March 30, 2024 • 47 mins
As I sat listening to Jen's heart-wrenching story of the battle with her school district over the health of her daughter, who has a rare genetic disorder, I was struck by the sheer determination that this momma has to protect her kids. Would we all do the same? The fabric of our educational systems is tested when their intentions clash with the complex needs of our children.
In a riveting chapter of today's narrative, we expose the intimidating battle one family fought against their school district, standing their ground on truancy charges to protect their daughter's health and educational rights. From the school ignoring doctor's orders, to claiming they have the right to deny a letter of intent to homeschool, it has never been more clear that we, as parents, need to know our rights. These tales of resilience shine a light on the oft-overlooked courage parents must summon to navigate the bureaucratic labyrinth and ensure our child's well-being against those who deem themselves as "authority."
Wrapping up our journey, we explore the intricate dance between parenting, politics, and education, an intersection that has taken on new complexities in the wake of a global pandemic. As we reflect on the evolving landscape of education, civil liberties, and the values that underpin them, I invite you to join us in considering the empowerment and responsibility homeschooling entails in these transformative times.
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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 wehave Jen from A Traveling RV,
which is so cool and originallyfrom Ohio.
Jen, thank you for being heretoday.
Yes, thank you for having me.
So I just want to like prefaceit by kind of telling people how
(00:46):
I reach out for guests.
Some people contact me becausethey're homeschoolers and they,
you know, are trying to likemarket a product that they came
up with.
So they'll reach out to ask ifthey can come on and talk about
homeschooling and their products.
Other times people heard me onSam Tripoli's tinfoil hat and
were like, hey, I'd love to comeon and talk about homeschooling
.
But then other times I justthink of things that I want to
(01:07):
talk about and so I findFacebook groups that are
homeschooling and ask, hey,these are the topics I want to
cover.
Who can help me out with thisand you came into the comments
with an interesting story thatI'm kind of excited to hear
about and a little nervous aboutan intimidation factor that
happened for you with the school.
So before we get started withthat, how many kids do you have
(01:29):
and how long have you beenhomeschooling?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
So we have three at home.
One is four, so she's not andthen we have a nine-year-old and
a 16-year-old, and we beganhomeschooling in 2020, when I
think a lot of us realized thatsomething a little bit crazy was
going on in our school that wewere not aware of before.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
And now is that why you are kind of traveling around
in an RV as part of yourhomeschooling, or is there more
to that?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
So that definitely helped propel both situations.
At first I started talkingabout the RV, you know, and you
have to give your husband oryour partner a good couple
months to process what you'retalking about when it's
something so off the wall.
So that happened.
And then I think, like twomonths later, is when we decided
(02:23):
to do the homeschooling routeand we began with just Paisley,
which is our nine-year-old, butthen William, our 16-year-old,
also started as well.
Once we get into the story ofthat, it will make more sense.
And then, you know, my husbandstarted a traveling position, so
now we're able to travel todifferent states and homeschool
(02:44):
and it's been great.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
So do you visit different things along the way?
Is that part of yourhomeschooling thing?
Where can we?
What national parks or museumsor historic events can we visit
along the way?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
So, because it happened so quickly from when my
husband interviewed to when hestarted his job, there was I
think it was 14 days, maybe 15,that they wanted us to wrap
everything up and make it acrosscountry to Colorado in our RV
with our family.
And so, although we lived in ahome that travels, it isn't
(03:19):
necessarily as easy as like, oh,just packing it up.
Packing in general when you'rea parent is exhausting, right.
So it's like that.
It's a little bit worsesometimes.
So we initially just drove andwe had such a limited time to
get here, but we left our RVback in Ohio, drove across the
(03:40):
country, rv back in Ohio, droveacross the country essentially,
and then after a month or so, myhusband flew back and drove
back with his father Movingforward.
That's what we will do.
When we know that we're goingto a different location, we'll
be able to map it out and saylike, okay, we want to hit these
(04:07):
states or you know, but evenwhile we're here, we try once a
month to set something that isdifferent or unique to where we
are and make that happen for ourfamily.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
yeah, that's so true, because we went on a play date
this morning and I only have thetwo kids and it was like three
huge bags of things and a bikeon the bike rack like just to go
for like a three hour play date.
It took multiple trips to thecar, so I I can definitely
understand how it would be hardto travel around, even if you
(04:32):
are in an RV.
So why don't we go into what?
What happened with, like, theschool trying to intimidate you
about wanting to homeschool yourchildren?
Speaker 2 (04:42):
So I guess, a little backstory.
On Paisley again, ournine-year-old.
She has a rare genetic disorder.
She was number 527 years tohave been diagnosed and the
symptoms are many movementdisorder, muscle disorder, and
the only way to control herdisease is to be on the medical
(05:06):
ketogenic diet.
So not like the fad diet.
It's very specific.
We have to put everything intoa calculator, it has to hit
eight different ratios, you haveto weigh out every individual
item and she has to consume 100%of those within 30 minutes.
So no wait, what was thiscalled?
Yeah, so her disease is calledglucose transporter deficiency
(05:28):
syndrome.
It's GLUT1 for short, but ithas nothing to do with gluten.
So her brain is essentiallyallergic to sugar.
So we have to starve her brainof sugar and force it to use fat
to run correctly.
So because of ketogenic dietwe've been able to control her
seizures for years.
(05:50):
We've only had twobreakthroughs in eight and a
half years.
With that being said, obviouslywe have to be very careful at
school.
You know she can't eat anything.
We have to make and send heritems she has to make, they have
to make sure that she'sconsuming all of her food, and
so on.
So when COVID started, I knowthe first year was kind of you
(06:13):
know a lot of online things, butwhen they went to go back, they
she had had a note from herdoctor that she was not allowed
wearing a mask for multiplereasons.
She has seizures and she has aspeech disorder, correct?
So she comes home one day wefind a mask.
She starts crying, saying theytold me not to tell you.
(06:36):
So I do a FOIA request askingfor all communications and the
nurse, you know, just in general, and I get the FOIA, which is
the Freedom of Information Act,which you're able to do.
So I get the communicationsback and there's an email from
the nurse the nurse at thatschool that is bragging about
(07:00):
how they make Paisley wear amask and for her to lie to us
about it.
So if I have to have so muchtrust in other people that you
are not going to give mydaughter something that could
kill her or be deadly or giveher seizures so bad that could
(07:22):
impact the rest of her life,like, how do I have that kind of
trust in you If you can't evenfollow a doctor's, a doctor's
note, right?
So obviously that was themoment that I'm like and we're
out, I'm done.
This is insane, like I.
At this point, I feel likewe're putting her at risk to
(07:44):
send her to school, so I go herOhio.
You have to do your notificationof intent and this was in 2021,
I believe at um like March of2021.
So the laws have actuallychanged now what you legally
have to do.
But at the time you had to getyour notification of intent, a
(08:06):
copy of your curriculum and anymaterials that you would use and
then send it to thesuperintendent of the school.
That's what you legally have todo.
Now you know, depending onwhere you are in your
homeschooling journey, you willunderstand the difference
between legally and what theschool tries to tell you that
(08:27):
you have to do, right.
So I legally did what I wasrequired to do.
I sent in the notification andthe curriculum and I sent it to
the superintendent via email.
They do recommend that you mailit just so that, like certified
(08:48):
mail, just so you have thatcopy.
But the superintendentresponded to me and thanked me
and said if we had any questionsmoving forward, to let him know
.
So we just go on with our life.
I start receiving phone callsevery day, emails from the
teachers and the principal andthey're telling me that
(09:13):
Paisley's still enrolled, Ididn't do what I legally had to
do.
I legally had to send it to theBoard of Education and they had
to approve her homeschooling.
And I kindly told them that perthe law nobody is approving
anything, that I am the parent.
I have the right.
(09:34):
I did what was legally required.
So I'll stop there for a second, just in case you have any
questions.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
I just I mean and you're right when you said,
depending on where you are inthe homeschooling journey so I
think to direct people to HSLDAI believe I have the acronyms
correctly that tells you whatyour laws are in each state.
It is so important to know whatyour laws are.
I mean, wow, I can't imagine,like how intimidating that is,
(10:01):
just alone right there.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Well, and I think that is the point, thankfully,
because I had to have mydaughter diagnosed with rare
disease.
Intimidation does not comeeasily to me.
You know.
When she was diagnosed, after ayear of fighting for her and
her doctor telling me that I wasessentially being dramatic, in
(10:25):
kinder words I told my grandmaat the time I said well, now we
know why God made me a bossyperson, you know so.
So, yeah, so I send everythingin.
They're still contacting me.
They're telling me that she'struant.
I also will add that she hadanother note, another doctor's
(10:45):
note on file, that she wouldhave excessive absences because
of her disease.
So the truant thing wasn'treally possible, but whatever.
So then I get a letter from thecourts for truancy.
They call the courts.
(11:07):
I tell the lady who was so kind, excuse me, so kind, what was
happening, explain the situation, and she said unfortunately,
(11:30):
this happens far more than youwould ever want to know.
She said, if you bringeverything that you filed, the
judge will pretty much justdismiss this case.
So I, okay.
So the next week we have courton Thursday, tuesday morning,
and I'll add a little bit ofpersonal information and just as
(11:50):
like another part of it,because so our door was open,
like our screen door was shut,but our door was open because
our youngest, who I mentionedbefore, is four now we we had
her through the kinship careprogram so we had custody of her
.
Like, if we hadn't stepped inshe would have gone into foster
(12:13):
care.
But kinship is like the familyversion of foster care.
So the caseworker was comingthat day for a visit.
So that is why my door is open.
We're just waiting for that.
You know, they have to come fortheir monthly visits just to
make sure everything's okay.
And we had just filed forcustody of her.
(12:37):
So all of a sudden my door likemy dog, who is a massive, like
80-pound dog, runs out the doorand a guy like slams him in the
door and I'm like what is evenhappening right now?
So I walk down, mind you, okay.
So this is Tuesday and thenagain we have court for the
(12:59):
truants on Thursday.
On Thursday, so I go down andit's three district members with
the principal, who I hadalready had not kind words with.
It is two other employees fromthe district office and they say
(13:20):
oh, we're here to give you thepaperwork for Paisley's IEP
meeting.
And I'm like you guys, I'vespoken to you like you're well
aware, she is no longer enrolledin school, we're not doing an
IEP meeting, this like whatever.
So then they're like no, no, no, she's still enrolled.
(13:40):
You haven't sent anything in.
So I my phone, I open it up,show them the email from the
superintendent to thesuperintendent with his reply,
and I'm like there you go,there's your confirmation.
Well, that's not, that's notthe form that you have to use.
So in the paperwork that theybrought me with the IEP meeting
(14:04):
they included the forms fornotification of homeschool.
So I brought them out and Ishowed them the two and they
were the same.
So then it came and she said,well, she's already truant.
And I said, well, she's not,she has the doctor's note on
(14:24):
file, so she's not truant.
Like she can have excessiveabsences, even if it happens
Like she's had them this week,like she's been hospitalized
where it's been, you know, 12days in the hospital.
So anyways, the principal atthis time she goes well, I
(14:46):
rejected that doctor's note.
So she isn't.
So she is Truett.
So she, the principal, tells methat she rejects the doctor's
note saying Paisley will haveobsessive absences because of
her disease, including seizures.
Tells me that she rejected it.
So I obviously again, probablynot so completely.
(15:10):
This is about like a 20, 25minute conversation of them just
trying to lie, trying tointimidate me, trying to make me
feel like I've done somethingwrong and thankfully, like, as I
said, I I'm not one.
I'm probably one of the worstones.
If you had to choose, like oh,let's choose a parent to to try
(15:33):
an intimacy, I'm not the one youwould put on the top of the
list.
So, um, but Pais had an IEP.
She had speech services, theirand physical therapy.
So they want to lose that money.
That's a lot of extra moneythat goes along with those
services.
(15:54):
So, anyways, I asked them tokindly leave.
I tell them.
I said, as they're leaving, I'm.
I don't even understand why youguys would do this.
We have court this week.
You would have been proven thatshe is unenrolled.
And the gentleman says well, Isaid I've talked to everybody.
(16:16):
I've talked to lawyers.
I've talked to the HS I'll letyou see the acronyms again I've
talked to them, I've talked toeverybody.
Yeah, hs, yes, I did everythinglegally required.
And he said well, best luck toyou.
You might have talked to alawyer, but we have what are
called prosecutors.
So they left.
Um CPS came the caseworker andI was a mess and thankfully she
(16:42):
was aware of what was going onand it had zero effect on
anything.
But I called the superintendentimmediately, asked Lee like
excuse me, what is happening?
And within two hours of thatphone call I finally got an
email with Paisley's withdrawalattached, saying that they
(17:08):
approved her withdrawal.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
So then did you still have to go to court?
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Nope.
They dropped everything.
You know how, like, when you doyour notification, they have, I
believe, maybe six weeks tosend you back the like I want to
say approval, but also like youdon't need their approval that
(17:34):
they received your notificationand they're removing them from.
We've received it.
Yeah, right, so they accept it.
Well, they, nobody had sent methat letter, right, so the
acceptance.
Well, nobody had sent me thatletter.
So they kept trying to play thegame because they hadn't had
anybody send the letter.
Yet.
I don't care if you send theletter or not, that doesn't make
(17:57):
what you're doing any morelegal.
So, yeah, it was pretty tellingthat again, within two hours
max, probably sooner of metalking to the superintendent,
the case was dropped, thetruancy case was dropped and I
received Paisley's letter withinthat time.
(18:20):
So to add on to that, obviouslyat that point I'm like there's
not a chance in God's greenearth that my, any of my
children are going to the schooldistrict because y'all have
lost your mind.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
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Speaker 2 (20:30):
So that night I prepared Williams, my 16 year
old.
I prepared his notification andcurriculum, emailed again to
the superintendent and receivedhis acceptance of that within, I
would say, four hours ofsending that I mean, and I know
you said that it had to do withfunding, but it's like this
(20:53):
isn't a private company.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Okay, these people work for, like the, the school
system.
Their paycheck is the same,like no matter what, if your
daughter gets her servicesthrough there or is enrolled
there or not.
Like their salary isn'tchanging.
So it's just so crazy to me tothink that, like these people
are coming down like we need themoney, you must go intimidate
(21:18):
the mom.
Or is it like our numberslooking that bad for schools
that they're like we can't loseone more?
Or you know what I mean.
It's like who cares thatschools that they're like we
can't lose one more?
Or you know what I mean it'slike who cares that much that
they're like you cannot makedecisions for your child.
You know, I maybe in asituation where you think the
child is like really gettingabused, but in that case you
would turn it over toauthorities like police or child
(21:42):
or CPS.
You wouldn't go intimidate themyourself.
So it just doesn't make senseto me that schools, like the
people that work at the schools,these government workers or
state workers, care that much.
Why is it, do you think?
Speaker 2 (21:53):
well, and there have been.
There was something and I can'tremember.
They did bring CPS up at 1-8,and I'm like I absolutely dare
you, like.
You went across that line,buddy, and had it not been for
us going through the legal caseto get full legal custody of our
(22:16):
now four-year-old, of our nowfour-year-old, I would have gone
as hard as I could againstsuing the school in every
capacity because they, they, butI couldn't handle it.
I was like you know what?
I'm just I'm done, I'm, I'm,we're safe and that's it.
I think that there's a fewreasons.
(22:40):
I think that the showing up ofthe district members kind of
helps the case of like the money, because why on earth would two
other members from the districtoffice show up?
I also think that there was apower struggle.
That principal did not like me.
(23:01):
She didn't like not having thatpower.
She didn't like that I knew thelaw.
She didn't like that.
She could not control me.
And it's terrifying.
But again you have a nurse, anurse saying she does not care
what a doctor says about a child, a rare disease, so so much so
(23:26):
he's willing to harm her.
Like what if that putting thatmask on, I mean it obviously has
so many effects as it is, butwhat if it had caused her to
have a seizure per se, like Imean, there's just such an
(23:46):
ideology.
And it was not like we did notlive in like a liberal or
democratic area.
We were in a very conservativeschool district where it was
like 70, 80 percent conservative.
So you know you have peoplethat think like, oh, it won't
happen in my area.
Well then, you're not payingattention to what is happening.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
That is so true, because I'm in New York and we
talk all the time about like, oh, we could move to Tennessee or
move to Florida, but it's likeyou know.
But who's to say that that'snot?
It's not exactly like electionsare fair.
So who's to say that the personwe would want would win there
or be in charge?
You know, and you know thingscould easily change.
(24:31):
So what's the point in movingRight?
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Well, and cause.
We're in Colorado right now.
So coming from essentially ared state to a blue state was a
little bit terrifying for me oflike, oh my God it.
You know you hear like thetransgender things and what's
happening in in Colorado and thecrazy laws that are being
(24:56):
passed, but the homeschoolingcommunity in Colorado Springs
has been like 5,000 years aheadof conservative Ohio.
It gets.
It's been the opposite that youwould assume.
(25:18):
I don't think we're reallynecessarily safe anywhere
anymore.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Right, but just the fact of like, like the nurse not
going by either you know yourwishes which we knew in the
schools they weren't doinganyway, because the parents that
didn't want their kids masked,they were like, yeah, it doesn't
matter, they're, they'remasking here, even if there's no
science behind it, um, and it'san experimental, you know
process, but, or whatever theword is, but the fact that she
(25:46):
went against the doctor is like,so there, so any situation now
we cannot trust the care of ourchild with these people, and I
just shared something on myInstagram the other day that I
was listening to themacroaggressions podcast and
they had this woman on that wastalking about how there's a law
that is currently in effect,right now, that says that if
(26:08):
your child is in a daycare orschool setting and we are in an,
a state of emergency which theyhave declared for the for
climate change that we arecurrently in, that they it's
called the re uh reunificationact or something they can keep
(26:28):
your child and not give themback to you at the end of the
day.
And so, of course I I mean, Ilooked it up and it is a lot of
legal jargon.
This is what the woman saysthat this law means.
I I can see where, like theystart the law, the act, by
talking about illegal aliens.
But I can see where, along theline being my experience working
in the government, that thingsget changed.
(26:51):
You know, down the line to oh,let's take that word out and now
it is for the general public.
So it is really scary andthings.
Like you know the there was theschool shooting and, like you
know, parents weren't allowed toget in to get their kids and I
understand that there's reasonsfor that.
But it is just terrifying tothink I don't have control, like
(27:11):
it's my child, but people arein charge of what happens to
them and I'm not in charge.
That is such a terrifying likethought.
And even my nephew last yearlike he got in trouble at school
for having a cell phone out, sothey took away the cell phone.
They wouldn't give it back tohim until a parent came and got
it.
So he went home from schoolthat day and you know he could
(27:33):
have been home alone or whateverand needed the cell phone.
And I understand we didn't havecell phones for centuries, but
in his life that's all he knowshe didn't have it.
What if he had to call hismother for something and the
school is just saying, like thisis your property, you're not
getting it back until a parentcomes and even that is
overstepping, I can see takingit but you give it back to him
at the end of the day when heleaves your property.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Great Well, and we can use the argument that, yes,
we once lived without cellphones, but we had home phone,
and most people don't have homephones now.
So if you're taking somebody'scell phone, then they have no
way to communicate, so that'snot even a realistic yeah, what
(28:15):
if the house was on fire?
Speaker 1 (28:16):
or what if he broke his leg?
Speaker 2 (28:18):
yeah, needed to call, to call 911.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
I wasn't even thinking about that.
I was thinking about calling aparent.
You need to call 911.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Or even a parent.
We don't.
I mean, we live in an RV, buteven at our house we didn't have
a traditional phone so, or alandline.
We've had cell phone.
So prior to 2020, prior toCOVID, my husband and I were
completely and by completely Imean part of the problem, I
(28:47):
guess like had never registeredto vote, had never voted, just
believed our government caredfor us.
Makes me so insanely sick toeven think that I was so naively
ignorant.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
2020, you know I might have been worse because I
voted.
I voted for Hillary and Obama.
I was registered, but I votedfor Hillary and Obama.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Okay, so we're just as bad.
We're just as we're both partof the product.
But that's awesome.
I did not know that.
Not awesome that you did, butobviously that you, I'm assuming
, have woken up, like I have,right, and you didn't have trust
in the government.
You just probably thought itwas the Russian government that
was doing it and not ours.
(29:34):
But either way, just so,completely unaware, and you're
sending your kids and you thisis like, and I think our
education system is does this onpurpose.
But you, you just think thatthese people have your, your and
your children's best interestsat heart, that you know that
(29:55):
they care for them and obviouslythere there are good people in
any situation.
But they'll infiltrateeverywhere, including schools,
including preschools, and ifyou're not paying attention,
then your children are in dangerof these people.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Yeah, everything from the transgender stuff to just,
you know, confusing them anddepression and that sort of
thing.
And then you get the bullyingand the school shootings and
teaching history.
That isn't like leaving stuffout and leaving out cursive and
putting in other things.
Like you, you know, the umcritical race theory.
There's so much this wholeanti-American sentiment in the
(30:40):
schools that, yeah, there'sreally.
It's like.
I started out this podcast alittle bit over a year ago and
my first episode was why I wantto homeschool but also why I'm
afraid to homeschool.
After talking to homeschoolersfor a year, I'm like whoa, I
can't believe I would have sentthem there.
Like it's just grownexponentially the reasons to
(31:01):
homeschool.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Yeah, and I think that's even the concept of like,
like one of my best friendswill say.
She's like well, what do theydo, you know, all day?
How does he get a diploma?
And that seems crazy to herthat we only have to maybe an
hour, hour and a half ofschooling, that some days we
don't do schooling and thenother days we do three, four
(31:24):
hours.
When we first get to Coloradoand we stay at a hotel, we meet
a family from Sweden I hope itwas Sweden and then Europe, and
a lady that said she wasUkrainian, Russian.
So I obviously not asking forfurther details of what that
means in this time.
My children in that week gotmore of a history lesson from
(31:49):
these three individuals andfamilies than they would in two
years of sitting down being toldto read something.
So anyways, I say that withyeah, down being told to read
something.
So anyways, I say that withyeah.
For her it's crazy to look atours of our life and our
schedule and for me I'm like, doyou not think it's crazy that
(32:12):
we send our children to schoolfor eight hours a day, to sit at
a desk, to come home and dohours of homework?
That to me, now that I'moutside of that, I guess
societal norms and societalexpectations is insane, is
insane.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
I'm like that is not normal and yes, and they're not
coming out.
And I could say this for myselftoo.
I did not come out of 13 yearsof, you know, the regular high
school and all that, and thenfour years of college and I
still didn't have a clue what todo with my life, and neither do
my sister's kids that have allgraduated, you know, recently.
(32:54):
They are not preparing them forwhat jobs exist or what jobs
could exist for becomingentrepreneurs, you know,
starting their own businesses.
It's just okay, go out onto theworld like a little, um, those
video game characters, that thelemons or something.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Right, it's crazy, it's part, and they want that
right Government wants that todumb us down.
We don't think about history,we're not thinking about um,
because if you're just goingalong to get along, you're
complacent and you're not goingto fight back and you're not
going to speak up and just verylike mind-numbing.
Um, yeah, it's crazy to tothink about.
So even my son, he said, don't,don't, I have to go to college
(33:42):
to be an engineer.
And I'm like, oh well, becausehe, he's always wanted to be an
engineer.
But, um, and I'm not againstcollege for you know, nursing or
things, but I support more of atrade school, like we go and if
they have something like thatin those fields, like you can go
(34:05):
into nursing through like thetraditional college where it's
still the mumbo jumbo andeverything, or you can have like
more of the trade schoolnursing where it's just about
nursing.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
So that's the one where they go all into vaccines
and what's in them and why theywere created, right.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
No, I wish that was yeah, and that's another hard
part of having a child with arare disease, like.
I could go on for hours aboutthe medical community and the
worries that are happening there.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
But yeah, I was thinking that when you were
talking in the beginning of thepodcast as well, your eyes
probably got opened up initiallybecause you saw kind of the
glitches in the healthcaresystem, so that when COVID came
about you were like a little bitmore prepared, almost that like
, well, we can't just trustsomeone in a white coat.
(35:00):
They're telling you somethingthat someone above them told
them to tell me.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Right, I wish I could say that.
No, I, I think I was more whereyou were, although I had never
voted.
I got so ridiculous.
I remember doing a postspecifically about Bill Gates
and almost like writing for Bill, I guess, like, oh, do you
(35:30):
really think this person woulddo this?
Like you have all this moneyand just so, so unaware, and I
kind of would like to go backthere sometimes, right, because
once you realize how nefariousand evil things are, it's
(35:50):
exhausting.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
Yes, so you're that guy in the matrix that tries to
get back in the matrix.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Yeah, sometimes I would like to go back there just
for like a few weeks orsomething.
Like you just need a break fromit all because it is exhausting
.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
Are you trying to pick a curriculum but feel a
little overwhelmed at thevariety of options?
Me too.
I mean, how do you pick acurriculum when you don't know
what each one has to offer?
That's been my biggest problem.
Well, I am here to help.
I just launched a premiumcontent series, Psst.
That means it's $3 a month,which will just help cover the
cost of running the podcast.
(36:28):
In my curriculum series, Iinterview homeschooling students
and parents and curriculumcreators about specific
curriculum each week so that youcan take the guesswork out of
your curriculum choices.
I'll be asking questions likewhat does the day-to-day look
like with this curriculum?
What does it cover from abird's eye view?
How long does one lesson taketo complete?
How many lessons does thecurriculum contain and what does
(36:50):
it cost?
Did you have to order the bookor could you download them and
print them somewhere like yourlibrary?
Does this curriculum have a lotof games, writing or crafts, and
did your child enjoy thiscurriculum?
Can you do it with more thanone child at a time?
And if I did this curriculumwith my child, would I need to
add any sort of supplements toit?
These are all questions I'vehad while I search for the
(37:10):
perfect curriculum to suit myson's personality and my
expectations.
Let's face it there is no onecurriculum out there that will
work best for every child andadult, so I invite you to join
me in my search to find out whatevery curriculum has to offer,
so that you can feel confidentin your curriculum choices and
enjoy your homeschooling journeythat much more, Right where you
(37:31):
find all of the homeschoolhow-to podcast episodes, like
the two weeks to spread.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
I was kind of like, okay, you know, we had just
taken in our daughter at 10 daysold and I think like three
weeks later everything shut down.
I have a daughter with a raredisease.
I don't even know that I'dheard the word pandemic before,
maybe in like fourth grade orsomething like it wasn't on my
radar.
(38:07):
So I was definitely, but I wasa stay at home mom.
So I'm like, okay, we're justgonna just chill right in here
and kind of whatever.
I didn't watch the news, so Ithink that helped tremendously.
I remember specifically whenthey said you target, not target
, I'm sorry, tj Maxx.
(38:28):
They opened TJ Maxx so I couldgo, I could shop, I could sniff
candles for eight hours, but Istill could not get a haircut
for my kids and I had to cut itmyself and that was traumatizing
and it still is traumatizing.
Paisley ended up looking like aboy, and take it back a little
bit.
I'm completely unaware thatthis whole transgender world
(38:51):
exists, Completely unaware.
I have no idea that this isgoing on.
So I've just made my beautifuldaughter look like a boy because
of a haircut I had to give herbecause I couldn't go get her
haircut but I could go to TJMaxx.
And that's when I reallystarted being like I don't know
what's happening, but I'm really, I'm really not feeling all of
(39:17):
this.
You know, it was just a littletiny bit, the shades are full
not feeling all of this.
You know, it was just a littletiny bit, the shades are full.
And then it went from that tolike pretty quickly.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
So I think um Watching fall of cabal.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
Oh yes, yes, and oh, I'm a stupid bill Gates post.
I'm still so angry about that.
Um, so, yeah, I think by thetime you know masks and things
the masks and vaccines I wasalready um.
So I don't think initially thatI thought of it as like the
(39:53):
medical community.
Does that make sense?
Like, yeah, it was just more oflike a government issue, so it,
yeah, had it connected for meof like, oh, this is also like
big pharma and things like that.
But yeah, once I started, likeopening my eyes, I'm like I
(40:15):
don't trust this, like youaren't the science, I so those
things.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
Yeah, I was like okay , thank you so much for sharing
that story with us today,because I bet you that there are
a lot of people that havesimilar, just from you talking
to that woman in court and herbeing like you know this happens
way more than you think.
So I think parents, especiallyif homeschooling keeps exploding
like it is, we do have to knowwhat the law is and and make
(40:43):
sure that the laws don't change.
And I know it's so hard becauseit's so easy to feel like, well
, you know, if the elections arerigged or whatever, why even
vote?
But like, don't worry about thebig ones, worry about our local
elections and like the onesthat actually have to do with
you know, our school districts,our laws here, our state.
You know, hopefully there'ssome honor in those elections
(41:06):
because, yeah, we don't want tolose.
It used to be illegal tohomeschool, and I know in New
York, like a couple of decadesago, so we just don't ever want
to go back there.
So, and when we are intimidatedby these people, to know what
the laws are right now and whatour rights are is so important.
So I will again leave a linkfor HSLDA in the show's
(41:27):
description, just so people knowwhere they can go to to get the
law.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
Yeah, absolutely, and I think I was.
I was blown away by whathappened.
I was blown away by whathappened.
So, and that's what I keptsaying, like if I kind of took a
step back, I imagine otherparents who aren't the
throw-down kind of hood I couldbe, you know, a little classy, a
(41:57):
little hood type that theywould be scared and that they
would stop so, and also, I thinka lot of the, a lot of either
cities or even states have, likeOhio has a great Facebook
homeschooling resources and theydo include the one that you
(42:20):
talked about to reach out tothem.
But look for those in if, ifyou don't have a suspended
account on facebook, um for,like your local state you don't
have a suspect if you're not infacebook.
So, um, yeah, it's a joke thatmy friend because we, my son and
(42:42):
I actually were we were in dcjanuary 6th, so I'm like I went
from never registering to voteto being, on, you know, a
domestic terrorist she was likewell, that escalated quickly and
I'm like, apparently,apparently so we did nothing.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
Oh, I'm glad you're safe maybe keep your rv parked
for this election, okay, yeah Ihave a feeling it's gonna get
crazy in the next year it iswell.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
Colorado, where we're at, is good to be because we're
surrounded by three militarybases.
So they're even, though they'vetried to get rid as many as I
don't know that's good.
I don't know that I of as many.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
I don't know if that's good.
I don't know that I'd want tobe.
I don't know that I'd want tobe around three military bases.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
Well, our neighbor is from the military.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
Then again, I'm near New York City.
Speaker 2 (43:34):
Right, right, so you don't want to be near your
military bases, you don't wantto be in New York at all for
that, but yeah, so I know.
Just, people are waking up andwe have to.
We have to pray.
We have religious freedom inthis country, but our country,
no matter what anybody wants tosay, was founded on the
(43:58):
Christian values and we've gotto get back to that as a country
.
And then, whatever, if you wantto worship Satan, worship him,
but the laws are dictated by theChristian values.
So we just we got to pray andkeep sharing information,
because you know, I hadn't voted.
2020 was my first time, andwhat a year to vote.
(44:20):
I'm like, oh, that was imaginecoming into that and having your
first vote.
That was, yeah, there will bemore like me, and more like you.
Speaker 1 (44:29):
But you're so right, you know, even when you think
about just the pledge ofallegiance, you know we say one
nation under God, and then evenour money it says in God we
trust.
So you are so right about itbeing centered on, you know, the
Christian being of God's God,given rights that we have, that
is so true and I think we forgetabout it and they definitely
(44:51):
dumb us down in school and makeus try to forget about that.
Yeah, but thank you so much forbeing on today, jen.
Your story, I think, is goingto help a lot of people and have
them prepared.
So I, you know, just thank youand I hope everything goes well
with your daughter and she stayshealthy and, you know, doesn't
experience any more seizures,because that's got to be so
terrible to live through.
So you've given all of usstrength today on both fronts.
Speaker 2 (45:13):
Well, I appreciate it and I appreciate your time and
I love that I just heard the NewYork accent for the first time.
Speaker 1 (45:21):
So my husband asked me earlier why do you talk like
that?
I'm like I don't know.
I think the Long Islandersinfiltrated the university at
Albany where I went to schooland so I say coffee, kind of
funny, and talk, but it's notthat I'm from upstate New York,
like I shouldn't have thataccent.
Speaker 2 (45:35):
But when you said I can't remember what word you
said, but I heard it and I'lllet you go after this.
But when I was 12, my uh, mygreat-grandma would stay with
like her different.
She was like the traveling Gigi, she'd go stay with the
different um of her children.
So my grandma in Ohio and Iwent to pick her up from Long
(45:58):
Island when I was 12 and my momsaid I came home and I was like
ma, I need to get my coffee andgo pack my car.
And she's like whoa, and tothis day, if one beer, we'll say
two beers, then all of you fromNew York and I'm like no, why?
Speaker 1 (46:17):
so it's funny that you say that from upstate,
because I'm from Ohio and Istill get that yeah, and it like
stays with you because I mean,I graduated like almost 20 years
ago, so it does.
It comes in spurts, but yeah,I'm from like near Albany, so I
shouldn't have an accent.
Speaker 2 (46:37):
Yeah well, it's a good accent.
Oh, thank you.
Speaker 1 (46:39):
thank you so much, all right.
Speaker 2 (46:41):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
Listen, when they come to intimidate me, then I'm
going to really going to bringout the accent.
Exactly, exactly, all right.
Thank you, jen.
Thank you All right, bye-bye.
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
(47:05):
using the link in my show'sdescription.
Or, if you'd rather, please usethe link in the description to
share this podcast with a friendor on your favorite homeschool
group Facebook page.
Any effort to help us keep thepodcast going is greatly
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 wehave Jen from A Traveling RV,
which is so cool and originallyfrom Ohio.
Jen, thank you for being heretoday.
Yes, thank you for having me.
So I just want to like prefaceit by kind of telling people how
(00:46):
I reach out for guests.
Some people contact me becausethey're homeschoolers and they,
you know, are trying to likemarket a product that they came
up with.
So they'll reach out to ask ifthey can come on and talk about
homeschooling and their products.
Other times people heard me onSam Tripoli's tinfoil hat and
were like, hey, I'd love to comeon and talk about homeschooling
.
But then other times I justthink of things that I want to
(01:07):
talk about and so I findFacebook groups that are
homeschooling and ask, hey,these are the topics I want to
cover.
Who can help me out with thisand you came into the comments
with an interesting story thatI'm kind of excited to hear
about and a little nervous aboutan intimidation factor that
happened for you with the school.
So before we get started withthat, how many kids do you have
(01:29):
and how long have you beenhomeschooling?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
So we have three at home.
One is four, so she's not andthen we have a nine-year-old and
a 16-year-old, and we beganhomeschooling in 2020, when I
think a lot of us realized thatsomething a little bit crazy was
going on in our school that wewere not aware of before.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
And now is that why you are kind of traveling around
in an RV as part of yourhomeschooling, or is there more
to that?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
So that definitely helped propel both situations.
At first I started talkingabout the RV, you know, and you
have to give your husband oryour partner a good couple
months to process what you'retalking about when it's
something so off the wall.
So that happened.
And then I think, like twomonths later, is when we decided
(02:23):
to do the homeschooling routeand we began with just Paisley,
which is our nine-year-old, butthen William, our 16-year-old,
also started as well.
Once we get into the story ofthat, it will make more sense.
And then, you know, my husbandstarted a traveling position, so
now we're able to travel todifferent states and homeschool
(02:44):
and it's been great.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
So do you visit different things along the way?
Is that part of yourhomeschooling thing?
Where can we?
What national parks or museumsor historic events can we visit
along the way?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
So, because it happened so quickly from when my
husband interviewed to when hestarted his job, there was I
think it was 14 days, maybe 15,that they wanted us to wrap
everything up and make it acrosscountry to Colorado in our RV
with our family.
And so, although we lived in ahome that travels, it isn't
(03:19):
necessarily as easy as like, oh,just packing it up.
Packing in general when you'rea parent is exhausting, right.
So it's like that.
It's a little bit worsesometimes.
So we initially just drove andwe had such a limited time to
get here, but we left our RVback in Ohio, drove across the
(03:40):
country, rv back in Ohio, droveacross the country essentially,
and then after a month or so, myhusband flew back and drove
back with his father Movingforward.
That's what we will do.
When we know that we're goingto a different location, we'll
be able to map it out and saylike, okay, we want to hit these
(04:07):
states or you know, but evenwhile we're here, we try once a
month to set something that isdifferent or unique to where we
are and make that happen for ourfamily.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
yeah, that's so true, because we went on a play date
this morning and I only have thetwo kids and it was like three
huge bags of things and a bikeon the bike rack like just to go
for like a three hour play date.
It took multiple trips to thecar, so I I can definitely
understand how it would be hardto travel around, even if you
(04:32):
are in an RV.
So why don't we go into what?
What happened with, like, theschool trying to intimidate you
about wanting to homeschool yourchildren?
Speaker 2 (04:42):
So I guess, a little backstory.
On Paisley again, ournine-year-old.
She has a rare genetic disorder.
She was number 527 years tohave been diagnosed and the
symptoms are many movementdisorder, muscle disorder, and
the only way to control herdisease is to be on the medical
(05:06):
ketogenic diet.
So not like the fad diet.
It's very specific.
We have to put everything intoa calculator, it has to hit
eight different ratios, you haveto weigh out every individual
item and she has to consume 100%of those within 30 minutes.
So no wait, what was thiscalled?
Yeah, so her disease is calledglucose transporter deficiency
(05:28):
syndrome.
It's GLUT1 for short, but ithas nothing to do with gluten.
So her brain is essentiallyallergic to sugar.
So we have to starve her brainof sugar and force it to use fat
to run correctly.
So because of ketogenic dietwe've been able to control her
seizures for years.
(05:50):
We've only had twobreakthroughs in eight and a
half years.
With that being said, obviouslywe have to be very careful at
school.
You know she can't eat anything.
We have to make and send heritems she has to make, they have
to make sure that she'sconsuming all of her food, and
so on.
So when COVID started, I knowthe first year was kind of you
(06:13):
know a lot of online things, butwhen they went to go back, they
she had had a note from herdoctor that she was not allowed
wearing a mask for multiplereasons.
She has seizures and she has aspeech disorder, correct?
So she comes home one day wefind a mask.
She starts crying, saying theytold me not to tell you.
(06:36):
So I do a FOIA request askingfor all communications and the
nurse, you know, just in general, and I get the FOIA, which is
the Freedom of Information Act,which you're able to do.
So I get the communicationsback and there's an email from
the nurse the nurse at thatschool that is bragging about
(07:00):
how they make Paisley wear amask and for her to lie to us
about it.
So if I have to have so muchtrust in other people that you
are not going to give mydaughter something that could
kill her or be deadly or giveher seizures so bad that could
(07:22):
impact the rest of her life,like, how do I have that kind of
trust in you If you can't evenfollow a doctor's, a doctor's
note, right?
So obviously that was themoment that I'm like and we're
out, I'm done.
This is insane, like I.
At this point, I feel likewe're putting her at risk to
(07:44):
send her to school, so I go herOhio.
You have to do your notificationof intent and this was in 2021,
I believe at um like March of2021.
So the laws have actuallychanged now what you legally
have to do.
But at the time you had to getyour notification of intent, a
(08:06):
copy of your curriculum and anymaterials that you would use and
then send it to thesuperintendent of the school.
That's what you legally have todo.
Now you know, depending onwhere you are in your
homeschooling journey, you willunderstand the difference
between legally and what theschool tries to tell you that
(08:27):
you have to do, right.
So I legally did what I wasrequired to do.
I sent in the notification andthe curriculum and I sent it to
the superintendent via email.
They do recommend that you mailit just so that, like certified
(08:48):
mail, just so you have thatcopy.
But the superintendentresponded to me and thanked me
and said if we had any questionsmoving forward, to let him know
.
So we just go on with our life.
I start receiving phone callsevery day, emails from the
teachers and the principal andthey're telling me that
(09:13):
Paisley's still enrolled, Ididn't do what I legally had to
do.
I legally had to send it to theBoard of Education and they had
to approve her homeschooling.
And I kindly told them that perthe law nobody is approving
anything, that I am the parent.
I have the right.
(09:34):
I did what was legally required.
So I'll stop there for a second, just in case you have any
questions.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
I just I mean and you're right when you said,
depending on where you are inthe homeschooling journey so I
think to direct people to HSLDAI believe I have the acronyms
correctly that tells you whatyour laws are in each state.
It is so important to know whatyour laws are.
I mean, wow, I can't imagine,like how intimidating that is,
(10:01):
just alone right there.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Well, and I think that is the point, thankfully,
because I had to have mydaughter diagnosed with rare
disease.
Intimidation does not comeeasily to me.
You know.
When she was diagnosed, after ayear of fighting for her and
her doctor telling me that I wasessentially being dramatic, in
(10:25):
kinder words I told my grandmaat the time I said well, now we
know why God made me a bossyperson, you know so.
So, yeah, so I send everythingin.
They're still contacting me.
They're telling me that she'struant.
I also will add that she hadanother note, another doctor's
(10:45):
note on file, that she wouldhave excessive absences because
of her disease.
So the truant thing wasn'treally possible, but whatever.
So then I get a letter from thecourts for truancy.
They call the courts.
(11:07):
I tell the lady who was so kind, excuse me, so kind, what was
happening, explain the situation, and she said unfortunately,
(11:30):
this happens far more than youwould ever want to know.
She said, if you bringeverything that you filed, the
judge will pretty much justdismiss this case.
So I, okay.
So the next week we have courton Thursday, tuesday morning,
and I'll add a little bit ofpersonal information and just as
(11:50):
like another part of it,because so our door was open,
like our screen door was shut,but our door was open because
our youngest, who I mentionedbefore, is four now we we had
her through the kinship careprogram so we had custody of her
.
Like, if we hadn't stepped inshe would have gone into foster
(12:13):
care.
But kinship is like the familyversion of foster care.
So the caseworker was comingthat day for a visit.
So that is why my door is open.
We're just waiting for that.
You know, they have to come fortheir monthly visits just to
make sure everything's okay.
And we had just filed forcustody of her.
(12:37):
So all of a sudden my door likemy dog, who is a massive, like
80-pound dog, runs out the doorand a guy like slams him in the
door and I'm like what is evenhappening right now?
So I walk down, mind you, okay.
So this is Tuesday and thenagain we have court for the
(12:59):
truants on Thursday.
On Thursday, so I go down andit's three district members with
the principal, who I hadalready had not kind words with.
It is two other employees fromthe district office and they say
(13:20):
oh, we're here to give you thepaperwork for Paisley's IEP
meeting.
And I'm like you guys, I'vespoken to you like you're well
aware, she is no longer enrolledin school, we're not doing an
IEP meeting, this like whatever.
So then they're like no, no, no, she's still enrolled.
(13:40):
You haven't sent anything in.
So I my phone, I open it up,show them the email from the
superintendent to thesuperintendent with his reply,
and I'm like there you go,there's your confirmation.
Well, that's not, that's notthe form that you have to use.
So in the paperwork that theybrought me with the IEP meeting
(14:04):
they included the forms fornotification of homeschool.
So I brought them out and Ishowed them the two and they
were the same.
So then it came and she said,well, she's already truant.
And I said, well, she's not,she has the doctor's note on
(14:24):
file, so she's not truant.
Like she can have excessiveabsences, even if it happens
Like she's had them this week,like she's been hospitalized
where it's been, you know, 12days in the hospital.
So anyways, the principal atthis time she goes well, I
(14:46):
rejected that doctor's note.
So she isn't.
So she is Truett.
So she, the principal, tells methat she rejects the doctor's
note saying Paisley will haveobsessive absences because of
her disease, including seizures.
Tells me that she rejected it.
So I obviously again, probablynot so completely.
(15:10):
This is about like a 20, 25minute conversation of them just
trying to lie, trying tointimidate me, trying to make me
feel like I've done somethingwrong and thankfully, like, as I
said, I I'm not one.
I'm probably one of the worstones.
If you had to choose, like oh,let's choose a parent to to try
(15:33):
an intimacy, I'm not the one youwould put on the top of the
list.
So, um, but Pais had an IEP.
She had speech services, theirand physical therapy.
So they want to lose that money.
That's a lot of extra moneythat goes along with those
services.
(15:54):
So, anyways, I asked them tokindly leave.
I tell them.
I said, as they're leaving, I'm.
I don't even understand why youguys would do this.
We have court this week.
You would have been proven thatshe is unenrolled.
And the gentleman says well, Isaid I've talked to everybody.
(16:16):
I've talked to lawyers.
I've talked to the HS I'll letyou see the acronyms again I've
talked to them, I've talked toeverybody.
Yeah, hs, yes, I did everythinglegally required.
And he said well, best luck toyou.
You might have talked to alawyer, but we have what are
called prosecutors.
So they left.
Um CPS came the caseworker andI was a mess and thankfully she
(16:42):
was aware of what was going onand it had zero effect on
anything.
But I called the superintendentimmediately, asked Lee like
excuse me, what is happening?
And within two hours of thatphone call I finally got an
email with Paisley's withdrawalattached, saying that they
(17:08):
approved her withdrawal.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
So then did you still have to go to court?
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Nope.
They dropped everything.
You know how, like, when you doyour notification, they have, I
believe, maybe six weeks tosend you back the like I want to
say approval, but also like youdon't need their approval that
(17:34):
they received your notificationand they're removing them from.
We've received it.
Yeah, right, so they accept it.
Well, they, nobody had sent methat letter, right, so the
acceptance.
Well, nobody had sent me thatletter.
So they kept trying to play thegame because they hadn't had
anybody send the letter.
Yet.
I don't care if you send theletter or not, that doesn't make
(17:57):
what you're doing any morelegal.
So, yeah, it was pretty tellingthat again, within two hours
max, probably sooner of metalking to the superintendent,
the case was dropped, thetruancy case was dropped and I
received Paisley's letter withinthat time.
(18:20):
So to add on to that, obviouslyat that point I'm like there's
not a chance in God's greenearth that my, any of my
children are going to the schooldistrict because y'all have
lost your mind.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
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Speaker 2 (20:30):
So that night I prepared Williams, my 16 year
old.
I prepared his notification andcurriculum, emailed again to
the superintendent and receivedhis acceptance of that within, I
would say, four hours ofsending that I mean, and I know
you said that it had to do withfunding, but it's like this
(20:53):
isn't a private company.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Okay, these people work for, like the, the school
system.
Their paycheck is the same,like no matter what, if your
daughter gets her servicesthrough there or is enrolled
there or not.
Like their salary isn'tchanging.
So it's just so crazy to me tothink that, like these people
are coming down like we need themoney, you must go intimidate
(21:18):
the mom.
Or is it like our numberslooking that bad for schools
that they're like we can't loseone more?
Or you know what I mean.
It's like who cares thatschools that they're like we
can't lose one more?
Or you know what I mean it'slike who cares that much that
they're like you cannot makedecisions for your child.
You know, I maybe in asituation where you think the
child is like really gettingabused, but in that case you
would turn it over toauthorities like police or child
(21:42):
or CPS.
You wouldn't go intimidate themyourself.
So it just doesn't make senseto me that schools, like the
people that work at the schools,these government workers or
state workers, care that much.
Why is it, do you think?
Speaker 2 (21:53):
well, and there have been.
There was something and I can'tremember.
They did bring CPS up at 1-8,and I'm like I absolutely dare
you, like.
You went across that line,buddy, and had it not been for
us going through the legal caseto get full legal custody of our
(22:16):
now four-year-old, of our nowfour-year-old, I would have gone
as hard as I could againstsuing the school in every
capacity because they, they, butI couldn't handle it.
I was like you know what?
I'm just I'm done, I'm, I'm,we're safe and that's it.
I think that there's a fewreasons.
(22:40):
I think that the showing up ofthe district members kind of
helps the case of like the money, because why on earth would two
other members from the districtoffice show up?
I also think that there was apower struggle.
That principal did not like me.
(23:01):
She didn't like not having thatpower.
She didn't like that I knew thelaw.
She didn't like that.
She could not control me.
And it's terrifying.
But again you have a nurse, anurse saying she does not care
what a doctor says about a child, a rare disease, so so much so
(23:26):
he's willing to harm her.
Like what if that putting thatmask on, I mean it obviously has
so many effects as it is, butwhat if it had caused her to
have a seizure per se, like Imean, there's just such an
(23:46):
ideology.
And it was not like we did notlive in like a liberal or
democratic area.
We were in a very conservativeschool district where it was
like 70, 80 percent conservative.
So you know you have peoplethat think like, oh, it won't
happen in my area.
Well then, you're not payingattention to what is happening.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
That is so true, because I'm in New York and we
talk all the time about like, oh, we could move to Tennessee or
move to Florida, but it's likeyou know.
But who's to say that that'snot?
It's not exactly like electionsare fair.
So who's to say that the personwe would want would win there
or be in charge?
You know, and you know thingscould easily change.
(24:31):
So what's the point in movingRight?
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Well, and cause.
We're in Colorado right now.
So coming from essentially ared state to a blue state was a
little bit terrifying for me oflike, oh my God it.
You know you hear like thetransgender things and what's
happening in in Colorado and thecrazy laws that are being
(24:56):
passed, but the homeschoolingcommunity in Colorado Springs
has been like 5,000 years aheadof conservative Ohio.
It gets.
It's been the opposite that youwould assume.
(25:18):
I don't think we're reallynecessarily safe anywhere
anymore.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Right, but just the fact of like, like the nurse not
going by either you know yourwishes which we knew in the
schools they weren't doinganyway, because the parents that
didn't want their kids masked,they were like, yeah, it doesn't
matter, they're, they'remasking here, even if there's no
science behind it, um, and it'san experimental, you know
process, but, or whatever theword is, but the fact that she
(25:46):
went against the doctor is like,so there, so any situation now
we cannot trust the care of ourchild with these people, and I
just shared something on myInstagram the other day that I
was listening to themacroaggressions podcast and
they had this woman on that wastalking about how there's a law
that is currently in effect,right now, that says that if
(26:08):
your child is in a daycare orschool setting and we are in an,
a state of emergency which theyhave declared for the for
climate change that we arecurrently in, that they it's
called the re uh reunificationact or something they can keep
(26:28):
your child and not give themback to you at the end of the
day.
And so, of course I I mean, Ilooked it up and it is a lot of
legal jargon.
This is what the woman saysthat this law means.
I I can see where, like theystart the law, the act, by
talking about illegal aliens.
But I can see where, along theline being my experience working
in the government, that thingsget changed.
(26:51):
You know, down the line to oh,let's take that word out and now
it is for the general public.
So it is really scary andthings.
Like you know the there was theschool shooting and, like you
know, parents weren't allowed toget in to get their kids and I
understand that there's reasonsfor that.
But it is just terrifying tothink I don't have control, like
(27:11):
it's my child, but people arein charge of what happens to
them and I'm not in charge.
That is such a terrifying likethought.
And even my nephew last yearlike he got in trouble at school
for having a cell phone out, sothey took away the cell phone.
They wouldn't give it back tohim until a parent came and got
it.
So he went home from schoolthat day and you know he could
(27:33):
have been home alone or whateverand needed the cell phone.
And I understand we didn't havecell phones for centuries, but
in his life that's all he knowshe didn't have it.
What if he had to call hismother for something and the
school is just saying, like thisis your property, you're not
getting it back until a parentcomes and even that is
overstepping, I can see takingit but you give it back to him
at the end of the day when heleaves your property.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Great Well, and we can use the argument that, yes,
we once lived without cellphones, but we had home phone,
and most people don't have homephones now.
So if you're taking somebody'scell phone, then they have no
way to communicate, so that'snot even a realistic yeah, what
(28:15):
if the house was on fire?
Speaker 1 (28:16):
or what if he broke his leg?
Speaker 2 (28:18):
yeah, needed to call, to call 911.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
I wasn't even thinking about that.
I was thinking about calling aparent.
You need to call 911.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Or even a parent.
We don't.
I mean, we live in an RV, buteven at our house we didn't have
a traditional phone so, or alandline.
We've had cell phone.
So prior to 2020, prior toCOVID, my husband and I were
completely and by completely Imean part of the problem, I
(28:47):
guess like had never registeredto vote, had never voted, just
believed our government caredfor us.
Makes me so insanely sick toeven think that I was so naively
ignorant.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
2020, you know I might have been worse because I
voted.
I voted for Hillary and Obama.
I was registered, but I votedfor Hillary and Obama.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Okay, so we're just as bad.
We're just as we're both partof the product.
But that's awesome.
I did not know that.
Not awesome that you did, butobviously that you, I'm assuming
, have woken up, like I have,right, and you didn't have trust
in the government.
You just probably thought itwas the Russian government that
was doing it and not ours.
(29:34):
But either way, just so,completely unaware, and you're
sending your kids and you thisis like, and I think our
education system is does this onpurpose.
But you, you just think thatthese people have your, your and
your children's best interestsat heart, that you know that
(29:55):
they care for them and obviouslythere there are good people in
any situation.
But they'll infiltrateeverywhere, including schools,
including preschools, and ifyou're not paying attention,
then your children are in dangerof these people.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Yeah, everything from the transgender stuff to just,
you know, confusing them anddepression and that sort of
thing.
And then you get the bullyingand the school shootings and
teaching history.
That isn't like leaving stuffout and leaving out cursive and
putting in other things.
Like you, you know, the umcritical race theory.
There's so much this wholeanti-American sentiment in the
(30:40):
schools that, yeah, there'sreally.
It's like.
I started out this podcast alittle bit over a year ago and
my first episode was why I wantto homeschool but also why I'm
afraid to homeschool.
After talking to homeschoolersfor a year, I'm like whoa, I
can't believe I would have sentthem there.
Like it's just grownexponentially the reasons to
(31:01):
homeschool.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Yeah, and I think that's even the concept of like,
like one of my best friendswill say.
She's like well, what do theydo, you know, all day?
How does he get a diploma?
And that seems crazy to herthat we only have to maybe an
hour, hour and a half ofschooling, that some days we
don't do schooling and thenother days we do three, four
(31:24):
hours.
When we first get to Coloradoand we stay at a hotel, we meet
a family from Sweden I hope itwas Sweden and then Europe, and
a lady that said she wasUkrainian, Russian.
So I obviously not asking forfurther details of what that
means in this time.
My children in that week gotmore of a history lesson from
(31:49):
these three individuals andfamilies than they would in two
years of sitting down being toldto read something.
So anyways, I say that withyeah, down being told to read
something.
So anyways, I say that withyeah.
For her it's crazy to look atours of our life and our
schedule and for me I'm like, doyou not think it's crazy that
(32:12):
we send our children to schoolfor eight hours a day, to sit at
a desk, to come home and dohours of homework?
That to me, now that I'moutside of that, I guess
societal norms and societalexpectations is insane, is
insane.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
I'm like that is not normal and yes, and they're not
coming out.
And I could say this for myselftoo.
I did not come out of 13 yearsof, you know, the regular high
school and all that, and thenfour years of college and I
still didn't have a clue what todo with my life, and neither do
my sister's kids that have allgraduated, you know, recently.
(32:54):
They are not preparing them forwhat jobs exist or what jobs
could exist for becomingentrepreneurs, you know,
starting their own businesses.
It's just okay, go out onto theworld like a little, um, those
video game characters, that thelemons or something.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Right, it's crazy, it's part, and they want that
right Government wants that todumb us down.
We don't think about history,we're not thinking about um,
because if you're just goingalong to get along, you're
complacent and you're not goingto fight back and you're not
going to speak up and just verylike mind-numbing.
Um, yeah, it's crazy to tothink about.
So even my son, he said, don't,don't, I have to go to college
(33:42):
to be an engineer.
And I'm like, oh well, becausehe, he's always wanted to be an
engineer.
But, um, and I'm not againstcollege for you know, nursing or
things, but I support more of atrade school, like we go and if
they have something like thatin those fields, like you can go
(34:05):
into nursing through like thetraditional college where it's
still the mumbo jumbo andeverything, or you can have like
more of the trade schoolnursing where it's just about
nursing.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
So that's the one where they go all into vaccines
and what's in them and why theywere created, right.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
No, I wish that was yeah, and that's another hard
part of having a child with arare disease, like.
I could go on for hours aboutthe medical community and the
worries that are happening there.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
But yeah, I was thinking that when you were
talking in the beginning of thepodcast as well, your eyes
probably got opened up initiallybecause you saw kind of the
glitches in the healthcaresystem, so that when COVID came
about you were like a little bitmore prepared, almost that like
, well, we can't just trustsomeone in a white coat.
(35:00):
They're telling you somethingthat someone above them told
them to tell me.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Right, I wish I could say that.
No, I, I think I was more whereyou were, although I had never
voted.
I got so ridiculous.
I remember doing a postspecifically about Bill Gates
and almost like writing for Bill, I guess, like, oh, do you
(35:30):
really think this person woulddo this?
Like you have all this moneyand just so, so unaware, and I
kind of would like to go backthere sometimes, right, because
once you realize how nefariousand evil things are, it's
(35:50):
exhausting.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
Yes, so you're that guy in the matrix that tries to
get back in the matrix.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Yeah, sometimes I would like to go back there just
for like a few weeks orsomething.
Like you just need a break fromit all because it is exhausting
.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
Are you trying to pick a curriculum but feel a
little overwhelmed at thevariety of options?
Me too.
I mean, how do you pick acurriculum when you don't know
what each one has to offer?
That's been my biggest problem.
Well, I am here to help.
I just launched a premiumcontent series, Psst.
That means it's $3 a month,which will just help cover the
cost of running the podcast.
(36:28):
In my curriculum series, Iinterview homeschooling students
and parents and curriculumcreators about specific
curriculum each week so that youcan take the guesswork out of
your curriculum choices.
I'll be asking questions likewhat does the day-to-day look
like with this curriculum?
What does it cover from abird's eye view?
How long does one lesson taketo complete?
How many lessons does thecurriculum contain and what does
(36:50):
it cost?
Did you have to order the bookor could you download them and
print them somewhere like yourlibrary?
Does this curriculum have a lotof games, writing or crafts, and
did your child enjoy thiscurriculum?
Can you do it with more thanone child at a time?
And if I did this curriculumwith my child, would I need to
add any sort of supplements toit?
These are all questions I'vehad while I search for the
(37:10):
perfect curriculum to suit myson's personality and my
expectations.
Let's face it there is no onecurriculum out there that will
work best for every child andadult, so I invite you to join
me in my search to find out whatevery curriculum has to offer,
so that you can feel confidentin your curriculum choices and
enjoy your homeschooling journeythat much more, Right where you
(37:31):
find all of the homeschoolhow-to podcast episodes, like
the two weeks to spread.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
I was kind of like, okay, you know, we had just
taken in our daughter at 10 daysold and I think like three
weeks later everything shut down.
I have a daughter with a raredisease.
I don't even know that I'dheard the word pandemic before,
maybe in like fourth grade orsomething like it wasn't on my
radar.
(38:07):
So I was definitely, but I wasa stay at home mom.
So I'm like, okay, we're justgonna just chill right in here
and kind of whatever.
I didn't watch the news, so Ithink that helped tremendously.
I remember specifically whenthey said you target, not target
, I'm sorry, tj Maxx.
(38:28):
They opened TJ Maxx so I couldgo, I could shop, I could sniff
candles for eight hours, but Istill could not get a haircut
for my kids and I had to cut itmyself and that was traumatizing
and it still is traumatizing.
Paisley ended up looking like aboy, and take it back a little
bit.
I'm completely unaware thatthis whole transgender world
(38:51):
exists, Completely unaware.
I have no idea that this isgoing on.
So I've just made my beautifuldaughter look like a boy because
of a haircut I had to give herbecause I couldn't go get her
haircut but I could go to TJMaxx.
And that's when I reallystarted being like I don't know
what's happening, but I'm really, I'm really not feeling all of
(39:17):
this.
You know, it was just a littletiny bit, the shades are full
not feeling all of this.
You know, it was just a littletiny bit, the shades are full.
And then it went from that tolike pretty quickly.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
So I think um Watching fall of cabal.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
Oh yes, yes, and oh, I'm a stupid bill Gates post.
I'm still so angry about that.
Um, so, yeah, I think by thetime you know masks and things
the masks and vaccines I wasalready um.
So I don't think initially thatI thought of it as like the
(39:53):
medical community.
Does that make sense?
Like, yeah, it was just more oflike a government issue, so it,
yeah, had it connected for meof like, oh, this is also like
big pharma and things like that.
But yeah, once I started, likeopening my eyes, I'm like I
(40:15):
don't trust this, like youaren't the science, I so those
things.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
Yeah, I was like okay , thank you so much for sharing
that story with us today,because I bet you that there are
a lot of people that havesimilar, just from you talking
to that woman in court and herbeing like you know this happens
way more than you think.
So I think parents, especiallyif homeschooling keeps exploding
like it is, we do have to knowwhat the law is and and make
(40:43):
sure that the laws don't change.
And I know it's so hard becauseit's so easy to feel like, well
, you know, if the elections arerigged or whatever, why even
vote?
But like, don't worry about thebig ones, worry about our local
elections and like the onesthat actually have to do with
you know, our school districts,our laws here, our state.
You know, hopefully there'ssome honor in those elections
(41:06):
because, yeah, we don't want tolose.
It used to be illegal tohomeschool, and I know in New
York, like a couple of decadesago, so we just don't ever want
to go back there.
So, and when we are intimidatedby these people, to know what
the laws are right now and whatour rights are is so important.
So I will again leave a linkfor HSLDA in the show's
(41:27):
description, just so people knowwhere they can go to to get the
law.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
Yeah, absolutely, and I think I was.
I was blown away by whathappened.
I was blown away by whathappened.
So, and that's what I keptsaying, like if I kind of took a
step back, I imagine otherparents who aren't the
throw-down kind of hood I couldbe, you know, a little classy, a
(41:57):
little hood type that theywould be scared and that they
would stop so, and also, I thinka lot of the, a lot of either
cities or even states have, likeOhio has a great Facebook
homeschooling resources and theydo include the one that you
(42:20):
talked about to reach out tothem.
But look for those in if, ifyou don't have a suspended
account on facebook, um for,like your local state you don't
have a suspect if you're not infacebook.
So, um, yeah, it's a joke thatmy friend because we, my son and
(42:42):
I actually were we were in dcjanuary 6th, so I'm like I went
from never registering to voteto being, on, you know, a
domestic terrorist she was likewell, that escalated quickly and
I'm like, apparently,apparently so we did nothing.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
Oh, I'm glad you're safe maybe keep your rv parked
for this election, okay, yeah Ihave a feeling it's gonna get
crazy in the next year it iswell.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
Colorado, where we're at, is good to be because we're
surrounded by three militarybases.
So they're even, though they'vetried to get rid as many as I
don't know that's good.
I don't know that I of as many.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
I don't know if that's good.
I don't know that I'd want tobe.
I don't know that I'd want tobe around three military bases.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
Well, our neighbor is from the military.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
Then again, I'm near New York City.
Speaker 2 (43:34):
Right, right, so you don't want to be near your
military bases, you don't wantto be in New York at all for
that, but yeah, so I know.
Just, people are waking up andwe have to.
We have to pray.
We have religious freedom inthis country, but our country,
no matter what anybody wants tosay, was founded on the
(43:58):
Christian values and we've gotto get back to that as a country
.
And then, whatever, if you wantto worship Satan, worship him,
but the laws are dictated by theChristian values.
So we just we got to pray andkeep sharing information,
because you know, I hadn't voted.
2020 was my first time, andwhat a year to vote.
(44:20):
I'm like, oh, that was imaginecoming into that and having your
first vote.
That was, yeah, there will bemore like me, and more like you.
Speaker 1 (44:29):
But you're so right, you know, even when you think
about just the pledge ofallegiance, you know we say one
nation under God, and then evenour money it says in God we
trust.
So you are so right about itbeing centered on, you know, the
Christian being of God's God,given rights that we have, that
is so true and I think we forgetabout it and they definitely
(44:51):
dumb us down in school and makeus try to forget about that.
Yeah, but thank you so much forbeing on today, jen.
Your story, I think, is goingto help a lot of people and have
them prepared.
So I, you know, just thank youand I hope everything goes well
with your daughter and she stayshealthy and, you know, doesn't
experience any more seizures,because that's got to be so
terrible to live through.
So you've given all of usstrength today on both fronts.
Speaker 2 (45:13):
Well, I appreciate it and I appreciate your time and
I love that I just heard the NewYork accent for the first time.
Speaker 1 (45:21):
So my husband asked me earlier why do you talk like
that?
I'm like I don't know.
I think the Long Islandersinfiltrated the university at
Albany where I went to schooland so I say coffee, kind of
funny, and talk, but it's notthat I'm from upstate New York,
like I shouldn't have thataccent.
Speaker 2 (45:35):
But when you said I can't remember what word you
said, but I heard it and I'lllet you go after this.
But when I was 12, my uh, mygreat-grandma would stay with
like her different.
She was like the traveling Gigi, she'd go stay with the
different um of her children.
So my grandma in Ohio and Iwent to pick her up from Long
(45:58):
Island when I was 12 and my momsaid I came home and I was like
ma, I need to get my coffee andgo pack my car.
And she's like whoa, and tothis day, if one beer, we'll say
two beers, then all of you fromNew York and I'm like no, why?
Speaker 1 (46:17):
so it's funny that you say that from upstate,
because I'm from Ohio and Istill get that yeah, and it like
stays with you because I mean,I graduated like almost 20 years
ago, so it does.
It comes in spurts, but yeah,I'm from like near Albany, so I
shouldn't have an accent.
Speaker 2 (46:37):
Yeah well, it's a good accent.
Oh, thank you.
Speaker 1 (46:39):
thank you so much, all right.
Speaker 2 (46:41):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
Listen, when they come to intimidate me, then I'm
going to really going to bringout the accent.
Exactly, exactly, all right.
Thank you, jen.
Thank you All right, bye-bye.
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
(47:05):
using the link in my show'sdescription.
Or, if you'd rather, please usethe link in the description to
share this podcast with a friendor on your favorite homeschool
group Facebook page.
Any effort to help us keep thepodcast going is greatly
appreciated.
Thank you for tuning in and foryour love of the next
generation.
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