May 4, 2024 • 52 mins
Trigger Warning!! Listen, we don't judge, but we DO want people to make informed decisions and not be tempted by the carrots the *powers that be* dangle for us- before they bind our wrists with the rope those carrots are dangle from!
This week, embark on an insightful exploration of homeschooling with Andrea from Idaho, a mother of four and a homeschool graduate herself, who joins me, Cheryl, to discuss the nuances of teaching children outside the traditional classroom. Andrea's rich narrative provides us with a window into her decision to educate her kids at home, highlighting the unique challenges and freedoms that come with homeschooling.
Confronting the tentacles of government funding within the homeschooling sphere, we navigate through the potential pitfalls that financial assistance can bring. Digging into the ripple effects, such as stifling creativity and risking overregulation, we emphasize the need for vigilance in maintaining the freedom to educate at home. Tapping into resources like Homeschool Idaho and the Tuttle Twins series, Andrea provides insights on navigating education and legislation, all while fostering a supportive homeschooling community. Join us on this journey of discovery, and become part of the conversation shaping the future of home education.
Andrea's Instagram
http://www.elijahstanfield.com/
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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 Andrea from Idaho.
Andrea, thank you so much forbeing here.
Thanks for having me.
I'm excited.
So why don't you just start offby telling us how many kids you
have and their ages and whatsort of got you into the
homeschooling world?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah, so I've got four kids and they range from
age two up to 11.
So we've got 11, 10, um six orno, he's seven, seven and three.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Oh, that's awesome, and you have a very young face.
Do people often think like oneof the kids.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, I'll open the door sometimes and they're like
is your mom here?
And I'm like I am the mom.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
I don't know what you're using for skincare, but
it's working.
I just have really oily skin.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
That's funny, but yeah, so I was actually
homeschooled, so it was kind ofan easy decision for us.
I really loved to behomeschooled and so I really
wanted to provide thatopportunity.
And I also have some learningstruggles and so I figured my
kids would most likely also havesome of those things and they
do Some even worse than I do andso I just wanted to be able to
(01:37):
provide the space to learn how Iwas able to learn.
So that's why we decided tohomeschool.
I don't ever remember havingthe conversation with my's why
we just decided to homeschool.
I don't ever remember likehaving the conversation with my
husband are we going tohomeschool?
It was just always.
This is what I'm doing, so itwas just kind of just there from
(01:58):
the beginning.
So that's kind of.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
I mean, luckily, my husband is happy about it and
he's on board with it, but I, itwas never really like hey, can
we do this?
It was just like this is theboat you're.
You're either coming on or not.
Um, now, let's so.
Let's rewind back to you beinga homeschooler.
Growing up, did you havesiblings?
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yeah, so I'm the oldest of six kids and I went to
kindergarten and then my momactually pulled all of us out.
Well, I guess she startedhomeschooling me at the same
time.
My brother was ready to enterschool and she always thought
that it was to help my youngerbrother.
But as I grew up she's like oh,maybe it was for you Because I
(02:41):
had so many learningdifficulties.
So it was, it was a realblessing.
And then my sister was actuallyshe passed away from cancer.
So when she was first diagnosedshe sent all of us to the
public school.
We were able to choose and wefelt like, you know, each kid
just kind of picked where theywanted to go.
So I actually graduated from atraditional high school, but I
(03:02):
was only there for a year and ahalf and I graduated a full year
early because by then I justknew how to learn and I had
taught myself how to do thingsand I was like high school is so
dumb, I did not want to bethere.
So I started college at 17 andended up doing a degree online
after I transferred.
But anyway, so I've, I've donea lot I've also done.
(03:24):
There's this popular thing withthe bridge programs, where you
get funding from the state.
So it was actually my mom hadus enrolled in those and now I
actually speak out against thosebecause of the dangers that
they pose for homeschooling.
So that's kind of that's kindof got.
What got me into why I'm onlinewith my page is to teach people
and so that we can preservehomeschool freedom, because I
(03:45):
loved being homeschooled and Iloved the minimal regulations
that we have in Idaho.
Every state is different, but Ithink the less regulations you
have, the better chance thatyour kids can thrive, because
every kid is so different andthe state is no way going to be
able to know what's best for ourkids 1,000% and I'm glad that
you're on today so that we cantalk about that a little further
(04:07):
.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
First of all, I am so sorry to hear about your sister
.
I can't imagine going throughthat and I would imagine that,
like maybe going into the publicschool though you probably
weren't happy about that Maybejust having like the change of
get your mind kind of off ofthings might have helped a
little bit.
So you know, when, when peoplecome to me and talk about, like
(04:29):
you know, reasons why they canor can't homeschool, it's like
well, it's not, there are.
You don't have to decide thathomeschooling is your way of
life forever and that's the onlyway to do it.
You can go in and out like you.
You're in kindergarten, in theschool, then homeschooled, then
went back in for a specificreason.
And I think people feel likethey can't go back and forth
(04:50):
between the decisions and youabsolutely can, depending on
what your circumstances are atthe time and what works for you
and your family.
And it's not to think ofyourself as, oh, I failed at
homeschooling because I sent mykid back into public school.
It's like no, you were justmaking the best decision for
(05:12):
what was going on at that time.
So I think you have a reallyunique perspective.
I'm super happy that you'rehere today, so all right.
So did you ever, when you werehomeschooled, did you ever feel
like, oh, I'm missing out on thethings that traditional school
provides, like the prom and all.
Like you know, dating and thatsort of stuff?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Well, so by the time I was, I actually did go to prom
because I was, I was in theschool at that point.
I when I was actually beinghomeschooled.
I don't remember feeling thator thinking that because I had
even I had gone to kindergarten.
I don't think I'm a very socialperson, so I don't think it
(05:49):
really hurt too much.
I had siblings and I reallyjust love learning.
I loved the piano, I spent alot of time on the piano, so I
don't think I really missed it.
And then, having experiencedthose things with high school,
so because I was able to compareboth of them, I was like I
wasn't, I wasn't missing out,because I could see both sides,
and I'm sure some people.
(06:10):
It's just going to be differentkid to kid and we'll tread,
we'll decide what to do when ourkids are older, but you can
create those experiences.
I don't think that wenecessarily have to have the
public school in order for kidsto have friends, go on dates,
have good experiences, likethat's not something that the
(06:30):
public schools can solelyprovide.
It's kind of for maybe sports,I don't know, but I'm not really
into sports, so I've not likelogically thought through that.
I'm sure you could create it,but that's a tricky part, but I
wasn't into that, so it didn'thurt.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yeah, and, and in some States, like you said, the
rules vary, um, but in someStates homeschoolers are it's
it's mandated that they have tobe allowed to play in the school
sports.
Where I am in New York, you arenot allowed at all to be in the
school sports.
But there are other things like, for instance, soccer and
(07:06):
t-ball.
I mean, when kids are young,that's more of the community,
the town that puts that on sothey can be involved in that.
And you know, my son was inwrestling.
Even though it was a schoolthing, they did it at a
wrestling facility, so he wasable to do that.
He didn't have to be enrolledin the school to do that.
And then, as you get older, Iknow my sister's kids, like when
(07:27):
they played basketball well,the really good ones were always
on a travel team which was likethat above and beyond extra
team and that was not associatedwith the school.
So there's always these optionsand, like you said, you can
create it if you just want to dolike I was, thinking something
like oh, flag football would befun if, like every first Friday
of the month, I had, you know, agroup of 12 kids here to play
(07:50):
flag football, or you knowmanhunt or something like that.
You know that you, you justcreate that and so it.
Yeah, you can.
You can have those experiencesfor sure.
Now, you were talking about howyou advocate for not getting the
funding, um, which is allowed,and I'm not too I know what
you're talking about, how youadvocate for not getting the
funding which is allowed.
And I know what you're talkingabout, but I'm not too familiar
with it.
(08:10):
So if you could kind of breakthat down for us, what do some
states offer, or is it the wholefederally Like?
Every state offers this.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
So it's state by state.
As far as I know, I haven'theard of a federal thing coming
for homeschooling, but I'd beagainst that as well.
So there's a couple differentthings that go on.
Sometimes you have a therethere's not like a for sure name
, sometimes they're just calledhomeschool, charter schools or
funded charter schools or bridgeprograms, so sometimes they're
actually a public school, butyou get the money to do school
(08:42):
at home.
So so that's one version.
Then you have traditionallythey're called ESAs or vouchers,
or sometimes they're called taxcredits, where you get even
more money sometimes and thatcan go directly to homeschoolers
.
Sometimes it's really, reallyconfusing.
But the main point is thatanytime that there's funding
(09:04):
coming from the government inany form, there are going to be
some regulations attached, andusually the regulations start
small and then they start toincrease, and that's what people
need to be aware of, and we cango as deep, we can go deeper.
I don't know.
Maybe that's a good if you havemore questions, that I can keep
going down, but sometimes I getgoing and I'm like I need to
(09:26):
stop, though I've got to makesure we don't sound stupid,
definitely and just likeeverything else.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Like you said that, okay, they're called tax credits
.
Oh well, I, that sounds good.
You know I pay taxes and my kiddoesn't go to the school that I
pay taxes to, so I would like acredit.
That makes sense If I'm notusing the thing I'm paying the
taxes for, you give me a credit,so I and it and it's so like
(09:51):
this dangle the carrot thing.
Just like I use social media allthe time, like, ooh, hey, you
want to connect with all thesecool people and you can sell
products and you could do thisand, you know, become part of a
homeschool Facebook groups anddo meetups.
That's all wonderful.
They're dangling the carrot,but on the back end, they're
like and we're going to listento everything you say all day
long and we're going to throwads in your face because we
heard that you're out oftoothpaste and you know, here's
(10:13):
this brand new toothpaste thatwe're trying to get you and you
know.
So it's like um, there's, thereis always a catch.
They're always dangling thecarrot so that they can like I
don't know, dangling the carrotso that they can like I don't
know, beat you over the headwith it.
So, yeah, get into, like whatare some of the regulations that
you've seen, or that youpredict that maybe down the road
(10:34):
this little tax credit mightrestrict us from doing as
homeschooling families.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Yeah, so there's the one in Idaho.
So obviously I'm going to bemore focused on Idaho because
that's where I've studied.
But a lot of these are going toapply very similarly throughout
all the states.
So what?
For example, we had one that iscalled Empowering Parents Grant
and it was offered to allstudents, and what we found with
that is it was so hard forpeople first to get money at all
(11:00):
.
So it puts families kind of ina pickle, like they're expecting
the money and then they can'tget the money, and then they
find out they can't hardly spendit on anything, and then a lot
of the money is just spent on,like managing this program.
So why is this tax money?
It just feels like so much ofit is being wasted.
If we I think most people canactually afford to homeschool,
(11:21):
it doesn't really cost that muchmoney.
But as soon as you have acouple people signing up for
these programs, then they'relike, oh, it's successful, it's
successful, let's do it again,let's raise taxes more so that
we can offer this again when, ifyou would have just let us have
our own money homeschoolfamilies are very resourceful we
would have figured it out andbeen able to offer things
(11:42):
cheaper and better because ofthe natural way of how the free
market works.
But when you have this moneyjust coming to you from the
state, which is from yourneighbors right, a lot of this
is a lot more than you wouldever pay into taxes you get that
money.
And then Let me know if I gettoo confusing.
Sometimes I get lots ofthoughts coming in.
(12:03):
I'm like, okay, which way arewe going here?
But when you think about it,you have your other neighbors.
Not everybody agrees withhomeschooling, and if it's their
tax money too, right, we alwayssay it's our, it's my tax money
.
Well, they actually probablypaid more into it than you did.
And if you want to go see, takea look at any homeschool page
on social media and you'll see alot of people that really don't
(12:24):
like homeschooling.
Those people are paying taxesas well and they're going to be
fighting to get to get rid of ofhomeschooling or regulate us
Like they want that to happentoo.
So the regulations get tighterand tighter and tighter.
And then you also have the otherside of when you have money
offered to you that you didn'tearn right, I know, technically
(12:45):
it's our money, but you didn'tearn it it feels more like a
birthday present or somethingright.
You just hand it over that kindof naturally.
It just kills creativity.
Why would I spend my timecoming up with a cheaper, better
, more affordable way for thisproblem that exists in
(13:06):
homeschooling, when the state isjust going to offer me money
and then I can go pay too muchmoney for someone else to solve
this problem?
So it's just kind of a naturalthing that happens.
I think sometimes people get intheir mind like oh, socialism is
bad, blah, blah, blah, and theylike they turn it into like
this tribal war thing oneagainst the other.
(13:26):
But I want people to rememberthat these are actually the
Republicans are usually the onespushing this funding coming to
the homeschools because theythink that it's going to improve
the public school systems.
And then you've got.
Usually the Democrats want toregulate more.
But I'm like let's forget allthat and let's just remember
that the natural thing thathappens when you are offered
money that you didn't directlyearn is that it's going to have
(13:50):
one, the regulations.
Two, it's going to kill thecreativity, it's going to make
it so people.
It just really kills thatmotivation and that's one of the
other problems that I see.
Another problem is that and thishas happened, this has already
affected us we signed up forgymnastics class.
Every other homeschool familythere was a funded homeschool,
(14:10):
except for us, I believe.
I didn't like verify everysingle person, but I just you
know from hearing from theconversations.
Well, the next semester theyraised the prices.
Who does that kick out?
First?
It kicks out our family.
We can't compete with the.
Sometimes it's $1,700 per kid,sometimes it's $3,000 per kid.
I think in Texas that's like$10,000 per kid.
(14:31):
There's no way that my familycan compete against that.
So then, when you think aboutwhat is the actual role of
government, it's to protect myfreedoms and my liberties.
Well, how is putting me out ofbusiness, my homeschool out of
business?
That's not the role ofgovernment.
They think that they're helpingby offering this money, but it
actually is not.
(14:52):
It's not helping Because if Iwant to say I'm going to
homeschool, I don't care aboutthe money, I just want to be
able to homeschool my kids, howis best for them?
I don't need the regulations,I'm going to figure it out on my
own.
And then you've got otherpeople oh, I want free money, I
don't care about the regulations, that's fine, I'll deal with it
, but then the prices raise foreveryone.
They can still afford it, andit makes it harder for me, who
(15:15):
just wants to be left alone.
It makes it harder for us to beable to keep homeschooling, and
I think that's another bigproblem that we face is these
are just the naturalconsequences of how the state
money works, and it's not thatmy side's right and the other
side's wrong.
It's just what happens, and Ithink that that's an important
part that we need to keep inmind is there's no right or
(15:37):
wrong.
This is just what happens.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Well, let me start off by saying, girl, I've worked
for the government for 16 years16 years and the last 10 of
them being with welfare and foodstamps and all the other money
that could siphon down, and Ican a thousand percent verify
(16:03):
that what you are saying isabsolutely true, and it doesn't
just stop with the homeschool,it is with welfare.
Do you?
If you guys would be shocked atthe regulations and not
regulations that make sense,that go along with when you
apply for assistance, when, if Iwas a single mother and I
(16:27):
needed assistance to you know,keep my house afloat for an
immediate amount of time.
The regulations in place prettymuch make that impossible for
me to just use it for a smallamount of time and then get
myself back on my feet.
That's the intention and that'swhat they tell you the
intention is.
But the regulations behind thatdo not support that.
(16:52):
And you can talk to people whogrew up.
I was just watching thePlandemic 3 movie and Mickey
Willis, who created that, talksabout that, how his mother was
on the system when he was a kid.
And it is set up for you can'teven have a two-parent household
and be on assistance.
So it's yes, you are a thousandpercent correct and I can see
(17:15):
the regulations.
Like you said, you might nothave any regulations right now
to sign you up, but that's thecarrot to lure you in.
And oh look, we can dogymnastics.
Like you said, the gymnasticsis now going up.
Well now, now maybe it doesn'teven cover gymnastics.
So now you've got a gymnasticsteacher who she's just trying to
make an honest living too, andshe raised her prices, thinking,
(17:38):
wow, I can.
You know people can afford this.
Now, the demand is so high Ican do this.
And then all of a sudden nobodycan do it anymore, because now
gymnastics is not part of whatthey're going to cover.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Now they're only going to cover the Rockefeller
curriculum.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
So now you can't get whoever a Becca's or the Good
and the Beautiful or all about.
You can't get that stuffanymore.
You can only get what they'veapproved, and that might not be
right now or in a year from now,but that might be five years
down the road and it's onlygoing to get more strict.
And what you're reporting mightget more strict too, because
(18:18):
they want to know that you'reusing their curriculum.
In New York right now we haveto report our intention for the
year and then every quarter whatwe actually did.
Did we fulfill that intention?
And I know some states youdon't have to do anything, but
that can get way more.
I think New York is one of thestricter ones and I mean even
that can go down to what is yourday to day.
(18:38):
You know how many hours did youspend on this?
Submit tests, you know, and,like you said, homeschoolers we
do this because we want adifferent way to teach our kids.
So if now we have to give themtests every week or month or
quarter to prove how you knowwhat they're doing, which the
tests?
I mean, it's like what'sstopping you from writing down
(18:59):
the answers?
I don't even know.
So what's the point of them atall?
Right, but yeah, you make somuch sense and and wow, I really
hope people I'm just thinkinglike the snippets that I could
share on social media with justthe stuff you were saying, and
I'm wishing I put makeup onbecause I'm like, oh, this would
(19:19):
go viral if everybody like knewthis information and thought of
it this way.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Right, and that's what I try to talk about on my
page.
Unfortunately, I think it kindof rubs people the wrong way,
because they all of a sudden,like feel guilty.
They feel guilty that kind of.
They were deceived, right, theythought that this was a good
thing, they were following theRepublicans pushing these things
and they're like then theydon't want to believe it, right,
(19:45):
Like they're really likeoffended, and I really I don't
know.
Sometimes it's hard of how doyou, how do you have this
conversation?
I found that it does.
People don't want to talk to mesometimes because I'm vocal
about it, because I I talk outabout it and say, look, what
you're doing is is, you know, isis harming homeschooling Like
(20:08):
no, it's not.
No, it's not like that.
You don't want to believe that.
Even talking to my mom, becauseshe had us signed up, it took
me months of talking to her like, mom, no, do you understand,
though, what has happened now?
Because the school that we weresigned up for has now turned
back into a full public school.
You have to have a teacher, youhave to log on at certain times
.
There's an in-person fullpublic school and then there's
(20:31):
an online version.
If people want that, that'sfine, but we have got to make
sure that people understand thatthat is not homeschooling.
There is a different way to doit and they need to stop calling
themselves homeschooling,because it really confuses our
legislators as well, becausethey can't keep track of all
this stuff.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
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(21:13):
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(21:34):
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Speaker 2 (23:12):
Yeah, I wish my stuff would go viral, but I think it
also comes with a little bit oflike.
What is she saying?
Speaker 1 (23:18):
And you're right, it's tricky and it's called
cognitive dissonance, when weknow something to be true but we
don't want to believe that.
I went through it when Ithought Obama and Hillary were
amazing.
Then I went through it when Ifelt like, oh my God, I was lied
to, trump's amazing.
(23:38):
And then I went through itagain when I was like, oh my God
, they're all trying to kill us,they're all on the same team
and we're, but there's, you know, they're opposite wings of the
same bird and we're not on thatflight.
We're like on the branch thatthat bird sits on.
I've never sworn on thispodcast before.
(24:00):
I might have, but it's so true.
But people have to understandthat.
You know like, yes, it'suncomfortable to to hear the
truth when you are benefitingfrom from the carrot that
they're dangling, but down theroad, just like people who send
their kids to public school theydon't like to hear the truth
(24:22):
about.
Well, public school was createdby Horace Mann and the
Rockefellers to create workerbees, to kind of stifle the
individuality of a child.
You know people don't want tohear that either.
So I get it.
I've probably been there too,but it's a necessary
conversation.
(24:43):
So I think that your role asthe person that speaks out is
more important than ruffling afew feathers, so congratulations
for what you're doing.
Keep up the good work.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
It's a hard spot to be in, but it's good Someone has
to do it.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Yeah, what made you open your eyes to this?
Because if your mother wasaccepting that funding,
obviously it's been around awhile.
What made you open your eyes tolike maybe this is too good to
be true.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
I remember I don't know if I ever like thought this
is bad, like as we wereenrolled, but when I.
So Homeschool Idaho is thestate organization in Idaho that
helps, you know, protecthomeschool freedoms, and they
published some articlesspecifically about ESAs and the
dangers that they pose, becauseESAs they've been around for a
long time and they've started,you know, keeping track and
(25:32):
keeping the data on.
Is it actually helping kids?
And it's not.
It's not actually helping, andso I always encourage people
that that's a good place tostart.
I trust Homeschool Idaho.
They've done a good job withtheir research.
They give you all of the linksyou can go verify all the stuff,
and so that's where I started.
I started reading that and thenyou just I don't know.
You just realize that if wedon't do something about this,
(25:55):
homeschooling could disappear,and when you actually follow the
money, you always have tofollow the money and Homeschool
Idaho just links it right backup.
So it's an arm of UNESCO andthey want to take away every
form of private education.
They don't want private moneyto be funding education at all.
Not private schools, nothomeschools, nothing.
(26:16):
They want it all controlled bythe state.
So it's actually a pretty big.
It's a it's a big attack.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
So that break that down for me.
So who's UNESCO?
Speaker 2 (26:26):
So UNESCO is so hard it's complicated for me to
explain.
So UNESCO is a they're one ofthe they want a world order type
of thing, like they're one ofthose arms, and I think that
sometimes they do a lot of goodthings.
They help provide like food forpeople who need food or like
training for people.
But this arm of what they'redoing to take away all private
(26:49):
forms of education, I stronglydisagree with, and they might
even have good intentions.
But Is that private school too?
Yes, or just homeschool?
They want to take away allforms of private education, and
how they want to do that is tooffer state money.
Because once you offer statemoney, guess what?
The state is in control.
That's just how it goes, and italways starts small, but then
(27:11):
they can start, and we'vealready seen this happen.
So and this is just storiespeople have told me.
People have told me theystarted accepting funding for
their private school and thenthey were told by the state hey,
you can't enforce your rulesabout same gender couples in
your school because you acceptstate funding.
(27:32):
You can't have those rulesanymore, you can't discriminate
against those couples anymore.
Or there was other examples ohfor co-ops.
So this was a homeschool co-op.
They're like, oh well, if yourco-op accepts any form of state
funding, you can't pray at yourhomeschool co-ops anymore.
Like these are big, this is abig deal and this is, you know,
(27:52):
it happens small and they mightlike fight back against this,
but when you think about it, ifyou start accepting money that
was from your neighborsessentially right, you go back
to that.
They have every right to wantto know what's happening, and so
the tagline I always use is weneed to separate state and home,
and the way to do that is tonot let that state money into
(28:13):
your home.
So you've got the state doingthat.
Then you've got UNESCO withtheir big plan, and this is how
they plan to accomplish that isby getting the money in.
And they say because they wantto equalize it, they want
everyone to have the sameopportunities.
And let's just acknowledge, too,that there are homeschool
families that don't do a goodjob taking care of their
(28:35):
children, like.
I think that that's importantto acknowledge, and so sometimes
they'll use that as an excuse.
We want to make sure that thatnever happens, but let us also
acknowledge that the governmentcan never guarantee that nothing
bad ever happens.
That's impossible, right, and Ithink people kind of get like
stuck in their head Well, ifthey just had more funding, they
would fix it.
No, never in the history ofever has the state been able to
(28:59):
guarantee that everyone is happyand healthy and taken care of.
That's just not the way it works.
It doesn't work that way in anysystem.
We live in a flawed world,right, and I think it just
happens to be that my side ofthings says it's going to be
even worse if the state has morecontrol because people are so
different.
There's no way that a couplepeople up here that there's
(29:21):
probably really good people thatreally think that if they can
regulate homeschooling, it willguarantee that no abuse ever
happens.
But that's just not true andthat's just not how.
(29:43):
It's impossible.
It doesn't work that way.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Yes, and to go back to what you were saying about,
when you accept funding you haveto do the regulations, and you
were saying that that's juststories that you've heard, but
I'll tell you right off the batthat that is true, because all
during the COVID era of maskwearing, private schools had to
wear masks, whether theybelieved in them or not.
(30:07):
Why they accepted funding fromthe state and they even got more
funding for implementing themask wearing and the social
distancing Wow, I didn't knowthat.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
That's crazy.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Yeah, it was.
That's why you know, evenprivate schools had to.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
I mean, you see, with the universities as well,
whenever there's state fundinginvolved, like they're only
allowed to teach certain things,certain ways, like you have to
follow.
So if you don't want to followit, stay separate, completely
separate.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Right.
So if you don't want to followit, stay separate, completely
separate, right.
So even, yes, privateuniversities they all masked
because they all accepted someform of funding from our
government.
Secondly, on that, you weretalking about the regulations to
for the children that theremight be abuse in the household,
and I thought of that as well.
(30:54):
And I was talking to anotherguest back in the beginning of
my show and they said, listen,if there's abuse going on in the
household, chances are theauthorities are already alerted
to that.
Few and far between.
Is no one ever going to seethat a child is neglected,
(31:16):
whether it be a neighbor, afamily member, just going to the
grocery, all those avenues likeit, the regular.
It doesn't outweigh, you know,to have these regulations in
(31:38):
place to help the you knowamount of children that might be
abused in a homeschoolhousehold, because if those kids
were enrolled in public schoolthey would still be abused and,
yes, they might have more accessto food and somebody to say,
hey, help, I need help.
But because all of the agenciesthat take care of abused
(31:59):
children are all governmentagencies, there is nothing we
can do about it, because youbasically have to see a child
getting, you know, attacked forthem to be removed from their
household.
Everything that the stateagencies do is to keep the child
with the parents.
So, uh, and I've seen it myself, I have, I you know firsthand
(32:23):
again, um, different programs.
I've worked with they.
They will always try to keepthe child with with the parents.
So, yeah, what are they going todo with this extra funding?
You know they're not takingthese kids out of the house.
And, yeah, what are they goingto do with this extra funding?
You know they're not takingthese kids out of the house.
And if they do take them out ofthe house, where are they
putting them?
Foster care is overloaded.
So it's.
You know, what do you?
What's the answer?
(32:43):
Like you said, it's a cruelworld, unfortunately, you know.
But we got to look at the prosand cons.
You can't let a tagline lureyou into accepting something
that sounds too good to be true.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Right, yeah, got to be aware of it and I think,
along with what you were sayingas well, when you start
regulating homeschools, itoverloads the system even more.
So who does it end up hurting?
It ends up hurting the kidsthat actually do need help, that
are actually experiencing abuseand neglect because they can't
keep track of everyone.
So that's, that's just another.
(33:17):
It's another way to look at it.
But when we don't need thestate involved, let's not have
the state involved.
They're just human too.
Like there's so much thatpeople are trying to keep track
of I don't think we need to keeptrack of.
Is every third grade or readingat third grade level right?
Like the parents areresponsible for that.
Let them teach their kids andlet them be responsible.
(33:37):
I truly believe that mostparents are doing a good job.
They will get the help thattheir kids need when they need
it, right.
Unfortunately, there are otherparents who don't, but in the
majority of cases, the parentsare going to be taking care of
their kids.
That's why they'rehomeschooling them.
That really is why.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Yes, and so three things there.
Because when children graduatenow, after all the hours like
now, they're in preschool fullday.
All the hours that a child isin school, they're actually
graduating with a lower readinglevel than they have in a long
time.
So what are you going to doabout it If my homeschooled
third grader isn't reading?
(34:16):
You know you can't.
You have kids for 14, 15 yearsfor 40 hours a week and they're
not reading when they're 18years old.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
So there's that, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
And then you talked about the services.
I have reached out to my schooldistrict and I'm in like a
podunk town.
I grew up going to like a highschool with 2000 kids.
I'm not in that anymore, I'm ina country town and I called the
school and asked for speechservices for my son and they
(34:48):
gave me the run around no callback.
I kept calling.
They had a conversation with me.
They first they said if I hadcontacted them in his preschool
year they could do somethingabout it.
But now that he's homeschooledin his kindergarten year, they
can't because they can'tdetermine whether it's a,
whether his speech is affectinghis ability to learn.
They don't know that becausehe's a homeschooler.
(35:09):
Um, even though that's what anevaluation is for.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
So, and then those regulations, man?
They just end up hurtingeverybody.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
So then I tried to find um outsourced services,
like just through my healthinsurance and just pay a copay
which my health insurance says,yes, we would cover that, his
doctor signed off.
Yes, I think he should havethese services.
Yes, we would cover that, hisdoctor signed off.
Yes, I think he should havethese services.
I called everywhere.
(35:40):
There is nobody willing to workwith a child for speech
services.
They're all working with strokevictims on like kind of how to
relearn to talk again.
So so all of the it seems to bethat all of the speech
pathologists are working withinthe school system and again
they're.
They're all regulated now bythe government, so they have
different things that they can'tjust go be a speech therapist
for people that want to pay outof pocket or pay through
(36:02):
insurance.
And then, thirdly, my friend whois a teacher in the inner city
here in New York.
She said that it is hard to getany help for students that are
in her class.
She gets that.
It is hard to get any help forstudents that are in her class.
She gets kids that are justdropped in throughout the year,
you know they're.
They're not all there on thefirst day.
They might come October,november, december, january,
(36:23):
some even in May.
Some of them have never spokenEnglish in their life.
Some of them have never evenbeen in a classroom before.
So there are all the andthey're just thrown in her class
.
She cannot say, hey, I thinkthis child needs this service or
that service.
Nothing happens.
She said that if the parenturges for the service to take
(36:44):
place, it will happen a littlefaster, meaning maybe six to 12
months from when the requestgoes in.
But as the teacher, it does nothappen, or it doesn't happen
very quickly if she's the one toput forth the request.
So she'll talk to the parentsand say listen, I think your kid
needs this, but I need you tobe the advocate for them.
And a lot of times they don'tspeak English either.
They don't even know what she'sasking.
(37:05):
So yeah, that's going on too.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
That's crazy.
I think that's a great example,too, of why we don't want the
state regulating us, becausethose regulations are really,
really hurting a lot of people,and I think people really have
good intentions when they try toregulate, but it just doesn't
work out the way that they wantit to.
(37:28):
There's no way for everyone toknow how it will actually play
out in the real world.
You called it ESA.
What did that stand for?
So that's an educationalsavings account.
So the old word was called avoucher and the new phrase is
tax credit, but they'reessentially all the same thing.
It's just money from the statethat comes.
(37:50):
Yeah, it's offered tohomeschoolers and private school
kids.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
So right now, do they put any restrictions on what
you can use it for?
I know you said it's differentfrom state to state, but in your
state they were using it forgymnastics.
Are there some states alreadywhere you think maybe it's it's
like only for curriculums or um,that sort of thing, or is it?
I mean it is kind of funny thatthey oh hey, we can just use
this for gymnastics.
(38:15):
It's like it is tax dollars.
Yeah, I get what you weresaying before, like how some
people are like no, I pay taxes.
Put your kid in the school thatI pay the taxes for.
You want my tax money now tokeep your kid at home and go to
gymnastics, like I do.
I understand that side as well.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
Yeah, and it's.
It's kind of pretty.
I hate to use the word unfair,but with the kids that are going
to the public school, thenyou've got their family is like
hey, wait, like I, I'm notgetting money from the state to
go to gymnastics.
Like I'm, I'm only using themoney to go to school.
So why are these other kidsgetting all of different
opportunities?
So there's that side of it.
(38:54):
So what I don't specificallyknow.
I mean we're in the middle ofour legislative session right
now, so I don't know the currentstandards.
I think that they were tryingto expand it to be able to offer
in Idaho so that you could useit for co-ops, which sounds like
, oh, that's less regulation.
Actually, that's bad, becausethen guess what they get to
(39:15):
regulate what happens at yourco-op.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
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.
That means it's $3 a month,which will just help cover the
cost of running the podcast.
In my curriculum series, Iinterview homeschooling students
(39:41):
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
it cost?
Did you have to order the bookor could you download them and
(40:03):
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 thatI've had while I search for the
perfect curriculum to suit myson's personality and my
(40:24):
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 find all of theHomeschool how To podcast
episodes, you'll see mycurriculum series and you can
(40:46):
subscribe today.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
What I do know that's happening with the bridge
programs in Idaho is that firstI believe it was you would check
in once a month about what youwere doing in your homeschool
and now they've changed it toonce a week.
And what's really interesting,as you watch the parents, the
attitude of entitlement isstarting to come out a little
bit.
They're like wait, we areentitled to that money, that is
(41:12):
our tax money.
Why are they dictating what wedo with that?
So I think we need to be awareof that side of it as well.
Like I think the regulationsare going to increase.
It is kind of creating a veryunhealthy attitude amongst
homeschool families takingfunding.
We're not entitled to the laborof someone else like this that
(41:32):
this is not how it works.
But it'll be interesting to seeif people start unenrolling from
these because the regulationsare increasing.
So my only hope is that thereare enough homeschool families
that like stand our ground andsay we will not ever accept
state funding.
Homeschooling should stay asunregulated as possible.
We want to make it asunregulated as possible by
(41:55):
refusing all forms of statefunding, because eventually all
of these schools, all of theseESAs, are going to be so
regulated they won't lookanything like homeschooling.
We just need to have enoughpeople holding the line saying
come on, come on, we're ready,come homeschool with us.
I will hope people will jumpover sooner so that we can have
a larger group for them to comejoin.
(42:17):
But it's starting to fall apartalready when for a call to
action.
Speaker 1 (42:23):
Where can we send people to, like, get more
information on this or to getknowledge about how to?
Like?
You said they're in alegislative session right now.
I mean, I went to public school.
I know zero about legislativesessions and what, how a bill
gets passed, and you know whatthat process looks like Like.
(42:44):
Where do us homeschoolingparents need to show up to put a
stop to this?
Or, you know, make sure thatthe regulations do not get put
in place, or to make parentsaware that we need to stop
accepting the funding.
I think there's two sides there.
You know whether it's it's it'sdon't let the regulations get
passed or just stop acceptingthe funding altogether, and we
(43:06):
should probably do both.
But, like, what is yoursuggestion to parents and do you
have a place that they can go?
I know you said that you dohave a page, so tell us all that
so.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
So my page is homeschool freedom, mom, Andrea.
But as far as what people cando now is, every state has a
state organization that is prohomeschool freedom.
I think there's one or twoStates that don't advocate
against state funding.
So I would first go to yourstate organization.
Make sure that they are onboard with not accepting state
(43:37):
funding.
That's a good place to start,and they would have information
for you about how thelegislation works in your state.
And then there's also there'sHomeschool Idaho.
If you just go tohomeschoolidahoorg, they have a
ton of articles just about ESAs,and I always encourage people
to go to there as well.
There's also an article that Ialways give to people.
If you're familiar.
Have you heard of the TuttleTwins?
Speaker 1 (43:59):
Yes, I am an affiliate.
Okay, get 40% off of your timewith code Cheryl40.
Speaker 2 (44:06):
Oh, there you go.
Okay, perfect.
So what's funny about that isConnor Boyack, the author.
He's been on this show, has he?
And he actually goes along withthe school choice movement.
Elijah the illustrator isagainst it and he has an article
that he has published publiclythat you can see
elijahstanfieldcom.
(44:26):
I think it's his most recentarticle.
So it's kind of interestingbecause they both you know they
own the company together butone's pro and one's against.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
Yeah, from a like marketing standpoint, if he
speaks out being against it hemight lose business.
And sometimes I mean theirmessage is amazing with just.
I mean I was reading.
My son brought me the TuttleTwins, but one of the books this
morning, um the Atlas one, andso we're reading all about the
strong man and this and that,and so the messages in those are
(44:58):
so important for kids andparents alike.
Like I learn every time I readthose books with my kid.
I learn like way more than Iever did in school.
But that message is so importantto get to people that he might
think like if I speak out, I'mgoing to lose a lot of fans and
I'd rather them get the messagethat I am delivering.
(45:19):
And maybe Elijah, because he'sthe illustrator, if he speaks
out, that can kind of be likeboth of us supporting that.
You know, because I agree withyou, that you know because I
agree with you.
I don't see him being foranything that the government
backs, but he might be justtrying to preserve the books.
You know, make sure that that'sin front of a wide audience, as
(45:40):
wide of an audience as they canbe.
Speaker 2 (45:43):
And so you mentioned.
Speaker 1 (45:47):
You called it school choice and I know that was like
a Trump thing.
So where does school choice fitin?
Because I didn't think aboutthat being a homeschool thing.
I thought that was like if mykid is in the Bronx, but I want
to send him to I live way morenorth than that I was just
trying to sound cool.
But like I want to send them toa school in Manhattan, I can
(46:13):
and nobody can say they can't orwhatever.
But or, if there's anotherpublic school that I like better
, I can send them.
That's what I, that's what Iunderstood school choice to be.
Is that incorrect?
Speaker 2 (46:23):
Yeah, I'm glad.
I'm glad that we're touching onit from this angle.
So school choice obviously canmean lots of things.
If you're talking about theschool choice as a movement, I
think it does unfortunately tiein this idea of being able to
use the funds from the publicschool in order to go to a wide
range of schooling options,including homeschool, including
(46:44):
private school, which is thepart I disagree with.
Do I think that you should havea choice in which public school
you choose?
Absolutely, If you want to takeyour kid to whichever public
school, go ahead, Like I.
That sounds like a good idea.
So I believe that all parentsshould have those choices
available.
Unfortunately, if all of thechoices are funded by the state,
(47:06):
they will all turn into oneoption, which is a state-run
school, which is the part ofschool choice that I don't agree
with.
So you'll even see homeschoollegal defense.
I think they even did a postand they said we want to
celebrate school choice and thehomeschool people were like what
are you talking about?
Because school choice has beenassociated with funding
(47:28):
homeschools.
Choice has been associated withfunding homeschools.
So they had to clarify we arejust talking about people having
the choice to send their kidswherever they want.
We're not advocating forfunding going to homeschools
from the state, but I think wehave to be very clear about what
we mean with the phrases thatwe're using.
So the choice in school is good,but the school choice movement,
(47:52):
I don't think that's good if itincludes funding.
We have got to separate stateand home and the way to do that
is to refuse all forms of statefunding for your homeschool and
your private school if you wantit to stay separate from the
state.
Speaker 1 (48:04):
Yeah, and just to kind of, you know, finish up
like I had recently learnedabout omnibus bills and you know
, again, going to public school,that was something I never
heard of before.
But what that is is, hey, we'regoing to say that this bill
does this school choice.
You can choose whatever publicschool you want to go to, even
if you are not in that district.
(48:25):
But then within that omnibusbill, there are, okay, we're
going to send a billion dollarsto Ukraine, and you know, and
it's like that everywhere.
That's not even just at the toplevel.
It was like that because I juststarted voting, like for
whatever that's worth, but Ifigure, at least in our, our,
our local elections.
I had always vote in thepresidential ones, which I get,
that I mean, that's like.
(48:59):
That's like taking your poll onwho you want to be the next
American idol.
I don't really care, they'vehad it, they've had it lined up
for years.
But anyway, I digress, um, butyou know, I went to go vote
locally recently and you knowyou, I had even said well, can I
see?
What are these candidates about?
What do they stand for?
There's nothing, there was likenothing anywhere that says
anything about it.
And they give you when you go tovote.
They give you these littleblurbs.
They don't tell you anythingabout the person, but on the
(49:19):
back there are these bills thatI didn't even know we were
voting on, and it just sayssomething like oh, do you want a
greener?
Whatever, oh, yeah, well, sure,of course you want a green, you
want to be healthy.
You know what I mean.
But then you go into it and it'slike okay, well, we're going to
raise your taxes, we're goingto take down 85 million trees,
put up solar panels that can'tbe recycled, and you know
(49:42):
they're all made by China andthey're all coming out of your
taxes.
So, like you know what I mean,that's how government works.
So they label it one thing andthen totally flip the switch on
you and it means somethingcompletely different, or it
might mean that one thing, butthen on the backend it's there's
so much more to it that wereally have to educate ourselves
(50:02):
, and that's why I think bookslike the Tuttle Twins books are
awesome and, um, you know, I I'mtrying to keep a list of all
these resources of people that Ihave interviewed over the years
, so I'm working on that rightnow and I'm going to have that
available to people soon as afree resource too, because
there's just so much.
But why don't you, as we rollup on the hour, tell us again
(50:23):
where we can find you, and Iwill put all of that information
in the show's description, sothat people can use those
resources to educate themselvesas well.
Speaker 2 (50:33):
Yeah, so my Instagram is homeschoolfreedommomandrea
and I post on there regularlyduring the week about homeschool
stuff and just stuff I'velearned over the years as a
homeschool mom and from beinghomeschooled.
And then we talk aboutpolitical things as well, and we
have a lot of fun watchingpeople argue in the comments.
(50:54):
But I love talking with peopleand finding people that are
actually interested and ready tostart learning more about this
and start talking about it.
I understand it's a veryawkward conversation to have.
I've done it a lot.
I've lost friends andconnections over it, even with
me trying to be as kind aspossible, but I think we need to
normalize that.
(51:14):
This is a really importantconversation to have.
We need to separate the stateand the home and we've got to do
that by refusing state funding.
So that's where you can find meAwesome.
Speaker 1 (51:23):
Well, I think at the end of every conversation you
should then just lead intovaccines.
If you really want to put anail in the coffin, just lead
into vaccines If you really wantto put a nail in the coffin.
Andrew, your work is soimportant and I just thank you
so much Cause I've been hearinglittle tidbits here and there,
um from guests over the pastyear and nobody has ever had
like really good resources andinformation for me.
(51:45):
So I think this is so importantand what a great time to to be
vocal about this because, sinceCOVID, people are their eyes are
opening up to you know what'sgoing on in the world, and they
are homeschooling more than evernow.
So this is really you'regetting in at the ground level
to kind of like say halt what'sgoing on, because you know if it
(52:06):
seems too good to be true, itdefinitely is.
So I thank you so much for yourtime today.
I hope people find you.
I will link your Instagram inthe show's description as well.
Thank you so much.
Awesome.
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
(52:28):
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.
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 Andrea from Idaho.
Andrea, thank you so much forbeing here.
Thanks for having me.
I'm excited.
So why don't you just start offby telling us how many kids you
have and their ages and whatsort of got you into the
homeschooling world?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah, so I've got four kids and they range from
age two up to 11.
So we've got 11, 10, um six orno, he's seven, seven and three.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Oh, that's awesome, and you have a very young face.
Do people often think like oneof the kids.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, I'll open the door sometimes and they're like
is your mom here?
And I'm like I am the mom.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
I don't know what you're using for skincare, but
it's working.
I just have really oily skin.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
That's funny, but yeah, so I was actually
homeschooled, so it was kind ofan easy decision for us.
I really loved to behomeschooled and so I really
wanted to provide thatopportunity.
And I also have some learningstruggles and so I figured my
kids would most likely also havesome of those things and they
do Some even worse than I do andso I just wanted to be able to
(01:37):
provide the space to learn how Iwas able to learn.
So that's why we decided tohomeschool.
I don't ever remember havingthe conversation with my's why
we just decided to homeschool.
I don't ever remember likehaving the conversation with my
husband are we going tohomeschool?
It was just always.
This is what I'm doing, so itwas just kind of just there from
(01:58):
the beginning.
So that's kind of.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
I mean, luckily, my husband is happy about it and
he's on board with it, but I, itwas never really like hey, can
we do this?
It was just like this is theboat you're.
You're either coming on or not.
Um, now, let's so.
Let's rewind back to you beinga homeschooler.
Growing up, did you havesiblings?
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yeah, so I'm the oldest of six kids and I went to
kindergarten and then my momactually pulled all of us out.
Well, I guess she startedhomeschooling me at the same
time.
My brother was ready to enterschool and she always thought
that it was to help my youngerbrother.
But as I grew up she's like oh,maybe it was for you Because I
(02:41):
had so many learningdifficulties.
So it was, it was a realblessing.
And then my sister was actuallyshe passed away from cancer.
So when she was first diagnosedshe sent all of us to the
public school.
We were able to choose and wefelt like, you know, each kid
just kind of picked where theywanted to go.
So I actually graduated from atraditional high school, but I
(03:02):
was only there for a year and ahalf and I graduated a full year
early because by then I justknew how to learn and I had
taught myself how to do thingsand I was like high school is so
dumb, I did not want to bethere.
So I started college at 17 andended up doing a degree online
after I transferred.
But anyway, so I've, I've donea lot I've also done.
(03:24):
There's this popular thing withthe bridge programs, where you
get funding from the state.
So it was actually my mom hadus enrolled in those and now I
actually speak out against thosebecause of the dangers that
they pose for homeschooling.
So that's kind of that's kindof got.
What got me into why I'm onlinewith my page is to teach people
and so that we can preservehomeschool freedom, because I
(03:45):
loved being homeschooled and Iloved the minimal regulations
that we have in Idaho.
Every state is different, but Ithink the less regulations you
have, the better chance thatyour kids can thrive, because
every kid is so different andthe state is no way going to be
able to know what's best for ourkids 1,000% and I'm glad that
you're on today so that we cantalk about that a little further
(04:07):
.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
First of all, I am so sorry to hear about your sister
.
I can't imagine going throughthat and I would imagine that,
like maybe going into the publicschool though you probably
weren't happy about that Maybejust having like the change of
get your mind kind of off ofthings might have helped a
little bit.
So you know, when, when peoplecome to me and talk about, like
(04:29):
you know, reasons why they canor can't homeschool, it's like
well, it's not, there are.
You don't have to decide thathomeschooling is your way of
life forever and that's the onlyway to do it.
You can go in and out like you.
You're in kindergarten, in theschool, then homeschooled, then
went back in for a specificreason.
And I think people feel likethey can't go back and forth
(04:50):
between the decisions and youabsolutely can, depending on
what your circumstances are atthe time and what works for you
and your family.
And it's not to think ofyourself as, oh, I failed at
homeschooling because I sent mykid back into public school.
It's like no, you were justmaking the best decision for
(05:12):
what was going on at that time.
So I think you have a reallyunique perspective.
I'm super happy that you'rehere today, so all right.
So did you ever, when you werehomeschooled, did you ever feel
like, oh, I'm missing out on thethings that traditional school
provides, like the prom and all.
Like you know, dating and thatsort of stuff?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Well, so by the time I was, I actually did go to prom
because I was, I was in theschool at that point.
I when I was actually beinghomeschooled.
I don't remember feeling thator thinking that because I had
even I had gone to kindergarten.
I don't think I'm a very socialperson, so I don't think it
(05:49):
really hurt too much.
I had siblings and I reallyjust love learning.
I loved the piano, I spent alot of time on the piano, so I
don't think I really missed it.
And then, having experiencedthose things with high school,
so because I was able to compareboth of them, I was like I
wasn't, I wasn't missing out,because I could see both sides,
and I'm sure some people.
(06:10):
It's just going to be differentkid to kid and we'll tread,
we'll decide what to do when ourkids are older, but you can
create those experiences.
I don't think that wenecessarily have to have the
public school in order for kidsto have friends, go on dates,
have good experiences, likethat's not something that the
(06:30):
public schools can solelyprovide.
It's kind of for maybe sports,I don't know, but I'm not really
into sports, so I've not likelogically thought through that.
I'm sure you could create it,but that's a tricky part, but I
wasn't into that, so it didn'thurt.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yeah, and, and in some States, like you said, the
rules vary, um, but in someStates homeschoolers are it's
it's mandated that they have tobe allowed to play in the school
sports.
Where I am in New York, you arenot allowed at all to be in the
school sports.
But there are other things like, for instance, soccer and
(07:06):
t-ball.
I mean, when kids are young,that's more of the community,
the town that puts that on sothey can be involved in that.
And you know, my son was inwrestling.
Even though it was a schoolthing, they did it at a
wrestling facility, so he wasable to do that.
He didn't have to be enrolledin the school to do that.
And then, as you get older, Iknow my sister's kids, like when
(07:27):
they played basketball well,the really good ones were always
on a travel team which was likethat above and beyond extra
team and that was not associatedwith the school.
So there's always these optionsand, like you said, you can
create it if you just want to dolike I was, thinking something
like oh, flag football would befun if, like every first Friday
of the month, I had, you know, agroup of 12 kids here to play
(07:50):
flag football, or you knowmanhunt or something like that.
You know that you, you justcreate that and so it.
Yeah, you can.
You can have those experiencesfor sure.
Now, you were talking about howyou advocate for not getting the
funding, um, which is allowed,and I'm not too I know what
you're talking about, how youadvocate for not getting the
funding which is allowed.
And I know what you're talkingabout, but I'm not too familiar
with it.
(08:10):
So if you could kind of breakthat down for us, what do some
states offer, or is it the wholefederally Like?
Every state offers this.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
So it's state by state.
As far as I know, I haven'theard of a federal thing coming
for homeschooling, but I'd beagainst that as well.
So there's a couple differentthings that go on.
Sometimes you have a therethere's not like a for sure name
, sometimes they're just calledhomeschool, charter schools or
funded charter schools or bridgeprograms, so sometimes they're
actually a public school, butyou get the money to do school
(08:42):
at home.
So so that's one version.
Then you have traditionallythey're called ESAs or vouchers,
or sometimes they're called taxcredits, where you get even
more money sometimes and thatcan go directly to homeschoolers
.
Sometimes it's really, reallyconfusing.
But the main point is thatanytime that there's funding
(09:04):
coming from the government inany form, there are going to be
some regulations attached, andusually the regulations start
small and then they start toincrease, and that's what people
need to be aware of, and we cango as deep, we can go deeper.
I don't know.
Maybe that's a good if you havemore questions, that I can keep
going down, but sometimes I getgoing and I'm like I need to
(09:26):
stop, though I've got to makesure we don't sound stupid,
definitely and just likeeverything else.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Like you said that, okay, they're called tax credits
.
Oh well, I, that sounds good.
You know I pay taxes and my kiddoesn't go to the school that I
pay taxes to, so I would like acredit.
That makes sense If I'm notusing the thing I'm paying the
taxes for, you give me a credit,so I and it and it's so like
(09:51):
this dangle the carrot thing.
Just like I use social media allthe time, like, ooh, hey, you
want to connect with all thesecool people and you can sell
products and you could do thisand, you know, become part of a
homeschool Facebook groups anddo meetups.
That's all wonderful.
They're dangling the carrot,but on the back end, they're
like and we're going to listento everything you say all day
long and we're going to throwads in your face because we
heard that you're out oftoothpaste and you know, here's
(10:13):
this brand new toothpaste thatwe're trying to get you and you
know.
So it's like um, there's, thereis always a catch.
They're always dangling thecarrot so that they can like I
don't know, dangling the carrotso that they can like I don't
know, beat you over the headwith it.
So, yeah, get into, like whatare some of the regulations that
you've seen, or that youpredict that maybe down the road
(10:34):
this little tax credit mightrestrict us from doing as
homeschooling families.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Yeah, so there's the one in Idaho.
So obviously I'm going to bemore focused on Idaho because
that's where I've studied.
But a lot of these are going toapply very similarly throughout
all the states.
So what?
For example, we had one that iscalled Empowering Parents Grant
and it was offered to allstudents, and what we found with
that is it was so hard forpeople first to get money at all
(11:00):
.
So it puts families kind of ina pickle, like they're expecting
the money and then they can'tget the money, and then they
find out they can't hardly spendit on anything, and then a lot
of the money is just spent on,like managing this program.
So why is this tax money?
It just feels like so much ofit is being wasted.
If we I think most people canactually afford to homeschool,
(11:21):
it doesn't really cost that muchmoney.
But as soon as you have acouple people signing up for
these programs, then they'relike, oh, it's successful, it's
successful, let's do it again,let's raise taxes more so that
we can offer this again when, ifyou would have just let us have
our own money homeschoolfamilies are very resourceful we
would have figured it out andbeen able to offer things
(11:42):
cheaper and better because ofthe natural way of how the free
market works.
But when you have this moneyjust coming to you from the
state, which is from yourneighbors right, a lot of this
is a lot more than you wouldever pay into taxes you get that
money.
And then Let me know if I gettoo confusing.
Sometimes I get lots ofthoughts coming in.
(12:03):
I'm like, okay, which way arewe going here?
But when you think about it,you have your other neighbors.
Not everybody agrees withhomeschooling, and if it's their
tax money too, right, we alwayssay it's our, it's my tax money
.
Well, they actually probablypaid more into it than you did.
And if you want to go see, takea look at any homeschool page
on social media and you'll see alot of people that really don't
(12:24):
like homeschooling.
Those people are paying taxesas well and they're going to be
fighting to get to get rid of ofhomeschooling or regulate us
Like they want that to happentoo.
So the regulations get tighterand tighter and tighter.
And then you also have the otherside of when you have money
offered to you that you didn'tearn right, I know, technically
(12:45):
it's our money, but you didn'tearn it it feels more like a
birthday present or somethingright.
You just hand it over that kindof naturally.
It just kills creativity.
Why would I spend my timecoming up with a cheaper, better
, more affordable way for thisproblem that exists in
(13:06):
homeschooling, when the state isjust going to offer me money
and then I can go pay too muchmoney for someone else to solve
this problem?
So it's just kind of a naturalthing that happens.
I think sometimes people get intheir mind like oh, socialism is
bad, blah, blah, blah, and theylike they turn it into like
this tribal war thing oneagainst the other.
(13:26):
But I want people to rememberthat these are actually the
Republicans are usually the onespushing this funding coming to
the homeschools because theythink that it's going to improve
the public school systems.
And then you've got.
Usually the Democrats want toregulate more.
But I'm like let's forget allthat and let's just remember
that the natural thing thathappens when you are offered
money that you didn't directlyearn is that it's going to have
(13:50):
one, the regulations.
Two, it's going to kill thecreativity, it's going to make
it so people.
It just really kills thatmotivation and that's one of the
other problems that I see.
Another problem is that and thishas happened, this has already
affected us we signed up forgymnastics class.
Every other homeschool familythere was a funded homeschool,
(14:10):
except for us, I believe.
I didn't like verify everysingle person, but I just you
know from hearing from theconversations.
Well, the next semester theyraised the prices.
Who does that kick out?
First?
It kicks out our family.
We can't compete with the.
Sometimes it's $1,700 per kid,sometimes it's $3,000 per kid.
I think in Texas that's like$10,000 per kid.
(14:31):
There's no way that my familycan compete against that.
So then, when you think aboutwhat is the actual role of
government, it's to protect myfreedoms and my liberties.
Well, how is putting me out ofbusiness, my homeschool out of
business?
That's not the role ofgovernment.
They think that they're helpingby offering this money, but it
actually is not.
(14:52):
It's not helping Because if Iwant to say I'm going to
homeschool, I don't care aboutthe money, I just want to be
able to homeschool my kids, howis best for them?
I don't need the regulations,I'm going to figure it out on my
own.
And then you've got otherpeople oh, I want free money, I
don't care about the regulations, that's fine, I'll deal with it
, but then the prices raise foreveryone.
They can still afford it, andit makes it harder for me, who
(15:15):
just wants to be left alone.
It makes it harder for us to beable to keep homeschooling, and
I think that's another bigproblem that we face is these
are just the naturalconsequences of how the state
money works, and it's not thatmy side's right and the other
side's wrong.
It's just what happens, and Ithink that that's an important
part that we need to keep inmind is there's no right or
(15:37):
wrong.
This is just what happens.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Well, let me start off by saying, girl, I've worked
for the government for 16 years16 years and the last 10 of
them being with welfare and foodstamps and all the other money
that could siphon down, and Ican a thousand percent verify
(16:03):
that what you are saying isabsolutely true, and it doesn't
just stop with the homeschool,it is with welfare.
Do you?
If you guys would be shocked atthe regulations and not
regulations that make sense,that go along with when you
apply for assistance, when, if Iwas a single mother and I
(16:27):
needed assistance to you know,keep my house afloat for an
immediate amount of time.
The regulations in place prettymuch make that impossible for
me to just use it for a smallamount of time and then get
myself back on my feet.
That's the intention and that'swhat they tell you the
intention is.
But the regulations behind thatdo not support that.
(16:52):
And you can talk to people whogrew up.
I was just watching thePlandemic 3 movie and Mickey
Willis, who created that, talksabout that, how his mother was
on the system when he was a kid.
And it is set up for you can'teven have a two-parent household
and be on assistance.
So it's yes, you are a thousandpercent correct and I can see
(17:15):
the regulations.
Like you said, you might nothave any regulations right now
to sign you up, but that's thecarrot to lure you in.
And oh look, we can dogymnastics.
Like you said, the gymnasticsis now going up.
Well now, now maybe it doesn'teven cover gymnastics.
So now you've got a gymnasticsteacher who she's just trying to
make an honest living too, andshe raised her prices, thinking,
(17:38):
wow, I can.
You know people can afford this.
Now, the demand is so high Ican do this.
And then all of a sudden nobodycan do it anymore, because now
gymnastics is not part of whatthey're going to cover.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Now they're only going to cover the Rockefeller
curriculum.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
So now you can't get whoever a Becca's or the Good
and the Beautiful or all about.
You can't get that stuffanymore.
You can only get what they'veapproved, and that might not be
right now or in a year from now,but that might be five years
down the road and it's onlygoing to get more strict.
And what you're reporting mightget more strict too, because
(18:18):
they want to know that you'reusing their curriculum.
In New York right now we haveto report our intention for the
year and then every quarter whatwe actually did.
Did we fulfill that intention?
And I know some states youdon't have to do anything, but
that can get way more.
I think New York is one of thestricter ones and I mean even
that can go down to what is yourday to day.
(18:38):
You know how many hours did youspend on this?
Submit tests, you know, and,like you said, homeschoolers we
do this because we want adifferent way to teach our kids.
So if now we have to give themtests every week or month or
quarter to prove how you knowwhat they're doing, which the
tests?
I mean, it's like what'sstopping you from writing down
(18:59):
the answers?
I don't even know.
So what's the point of them atall?
Right, but yeah, you make somuch sense and and wow, I really
hope people I'm just thinkinglike the snippets that I could
share on social media with justthe stuff you were saying, and
I'm wishing I put makeup onbecause I'm like, oh, this would
(19:19):
go viral if everybody like knewthis information and thought of
it this way.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Right, and that's what I try to talk about on my
page.
Unfortunately, I think it kindof rubs people the wrong way,
because they all of a sudden,like feel guilty.
They feel guilty that kind of.
They were deceived, right, theythought that this was a good
thing, they were following theRepublicans pushing these things
and they're like then theydon't want to believe it, right,
(19:45):
Like they're really likeoffended, and I really I don't
know.
Sometimes it's hard of how doyou, how do you have this
conversation?
I found that it does.
People don't want to talk to mesometimes because I'm vocal
about it, because I I talk outabout it and say, look, what
you're doing is is, you know, isis harming homeschooling Like
(20:08):
no, it's not.
No, it's not like that.
You don't want to believe that.
Even talking to my mom, becauseshe had us signed up, it took
me months of talking to her like, mom, no, do you understand,
though, what has happened now?
Because the school that we weresigned up for has now turned
back into a full public school.
You have to have a teacher, youhave to log on at certain times
.
There's an in-person fullpublic school and then there's
(20:31):
an online version.
If people want that, that'sfine, but we have got to make
sure that people understand thatthat is not homeschooling.
There is a different way to doit and they need to stop calling
themselves homeschooling,because it really confuses our
legislators as well, becausethey can't keep track of all
this stuff.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
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(21:34):
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Speaker 2 (23:12):
Yeah, I wish my stuff would go viral, but I think it
also comes with a little bit oflike.
What is she saying?
Speaker 1 (23:18):
And you're right, it's tricky and it's called
cognitive dissonance, when weknow something to be true but we
don't want to believe that.
I went through it when Ithought Obama and Hillary were
amazing.
Then I went through it when Ifelt like, oh my God, I was lied
to, trump's amazing.
(23:38):
And then I went through itagain when I was like, oh my God
, they're all trying to kill us,they're all on the same team
and we're, but there's, you know, they're opposite wings of the
same bird and we're not on thatflight.
We're like on the branch thatthat bird sits on.
I've never sworn on thispodcast before.
(24:00):
I might have, but it's so true.
But people have to understandthat.
You know like, yes, it'suncomfortable to to hear the
truth when you are benefitingfrom from the carrot that
they're dangling, but down theroad, just like people who send
their kids to public school theydon't like to hear the truth
(24:22):
about.
Well, public school was createdby Horace Mann and the
Rockefellers to create workerbees, to kind of stifle the
individuality of a child.
You know people don't want tohear that either.
So I get it.
I've probably been there too,but it's a necessary
conversation.
(24:43):
So I think that your role asthe person that speaks out is
more important than ruffling afew feathers, so congratulations
for what you're doing.
Keep up the good work.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
It's a hard spot to be in, but it's good Someone has
to do it.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Yeah, what made you open your eyes to this?
Because if your mother wasaccepting that funding,
obviously it's been around awhile.
What made you open your eyes tolike maybe this is too good to
be true.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
I remember I don't know if I ever like thought this
is bad, like as we wereenrolled, but when I.
So Homeschool Idaho is thestate organization in Idaho that
helps, you know, protecthomeschool freedoms, and they
published some articlesspecifically about ESAs and the
dangers that they pose, becauseESAs they've been around for a
long time and they've started,you know, keeping track and
(25:32):
keeping the data on.
Is it actually helping kids?
And it's not.
It's not actually helping, andso I always encourage people
that that's a good place tostart.
I trust Homeschool Idaho.
They've done a good job withtheir research.
They give you all of the linksyou can go verify all the stuff,
and so that's where I started.
I started reading that and thenyou just I don't know.
You just realize that if wedon't do something about this,
(25:55):
homeschooling could disappear,and when you actually follow the
money, you always have tofollow the money and Homeschool
Idaho just links it right backup.
So it's an arm of UNESCO andthey want to take away every
form of private education.
They don't want private moneyto be funding education at all.
Not private schools, nothomeschools, nothing.
(26:16):
They want it all controlled bythe state.
So it's actually a pretty big.
It's a it's a big attack.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
So that break that down for me.
So who's UNESCO?
Speaker 2 (26:26):
So UNESCO is so hard it's complicated for me to
explain.
So UNESCO is a they're one ofthe they want a world order type
of thing, like they're one ofthose arms, and I think that
sometimes they do a lot of goodthings.
They help provide like food forpeople who need food or like
training for people.
But this arm of what they'redoing to take away all private
(26:49):
forms of education, I stronglydisagree with, and they might
even have good intentions.
But Is that private school too?
Yes, or just homeschool?
They want to take away allforms of private education, and
how they want to do that is tooffer state money.
Because once you offer statemoney, guess what?
The state is in control.
That's just how it goes, and italways starts small, but then
(27:11):
they can start, and we'vealready seen this happen.
So and this is just storiespeople have told me.
People have told me theystarted accepting funding for
their private school and thenthey were told by the state hey,
you can't enforce your rulesabout same gender couples in
your school because you acceptstate funding.
(27:32):
You can't have those rulesanymore, you can't discriminate
against those couples anymore.
Or there was other examples ohfor co-ops.
So this was a homeschool co-op.
They're like, oh well, if yourco-op accepts any form of state
funding, you can't pray at yourhomeschool co-ops anymore.
Like these are big, this is abig deal and this is, you know,
(27:52):
it happens small and they mightlike fight back against this,
but when you think about it, ifyou start accepting money that
was from your neighborsessentially right, you go back
to that.
They have every right to wantto know what's happening, and so
the tagline I always use is weneed to separate state and home,
and the way to do that is tonot let that state money into
(28:13):
your home.
So you've got the state doingthat.
Then you've got UNESCO withtheir big plan, and this is how
they plan to accomplish that isby getting the money in.
And they say because they wantto equalize it, they want
everyone to have the sameopportunities.
And let's just acknowledge, too,that there are homeschool
families that don't do a goodjob taking care of their
(28:35):
children, like.
I think that that's importantto acknowledge, and so sometimes
they'll use that as an excuse.
We want to make sure that thatnever happens, but let us also
acknowledge that the governmentcan never guarantee that nothing
bad ever happens.
That's impossible, right, and Ithink people kind of get like
stuck in their head Well, ifthey just had more funding, they
would fix it.
No, never in the history ofever has the state been able to
(28:59):
guarantee that everyone is happyand healthy and taken care of.
That's just not the way it works.
It doesn't work that way in anysystem.
We live in a flawed world,right, and I think it just
happens to be that my side ofthings says it's going to be
even worse if the state has morecontrol because people are so
different.
There's no way that a couplepeople up here that there's
(29:21):
probably really good people thatreally think that if they can
regulate homeschooling, it willguarantee that no abuse ever
happens.
But that's just not true andthat's just not how.
(29:43):
It's impossible.
It doesn't work that way.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Yes, and to go back to what you were saying about,
when you accept funding you haveto do the regulations, and you
were saying that that's juststories that you've heard, but
I'll tell you right off the batthat that is true, because all
during the COVID era of maskwearing, private schools had to
wear masks, whether theybelieved in them or not.
(30:07):
Why they accepted funding fromthe state and they even got more
funding for implementing themask wearing and the social
distancing Wow, I didn't knowthat.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
That's crazy.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Yeah, it was.
That's why you know, evenprivate schools had to.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
I mean, you see, with the universities as well,
whenever there's state fundinginvolved, like they're only
allowed to teach certain things,certain ways, like you have to
follow.
So if you don't want to followit, stay separate, completely
separate.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Right.
So if you don't want to followit, stay separate, completely
separate, right.
So even, yes, privateuniversities they all masked
because they all accepted someform of funding from our
government.
Secondly, on that, you weretalking about the regulations to
for the children that theremight be abuse in the household,
and I thought of that as well.
(30:54):
And I was talking to anotherguest back in the beginning of
my show and they said, listen,if there's abuse going on in the
household, chances are theauthorities are already alerted
to that.
Few and far between.
Is no one ever going to seethat a child is neglected,
(31:16):
whether it be a neighbor, afamily member, just going to the
grocery, all those avenues likeit, the regular.
It doesn't outweigh, you know,to have these regulations in
(31:38):
place to help the you knowamount of children that might be
abused in a homeschoolhousehold, because if those kids
were enrolled in public schoolthey would still be abused and,
yes, they might have more accessto food and somebody to say,
hey, help, I need help.
But because all of the agenciesthat take care of abused
(31:59):
children are all governmentagencies, there is nothing we
can do about it, because youbasically have to see a child
getting, you know, attacked forthem to be removed from their
household.
Everything that the stateagencies do is to keep the child
with the parents.
So, uh, and I've seen it myself, I have, I you know firsthand
(32:23):
again, um, different programs.
I've worked with they.
They will always try to keepthe child with with the parents.
So, yeah, what are they going todo with this extra funding?
You know they're not takingthese kids out of the house.
And, yeah, what are they goingto do with this extra funding?
You know they're not takingthese kids out of the house.
And if they do take them out ofthe house, where are they
putting them?
Foster care is overloaded.
So it's.
You know, what do you?
What's the answer?
(32:43):
Like you said, it's a cruelworld, unfortunately, you know.
But we got to look at the prosand cons.
You can't let a tagline lureyou into accepting something
that sounds too good to be true.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Right, yeah, got to be aware of it and I think,
along with what you were sayingas well, when you start
regulating homeschools, itoverloads the system even more.
So who does it end up hurting?
It ends up hurting the kidsthat actually do need help, that
are actually experiencing abuseand neglect because they can't
keep track of everyone.
So that's, that's just another.
(33:17):
It's another way to look at it.
But when we don't need thestate involved, let's not have
the state involved.
They're just human too.
Like there's so much thatpeople are trying to keep track
of I don't think we need to keeptrack of.
Is every third grade or readingat third grade level right?
Like the parents areresponsible for that.
Let them teach their kids andlet them be responsible.
(33:37):
I truly believe that mostparents are doing a good job.
They will get the help thattheir kids need when they need
it, right.
Unfortunately, there are otherparents who don't, but in the
majority of cases, the parentsare going to be taking care of
their kids.
That's why they'rehomeschooling them.
That really is why.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Yes, and so three things there.
Because when children graduatenow, after all the hours like
now, they're in preschool fullday.
All the hours that a child isin school, they're actually
graduating with a lower readinglevel than they have in a long
time.
So what are you going to doabout it If my homeschooled
third grader isn't reading?
(34:16):
You know you can't.
You have kids for 14, 15 yearsfor 40 hours a week and they're
not reading when they're 18years old.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
So there's that, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
And then you talked about the services.
I have reached out to my schooldistrict and I'm in like a
podunk town.
I grew up going to like a highschool with 2000 kids.
I'm not in that anymore, I'm ina country town and I called the
school and asked for speechservices for my son and they
(34:48):
gave me the run around no callback.
I kept calling.
They had a conversation with me.
They first they said if I hadcontacted them in his preschool
year they could do somethingabout it.
But now that he's homeschooledin his kindergarten year, they
can't because they can'tdetermine whether it's a,
whether his speech is affectinghis ability to learn.
They don't know that becausehe's a homeschooler.
(35:09):
Um, even though that's what anevaluation is for.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
So, and then those regulations, man?
They just end up hurtingeverybody.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
So then I tried to find um outsourced services,
like just through my healthinsurance and just pay a copay
which my health insurance says,yes, we would cover that, his
doctor signed off.
Yes, I think he should havethese services.
Yes, we would cover that, hisdoctor signed off.
Yes, I think he should havethese services.
I called everywhere.
(35:40):
There is nobody willing to workwith a child for speech
services.
They're all working with strokevictims on like kind of how to
relearn to talk again.
So so all of the it seems to bethat all of the speech
pathologists are working withinthe school system and again
they're.
They're all regulated now bythe government, so they have
different things that they can'tjust go be a speech therapist
for people that want to pay outof pocket or pay through
(36:02):
insurance.
And then, thirdly, my friend whois a teacher in the inner city
here in New York.
She said that it is hard to getany help for students that are
in her class.
She gets that.
It is hard to get any help forstudents that are in her class.
She gets kids that are justdropped in throughout the year,
you know they're.
They're not all there on thefirst day.
They might come October,november, december, january,
(36:23):
some even in May.
Some of them have never spokenEnglish in their life.
Some of them have never evenbeen in a classroom before.
So there are all the andthey're just thrown in her class
.
She cannot say, hey, I thinkthis child needs this service or
that service.
Nothing happens.
She said that if the parenturges for the service to take
(36:44):
place, it will happen a littlefaster, meaning maybe six to 12
months from when the requestgoes in.
But as the teacher, it does nothappen, or it doesn't happen
very quickly if she's the one toput forth the request.
So she'll talk to the parentsand say listen, I think your kid
needs this, but I need you tobe the advocate for them.
And a lot of times they don'tspeak English either.
They don't even know what she'sasking.
(37:05):
So yeah, that's going on too.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
That's crazy.
I think that's a great example,too, of why we don't want the
state regulating us, becausethose regulations are really,
really hurting a lot of people,and I think people really have
good intentions when they try toregulate, but it just doesn't
work out the way that they wantit to.
(37:28):
There's no way for everyone toknow how it will actually play
out in the real world.
You called it ESA.
What did that stand for?
So that's an educationalsavings account.
So the old word was called avoucher and the new phrase is
tax credit, but they'reessentially all the same thing.
It's just money from the statethat comes.
(37:50):
Yeah, it's offered tohomeschoolers and private school
kids.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
So right now, do they put any restrictions on what
you can use it for?
I know you said it's differentfrom state to state, but in your
state they were using it forgymnastics.
Are there some states alreadywhere you think maybe it's it's
like only for curriculums or um,that sort of thing, or is it?
I mean it is kind of funny thatthey oh hey, we can just use
this for gymnastics.
(38:15):
It's like it is tax dollars.
Yeah, I get what you weresaying before, like how some
people are like no, I pay taxes.
Put your kid in the school thatI pay the taxes for.
You want my tax money now tokeep your kid at home and go to
gymnastics, like I do.
I understand that side as well.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
Yeah, and it's.
It's kind of pretty.
I hate to use the word unfair,but with the kids that are going
to the public school, thenyou've got their family is like
hey, wait, like I, I'm notgetting money from the state to
go to gymnastics.
Like I'm, I'm only using themoney to go to school.
So why are these other kidsgetting all of different
opportunities?
So there's that side of it.
(38:54):
So what I don't specificallyknow.
I mean we're in the middle ofour legislative session right
now, so I don't know the currentstandards.
I think that they were tryingto expand it to be able to offer
in Idaho so that you could useit for co-ops, which sounds like
, oh, that's less regulation.
Actually, that's bad, becausethen guess what they get to
(39:15):
regulate what happens at yourco-op.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
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.
That means it's $3 a month,which will just help cover the
cost of running the podcast.
In my curriculum series, Iinterview homeschooling students
(39:41):
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
it cost?
Did you have to order the bookor could you download them and
(40:03):
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 thatI've had while I search for the
perfect curriculum to suit myson's personality and my
(40:24):
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 find all of theHomeschool how To podcast
episodes, you'll see mycurriculum series and you can
(40:46):
subscribe today.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
What I do know that's happening with the bridge
programs in Idaho is that firstI believe it was you would check
in once a month about what youwere doing in your homeschool
and now they've changed it toonce a week.
And what's really interesting,as you watch the parents, the
attitude of entitlement isstarting to come out a little
bit.
They're like wait, we areentitled to that money, that is
(41:12):
our tax money.
Why are they dictating what wedo with that?
So I think we need to be awareof that side of it as well.
Like I think the regulationsare going to increase.
It is kind of creating a veryunhealthy attitude amongst
homeschool families takingfunding.
We're not entitled to the laborof someone else like this that
(41:32):
this is not how it works.
But it'll be interesting to seeif people start unenrolling from
these because the regulationsare increasing.
So my only hope is that thereare enough homeschool families
that like stand our ground andsay we will not ever accept
state funding.
Homeschooling should stay asunregulated as possible.
We want to make it asunregulated as possible by
(41:55):
refusing all forms of statefunding, because eventually all
of these schools, all of theseESAs, are going to be so
regulated they won't lookanything like homeschooling.
We just need to have enoughpeople holding the line saying
come on, come on, we're ready,come homeschool with us.
I will hope people will jumpover sooner so that we can have
a larger group for them to comejoin.
(42:17):
But it's starting to fall apartalready when for a call to
action.
Speaker 1 (42:23):
Where can we send people to, like, get more
information on this or to getknowledge about how to?
Like?
You said they're in alegislative session right now.
I mean, I went to public school.
I know zero about legislativesessions and what, how a bill
gets passed, and you know whatthat process looks like Like.
(42:44):
Where do us homeschoolingparents need to show up to put a
stop to this?
Or, you know, make sure thatthe regulations do not get put
in place, or to make parentsaware that we need to stop
accepting the funding.
I think there's two sides there.
You know whether it's it's it'sdon't let the regulations get
passed or just stop acceptingthe funding altogether, and we
(43:06):
should probably do both.
But, like, what is yoursuggestion to parents and do you
have a place that they can go?
I know you said that you dohave a page, so tell us all that
so.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
So my page is homeschool freedom, mom, Andrea.
But as far as what people cando now is, every state has a
state organization that is prohomeschool freedom.
I think there's one or twoStates that don't advocate
against state funding.
So I would first go to yourstate organization.
Make sure that they are onboard with not accepting state
(43:37):
funding.
That's a good place to start,and they would have information
for you about how thelegislation works in your state.
And then there's also there'sHomeschool Idaho.
If you just go tohomeschoolidahoorg, they have a
ton of articles just about ESAs,and I always encourage people
to go to there as well.
There's also an article that Ialways give to people.
If you're familiar.
Have you heard of the TuttleTwins?
Speaker 1 (43:59):
Yes, I am an affiliate.
Okay, get 40% off of your timewith code Cheryl40.
Speaker 2 (44:06):
Oh, there you go.
Okay, perfect.
So what's funny about that isConnor Boyack, the author.
He's been on this show, has he?
And he actually goes along withthe school choice movement.
Elijah the illustrator isagainst it and he has an article
that he has published publiclythat you can see
elijahstanfieldcom.
(44:26):
I think it's his most recentarticle.
So it's kind of interestingbecause they both you know they
own the company together butone's pro and one's against.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
Yeah, from a like marketing standpoint, if he
speaks out being against it hemight lose business.
And sometimes I mean theirmessage is amazing with just.
I mean I was reading.
My son brought me the TuttleTwins, but one of the books this
morning, um the Atlas one, andso we're reading all about the
strong man and this and that,and so the messages in those are
(44:58):
so important for kids andparents alike.
Like I learn every time I readthose books with my kid.
I learn like way more than Iever did in school.
But that message is so importantto get to people that he might
think like if I speak out, I'mgoing to lose a lot of fans and
I'd rather them get the messagethat I am delivering.
(45:19):
And maybe Elijah, because he'sthe illustrator, if he speaks
out, that can kind of be likeboth of us supporting that.
You know, because I agree withyou, that you know because I
agree with you.
I don't see him being foranything that the government
backs, but he might be justtrying to preserve the books.
You know, make sure that that'sin front of a wide audience, as
(45:40):
wide of an audience as they canbe.
Speaker 2 (45:43):
And so you mentioned.
Speaker 1 (45:47):
You called it school choice and I know that was like
a Trump thing.
So where does school choice fitin?
Because I didn't think aboutthat being a homeschool thing.
I thought that was like if mykid is in the Bronx, but I want
to send him to I live way morenorth than that I was just
trying to sound cool.
But like I want to send them toa school in Manhattan, I can
(46:13):
and nobody can say they can't orwhatever.
But or, if there's anotherpublic school that I like better
, I can send them.
That's what I, that's what Iunderstood school choice to be.
Is that incorrect?
Speaker 2 (46:23):
Yeah, I'm glad.
I'm glad that we're touching onit from this angle.
So school choice obviously canmean lots of things.
If you're talking about theschool choice as a movement, I
think it does unfortunately tiein this idea of being able to
use the funds from the publicschool in order to go to a wide
range of schooling options,including homeschool, including
(46:44):
private school, which is thepart I disagree with.
Do I think that you should havea choice in which public school
you choose?
Absolutely, If you want to takeyour kid to whichever public
school, go ahead, Like I.
That sounds like a good idea.
So I believe that all parentsshould have those choices
available.
Unfortunately, if all of thechoices are funded by the state,
(47:06):
they will all turn into oneoption, which is a state-run
school, which is the part ofschool choice that I don't agree
with.
So you'll even see homeschoollegal defense.
I think they even did a postand they said we want to
celebrate school choice and thehomeschool people were like what
are you talking about?
Because school choice has beenassociated with funding
(47:28):
homeschools.
Choice has been associated withfunding homeschools.
So they had to clarify we arejust talking about people having
the choice to send their kidswherever they want.
We're not advocating forfunding going to homeschools
from the state, but I think wehave to be very clear about what
we mean with the phrases thatwe're using.
So the choice in school is good,but the school choice movement,
(47:52):
I don't think that's good if itincludes funding.
We have got to separate stateand home and the way to do that
is to refuse all forms of statefunding for your homeschool and
your private school if you wantit to stay separate from the
state.
Speaker 1 (48:04):
Yeah, and just to kind of, you know, finish up
like I had recently learnedabout omnibus bills and you know
, again, going to public school,that was something I never
heard of before.
But what that is is, hey, we'regoing to say that this bill
does this school choice.
You can choose whatever publicschool you want to go to, even
if you are not in that district.
(48:25):
But then within that omnibusbill, there are, okay, we're
going to send a billion dollarsto Ukraine, and you know, and
it's like that everywhere.
That's not even just at the toplevel.
It was like that because I juststarted voting, like for
whatever that's worth, but Ifigure, at least in our, our,
our local elections.
I had always vote in thepresidential ones, which I get,
that I mean, that's like.
(48:59):
That's like taking your poll onwho you want to be the next
American idol.
I don't really care, they'vehad it, they've had it lined up
for years.
But anyway, I digress, um, butyou know, I went to go vote
locally recently and you knowyou, I had even said well, can I
see?
What are these candidates about?
What do they stand for?
There's nothing, there was likenothing anywhere that says
anything about it.
And they give you when you go tovote.
They give you these littleblurbs.
They don't tell you anythingabout the person, but on the
(49:19):
back there are these bills thatI didn't even know we were
voting on, and it just sayssomething like oh, do you want a
greener?
Whatever, oh, yeah, well, sure,of course you want a green, you
want to be healthy.
You know what I mean.
But then you go into it and it'slike okay, well, we're going to
raise your taxes, we're goingto take down 85 million trees,
put up solar panels that can'tbe recycled, and you know
(49:42):
they're all made by China andthey're all coming out of your
taxes.
So, like you know what I mean,that's how government works.
So they label it one thing andthen totally flip the switch on
you and it means somethingcompletely different, or it
might mean that one thing, butthen on the backend it's there's
so much more to it that wereally have to educate ourselves
(50:02):
, and that's why I think bookslike the Tuttle Twins books are
awesome and, um, you know, I I'mtrying to keep a list of all
these resources of people that Ihave interviewed over the years
, so I'm working on that rightnow and I'm going to have that
available to people soon as afree resource too, because
there's just so much.
But why don't you, as we rollup on the hour, tell us again
(50:23):
where we can find you, and Iwill put all of that information
in the show's description, sothat people can use those
resources to educate themselvesas well.
Speaker 2 (50:33):
Yeah, so my Instagram is homeschoolfreedommomandrea
and I post on there regularlyduring the week about homeschool
stuff and just stuff I'velearned over the years as a
homeschool mom and from beinghomeschooled.
And then we talk aboutpolitical things as well, and we
have a lot of fun watchingpeople argue in the comments.
(50:54):
But I love talking with peopleand finding people that are
actually interested and ready tostart learning more about this
and start talking about it.
I understand it's a veryawkward conversation to have.
I've done it a lot.
I've lost friends andconnections over it, even with
me trying to be as kind aspossible, but I think we need to
normalize that.
(51:14):
This is a really importantconversation to have.
We need to separate the stateand the home and we've got to do
that by refusing state funding.
So that's where you can find meAwesome.
Speaker 1 (51:23):
Well, I think at the end of every conversation you
should then just lead intovaccines.
If you really want to put anail in the coffin, just lead
into vaccines If you really wantto put a nail in the coffin.
Andrew, your work is soimportant and I just thank you
so much Cause I've been hearinglittle tidbits here and there,
um from guests over the pastyear and nobody has ever had
like really good resources andinformation for me.
(51:45):
So I think this is so importantand what a great time to to be
vocal about this because, sinceCOVID, people are their eyes are
opening up to you know what'sgoing on in the world, and they
are homeschooling more than evernow.
So this is really you'regetting in at the ground level
to kind of like say halt what'sgoing on, because you know if it
(52:06):
seems too good to be true, itdefinitely is.
So I thank you so much for yourtime today.
I hope people find you.
I will link your Instagram inthe show's description as well.
Thank you so much.
Awesome.
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
(52:28):
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.
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