[SPEAKER_01]: So, as fall is approaching, Alisha and I have been talking more and more about schooling options for our children.
[SPEAKER_01]: And trying to seek the Lord on what that looks like for our family in this season, what best serves the children, what is going to grow and develop them is cable human beings and what our responsibility looks like practically as parents in this area.
[SPEAKER_01]: and this is just really a consideration episode on pros and cons, the different schooling methods and things that we've just been kind of going around discussing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, not having a clear decision at this point.
[SPEAKER_01]: But just kind of a wane, our experience is growing up with what would be best for the kids and I think something that is really unique to our situation is we both grew up very similarly the same way and so we in terms of our education and so we thought for sure that was what we were going to continue on because we both had great experiences and we both realized all the benefits that came with this form of education.
[SPEAKER_01]: And now we're just reconsidering it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's one of those things that will probably be considering for the rest of our child's, our children's developmental years.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know unless you think we'll just hit upon something.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, no, I do think that, like, sometimes the consideration is made a lot simpler or there is less consideration when there's less options.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I think that something that was not an option for you and I when we were dating was public school and that's continued to be not an option.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's like, okay, well, that's once that's not an option, you're like, okay, well then.
[SPEAKER_00]: homeschooling or like homeschooling is the option because that's what you and I were raised with and I'm so grateful for my childhood.
[SPEAKER_00]: You, I mean I'm sure of her casings when we speak well about her childhood and and so that just made the most sense and you start realizing like there are a lot of Christian school and I always knew Christian school was a was a good option for some people.
[SPEAKER_00]: We just never were really in proximity to any Christian schools that we would have ever considered for our children.
[SPEAKER_00]: Or I don't think we were even that close with people that had gone to Christian schools and had a good experience or had any type of experience that we would want to replicate.
[SPEAKER_00]: for our own children, and so I do think this can be a very, it doesn't have to be an ongoing conversation for a lot of people.
[SPEAKER_00]: If one, they're not in any geological, to say, yeah, geographical.
[SPEAKER_00]: Geographical, yeah, geographical.
[SPEAKER_00]: that's what my home school education did for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're not in any geographical proximity to a quality Christian school, and like you've made the decision about public school, then that's a pretty, I think, easy decision to make.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's like K-Home schoolings are choice here.
[SPEAKER_01]: giving our kids a Christian education has always been first and foremost and what we want to give our children and making sure that our homeschool education here at home is a Christian education.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I do think it's also easy to just not model a Christian education in terms of that's where we're putting value and time and focus and energy.
[SPEAKER_01]: are the lens with which we're studying things through.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think we can just assume that, well, because they're at home, therefore they're getting a Christian education, because we're Christian.
[SPEAKER_01]: But really wanting that discipleship to be intentional and that stewardship of our children's hearts.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, I didn't think we would consider anything aside from homeschooling, because I've always wanted a teach.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I love to teach the kids.
[SPEAKER_01]: And also, I hate the inefficiency of institutions.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lyshen, I both grew up with entrepreneurial parents.
[SPEAKER_01]: He has known that.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, like, efficiency is very valued in our home.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the most value for time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, exactly.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is just very valued.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, I wanted our children's education to be very efficient.
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't want a lot of wasted time or a lot of,
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, you know, have all the kindergartners spend time cutting out butterflies and work on their scissor skills because we've got a kill 20 minutes or 30 minutes.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, like that just, I was like, well, they can be the replaying or they can be doing math or reading or like, let's make every minute count here.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I still think that that's a huge pro in homeschooling is the way that you're able to
[SPEAKER_01]: really make if the kids are sitting down in a bookwork, they are sitting down to schoolwork, you can really focus on there's not a lot of busy work, there doesn't have to be, and then they're free to go pursue other things, whether that's extracurriculars, outdoor time, pre-play, all those things.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that is probably a very big pole still in terms of the pros of homeschooling.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, but even within that, I think that you lose something when you only focus on efficiency.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of the best things in life are not efficient at all.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, relationships are the most valuable thing that we have here on earth.
[SPEAKER_00]: Excuse me.
[SPEAKER_00]: And like, there's nothing efficient about relationships.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you take that attitude to the extreme of just wanting efficient, then you end up.
[SPEAKER_00]: probably like a very wealthy, lonely person, right, that doesn't have meaningful relationships, that hasn't done any meaningful work, maybe for the kingdom of heaven, for the church, but maybe you are very good at your particular job or your craft or you've made a lot of money.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's, so we don't want to take that perspective into every category of our child's development.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I think what's funny is a lie should I in theory I'll say a lie should you tell me if this is right or not I feel like we become more fans institutions in terms of their solid solid structure like the time that they've existed.
[SPEAKER_01]: like the longevity of them and the security of them.
[SPEAKER_01]: I say in theory because we don't belong as if yet to any institution whatsoever.
[SPEAKER_01]: We go to a non-denominational church where we're entrepreneurial on and our kids are homeschool.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, yeah, it's like we barely pay taxes.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I'm joking, don't turn.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we pay taxes.
[SPEAKER_00]: But we are very much like the North Idaho like stereotype.
[SPEAKER_01]: But like in concept and in theory, were these huge fans of institutions when we talk about them?
[SPEAKER_01]: I think we have a lot of respect.
[SPEAKER_01]: for, you know, studying the Lindy effect, right, which is for how, I always have a hard time communicating this, but it's however long something has existed is the probability that it will exist in the future that long.
[SPEAKER_01]: So for instance, like if a home church started last week, there's only about, the probability currently will be that it'll last a week longer.
[SPEAKER_01]: Whereas, a nomination that is older, the chances are it will stay alive that same length of time.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's why Ivy League colleges like Harvard, or you go even back to like Cambridge, Oxford, things like that, they have existed for a very long time, and so chances are they will continue to exist for a very long time in terms of value.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I think that that's something that, um,
[SPEAKER_01]: Even while we live in America, which is in a very individualistic society, we see the longevity of institutions as much as the centralized corruption instead of having it be centralized.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't ever actually think the corruption goes away.
[SPEAKER_01]: It just goes to each little individual being corrupt versus having a head on the corruption.
[SPEAKER_01]: So anyways, it's just all that said, I think in studying history and in studying classical history, I say classical history because I still think, you know, I just read in our book Club, The Battle of the American Mind by Pete Higgseth, which isn't actually a book I've recommended.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he was kind of detached from the material he was writing on.
[SPEAKER_01]: He was writing on another man's research and I think the other man would have probably been more.
[SPEAKER_01]: passion.
[SPEAKER_01]: He was the main.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was the name to get it sold.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, he was like the face.
[SPEAKER_01]: And um, but he wasn't.
[SPEAKER_01]: He didn't have that attachment to the material that I felt like and author that's passionate about what the writing about has.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, but he pointed out that even Christian schools here in America still have a very progressive education and that they still just teach American history.
[SPEAKER_01]: primarily.
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't have a great scope on classical.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's still not a classical education.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I really want our kids to get that worldview of
[SPEAKER_01]: the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, all these time periods throughout history that have really shaped culture because I think you get a better picture of what happened with history.
[SPEAKER_01]: So when you look back at history and you start to see what stood the test of time, what hasn't stood the test of time, individualism really fails.
[SPEAKER_01]: It just flickers out very quickly.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I mean, for how it's been documented anyways, like for what we have documented.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that that's what kind of changed or thinking in general is we've been motivated through listening to people with different view of the end times, talk about multi-generational faith.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's not that we didn't want our children to be Christians.
[SPEAKER_00]: We just grew up with an expectation and then took this expectation into our young adulthood that
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, well, we're probably not even going to see our kids become adults, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's no way we're going to have grandkids and of course not great grandkids, the world's going to be over by then.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that can't help but have an influence on your decision making on practical things.
[SPEAKER_00]: When you think like inequality investment,
[SPEAKER_00]: It's made with the long-term in mind.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when you look at even just like on a very worldly level, like the way that wealth has maintained in certain families, like families were thinking multimulti-multi-multi-generationaly with their money.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I get there's a lot of new wealth now with Silicon Valley and Wall Street.
[SPEAKER_00]: And what capitalism has just created a lot of new billionaires, new wealth.
[SPEAKER_00]: But even not knowing what the sustainability of that's going to be,
[SPEAKER_00]: um, as made us wonder like what's going to be happening in our great-grandchildren's lives, in our grandchildren's lives, um, and so it's just been a completely different paradigm than what I think we had early on in marriage and how we were viewing education and how we were viewing equipping our children to thrive in the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we say this saying, like, we are only grateful for our upbringing for our life.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, we live probably, and I, I'm not saying this to like try to sound like more grateful than I actually am.
[SPEAKER_00]: I actually don't know of anybody this got a better life than me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know of anybody in history.
[SPEAKER_00]: that's how to better life than me.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's incredible from a materialistic standpoint, just healthy children, a beautiful wife, my own property, a great home that I get a living, the food that we get to eat.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like the things that humans have just suffered to try to get, like I have, you know, like just great consistent water and food and health and safety, physical protection, freedom to worship, my Lord and Savior,
[SPEAKER_00]: to bring my children up in the nurtured ammunition of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I just go through like the most valued things throughout all of history.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, well, I've got them and I've got most of them in abundance.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so it's I'm speaking all of this from a place of feeling just completely overbundantly blessed.
[SPEAKER_00]: And now we'll try and think of what it looks like stewarding this for my children going forward.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, you guys, it's back to school season.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a couple things you didn't let you know about.
[SPEAKER_01]: Actually, just one.
[SPEAKER_01]: The price is going up for Voperg music academy in order for us to continue giving a very high touch experience to our students.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's wonderful, is that
[SPEAKER_01]: We have a family that can join on one membership, and that's what you want for your family.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you want one child to be participating, or if you want five kids to be participating, we want you all to be able to play piano, or if you pick guitar, or if you pick violin, or fiddle, to be able to participate on that instrument.
[SPEAKER_01]: But because the MA has something that's pretty unique, I think,
[SPEAKER_01]: And that we don't just offer the music lessons that are pre-recorded.
[SPEAKER_01]: We also have live calls where your student gets specific feedback on their form, their technique.
[SPEAKER_01]: We can correct issues real time with our teachers, which are very experienced.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is a very high-tech experience that we get to offer to you guys, and we want to keep it that way.
[SPEAKER_01]: The good news for you is that if you are planning on joining during the school year, you can join right now for the exact same price You'll be grandfathered in for as long as you choose to stay a family of over music academy And I wanted to give you guys that heads up because while it's still going to be the most affordable way to learn music lessons Here and a couple months Now it will be even better We'll see you over there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Bye-bye
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think, too, a lie should I have looked to, I think at this point, we're trying to look, what we've done this for all the time at what our parents did, because we don't know anyone who has had the success they've had, and I say that in terms of success of having raised children that by God's grace, all currently are walking with the Lord, and those that are married or raising their children, also up in the nurture and admonition of the
[SPEAKER_01]: And I have two large families that are doing that is something that is very noteworthy.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's all because of God's faithfulness, but trying to look back and see was that homeschooling was that, I mean, it was a bunch of different decisions that they make, but it's like, was that their unified marriage?
[SPEAKER_01]: It had to be their humility before God and their belief system there passing that onto us, but kind of honing in in this episode, I think in what Elisinaur considering right now is how big of a role did home schooling play in that?
[SPEAKER_01]: Was that an integral part?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because it was an integral part of our lives of us maintaining the faith now, of us wanting to raise our children to know them well of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: because there are going to be flaws in every educational model and homeschooling comes with its flaws.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I think in considering those flaws are going well as the risk worth reward to not do something like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Or was that just what was available to them at the time?
[SPEAKER_01]: And if two parents are very intentional and love a Lord and are united in marriage and have all these other things that our parents had, and apply the division of labor when it came to their children's education, would by God's grace you have that same fruit.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's kind of like the...
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, and I would just want to, I just want to commend my parents, you know, and it's that's the thing is that we want our children to be able to sit where we're sitting and have the same heart of gratitude that we have towards our parents and be like, wow, they, I just think my parents did so the right thing for us kids, for our faith, for our maturation, for our growth and formation, because when I look at the options that we're available
[SPEAKER_00]: and take on my education and then have her when I got to a certain level of mathematics to you know go to my uncle Jeremy and my uncle who was just so generous with his time and tutoring us with high-level math and then my older sister Bryce tutoring me in English and I think in man versus any of the local alternatives I'm like wow
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you mom and dad like you made the best decision for me not not just for my Faith my spiritual Formation which is the most it is the most important thing in a child is there is their Christian faith But I would also say just for my holistic development as far as the practical things and academically and you know practically so
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think you probably feel the same way about your parents, and this is the same thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: I definitely, I really respect homeschool mothers, and I love being a homeschool mother.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I think that it's not an easy path to walk.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I really respect the women that have walked it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I've done it well and have done it faithfully all the way through their children's years.
[SPEAKER_01]: And now we're doing it with their grandchildren.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I've nothing but respect for people that take that on.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I do think in looking at our own family, we want to, a belief system we don't have is that our parents' generation was the best and every generation down from that is watered down.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like we really want to stand on our parent's shoulders.
[SPEAKER_01]: And to learn, we now have more resources than they had.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have more information than they had.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, I don't, I think I used to buy into this,
[SPEAKER_01]: believe that like every generation was like you know the grandparents generation had the most integrity and then our parents lost some of it but you know they were still impressive and then we're gonna lose more of it and and just with the belief system that God is building his church here on earth I really feel that our parents are wealth of information and like this bank account we can draw from
[SPEAKER_01]: and learn from, and so there's nothing wrong with applying that new information to your life either, instead of a direct replication, because now we have information and resources that they did not have.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, well, we want to be wise and replicating the things that we want to replicate.
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't also blindly replicate and say, well, just because they did this and it worked out well, that would be the best situation.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: For our home.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, exactly.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I just think that you should do that regardless of how what the food is with your siblings or with your, you know, from the work that your parents put into you, be grateful for it, understand the sacrifices that they made, or at least try to understand them, and be grateful for them, and then take that information and say, okay, who am I married to, who are our children, how do we then
[SPEAKER_00]: raise up our own family.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are our own family you and now and we do like again I think God the Christian principles carry on throughout time, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: They are endless in their efficacy and their truth I should say, you know, train up your child in the way they should go and when they are old they will not depart from it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like that is a biblical truth that will last for time for forever.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that's the every parent should take the mindset they should have
[SPEAKER_00]: then it comes to the practical things.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like as times change, as cultures changes, as new resources become available, as there's different options at the way that's going to look practically obviously.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's going to be different because it did look different for our parents than it did for their great grandparents, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And it looked different for our parents than it did for people 300 years ago, but still training up your children in the way that they should go is a
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, so I think something that brought us to kind of discussing this at this point in our kids' lives is what's funny is at this point, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll see when our kids get there but projecting from the information we have now.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've noticed that for our kids to go to high school.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's often where parents think like in home school up to high school and then at that point maybe we'll see what we'll do for high school.
[SPEAKER_01]: This could be totally misled, but I have no insecurities about homeschooling through high school because I think at that point I own my education, my own education so much, and I think there's so many resources available out there, whether that's going to a local community college, there's so many great online resources out there.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just like clapped and self-studied for a lot of
[SPEAKER_01]: That is where I think efficiency can really kick in.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know people really love the depth of a classical education that goes through those high school years, but I also see a lot of classically educated kids burn out in those years when they could just be getting their degree and moving on.
[SPEAKER_01]: So anyways, and then there's so many different, I do think that there's a blessing, especially when you have boys, and
[SPEAKER_01]: in customizing education at that point sooner.
[SPEAKER_01]: So instead of waiting till you're 18 to kind of be like, okay, now we're going to say what major do you want to do?
[SPEAKER_01]: Or what trade do you want to get into?
[SPEAKER_01]: Or whatever, doing that with a 14 year old boy and being like, hey, let's really customize your education here.
[SPEAKER_01]: for what you want to do later in life can be much more motivating for them.
[SPEAKER_01]: At those ages, I know what's for me, even as a girl, knowing that I wanted a tea, showing in my English major, having that very customized education and starting that at 15 years old made me very self-motivated.
[SPEAKER_01]: And because I didn't feel like I was just putting in years at that point, I was moving towards something I wanted to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: yeah i think that last thing putting in years is probably a sentiment that is felt by a lot of i know it was for me as a teenage boy um and i think this is probably consistent with home schoolers or with private schoolers and maybe public schoolers too where you're kind of like man i want to be going in like doing something that
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, this is going to sound like try, but like something that matters or something that's making a difference, like I want to be moving the needle on my life here, and somehow it just feels like it's kind of rinse and repeat year after year for too many years in that time frame.
[SPEAKER_00]: When you kind of stick with the same like arc of maybe the public school system, I'm just kind of like okay, ninth grade work, tenth grade work, 11th grade work, 12th grade work.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now you're graduated.
[SPEAKER_00]: to capitalize on that zeal and that energy, the glory of a young man, it is a strength.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if we start viewing, you know, 14, 15, 16-year-olds, as the young men that they are, then I think you can give them a heavier load, whether that I think academically is great.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not saying no academics, I think they can have an extremely heavy load academically in that season.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they can rise to the occasion versus kind of having that delay of a game feeling.
[SPEAKER_01]: yeah just being clear on where they're going so like some kids are gonna have to have a very heavy academic load there if they want to get into like a like the navy school or air force school you know what are those colleges yeah if you want to get into a academy or like depending on what the child wants to do
[SPEAKER_01]: They might be putting it in a solid four years there, trying to build their resume, but we really want it to kind of feel like this resume building time for them.
[SPEAKER_01]: Versus just putting in time and a generic educational system.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we'd like to customize their high school more.
[SPEAKER_01]: Especially, there's going to be so many opportunities with them, whether that's sports, whether that's vocationally, speech and debate, internships.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's just so many things they could do with their time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Those ages, especially once they have a car and a drive.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so having them in school from eight to three is just like kind of an appealing to me at least that like it's that's an efficiency model It hasn't died out yet.
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll see right.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that reminds me of something else that gets I think brought up as being a potential reason for people to send
[SPEAKER_00]: their teenage kids to a private school or even public school in their teenage years or you know the high school years and that's with sons in particular is not one in that constant battling between like an adolescent boy and a mother which I think is a dynamic that's not fun for either party right and there are ways to I hope to mitigate that and my father was very involved
[SPEAKER_00]: with some of us boys.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if it was the case with all of my brothers and myself, but I know that was a time where he was his schedule allowed him to be more present, you know, in my life and some of my brother's life during that season.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so a lot of times I think parents are like, let's get them to
[SPEAKER_00]: to a school where they're under mail, you know, authority, a mail teacher, so they don't have to battle that with the mother.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't blame people for trying to find, you know, remedy to that dynamic.
[SPEAKER_00]: But like as you already said, I think extracurriculars can kind of like a busy schedule can be a solution to that to coaches, right, mentors, and then also like different, um,
[SPEAKER_00]: programs like you know there's like the ROTC programs there's the air national guard I think program there's obviously sports right they can be you can be a big part of it like you're local college and getting credit sure like if you need a little class versus going to a high school class.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, exactly.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, at that age, you can start, you know, flight lessons.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can start doing a lot of things that get you out of that, like, mother, son dynamic, where it's like, hey, did you finish your math?
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, did you do your piano practice, you know, and there's like, yeah, like, I fully plan on our high school or is work being self-directed.
[SPEAKER_01]: but just kind of elician, I mean the ones to line out the program and then with them and then they stick to the program.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think because myself and my sisters did that with our education, I really, I think it's possible because I saw that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Doesn't it doesn't really give me fear.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to be giving out my kids like history lesson her rating him books aloud or whatever like it will be other people.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think what's kind of ironic about that whole mother's son dynamic though that comes up a lot.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not something I'm scared about.
[SPEAKER_01]: Really?
[SPEAKER_01]: No, not at all.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're just going to you said bring it on.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I'm not, again, I have so many sons, I love my son so much, and I feel like I have their hearts, and you're such a present, backer, you know, I'm just, I'm not stressed about that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I really feel like we can get on the same page with, um,
[SPEAKER_01]: I think a lot of dads undermine their wives and give credence to their sons, attitudes, and back-talk, and hormones, instead of just being like, hey, your mom's words law, knock it off.
[SPEAKER_01]: And like, that's what you do with me.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I feel like the boys have a lot of respect for me.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not like, well, Dad, if he says it all bit, it's like, if I say it, I'm a prophet of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you are right, I think a lot of sons can disrespect their mother and back talk her and if they snow repercussions from their father and they know that they know they've almost got like an ally in their dad to be like, yeah, my dad thinks school's dumb, my dad thinks this homework assignment's dumb, my dad, you know, like if the dad, if they if there's any hint of that, like just anything, like the son will totally
[SPEAKER_01]: capitalized on that and that was not permitted at all in our house like that was Or in mind like my dad was gone a lot of the time and so mommy just had to be the soul authority and She was because dad my dad was backing her yes, and so I guess I'm just again Maybe that's gonna be a shock.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't expect to not butt heads with my kids I do right now, but it's just that's not a fear that I have it and ironically these
[SPEAKER_01]: These families send their sons then to a school where a woman's still teaching.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, that's just the way we learn it.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's so many female teachers, so while having like a going to like a boy's school where there's all male headmasters and whatever sounds incredible, it's just not realistic in our time period, at least that I know of, I mean, so.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just kind of like, well, you're just traded one woman for another.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's going to need to learn to respect a woman that's teaching.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's at some point or just get through it.
[SPEAKER_01]: But either way, there's going to have to be some symbiotic relationship.
[SPEAKER_01]: Usually with the female teacher.
[SPEAKER_01]: So anyways, that's not like something we're trying to liberal it in life.
[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, totally agree.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I think our goal is to have children have a strong eighth grade education.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, because that is an education that you can then take at 12, 13, 14 years old and it can spin off in a ton of different areas.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you decide to completely quit academics at that point, you can spell, you have nice handwriting, you can communicate, you're widely read.
[SPEAKER_01]: Especially in a classical education, your solid and mathematics, and I kind of feel like if you decide to do something down the road, you'll have the skills to be able to do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's not like we're aiming for this crazy high bar here.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just want the children to be very solid in those areas, going into high school, so at that point they feel like doors are open to them.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's kind of the goal when they leave our home school.
[SPEAKER_01]: However, that looks, whether that's someone else helping out with teaching, whether that's sending them somewhere a few days a week, whether it's me here at home doing those things.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, just kind of considering what's the best way to do that, where our kids are getting the attention that they need.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, some of the, I mean, you'd say we've really enjoyed or not enjoyed, I guess, come to appreciate institutions and that is not from experience.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's from like, I don't know, removed perspective, but something that we desire, I think, is the consistency that can come from institutions.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we are trying, it's funny, because we fought our whole, like, early married life and up until like a couple of years ago.
[SPEAKER_00]: to, like, not have to live the nine to five, you know, or eight to five Monday through Friday schedule.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, that was the goal.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, we don't want to have to work bankers hours and we want to be able to have the freedom to go somewhere on Tuesday or Thursday.
[SPEAKER_00]: If the skiing is good, then we want to be able to just...
[SPEAKER_00]: Drop everything and now we're totally going back to like, wow, this it's so much healthier for our family for our kids for their development for our physical health for everything If we live kind of like what you know much of the rest of the world when it comes to the schedule right not the rest of the world's habits and diet and things like that But kind of like okay Monday through Friday is school and work
[SPEAKER_00]: And then it's like, sure, we end up having to ski or go hiking on the busy days when everybody else is.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's still a net when for us because, you know, we like being able to have the structure of the rest of the week.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that is something that we really want for our family and the near future going forward is that consistency.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's something that we haven't valued before.
[SPEAKER_00]: We haven't valued the, okay, it's Monday morning or it's Sunday night, we're geared up for school and work on Monday.
[SPEAKER_00]: indefinitely.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, we'll have holiday breaks and we'll have, you know, some time off here and there in the summer, but that is something that I think we didn't want to originally when we started our homeschooling journey.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think a big fear too of putting children in any kind of institutionalized environment is
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, they're going to be gone all the time.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, I like my children and that's still something that You know, we're discussing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was like about that a lot.
[SPEAKER_01]: How much is is a good thing for them?
[SPEAKER_01]: And how much could be harmful?
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think it's interesting though when you look over times in history You know, we read about little house in the prairie, which is very romanticized book right about the west and when Laura and Mary are
[SPEAKER_01]: walking miles one day in the morning and walking miles back the other day and spending all this time at school.
[SPEAKER_01]: We never are thinking, wow, the government just stole their kids, uh, pond, mom never get a C.M.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like they have a very vibrant home life.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're home all summer.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're home on weekends.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're home on holidays.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that a fear that homeschoolers have heard that I don't know if it's true or not, but because I've just always grown up homeschooling, is like, you'll just never see your kids if they're at an institution for seven months of the year, multiple days a week.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I just, I don't know how that would feel or not versus I think we have some close friends that have sent their kids to a school and it's funny how often we see them with their kids.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's like, oh, well, they're actually with their kids a lot, and they seem to have a very vibrant home life and home culture.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think that's a fear that we're like, is that a valid concern?
[SPEAKER_01]: Or is that maybe just kind of a fear?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, you brought up a good point, you know, with little house in the prairie, but that just really Kind of leads to much of history in general, and that is you know We all know that home schooling and the way that it's seen today is it is a new like my mom was probably she was an OG as they say You know, I see there we didn't know anybody that home school when we started home schooling and so it's a really new Yes
[SPEAKER_00]: not concept, but it's a new, the ubiquity of it I think is new and how it's just kind of like become the number one alternative to public schooling.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's for good reason because when the public school really started becoming progressive and liberal and it was so secularized and anti-Christian anti-God and there wasn't any good alternative institutions built at the time.
[SPEAKER_00]: By all means, it's like home schooling is the best option, you know, when that's when that's the case when that's the landscape And yet I don't think that like but that with all that said historically It's not like that's been the only thing that has produced Christian Fruitful Christian faithful children in fact.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like it's very new and still kind of untested in a lot of ways
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think that something that we'll hear is like a little like George Washington or maybe like a president's wife, like, mother homeschooled him and his 10 siblings or something.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we're hearing it.
[SPEAKER_01]: But then it's like at some point in their life, they went to a boarding school or they went somewhere where they got concentrated.
[SPEAKER_00]: sometimes at a young age, like a lot of it is 12.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's very, very young, concentrated hours and hours and hours and hours of education from another voice.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it's not, again, how we picture homes going today, which is like, okay, from, you know, five to 18, they're with mom, that just hasn't ever been historically.
[SPEAKER_01]: that I've known of the case and I think that's something to with an educated society so where I'm going every year is online to YouTube and I'm like okay tell me how to do this we're having another baby where moms of like six, seven plus children and our educating their children well I need to learn the systems I need to grow as a person to do this well.
[SPEAKER_01]: And what I just kind of get discouraged by, I guess, if I'm being honest, it's hearing over and over and over, well, it doesn't, academics just don't matter what matters is the child's heart and what matters is the relationship with God and I'm like,
[SPEAKER_01]: I know that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I trust me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to lose that.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is the most important thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm here to get advice on their academic education.
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's talk about that.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, just tell me.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I think it can get kind of discouraging feeling like is there anyone out there that values academics that's been able to homeschool a large kind of like a stretch family amount where you're graduating high schoolers and still have a
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, just if that's what the Lord has for us, is there one anyone out there that actually thinks academics are worth something that are that can give me some advice on how to do this?
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's kind of, um, yeah, it's frustrating.
[SPEAKER_00]: If I was like to look up a video on how to like teach my kids more effectively on the fiddle and the opening line was like, well, remember them knowing how to play the fiddle doesn't matter.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're kind of like, like,
[SPEAKER_00]: You know they're like, it's about having their heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's about knowing that they, you know, them knowing they are loved by God and they are Christian.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, no, I know all those things.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm here to try to become a better, you know, fiddle teacher for my kids, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And so then I'm just kind of like, is that the only answer is not as devaluing academics for the sake of sticking with homeschooling?
[SPEAKER_01]: Is that your only option and then I do see women like Ashley Boothau who I think has those very high ideals in homeschooling But her kids do a lot of online classes at young ages And so just considering how much time our kids might be spending on a computer for that accountability and that and not necessarily desiring that Right So anyways, I think that's kind of
[SPEAKER_01]: where I feel a little bit of an impasse, not that you can't create your own reality.
[SPEAKER_01]: But it's nice to look and see people that have gone ahead.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this isn't really something we've considered up until when we thought we'll have six kids and be done.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sure.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because it seems like a very doable amount to get through school.
[SPEAKER_01]: But just I think when picturing family dynamics too and picturing those middle children and things like that,
[SPEAKER_01]: kind of seem I love to homeschool our kids and so that puts a lot of focus on the older half of the family and then the younger half we are realizing needs a lot of time and attention too and so considering okay
[SPEAKER_01]: What are some families that we've seen that have done this well with these large families where they've been able to, is there a time where you really poured into those older kids, they're able to go for a set amount of hours a day and get poured into by someone else.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then, you know, this fall, even if we sent our older three somewhere, for a few days a week, I would still for children at home.
[SPEAKER_01]: And there it still be, you know, disciplining and book reading and I'd be homeschooling one and things like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is what's so interesting, just looking at our life, it kind of in a vacuum, versus looking at my family's life growing up, in a vacuum is they're just different.
[SPEAKER_00]: And because I think my mom was so devoted towards us, and this is my perspective.
[SPEAKER_00]: They might have a totally different perspective on this if they're here in the room, but we didn't do a whole lot outside of our home.
[SPEAKER_00]: up until, I mean, so my, I was age, you know, I think 11 or 12, and up until, and I was the fourth board.
[SPEAKER_00]: So my oldest brother at that point was, was 18, because that's our, our spread.
[SPEAKER_00]: So from 18 to when our youngest was like 405, we would leave our house for church, and once a week for piano lessons.
[SPEAKER_00]: That was it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Nobody had driver's license.
[SPEAKER_00]: We were very much like the home school family up on living out in the country, up on the hill and that was our life.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know if we can create that life for our life is what I'm trying to say.
[SPEAKER_00]: Our life is just objectively different.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's like we could.
[SPEAKER_01]: We could.
[SPEAKER_01]: But right now, there's opportunities that we're choosing to invest in.
[SPEAKER_01]: that we'd have to like put toothpaste back in a tube, okay?
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what I mean, we'd have to get the toothpaste back in the tube and I even think of the family relationships that we have that we travel for the business opportunities here.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that, I get that, like it's obvious in what I'm saying, it's a, it's a, it's a given a take, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like we are making decisions and then that's going to make it harder to make other decisions and that's just how life.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's how life works, and so I'm not by any means saying, oh, it was easier for my parents or your parents because they made sacrifices, but I am just saying it is different.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like they lived a different life than what we are currently living, and I don't even think that that made it easy for them to homeschool to, you know, tend children.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think my mom worked her face off and labored greatly to get all of us to a level where we could all go to college if we chose.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and many of my siblings got, you know,
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, graduate degrees and things like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that didn't just happen, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like my mom was working her face off.
[SPEAKER_00]: But then there was other things that we weren't doing that you and I are now doing with our family.
[SPEAKER_00]: And with that all said, I think that's something that we're hungry for as we don't want.
[SPEAKER_00]: our lifestyle choices to come at the expense of our, we don't want our kids to pay for that.
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't want our kids to pay for our lifestyle choices down the road.
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's, I just, we feel a little bit susceptible to that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so just really considering like, okay, I think there's things in the back of my head like, okay, even if we did one year of this, I'm curious like we've never tested before.
[SPEAKER_01]: How would the children feel about, I want that to be
[SPEAKER_01]: or things like, right now, our kids are ahead in some subjects, but they also get very quality one-on-one time with me.
[SPEAKER_01]: If they have question, they come to mom.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's like, how would that be sitting in an environment and learning from someone that's just telling 20 other people the same thing?
[SPEAKER_01]: And you either know it or you don't.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just different styles of learning, different styles of teaching, coming at them.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think all that, that's how the real world operates or the world at large.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I'm a fan of the greenhouse bubble of our children.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't want to pop that too soon for them.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm also curious, I also want to then to experience things outside of a mother teacher, because mother isn't always there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and I think this is something that's just really good to consider if you are a home school parent to get your kids exposure to, like you said, the way that other parts of the world work, because I can remember it and again, this all worked out, but I think I was 11 and I went to a hunter's safety course and this town and the state that we are in.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was like a three-day course, I think.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I went from homeschooling to this and I got in trouble a couple times in the class, simply because I didn't know how to sit in a class and go through the hundred safety training program.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I didn't have like, you know, this rebellious attitude, I was stoked to be able to go get my
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, hunters, hunting, hunting take, and my hunting license, but I didn't understand how classrooms worked and just goofing off laughing, talking to people, not following the instructions, and the structure had to talk to my parents, you know, and so it's like after the first day I was all embarrassed because it's like I was going to have to be pulled out of the class, but I sobered up, but I went back.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I did it, and that was less and learned, but I do think there are scenarios like that because I think the ultra-individualist says, well, we don't want to raise kids that, just have to submit to the system, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And we don't want them to become another cog in the wheel here, or yeah, cog in the wheel.
[SPEAKER_00]: We want them to be free thinkers, and it's like that's nice, but then there are just things like going and getting your driver's license, and sitting through driver's ed same thing, you know, under safety, like just basic qualifications for things in life that you want to be able to do, require some level of knowing how to behave in like a classroom environment.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_01]: So there's kind of like those kind of peripheral things we're considering.
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, it's like, is that now or is that later when they're in drivers in or older?
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I think something too is considering the relational side of the family.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's a big part of this too.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's how do we pour into each one of these children?
[SPEAKER_01]: and keep them developing.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have a very big life this year in terms of having a baby.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're starting a new leg of Oprah music academy that's going to look different.
[SPEAKER_01]: And there's just elements of, I don't want the children's development to be completely contingent on whether I am
[SPEAKER_01]: having a busy day, or I'm overwhelmed, or I'm sick, or I'm in bed, I kind of admire, and think it can be helpful for children to kind of keep that troop, troop, troop of their lives moving.
[SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, then they come home and there's dinner and there's mom and they don't know that I took a nap for her.
[SPEAKER_01]: two and a half hours that day and didn't do a ton of else because their lives are just they're still developing as well as just being able to pour into again relationally the younger children too.
[SPEAKER_01]: So there is this relational element.
[SPEAKER_01]: To this of maybe separating out the family could be more relationally.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm holistic kind of splitting up the The holistic was wrong word, but the dog you know the hierarchy of the family where the oldest always has the most Talking time, you know, and and that would transfer then to our four-year-old or our fourth born with me
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, you know, like, maybe though Shakeups could be good relationally, and again, just kind of deciding, is what part of the children's development should go on hold when we have a busy life season as a family, what part of it can actually be maintained for them, and then a lot of our kind of figuring stuff out over here for the family.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, because that's the other thing too, it's kind of the elephant in the room here actually and I'll just say it all out is that I I really like Katie being able to work with me in our businesses.
[SPEAKER_00]: Katie is like she gets stoked about anything and
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure if you had your way, what you would actually choose to do, because you always say you love working with being the business business.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're my best friend.
[SPEAKER_00]: But then when you nerd out on schooling the kids, like that's your favorite thing, too.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, whatever you're doing is like your favorite thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Which is why, you know, I love being with you and I love living life with you.
[SPEAKER_00]: But we're entering a season where I just really am grateful for your presence in some of the business things that we're doing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that's one of those things that I, to me, that
[SPEAKER_00]: that fits like the, you know, being a proverbs 31 woman or being my help made him like this is awesome.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much, but we don't want them to kids to then we don't want the kids to feel the loss of that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, so I get these are just things are way, obviously there's the financial aspect of outsourcing schooling, which every family has to consider.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so I don't know, we're just, we're still just kind of like holding these things loosely and trying to figure out what, what would be best for the children's development this season.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I do think, you know, let's do think academics are just this like,
[SPEAKER_01]: idol or whatever like who are they even worth pursuing or whatever.
[SPEAKER_01]: I do think there's an element of we're trying to form just virtue and character and morality and righteousness in the children.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I do think academics can be a great training ground for that.
[SPEAKER_01]: self-discipline and focus and energy and working through a problem and just for me that character and words you and then learning to stick through things when things are hard you know instead of mommy being like oh it's okay just do a half less in the day you know we are busy last night or them having to get up after a day when we went to bed late and they're tired and you know so like I do think there are these elements of having to do stuff you don't want to do that can form a lot of
[SPEAKER_01]: character in young children that we want them to take for the rest of their life.
[SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes I wonder if all I should in my lifestyle isn't necessarily the best to teach that to our kids.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's something that I question to you because all those examples that you gave because of our entrepreneurial schedule, we are able to move things around.
[SPEAKER_00]: and it's bid to the detriment sometimes of our businesses and that's some of them we're trying to change.
[SPEAKER_00]: But like you said, oh, it was a long weekend or we got back late from a trip or okay, we'll push that call out.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll do, you know, we'll move that.
[SPEAKER_00]: We won't do this.
[SPEAKER_00]: We won't, we'll, you know, we'll do it in this day instead.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's not always how rarely how life works.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, or is best.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, or is best.
[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.
[SPEAKER_01]: So anyways, all that said, if you know for sure your homes going this year, I do think it's such a valuable place to put your time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: I might be totally in that same either way.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will be homescalling this year.
[SPEAKER_01]: But whether that's for children or one children, one child.
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll see that remains to be seen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, it's just a discussion we're having.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is.
[SPEAKER_00]: Folks, let us know what you think in the comments.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll talk to you next week.
[SPEAKER_00]: Bye-bye.