August 9, 2025 • 51 mins
In this inspiring episode, join us for a candid conversation with Ambar, a California sheriff’s sergeant and homeschooling mother of four, as she shares her journey balancing a demanding law enforcement career with homeschooling her children. Discover how Ambar transformed from a full-time deputy focused on climbing the career ladder into a passionate homeschooler creating a thriving educational environment on their 2.5-acre ranch.
Ambar’s story highlights the challenges faced by working parents who want to homeschool—especially in California, where restrictive education and medical policies have pushed many families to seek alternatives to public school. Hear how Ambar and her husband use creative scheduling, prioritization, and partnership to successfully homeschool while she works three days on and three days off, focusing on core subjects and integrating hands-on learning through ranch life.
This episode tackles key homeschooling questions such as: Can working parents realistically homeschool? How do you balance career and home education? Ambar’s practical tips, honest reflections, and unique perspective will inspire working moms and dads who think homeschooling isn’t possible for their busy lives.
Beyond academics, Ambar shares her vision for raising entrepreneurial, community-connected kids who learn real-life skills and strong values through personalized education. Whether you’re a law enforcement officer, working parent, or simply curious about homeschooling alternatives, this episode offers valuable insights on making homeschooling work for your family.
Cheryl's Guide to Homeschooling: 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
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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 Amber from California.
She is a sergeant with theSheriff's Office.
Amber, thank you for being here.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Thank you so much for having me.
I am so excited to share mystory with you guys.
I listen to all your podcasts.
I have to commute to work.
Sometimes it's like two and ahalf hours and I'm like all
right, homeschooling podcast itis.
I'm gonna listen to my podcastwhile I'm on the road.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Oh, that's so awesome .
Well, thank you for being alistener.
Thank you so much.
How many kids do?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
you have.
So I have a nine year old girl,I have a seven year old boy, a
five year old boy and a sixmonth old girl, and I'm not sure
we're quite done yet.
I know my husband still triesto throw out these little jabs
about having one more, one more.
Right, it's always one more,and at this point I'm like you
know, I mean, life is busy withfour.
(01:20):
What's what is one more?
Speaker 1 (01:21):
really my husband has never said let's have one more.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
No, and people always look at my husband like you're
joking, right, and he's like, no, I'm not joking.
But we also live in a veryremote area.
It's between two big cities, inthe mountains, and it's a very
small town.
But we have our own ranch.
So we have two and a half acresof just amazing views and
(01:46):
animals.
We have goats, we have chickens, we have three great Pyrenees
dogs that help keep our propertysafe, and every morning I wake
up to the sound of donkeys andcows and roosters.
It's just amazing, it'shonestly amazing.
So obviously with that kind ofsetup, you have to have a lot of
kids because they help you onyour ranch, and then you're
(02:07):
going to get to a point whereyou're just too old to do it.
You have your kids to help youout Love.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
That Did you always know that you wanted to
homeschool?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
No, I did not.
So I'll be honest andtransparent.
When I was 23 years old, Ijoined the sheriff's department
and my whole life was to be acareer woman.
I was not thinking about beinga wife.
I was definitely not thinkingabout being a mom.
All I cared about was how am Igoing to climb?
How am I going to get to thetop the fastest?
(02:35):
I'm going to be a chief one day, and that's all my goals were.
So I worked extremely hard.
I worked some of the hardestareas in California to basically
try to get to that positionwhere I can get to the top
Anyhow.
So I didn't think about kids.
That wasn't in my mindset, mythought process.
(02:58):
And then I want to say when Imet my husband this was about 13
years ago now I had aboutalmost 10 years now with the
sheriff's department that's whenI started realizing like maybe
I do want to be a wife, maybe Ido want to be a mom, and I
really started diving more intomy faith and started going back
to church again.
(03:18):
I was very jaded with work andwhat I'd seen, what I've been
through, and I knew I needed toget back to my faith.
You know, I grew up Catholic.
My mom, my parents were bothhardcore Catholics and then I
finally went back to just aChristian church, a local place
that I kept driving past and,like you know what, I'm just
going to drive in there and justcheck it out and totally got
(03:40):
into.
It Was a born again Christian.
And then when I met my husband,same thing, he was a Catholic.
We both went to church and thenafter that we were like we want
to get married, we want to havekids.
So I basically started having mykids and homeschooling wasn't
really a thought process untilabout when my daughter was about
(04:02):
a year old, I started noticingthat she was having a lot of
adverse reactions to vaccinesand I grew up where going to the
doctor was not a thing.
I came from two immigrantparents who didn't have medical
insurance, so going to thedoctors was like, unless you're
dying or something's broken, weare not going to the doctors.
(04:23):
So I was never sick growing up.
I was just never sick.
I never had fevers.
I was always outside, shoeless,like I just grew up, just not a
worry in the world.
Yet I felt like my little babywas always sick, always sick.
So I went down that rabbit holeand once I went down that rabbit
hole I was like never again wasable to get a medical exemption
(04:47):
for my nine-year-old from DrBob Sears.
I don't know if you guys knowhim, he's so controversial.
Everybody always talks aboutBob Sears.
Yeah, he had a podcast, right,right, right.
So I started listening.
Yes, somebody had shared hispodcast with me and I listened
to every single episode.
I want to say, in like a monthperiod and I was like, what have
(05:09):
I done?
I ordered his books, I read hisbooks.
So then I ended up meeting withhim.
He did issue my daughter amedical exemption and then, poof
, sb 276 came in California.
Now we didn't have religiousexemptions.
Now Newsom was taking awaymedical exemptions and me and a
group of moms ended up going upto Sacramento, which was like a
(05:30):
six-hour drive just to goprotest.
And of course they don't care,right, they already have their
agenda.
It's all set in stone.
It ended up passing and Iliterally now had at the time I
had like a two-year-old andbasically a newborn my son and
I'm like looking at my husbandlike what are we going to do?
And so you know, that's when westarted diving into.
Well, I guess we're going tohave to homeschool because we're
(05:51):
not gonna be able to send ourkids to public school.
So that's where the ideastarted, like just planting a
seed about homeschooling, and Ihad doubts, of course, like most
moms.
I'm like who am I to homeschoolthese babies?
Like I didn't care about schoolmyself.
I hardly ever listened atschool.
I literally slept throughschool most of the time.
(06:15):
High school was I better justkeep a C average so I can
actually play sports, because Iwas really into soccer and I
played soccer for high school.
So I was just like there's noway, how am I going to
homeschool I don't even knowwhat I learned in high school,
let alone trying to teach thesenew babies how to pronounce
stuff, syllables, all this stuff, right.
But then my husband was kind ofmy literally my beacon of hope,
(06:36):
because my husband wascompletely opposite of the
spectrum.
My husband was extremely smartwhen it came to academics.
He was like AP, honors,everything.
He would always excel in allhis subjects, just top of his
class.
Anything you would tell him hecould recite to you because he
just remembered it so well.
And so I was like, okay, well,if I don't know how to do
(06:59):
something, I could just ask myhusband.
So that was really my hope was.
Well, at least I have myhusband who can help me, push me
, help homeschool my kids.
So that's basically how westarted the seed of
homeschooling.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
I love that you're like I don't think I'm smart
enough to homeschool my kids.
Yet you're out there on thestreets every day needing to
know how to keep yourself aliveand how to keep others alive,
which is, like really the onlygoal any of us need to know in
life, right?
Like it's so crazy that theyput that mindset in us too.
(07:32):
Of like, well, if you don'tmemorize these textbooks, you're
not smart enough to regurgitateinformation from a textbook to
your children.
Right, but you're out theredoing like the real world work,
like stuff that most people,especially like computer nerds
or whatever, could never do.
The irony in that isinteresting.
So I hope you know, obviouslyyou know now you are way over
(07:55):
equipped to teach your ownchildren.
You've taught them so much sofar, even just how to eat, how
to tie their shoes, all thatgood stuff.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
No, your point is so spot on because I think you know
the school system indoctrinatesus to believe, unless you have
a degree, a teaching degree,there's no way you could teach
anybody anything, right?
Even though, like you said, asmoms, from when they're babies,
we're teaching them basic stuff,you know.
(08:23):
You're teaching them how to bepotty trained, You're teaching
them how to you know likesurvival stuff.
Right, Don't touch that, Don'tdo this.
This is an owie.
There's just everyday learningand we're teaching our kids
constantly.
And who knows their kids betterthan us to teach them exactly
how they need to be taught,versus a teacher who's never
interacted with them?
And there's 30 different stylesof learning in one classroom
(08:47):
and one setup.
But yet we're supposed to trustthat they have the best
interest in your child'slearning and understanding of
what they're trying to teach.
To me it's just, it's so mindblowing.
But that's what they make usbelieve, right, Because they
want everybody in the system.
They want everybody to go to abuilding and be controlled and
(09:08):
indoctrinated and taught whatthey want to be taught,
especially in California.
Obviously, California is soliberal and they're constantly
trying to take awayhomeschooling for that reason,
because so many parents arewaking up and saying wait a
minute, this is not what I wantmy child to learn at five, six,
seven years old.
And so they are pulling them.
Like I'm part of Blue RidgeAcademy.
(09:31):
It's a charter, it's stillconsidered public school, but
it's a homeschooling program anda hearing in California and
they have 7,000 registeredstudents right now just in LA
County through this one charterand we have plenty of charters
out here and just as in this onecharter there's 7,000
homeschooling kids and there's awaiting list right now of 76
(09:53):
pages of kids trying to get intothis charter to be able to
homeschool their kids.
So people are waking up inCalifornia.
They are trying to pull alltheir kids and truly trying to
start.
I believe starting with acharter is good because it kind
of gives the parents anunderstanding on how to
homeschool, what curriculumswork, what don't, and you kind
(10:15):
of have like a teacher assignedto you that helps you stay, you
know, accountable and helps youunderstand what you're doing and
how you're doing it, andthey're just easy to call them
and ask them like hey, I have aquestion about this curriculum.
So it's nice.
But once you get to theunderstanding levels of
homeschooling, I feel like everyparent should do the PSA, where
(10:36):
they just completely removetheir kid from the system and
homeschool them without acharter, which is what I'm going
to do with my daughter as soonas she's done with elementary.
I'm going to do with mydaughter as soon as she's done
with elementary, I'm going to doa PSA and completely pull her
from any charter.
Because once you understandthis being a homeschooling
podcaster, once you startgetting older, they expect more
and more and more.
Right, it's not like what aboutit being more?
(10:58):
It could be a little bit morechallenging, but it shouldn't be
more.
And I know once my daughterstarts middle school and high
school, the charters are alsogoing to expect a lot more, and
that's not what I want for mykids.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
So what does the charter actually look like on a
day-to-day basis?
I take it that they probablywrite your reports for you to
submit to the school districts,but is your child in your home,
or are they actually going to abuilding to learn?
Speaker 2 (11:23):
So my charter is at home.
So I am.
There is a teacher accountablefor my kids and we meet with her
once a month at a local libraryor a coffee shop and she'll
just look at what we've done forthe month, what the kids have
been working on for the month,and she will do all the
documentation for me and shesubmits that to the state.
(11:43):
If I'm missing anything, she'llsay okay, you know, maybe for
social studies, you know, nexttime just add A, b and C and so
they don't be like, okay, on thenext time I'll meet you, I'll
have that.
But she submits everything tothe state.
I don't have to submit anything, I just, you know.
Answer to her basically, andmost of them are actually very
(12:04):
understanding.
They know the reasons why we'rehomeschooling, they understand
that we have our own religiousbeliefs, but you can't submit
anything that is religious.
So if there's a curriculum likethe good and the beautiful or
my father's world, that a lot ofpeople like you cannot submit
any of that stuff to the charterbecause the charter will deny
it.
So it has to be othercurriculums that are not
(12:26):
religious based.
Yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Wow, wow, I did not know that.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
So, yeah, so in California, right right.
So what a lot of people do isthey'll have their own
curriculum, like I was doingthis for a little bit the good
and the beautiful.
It's a beautiful curriculum,it's very colorful, it's very
interactive with the kids, it'salmost self taught sometimes.
So, but I could never turn thatin.
(12:54):
Now I did find that the goodand the beautiful really doesn't
have a lot of Christian pointsin there for the school or the
charter to deny it.
So I thought, well, really, ifthere's not that much being
taught it's not like they'retalking about biblical aspects
or verses or anything like thatit's very little that they do
put in there.
So now I've, just for this newschool year coming up in the
(13:16):
fall, I'm actually going to pullaway from that, that curriculum
, and just stick with the basics, like a spectrum.
It's a curriculum that you canbuy basically at Barnes and
Noble, amazon.
It's like $12.
And I'm just going to do like,the spelling, the phonics, the
language arts, and that's whatI'll turn in.
That way I'm not doing two,because I was basically doing
(13:36):
two curriculums for languagearts, one that I can turn in and
one that we were doing togetherat home because it was
Christian based, so it was justa little too much, I thought,
for my kids.
And we read the Bible all thetime to our kids.
My daughter, actually mynine-year-old right now she's on
this, challenging herself to.
She started the Bible fromstart to finish.
(13:57):
Now she's in the New Testamentand she's literally reading the
entire Bible by herself.
Now it's a kid's version, soit's a little more understanding
.
But this is what my kids do.
We talk about it.
Where are you at in the Bible?
What did you learn?
And my other two boys arelistening to it as well.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
So that's how we incorporate our religious
aspects into our homeschoolingday-to-day curriculums basically
, do you all right, so we'll getinto working and homeschooling
and how you make that work.
But do you find that in yourline of work, like I just I'm
picturing, like the streets ofCalifornia and LA and like what
(14:36):
you must see on a day-to-daybasis, and then you come home
and you're reading the Biblewith your kids?
Is it like day and night fromwhen you're?
Speaker 2 (14:41):
at work to when you're at home.
Absolutely, it's day and nightand I'm actually really blessed
that where we live we are so outof the big city.
You know, when people think ofCalifornia they think of
Hollywood, los Angeles.
I am about two hours from thebig city, from, let's say,
downtown LA, and you know I'm ina very remote area.
So when I go home I'm just likepraise God for this, this setup
(15:05):
, this place where we live,where I can go outside and not
have to worry about, you know,gunshots or drive-bys or police
helicopters over our head.
You don't hear that, you don'thear city noise ever where we
live.
And so when I go into work I'mjust I'll always like text, my
husband like this is awful,traffic is awful, there's always
(15:27):
something going on.
It's just so busy and the crimeobviously is, you know, there's
no, I'm being transparent it'sprobably some of the worst
crimes in LA County than theentire country.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
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Speaker 2 (16:19):
So, yeah, I have seen that.
Luckily now I'm in a specialassignment where I don't see too
much of that anymore, so I'mmore in an admin position now,
but I have seen that and it doesmake you very jaded.
And that's really what broughtme back to my faith was every
day, day in and day out, I wasseeing some of the ugliest stuff
(16:41):
and you just can't believehumanity can be so evil.
And I just needed somethingoutside of that and I was like,
well, what else outside of myfaith?
I need to go to church, I needto dive back into my, you know,
christian beliefs, and that'show I got into that.
So when I go home I'm just sograteful for the life that I'm
able to provide my kids, andpeople can call it, call me a
(17:03):
helicopter parent.
They could say, you know, I'mvery controlling in the aspect
of what my kids are exposed to,but I don't care.
I don't care because I've seenwhat other kids can be exposed
to and that's not the life thatI want for my kids.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yeah, we want to preserve their childhood as long
as possible and it is a hardbalance because our, like our
age right now right now I'm inmy 40s this is the first time
we've ever had to deal with kidshaving internet capabilities
from the time they're born, sothat's literally all they know.
I guess maybe my sister's kidstoo.
They're in their late teens,early 20s, so I guess they've
(17:40):
always had internet too.
But we didn't grow up that way.
I mean, I knew what it was liketo have to get up and turn your
TV with the dial on the TV andhave the rabbit ears.
I don't know, you know, I, I, Iknew what it was like to be
like.
Oh, you have the internet tothe neighbor next door.
I don't have that yet and like,when we did get it, it was a
big deal and you know,no-transcript, I was probably 17
(18:11):
.
So it sounds crazy.
But like we didn't grow up withall of this, like mass, like
social media, it's really crazy.
Parents have never had to dealwith this, so of course mistakes
were made along the way,because parents didn't know what
they even needed to be on thelookout for, because it didn't
exist, like when we were little.
So this, this probably is oneof the toughest times, maybe
(18:32):
psychologically, to be a parent.
Like knowing, okay, the kidnext door has got a cell phone
at age eight and they can have ayou know, a TikTok account, and
this one's watching YouTube.
Like what am I going to allowmy kid to do?
Even to the psychologicalstandpoint of like my son had a
friend over and they werewatching YouTube shorts on the
TV and I was like I let him do acouple and then I was like,
(18:53):
okay, guys, this is enough, puton a show now.
Like I'm still letting youwatch TV, but like, put on a
show because your brain'sgetting used to hilarious moment
, next video, hilarious moment,next video, hilarious moment.
And that does a psychologicalimpact to your brain to always
need that next bit ofstimulation.
And it's funny like how manykids can't, how many adults?
(19:14):
I would have a hard time too,sitting in just silence and like
thinking where.
I think back to my childhood,I'm like I'm sure there were
moments I was so bored that Ijust sat in my room in silence
because there's nothing else todo.
But how do you make it work?
There's so many parents thatare like I can't homeschool.
I work.
I'm a single mom.
It won't work for me, so I loveto be able to answer this
(19:37):
question from as many people aswho can answer it.
So how do you make it work?
Speaker 2 (19:41):
So I have a full-time job.
I basically cannot.
I don't have the option forpart-time.
So for my department there isno part-time.
You're either full-time or youmight as well retire.
So we knew that, going into thehomeschooling situation we were
going to be in.
So my husband is a wrestlingcoach, so he works more of an
(20:02):
after school program and I work,you know, day shift basically.
So he works PMs and so we'rekind of high-fiving in that
aspect.
So he's with the kids in themorning and I'm with them in the
afternoons.
I also work a 4-10 schedule,which means I work four days out
of the week, 10 hour shifts.
So I'm off three days.
So those three days I try toget as much done as possible.
(20:25):
And when I say as much done aspossible, I will tell you that I
probably don't spend more than45 minutes per kid on my three
days that I have them.
So I try to focus the mostbecause I have a fourth grader
going into fourth grade, secondgrade, kindergarten, and my six
month old.
I truly just try to focus onlanguage arts and math the most.
(20:50):
Science is really our property.
So property as in they find anew, you know, animal that
they've never seen before sometype of bug.
And they'll start.
They'll get on the computer andthey'll start looking up.
You know what it is, what theyeat, what they live off of, and
so usually my daughter being thenine-year-old, she'll tell you
know the boys.
Okay, hold it, let's describeit on the search engine.
(21:12):
And so science is really alloutside for us Social studies.
I really try not to dive in toomuch into history because, let's
be honest, what kid's going toremember any of that?
Who cares what presidents, whatare the first 45 presidents
Like?
Why does that matter?
So we try to just read TidalTwins.
So we do the Tidal TwinsAmerican History.
I love it.
I even learned stuff out of it.
I'm like I didn't even knowthat.
(21:32):
So we do the title twinsamerican history.
I love it.
I even learned stuff out of I'mlike I don't even know that.
So we do the title twins.
There's actually a new onecalled drive through history.
That is so fun.
It's on youtube and somebodyhad, uh, shared it with me and
it's basically a guy who breaksdown the bible and he shows.
(21:55):
He basically goes to Israel andshows places in you know what
the Bible is describing and he'slike they're describing it.
So we've been watching that anddoing some of that.
So history is really um, tuttletwins and then we'll see the
drive through history stuff, andreally that's Now for turning
stuff in.
I have like a social studiesworkbook that I got on Amazon
(22:18):
for like $15.
And we'll we'll like covergeographical stuff, you know,
basic stuff that the kids don'tknow, and I'll submit that.
But the stuff I focus on isreally reading the Tuttle Twins
and then just watching some ofthose videos.
And, to be transparent, Iactually don't let my kids watch
TV.
I don't let them.
My kids do not own iPads.
(22:39):
My kids will never own a phoneuntil they move out.
Tv is literally, unless you'relearning something, you're not
going to watch it.
And if you got all the choresdone, as in, you took care of
the animals, you took care ofthe house stuff, you know,
because they really they doeverything.
My boys empty the dishwasher,they wash dishes, they do the
laundry, and we're talking abouta seven and five-year-old.
(23:00):
My daughter, nine-year-old,takes care of all the animals
outside and then she'll delegateto her brothers how to do it
and make sure they do it right.
So she feeds the goats, shecleans all their stuff out.
She collects all the eggs forthe chickens, feeds them, gives
them water, all that stuff.
So for my kids, if they do alltheir chores without complaining
, no arguments, no fighting thenyou just might get a show to
(23:23):
watch.
We have one TV in our house, onethat I could see if I'm at the
kitchen I can hear what they'rewatching and they could pick one
show and that's one that theyall have to agree on, and really
that's it.
We don't let our kids have TVsin their rooms.
They don't have.
We have one computer that weall use and that's how we kind
of get away from what's going onwith all the you know, social
(23:45):
media and Internet world.
And my kids understand thatbecause they'll come up to me
and say my friend, you know so,and so she's my age and she has
a cell phone.
I'm like, well, that's good forher, that's her parents' deal,
not mine.
Like you're not going to get acell phone until you move out.
You know, that's what I say.
I'm sure it'll be sooner thanthat, but I just tell them that,
and so they don't ask me, right, but that's how we deal with
(24:08):
that.
So four hour, I'm sorry.
Four days a week, 10 hour shifts, usually when I get home, if
they don't have any activities,then we'll do some reading or
we'll do some of the basichandwriting books, things like
that that we can talk about andgo over.
But I'll squeeze something inhere and there during dinnertime
which I always tell parentsbecause they always ask me how
(24:28):
do you do it?
How do you do it?
And I'm like you know, thosetwo hours that you spend
fighting with your kid at thedinner table because they have
homework that they should havedone in their eight hour day of
school, those two hours couldhave been your homeschooling
time.
That could have been the hoursthat you homeschooled your kids,
because all that homework thatthey brought home should have
been what should have been doneat school.
And that's probably about allI'm doing on a week to week
(24:52):
basis.
So that's how we get it done,all I'm doing on a week to week
basis.
So that's how we get it done.
And if let's say there's somework conflicting stuff there's,
you know something where I haveto be at work then my husband
will do it and he'll help thekids out.
Now my daughter is old enoughnow where she can help my five
year old who's doingkindergarten stuff the
handwriting, the syllables,syllables or the tracing letters
(25:13):
and understanding letters andsounds.
My daughter now does that, soshe helps him and she does it as
a reward.
So I tell her, if you guys getit done, you basically get
something from the treasure box.
We have like a treasure box.
We have a sticker chart that ifthey fill up their sticker
chart she can pick like a playdate or go somewhere with me or
(25:34):
her dad and that's kind of howthey have incentives for helping
each other out.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Oh, I love that.
Okay, how do you make mealswork?
So if you're working a 10 hourday, what time do you go in in
the morning?
Speaker 2 (25:46):
So it just depends.
Like I said, I'm on a specialteam so I'm not clocking in at
like five in the morning, but alot of times once I hit the road
the clock starts for me.
So my day can start at aboutsix in the morning.
I'm usually home about four inthe afternoon and usually my
husband leaves for work when I'mgetting home and so then he
(26:07):
goes to work and he'll have thelunch done for the kids.
So the kids already had theirlunch and then I'll just work on
the dinner.
So when I get home, if theydon't have any activities going
on and I usually try to cram alltheir activities one day out of
the week, maybe two, dependingon what they have going on so
one day out of the week whichlet's say it'd be a Friday they
(26:28):
would do gymnastics, piano andswimming all three.
Yes, it's a busy day, but atleast I got their activities out
of the way and then maybe oneother day in the week they'll do
wrestling, because they also goto wrestling with my husband,
because my husband helps withthe high school, helps with the
kids, so his main job is thekids wrestling, teaching younger
(26:49):
kids to wrestle.
So my kids will go with myhusband to his gym and do
wrestling there, but we don't doit every day, so that's how
we're able to juggle some oftheir activities is that we try
to cram it all in one day.
That way we're not going everysingle day.
And then, when I get home,we're doing homeschooling and
(27:11):
I'm working on dinner, basically.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Now people are always worried and I kind of forget to
ask this question now that I'vetalked to so many homeschooling
families, because to me it isso arbitrary and silly to ask
about the socialization.
But you said that you are in aremote area.
You know you have all the kids.
Do you feel like your kids arewell socialized?
I mean, you're also out inpublic, so you have a different
perspective than a lot ofhomeschooling moms who are just
(27:34):
like I've always been a stay athome mom, I was homeschooled
myself and live sort of like thesheltered life where they do
know that that is better thanthe alternative.
But you are seeing this sort oflike this is the real world and
what happens on the streets andchoosing this as the
alternative because you knowthis is like what you see.
You don't have to guess.
(27:54):
So I guess where was I goingwith this, the question being
like do you feel that your kidsare socialized enough?
And when you actually look atwhat socialization means in
today's standards, is it justsilly?
Speaker 2 (28:05):
It's actually very silly because I feel like my
kids have more social time thanI ever had.
As a kid and I was a publicschool kid I was dropped off at
a school because it was adaycare for my parents.
Let's be honest, my parentsworked really really hard long
days.
I still have a greatrelationship with my parents,
but my parents, no matter howsick I was if you know, I was
coughing up a storm they wouldstill drop me off at school
(28:26):
because who's going to watch me?
They had to go to work.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
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
(28:50):
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
(29:10):
education.
It's about getting what youwant out of each day, not what
somebody else wants out of you.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
You can grab the link to this ebook in the show's
description or head on over tothehomeschoolhowtocom.
Only social time was at school,which was a couple recess that
I guess we would get, and thatwas it.
And with my kids they have alltheir activities that they go to
.
They make their all their ownfriends at these activities and
on top of that we have a co-opgroup from the local city where
(29:49):
it's about 30 minutes from mytown, and then from my town I
have our own homeschoolinggroups.
So we have this co-op groupthat we're on like a mom group
chat.
There's like 14 moms, probablyabout 28 kids, and we always
send out text messages like hey,we're going to this event,
we're going to check out thisscience museum, and we always
(30:11):
send out these text messages andwho can go goes, who can't,
they'll say we'll go next time.
So it ends up always being atleast 10 to 15 kids that show up
.
So we do that usually on everytwo week basis where we try to
meet up with some of thehomeschooling kids that are in
the local area and we all havesuch a great relationship we
(30:34):
just started building.
It was probably like a group offive moms that turned into
eight moms to 10 moms andeverybody starts bringing their
friend, who's their friend thathas the same like-minded beliefs
, and it turned into like 14moms.
And now we just all try to gettogether.
Whether it's a park day, a poolday, concert in the park day,
(30:55):
like there's so many things thatall try to get together.
Whether it's a park day, a poolday, concert in the park day,
like there's so many things thatwe try to do together that we
make it a point to make sure wetry to make time for that.
Now, that's a big thing.
People are like well, I don'thave time for all that.
Yes, you do, you have time,depending on how much you're
willing to sacrifice of your ownpersonal time.
I don't watch TV, I don't sitaround, you know, at a med spa
(31:17):
You're never going to see megetting, you know, my hair done
every two weeks.
It's just not my style.
And right now my priorities aremy kids and my husband and our
ranch.
And, like I said, I love my job, but that's just to provide for
my family, because my priorityis not my job.
But that's just to provide formy family, because my priority
is not my job, it is my family,raising my kids to be God loving
(31:43):
kids and being kind to otherkids and just being helpful.
You know, in every aspect asthey can in life, especially in
our neighborhood, the way we'reraising our kids is we want them
to be ranch hands.
We want them to help theelderlies that live in our area.
Like, hey, we'll take care ofyour horses, you know, for a
very low fee.
And that's what you know we'regoing to try to implement as our
kids get older, to start Excuseme, to start dropping off like
(32:04):
business cards that they'regoing to make and say, hey, I'll
help your horses, I'll clean upafter your animals, and that's
how they'll start making theirown money.
So that's how we're going toteach our kids.
We don't talk about college.
We don't talk about you need tohave a career.
You need to.
You know, as soon as you'redone with high school, what are
you going to do for college?
We don't even bring that up.
That's not even a topic ofdiscussion in our house.
(32:26):
It is how are you going to be agood person and how are, as you
get older, going to help ourcommunity and how are you going
to earn some money by doing whatyou love, which is take care of
the local animals, basically,and that's.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
You're right, that is science, but that's huge.
I did not learn anything aboutthat in school.
I went to public school as welland it's crazy like moving out
to the country where my husbandlived.
He already had a house here,luckily, because if I had any
say in it, I probably would bein the city.
Yeah, I hated it when I movedhere, but I have grown to love
(33:01):
it.
I mean, I thank God.
Every day I'm like I don't knowhow you knew to put me here in
this like country across from adairy farm and the backyard is a
mountain.
But it's like wow, this isthank you, because this is
perfect.
This is exactly what I neededto.
You know, homeschool my kid andkind of, and I'm learning.
I'm learning how to take careof chickens.
I'm learning how to grow agarden.
(33:22):
I didn't learn any of that inschool.
Bugs, like you said oh, what'sthis bug?
I don't know.
We all this spring was so coolbecause we were like let's find
out about birds.
And we put up some bird feedersand we got the Merlin app that
listens to the birds saying andthen tells you which one it is.
And then we look at the birdfeeder and like, oh yep, there's
that bird, and pull it up onthe computer and this is what
(33:43):
it's called and this is thepictures we can like, keep track
of it and like that's just,that's like real world stuff.
These birds are around you allday, every day.
I never knew what a single oneof them was called.
Around you all day, every day.
I never knew what a single oneof them was called, except like
a cardinal, you know, because weall know that.
But it's really cool, like whenI think about the science that
they taught me, like no, I don'tremember any of that.
I don't remember any of thehistory, like you said, until
(34:04):
it's relevant in your life, youreally have no need to know what
every president was, you knowand what they did.
But yet, like I love with theTuttle Twins, like you were
saying, they bring up things,like they start off their
history books talking about theSilk Road and even though it's
American history, they're likewe're telling you about the Silk
Road because this is how tradehappened initially, you know, in
China, trading on the Silk Road, and then they bring it to this
(34:28):
is how America became Americaand I'm like, wow, I never
thought of it in those terms,like what a cool way to like
bring that concept together andmake it relevant to like.
I don't know just how we liveour life now and why America is
different than a lot of otherplaces.
I just love your story becauseI love that you, just you don't
have a worry like am I teachingthem enough?
(34:49):
Am I not like I?
You know that you are, becauseyou're going to teach them how
to take care of animals, which,in turn, takes care of us.
Because if you have to raise acow so that you have meat, you
know, or dairy, you can do that.
Your kids can do that and learnhow to start a business by
making the business cards andmarketing yourself to the people
that have a need for somethingyou can do, and that's all kids
(35:12):
really need we don't have toworry about.
Did you cover nine subjectstoday, 42 minutes each?
And, you know, did they dotheir homework?
It's just.
It is so crazy when you thinkabout it, but it all makes sense
when you think back to how theycreated the education system
the way it is today, so thatthey could make the obedient
workers to have those factoryworkers to do the jobs that they
(35:34):
didn't want to do.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Right.
It's funny because when I go towork sometimes and I explain to
people that I homeschool mykids, everybody literally is
like how, how do you do it?
And it's one of those thingswhere you can't really like
school.
It's not an outline that sayshere you go, this is how you do
it, you.
You have such a unique childand every child is so different
(35:57):
that I couldn't tell you how tohomeschool your child.
Because my seven-year-old hewakes up at six, 30 in the
morning and if I'm off he's likeMom, I'm ready to homeschool.
So he wants to get it donefirst thing in the morning so he
can go play the rest of thetime.
And then there's my nine yearold daughter who's like let's, I
just woke up, let me go outsidewith the animals, and around
(36:18):
10am it's when she's like okay,I'm ready to homeschool.
And my five year old he'salways like I'm still playing,
I'll tell you when I'm ready tohomeschool.
He's my little, my wild childhardhead.
And so I just kind of work withhim and I'm like okay, if you
don't hurry up and get tohomeschooling, you're not going
to get.
You know, whatever the rewardis for the day and usually it'd
(36:38):
be like a treat, or they get topick an ice cream later for the
day.
But I can't tell anybody how tohomeschool their child because
every child is so different.
Which leads me to how does oneteacher get assigned 30 kids and
expect them all to learn theexact same way?
My seven-year-old likes tohomeschool standing up.
My daughter likes to read herbooks, first her chapter books,
(37:02):
and then get to writing.
She loves to do her handwriting, her books first, her drawing,
her journals first, and then themath and the harder subjects.
But everybody, all my kids, arefrom the same parents, grew up
kind of the same way, yet theyhomeschool so different.
And some days myseven-year-old's like I just
(37:23):
don't feel like doing it today,and instead of arguing with him
about it and now we're bumpingheads I'm like okay, we'll do it
tomorrow, that's fine, we'lljust do it tomorrow, because
what's the point of arguing withhim Now?
He's not going to learn.
Now, I'm frustrated, he'sfrustrated, we're both
frustrated.
So I just say forget it, we'renot doing it today, then, and
(37:51):
that doesn that.
He is, you know, pushing backfrom doing it.
For the most part he's like allright, let's get this over with
, so I have more time to play,and it's just one of those
things where you you only youknow how your child is.
And so when a lot of people Ialways try to plant the seed at
work with a lot of moms that aredeputies.
They all work full time.
Most of them their husbands arealso a deputy, so their
schedules all over over theplace they, you know, they're
constantly changing positions,so now they're back on graveyard
shift and so it's really hardfor them.
(38:13):
But even then I still try toplant that seed and they're like
you know what?
I'm going to try it, I'm goingto try it, we'll make it work.
And now I'm having a lot ofmore female deputies who, same
thing they started their careerwhere I'm a career woman.
This is all I want.
Then they start having theirbabies and they're like just
kidding, maybe this isn't what Iwant.
I want to raise my babies.
(38:33):
Well, instead of making work mypriority, which is what work
wants us to do, they want us tomake work the priority.
They make it seem like theywant you to focus on your family
and this and that, but that'snot the case.
Right now, our department isbasically making some of our
deputies work up to 15additional shifts a month on top
(38:54):
of their 40 hours a week,because we're so understaffed.
So these kids are fallingasleep behind the wheel.
They're not even going homeanymore, they're sleeping in
their cars because they have tobe back to work within the next
six hours.
You know that starts taking atoll on your family and your
children and your you know yourspouses and so a lot of our
female deputies.
(39:14):
As soon as they're having kids,they're actually quitting the
department because they want tobe stay-at-home moms.
This idea, this indoctrinationthat they told us feminism you
can do it all.
You don't need a husband inyour life.
You can do everything without ahusband.
And then you have a husband andyou end up having kids.
You're like but I do want this.
This is what I was created todo.
(39:36):
I was created to be a wife anda mom, not a career woman.
And a lot of them end upquitting and they'll call me and
they'll ask me, because a lotof these were my students when I
was a drill instructor for thesheriff's department.
They'll call me like ma'am, Ithink I'm going to quit.
You should.
If your husband is on board andhe can support the family, you
100 percent should quit, becauseyour kids should be your number
(39:59):
one priority.
And now I have those same moms.
Now they're like I'm going tohomeschool and I'm so excited
for them, homeschool and I'm soexcited for them, and it's just
I feel like maybe this was, youknow, god put me in this
position, in this place for areason, so I can encourage moms
to take back control of theirown kids and being able to be
stay-at-home moms, to be able toraise their kids right and
(40:20):
teach them the way they want toteach their kids.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
I love that and I'm with you.
I worked for the government for16 years.
I never, never thought I wouldleave.
I climbed my way up too and waslike, yeah, I don't even need
another promotion, I'm good atthis level until I retire.
And yeah, it was like when theywere masking because New York,
(40:43):
where I am, was pretty much thesame as where you are in
California they were maskingthree-year-olds in daycare and
I'm like, well, no, we go to aprivate daycare, but it doesn't
matter, because they followedthe state rules and they were
going to mask my son, and myhusband and I were like, no,
he's learning speech, he'slearning by looking at people
and seeing how they form wordsand the smiles that's a lot of.
(41:07):
They talk about socialemotional learning right now.
It's like who cared aboutsocial emotional learning when
they were telling you to put amask on everybody?
You can't even see a smile, afrown.
You know like that's importantto see that.
But yeah, I ended up leaving andI didn't have to quit my job.
I could have definitely madeworking and homeschooling work,
but I think I was at the point,too, where I just looked around
(41:28):
at the people around me and I'mlike I've changed so much and
these people are still, I feel,like in a matrix and I've
stepped out of it and I don'teven feel like I can conversate
with them anymore.
Like I feel like I have to besomebody, fake, just to be there
all day long and sit in acubicle, where I was like I want
to teach my kids, I want to beoutside, I want to learn in
(41:50):
nature.
I don't want to sit in acubicle anymore, but luckily,
yeah, my husband was in aposition where he could take on
overtime as much as he wants.
So we we do make it work.
It's not like the podcast bringsin any money, but it's fun, and
it's fun for me to learn thisstuff.
But, yeah, I agree with you100%.
I fell for that.
The whole like watching Sex andthe City and watching Friends
(42:13):
and like yeah, who's?
the man.
I just want my own money and dowhat I want and travel and
drink.
No, I think like watching thelittle things that my kids do is
way more fulfilling in lifethan any happy hour or all
inclusive resort could be Rightand you know what it's all by
(42:34):
design.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
You know all these shows growing up with, all these
shows where, oh, look at allthese women.
You know they don't.
They don't have husbands, theydon't have spouses, they're all.
They all work and show up lateand you know they're successful.
But what is success?
Success should be what youcreate at home.
That should be your success,not a job that's going to forget
(42:56):
about you as soon as you retire.
I'm sure when you left your jobthey weren't calling you, saying
how are you doing?
You know we really miss you.
They replaced you before youeven left your spot, you know,
like you hadn't cleaned out yourdesk and they already had
somebody filling in your spot.
And that's what I try to tell alot of people that I work with.
I'm like don't let this job beyour priority, because they will
(43:18):
not care about you when youretire.
I have 19 years on, as of likenext week, and I'm the
breadwinner, or else I wish Icould quit my job.
But I am the breadwinner andobviously in California you
almost have to have both parentswork and, in essence, to make
it work right, because it's soexpensive here, and so, at 25
years.
I am so done.
(43:38):
I'm retiring.
My goal to supplement whateverI'm not bringing in anymore will
be to start a day camp, ranchschool for kids, for city kids,
because a lot of city kids can'tget the country.
You know life and aspects ofthings, and I'm going to teach
them how to ferment stuff, makesourdough, how to just take care
(43:59):
of animals, how to milk thegoats and how to take care of
the baby animals and I'm evengoing to allow them to bring
their own chicken that you knowcan start from a baby and they
can raise it at our farm andthey can choose to either leave
it or take it home with themonce the summer camp or fall
camp, depending on the weather.
So I'm thinking of havingsummer camps, fall camps, spring
(44:21):
camps not winter because itsnows in my area but have these
camps for kids and hey, if theparents use that as a daycare,
then sure I'll be able to raiseyour babies the way I would
raise my own kids and it'd befun for my kids, because now my
kids have all their friends nowthat are coming and my point is,
when I retire my daughter willbe old enough to where she will
(44:42):
run the ranch school.
I'll just be kind of the behindthe scenes doing the scheduling
, all that other stuff.
But my daughter, it will be theone to run the ranch school and
I hope and pray that it blowsup and she ends up making that.
You know, her career and that'swhat she does is just teach
little kids about ranch schooland that's what you know she
(45:03):
ends up staying to and focusingon.
I just tell my daughter I justhope and pray that you just meet
a good man and he takes care ofyou and he wants the same life
that we have provided for youguys and they enjoy it, they
love it.
My kids have never said, becausewe did leave the big city for
this town, and they've neversaid we miss the big city, we
(45:24):
miss the noise, we miss being ontop of each other in these
cookie cutter neighborhood.
No, they don't.
They love the freedom.
I'll be cooking and I'll lookout and wonder.
I haven't seen my five-year-oldin like the last two hours.
So I'll go outside and I'llstart calling his name and he'll
be in the corner somewheremaking some hole because he's
building something out of mud.
(45:45):
And that's the beauty of havingthese kind of properties and
you don't need to be amillionaire, it doesn't cost
that much.
You just go in the middle ofnowhere, find a nice little
property and you just slowlybuild it how you want it to be.
And that's what we've done andwe've loved it.
And yes, I have to commute farfor that.
But that's the sacrifice I willdo for my kids to have this
(46:07):
kind of life.
Speaker 1 (46:09):
Amber.
I love that.
Is there anything else?
I mean, that was just said sobeautifully.
Any other point, though thatyou wanted to drive home before
we close up for the hour, thatyou really want to let parents
know about Anything you thoughtabout before coming on the
podcast that you really wantparents to know.
Speaker 2 (46:25):
Honestly, I just want people to really focus on not
the excuses of why they can't,but try to focus on why they
should, why they shouldhomeschool their kids.
And when people start thinking,well, I couldn't because of A,
b and C, well, we can all havethose excuses, but you should
(46:45):
really start writing down whatwould be all the pros if I did
homeschool my kids, and Ihonestly feel like people would
have a lot more pros than theywould have cons, and it would be
scary for a lot of parentsbecause now they're going to
have to sit back and say, wow,maybe I do need to homeschool my
kids and that's going to be aleap of faith that they'll have
(47:06):
to wrestle with.
And I know a lot of times notboth spouses are on the same
page, but I think if one personwho wants to homeschool really
starts explaining how it's goingto be and the benefits that
it's going to be for theirchildren and their family, then
I feel like that alone will lettheir spouse who's not on board
(47:27):
start rethinking.
Okay, maybe we should considerhomeschooling and honestly, I
just feel like there's so manyresources out there now that
it's almost impossible to makeit hard.
Everything is a homeschoolingcurriculum.
You can Google anything.
You can find it anywhere.
Look, there's podcasts that cantell you how people do it, and
(47:48):
really there is no excuse.
Just take the leap of faith.
Just do it and you will neverregret it.
Now, when I think about it, I'mlike I could never.
I could never go back at theidea of sending my kids to this
crowded 500 kids school inelementary where my child has to
(48:09):
wrestle for the teacher'sattention because she doesn't
understand something.
And then the teacher is goingto call me the next day and
telling me my daughter's notpaying attention or whatever the
case may be, because she's solost and confused.
And now I'm not there to seewhat happened.
But now I'm going to yell at mydaughter for disrespecting the
teacher.
Right, and it's just why.
Why do that to your kids?
Only you should be the one totell your kids how they're going
(48:32):
to learn something, or be ableto explain to them how to do
something, not some teacher thatknows nothing about your child.
And that's just my thing.
I just hope that this podcasthelps people that are working
parents.
Myself, my husband, I have todrive far for work, but we make
it work.
We make it work because we wantthe best for our kids and we
(48:54):
want to make sure that we knowexactly what our kids are
learning.
And you can't put a price withhow much time you get to spend
with them.
I spend so much time, evenworking four days a week.
I spend so much time with mykids, I am with them so much and
I enjoy it.
I truly enjoy it.
I never feel like, oh, I can'twait to go back to work so I
(49:16):
could get away from my kids.
No, I can't wait to get home soI could be with my kids.
And my daughter always calls mewhen I'm at work.
We have like a little landlineat home and she'll call me and
tell me well, when are youcoming home?
And I'm like, I know I can'twait to come home.
So it's, you will never regrethomeschooling your kids.
That's really all I can say.
Speaker 1 (49:35):
Absolutely On your deathbed.
You're never going to say Iwish I spent less time with my
kids.
Exactly, Exactly.
Amber, this has been such atreat to talk to you today.
I love your perspective.
I think this really gaveparents that nudge to like OK,
we could try it.
What's the worst, you send themback to school.
I mean, you can always do that,so it's not a forever thing.
(49:56):
Is there any like social mediahandles or anything that you
want people to find?
Speaker 2 (50:00):
you on Find me at the Promised Land Ranch on
Instagram.
If you look up the promisedland ranch, that's my Instagram
page.
And if people want to send me adirect message because there
are law enforcement in otherstates and they have questions,
or there are law enforcement inCalifornia and they have
questions, you could alwaysreach out to me and I am more
than willing to help you as muchas I can.
Speaker 1 (50:21):
And I can.
I can link that in the show'sdescription too, if you'd like
so.
Thank you so much, amber, andgood luck Thank you.
Speaker 2 (50:26):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (50:27):
Thank you so much.
Thank you for the work.
Yeah, thank you for the workthat you do, thank you, thank
you.
Thank you for tuning into thisweek'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.
(50:48):
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
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 Amber from California.
She is a sergeant with theSheriff's Office.
Amber, thank you for being here.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Thank you so much for having me.
I am so excited to share mystory with you guys.
I listen to all your podcasts.
I have to commute to work.
Sometimes it's like two and ahalf hours and I'm like all
right, homeschooling podcast itis.
I'm gonna listen to my podcastwhile I'm on the road.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Oh, that's so awesome .
Well, thank you for being alistener.
Thank you so much.
How many kids do?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
you have.
So I have a nine year old girl,I have a seven year old boy, a
five year old boy and a sixmonth old girl, and I'm not sure
we're quite done yet.
I know my husband still triesto throw out these little jabs
about having one more, one more.
Right, it's always one more,and at this point I'm like you
know, I mean, life is busy withfour.
(01:20):
What's what is one more?
Speaker 1 (01:21):
really my husband has never said let's have one more.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
No, and people always look at my husband like you're
joking, right, and he's like, no, I'm not joking.
But we also live in a veryremote area.
It's between two big cities, inthe mountains, and it's a very
small town.
But we have our own ranch.
So we have two and a half acresof just amazing views and
(01:46):
animals.
We have goats, we have chickens, we have three great Pyrenees
dogs that help keep our propertysafe, and every morning I wake
up to the sound of donkeys andcows and roosters.
It's just amazing, it'shonestly amazing.
So obviously with that kind ofsetup, you have to have a lot of
kids because they help you onyour ranch, and then you're
(02:07):
going to get to a point whereyou're just too old to do it.
You have your kids to help youout Love.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
That Did you always know that you wanted to
homeschool?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
No, I did not.
So I'll be honest andtransparent.
When I was 23 years old, Ijoined the sheriff's department
and my whole life was to be acareer woman.
I was not thinking about beinga wife.
I was definitely not thinkingabout being a mom.
All I cared about was how am Igoing to climb?
How am I going to get to thetop the fastest?
(02:35):
I'm going to be a chief one day, and that's all my goals were.
So I worked extremely hard.
I worked some of the hardestareas in California to basically
try to get to that positionwhere I can get to the top
Anyhow.
So I didn't think about kids.
That wasn't in my mindset, mythought process.
(02:58):
And then I want to say when Imet my husband this was about 13
years ago now I had aboutalmost 10 years now with the
sheriff's department that's whenI started realizing like maybe
I do want to be a wife, maybe Ido want to be a mom, and I
really started diving more intomy faith and started going back
to church again.
(03:18):
I was very jaded with work andwhat I'd seen, what I've been
through, and I knew I needed toget back to my faith.
You know, I grew up Catholic.
My mom, my parents were bothhardcore Catholics and then I
finally went back to just aChristian church, a local place
that I kept driving past and,like you know what, I'm just
going to drive in there and justcheck it out and totally got
(03:40):
into.
It Was a born again Christian.
And then when I met my husband,same thing, he was a Catholic.
We both went to church and thenafter that we were like we want
to get married, we want to havekids.
So I basically started having mykids and homeschooling wasn't
really a thought process untilabout when my daughter was about
(04:02):
a year old, I started noticingthat she was having a lot of
adverse reactions to vaccinesand I grew up where going to the
doctor was not a thing.
I came from two immigrantparents who didn't have medical
insurance, so going to thedoctors was like, unless you're
dying or something's broken, weare not going to the doctors.
(04:23):
So I was never sick growing up.
I was just never sick.
I never had fevers.
I was always outside, shoeless,like I just grew up, just not a
worry in the world.
Yet I felt like my little babywas always sick, always sick.
So I went down that rabbit holeand once I went down that rabbit
hole I was like never again wasable to get a medical exemption
(04:47):
for my nine-year-old from DrBob Sears.
I don't know if you guys knowhim, he's so controversial.
Everybody always talks aboutBob Sears.
Yeah, he had a podcast, right,right, right.
So I started listening.
Yes, somebody had shared hispodcast with me and I listened
to every single episode.
I want to say, in like a monthperiod and I was like, what have
(05:09):
I done?
I ordered his books, I read hisbooks.
So then I ended up meeting withhim.
He did issue my daughter amedical exemption and then, poof
, sb 276 came in California.
Now we didn't have religiousexemptions.
Now Newsom was taking awaymedical exemptions and me and a
group of moms ended up going upto Sacramento, which was like a
(05:30):
six-hour drive just to goprotest.
And of course they don't care,right, they already have their
agenda.
It's all set in stone.
It ended up passing and Iliterally now had at the time I
had like a two-year-old andbasically a newborn my son and
I'm like looking at my husbandlike what are we going to do?
And so you know, that's when westarted diving into.
Well, I guess we're going tohave to homeschool because we're
(05:51):
not gonna be able to send ourkids to public school.
So that's where the ideastarted, like just planting a
seed about homeschooling, and Ihad doubts, of course, like most
moms.
I'm like who am I to homeschoolthese babies?
Like I didn't care about schoolmyself.
I hardly ever listened atschool.
I literally slept throughschool most of the time.
(06:15):
High school was I better justkeep a C average so I can
actually play sports, because Iwas really into soccer and I
played soccer for high school.
So I was just like there's noway, how am I going to
homeschool I don't even knowwhat I learned in high school,
let alone trying to teach thesenew babies how to pronounce
stuff, syllables, all this stuff, right.
But then my husband was kind ofmy literally my beacon of hope,
(06:36):
because my husband wascompletely opposite of the
spectrum.
My husband was extremely smartwhen it came to academics.
He was like AP, honors,everything.
He would always excel in allhis subjects, just top of his
class.
Anything you would tell him hecould recite to you because he
just remembered it so well.
And so I was like, okay, well,if I don't know how to do
(06:59):
something, I could just ask myhusband.
So that was really my hope was.
Well, at least I have myhusband who can help me, push me
, help homeschool my kids.
So that's basically how westarted the seed of
homeschooling.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
I love that you're like I don't think I'm smart
enough to homeschool my kids.
Yet you're out there on thestreets every day needing to
know how to keep yourself aliveand how to keep others alive,
which is, like really the onlygoal any of us need to know in
life, right?
Like it's so crazy that theyput that mindset in us too.
(07:32):
Of like, well, if you don'tmemorize these textbooks, you're
not smart enough to regurgitateinformation from a textbook to
your children.
Right, but you're out theredoing like the real world work,
like stuff that most people,especially like computer nerds
or whatever, could never do.
The irony in that isinteresting.
So I hope you know, obviouslyyou know now you are way over
(07:55):
equipped to teach your ownchildren.
You've taught them so much sofar, even just how to eat, how
to tie their shoes, all thatgood stuff.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
No, your point is so spot on because I think you know
the school system indoctrinatesus to believe, unless you have
a degree, a teaching degree,there's no way you could teach
anybody anything, right?
Even though, like you said, asmoms, from when they're babies,
we're teaching them basic stuff,you know.
(08:23):
You're teaching them how to bepotty trained, You're teaching
them how to you know likesurvival stuff.
Right, Don't touch that, Don'tdo this.
This is an owie.
There's just everyday learningand we're teaching our kids
constantly.
And who knows their kids betterthan us to teach them exactly
how they need to be taught,versus a teacher who's never
interacted with them?
And there's 30 different stylesof learning in one classroom
(08:47):
and one setup.
But yet we're supposed to trustthat they have the best
interest in your child'slearning and understanding of
what they're trying to teach.
To me it's just, it's so mindblowing.
But that's what they make usbelieve, right, Because they
want everybody in the system.
They want everybody to go to abuilding and be controlled and
(09:08):
indoctrinated and taught whatthey want to be taught,
especially in California.
Obviously, California is soliberal and they're constantly
trying to take awayhomeschooling for that reason,
because so many parents arewaking up and saying wait a
minute, this is not what I wantmy child to learn at five, six,
seven years old.
And so they are pulling them.
Like I'm part of Blue RidgeAcademy.
(09:31):
It's a charter, it's stillconsidered public school, but
it's a homeschooling program anda hearing in California and
they have 7,000 registeredstudents right now just in LA
County through this one charterand we have plenty of charters
out here and just as in this onecharter there's 7,000
homeschooling kids and there's awaiting list right now of 76
(09:53):
pages of kids trying to get intothis charter to be able to
homeschool their kids.
So people are waking up inCalifornia.
They are trying to pull alltheir kids and truly trying to
start.
I believe starting with acharter is good because it kind
of gives the parents anunderstanding on how to
homeschool, what curriculumswork, what don't, and you kind
(10:15):
of have like a teacher assignedto you that helps you stay, you
know, accountable and helps youunderstand what you're doing and
how you're doing it, andthey're just easy to call them
and ask them like hey, I have aquestion about this curriculum.
So it's nice.
But once you get to theunderstanding levels of
homeschooling, I feel like everyparent should do the PSA, where
(10:36):
they just completely removetheir kid from the system and
homeschool them without acharter, which is what I'm going
to do with my daughter as soonas she's done with elementary.
I'm going to do with mydaughter as soon as she's done
with elementary, I'm going to doa PSA and completely pull her
from any charter.
Because once you understandthis being a homeschooling
podcaster, once you startgetting older, they expect more
and more and more.
Right, it's not like what aboutit being more?
(10:58):
It could be a little bit morechallenging, but it shouldn't be
more.
And I know once my daughterstarts middle school and high
school, the charters are alsogoing to expect a lot more, and
that's not what I want for mykids.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
So what does the charter actually look like on a
day-to-day basis?
I take it that they probablywrite your reports for you to
submit to the school districts,but is your child in your home,
or are they actually going to abuilding to learn?
Speaker 2 (11:23):
So my charter is at home.
So I am.
There is a teacher accountablefor my kids and we meet with her
once a month at a local libraryor a coffee shop and she'll
just look at what we've done forthe month, what the kids have
been working on for the month,and she will do all the
documentation for me and shesubmits that to the state.
(11:43):
If I'm missing anything, she'llsay okay, you know, maybe for
social studies, you know, nexttime just add A, b and C and so
they don't be like, okay, on thenext time I'll meet you, I'll
have that.
But she submits everything tothe state.
I don't have to submit anything, I just, you know.
Answer to her basically, andmost of them are actually very
(12:04):
understanding.
They know the reasons why we'rehomeschooling, they understand
that we have our own religiousbeliefs, but you can't submit
anything that is religious.
So if there's a curriculum likethe good and the beautiful or
my father's world, that a lot ofpeople like you cannot submit
any of that stuff to the charterbecause the charter will deny
it.
So it has to be othercurriculums that are not
(12:26):
religious based.
Yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Wow, wow, I did not know that.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
So, yeah, so in California, right right.
So what a lot of people do isthey'll have their own
curriculum, like I was doingthis for a little bit the good
and the beautiful.
It's a beautiful curriculum,it's very colorful, it's very
interactive with the kids, it'salmost self taught sometimes.
So, but I could never turn thatin.
(12:54):
Now I did find that the goodand the beautiful really doesn't
have a lot of Christian pointsin there for the school or the
charter to deny it.
So I thought, well, really, ifthere's not that much being
taught it's not like they'retalking about biblical aspects
or verses or anything like thatit's very little that they do
put in there.
So now I've, just for this newschool year coming up in the
(13:16):
fall, I'm actually going to pullaway from that, that curriculum
, and just stick with the basics, like a spectrum.
It's a curriculum that you canbuy basically at Barnes and
Noble, amazon.
It's like $12.
And I'm just going to do like,the spelling, the phonics, the
language arts, and that's whatI'll turn in.
That way I'm not doing two,because I was basically doing
(13:36):
two curriculums for languagearts, one that I can turn in and
one that we were doing togetherat home because it was
Christian based, so it was justa little too much, I thought,
for my kids.
And we read the Bible all thetime to our kids.
My daughter, actually mynine-year-old right now she's on
this, challenging herself to.
She started the Bible fromstart to finish.
(13:57):
Now she's in the New Testamentand she's literally reading the
entire Bible by herself.
Now it's a kid's version, soit's a little more understanding
.
But this is what my kids do.
We talk about it.
Where are you at in the Bible?
What did you learn?
And my other two boys arelistening to it as well.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
So that's how we incorporate our religious
aspects into our homeschoolingday-to-day curriculums basically
, do you all right, so we'll getinto working and homeschooling
and how you make that work.
But do you find that in yourline of work, like I just I'm
picturing, like the streets ofCalifornia and LA and like what
(14:36):
you must see on a day-to-daybasis, and then you come home
and you're reading the Biblewith your kids?
Is it like day and night fromwhen you're?
Speaker 2 (14:41):
at work to when you're at home.
Absolutely, it's day and nightand I'm actually really blessed
that where we live we are so outof the big city.
You know, when people think ofCalifornia they think of
Hollywood, los Angeles.
I am about two hours from thebig city, from, let's say,
downtown LA, and you know I'm ina very remote area.
So when I go home I'm just likepraise God for this, this setup
(15:05):
, this place where we live,where I can go outside and not
have to worry about, you know,gunshots or drive-bys or police
helicopters over our head.
You don't hear that, you don'thear city noise ever where we
live.
And so when I go into work I'mjust I'll always like text, my
husband like this is awful,traffic is awful, there's always
(15:27):
something going on.
It's just so busy and the crimeobviously is, you know, there's
no, I'm being transparent it'sprobably some of the worst
crimes in LA County than theentire country.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
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
Christian homeschool programwith accredited teachers who
love what they teach.
Your middle schooler or highschooler can take biology,
chemistry, digs in scriptures,world geography, writing club in
(16:04):
a full course curriculum orjust one class at a time.
Fall registration is now openand classes fill up fast.
Visit ExcelsiorClassescom tohelp your teen thrive.
Today you can grab the link inmy show's description.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
So, yeah, I have seen that.
Luckily now I'm in a specialassignment where I don't see too
much of that anymore, so I'mmore in an admin position now,
but I have seen that and it doesmake you very jaded.
And that's really what broughtme back to my faith was every
day, day in and day out, I wasseeing some of the ugliest stuff
(16:41):
and you just can't believehumanity can be so evil.
And I just needed somethingoutside of that and I was like,
well, what else outside of myfaith?
I need to go to church, I needto dive back into my, you know,
christian beliefs, and that'show I got into that.
So when I go home I'm just sograteful for the life that I'm
able to provide my kids, andpeople can call it, call me a
(17:03):
helicopter parent.
They could say, you know, I'mvery controlling in the aspect
of what my kids are exposed to,but I don't care.
I don't care because I've seenwhat other kids can be exposed
to and that's not the life thatI want for my kids.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yeah, we want to preserve their childhood as long
as possible and it is a hardbalance because our, like our
age right now right now I'm inmy 40s this is the first time
we've ever had to deal with kidshaving internet capabilities
from the time they're born, sothat's literally all they know.
I guess maybe my sister's kidstoo.
They're in their late teens,early 20s, so I guess they've
(17:40):
always had internet too.
But we didn't grow up that way.
I mean, I knew what it was liketo have to get up and turn your
TV with the dial on the TV andhave the rabbit ears.
I don't know, you know, I, I, Iknew what it was like to be
like.
Oh, you have the internet tothe neighbor next door.
I don't have that yet and like,when we did get it, it was a
big deal and you know,no-transcript, I was probably 17
(18:11):
.
So it sounds crazy.
But like we didn't grow up withall of this, like mass, like
social media, it's really crazy.
Parents have never had to dealwith this, so of course mistakes
were made along the way,because parents didn't know what
they even needed to be on thelookout for, because it didn't
exist, like when we were little.
So this, this probably is oneof the toughest times, maybe
(18:32):
psychologically, to be a parent.
Like knowing, okay, the kidnext door has got a cell phone
at age eight and they can have ayou know, a TikTok account, and
this one's watching YouTube.
Like what am I going to allowmy kid to do?
Even to the psychologicalstandpoint of like my son had a
friend over and they werewatching YouTube shorts on the
TV and I was like I let him do acouple and then I was like,
(18:53):
okay, guys, this is enough, puton a show now.
Like I'm still letting youwatch TV, but like, put on a
show because your brain'sgetting used to hilarious moment
, next video, hilarious moment,next video, hilarious moment.
And that does a psychologicalimpact to your brain to always
need that next bit ofstimulation.
And it's funny like how manykids can't, how many adults?
(19:14):
I would have a hard time too,sitting in just silence and like
thinking where.
I think back to my childhood,I'm like I'm sure there were
moments I was so bored that Ijust sat in my room in silence
because there's nothing else todo.
But how do you make it work?
There's so many parents thatare like I can't homeschool.
I work.
I'm a single mom.
It won't work for me, so I loveto be able to answer this
(19:37):
question from as many people aswho can answer it.
So how do you make it work?
Speaker 2 (19:41):
So I have a full-time job.
I basically cannot.
I don't have the option forpart-time.
So for my department there isno part-time.
You're either full-time or youmight as well retire.
So we knew that, going into thehomeschooling situation we were
going to be in.
So my husband is a wrestlingcoach, so he works more of an
(20:02):
after school program and I work,you know, day shift basically.
So he works PMs and so we'rekind of high-fiving in that
aspect.
So he's with the kids in themorning and I'm with them in the
afternoons.
I also work a 4-10 schedule,which means I work four days out
of the week, 10 hour shifts.
So I'm off three days.
So those three days I try toget as much done as possible.
(20:25):
And when I say as much done aspossible, I will tell you that I
probably don't spend more than45 minutes per kid on my three
days that I have them.
So I try to focus the mostbecause I have a fourth grader
going into fourth grade, secondgrade, kindergarten, and my six
month old.
I truly just try to focus onlanguage arts and math the most.
(20:50):
Science is really our property.
So property as in they find anew, you know, animal that
they've never seen before sometype of bug.
And they'll start.
They'll get on the computer andthey'll start looking up.
You know what it is, what theyeat, what they live off of, and
so usually my daughter being thenine-year-old, she'll tell you
know the boys.
Okay, hold it, let's describeit on the search engine.
(21:12):
And so science is really alloutside for us Social studies.
I really try not to dive in toomuch into history because, let's
be honest, what kid's going toremember any of that?
Who cares what presidents, whatare the first 45 presidents
Like?
Why does that matter?
So we try to just read TidalTwins.
So we do the Tidal TwinsAmerican History.
I love it.
I even learned stuff out of it.
I'm like I didn't even knowthat.
(21:32):
So we do the title twinsamerican history.
I love it.
I even learned stuff out of I'mlike I don't even know that.
So we do the title twins.
There's actually a new onecalled drive through history.
That is so fun.
It's on youtube and somebodyhad, uh, shared it with me and
it's basically a guy who breaksdown the bible and he shows.
(21:55):
He basically goes to Israel andshows places in you know what
the Bible is describing and he'slike they're describing it.
So we've been watching that anddoing some of that.
So history is really um, tuttletwins and then we'll see the
drive through history stuff, andreally that's Now for turning
stuff in.
I have like a social studiesworkbook that I got on Amazon
(22:18):
for like $15.
And we'll we'll like covergeographical stuff, you know,
basic stuff that the kids don'tknow, and I'll submit that.
But the stuff I focus on isreally reading the Tuttle Twins
and then just watching some ofthose videos.
And, to be transparent, Iactually don't let my kids watch
TV.
I don't let them.
My kids do not own iPads.
(22:39):
My kids will never own a phoneuntil they move out.
Tv is literally, unless you'relearning something, you're not
going to watch it.
And if you got all the choresdone, as in, you took care of
the animals, you took care ofthe house stuff, you know,
because they really they doeverything.
My boys empty the dishwasher,they wash dishes, they do the
laundry, and we're talking abouta seven and five-year-old.
(23:00):
My daughter, nine-year-old,takes care of all the animals
outside and then she'll delegateto her brothers how to do it
and make sure they do it right.
So she feeds the goats, shecleans all their stuff out.
She collects all the eggs forthe chickens, feeds them, gives
them water, all that stuff.
So for my kids, if they do alltheir chores without complaining
, no arguments, no fighting thenyou just might get a show to
(23:23):
watch.
We have one TV in our house, onethat I could see if I'm at the
kitchen I can hear what they'rewatching and they could pick one
show and that's one that theyall have to agree on, and really
that's it.
We don't let our kids have TVsin their rooms.
They don't have.
We have one computer that weall use and that's how we kind
of get away from what's going onwith all the you know, social
(23:45):
media and Internet world.
And my kids understand thatbecause they'll come up to me
and say my friend, you know so,and so she's my age and she has
a cell phone.
I'm like, well, that's good forher, that's her parents' deal,
not mine.
Like you're not going to get acell phone until you move out.
You know, that's what I say.
I'm sure it'll be sooner thanthat, but I just tell them that,
and so they don't ask me, right, but that's how we deal with
(24:08):
that.
So four hour, I'm sorry.
Four days a week, 10 hour shifts, usually when I get home, if
they don't have any activities,then we'll do some reading or
we'll do some of the basichandwriting books, things like
that that we can talk about andgo over.
But I'll squeeze something inhere and there during dinnertime
which I always tell parentsbecause they always ask me how
(24:28):
do you do it?
How do you do it?
And I'm like you know, thosetwo hours that you spend
fighting with your kid at thedinner table because they have
homework that they should havedone in their eight hour day of
school, those two hours couldhave been your homeschooling
time.
That could have been the hoursthat you homeschooled your kids,
because all that homework thatthey brought home should have
been what should have been doneat school.
And that's probably about allI'm doing on a week to week
(24:52):
basis.
So that's how we get it done,all I'm doing on a week to week
basis.
So that's how we get it done.
And if let's say there's somework conflicting stuff there's,
you know something where I haveto be at work then my husband
will do it and he'll help thekids out.
Now my daughter is old enoughnow where she can help my five
year old who's doingkindergarten stuff the
handwriting, the syllables,syllables or the tracing letters
(25:13):
and understanding letters andsounds.
My daughter now does that, soshe helps him and she does it as
a reward.
So I tell her, if you guys getit done, you basically get
something from the treasure box.
We have like a treasure box.
We have a sticker chart that ifthey fill up their sticker
chart she can pick like a playdate or go somewhere with me or
(25:34):
her dad and that's kind of howthey have incentives for helping
each other out.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Oh, I love that.
Okay, how do you make mealswork?
So if you're working a 10 hourday, what time do you go in in
the morning?
Speaker 2 (25:46):
So it just depends.
Like I said, I'm on a specialteam so I'm not clocking in at
like five in the morning, but alot of times once I hit the road
the clock starts for me.
So my day can start at aboutsix in the morning.
I'm usually home about four inthe afternoon and usually my
husband leaves for work when I'mgetting home and so then he
(26:07):
goes to work and he'll have thelunch done for the kids.
So the kids already had theirlunch and then I'll just work on
the dinner.
So when I get home, if theydon't have any activities going
on and I usually try to cram alltheir activities one day out of
the week, maybe two, dependingon what they have going on so
one day out of the week whichlet's say it'd be a Friday they
(26:28):
would do gymnastics, piano andswimming all three.
Yes, it's a busy day, but atleast I got their activities out
of the way and then maybe oneother day in the week they'll do
wrestling, because they also goto wrestling with my husband,
because my husband helps withthe high school, helps with the
kids, so his main job is thekids wrestling, teaching younger
(26:49):
kids to wrestle.
So my kids will go with myhusband to his gym and do
wrestling there, but we don't doit every day, so that's how
we're able to juggle some oftheir activities is that we try
to cram it all in one day.
That way we're not going everysingle day.
And then, when I get home,we're doing homeschooling and
(27:11):
I'm working on dinner, basically.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Now people are always worried and I kind of forget to
ask this question now that I'vetalked to so many homeschooling
families, because to me it isso arbitrary and silly to ask
about the socialization.
But you said that you are in aremote area.
You know you have all the kids.
Do you feel like your kids arewell socialized?
I mean, you're also out inpublic, so you have a different
perspective than a lot ofhomeschooling moms who are just
(27:34):
like I've always been a stay athome mom, I was homeschooled
myself and live sort of like thesheltered life where they do
know that that is better thanthe alternative.
But you are seeing this sort oflike this is the real world and
what happens on the streets andchoosing this as the
alternative because you knowthis is like what you see.
You don't have to guess.
(27:54):
So I guess where was I goingwith this, the question being
like do you feel that your kidsare socialized enough?
And when you actually look atwhat socialization means in
today's standards, is it justsilly?
Speaker 2 (28:05):
It's actually very silly because I feel like my
kids have more social time thanI ever had.
As a kid and I was a publicschool kid I was dropped off at
a school because it was adaycare for my parents.
Let's be honest, my parentsworked really really hard long
days.
I still have a greatrelationship with my parents,
but my parents, no matter howsick I was if you know, I was
coughing up a storm they wouldstill drop me off at school
(28:26):
because who's going to watch me?
They had to go to work.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
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
(28:50):
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
(29:10):
education.
It's about getting what youwant out of each day, not what
somebody else wants out of you.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
You can grab the link to this ebook in the show's
description or head on over tothehomeschoolhowtocom.
Only social time was at school,which was a couple recess that
I guess we would get, and thatwas it.
And with my kids they have alltheir activities that they go to
.
They make their all their ownfriends at these activities and
on top of that we have a co-opgroup from the local city where
(29:49):
it's about 30 minutes from mytown, and then from my town I
have our own homeschoolinggroups.
So we have this co-op groupthat we're on like a mom group
chat.
There's like 14 moms, probablyabout 28 kids, and we always
send out text messages like hey,we're going to this event,
we're going to check out thisscience museum, and we always
(30:11):
send out these text messages andwho can go goes, who can't,
they'll say we'll go next time.
So it ends up always being atleast 10 to 15 kids that show up
.
So we do that usually on everytwo week basis where we try to
meet up with some of thehomeschooling kids that are in
the local area and we all havesuch a great relationship we
(30:34):
just started building.
It was probably like a group offive moms that turned into
eight moms to 10 moms andeverybody starts bringing their
friend, who's their friend thathas the same like-minded beliefs
, and it turned into like 14moms.
And now we just all try to gettogether.
Whether it's a park day, a poolday, concert in the park day,
(30:55):
like there's so many things thatall try to get together.
Whether it's a park day, a poolday, concert in the park day,
like there's so many things thatwe try to do together that we
make it a point to make sure wetry to make time for that.
Now, that's a big thing.
People are like well, I don'thave time for all that.
Yes, you do, you have time,depending on how much you're
willing to sacrifice of your ownpersonal time.
I don't watch TV, I don't sitaround, you know, at a med spa
(31:17):
You're never going to see megetting, you know, my hair done
every two weeks.
It's just not my style.
And right now my priorities aremy kids and my husband and our
ranch.
And, like I said, I love my job, but that's just to provide for
my family, because my priorityis not my job.
But that's just to provide formy family, because my priority
is not my job, it is my family,raising my kids to be God loving
(31:43):
kids and being kind to otherkids and just being helpful.
You know, in every aspect asthey can in life, especially in
our neighborhood, the way we'reraising our kids is we want them
to be ranch hands.
We want them to help theelderlies that live in our area.
Like, hey, we'll take care ofyour horses, you know, for a
very low fee.
And that's what you know we'regoing to try to implement as our
kids get older, to start Excuseme, to start dropping off like
(32:04):
business cards that they'regoing to make and say, hey, I'll
help your horses, I'll clean upafter your animals, and that's
how they'll start making theirown money.
So that's how we're going toteach our kids.
We don't talk about college.
We don't talk about you need tohave a career.
You need to.
You know, as soon as you'redone with high school, what are
you going to do for college?
We don't even bring that up.
That's not even a topic ofdiscussion in our house.
(32:26):
It is how are you going to be agood person and how are, as you
get older, going to help ourcommunity and how are you going
to earn some money by doing whatyou love, which is take care of
the local animals, basically,and that's.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
You're right, that is science, but that's huge.
I did not learn anything aboutthat in school.
I went to public school as welland it's crazy like moving out
to the country where my husbandlived.
He already had a house here,luckily, because if I had any
say in it, I probably would bein the city.
Yeah, I hated it when I movedhere, but I have grown to love
(33:01):
it.
I mean, I thank God.
Every day I'm like I don't knowhow you knew to put me here in
this like country across from adairy farm and the backyard is a
mountain.
But it's like wow, this isthank you, because this is
perfect.
This is exactly what I neededto.
You know, homeschool my kid andkind of, and I'm learning.
I'm learning how to take careof chickens.
I'm learning how to grow agarden.
(33:22):
I didn't learn any of that inschool.
Bugs, like you said oh, what'sthis bug?
I don't know.
We all this spring was so coolbecause we were like let's find
out about birds.
And we put up some bird feedersand we got the Merlin app that
listens to the birds saying andthen tells you which one it is.
And then we look at the birdfeeder and like, oh yep, there's
that bird, and pull it up onthe computer and this is what
(33:43):
it's called and this is thepictures we can like, keep track
of it and like that's just,that's like real world stuff.
These birds are around you allday, every day.
I never knew what a single oneof them was called.
Around you all day, every day.
I never knew what a single oneof them was called, except like
a cardinal, you know, because weall know that.
But it's really cool, like whenI think about the science that
they taught me, like no, I don'tremember any of that.
I don't remember any of thehistory, like you said, until
(34:04):
it's relevant in your life, youreally have no need to know what
every president was, you knowand what they did.
But yet, like I love with theTuttle Twins, like you were
saying, they bring up things,like they start off their
history books talking about theSilk Road and even though it's
American history, they're likewe're telling you about the Silk
Road because this is how tradehappened initially, you know, in
China, trading on the Silk Road, and then they bring it to this
(34:28):
is how America became Americaand I'm like, wow, I never
thought of it in those terms,like what a cool way to like
bring that concept together andmake it relevant to like.
I don't know just how we liveour life now and why America is
different than a lot of otherplaces.
I just love your story becauseI love that you, just you don't
have a worry like am I teachingthem enough?
(34:49):
Am I not like I?
You know that you are, becauseyou're going to teach them how
to take care of animals, which,in turn, takes care of us.
Because if you have to raise acow so that you have meat, you
know, or dairy, you can do that.
Your kids can do that and learnhow to start a business by
making the business cards andmarketing yourself to the people
that have a need for somethingyou can do, and that's all kids
(35:12):
really need we don't have toworry about.
Did you cover nine subjectstoday, 42 minutes each?
And, you know, did they dotheir homework?
It's just.
It is so crazy when you thinkabout it, but it all makes sense
when you think back to how theycreated the education system
the way it is today, so thatthey could make the obedient
workers to have those factoryworkers to do the jobs that they
(35:34):
didn't want to do.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Right.
It's funny because when I go towork sometimes and I explain to
people that I homeschool mykids, everybody literally is
like how, how do you do it?
And it's one of those thingswhere you can't really like
school.
It's not an outline that sayshere you go, this is how you do
it, you.
You have such a unique childand every child is so different
(35:57):
that I couldn't tell you how tohomeschool your child.
Because my seven-year-old hewakes up at six, 30 in the
morning and if I'm off he's likeMom, I'm ready to homeschool.
So he wants to get it donefirst thing in the morning so he
can go play the rest of thetime.
And then there's my nine yearold daughter who's like let's, I
just woke up, let me go outsidewith the animals, and around
(36:18):
10am it's when she's like okay,I'm ready to homeschool.
And my five year old he'salways like I'm still playing,
I'll tell you when I'm ready tohomeschool.
He's my little, my wild childhardhead.
And so I just kind of work withhim and I'm like okay, if you
don't hurry up and get tohomeschooling, you're not going
to get.
You know, whatever the rewardis for the day and usually it'd
(36:38):
be like a treat, or they get topick an ice cream later for the
day.
But I can't tell anybody how tohomeschool their child because
every child is so different.
Which leads me to how does oneteacher get assigned 30 kids and
expect them all to learn theexact same way?
My seven-year-old likes tohomeschool standing up.
My daughter likes to read herbooks, first her chapter books,
(37:02):
and then get to writing.
She loves to do her handwriting, her books first, her drawing,
her journals first, and then themath and the harder subjects.
But everybody, all my kids, arefrom the same parents, grew up
kind of the same way, yet theyhomeschool so different.
And some days myseven-year-old's like I just
(37:23):
don't feel like doing it today,and instead of arguing with him
about it and now we're bumpingheads I'm like okay, we'll do it
tomorrow, that's fine, we'lljust do it tomorrow, because
what's the point of arguing withhim Now?
He's not going to learn.
Now, I'm frustrated, he'sfrustrated, we're both
frustrated.
So I just say forget it, we'renot doing it today, then, and
(37:51):
that doesn that.
He is, you know, pushing backfrom doing it.
For the most part he's like allright, let's get this over with
, so I have more time to play,and it's just one of those
things where you you only youknow how your child is.
And so when a lot of people Ialways try to plant the seed at
work with a lot of moms that aredeputies.
They all work full time.
Most of them their husbands arealso a deputy, so their
schedules all over over theplace they, you know, they're
constantly changing positions,so now they're back on graveyard
shift and so it's really hardfor them.
(38:13):
But even then I still try toplant that seed and they're like
you know what?
I'm going to try it, I'm goingto try it, we'll make it work.
And now I'm having a lot ofmore female deputies who, same
thing they started their careerwhere I'm a career woman.
This is all I want.
Then they start having theirbabies and they're like just
kidding, maybe this isn't what Iwant.
I want to raise my babies.
(38:33):
Well, instead of making work mypriority, which is what work
wants us to do, they want us tomake work the priority.
They make it seem like theywant you to focus on your family
and this and that, but that'snot the case.
Right now, our department isbasically making some of our
deputies work up to 15additional shifts a month on top
(38:54):
of their 40 hours a week,because we're so understaffed.
So these kids are fallingasleep behind the wheel.
They're not even going homeanymore, they're sleeping in
their cars because they have tobe back to work within the next
six hours.
You know that starts taking atoll on your family and your
children and your you know yourspouses and so a lot of our
female deputies.
(39:14):
As soon as they're having kids,they're actually quitting the
department because they want tobe stay-at-home moms.
This idea, this indoctrinationthat they told us feminism you
can do it all.
You don't need a husband inyour life.
You can do everything without ahusband.
And then you have a husband andyou end up having kids.
You're like but I do want this.
This is what I was created todo.
(39:36):
I was created to be a wife anda mom, not a career woman.
And a lot of them end upquitting and they'll call me and
they'll ask me, because a lotof these were my students when I
was a drill instructor for thesheriff's department.
They'll call me like ma'am, Ithink I'm going to quit.
You should.
If your husband is on board andhe can support the family, you
100 percent should quit, becauseyour kids should be your number
(39:59):
one priority.
And now I have those same moms.
Now they're like I'm going tohomeschool and I'm so excited
for them, homeschool and I'm soexcited for them, and it's just
I feel like maybe this was, youknow, god put me in this
position, in this place for areason, so I can encourage moms
to take back control of theirown kids and being able to be
stay-at-home moms, to be able toraise their kids right and
(40:20):
teach them the way they want toteach their kids.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
I love that and I'm with you.
I worked for the government for16 years.
I never, never thought I wouldleave.
I climbed my way up too and waslike, yeah, I don't even need
another promotion, I'm good atthis level until I retire.
And yeah, it was like when theywere masking because New York,
(40:43):
where I am, was pretty much thesame as where you are in
California they were maskingthree-year-olds in daycare and
I'm like, well, no, we go to aprivate daycare, but it doesn't
matter, because they followedthe state rules and they were
going to mask my son, and myhusband and I were like, no,
he's learning speech, he'slearning by looking at people
and seeing how they form wordsand the smiles that's a lot of.
(41:07):
They talk about socialemotional learning right now.
It's like who cared aboutsocial emotional learning when
they were telling you to put amask on everybody?
You can't even see a smile, afrown.
You know like that's importantto see that.
But yeah, I ended up leaving andI didn't have to quit my job.
I could have definitely madeworking and homeschooling work,
but I think I was at the point,too, where I just looked around
(41:28):
at the people around me and I'mlike I've changed so much and
these people are still, I feel,like in a matrix and I've
stepped out of it and I don'teven feel like I can conversate
with them anymore.
Like I feel like I have to besomebody, fake, just to be there
all day long and sit in acubicle, where I was like I want
to teach my kids, I want to beoutside, I want to learn in
(41:50):
nature.
I don't want to sit in acubicle anymore, but luckily,
yeah, my husband was in aposition where he could take on
overtime as much as he wants.
So we we do make it work.
It's not like the podcast bringsin any money, but it's fun, and
it's fun for me to learn thisstuff.
But, yeah, I agree with you100%.
I fell for that.
The whole like watching Sex andthe City and watching Friends
(42:13):
and like yeah, who's?
the man.
I just want my own money and dowhat I want and travel and
drink.
No, I think like watching thelittle things that my kids do is
way more fulfilling in lifethan any happy hour or all
inclusive resort could be Rightand you know what it's all by
(42:34):
design.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
You know all these shows growing up with, all these
shows where, oh, look at allthese women.
You know they don't.
They don't have husbands, theydon't have spouses, they're all.
They all work and show up lateand you know they're successful.
But what is success?
Success should be what youcreate at home.
That should be your success,not a job that's going to forget
(42:56):
about you as soon as you retire.
I'm sure when you left your jobthey weren't calling you, saying
how are you doing?
You know we really miss you.
They replaced you before youeven left your spot, you know,
like you hadn't cleaned out yourdesk and they already had
somebody filling in your spot.
And that's what I try to tell alot of people that I work with.
I'm like don't let this job beyour priority, because they will
(43:18):
not care about you when youretire.
I have 19 years on, as of likenext week, and I'm the
breadwinner, or else I wish Icould quit my job.
But I am the breadwinner andobviously in California you
almost have to have both parentswork and, in essence, to make
it work right, because it's soexpensive here, and so, at 25
years.
I am so done.
(43:38):
I'm retiring.
My goal to supplement whateverI'm not bringing in anymore will
be to start a day camp, ranchschool for kids, for city kids,
because a lot of city kids can'tget the country.
You know life and aspects ofthings, and I'm going to teach
them how to ferment stuff, makesourdough, how to just take care
(43:59):
of animals, how to milk thegoats and how to take care of
the baby animals and I'm evengoing to allow them to bring
their own chicken that you knowcan start from a baby and they
can raise it at our farm andthey can choose to either leave
it or take it home with themonce the summer camp or fall
camp, depending on the weather.
So I'm thinking of havingsummer camps, fall camps, spring
(44:21):
camps not winter because itsnows in my area but have these
camps for kids and hey, if theparents use that as a daycare,
then sure I'll be able to raiseyour babies the way I would
raise my own kids and it'd befun for my kids, because now my
kids have all their friends nowthat are coming and my point is,
when I retire my daughter willbe old enough to where she will
(44:42):
run the ranch school.
I'll just be kind of the behindthe scenes doing the scheduling
, all that other stuff.
But my daughter, it will be theone to run the ranch school and
I hope and pray that it blowsup and she ends up making that.
You know, her career and that'swhat she does is just teach
little kids about ranch schooland that's what you know she
(45:03):
ends up staying to and focusingon.
I just tell my daughter I justhope and pray that you just meet
a good man and he takes care ofyou and he wants the same life
that we have provided for youguys and they enjoy it, they
love it.
My kids have never said, becausewe did leave the big city for
this town, and they've neversaid we miss the big city, we
(45:24):
miss the noise, we miss being ontop of each other in these
cookie cutter neighborhood.
No, they don't.
They love the freedom.
I'll be cooking and I'll lookout and wonder.
I haven't seen my five-year-oldin like the last two hours.
So I'll go outside and I'llstart calling his name and he'll
be in the corner somewheremaking some hole because he's
building something out of mud.
(45:45):
And that's the beauty of havingthese kind of properties and
you don't need to be amillionaire, it doesn't cost
that much.
You just go in the middle ofnowhere, find a nice little
property and you just slowlybuild it how you want it to be.
And that's what we've done andwe've loved it.
And yes, I have to commute farfor that.
But that's the sacrifice I willdo for my kids to have this
(46:07):
kind of life.
Speaker 1 (46:09):
Amber.
I love that.
Is there anything else?
I mean, that was just said sobeautifully.
Any other point, though thatyou wanted to drive home before
we close up for the hour, thatyou really want to let parents
know about Anything you thoughtabout before coming on the
podcast that you really wantparents to know.
Speaker 2 (46:25):
Honestly, I just want people to really focus on not
the excuses of why they can't,but try to focus on why they
should, why they shouldhomeschool their kids.
And when people start thinking,well, I couldn't because of A,
b and C, well, we can all havethose excuses, but you should
(46:45):
really start writing down whatwould be all the pros if I did
homeschool my kids, and Ihonestly feel like people would
have a lot more pros than theywould have cons, and it would be
scary for a lot of parentsbecause now they're going to
have to sit back and say, wow,maybe I do need to homeschool my
kids and that's going to be aleap of faith that they'll have
(47:06):
to wrestle with.
And I know a lot of times notboth spouses are on the same
page, but I think if one personwho wants to homeschool really
starts explaining how it's goingto be and the benefits that
it's going to be for theirchildren and their family, then
I feel like that alone will lettheir spouse who's not on board
(47:27):
start rethinking.
Okay, maybe we should considerhomeschooling and honestly, I
just feel like there's so manyresources out there now that
it's almost impossible to makeit hard.
Everything is a homeschoolingcurriculum.
You can Google anything.
You can find it anywhere.
Look, there's podcasts that cantell you how people do it, and
(47:48):
really there is no excuse.
Just take the leap of faith.
Just do it and you will neverregret it.
Now, when I think about it, I'mlike I could never.
I could never go back at theidea of sending my kids to this
crowded 500 kids school inelementary where my child has to
(48:09):
wrestle for the teacher'sattention because she doesn't
understand something.
And then the teacher is goingto call me the next day and
telling me my daughter's notpaying attention or whatever the
case may be, because she's solost and confused.
And now I'm not there to seewhat happened.
But now I'm going to yell at mydaughter for disrespecting the
teacher.
Right, and it's just why.
Why do that to your kids?
Only you should be the one totell your kids how they're going
(48:32):
to learn something, or be ableto explain to them how to do
something, not some teacher thatknows nothing about your child.
And that's just my thing.
I just hope that this podcasthelps people that are working
parents.
Myself, my husband, I have todrive far for work, but we make
it work.
We make it work because we wantthe best for our kids and we
(48:54):
want to make sure that we knowexactly what our kids are
learning.
And you can't put a price withhow much time you get to spend
with them.
I spend so much time, evenworking four days a week.
I spend so much time with mykids, I am with them so much and
I enjoy it.
I truly enjoy it.
I never feel like, oh, I can'twait to go back to work so I
(49:16):
could get away from my kids.
No, I can't wait to get home soI could be with my kids.
And my daughter always calls mewhen I'm at work.
We have like a little landlineat home and she'll call me and
tell me well, when are youcoming home?
And I'm like, I know I can'twait to come home.
So it's, you will never regrethomeschooling your kids.
That's really all I can say.
Speaker 1 (49:35):
Absolutely On your deathbed.
You're never going to say Iwish I spent less time with my
kids.
Exactly, Exactly.
Amber, this has been such atreat to talk to you today.
I love your perspective.
I think this really gaveparents that nudge to like OK,
we could try it.
What's the worst, you send themback to school.
I mean, you can always do that,so it's not a forever thing.
(49:56):
Is there any like social mediahandles or anything that you
want people to find?
Speaker 2 (50:00):
you on Find me at the Promised Land Ranch on
Instagram.
If you look up the promisedland ranch, that's my Instagram
page.
And if people want to send me adirect message because there
are law enforcement in otherstates and they have questions,
or there are law enforcement inCalifornia and they have
questions, you could alwaysreach out to me and I am more
than willing to help you as muchas I can.
Speaker 1 (50:21):
And I can.
I can link that in the show'sdescription too, if you'd like
so.
Thank you so much, amber, andgood luck Thank you.
Speaker 2 (50:26):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (50:27):
Thank you so much.
Thank you for the work.
Yeah, thank you for the workthat you do, thank you, thank
you.
Thank you for tuning into thisweek'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.
(50:48):
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
appreciated.
Thank you for tuning in and foryour love of the next
generation.
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