When the public school system tried to label her six-year-old son as “mentally handicapped” after just 10 days in first grade, Barbie Rivera knew something had to change. What began as a desperate attempt to protect her child from a broken system grew into a thriving micro-school and a mission to transform education for others.
In this episode of The Homeschool How To Podcast, Barbie shares her inspiring journey—from first-time homeschool mom to author and advocate for educational reform rooted in early 20th-century teaching methods.
🔎 What you'll hear in this episode:
- How Barbie started homeschooling after her son was nearly medicated and mislabeled
- The moment she began charging tuition to teach neighborhood kids as a single mom
- Why she believes word definitions are the key to all learning
- How modern schools skip fundamentals and overwhelm students too early
- The transformation of a struggling student from first-grade to third-grade reading level in just six weeks
- How a grateful parent is helping her launch her school
- Barbie’s passion for vintage textbooks and classical teaching techniques
- Her emphasis on mastery, deep understanding, and life skills over test scores
- How her children learned to become young entrepreneurs through tutoring
- Her upcoming curriculum based on time-tested educational methods
📚 Explore more:
Check out Barbie’s book, Enough is Enough: Exposing the Education System After Their Failed Attempt to Label and Drug My Son, available on Amazon.
Visit barbierivera.com for resources, vintage-style curriculum, and more on her educational philosophy.
🎧 Episode Chapters
00:00 – Homeschool Journey Introduction
07:43 – Escaping Labels and Medication
14:16 – Creating a Micro-School at Home
26:48 – The Power of Understanding Word Definitions
38:11 – Traditional Education vs. Meaningful Learning
47:52 – Rebuilding Education From Historical Methods
53:14 – Raising Independent Critical Thinkers
Check out The Homeschool How To Complete Starter Guide- Cheryl's eBook compiling everything she's learned from her interviews on The Homeschool How To Podcast.
👉 Enroll now for Excelsior Classes Fall 2025 — perfect for homeschoolers!
👉 15% off Tuttle Twins books with code Cheryl15
Instagram: TheHomeschoolHowToPodcast
Facebook: The Homeschool How To Podcast
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to this week's episode of the Homeschool
How-To.
I'm Cheryl and I invite you tojoin me on my quest to find out
why are people homeschooling,how do you do it, how does it
differ from region to region?
And should I homeschool my kids?
Stick with me as I interviewhomeschooling families across
the country to unfold theanswers to each of these
(00:26):
questions week by week.
Welcome, and with us today Ihave Barbie Rivera, a homeschool
mom, an author and a schoolcreator.
So this is really exciting, hiBarbie, thanks for being here.
Thanks for having me.
So this is really exciting, hiBarbie, thanks for being here.
Thanks for having me.
So I was just telling you beforethis is my first podcast in my
(00:48):
podcast studio, my officialpodcast studio that my husband
built for me in my basement.
So I'm hoping that this allworks out and, like all the
internet connection goes well.
But he did a good job.
I got to give the guy somecredit, all right.
I interview homeschoolers justto kind of hear about their
experience, and I love that.
Your experience went fromhomeschooling to being an author
, to creating this school, whichis what I see popping up more
(01:12):
and more, and I love this, thatwe are like taking education
into our own hands.
Being that one room schoolhouse for the community, I love
it.
So what made you decide tohomeschool in the first place
and then kind of get into howmany kids you have and what ages
they were when you decided?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Okay.
So when I decided to homeschool,I was very pregnant with my
fourth child.
I was 28.
My oldest son was six.
So I had six, three, one andpregnant and my son, my oldest
son, damon.
He was the first.
I think he was my parents' like20th grandchild.
You know huge family from myside but he was my then
(01:53):
husband's first, first Cubangrandson in the family.
So by the time he was six hewas completely bilingual.
He was super relaxed, like Icredit Damon with why I had four
.
I wanted eight but he was justso easygoing, damon, clean up
your toys.
Okay, mom.
Damon, it's time to go to bed.
(02:13):
Okay, mom.
Like never a fit, never apublic tantrum, none of that.
So, wrongly thinking that theschool system first grade would
be the first grade that I wentto in 1970, where it was
multiple recesses, no testing,easy curriculum, no homework,
singing songs, pasting thingsyou know it was school, but it
(02:36):
was very fun.
I thought that my son wouldhave the same experience and I'm
like this school is going tolove him.
So he had a fresh haircut, hehad his Ninja Turtle Velcro
shoes on, he had a lunchbox andhe was ready to go, like so
excited.
And on the second Friday ofschool, like the 10th day of
(02:58):
school, the teacher told me yourson is mentally handicapped and
he will most likely needpsychotropic drugs for the rest
of his life to learn.
And I'm like whoa, we're notgoing anywhere.
How did he learn Spanish?
I don't know Spanish, I don'tknow two languages.
How did he learn Spanishwithout drugs?
So then you know, and on and onand on.
(03:19):
But the pressure to have himlabeled, have him first
evaluated by experts and I'mlike no experts going to touch
my son and then labeled and thenput on medication and then
given a special program so hecould learn, was immense.
And I did something at the timethat I regret, for I will
(03:43):
regret like I did it yesterday.
I kept my son in school becauseI was very pregnant, due that
November, I had another indiaper, I had a toddler, and I'm
like there's no way I couldhomeschool him.
I would wreck him.
Turns out, leaving him inschool wrecked him.
At the end of first grade, mybeautiful boy told me I'm stupid
(04:06):
, mom, I'm stupid, and I'm likethat I still get.
I could still cry over thatmoment because I'm like Damon,
you're not stupid.
But I saw him decline and I wasbeing the good mom.
I'm a single parent.
I was being the good mom and Iwas helping him with his
homework.
Actually, I was force feedinghim garbage being the good mom.
(04:28):
And then every minute that Ispent with him the hours of
homework that a six-year-old gotlike I never my principal back
in the 70s would have laughed insomeone's face if they would
have attempted to give a firstgrader homework.
I don't think we got homeworkwhen I was growing up until
fifth grade and it was writingspelling words five times each.
It was not any labor, it wasnot me.
(04:50):
Yeah, it wasn't anything crazyand it was more just so that you
could hold on to a concept thatyou had a responsibility to do
without somebody standing overyou.
But that was fifth grade.
So here's where my son is infirst grade, expected to write
book reports before he can read,given crazy math, like I'm like
what do we do?
Like, can we give him a winhere?
(05:11):
And he didn't have it.
So he was convinced he wasstupid.
And every day that I kept himin school I saw him withdraw
into himself more and more andmore.
And I'm like, finally, at theend, when he said Mom, I'm
stupid, I'm like I'm going tohomeschool you.
(05:33):
I don't know anything abouthomeschooling, nothing.
But I know that under my care,my son was electrified,
confident and ready to go toschool.
He was ready for the learningexperience and it was the
professionals.
I don't want to knockprofessional teachers as an
in-mass thing or a general, butit was the professionals.
I don't want to knockprofessional teachers as an in
mass thing or a general, but itwas the professionals that
ruined them.
So I'm like you're not going toget ahold of my other three
period.
I have no idea what I'm goingto do for high school.
(05:54):
I have no idea what I'm goingto do next week, but I know that
I'm going to take my son andI'm going to get him to read and
write, because people used todo, used to have 16 year olds
running one room school houses100 years ago.
So it can't be that difficult.
And if my son was special needs, he's my responsibility Anyway.
(06:17):
Anyway, that's how I gotstarted on homeschooling.
The word micro school didn'texist when I started.
This was 1991.
But essentially that's what Idid.
I had other friends like whatare you going to do about school
?
I'm like I'm taking Damon out.
They're like will you take myson?
And so I took two types.
I took two grades with veryweak skills and I took
(06:47):
kindergarten because my daughterwas four.
She turned five in January, butshe was four and my daughter
was really was like four, goingon 25.
And you know she loved coloring.
She loved she would practice,play school with her dolls and
stuff like this.
So she was really ready.
So I only took second gradersand kindergartners, even though
I had friends, my son's, in thefifth grade.
(07:07):
Could you please take them?
I'm like nope, I'm going to dosecond grade in kindergarten.
I'm going to figure it outbecause I don't know what I'm
doing, but this is the path I'mgoing to take and that's how I
started.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
That's amazing that other people were like back in
the 90s especially.
We have more trust in you thanwe do in the school system in
the 90s too.
You know wow.
So from there, how did it go?
Speaker 2 (07:30):
my parents freaked out.
They were like they're gonna beeating paint.
I'm like a.
I'm an artist, right, that'sreally what I wanted to do was
explore, expand my horizons andmy techniques as an artist.
But I find and nowadays youcan't say what I'm about to say
I found being a mother eventhough single mom was it had its
(07:50):
challenges, never with the kids, it was more with finance and
logistics.
But being a single mom andbeing an educator is probably
the most creative thing I couldhave ever done.
And I still paint, I still findtime.
But that was a creation and ahalf and I loved it, loved it.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
So okay.
So that just jumps to thequestion then, how did you do it
as a single mom?
Because a lot of people ask methat Like, oh, I'd love to
homeschool, but I'm a single mom, I work, I can't do it.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
I turned it into my career.
So let's say that you and Iwere neighbors and you had a
five-year-old and I'm like, look, I have a five-year-old, I'm
going to homeschool, I'm goingto charge you whatever the rate
would be.
And I charged a material feewhich was like $400 a year.
But that's how I got the games,the desk for your child.
(08:42):
I set aside money for toiletpaper, you know, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah.
And then I had the tuition.
When I started was like 400 amonth, which now it's probably
would be like, I think, ahomeschooler could charge a
thousand dollars a month,depending on what they provided.
And you get five or six ofthose kids and you're good, and
(09:03):
you charge a material fee andyou have the kids bring a roll
of paper towels once a month, apack of toilet paper once a
month, so that you're not outany of those costs.
And that's how I did it.
It wasn't yeah, it's notLamborghini money, but I'm on my
own, I'm not depending onanybody else and I'm working
from home and, more importantly,I'm with my kids and they loved
(09:25):
it.
And I'm going to tell you,having my four, surrounded by, I
think, at the height, before Itransitioned into a private
school.
I had 22 kids coming to myhouse and my house was peace.
It was peaceful when I had morethan my foreign.
My four really didn't get oneach other's nerves and fight.
But when there were other kidsin the house, man, they were on
(09:48):
their best behavior, likeeducationally.
They wanted to show that theyweren't like.
They could spell also, theycould read also, they could
write also.
It was, it was.
So what?
Speaker 1 (10:00):
state are you in or where are you going?
I'm in Miami, florida, ok.
So in New York, I know thatthere's rules around.
Oh, you can only have you knowsix kids to one adult.
Was that anything that you raninto?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Yes and no.
To be honest with you, when Ifirst started I probably wasn't
even legal, because I think wecould have six or seven kids in
the house, but I didn't count myfour, and then you could only
homeschool your children.
You couldn't homeschool others.
So again, I'm telling you thislike this is how I did it, and
things have changed since then.
So if I were to homeschool yourchild, you would withdraw your
(10:35):
child into homeschooling andthen you would hire me and then
I would keep all therequirements.
I would keep the binders, Iwould keep the copies, the
lesson plans, the daily diary.
I did all of that.
And then once a year in Floridayou had there was like almost
like a lottery system Somebodymight come to your house and
look at what you're doing, whichI had in my homeschooling.
(10:59):
I think I homeschooled 10 to 12years before I moved into the
private school.
I homeschooled 10 to 12 yearsbefore I moved into the private
school.
I had three people visit mefrom the homeschool education
board and they were threeteachers that quit their jobs
but they wanted to stay ineducation and when they came to
my house they were like, oh mygosh, I wish you were hiring,
because this is what I wanted todo.
(11:21):
I wanted to have a classroomthat I could decorate the way I
wanted to.
I wanted to have old schoolhandwriting, old school math,
old school grammar just thereading, writing and the math.
And I kept copies of everything.
So there was no question.
Like my, my paperwork on it wasflawless, honestly.
So I could flip in a book andtell you exactly what we did
(11:43):
January 10th at 11 o'clock or at12 o'clock, even if it was like
we baked home homemade muffinsand everybody brought
ingredients and that's what wedid.
Or for Earth Day, we adopted awhale.
We fundraised and we adopted awhale.
You know, whatever it was, butthe people that would come check
out my homeschool, they lovedit because it looked like a cute
(12:04):
little.
I converted a little room intothe classroom.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Oh, this is so cool.
So you had them five days aweek, kind of the same school
schedule same school scheduletwo weeks off at Christmas.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
the whole thing so fast forward.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
How are all the kids doing today, Even the ones that
you taught in your school?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Well, for the most part.
They're doing well.
My children and I just did aninterview earlier today and the
gentleman was asking me I go now.
The next thing I'm going to sayI almost can't say in a group
of people, because I don't knowif you've ever been in a
situation where you're workingreally hard, you're working
really hard, you're workingreally hard and you don't see
(12:43):
the effect of what you're doingand then you stand back and
years have gone by and you'relike that was actually really
good, as lumpy as I thought itwas and as a disaster as I
thought it could be.
It actually was really good.
And the thing that I can't Idon't really say in public,
because not many people sharethis, sadly my children they're
(13:04):
my son's 40.
The one that I did this for is40.
Now he's about to turn 41.
Him and his brothers and hissister.
No interest in drugs, never.
No interest in alcohol never.
I've never had a dad complainabout the way my boys treated
their daughters Like it justisn't that way and it's not like
they were homeschooled intobeing nerds.
(13:26):
My kids were super, super social.
They were making movies, theywere writing scripts.
They were a hurricane would hit, they would go out with their
gloves and like knock on a door,60 bucks, I'll clean this up
and come back $600 later likesweaty mosquito bitten.
But that was their thing, likethey knew.
First of all, they knew thatI'm on my own, so I couldn't buy
(13:48):
the 10 speeds bikes that theywanted or the guitars or the
skateboards or all of this.
I could help, but they weretotally brought up in a system
where there's an exchange.
You want somebody to spend thenight?
Well, your room has to becleaned by four o'clock.
That's a simple request.
Room's not clean by fouro'clock.
Friend's not sleeping overSimple.
(14:09):
You want a new skateboard.
It costs $180 with the fancywheels and the this and the that
I can help with.
Probably $40 of that.
What are you going to do?
Training's not an option andthey weren't whiners so they
would.
Okay, I'm going to tutor.
I'm going to do this.
My one son.
I'll tell you this story.
This is funny.
So all of my kids, as they grewup, they made money as a private
(14:32):
tutor and my daughter was 12when she started.
She was charging $10 an hour tofour and five-year-olds Did
amazing, taught them to read,taught them math, like really
did a great job and then whenshe was like a teenager, it was
like 25 an hour.
My youngest son is like mom, Ihave no patience with children.
Like fine, he was like 15himself.
(14:52):
He goes, but I need a job, Iwant a job, I go.
Well, what are you good at?
He's like I'm good at juggling.
I'm like, okay, well, there'syour job.
Put out a flyer in the schoolcharge $5 an hour.
Eight week course, two daysafter school and let's see what
you get he was making.
I think he got he was making$50 an hour at 15.
(15:14):
So he's making a hundreddollars a week for two hours
time.
And then he did that To teachstudents to juggle yeah, after
school, but the parents for $5,are you kidding me?
To leave the child an extrahour.
And the kids were actuallymanipulating things and it
wasn't something the parents hadto get involved with.
It's not like catch, where youhave to go out and do it.
(15:35):
The kid could do it by himselfand he's like this improves
focus and it improves yourreflexes, all of these things.
And he did it for eight weeksand he made I don't know $400 or
whatever it was, and he washappy and he went from that to
tutoring drums for $15 an hourand he's a teenager and he, like
(15:58):
this, one mom was like, wow, myson, after four lessons with
Michael, I hear his drumming.
It's really coming along.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
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(16:30):
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Speaker 2 (16:50):
And I let them do it.
You know that was I, was notthe meddling person.
I'm like if you're going to dothis, you show up on time,
you're professional, you're this, you're that, all of those
things.
So that's kind of like how theywere raised and homeschooled
was, with the, the goal ofindependence and thinking for
themselves.
Yeah, yes.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Which we don't see from the kids graduating
independence and thinking forthemselves.
Yeah, yes.
Which we don't see from the kidsgraduating today and not even
when I graduated 23 years agoyeah, it was I don't know what I
want to do with my life.
I don't even know what I like,what interests I have, because
someone has dictated my everymove since I was three, right.
I didn't have time to exploreother things that I might like.
(17:27):
I know I don't like the thingsthey're teaching me in school,
but that's because they taughtin the most boring way possible,
right?
So you didn't have a teachingbackground.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
You were in art no.
I graduated high school andthat was it.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
That's so amazing.
What I mean?
I guess, just your artisticability to learn about these
subjects.
How were you doing, especiallyback in the nineties, the harder
math as the curriculum gotharder through the years, the
biology or whatever, or did youeven need that stuff?
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Is it Well, okay?
So, some of it.
Yes, because by the time mykids were getting older, I ran
into this wonderful woman.
Her daughter was 10.
It was Christmas break.
Her daughter was 10, couldn'tread, tested out first grade
level.
The psychologist, this lady.
She says I've spent thousandson the best psychologist, best
(18:18):
psychiatrist, and they all wantto drug her.
And she goes Barbie, I have totell you, normally I do
everything that the doctor says.
And on this one I'm like willthose drugs make my daughter
read?
And they're like no, but it'llmake her stop fighting, she'll
be complacent with her condition.
And this mother, she says Idon't want her complacent, she
(18:40):
should be angry that she's 10and can't read.
So it was like I say it wasChristmas time and I'm like,
okay, so here's what.
And the mom was like I doflashcards with her on the way
to the grocery store and we goto the movies.
I have this, I have that.
I'm like okay, we're going totake a timeout right now.
Here's what I can offer you One.
Your daughter is not doing likewhile she's 10 and they're
(19:03):
giving her fourth grade levelwork.
She missed something earlier.
My guess is it's inkindergarten, because I bet if I
ask her, quiz her on thealphabet.
She doesn't know the sounds ofthe letters, which is basic to
reading.
That's called phonics, right?
I guarantee you.
She doesn't know the conceptsand the definitions of the words
of math.
Now my son is 17.
(19:25):
He's going to be her teacherand this woman's like, oh my God
, I go, he's really good, he'sreally good.
And so I had Tamara meet Damon,who had a chain around his neck
, the hat on backwards.
You know he's a little kid, 15,16, 17 years old, and he goes.
Yeah, I can work with Natalieand I'm like he helps me,
homeschool him, and my olderdaughter helped me.
(19:47):
They each have a little groupand then they study afterwards.
Six weeks he had this girl to athird grade level in everything
, as verified by standardizedtest scores.
And after the first day and I'mlike we're not going to do
homework, you're not going to doflashcards, you're not allowed
to quiz your daughter If shewants to tell you what's
(20:07):
happening here and, believe me,you could sit on the sofa if you
want, all day long.
I have nothing to hide.
I'm not saying it for thatreason I go, but your daughter's
been overwhelmed with educationand so many people coming at
her.
We need to let her be and ifshe wants a book, you drop
everything and you go to Barnesand Noble and you get a book
(20:28):
Like you.
Don't make it a problem, don'tsay, oh my gosh.
I wish you would have told methat yesterday when we were at
like no issues, because when sheturns around she's going to
turn around fast.
This girl's bright, I can seeit.
Six weeks she's at a thirdgrade reading level, third grade
math level, third grade grammarlevel.
Eight weeks the mom is nowspending $40 a week at Barnes
(20:52):
Noble and is like I don't care,I don't.
She's like she's read the paper.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Why didn't I have to say that?
Just because I know listenersare asking why didn't she just
go to the library?
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Well, because the girl wanted her own library.
I mean, they do that, but theyhad money, it wasn't an issue.
The girl wanted her own library.
And then I got this girl crazy,hooked on Harry Potter Again.
Harry Potter's a wonderful bookand just because it's about a
kid doesn't mean kids can readit, because there's some words
in there, so we would definethings and this, that and the
(21:21):
other.
Anyway, the girl ended upgraduating high school with a
3.6 grade point average, whichis something the experts say
would never, ever happen.
And this woman, let's say, sixweeks, she was at a like going
to Barnes and Noble At eightweeks.
This lady comes to my house.
She goes you can't keep this toyourself anymore and she had
just received an inheritance.
(21:42):
She goes.
I'm not giving you the money,I'm not making a donation, but
we're going to get you out ofthe house and we're going to get
you into this location.
And it was about $125,000,which we paid back, took us
years, but she goes.
We need, we need to open aschool.
You have the brilliance on thedelivery.
Let me run the money and let'sdo this.
And we did it.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
She retired two years ago and that was like a miracle
, yeah yeah, I mean that'samazing that somebody just could
see what, what happened intheir own child, and it was like
we need this to happen to otherkids.
I mean that is the beauty ofhumankind, right there.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
No, and she was like and the thing that was really
really nice about her is sherecognized what was happening.
She goes every expert wants todrug my child or say she's just
low IQ and she'll never make it.
And you and your 17 year oldrapper son handled it and he's
he only did one year of actualschool he's been.
He only went to public schoolone year and the rest of it was
(22:40):
you and it's like she's likethis is phenomenal Barbie.
Rest of it was you and it'slike she's like this is
phenomenal Barbie, like otherpeople want this, and I'm like
good, well, what was it that?
Speaker 1 (22:49):
you and your son were doing with these kids or with
her.
That really turned it around.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Okay, so I don't have the book with me.
When my son started diving andit was he needs a drug.
He needs a drug First of all,he didn't need a drug.
He wasn't even diving when theysaid that he needed to be drug,
drug, he needs a drug First ofall.
He didn't need a drug.
He wasn't even diving when theysaid that he needed to be
drugged.
He couldn't write a book report.
He was expected to write a bookreport before he could read.
And I'm like okay, but let'stake a look at this.
(23:14):
He also can't drive a car.
So are we going to putsomething into the Department of
Motor Vehicles that my soncan't drive a car?
I mean, he is six, so we shouldbe super concerned about this.
Like, I'm like what iseverybody losing their mind on?
He's going to be able to read.
He's done everything else.
He's going to get this.
So, anyway, I started lookingaround at alternative education,
(23:35):
which would be the best way todescribe it.
There was no internet, therewas no this, but I found a group
of homeschoolers out ofCalifornia and they were using
this book called Learning how toLearn.
Now, learning how to Learn isbased on the study methods of L
Ron Hubbard, whatever.
But I got the book and thefirst sentence of the first page
you can learn anything you wantto learn and I'm like thank you
(23:57):
.
And then I look through thebook and it tells you how to
learn and there is an actualscientific method to it.
If you are studying abouttractors, you better have a
tractor.
That's pretty simple.
If you're going to do fractions, cut a muffin in half Pretty
simple.
If you want to understand it,you need to have the thing.
If you are skipping gradients,which the public school does
(24:18):
horribly addition one day,fractions the next day, decimals
the next day you have nomastery.
You're going to confuse thechild, you're going to confuse
the adult.
But the most important thing wasknowing the definitions of
words.
So that's what I went in on andevery confusion that my son had
, or any of my children ever hadin any subject, I traced it
(24:41):
back to a word they could notdefine.
And I'm not going to embarrassanybody here, but like I've been
doing this for 30 somethingyears and I get fifth graders
and the mom comes in and it'slike, oh, they're really behind
in math and fractions justkilled them.
I'm like, okay, so I have acrazy question to ask what's the
definition of the word fraction?
And in 30 years I'm not askingyou, not asking you no one's
(25:03):
been able to give me the properdefinition.
And when you go, I go look,there's only about 12, 13
definitions of the subject offractions.
And if you know them all andyou can demonstrate them, you
are going to know fractions tillyou're 99 years old.
And that's what we're going foris mastery, that you can use it
for what you need it for, notjust to pass a test, but you can
(25:27):
actually incorporate it intoyour life as a gain and a tool
and a win.
They do it.
And that's the difference withme and most other people,
because I, first of all, Iassume the child is not mentally
disabled and I'm talking thereare children with disabilities.
I'm not talking to that crowd,I'm talking about the regular
(25:50):
Jim or Jane who gets confused atschool, who's getting labeled
and medicated, and the label andmedication solves nothing.
The confusion at school can besolved.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
And that's such a huge thing, and I, that is the
one thing that I do with my son.
I mean it might not be regularbook work every day and this,
and that I try to redo them asmuch as I can, but there are
days, or even a week that goesby, that I'm like, oh my God, we
haven't picked up a book.
But I do try to say, because Irealized that for myself, that I
(26:23):
hated school because theydidn't put it in any context and
they didn't explain the basics,like, why am I learning about
the Aztecs, incas and Mayanswhen I have no idea what time
period that was, or even say itwas?
See, I don't even know whattime period is right now.
I'm going to say, like I don'tknow 500, right, just say that I
don't know what 500 means inrelation to me, because right
(26:46):
now it's 2025.
But I don't know was how manyyears have humans been recorded?
You know, on earth, where doesthat leave me?
Where on the map are they?
Where?
What else was going on in theworld when they were having
their civilizations?
You know?
So, none of it made any sense.
So I didn't care about theAztecs and Mayans.
(27:07):
But if you put it in a contextwhere, like, you're learning
about other things, what else isgoing on in the world?
I don't know that.
The Tuttle Twins I love thembecause they do this beautifully
.
As you're reading their historybooks.
It talks about the Silk Roadand you know like going their
history books.
It talks about the silk roadand you know, like going, yeah,
like we have to teach you aboutwhat trade looked like you know,
hundreds and hundreds of yearsago, so that you can understand
(27:28):
when we talk about us history,you know where it came from,
this idea of trade.
And um, I, just to me, I'm soexcited to learn.
I hope it's like passing off onmy son, but so I do try to say
to my son all the time like okay, do, okay, do you?
Do?
You know what that word means?
Do you know what that is inrelation to what we're even
talking about?
(27:49):
So I find that hopefully that'sdoing more for him than like
okay, let's load the code everyday.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
That's exactly the way to go, because if it doesn't
impact their life today, it'suseless.
It's game show information.
And you don't want game showinformation.
You want something that theycan think with.
I'll tell you, like one of thethings, one of the many flaws
that I found in public schoolwith my son Damon is they were
trying to teach him grammar inthe first grade and punctuation,
(28:18):
like please, let's not go there.
Period, question mark, that'sit, let's just keep it simple.
But yet they had quotationmarks, commas, semicolons, and
I'm like it's too much.
Like why aren't we teaching himabout life insurance and health
care, like he has?
It's too much.
So with my youngest son myyoungest son, him and my other
(28:41):
son they created a homeschoolnewspaper with four boys and the
whole newspaper was making funof my oldest son, damon.
Like it was ridiculous and theycharged.
I mean it was like I'll tellyou and I write about this in my
book One of the best.
They sold it for a quarter andparents that would drop off
their kids.
You know who's not going to buya newspaper from a group of 10
(29:04):
year olds?
Who's not going to do that.
So their number one bestsellingissue was when Michael learned
how to spell the word diarrhea.
The issue was coming and he had.
They had all this like littlepromotion and he would write
these silly, silly, sillystories.
So when he was nine, I taughthim what quotation marks were,
(29:25):
how to use quotation marks.
It was the perfect time for himbecause he was writing and you
would have thought I gave himthe best Lego set because he was
like this is going to make mystory so much better.
And again they were all makingfun of Damon.
There was a knock at the door,diarrhea was there and it wanted
a hug.
It was like silliness, they'reboys, they're boys.
(29:47):
But he had use for thequotation marks.
Where Damon was gettingquotation marks, semicolons,
this, that and the other.
When he was six he had no usefor any of it.
He was told he was a failure,would never learn it and there
was no context to it.
Who cares at that age?
Who cares?
Speaker 1 (30:05):
And you're so right.
And you know, I've realizedtrying to teach my son how to
read, because he's six right now, He'll be seven in a few days
and it's been like I talk abouton the podcast.
It's been like this thing withme where I'm back and forth like
I should be doing more, butthen there's also Finland, who
doesn't even formally teachanything until age seven.
So you know, let it be, It'llhappen.
As long as you're exposing himto the stuff, it's fine.
(30:26):
But it's funny because I wouldnever realize this if he were in
school.
But as the homeschool parentI'm like well, all right, so I
could, I could have him open abook and, depending on what text
or what font they used in thatbook is going to determine if he
can read it or not.
Because if they're learning it,it's going to be on this type
(30:48):
of font the minute that theychange the font and it doesn't
have to be into cursive, it'sjust okay.
This G is the circle with the Junder it.
Well, this G is a wholesquiggly thing and to him that's
a big deal.
And I've had him looked at fordyslexia and this and all that
and it's like no, he's not, he'sjust, he's a literal kid and
he's like that wasn't the G thatyou told me about yesterday.
(31:09):
So, yes, I mean, that's not a G.
And then also going from capitalto lowercase, because, yeah,
they might be able to.
Like I noticed when he spellsthings out he was doing his
birthday list.
He's like three capital lettersand then a couple lowercase and
a couple more capitals.
And you know I'll get therewith him, I'll try to tell him
like, well, you know we woulduse all lowercase in this
situation.
But it's fine, Do what you'recomfortable with right now, as
(31:29):
long as you're hearing it.
But yeah, they, it's so muchfor them.
They're not just learning howto read, they're learning, when
it's like capital letter, tostart it out, to start the word,
and then switching to lowercase.
So you're learning twoalphabets, essentially.
And then, yeah, and it's so hardbecause he says to me today the
reading program was sayingspell R, he goes.
Well, mom, I put an R and ittold me I was wrong.
(31:50):
So this thing is not right.
And I was like did you just putthe letter R?
He goes.
Yeah, I go.
Well, you got to spell the wordR.
He's like that makes no senseto me, so I go, all right.
Well, when you're talking aboutR, like are you going to the
store, you have to put A-R-E.
He's like all right, whatever.
So then the next one he goesmom, it's asking me to spell I,
what should I put?
I go, that's the letter.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
I, that's right.
He's like y'all are crazy.
That's the.
Now I'm 61.
My kids are all grown.
Everybody's fantastic.
I have this little privateschool that I really need to
move into a location AME realestate land is way outside of my
(32:29):
budget.
However, I'm like the kids thatare coming into my school are
years behind where they shouldbe, and I'm talking they're
coming from local, the bestprivate local public charter.
It's all a disaster.
I turned away three16-year-olds last summer who
could not do 100.
Take away 71.
(32:51):
They couldn't do that becausethey were given special
accommodations.
They were given calculators inkindergarten, so they don't have
to think the next thing that'sgiven as a special accommodation
, which my son would have had ifit existed and if I would have
allowed it, I wouldn't haveallowed.
It is called a reading pen andthey have a fancy name for it.
You can look it up, you canGoogle it and it's a pen that's
(33:13):
shaped like a cigar, with an owlor a fox head.
They're cute and you put itover the text and it reads to
you.
So now kids don't need to learnalphabet and they can use these
during tests and I'm like whyare, what are we even doing?
Like what, what?
Speaker 1 (33:29):
what's the point now?
I've got I've got some theories, barbie, but I'm a conspiracy
theorist, yes yes, no, but I'mjust like, what's the point?
Speaker 2 (33:38):
like at that, honestly, my basset hound has
more of a grip.
I'm like, yeah, what are we?
Speaker 1 (33:44):
doing.
I think they they do want todumb down, yes, well at least,
and they want the worker bethey've always have kind of
that's how their educationsystem started.
We want the worker be smartenough to do the job, not smart
enough to take over a businessor compete with the, you know,
the big businesses.
But yeah, it's really scary andI think parents, they make us
(34:06):
so busy to not even realize it,because if more parents realized
it they would do somethingabout it.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
I mean, and you also have the economic sense, because
it used to be that the man'sincome not trying to offend
anybody, but the man's incomecould afford the woman to stay
at home right, and now, withboth parents stressed out, the
kids are raised by the state, soit's a lose-lose.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Thinking about homeschooling but don't know
where to start.
Well, I've interviewed a fewpeople on the topic Actually,
120 interviews at this pointwith homeschooling families from
across the country and theworld and what I've done is I've
packed everything I've learnedinto an ebook called the
Homeschool how to CompleteStarter Guide.
From navigating your state'slaws to finding your
homeschooling style, fromworking while homeschooling to
(34:53):
supporting kids with specialneeds, this guide covers it all,
with real stories from realfamilies who've walked this path
.
I've taken the best insights,the best resources and put them
all into this guide.
Stop feeling overwhelmed andstart feeling confident.
Get your copy of the Homeschoolhow To Complete Starter Guide
today and discover thathomeschooling isn't just about
education.
(35:13):
It's about getting what youwant out of each day, not what
somebody else wants out of you.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
You can grab the link to this ebook in the show's
description or head on over tothe homeschoolhowtocom so anyway
, going back to my, the thingthat keeps me up at night is no
longer my children or whateverit's.
What am I going to do aboutthis next generation?
Because it's only going to getworse.
The politicians aren't going tohandle it.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
I don't care who you voted for, they're not going to
hear I agree with you, athousand percent, agree with you
.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
The educators aren't going to handle it.
The college graduates aren'tgoing to handle it.
They're going to make it worsewith AI.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
We're all indoctrinated by the same system
.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
So we need to step outside and to me, that's my.
I feel very passionate aboutwhat I do because I'm not part
of any system.
I'm not a college grudge, I'mjust a mom trying to make my son
okay.
I'm trying to save him from thepeople that are supposed to
love and support him.
My son would have thrived withmy first grade teacher in that
(36:14):
system.
He would have been the star.
I was the star, as were most ofthe kids in the room.
It was an easy, easy, lovely day.
So anyway, I look back at likeokay, so statistics, and the
earliest statistic I could findwas like 1910, 1913, america was
(36:35):
number one educationally in theworld and there was a quote in
a book called the Trojan Horseof Education I'm probably
butchering that, I source it inmy book that the American public
school system 97% of thestudents were literate and we
were so strong on our readingthat we could eliminate
(36:57):
worldwide illiteracy.
Right Now we have 54% ofAmericans read at or below a
sixth grade level, so over halfare illiterate.
So that's like to me.
Our country is being run bymiddle schoolers Like you.
Don't leave a 12 year old homealone.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
What do you think that even means?
So at a sixth grade level, andyou?
Speaker 2 (37:17):
can read at sixth grade though right.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
So is it just that, like there are bigger words that
they're not understanding?
So because, yeah, I believethat, I believe that I I read
books today and I'm like I don'tknow what that means, so I'll
google it.
Yeah, but you all right but see, you're googling it.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
You recognize, you don't know, people that are
illiterate, know that they'rehaving a struggle.
But with that comes thatvictimhood mentality of look
what you did to me and thegovernment's supposed to do this
, and the government's supposedto do that, and the police hate
me and I'm like, where is thatin any definition?
(37:56):
You know, my son once told mehe goes what if I get pulled
over by the police?
I'm like, well, don't doanything to get pulled over by
the police.
He goes what if I do?
I'm like, well, then act like anormal person and you treat
them with respect and you'regoing to be fine.
I guarantee it, guarantee it.
Anyway.
So, going back to 1910, overCOVID, I started purchasing
(38:21):
books.
This is Word Master masteryfrom 1913.
This is how they used to teachreading.
Now, the font, as you said,this is the wrong font.
This is the wrong font becauseit has that squiggly a.
I used to know the name for that, like you know, whatever, yeah
it's like a cane with a yes, Iwant to take this and I want to
(38:43):
put it into a format that achild can easily do.
And the other thing is it'slike here's a math book from
1883.
And it says in here first ofall, they didn't give textbooks.
They didn't like to givetextbooks to first, second or
third graders because theydidn't want to overwhelm them
with concepts and ideas.
(39:05):
They wanted to foster thelearning, not crush it.
How's that?
My son was crushed, so this isfostering right.
And it goes in here and it saysI'm paraphrasing the biggest
waste in arithmetic is halflearning and then fully
forgetting.
The only standard is mastery.
(39:27):
And I'm like thank you, thankyou.
1910, 1913 mathematics.
And I have.
Where did you find that book?
Ebay, bookshops, and I justhave my searches.
So I have about 500 of themSpelling, reading manners, and
(39:52):
some of it is old.
But this does not go out of date.
This is just regular English.
It doesn't go out of date.
What they've done to phonics,it's not phonics.
Go to Barnes and Noble.
It says phonics, it's notphonics, it's nothing like it
used to be.
And you go and it says phonics,it's not phonics, it's, it's
not, it's nothing like it usedto be and you go and it says
third grade, it's not thirdgrade, it's not, it's some.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
Yeah, it's so elevated and I just uh, go ahead
, I just put together an ebookto compiling like everything
I've learned over my podcastepisodes so far, and I did put a
graph that I made in thereabout education over the years
and how it used to be, just togive people, because we think
(40:28):
that it's always been in thisschool building, right, like you
.
Nobody ever tells you toquestion it, so you just do it,
but you know how it was learningin your community, always,
always learning like what youhad to do to survive.
And then you know, slowly, veryslowly, you know we went to the
one room school houses and youknow 17, 18, 1800s really, and
(40:50):
that that was the community.
The community put a teacher inplace, right, like they were,
like we want this person andtheir values teaching our kids.
And it wasn't for all day, youknow, it was for a few hours and
there was lots of time to playand, like you said, they didn't
all get school books to bringhome.
And then it was theRockefellers and you know the
(41:11):
Horace man and John Dewey reallyimplementing this.
We could actually make somemoney off of this If we put our
people on the school boards,invested our millions of dollars
and then churn out.
You know, we say what they areactually getting taught.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
So we're turning it over and they wanted workers.
They didn't want thinkers.
And you look at the so tell meabout Go ahead.
Speaker 1 (41:34):
Yeah Well, I was going to say tell me about your
book, because I know that youwrote one.
Is it compiling thisinformation?
Speaker 2 (41:43):
Yes, it's called.
Enough is enough, exposing theeducation system after their
failed attempt to label and drugmy son.
The book is super simple.
Love it, yes, and it's verypersonal.
And the reviews on amazon I'm100 because I I write the way I
talk.
So this is not some importantperson's rumbling which in I'll
read one thing out of the noteto reader and it says here some
(42:06):
of my viewpoints may be frownedupon by modern experts who spent
years in universities, holdmultiple certificates and have
sadly become the authorities oneducation who are determining
that a large population ofchildren are unable to learn.
I'm not speaking to these orany experts.
I am certain that my grammarwill not pass the scrutiny of an
(42:28):
English professor.
I'm telling a story, not tryingto earn a PhD.
Finally, I don't use big wordsbecause I don't know any.
I'm sharing a story.
So that's what it is.
Oh, I love it, yeah, and ittalks about it has.
That's me and my family.
That's what it is.
Oh, I love it, yeah, and ittalks about it has.
That's me and my family.
That's me down there.
So I talk about my experiencesgrowing up and then what
(42:49):
happened with Damon.
I show photographs, likethere's one here, if I can find
it real quick.
I just that picture got a boydrugged for years.
He was five.
That's Spider-Man versusOctopus man and the psychologist
found his drawings immature innature.
He was five.
So I write about it, I changenames and all of this, but I'm
(43:09):
like I'm not shocked that afive-year-old draws that way.
I'm shocked that a person witha PhD thinks that a
five-year-old shouldn't drawthat way.
I'm like that's ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
The people in the drug industry are influencing
what the doctors are learning.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
Oh, they're in bed together.
They're in bed together, yes.
So anyway, that's what this is,and it's three parts.
The first part is introducingme and we're a baseball family.
There's my mom, and so I talkabout how she met my dad, how
important education was my.
You know some little stories,and then I go into the takedown
(43:45):
of American education.
That goes into exactly what youwere just talking about the
Rockefellers and then how aperson gets labeled, what you
find on the labels, what the Igo.
This is the solution and mysolution.
I wrote this because all right,so let's just say this is one of
(44:06):
those crazy scenarios whateverI win the lottery for 50 million
, 50 million I'm not going to goget a Lamborghini.
I'm not going to do that.
I might get another dog, butI'm going to turn this.
I'm going to start a publishingcompany, I'm going to buy a
(44:28):
building for my school and I'mgoing to turn this.
I'm going to start a publishingcompany, I'm going to buy a
building for my school and I'mgoing to make it so that you can
homeschool your child, becausethe philosophy back here is
flawless.
Back here it said something.
I read something in one of thebooks.
It's like the materials are themost important part the
materials.
If done correctly and at a slowenough gradient, mastery in
mind, the child can makeprogress with minimal teacher
(44:50):
interference.
That's what it was teacherinterference.
So let's say that I redo thisbook to where the font is
correct and the illustrationsare fine and it's something you
you can PDF, print out, whatever.
And then there's a guide foryou do step one, do step two,
now play candy land, now go fora walk, like there's a guide.
(45:11):
But if I do this right, even ifyou don't use the guide, even
if you are a lazy homeschoolerand you just give the child the
packet, they're going to be ableto get through it themselves.
Speaker 1 (45:23):
What book is that just for the people listening,
and I'm going to put a link toit in the show's description as
well as your book's link.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
Yeah, anyway, that's what I want to do with the rest
of my life.
My daughter will take my school.
We want to move it to alocation in Miami.
You're talking millions ofdollars.
I want to start a publishingcompany no idea on that, and I
want to be stuck in a room withmy 500 books and start churning
out stuff.
I think I'll need about twoother people, somebody techie,
(45:53):
because I'm not techie, but whocan say good, this is the format
it's going to be, we're goingto stick it up on this website,
we're going to charge.
I want it to be superaffordable, very doable, and I
want to.
I feel that we could bringAmerica back to be number one in
the world again, because I wantto solve it, and we are not
(46:15):
going to solve it with drugs,we're not going to solve it with
psychedelics, we're not goingto solve it with brain
stimulation and all of thesethings, by the way, are coming
or they're already FDA approvedfor children.
I'm not even kidding you.
Sickening, how far away, howfar off the mark to give, to
(46:35):
give a six, to give a boy acalculator when he's five
because he struggles withnumbers, and now he's 16 and he
can't do a hundred, takeaway 71.
We just destroyed that manRight.
Speaker 1 (46:47):
And you know it's like, okay, yes, we all do have
cell phones in our pockets andyada, yada, yada.
But we have to think to thereality of all this technology
could be taken away.
All it takes is, you know, ahurricane or some sort of mass
event that you cannot access, oreven just the lights to go out.
(47:09):
You know, electricity goes outfor three to four months.
Right, we're at a point rightnow that if electricity went out
, it could be another countrydoing that to us.
I mean, my husband works in allthat stuff.
He was like Cheryl.
You'd be surprised how littleit would take.
They could knock out all of thepower in the greater New York
(47:30):
region with one button.
And it's scary, you know.
So you never know what couldhappen, whether it be a mess,
like a natural disaster orunnatural disaster that our
government wants to put on us,or just from another country.
Something could happen where wedon't have access.
So think about it.
Now we have our grocery stores.
You can't even open the doorswithout like a magnetic strip,
(47:53):
and you know that's it's not akey anymore, right?
You can't even use theregisters without electricity
because we don't nobody has cashon them anymore, right, all of
that is electronic.
So how are you get?
You're not getting anythingbecause all of it's going to be
broken and looted anyways.
So we've got to prepareourselves for it, even if it's
not in our lifetime.
(48:14):
We owe it to our kids to teachthem the basics how to find food
, water, shelter, protectthemselves.
And the basics of math and stufflike that, which is shelter,
Cause, yeah, you need to knowsome math If you're going to
build yourself a shelter.
It just goes back to the basics.
We don't know what our kids andtheir kids and their kids are
going to need in the future andwe're we're pretty stupid if we
(48:36):
don't think anyone will need itever again.
Speaker 2 (48:38):
Right.
And if we're so dependent onelectronics we're lost as
humanity because somebody has tothink.
And that again when I go backto these old books, even the
word problems make sense.
And of course, james got abrand new metal car toy for two
cents.
I'm like, all right, thatdoesn't exist anymore.
(48:59):
But there's ways around that.
You can say Mr Mouse bought ablueberry for two cents.
You can adjust it so you keepit in the range of money that
they're trying to teach.
But the bottom line is we needto be able to think and we need
to have judgment.
And you know it's like I'm antipublic school.
(49:20):
Never once have I thought toburn a building down, never once
.
And we're in society now like,oh, I'm so mad I'm gonna go
light up a bridge on fire.
Like what, what is that?
Where does that even make sense?
Speaker 1 (49:33):
A Tesla car?
Yeah, like yeah.
Speaker 2 (49:35):
I don't care who you voted for, you can't do that.
Speaker 1 (49:39):
The world's gone crazy for sure.
I mean, I think it's alwaysbeen crazy, because I was
reading a book to my sonyesterday called the Buffalo Are
Back, and it's talking allabout how the Native Americans
lived on this land prior to thesettlers coming in and they
lived with the buffalo.
They would burn the forests butthat actually helped everything
(50:00):
get rid of the dead trees.
It made the soil better.
And then the buffalo roaming 75million buffalo would roam on
North American soil and it wasgood for the soil because their
hooves would put you know littleholes into the soil.
The rainwater would go down,nourish it.
It was their manure.
Everything worked in like thesymbiotic system.
And then the settlers come inand you know obviously what they
(50:23):
did to the Native Americans andthey tried to starve them and
one of the ways would be to justshoot the buffalo or run them
off of cliffs.
So this is a children's bookbut it's like, stuck with me,
they would run.
It said that the governmentwould tell people to run the
herds of buffalo off the cliffsjust to starve the Indians.
And then obviously all of theterrible impacts that had on the
(50:46):
future, because now the soilwas going bad and this and that.
But I sat there and I thoughtare we supposed to think that
that government is somehow nowlike a government of fairy
princes and princesses?
They're all just wonderfulpeople.
Now that did something thathorrible.
Come on Right.
Speaker 2 (51:06):
It's always been, they've always been corrupt well
, yes, and, and I think you're,you're gonna have that anywhere
like there's not one professionwhere there's not the evil part
of it.
You know teachers abusingchildren.
I'm of the like, I'm unfairbecause I'm like, if you don't
use a turn signal, I think youshould do hard time.
You know I'm not fair that way,but and I'm joking, but you
(51:30):
recognize it, I recognize it.
But the important thing is isthat the kids recognize it.
And when you homeschool oreducate for them to think for
themselves.
And what would you do in thissituation?
Like we did this.
You know Thanksgiving, we do theMayflower and I actually have
(51:50):
ancestry that goes back to theMayflower, so that's always
exciting because I can showpictures.
This is John Howland, who felloff.
He got a wave hit him and heclimbed back on, which is crazy,
crazy.
So anyway, I had the kids andit was, I don't know, 11 kids
from seven to nine, and we weredoing the Mayflower and we had
(52:13):
the definitions of words.
I think a skiff was the littleboat that went from the
Mayflower to the shore, becauseMayflower, there was no dock or
anything.
Made flash cards, put them allon the table.
Everybody took one one.
We got model magic clay.
They all had to make theirthing and we made this whole
community and they painted it.
You can imagine what it lookedlike, cause I am like this is
(52:36):
your task, but they had thisscene and it had all the words
that, under a traditionalsetting, would just be a
vocabulary sheet to be studiedto pass a traditional setting
would just be a vocabulary sheetto be studied to pass, to
forget.
These kids today remember thatproject we did.
It took up the entire diningroom table for three days, so
(52:58):
that was the sacrifice of mydining room table, or of the
dining room table and clay paint.
But they had all of these thingsand when the kids would?
You know, we did it withlandforms.
Oh, I get a volcano, I have thepeninsula.
And then they would make it andwe put it on foam board and we
had a huge map and they wouldput, as we learned, stuff, they
(53:20):
would put it on there, theywould make an Eiffel Tower Again
.
You can imagine what it lookedlike, but it was their hands,
their time, their paint to go onthis map, to forever be known
where it was and a little bit ofdata about it.
I wasn't trying to make anexpert in France, but they
should know that France exists.
(53:40):
Somebody had to make the flag,somebody did the Eiffel Tower,
somebody else did the river,whatever it was, but they were
all included, and that was thecreativity of education, of
homeschooling, and that's whatwas the magic of it.
And then things would happen.
You'd find an abandonedduckling.
(54:00):
Okay, guys, we need to find outhow do we handle this duckling.
Everybody take turns taking ithome, and then we have a duck in
the yard or whatever, becauseyou also have to be prepared for
when things change, and I am inMiami, so there would be
hurricanes and we would have nopower for a few days you know,
(54:21):
yeah, I love that Barbie.
Speaker 1 (54:23):
Where can people find you if they want to purchase
your book or just Barbie?
Where can people find you ifthey want to purchase?
Speaker 2 (54:29):
your book or just, you know, follow you anywhere.
Okay, so I don't have a hugesocial media presence yet,
because I don't know how to doit.
I do have a Facebook.
It is overwhelming, I'm tellingyou.
I'm like, oh my gosh, enough isenough.
You can find it on Amazon andthen you can go to
barbieriveracom.
I do a blog about my school,about what I'm doing.
It's not super consistent, butI do send something out at least
(54:53):
once a month.
I'm trying to get to once aweek, but I haven't gotten there
yet.
But that's where you can findme.
Speaker 1 (54:59):
Okay, and I'm going to put the link to the blog, the
website and to your book in theshow's description.
And then what was that bookthat you showed earlier?
That from the?
It said like an elementary onthe front arithmetic thicklins.
Speaker 2 (55:13):
Wait, where are?
Speaker 1 (55:13):
we okay.
Speaker 2 (55:14):
So, like I say, I love that ebay and you can save
vintage arithmetic textbooks anda whole bunch of these will
come up and some of them arefantastic, like.
This is an old reading workbook.
Now imagine it is because whatyour son needs is with, like the
(55:35):
capital letters, like.
First of all, they don't eventeach handwriting and to me
handwriting is the firstdiscipline of school the first.
So if it's done properly, I'mgoing to tell you're going to
spend a good year on uppercaseand lowercase, even with this.
This week, in fact, I had mysummer school.
Students are from Arizona, myteacher handles them and I just
(55:58):
happened to be in the school andthey were like uppercase,
lowercase.
I'm like guys, you know whatthat means.
They're like no, I'm like.
So I showed them an old printingpress and I took a book like
this I go pretend this is asuitcase because the old
printing presses they had to puttiles of the alphabet and spell
everything out and then theywould press it down.
(56:19):
So in the case, they kept thecapital letters in the top of
the case and the lower lettersin the bottom.
So what was at top is calleduppercase and what was in the
bottom was lowercase.
And this little boy's like boom, yes, that's why it's called
uppercase.
I didn't know that.
Yes, it was stored in theuppercase of the alphabet of the
compartments and the lowercasewere stored in the lower and
(56:42):
they were like wow, yeah.
And I was telling them likemanners, I go.
Manners come from the Spanishword mano, which is hand, how
you handle people.
If you handle people well, theywant to be around you.
If you don't, and you're alittle brat, nobody wants to be
around you.
That's basically manners.
Speaker 1 (56:58):
That's what I tell my son all the time I go.
Listen, you don't need to like,change yourself to make people
like you, but if people like you, but if people like you, life's
a lot easier.
Yes, exactly, yes, true, barbie, thank you so much for joining
me today.
I love this conversation.
Speaker 2 (57:13):
I love this.
Speaker 1 (57:20):
Maybe we can chat again and you can really get
into doing your school, becausewe really didn't get into, like,
how you ran the micro school,so I would love to have you back
sometime.
Thank you so much for joiningme Anytime.
Speaker 2 (57:28):
Anytime, thank you.
Speaker 1 (57:31):
Thank you for tuning into this week's episode of the
homeschool how to.
If you've enjoyed what youheard and you'd like to
contribute to the show, pleaseconsider leaving a small tip
using the link in my show'sdescription.
Or, if you'd rather, please usethe link in the description to
share this podcast with a friendor on your favorite homeschool
group Facebook page.
Any effort to help us keep thepodcast going is greatly
(57:53):
appreciated.
Thank you for tuning in and foryour love of the next
generation.
Welcome to this week's episode of the Homeschool
How-To.
I'm Cheryl and I invite you tojoin me on my quest to find out
why are people homeschooling,how do you do it, how does it
differ from region to region?
And should I homeschool my kids?
Stick with me as I interviewhomeschooling families across
the country to unfold theanswers to each of these
(00:26):
questions week by week.
Welcome, and with us today Ihave Barbie Rivera, a homeschool
mom, an author and a schoolcreator.
So this is really exciting, hiBarbie, thanks for being here.
Thanks for having me.
So this is really exciting, hiBarbie, thanks for being here.
Thanks for having me.
So I was just telling you beforethis is my first podcast in my
(00:48):
podcast studio, my officialpodcast studio that my husband
built for me in my basement.
So I'm hoping that this allworks out and, like all the
internet connection goes well.
But he did a good job.
I got to give the guy somecredit, all right.
I interview homeschoolers justto kind of hear about their
experience, and I love that.
Your experience went fromhomeschooling to being an author
, to creating this school, whichis what I see popping up more
(01:12):
and more, and I love this, thatwe are like taking education
into our own hands.
Being that one room schoolhouse for the community, I love
it.
So what made you decide tohomeschool in the first place
and then kind of get into howmany kids you have and what ages
they were when you decided?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Okay.
So when I decided to homeschool,I was very pregnant with my
fourth child.
I was 28.
My oldest son was six.
So I had six, three, one andpregnant and my son, my oldest
son, damon.
He was the first.
I think he was my parents' like20th grandchild.
You know huge family from myside but he was my then
(01:53):
husband's first, first Cubangrandson in the family.
So by the time he was six hewas completely bilingual.
He was super relaxed, like Icredit Damon with why I had four
.
I wanted eight but he was justso easygoing, damon, clean up
your toys.
Okay, mom.
Damon, it's time to go to bed.
(02:13):
Okay, mom.
Like never a fit, never apublic tantrum, none of that.
So, wrongly thinking that theschool system first grade would
be the first grade that I wentto in 1970, where it was
multiple recesses, no testing,easy curriculum, no homework,
singing songs, pasting thingsyou know it was school, but it
(02:36):
was very fun.
I thought that my son wouldhave the same experience and I'm
like this school is going tolove him.
So he had a fresh haircut, hehad his Ninja Turtle Velcro
shoes on, he had a lunchbox andhe was ready to go, like so
excited.
And on the second Friday ofschool, like the 10th day of
(02:58):
school, the teacher told me yourson is mentally handicapped and
he will most likely needpsychotropic drugs for the rest
of his life to learn.
And I'm like whoa, we're notgoing anywhere.
How did he learn Spanish?
I don't know Spanish, I don'tknow two languages.
How did he learn Spanishwithout drugs?
So then you know, and on and onand on.
(03:19):
But the pressure to have himlabeled, have him first
evaluated by experts and I'mlike no experts going to touch
my son and then labeled and thenput on medication and then
given a special program so hecould learn, was immense.
And I did something at the timethat I regret, for I will
(03:43):
regret like I did it yesterday.
I kept my son in school becauseI was very pregnant, due that
November, I had another indiaper, I had a toddler, and I'm
like there's no way I couldhomeschool him.
I would wreck him.
Turns out, leaving him inschool wrecked him.
At the end of first grade, mybeautiful boy told me I'm stupid
(04:06):
, mom, I'm stupid, and I'm likethat I still get.
I could still cry over thatmoment because I'm like Damon,
you're not stupid.
But I saw him decline and I wasbeing the good mom.
I'm a single parent.
I was being the good mom and Iwas helping him with his
homework.
Actually, I was force feedinghim garbage being the good mom.
(04:28):
And then every minute that Ispent with him the hours of
homework that a six-year-old gotlike I never my principal back
in the 70s would have laughed insomeone's face if they would
have attempted to give a firstgrader homework.
I don't think we got homeworkwhen I was growing up until
fifth grade and it was writingspelling words five times each.
It was not any labor, it wasnot me.
(04:50):
Yeah, it wasn't anything crazyand it was more just so that you
could hold on to a concept thatyou had a responsibility to do
without somebody standing overyou.
But that was fifth grade.
So here's where my son is infirst grade, expected to write
book reports before he can read,given crazy math, like I'm like
what do we do?
Like, can we give him a winhere?
(05:11):
And he didn't have it.
So he was convinced he wasstupid.
And every day that I kept himin school I saw him withdraw
into himself more and more andmore.
And I'm like, finally, at theend, when he said Mom, I'm
stupid, I'm like I'm going tohomeschool you.
(05:33):
I don't know anything abouthomeschooling, nothing.
But I know that under my care,my son was electrified,
confident and ready to go toschool.
He was ready for the learningexperience and it was the
professionals.
I don't want to knockprofessional teachers as an
in-mass thing or a general, butit was the professionals.
I don't want to knockprofessional teachers as an in
mass thing or a general, but itwas the professionals that
ruined them.
So I'm like you're not going toget ahold of my other three
period.
I have no idea what I'm goingto do for high school.
(05:54):
I have no idea what I'm goingto do next week, but I know that
I'm going to take my son andI'm going to get him to read and
write, because people used todo, used to have 16 year olds
running one room school houses100 years ago.
So it can't be that difficult.
And if my son was special needs, he's my responsibility Anyway.
(06:17):
Anyway, that's how I gotstarted on homeschooling.
The word micro school didn'texist when I started.
This was 1991.
But essentially that's what Idid.
I had other friends like whatare you going to do about school
?
I'm like I'm taking Damon out.
They're like will you take myson?
And so I took two types.
I took two grades with veryweak skills and I took
(06:47):
kindergarten because my daughterwas four.
She turned five in January, butshe was four and my daughter
was really was like four, goingon 25.
And you know she loved coloring.
She loved she would practice,play school with her dolls and
stuff like this.
So she was really ready.
So I only took second gradersand kindergartners, even though
I had friends, my son's, in thefifth grade.
(07:07):
Could you please take them?
I'm like nope, I'm going to dosecond grade in kindergarten.
I'm going to figure it outbecause I don't know what I'm
doing, but this is the path I'mgoing to take and that's how I
started.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
That's amazing that other people were like back in
the 90s especially.
We have more trust in you thanwe do in the school system in
the 90s too.
You know wow.
So from there, how did it go?
Speaker 2 (07:30):
my parents freaked out.
They were like they're gonna beeating paint.
I'm like a.
I'm an artist, right, that'sreally what I wanted to do was
explore, expand my horizons andmy techniques as an artist.
But I find and nowadays youcan't say what I'm about to say
I found being a mother eventhough single mom was it had its
(07:50):
challenges, never with the kids, it was more with finance and
logistics.
But being a single mom andbeing an educator is probably
the most creative thing I couldhave ever done.
And I still paint, I still findtime.
But that was a creation and ahalf and I loved it, loved it.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
So okay.
So that just jumps to thequestion then, how did you do it
as a single mom?
Because a lot of people ask methat Like, oh, I'd love to
homeschool, but I'm a single mom, I work, I can't do it.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
I turned it into my career.
So let's say that you and Iwere neighbors and you had a
five-year-old and I'm like, look, I have a five-year-old, I'm
going to homeschool, I'm goingto charge you whatever the rate
would be.
And I charged a material feewhich was like $400 a year.
But that's how I got the games,the desk for your child.
(08:42):
I set aside money for toiletpaper, you know, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah.
And then I had the tuition.
When I started was like 400 amonth, which now it's probably
would be like, I think, ahomeschooler could charge a
thousand dollars a month,depending on what they provided.
And you get five or six ofthose kids and you're good, and
(09:03):
you charge a material fee andyou have the kids bring a roll
of paper towels once a month, apack of toilet paper once a
month, so that you're not outany of those costs.
And that's how I did it.
It wasn't yeah, it's notLamborghini money, but I'm on my
own, I'm not depending onanybody else and I'm working
from home and, more importantly,I'm with my kids and they loved
(09:25):
it.
And I'm going to tell you,having my four, surrounded by, I
think, at the height, before Itransitioned into a private
school.
I had 22 kids coming to myhouse and my house was peace.
It was peaceful when I had morethan my foreign.
My four really didn't get oneach other's nerves and fight.
But when there were other kidsin the house, man, they were on
(09:48):
their best behavior, likeeducationally.
They wanted to show that theyweren't like.
They could spell also, theycould read also, they could
write also.
It was, it was.
So what?
Speaker 1 (10:00):
state are you in or where are you going?
I'm in Miami, florida, ok.
So in New York, I know thatthere's rules around.
Oh, you can only have you knowsix kids to one adult.
Was that anything that you raninto?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Yes and no.
To be honest with you, when Ifirst started I probably wasn't
even legal, because I think wecould have six or seven kids in
the house, but I didn't count myfour, and then you could only
homeschool your children.
You couldn't homeschool others.
So again, I'm telling you thislike this is how I did it, and
things have changed since then.
So if I were to homeschool yourchild, you would withdraw your
(10:35):
child into homeschooling andthen you would hire me and then
I would keep all therequirements.
I would keep the binders, Iwould keep the copies, the
lesson plans, the daily diary.
I did all of that.
And then once a year in Floridayou had there was like almost
like a lottery system Somebodymight come to your house and
look at what you're doing, whichI had in my homeschooling.
(10:59):
I think I homeschooled 10 to 12years before I moved into the
private school.
I homeschooled 10 to 12 yearsbefore I moved into the private
school.
I had three people visit mefrom the homeschool education
board and they were threeteachers that quit their jobs
but they wanted to stay ineducation and when they came to
my house they were like, oh mygosh, I wish you were hiring,
because this is what I wanted todo.
(11:21):
I wanted to have a classroomthat I could decorate the way I
wanted to.
I wanted to have old schoolhandwriting, old school math,
old school grammar just thereading, writing and the math.
And I kept copies of everything.
So there was no question.
Like my, my paperwork on it wasflawless, honestly.
So I could flip in a book andtell you exactly what we did
(11:43):
January 10th at 11 o'clock or at12 o'clock, even if it was like
we baked home homemade muffinsand everybody brought
ingredients and that's what wedid.
Or for Earth Day, we adopted awhale.
We fundraised and we adopted awhale.
You know, whatever it was, butthe people that would come check
out my homeschool, they lovedit because it looked like a cute
(12:04):
little.
I converted a little room intothe classroom.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Oh, this is so cool.
So you had them five days aweek, kind of the same school
schedule same school scheduletwo weeks off at Christmas.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
the whole thing so fast forward.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
How are all the kids doing today, Even the ones that
you taught in your school?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Well, for the most part.
They're doing well.
My children and I just did aninterview earlier today and the
gentleman was asking me I go now.
The next thing I'm going to sayI almost can't say in a group
of people, because I don't knowif you've ever been in a
situation where you're workingreally hard, you're working
really hard, you're workingreally hard and you don't see
(12:43):
the effect of what you're doingand then you stand back and
years have gone by and you'relike that was actually really
good, as lumpy as I thought itwas and as a disaster as I
thought it could be.
It actually was really good.
And the thing that I can't Idon't really say in public,
because not many people sharethis, sadly my children they're
(13:04):
my son's 40.
The one that I did this for is40.
Now he's about to turn 41.
Him and his brothers and hissister.
No interest in drugs, never.
No interest in alcohol never.
I've never had a dad complainabout the way my boys treated
their daughters Like it justisn't that way and it's not like
they were homeschooled intobeing nerds.
(13:26):
My kids were super, super social.
They were making movies, theywere writing scripts.
They were a hurricane would hit, they would go out with their
gloves and like knock on a door,60 bucks, I'll clean this up
and come back $600 later likesweaty mosquito bitten.
But that was their thing, likethey knew.
First of all, they knew thatI'm on my own, so I couldn't buy
(13:48):
the 10 speeds bikes that theywanted or the guitars or the
skateboards or all of this.
I could help, but they weretotally brought up in a system
where there's an exchange.
You want somebody to spend thenight?
Well, your room has to becleaned by four o'clock.
That's a simple request.
Room's not clean by fouro'clock.
Friend's not sleeping overSimple.
(14:09):
You want a new skateboard.
It costs $180 with the fancywheels and the this and the that
I can help with.
Probably $40 of that.
What are you going to do?
Training's not an option andthey weren't whiners so they
would.
Okay, I'm going to tutor.
I'm going to do this.
My one son.
I'll tell you this story.
This is funny.
So all of my kids, as they grewup, they made money as a private
(14:32):
tutor and my daughter was 12when she started.
She was charging $10 an hour tofour and five-year-olds Did
amazing, taught them to read,taught them math, like really
did a great job and then whenshe was like a teenager, it was
like 25 an hour.
My youngest son is like mom, Ihave no patience with children.
Like fine, he was like 15himself.
(14:52):
He goes, but I need a job, Iwant a job, I go.
Well, what are you good at?
He's like I'm good at juggling.
I'm like, okay, well, there'syour job.
Put out a flyer in the schoolcharge $5 an hour.
Eight week course, two daysafter school and let's see what
you get he was making.
I think he got he was making$50 an hour at 15.
(15:14):
So he's making a hundreddollars a week for two hours
time.
And then he did that To teachstudents to juggle yeah, after
school, but the parents for $5,are you kidding me?
To leave the child an extrahour.
And the kids were actuallymanipulating things and it
wasn't something the parents hadto get involved with.
It's not like catch, where youhave to go out and do it.
(15:35):
The kid could do it by himselfand he's like this improves
focus and it improves yourreflexes, all of these things.
And he did it for eight weeksand he made I don't know $400 or
whatever it was, and he washappy and he went from that to
tutoring drums for $15 an hourand he's a teenager and he, like
(15:58):
this, one mom was like, wow, myson, after four lessons with
Michael, I hear his drumming.
It's really coming along.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
I hear this all the time I can't homeschool for
middle school and up.
I'm not a science teacher, Ican't teach writing.
But, friend, homeschoolingdoesn't mean doing it alone.
Let me tell you about ExcelsiorClasses, a live online
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Your middle schooler or highschooler can take biology,
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(16:30):
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Fall registration is now openand classes fill up fast.
Visit excelsiourclassescom tohelp your teen thrive.
Today you can grab the link inmy show's description.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
And I let them do it.
You know that was I, was notthe meddling person.
I'm like if you're going to dothis, you show up on time,
you're professional, you're this, you're that, all of those
things.
So that's kind of like how theywere raised and homeschooled
was, with the, the goal ofindependence and thinking for
themselves.
Yeah, yes.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Which we don't see from the kids graduating
independence and thinking forthemselves.
Yeah, yes.
Which we don't see from the kidsgraduating today and not even
when I graduated 23 years agoyeah, it was I don't know what I
want to do with my life.
I don't even know what I like,what interests I have, because
someone has dictated my everymove since I was three, right.
I didn't have time to exploreother things that I might like.
(17:27):
I know I don't like the thingsthey're teaching me in school,
but that's because they taughtin the most boring way possible,
right?
So you didn't have a teachingbackground.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
You were in art no.
I graduated high school andthat was it.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
That's so amazing.
What I mean?
I guess, just your artisticability to learn about these
subjects.
How were you doing, especiallyback in the nineties, the harder
math as the curriculum gotharder through the years, the
biology or whatever, or did youeven need that stuff?
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Is it Well, okay?
So, some of it.
Yes, because by the time mykids were getting older, I ran
into this wonderful woman.
Her daughter was 10.
It was Christmas break.
Her daughter was 10, couldn'tread, tested out first grade
level.
The psychologist, this lady.
She says I've spent thousandson the best psychologist, best
(18:18):
psychiatrist, and they all wantto drug her.
And she goes Barbie, I have totell you, normally I do
everything that the doctor says.
And on this one I'm like willthose drugs make my daughter
read?
And they're like no, but it'llmake her stop fighting, she'll
be complacent with her condition.
And this mother, she says Idon't want her complacent, she
(18:40):
should be angry that she's 10and can't read.
So it was like I say it wasChristmas time and I'm like,
okay, so here's what.
And the mom was like I doflashcards with her on the way
to the grocery store and we goto the movies.
I have this, I have that.
I'm like okay, we're going totake a timeout right now.
Here's what I can offer you One.
Your daughter is not doing likewhile she's 10 and they're
(19:03):
giving her fourth grade levelwork.
She missed something earlier.
My guess is it's inkindergarten, because I bet if I
ask her, quiz her on thealphabet.
She doesn't know the sounds ofthe letters, which is basic to
reading.
That's called phonics, right?
I guarantee you.
She doesn't know the conceptsand the definitions of the words
of math.
Now my son is 17.
(19:25):
He's going to be her teacherand this woman's like, oh my God
, I go, he's really good, he'sreally good.
And so I had Tamara meet Damon,who had a chain around his neck
, the hat on backwards.
You know he's a little kid, 15,16, 17 years old, and he goes.
Yeah, I can work with Natalieand I'm like he helps me,
homeschool him, and my olderdaughter helped me.
(19:47):
They each have a little groupand then they study afterwards.
Six weeks he had this girl to athird grade level in everything
, as verified by standardizedtest scores.
And after the first day and I'mlike we're not going to do
homework, you're not going to doflashcards, you're not allowed
to quiz your daughter If shewants to tell you what's
(20:07):
happening here and, believe me,you could sit on the sofa if you
want, all day long.
I have nothing to hide.
I'm not saying it for thatreason I go, but your daughter's
been overwhelmed with educationand so many people coming at
her.
We need to let her be and ifshe wants a book, you drop
everything and you go to Barnesand Noble and you get a book
(20:28):
Like you.
Don't make it a problem, don'tsay, oh my gosh.
I wish you would have told methat yesterday when we were at
like no issues, because when sheturns around she's going to
turn around fast.
This girl's bright, I can seeit.
Six weeks she's at a thirdgrade reading level, third grade
math level, third grade grammarlevel.
Eight weeks the mom is nowspending $40 a week at Barnes
(20:52):
Noble and is like I don't care,I don't.
She's like she's read the paper.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Why didn't I have to say that?
Just because I know listenersare asking why didn't she just
go to the library?
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Well, because the girl wanted her own library.
I mean, they do that, but theyhad money, it wasn't an issue.
The girl wanted her own library.
And then I got this girl crazy,hooked on Harry Potter Again.
Harry Potter's a wonderful bookand just because it's about a
kid doesn't mean kids can readit, because there's some words
in there, so we would definethings and this, that and the
(21:21):
other.
Anyway, the girl ended upgraduating high school with a
3.6 grade point average, whichis something the experts say
would never, ever happen.
And this woman, let's say, sixweeks, she was at a like going
to Barnes and Noble At eightweeks.
This lady comes to my house.
She goes you can't keep this toyourself anymore and she had
just received an inheritance.
(21:42):
She goes.
I'm not giving you the money,I'm not making a donation, but
we're going to get you out ofthe house and we're going to get
you into this location.
And it was about $125,000,which we paid back, took us
years, but she goes.
We need, we need to open aschool.
You have the brilliance on thedelivery.
Let me run the money and let'sdo this.
And we did it.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
She retired two years ago and that was like a miracle
, yeah yeah, I mean that'samazing that somebody just could
see what, what happened intheir own child, and it was like
we need this to happen to otherkids.
I mean that is the beauty ofhumankind, right there.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
No, and she was like and the thing that was really
really nice about her is sherecognized what was happening.
She goes every expert wants todrug my child or say she's just
low IQ and she'll never make it.
And you and your 17 year oldrapper son handled it and he's
he only did one year of actualschool he's been.
He only went to public schoolone year and the rest of it was
(22:40):
you and it's like she's likethis is phenomenal Barbie.
Rest of it was you and it'slike she's like this is
phenomenal Barbie, like otherpeople want this, and I'm like
good, well, what was it that?
Speaker 1 (22:49):
you and your son were doing with these kids or with
her.
That really turned it around.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Okay, so I don't have the book with me.
When my son started diving andit was he needs a drug.
He needs a drug First of all,he didn't need a drug.
He wasn't even diving when theysaid that he needed to be drug,
drug, he needs a drug First ofall.
He didn't need a drug.
He wasn't even diving when theysaid that he needed to be
drugged.
He couldn't write a book report.
He was expected to write a bookreport before he could read.
And I'm like okay, but let'stake a look at this.
(23:14):
He also can't drive a car.
So are we going to putsomething into the Department of
Motor Vehicles that my soncan't drive a car?
I mean, he is six, so we shouldbe super concerned about this.
Like, I'm like what iseverybody losing their mind on?
He's going to be able to read.
He's done everything else.
He's going to get this.
So, anyway, I started lookingaround at alternative education,
(23:35):
which would be the best way todescribe it.
There was no internet, therewas no this, but I found a group
of homeschoolers out ofCalifornia and they were using
this book called Learning how toLearn.
Now, learning how to Learn isbased on the study methods of L
Ron Hubbard, whatever.
But I got the book and thefirst sentence of the first page
you can learn anything you wantto learn and I'm like thank you
(23:57):
.
And then I look through thebook and it tells you how to
learn and there is an actualscientific method to it.
If you are studying abouttractors, you better have a
tractor.
That's pretty simple.
If you're going to do fractions, cut a muffin in half Pretty
simple.
If you want to understand it,you need to have the thing.
If you are skipping gradients,which the public school does
(24:18):
horribly addition one day,fractions the next day, decimals
the next day you have nomastery.
You're going to confuse thechild, you're going to confuse
the adult.
But the most important thing wasknowing the definitions of
words.
So that's what I went in on andevery confusion that my son had
, or any of my children ever hadin any subject, I traced it
(24:41):
back to a word they could notdefine.
And I'm not going to embarrassanybody here, but like I've been
doing this for 30 somethingyears and I get fifth graders
and the mom comes in and it'slike, oh, they're really behind
in math and fractions justkilled them.
I'm like, okay, so I have acrazy question to ask what's the
definition of the word fraction?
And in 30 years I'm not askingyou, not asking you no one's
(25:03):
been able to give me the properdefinition.
And when you go, I go look,there's only about 12, 13
definitions of the subject offractions.
And if you know them all andyou can demonstrate them, you
are going to know fractions tillyou're 99 years old.
And that's what we're going foris mastery, that you can use it
for what you need it for, notjust to pass a test, but you can
(25:27):
actually incorporate it intoyour life as a gain and a tool
and a win.
They do it.
And that's the difference withme and most other people,
because I, first of all, Iassume the child is not mentally
disabled and I'm talking thereare children with disabilities.
I'm not talking to that crowd,I'm talking about the regular
(25:50):
Jim or Jane who gets confused atschool, who's getting labeled
and medicated, and the label andmedication solves nothing.
The confusion at school can besolved.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
And that's such a huge thing, and I, that is the
one thing that I do with my son.
I mean it might not be regularbook work every day and this,
and that I try to redo them asmuch as I can, but there are
days, or even a week that goesby, that I'm like, oh my God, we
haven't picked up a book.
But I do try to say, because Irealized that for myself, that I
(26:23):
hated school because theydidn't put it in any context and
they didn't explain the basics,like, why am I learning about
the Aztecs, incas and Mayanswhen I have no idea what time
period that was, or even say itwas?
See, I don't even know whattime period is right now.
I'm going to say, like I don'tknow 500, right, just say that I
don't know what 500 means inrelation to me, because right
(26:46):
now it's 2025.
But I don't know was how manyyears have humans been recorded?
You know, on earth, where doesthat leave me?
Where on the map are they?
Where?
What else was going on in theworld when they were having
their civilizations?
You know?
So, none of it made any sense.
So I didn't care about theAztecs and Mayans.
(27:07):
But if you put it in a contextwhere, like, you're learning
about other things, what else isgoing on in the world?
I don't know that.
The Tuttle Twins I love thembecause they do this beautifully
.
As you're reading their historybooks.
It talks about the Silk Roadand you know like going their
history books.
It talks about the silk roadand you know, like going, yeah,
like we have to teach you aboutwhat trade looked like you know,
hundreds and hundreds of yearsago, so that you can understand
(27:28):
when we talk about us history,you know where it came from,
this idea of trade.
And um, I, just to me, I'm soexcited to learn.
I hope it's like passing off onmy son, but so I do try to say
to my son all the time like okay, do, okay, do you?
Do?
You know what that word means?
Do you know what that is inrelation to what we're even
talking about?
(27:49):
So I find that hopefully that'sdoing more for him than like
okay, let's load the code everyday.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
That's exactly the way to go, because if it doesn't
impact their life today, it'suseless.
It's game show information.
And you don't want game showinformation.
You want something that theycan think with.
I'll tell you, like one of thethings, one of the many flaws
that I found in public schoolwith my son Damon is they were
trying to teach him grammar inthe first grade and punctuation,
(28:18):
like please, let's not go there.
Period, question mark, that'sit, let's just keep it simple.
But yet they had quotationmarks, commas, semicolons, and
I'm like it's too much.
Like why aren't we teaching himabout life insurance and health
care, like he has?
It's too much.
So with my youngest son myyoungest son, him and my other
(28:41):
son they created a homeschoolnewspaper with four boys and the
whole newspaper was making funof my oldest son, damon.
Like it was ridiculous and theycharged.
I mean it was like I'll tellyou and I write about this in my
book One of the best.
They sold it for a quarter andparents that would drop off
their kids.
You know who's not going to buya newspaper from a group of 10
(29:04):
year olds?
Who's not going to do that.
So their number one bestsellingissue was when Michael learned
how to spell the word diarrhea.
The issue was coming and he had.
They had all this like littlepromotion and he would write
these silly, silly, sillystories.
So when he was nine, I taughthim what quotation marks were,
(29:25):
how to use quotation marks.
It was the perfect time for himbecause he was writing and you
would have thought I gave himthe best Lego set because he was
like this is going to make mystory so much better.
And again they were all makingfun of Damon.
There was a knock at the door,diarrhea was there and it wanted
a hug.
It was like silliness, they'reboys, they're boys.
(29:47):
But he had use for thequotation marks.
Where Damon was gettingquotation marks, semicolons,
this, that and the other.
When he was six he had no usefor any of it.
He was told he was a failure,would never learn it and there
was no context to it.
Who cares at that age?
Who cares?
Speaker 1 (30:05):
And you're so right.
And you know, I've realizedtrying to teach my son how to
read, because he's six right now, He'll be seven in a few days
and it's been like I talk abouton the podcast.
It's been like this thing withme where I'm back and forth like
I should be doing more, butthen there's also Finland, who
doesn't even formally teachanything until age seven.
So you know, let it be, It'llhappen.
As long as you're exposing himto the stuff, it's fine.
(30:26):
But it's funny because I wouldnever realize this if he were in
school.
But as the homeschool parentI'm like well, all right, so I
could, I could have him open abook and, depending on what text
or what font they used in thatbook is going to determine if he
can read it or not.
Because if they're learning it,it's going to be on this type
(30:48):
of font the minute that theychange the font and it doesn't
have to be into cursive, it'sjust okay.
This G is the circle with the Junder it.
Well, this G is a wholesquiggly thing and to him that's
a big deal.
And I've had him looked at fordyslexia and this and all that
and it's like no, he's not, he'sjust, he's a literal kid and
he's like that wasn't the G thatyou told me about yesterday.
(31:09):
So, yes, I mean, that's not a G.
And then also going from capitalto lowercase, because, yeah,
they might be able to.
Like I noticed when he spellsthings out he was doing his
birthday list.
He's like three capital lettersand then a couple lowercase and
a couple more capitals.
And you know I'll get therewith him, I'll try to tell him
like, well, you know we woulduse all lowercase in this
situation.
But it's fine, Do what you'recomfortable with right now, as
(31:29):
long as you're hearing it.
But yeah, they, it's so muchfor them.
They're not just learning howto read, they're learning, when
it's like capital letter, tostart it out, to start the word,
and then switching to lowercase.
So you're learning twoalphabets, essentially.
And then, yeah, and it's so hardbecause he says to me today the
reading program was sayingspell R, he goes.
Well, mom, I put an R and ittold me I was wrong.
(31:50):
So this thing is not right.
And I was like did you just putthe letter R?
He goes.
Yeah, I go.
Well, you got to spell the wordR.
He's like that makes no senseto me, so I go, all right.
Well, when you're talking aboutR, like are you going to the
store, you have to put A-R-E.
He's like all right, whatever.
So then the next one he goesmom, it's asking me to spell I,
what should I put?
I go, that's the letter.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
I, that's right.
He's like y'all are crazy.
That's the.
Now I'm 61.
My kids are all grown.
Everybody's fantastic.
I have this little privateschool that I really need to
move into a location AME realestate land is way outside of my
(32:29):
budget.
However, I'm like the kids thatare coming into my school are
years behind where they shouldbe, and I'm talking they're
coming from local, the bestprivate local public charter.
It's all a disaster.
I turned away three16-year-olds last summer who
could not do 100.
Take away 71.
(32:51):
They couldn't do that becausethey were given special
accommodations.
They were given calculators inkindergarten, so they don't have
to think the next thing that'sgiven as a special accommodation
, which my son would have had ifit existed and if I would have
allowed it, I wouldn't haveallowed.
It is called a reading pen andthey have a fancy name for it.
You can look it up, you canGoogle it and it's a pen that's
(33:13):
shaped like a cigar, with an owlor a fox head.
They're cute and you put itover the text and it reads to
you.
So now kids don't need to learnalphabet and they can use these
during tests and I'm like whyare, what are we even doing?
Like what, what?
Speaker 1 (33:29):
what's the point now?
I've got I've got some theories, barbie, but I'm a conspiracy
theorist, yes yes, no, but I'mjust like, what's the point?
Speaker 2 (33:38):
like at that, honestly, my basset hound has
more of a grip.
I'm like, yeah, what are we?
Speaker 1 (33:44):
doing.
I think they they do want todumb down, yes, well at least,
and they want the worker bethey've always have kind of
that's how their educationsystem started.
We want the worker be smartenough to do the job, not smart
enough to take over a businessor compete with the, you know,
the big businesses.
But yeah, it's really scary andI think parents, they make us
(34:06):
so busy to not even realize it,because if more parents realized
it they would do somethingabout it.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
I mean, and you also have the economic sense, because
it used to be that the man'sincome not trying to offend
anybody, but the man's incomecould afford the woman to stay
at home right, and now, withboth parents stressed out, the
kids are raised by the state, soit's a lose-lose.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Thinking about homeschooling but don't know
where to start.
Well, I've interviewed a fewpeople on the topic Actually,
120 interviews at this pointwith homeschooling families from
across the country and theworld and what I've done is I've
packed everything I've learnedinto an ebook called the
Homeschool how to CompleteStarter Guide.
From navigating your state'slaws to finding your
homeschooling style, fromworking while homeschooling to
(34:53):
supporting kids with specialneeds, this guide covers it all,
with real stories from realfamilies who've walked this path
.
I've taken the best insights,the best resources and put them
all into this guide.
Stop feeling overwhelmed andstart feeling confident.
Get your copy of the Homeschoolhow To Complete Starter Guide
today and discover thathomeschooling isn't just about
education.
(35:13):
It's about getting what youwant out of each day, not what
somebody else wants out of you.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
You can grab the link to this ebook in the show's
description or head on over tothe homeschoolhowtocom so anyway
, going back to my, the thingthat keeps me up at night is no
longer my children or whateverit's.
What am I going to do aboutthis next generation?
Because it's only going to getworse.
The politicians aren't going tohandle it.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
I don't care who you voted for, they're not going to
hear I agree with you, athousand percent, agree with you
.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
The educators aren't going to handle it.
The college graduates aren'tgoing to handle it.
They're going to make it worsewith AI.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
We're all indoctrinated by the same system
.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
So we need to step outside and to me, that's my.
I feel very passionate aboutwhat I do because I'm not part
of any system.
I'm not a college grudge, I'mjust a mom trying to make my son
okay.
I'm trying to save him from thepeople that are supposed to
love and support him.
My son would have thrived withmy first grade teacher in that
(36:14):
system.
He would have been the star.
I was the star, as were most ofthe kids in the room.
It was an easy, easy, lovely day.
So anyway, I look back at likeokay, so statistics, and the
earliest statistic I could findwas like 1910, 1913, america was
(36:35):
number one educationally in theworld and there was a quote in
a book called the Trojan Horseof Education I'm probably
butchering that, I source it inmy book that the American public
school system 97% of thestudents were literate and we
were so strong on our readingthat we could eliminate
(36:57):
worldwide illiteracy.
Right Now we have 54% ofAmericans read at or below a
sixth grade level, so over halfare illiterate.
So that's like to me.
Our country is being run bymiddle schoolers Like you.
Don't leave a 12 year old homealone.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
What do you think that even means?
So at a sixth grade level, andyou?
Speaker 2 (37:17):
can read at sixth grade though right.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
So is it just that, like there are bigger words that
they're not understanding?
So because, yeah, I believethat, I believe that I I read
books today and I'm like I don'tknow what that means, so I'll
google it.
Yeah, but you all right but see, you're googling it.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
You recognize, you don't know, people that are
illiterate, know that they'rehaving a struggle.
But with that comes thatvictimhood mentality of look
what you did to me and thegovernment's supposed to do this
, and the government's supposedto do that, and the police hate
me and I'm like, where is thatin any definition?
(37:56):
You know, my son once told mehe goes what if I get pulled
over by the police?
I'm like, well, don't doanything to get pulled over by
the police.
He goes what if I do?
I'm like, well, then act like anormal person and you treat
them with respect and you'regoing to be fine.
I guarantee it, guarantee it.
Anyway.
So, going back to 1910, overCOVID, I started purchasing
(38:21):
books.
This is Word Master masteryfrom 1913.
This is how they used to teachreading.
Now, the font, as you said,this is the wrong font.
This is the wrong font becauseit has that squiggly a.
I used to know the name for that, like you know, whatever, yeah
it's like a cane with a yes, Iwant to take this and I want to
(38:43):
put it into a format that achild can easily do.
And the other thing is it'slike here's a math book from
1883.
And it says in here first ofall, they didn't give textbooks.
They didn't like to givetextbooks to first, second or
third graders because theydidn't want to overwhelm them
with concepts and ideas.
(39:05):
They wanted to foster thelearning, not crush it.
How's that?
My son was crushed, so this isfostering right.
And it goes in here and it saysI'm paraphrasing the biggest
waste in arithmetic is halflearning and then fully
forgetting.
The only standard is mastery.
(39:27):
And I'm like thank you, thankyou.
1910, 1913 mathematics.
And I have.
Where did you find that book?
Ebay, bookshops, and I justhave my searches.
So I have about 500 of themSpelling, reading manners, and
(39:52):
some of it is old.
But this does not go out of date.
This is just regular English.
It doesn't go out of date.
What they've done to phonics,it's not phonics.
Go to Barnes and Noble.
It says phonics, it's notphonics, it's nothing like it
used to be.
And you go and it says phonics,it's not phonics, it's, it's
not, it's nothing like it usedto be and you go and it says
third grade, it's not thirdgrade, it's not, it's some.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
Yeah, it's so elevated and I just uh, go ahead
, I just put together an ebookto compiling like everything
I've learned over my podcastepisodes so far, and I did put a
graph that I made in thereabout education over the years
and how it used to be, just togive people, because we think
(40:28):
that it's always been in thisschool building, right, like you
.
Nobody ever tells you toquestion it, so you just do it,
but you know how it was learningin your community, always,
always learning like what youhad to do to survive.
And then you know, slowly, veryslowly, you know we went to the
one room school houses and youknow 17, 18, 1800s really, and
(40:50):
that that was the community.
The community put a teacher inplace, right, like they were,
like we want this person andtheir values teaching our kids.
And it wasn't for all day, youknow, it was for a few hours and
there was lots of time to playand, like you said, they didn't
all get school books to bringhome.
And then it was theRockefellers and you know the
(41:11):
Horace man and John Dewey reallyimplementing this.
We could actually make somemoney off of this If we put our
people on the school boards,invested our millions of dollars
and then churn out.
You know, we say what they areactually getting taught.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
So we're turning it over and they wanted workers.
They didn't want thinkers.
And you look at the so tell meabout Go ahead.
Speaker 1 (41:34):
Yeah Well, I was going to say tell me about your
book, because I know that youwrote one.
Is it compiling thisinformation?
Speaker 2 (41:43):
Yes, it's called.
Enough is enough, exposing theeducation system after their
failed attempt to label and drugmy son.
The book is super simple.
Love it, yes, and it's verypersonal.
And the reviews on amazon I'm100 because I I write the way I
talk.
So this is not some importantperson's rumbling which in I'll
read one thing out of the noteto reader and it says here some
(42:06):
of my viewpoints may be frownedupon by modern experts who spent
years in universities, holdmultiple certificates and have
sadly become the authorities oneducation who are determining
that a large population ofchildren are unable to learn.
I'm not speaking to these orany experts.
I am certain that my grammarwill not pass the scrutiny of an
(42:28):
English professor.
I'm telling a story, not tryingto earn a PhD.
Finally, I don't use big wordsbecause I don't know any.
I'm sharing a story.
So that's what it is.
Oh, I love it, yeah, and ittalks about it has.
That's me and my family.
That's what it is.
Oh, I love it, yeah, and ittalks about it has.
That's me and my family.
That's me down there.
So I talk about my experiencesgrowing up and then what
(42:49):
happened with Damon.
I show photographs, likethere's one here, if I can find
it real quick.
I just that picture got a boydrugged for years.
He was five.
That's Spider-Man versusOctopus man and the psychologist
found his drawings immature innature.
He was five.
So I write about it, I changenames and all of this, but I'm
(43:09):
like I'm not shocked that afive-year-old draws that way.
I'm shocked that a person witha PhD thinks that a
five-year-old shouldn't drawthat way.
I'm like that's ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
The people in the drug industry are influencing
what the doctors are learning.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
Oh, they're in bed together.
They're in bed together, yes.
So anyway, that's what this is,and it's three parts.
The first part is introducingme and we're a baseball family.
There's my mom, and so I talkabout how she met my dad, how
important education was my.
You know some little stories,and then I go into the takedown
(43:45):
of American education.
That goes into exactly what youwere just talking about the
Rockefellers and then how aperson gets labeled, what you
find on the labels, what the Igo.
This is the solution and mysolution.
I wrote this because all right,so let's just say this is one of
(44:06):
those crazy scenarios whateverI win the lottery for 50 million
, 50 million I'm not going to goget a Lamborghini.
I'm not going to do that.
I might get another dog, butI'm going to turn this.
I'm going to start a publishingcompany, I'm going to buy a
(44:28):
building for my school and I'mgoing to turn this.
I'm going to start a publishingcompany, I'm going to buy a
building for my school and I'mgoing to make it so that you can
homeschool your child, becausethe philosophy back here is
flawless.
Back here it said something.
I read something in one of thebooks.
It's like the materials are themost important part the
materials.
If done correctly and at a slowenough gradient, mastery in
mind, the child can makeprogress with minimal teacher
(44:50):
interference.
That's what it was teacherinterference.
So let's say that I redo thisbook to where the font is
correct and the illustrationsare fine and it's something you
you can PDF, print out, whatever.
And then there's a guide foryou do step one, do step two,
now play candy land, now go fora walk, like there's a guide.
(45:11):
But if I do this right, even ifyou don't use the guide, even
if you are a lazy homeschoolerand you just give the child the
packet, they're going to be ableto get through it themselves.
Speaker 1 (45:23):
What book is that just for the people listening,
and I'm going to put a link toit in the show's description as
well as your book's link.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
Yeah, anyway, that's what I want to do with the rest
of my life.
My daughter will take my school.
We want to move it to alocation in Miami.
You're talking millions ofdollars.
I want to start a publishingcompany no idea on that, and I
want to be stuck in a room withmy 500 books and start churning
out stuff.
I think I'll need about twoother people, somebody techie,
(45:53):
because I'm not techie, but whocan say good, this is the format
it's going to be, we're goingto stick it up on this website,
we're going to charge.
I want it to be superaffordable, very doable, and I
want to.
I feel that we could bringAmerica back to be number one in
the world again, because I wantto solve it, and we are not
(46:15):
going to solve it with drugs,we're not going to solve it with
psychedelics, we're not goingto solve it with brain
stimulation and all of thesethings, by the way, are coming
or they're already FDA approvedfor children.
I'm not even kidding you.
Sickening, how far away, howfar off the mark to give, to
(46:35):
give a six, to give a boy acalculator when he's five
because he struggles withnumbers, and now he's 16 and he
can't do a hundred, takeaway 71.
We just destroyed that manRight.
Speaker 1 (46:47):
And you know it's like, okay, yes, we all do have
cell phones in our pockets andyada, yada, yada.
But we have to think to thereality of all this technology
could be taken away.
All it takes is, you know, ahurricane or some sort of mass
event that you cannot access, oreven just the lights to go out.
(47:09):
You know, electricity goes outfor three to four months.
Right, we're at a point rightnow that if electricity went out
, it could be another countrydoing that to us.
I mean, my husband works in allthat stuff.
He was like Cheryl.
You'd be surprised how littleit would take.
They could knock out all of thepower in the greater New York
(47:30):
region with one button.
And it's scary, you know.
So you never know what couldhappen, whether it be a mess,
like a natural disaster orunnatural disaster that our
government wants to put on us,or just from another country.
Something could happen where wedon't have access.
So think about it.
Now we have our grocery stores.
You can't even open the doorswithout like a magnetic strip,
(47:53):
and you know that's it's not akey anymore, right?
You can't even use theregisters without electricity
because we don't nobody has cashon them anymore, right, all of
that is electronic.
So how are you get?
You're not getting anythingbecause all of it's going to be
broken and looted anyways.
So we've got to prepareourselves for it, even if it's
not in our lifetime.
(48:14):
We owe it to our kids to teachthem the basics how to find food
, water, shelter, protectthemselves.
And the basics of math and stufflike that, which is shelter,
Cause, yeah, you need to knowsome math If you're going to
build yourself a shelter.
It just goes back to the basics.
We don't know what our kids andtheir kids and their kids are
going to need in the future andwe're we're pretty stupid if we
(48:36):
don't think anyone will need itever again.
Speaker 2 (48:38):
Right.
And if we're so dependent onelectronics we're lost as
humanity because somebody has tothink.
And that again when I go backto these old books, even the
word problems make sense.
And of course, james got abrand new metal car toy for two
cents.
I'm like, all right, thatdoesn't exist anymore.
(48:59):
But there's ways around that.
You can say Mr Mouse bought ablueberry for two cents.
You can adjust it so you keepit in the range of money that
they're trying to teach.
But the bottom line is we needto be able to think and we need
to have judgment.
And you know it's like I'm antipublic school.
(49:20):
Never once have I thought toburn a building down, never once
.
And we're in society now like,oh, I'm so mad I'm gonna go
light up a bridge on fire.
Like what, what is that?
Where does that even make sense?
Speaker 1 (49:33):
A Tesla car?
Yeah, like yeah.
Speaker 2 (49:35):
I don't care who you voted for, you can't do that.
Speaker 1 (49:39):
The world's gone crazy for sure.
I mean, I think it's alwaysbeen crazy, because I was
reading a book to my sonyesterday called the Buffalo Are
Back, and it's talking allabout how the Native Americans
lived on this land prior to thesettlers coming in and they
lived with the buffalo.
They would burn the forests butthat actually helped everything
(50:00):
get rid of the dead trees.
It made the soil better.
And then the buffalo roaming 75million buffalo would roam on
North American soil and it wasgood for the soil because their
hooves would put you know littleholes into the soil.
The rainwater would go down,nourish it.
It was their manure.
Everything worked in like thesymbiotic system.
And then the settlers come inand you know obviously what they
(50:23):
did to the Native Americans andthey tried to starve them and
one of the ways would be to justshoot the buffalo or run them
off of cliffs.
So this is a children's bookbut it's like, stuck with me,
they would run.
It said that the governmentwould tell people to run the
herds of buffalo off the cliffsjust to starve the Indians.
And then obviously all of theterrible impacts that had on the
(50:46):
future, because now the soilwas going bad and this and that.
But I sat there and I thoughtare we supposed to think that
that government is somehow nowlike a government of fairy
princes and princesses?
They're all just wonderfulpeople.
Now that did something thathorrible.
Come on Right.
Speaker 2 (51:06):
It's always been, they've always been corrupt well
, yes, and, and I think you're,you're gonna have that anywhere
like there's not one professionwhere there's not the evil part
of it.
You know teachers abusingchildren.
I'm of the like, I'm unfairbecause I'm like, if you don't
use a turn signal, I think youshould do hard time.
You know I'm not fair that way,but and I'm joking, but you
(51:30):
recognize it, I recognize it.
But the important thing is isthat the kids recognize it.
And when you homeschool oreducate for them to think for
themselves.
And what would you do in thissituation?
Like we did this.
You know Thanksgiving, we do theMayflower and I actually have
(51:50):
ancestry that goes back to theMayflower, so that's always
exciting because I can showpictures.
This is John Howland, who felloff.
He got a wave hit him and heclimbed back on, which is crazy,
crazy.
So anyway, I had the kids andit was, I don't know, 11 kids
from seven to nine, and we weredoing the Mayflower and we had
(52:13):
the definitions of words.
I think a skiff was the littleboat that went from the
Mayflower to the shore, becauseMayflower, there was no dock or
anything.
Made flash cards, put them allon the table.
Everybody took one one.
We got model magic clay.
They all had to make theirthing and we made this whole
community and they painted it.
You can imagine what it lookedlike, cause I am like this is
(52:36):
your task, but they had thisscene and it had all the words
that, under a traditionalsetting, would just be a
vocabulary sheet to be studiedto pass a traditional setting
would just be a vocabulary sheetto be studied to pass, to
forget.
These kids today remember thatproject we did.
It took up the entire diningroom table for three days, so
(52:58):
that was the sacrifice of mydining room table, or of the
dining room table and clay paint.
But they had all of these thingsand when the kids would?
You know, we did it withlandforms.
Oh, I get a volcano, I have thepeninsula.
And then they would make it andwe put it on foam board and we
had a huge map and they wouldput, as we learned, stuff, they
(53:20):
would put it on there, theywould make an Eiffel Tower Again
.
You can imagine what it lookedlike, but it was their hands,
their time, their paint to go onthis map, to forever be known
where it was and a little bit ofdata about it.
I wasn't trying to make anexpert in France, but they
should know that France exists.
(53:40):
Somebody had to make the flag,somebody did the Eiffel Tower,
somebody else did the river,whatever it was, but they were
all included, and that was thecreativity of education, of
homeschooling, and that's whatwas the magic of it.
And then things would happen.
You'd find an abandonedduckling.
(54:00):
Okay, guys, we need to find outhow do we handle this duckling.
Everybody take turns taking ithome, and then we have a duck in
the yard or whatever, becauseyou also have to be prepared for
when things change, and I am inMiami, so there would be
hurricanes and we would have nopower for a few days you know,
(54:21):
yeah, I love that Barbie.
Speaker 1 (54:23):
Where can people find you if they want to purchase
your book or just Barbie?
Where can people find you ifthey want to purchase?
Speaker 2 (54:29):
your book or just, you know, follow you anywhere.
Okay, so I don't have a hugesocial media presence yet,
because I don't know how to doit.
I do have a Facebook.
It is overwhelming, I'm tellingyou.
I'm like, oh my gosh, enough isenough.
You can find it on Amazon andthen you can go to
barbieriveracom.
I do a blog about my school,about what I'm doing.
It's not super consistent, butI do send something out at least
(54:53):
once a month.
I'm trying to get to once aweek, but I haven't gotten there
yet.
But that's where you can findme.
Speaker 1 (54:59):
Okay, and I'm going to put the link to the blog, the
website and to your book in theshow's description.
And then what was that bookthat you showed earlier?
That from the?
It said like an elementary onthe front arithmetic thicklins.
Speaker 2 (55:13):
Wait, where are?
Speaker 1 (55:13):
we okay.
Speaker 2 (55:14):
So, like I say, I love that ebay and you can save
vintage arithmetic textbooks anda whole bunch of these will
come up and some of them arefantastic, like.
This is an old reading workbook.
Now imagine it is because whatyour son needs is with, like the
(55:35):
capital letters, like.
First of all, they don't eventeach handwriting and to me
handwriting is the firstdiscipline of school the first.
So if it's done properly, I'mgoing to tell you're going to
spend a good year on uppercaseand lowercase, even with this.
This week, in fact, I had mysummer school.
Students are from Arizona, myteacher handles them and I just
(55:58):
happened to be in the school andthey were like uppercase,
lowercase.
I'm like guys, you know whatthat means.
They're like no, I'm like.
So I showed them an old printingpress and I took a book like
this I go pretend this is asuitcase because the old
printing presses they had to puttiles of the alphabet and spell
everything out and then theywould press it down.
(56:19):
So in the case, they kept thecapital letters in the top of
the case and the lower lettersin the bottom.
So what was at top is calleduppercase and what was in the
bottom was lowercase.
And this little boy's like boom, yes, that's why it's called
uppercase.
I didn't know that.
Yes, it was stored in theuppercase of the alphabet of the
compartments and the lowercasewere stored in the lower and
(56:42):
they were like wow, yeah.
And I was telling them likemanners, I go.
Manners come from the Spanishword mano, which is hand, how
you handle people.
If you handle people well, theywant to be around you.
If you don't, and you're alittle brat, nobody wants to be
around you.
That's basically manners.
Speaker 1 (56:58):
That's what I tell my son all the time I go.
Listen, you don't need to like,change yourself to make people
like you, but if people like you, but if people like you, life's
a lot easier.
Yes, exactly, yes, true, barbie, thank you so much for joining
me today.
I love this conversation.
Speaker 2 (57:13):
I love this.
Speaker 1 (57:20):
Maybe we can chat again and you can really get
into doing your school, becausewe really didn't get into, like,
how you ran the micro school,so I would love to have you back
sometime.
Thank you so much for joiningme Anytime.
Speaker 2 (57:28):
Anytime, thank you.
Speaker 1 (57:31):
Thank you for tuning into this week's episode of the
homeschool how to.
If you've enjoyed what youheard and you'd like to
contribute to the show, pleaseconsider leaving a small tip
using the link in my show'sdescription.
Or, if you'd rather, please usethe link in the description to
share this podcast with a friendor on your favorite homeschool
group Facebook page.
Any effort to help us keep thepodcast going is greatly
(57:53):
appreciated.
Thank you for tuning in and foryour love of the next
generation.
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