June 7, 2025 • 53 mins
What does 25 years of homeschooling experience teach you about education, purpose, and raising confident children? Audrey Rindlisbacher takes us behind the scenes of her journey homeschooling six children from the days when resources were scarce and stigma was strong.
Like many parents, Audrey initially questioned her qualifications. "I remember pacing the kitchen floor asking my husband, 'Are we just supposed to take this leap of faith and hope in 10 years that we didn't royally screw up our kids?'" That familiar fear nearly prevented her from discovering what would become her life's work. The turning point came at a homeschool convention where she witnessed education through games—an approach that shattered her preconceptions about learning.
Audrey shares revelations that transformed her homeschooling philosophy, including Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences theory. While traditional schools target just two types of intelligence (linguistic and mathematical), homeschooling allowed her to nurture all nine forms of intelligence in her children. This personalized approach helped each child discover their unique gifts, particularly benefiting those whose strengths lay outside conventional academic areas.
Rather than simply recreating school at home, Audrey focused on equipping her children with essential skills for lifelong learning. The common thread? Keeping doors of opportunity open while honoring individual passions and learning styles.
Perhaps most surprising is how homeschooling became a journey of self-discovery for Audrey herself, leading to writing "The Mission Driven Life" and creating academies for both mothers and teens. Her story demonstrates how educating your children can unveil your own purpose and talents.
If you're considering homeschooling or struggling with doubts, Audrey offers this encouragement: "You can do this. Your unique way of being and skillset are gifts to your family, and they can blossom in a homeschool environment." Subscribe now to hear more conversations that will inspire your educational journey!
To learn more about my book The Mission Driven Life: Discover and Fulfill Your Unique Contribution to the World: https://www.audreyrindlisbacher.com/the-mission-driven-life-book
To purchase book: https://the-mission-driven-life.mykajabi.com/store
To Learn more about what we do at The Mission Driven Mom: https://www.themissiondrivenmom.com/
To get a FREE tool that will help moms overcome worry and mom-guilt: https://www.themissiondrivenmom.com/worry-opt-in-for-socials
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome, and with us today we have Audrey
Rindlisbacher.
Audrey, thank you for beinghere, thanks for having me.
So you've been homeschoolingfor quite a while, correct?
Oh yeah, tell us how long, andwhat even got you into this
space.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
So my oldest is 30, and he went to private school
for one year and then we startedhomeschooling.
So and I have six and I stillhave kids at home, so it's been
one or all or most of them for Iguess that's 25 years, so it's
a very long time.
Wow, yeah, back in the daybefore there was as much.
(00:39):
There's so many resources nowand there's so much great
curriculum.
It's like a million timeseasier but and the stigma is
gone and like all of the hardthings, I kind of consider
myself a pioneer, but there areother people.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
they were doing it a generation before me, so yeah,
and I guess it's the way that itkind of always was done until
they brought the educationsystem in in the last hundred
years.
But it is funny how everybodyjumped on that.
What made you decide to go fromthe private school to
homeschooling?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
So what happened was, you know, I had, I had one, I
have six, so there are boy, girl, boy, girl boy, girls.
How they came, it's just kindof cute.
And um, by the time, so myoldest is a boy.
So when he was like I don'tknow, three or four or something
, I just started teaching himstuff, cause I figured that's
(01:34):
what a good mom does, you know.
And we, I put together thislittle kind of like preschool in
the house and I had, you know,I don't know, I ran across
Montessori at one point early onand actually made all the
little cards where you like,trace the sandpaper letters and
all of the things you knowfollow the Montessori method.
(01:55):
So we were doing this preschooland I had actually taught him
the letters and we were startingto do reading by four or five,
and I just loved it, we werehaving a ball, I just thought it
was great.
But then, um, I thought, well,as as so many of us do, I
thought, well, I'm not an expertin all the things, like, I
(02:18):
don't have a teaching degree,I'm not a professional, and of
course this is what people, thisis what friends and family are
saying to me anyway.
So of course I'm just believingthem and thinking I you know I
can't do all the things, so thisis what we'll do.
Well, okay, so so that's kindof I'm logged that away in the
back of my mind.
And then a few things happened.
(02:39):
One thing that happened wasthat, um, they sent I don't know
why this happened thisparticular year, but in the mail
I got a notification from thecounty, I guess, or maybe just
from my local ISD, with all ofthe test scores from all the
elementaries, middle schools andhigh schools that year of how
(03:00):
they did on their standardizedtests.
And it was ridiculous.
I remember looking at that,there were like two schools on
this list of several dozenschools that had over like a 50%
.
And I remember looking at myhusband like, okay, I know,
these tests aren't that hard.
I don't understand what'shappening.
(03:21):
Why are the kids not passingthe standardized tests with you
know doing better?
So that was one thing that Iwas like, oh, wait a minute.
Um, this isn't good.
And then in the meantime mystepsister Jonah would have been
, yeah, probably three or fouror five, she was she decided to
go to a local homeschoolconvention and I the only
(03:46):
experiences I'd ever, and I wasreading on here on your website,
you had this kind of experience.
I had met two homeschoolingfamilies at this point.
The first homeschooling familyI met was at church and they
were in youth group with me andthey were super weird.
So I, you know, had a reallybad taste in my mouth.
I mean, you know, like all ofthe of the typical, they didn't
(04:10):
have any sense of style, theirhygiene wasn't real great, you
know, they were awkward socially, all the things.
And then later on, when I wasin college, I had been a gymnast
and so I coached gymnastics andI had these two little girls on
my team who were the bestbehaved, sweetest, kindest,
nicest little girls in the worldand I was shocked when I later
(04:32):
found out that they werehomeschooled.
So those were my two referencepoints.
So like kind of the you knowthe whole range, the whole
spectrum, really bad to reallygood.
So I go to this homeschoolconvention with my stepsister
and I think what really was thegame changer for me because I I
can, I still have the image ofit imprinted on my memory we
(04:55):
went they, you know I think itwas at a college campus or
something and we went todifferent classrooms and you
know they have differentspeakers and whatnot, like they
still do.
And this I walked in thisclassroom and this woman had
games, dozens and dozens ofgames, spread across this whole
big long table and in front ofthe table and all along the
(05:15):
floor, and her wholepresentation was how their
entire homeschool was playinggames.
All they did was play games andthere were all kinds of
different games math games andscience, like all kinds of games
I didn't know existed, thatactually looked pretty fun,
geography games, like all thegames and my mind was just blown
(05:35):
Like that opened my world wideup as to what education was,
what it could be.
All the the, the incrediblydifferent ways that people went
about it like just blew my mind.
But still, even after that, Iwas like, but I'm not qualified,
I can't do it.
(05:56):
And so we found this cute littleprivate school and my son went
there and then, of course, youknow he's getting older by now I
have three and just as timewent on, I think he was there
for a year, year and a half, andI started just trying to get
more information, trying to findpeople, talk to people, asking
questions, and I finally justdecided, well, OK, I'm never
(06:16):
going to be able to afford itfor all my children, like I
already have three.
How are we going to pay forprivate school for 12 years for
three children?
I don't know how we're going todo that.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
And maybe we could have.
But you know, at the time wewere, you know, still kind of
young and poor.
I also thought if there wasgoing to be a time to try it,
now would be the time they'reyoung.
I can't maybe mess them up toomuch before we put them back in
and try again, you know, back inwhatever school.
But of course I was petrified.
(06:47):
I remember pacing the kitchenfloor.
I said to my husband are wejust supposed to just take this
leap of faith and hope in 10years?
that we didn't royally screw upour kids Like, is that what
we're going to do right now?
It just felt so, so risky, soscary, so big.
But then, of course, like somany people experience you
(07:13):
experienced, we tried it, Ilearned more, we got better at
it and we just kind of neverlooked back.
It was just always, always theway that we did things ever
since then.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
So wow, and I love that that you're so honest about
how scary it really was.
And yeah, you do.
You think, oh, am I going tomess this kid up?
But we don't realize that, likejust parenting them, we could
mess them up anyway.
Like why do we think the schoolis going to resurrect us from
doing the bad job as parents,Like, if anything, we're fixing
(07:45):
whatever the school did in themeantime?
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Do you know Cheryl, one of the things that gave me
confidence actually early on wasactually scripture, because one
of the things I finallyrealized was wait a minute.
If God trusts me to teach mykids what are the very most
important things to know, thencertainly we could throw some
(08:08):
geometry in there.
Like that was kind of my sotrue, you know, the salvation
stuff is way more important.
So if he's okay with me givingthat a stab, then maybe with
some resources and some helpbehind me, we could just throw
the other stuff in.
And that actually gave me a lotof confidence because that made
(08:29):
me think well, then maybe,maybe God would trust me with
this too, and so let's try it.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Yeah, and I find that the people that have that
negative connotation around thehomeschooling, it's because
they've never looked into it.
So I mean, and there's so manythings like that too, you know
whether you're talking aboutpharmaceutical or whatever.
Um, food dies the food.
It's like if you never lookedinto it, of course you're just
going to go with the mainstream,what everyone else is doing, um
(08:58):
, but if you actually take thetime to look into why the school
system actually went from theone room schoolhouse to these
big jail, like looking buildingswhere it's just remote, you
know, memorization to everything, and how the Rockefellers
invested so much money, that'salways the biggest thing for me.
(09:19):
It's like so did he really wantto like make people that were
going to come out and be likecompetitors to his oil business?
I mean, that would be thecraziest thing, yeah, so it's
just like looking at littlethings like that and are so eye
opening.
And I love what you were sayingabout the game schooling, and
(09:40):
that was probably back in the90s, if your son is thirties,
about 11 years younger than me.
So I didn't.
I just learned about gameschooling in the last year and
I've been floored Like, wow, wecan just do this and have fun
with it, you know, or even justusing games.
I think we think of games asbeing something of the nineties.
(10:01):
And now there's social mediaand so you know, people just
look at their phones and stuff.
But we can go back to thatsitting around the table and
doing a game or sitting on thefloor, sitting outside on a
blanket and doing a gametogether, and it's so.
It's such a good family bonding.
On top of like that, you canhave the geography and and, yeah
(10:22):
, there's so many games.
I didn't really grow up playingmany games.
But the homeschool groups that,um, you know that we meet with
one of them every couple ofmonths.
They have a game day and peoplebring all their games.
And, yeah, there was one whereyou have the, the um country,
and you're asking a question tothe other person like can you
find which one?
(10:43):
And you know it asks yousomething about the state, and
so you're learning the wholetime.
But you're having fun becauseyou're getting points and stuff.
So, yeah, it's amazing.
That was so eyeopening for methat this could really actually
be enjoyable.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Well, that's the thing, right, Like just the
whole perception that elementaryand you know.
And then, of course, justreading Montessori and getting a
totally different perspectiveon, you know the, the way that
her classroom functioned and theway that the children just
roamed and found their own,their own work and sat quietly
and did their work and theirself-discipline those young
children had, and was reallyenthralled by that.
(11:18):
And then I just started readingstuff and of course I found
classical education and then Iwas totally hooked and then I
was like, oh, this is totallywhat we're doing, and got my own
education in the meantime,which was, um, you know, just a
joy.
We got to learn so many thingsand discover so many things
together.
So one other huge motivation forme was my husband and I had
(11:40):
both had several years ofcollege.
I didn't finish, I didn'tgraduate until later.
I had about three years donewhen we married.
But, um, you know, I I feltlike that by that time I'd spent
15 years in school and I hadreally, honestly, no true sense
of self, like I liked myself,and I thought I was a nice
(12:02):
person, but I did not know whatI was really good at.
I had never really had a chanceto discover my gifts and
talents, and that was a hugedriver for me.
I kept telling my husband, likethere's gotta be a better way.
There's gotta be a better wayfor people to to be educated
such that by the time they're 17or 18 or 19, they have a much
(12:24):
better sense of self and muchmore clarity about the direction
that they need to head.
So that was a huge goal for usfrom the beginning too.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
That's so huge and the amount of time that kids are
in school, it's like what areyou doing all day?
But, yes, how would you everallow for, you know, 30 kids in
a classroom?
It's it's not possible to haveeach of them find their talents
and their gifts and their dreamsand and what the world needs,
and you know.
So, yeah, it's hard, it'sreally not possible in a school
(12:53):
setting and they kind of busy usoutside of the school hours
with sports and homework and youknow the work schedules of the
parents that you're not likehomework and the work schedules
of the parents that you're notlike okay, let's go explore when
we all get home from work andschool today.
So it's near impossible.
But yeah, my sister's three alljust graduated in the last five
(13:15):
or six years and, yeah, none ofthem really were like I want to
be this, and the one that waswas like I want to be a cop, but
that's because his father was acop.
Where I became a governmentworker, because my parents were
government workers it's like areyou just doing what you know?
because, yeah, it's familiar andI think that's why so many
people become teachers too,because they're like I don't
know what I want to do.
(13:36):
I've been hanging out withteachers for 13 years.
Let's do that.
I know that job.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Yeah, yeah and it's not necessarily bad, but just a
stronger sense of self was ahuge goal for me, so Right.
Right.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Um, now okay.
So with having six, did yourkids ever give you pushback or
like want to go into school orgo in for any amount of time?
So yeah, we did.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
So for me, um, now, most of them were home a lot
most of their growing up, butfor me, I felt like the
fundamental principle was notnecessarily everybody's home all
the time, but more like mom anddad own it.
Like you are not depending onsomeone else to know where your
(14:24):
kid is at or whether they'restruggling with reading or any
of that kind of stuff.
Like you're aware you're intune, you're owning it and
you're finding solutions.
And so we did.
We did a myriad of things justdepending on what our family
needed.
So sometimes, uh, like, forexample, I had two caboose
children 18 months apart.
That were both surprises, andso I was carrying a baby around
(14:49):
while I was pregnant again, andso for a semester we were like
you're in charter school.
If you hate it after a semester, that's fine, but mom's gotta
rest and take care of the babies.
The older kids did some onlinework.
The elementary kids went tocharter school and then they
were ready to come home.
I guess we haven't done reallymuch public school, but charter
(15:11):
schools, some private schools,definitely online coursework,
especially as they got older.
And every I was talking tosomebody the other day she was.
Somebody was asking me abouthomeschool the other day and I
was like you know, I really feellike a big component of your
level of success is your why?
Because there are people thatare doing it because they have
(15:33):
something that they're movingtoward, but then there's other
people that are doing it out offear, and my experience has been
that the people that just don'thave a plan and they don't have
a goal and they don't reallyhave a vision of what they're
trying to do in their homeschoolthey often fail quite a bit.
It's very frustrating, negativeexperience for everybody,
because all they know is I don'twant that, I'm afraid of that,
(15:57):
I'm running away from that.
Um, it's really important toeat.
It's okay to start there.
It's okay If, if, thatmotivates you and gets you out
of your chair.
But you've got to.
You've got to plug some wise in.
You've got to have a biggerpicture of what you're trying to
create.
I mean, relationships betweenmy children was also a huge
motivator for me.
I felt like I hardly ever sawmy siblings growing up, and my
(16:19):
kids have a lot of sharedmemories together and one of
their favorite things to do iswatch old videos of when they
were little.
When we get together, so, um,I'm really grateful that they
had that time together and thatthat bonding.
But I I attended a years ago, I,somebody, I can't remember why,
but they decided to do this.
I think it was just for peoplethat were inquiring about
(16:40):
homeschool.
This woman just said, okay,well, I'll put a panel together
at my house.
So she got a bunch of seniorsin the area who were you know,
it was their quote senior year,17 to 18 year olds and she put
them on this panel and we justcame and we just asked them
questions and it was across thespectrum, like kids who had
never done any math to kids whohad just got off a world tour
(17:01):
for piano performance.
So it was.
It was an incredibly widespectrum and you could tell that
you know some of them weresiblings, and so it was.
It was all about the familyculture.
Like the family culture wasdetermining how the kids were
thriving or not thriving.
So a lot is riding on theexpectations that you set, the
vision that you have, and it'snot so much about you can find
(17:24):
somebody to tutor whatever.
Like it's not.
That's not really tough.
There's so much good curriculum, there's so many online schools
, like there's a lot of goodresources.
It's really, I think, aboutparents who are on fire about it
, who are who are.
I think the very best thing Iever did was work on my own
education.
I just learned alongside mychildren.
I was very serious aboutreading classics and about, you
(17:48):
know, marking my books and aboutwriting papers and doing things
that my children were doing andthat set an example, but also
an expectation that we're notjust bumming around the house,
we're actually actively learning.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
So did you do family style learning?
Where it was, everybody sat atthe table and we're going to do
this topic and divvy it out on,you know uh, difficulty levels,
or did everybody kind of havetheir own stuff?
How?
How did that work on your dayto day?
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Uh, yes, both, and it just depended on how many kids
were at home and their ages.
So we always did familydevotional and often I would sit
at the table while they hadtheir different levels of math
or whatever that kind of thing.
Sure, we always did family readalouds and family discussions
of of of classics, and thensometimes we would do some forms
(18:41):
of writing or I would have themtake a writing class and then
bring writing to share with usthat they were working on.
Um, so just depended how howmany kids were there.
Right now I've got onegraduating from a charter school
and one doing online stuff, andthat's, that's my last two left
at home.
They're a junior and a senior.
(19:03):
The, the charter school kid.
It's just also unique.
It's just kid by kid.
So he was in a really uniquesituation because the child
older than him was five yearsolder, so she was already gone
by the time.
He was in middle school and hislittle sister was a full-time
competitive gymnast.
So she was gone six, sevenhours a day and he's taken a
(19:23):
couple temperament andpersonality tests.
He's 99% extroverted.
So for a while we had him witha private tutor and another kid
and they were having a greattime reading their Homer and all
of their things and he loved it.
But he was just, I mean itfinally, it finally kind of all
kind of hit the fan.
I guess middle of his freshmanyear he just came into my
(19:44):
bedroom one night crying and hejust said I am so lonely, I'm so
lonely.
And so we found a classicalbase charter school that he
could spend time in.
And he, he, just it just was aperfect match.
And he, he just needed somecommunity, he needed peers.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
So can you explain for us, like, what the charter
school is in relation tohomeschooling?
Is it?
Is it a school?
Is it a private school?
Um, is it just forhomeschoolers?
How does that work?
Speaker 2 (20:13):
So lots of charter.
I mean charter schools.
What it traditionally means isit varies state by state and
there are good charter schoolsand not good charter schools.
Um, private schools areprivately funded and tuition
based, and we have done those aswell.
Charter schools are, um the waythat it works in the States
(20:40):
that I've been in, like I'm inTexas now the way that it works
is you put in a charter to thestate and you say I want this
type of school, these are thekinds of things that we're going
to learn.
And you, you have to providesome of your own funding and
your own buildings.
So you have to have someprivate funds in it, you have to
(21:01):
have some people investing inyou, and then you can tap into
partial government funds perchild, um, but you don't have to
answer to the government foryour curriculum.
So, um, well, you, you putforward what you're going to
cover, but it's it'sindividualized.
(21:21):
It's not government curriculum,it's individualized curriculum,
if that makes sense.
So in the case, of my son, Idon't know if you've heard of
Hillsdale College, no, soHillsdale College is a leading
liberal arts school.
It was founded in the mid 1800sby abolitionists.
(21:42):
It was the first school in theUnited States to let blacks and
whites and women all receive thesame degree and they don't take
any government fundingwhatsoever.
And the charter school that myson has been attending was the
very first charter school theyfounded by.
They have a Barney foundationcharter school initiative and
they've they've populated.
That was 10 years ago.
They founded his school andthey have quite a few across the
(22:03):
nation Now.
I have a girlfriend who just washelping found one in her area
in Nevada.
Um, these charter schools wherethey read all original writings
, so they go to the originalsources, they have classical
discussion and, um, cool thingslike that.
So they read their Cicero andtheir Homer and their, you know,
herodotus and their all the allthe great thinkers, aristotle
(22:25):
and all the people.
So he has loved it.
It's been a good fit for him,because that was kind of the way
that we started to lean in ourhome was towards classical
education and he was wellprepared for that.
But he was just too lonely tobe at home alone all day, every
day.
Um, I had one child who didcollege his senior year.
Another child who nannied inEcuador her senior year.
(22:45):
Um, we did homeschool co-ops.
I had another son who took mathat the local um high school as
well as driver's ed, and then heread books for me and we
discussed them, and then he didonline science while he studied,
uh, while he worked quite a bitum, and pursued his music.
He's still pursuing a musiccareer, releasing music and
(23:07):
having a great time.
So, um, yeah, every, everychild was very different.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Oh, that's so cool.
And I know, like for me in thebeginning, when I was thinking
about the homeschooling, I'mlike, oh my gosh, what about?
Like the proms and the stufflike that?
And then I now that I'm like init, I see all of the cool stuff
that you get to do as ahomeschooler and I'm like, okay,
that was the carrot that theywere dangling so that people
(23:35):
would go to school.
Um, but yeah, have you had anykids?
Or like, even if your kid is ahomeschooler and they really
want to go to a prom, like theycan go as a date or you can just
set up a prom.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Sure Well, some areas the area has a homeschool prom.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Really.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Yeah, yeah and there's.
I mean there's large supportiveorganizations now across the
country that do all sorts ofthings like that.
There's a huge localorganization that does
homeschool sports so you can goearly afternoons and practice
and be on teams they competeagainst each other and go to
nationals.
I mean there's, yeah, there'sall kinds of stuff.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
So, yeah, there's really nothing holding you back
Once you know that information.
It's like as long as you canmake it work with the financials
.
And how did you?
Did you, um, were you leaving ajob or were you staying?
Planning on staying at homewith the kids anyway?
I mean, when you have six, it'slike daycare adds up.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
So um, I wanted to be home.
I knew I wanted to be home whenthey were little.
So my situation was kind ofunique.
I'd already dated my husbandfor five years.
I actually did some missionservice in Europe and then I
came home and it was rightbetween us.
We were in love, we wanted todo it and right after like
(24:47):
literally two weeks before wegot married, I had to have
surgery because I had ovariancysts which turned out to be
endometriosis, and they saidyou're all clean, get, get
pregnant now.
So I was.
So we were married and I waspregnant by May.
Um, cause, I had.
They were like you are, you'vegot this disease.
(25:07):
You know, we don't, if youdon't do it now, while you're
all cleaned out, we don't knowwhat will happen if, if that'll
put off childbearing.
So just have a baby right now.
So I was, you know, on ourfirst anniversary I was eight
months, eight months pregnant.
So we just I mean, we just gotit going.
We were just having kids and Iknew I wanted to be home when
they were little.
So I didn't actively pursuecareer.
(25:28):
Um, as time went on, I foundpassion, projects.
I worked on my own education.
That turned into writingcurriculum and teaching courses
for colleges and and things likethat.
Then eventually I created myown courses and eventually wrote
a book and now I have a mom'sacademy and a teen academy.
So I just I just turned mypassions into work that ended up
being bringing money in.
(25:50):
But in the beginning it was like, yeah, I'll live, I'll live
poorer.
You know, and and I I rememberI can't it probably wasn't Dave
Ramsey, I don't know who it was.
Back then there was, I happenedacross something I don't know
if it was an article or a bookor what it was and they were
(26:12):
like okay, if you want to stayhome, like, think about all of
these things, add up, add up theextra car, the wardrobe, the
daycare, the all of those things, and pretty much, if you want
to make it work, you can.
It wasn't always pretty, likeI'm not gonna.
You know, my husband was ahundred percent commission based
.
He was a realtor.
So it was up and down, we triedto save when times were good
(26:32):
and but we just made it workbecause it was important to us.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
Yeah, and I love what you said about like, as they
got older, you took it uponyourself to do things that
sparked your interest and yourdreams and even brought in an
income, because I think we havethis idea that, like you know, a
lot of times parents will sayto me well, we need two incomes,
I can't stay home.
And it's like well, wait aminute, yeah, you don't have to
(26:57):
stay home for 18 years, or youdon't have to not have an income
for 18 years.
Your kids will get to a pointwhere they don't need you all
hours of the day, could you?
Speaker 2 (27:11):
you know, do some.
Can you make it for three orfour years without an?
Speaker 1 (27:13):
income Like let's just start there and if you can
do that, you know we canbrainstorm at what you could do
down the road.
Or you know you could do thingslike you know clean houses
maybe when your partner is home.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yeah, people do all sorts of things they go.
I have friends that go to whereis it California or somewhere
and they just have an annualtrip.
While they're go pick all kindsof fruit and they bring the
cases home and they sell themdoor to door and they bring in
several, you know, five, six,10,000 extra dollars a year with
this two or three week familyproject that they do Like.
(27:46):
There's a lot of things.
You would be surprised how youcan bring your family along with
you on whatever those passionprojects are and, like I said, I
was very passionate abouthaving my kids.
The first thing that turned meon to oh whoa, there's so much
more we could discover aboutourselves was when I found
multiple intelligences and I waslike this is brilliant and I,
you know, I don't know if you'veever heard of Gardner and his,
(28:07):
his multiple intelligences.
It's so fantastic and he talksall about how.
I mean they did extensiveresearch for ever and ever and
ever on lots of people and thereare different ways that you're
smart and our school systemsonly target two types of
intelligence the linguistic,intelligent and mathematical
intelligence.
But there's nine ways of beingsmart and our school systems
(28:29):
only focus on two.
So, if you like my third, oneof the reasons he was reading
with me I mean, he, he, hewasn't dyslexic or anything but
linguistic intelligence was hislast intelligence.
Musical intelligence andkinesthetic intelligence were
his tops, and so he needed to dosports, he needed to run, he
needed to be active, he neededto do music.
(28:49):
Um, and that nurtured him.
And he's read.
He's read Jane Eyre, he's readsome great classics that you
know.
People are often surprised bythe breadth of his education and
he still reads and listens tobooks, a lot, which he would not
have done if you know.
He would have been in a systemthat would have beaten the heck
out of him and told him that hewasn't smart and he wasn't, he
wasn't good at those particularthings.
(29:10):
So that was really reallyhelpful and and and helped me in
my homeschooling.
But it also just helped me see,oh, there's a lot of things.
You can continue to discovercool stuff about yourself your
whole life, um, but that's whenI started to realize, oh, we can
really tailor this and thesekids can really thrive.
They don't have to be stuck,they don't have to, you know, be
(29:32):
beaten up in a system thatdoesn't work for them.
That was really, that wasreally a lot of fun to discover.
And then after that, I justdiscovered more and more and
more, and then things aboutmyself and things about them,
and I just played around.
I realized I could writecurriculum.
I started getting invited tospeak, which shocked me, turns
out I'm pretty articulate.
So then I just started speakingin the homeschool space.
(29:53):
A lot you know, and anyway, onething led to another, but I
love that and all right.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
So, as you're carrying your kids through the
years, were you ever thinkinglike am I doing enough
curriculum with them?
And specifically I mean like,should they be taking a Spanish
class?
And what about geography andhow?
Much history should I be doingat six years old?
You know, and as you getthrough to the ages where
they're about to graduate, likewhat are our next steps?
(30:22):
And that ties into you know,you having a goal for your child
.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Is your goal college If it is why?
Speaker 1 (30:29):
What you know?
What do they really want to do?
What are they passionate about?
How did you ease your worriesand know that what we're doing
is enough or maybe we need toadd a little more to the table?
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Well, in their elementary school years I tried
to at least keep them at pacewith their math and have them
enjoy learning and love reading,because you can self-educate
all your life If you have one of.
(31:00):
Somebody taught me early on andI can't remember where this
came from, cause I was likeingesting all kinds of like lots
of books on education andlearning and like all kinds of
stuff but one of the things Irealized early on was that we
live in an information age.
There's no way to know all thethings You're never going to be
(31:21):
able to, and so what actually isthe better thing to focus on is
skill sets, so that when theyleave home they have the skills
to be lifelong learners, theyhave the skills to pick up on
whatever they'd like to pick upon later on, when and if that
becomes necessary for whateverproject they're working on.
And so I wanted them to.
(31:43):
I wanted all my kids to getthrough Algebra 2.
That was kind of a standardthat we set.
I felt like if you want to passthe GED, if you want to go to
college, if you know, if youwant those doors to remain open
for you, you need the skill setthrough Algebra 2.
So just know that that'shappening.
We're not taking that off thetable for anybody.
Just get your mind around itand let's get to it.
(32:03):
We found Math UC, so,hallelujah, thank goodness, most
of my kids really thrived withthat and that worked well.
And as far as sciences go, bythe time they got to high school
I wanted them to do somesciences.
I didn't always have the skillset to do that, so we found
tutors or did online classes.
(32:24):
Again, just a skill set forunderstanding why science
matters.
We live in a science age.
We speak the language ofscience, it's in our newspapers,
it's in our books, we usescience to validate even the
social realm with the socialsciences.
So they just needed proficiencyin the skillset of speaking the
language of science andunderstanding why it mattered,
(32:45):
and then, of course, being ableto read and write and speak well
.
The articulate voice is thecommanding voice.
People listen to people who canspeak well and who can read
well.
So that was where my prioritieswere, but it was.
It was a lot about I wanted themto be able to dig into a book
and so I you know my work is hasfocused really heavily on the
(33:08):
natural moral law and trueprinciples.
What's a principle?
Why do principles matter?
How are they God's way ofguiding us in life?
That was a huge.
That's been a passion projectof mine for 20 years.
So as I taught my kids and as Iwas figuring all of that out,
that was a huge priority.
Where's the truth here?
How can we link that truth toscripture, to real life?
(33:28):
How can we live according tohigher truth?
And so the skill set of digginginto a book and getting a lot
out of it, discussing it whilediscussion is a timeless mode, I
mean education 300 years ago inthe United States was uniform.
It was the Western way ofeducation.
You read a classic, you gotinto a cohort, you discussed it
(33:49):
and discussed it, you wroteabout it and you used your
commonplace book.
You did that over and over andover again.
That's the basics of learning.
So just keeping those skillsets at the forefront of my mind
was super duper helpful.
Then I wasn't necessarilytrying to check off like
everybody's got to have physics.
You know, maybe, maybe not, butcan you kind of speak the
(34:12):
language of science?
Do you understand why sciencematters?
Do you?
You know?
Can you work some mathequations?
Cause I just wanted all thedoors to be open.
I didn't want to handicap themby by setting my expectations
low.
Or I know people who are likeno, this is freedom, they have
their choice.
They can choose yes To a point.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
I don't want to leave any doors closed for you so
we're going to leave these doorsopen, because you know they
could be 30 years old and say,mom, you didn't get me to the
point where I could go tocollege so I never got to become
you know this or that.
So it's like, yeah, we're goingto do what you need to do so
that the doors are open to you,but within that, you know, and
(34:53):
like I had a mom on one time andshe's like my kid is just into
equestrian stuff and that's likewhat her child did and would
travel all the time.
And so yeah she got to a pointwhen her daughter was old enough
that she's like, all right, wedon't really need.
She knows what she wants to dowith her life.
This is what she wants to do.
So we're going to do enough tojust get you know the graduate
(35:16):
degree from the high school.
Yeah, but yeah, it's like oncethey know what they love.
But yeah, you don't want toclose doors to them either, and
I think for me, like a lot oftimes, I worry, you know, oh my
gosh, are we do?
We have to make sure we talkabout the Mayas and Incas?
And you know like how are wegoing to get it all in but like
today we took a walk and I neverhad this in school where you
(35:39):
just kind of like, look at theworld around you and, oh, do you
hear that that's a woodpecker?
Why is he making that sound?
Okay, and you're talking, likeyou said the discussion, talking
with your kid about why thatwoodpecker is pecking on the
tree and, um, you know, justlooking around where you know we
have a mountain behind ourhouse, so we're walking.
(35:59):
I'm like this looks like itcould have been maybe a huge
river at one time, cause it'sjust like this valley in the
middle with a little streamgoing through.
I'm like, isn't, wouldn't thatbe cool?
We could, we could try to findsome aerial pictures of 50 years
ago or a hundred years ago andsee if you know, just having
those conversations with them toknow that, like, see if you
know, just having thoseconversations with them, to know
(36:20):
that, like, that's something,that's a possibility, and I
don't ever remember anyone everhaving that conversation with me
over anything in the outdoorsat all.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
Oh yeah, oh, I've got a good friend who loves birding
and that's what they do.
They just go birding a lot.
Yeah, I mean you just the, justthe breadth of knowledge, that
the ability, the awareness thatthat you can notice things and
that you think about things andyou ask yourself good questions
and you're curious and you knowwe beat that curiosity out of
(36:49):
them.
Sir Ken, is it Sir Ken Robinson?
I think that's his name.
Have you ever watched any ofhis stuff?
Speaker 1 (36:56):
No, I went to public school.
Wow, that's his name.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Have you ever watched any of his stuff?
No, I went to public school,wow, no, he had.
He used to have some reallygood YouTube videos about.
He was showing statistics ofthe drop-off rate of when kids
go into school, their level ofcuriosity and proficiency in
certain things and the drop-offrate after so many years of of
of public schooling and it wasreally fascinating to see what
really does happen cognitivelyif they're forced into that box
(37:22):
too much that they really dolose natural curiosity and
creativity and initiative anddiscipline that is inherently
there to be developed if it'snurture.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Oh, I'll have to look into that.
That sounds so cool and I lovewhat you were saying about the
principles that are ineverything.
And you wrote a book right, theSeven Laws of Life.
Yeah, the Mission Driven Life.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
It's back here.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
I love that Tell what made you write that?
What is it about?
Speaker 2 (37:50):
This book was actually born of some interest
around the concept of lifemission.
I kept bumping up against it,knowing people who were doing
things in the name of missionthat were really awesome and in
the concept of life mission, Ikept bumping up against it,
knowing people who were doingthings in the name of mission
that were really awesome and inthe name of mission that were
really not didn't seem soawesome.
It seemed like it was kind ofdestroying their lives, and I
wanted to understand it better,and so I tried to find some
(38:12):
really good books on it.
The dream givers, a pretty goodone, but I couldn't find really
.
You know, purpose-driven Lifeis a really beautiful book, but
it's it's really very, you know,it's about it's about building
your relationship with God,which is wonderful, but that's
not necessarily what I wanted tounderstand.
I wanted to understand do wehave a mission or missions, and,
and, and what are they?
(38:32):
And what do they look like, andwhat does that mean, and why do
we keep using that term?
And?
And so I I started.
I don't know if you've ever readthe Hiding Place, no, Okay, so
this is a true story about afamily called the Ten Booms who
lived in Holland during WorldWar II and they saved the lives
of over 800 people and theHiding Place is the story of how
(38:54):
they did that.
But it's also the story of justan amazing family and when I
first read that book it was atotal life changer.
I was like, okay, all I want inlife is to be the Ten Booms.
How can we do that?
They are my idols.
We need to just be like TenBoom family.
But I held him up on thispedestal and I really didn't
(39:16):
know how to get there.
Like they seemed so perfect.
We could never be that perfect.
Then, a while later, kind ofwhile I was in this space of
thinking about this concept ofmission and wondering about it,
partly because now my kids weregetting older and we're trying
to discover their gifts andtalents and I'm trying to pair
that with needs in the world andall this stuff is on my mind.
So then I happened upon anotherbook by Corrie Ten Boom, who was
(39:39):
the daughter that's talkedabout in the Hiding Place, and
it's called Father Ten Boom,god's man, and it was actually a
bunch of letters that she foundthat he had written when he was
a young man and they were juststarting their family.
And as I read through this bookI was like, oh man, they had a
whole bunch of the same problemsI have.
(40:01):
Their marriage struggled,sometimes, their finances were a
mess, he was majorly in debt.
They were uh, they struggledwith their children.
They, they struggled in their,in their business, you know all
these.
They had problems, like I had.
They weren't always perfect,and so then I just went and
found all her other books andjust devoured them.
And then I started readingabout other men and women that I
(40:21):
really idolized and looked upto mother Teresa or Ben Carson
or um, I don't know.
I have a whole bunch of ummission driven stories on my
podcast, and so then then then Igot turned on to okay, wait a
minute, maybe there's a pattern.
What can they teach me?
So then I just started for likea year or two.
I got up early in the morningand I studied the lives of all
(40:43):
these great men and women that Ireally looked up to, trying to
see if there was a pattern tohow they became the great men
and women that they became.
And I discovered a pattern andI call it the seven laws of life
mission.
My book delineates those lawsand I take you through the lives
of the Ten Boom family as anexample of how they lived.
(41:03):
These seven laws there's fourfoundational laws loving God,
loving yourself, loving truthand loving humanity.
And when you do those fourthings, it prepares you to hear
the call of how you can pairyour gifts and talents with
needs in the real world.
And then there's leadershiplaws you discover your, uh, you
hear the call and you actcourageously and you do it again
.
It's kind of like asking.
(41:26):
One of the things I talk aboutin the book is that we have
multiple missions.
You know, is my motherhood mymission?
Of course?
Is being a great wife part ofmy mission, of course?
But is building curriculum andhelping moms part of my mission?
Yes, and so there's multiplethings we may feel called on to
do.
We're looking out at the worldand matching our own abilities
with needs that others have away and we talk a lot about
(41:48):
servant leadership.
It's really the pathway to trueservant leadership, and the um,
the 10 booms, were just thisbeautiful example and I wanted
to use.
You know, I wanted you to beable to see this happen in the
lives of real people and howthey became the great men and
women that I totally loved andadmired.
(42:09):
Um, but on my podcast there's abunch of other examples.
I take you through I just callthem mission driven stories and
I take you through the lives ofmen and women who have followed
this pattern and this path todiscover.
The subtitle is Discover andFulfill your Unique Contribution
to the World.
So it's a way of looking at theworld through the lens of.
I was placed here.
(42:29):
I love.
One of the books that we use inmy academy is Cure for the
Common Life by Max Lucado, andhe talks about you know.
God fashioned you for a work.
You're here to do things tohelp your brothers and sisters,
and what can you do for them?
How can you serve them inmeaningful ways?
So this is just a pattern, apath to follow, some road signs
(42:53):
to point you in a direction, ifthat's something that appeals to
you if you want to be moremission driven.
My academies help peoplethrough those first four laws of
building a solid foundation tohear the call of mission and and
stuff.
But but that's, that's what thebook is about.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
Oh, that's so cool, wow, I mean, yes, we will
definitely all check that out.
I'm going to put links to yourbook and the academy, okay, and
you have one for teens as well.
I'll put links to everything inthe description, but you
mentioned before having anAcademy for teens.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
Yes, I started out.
I had an experience.
I don't know if you want tohear the whole story, but I I
was in a space with moms and Isaw their pain and I realized I
had learned things that couldhelp them, that this path would
be a benefit to them, and so Ibuilt a cause curriculum's what
I do, it's what I know how to do.
And so I built uh causecurriculum's what I do, it's
what I know how to do.
So I built a program called theMission Driven Mom Academy and
(43:43):
we have three different levelswhere I take them through, uh,
these foundational laws and, um,after, after that had been
going for probably a coupleyears, the moms started to ask
for something for their teens.
Um, they were like I want toinfuse this language into my
home better.
We, we put a lot of family readalouds into the program.
(44:05):
We teach you principles andthen you apply them in your
family, in your home, in yourlife, um, so you can build a
more principal, mission centeredhome.
But they wanted program forteens.
So we developed that I don'tknow three, four, five years ago
, something like that.
And there's some schoolscharter schools, homeschools,
you know, co-ops that use it,individual moms with just their
(44:28):
teens.
You can buy just a year accessor a lifetime access at
themissiondriventeencom.
But yeah, there's a.
There's a teen program thattakes teens through it too.
Speaker 1 (44:40):
You know, and when I look at kids today in school, um
, you know our society ingeneral, I think I think about
this a lot.
They have taken away our, ourmission and just survival.
And you know, when you weretalking about all of the
different missions, that we havea mother, a wife knowing that I
, or even we, need to, as afamily, make sure that we have
(45:03):
enough to eat, and it reallytook pride to make sure that you
were either hunting or, youknow, planting your crops and
doing that hard labor, and thenyou actually got to utilize the
fruits of your labor and youneeded it to survive and you
felt good about yourself andthey've, like, taken all of that
(45:23):
away from us.
I know, you know, yes, it'swonderful that I can just go
online, order my groceries andpick them up at Hannaford later
that day, but, um, is there any?
Like you know, I, of course,when I cook food, I feel like
happy and fulfilled that I'vecooked a meal for my family, but
it does, you know, it takesaway a lot of our mission to.
(45:47):
You know, just that survival.
I think when you look atdepression rates and anxiety
rates, I think that has a lot todo with it, and it's not just
the food aspect, it's you know.
You hear about soldiers thatend up coming home and they're
more depressed at home.
They actually want to be awayat war because there they were,
they had a purpose.
(46:07):
They were like this is my youknow I've got my band of
brothers and this is my purpose,and then you come home and it's
like everything's kind of donefor you, Just go sit at this job
and then leave eight hourslater, which is what I did in my
government work for 16 yearsand it's so unfulfilling.
And not that every job is thatway.
My husband does love his job hedoes, he's in the trades but a
(46:29):
lot of them are.
And yeah, I think about that alot when you think about why are
we so depressed and have somuch anxiety and your book just
sounds like it would really helpease that.
Finding you know your purpose,your why.
Why are you here?
Yeah, Because I think they likeus to think that we're all here
by chance.
Just kind of poof, here youbecame.
(46:51):
But there is actually a reasonin everything in your life that
happens for a good, even if it'ssomething bad.
Speaker 2 (46:58):
It does have a reason too which is hard to kind of
sit with.
Speaker 1 (47:01):
That's awesome, audrey.
Anything else that you wouldlike to make sure that you
touched on before we close upfor today, I guess?
Speaker 2 (47:08):
I would just be.
I would just love to encourageyour listeners to just.
You can do this.
You have unique things that youbring to the table, and your
unique way of being and yourunique skillset and gifts are a
gift to your family and they canbe um, they can blossom in a
(47:29):
homeschool environment.
You can bring your childrenwith you to do those things that
are, that are meaningful.
I had, home, been homeschoolingfor I don't know a few years not
not a long time and I was stilljust getting so much grief from
family.
I finally went to a woman whoshe actually had been
homeschooled and she, she waskind of a mentor to me and and I
(47:50):
said you know, so painful Idon't know what to say to them.
Like they just think that thisis a terrible idea.
So what, what?
How long is it going to take?
You know what's?
What's it going to take forthem to to believe me and trust
me and think that this wasprobably a good idea?
She said, audrey is going totake 10 years and uh, and she's
(48:14):
like, yeah, but it just it'sgoing to take people a while to
get their mind around it, to seethe fruits from it and to
really get on board.
And it's so funny because yearslater I don't know if it was
exactly 10, but like, one of thebig naysayers was my
father-in-law and he actuallydid pull me aside years later
and say to me I think you'resuch an amazing mom Uh, just
(48:36):
incredible what you've done forthese grandkids of ours, and you
know I'm really proud of you.
I think I'm sorry that I waskind of a naysayer back in the
day.
So just trust your gut andtrust that, that inspiration,
that intuition that tells youthat this is right for your
family.
You know, you can always goback or whatever if that's what
you really need to do, but justtry it, just do it.
(48:57):
There's, there's always go backor whatever if that's what you
really need to do, but just tryit, just do it.
There's, there's so muchsupport, there's so many
resources.
It's and, and, and.
You're capable, you're totallycapable.
Speaker 1 (49:10):
Oh, that's awesome.
Yes, and I think that is one ofthe hurdles to homeschooling is
there will be people that arelike you're crazy and you're
messing them up.
It's one thing if you thinkyou're messing your kids up and
you're you know, you can kind ofpep talk yourself like you have
this, you've got this.
But when other people areworried that you're messing your
kids up or their grandkids up,it's like oh geez you really
(49:34):
have to know your why.
Yeah, like you said before, whyare you doing this?
What is your goal?
And just focus on that, becausethis too shall pass.
10 years will go by and they'llbe like, oh all right.
(49:54):
Yeah yeah, her kids are prettywell adjusted, yeah yeah.
Thank you so much for joiningus today.
Like I said before, I'll putlinks to everything your podcast
, your book.
Like I said before, I'll putlinks to everything your podcast
, your book, your academies, uh,right in the show's description
and, um, I just had such anenjoyable conversation with you.
Thank you for inspiring anddoing all that you do for the
homeschool community.
Yeah, thank you, cheryl.
So great to be here.
Welcome, and with us today we have Audrey
Rindlisbacher.
Audrey, thank you for beinghere, thanks for having me.
So you've been homeschoolingfor quite a while, correct?
Oh yeah, tell us how long, andwhat even got you into this
space.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
So my oldest is 30, and he went to private school
for one year and then we startedhomeschooling.
So and I have six and I stillhave kids at home, so it's been
one or all or most of them for Iguess that's 25 years, so it's
a very long time.
Wow, yeah, back in the daybefore there was as much.
(00:39):
There's so many resources nowand there's so much great
curriculum.
It's like a million timeseasier but and the stigma is
gone and like all of the hardthings, I kind of consider
myself a pioneer, but there areother people.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
they were doing it a generation before me, so yeah,
and I guess it's the way that itkind of always was done until
they brought the educationsystem in in the last hundred
years.
But it is funny how everybodyjumped on that.
What made you decide to go fromthe private school to
homeschooling?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
So what happened was, you know, I had, I had one, I
have six, so there are boy, girl, boy, girl boy, girls.
How they came, it's just kindof cute.
And um, by the time, so myoldest is a boy.
So when he was like I don'tknow, three or four or something
, I just started teaching himstuff, cause I figured that's
(01:34):
what a good mom does, you know.
And we, I put together thislittle kind of like preschool in
the house and I had, you know,I don't know, I ran across
Montessori at one point early onand actually made all the
little cards where you like,trace the sandpaper letters and
all of the things you knowfollow the Montessori method.
(01:55):
So we were doing this preschooland I had actually taught him
the letters and we were startingto do reading by four or five,
and I just loved it, we werehaving a ball, I just thought it
was great.
But then, um, I thought, well,as as so many of us do, I
thought, well, I'm not an expertin all the things, like, I
(02:18):
don't have a teaching degree,I'm not a professional, and of
course this is what people, thisis what friends and family are
saying to me anyway.
So of course I'm just believingthem and thinking I you know I
can't do all the things, so thisis what we'll do.
Well, okay, so so that's kindof I'm logged that away in the
back of my mind.
And then a few things happened.
(02:39):
One thing that happened wasthat, um, they sent I don't know
why this happened thisparticular year, but in the mail
I got a notification from thecounty, I guess, or maybe just
from my local ISD, with all ofthe test scores from all the
elementaries, middle schools andhigh schools that year of how
(03:00):
they did on their standardizedtests.
And it was ridiculous.
I remember looking at that,there were like two schools on
this list of several dozenschools that had over like a 50%
.
And I remember looking at myhusband like, okay, I know,
these tests aren't that hard.
I don't understand what'shappening.
(03:21):
Why are the kids not passingthe standardized tests with you
know doing better?
So that was one thing that Iwas like, oh, wait a minute.
Um, this isn't good.
And then in the meantime mystepsister Jonah would have been
, yeah, probably three or fouror five, she was she decided to
go to a local homeschoolconvention and I the only
(03:46):
experiences I'd ever, and I wasreading on here on your website,
you had this kind of experience.
I had met two homeschoolingfamilies at this point.
The first homeschooling familyI met was at church and they
were in youth group with me andthey were super weird.
So I, you know, had a reallybad taste in my mouth.
I mean, you know, like all ofthe of the typical, they didn't
(04:10):
have any sense of style, theirhygiene wasn't real great, you
know, they were awkward socially, all the things.
And then later on, when I wasin college, I had been a gymnast
and so I coached gymnastics andI had these two little girls on
my team who were the bestbehaved, sweetest, kindest,
nicest little girls in the worldand I was shocked when I later
(04:32):
found out that they werehomeschooled.
So those were my two referencepoints.
So like kind of the you knowthe whole range, the whole
spectrum, really bad to reallygood.
So I go to this homeschoolconvention with my stepsister
and I think what really was thegame changer for me because I I
can, I still have the image ofit imprinted on my memory we
(04:55):
went they, you know I think itwas at a college campus or
something and we went todifferent classrooms and you
know they have differentspeakers and whatnot, like they
still do.
And this I walked in thisclassroom and this woman had
games, dozens and dozens ofgames, spread across this whole
big long table and in front ofthe table and all along the
(05:15):
floor, and her wholepresentation was how their
entire homeschool was playinggames.
All they did was play games andthere were all kinds of
different games math games andscience, like all kinds of games
I didn't know existed, thatactually looked pretty fun,
geography games, like all thegames and my mind was just blown
(05:35):
Like that opened my world wideup as to what education was,
what it could be.
All the the, the incrediblydifferent ways that people went
about it like just blew my mind.
But still, even after that, Iwas like, but I'm not qualified,
I can't do it.
(05:56):
And so we found this cute littleprivate school and my son went
there and then, of course, youknow he's getting older by now I
have three and just as timewent on, I think he was there
for a year, year and a half, andI started just trying to get
more information, trying to findpeople, talk to people, asking
questions, and I finally justdecided, well, OK, I'm never
(06:16):
going to be able to afford itfor all my children, like I
already have three.
How are we going to pay forprivate school for 12 years for
three children?
I don't know how we're going todo that.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
And maybe we could have.
But you know, at the time wewere, you know, still kind of
young and poor.
I also thought if there wasgoing to be a time to try it,
now would be the time they'reyoung.
I can't maybe mess them up toomuch before we put them back in
and try again, you know, back inwhatever school.
But of course I was petrified.
(06:47):
I remember pacing the kitchenfloor.
I said to my husband are wejust supposed to just take this
leap of faith and hope in 10years?
that we didn't royally screw upour kids Like, is that what
we're going to do right now?
It just felt so, so risky, soscary, so big.
But then, of course, like somany people experience you
(07:13):
experienced, we tried it, Ilearned more, we got better at
it and we just kind of neverlooked back.
It was just always, always theway that we did things ever
since then.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
So wow, and I love that that you're so honest about
how scary it really was.
And yeah, you do.
You think, oh, am I going tomess this kid up?
But we don't realize that, likejust parenting them, we could
mess them up anyway.
Like why do we think the schoolis going to resurrect us from
doing the bad job as parents,Like, if anything, we're fixing
(07:45):
whatever the school did in themeantime?
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Do you know Cheryl, one of the things that gave me
confidence actually early on wasactually scripture, because one
of the things I finallyrealized was wait a minute.
If God trusts me to teach mykids what are the very most
important things to know, thencertainly we could throw some
(08:08):
geometry in there.
Like that was kind of my sotrue, you know, the salvation
stuff is way more important.
So if he's okay with me givingthat a stab, then maybe with
some resources and some helpbehind me, we could just throw
the other stuff in.
And that actually gave me a lotof confidence because that made
(08:29):
me think well, then maybe,maybe God would trust me with
this too, and so let's try it.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Yeah, and I find that the people that have that
negative connotation around thehomeschooling, it's because
they've never looked into it.
So I mean, and there's so manythings like that too, you know
whether you're talking aboutpharmaceutical or whatever.
Um, food dies the food.
It's like if you never lookedinto it, of course you're just
going to go with the mainstream,what everyone else is doing, um
(08:58):
, but if you actually take thetime to look into why the school
system actually went from theone room schoolhouse to these
big jail, like looking buildingswhere it's just remote, you
know, memorization to everything, and how the Rockefellers
invested so much money, that'salways the biggest thing for me.
(09:19):
It's like so did he really wantto like make people that were
going to come out and be likecompetitors to his oil business?
I mean, that would be thecraziest thing, yeah, so it's
just like looking at littlethings like that and are so eye
opening.
And I love what you were sayingabout the game schooling, and
(09:40):
that was probably back in the90s, if your son is thirties,
about 11 years younger than me.
So I didn't.
I just learned about gameschooling in the last year and
I've been floored Like, wow, wecan just do this and have fun
with it, you know, or even justusing games.
I think we think of games asbeing something of the nineties.
(10:01):
And now there's social mediaand so you know, people just
look at their phones and stuff.
But we can go back to thatsitting around the table and
doing a game or sitting on thefloor, sitting outside on a
blanket and doing a gametogether, and it's so.
It's such a good family bonding.
On top of like that, you canhave the geography and and, yeah
(10:22):
, there's so many games.
I didn't really grow up playingmany games.
But the homeschool groups that,um, you know that we meet with
one of them every couple ofmonths.
They have a game day and peoplebring all their games.
And, yeah, there was one whereyou have the, the um country,
and you're asking a question tothe other person like can you
find which one?
(10:43):
And you know it asks yousomething about the state, and
so you're learning the wholetime.
But you're having fun becauseyou're getting points and stuff.
So, yeah, it's amazing.
That was so eyeopening for methat this could really actually
be enjoyable.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Well, that's the thing, right, Like just the
whole perception that elementaryand you know.
And then, of course, justreading Montessori and getting a
totally different perspectiveon, you know the, the way that
her classroom functioned and theway that the children just
roamed and found their own,their own work and sat quietly
and did their work and theirself-discipline those young
children had, and was reallyenthralled by that.
(11:18):
And then I just started readingstuff and of course I found
classical education and then Iwas totally hooked and then I
was like, oh, this is totallywhat we're doing, and got my own
education in the meantime,which was, um, you know, just a
joy.
We got to learn so many thingsand discover so many things
together.
So one other huge motivation forme was my husband and I had
(11:40):
both had several years ofcollege.
I didn't finish, I didn'tgraduate until later.
I had about three years donewhen we married.
But, um, you know, I I feltlike that by that time I'd spent
15 years in school and I hadreally, honestly, no true sense
of self, like I liked myself,and I thought I was a nice
(12:02):
person, but I did not know whatI was really good at.
I had never really had a chanceto discover my gifts and
talents, and that was a hugedriver for me.
I kept telling my husband, likethere's gotta be a better way.
There's gotta be a better wayfor people to to be educated
such that by the time they're 17or 18 or 19, they have a much
(12:24):
better sense of self and muchmore clarity about the direction
that they need to head.
So that was a huge goal for usfrom the beginning too.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
That's so huge and the amount of time that kids are
in school, it's like what areyou doing all day?
But, yes, how would you everallow for, you know, 30 kids in
a classroom?
It's it's not possible to haveeach of them find their talents
and their gifts and their dreamsand and what the world needs,
and you know.
So, yeah, it's hard, it'sreally not possible in a school
(12:53):
setting and they kind of busy usoutside of the school hours
with sports and homework and youknow the work schedules of the
parents that you're not likehomework and the work schedules
of the parents that you're notlike okay, let's go explore when
we all get home from work andschool today.
So it's near impossible.
But yeah, my sister's three alljust graduated in the last five
(13:15):
or six years and, yeah, none ofthem really were like I want to
be this, and the one that waswas like I want to be a cop, but
that's because his father was acop.
Where I became a governmentworker, because my parents were
government workers it's like areyou just doing what you know?
because, yeah, it's familiar andI think that's why so many
people become teachers too,because they're like I don't
know what I want to do.
(13:36):
I've been hanging out withteachers for 13 years.
Let's do that.
I know that job.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Yeah, yeah and it's not necessarily bad, but just a
stronger sense of self was ahuge goal for me, so Right.
Right.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Um, now okay.
So with having six, did yourkids ever give you pushback or
like want to go into school orgo in for any amount of time?
So yeah, we did.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
So for me, um, now, most of them were home a lot
most of their growing up, butfor me, I felt like the
fundamental principle was notnecessarily everybody's home all
the time, but more like mom anddad own it.
Like you are not depending onsomeone else to know where your
(14:24):
kid is at or whether they'restruggling with reading or any
of that kind of stuff.
Like you're aware you're intune, you're owning it and
you're finding solutions.
And so we did.
We did a myriad of things justdepending on what our family
needed.
So sometimes, uh, like, forexample, I had two caboose
children 18 months apart.
That were both surprises, andso I was carrying a baby around
(14:49):
while I was pregnant again, andso for a semester we were like
you're in charter school.
If you hate it after a semester, that's fine, but mom's gotta
rest and take care of the babies.
The older kids did some onlinework.
The elementary kids went tocharter school and then they
were ready to come home.
I guess we haven't done reallymuch public school, but charter
(15:11):
schools, some private schools,definitely online coursework,
especially as they got older.
And every I was talking tosomebody the other day she was.
Somebody was asking me abouthomeschool the other day and I
was like you know, I really feellike a big component of your
level of success is your why?
Because there are people thatare doing it because they have
(15:33):
something that they're movingtoward, but then there's other
people that are doing it out offear, and my experience has been
that the people that just don'thave a plan and they don't have
a goal and they don't reallyhave a vision of what they're
trying to do in their homeschoolthey often fail quite a bit.
It's very frustrating, negativeexperience for everybody,
because all they know is I don'twant that, I'm afraid of that,
(15:57):
I'm running away from that.
Um, it's really important toeat.
It's okay to start there.
It's okay If, if, thatmotivates you and gets you out
of your chair.
But you've got to.
You've got to plug some wise in.
You've got to have a biggerpicture of what you're trying to
create.
I mean, relationships betweenmy children was also a huge
motivator for me.
I felt like I hardly ever sawmy siblings growing up, and my
(16:19):
kids have a lot of sharedmemories together and one of
their favorite things to do iswatch old videos of when they
were little.
When we get together, so, um,I'm really grateful that they
had that time together and thatthat bonding.
But I I attended a years ago, I,somebody, I can't remember why,
but they decided to do this.
I think it was just for peoplethat were inquiring about
(16:40):
homeschool.
This woman just said, okay,well, I'll put a panel together
at my house.
So she got a bunch of seniorsin the area who were you know,
it was their quote senior year,17 to 18 year olds and she put
them on this panel and we justcame and we just asked them
questions and it was across thespectrum, like kids who had
never done any math to kids whohad just got off a world tour
(17:01):
for piano performance.
So it was.
It was an incredibly widespectrum and you could tell that
you know some of them weresiblings, and so it was.
It was all about the familyculture.
Like the family culture wasdetermining how the kids were
thriving or not thriving.
So a lot is riding on theexpectations that you set, the
vision that you have, and it'snot so much about you can find
(17:24):
somebody to tutor whatever.
Like it's not.
That's not really tough.
There's so much good curriculum, there's so many online schools
, like there's a lot of goodresources.
It's really, I think, aboutparents who are on fire about it
, who are who are.
I think the very best thing Iever did was work on my own
education.
I just learned alongside mychildren.
I was very serious aboutreading classics and about, you
(17:48):
know, marking my books and aboutwriting papers and doing things
that my children were doing andthat set an example, but also
an expectation that we're notjust bumming around the house,
we're actually actively learning.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
So did you do family style learning?
Where it was, everybody sat atthe table and we're going to do
this topic and divvy it out on,you know uh, difficulty levels,
or did everybody kind of havetheir own stuff?
How?
How did that work on your dayto day?
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Uh, yes, both, and it just depended on how many kids
were at home and their ages.
So we always did familydevotional and often I would sit
at the table while they hadtheir different levels of math
or whatever that kind of thing.
Sure, we always did family readalouds and family discussions
of of of classics, and thensometimes we would do some forms
(18:41):
of writing or I would have themtake a writing class and then
bring writing to share with usthat they were working on.
Um, so just depended how howmany kids were there.
Right now I've got onegraduating from a charter school
and one doing online stuff, andthat's, that's my last two left
at home.
They're a junior and a senior.
(19:03):
The, the charter school kid.
It's just also unique.
It's just kid by kid.
So he was in a really uniquesituation because the child
older than him was five yearsolder, so she was already gone
by the time.
He was in middle school and hislittle sister was a full-time
competitive gymnast.
So she was gone six, sevenhours a day and he's taken a
(19:23):
couple temperament andpersonality tests.
He's 99% extroverted.
So for a while we had him witha private tutor and another kid
and they were having a greattime reading their Homer and all
of their things and he loved it.
But he was just, I mean itfinally, it finally kind of all
kind of hit the fan.
I guess middle of his freshmanyear he just came into my
(19:44):
bedroom one night crying and hejust said I am so lonely, I'm so
lonely.
And so we found a classicalbase charter school that he
could spend time in.
And he, he, just it just was aperfect match.
And he, he just needed somecommunity, he needed peers.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
So can you explain for us, like, what the charter
school is in relation tohomeschooling?
Is it?
Is it a school?
Is it a private school?
Um, is it just forhomeschoolers?
How does that work?
Speaker 2 (20:13):
So lots of charter.
I mean charter schools.
What it traditionally means isit varies state by state and
there are good charter schoolsand not good charter schools.
Um, private schools areprivately funded and tuition
based, and we have done those aswell.
Charter schools are, um the waythat it works in the States
(20:40):
that I've been in, like I'm inTexas now the way that it works
is you put in a charter to thestate and you say I want this
type of school, these are thekinds of things that we're going
to learn.
And you, you have to providesome of your own funding and
your own buildings.
So you have to have someprivate funds in it, you have to
(21:01):
have some people investing inyou, and then you can tap into
partial government funds perchild, um, but you don't have to
answer to the government foryour curriculum.
So, um, well, you, you putforward what you're going to
cover, but it's it'sindividualized.
(21:21):
It's not government curriculum,it's individualized curriculum,
if that makes sense.
So in the case, of my son, Idon't know if you've heard of
Hillsdale College, no, soHillsdale College is a leading
liberal arts school.
It was founded in the mid 1800sby abolitionists.
(21:42):
It was the first school in theUnited States to let blacks and
whites and women all receive thesame degree and they don't take
any government fundingwhatsoever.
And the charter school that myson has been attending was the
very first charter school theyfounded by.
They have a Barney foundationcharter school initiative and
they've they've populated.
That was 10 years ago.
They founded his school andthey have quite a few across the
(22:03):
nation Now.
I have a girlfriend who just washelping found one in her area
in Nevada.
Um, these charter schools wherethey read all original writings
, so they go to the originalsources, they have classical
discussion and, um, cool thingslike that.
So they read their Cicero andtheir Homer and their, you know,
herodotus and their all the allthe great thinkers, aristotle
(22:25):
and all the people.
So he has loved it.
It's been a good fit for him,because that was kind of the way
that we started to lean in ourhome was towards classical
education and he was wellprepared for that.
But he was just too lonely tobe at home alone all day, every
day.
Um, I had one child who didcollege his senior year.
Another child who nannied inEcuador her senior year.
(22:45):
Um, we did homeschool co-ops.
I had another son who took mathat the local um high school as
well as driver's ed, and then heread books for me and we
discussed them, and then he didonline science while he studied,
uh, while he worked quite a bitum, and pursued his music.
He's still pursuing a musiccareer, releasing music and
(23:07):
having a great time.
So, um, yeah, every, everychild was very different.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Oh, that's so cool.
And I know, like for me in thebeginning, when I was thinking
about the homeschooling, I'mlike, oh my gosh, what about?
Like the proms and the stufflike that?
And then I now that I'm like init, I see all of the cool stuff
that you get to do as ahomeschooler and I'm like, okay,
that was the carrot that theywere dangling so that people
(23:35):
would go to school.
Um, but yeah, have you had anykids?
Or like, even if your kid is ahomeschooler and they really
want to go to a prom, like theycan go as a date or you can just
set up a prom.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Sure Well, some areas the area has a homeschool prom.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Really.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Yeah, yeah and there's.
I mean there's large supportiveorganizations now across the
country that do all sorts ofthings like that.
There's a huge localorganization that does
homeschool sports so you can goearly afternoons and practice
and be on teams they competeagainst each other and go to
nationals.
I mean there's, yeah, there'sall kinds of stuff.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
So, yeah, there's really nothing holding you back
Once you know that information.
It's like as long as you canmake it work with the financials
.
And how did you?
Did you, um, were you leaving ajob or were you staying?
Planning on staying at homewith the kids anyway?
I mean, when you have six, it'slike daycare adds up.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
So um, I wanted to be home.
I knew I wanted to be home whenthey were little.
So my situation was kind ofunique.
I'd already dated my husbandfor five years.
I actually did some missionservice in Europe and then I
came home and it was rightbetween us.
We were in love, we wanted todo it and right after like
(24:47):
literally two weeks before wegot married, I had to have
surgery because I had ovariancysts which turned out to be
endometriosis, and they saidyou're all clean, get, get
pregnant now.
So I was.
So we were married and I waspregnant by May.
Um, cause, I had.
They were like you are, you'vegot this disease.
(25:07):
You know, we don't, if youdon't do it now, while you're
all cleaned out, we don't knowwhat will happen if, if that'll
put off childbearing.
So just have a baby right now.
So I was, you know, on ourfirst anniversary I was eight
months, eight months pregnant.
So we just I mean, we just gotit going.
We were just having kids and Iknew I wanted to be home when
they were little.
So I didn't actively pursuecareer.
(25:28):
Um, as time went on, I foundpassion, projects.
I worked on my own education.
That turned into writingcurriculum and teaching courses
for colleges and and things likethat.
Then eventually I created myown courses and eventually wrote
a book and now I have a mom'sacademy and a teen academy.
So I just I just turned mypassions into work that ended up
being bringing money in.
(25:50):
But in the beginning it was like, yeah, I'll live, I'll live
poorer.
You know, and and I I rememberI can't it probably wasn't Dave
Ramsey, I don't know who it was.
Back then there was, I happenedacross something I don't know
if it was an article or a bookor what it was and they were
(26:12):
like okay, if you want to stayhome, like, think about all of
these things, add up, add up theextra car, the wardrobe, the
daycare, the all of those things, and pretty much, if you want
to make it work, you can.
It wasn't always pretty, likeI'm not gonna.
You know, my husband was ahundred percent commission based
.
He was a realtor.
So it was up and down, we triedto save when times were good
(26:32):
and but we just made it workbecause it was important to us.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
Yeah, and I love what you said about like, as they
got older, you took it uponyourself to do things that
sparked your interest and yourdreams and even brought in an
income, because I think we havethis idea that, like you know, a
lot of times parents will sayto me well, we need two incomes,
I can't stay home.
And it's like well, wait aminute, yeah, you don't have to
(26:57):
stay home for 18 years, or youdon't have to not have an income
for 18 years.
Your kids will get to a pointwhere they don't need you all
hours of the day, could you?
Speaker 2 (27:11):
you know, do some.
Can you make it for three orfour years without an?
Speaker 1 (27:13):
income Like let's just start there and if you can
do that, you know we canbrainstorm at what you could do
down the road.
Or you know you could do thingslike you know clean houses
maybe when your partner is home.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yeah, people do all sorts of things they go.
I have friends that go to whereis it California or somewhere
and they just have an annualtrip.
While they're go pick all kindsof fruit and they bring the
cases home and they sell themdoor to door and they bring in
several, you know, five, six,10,000 extra dollars a year with
this two or three week familyproject that they do Like.
(27:46):
There's a lot of things.
You would be surprised how youcan bring your family along with
you on whatever those passionprojects are and, like I said, I
was very passionate abouthaving my kids.
The first thing that turned meon to oh whoa, there's so much
more we could discover aboutourselves was when I found
multiple intelligences and I waslike this is brilliant and I,
you know, I don't know if you'veever heard of Gardner and his,
(28:07):
his multiple intelligences.
It's so fantastic and he talksall about how.
I mean they did extensiveresearch for ever and ever and
ever on lots of people and thereare different ways that you're
smart and our school systemsonly target two types of
intelligence the linguistic,intelligent and mathematical
intelligence.
But there's nine ways of beingsmart and our school systems
(28:29):
only focus on two.
So, if you like my third, oneof the reasons he was reading
with me I mean, he, he, hewasn't dyslexic or anything but
linguistic intelligence was hislast intelligence.
Musical intelligence andkinesthetic intelligence were
his tops, and so he needed to dosports, he needed to run, he
needed to be active, he neededto do music.
(28:49):
Um, and that nurtured him.
And he's read.
He's read Jane Eyre, he's readsome great classics that you
know.
People are often surprised bythe breadth of his education and
he still reads and listens tobooks, a lot, which he would not
have done if you know.
He would have been in a systemthat would have beaten the heck
out of him and told him that hewasn't smart and he wasn't, he
wasn't good at those particularthings.
(29:10):
So that was really reallyhelpful and and and helped me in
my homeschooling.
But it also just helped me see,oh, there's a lot of things.
You can continue to discovercool stuff about yourself your
whole life, um, but that's whenI started to realize, oh, we can
really tailor this and thesekids can really thrive.
They don't have to be stuck,they don't have to, you know, be
(29:32):
beaten up in a system thatdoesn't work for them.
That was really, that wasreally a lot of fun to discover.
And then after that, I justdiscovered more and more and
more, and then things aboutmyself and things about them,
and I just played around.
I realized I could writecurriculum.
I started getting invited tospeak, which shocked me, turns
out I'm pretty articulate.
So then I just started speakingin the homeschool space.
(29:53):
A lot you know, and anyway, onething led to another, but I
love that and all right.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
So, as you're carrying your kids through the
years, were you ever thinkinglike am I doing enough
curriculum with them?
And specifically I mean like,should they be taking a Spanish
class?
And what about geography andhow?
Much history should I be doingat six years old?
You know, and as you getthrough to the ages where
they're about to graduate, likewhat are our next steps?
(30:22):
And that ties into you know,you having a goal for your child
.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Is your goal college If it is why?
Speaker 1 (30:29):
What you know?
What do they really want to do?
What are they passionate about?
How did you ease your worriesand know that what we're doing
is enough or maybe we need toadd a little more to the table?
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Well, in their elementary school years I tried
to at least keep them at pacewith their math and have them
enjoy learning and love reading,because you can self-educate
all your life If you have one of.
(31:00):
Somebody taught me early on andI can't remember where this
came from, cause I was likeingesting all kinds of like lots
of books on education andlearning and like all kinds of
stuff but one of the things Irealized early on was that we
live in an information age.
There's no way to know all thethings You're never going to be
(31:21):
able to, and so what actually isthe better thing to focus on is
skill sets, so that when theyleave home they have the skills
to be lifelong learners, theyhave the skills to pick up on
whatever they'd like to pick upon later on, when and if that
becomes necessary for whateverproject they're working on.
And so I wanted them to.
(31:43):
I wanted all my kids to getthrough Algebra 2.
That was kind of a standardthat we set.
I felt like if you want to passthe GED, if you want to go to
college, if you know, if youwant those doors to remain open
for you, you need the skill setthrough Algebra 2.
So just know that that'shappening.
We're not taking that off thetable for anybody.
Just get your mind around itand let's get to it.
(32:03):
We found Math UC, so,hallelujah, thank goodness, most
of my kids really thrived withthat and that worked well.
And as far as sciences go, bythe time they got to high school
I wanted them to do somesciences.
I didn't always have the skillset to do that, so we found
tutors or did online classes.
(32:24):
Again, just a skill set forunderstanding why science
matters.
We live in a science age.
We speak the language ofscience, it's in our newspapers,
it's in our books, we usescience to validate even the
social realm with the socialsciences.
So they just needed proficiencyin the skillset of speaking the
language of science andunderstanding why it mattered,
(32:45):
and then, of course, being ableto read and write and speak well
.
The articulate voice is thecommanding voice.
People listen to people who canspeak well and who can read
well.
So that was where my prioritieswere, but it was.
It was a lot about I wanted themto be able to dig into a book
and so I you know my work is hasfocused really heavily on the
(33:08):
natural moral law and trueprinciples.
What's a principle?
Why do principles matter?
How are they God's way ofguiding us in life?
That was a huge.
That's been a passion projectof mine for 20 years.
So as I taught my kids and as Iwas figuring all of that out,
that was a huge priority.
Where's the truth here?
How can we link that truth toscripture, to real life?
(33:28):
How can we live according tohigher truth?
And so the skill set of digginginto a book and getting a lot
out of it, discussing it whilediscussion is a timeless mode, I
mean education 300 years ago inthe United States was uniform.
It was the Western way ofeducation.
You read a classic, you gotinto a cohort, you discussed it
(33:49):
and discussed it, you wroteabout it and you used your
commonplace book.
You did that over and over andover again.
That's the basics of learning.
So just keeping those skillsets at the forefront of my mind
was super duper helpful.
Then I wasn't necessarilytrying to check off like
everybody's got to have physics.
You know, maybe, maybe not, butcan you kind of speak the
(34:12):
language of science?
Do you understand why sciencematters?
Do you?
You know?
Can you work some mathequations?
Cause I just wanted all thedoors to be open.
I didn't want to handicap themby by setting my expectations
low.
Or I know people who are likeno, this is freedom, they have
their choice.
They can choose yes To a point.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
I don't want to leave any doors closed for you so
we're going to leave these doorsopen, because you know they
could be 30 years old and say,mom, you didn't get me to the
point where I could go tocollege so I never got to become
you know this or that.
So it's like, yeah, we're goingto do what you need to do so
that the doors are open to you,but within that, you know, and
(34:53):
like I had a mom on one time andshe's like my kid is just into
equestrian stuff and that's likewhat her child did and would
travel all the time.
And so yeah she got to a pointwhen her daughter was old enough
that she's like, all right, wedon't really need.
She knows what she wants to dowith her life.
This is what she wants to do.
So we're going to do enough tojust get you know the graduate
(35:16):
degree from the high school.
Yeah, but yeah, it's like oncethey know what they love.
But yeah, you don't want toclose doors to them either, and
I think for me, like a lot oftimes, I worry, you know, oh my
gosh, are we do?
We have to make sure we talkabout the Mayas and Incas?
And you know like how are wegoing to get it all in but like
today we took a walk and I neverhad this in school where you
(35:39):
just kind of like, look at theworld around you and, oh, do you
hear that that's a woodpecker?
Why is he making that sound?
Okay, and you're talking, likeyou said the discussion, talking
with your kid about why thatwoodpecker is pecking on the
tree and, um, you know, justlooking around where you know we
have a mountain behind ourhouse, so we're walking.
(35:59):
I'm like this looks like itcould have been maybe a huge
river at one time, cause it'sjust like this valley in the
middle with a little streamgoing through.
I'm like, isn't, wouldn't thatbe cool?
We could, we could try to findsome aerial pictures of 50 years
ago or a hundred years ago andsee if you know, just having
those conversations with them toknow that, like, see if you
know, just having thoseconversations with them, to know
(36:20):
that, like, that's something,that's a possibility, and I
don't ever remember anyone everhaving that conversation with me
over anything in the outdoorsat all.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
Oh yeah, oh, I've got a good friend who loves birding
and that's what they do.
They just go birding a lot.
Yeah, I mean you just the, justthe breadth of knowledge, that
the ability, the awareness thatthat you can notice things and
that you think about things andyou ask yourself good questions
and you're curious and you knowwe beat that curiosity out of
(36:49):
them.
Sir Ken, is it Sir Ken Robinson?
I think that's his name.
Have you ever watched any ofhis stuff?
Speaker 1 (36:56):
No, I went to public school.
Wow, that's his name.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Have you ever watched any of his stuff?
No, I went to public school,wow, no, he had.
He used to have some reallygood YouTube videos about.
He was showing statistics ofthe drop-off rate of when kids
go into school, their level ofcuriosity and proficiency in
certain things and the drop-offrate after so many years of of
of public schooling and it wasreally fascinating to see what
really does happen cognitivelyif they're forced into that box
(37:22):
too much that they really dolose natural curiosity and
creativity and initiative anddiscipline that is inherently
there to be developed if it'snurture.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Oh, I'll have to look into that.
That sounds so cool and I lovewhat you were saying about the
principles that are ineverything.
And you wrote a book right, theSeven Laws of Life.
Yeah, the Mission Driven Life.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
It's back here.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
I love that Tell what made you write that?
What is it about?
Speaker 2 (37:50):
This book was actually born of some interest
around the concept of lifemission.
I kept bumping up against it,knowing people who were doing
things in the name of missionthat were really awesome and in
the concept of life mission, Ikept bumping up against it,
knowing people who were doingthings in the name of mission
that were really awesome and inthe name of mission that were
really not didn't seem soawesome.
It seemed like it was kind ofdestroying their lives, and I
wanted to understand it better,and so I tried to find some
(38:12):
really good books on it.
The dream givers, a pretty goodone, but I couldn't find really
.
You know, purpose-driven Lifeis a really beautiful book, but
it's it's really very, you know,it's about it's about building
your relationship with God,which is wonderful, but that's
not necessarily what I wanted tounderstand.
I wanted to understand do wehave a mission or missions, and,
and, and what are they?
(38:32):
And what do they look like, andwhat does that mean, and why do
we keep using that term?
And?
And so I I started.
I don't know if you've ever readthe Hiding Place, no, Okay, so
this is a true story about afamily called the Ten Booms who
lived in Holland during WorldWar II and they saved the lives
of over 800 people and theHiding Place is the story of how
(38:54):
they did that.
But it's also the story of justan amazing family and when I
first read that book it was atotal life changer.
I was like, okay, all I want inlife is to be the Ten Booms.
How can we do that?
They are my idols.
We need to just be like TenBoom family.
But I held him up on thispedestal and I really didn't
(39:16):
know how to get there.
Like they seemed so perfect.
We could never be that perfect.
Then, a while later, kind ofwhile I was in this space of
thinking about this concept ofmission and wondering about it,
partly because now my kids weregetting older and we're trying
to discover their gifts andtalents and I'm trying to pair
that with needs in the world andall this stuff is on my mind.
So then I happened upon anotherbook by Corrie Ten Boom, who was
(39:39):
the daughter that's talkedabout in the Hiding Place, and
it's called Father Ten Boom,god's man, and it was actually a
bunch of letters that she foundthat he had written when he was
a young man and they were juststarting their family.
And as I read through this bookI was like, oh man, they had a
whole bunch of the same problemsI have.
(40:01):
Their marriage struggled,sometimes, their finances were a
mess, he was majorly in debt.
They were uh, they struggledwith their children.
They, they struggled in their,in their business, you know all
these.
They had problems, like I had.
They weren't always perfect,and so then I just went and
found all her other books andjust devoured them.
And then I started readingabout other men and women that I
(40:21):
really idolized and looked upto mother Teresa or Ben Carson
or um, I don't know.
I have a whole bunch of ummission driven stories on my
podcast, and so then then then Igot turned on to okay, wait a
minute, maybe there's a pattern.
What can they teach me?
So then I just started for likea year or two.
I got up early in the morningand I studied the lives of all
(40:43):
these great men and women that Ireally looked up to, trying to
see if there was a pattern tohow they became the great men
and women that they became.
And I discovered a pattern andI call it the seven laws of life
mission.
My book delineates those lawsand I take you through the lives
of the Ten Boom family as anexample of how they lived.
(41:03):
These seven laws there's fourfoundational laws loving God,
loving yourself, loving truthand loving humanity.
And when you do those fourthings, it prepares you to hear
the call of how you can pairyour gifts and talents with
needs in the real world.
And then there's leadershiplaws you discover your, uh, you
hear the call and you actcourageously and you do it again
.
It's kind of like asking.
(41:26):
One of the things I talk aboutin the book is that we have
multiple missions.
You know, is my motherhood mymission?
Of course?
Is being a great wife part ofmy mission, of course?
But is building curriculum andhelping moms part of my mission?
Yes, and so there's multiplethings we may feel called on to
do.
We're looking out at the worldand matching our own abilities
with needs that others have away and we talk a lot about
(41:48):
servant leadership.
It's really the pathway to trueservant leadership, and the um,
the 10 booms, were just thisbeautiful example and I wanted
to use.
You know, I wanted you to beable to see this happen in the
lives of real people and howthey became the great men and
women that I totally loved andadmired.
(42:09):
Um, but on my podcast there's abunch of other examples.
I take you through I just callthem mission driven stories and
I take you through the lives ofmen and women who have followed
this pattern and this path todiscover.
The subtitle is Discover andFulfill your Unique Contribution
to the World.
So it's a way of looking at theworld through the lens of.
I was placed here.
(42:29):
I love.
One of the books that we use inmy academy is Cure for the
Common Life by Max Lucado, andhe talks about you know.
God fashioned you for a work.
You're here to do things tohelp your brothers and sisters,
and what can you do for them?
How can you serve them inmeaningful ways?
So this is just a pattern, apath to follow, some road signs
(42:53):
to point you in a direction, ifthat's something that appeals to
you if you want to be moremission driven.
My academies help peoplethrough those first four laws of
building a solid foundation tohear the call of mission and and
stuff.
But but that's, that's what thebook is about.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
Oh, that's so cool, wow, I mean, yes, we will
definitely all check that out.
I'm going to put links to yourbook and the academy, okay, and
you have one for teens as well.
I'll put links to everything inthe description, but you
mentioned before having anAcademy for teens.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
Yes, I started out.
I had an experience.
I don't know if you want tohear the whole story, but I I
was in a space with moms and Isaw their pain and I realized I
had learned things that couldhelp them, that this path would
be a benefit to them, and so Ibuilt a cause curriculum's what
I do, it's what I know how to do.
And so I built uh causecurriculum's what I do, it's
what I know how to do.
So I built a program called theMission Driven Mom Academy and
(43:43):
we have three different levelswhere I take them through, uh,
these foundational laws and, um,after, after that had been
going for probably a coupleyears, the moms started to ask
for something for their teens.
Um, they were like I want toinfuse this language into my
home better.
We, we put a lot of family readalouds into the program.
(44:05):
We teach you principles andthen you apply them in your
family, in your home, in yourlife, um, so you can build a
more principal, mission centeredhome.
But they wanted program forteens.
So we developed that I don'tknow three, four, five years ago
, something like that.
And there's some schoolscharter schools, homeschools,
you know, co-ops that use it,individual moms with just their
(44:28):
teens.
You can buy just a year accessor a lifetime access at
themissiondriventeencom.
But yeah, there's a.
There's a teen program thattakes teens through it too.
Speaker 1 (44:40):
You know, and when I look at kids today in school, um
, you know our society ingeneral, I think I think about
this a lot.
They have taken away our, ourmission and just survival.
And you know, when you weretalking about all of the
different missions, that we havea mother, a wife knowing that I
, or even we, need to, as afamily, make sure that we have
(45:03):
enough to eat, and it reallytook pride to make sure that you
were either hunting or, youknow, planting your crops and
doing that hard labor, and thenyou actually got to utilize the
fruits of your labor and youneeded it to survive and you
felt good about yourself andthey've, like, taken all of that
(45:23):
away from us.
I know, you know, yes, it'swonderful that I can just go
online, order my groceries andpick them up at Hannaford later
that day, but, um, is there any?
Like you know, I, of course,when I cook food, I feel like
happy and fulfilled that I'vecooked a meal for my family, but
it does, you know, it takesaway a lot of our mission to.
(45:47):
You know, just that survival.
I think when you look atdepression rates and anxiety
rates, I think that has a lot todo with it, and it's not just
the food aspect, it's you know.
You hear about soldiers thatend up coming home and they're
more depressed at home.
They actually want to be awayat war because there they were,
they had a purpose.
(46:07):
They were like this is my youknow I've got my band of
brothers and this is my purpose,and then you come home and it's
like everything's kind of donefor you, Just go sit at this job
and then leave eight hourslater, which is what I did in my
government work for 16 yearsand it's so unfulfilling.
And not that every job is thatway.
My husband does love his job hedoes, he's in the trades but a
(46:29):
lot of them are.
And yeah, I think about that alot when you think about why are
we so depressed and have somuch anxiety and your book just
sounds like it would really helpease that.
Finding you know your purpose,your why.
Why are you here?
Yeah, Because I think they likeus to think that we're all here
by chance.
Just kind of poof, here youbecame.
(46:51):
But there is actually a reasonin everything in your life that
happens for a good, even if it'ssomething bad.
Speaker 2 (46:58):
It does have a reason too which is hard to kind of
sit with.
Speaker 1 (47:01):
That's awesome, audrey.
Anything else that you wouldlike to make sure that you
touched on before we close upfor today, I guess?
Speaker 2 (47:08):
I would just be.
I would just love to encourageyour listeners to just.
You can do this.
You have unique things that youbring to the table, and your
unique way of being and yourunique skillset and gifts are a
gift to your family and they canbe um, they can blossom in a
(47:29):
homeschool environment.
You can bring your childrenwith you to do those things that
are, that are meaningful.
I had, home, been homeschoolingfor I don't know a few years not
not a long time and I was stilljust getting so much grief from
family.
I finally went to a woman whoshe actually had been
homeschooled and she, she waskind of a mentor to me and and I
(47:50):
said you know, so painful Idon't know what to say to them.
Like they just think that thisis a terrible idea.
So what, what?
How long is it going to take?
You know what's?
What's it going to take forthem to to believe me and trust
me and think that this wasprobably a good idea?
She said, audrey is going totake 10 years and uh, and she's
(48:14):
like, yeah, but it just it'sgoing to take people a while to
get their mind around it, to seethe fruits from it and to
really get on board.
And it's so funny because yearslater I don't know if it was
exactly 10, but like, one of thebig naysayers was my
father-in-law and he actuallydid pull me aside years later
and say to me I think you'resuch an amazing mom Uh, just
(48:36):
incredible what you've done forthese grandkids of ours, and you
know I'm really proud of you.
I think I'm sorry that I waskind of a naysayer back in the
day.
So just trust your gut andtrust that, that inspiration,
that intuition that tells youthat this is right for your
family.
You know, you can always goback or whatever if that's what
you really need to do, but justtry it, just do it.
(48:57):
There's, there's always go backor whatever if that's what you
really need to do, but just tryit, just do it.
There's, there's so muchsupport, there's so many
resources.
It's and, and, and.
You're capable, you're totallycapable.
Speaker 1 (49:10):
Oh, that's awesome.
Yes, and I think that is one ofthe hurdles to homeschooling is
there will be people that arelike you're crazy and you're
messing them up.
It's one thing if you thinkyou're messing your kids up and
you're you know, you can kind ofpep talk yourself like you have
this, you've got this.
But when other people areworried that you're messing your
kids up or their grandkids up,it's like oh geez you really
(49:34):
have to know your why.
Yeah, like you said before, whyare you doing this?
What is your goal?
And just focus on that, becausethis too shall pass.
10 years will go by and they'llbe like, oh all right.
(49:54):
Yeah yeah, her kids are prettywell adjusted, yeah yeah.
Thank you so much for joiningus today.
Like I said before, I'll putlinks to everything your podcast
, your book.
Like I said before, I'll putlinks to everything your podcast
, your book, your academies, uh,right in the show's description
and, um, I just had such anenjoyable conversation with you.
Thank you for inspiring anddoing all that you do for the
homeschool community.
Yeah, thank you, cheryl.
So great to be here.
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