April 3, 2024 • 25 mins
"We don't recreate school at home. The idea isn't to do what they're doing there. It's to be able to do whatever works best for our kid right at home." ~ Martha Krejci
Watch this full interview on our YouTube Channel.
Embark on an enriching conversation with Yvette Hampton and Martha Krejci in this captivating episode of the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast. Listen as Martha recounts her awe-inspiring journey from apprehension to assurance as she embraced homeschooling as a powerful form of parenting. Uncover the impact of "Schoolhouse Rocked" on Martha's decision and the transformative impact it has had on her family. Delve into her profound insights on curriculum, socialization, and the exceptional relationship that homeschooling has enabled her to build with her daughter. Join us for an enlightening discussion that emphasizes the empowering and liberating nature of homeschooling.
Come back tomorrow for the rest of this important conversation.
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Recommended Resources:
Podcast Note-Taking Guide
WithMartha.com
@TheMarthaKrejci on the socials
The Home-Based Revolution: Create Multiple Income Streams from Home, by Martha Krejci - https://amzn.to/4cyR12n
Martha's Free Resources
Why I Chose to Homeschool: a Movie Review (and a Change of Heart) - Martha Krejci
Related Podcast Episodes:
Kristi Clover - How to Start Homeschooling
Discussion Questions:
1. What were Martha's initial fears and concerns about homeschooling, and what ultimately helped to alleviate those fears?
2. What are the key differences that Martha highlighted between the traditional school system and homeschooling, particularly in terms of teaching approach and faith-based education?
3. How has Martha's teaching approach, covering one subject per day, allow for a more flexible and efficient homeschooling schedule for her family?
4. In what ways has homeschooling positively impacted Martha's relationship with her daughter and her husband, as well as provided more opportunities for family bonding and faith-based learning?
5. How did Martha address concerns about socialization for her daughter when homeschooling, and what activities and environments does her daughter participate in to foster social interaction?
6. What have been the challenges and rewards of homeschooling for Martha as a parent and for her daughter as a student?
7. How has Mike's journey as a new Christian influenced the way they approach homeschooling and faith-based education in their family?
8. What are the benefits and drawbacks of being a new homeschooling family that Martha and her husband have experienced during their first year of homeschooling?
9. How has the transition to homeschooling positively impacted Martha's family's lifestyle and their overall perspective on education and discipleship?
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey, everyone, This is Yvette Hampton.
Welcome back to the Schoolhouse Rock Podcast.
I'm back with my friend Martha Kreichi, and we we talked on
Monday. If you missed Monday's episode,
go back and listen. She has an incredible testimony
of just growing up in a Christian home and then moving
into a world that was, that was not pleasing to the Lord and
then the Lord just grabbing holdof her heart and her husband's
(00:23):
heart eventually and where the Lord has them now.
And so it's so exciting just to hear the work of God, the work
of the Holy Spirit and what he can do, and to have hope in
that. Sometimes it's hard to hold on
to that because there are people, every one of us.
I'm I'm confident that every single person listening to this
episode has someone in their life, whether it's a family
(00:44):
member or a friend, who you're just like, just find Jesus.
Like just hold on to Jesus. Like he, Jesus is the only way.
He is the only hope that we havein this life.
And you just so desperately wantto change them.
You want them to see that Jesus is the only way.
And so it's it's hard to walk that line often times.
(01:07):
But Martha is just a great example of how the Lord can use
people praying, you know, as her.
She talked about her sister praying for her and how she
prayed for her husband, Mike. And God can use that to change
lives. So yeah, go back and listen to
that if you missed it. We're going to talk today about
homeschooling and what that looks like in their family and
how they got into homeschooling.But before we do, I want to say
(01:28):
thank you again to our sponsor, BJU Press Homeschool.
They are a Christian curriculum,as you know, that will encourage
a love of learning in your kids,and they'll help your child
develop a biblical worldview because everything that they do
is based on a biblical worldviewand so they are just amazing.
If you're looking for any subject, any grade, check them
(01:51):
out bjupresshomeschool.com and you can talk with one of their
consultants and they will help you as well to figure out what
is best for your family. So I know at this time of year
so many of you are looking into next year and trying to figure
out what is going to be best foryou.
Maybe some things are working this year and some things are
not and so this is the beauty ofhomeschooling.
You do what works best for your family, so check them out
(02:12):
bjupresshomeschool.com. Also thank you again so much.
For those of you who continue tosupport the podcast, we are so
grateful for you. If again you've not watched the
movie yet, you can watch that onon our website.
You can stream it for free schoolhouserocked.com Also, we
have a sister podcast, so if youguys don't know about that, I
(02:32):
think most of you probably do. But it's called Homeschool
Insights and we publish that onefive days a week and it's short.
It's like 7 to 10 minutes each episode of just a blast of
encouragement. And so if you've not listened to
that podcast as well, you can find it on any podcast app or on
YouTube. And so if you're on YouTube,
make sure you subscribe to both this channel and that one and
(02:55):
subscribe to them on whatever podcast app you're listening to
as well. Martha, welcome back to the
podcast. I want to talk really quickly
because this is such a cool story about how we met, you and
I. We've not yet met in person, but
we've talked on the phone, we'vedone some video calls together
and stuff. And it's it's been so neat just
to get to know you and the way that I, I, I don't maybe we
(03:18):
found you, I'm not exactly sure you found us, but you watched
the movie, so it was before it was in the summertime.
I think that you watched it lastsummer and the movie had a great
impact on you. The movie being schoolhouse
rocked and it really changed your thinking about home
education and discipleship. So I would love for you to kind
(03:40):
of tell that story of of how theLord used the movie.
And and I'm not asking this like, you know, let's do a big
promo ad for Schoolhouse Rocked.I just want to know like what
was the Lord doing in your heartbefore that?
How did he change your heart? Through the movie?
And then how did you get to where you are now as a
homeschool mom? Tell us your homeschool story.
(04:01):
I want to hear this. Yeah.
Oh my gosh. First of all, if you guys have
not watched their documentary, you must like, you must don't.
Don't save it for another day. Just watch it.
Tonight. What we did is we actually put
it up on the the TV in our living room and we all watched
it. Me, Mike and Nora, we all
(04:22):
watched it. And and it was, we were already
thinking about homeschooling, except I was, I was in the stage
'cause I think there are variousstages of thinking about
homeschooling. And I was in the stage of
thinking about it and then pretty quickly hyperventilating
(04:43):
'cause I was I I mean we run a business from home, you know,
like a a decent sized business from home.
And so I'm like, can we do this?All right.
Is this a, Is this a thing we can actually do?
I want to do it. Can I do it?
And and so that was kind of likea fear of mine, except whenever
(05:04):
we watch the video, there were two things that I think pushed
me over the edge. So this your, your documentary
pushed me off the fence, so to speak, In the best way.
In the best way. Yeah.
Thank you. One of the things, one of the
reasons that it pushed me off the fence was the reminder that
(05:29):
I'm not supposed to be a teacherand that we don't recreate like
school at home. And that's not the concept.
The idea isn't to do what they're doing there at home.
It's to be able to like, recreate and do what we're, you
know, do. But whatever works for our kid
best right at home. And that gave me freedom.
(05:51):
So that that was, that allowed me to not hyperventilate because
I felt like structure, structure, structure.
Can I do that? And then also everything else.
And it was just it felt like a lot.
But I think that the world makesyou believe or what they want
you to think. It's going to be a lot because.
And that's the narrative, right,that it's awesome.
(06:13):
It's going to be such a big dealbecause they don't want you to
do it, you know? And so if they don't want you to
do something, they're going to make you feel like you can't do
that thing. And and so I'm by no means a
teacher and it doesn't matter. It's I, I, I provide exactly
what my kid needs. I'm a parent.
I don't need to be a teacher. I'm a parent and I've been
(06:36):
parenting her as long as she's been alive, so why would I stop
being able to do that now, rightin the best way?
I know my kid better than anybody else is going to know my
kid, and so there is that. I think the thing that was more
extreme was being reminded of ofall of the, I guess, ideology,
(06:59):
ideology that comes from schoolsand how they're really drawing
people away from the faith, right.
And the whole idea is that the teachers are the boss, the
teachers are the authorities. And if the teachers are saying
XY and Z, that will become truthfor your kid whether you want it
(07:20):
to or not. You know, that's gonna we have
to we can't see what's happening, know what they're
doing and then put our heads in the sand and say, well, it won't
be my kid because that's probably every parent's story
that then it was their kid, right.
And then all of a sudden, Oh my gosh, I have to deal with this.
(07:42):
You know, my kid thinking they're a cat or whatever.
You know, like it's just like this weird it's this weird world
that our our kids are not, they don't have the foundation.
They don't have the ability to really even have that much logic
yet before these schools are starting to just implement
(08:05):
fundamental things that are truth to them, that there's no
way that our kid can discern thedifference because they're not
old enough to discern the difference first.
But second, they don't have the logical capability until they're
like 12. So what's happening up until
they're 12 is the school and theworld are creating this, this
(08:27):
foundation of wacky world that our kids believe more than the
foundation that they're getting from us simply by the fact that
they're not seeing it as much from us as they are from the
school. And that's so whenever I saw
that and this was kind of like arabbit hole into that, but
(08:49):
whenever I saw that and was reminded of that, I was like, oh
heck no. Like this.
This is, this is, this is just ahard pass.
I we we're going to do this. We are doing this.
And that's where Mike and I started having the, you know,
the difficult conversations of how are we going to do this
because I was scared to death, Mike was scared to death and
(09:13):
both of us were like, I can't dothis.
And you know, then the other onesays, well I can't do this.
And I'm like, together somehow we got to do this because we
have to sacrifice what we have to sacrifice to make sure she's
OK. She's our kid.
God gave her to us. Like, we are supposed to be the
steward of her, right? And so we can't know what's
(09:37):
going on out there and say, OK, well, hopefully it doesn't
affect her. Hopefully she's smart enough.
It doesn't have to do with smarts.
They have a heavy agenda, right?And they're children.
And so that's it's not hard to put this agenda on children.
And so, like, it's just we we just have to, we have to suck it
up, right. And so that's that's it.
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We have to sacrifice what we have to sacrifice to make sure
she's OK. She's our kid.
(11:26):
God gave her to us. Yeah, yeah, it's it.
You know, you talk about sacrificing.
It's so funny, 'cause I used to always think that too, like, oh,
you know, it is a sacrifice to homeschool.
And our good friend Rick Green, he talks about how his mom used
to say, 'cause he was homeschooled growing up.
She homeschooled all of her kids.
And when people would say to her, you know, wow, what a
sacrifice you're making, she would say it's not a sacrifice
(11:46):
as it's an investment. And it's so true.
We're investing in the lives andin the hearts and the minds of
our children. And you know, I I love that part
in the movie you're talking and in large part in what Sam Sorbo
and Heidi Saint John talked about in that, you know, when
you're putting them in a classroom, you're saying go
trust this teacher. If this teacher says 2 + 2 = 4,
(12:07):
of course you expect your child to believe them.
But then when they say that we were evolved from apes, well,
OK, child, don't believe that. So then our kids are confused.
They don't know what's true, what's not true.
But as the parent, when you handyour child off to that school,
whether public or private, you know, unfortunately there are a
lot of private schools who are teaching the same things we're
(12:27):
we're telling our kids this is what's true.
Believe what your teacher says because it's going to be on a
test and you're going to have topass that test in order to get a
good grade on your report card. And you know, and there are a
lot of teachers who they they have a heart for children, they
have a heart for the Lord, but they have to teach what they
have to teach and and so, yeah, I mean there there are a lot of
(12:48):
disadvantages of course to having our kids in school.
You know, there can be disadvantages to homeschooling
as well. There's pros and cons I think to
everything. But I think by far the pros
outweigh you know, homeschoolingjust outweighs you know far
beyond what what our kids are getting in public school.
(13:10):
How has it been for you since you started homeschooling?
So you jumped in. I mean it was so funny.
I I I can't remember when we first talked, but I was like
there's a homeschool conference coming up.
It was the one in in Florida, inOrlando, the FPEA conference and
I said it and it was like that weekend.
I said if you're free this weekend go to this conference
and you did like literally you jumped in with both feet and.
(13:32):
And so how have you seen that transition in your family of
going from. I'm not sure that we are going
to homeschool and now we're going to homeschool, but I'm not
sure how to actually homeschooling.
And now we're more than halfway through the year, you know,
nearing the end of the year. What does it look like for your
family? What impact have you seen that
it has had on your family and onNora?
(13:53):
Yeah, my eyes are watering up already, 'cause it's that much
of like of an impact. It's it's been everything.
So when I, when I first, you know, put my flag in the ground
and I'm going to home school andI sort of make this announcement
really for accountability And soI can't back down, right.
That's why I did it. But whenever I did that, I had
(14:17):
so many parents comment on that post and say this is going to,
this is the best decision you'veever made in your life.
And and you know, when we started home school, like they
would say when we started home schooling, we wished we had
started earlier. You know, like we just always
wish we would have started before.
(14:38):
And when I saw all of that, I was like, OK, we're doing, we're
doing the right thing. We're moving the right direction
here. And whenever we started, we just
found a curriculum that worked really well for us and our
family and our lifestyle. It's been excellent.
It's been fantastic. So I handle what we do is you
(15:01):
know a subject a day and like sort of the full week I guess of
a subject of day and and and I take well here's we've we've
evolved a couple times in this capacity so I take Bible so I I
I'm Bible on Monday on Tuesday and Thursday what we did is
(15:28):
neither Mike and I we don't mathand and so and with this like
weird math I I'm I definitely don't math that way right I
don't math the normal way and soI this other these other ways
I'm like you know. Doesn't make any sense.
Yes. I don't even prove you were.
(15:48):
I don't know what answer did youget, but anyway, so but So what
we did is we found a local, a girl that just graduated college
with an elementary degree and she comes over and tutors Nora
in math. And then she does language arts
too. So she does Tuesday, Thursday
(16:09):
math and language arts, which were both difficult for us to to
kind of, you know, get in with. That was just our own thing.
And then Mike does science and history and geography and so
Nora's got sort of this community thing going on.
But yeah, she just, she she comes in here, that's her,
(16:33):
that's her work area, right? She comes in here and she does
her school stuff in the morning.She just kind of does it on her
own. And then we come in and we we
come alongside her to help her out and stuff.
But it doesn't take as long as afull school day takes, which is
the first thing that I realized where I was like, what are they
doing all day? Right.
(16:53):
Babysitting. That's what they're doing.
Yeah, it's. Glorified daycare.
And So what we've discovered in the year, and I think what
brought the tears to my eyes anyway, what we've discovered
so, so far in the year is I havea better relationship with my
kid. I know who my kid is.
You know, I don't just see, see her after school and hear her
(17:17):
talk about stories from school and these kids that I don't
really know and you know, whatever.
But I actually like, it's her and I, so her and I and Mike, of
course, but her and I in the morning, like, as I'm drinking
my coffee, getting ready, we watch, we watch old, old
episodes of one of those old game shows that's on one of
those channels. And so we watch that in the
(17:40):
morning, and I drink my coffee and her and I just sit on the
couch and kind of start our day together.
And it's just I get to raise my kid, you know, like, and I get
to be with her and she gets to know who I am and I get to know
who she is at her core. And I get to be able to when
she's like going through different friend drama or
(18:01):
whatever, it can be me and her instead of her entrenched in the
drama for 8 hours and then coming home and trying to dispel
it, you know, instead, it's like, Mom, here's what's going
on. And then we just kind of talk it
out and talk about what Jesus would do in that moment.
And we really get to like it's Iget to parent my kid.
(18:21):
Yeah. And I think that's the biggest,
that's the biggest thing for me.It's been, it's been an amazing,
an amazing year. We've been loving it.
Yeah, yeah. And the relationship that she's
getting to have with her dad, you know, and it's so cool as as
he is a new Christian, that they're learning together,
'cause they're both young Christians, you know, So they're
(18:43):
learning together about the Lordand what does that look like to
serve him. And and, you know, to grow in
their knowledge of his word. And I mean, what an incredible
opportunity for them to do that together.
I mean, it's just so cool. And I know even you, you travel
together sometimes as a family. I've seen you post things about,
you know, OK, we're packing our bags.
She's got her school stuff and we're on our way and and how
(19:06):
cool. That's one of the greatest
things that that the Lord has allowed our family to do is that
we've traveled together, of course, a ton.
And so our girls have been with us.
They've gotten to experience, you know, big conventions.
They've gotten to experience small conferences.
We've seeing all sorts of placesaround this country and and it's
just so cool because that is also part of building the
(19:26):
relationship. It's not just building it at
home, but you're building memories together with work,
with church, with homeschooling,with just life and and and you
talk about you're getting to be a parent and that's really what
homeschooling is, right? It's parenting our kids.
It's not just about the academics.
Those are important, but it's parenting our kids.
(19:47):
It's developing their character because no one else is going to
do that for them. No one.
It's it's not possible for any teacher.
No matter how much they love your kid, they're not going to
love your kid like you do. And and so it it is such a
beautiful, beautiful experience that we get and it's hard
sometimes, you know, I'm sure that you guys have hard days,
(20:07):
You know, everybody does. I mean, I mean everything.
Let me ask you one last questionabout homeschooling before we
sign off on this episode. You.
You're homeschooling 1? What And and I know you can't
really compare this to you know,well versus homeschooling 10.
Here's what it's been but what has been your home.
Your experience with homeschooling one child.
Because of course one of the concerns that people have is oh,
(20:29):
they're not going to be socialized and with having a
single child. What has that look like in your
home and and how is she developing socially?
Yeah, if you met my kid, she's cool.
She's, she's good. She's good socially.
But we also, you know we go to to church stuff.
She's got her church friends. She's in gymnastics, she's we go
(20:53):
to a a a local place that's kindof like American Ninja Warrior
for kids, which is crazy. And so there's there's places
for her to socialize all over. And then of course we have you
know like co-ops that we can popin and out of and she's fine.
So she she has no problem and actually she will be the first
(21:15):
to whenever she goes into any group or when she when I love
her heart. There was a new kid that came to
the American Ninja Warrior sort of place and there was a New
Girl that came and as soon as she showed up, Nora looked over
at her and she said, do you wantto be friends?
And it was just she's just the sweetest kid.
(21:37):
But she there's yeah, there's noshe's got no social problems.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I find other.
Things to do. Yeah, I find it to be that a lot
of times kids who go to school who are sitting in a classroom
all day, sitting still at their desk, you know, quiet, not able
to talk to their neighbors. They're the ones who are more
(21:59):
socially awkward. I mean, there's weird
homeschoolers, but there's really weird public schoolers
and private schoolers too. You know, like kids or kids or
kids. And they don't need to be in the
presence of other children for 40 hours a week in order to be
socialized. And and with homeschooling, we
get to kind of hone in on like what kind of socialization do we
want them to have? And we get to oversee the people
(22:21):
that they are spending their time with.
And so, yeah, it it is such a great, great privilege.
OK, thank you for sharing that story.
We are out of time. We're going to come back
tomorrow. We're going to talk about
working from home. And Martha is the master of
working from home again. She's the author of the home
Based Revolution. So we're going to talk a little
bit about this tomorrow. And she's got tons and tons of
(22:42):
resources, lots of free resources to help you as
parents. You know, if you're one who is
just like, you know what, one ofthe reasons I can't homeschool
is because I need to work to bring an income.
Or perhaps you're someone who's just your home and you're you're
sacrificing, you're making that investment in your kids.
But you really do need to find away to bring in some extra
income for your family. So we're going to talk and walk
(23:04):
through that tomorrow, Martha, share with our audience one more
time where they can find out more about you.
Yeah, so I'm all over the socials, but you can find me
like a good hub is with martha.com.
So with martha.com. And we'll put all the links, of
course, in the show notes to make it easy for you guys to
find her. Stay tuned to the very end.
Hear what's coming up next on the podcast.
(23:25):
And again, you can find all things Schoolhouse rocked at our
website, schoolhouserocked.com. Thank you so much for listening
and watching today. We love you guys.
Have a great rest of your day. We'll see you back here
tomorrow. Bye As parents, our greatest
hope is that our kids will grow up to be followers of Jesus
(23:46):
Christ and live out God's call on their lives.
But you also know the world makes it challenging to follow
Christ faithfully. That's why I'm so excited about
Summit Ministries. Their student conferences give
teens and young adults reasons to trust the biblical foundation
you've laid for them. Our oldest daughter, Brooklyn is
super excited to go this summer,and if you have a child ages 16
(24:08):
to 22, they can attend a Summit Ministries student conference
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person conference by using Code Schoolhouse 24 at checkout and
receive an additional $200 off with their early bird discount
when you register by March 31st.Visit summit.org/schoolhouse to
(24:31):
learn more. That's summit.org/schoolhouse.
I was about to watch her do something that I was not there
for and I push play. And it was just, it was it was
her taking her very first steps.And then she looks at her daddy,
(24:53):
you know, that's holding the phone and she just like, gives
him the biggest smile, like she's just so proud of herself.
And in the same moment I see herand I'm so proud of her, I'm
just like beaming, right? And then I look up at myself and
it was reality hit me that I'm by myself.
(25:15):
I'm here in a place that I can'tleave, and I am watching her do
something I should have been there for.
Hey, everyone, This is Yvette Hampton.
Welcome back to the Schoolhouse Rock Podcast.
I'm back with my friend Martha Kreichi, and we we talked on
Monday. If you missed Monday's episode,
go back and listen. She has an incredible testimony
of just growing up in a Christian home and then moving
into a world that was, that was not pleasing to the Lord and
then the Lord just grabbing holdof her heart and her husband's
(00:23):
heart eventually and where the Lord has them now.
And so it's so exciting just to hear the work of God, the work
of the Holy Spirit and what he can do, and to have hope in
that. Sometimes it's hard to hold on
to that because there are people, every one of us.
I'm I'm confident that every single person listening to this
episode has someone in their life, whether it's a family
(00:44):
member or a friend, who you're just like, just find Jesus.
Like just hold on to Jesus. Like he, Jesus is the only way.
He is the only hope that we havein this life.
And you just so desperately wantto change them.
You want them to see that Jesus is the only way.
And so it's it's hard to walk that line often times.
(01:07):
But Martha is just a great example of how the Lord can use
people praying, you know, as her.
She talked about her sister praying for her and how she
prayed for her husband, Mike. And God can use that to change
lives. So yeah, go back and listen to
that if you missed it. We're going to talk today about
homeschooling and what that looks like in their family and
how they got into homeschooling.But before we do, I want to say
(01:28):
thank you again to our sponsor, BJU Press Homeschool.
They are a Christian curriculum,as you know, that will encourage
a love of learning in your kids,and they'll help your child
develop a biblical worldview because everything that they do
is based on a biblical worldviewand so they are just amazing.
If you're looking for any subject, any grade, check them
(01:51):
out bjupresshomeschool.com and you can talk with one of their
consultants and they will help you as well to figure out what
is best for your family. So I know at this time of year
so many of you are looking into next year and trying to figure
out what is going to be best foryou.
Maybe some things are working this year and some things are
not and so this is the beauty ofhomeschooling.
You do what works best for your family, so check them out
(02:12):
bjupresshomeschool.com. Also thank you again so much.
For those of you who continue tosupport the podcast, we are so
grateful for you. If again you've not watched the
movie yet, you can watch that onon our website.
You can stream it for free schoolhouserocked.com Also, we
have a sister podcast, so if youguys don't know about that, I
(02:32):
think most of you probably do. But it's called Homeschool
Insights and we publish that onefive days a week and it's short.
It's like 7 to 10 minutes each episode of just a blast of
encouragement. And so if you've not listened to
that podcast as well, you can find it on any podcast app or on
YouTube. And so if you're on YouTube,
make sure you subscribe to both this channel and that one and
(02:55):
subscribe to them on whatever podcast app you're listening to
as well. Martha, welcome back to the
podcast. I want to talk really quickly
because this is such a cool story about how we met, you and
I. We've not yet met in person, but
we've talked on the phone, we'vedone some video calls together
and stuff. And it's it's been so neat just
to get to know you and the way that I, I, I don't maybe we
(03:18):
found you, I'm not exactly sure you found us, but you watched
the movie, so it was before it was in the summertime.
I think that you watched it lastsummer and the movie had a great
impact on you. The movie being schoolhouse
rocked and it really changed your thinking about home
education and discipleship. So I would love for you to kind
(03:40):
of tell that story of of how theLord used the movie.
And and I'm not asking this like, you know, let's do a big
promo ad for Schoolhouse Rocked.I just want to know like what
was the Lord doing in your heartbefore that?
How did he change your heart? Through the movie?
And then how did you get to where you are now as a
homeschool mom? Tell us your homeschool story.
(04:01):
I want to hear this. Yeah.
Oh my gosh. First of all, if you guys have
not watched their documentary, you must like, you must don't.
Don't save it for another day. Just watch it.
Tonight. What we did is we actually put
it up on the the TV in our living room and we all watched
it. Me, Mike and Nora, we all
(04:22):
watched it. And and it was, we were already
thinking about homeschooling, except I was, I was in the stage
'cause I think there are variousstages of thinking about
homeschooling. And I was in the stage of
thinking about it and then pretty quickly hyperventilating
(04:43):
'cause I was I I mean we run a business from home, you know,
like a a decent sized business from home.
And so I'm like, can we do this?All right.
Is this a, Is this a thing we can actually do?
I want to do it. Can I do it?
And and so that was kind of likea fear of mine, except whenever
(05:04):
we watch the video, there were two things that I think pushed
me over the edge. So this your, your documentary
pushed me off the fence, so to speak, In the best way.
In the best way. Yeah.
Thank you. One of the things, one of the
reasons that it pushed me off the fence was the reminder that
(05:29):
I'm not supposed to be a teacherand that we don't recreate like
school at home. And that's not the concept.
The idea isn't to do what they're doing there at home.
It's to be able to like, recreate and do what we're, you
know, do. But whatever works for our kid
best right at home. And that gave me freedom.
(05:51):
So that that was, that allowed me to not hyperventilate because
I felt like structure, structure, structure.
Can I do that? And then also everything else.
And it was just it felt like a lot.
But I think that the world makesyou believe or what they want
you to think. It's going to be a lot because.
And that's the narrative, right,that it's awesome.
(06:13):
It's going to be such a big dealbecause they don't want you to
do it, you know? And so if they don't want you to
do something, they're going to make you feel like you can't do
that thing. And and so I'm by no means a
teacher and it doesn't matter. It's I, I, I provide exactly
what my kid needs. I'm a parent.
I don't need to be a teacher. I'm a parent and I've been
(06:36):
parenting her as long as she's been alive, so why would I stop
being able to do that now, rightin the best way?
I know my kid better than anybody else is going to know my
kid, and so there is that. I think the thing that was more
extreme was being reminded of ofall of the, I guess, ideology,
(06:59):
ideology that comes from schoolsand how they're really drawing
people away from the faith, right.
And the whole idea is that the teachers are the boss, the
teachers are the authorities. And if the teachers are saying
XY and Z, that will become truthfor your kid whether you want it
(07:20):
to or not. You know, that's gonna we have
to we can't see what's happening, know what they're
doing and then put our heads in the sand and say, well, it won't
be my kid because that's probably every parent's story
that then it was their kid, right.
And then all of a sudden, Oh my gosh, I have to deal with this.
(07:42):
You know, my kid thinking they're a cat or whatever.
You know, like it's just like this weird it's this weird world
that our our kids are not, they don't have the foundation.
They don't have the ability to really even have that much logic
yet before these schools are starting to just implement
(08:05):
fundamental things that are truth to them, that there's no
way that our kid can discern thedifference because they're not
old enough to discern the difference first.
But second, they don't have the logical capability until they're
like 12. So what's happening up until
they're 12 is the school and theworld are creating this, this
(08:27):
foundation of wacky world that our kids believe more than the
foundation that they're getting from us simply by the fact that
they're not seeing it as much from us as they are from the
school. And that's so whenever I saw
that and this was kind of like arabbit hole into that, but
(08:49):
whenever I saw that and was reminded of that, I was like, oh
heck no. Like this.
This is, this is, this is just ahard pass.
I we we're going to do this. We are doing this.
And that's where Mike and I started having the, you know,
the difficult conversations of how are we going to do this
because I was scared to death, Mike was scared to death and
(09:13):
both of us were like, I can't dothis.
And you know, then the other onesays, well I can't do this.
And I'm like, together somehow we got to do this because we
have to sacrifice what we have to sacrifice to make sure she's
OK. She's our kid.
God gave her to us. Like, we are supposed to be the
steward of her, right? And so we can't know what's
(09:37):
going on out there and say, OK, well, hopefully it doesn't
affect her. Hopefully she's smart enough.
It doesn't have to do with smarts.
They have a heavy agenda, right?And they're children.
And so that's it's not hard to put this agenda on children.
And so, like, it's just we we just have to, we have to suck it
up, right. And so that's that's it.
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We have to sacrifice what we have to sacrifice to make sure
she's OK. She's our kid.
(11:26):
God gave her to us. Yeah, yeah, it's it.
You know, you talk about sacrificing.
It's so funny, 'cause I used to always think that too, like, oh,
you know, it is a sacrifice to homeschool.
And our good friend Rick Green, he talks about how his mom used
to say, 'cause he was homeschooled growing up.
She homeschooled all of her kids.
And when people would say to her, you know, wow, what a
sacrifice you're making, she would say it's not a sacrifice
(11:46):
as it's an investment. And it's so true.
We're investing in the lives andin the hearts and the minds of
our children. And you know, I I love that part
in the movie you're talking and in large part in what Sam Sorbo
and Heidi Saint John talked about in that, you know, when
you're putting them in a classroom, you're saying go
trust this teacher. If this teacher says 2 + 2 = 4,
(12:07):
of course you expect your child to believe them.
But then when they say that we were evolved from apes, well,
OK, child, don't believe that. So then our kids are confused.
They don't know what's true, what's not true.
But as the parent, when you handyour child off to that school,
whether public or private, you know, unfortunately there are a
lot of private schools who are teaching the same things we're
(12:27):
we're telling our kids this is what's true.
Believe what your teacher says because it's going to be on a
test and you're going to have topass that test in order to get a
good grade on your report card. And you know, and there are a
lot of teachers who they they have a heart for children, they
have a heart for the Lord, but they have to teach what they
have to teach and and so, yeah, I mean there there are a lot of
(12:48):
disadvantages of course to having our kids in school.
You know, there can be disadvantages to homeschooling
as well. There's pros and cons I think to
everything. But I think by far the pros
outweigh you know, homeschoolingjust outweighs you know far
beyond what what our kids are getting in public school.
(13:10):
How has it been for you since you started homeschooling?
So you jumped in. I mean it was so funny.
I I I can't remember when we first talked, but I was like
there's a homeschool conference coming up.
It was the one in in Florida, inOrlando, the FPEA conference and
I said it and it was like that weekend.
I said if you're free this weekend go to this conference
and you did like literally you jumped in with both feet and.
(13:32):
And so how have you seen that transition in your family of
going from. I'm not sure that we are going
to homeschool and now we're going to homeschool, but I'm not
sure how to actually homeschooling.
And now we're more than halfway through the year, you know,
nearing the end of the year. What does it look like for your
family? What impact have you seen that
it has had on your family and onNora?
(13:53):
Yeah, my eyes are watering up already, 'cause it's that much
of like of an impact. It's it's been everything.
So when I, when I first, you know, put my flag in the ground
and I'm going to home school andI sort of make this announcement
really for accountability And soI can't back down, right.
That's why I did it. But whenever I did that, I had
(14:17):
so many parents comment on that post and say this is going to,
this is the best decision you'veever made in your life.
And and you know, when we started home school, like they
would say when we started home schooling, we wished we had
started earlier. You know, like we just always
wish we would have started before.
(14:38):
And when I saw all of that, I was like, OK, we're doing, we're
doing the right thing. We're moving the right direction
here. And whenever we started, we just
found a curriculum that worked really well for us and our
family and our lifestyle. It's been excellent.
It's been fantastic. So I handle what we do is you
(15:01):
know a subject a day and like sort of the full week I guess of
a subject of day and and and I take well here's we've we've
evolved a couple times in this capacity so I take Bible so I I
I'm Bible on Monday on Tuesday and Thursday what we did is
(15:28):
neither Mike and I we don't mathand and so and with this like
weird math I I'm I definitely don't math that way right I
don't math the normal way and soI this other these other ways
I'm like you know. Doesn't make any sense.
Yes. I don't even prove you were.
(15:48):
I don't know what answer did youget, but anyway, so but So what
we did is we found a local, a girl that just graduated college
with an elementary degree and she comes over and tutors Nora
in math. And then she does language arts
too. So she does Tuesday, Thursday
(16:09):
math and language arts, which were both difficult for us to to
kind of, you know, get in with. That was just our own thing.
And then Mike does science and history and geography and so
Nora's got sort of this community thing going on.
But yeah, she just, she she comes in here, that's her,
(16:33):
that's her work area, right? She comes in here and she does
her school stuff in the morning.She just kind of does it on her
own. And then we come in and we we
come alongside her to help her out and stuff.
But it doesn't take as long as afull school day takes, which is
the first thing that I realized where I was like, what are they
doing all day? Right.
(16:53):
Babysitting. That's what they're doing.
Yeah, it's. Glorified daycare.
And So what we've discovered in the year, and I think what
brought the tears to my eyes anyway, what we've discovered
so, so far in the year is I havea better relationship with my
kid. I know who my kid is.
You know, I don't just see, see her after school and hear her
(17:17):
talk about stories from school and these kids that I don't
really know and you know, whatever.
But I actually like, it's her and I, so her and I and Mike, of
course, but her and I in the morning, like, as I'm drinking
my coffee, getting ready, we watch, we watch old, old
episodes of one of those old game shows that's on one of
those channels. And so we watch that in the
(17:40):
morning, and I drink my coffee and her and I just sit on the
couch and kind of start our day together.
And it's just I get to raise my kid, you know, like, and I get
to be with her and she gets to know who I am and I get to know
who she is at her core. And I get to be able to when
she's like going through different friend drama or
(18:01):
whatever, it can be me and her instead of her entrenched in the
drama for 8 hours and then coming home and trying to dispel
it, you know, instead, it's like, Mom, here's what's going
on. And then we just kind of talk it
out and talk about what Jesus would do in that moment.
And we really get to like it's Iget to parent my kid.
(18:21):
Yeah. And I think that's the biggest,
that's the biggest thing for me.It's been, it's been an amazing,
an amazing year. We've been loving it.
Yeah, yeah. And the relationship that she's
getting to have with her dad, you know, and it's so cool as as
he is a new Christian, that they're learning together,
'cause they're both young Christians, you know, So they're
(18:43):
learning together about the Lordand what does that look like to
serve him. And and, you know, to grow in
their knowledge of his word. And I mean, what an incredible
opportunity for them to do that together.
I mean, it's just so cool. And I know even you, you travel
together sometimes as a family. I've seen you post things about,
you know, OK, we're packing our bags.
She's got her school stuff and we're on our way and and how
(19:06):
cool. That's one of the greatest
things that that the Lord has allowed our family to do is that
we've traveled together, of course, a ton.
And so our girls have been with us.
They've gotten to experience, you know, big conventions.
They've gotten to experience small conferences.
We've seeing all sorts of placesaround this country and and it's
just so cool because that is also part of building the
(19:26):
relationship. It's not just building it at
home, but you're building memories together with work,
with church, with homeschooling,with just life and and and you
talk about you're getting to be a parent and that's really what
homeschooling is, right? It's parenting our kids.
It's not just about the academics.
Those are important, but it's parenting our kids.
(19:47):
It's developing their character because no one else is going to
do that for them. No one.
It's it's not possible for any teacher.
No matter how much they love your kid, they're not going to
love your kid like you do. And and so it it is such a
beautiful, beautiful experience that we get and it's hard
sometimes, you know, I'm sure that you guys have hard days,
(20:07):
You know, everybody does. I mean, I mean everything.
Let me ask you one last questionabout homeschooling before we
sign off on this episode. You.
You're homeschooling 1? What And and I know you can't
really compare this to you know,well versus homeschooling 10.
Here's what it's been but what has been your home.
Your experience with homeschooling one child.
Because of course one of the concerns that people have is oh,
(20:29):
they're not going to be socialized and with having a
single child. What has that look like in your
home and and how is she developing socially?
Yeah, if you met my kid, she's cool.
She's, she's good. She's good socially.
But we also, you know we go to to church stuff.
She's got her church friends. She's in gymnastics, she's we go
(20:53):
to a a a local place that's kindof like American Ninja Warrior
for kids, which is crazy. And so there's there's places
for her to socialize all over. And then of course we have you
know like co-ops that we can popin and out of and she's fine.
So she she has no problem and actually she will be the first
(21:15):
to whenever she goes into any group or when she when I love
her heart. There was a new kid that came to
the American Ninja Warrior sort of place and there was a New
Girl that came and as soon as she showed up, Nora looked over
at her and she said, do you wantto be friends?
And it was just she's just the sweetest kid.
(21:37):
But she there's yeah, there's noshe's got no social problems.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I find other.
Things to do. Yeah, I find it to be that a lot
of times kids who go to school who are sitting in a classroom
all day, sitting still at their desk, you know, quiet, not able
to talk to their neighbors. They're the ones who are more
(21:59):
socially awkward. I mean, there's weird
homeschoolers, but there's really weird public schoolers
and private schoolers too. You know, like kids or kids or
kids. And they don't need to be in the
presence of other children for 40 hours a week in order to be
socialized. And and with homeschooling, we
get to kind of hone in on like what kind of socialization do we
want them to have? And we get to oversee the people
(22:21):
that they are spending their time with.
And so, yeah, it it is such a great, great privilege.
OK, thank you for sharing that story.
We are out of time. We're going to come back
tomorrow. We're going to talk about
working from home. And Martha is the master of
working from home again. She's the author of the home
Based Revolution. So we're going to talk a little
bit about this tomorrow. And she's got tons and tons of
(22:42):
resources, lots of free resources to help you as
parents. You know, if you're one who is
just like, you know what, one ofthe reasons I can't homeschool
is because I need to work to bring an income.
Or perhaps you're someone who's just your home and you're you're
sacrificing, you're making that investment in your kids.
But you really do need to find away to bring in some extra
income for your family. So we're going to talk and walk
(23:04):
through that tomorrow, Martha, share with our audience one more
time where they can find out more about you.
Yeah, so I'm all over the socials, but you can find me
like a good hub is with martha.com.
So with martha.com. And we'll put all the links, of
course, in the show notes to make it easy for you guys to
find her. Stay tuned to the very end.
Hear what's coming up next on the podcast.
(23:25):
And again, you can find all things Schoolhouse rocked at our
website, schoolhouserocked.com. Thank you so much for listening
and watching today. We love you guys.
Have a great rest of your day. We'll see you back here
tomorrow. Bye As parents, our greatest
hope is that our kids will grow up to be followers of Jesus
(23:46):
Christ and live out God's call on their lives.
But you also know the world makes it challenging to follow
Christ faithfully. That's why I'm so excited about
Summit Ministries. Their student conferences give
teens and young adults reasons to trust the biblical foundation
you've laid for them. Our oldest daughter, Brooklyn is
super excited to go this summer,and if you have a child ages 16
(24:08):
to 22, they can attend a Summit Ministries student conference
this summer as well. Get a $200 discount on their in
person conference by using Code Schoolhouse 24 at checkout and
receive an additional $200 off with their early bird discount
when you register by March 31st.Visit summit.org/schoolhouse to
(24:31):
learn more. That's summit.org/schoolhouse.
I was about to watch her do something that I was not there
for and I push play. And it was just, it was it was
her taking her very first steps.And then she looks at her daddy,
(24:53):
you know, that's holding the phone and she just like, gives
him the biggest smile, like she's just so proud of herself.
And in the same moment I see herand I'm so proud of her, I'm
just like beaming, right? And then I look up at myself and
it was reality hit me that I'm by myself.
(25:15):
I'm here in a place that I can'tleave, and I am watching her do
something I should have been there for.
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