starting with the Old Testament. And what we’re doing is we are reading through the Old Testament together in kind of a funky way. Here’s how I do it. We start with the kids Bible and we read the book of the Bible. So we’ll start with Genesis and we read all the way through the kids Bible of Genesis. And mainly because that hits because with little still, you want to hit like just sitting and reading it, this actually hits the main stories in Genesis, like the key things that hold our attention. So you kind of get the big outline, the big picture. So we do the kids and then when we’re done with that book in the kids Bible, then we do the study of that book in the not consumed Old Testament. So then we’ll do the whole study of Kim. Sorges’s on the and they do it at each level because Kim has different levels. Then when that’s done, we do the and I’m not promoting this because I don’t know. Big picture. The website, it’s the Bible project. But what they do have is they have like an overview of the book and Kit is so cool. It is done so well. I don’t know any of their other stuff. But we do the overview then of the Book of Genesis.

Yvette Hampton:

You’re talking about the little animated videos that they do? Yeah, they’re fantastic.

Aby Rinella:

I love the incredible. So then when we’re done with the kids Bible and reading it, and then my kids will actually read it on their own in their actual Bibles, then we do the Kim swords, and then we do an overview so that before we move on from Genesis I feel like they have a really good big picture and diving in of that book. So we’re slowly working through the Old Testament and then it’s going to take us 100 years but eventually we’ll get through the New Testament too. But I’ve just kind of liked that pattern because it mixes it up. Yeah, but I love those overviews on the Bible.

Yvette Hampton:

Do you do the overview after you’ve studied the Bible?

Aby Rinella:

I do it after only because he talks so fast. If you listen to it without having known it, Kit wouldn’t make sense because he talks really fast and kind of assumes, you know, a little bit when he does it. It’s just a really fun way to sum up and kind of solidify everything we’ve just done.

Yvette Hampton:

Yes, those videos are amazing.

Aby Rinella:

You could do it before and after, actually.

Yvette Hampton:

Sure. I mean, they’re short videos. They’re not like 30 minutes long. Hacked.

Aby Rinella:

Oh yeah. I bet they’re maybe eight minutes for the longest one. But it’s all visual and it’s fun and it holds the kids and he does a good job of just kind of outlining and putting it in time and I like him.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. Yes. I always watch those as I’m reading through my Bible. I watch them when I get to the beginning of a new book. Oftentimes not always, but it’s just a map basically. Right.

Aby Rinella:

I like it. And you can print them. Did you know you can print the no. So the final picture that he draws, you can actually print them. So then you could actually have a whole little binder with all the books of the Bible so that you can kind of look back and be reminded.

Yvette Hampton:

I did not know that. That’s really Bible.

Aby Rinella:

We did it last year and we’re doing it this year and I like it.

Yvette Hampton:

That’s so cool. We will put a link, of course in the show notes to that so you guys can get them because the Bible project videos are fantastic. I absolutely love them and they really are helpful in understanding God’s word. Let’s talk through just I just want to kind of get real with our audience because I think sometimes people think like we have it all together. We’ve got all our curriculum lined up, and we’ve got our co ops and we’ve got our schedules, and it’s all lined up. And I always fear and you and I recently did an episode on social media and how we often look at other people, and we get this false impression that they have it all figured out, and sometimes they don’t, and most.

Aby Rinella:

Oftentimes they all don’t because we’re all humans struggling through right?

Yvette Hampton:

And so the last thing I ever want to do on this podcast is make other moms feel like they are inadequate because somehow they’re not doing it the way we’re doing it, and we have it all figured out and all put together and that is absolutely not the truth. So Abby, as you’re in a new year, your kids are growing up fast, just like mine are. What are some of the things that you struggle with, some of the things maybe that you have struggled with the most that you’re working on? Where are you in this world of angst?

Aby Rinella:

Angst? Well, I don’t know if it’s angst, but something hit me this summer that I love to homeschool. I love it. It’s not something I mean, I’m called to do it, god commands us to do kit. But I also love it. It is also a passion of mine. And I love organizing. I love planning really fun days. I love teaching to my kids gifts and talents. The whole thing is my passion. And what I realized this summer because the we have a lot of days that are like fall apart days where days where kids aren’t cooperating and just hard days. And I’m like, I don’t understand why this day is hard. Because I’ve put in the time to prep. I have the mental. Like, I’m far enough to go, okay, I’m teaching to my kids gifts and talents. I know to put the books away when kids start crying. We talk about this stuff all the time. But what I realized is I have this vision in my brain of how it’s supposed to go. I have the way that I make the muffins, I do the fun things, I teach to their gifts and talents. And then somehow I’m faced with these, oh, I even do this. Like, I know that this child’s gift is this. So I know how to teach them according to their learning style, like all the things. And then I wake up in the morning and I’m like, oh, I’m a sinner and they’re sinners. And I think my struggle that I’ve realized I need to really work on is I just have this attitude of, like, if you guys would just follow along with what I have planned, follow along with what I’m doing, like get in the passenger seat. It’s going to be good. You’re going to find joy. You’re going to love it. I have so many amazing, exciting things, but instead I have real kids that grumble and complain. I have real me who wants them to and I think what I’ve learned about myself is I think I’m kind of expecting I’m expecting something from them and they’re not meeting it. I’m expecting for them to be just on my same page. Like, wake up excited. Wake up totally ready to just learn whatever I teach you. Don’t argue. Don’t buck me. And then when they do, this is my struggle right here. Then when they do, then when I’m faced with real kids and real sin and it’s not just all this in my head, it’s like real life boots to the ground, then I kind of crumble and I get upset and I’m like, why can’t you just be a part of my perfect, pretty picture, basically? And then the whole thing falls apart. So I feel like I need to an area I’m working on is I need to give my expectations to God and I need to stop having I still need to do all the great things, but I need to release the expectations, because when they don’t play the way I want them to play, then I get really discouraged and frustrated, and I feel like my whole world is just crashing down. And I don’t like that. And that’s just being really real and honest because I don’t have it mastered yet. And it’s something I know I need to work on because I can tell it’s not blessing anybody and it’s derailing everybody.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. That is very honest and real of you. And I would definitely say that that is a struggle that I have as well. And that’s kind of my life. Like, I always feel like I’m a dreamer.

Aby Rinella:

If everybody would just be perfect, this thing would be so incredible. Like, if you would all just be perfect. And if I would just be perfect, you know how amazing this homeschool would be? It’d be incredible, right? If only they just knew.

Yvette Hampton:

If only it is true. Because always, my whole life, and I’ve told you this, I am a super visual person. So I literally visualize everything. Therefore, I visualize my fantasies of what I want homeschooling to look like and how I want my kids to behave and how I want to behave myself. And everything’s just going to come together. I even picture myself making these amazing, healthy meals for my family. And the other day abby, I’m so bad in the kitchen. I don’t try to be, but I tried to make a pot roast the other day. How hard is it to make a pot roast right? It’s like the easiest thing in the whole world. Yeah, I can’t even make a pot roast right. I don’t know.

Aby Rinella:

Anyway, see, you had these expectations and this vision, and then real life didn’t work, right? And then I think the problem is then we let it derail because you could have just been like, pot roast didn’t work, but we can still have this amazing meal. But instead we then start to get really discouraged, right?

Yvette Hampton:

Yes. Absolutely.

Aby Rinella:

And I think that’s my frustration is, why am I getting so discouraged? My kids are sinners. I know that.

Yvette Hampton:

Right.

Aby Rinella:

But I just have this like if everybody could just get their attitudes on board, this would be incredible.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. Expectations are tough, especially when it comes to homeschooling. And life just gets in the way, but not in the way. I mean, homeschooling is life. It is, but we forget that life happens around us. If you’re potty training kids, there’s going to be an accident on the floor. If you have a kid who’s sick, you’re going to have to take him to the doctor. You have maybe a kid who just woke up on the wrong side of the bed or you woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

Aby Rinella:

Right.

Yvette Hampton:

That just can derail the whole day for the whole family, not just for one person. I mean, there are so many things that if our kids go to school and your kid wakes up sick, then you just keep them home and you keep them in bed. But you don’t have to worry about the responsibilities of schooling everybody else.

Aby Rinella:

Right?

Yvette Hampton:

Totally. You just call the school and say, hey, my kid’s not going to be there today. It’s different at home and it’s the.

Aby Rinella:

Teacher’S job to figure out how to deal with that part of things. Your job is just to keep them home, right?

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. My greatest struggle definitely is time management, like I shared before, is just getting the things done that need to get done when they need to get done. But at the same time, not stressing out so much about what’s not getting done because the list is never going to be checked off. There’s always something. So just balancing my priorities with my family and my home and homeschooling is a struggle. It’s so hard. It’s hard to balance it all. Like, if I just had a husband and I didn’t have kids or homeschooling, I could give him all of my attention all the time. It would be great. Or if I just had kids but I didn’t have to worry about homeschooling them. Well, then I could give them all my attention while they were home and while they were at school, I could take care of my home and do those things that need to be done. Or if I just had a home to take care of and didn’t have all the other things to do.

Aby Rinella:

All the humans that live in it.

Yvette Hampton:

The humans that live in it and who are here to mess it up, including myself. But you put all of these things together and like I mentioned, I think it was on Monday. I’m just so scattered sometimes, like I’m going too many different directions at one time. And so I’m really working on that this year of just really focusing on what needs to be done and not stressing out about what’s not getting done. In the process.

Aby Rinella:

I think it’s interesting because that to me, when I listen to your struggle, is totally different than mine. I have everything totally organized, managed, totally. But then you enter in these people and then it gets in the way of that. Or you probably don’t struggle as much with what I do because and I think the ultimate thing is every homeschool mom has a struggle, and they’re all different. We all have different struggles, but we all have struggles. And I think ultimately what God wants is to refine us in this homeschooling process. It’s not like we’re the ones that have it together and we’re teaching these children to get it together. It’s that we’re all people that need refined, and we’re all people that need to depend on the Lord. And it’s just something we’re all working through together. Homeschooling is the most refining thing to a parent. And it’s just so interesting listening to every mom struggles because they’re all different, but they’re all there.

Yvette Hampton:

Yes, absolutely. And just praying that the Lord will show us his way. Refining hurts, but at the same time, I’m like, Lord, I want you to grow me yes. In my relationship with you and my knowledge of you and my understanding of you and Your Word and my surrender.

Aby Rinella:

My ability to surrender to you.

Yvette Hampton:

Oh, yeah. Yes. So much. And we can’t do that unless we’re willing to be worked on by Him. I mean, we are clay being molded.

Aby Rinella:

Molded and molded. I just thought, oh, it’d be all done being molded by now. And it’s like, nope, another year, another still molding.

Yvette Hampton:

We will forever be being molded by the Lord. And I’m so thankful for that. All right, Abby, talk today about some funness. Is that a word?

Aby Rinella:

Funness? Let’s make it a word.

Yvette Hampton:

Okay. Funnyosity.

Aby Rinella:

No, that’s definitely not a word.

Yvette Hampton:

No, that’s definitely not a word. Fun. What’s another way we can say it?

Aby Rinella:

I’m not sure we’re going to make oh, just homeschool fun.

Yvette Hampton:

Stick with I’m just trying to make it fancy.

Aby Rinella:

Root word. Did you read Fancy Nancy to your girls?

Yvette Hampton:

Maybe a couple of books.

Aby Rinella:

It was great for vocabulary because she’d always come up with these other words. I think you could check it off for vocab. Done. Vocab is done for the day.

Yvette Hampton:

Speaking of that, I was going to mention this. So we were talking about curriculum yesterday and some of our curriculum choices. One of the things that we are doing this year, which Nikki Trusdell talked about this on an episode I did with her a few months ago. She talked about copy. Yeah. And okay, this is so you know, you always hear about copy work when you get into the world of homeschooling.

Aby Rinella:

People are like, do copy in certain areas.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. Yes. But she brought copywork to a whole nother level for me in that it teaches kids not just good penmanship, but it teaches them sentence structure and vocabulary and spelling and writing and reading. It does all of those things all in one. So copy work.

Aby Rinella:

We’re really are you guys doing copy?

Yvette Hampton:

Yes, even Brooklyn. And so I’m having them copy like chapters out of different books, out of the Bible, just stuff that is well written, good literature.

Aby Rinella:

Right.

Yvette Hampton:

And so yeah, there you go. Why did I not do that? Put all of that in the same box together like six years ago. It would have been so much easier. I don’t know. Especially vocabulary because when you learn vocabulary words and you’re like, here’s the word and here’s the definition, that doesn’t help me. I need to know it in context. Right. So it helps with vocabulary. Totally.

Aby Rinella:

Do you ever notice that when you learn a new word that you’ve never heard before, now all of a sudden you hear it everywhere, right?

Yvette Hampton:

Yes.

Aby Rinella:

Isn’t that crazy?

Yvette Hampton:

Yes. Because your brain I rarely use it.

Aby Rinella:

You don’t?

Yvette Hampton:

Unless I hear it again.

Aby Rinella:

So then you should force yourself to use it once you learn a new word, say, I have to use this twice today.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, right.

Aby Rinella:

So we’re going to talk about the funness.

Yvette Hampton:

Funness, if that’s a word, of homeschooling. So here are some things. Here are some ideas that we have that I think make homeschooling fun. Okay. And I actually did some research. I looked at a couple of websites too, because I thought, what am I missing? But I actually had pretty much all of them. So the first one I think, are read aloud. I love doing read alouds with my kids. There’s just something about snuggling up together, sitting on the couch together and reading a book together because then you’re building a relationship with them, but then you’re developing a memory totally.

Aby Rinella:

That you then can talk. Yes. And I love that connection. Like when you watch a movie, but only this is way richer. And then there’s something that it’s almost like an inside joke, but it’s an inside story. Read aloud are worked into our curriculum, so it’s pretty easy. But it’s one of my very favorite things because then we talk about things and only us knows about it.

Yvette Hampton:

Right? Yeah, because when I was growing up, I had to read books for school. We read Shakespeare and Scarlet Letter and lots of other books that I was forced to read, but I didn’t read them with anyone. I mean, our class would discuss them, right, but I didn’t read them with my family. And so there was a total disconnect there. And so it wasn’t as fun where I think it’s so much more fun. And not that our kids can’t read books alone, but I just think there’s something so unique and special about they’re totally read aloud with our family and they can be fun. Read aloud. They don’t all have to be serious, mean, read the book with no pictures. Have you read that book? No. You haven’t read the book with no pictures?

Aby Rinella:

No, I’m writing it down by BJ.

Yvette Hampton:

Novak.

Aby Rinella:

No.

Yvette Hampton:

Oh my word. It is one of the funniest books. I mean it’s for little kids, but even Lacey will still let me read it to her sometimes.

Aby Rinella:

Okay, I’m writing it.

Yvette Hampton:

It’s this is like know, early kids, even down to toddlers. But it is so stinking funny. But I like how you Lacey’s favorite.

Aby Rinella:

Book and you say even Lacey will let you read it to her. Now, I’ve noticed with read aloud, we do a lot of read aloud, but we also do and my kids are all a little bit older now. Like I have a high school and a middle schooler. We still do picture books and I think that makes homeschool fun because my big kids will come join with the picture books all day long and they’re so fun. And then we discuss if we like the pictures. If we don’t like know, it’s just super.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah.

Aby Rinella:

So reading period makes homeschool fun.

Yvette Hampton:

I think it really, you know, it’s kind of sad because we’re getting to this phase with Lacey where she doesn’t want me to read her like the little kid books anymore because she’s going to be 13 and it’s okay, I get it.

Aby Rinella:

Not even picture book.

Yvette Hampton:

But I will sometimes beg her. I’m like, please just let me read you Green Eggs and Ham. I can read Green Eggs and Ham really fast. Like really fast. And Kit cracks her up anyway. Yeah, but yeah, audiobooks, that was another thing on my list.

Aby Rinella:

We do that every at lunchtime. So we gather for lunch and we listen to our audiobook. That’s just kind of our which leads me to one that I think to make homeschool fun is traditions. I think traditions and they don’t have to be what makes a tradition is they’re not everybody else’s tradition. But homeschool traditions I think is what makes and that’s what’s going to be what our kids look back on and remember. They’re not going to remember well, they might remember the math lessons, but really they’re going to look back and remember the traditions of what did you do on the first day of school? Or we have homemade muffins and tea every morning during a certain spot in our school.

Yvette Hampton:

Every day.

Aby Rinella:

We do it pretty much every day. So we gather together for our science and history and then when the kids go to do their independent work, I give them muffins and tea. And it’s so easy because you just make a bunch of muffins for the week. But those are the little traditions that the Winnie actually said. She’s like, I can’t wait to start school again for the muffins. And I’m like, wow, it’s also just necessary to feed them.

Yvette Hampton:

Right.

Aby Rinella:

But they see it as this fun little know, or another tradition we have is every morning they wake up to worship music playing and then we go outside, all of us together, and we stand and we turn our faces to the sun for, like, five minutes to get that first boost of the sun in the morning. And that’s just been a fun I just love traditions, period, right?

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah.

Aby Rinella:

What are some of yours that make school fun?

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, tradition, specifically.

Aby Rinella:

Yeah.

Yvette Hampton:

Well, I mean, we have our first day of school tradition, of course, where we always go and get donuts, which is fine, and my girls always look forward to that. Usually what we’ve done the last couple of years is we’ll actually go to breakfast and go have a nice donuts, feed me a full meal. Well, there’s a place that has little tiny donuts here. I think it was last year or the year before. We actually went and got those after breakfast so that we still were keeping up with our donut tradition. Right. That was fun. We have, like, family traditions, but homeschool traditions. I don’t know that we have. Maybe I need to start making muffins so I can be just like, Abby, can you send me a recipe? What kind of muffins do you make?

Aby Rinella:

Oh, I make the different every time. I mean, I don’t know. Usually it’s like a sourdough muffin base, and I throw in whatever I have.

Yvette Hampton:

Sourdough muffins? I didn’t know that was a thing.

Aby Rinella:

Yeah, I use everything sourdough, and then I’ll just throw in whatever’s in them. But you don’t even have to do muffins. You could just buy muffins or buy I mean, don’t feel like you have.

Yvette Hampton:

To make can I buy, like, the Little Debbie’s mustard?

Aby Rinella:

Done.

Yvette Hampton:

Are those good?

Aby Rinella:

Not good for you.

Yvette Hampton:

Ate those every day?

Aby Rinella:

No, that would be terrible.

Yvette Hampton:

The end of the year, we all weigh an extra 50 pounds.

Aby Rinella:

There’s your tradition. I mean, I know everybody has family traditions, but I really think homeschool traditions really make it fun. Every Friday we do this or every lunch, and it doesn’t have to be big. Like our tradition is. At lunchtime, we do a read aloud. It’s just a fun thing. I don’t know.

Yvette Hampton:

That’s fun. Our tradition is trying not to die.

Aby Rinella:

There you go. Trying to get through the day.

Yvette Hampton:

Yes. All in one piece.

Aby Rinella:

I’m just kidding.

Yvette Hampton:

But yeah, our first day of school. I love donut tradition. It’s probably our best one, but we have more, like Christmas traditions, totally. Things like that. But we’re going to talk about that on another episode.

Aby Rinella:

Yes, we are.

Yvette Hampton:

So yeah. Games, though. That’s another thing.

Aby Rinella:

The you go games.

Yvette Hampton:

In our family, we play lots of games almost every day. We don’t have a specific time. Right. But even during the summertime, we pretty much always have a stack of uno cards sitting out, spotted sitting out. And then we often play other games, like Scattergories.

Aby Rinella:

That’s probably a good way to diffuse when kids start to struggle in certain you just diffuse it by playing.

Yvette Hampton:

A game. Totally.

Aby Rinella:

That’s a great idea to just have a game handy so when things start to go south, let’s play.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. And over the summer, we actually got a foosball table. Oh, fine. Yeah, so that’s been fun. So foosball goes on every day and there is lots of bragging rights in our family now. I actually don’t enjoy playing foosball, okay. So my girls will ask me, but that’s more of a Garrett thing. He plays with the girls every single day.

Aby Rinella:

They play foosball.

Yvette Hampton:

It’s totally fun.

Aby Rinella:

Oh, I love that. That makes homeschool fun. Okay, here’s one, because I don’t know how much time we have, but this started when the kids were little and they’d be reading a couple of different books. And rather than narrate because everybody’s into narration, which is really important because you’re learning how to communicate and it helps with comprehension and all that. But we did, and I don’t think I could get my older kids to do it now, but I can get when they’re younger and my younger will but they act out the book. So we all sit on the couch and then without talking, you have to tell us what happened in the chapter you read through acting. And we used to do that all the time. And I’m like, I want to bring it back. And my older two are like, that’s not happening. But I’m like, okay, fine, the little one’s going to this year. But that always made home school really fun. It made sharing your book rather than answering questions to mom or filling out a worksheet. Those are so boring. And we get to as homeschoolers, do it and take whatever concept and make it more fun. And so we always acted books out. I thought that was always fun.

Yvette Hampton:

That is fun. Yeah, we’ve done that with Bible stories.

Aby Rinella:

Oh, there you go.

Yvette Hampton:

And still even sometimes we’ll be reading a Bible story and it’s usually Lacey, she’ll jump up and say, okay, I’m going to act this one out dorky thing. And it’s really fun.

Aby Rinella:

It beats quizzes, it beats works. It beats all the lame things that you could be doing for reading comprehension. And it makes it just exciting and fun.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, the whole purpose is for them to remember what it is that they’re reading or what it is that they’re doing. Yeah, that’s super fun. I’m just acting things out. And it shows the different personalities of.

Aby Rinella:

Your totally, totally history. That’d be fun to actually have your kids act out the history lesson. We did.

Yvette Hampton:

End up with sheets and pillowcases on their head.

Aby Rinella:

Totally.

Yvette Hampton:

All kinds of random things. Yes, we’re going to talk in a future episode soon with Abby again about healthy homeschooling. And we’re going to talk a lot in that episode about outdoor time. But that is one of the things that I think is important in making homeschool fun. And this is something that our family struggles with so much, Abby, because we’re not like you, and we grew up as city, right. And so it does not come as naturally for us. And so we have to make ourselves get outside.

Aby Rinella:

But what if you just like, let’s go throw a blanket on the grass and read our read aloud on the grass? I mean, it doesn’t have to be crazy, just simple, right?

Yvette Hampton:

Yes. But here’s the thing. We are all very easily distracted, and so if we go through a blanket, like, we live in a neighborhood, and there’s a walking path that goes right behind our house, okay. There’s people all day long walking on the walking path and walking their dogs and walking their babies, and I don’t know why I feel like or I don’t know, we’ll be sitting on the blanket and like, oh, my goodness, there’s a grasshopper. There’s screams and runs every time we’ve done that. It seems like there’s so many distractions outside. So, yes, in theory, it’s a great idea, and maybe we need to just discipline ourselves to not be distracted oh, that’s so funny. By all the crazy rent. Like, I hear homeschool moms who go to the park and do school. I’m like, we could never yeah.

Aby Rinella:

If there are people around that doesn’t work for us okay, then in between breaks, like on your breaks, right? Then you go outside. Oh, my gosh. Here’s a tradition. This one’s hilarious. On the first day of the, um well, it started out when Coulson was teeny. It was just in his diaper. He’d go run around the yard three times. Then as they get older, so they go with no shoes, no know, and they run around the yard three times. But you could even do that. Like, okay, we’re in between science and history. Go run around the yard three times. And just something to get them outside for those tiny little breaks. Yes. And then you can stay inside since you’re distracted for the actual learning stuff.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. And we have worked to get some things. Like, we got cornhole over the summer.

Aby Rinella:

There you go.

Yvette Hampton:

And I got that because I wanted to have a way to just go outside.

Aby Rinella:

Like, we have to have a reason to go outside. I mean, if you guys are game players, then you could take some of those. There’s a lot of different outdoor games. Yeah, we just played one called Spike Ball this weekend, and it’s super fun. And you could just go outside and be like, ten minutes of Spike Ball done.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. Yes. That’s a good idea. I’ve heard of Spike Ball. I’ve not played it before.

Aby Rinella:

We just played it super fun.

Yvette Hampton:

Oh, that’s cool. Yeah. I’m going to have to look up a YouTube video or something.

Aby Rinella:

How about this for a tradition? Every year at the beginning of the school year, you buy an outside game. And so in a few years, you’re going to have so many outside games. And then you just do between each lesson, you go do ten minutes playing an outside game.

Yvette Hampton:

That’s a great idea. Sold. There’s a new I just need to back up Brooklyn. I need to rewind her a few years.

Aby Rinella:

What I’m feeling as they get older, I’m like, wait, running out of time. I have so many more ideas.

Yvette Hampton:

I know. Anyway, I love you talked about playing music. That was one of the things that I said. However, here’s the issue with our family. I don’t know if your family’s like this or if other families are. Our family almost never agrees on music. The girls kind of like the same kind of music. Garrett and I have completely different tastes in music for the most part. There are some things that we both really enjoy and the girls do not like the same kind of music that Garritt and I enjoy. I love country and bluegrass and then I love know I love my Shane and those, but my girls don’t enjoy listening to any of that. So it makes it hard to play music because someone will put something on and then everyone else like so they.

Aby Rinella:

Like the same kind of music. So you could play what they love to get them up and going.

Yvette Hampton:

Yes, we could. Who was it? Oh, man. We had somebody on the podcast several months ago and she talked about how they start out their day, their home school day with a specific song. And that’s how her kids know it’s time to come to the living room. School is starting when they hear the music with that specific song every day. And I love that idea. So maybe I just need to find there you go.

Aby Rinella:

Find a song everyone likes. We start at the morning bar. That would make your kids rebel. Revolt. The first day of school of every year, we play the Veggie Tales. It’s the first day of first grade. Really love that song. That’s our first day of school song.

Yvette Hampton:

Maybe we could do the Veggie Tales where is my hairbrush song, because it seems like that is an on. You singing on two girls always, where’s my hairbrush?

Aby Rinella:

Maybe we should that would be it. And be like, when you hear the where is my hairbrush song, it’s time for breakfast.

Yvette Hampton:

Hairbrush.

Aby Rinella:

Yeah, that’s a good idea. I have a specific song. That means it’s time to gather. Instead of my voice yelling, let’s go.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah.

Aby Rinella:

I’ve been calling you for five minutes. I like that idea.

Yvette Hampton:

Yes.

Aby Rinella:

And by the end how about this? And by the end of the song, they have to be seated so they actually have the song to get there to find their hairbrush and actually get seated.

Yvette Hampton:

Right. Okay.

Aby Rinella:

We’re making up new things as we podcast.

Yvette Hampton:

So there’s that. Cooking together. That’s another thing. I am so thankful that my girls enjoy being in the kitchen because again, I do not and they love brooklyn likes to cook meals. Lacey likes to bake. And so it’s perfect because they do those things. Perfect. Yeah. Another idea is, of course, field trips, which that’s kind of a given. Like, take as many field trips as you can that’s school, and that’s really important for kids to be out and exploring the world around them. But one of the things that we did when we were back in california years ago and it’s kind of funny, it’s almost kind of what launched us into traveling in the RV know, doing our whole travel thing that we did for a few years. We would call them family day adventures, and we would literally get in the car and drive. And most of the time we didn’t know where we were going. We would just take random roads and see where it would lead us to. I love that. And so that’s a fun thing for again, if you just need a break or you can do an audiobook in the car while you’re doing a family day adventure. You can listen to worship music, you can do all kinds of things. Just get in the car and just drive. You can do it during baby’s nap time, maybe if baby sleeps in the car. Just different things to get, just for a different atmosphere, different change of scenery. But it was fun. We would find the most random things. And we’re still newish in, but so we’re always discovering new things. I mean, we’ll go down a road and I’ll be like, I didn’t even know this road existed. I had no idea these stores were here, these restaurants. But even in California, I mean, we grew up in that town, and we would find the most random things that we know. Look at this super cool bridge that we didn’t even know existed, that’s been here my whole life, only ten minutes from my house. And so it’s really fun to do that. So family day adventures, I think, are super duper fun.

Aby Rinella:

I love that, just exploring. And I think that’s so important because sometimes the four walls of our house start to just kind of close in on us.

Yvette Hampton:

Yes.

Aby Rinella:

And I always tell new moms, like, just change the scenery. Just go do something, even if it’s going from one room to another. But there is something about just change the scenery. So that family day adventure, just exploring is such a fun.

Yvette Hampton:

Yep. So much fun.

Aby Rinella:

I like Kit.

Yvette Hampton:

And you can do you know, if you’re a Charlotte Mason homeschooler, you could do nature studies that way. I mean, totally. So many my kids used to like.

Aby Rinella:

It that I’d get in the car and then one kid was in charge and they’d say, Left, right, left. Oh, yeah, right. That would be super. And then I take whatever direction they say, and who knows where we end up. And then the next kid does it. I don’t know why that would be for them. It drives me nuts because I’m like, we’re in the same neighborhood every time.

Yvette Hampton:

Oh, that would be super fun. There are so many things you could do to make that fun. Like, you can give the a math worksheet and say, okay, whoever can figure out this problem next or gets the next problem right.

Aby Rinella:

Or if you’re telling me what is even, we turn right. If the answer is odd, we turn left. I mean, there’s so many ideas to make homeschooling fun. In fact, when this episode posts on social media, everybody should drop their number one, how they make homeschooling fun in there. Because it’s fun to get ideas from other moms.

Yvette Hampton:

Totally.

Aby Rinella:

Sometimes they’re like, I don’t know, I’m just paralyzed with this. Yeah.

Yvette Hampton:

I mean, you could do tests that way. You could do a spelling test. You could do there’s so many things you can do to make or on.

Aby Rinella:

You could take bikes and do that with a little know, abby, you can’t.

Yvette Hampton:

Ride a bike with a clipboard.

Aby Rinella:

You totally can. You see the things you ride kind.

Yvette Hampton:

Of bikes do you have in Idaho?

Aby Rinella:

No, you just balance it. I guess maybe that’s not no, don’t listen to Abby.

Yvette Hampton:

No one listens to Abby. Can I ride a bike with a clipboard? I’m saying no to that.

Aby Rinella:

If you have a helmet on, it’s totally safe.

Yvette Hampton:

I reject that idea. Okay, fine. Get in your car, but don’t have a clipboard. And write while you’re driving either. That’s not safe.

Aby Rinella:

No, but your passenger can.

Yvette Hampton:

Your passenger can. Yeah, done.

Aby Rinella:

Sold.

Yvette Hampton:

Oh, man. Okay, we’re almost out of time. So the last couple that I have and then Abby, I don’t know if you have any more to add to this. Join a local support group or a co op. Of course, if you haven’t done that this year and you have a local support group, a lot of places have support groups where they know kids get together for field trips and activities and sometimes field days and things like that. And you don’t have to be part of their co op. You just can be part of their support group. And it gives you the opportunity to meet other families and other mamas and kids and stuff. So those are great. Or, of course, co ops, watching videos. Of course you have to be particular about what you put in front of your kids. But videos and documentaries, those are great ways to just mix it up, teach a lesson. Maybe it’s a history thing. You’ve got to be careful with it.

Aby Rinella:

Yeah, but your kids will learn so much more. I remember I would teach my kids for weeks something, and then they’d watch one episode of Wildcrats, and then they would learn everything. Or they’d tell somebody something. They’re like, Where’d you learn that? And I’m like, clearly, they’re going to say, mom, because I just spent a month teaching them, and they’re like, we saw a YouTube video on it.

Yvette Hampton:

Right.

Aby Rinella:

I don’t know. It sticks more with yes.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, for sure. So, yeah, that’s a great way to utilize totally. The Internet. Yes.

Aby Rinella:

Be careful.

Yvette Hampton:

Be careful with so art projects, which.

Aby Rinella:

I’m not great at this, but I.

Yvette Hampton:

Know we’ve got some mamas who are fantastic at doing art projects and the don’t mind the glitter and the glue and all that stuff.

Aby Rinella:

And you know what? It doesn’t have to be something you plan, because I was never that either. But then I learned if I just have them or give them a box of art stuff and the table, they’ll come up with their own art. Yeah. So I’ve learned, like, I don’t have to plan it. I don’t have to have these elaborate things, which is hard for me anyway, because then I’m like, you’re not doing it right. I wouldn’t use those two colors together. So I’ve learned I can’t do that because I’m too much of a control freak. I just had to give them the stuff and let them create whatever they want to create.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. Brooklyn took a she was visiting a co op one day, and she went into the art class in that co op. This was many years ago. And the lady who was teaching art, she was like, OK, I want you to draw or paint this picture. And Brooklyn is very artistic, so she likes to be creative. Well, this mom who was teaching it, she was like, okay, no, I want you to paint this this color and this color. And Brooklyn came out that she was like, that lady’s a horrible teacher. She was telling me how I had to paint my picture. And she was so deeply offended that this woman was telling her how she had to paint her picture because Kit just was like, but that’s not how I want to do it.

Aby Rinella:

She’s a creative.

Yvette Hampton:

This lady was very kind, but she was a control freak, and she wanted to tell the kids how to do their art.

Aby Rinella:

And Brooklyn was sometimes it’s painful. You’re like, yeah, I don’t feel like those two colors. I have to walk away and be like, Be creative. Whatever you want to do.

Yvette Hampton:

Yes.

Aby Rinella:

I can’t watch.

Yvette Hampton:

And then the last one that I have, which I’m really trying this year and going to try to do, is taking photos and videos, which we’ve got 5 million photos and videos of our girls. But I just feel like when they were little, I used to do videos all the time because they were so cute and little, and they would do funny things. Right. But I really want to capture more of what they’re doing. And even school, like, this is our life, this is what we do. So just taking more pictures and videos just to hold those memories, because when you look back on them, when I look back on videos, I mean, so often, I don’t know if you do this. I look back, I’m like, I don’t even remember that.

Aby Rinella:

Right?

Yvette Hampton:

I have zero recollection of we watched a Christmas video not that long ago of our girls, and they were really little, and I think Brooklyn was maybe five, maybe six. And I had literally zero recollection of this particular Christmas, none at all. And I was like, I am so thankful we have this video. And I had my nieces in there, and they were all so little and so cute, and they were hilarious, and so I want to capture more of that instead of the posed pictures and planned out pictures, like, just more every candid. This is what our life is.

Aby Rinella:

Oh, I love that.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. Do you have any more?

Aby Rinella:

Well, I think you hit most of them. I mean, I’m huge on traditions, but I say also, it’d be fun to mix it up once in a while and be like, put one kid in charge of the day. They need to cover the same things. Let them steer the day. How do you want to do the day? And I think you learn a lot from that to go. What things did they keep? What things did they throw out? Which things mattered? What order rocked for them? And it mixes it up. And I think when they are in charge, it also adds for them. So I think that would be a fun maybe once a month, each kid gets a day where they get to be in charge of the day. They get to pick the song you wake up to. They get to pick what time you do what and what order it goes and who sits where. And I think that’d be fun.

Yvette Hampton:

That is fun. I love that. I love it when kids get to take charge of things.

Aby Rinella:

It’s good for them.

Yvette Hampton:

It is. Which, by the way, this has nothing to do with this. I just was thinking about it as you were talking about that. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this. We finally figured out who does the dishes dilemma.

Aby Rinella:

Yeah, you told me. A month, right?

Yvette Hampton:

Or a week. They do two weeks.

Aby Rinella:

Two weeks.

Yvette Hampton:

Two weeks.

Aby Rinella:

And then they get to sit in the front seat of the car.

Yvette Hampton:

And they get to sit in the front whoever’s dishes week it is, or two weeks it is. If it’s your day to do dishes, you get to sit in the front seat of the car. And can I just tell you, it’s worth kit, why didn’t I do this years ago? It has eliminated so many fights. And my girls. It’s my turn. It’s my turn to sit in the front seat. I did the dishes last night. Or I did them yesterday. No.

Aby Rinella:

Isn’t it funny how you finally figure something out? You’re like, how did I not know this all those years ago?

Yvette Hampton:

I know.

Aby Rinella:

It’s ridiculous that’s such a good idea. That’s a good idea. So they have the one negative thing and the one positive thing I love.

Yvette Hampton:

Yes. Yeah. Garritt and I help the with dishes, but ultimately it’s their responsibility for the weekend when it’s their dishes week and it’s been magical.

Aby Rinella:

I love that idea.

Yvette Hampton:

And it makes home school more fun because then there’s not as much fighting.

Aby Rinella:

Yes.

Yvette Hampton:

Oh, dear.

Aby Rinella:

Eliminate as much drama as you can. And I’ve learned it usually starts with me. I’m allowing drama. I’m allowing them to bicker over the dishwasher rather than just be like, no, this is how it’s going to work. Yeah.

How to Homeschool: A Step-by-Step Guide with Kristi Clover

In a world where the “traditional” educational model has devolved to the point of abject danger and degeneracy, millions of families are seeking alternatives and homeschooling has reemerged as the gold-standard in education. In the latest episode of the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast, host Yvette Hampton sat down with homeschooling expert, author, and speaker Kristi Clover to delve into the ins and outs of homeschooling. With valuable insights and practical tips, Kristi empowers parents to embark on this impactful journey. Let’s explore some key takeaways from this illuminating conversation.

For more on this topic, make sure you download our free Homeschool Survival Kit. This 70+ page eBook walks you through every step, from just getting started to graduating your last child with confidence.

“The first thing you need to do is establish your purpose. Figure out why you’re homeschooling, what your goals are, and what you’re trying to accomplish.”

Kristi Clover

Establishing Purpose and Motivation:

Kristi emphasizes the importance of knowing the “why” behind homeschooling. She guides parents to solidify their purpose as the foundation for their homeschooling journey. As she explains, “The first thing you need to do is establish your purpose. Figure out why you’re homeschooling, what your goals are, and what you’re trying to accomplish.” This clarity enables parents to navigate challenges with determination and resilience – even when you experience the inevitable setbacks associated with parenting and teaching your kids at home.

Embracing Flexibility and Personalized Learning:

One of the primary advantages of homeschooling is the ability to tailor education to each child’s unique needs and interests. Kristi emphasizes the importance of incorporating children’s passions into the curriculum, stating, “Find out what subjects and activities really inspire your children… Let them dig deep into those interests.” By doing so, parents tap into their children’s natural curiosity, encouraging enthusiasm for learning and empowering them to become experts in their chosen fields.

Creating a Customized Homeschool Experience:

Homeschooling need not follow a rigid, conventional model. Kristi encourages parents to design their own homeschool experience, emphasizing that it doesn’t have to (and shouldn’t) replicate the public school system. She states, “You don’t have to re-create a mini public school in your home. You can really tailor it to your own family and your own goals.” This flexibility allows parents to develop a curriculum that aligns with their family’s values and creates an inspiring learning environment.

Prioritizing Discipleship:

For Kristi, homeschooling extends beyond academics. It is an opportunity for parents to disciple their children’s hearts and instill a Christian worldview. “Whoever spends the most time with the children is the one truly parenting and discipling them,” she asserts. Homeschooling allows parents to prioritize character development, Biblical values, and Christ-centered teaching while providing a high-quality education.

Seeking Support and Resources:

Homeschooling can be an enriching and rewarding journey, but it also comes with challenges. Kristi emphasizes the value of seeking support from the homeschool community and attending conventions to connect with like-minded individuals and gather valuable resources. She also recommends the Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) as a crucial resource for legal support.

Adapting Curriculum to Suit Learning Styles:

Another crucial aspect of homeschooling is tailoring the curriculum to meet the unique needs and learning styles of children. Kristi encourages parents to evaluate themselves as teachers and create a curriculum that aligns with their children’s learning preferences. She remarks, “As I observed my children, I paid attention to their tactile and visual learning preferences, and adapted our curriculum accordingly.” Kristi shares her experience of initially using a hands-on curriculum for her two close-aged children and then transitioning to more video-based learning materials as her family grew.

Organizing with the Crate System:

One of the key highlights of the podcast is Kristi’s discussion on the crate system, an effective method she uses to organize homeschool materials. Kristi explains how this system promotes independence and provides a manageable view of the week’s workload for students. She shares, “The crate system allows you to put homeschooling on autopilot. It helps you navigate emergencies or personal situations with ease.” Kristi has expanded on the crate system and other helpful tips for homeschool organization in her book, M.O.M. – Master Organizer of Mayhem.

Finding Success in Homeschooling:

While homeschooling can feel overwhelming at times, Kristi encourages parents to remember that it is a calling and a journey of faith. She compares homeschooling to a scene from an Indiana Jones movie, where taking a step of faith leads to finding solid ground. Kristi advises, “Keep your faith in Christ at the center of your homeschooling journey. There may be hard days and challenges, but it is all worth it in the end.”

More on this subject: How to Homeschool: My Original Roadmap

Conclusion:

In this series, Kristi Clover provides parents with a wealth of insights and guidance on how to embark on a successful homeschooling journey. By uncovering the “why” behind homeschooling, embracing flexibility, and prioritizing discipleship, parents can empower themselves to create a tailor-made educational experience for their children. With determination, resourcefulness, and a supportive network, homeschooling families can embrace the incredible opportunity to shape their children’s hearts and minds.

“Teaching children to love the Lord with their whole being is challenging, but my hope is that my actions and life will have a stronger impact on their learning than any curriculum.” Homeschooling is not just about academics—it’s about creating an atmosphere of love, care, and growth within the family.

Recommended Resources: 

Free Homeschool Survival Kit 

“How to Homeschool” the original document that my friend, Holly Learner gave me as a roadmap for homeschooling.

Homeschool Basics: How to Get Started, Keep Motivated, and Bring Out the Best in Your Kids, by Kristi Clover

M.O.M. – Master Organizer of Mayhem, by Kristi Clover

More from Kristi Clover on the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast

Education: The Key to Saving Our Nation – Alex Newman on the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast

Getting Started in Homeschooling – Israel Wayne on the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast 

🍿🍿🍿 Stream Schoolhouse Rocked: The Homeschool Revolution for FREE today!

❤️ ❤️ ❤️ Are you in need of a fresh vision for your homeschool? Join us for 4 days of Homeschool Encouragement at the Homegrown Generation Family Expo. Use the coupon code PODCAST to save 25% on registration today! 

Discussion Questions:

1. In what ways can homeschooling provide flexibility and fewer restrictions, as compared to traditional schooling?

2. What are Kristi and Yvette’s primary goals for homeschooling and why are they important? How do they align with your goals?

3. How does Kristi approach the idea of children making their own choices regarding faith, and what is the role of the parent in this process?

4. What are some alternative teaching methods mentioned in the episode, and how can they be implemented in homeschooling?

5. What are some potential benefits and challenges of homeschooling, and how can parents address the challenges and maximize the benefits?

6. Have you ever tried organizing your homeschool materials using a crate system or any other system? What worked well for you and what challenges did you face?

7. How do you prioritize and choose curriculum materials for your homeschool? Do you follow a specific approach, such as Charlotte Mason or unit studies, or do you customize your curriculum based on your child’s needs?

8. What are some practical ways you incorporate character development into your homeschooling? Have you found any resources or methods particularly helpful in teaching character traits?

9. How do you handle the pressure to create a perfect homeschool image on social media platforms like Pinterest and Instagram? Have you ever felt overwhelmed or discouraged seeing other homeschooling families’ seemingly perfect setups?

10. Have you ever tried incorporating video-based learning materials, such as the ones recommended by the speaker? How has it impacted your teaching and your child’s learning experience?

11. How do you adapt your homeschooling approach as your family grows and the needs of your children change? Have you found any specific strategies or methods helpful in teaching different grade levels simultaneously?

12. How do you handle the challenges of teaching children who may have different learning styles or preferences? Do you customize their curriculum or adjust your teaching methods to accommodate their needs?

13. How do you find and evaluate homeschooling methods and curricula? Do you rely on recommendations from friends, online resources, or attending homeschooling conferences and seminars?

14. How do you balance the desire for academic achievement with the importance of character development in your homeschooling? How do you prioritize one over the other or find a balance between the two?

Read the full transcript:

Yvette Hampton:

Hey everyone. This is Yvette Hampton. Welcome back to the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast. I am so glad you are with us this week. We have an incredible guest on and she’s been on with us before. She was part of the Homegrown Generation Family Expo that we did back in March. And we’ve had her on the podcast a few times. And so I’m so excited to have Kristi Clover back with us. We are going to talk this week about how to homeschool because so many people are asking that question, how do I homeschool? How do I do this thing? And so we are going to dig deep into this and I could think of no better person to do this than with Kristi Clover this week. I want to tell you kind of a little story about how this all came to be. So 13 years ago, my friend Holly Lerner, who is a good friend of mine, she kind of has been my homeschool mentor and mom mentor when I very first became a mom. And she’s been homeschooling for quite some time. And so she wrote this two page document for me on how to homeschool. It was literally titled how to Homeschool. And 13 years later, I still have this document. And I came across it the other day. I hadn’t seen it for quite some time and I thought, you know what? There are so many new people homeschooling. And though we talk about homeschooling all the time, I really wanted to do a how to episode. And so I was looking at that and thinking, oh, this would be great. We need to do an episode on this and kind of go off some of her points. And then I had Kristi Clover scheduled to come on today and we were going to talk about chores and how to teach our kids to do chores and teach them responsibility and all of that fun stuff. And so I went on her website to look at some things and the first thing that I clicked on, I don’t even know how I got to it, but the first thing I clicked on was Kristi’s how to homeschool. And I was huh, OK, perhaps this is what the Lord wants us to talk about today. So I called Kristi like 2 hours ago and I said, hey, what do you think about switching gears? Do you want to talk about how to homeschool? And she was like, sure, I’m up for anything. And so we’re talking about this because this is really, I feel like what the Lord put on our hearts to talk about today. And because we have so many new people homeschooling and they’re asking the question, they want to know what to do, how do they do this? So we are going to dig deep into this this week and I hope that you’re going to be encouraged. Kristi, tell our listeners for those who are not familiar with you introduce yourself and your family to us. Sure.

Kristi Clover:

Yeah. So I am a homeschool mom. I’m a veteran homeschool mom. We’ve been homeschooling for over two years now. We have graduated two of our five kids out of our home school. And we have a very unique experience when it comes to homeschooling from the standpoint of we had our kids in a private Christian preschool. We did public school. We pulled our kids out of public school to do homeschooling. So that’s kind of our home school background. Other than that, yeah, I have this whole online life where I love encouraging people. And that is the beauty of getting to do this online, is I feel like I can actually encourage so many families using these online platforms that are available to us. But I’ve written a few books. I have a free book called Sanity Savers for Moms, and that is available on my website for free. And then I also have a book, I’ll just plug it here called Mom Master Organizer of Mayhem. And that’s all about home organization, but with moms in mind because I want you to give yourself a lot of grace. And then I also have Homeschool Basics, which is why we’re talking today. It’s about how to get started, motivate your kids, and bring out the best in your kids.

Yvette Hampton:

Awesome. So many good resources. And we have done episodes with you on every one of those. So back in March, when we did the Homegrown Generation, we talked about sanity savers for Moms. So we’ll put a link to the Homegrown Generation Family Expo. So if you guys have not participated in that, it’s still available. You can still sign up for that. It’s $20. And you have access to the entire conference with Christie’s session as well as all the others, and access to the whole one that we did back in 2020. And that one had Heidi St. John and Kirk Cameron and a whole bunch of other people as well. So, yeah, you can sign up for that and hear that whole session. And then we did another one on your mom book and on Homeschool Basics. So we’ll put links to all those things in the show notes. But before we get into this, we are going to get into the logistics of how to homeschool because that’s why we’re here and that’s what we’re going to talk about this week. But before we do, I want to talk about just kind of setting the foundation for all of this because we can throw out all of the how to’s, right? We can give all the points. You start here, start here, do this next. Next. But really, when it all comes down to it, what really matters is what is your goal? What is your why? Why are you even homeschooling? And so we talk about this on the podcast all the time, but I want to talk through a couple of verses really quickly. And the first one is Ecclesiastes 1213. And this is probably my favorite verse in the whole Bible. If I could choose one that has to be my favorite, this is probably the one that I would choose. And it says, this the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man, you guys, that’s it. That’s the whole duty of man is to fear God and keep his commandments. And it says the very first few words is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Like, that’s it.

Kristi Clover:

This is what you do.

Yvette Hampton:

Exactly. I mean, I feel like we could just be like and done. That’s how you home school, just fear God and keep his commandments. Right. That really is all that matters is that we fear God and keep his commandments, and then that we teach that to our kids. And as we’re teaching that, of course, they think of Deuteronomy 6:4-9. And this is kind of the homeschool-y verse that you hear a lot of people say, and I think it’s kind of gotten, I want to say almost swept under the rug because people were like, yeah, Deuteronomy six, that’s the thing. But I’m going to read it again, because again, I think it’s so important for where we are today and for what it is that we’re doing in homeschooling our kids. And this is what it says. It says here, o Israel, the Lord our God. The Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk aby the way and when you lie down and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. And you guys, that’s it. That’s really what matters, the end of the matter. All of this, all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, and then go and teach them to your kids, and teach them when you sit in your house, when you walk, by the way, when you lie down and when you rise. That’s what God’s commanded us to do. And so the very first thing when knowing how to homeschool is you got to know your why. And this is something that we as parents, we really have to take seriously, because this is the foundation of our parenting. This is the foundation of our homeschooling, and it is the most important thing. I know that was a long introduction to this how to homeschool. And people are like, just get to the nitty gritty. Give me my list. And they’ve got their pen and hopefully their Schoolhouse Rocked podcast notes. But Kristi, you speak all over the country on this specific topic and I want you to kind of dig in with us. What is kind of going off of what we started talking about? What is the first thing that parents need to focus on?

Kristi Clover:

Well, I do think, as you said, that understanding the why behind your homeschooling is so vital because that’s what’s going to help you during those hard days. And you’re like, what am I doing? You’re like that’s, right? So I always encourage people to write down your why and keep it posted somewhere so you can go back and look at it helps to have scripture. I love looking at those different scripture references you mentioned. But the other part of it that both my husband are really passionate about is that we really feel like as parents, we’re called to disciple our children. And Vodi Bakum has the most fun way of looking at that deuteronomy verse that you talked about. And he’s like, there’s no public school in the desert. So when Moses is giving these instructions to Israelites, it’s not like, okay, yeah, while they’re at a public school, they’ll do the public school thing. And then when we’re around them, yeah, that’s when we teach our kids. We’re called to train our kids up in the Lord. And I think it’s just so important and I think it’s easy to think when because what I hear a lot from people is, well, if I home school, it’s going to drive us all crazy. Like, I’m going to drive my kids crazy, my kids are going to drive me crazy. They’re going to drive each other crazy. And that’s a very common thing. And it happens. I will just tell you, yes, that’s going to happen. But really it comes back to parenting. It’s calling you to get on top of some different parenting issues that you probably have going on. And that’s really important because I think it’s easy to say, well, I’ll just have the school take care of it. And right now, what we know that’s happening in school, that’s the last place you really want your kids to be. What is happening is no longer a secret agenda. It’s now a very blatant agenda that is coming out into our school systems. And we’ve been fed a lie for a long time. And I think I’ve homeschooled long enough now because this is, I think, our 15th or so year homeschooling. And that you start recognizing this lie that we have been told is that trust us, trust the schools. You’re not equipped to teach your children. We are equipped to teach your children. And that’s a lie we’ve been fed for a long time. And so we’re supposed to put this trust in this government agency that right now is trying to push more politics than academics and so that’s the other part of the issue is you might feel like you’re not equipped. God is going to call you and equip you. If he is calling you to parent your child, he’s going to equip you in that. So that’s really important to understand that if you’re feeling unable to homeschool, you need to lean on in the Lord and find support. There’s so much out there to help you support. And so that I think is really, again, going back to discipleship is really being the heart of the issue and just knowing that God is going to help you, he’s going to give you discernment, he’ll help you find better curriculum. If the curriculum you’re using isn’t working for you, you have amazing resources. Like you guys have so many great resources, especially with the homegrown homeschooling program that you guys put on. It was so good to be a part of that and just to see all the different people that are there. But I always encourage people get to a homeschool convention, find your people. So that’s where you find your people. And then online you can do a Google search and find other homeschool communities as well because those are the people who are going to help you figure out how am I doing this whole homeschool thing when you really look again.

Yvette Hampton:

Big right? And so what you’re saying is homeschooling really is discipleship and discipleship is parenting and parenting is discipleship. And so our kids are being parented by someone, right? They’re either being parented by us or they’re being parented by the public school system or private school system, wherever you have your kids. So whoever has them for the most amount of time is the one who’s truly parenting and discipling their hearts for the majority of time. And so yeah, it is a high calling and it’s a lot of work. It is not for the faint of heart but it is for every parent who has a know. And I think you and I are on the same page. And I know we’ve talked with Heidi St. John about this as like we used to be in that boat where we were. Well, you know, homeschooling is for some but maybe not for everybody. Maybe God’s calling this person to it, but not that person. And we’re now in the boat of like he’s calling all parents to homeschool because he has called all parents to disciple the hearts of their children just as we’ve read in Ephesians or in Deuteronomy and in Ecclesiastes. I mean, that is what God has called us to do as parents. And so it is training up our children right in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. As Ephesians 6:4, it’s teaching them obedience, it’s teaching them to obey. Colossians 3:20 is children, obey your parents in all things. For this. Pleases the Lord. We want our kids to have blessings and so therefore we want them to obey the things that we’re teaching. There’s just so much scripture that backs up our responsibility as parents to teach them the word of God and to teach them all the things of the Lord. And so that is what we’re called to do. So yeah. So your first point, of course, is start with the end of mind and know why you’re doing this. Why are you homeschooling? What is your purpose in doing this? So what would be your next thing now once parents have figured out, okay, here’s our why, we know what we’re doing. We know that we’re called to disciple our kids and to teach them the ways of the Lord. But then they’re like, but what next? What do we do now?

Kristi Clover:

What next? Well, honestly, I mean, if you want to get practical, your next thing is to figure out what your state laws are. So if you have a child, because I’ll meet people that are like, I have a three year old, I want to home school. And it’s like, well, absolutely, teach your kid whatever you want, but pretty much every state does not require you to register a three year old, so you don’t have to officially homeschool. And in the state of California, I’m very familiar with our homeschool laws here, we’re not even required to start homeschooling until our child is age six as of September 1. So there’s some of those types of things. But knowing your state laws is really important, and that is as easy as going to HSLDA, which is Homeschool Legal Defense Association. So if you go to HSLDA, not just Christian some homeschoolees for you, but they have a list of all that you need as far as how to get homeschooling in your state. And so that’s probably the practically figure out your why, pray about it, and then contact HSLDA. And we’re lifetime members because we did the math. We started figuring out we’re yep, yep, might as well pay the lifetime membership. And we love supporting them as well, but they have all the information about how to get started. So in California, we homeschool under a private school affidavit. So we actually aren’t even part of any other kind of a school system. We’re part of the private school system, so a lot of people don’t know that. In fact, fun fact is that California is one of the easier states to homeschool in, which is shocking for everyone. And I think it’s because we’re under the umbrella of private schools. So it’s really saved us a lot of headache as they continue to make all of these fun changes in our public schools. I mean, some of the curriculum they have for the longest time, parents in my area were like, oh, that doesn’t come here. We’re such a conservative part of California. It’s everywhere. And even our church has gotten involved. We’re going to school board meetings and begging them to stop teaching sex education to kindergartners and the content that is in these are pornographic and it’s not healthy for any child. I mean, they’re sexualizing our children at such a young age. So again, it goes back to that why if I were just starting off, if I had a child getting ready to be in the school system, my why would look a lot different now than it did when I started. I think discipleship I want my kids to have a Christian worldview, that’s what’s most important to me is that they understand. I want them to love the Lord with all their heartful, mind and strength and develop a love for learning. And those are really our two goals. And really if they come out with nothing more than just to love the Lord and they hated every aspect of learning, they’re not going to love it anymore in public school. But you know what? That’s my job as a parent, is to introduce them all that I can. And the hardest part, now that I have two young adults again, you may not be thinking this if you’re just starting out or have kids under the age of 18, but your kids get to make their own decision on whether or not to follow the Lord. And it’s our job to present all that we can, to give them as much love and to shine for Jesus. And in fact, one thing I’d like to remind myself about that Deuteronomy verse, Deuteronomy 6 is that what it says is that we’re to put these in our own heart first.

Yvette Hampton:

Amen.

Kristi Clover:

And then we’re to impress them onto our kids. So you need to be loving the Lord and really learning what that looks like and teach your kids how to love the Lord. And that’s not always going to be because you found the perfect math curriculum or writing curriculum that’s important, but your kids hearts are more important. And what’s happening right now is our kids are being thrown into a Babylon. So that’s really the dynamic that we have and we probably have had that for a long time and we just haven’t seen it until COVID wasn’t as obvious. Oh, no. And now it’s crazy to see how revealing they are. I mean, Satanic groups are literally like, oh yeah, we’re out here, we’re for this. Oh yeah, right, exactly. So that’s what again, it comes down to the heart of your child. And I like to think about like when Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they were all taken like the Israelites were taken captive. And you have I don’t remember the number, but I believe it was millions of Israelite children were being taken away from their homeland and they were being thrown into Babylon, being taught all the cultural things, being educated in the Babylonian style of education, which was very it’s anti God. They believe in multiple gods and all kinds of crazy stuff. And yet at the end of the day. There were only four Israelite kids that we hear that stood up for the Lord. And so that’s what’s important is that we have to give our kids a firm foundation. And yes, the Lord will totally work. And yes, the Lord I was 15 and living in a dysfunctional Christian family when the Lord really gripped my heart, and he can do that for anyone. But I love that I can give my kids this foundation and that, I mean, the Lord’s still going to be at work, but I don’t want them in a Babylon environment. So that’s my little two cent on that is that I just think we are in a different day and age now. And I think if it takes every ounce of your energy, you’ve got to do it. You’ve got to protect your children.

Yvette Hampton:

Yes, absolutely. It’s our job to do that. To protect their hearts, protect their bodies, protect their minds, protect their souls. So we’re here to help you do that. You said you’ve been homeschooling for somewhere around 15 years, right?

Kristi Clover:

Kristi yeah, about 15 years. Graduated, two kids so far. So we’re doing it.

Yvette Hampton:

So cool. Yay.

Kristi Clover:

It’s working.

Yvette Hampton:

And they’re still functional adults, which is amazing.

Kristi Clover:

Full time jobs. My oldest is married. I didn’t even think I mentioned that on the Monday’s episode. Yeah. My oldest, I am a mother of I’ll tell you that’s. Busy adding that 6th child, that was the easiest thing ever. No morning sickness, just a really day and then voila, I have another addition to our family. It’s awesome.

Yvette Hampton:

That’s so cool. I love that. I look forward to getting to that point. We’re getting there quickly. Brooklyn’s going to be a senior this year. Oh, man. I know. It’s so fast. It is so fast. We will have a middle schooler and a high schooler. Who’s almost done with high school. Yeah, I know. I was looking at my calendar the other day and the co op that we’re doing this year with both my girls, they have a graduation planning meeting and I was like, I have to go to a meeting to plan her graduation. It’s just so surreal and it’s weird. Like, I remember when I was pregnant with her, this was probably about two weeks before she was born and just thinking like, how surreal it was. She’s almost here. She’s almost going to be on this earth, out of my body, and how bizarre that reality was. And so getting to this next phase of life, because it really is the next big phase. She’s going to adult now. Yeah, it’s bizarre. And I’m so thankful that the Lord’s given us all these years to home school and to be able to build a relationship with her and with my youngest daughter. I mean, I’m so very grateful for that. Which on a quick note, I’ve said this, I think before on the podcast, but I’m going to go back to something you talked about on Monday, you talked about how oftentimes parents will say, oh, just the thought of being with their kids all day and their kids being with them and them being with each other. And one of the things I’ve realized is that oftentimes parents who don’t home school, they think that they don’t want to be with their kids or can’t be with their kids because their kids will drive them crazy. The reason their kids drive them crazy is because they’re not the ones raising them. Someone else is raising them with their own morals, standards and values and beliefs. And not that your kids are going to be perfect if they’re in your home, but when you’re raising them your way, it’s a very different outcome usually than when someone else is raising them and you have them in the evenings and on the weekends and on spring break and in the summertime. And then you think, I don’t really like this kid. I don’t like the way they act. Take them in, take on that role of full time parenting, not part time parenting, and see how things change. I think people will be really surprised to see what the Lord does and how he can work through you and your kids lives you have on your website. It’s a home school webinar. It’s the how to home school webinar. It’s kind of a crash course. I want to go through that and I want to do like the crash crash course. The crash course of the crash course. We do the crash course.

Kristi Clover:

We can do the crash course of the crash course. Yes. If you need more help in the crash course, right.

Yvette Hampton:

If you need further explanation things, we will put a link to that from Christie’s website as well. But we talked about setting that foundation. We talked about HSLDA and knowing what your state laws are and really knowing the why of homeschooling. What would be the next thing that parents need to consider when know here’s.

Kristi Clover:

The thing is that I’m going to speak to the families, okay? So if you are pulling your kid out of school, so you already have kids in school and now you’re going to be homeschooling them at home. Honestly, one of the biggest recommendations I have. And it was something that was told to me when we first started homeschooling, because it was a kindergartner and a first grader out of school is you need to spend at least a good month, if not just your first year of time, just getting back to being a family and what that looks like, because you’re changing the dynamics. And so sometimes you don’t even need to home school with curriculum and that blows people’s mind. I mean, math is one of those things, like math and phonics, like learning to read and math are two things that are helpful to have some curriculum. But there’s so many ways to learn that’s kind of a little unschooling. So you might be if you’re one of those parents, you’re like, yeah, that’s all nice and pretty, Kristi, but I need curriculum. Then there is curriculum out there, but I just want people to know that you can homeschool and kind of do it the easy way. You can study science by looking out and seeing what the weather is. Track the weather, see what that looks like, compare the weather to your area, to other areas that’s learning science. Maybe go to the library, check out some books on weather. You can pick up a rock and see what’s underneath it and study that. We tend to kind of study what’s around us. So we have hummingbirds that are constantly building nests in our yard. So we did a whole little unit study on hummingbirds. And for those of you that I just dropped a word that is a home school ease word unit studies that’s simply taking a subject and building curriculum around that and not like official curriculum that you’re taking something like a hummingbird. And I’m going to find some books about hummingbirds, I’m going to learn science. Maybe there’s not so much history around hummingbirds, but sometimes there is. You’d be surprised. Like with cats, you can study the history of cats in Egypt, cats in other countries. So there’s so many fun ways to really learn how to learn. And that would be my encouragement to families is don’t feel bogged down by all of the choices that you have and sometimes that is just what you need. You need a gentle start. Open your Bible, maybe get there’s some great missionary books out there. YWAM has a whole series of missionary books that we really enjoy. One of my favorite books is about to blank on, oh, I need to go get it. It’s hero tales. That’s the name of it, hero Tales. And it’s just snippets of different missionary lives and they also have like a character study on there. So when you learn about missionaries, you can learn about the countries that they’re from. What are some of the unique things that are happening there? What are some cultures and customs of those things? Find them on a map. So there’s so many ways when you start homeschooling, you really learn how to make it a lifestyle. So that’s my encouragement to those who are pulling their kids out. If you’re pulling your kids out of high school or you’re pulling them out and starting into high school, you do need to be more deliberate. I would say like 2nd, 3rd grade down, you can totally be relaxed about your start for homeschooling. Just stick to the basics, have fun with it. But then if you’re homeschooling, like even junior high to high school, you can know because especially for high school, you’re building a transcript. And so that’s just as scary as it might sound. You are calling up HSLDA, looking on their website, finding.

Yvette Hampton:

Out.

Kristi Clover:

And again, HSLDA is Homeschool Legal Defense Association. There are lawyers in the homeschooling realm, and they’ll show you exactly what’s required in your state law to graduate your child, and it will blow your mind. It will blow your mind, because we got used. I was just sharing with this with someone today at coffee that when we go through high school, we think, oh, four years of English, four years of science, four years of math. And it’s shocking that in California at least, it’s like two to three years of English, two years of math, two years of science, and they graduate. I mean, it is crazy to see what’s required in your state, and so that’s all you’re paying attention to is what’s required and then have fun with it. And another important part of starting off is what are your kids interested in? And learn about that, and that is going to spark their interest. So when I first told the kids, because we were a few weeks into this school, and they’re having fun at recess and all that, and so my oldest was like, more time to read. Okay, let’s home school. I can read all day. And then my second at the time, he was like, but I just want to play soccer all day. Can I do that? And then I was like, well, no, we can’t do soccer all day. We can play more soccer than you can do at school. But he was so cute. I’m like, So what do you think? He’s like, can we do a volcano? And I was like, absolutely. We are going to build a volcano. So we ended up doing this cute little unit study on Hawaii. So we learned about Hawaiian culture. We happened to have a Hawaii vacation that we were tying it into. So we went to Hawaii. We took microscopes in Hawaii and learned about the sun and how intense it is. And I brought chocolate. And I learned this is like this cute little science project I read about. And I learned you should always bring extra chocolate for your children to eat, because as we were burning, I was showing how intense the sun is when it goes to the microscope, and it burned the chocolate. And they’re like, that’s cool, but can we eat it? I’m like.

Yvette Hampton:

Right.

Kristi Clover:

Sorry. So bring extra chocolate. That’s my hack for you and for mom, too. And yes, that’s a must. So homeschooling and chocolate go very closely together. But no, just figure out what your kids are passionate about and what they’re interested in did. Because I had little boys at the start of our homeschool journey, so we did knights, and so we studied the medieval period, and we learned about all these crazy things. And we did Egypt, because Egypt’s a fun thing to learn about with boys. And so just find what they’re interested in. And as you’re building when you go into high school, what’s amazing is how it takes what is it like, however many thousands of hours to become an expert at something. We have that opportunity to do that in our home schools because our kids have more time. We’re not spending all of the changing class periods changing teacher time. We’re in there. We get it done. We’re usually done by lunch. My high schoolers go a little bit beyond lunch, typically, but my oldest has a passion for reading and for writing, and so I just let him go in that area. We centered a lot of his homeschooling around writing. He wrote two novels by the time he was 17. He didn’t publish them, but he wrote two novels, which is a huge undertaking. Then my second, who we graduated, he had a real passion and infinity and just an inspiration with photography. And so he was always writing. It rained. He was, like, out the door with his camera. He wanted to catch the dew drops and the raindrops falling off the flowers, and so we just were able to really get him involved in learning about that. Now he’s a professional photographer, and my oldest son is working, and he’s doing copy editing with his job. And so it’s just so cool to see how you can really look for these strengths. You can build up the weaknesses, but look for those strengths and pour into them and just let them flourish. And that’s something that you can’t do in other things. So I’m hoping that by saying all that, it will really encourage people that you have to take off these, like, well, what are they learning in public school? I need my home school to look like the public school. This is your school, and honestly, we can say that, so we’re blue in the face. It’ll take three years. This is honest to goodness three years of homeschooling before you, ah, I don’t care what the public schools are doing. This is my home school. And it’s like, just breathe a little, but just keep reminding yourself that Christine Yvette told you that this is your home school and you can design it the way you want to. It doesn’t need to look like the public school.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, I love the three years. That’s so funny. And I think you’re spot on because that’s about how long it took me to realize, oh, okay, so this is not going to look like my schedule. That looked like the public school schedule. And it was so frustrating because I always felt like I was failing my kids and I was failing myself, and I just was doing it all wrong. And so it took about that long, and so, yeah, learn it before you don’t do the three years. Just skip the three years of trying to replicate regular, traditional school and do it the way that works best for your families. Kristi, you’ve got five kids and you have a wide range, so your oldest is how old? And your youngest is how old?

Kristi Clover:

21. Down to nine, actually. Well, and by the time this airs, she’ll be ten. So that’ll give her some credit there. She’s going to be like, mom, I’m ten.

Yvette Hampton:

Right? Yeah. Not nine anymore where credit is due. Right.

Kristi Clover:

So we have eleven year gap.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, especially when you get into those double digits. I mean you got to give her the double digits.

Kristi Clover:

My baby is going to have double digits. Oh man, breathing through that.

Yvette Hampton:

Oh, it’s okay. Deep breath, deep breath.

Kristi Clover:

I know.

Yvette Hampton:

So you’ve got an eleven year age gap with your kids. It’s the question of course, that everybody asks, how do you home school with all I mean, that’s a big range of ages and different grades and different levels for everything. So tell us what your typical homeschool day looks like.

Kristi Clover:

Well, my typical homeschool day now looks a little bit different because everyone is in our home school. So it’s a little easier with everyone homeschooling and everyone is a reader now. So I’ve kind of entered into that sweet spot where we have all readers because once you have readers, it actually does get a lot easier. So I always tell people that it’s when you have the pre readers, it’s a little more complicated. So the number one thing is to whether you because I’ve homeschooled through it all. So we started homeschooling with two kids in kindergarten and first grade, and I had a toddler, which is honestly one of the hardest parts of homeschooling is working around your toddlers. So babies, you can totally work around their schedule because their schedule is kind of what you put them on. But toddlers are like, why aren’t we playing? We’re supposed to be playing. So my number one recommendation if you are homeschooling with young kids alongside of your school age kids, is to have a game plan for those kids. Don’t just think, oh, I’m planning my curriculum. You need to plan your curriculum or plan what you’re doing for them, your school age kids, but then also have a game plan for fun. Let them be part of your home school around two and a half. They’re like, school is fun because you’re giving them coloring books. I would make copies of what I was doing with the older boys and they were just scribbling all over it and they’re like, yeah, we got this. That is my recommendation there. And I actually part of my how to homeschool webinar and part of my homeschool organization course. Both of those have a whole section just about how to juggle that how do you homeschool and you have big kids and little kids in the house because it’s really important. It is a juggling act and it is difficult, but it’s totally doable. I just want to encourage you that it’s totally doable. And so I have a lot of very specific tips for that. But my typical schedule now, as it kind of always is, is that I try to divide up their work between work that needs to be done with mom and work that they can do independently and sometimes that’s kind of a combo. So I might have to introduce a sheet so I might be talking through a grammar worksheet or a math page and kind of giving them some information about how they’re going to be doing this and then they can do the rest on their own. So penmanship is pretty much always on their own. So they save all of those for either when I’m working with another sibling or for later on in the day. And I say that because it helps with making kids focus. So by the time we hit lunch, if they have had a focus day and they need more help, yes, of course I help them, but they just know that the work that requires my help needs to be done before lunch. So morning time, I’m 100% there. I’m switching off between kids so I’m having them do some of the independent work while I work with another and then we switch off and kind of trying to figure it out. Most of my time is usually with my younger learners and my older kids all learn kind of they start learning how to organize themselves and how to structure their days. That’s just part of the rhythm that I try to teach them and it teaches them independence as well. But that’s really what I try to do because we’ll also have those kids who will just not get to their work and will find every excuse not to do their work. So it was helpful for me to say, well buddy, we need to make sure that we have this done earlier. So I’ll probably give them a little help in the afternoon. They’ll be like tomorrow. And I’ll give little reminders for that child. Sometimes the ones that tend to kind of put it off is like, okay, remember, mommy’s going to go run some errands later this afternoon. So if you need me and you need my help, then this is what we do. And my next bit of information between the mornings and the afternoons and dividing up what is the mom time stuff and the independent stuff. And again, that’s why high school sometimes will go later because they’re doing mostly independent at that time, sure, but also just helping them to kind of I don’t know if you’re this way, but I find that there’s some subjects I don’t get to and so I move those up front. So if I’m not getting to writing then guess what our very first subject is of the day is going to be writing. Because I’m fresh in the morning, my kids are fresh in the morning and that really helps us. And so I try to move the things that by the end of the day it’s the subjects. And it’s the things that I’m like, I’m tired. I’m the whining kid. I’m the one. I’m like, Are we done yet? The kids are like, no, mom. So I find that I need that extra motivation because we’re doing our read alouds up front, but really looking at how you can structure things. And you know what, one of the things we did when we had especially babies that weren’t sleeping well, I was trying to do sleep training and homeschooling and all the things. And my husband traveled for like 20 years of our marriage, so most of my homeschooling, of my older boys, he was on the road. So it was me and five kids. And so we had to juggle that. What I found is oftentimes when the babies are going to bed at like 738 o’clock, then I’m doing a read aloud or I’m doing our Bible time at that time. So there are some times in some seasons of our lives when I would just kind of pick some things to do in the evening because it was just easier to do it then. So that’s a few of my little tips for kind of routines. But you don’t need to have and I do say routines. I try to tell people, please don’t try to schedule your whole year into a teacher planner because you’re just going to have a mountain of eraser dust. And so that’s one of the things that I try to teach in my homeschool organization course, is really how to strip that from your mind. Because that’s the first thing I did when we started homeschooling. I bought a teacher planner because I’m like, well, that’s me too, at Target.

Yvette Hampton:

Which I’d never buy anything at Target now, but I did 13 years ago, right?

Kristi Clover:

And you just end up erasing. I don’t think I made it more than a week into it when I was erasing and drawing arrows and trying to figure out how to put tabs on it to know where in the world I was. And so I really try to teach people in my organization course how to take things by week, how to divide it out using the table of contents. So there’s lots of strategy to really simplify, and especially for you as the parent, because we can really drive ourselves insane when we’re trying to plan out. Some states require 180 days. We’re like, that’s 180 days of planning. Please get that off your brain. That is so much more complicated than looking at 36 weeks or 34, depending upon your state. So that’s really how I try to simplify things. And what I’ve learned later in life, and actually I’ve learned this about myself through homeschooling, is that I actually have add a little bit of ADHD hyperactive. My mind’s always going. So that’s my h. My brain makes me creative, makes me be able to do interviews like this on the fly. But I’m also easily distracted. What I’ve learned is, if things aren’t simple, my brain literally puts up a strike sign. They’re like my brain is just like, no, you think that you want to do that, but we’re not doing that. And I cannot get myself to do it unless I have figured out the simplest way. And then my brain’s like, okay, I can do this. So I think that’s what’s really unique is that I have really had to learn how to be efficient in all that.

Yvette Hampton:

Yes, I’m exactly the same way, and it definitely works for me. I’m pretty sure we answered a question similar to this on a Q&A that we did recently with Aby. And we talked about planning. And one of the things that I said was, I learned this years ago, was to get a notebook, just a spiral bound notebook. And each day and you could do it by the week if you really wanted to, if that makes you feel better. But each day, just write down what the next thing is that your kids have to do. So each kid has their own spiral bound notebook. Write down their checklist. My girls like, checklists, and I like, checklists. It just makes me feel accomplished. And there’s that satisfaction in checking off the thing that you’ve done. And so, yeah, it’s so much easier to do it that way.

Kristi Clover:

But you do have to kind of.

Yvette Hampton:

Plan out here’s our course of action, what’s our goal? And I think it’s important to know what our goal is for the end of that year.

Yvette Hampton:

Kristi, we talked last time at the end of our episode a little bit about scheduling and what your schedule looked like with your kids. I want to talk a little bit more specifically about curriculum today because I know this is one of the questions that everyone’s favorite questions when they get started. We talked about kind of deschooling and starting slow for those younger years. But talk to the mom who maybe she’s pulling in her middle school kid or her high school kid or maybe even elementary school, and she’s just like, I want curriculum. But there’s so much there’s so much to choose from. And I think this is the most at least for myself, this is the most overwhelming part of homeschooling is knowing what curriculum to choose because it can get really expensive. And then how do I choose it? And then once I choose it, what do I do with it?

Kristi Clover:

How do I use yeah, so that’s a great question. And I think that it requires an honest evaluation of yourself as the teacher because your curriculum needs to be something that will work for your kids learning styles, and you’re probably just figuring that out. When you’re a new home school mom, you probably have observed certain things, like, are your kids very tactile? They tend to listen better. Do they tend to visually see things. And really, when you’re incorporating all of the senses, that’s when they’re learning best. But you also have to pay attention to your teaching style because I only have the capacity for so much. And so when we first started homeschooling, we had two kids in school and we had a toddler. I was able to do more hands on type of curriculum, curriculum where we were doing more things together because my oldest two are so close in age, they’re only 17 months apart. So I could kind of teach them together except for reading and math, which those are usually the two subjects where everybody’s kind of learning incrementally and they build upon each other. But in all the other subjects, I was teaching them together. And so that was a lot easier until I suddenly had high school and junior high and elementary and a baby and someone else in between, like a toddler. It’s hard when you have this big stretch. So that’s when I had to get real and be like, I can’t really set up all of the things that I thought I could. I needed more video based learning. And so our math curriculum is video based. Our writing curriculum is more video, in fact. Yeah. As much as I love IEW and I love all things fun and fabulous, such a great curriculum, I also know okay, I’m going to be very honest. Andrew, if you’re listening, don’t listen to this part. I have never completely finished the all things fun and fascinating. I’ve gotten at least halfway through with my kids, but I rely on andrew poudois to teach my children. So we have just gotten to a point where that’s what I do with my kids. They watch Andrew on the TV, and then they do their thing, and then I can kind of come in and help from.

Yvette Hampton:

So just for those of you who are like, what in the world is she talking about? And who’s andrew Poudawa is the founder president of IEW, which is the Institute for Excellence in Writing. They’re one of our sponsors on the podcast. And we’re not talking about them because they are it’s because we’ve used them. You’ve used them, and it’s fantastic writing curriculum. And so a lot of their curriculum is video based. I think almost everything they have, not all of it, but a lot of their main is video based. And so Andrew kind of like CTC math, teaches your kids how to do math online. Andrew Poudawa, who’s the founder, he does basically like the classroom lecture, but he’s mean, so engaging, and they’re fantastic videos. And so you can do the curriculum with your kids, but he teaches it to them for you so that you don’t have to teach. So that’s what she’s talking about. I wanted to just clarify that. So people are like, who is Andrew?

Kristi Clover:

Andrew, what is she talking about? Yes, I try not to do homeschoolees, and I did it, so I apologize. Institute for Excellence in Writing, IEW yeah, those were a few of those real moments. And what’s great is that here’s the other thing, is most curriculums do have a resource where you can call in and ask, and they do. And so I was like, I’m not getting to writing. I’ve tried doing it in the morning. I’ve got too many kids doing different levels of writing. And so I was like, okay, so they helped me figure out this would be good for these kids, this would be good for those kids. But I had to get very real with myself. So my Pollyanna, optimistic person of like, I can do it all. Yeah, that did not happen. That didn’t play out past the first week of homeschooling. So when you’re picking curriculum, I would encourage you to think how many age levels if you have kids clover together, then it’s going to be easier. I still combine history and science with at least two kids in my home school, if I can’t get them all kind of under that umbrella. So this year, for instance, my son who is doing 9th grade work, he did American history using sunlight, whereas the girls and I did American History using not grass. And we read that together. So he was able to do his work independently. We were able to do our work independently. So there’s a lot of different things like that. But you need to really pay attention to typically there’s multiple subjects that you’re teaching, so you want to see what is your capacity, do you have young kids in the house. When you have babies and toddlers in the house, I encourage people, especially if they have younger ages of school age kids, please just stick to the basics reading, writing, and arithmetic and incorporate science and history into those subjects so you’re not killing yourselves. Because what people do is they’ll break down language arts. Okay, I need a curriculum for vocabulary, writing, penmanship, grammar, whatever, other spelling. So you’ve got five language arts that you buy curriculum for those, and then you’re like, oh, history, geography, oh, I should do math work, which is I guess, geography. Then we’ll do math, we’ll do math concepts, we’ll do like, math theory, and then, oh, we need Bible, we need Bible theory, we need worldview. So you end up having like 20 things that you think you have to teach. And that’s one of the reasons why when here’s something straight from my course. So what I always encourage people to do is create a course of study. And so what that is, is you’re taking each subject you’re required to teach in that, like in our school, Bible is number one. So state doesn’t require but clover, we require that in our school. So I write those down and then I write down the curriculum that I’m going to be using or I’m thinking about using, and then I kind of take a look at it and say, oh, can I use this here? And so that helps me to see, do I have a gap? Am I hitting everything I need to hit? Wow. Because sometimes you can skip over. You’ll save so much money when you do it like that. And so really trying to see how you can spread things out, does it look like a lot on paper? Because it’s going to feel like a lot for your kids. And so that’s another thing, is please give your poor children a break. They don’t need to do everything all the time, so you can even split things up. I think that’s a common misconception because we look at the public school like we talked about earlier, and we look at the public school and say, okay, how do I teach all these subjects all at once? Because that’s what they do in school. And that’s not what you can seriously have like a month of doing science and a month of doing history and a month of however you want to do it. You just need to teach them little samples and you’ll figure it out. And the best advice I can give to families trying to figure out where to start with curriculum is just start with something. You can start at costco. You can honestly go to Costco and get the workbooks and just have your kids do some workbooks. Get some books from the library, pull out your Bible, and that can kind of be your simple starter. But you can change the if your child is hitting their head up against a wall because they’re just like, this is so hard, then you might not have a curriculum that works with how they’re learning. The other thing that’s really important to understand is that when your child’s getting frustrated, so when you feel the tension rising and they’re getting frustrated, oftentimes it’s because you’re going too hard too fast. So it’s time to hit the pause button. Who cares what you’ve had planned for people going through my course, I’m like, I don’t care what’s in the crate because I teach people a crate system. You’re going to stop right there and you’re going to give your kids a break and let’s make sure that they have some fundamentals. And I think all of my kids have gone through this with math in particular. There just comes a point where they’re learning learning and then they’re just frustrated. And what it usually comes down to is that they don’t have their fundamentals down. So we’ll take like up to a month sometimes, take a break from who cares, take a break from the curriculum, and we’re just going to do math drills. And so we’ll just focus on times tables or focus on addition or subtraction, just really get that so that they can answer those questions four times three and they’re like, twelve, they’ve got it down. And that is going to be what makes all of the harder like the upper division math so much easier when they really have those fundamentals. And so sometimes it’s not a learning. I think some parents like, oh no, my child is a learning. Oh no, this is a parenting issue. Sometimes it’s just you have the wrong curriculum or sometimes you need to hit the pause button and scale back. Same with phonics as well. Same with reading. It’s okay. I think in society people are just like, your child’s not reading by age five or six. Like what? I have a friend, I know, I have a girlfriend and she still to this day has not told me which of her children, but one of her sons did not read until he was twelve years old. And he went from not being able to read at twelve years old to reading like the Bible aloud to the family reading chapter books. Because sometimes you just have to wait for the brain to get it and then it just takes off and they catch up like that. So never be worried if you feel like your child is behind, your child is learning at their rate. And when the brain gets it, then it’s so amazing to watch. And for the record, that friend that has five kids, all of them have master’s degrees. So it’s not like, oh no, didn’t read until twelve. They were phenomenal. And honestly, I even hate saying that as some sort of a line because I don’t even believe that you have to. And this is probably shocking for everyone. I am so out of the box now of like, you have to do this and do this and do the formula. I don’t think you need the piece of paper. There’s a lot of things that you can do that don’t require that. And by piece of paper, I mean college degree.

Yvette Hampton:

That $150,000 of debt rocked onto it, right?

Kristi Clover:

No, I mean, we are totally thinking outside the box. My husband used to be in the financial industry because every time he mentioned we homeschool our kids and they’re like, well, what are you going to do about college? He’s like, well, actually, my kids can get into college easily. And our oldest is in college, almost done, but he’s doing online and he’s working full time and he’s married. Yeah, and he’s married and supporting his wife. And it’s just this beautiful thing that when you think outside of the box and you have to do that in homeschooling and what you’ll find is that it becomes a lifestyle. And again, it takes three years. I know it’s going to drive everybody crazy, but it’s going to take three years until you go, I think I got this down. I think I know what I’m doing. But it takes that long. So just give yourself grace. In both of my books, I’m like the name of the game is give yourself grace. It’s okay. Yeah, it’s going to be okay.

Yvette Hampton:

One thing I want to say, going back to curriculum is I think one of the greatest things we can do is find maybe three people whose kids are around the same ages as your kids or maybe a little bit older. Ask them what they use, and ask them, especially during the summertime, if you can borrow their curriculum just for like, two weeks, bring it home, look through it yourself, see if it’s something that would work for you, and then look at it with your kids. And see if it’s something that would work well for you and your kids. Or you can look at it online. A lot of companies, I think every one of our sponsors, has trial things that you can do for free. They have free lessons that you can try out, stuff like that. So try it out for free before buying it.

Kristi Clover:

Yes.

Yvette Hampton:

But ask your friends what they use and what they like about it. And not that you have to do what they do, but that’s going to really help you to narrow down what might work best for your family and maybe friends who do things a little bit differently. Maybe you’ve got a friend who does more Charlotte Mason style and one who’s more unit studies and one who’s more classical. So figure out what works best for your family, talk with your friends and see if that curriculum that they’re using might be a good fit for you. Okay, Kristi, because I want to get back into this really quickly. I want to talk about. You talked about a crate system and organization. I want to talk about organization. Like, how do we organize our homeschool day? Now, we have set the foundation. We know why we’re homeschooling. We know what our goal is. We know where we’re going with it, right? We know what the end goal is. We talked about what our day might look like. We talked about curriculum, what now? How do we put it all into practice? How do we organize it all and actually put it into play?

Kristi Clover:

All right, so how to organize your home. I love again, my brain works a little differently as far as I really was looking for ways to organize our homeschool. And that’s actually, when I started on YouTube was funny, is I did this little video of like, oh, here, let me show you a few of the different systems I use in my home school, and it exploded. So that video is one of my most popular videos. And I introduced people a little bit to my crate system there. And I had so many questions that I decided to create a homeschool organization course. So my homeschool organization course you can find that@homeschoolorganization.com so pretty easy to find. But I talk through not only how to plan and prep for your year, I also help people how to use different systems. And so one of my kind of featured systems is the crate system. And so we pretty much can train you how to put all of your kids, all of your curriculum, into one crate. So you have one crate that has all of the curriculum for the year in that crate divided by weeks. And that’s the key, is that I think it’s so natural for people to think because teacher planners are by day. So we talked about teacher planners earlier. Teacher planners are by day. And I really want you to get that until it is like, Monday. You’re not thinking about daily work. I want you to think by week. And so that’s what the crate system is designed to do. Now, what’s amazing with the crate system, because you planned out your entire home school by week. And again, you have one crate. You have all of your kids in that one crate. We color code our kids, and so they can pull it out, but it creates independence for my kids and also creates a bite sized look at the week. And so one of my friends who was using the system, she was like, Kristi, you’ve revolutionized how we homeschool because her daughter would feel so overwhelmed not knowing what was coming each day. And so she was able to stay. She’d pull out her crate or pull out her folder for the week, and she’s like, this is all I have to get done for the entire week. And so from there, there’s different systems I recommend. Sometimes I recommend some kids can handle just shoving your week’s worth in a clipboard and they are good to go. Like, they just know kind of naturally how to divide it up. That was my oldest son. He was fine. He could take the whole week, stick it in there, he’d do a few pages of math so he could handle that. Other kids need your help training them, how to put it into more of a daily binder or whatever system that you want to have with them. So that is kind of a little bit how the crate system works. And there’s all kinds of nuances that go along with it because it naturally happens. I always say it happens around week twelve. And every year I’m like, yes, week twelve. Week 13 is about the time that I’m like, I need to do adjusting here because we’ve slowed down, sped up. Like we’re pulling things from weeks ahead, we’re a couple of weeks behind and I’m shoving things into the next week. So it kind of just creates this one spot. Works great for military families, works great for missionaries. I’ve had a lot of families. I’ve had parents come up to me crying when they came and saw me one year to the next year. They’re like, I was ready to throw in the towel, was so overwhelmed. And so I really try to come at it practically because I knew what I needed as a homeschool mom, and I wanted to teach that to people. And so part of just the way that I show people again is to introduce all of these different systems and how they work together, how you can tweak it. And I have people that are so cute because they’re like, I love your creek system, but I kind of changed it a little and I’m like, awesome.

Yvette Hampton:

Do what works for you.

Kristi Clover:

And we change it up. Sometimes I’ll put my daughter’s readers in there and so the readers are actually in there. And I can’t do that when I have all five of my kids in one crate because it gets a little and sometimes I will have a second crate that’s okay, I have the space for it. So it depends on your space. It depends on all those things. And again, it’s always fluctuating. So my second oldest, so my second son, when he hit high school, it’s got one of those file boxes and that became his mini crate. And I created that a little differently. Because he needed to see not only his weekly work, but I needed a spot for him to be able to easily because he was working so independently. I needed a spot for him to move his work because we were realizing again, you just kind of have to figure out what’s working. But for him, it’s like, this is work that now mom needs to edit. So like any papers, math, anything that I needed to grade or edit, then we kind of developed a system where I’m pulling things and he’s pulling things. You just kind of work on things together. But really the key feature for the crate is that you have everything in one spot and you’re literally putting your school on autopilot. That is the key feature of the crate and how it works so beautifully. And it’s worked in times when I had to fly to Spain for an emergency situation with a family member who got hurt in Spain and I had to go out and be with them. And it helped when we had another emergency situation with another family. And it allowed me to be able to stay longer. It allowed me to be able to pick up and go. When I had to have surgery one time that was unexpected. My home school continued when I’ve had morning sickness. My kids could handle it when I was suddenly turning very green and couldn’t do it. And again, what I love about it is that again, homeschooling is life. I think that’s what people forget is that before I want, I’d rather my kids get B’s. Not that I grade, that’s a whole other topic about grading. But I’d rather my kids not be as academically strong, but be amazing men and women of God, amazing parents, amazing spouses. That is my goal. Not just to create these perfect kids that look great on the pedestal. I’m not about creating pedestal kids, no one is perfect. Your home school, let me just say this, your home school will not be perfect. Your home, your parenting, your kids, you. No one is perfect. And that should never be what we’re striving for. If you are keeping your eyes like your verse talked about, I’ve never heard that verse used, by the way, for homeschooling. And I love it. I have to sneak that and put that on my little verses.

Yvette Hampton:

You’re welcome. Ecclesiastes 1213.

Kristi Clover:

I know, and I’m blanking on the verse because we have another one that we use about how, like, a student will never be above his master. Is it Luke? It was Luke.

Yvette Hampton:

Yes, it’s Luke. 640.

Kristi Clover:

Yeah. So good because, yeah, when they’re fully trained, they should be like the teacher and I’m like, be like the master. And I’m like, I don’t want my kids to look like the public school, but I’ve totally lost my train of thought of where I was. But just to know that it’s not about creating perfect and I think in this day and age of pinterest and instagram and all these places, we want to put on the happy face, like, look at my happy family. You know what? That’s not what it’s all about. We are called to love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. And that is honestly, it is a hard thing to teach. But I also know that there’s not really a lot of curriculum that’s going to completely teach that to my kids. What there is, is my life and that’s going to speak a lot louder than anything else. So when my kids see me have to take a break and go and bless a family member and love on a family member, that’s going to be what happens is that they’re seeing that and learning that in the moment.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, that’s real life. It’s real life learning. Because school isn’t just about the academics. The academics are important, but it’s not the most important part. We talk about that all the time on the podcast. But it’s true. It is a part of homeschooling, but it is not the only part and it is not the most important part about homeschooling. Okay, this crate system sounds amazing. Is this part of your because I’m looking on your website, the Ultimate Homeschool Organization course.

Kristi Clover:

Yes.

Yvette Hampton:

You talk about the crate system in.

Kristi Clover:

There and how to organize organization. Yes. Homeschoolorganization.com, if you go there or Kristiclover.com will also get you there, but yeah, either this will send you straight to me. So the crate system and all of my systems are all housed in there. And again, I was very deliberate about how I pieced everything together and then I have bonus videos to make sure I explain all the little nuances. Because it’s easy to talk with a crate system like I just did and to show you how to plan it out, but then getting it to work with other systems because you said you like checklists. And I help people create the simplest checklist you can ever create. In fact, you can put together a teacher planner. It’s included, I’m like for free within the course. It’s included in the course. And how to put together your own teacher planner. And it’s like the simplest thing ever. And it’s using the weekly system. And I do want to say one thing because we’re talking about home school organization and we’re talking about how we love checklists. And some curriculum comes with checklists and they’re usually pretty darn overwhelming. And I want to introduce one wonderful tip that everyone will love, and that is the power of the X. And that is you do not have to do everything in the curriculum. Checking it off feels great, but you are the teacher. And if your kids are getting bogged down and feel like there is too much, you know what, for history, you’re probably going to cycle it through three or four times. They’re going to pick up new nuggets here and there. They don’t need to read this extra book. They don’t need to do all this extra work. So sometimes you as a parent can just decide, we’re going to skip this part. Harder to do with phonics and math. Those you just take a week off and just pick up where you left off. But don’t be afraid to just cross it out and just be done. Yeah, we’re not doing that this year.

Yvette Hampton:

Oh, man, I love that. Okay, so we’ll put links to that in the show notes. And then you have your book home school basics. Again, we’ve done a whole podcast episode on that, so we’ll put a link to that. And that book is fantastic, you guys. I highly recommend it because she gives more detail on all of these things in the book as well. So if you’re a reader and you enjoy reading, then that is a book for you. Kristi, do you have any last bit of encouragement that you can leave with our.

Kristi Clover:

You know, this is what I like to compare homeschooling choosing to homeschool. So number one, you can homeschool your kids. You can do it. It’s going to probably be way easier than you think it is because you are probably putting a ton of extra pressure on yourself. But with the new Indiana Jones movie coming out soon, and I don’t know what point this is releasing or when you’re listening to this, but that’s all the buzz right now. There’s a new Indiana Jones movie coming out and I would say that the best representation of what it feels like to homeschool is like in the best Indiana Jones movie, which is number three, which is moment. And it’s like, sorry, Harrison Ford, but that was the best. There’s this moment where he has to save his dad’s life and he has to step out and he has to take the step of faith. And so you see him put his foot out and it looks like he’s going to fall. Like there’s this huge chasm between him and the other side. And that’s what it feels like. It feels like, I am going to take this step in homeschool and I’m going to fall to my death. It is sometimes so terrifying. Like, this is going to be a hot mess. And sometimes it literally takes day one. We are homeschooling. Everyone else is back in school and my kids are in my house. What am I doing? So what I love about that moment in the movie is his foot goes out. You still think he’s going to fall and die. And he steps forward and there’s solid ground. And then the camera pans out and you have this new angle and you see the whole time there was this very straight and it’s a straight and narrow path, but it’s a solid path that he can get across the other side. And that’s exactly what it’s like to homeschool, is sometimes you have to take that step of faith. Just like Peter getting out of the boat, just like Indiana Jones at that chasm, there is firm foundation and that’s Christ. And as long as you keep your eyes on Christ, you will get through your homeschool season and you will never, ever regret it. Every hard day, every tear, blood, sweat, tears. Like whatever it is, there’s usually not blood involved. Unless you’re like me and you. Yeah, I’m always cutting myself. I’m like my. Kids are like, mom usually bruises. I’m like, I don’t. But it’s so worth it. And you just have to give yourself grace along the way, and that’s the most important thing. It’s not going to be perfect. So take away your perfect little like, there’s no trophy at the end of the day, but there is a crown of glory that you’re going to at the end of the day for working. And this is, I truly believe, a calling. As a mother, a calling as a father. We are called to finish strong. And it is hard, it’s really hard to parent your child. You are raising a human being, and it’s a mighty calling, but you can do it. And the Lord will see you through it. And he will bring people along your path, too, to encourage you. Don’t try to do it alone.

Unlocking the Power of Homeschooling: Research Insights from Dr. Brian Ray

“I don’t think there’s any way for anybody to make an argument that institutionalizing children in these places we call school, where most of us went, is improving their psychological health.” – Dr. Brian Ray

In a world where traditional schooling can sometimes leave children feeling lost in the crowd, many parents are turning to an alternative education option that provides a personalized and values-driven learning experience for their children – the homeschool revolution! In a recent interview on the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast, premier homeschooling researcher, and founder of the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI.org), Dr. Brian Ray shared his groundbreaking research and powerful insights on the effectiveness and benefits of homeschooling.

The Blessing of Homeschooling:

According to Dr. Brian Ray, children are a blessing from God, and being actively involved in their education is a profound privilege. Drawing from Biblical principles, Dr. Ray notes, “The Bible is sufficient, and it gives us everything we need to know about how to live and educate our children.” He challenges the notion that the Bible does not address education, pointing out that it contains abundant wisdom on raising and educating children.

“The Bible is sufficient; it has everything we need to know about how to live and how to educate and disciple our children.”

Parent-Directed Home-Based Education Discipleship:

Dr. Ray advocates for “parent-directed, home-based education discipleship,” which he asserts is distinct from traditional homeschooling. This type of education places parents at the forefront, recognizing their duty and responsibility as the primary educators of their children, as outlined in the Bible. Dr. Ray believes that this model empowers parents to create a customized curriculum that aligns with their family’s values, ensuring an education that is truly comprehensive and tailored to meet the needs of each child.

In addition to his research career, as a former public school teacher-turned-homeschool-dad himself, Dr. Ray got to apply the principles he had learned and see the effects of homeschooling in his own family.

“Whether it was easier or harder, whatever, whether children were fussing with us or happy with us as parents, it was the philosophy and the theology and the desire to be together as a family that really drove us.”

Insights from Research:

Dr. Ray’s extensive research has consistently demonstrated the merits of homeschooling. His doctoral dissertation focused on examining the academic achievements of homeschool children in comparison to their public and private school counterparts. The study showcased the efficacy of parent-directed education. Dr. Ray explains, “Homeschooling aligns more with effective teaching and learning conditions, such as smaller groups, increased conversation with adults, and customized curriculum,” which all lead to positive outcomes for students.

One significant finding is that homeschool children exhibit greater engagement and interest in subjects like science. Dr. Ray shares, “The study showed that homeschool children were more engaged and interested in science than their counterparts in institutional schools.” This finding highlights the ability of homeschooling to cultivate a love for learning and curiosity in children, allowing them to explore subjects at their own pace and in a hands-on manner.

Addressing Misconceptions:

Dr. Ray addresses common misconceptions surrounding homeschooling, particularly concerns about child abuse and neglect. Although acknowledging heartbreaking cases within homeschooling families, he emphasizes that abuse and neglect occur in institutional schools as well. Dr. Ray explains that when specific research has compared child abuse and neglect rates between institutionally schooled children and homeschool children the results show much lower rates of abuse among homeschool families.

Watch the video.

He argues that homeschooling, when executed correctly, aligns more effectively with research on effective teaching and learning. Smaller class sizes, increased interaction with adults, personalized curriculum, and the absence of negative peer pressure contribute to a positive learning environment. Dr. Ray wonders, “If we know all this about effective teaching and learning, why would we expect homeschool kids not to perform better on average?”

“On average, homeschoolers perform well academically. They outperform the national average by 15 to 25 percentile points.”

The Impact of Homeschooling:

Dr. Ray’s research has not only debunked negative claims about homeschooling but also demonstrated the extensive outcomes. Quantitative data from adult participants raised in homeschooling families revealed that, in spite of factors such as parent education level and income, homeschooled students outperform their public schooled peers in nearly every measure.

According to Dr. Ray, studies indicate that home-educated individuals generally experience higher levels of achievement, exhibit fewer behavioral problems, and demonstrate lower rates of addiction and depression. While he acknowledges that not all home-educated individuals achieve success and happiness, the overall benefits of homeschooling as a collective group are significant.

Watch or listen here.

Beyond Academics:

Dr. Ray advocates for a holistic approach to education that goes beyond academic achievements. He urges parents to prioritize the well-being of their children by limiting screen time, engaging in outdoor activities, and fostering open communication. He highlights the detrimental impact of excessive screen time on mental health and urges parents to reclaim their role as primary influencers in their children’s lives.

Conclusion:

Dr. Brian Ray’s extensive research and insights shed light on the power of homeschooling as a viable and impactful educational option. By placing parents at the core of their children’s education and providing a Bible-centered, personalized, values-driven approach, homeschooling offers numerous advantages for academic achievement and overall well-being.

As the acceptance and celebration of homeschooling continue to grow, parents are becoming increasingly empowered to provide their children with an education that aligns with their family’s beliefs and values and can be assured that their children will not suffer as a result of “missing out” on traditional schooling. Additionally, Dr. Ray’s research not only indicates positive outcomes for individual students, but also demonstrates the homeschooling movement’s abilty to positively impact communities and nations.

To delve deeper into Dr. Brian Ray’s research and gain a comprehensive understanding of the benefits of homeschooling, Listen to the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast or subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch the full interview.

Recommended Resources:

The Gen2 Survey, by NHERI (National Home Education Research Institute) – This study examines adults who attended church growing up and seeks to understand the key influences which either encouraged or deterred them from believing and practicing the faith of their parents.

Answers for Homeschooling: Top 25 Questions Critics Ask, by Israel Wayne

Education: Does God Have an Opinion?, by Israel Wayne

Israel Wayne, Christian Education: A Manifesto 

Education: The Key to Saving Our Nation – Alex Newman on the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast

Getting Started in Homeschooling – Israel Wayne on the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast 

Discussion Questions:

1. How does Dr. Brian Ray’s research challenge the perception that homeschooling is inferior to traditional schooling?

2. What are some key factors that contribute to the academic success of homeschooled children, according to Dr. Ray’s research?

3. How does Dr. Ray address concerns about child abuse and neglect in homeschooling families, and what data does he present to support his arguments?

4. How does Dr. Ray’s personal background and experiences influence his perspective on homeschooling?

5. What are some potential drawbacks or challenges of homeschooling that Dr. Ray acknowledges, and how does he address them?

6. How has the acceptance and perception of homeschooling changed over the years, according to Dr. Ray?

7. How does homeschooling impact the overall well-being and mental health of children, as discussed by Dr. Ray?

8. How does Dr. Ray argue that homeschooling can contribute to the improvement of local communities and nations?

9. What are some practical strategies and suggestions for parents to prioritize their children’s well-being in the midst of societal and technological challenges, according to Dr. Ray?

10. In your opinion, based on the information presented by Dr. Ray, what are the major advantages and disadvantages of homeschooling compared to traditional schooling?

Full Transcript:

Yvette Hampton:

Hey, everyone, this is Yvette Hampton. Welcome back to the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast. I am so glad that you are with me this week. I have a guest on this week that is truly an honor to have him with us. I cannot believe, actually, that it’s taken this long to have Dr. Brian Ray with us. We met years ago at a it was an HSLDA conference. And I’ve always been so just impressed with his work. I feel like I should have a stronger word than impressed, but that’s the word that comes to me right now. He has done so many things for the homeschool community, and if you are not yet familiar with him, you are going to be so encouraged this week. I know that many of you have probably heard him speak at homeschool conventions in the past, and he’s been in the homeschool world for a long, long time. And so I’m so grateful to have him on with us today. So we’re going to talk a lot about just the history of homeschooling and some research on what’s going on with homeschooling, what’s happened in the past, what the future might look like for homeschooling. We’re going to talk just a lot about his study of the homeschool world. Well, Dr. Brian Ray. Welcome to the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast. I am so glad to have you with us. Introduce yourself to our audience. And when I say, like, you know, just tell us a little bit about yourself and what you and your family do. And I would really love for you to give a pretty good overview of NHERI, which is your organization, which we’ll talk about, but also your credentials, your qualifications, because that really matters in our talk this week and the things that we’re going to be discussing.

Dr. Brian Ray:

Yep. Thank you so much, Yvette, for having me here. It’s great. Thank you for your work. I was just telling Yvette before we started talking how my wife said this morning, I’m so happy about all these young people who are doing the things we don’t even know about in the homeschool movement. And years ago, I don’t know, maybe ten years ago, we started hearing older people. Like I am saying, woe is us, woe is me. That we’re all the young people, the pioneers like we are. Well, you know what? God has raised you up. Here you are. He always has whomever he needs to do the things right. I mean, he’s just done it. And so I’m very thankful. I’m very thankful that there are younger folks who are so excited about God’s principles and raising children. But what happened was, okay, so I was institutionalized a vet, right? So I was raised in a Roman Catholic environment. Roman Catholic. Went to Roman Catholic schools. But from a very young age, god designs people a certain way. And I think a lot of us know early on what it might be. I’ve always loved animals I’ve always just wanted to watch them and play with them and study them and all those things. So I went after high school, went on to get a bachelor’s degree, bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Puget Sound. From there, I went off and traveled all over the United States with my brother before many people watching this were even born. I’m sure this is back during the bicentennial of America, United States of America 1976. Traveled all over the US. For 100 days and 15,000 miles, came back and I taught, ended up teaching. I got a carpentry job, and then I ended up teaching at an outdoor school, 6th grade, public school students. I’ve always liked being around children and teaching children. Even in high school, I went down to a local grade school and tutored children in that elementary school. So that was just something I did there. And from there then I went on and got a Master of science degree in zoology at Ohio University. And therefore my research. I studied pack rats neatoma Florida. So I was really into mammology and learned all the mammals of North America and all that kind of thing. Now I finished that and want to do I want to be in a lab all my life, or would I like to maybe get out a little more and be with people or something? So from there now, in all that, Betsy and I got married in graduate school. Graduate school is when I got saved, when the Lord got me and brought me into his kingdom. And right after that, Betsy and I got married, came back to Oregon, and she was finishing a degree in teaching. And I decided, hey, why not? So I got a teaching degree in Oregon. So I taught for a few years, middle school and high school. So now you can see kind of the science and then the education formally, right? So I did that. And after three years of that, I got kind of I’m tired of know, teaching the same class over and over and over, and I need a challenge. I need a real challenge. So I decided to go and work on a PhD in science education at Oregon State University. So while there, I was teaching in biology, and I became a teaching assistant for the dean of education and all kinds of things, all kinds of experiences while there, Yvette, we were starting to have babies. And while we were there, I was very interested in alternatives. And Betsy and I have always kind of been interested in alternatives. Maybe you could say we are right wing Christian hippies. So we were interested in organic farming, and we were interested in drip irrigation on gardens. And while at Oregon State, I met some people who wanted somebody to teach their children part time. It turns out they were basically kind of left wing hippie homeschoolers, but nobody called it that yet. And from there I started looking into homeschooling and almost no research was done. So I pulled together a paper all about homeschooling and research on homeschooling and presented it as actually it was an exam for my doctoral studies. It was not my dissertation. And all of a sudden after I wrote that paper, I was an expert on homeschooling. So one way to be an expert is do something almost nobody else is doing and then you’re an expert. That’s basically what happened. During all of that, Betsy and I heard about homeschooling and I started studying homeschooling and one thing led to another. I did home research on homeschooling and bingo, as soon as I got my PhD, the NBC Today show called me and flew me from Oregon to New York City, picked me up in a limousine and put me on the NBC Today show with the president of the National Education Association, the big teachers union. That was amazing. I’d never done anything like that in my life. That was my introduction to the media and interviews with the media. Just two years after that, some other guys and I started the nonprofit National Home Education Research Institute. NHERI. Nheri.org. So that’s kind of the preliminary before what happened, how we got there, god just led me from one thing to another. I went off to teach at Seattle Pacific well, I’ll just say a university in Seattle, and then started the Research Institute during that. And I went and taught at another college and kept the research institute going and about 25 years ago full time with the Research Institute.

Yvette Hampton:

That is an incredible story that you talked about before. And I don’t know that you would call it a story, but just your qualifications and what you did before even getting into the world of homeschooling. You are well educated. And the reason I wanted you to share all of that stuff is because I didn’t want people we’re going to talk a lot this week about your study of homeschooling. And I don’t want people to think that you’re just some guy off the street who maybe talked to ten different people. And now all of a sudden, you’re the expert on homeschooling. Your bio says that you are a leading international expert in research on homeschooling. And I would argue that you are the leading international expert in research on homeschooling. I don’t know anyone else who has done as much research as you in the past years. And we’re not just talking about the past ten years. We’re talking about you said, I think 33 years ago that you started researching homeschooling, is that right?

Dr. Brian Ray:

I said that the institute was started 33 years ago, but I actually started studying homeschooling more like 39 years ago. So before I left out a step event you got it right, though about the research. I left out that in 1985 I started the journal Home School Researcher. And keep in mind it was three words, home school research. So that tells you something that was before it evolved in America to a one word. We used to have discussions and debates about whether it should be one word or two.

Yvette Hampton:

Well, we’ve seen that debate as well, even as recently as when we chose the name for the movie schoolhouse Rocked the Homeschool Revolution. I remember us talking about that. Like, dude, we put home school or homeschool and we did our own little bit of research and we thought, okay, most people are saying it as one word, and so we’re going to just go with homeschooling instead of homeschooling. Yes, you have been in this world for such a long time, and you have really put your whole, I would say most of your adult life’s work into researching homeschooling and not just the history of it. I mean, you talk about the history of it, but really you have a really deep understanding. And so talk for a little bit about your research that you’ve done. And I would love for you to take us not through every step, but kind of what it was like from the beginning, 39 years ago when you started researching it. And I know this is a big question, this could take a long time. We have about, what, 1012 minutes here. So we can continue this on, if we need to on Wednesday. But talk about your research on homeschooling and where you’ve seen it go.

Dr. Brian Ray:

Okay. Way back in that time machine around 1989 ish, I can’t say the exact date, but I was already into it. I was already into it. In fact, I wanted to do a study on homeschooling for my doctoral dissertation. But it’s a story we won’t get into, and I can never prove it. But they did not want me studying and having a dissertation coming out of Oregon State University on homeschooling. So I did my work just on public school kids, but on my own. On the side, I was collecting data on private school children and homeschool children with the same questions as my doctoral dissertation. So as soon as they handed me the dissertation, boom, I went out and started publishing on homeschooling. And it was kind of an off thing that almost nobody would look into. It was called the Theory of Reason to Action, and it was comparing home school, public school, and private school students in terms of their interest in doing science, in their interest in doing studying science, and their interest in doing laboratory science, and then what would motivate them. And as it turns out, and this is going to start to sound like a broken record, the homeschool children were more engaged and more interested in science than most of the others. I mean, that’s what I found. That was way back in around, like I said, 1988. Now, around that same time, just after that, Mike Farris, who was one of the founders of the home school legal defense association was making a speech somewhere or writing an article or something. He said, you know what we’re not we need in the home school movement? We need parents with their children to go down to their state legislatures and visit with legislators and so that they can see their children, they’re real, they’re not weirdos, all that kind of stuff. And he said, number two, we need good, solid, sound, empirical research evidence. Well, HSLDA was the main sponsor of one of my first big studies, and it was a nationwide study of homeschooling. And we got into all kinds of things like parents demographics, their income level, their ethnicity, education level, children reasons for homeschooling, and standardized academic achievement tests. Though even though those test scores are not the most important thing in the world. And I know you know that, Yvette it is something that the public and the courts and the legislatures want to know about, right? A lot of parents want to know too. Can my child I’m not a government certified teacher, I don’t even have a college degree can my children possibly learn from me to do basic math and reading and writing? So it was a big study. It was a first of its kind, and it got a lot of publicity. We went into the news, we made booklets, we did all those kinds of things. And we found out that on average, homeschool children do very well academically. We mailed out thousands and thousands of paper envelopes with stuffed with a family survey, and then probably three copies of each child’s survey with self addressed stamped envelopes. And then those got mailed in from all over the country to our little place in Seattle, Washington. We lived up there for three years, and then we had to open all those and then we had to hand enter all of that into probably an excel oh my goodness spreadsheet. Thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of hand entries. That’s how it happened.

Yvette Hampton:

I can’t even imagine because you look at how easy it is. I mean, now you just can create a simple forum on Google, shoot it out, know thousands of people, and have answers within hours if you need them. I mean, it’s just amazing to see how technology has really helped in that way. I’m assuming this was back and I don’t remember when the date was, but this is probably around the same time that Dr. Dobson did his famous interview with Dr. Ray Moore, right where they started talking about homeschooling.

Dr. Brian Ray:

I would say that was more like probably closer to 1985. Ish around in there okay, maybe. Okay, yeah, close. So people started hearing about homeschooling from different angles, just alternative education discussions, ministries like focus on the Family, all that was bubbling and simmering and coming about at the same time. I met people who had never heard of homeschooling, and they started homeschooling they hadn’t heard about it on a radio nowhere. And they just said, God wanted us to do this. He did not want us to put them, especially in public schools. I met people all over the country who were doing that. Yes, it was around that time.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah. That’s incredible. I know that there have been so many hands who God has used to bring homeschooling to where it is today. And we take it for granted. We forget about those homeschool pioneers like yourself who really did pave the way before us so that we have our homeschool freedoms and so that we have what we need to homeschool successfully so that we can have those. Test scores so that we can have all of the things that we can take to our legislators and say, hey, look, this is what’s going on with us. Oftentimes you will hear of kids who were homeschooled back in the even I would say that the early two thousand s. And they’ll say, oh, my mom didn’t do a good job of homeschooling. I didn’t have a good education. I was deprived of my education. And so people will look at those kids and they will say, oh well, look at those homeschoolers, none of them are educated. Well, look at the public schoolers, many of them aren’t educated. Look at the private schoolers, many of them aren’t educated either. Sometimes I think it really just depends on the parents and on the child. And so I love your research because you really do show and prove that home education really does work in most cases. Not in all cases, but in most cases academically, it really does work for students. And so I want to kind of hang on that right now and I want to pull that into Wednesday. I want to kind of kick off Wednesday’s episode with that and talk about why Homeschooling does work according to the research that you’ve done. Homeschooled kids, like we talked about on Monday, across the board, overall, homeschool kids do really well. So talk about what your research really has taught you, what it tells us as the world of homeschooling.

Dr. Brian Ray:

The first thing that happened in my research and I want to mention and I mentioned this event earlier that I’m going to talk a lot about my research, but there are a lot of other people studying homeschooling now. There was a time when there were very few of us and I knew all their names, basically. But now there are dozens, if not hundreds of people around the world studying homeschooling. So in the early days of the modern homeschool movement, put that in context because homeschooling is thousands of years old, people just wanted to know, well, who are they? What do they quote look like? What are their demographics? We were just asking questions like, well, how old are you parent? How many children do you have? What’s your ethnicity background? What’s your education level? What’s your family income, just all those basic statistics. Everybody kind of wants to know about a group of people so we can generalize and so we can pigeonhole you, so we can have a measure of central tendency. So that was the first phase of research. And way back in 25, 30 years ago, it looked pretty like in America, I’m talking about United States, okay? It looked pretty much, I call it overall middle classy, overall disproportionately, white, Anglo, overall, maybe just a little bit more education level the parents than the general public. Kind of like that. Now, remember, whenever we say generalizations, there’s always a variety. Because to get an average, you have to have one end and the other end. So people just always have to remember that. Okay, way back then, also, we wanted to know, well, all right, this is what they kind of quote, look like. But how is it possible that people who are not government certified teachers could possibly teach their children anything like academics? So we wanted to ask that question, how are they doing academically? And even though we can have all kinds of debates about achievement tests, let’s face it, people still use achievement tests in the public schools, in the private schools. And in some states, it’s actually by law, you’re supposed to do that. So we started looking at academic achievement test scores. And right from the very get go, we were finding that homeschool children on average were 15 to 25 percentile percentile points above the public school average, which is 50. And if you’re not familiar with test scores, go study it. But 50th percentile is the average. That doesn’t mean 50% correct on a test. It just means if you’re at the 50th, you did better than 50% of the kids and you did worse than 50% of the kids, roughly.

Yvette Hampton:

Right?

Dr. Brian Ray:

So that’s what we found. And others started finding the same thing. Now, as the research world kind of progressed, we wanted to have more sophisticated studies. But also then people asked, as you know, Yvette, everybody kind of knows the s question. What about socialization? Socialization? Everybody knows it. It’s a big inside joke in the home school world. What about that? Okay, for the last, whatever, 100. Now, 20 years, most kids have been institutionalized to be with same age peers, plus or minus eleven months their age. So what’s going to happen to them if they’re not doing that all day? So a lot of researchers, I did much less of that kind of research. So I might have asked quantitative things like, what are the activities your children are involved in? How many per week, whatever. I asked kind of quantitative approaches to that.

Yvette Hampton:

Sure.

Dr. Brian Ray:

Others did other research like, well, what about self concepts, self esteem? What about actual behaviors acting out too aggressively or not assertively enough? And all these different studies. Fascinating studies. Fascinating studies. But when I did a review of research a few years back, 87% of the studies, peer reviewed studies, found that home school students were better in terms of social and emotional development than their institutional school peers. And if we have time, maybe you could ask me why. Okay, if we get to that, I.

Yvette Hampton:

Do want to know why. But my question also is, as you’re doing this research, obviously you’re researching homeschool families. Are you also at the same time researching public school, private school families with the exact same questions?

Dr. Brian Ray:

Okay, so the way most of this research works is if you do a standardized achievement test and you put that in your studies, already, you have the norm for public school students because that is the norm for that test. So the average is 50. So then you would just mainly collect data on home school kids. Now, a few researchers, this takes more time, and it usually takes more money if you could get fresh, brand new test data scores from both home school and institutional school at the same time. A few studies have done that, but that’s a lot more intensive. And like I said, it takes money to spend all the time getting all that together. Let’s say there’s an inventory, or most people call them a test. All right, let’s just call it a test. A test that deals with self concept, right? Well, already researchers have developed these tests, and they do what’s called studies of validity and reliability on these tests. So they exist out there. And already, mainly it’s being used on public school children. So you have the scores and the norming group for those children. So now you pull in, let’s say it’s been normed for nine to twelve year olds. So now some researcher goes and gets a bunch of nine to twelve year old homeschool kids and gives them the same inventory and compares them to that norm group. That’s one way. And the other way, just like an achievement, you could have live, brand new, fresh subjects in the study. It could be a group of 25 homeschool children and 25 public school children and watch them, see how they interact, behave, play, don’t play, fight, all those things. It’s kind of fun to be research because you get to do all of that. So it’s both preset scores from tests that have been developed already, and sometimes it’s fresh, brand new data comparing the two groups live on the spot.

Yvette Hampton:

Well, that’s really cool. So sometimes it’s not just a check a box kind of survey. You actually get to observe people in real life and how they’re responding to other people, how they’re responding to their peers, and maybe to their parents and to their teachers if they’re in school. Things like that.

Dr. Brian Ray:

One that I got to do was kind of fun. The Montana homeschool. So I’ve done several big nationwide studies, but I’ve done several state specific studies, and some homeschool leaders in Montana are very forward thinking. Many years ago, they asked me to do this study where I actually brought in because some people would say, well, these homeschool kids do well just because only the smart, brilliant parents or the parents who cheat would be in your study. So we got a group of students that were just sort of like a convenient sample, and then we had another group, and they were tested under a watchful eye, making sure nobody was doing anything unseemly or cheating and all that kind of stuff. And we found out they scored almost identically to one another. So that was kind of fun to have. A new group of data, new group of students, a new group of data. So studies come in all shapes and forms and sizes and approaches.

Yvette Hampton:

In your research, you have found that overall, homeschool kids do really well, and oftentimes they do better than their peers in public school or private school. Why do you think that is?

Dr. Brian Ray:

I think it’s one of the most fascinating things and it’s the hardest thing to answer in research. We could say what? We can have descriptive statistics. The question is why? Why does it come out that way? Because when you look back 35, 40 years ago, there were a lot of negative people toward homeschooling, a lot of skeptics.

Yvette Hampton:

Sure.

Dr. Brian Ray:

I mean, even some people start homeschooling were skeptical of themselves. But I kind of look at it this way. Many years ago, I started going into the body of research on what makes for effective teaching and learning in institutional schools. Okay? So it’s not necessarily going to be the same, but that’s all we had, right? For a long time, we mainly had institutional schools in America and especially during the era of research. And I just want to just say leave out the H word, leave out homeschooling and just say, ask any public school teacher, private school teacher, government certified teacher, principal of a school, superintendent of a school district, whatever. Just start asking a bunch of questions. When do children usually learn more? When they’re in a group of 28 or when they’re in a group of three or four or five. When do children usually learn more? When they have more turns of conversation between adult and student or less. They all know the answer. When do children usually learn more? When they can master a subject or a skill? Before they move on? Or when they have to move on. Just because it’s a new day or a new semester. It doesn’t matter whether they learned it or not. When do children usually learn more? When there are fewer distractions or more distractions in their environment. We all know the answer. When do children usually learn more? When the curriculum or the pedagogical approach is customized for that child’s learning style, strengths, weaknesses, dreams and desires or not customized? We all know the answer. When do children learn more? When they’re being bullied or they’re not being bullied. We all know the answer. When do children learn more? When they’re being psychologically stressed out by teachers in a school system or not? And we all know the answer. So when do children learn more? When they’re being pressured to get into drugs and alcohol or not? When do children usually learn more? When they’re being pressured to get into premarital sex or not? We all know the answer. So you just start going down through this whole list of questions and say, well, which side of those answers does institute schooling lie on more? And which one does parent led home based education lie on more? And systemically by its very nature, parent directed home based education fits the bill more. So really, Yvette, the question is, why would homeschool children not do better?

Yvette Hampton:

Right? That’s fantastic. And I would know as the big, pretty bow on the end of that, who learns more? The kid whose parent loves them more than anyone else and knows them better than anyone else? Yes. There are some excellent teachers out there. There really are. We have a lot of friends who are teachers. We have a lot of friends who are administrators, and they have such a heart for the children that are in their classrooms, but they cannot it’s impossible for them to love your child the way that you love them and to cater to their needs the way that you do as their parent. I’m glad you brought that up.

Dr. Brian Ray:

The list I went through is not an attack on certified teachers.

Yvette Hampton:

Sure.

Dr. Brian Ray:

It just shows us that no matter how hard we try in institutional schools, we cannot replicate what I just went through. I mean, I’ve been a classroom teacher. You can’t do it. You just can’t do it. It’s impossible. And if you tried to make the classrooms that small, then they’d have to raise your property taxes fivefold.

Yvette Hampton:

So let’s park there as a parent for a minute, because you were a homeschool parent, right? You have eight kids, is that correct?

Dr. Brian Ray:

Yes.

Yvette Hampton:

You homeschooled your eight children. What was it that kept you homeschooling? Was it all of your research? What kept you and Betsy in this world of home education? And talk a little bit about your experience as a homeschool dad, especially back in the day when it know, as mainstream as it is now?

Dr. Brian Ray:

There were, I would say, a few core things to answer your question. First, no, it was not my mean, Yvette, I’ve told so many people from the speaker’s podium over and over and over and over. High test scores are not the main reason for homeschooling. It’s not. I mean, I’m a Christian, so what’s driven Betsy and me has been theology and philosophy, really? And actually just enjoying our yeah, we want to be with our children. Okay. That’s the way it’s supposed to be, right?

Yvette Hampton:

That’s why you had them.

Dr. Brian Ray:

They’re a blessing from God. They’re a blessing to be. Around. I don’t mean they’re always wonderful to be around, I just mean it’s a blessing to be with our children. Yeah, it’s good to be with them. So when I first got saved, when God brought me into his kingdom, I knew immediately that the Bible, the Word of God, is what is sufficient for everything we need to know and how to live and how to enjoy God and let Him change us and sanctify us. I knew that. So if you’re a Christian, there’s no choice. You must be a scripturalist. You have to go to God’s word to answer questions about everything in life. And so way back, I asked myself, what does the Word of God say about the education of children? And education is a very holistic, broad term that has to do with things like academics, reading, writing, arithmetic, math, whatever. And it has to do with values, morals, ways of thinking, how to do things, how to treat your neighbor. All of that is a part of education. And I will challenge any Christian who’s thinking, I don’t want to home school or I shouldn’t have to homeschool, or there’s nothing in the Bible about education. There’s a lot in the Bible about education all through the Proverbs, in the Old Testament, Deuteronomy, in the Psalms, in the New Testament. There’s a lot about the education of children. And over and over and over again I ask people, who does God say, has the let’s quit using the word right? Who has the duty and the responsibility responsibility to be the main educators of children? And I present this, and you’re going to have to say it’s the parents. And then you say in the Bible, does God give you the choice to just delegate it to anybody you want? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. So whether it was easier or harder, whatever, whether children were fussing with us or happy with us as parents, it was the philosophy and the theology and the desire to be together as a family that really drove us. And I like to call it parent directed home based education. Discipleship. Now, that’s just a clunky mouthful, but homeschooling, the word homeschooling does not capture it at all because it’s not institutional school at home.

Yvette Hampton:

Right? It’s not called home academics.

Dr. Brian Ray:

No.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, no, you’re right. One of my favorite lines in the movie is where Heidi says where she got to the point where she realized that homeschooling was discipleship. And I think that’s exactly what you’re talking about. And so many parents, and I’ve talked to many of them parents who will say, I don’t think I’m called to homeschool. And we’ll say, you are called to homeschool if you love and I don’t say that if you love Jesus and you don’t homeschool, clearly you’re not a Christian. I don’t mean it like that. I’m just saying if you are a professing Christian and you are committed to discipling the hearts of your children, it’s impossible to do that all of the time when they’re away from you, most of the time. And God really does give us the responsibility, like you said, and the duty to home educate, to disciple our kids, to teach them His Word day in and day out, when they walk, when they sit, when they wake up. Psalm One says to not walk in the counsel of the wicked. Yes, it is so important.

Dr. Brian Ray:

Yeah, there’s a lot on this event. I used to teach a philosophy of education course at a Christian college for five years. And every year I got two sections of people who are planning to be teachers. So I got to kind of teach and indoctrinate ten groups of teachers. And when we would go through the Bible on education, on children, many, many of them, and they were raised in mostly Christian homes, and a lot of them went to Christian schools and we would just be reading the Bible and studying. And I would not mention homeschooling, but most of them by the end of it said, you’re just talking about homeschooling. I said, I never used the word. You just came to that conclusion on your own because you’re studying the word of God. And I’d like to challenge people gently but firmly. Parents who have, whether their oldest child is three years old or their oldest child is twelve year olds, they might say something like, well, I just don’t know. Why would home school I want to flip the question around. Why would you send your child away from home, away from you to be taught, trained and indoctrinated in a system that is not designed and never was designed to lift up the name of the King of the universe, Jesus Christ, and has never been and never will be designed to preach the gospel to your child? Why would you send your child away to know that’s really the question. And right now in that question, I’m leaving out Christian schools for now, because that’s a little more complicated conversation. But that’s the real question for parents who profess Christ, what does God say in the Bible? Not what does somebody else say? And why would you send your child away to be taught, trained and indoctrinated by mainly people who hate Jesus?

Yvette Hampton:

And we talked about why you and your wife Betsy chose to homeschool. And then we talked a little bit about the philosophy of home education. That’s kind of what we ended on yesterday, on Wednesday. Do you have any more to add to the philosophy of homeschool?

Dr. Brian Ray:

Yes, I said something at the end that I wanted to flip the question around for parents, especially those who profess to be Christians, when they say, well, I’m not sure I should homeschool, or why would I home school? And I asked them, let’s flip it around and say, why would you send your child away from you and away from home for 6 hours per day, maybe more on a bus ride and all that to be taught, trained and indoctrinated by people who do not like the gospel. They do not like the good news of Jesus Christ. I even said something like hate Jesus. Well, remember Jesus said you’re either with me or you’re against me. Right? So I’m not making up stuff here. But I also wanted to say that it’s important for everybody I don’t care whether right now listening is a new Ager or a secular humanist or a pagan, or a Wiccan, or a Christian or a Muslim or a Mormon or a Jew, it doesn’t matter. All education, whether it’s being done at a thing we call public school or at a thing we call private school or by homeschooling, is the teaching, training and indoctrination of children. That is the truth. And I know it really bothers people when I use the word indoctrination, but all that means go look it up. There are different definitions of indoctrination. I’m not talking about under a bright white light. You haven’t been able to eat for 39 hours and they’re keeping 120 degrees in your cell, your isolation. So that’s not what there’s. Indoctrination just means putting in doctrine, putting in propositions, putting in concepts, putting in principles into a child’s heart and mind. We all know that’s what’s being done in private schools. We all know that’s what’s being done in public schools. We all know that’s what’s being done in homeschooling. So if you’re a professing Christian, you are supposed to be doing that the biblical worldview with your children. And regardless of whether you’re a Christian, I’m glad that you’re considering homeschooling. Because you see, parent directed home based education is a design by God. It’s not something that people in the last 35 years in America made up. It’s not just this fabricated idea. And actually a parent directed home based education improves our local communities. It doesn’t matter what your worldview is, it improves our nations all over the country. So I wanted to say that about it, that it is a good thing for communities and societies regardless of the test scores. I’m glad what you said about the test scores. Yvette, I mean, on average, statistically speaking, let’s say your child is below average on a test, he or she would do even worse probably if in public school. So just keep that in mind, right?

Yvette Hampton:

So you’re talking about indoctrination and you gave a fantastic definition of it. I want to actually read out of Webster’s Dictionary the definition of indoctrination is this it’s teaching a doctrine, principle or ideology, especially one with a specific point of view. And so you hit it right on the nail. I mean, that’s exactly what our kids are being indoctrinated by somebody. It doesn’t matter whether they’re being indoctrinated by the public school, private school, social media, or their parents. Every child is being indoctrinated somewhere by someone. And so as their parents. We have to take that role on and say, okay, this is where indoctrination is going to happen in our kids lives. It’s going to happen in our home under the umbrella of God’s Word, and we are going to indoctrinate our kids, and really, we’re just training them up right as God has called us to do so. And with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can do this. I know it’s a scary thing. It’s scary for me. It’s scary for pretty much every homeschool mom I’ve ever met. But by God’s grace, we can continue doing this. All right, so we’ve talked about, again, the academic achievement. Let’s talk you touched just a little bit on this, but I want to dig into this a little more about the social and emotional development of homeschool kids. What have you found with your research on that?

Dr. Brian Ray:

Something you just said made me I was ready. You gave me a segue of it. You said it can be scary for parents to think about doing this homeschooling thing. I don’t think you meant this, but it could imply in people’s head, I’m doing it all alone. No, you’re not. You’re not doing it all alone. If you’re a human being, you are a social creature, right? And if you are a Christian, you’re engaged in what we call a local church. And when you home school and you don’t quit homeschooling, that means you never send them away to be indoctrinated by somebody else, or you decide to stop them being indoctrinated by somebody else, and you bring them back home. You have all kinds of possibilities. You have what everybody knows now we call home school co ops. And I don’t even know if people know what that means. Cooperative. That’s what it means. It’s a cooperative. So you do things together. You have colleagues, you collaborate, you have fun know, you help each other, cry on each other’s shoulders. You give each other ideas. You maybe say, I hate math, and I don’t even want to learn math, so I’m going to have Susie Q in my co op. She’s going to teach the math class in our group, and then you have fun doing it together. So that is my segue to the research on homeschooling. The implication by the negative critics and the naysayers from 39 years ago till now is homeschool people hide in Sellers in northern Idaho, and they never interact with anybody. It is so absolutely false. It’s a tiny, tiny minority of homeschoolers who might do something like that. I’m not saying there are none, but it’s a tiny minority. And even then, hey, look it go back 180 years in American history. There were people who lived basically alone, a mom and a dad and maybe 23456 children, and they maybe got look.

Yvette Hampton:

At the Ingalls family.

Dr. Brian Ray:

Yeah. And they maybe got to see somebody once a week or once a month or whatever. They were law abiding. Citizens. They learned how to read. They knew how to work hard. They knew how to be more. What more do you want? I mean, what more do we get than that? Or do we even get that from half the graduates of public schools? Maybe not. Okay, so we have the fact that homeschooling interact with other people, and they have a mom and a dad. And I think a really key important thing for people to keep in mind here is that most of the time when children go to institutional schooling, they model much of the time after peers. So seven year olds are looking at seven year olds as their models. Twelve year olds are looking at twelve year olds as their models. But what would we all say? Do you want your child to model after a mature, kind, hardworking adult or after a seven year old? You want them to model after the adult. So we’re all kind of messed up in our heads about what this whole peer interaction thing is about. There’s no research. I’ve looked and looked and looked and looked. There’s no research anywhere that shows children need to be with 25 other kids plus or minus eleven months their age turn out to be how to read, knowing how to read, knowing how to do basic math, knowing how to be law abiding, knowing how to keep the golden rule. There’s no research like that. And now we have the opposite. We have almost 40 years of research saying that when you look at homeschool kids, they’re doing better in terms of social and emotional development. They model after adults. They know how to interact with adults, they know how to interact with babies. They’re respectful, they’re kind. I’m not saying they’re all perfect. Nobody’s saying that. But on average, they’re doing better.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, I agree. And I see that in a lot of ways. I’m going to kind of twist this question a little bit for you because I’m curious to know if you’ve done any research on this specifically. I feel like kids in general, and I may be opening up a huge can of worms here, and if I am, just say we’ll talk about that on another episode, and then we’ll have to come back. Kids today, I think as I’m watching my girls who are both in the teen ish years, one’s closer to being an adult, one’s just entering into her teen years. There are two things that I see that have really impacted them socially and emotionally. And I don’t this is not just home school related. This is kids related, is COVID and social media. Those two things, I think, have had a great impact on kids emotions and their social anxiety, ability to socialize with other kids. Have you done any research on that end at all? And if so, what are you seeing?

Dr. Brian Ray:

I’ve only reviewed research, not personally done research. But it’s fascinating to ask that I just read today another set of statistics from the CDC, the federal government. Not that I necessarily trust them, but anyway, depression rates are completely gone out of off the charts. It’s like at least 20 some percent of adults are depressed or more depressed. There’s research that’s very clear from the past year that researchers have been doing about teens. The suicidal ideation is up statistically in the last few years, and it was already going up, it looks like. I don’t think there’s any way for anybody to make an argument that institutionalizing children in these places we call school, where most of us went, is improving their psychological health. I don’t know where there’s an argument for that. When you look at the government lockdowns and mask mandates and injection mandates and all that, and scaring the children and adults half to death, that to even interact with people would make them sick. And I’m going to be careful here, too. But it has had a very negative effect and many research are now admitting that the same things that they once called conspiracy theory are true. And so it’s not good at all. There’s been a lot of that. And the social media Yvette, we know from research that there’s addiction, it’s not health, it’s negative to their social skills. So I really would pray that parents here’s the problem even parents who profess to be Christians and who homeschool their children have to admit that they have been slowly boiled in the water like that frog we all know about. And I’m guessing a large portion of people listening right now are way more on screen time and social media than they ever should be. They need to get off of it and get outside with their children, do things with their children. Not only we have all that. I mean, you’ve got me on a roll, NHERI Vet. Not only do we have that, we have skyrocketing obesity rates. The majority of American young adults cannot even get into the military now because they’re obese. All of this is tied together. It’s all tied together. And it’s also tied into the fact that many parents, including some watching, are more worried about what their children think than what they know is good for their children. So when they say, hey, Billy and Susie, get outside and you’re going to go play for 15 minutes, I don’t want you, then the parents buckle to that, but they’ve got to say you’re going out. And then even better would be if the parents would go outside with them. But you’ve got me on a topic and there’s a lot of negative impact, especially over the last few years from both government controls on those things we were just talking about and children and parents spending way too much time sitting and looking at the screen.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, and social media is you’re right on all of that. When I think about kids being in school, public or private, social media is one of the reasons now that we can add to the list of not having our kids in school because they are exposed to everything. There are no limits. Teachers can try to take phones away. Administration can try to put lockdowns on them, whatever. It’s never going to happen.

Dr. Brian Ray:

It doesn’t work.

Yvette Hampton:

As long as kids have phones in their pockets and in their backpacks, all it takes is sneaking into the bathroom and pulling up some websites, even if they’re not looking at anything inappropriate. It’s just the addiction of all the kids standing around on their phones all Ray long. And so all the kids feel like they have to do that because it’s what all their friends are doing. And you don’t want to be the odd, weird one out who’s not on your phone. And so, I mean, it just is so destructive. And so you talk about weird.

Dr. Brian Ray:

There’s research on it, home school research on it. It’s harming them. It’s harming them all the way through. So homeschoolers, you have the option to not do that. And mom and dad, you have the option to be disciplined yourself. So when you all get home at night and you say, hey, there’s the basket over there. And if your children do have cell phones and mom and dad, your cell phone goes in the basket for a couple of hours together as a family.

Yvette Hampton:

I want to talk about the success of the homeschooled kids now who are into their adulthood, because we’ve heard, of course, that there are adults who are like, oh, I hated being homeschooled. It was a terrible thing for me. And then you’ve got adults who are like, I was homeschooled my whole life, and it’s been amazing. And you have definitely both ends of the spectrum. And then, of course, as homeschooled parents today, we worry about whether or not our kids will make it into adulthood successfully and what that will look like. And when I say successfully, I know Dr. Ray’s heart is the same. I don’t mean being able to get the best education with the best job so that they can make the most money and have the biggest house and the best vacations. I mean, success according to what God has called them to do. So talk a little bit about success of the homeschool in adulthood now that.

Dr. Brian Ray:

Has been studied in many different ways. I’ve got to do a few of those studies, and some others have done it. And so they range all the way from, okay, now you’re an adult. How often are you depressed? Okay, how much are you into alcohol abuse? If you went to college, what’s your GPA? And did you finish college? Do you vote? Do you trust the government? I mean, there’s so many fascinating studies about adults, but here’s all of those together, when you put them all in one big pot, stirred up, get this 169 percent of peer reviewed studies on adults who are home educated show that they are doing better statistically than those who went to institutional schools. So in other words, the large majority of the studies say they’re doing better. So what about the other 31% of the studies? Most of those say, hey, no difference in what we measured. So in other words, they’re doing as well or better less addiction to drugs, less depression, less problems acting out toward other people doing better in college, if they go to college. So that’s just what we know so far. I mean, again, Yvette, everybody has to remember this does not mean all people who are homeschooled are rocket scientists who love life and never get depressed. It doesn’t mean that. But it does mean, as a group, there’s something about home education that is helping people more than other people. And you kind of mentioned something there for a minute about we have all these stories of, well, I was home educated. I hated it. Well, I was home educated. The best thing since sliced bread. Remember, those are just anecdotes and now this is my experience. I’m going to tell you my experience. Most of the ones who say it was bad, they were raised by Christian parents, and they themselves now, these adults are not Christians, okay? They’re making complaints about the philosophy under which they were raised. Remember all the schools we said, whether they’re public schooling, private school, or homeschooling, teach a philosophy to their children. And you know what? Home of them, when they get older, reject that philosophy. Some people who are raised in public schools who are taught a secular humanistic, evolutionistic status, Marxist LGBTQ philosophy, they reject that and they become Christians. Right?

Yvette Hampton:

Right.

Dr. Brian Ray:

So you have the same thing with homeschooling. But overall, if you look at it kind of from a research, quantitative, qualitative perspective, the home educated are doing better in adulthood.

Yvette Hampton:

That’s exciting news. It brings hope, I think. I know for myself as a homeschool mom, that gives me a lot of hope. Let’s talk really quickly about the changing demographics of the homeschool community because you have seen it change drastically in 39 years. I mean, we’ve seen the public school system change drastically, but homeschooling, I think, has really changed drastically. Talk about that for a minute.

Dr. Brian Ray:

At the beginning of the modern homeschool movement, there was a stereotype, and there’s always a little bit of truth to a stereotype.

Yvette Hampton:

Right?

Dr. Brian Ray:

Homeschoolers were either kind of like left wing, hippie wear birkenstocks, move to the country, blow up your TV, and raise a know that was one stereotype. Or they were more like right wing, white, Christian fundamentalist Bible thumpers. All right? So those stereotypes are not exactly true, but there was some truth to it. There was always the variety. But keep in mind, there was always the variety. So what we’ve seen over the last 35 to 40 years, the variety is there, and it’s just increasing, whereas maybe I’m just going to make up numbers here. Maybe 20 years ago, you would not have found online well, there wasn’t so much online, but anyway, you would not have found a Wiccan home school group, or you would not have found a Naturist home school group. Now you can find almost everything online. You can find almost everything online. In terms of philosophy. Why do I mention philosophy? Because the philosophy drives almost everything. Right. So philosophy drives what kind of curriculum you choose and how you sure.

Yvette Hampton:

It goes back to indoctrination.

Dr. Brian Ray:

Sure. And remember, we’ve had john Holtz was one of the first people promoting what we call homeschooling today, and he talked about unschooling. We’ve had that for 40 years. Right. I mean, that’s a big difference from structured school at home. So we’ve had all these varieties. Another significant change we’ve seen is that many more people from different ethnicities are homeschooling or different skin colors, whatever you want to call it. Way more of that than we saw before. Yes, it did look very white Anglo before, and now it does. Not anymore. I mean, homeschooling has grown tremendously, especially in the last five. Very diverse amongst black families. African Americans and Hispanics are coming. Most people don’t even talk about down. When you go to the Southwest and you speak at a homeschool conference in the Southwest, people don’t even specify Hispanic or not. They’re just NHERI. It’s interesting. That tells you something about our culture. But anyway, so we’ve seen changes in that. We’ve seen a big variety in what’s available to people online. So that kind of alters what people do and how they do it. There’s just a lot of changes. Many changes.

Yvette Hampton:

Yeah, many good changes. Some not so exciting, not so good. But I think overall the changes have been really good. And I think from personally, the change that I think is the most exciting is the acceptance of homeschooling is that people no longer look at homeschoolers and are like, what you’re doing? What you’re teaching your kids at home? I mean, I’m out with my kids all the time, and this is our 13th year of homeschooling, and we lived in Southern California. And always, I mean, since my girls were in kindergarten, we always have made our way out into the grocery store, into the library, wherever. We just have done life. And we’ve had a couple of people give us funny looks, oh, are you girls out of school today? And they’ll say, no, we’re homeschooling. Oh, okay. But not so much anymore. I mean, it is just so widely accepted, and not even just accepted, it’s celebrated. I think more and more parents, more and more people, I should say, are opening up their eyes to what’s happening in the public schools. And they’re going, oh. And almost always they say, oh, I have a neighborhood home schools, or my niece home school or my daughter home school. And it’s like they’re excited to know someone else who’s part of this club. So that’s really cool. All right, I want to end with one question. This is kind of a tough topic, and I don’t want to park too long NHERI. But I think that it needs to be addressed. And I think in your research, you have tackled this a little bit, and people will talk about child abuse and neglect in homeschool families, and of course, you’ll hear stories about these kids, which it’s so heartbreaking. They have been terribly abused, and the parents will state, oh, well, we homeschool them because people always ask the question, well, why weren’t they in school? Why didn’t anybody notice that these kids were being chained up or rocked up or neglected, malnourished, whatever? And they put that homeschool label on them. And of course, kids who are in institutional school, there’s lots of child abuse that goes on there too. Have you done specific research when it comes to the area of child abuse and neglect of institutionally schooled kids versus homeschool kids?

Dr. Brian Ray:

Yes, it’s a study that I had been thinking about doing for probably at least ten years of it. And finally okay, wow. A couple of years ago, we got on it, and people like people watching right now gave us money to support the study. Before I get into that, because I know we got to go fast. First of all yes. In public school families, home school families, and private school families, sometimes parents do evil things, and it’s evil and it’s bad. So let’s just get that off on the table and off the table. So no one’s excusing that ever, right?

Yvette Hampton:

No justification for it, ever.

Dr. Brian Ray:

Yeah. We wanted to know from a quantitative perspective and to help an honest discussion for policy and law. Okay, so is there any difference? Because we’ve had people, including professors, just throw out wild claims that homeschooling either disproportionately abuse their children or it’s a way to really hide it, that kind of thing. So we really want to know about so my colleague and I, Dr. Denise Shaquille, worked on this, and we started collecting data, and we finally got it done and published it in a peer reviewed journal last fall. You can find it, and it’s posted online, and it’s open access, which means anybody can read it, and you don’t have to pay $40 to read the article, which is wonderful. This is what we found, two big, major findings. Our subjects are adults, okay? And they’re looking back at growing up. There are a lot of reasons for doing it that way. It’s extremely difficult to query minors about this kind of thing. So we worked with adults and told us they told us what happened to them growing up. First major finding when you statistically put into the model demographics, like parent education level, family income, how many years children had been or not been in foster care, ethnicity. Race, all those things when you put those in like you should do in most any study, no significant difference between those who were institutionally schooled and those who were homeschool in terms of abuse and neglect growing up. No significant difference. Now we’ll come back to that second major finding for the no significantly different amount of abuse that had been perpetrated on those who were homeschooled. So remember, no significant difference home school versus schooled for those who were homeschooled, it was not being done the evil things by their parents in the home. It was being done to them outside the home at places like schools or museums or sports or those kinds of things. So that’s the second major of two major findings of the study. So what does that mean? People who wanted homeschooling to look good were a little disappointed and people who wanted institutional schooling to look good were kind of disappointed. No significant difference. And then for that which was happening to those who were homeschool, that was actually a positive finding that it was not happening at home, it was happening outside the home. So that’s really a big deal. It doesn’t sound like the end of the world kind of study, but it’s a big deal because it’s the opposite of what a lot of negative critics were claiming without, you know, first of know, we presume in America that people are innocent until they’re found guilty. And the biblical role of government is to punish evildoers. It’s not to try to catch somebody who might do something wrong. We just don’t work that way. So the people who want to control homeschooling thinking maybe it’ll do better for life, I mean, they’re wrong in terms of constitutional philosophy and they’re wrong in terms of biblical philosophy. Secondly, now we have concrete evidence that there’s no problem. There’s no problem to try to solve.

Rescuing Our Children: An Urgent Call to Take Back Education

“Parents must understand that sending their children into the public school system without adequate training is like sending them into a spiritual war unarmed.”

Alex Newman

In March, we had the privilege of having Alex Newman join us as a speaker for the Homegrown Generation Family Expo, with a session titled “Rescuing Our Children.” In that session, Alex hit upon a topic that is crucial to parents. Alex argues that parents have the sole responsibility of educating their children, and using government funding to provide that education jeopardizes not only the quality of education but also religious freedom. He presents a passionate plea to parents to reclaim their rightful role as the primary educators of their children. Newman’s insights shed light on the dire state of our current education system and offers a compelling case for homeschooling as a powerful antidote. Let’s take a closer look at some key takeaways from this eye-opening discussion.

“God has given clear responsibilities, clear authorities to different people, different institutions. And the Bible is very clear about who is ultimately responsible for the education and the discipling of children. It’s parents. And maybe you could argue there’s a supplemental role there for the church, certainly not the civil government, not Caesar.”

Alex Newman

The Perils of Government Funding:

Newman ardently argues that relying on government funds for education may compromise our educational and religious freedoms. He cautions against accepting any financial assistance tied to government regulations, citing examples from Canada, where government funding has led to restrictions on private and religious schools. He believes that such reliance on government funding, albeit seemingly beneficial at first, can ultimately lead to government control over what can and cannot be taught in schools. Newman stresses the importance of seeking support from communities and churches, rather than placing trust in government programs.

For more on this subject, read our comprehensive article on school choice here.

“Using government funds for education puts educational and religious freedoms at risk.”

Alex Newman

Homeschooling as a Vital Solution:

Within the episode, Newman underscores the importance of homeschooling as the best alternative to public schooling. Citing concerns about the public school system as a wicked place, he emphasizes the urgency of providing children with solid biblical education and grounding in God’s word. Newman draws from Psalm 1:1-2, which urges parents to guide their children away from wicked counsel and seeks to equip parents with the necessary tools for homeschooling. He understands that parental responsibilities may seem overwhelming, but encourages hesitant parents to “just go for it.”

Safeguarding Educational and Religious Liberties:

Newman strongly recommends reading Education: Does God Have an Opinion? by Israel Wayne, as it provides deep insights into the biblical foundations of homeschooling. He advocates against bills like HB1 in Florida, which plans to provide tax money to homeschoolers and private school students, but also subjects them to Common Core-aligned tests. Such measures, Newman suggests, place vulnerable homeschooling families at risk and interfere with their educational autonomy.

“What I tell people is, first and foremost, get your own children out of the public schools. And once your own children are safe, then you can worry about what’s happening in the public school system. I don’t believe that it’s a sensible strategy, and I don’t believe that it’s a biblical strategy to send your kids into a spiritual war when they haven’t been properly trained. Your kids are not going to end up being assault and light.”

Alex Newman

The Unsettling Truths and Solutions:

“They’re being dumbed down on an industrial scale. […] What they are going to learn is a fraudulent version of history, a totally fraudulent worldview, a totally fraudulent understanding of science, and some of the most grotesque things on sexual issues that you can even begin to imagine.”

Alex Newman

Newman delves into the troubling origins of our public school system, tracing its roots back to non-Christian thinkers like Plato and Robert Owen. He explains how these ideologies paved the way for the adoption of government-based education, ultimately aiming to undermine Christianity and promote socialist ideals. With the system hell-bent on indoctrination and dumbing down, Newman highlights the urgent need for parents to shield their children and dismantle the public system through homeschooling or alternative educational approaches.

Quoting Alex, “The public school system was designed to control children and create worker drones.” He unravels how the path towards total power for totalitarians lies in molding young minds, capturing not only their educational growth but their souls as well. This revelation serves as a wake-up call for parents to take back control of their children’s education.

Conclusion:

As parents, we are left with a resounding call to action. Alex’s wake up call encourages fervent prayer, research, and equipping ourselves with the necessary tools to provide our children with a holistic education founded on biblical principles. The power to rescue our children lies in our hands.

If you resonate with the urgency to reclaim education from the clutches of the public school system, we highly recommend giving this episode a listen. You will find not only a wealth of knowledge and inspiration but also practical steps you can take to become the primary educator your children deserve.

Remember, by shaping hearts and minds with a biblical worldview, we can empower our children to be discerning, courageous, and capable individuals who will impact the world for God’s glory.

Recommended Resources:

Crimes of the Educators: How Utopians Are Using Government Schools to Destroy America’s Children, by Samuel Blumenfeld and Alex Newman

Education: Does God Have an Opinion? by Israel Wayne

Education: The Key to Saving Our Nation – Alex Newman on the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast

Fighting For Our Children – Alex Newman on the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast

Discussion Questions:

Want to use this interview for a co-op meeting or small group? Here are a few discussion questions to keep the conversation moving in the right direction:

1. What is Alex Neman’s perspective on the public school system, and why does he hold this opinion?

2. What are some of the examples cited by Alex to support his arguments against government funding for education?

3. Why is the guest critical of the HB1 bill in Florida?

4. What are Alex’s thoughts on colleges actively seeking out homeschoolers? Why does he believe this is the case?

5. What is Alex Neman’s opinion on elite universities, and what is his advice for finding a good college?

6. What does Alex believe is the ultimate agenda behind the public school system?

7. What does Alex propose as a solution for parents who wish to opt-out of contributing to public schools with their tax money?

8. What are some of the historical roots of government-based education?

9. Why should we be concerned about the indoctrination and “dumbing down” of children in the American public school system?

10. What is Alex’s advice for parents who wish to protect their children from the dangers of cultural trends and spiritual warfare?

It’s not too late to enjoy the Homegrown Generation Family Expo – now at a new, lower price! Register today for lifetime access to every session – and BONUS access to the 2020 conference – all for just $20.  Register at HomegrownGeneration.com.

Keep it FREE:

We have always wanted to make the barrier to entry for homeschooling as low as possible, so we have made all but one of our resources completely free (and we’re considering how we can make that one free too). READ MORE HERE.

We pray that the Schoolhouse Rocked Ministry is a blessing to you and your family. Here are a few ways to be involved in this important mission…

Read the full transcript to “Rescuing our Children,” with Alex Newman below:

Continue reading “Rescuing Our Children: An Urgent Call to Take Back Education”

Equal Poverty For All: A Miserable Goal for Education

Yvette and I got to do one of our favorite things over the weekend. We attended a homeschool conference in Moore, Oklahoma where we showed Schoolhouse Rocked and spoke on a few panels. More importantly, we got to connect with homeschooling families. We always leave these conferences encouraged and energized.

We were once again struck by how many NEW homeschooling families were there. One of the most important things that COVID-19 did was open millions of parents’ eyes to how desperately public schools were failing. And many parents chose to bring their children home for good!

By What Measure?

But is the public school system actually failing? From the consumer perspective – that of the student, parent, and taxpayer – it’s clear we are not getting what we desire. Students are provided with poor academic outcomes. Parents have their authority undermined and their trust betrayed. The American taxpayer watches as every year school spending increases while school safety declines, test scores decline, and the anti-Christian, anti-family, and anti-American values being taught in the classroom result in moral decline, political unrest, and cultural chaos.

From the perspective of the founders and the architects of the system it should be understood that government schools are a raving success. The worldview and values taught in the classroom are adopted by the majority of the students and the system produces millions of mostly compliant workers who will continue to pay taxes and won’t overthrow their leaders. Further, they will continue to feed the system with fresh generations of disciples to repeat the process.

I often say, “public schools are the world’s most effective evangelistic organizations.” The vast majority of disciples who pass through the system come out dedicated, unquestioning adherents to the religious worldview of the schools – regardless of the religious upbringing they receive at home or church. 

“The model for utopia…equal poverty for all”

John Dewey

In order to understand the true aim of the public school system and what they are succeeding at, let’s look at what the father of progressive education, John Dewey, had to say.

Here are a few excerpts from the excellent book, Crimes of the Educators (2014) by Sam Blumenfeld and Alex Newman.

“John Dewey (1885-1952) is generally lauded as the father of progressive education” (p. 1). 

“Dewey stated that the only way to undermine the capitalist system was to get rid of the emphasis primary schools placed on the development of high literacy and independent intelligence” (p. 1).

“Destroying the brainpower of a nation is an act of war against that nation” (p. 4).

“Dewey admitted that the reading program he was proposing would not be as effective as the traditional method” (p. 7).

“The plea for the predominance of learning to read in early school-life because of the great importance attached to literature seems to me a perversion” The Primary-Education Fetich by John Dewey (p. 8).

“The model for utopia…equal poverty for all” (p. 9).

Co-author of Crimes of the EducatorsAlex Newman, is a regular guest on the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast and a speaker for the Homegrown Generation Family ExpoYou can hear more from him on this topic here.

(Hat tip to Dr. Douglas J. Pietersma for sharing these quotes.)

As homeschooling parents we have the perfect opportunity to fight back. We have the privilege of training our kids’ hearts and minds in truth, day by day. In the words of Deuteronomy 6:5-7, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

Meeke Addison, co-host of Airing the Addisons on American Family Radio, recently joined Yvette Hampton on the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast to talk about how to train our children for the cultural battle that they will inevitably face. She explains why we need to keep a close eye on politics, pop culture, and the church; and how to equip our kids to effectively engage in and transform culture.

We pray that the Schoolhouse Rocked Ministry is a blessing to you and your family. Here are a few ways to be involved in this important mission…

Post Thumbnail photo credit, Yves Alarie on Unsplash.com

TANSTAAFL: No Free Lunch!

My favorite economist, Thomas Sowell, would often quote Milton Friedman, saying “there’s no such thing as a free lunch.” The thing is, before Milton Friedman popularized this as a common economic term, Robert Heinlein used its more colloquial version, “there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch” or “TANSTAAFL” as a central theme in his novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. But even before Heinlein, the term had been used in literature and everyday parlance since at least the 1930s. So, I guess it would be best described as a “meta-quote.”

TANSTAAFL certainly applies when we’re talking about “school choice.” The great lure of school choice programs is the “free money,” but we should all know that government money never comes without strings attached – and every penny the government hands out has to first be taken from taxpayers. This reminds me of another quote from President Ronald Reagan. “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”

We recently published the ultimate resource for understanding the school choice issue: School Choice: Unmasking the Euphemism. This is an article you will want to bookmark and share often, as the school choice movement is gaining steam and, unfortunately, is being adopted as a pet issue by many “conservative” politicians. It’s critical to understand the nuances of this important issue, because it poses an existential threat to homeschooling. If you’re on Facebook you can share this post.

New Podcast Episodes:

This week former public school teacher, Kelly Crawford, joined Yvette on the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast to talk about the difference between “School” and “Education.” They discuss how today’s traditional school model strayed from the heart of true education, and what can we do as homeschooling parents to avoid these traditional schooling traps.

On the Homeschool Insights Podcast, Kathy Hutto joins Yvette to talk about the reality of single parents homeschooling. “What about single parents” is one of the most common objections we hear to homeschooling, so we are always blessed to be able to share encouragement from single moms who have made it work. 

We pray that the Schoolhouse Rocked Ministry is a blessing to you and your family. Here are a few ways to be involved in this important mission…

School Choice: Unmasking the Euphemism

“It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words.”

George Orwell, 1984

As is so often the case in politics, pundits and activists give friendly sounding names to hot-button political movements to mask the true character of these matters. Abortion advocates are labeled “pro-choice.” Genital mutilation becomes “gender affirming care.” Illegal aliens become “undocumented workers.” Women become “birthing persons.” 

This is certainly the case with theschool choice” issue. At the most basic level, the term “school choice” substitutes the concept of choice (options, opportunity) for the true focus of the movement, government education funding. School choice programs take on many forms – public charter school programs and virtual charter programs, magnet schools, intra-district transfer programs, school vouchers, education savings accounts and tax-credit education savings accounts (ESAs), tax-credit scholarships, individual tuition tax credits and deductions. The unifying thread that ties all of these programs together is the “public money” that is being distributed under each program. 

A mouse approaches a mousetrap baited with money. The trap is under a sign that reads "free."

It is important to note that homeschooling and private schools are usually included in the school choice conversation, but the references to homeschooling and private schools always devolve to a discussion of how these programs will include or exclude homeschooled and private schooled students in the distribution of these funds. 

School choice advocates, who are actually advocating that our tax dollars should be given to individuals for the funding of private and (sometimes) home education, want taxpayers and voters to believe that these measures increase choice (educational opportunities) for families. While it is a subtle distinction, it is critical to understand that government funding has no bearing on actual educational choice. 

I recently had an exchange with school choice lobbyist, Corey DeAngelis, on Facebook and I was, once again, convinced I needed to explain why I am so strongly opposed to the school choice movement and believe it is an existential danger to homeschool — in spite of pleasant sounding catchphrases like “fund students instead of systems” and “money follows the student,” all of which, like the “school choice” moniker, are used to lull parents into supporting big-government programs that will ultimately hurt every student. 

Following our Facebook exchange, I will share an extensive breakdown of the problems with school choice measures. While it should be noted that most of the arguments against school choice that I present in this article apply equally to private schools (both secular and religious) and to homeschools, because the Schoolhouse Rocked ministry specifically serves homeschool families, for the most part, I will only address homeschooling here.

Corey DeAngelis, May 19 at 4:06 PM

“Winning”

“BREAKING: Oklahoma legislature sent Governor Kevin Stitt a bill to fund students instead of systems.

All families will be eligible.

Oklahoma will soon become a national leader on education freedom.

This is the way.”

My response:

“’Fund students instead of systems’ is just a euphemism for redistribution of wealth. Government money doesn’t make education free. Oklahoma already has some of the most family and student-friendly education laws on the books, with homeschooling written into the state constitution. We don’t need or want government handouts or oversight. Corey DeAngelis, stop selling soft socialism as a conservative value. Parents, don’t fall for the “school choice” Trojan horse. 

Government money ALWAYS comes with strings attached. The cheese in the mousetrap is free for a reason.”

For the first time, after trying to engage Mr. DeAngelis on this topic for years, I was able to get a response from him. His response to my concern; Schoolhouse Rocked no one is forcing you to take the money.

While this is true now, I felt it was important to continue the conversation, so here was my response: 

Corey DeAngelis… yet. 

This is the camel’s nose in the tent. As more and more families take the money, inevitably there will be calls for accountability measures (testing, safety checks, teacher qualifications, etc.) and curriculum and course of study requirements. These will absolutely be pushed across the board, whether homeschool families take the money or not. We’ve already seen these battles play out in other states and countries. 

Coming from California, we understand how enticing the “free money” is. We watched as homeschooling went from mostly privately funded and parent-led to mostly government controlled with the majority of “homeschool” families participating in public charter schools.

“I also appreciate that you didn’t dispute the “soft socialism” and “redistribution of wealth” claims.

The role of government should be extremely limited. There are very few instances of governments taking or spending more money that result in freer or safer societies. This isn’t going to be the first socialist program to succeed. They fail because they are based on faulty premises. 

True conservative values are smaller government, lower taxes, more freedom, open markets – with the government’s role being limited to defense, law giving and enforcement for the public good, and upholding the laws of nature and nature’s God. These principles always work.”

“[F]or he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.

Romans 13:4

““Romans 13 is the heart of the civil government’s jurisdiction. The civil government is to set the stage for the family government, church government, and others acting outside those two governments, to fulfill their duties owed to God. That is, the civil government is to facilitate duties owed to God, not interfere with them.”   (Kevin Novak, 2016, Abolition: Overcoming the Christian Establishment on Education)

I was happy to see that in this thread Corey shared a link to the referenced Oklahoma bill he was referencing: Oklahoma House Bill 1934: “Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit Act.” Thankfully, I was already familiar with the bill, and as an Oklahoma resident, I had already had an in-depth conversation with one of our (very conservative) state senators on the subject of school choice. Unfortunately, like so many other conservative politicians, he was partially under the school choice spell and was a supporter of this bill – in spite of being homeschooled himself.

What we need to understand is that government programs grow over time. It’s what they do. What starts today as a voluntary “tax credit” in Oklahoma will always have the lurking threat of ubiquity behind it. Someone will always be pushing to make these programs mandatory – for the sake of the children. And when all school options are government funded, we really have NO school choice, because all school is public school. 

While the bill is labeled as a “tax credit,” this is another euphemism, as the bill actually provides government funding for parents regardless of the taxes they pay, and at a graduated level based on household income. 

Here was my response to Mr. DeAngelis:

Corey DeAngelis this is labeled as a tax credit, but most families with school-aged children will get more than they pay, and the “credit” amount is based on household income. This is a welfare program, not a tax credit.”

It should be noted that while Mr. DeAngelis bills himself as a “school choice evangelist” and “educational freedom advocate,” he is actually a professional lobbyist with ties to UNESCO and other large NGO’s and think tanks, including the American Federation for Children, Educational Freedom Institute, Cato Institute, Reason Foundation, and Liberty Justice Center, though it appears that his UNESCO ties have been recently sanitized from the World Wide Web. Thankfully, the Internet has a long memory.

Corey DeAngelis - UNESCO Public Profile Expert. UNESCO Inclusive Policy Lab.

(Lisa Logan, 2022, UNESCO’s Vision for School Choice)

The Truth about School Choice:

“Euphemisms are fallacious because they are intentionally used to conceal the truth and obscure any real meaning; they are soft language used to mask or downplay warranted emotional force.”

(Kimberly Baltzer-Jaray, 2018, Bad Arguments: 100 of the Most Important Fallacies in Western Philosophy)

By analyzing the term “school choice” within this framework, we can unravel the deceptive nature and danger of these programs.

The Illusion of Choice: 

At its core, the term “school choice” replaces the focus on education funding with the concept of “choice,” painting a false picture of increased options, freedom, and opportunity. Advocates of school choice argue that government funds should be allocated to individuals for private and home education, under the guise of increasing educational opportunities for families. However, it is essential to grasp the subtle yet critical distinction: government funding has no real impact on genuine educational choice.

The Illusion of Expanded Options:

One of the primary arguments put forth by proponents of school choice is that it expands educational options for families. However, upon closer examination, these programs often result in a reduction of options rather than an expansion. As governments institute control and accountability measures – which should be demanded every time the government spends money – inevitably, the broad educational freedoms experienced by homeschoolers and private schools are diminished. 

Our family witnessed this first-hand. As a flood California homeschool families joined the school choice bandwagon provided by the state’s public charter schools, they found themselves dealing with curriculum restrictions (no religious curriculum), curriculum and lesson plan approval, regular check-ins with charter school “teachers,” testing requirements, attendance reporting and specified minimum attendance rules, and requirements to keep “normal school hours.” It is not a far stretch from these “reasonable” controls to mandated teacher certification and in-home safety and wellness checks – and the slope is very slippery. In states like Georgia and California we have already seen these measures proposed by state legislators (usually in response to highly-publicized abuse cases).

While it would seem that each of these control measures should result in better outcomes for students, in practice we find that none of them result in higher achievement among students. In fact, while I am no fan of no-holds-barred unschooling because I understand that God calls parents to train up their children, multiple studies have shown that unschooled kids – not bound by any of these restrictions or regulations – have extraordinarily positive socialacademic, and professional outcomes

It should be noted that many families choose to homeschool specifically because they want to teach their children from a Biblical worldview. In our case, the primary reason we homeschool is so that we can integrate God’s Word into every subject. One of the first steps each state takes when implementing school choice programs is to require funded materials and curriculum to be secular, thereby undermining the primary reason many Christian families homeschool.

“Article IX, Section 8, of the California Constitution addresses religious instruction within public schools. The wording is straightforward and is available at any public library. A review of this section may be helpful: ‘No public money shall ever be appropriated for the support of any sectarian or denominational school…’ Government funding cannot be used to support a religious school.”

(CathyDuffyReviews.com, An Updated Look at Charter Schools)

What our family saw first-hand in California illustrated why this requirement alone should be a primary concern for homeschool families. Instead, we saw that the lure of “free money” was enough to cause many families to ransom their values and jump on the school choice bandwagon.

Among the many families we knew who participated in government homeschool charter programs, two main tactics – and a third, less common tactic –  were employed to deal with the secular curriculum requirement. Most commonly, families would use two sets of curricula for any subject that they wanted to teach from a Biblical worldview – one approved (and purchased) by the charter and one that they wouldn’t submit for approval. This meant that, in many cases, students were doing extra work to submit worksheets and projects from the approved curriculum before they would do the “real” Science, History, or Bible work from the unapproved Christian curriculum. At best, this represented a massive waste of time, but in reality, it also served to frustrate students and make homeschooling more difficult than it needed to be.  

Sadly, what we also saw was that in many cases Christian families would just lie about what curriculum they were using, justifying the omission by saying that what they were teaching their children was no business of the government. While I agree that the government should have no place in the education of our children, this fact doesn’t justify intentional, low-level fraud. American parents are not currently forced to participate in ANY charter schools or school choice programs, so they are not forced to lie when they chose to participate, take the handout, and then ignore the rules of these programs.

Tactic #3 – The ”After Hours” Compromise:

At least in California, there was a technicality that allowed for students participating in charter schools and charter homeschool programs to receive religious instruction: the “after hours” loophole. State law and the charters of these schools stated that religious instruction couldn’t be administered during “normal school hours.” While I’ll save the rant about “normal school hours” for a future article, this meant that Christian homeschool families who abided by this rule could do “regular” school, using “neutral” “secular” resources during the day and then do religious instruction in the evening or on weekends.

This compromise has a few major holes. First, it fails to acknowledge that ALL instruction is religious by nature. Education is DISCIPLESHIP. Education is WORLDVIEW TRAINING. What we teach our children about creation, the LOGOS behind reason, logic, and language, the perfect order of mathematics, God’s work throughout history, who we are as people, and our purpose in the world is explicitly religious. The only question is which religion is being taught.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Proverbs 1:7

More subtly, to relegate “religious” teaching to after-hours teaches our children that religion and work (“real life”) are separate. What a shame it is to teach our children that it’s perfectly acceptable to compartmentalize our Christianity and only take it out only when appropriate (or approved). As Christian parents our principal desire in teaching our children should be to pass our faith on to them, to teach them the truth of God’s Word, and to train them to live boldly for the glory of Christ “in season and out of season” – in spite of the approval of man or government. 

Not Private, Not Independent, Not Parent Led – Not Homeschooling:

On the topic of public virtual charters schools, it should be noted that, technically, while much of the instruction under these programs occurs in the home, these are actually considered public schools. CHEA (Christian Home Educators Association of California) states: “When enrolling in a school-at-home charter school, it’s important to recognize that it is a public school. Your children are independent study public school students and you are subject to the laws that govern public charter schools. You sign an Independent Study “master agreement” with the charter school for each student enrolled (Educ. Code § 51747(c)(8)(A)). The funds that these schools offer you are public tax dollars. In exchange for these funds, there is government oversight across several areas of your home school.” And “When a student is enrolled in a charter school, they are assigned a teacher. The title of this “teacher” varies–teacher facilitator, educational advisor, educational specialist, educational coach–but they are all California credentialed teachers who become the teacher of record in your student’s cumulative file. (Educ. Code § 47605(l))” (Katie Julius, 2019, Homeschooling 101: Public School at Home (How Charters Allow Government Oversight of Your Children’s Education)

Additionally, it should be noted that while these programs mimic traditional home education their methods and reliance on state-approved materials results in poor academic outcomes. 

“[I]n January of 2010, the Idaho Department of Education published a study that compared the academic achievement of students in the virtual charter schools with that of students in the rest of the public school system. To that point the general expectation was that students in the virtual charter schools would show academic excellence both because they are being taught at home and because they are enrolled in public charter schools. After all, how could a program with similarities to two such outstanding educational options produce anything but strong academic achievement?

Contrary to what most had expected, the 2010 report showed the opposite. Pages five through seven of that report demonstrated that:

1.  While students in Idaho’s brick-and-mortar charter schools scored significantly higher on the state assessment tests than did students in the regular public schools,

2.  Students in the virtual charter schools scored significantly lower on the same tests than did the students in the regular public schools.Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, public schools are required by law to meet certain benchmarks on student assessment tests. If one digs deeply enough, one will find that 38% of Idaho’s public schools failed to make the adequate yearly progress in 2010. But among the virtual charter schools — including both IDVA and IDEA — the percentage of such schools that failed to make adequate yearly progress in 2010 was a whopping 67%.”

(VirtualCharterSchoolMyths.com, 2014, MYTH #1: Virtual Charter Schools Produce Academic Excellence, 2014)

It is for these reasons homeschool support organizations often remind parents that real homeschooling means privately-funded, parent-led, home-based education.

The Illusion of Increased Spending: Lack of Academic Improvement

In spite of the inevitable drawbacks that school choice programs bring, if it were as simple as “more money=better performance,” a decent case might be made for them. In reality, what we find is quite the opposite. When faced with the steady decline of academic outcomes demonstrated in government schools, homeschool families should be very wary of inviting the same government, which has so desperately failed public school students, into their homes.

Over the years, per-student public school spending has consistently increased across the country. Currently, U.S. public schools spend an average $13,185 per pupil annually, with several eastern states spending well in excess of $20,000 per student. (Melanie Hanson, 2022, Education Data Initiative, U.S. Public Education Spending Statistics) Despite the substantial growth in funding, academic outcomes have not been marked by a corresponding improvement, refuting the assumption that increased spending directly translates to better educational results. Standardized test scores, graduation rates, and other academic indicators have not shown consistent advancements aligning with the increasing financial investments made in public schools.

(Andrew J. Coulson, 2012, CATO Institute, Public School Spending. There’s a Chart for That!)

The Need for Fiscal Responsibility:

Given the lack of a direct correlation between increased spending and academic achievement, it should remind us how vital it is to exercise fiscal responsibility when allocating any public funds, let alone when considering applying tax dollars to education. Ironically, it is in this area – and only this area – where I agree with school choice advocates. If public dollars are spent on education fiscal accountability should be demanded. 

Since I have no desire to answer to Uncle Sam about how I spend our household’s money I will continue to refuse any school choice handouts or “tax credits.” In theory, I would have no problem with a tax exemption or direct tax deduction for families who homeschool or choose to pay for private school. I would never be opposed to the government taking less of my money to pay for programs I don’t support. However, any scheme that requires homeschool families to register or report to any government agency is going to be a non-starter.

Ultimately though, this just serves as a hypothetical thought experiment, as this option is never seriously promoted by school choice advocates. In the end, all of these schemes boil down to new ways to tax, skim, and spend – repackaged redistribution of wealth with all of the normal bureaucratic fraud, waste, and abuse.

Financial Implications:

Contrary to the narrative that school choice programs save money, they often result in higher costs for education, both for individuals and the public as a whole. Just as we have seen with colleges and universities, as government funding for higher education has increased through grants, scholarships, and government guaranteed loan programs, college tuition has skyrocketed along with student loan debt. This is the nearly inescapable cycle of inflation. As “free” money is dumped into a system, prices inevitably rise. And as school choice programs increase the cost of education across the board, these increased costs will put an unequal strain on families who don’t qualify for these programs, live in areas where they are not available, or choose not to take the funds.

Administrative Bloat and Expensive Amenities:

We don’t have to guess about what the outcome will be as school choice programs gain ground and the government takes an ever-expanding role in the funding of K-12 education. All we have to do is look at the colleges. The infusion of government funds into colleges led to an increase in administrative staff and the growth of bureaucratic structures within institutions. As colleges expanded their administrative departments, costs associated with salaries, benefits, and administrative operations soared. Moreover, colleges started investing in expensive amenities and non-academic facilities to attract students, further driving up costs.

Additionally, increased college funding discouraged price competition among colleges. When students rely heavily on financial aid and grants, they become less sensitive to the actual cost of education. As a result, colleges have less market pressure to control costs and provide value for money. This lack of price competition and market discipline has enabled colleges to continue increasing tuition without significant accountability, and consequently the real cost for a college education has skyrocketed. The same will be true of private K-12 education costs if school choice programs proliferate.

The Student Debt Crisis – Coming to a Homeschool Near You:

Though we have to venture a bit into slippery slope territory, I think it is important to consider the student debt crisis as a cautionary tale. The escalation of college costs fueled by expanded government funding has contributed to our current student debt crisis – currently a $1.78 billion dollar burden on American families. (Matt Schulz, 2023, LendingTree.com, Student Loan Debt Statistics)  As tuition prices have skyrocketed, students (and their parents) have increasingly relied on loans to finance their education. Consequently, students graduate burdened with substantial debt, affecting their financial well-being and future opportunities. It is not much of a stretch to expect a similar situation to arise as homeschool families increasingly rely on government funds – and soon government loans – to be able to afford ever-increasing education costs associated with increased government funding of (formerly private) K-12 education options.

Obscuring Wealth Redistribution: 

Behind the euphemistic facade of school choice lies a broader agenda – the redistribution of wealth through socialist policies. While proponents of these programs may argue that they empower families to make educational decisions, the reality is that they divert taxpayer money – extracted by force or threat of force – to a select group of individuals, regardless of the consent of the taxpayers. While the details of every school choice proposal vary, necessarily, the recipient group (parents of school-aged children) is smaller than the contributing group (all taxpayers). Fundamentally, these programs represent the government forcefully taking money from one group to “give” it to another group, bearing the basic hallmarks of any socialist redistribution of wealth or welfare program. 

School Choice as a Welfare Program:

When viewed through a critical lens, School Choice programs can be understood as a form of welfare. These programs involve the redistribution of taxpayer funds to individuals to pay for services that they desire but may not be able to afford – though the true issue of affordability is a subject for another article (we have addressed this topic here). Additionally, in many cases, the amounts distributed are based on the recipient’s reported income. This is the definition of welfare.

While school choice proponents argue that these programs empower families with educational options, just like other welfare programs, they also create reliance on government handouts for education. Instead of empowering families to make choices based on their own means and preferences, such programs will inevitably create a sense of entitlement and diminish personal responsibility.

Conclusion:

“We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it.” 

George Orwell, 1984

Homeschool families need to remember that the battle to legalize independent, privately funded, parent-led, home-based education was long, hard fought, and not without casualties. And it was more recent than we might care to remember. Homeschooling has only been legal in all fifty states since 1993.

Over the years we have heard the stories of many families who faced jail time, fines, and the threat of losing their children simply for educating them at home. We had the privilege of sharing Zan Tyler’s story in Schoolhouse Rocked: The Homeschool Revolution. Zan fought for years to make homeschooling legal in South Carolina and through that battle she was threatened with arrest and had to spend a fortune in legal costs, but because of her efforts, and the efforts of many more courageous families like hers, we now have the freedom to home educate in every state. We should be very wary of giving back any of the freedom we had to fight so hard to win.

As we peel back the layers of the school choice argument it becomes clear that no amount of friendly euphemism can cover up the danger of these programs. As enticing as the idea of “free money” is, the real consequences of these programs: diminished options, declining academic outcomes, increasing government oversight, increased costs, and increased dependence mean that every family should oppose school choice, with homeschooling families leading the battle to preserve truly private education.

Recommended Resources:

If you are ready to experience TRUE school choice we have a few free resources to help you on your homeschooling journey.

Schoolhouse Rocked: The Homeschool Revolution is now available for FREE streaming. Dove Approved for All Ages, the film follows the Hampton family on a three year journey as they travel the country to shine a light on the movement that is reshaping education – and may just be the key to saving our nation.

You’ll hear from Christian leaders, education experts, and families just like yours as host, Yvette Hampton, grows from a staunch homeschooling opponent to an enthusiastic homeschool evangelist.

Watch the movie tonight and you’ll also receive a free copy of the Homeschool Survival Kit, a 72-page eBook packed with great resources and encouragement for families at every stage in their homeschooling journey.

Testimonials:

“Schoolhouse Rocked is EXCELLENT and a wonderful testimony to the growing popularity of home schooling and the superior education that it provides young people.” – Dr. James Dobson

“This is not an exaggeration to say, this is the movement that is needed to save this country. Incredibly, incredibly well done.” – Rick Green, Wallbuilders

“This phenomenal movie is a must-see for every parent and every American. I can’t recommend it highly enough.” – Alex Newman, Liberty Sentinel

Once you’ve joined the homeschool revolution you’ll need regular encouragement and resources to finish strong. Be sure to follow the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast on your favorite podcast app for new episodes every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Only have a few minutes? Check out the Homeschool Insights Podcast where you’ll find  practical, Biblical, home education and parenting encouragement and resources in under ten minutes a day.

All Bible references are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Why June is the Perfect Month to Start Homeschooling

It’s that time of year again. Each June public and private school teachers, unions, and education associations fall all over themselves in the ultimate virtue signaling contest – trying to demonstrate who has the most “pride.”

Even while Target, Bud Light, The North Face, and Kohl’s are reeling from large-scale boycotts in response to woke LGBTQ+ ad campaigns and product displays, teachers and administrators are doubling down on their support of gay and trans indoctrination in classrooms and school libraries across the country.

On the first night of the month, in a little under an hour, I was able to find dozens of instances of teachers and their representative organizations changing their social media avatars, and posting their “pride month” celebrations. Tens of thousands more of these posts will be made throughout the month.

But it’s important to remember that the indoctrination isn’t reserved just for June. This is their agenda year round. Atheism, Marxism, Globalism, Multiculturalism, and unrestricted sexual exploration are the underlying values that modern public education is built on – and unfortunately, many private schools are following suit.

It’s not just individuals and private organizations pushing this agenda. The U.S. Department of Education is heading up the charge toward sexual deviancy, abortion, gender confusion, and genital mutilation. Not only do they openly advocate for LGBT positions, but they set the national standards and hold the purse strings that direct the activities of schools in every state (yes, even the conservative ones).

In fact, not only are they pushing this agenda in the classroom, but they are using affirmative action to actively hire teachers who will promote these ideals.

National Education Association Policy Statements for 2022-2023 state, “NEA reaffirms its strong support for the use of affirmative action in employment (a) to cure the effects of past ethnic or gender discrimination by the particular employer involved, and (b) to achieve or maintain ethnic or gender diversity in an employer’s workforce.”

In their push to normalize gender confusion the NEA is training teachers through their National Education Association Pronoun Guide, which includes the following instruction for teachers:

“Role model your pronouns before inviting everyone to introduce theirs.

‘Hi, my name is Meg and I use she/her/hers pronouns. Could everyone please go around and share their name and pronouns.

Explain what pronouns are and why you’re asking people to introduce theirs before you do.

‘Hey everyone! So during introductions we are going to introduce our name and pronouns. Pronouns are words that we use to replace names, like she/her/hers, he/him/his, or they/ them/theirs. I want to make sure that we are referring to each other in the way that feels most accurate, so we are going to be going around and if everyone could share their name and pronouns that’d be great!‘”

I’m sorry parents. The problem is pervasive and it’s no longer enough to say “it’s not happening in my school” and ignore it. This is the publicly-stated position of the teachers unions and the state and federal education departments that run your schools. It is happening everywhere, you can’t opt out, and it’s your responsibility to protect your children.

“A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.”

Luke 6:40 ESV

Here’s the great news. June is the PERFECT month to start homeschooling!

SUMMER IS HERE!

With the school year ending it’s the perfect time to start fresh. The school year has wrapped up and you can use the summertime to prepare for your first year of homeschooling. Check out our free Homeschool Survival Kit for a step-by-step guide to beginning your homeschool journey. This guide will help you make sure you’re in compliance with your state laws (it’s legal to homeschool in all 50 states) and will give you all of the resources you need to start strong, including recommendations for curriculum, teaching methods, and fun activities to keep your kids engaged.

IT’S THE PERFECT TIME TO DESCHOOL!

We always suggest that parents take some time to “deschool” when transitioning their kids from the classroom to homeschooling. Because home education is so different from the “traditional” school model that most of us are accustomed to, it takes some time for everyone – parents and kids – to adjust. This is where deschooling comes in. During this season of adjustment take it easy. Use this time to build relationships, enjoy the outdoors, build memories together, and rediscover what it means to be a family.

“This is not an exaggeration to say, this is the movement that is needed to save this country.”

Rick Green, Wallbuilders

For parents, this is a great time to observe your children and try to discover what their passions and gifts are. For kids, it’s time to rediscover CHILDHOOD. During this time your kids should re-learn what it means to be a child (or adolescent or teen). Let them play, explore, get dirty, and soak in the sun – and know that the whole time they’ll be learning valuable life skills!

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
    fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Proverbs 1:7 ESV

A quick note: during this deschooling period we do recommend two “academic” pursuits. First, spend time reading God’s Word to your kids (this is a great time to explore the concept of a “morning basket”). If you’ve never done family Bible time together this is a great time to start. As you move into this new season of home education, it’s important to build your academic model on the true foundation of knowledge and wisdom – God’s Word. In fact, homeschooling allows you to integrate the truth of Scripture into every subject.

Next, spend time reading great books to your kids and encourage them to read on their own. While this my seem “school-y,” reading should be viewed as a life-long activity, and reading aloud to your kids is a great way to bond with them.

START THE NEW SCHOOL YEAR FRESH – AT HOME!

If you are reluctant to make this big change, if you think you’re not capable, or if you just don’t know where to start I would encourage you to sit down with your family and watch the documentary Schoolhouse Rocked: The Homeschool Revolution tonight. You can stream the film for free here. Not only will it help you to understand the “why” and “how” of home education, but you’ll hear from other parents who NEVER thought they could or would homeschool their kids and are now outspoken advocates for this revolution in education.

Schoolhouse Rocked” will rock your educational world to the foundations and give you and your kids great hope for the future! The old-school paradigm has proven broken and a new way of learning is here. Don’t miss this important film!”

Kirk Cameron

20 Questions EVERY PARENT Should be Able to Answer About Education

As I write this, we’re in the middle of a recording blitz. We always try to get ahead of recording for the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast and Homeschool Insights Podcast before summer, and this always tends to be a busy time of year for us appearing on other shows, as well. Yvette recorded two interviews today. I’ll be on a podcast tonight and another live show early tomorrow morning.

As I have been preparing for my interviews, I realized that the questions that will be asked and answered on these shows are the same questions that EVERY parent should be able to answer about education.

And some of them aren’t that obvious.

So here they are….

  • What does God’s Word have to say about education?
  • How are parenting, education, and discipleship related?
  • Who does the Bible specifically instruct to educate children? 
  • Culture, the family, the church, and our constitutional republic seem to be crumbling around us. How is education contributing to their decline?
  • What is the major philosophy or worldview that drives public education?
  • How are DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), the LGBTQ+ Agenda, BLM, CSE (Comprehensive Sexuality Education), Critical Race Theory, the 1619 Project, “anti-bullying” campaigns, and radical environmentalism related?
  • What’s with “book banning” and the rise of pornographic books in libraries and classrooms?
  • How does the traditional school model contribute to the decline of the family? 
  • How does government funding shape the agenda that is promoted through government schools?
  • Who should pay for education?
  • How is the culture war a “War of words” and how is this agenda being driven in schools (how are critical thinking, language, and logic handled in traditional schools)?
  • What is this all leading to?
    • What is the earthly/political end game (NWO, the Great Reset, one world government, global Marxist tyranny)?
    • What is the spiritual/eschatalogical end (One-world government, the Great Tribulation, the rise of the Anti-Christ, and ultimately the return of Christ)?
  • What about “good schools?” We often hear “Our family lives in a small, conservative town and our kids’ teachers are Christians. Do I need to worry?”
  • Can the public education system be reformed?
  • What is dad’s role in education and discipleship?
  • What is mom’s role in education and discipleship?
  • What is a grandparent’s role in education and discipleship?
  • What should churches and pastors be doing to solve these problems?
  • What am I doing to solve these problems?
  • What resources are available to help? 

As parents, the answers to these questions are all critically important. Here’s the good news. We are constantly addressing the REAL answers found in God’s Word. We are committed to producing high-quality resources to sound the alarm and help families take back the hearts of their children. I’ve listed a few great resources at the end of this post, but before we get to those we should look at what the Bible has to say about these things.

As usual, I referenced my favorite “what does the Bible have to say about education” resource, Israel Wayne’s fantastic article, “Christian Education: A Manifesto.

Bible Verses and Application (most of the commentary below is from Israel Wayne):

Psalm 1:1-2: “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night.”

  • We are blessed if we avoid the unGodly counsel our children will receive in government schools, and the socialization of sinful classmates and the mocking, scoffing attitudes they pick up in school.
  • How can a child meditate day and night on God’s law in government school? He can do this when his parents teach him to apply God’s law to every area of life.
  • Contrast “Blessings” promised in this passage with the “Cursings” in Deuteronomy 28, and see which one you want to receive.

Proverbs 1:8: “Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.”

Proverbs 22:6: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is grown, he will not depart from it.”

  • There is a way a child should go, and parents need to be training the child in THAT direction, not in the direction of the world.

Joel 1:3: “Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.”

  • Christian education is best understood as the equipping of each successive generation to train the next. This is a family matter, not a governmental mandate.

Ephesians 6:4: “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the LORD.”

  • Is schooling mentioned in the Bible (and does God have an opinion)? Why YES! I’m glad you asked! This is just one of many passages that should solifiy this issue, but in Ephesians 6:4 we are commanded:”Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but instead, train them up in the nurture (literally, “Biblical counseling”), and admonition (the Greek word, “Paideia”) of the Lord.” (KJV)
  • What does Paideia mean? From the Encyclopeida Brittanica:
    • “Paideia, (Greek: “education,” or “learning”), system of education and training in classical Greek and Hellenistic (Greco-Roman) cultures that included such subjects as gymnastics, grammar, rhetoric, music, mathematics, geography, natural history, and philosophy. In the early Christian era the Greek paideia, called humanitas in Latin, served as a model for Christian institutions of higher learning, such as the Christian school of Alexandria in Egypt, which offered theology as the culminating science of their curricula. The term was combined with enkyklios (“complete system,” or “circle”) to identify a large compendium of general education, hence “encyclopaedia. Everything that could be taught in academics was wrapped up in the Greek word, “Paideia.” It was the word the Greeks used for “Schooling.” Paul commanded fathers to train their children up NOT in the Paideia of the world, but instead, in the Paideia of the Lord.

Colossians 2:8: “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world.”

  • Christian education must be predicated on the foundation of Christ, not on humanistic thought.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7, 11:19: “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”

  • This describes a 24/7/365 discipleship paradigm, centered on the commandments of God.

Deuteronomy 32:46: “Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law.”

  • Christian education is modeling first, instructing second. You have to have God’s law written on your own heart. If you don’t own it, you can’t sell it.

Parents and Grandparents:

Exodus 10:2: “That you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your grandson, how I made a mockery of the Egyptians, and how I performed My signs among them; that you may know that I am the LORD.” • Instruction of the young is given to parents and grandparents.

Joel 1:3: “Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.”

  • Christian education is best understood as the equipping of each successive generation to train the next. This is a family matter, not a governmental mandate.

Jesus the WORD (LOGOS)

John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Hebrews 1:2,3: “in these last days spoke to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the [worlds, 3 who is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power; who, having accomplished cleansing for sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”

Colossians 1:17: “And He is before all things, And in Him all things hold together.”

Resources (Share these far and wide):

Stream Schoolhouse Rocked: The Homeschool Revolution for FREE – Whether you’re just considering home education for the first time or you’re a seasoned veteran this feature-length documentary will encourage and equip you to start strong and finish well.

Free Homeschool Survival Kit – 70+ page eBook to take you from start to finish in homeschooling. The Homeschool Survival Kit begins with a quick-start guide and ends with a value packed resource guide. In between, we cover the topics that every homeschool parent needs to know so that their family thrives.

Homegrown Generation Family Expo – This online homeschool conference features over 50 hours of homeschooling, parenting, and family discipleship content from Kirk CameronHeidi St. JohnSam SorboKevin SorboKathy BarnetteAndrew PudewaIsrael WayneRick GreenGinger HubbardMeeke AddisonTodd WilsonLeigh BortinsRachael CarmanDavis CarmanDurenda Wilson, and many more.

The Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast – Biblical homeschooling, parenting, and family discipleship encouragement and advice every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Each show shares practical advice to help point our children to Christ, build a solid Biblical worldview, teach effectively, preserve our marriages, manage our homes, and approach child-rearing and discipline issues with a heart-centered focus that will result in confident, biblically-minded, wise, well-balanced adults.

The Homeschool Insights Podcast – Homeschool Insights gives you practical, Biblical, home education and parenting encouragement and resources in under ten minutes a day. Hosted by Yvette Hampton, each show features the advice of Christian education experts, authors, speakers, curriculum publishers, and homeschool veterans, to help you disciple the hearts of your children for the glory of God!

Support Schoolhouse Rocked

We have several new, powerful resources in the works, but these can only be completed with your help. Please consider supporting the ongoing ministry of Schoolhouse Rocked with a one-time or monthly donation here.

Thank you for allowing us to walk with you in the important work of parenting and discipleship. To God be all the glory!

Photo by Bogomil Mihaylov on Unsplash

Why “Opting Out” of CSE Isn’t an Option

As a natural people-pleaser, I hate to be the bearer of bad news. Consequently, I am always disappointed when I have to share stories about radical comprehensive sex ed (CSE) programs being pushed in school districts and states that you would never expect, transgender teachers demanding to use the restrooms of their elementary students of the opposite sex, and other, similarly infuriating and dangerous news items. But because I am dedicated to sharing the very real dangers of public schools, and I am deeply involved in this cultural and spiritual battle, I share them regularly.

While I am never surprised that these posts get a very strong response from homeschooling parents and from parents with kids in public schools, I am regularly shocked certain specific responses. Today I encountered a relatively common response, that I felt I had to address… with more bad news.

This morning, on the Schoolhouse Rocked Facebook page, I posted a letter that was sent to the parents of fourth grade students at Bridgeport Elementary school in Tualatin, Oregon. The letter informed parents that the fourth grade students would be participating in a series of lessons questioning the definition of “family,” considering the question “What Is Culture,” and examining “Perspective and Stereotypes” and how “understanding stereotypes can lead to prejudice and discrimination.” At first glance, these topics may seem relatively innocuous, but for those of you who have been paying attention, you will recognize that this letter represents a week of indoctrination in the finer points of “alternative family structures” and a heavy dose of pro-LGBT propaganda. To top it off, the parents who received this letter were simply being informed of the upcoming instruction and were not being given the opportunity to opt out.

This prompted a very common and innocent response from a concerned reader, which must be examined more closely here. Keep in mind, the intent of the commenter was appropriate: namely to protect the safety of students and the rights of parents, but her response indicates a common misunderstanding of the roles of schools, teachers, administrators, and parents, which is shared among the VAST majority of parents in this country – whether they send their children to public or private schools, or choose to homeschool them. In fact, this comment came from a “top fan” on our facebook page, which leads me to believe that she is likely very “plugged in” and well-informed.

My simple post read, “Sorry, no opting out. Parents wake up and WALK AWAY!”, to which she responded, “This makes me so mad! The government does not have the right to force these things on children, and take away the parents rights to say ‘no!'”

Here’s the bad news…

Actually, the government has the legal right to force anything they want on the children who are dropped off by their parents, at government funded, government run schools. Under the legal principal of “In Loco Parentis” these government schools become the legal guardians of their students while they are in their “care”. Parents who don’t want the government to determine how their children will be raised, trained, indoctrinated, and discipled (let alone, what type of medical treatments or birth control methods they will receive) must understand that the only way they have any say is if they keep them home.

Schools are not taking away any rights from parents, especially the right to say “no”. Parents forfeit their rights, their parental authority, and far too much of their influence the day they enroll their precious young sons and daughters in kindergarten.

It is quite presumptuous for parents to turn their children over to “more qualified” people to teach them and develop their character, then to complain about how they are being taught and trained. It is especially silly to expect schools that openly espouse anti-Christian and anti-family philosophies, such as evolution, secular humanism, multiculturalism, the LGBT agenda, and socialism to do anything other than raise anti-family, secular humanists who embrace multiculturalism, the LGBT agenda, and socialism. It is no surprise that this is exactly what we are seeing in culture, and the consequences are devastating. This is why the only option for “opting out” that has any effect is to take your children home!

Ready to take your children back? Stream Schoolhouse Rocked: The Homeschool Revolution for free tonight and learn how. After you have watched the movie, download the Free Homeschool Survival Kit. This free 70+ page resource will give you the encouragement and tools you need to start strong and finish well. 

Want even more encouragement? Visit HomegrownGeneration.com, where you will find over 50 hours of homeschool encouragement.

“Nope” graffiti – Photo by Daniel Herron on Unsplash

Red hand – Photo by Giulia May on Unsplash

“No” red sign – Photo by Gemma Evans on Unsplash