Visit Sarah Smith's website: https://www.nourishedandnurturedlife.com
1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:29,680
Welcome to this edition of Parallel Times, where we'll explore
2
00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:33,760
why alternatives to public school are so important these days.
3
00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:35,560
Thank you for joining us.
4
00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:42,200
My guest is Sarah Smith, a colleague and friend who is an expert in this topic, as well as
5
00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:43,840
many others.
6
00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:46,600
And I hope she'll come back as a guest again soon.
7
00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:50,400
Sarah has been homeschooling her two kids for the last 10 years.
8
00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:56,680
She's also a natural healthcare practitioner, a former NASA aerospace engineer, as well
9
00:00:56,680 --> 00:01:02,680
as the most prolific grassroots activist and outreach organizer that I know.
10
00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:08,760
And we work together on the Executive Committee of the New Mexico Freedom's Alliance and
11
00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:11,840
also the National Coalition for Health Integrity.
12
00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:14,280
Sarah, thank you for being here today.
13
00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:16,800
Thanks for having me.
14
00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:19,600
You are most welcome.
15
00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:25,400
In a moment, I'd like to set a little context about why I wanted to include this in this
16
00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:29,720
kind of pilot series of Parallel Times.
17
00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:36,520
But first, I'd like to have you give us a quick overview of why you personally decided
18
00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:39,400
to homeschool your kids 10 years ago.
19
00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:42,520
And then we'll go into more detail after that.
20
00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:43,960
Absolutely.
21
00:01:43,960 --> 00:01:49,160
So I didn't actually start homeschooling for a lot of the reasons that people would think
22
00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:51,400
that I would have.
23
00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:56,000
In reality, when I was working at NASA, one of my coworkers, his wife was homeschooling
24
00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:57,000
their kids.
25
00:01:57,000 --> 00:01:58,440
They had four kids.
26
00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:04,120
And when I met his kids, they were very different from any other kids I had ever met before.
27
00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:07,240
They really liked each other a lot.
28
00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:08,320
And that spoke to me.
29
00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:12,440
I didn't have necessarily a very good relationship with my own brother growing up.
30
00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:16,640
I feel like school kind of drove a wedge that just kept getting deeper.
31
00:02:16,640 --> 00:02:22,520
And so I was really impressed with the family relationships that they had.
32
00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:27,640
And it made me kind of look and wonder, because I had never really heard of homeschooling
33
00:02:27,640 --> 00:02:29,120
before.
34
00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:30,920
And so that kind of planted the seed.
35
00:02:30,920 --> 00:02:38,360
And then once I had my kids and felt such a strong call to raise them and to take care
36
00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:43,920
of them, it was just the next natural step at that point to homeschool them.
37
00:02:43,920 --> 00:02:48,160
So only later did I find out a lot of problems with the school system and other things that
38
00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:51,000
would have made me want to homeschool and that made me very glad that I was.
39
00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:53,560
But those weren't the original reasons.
40
00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:54,880
That is really interesting.
41
00:02:54,880 --> 00:03:02,920
And I just spent last weekend with a family that has six kids from 2 and 1 half to 14.
42
00:03:02,920 --> 00:03:06,200
And they've homeschooled all of those kids.
43
00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:08,040
And those kids are amazing.
44
00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:09,160
And they get along so well.
45
00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:10,840
They're like a perfect little tribe.
46
00:03:10,840 --> 00:03:12,760
They take care of each other.
47
00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:14,120
They're so well behaved.
48
00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:17,040
They're so well spoken.
49
00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:18,600
They all seem really smart.
50
00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:23,360
So it's interesting that you say that about homeschool kids in relationship to each other
51
00:03:23,360 --> 00:03:27,320
within the family, because I just experienced that.
52
00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:29,360
So thank you for that.
53
00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:36,520
One person is very specific, lived through experience of why she's homeschooling.
54
00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:41,600
For me, everything is about the safety, well-being and future of the kids who are in the world
55
00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:47,560
now and how we can support them in being healthy in all ways, especially in the midst of the
56
00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:55,120
control and encroachment on freedom and reason that we see happening in the world.
57
00:03:55,120 --> 00:04:04,320
So I came from a family where public school education was part of the gospel of our lives.
58
00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:07,200
And I loved school and I thought I was getting a good education.
59
00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:12,640
And it's only now as an adult that I realize how much of my education was actually dedicated
60
00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:20,440
to teaching me how to obey authority and actually set aside my questioning mind.
61
00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:23,920
So I wanted to give a little context.
62
00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:30,960
The Academy of Ideas that have a channel on YouTube have a video called Why Public Schools
63
00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:34,240
and the Mainstream Dumbass Down.
64
00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:37,600
And I find what they've presented very interesting.
65
00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:41,760
They explained that the American school system is actually modeled after the factory-style
66
00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:46,480
education system of Prussia in the 1700s.
67
00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:50,600
According to John Taylor Gatto, who I know is a writer that you've referenced quite a
68
00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:55,480
bit in our conversations, he's an American teacher who became one of the greatest critics
69
00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:58,000
of the U.S. education system.
70
00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:03,920
And he says this approach to schooling from Prussia in the 1700s was actually designed
71
00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:10,440
to, and this is his quote, produce mediocre intellects to hamstring the inner life, deny
72
00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:17,320
students appreciable leadership skills, and ensure docile and incomplete citizens in order
73
00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:21,640
to render the populace, and this is quotes, manageable.
74
00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:26,800
And that's from his book, Weapons of Mass Instruction, which I thought is quite a clever
75
00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:28,760
title.
76
00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:35,160
And I'm noticing that these, this little tribe of six kids I spent last weekend with have
77
00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:40,560
obvious leadership skills, although they're very respectful and well-behaved or not what
78
00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:46,760
I would call docile in any way and have clearly have a very strong inner life.
79
00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:52,120
So during COVID, personally, I couldn't stand how children were being traumatized by being
80
00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:57,740
isolated at home with online learning while indoctrinated with fear at the same time.
81
00:05:57,740 --> 00:06:02,480
And then once they returned to school, I felt outraged by the pressure that they received
82
00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:09,080
to get the potentially permanently harmful COVID shot.
83
00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:13,280
Combined with it makes me cough even just speaking that combined with the psychological
84
00:06:13,280 --> 00:06:17,440
and physical harms of masking, social distancing and bullying.
85
00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:22,360
So all of this caused great separation and pain in families and socially.
86
00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:25,480
And so we saw these families being divided.
87
00:06:25,480 --> 00:06:30,760
And meanwhile, they were exposed to additionally traumatizing and indoctrinating critical race
88
00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:34,040
theory curriculum.
89
00:06:34,040 --> 00:06:39,880
It's really interesting how when I start speaking about this, it's like I can't even
90
00:06:39,880 --> 00:06:41,880
say it.
91
00:06:41,880 --> 00:06:42,880
Yeah.
92
00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:48,040
Well, the harms that have been happening, they do bring a lot of people.
93
00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:52,400
Yeah, it's like it, it's unspeakable really.
94
00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:57,840
So combined with sexualizing content that was inappropriate for children.
95
00:06:57,840 --> 00:07:02,080
And on top of that, the pressure to question their own and other people's genders.
96
00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:05,400
And that all became intense as we know.
97
00:07:05,400 --> 00:07:09,800
And meanwhile, parental rights are being eroded rapidly in many places, reducing parents'
98
00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:15,160
options for having influence on what their children experience at school.
99
00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:18,560
And the teachers, these poor teachers who don't want to go along with what they're being
100
00:07:18,560 --> 00:07:23,160
told they need to do, like keeping parents in the dark about their children's gender
101
00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:28,160
identity choices, are squeezed between a rock and a hard place to do their jobs because
102
00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:29,560
they could lose their jobs.
103
00:07:29,560 --> 00:07:35,200
And numerous of them have for doing what they think is ethical.
104
00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:40,400
And I know you've been working with a group of teachers in New Mexico and are just acutely
105
00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:42,600
aware of all of these things.
106
00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:48,240
So, so with my personal social indoctrination that I was raised with, homeschooling always
107
00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:54,880
seemed foreign and even vaguely irresponsible somehow.
108
00:07:54,880 --> 00:08:00,280
But as I began to learn more about homeschooling and what it really is and what it isn't, I
109
00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:02,880
realized that it was not what I thought it was.
110
00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:07,960
And it does not involve what I had thought it involved or require of parents what I thought
111
00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:09,760
it required of parents.
112
00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:14,440
So that's why I'd like you to share your insights about homeschooling because and other public
113
00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:20,280
schooling alternatives based on your experience because this is really a viable alternative
114
00:08:20,280 --> 00:08:26,720
for parents but for so many parents, it can seem so overwhelming and so daunting.
115
00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:34,560
So we wanted to do just this is like a drive by overview of homeschooling and public schooling
116
00:08:34,560 --> 00:08:39,520
alternatives because it's a big subject but we want to do a broad brush across it and
117
00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:44,680
demystify some things to get people started.
118
00:08:44,680 --> 00:08:47,320
So let's dive in.
119
00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:53,040
First what do you see as being some of the greatest misunderstandings that many people
120
00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:56,040
have about homeschooling like I did?
121
00:08:56,040 --> 00:09:01,360
And also please feel free to comment on anything else I just touched on in the interview in
122
00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:04,560
the introduction for this interview.
123
00:09:04,560 --> 00:09:05,960
Sure thing.
124
00:09:05,960 --> 00:09:10,320
You know I think this conversation is really pertinent right now because as you mentioned
125
00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:15,360
a lot of parents have realized things aren't what they thought they were at school and
126
00:09:15,360 --> 00:09:18,480
that things aren't okay at school in a lot of ways.
127
00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:24,840
And so you know as people are looking for new paths, homeschooling is one that can make
128
00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:29,600
parents feel extremely overwhelmed but I've been homeschooling at this point for over
129
00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:33,600
10 years and have mentored a lot of homeschoolers here.
130
00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:38,880
We have a homeschool group that I organize here as well and I think that one of the big
131
00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:44,280
things is parents greatly overestimate how much time it's going to take to homeschooling
132
00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:49,280
or to do homeschooling and in reality it really doesn't take nearly as much time as people
133
00:09:49,280 --> 00:09:50,280
think.
134
00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:54,400
They assume that they have to do something similar to what's happening at school and
135
00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:58,880
in reality for elementary school one to two hours a day is really all that you need to
136
00:09:58,880 --> 00:10:04,360
do and that kind of pops the bubble for a little bit of people like what, how is that
137
00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:11,360
possible but if you think about in school there's a lot of time that's just spent waiting,
138
00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:15,680
waiting for other kids to finish stuff, standing in line you know going between classes all
139
00:10:15,680 --> 00:10:20,520
these things none of that's happening at home and so because the parent can work with
140
00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:27,400
the kid one on one or three on one whatever it is however many kids they have it can really
141
00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:29,160
be really efficient.
142
00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:35,640
The other thing is that homeschoolers usually teach all of their kids at the same time the
143
00:10:35,640 --> 00:10:40,720
same subjects so they don't have to have an individual curriculum for the kid who's seven
144
00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:42,480
and the kid who's nine.
145
00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:46,800
Most of the time there's a lot of overlap and you can do some customizing but I think
146
00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:50,800
those are two big things, two big hurdles that people need to understand that maybe
147
00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:53,640
aren't actually there.
148
00:10:53,640 --> 00:10:57,080
That's really great thank you and it's funny this.
149
00:10:57,080 --> 00:11:02,280
I had extensive conversations with the 14 year old last weekend who is homeschooling
150
00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:09,640
and he had gone to a private school the previous year and decided that he preferred homeschooling
151
00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:14,640
and went back to homeschooling and when I asked him why the biggest reason he said was
152
00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:20,560
because he would finish all his work at school and then he would be sitting around and he
153
00:11:20,560 --> 00:11:26,440
said at home I can get my work done in a couple of hours that it takes me all day to do in
154
00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:32,640
school and then I can do all the other things or research the other things or play or build
155
00:11:32,640 --> 00:11:38,400
things or whatever that I want to do and so I felt like I was wasting my time in school
156
00:11:38,400 --> 00:11:41,080
which was really interesting.
157
00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:48,480
So if homeschooling is not those things then what is it and how does it actually work conceptually?
158
00:11:48,480 --> 00:11:51,920
Are there different philosophies of homeschooling?
159
00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:52,920
What are some of them?
160
00:11:52,920 --> 00:12:00,840
And again this is really quick but the philosophy that you subscribe to how can we wrap our
161
00:12:00,840 --> 00:12:03,000
brains around this?
162
00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:06,320
So there are actually a lot of different ways to homeschool.
163
00:12:06,320 --> 00:12:13,200
They're ranging from trying to do school at home to unschooling which is more child led
164
00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:16,880
just kind of following their interests and everything in between.
165
00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:21,120
So there are a lot of different ways that people will do homeschooling and I think the
166
00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:24,240
first year or two most homeschoolers are kind of experimenting.
167
00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:28,480
I think most homeschoolers start out trying to recreate school at home.
168
00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:29,480
That's what I did.
169
00:12:29,480 --> 00:12:31,680
I was very type A as a former engineer.
170
00:12:31,680 --> 00:12:36,200
I was very structured, very scheduled, totally crashed and burned.
171
00:12:36,200 --> 00:12:42,920
It did not work well and I had to kind of go back to school myself and learn okay how
172
00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:43,920
do I do this?
173
00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:45,080
How is this supposed to work?
174
00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:48,160
If it's not supposed to look like school what does it look like?
175
00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:53,200
And for a lot of homeschoolers where they end up settling in is that learning happens
176
00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:57,680
a lot outside of your sit down at the table time.
177
00:12:57,680 --> 00:13:02,720
There are so many other opportunities to learn, to go places, to explore things, to be with
178
00:13:02,720 --> 00:13:08,840
people and so my homeschool looks different from another homeschool because we can all
179
00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:12,760
make it our own and so I think that's one of the really beautiful things about it.
180
00:13:12,760 --> 00:13:16,840
As far as different philosophies I started out doing a classical philosophy.
181
00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:22,760
That was the extremely rigorous way too much for my daughter at that time and really ever
182
00:13:22,760 --> 00:13:23,760
I think.
183
00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:25,240
It was just too much.
184
00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:31,320
It was more of that same mentality of like trying to cram information into a child's head
185
00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:37,520
and in reality what we want to do is teach them how to think, not what to think but how.
186
00:13:37,520 --> 00:13:42,000
And so the philosophy that I ended up settling on that really felt like home to me was Thomas
187
00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:45,960
Jefferson education and that's the philosophy that we've been using I think for eight or
188
00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:53,280
nine years at this point and it focuses a lot on finding each child's unique genius
189
00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:57,520
and finding their mission, what they are here to do and then supporting them and giving
190
00:13:57,520 --> 00:14:00,520
them the education they need to do that.
191
00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:06,880
And I love that holistic part of it of treating them as an individual and finding their gifts
192
00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:12,080
and then helping them create their own path so that they can go out and impact the world
193
00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:16,640
because that's the whole goal in the end is what we're here for.
194
00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:17,640
That's great.
195
00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:18,640
Thank you.
196
00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:27,200
I love that quote of not teaching them what to think but teaching them or supporting them
197
00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:35,520
and learning how to think is so powerful because it's kind of the opposite of indoctrination.
198
00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:42,920
It's kind of the opposite of what happens in a lot of public schools and it seems like
199
00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:49,040
if as adults we're here to support children in becoming their best highest selves and
200
00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:54,520
we can't possibly know what that is or impose that on them that it's about following this
201
00:14:54,520 --> 00:15:03,600
unfolding of their perfect individual, you know, divine selves if you want to think of
202
00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:12,760
it that way and anything less than that is kind of interfering or meddling or damaging.
203
00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:16,360
You know, it'd be like when a flower is unfolding to get in there and say, well, I know how
204
00:15:16,360 --> 00:15:20,760
to do this better than you do flowers so I'm going to pull the petals out or no, that
205
00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:21,760
orange petal is wrong.
206
00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:24,080
I'm going to make it purple.
207
00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:29,200
You know, it's disrespecting the wisdom of the organism.
208
00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:36,320
So in your home, how does it work logistically?
209
00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:42,240
So I actually work full time among a few different kind of job paths that I have going in the
210
00:15:42,240 --> 00:15:43,520
advocacy work I do.
211
00:15:43,520 --> 00:15:47,880
So my homeschooling schedule basically has to fit around that and my work has to fend
212
00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:49,560
around homeschooling.
213
00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:52,200
So I tend to do a lot of work early in the morning.
214
00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:56,200
5 a.m. is usually my start time and then I don't actually meet up with the kids until
215
00:15:56,200 --> 00:15:58,200
about 8.30.
216
00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:00,120
And my daughter is older now.
217
00:16:00,120 --> 00:16:05,560
She's 16 and she, with the Thomas Jefferson education approach, one of the main goals
218
00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:10,120
is that children will be self-directed during their high school years.
219
00:16:10,120 --> 00:16:13,320
And so in addition to the time that we get together for school, my daughter is doing
220
00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:15,000
her own schooling.
221
00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:17,960
She has her own curriculum plan that she develops for every semester.
222
00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:22,180
I work with her on that to figure out what to do and make sure everything looks balanced.
223
00:16:22,180 --> 00:16:27,240
So while I'm working in the morning, she gets up herself and starts doing her school on
224
00:16:27,240 --> 00:16:28,440
her own.
225
00:16:28,440 --> 00:16:34,080
And then we meet up at 8.30 and we usually will have some school all together with my
226
00:16:34,080 --> 00:16:38,480
daughter who's 16, my son who's 13 for a couple hours.
227
00:16:38,480 --> 00:16:43,840
And that's basically our big block of school is a couple hours in the morning and it's
228
00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:45,000
not even every day.
229
00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:49,680
It's probably an average of three days a week that we do that because we do a lot of other
230
00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:50,680
things.
231
00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:55,400
We do a lot of field trips and hiking and nature exploring, going to the lake and looking
232
00:16:55,400 --> 00:16:57,960
at different ecosystems and museums.
233
00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:02,920
So there's the schooling that people do at home, but I would say probably for most homeschoolers
234
00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:08,200
that maybe is maybe half of all the educational things that they're doing.
235
00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:12,000
As far as the rest of our days, I work in the afternoons.
236
00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:16,520
My daughter does her own studies in the afternoon and my son does his own explorations.
237
00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:21,560
He reads, he chops wood, he plays with the chickens, you know, he does a lot of free
238
00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:22,560
time.
239
00:17:22,560 --> 00:17:26,440
Free time is one of the most important things that kids are missing right now.
240
00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:32,040
That's the time when their brain can flow, when they can let go of the stress and the
241
00:17:32,040 --> 00:17:36,160
requirements and actually get in the curiosity zone.
242
00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:40,040
So I think that building in free time is really important.
243
00:17:40,040 --> 00:17:45,760
As far as other things that make our homeschool work while I'm working, another thing is that
244
00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:48,480
there's quite a bit that happens outside of school hours.
245
00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:52,040
We do reading together pretty much every night as a family.
246
00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:55,160
We often do some schooling on Saturday or Sunday as well.
247
00:17:55,160 --> 00:17:59,360
So homeschooling gives you the flexibility to figure out when it'll work.
248
00:17:59,360 --> 00:18:03,280
I know some other families who homeschool, you know, if both parents are working full
249
00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:07,400
time, they might do their homeschooling in the evening together, but it can really flex
250
00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:11,720
around the parents schedule and that's one of the beauties of it.
251
00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:12,720
That's great.
252
00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:13,960
Thank you.
253
00:18:13,960 --> 00:18:16,760
So this is another question I've heard quite a bit.
254
00:18:16,760 --> 00:18:20,880
How do homeschooled children learn how to interact and get along with other kids as well
255
00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:22,920
as adults?
256
00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:28,120
And I know you have a very vital homeschool group.
257
00:18:28,120 --> 00:18:34,320
Tell us about that and other options for socialization and fun and play.
258
00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:35,320
Yeah.
259
00:18:35,320 --> 00:18:39,720
So I would say socialization is the question that homeschoolers get asked the most by other
260
00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:40,720
people.
261
00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:41,720
What about socialization?
262
00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:46,880
And it's kind of funny because in the homeschool communities, we just sort of laugh about it
263
00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:52,040
because it's sort of a non-question when you're actually homeschooling.
264
00:18:52,040 --> 00:18:56,280
Your kids get a lot of social interaction just in day-to-day life, you know, going to
265
00:18:56,280 --> 00:18:58,520
the store with you, they talk to different people.
266
00:18:58,520 --> 00:19:02,360
I'll have my kids go up and go grocery shopping and do things on their own so they get to
267
00:19:02,360 --> 00:19:04,280
interact with adults.
268
00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:09,080
And then there's a lot of group activities, you know, depending on the community, there
269
00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:16,360
might be school co-ops, homeschool co-ops, a homeschool group like ours, field trips.
270
00:19:16,360 --> 00:19:19,560
So there's also lots of classes too.
271
00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:23,160
My kids, for instance, have a band class that they go to a few times a week.
272
00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:26,840
And there's all kinds of different homeschool classes depending on the community.
273
00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:33,280
So the homeschoolers really get socialized in a different way than the school kids, but
274
00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:35,600
in a way that's a positive.
275
00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:42,120
They tend to have a lot more cross-generational socialization.
276
00:19:42,120 --> 00:19:44,080
So they know how to talk to adults more.
277
00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:49,240
They also know how to talk to younger kids more, whereas at school, the kids are age-segregated.
278
00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:53,360
And so they really only interact with kids that are the same age as them.
279
00:19:53,360 --> 00:19:57,320
But at the homeschool groups, you know, like today, for instance, during our book club at
280
00:19:57,320 --> 00:20:00,640
our homeschool group, my son is holding an infant on his lap.
281
00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:04,880
It's not my infant, it's somebody else's, you know, and they get to really learn about
282
00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:08,160
how to be around all kinds of kids of different ages.
283
00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:10,960
And I think that's a real big bonus for homeschoolers.
284
00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:11,960
Wonderful.
285
00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:13,960
Thank you.
286
00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:20,160
So I know if I were a parent, I might be afraid that homeschooling would require me to teach
287
00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:24,120
things that I don't know how to do.
288
00:20:24,120 --> 00:20:29,760
And that could be intimidating, you know, teaching, well, reading is one that parents
289
00:20:29,760 --> 00:20:35,520
are very concerned about often, how to do that properly so their children learn to read
290
00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:38,160
by an appropriate age, whatever appropriate means.
291
00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:40,920
I think we have misunderstandings about that.
292
00:20:40,920 --> 00:20:43,280
And then the other one you hear about is math.
293
00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:46,760
Well, I don't remember algebra, how would I teach my child algebra?
294
00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:47,760
So can you speak to that?
295
00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:51,720
And of course, there's a whole range of electives, like how would I teach them a language they
296
00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:53,980
want to learn or whatever.
297
00:20:53,980 --> 00:20:55,960
So can you speak to that concern?
298
00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:57,040
Yeah.
299
00:20:57,040 --> 00:21:01,200
So I think that, I think you're right, reading is one of the things that stresses people
300
00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:03,200
out a lot.
301
00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:07,320
And I think part of the reason that it stresses people out is because we have a fundamental
302
00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:11,680
misunderstanding of what it should look like for a child to learn how to read and when they
303
00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:12,880
should do it.
304
00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:14,760
And this is backed up by psychology.
305
00:21:14,760 --> 00:21:19,800
You know, Peter Gray is a developmental psychologist who's done a lot of writing about how children
306
00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:24,360
learn to read and how they acquire the skill to learn to read and when.
307
00:21:24,360 --> 00:21:29,600
And what he has found is that there's a really wide developmental age for reading, ranging
308
00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:32,660
from four years old to 12 or 13.
309
00:21:32,660 --> 00:21:37,600
And the kids who fall towards that later part of that age range, their parents tend to get
310
00:21:37,600 --> 00:21:43,600
really stressed out and the kids themselves think, I'm stupid, there's something wrong
311
00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:45,680
with me, I can't read.
312
00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:49,400
And in reality, they just haven't reached their developmental age yet.
313
00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:54,800
And so for my two kids, myself, my daughter was a very early reader.
314
00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:56,680
She started reading at age four.
315
00:21:56,680 --> 00:21:59,080
That was when she hit her developmental boom.
316
00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:04,840
And she advanced through six grade levels of reading in six months.
317
00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:08,760
She was reading Charles Dickens for fun at the age of six.
318
00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:10,560
So that was my first child.
319
00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:13,680
Then my second child, my son, totally different.
320
00:22:13,680 --> 00:22:15,340
He wasn't ready to read at six.
321
00:22:15,340 --> 00:22:17,800
He wasn't ready to read at seven or eight.
322
00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:19,560
He was almost nine.
323
00:22:19,560 --> 00:22:24,600
And then this exact same progression happened with him when he hit his developmental age.
324
00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:29,720
Within six months, he went through five, five grades of reading levels and just took off.
325
00:22:29,720 --> 00:22:32,000
And that was when he was almost nine years old.
326
00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:38,080
So reading is something that I think I would encourage parents to learn more about it and
327
00:22:38,080 --> 00:22:44,120
not to put so much stress on their kids about it because that creates kids who think they
328
00:22:44,120 --> 00:22:50,400
hate reading and kids who think I'm not good at reading and I'm stupid.
329
00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:56,120
And those three lessons are going to set that kid up for a lot of problems with learning
330
00:22:56,120 --> 00:22:57,360
in general.
331
00:22:57,360 --> 00:23:04,080
So it's something to try to pull back and relax about as far as how parents can teach
332
00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:06,240
things they don't necessarily know themselves.
333
00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:09,360
Well you don't operate in a bubble when you're a homeschooler.
334
00:23:09,360 --> 00:23:11,880
So there will likely be classes.
335
00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:15,240
If you don't want to teach something, somebody else could teach it.
336
00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:17,720
For me, a classic example would be art.
337
00:23:17,720 --> 00:23:19,800
I'm not very artistic myself.
338
00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:21,820
My daughter is extremely artistic.
339
00:23:21,820 --> 00:23:23,800
So I just outsourced that.
340
00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:29,120
She takes classes in learning how to draw and she has her sewing business and she creates
341
00:23:29,120 --> 00:23:32,120
these amazing things that are totally outside of my wheelhouse.
342
00:23:32,120 --> 00:23:33,320
But that's okay.
343
00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:35,360
I can find someone else to teach it for her.
344
00:23:35,360 --> 00:23:37,520
You can do the same thing with math.
345
00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:41,580
Another thing is that there are a lot of different types of curriculum you can use.
346
00:23:41,580 --> 00:23:47,880
So I learned that I can't teach my daughter math even though I am good at math, quote,
347
00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:49,160
unquote, myself.
348
00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:51,360
My brain doesn't work like hers.
349
00:23:51,360 --> 00:23:55,280
One of the ways that math makes sense to me, they don't work for her at all.
350
00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:57,200
But there are a lot of different curriculums.
351
00:23:57,200 --> 00:23:59,360
And so I was able to find one that works for her.
352
00:23:59,360 --> 00:24:02,680
That's very creative and it teaches math in all these bizarre ways.
353
00:24:02,680 --> 00:24:04,400
It's Danica McKellar you may remember her.
354
00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:09,080
She was an actress in the Wonder Years and then she went on to become a mathematician.
355
00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:14,360
And she writes these books that are fantastic about math in these really creative ways.
356
00:24:14,360 --> 00:24:16,720
So I would say don't worry parents.
357
00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:22,040
There are lots of resources and you can find what you'll need.
358
00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:23,040
That's great.
359
00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:26,720
And I'm sure that's reassuring for parents.
360
00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:31,000
One thing that's interesting to me is that there's a lot of free curricula.
361
00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:34,540
And of course, although you don't want to park your kid in front of a computer and then
362
00:24:34,540 --> 00:24:41,680
leave them there forever, there are pieces of online curricula that makes sense or can
363
00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:46,520
make sense depending on the child, depending on how they learn, depending on the age, the
364
00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:47,720
process.
365
00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:51,840
It can make sense for them to do some online learning.
366
00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:53,680
I've recently been impressed.
367
00:24:53,680 --> 00:25:00,080
You know, I work with these two kids who are six and seven and we went to some picnic somewhere
368
00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:04,680
and I was just amazed at the things that the seven year old is reading.
369
00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:06,560
Like when did she learn how to do this?
370
00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:12,920
Like we, you know, how to open a valve or I guess we went also to the museum, like the
371
00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:14,120
science museum.
372
00:25:14,120 --> 00:25:17,520
And she just, I'm, where did she learn this stuff?
373
00:25:17,520 --> 00:25:20,680
Or she started learning some Japanese.
374
00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:23,820
And so now she's speaking bits of Japanese to us.
375
00:25:23,820 --> 00:25:30,640
And how is she learning this, you know, some of it's through games or, I don't know, it's,
376
00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:31,640
it's just amazing.
377
00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:35,120
They soak it up like little sponges if they're interested in something.
378
00:25:35,120 --> 00:25:38,860
So let's see.
379
00:25:38,860 --> 00:25:43,040
Also wanted to make sure that we address the hybrid approach questions.
380
00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:51,680
So say there's something at your local school band or Spanish that your kid wants to learn.
381
00:25:51,680 --> 00:25:55,920
Can you talk about how you might be able to access that as a resource?
382
00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:57,320
Yes.
383
00:25:57,320 --> 00:26:00,880
And the laws for this will be different depending on what state you're in.
384
00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:02,680
So you'll want to check where you are.
385
00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:05,520
I'm familiar, of course, here with New Mexico laws.
386
00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:11,320
And here by state statute, all the local public schools have to give access to home schoolers
387
00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:14,020
to elective classes.
388
00:26:14,020 --> 00:26:18,380
And then at the district level, they're allowed to decide if they want to allow other classes.
389
00:26:18,380 --> 00:26:22,720
So for instance, I know some home schoolers who have used public schools for their science
390
00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:25,560
class or for their English class.
391
00:26:25,560 --> 00:26:30,520
And so check and see, there might be more flexibility than you think.
392
00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:37,280
And that's a really nice option for giving parents another tool that they can use.
393
00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:38,280
That's great.
394
00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:39,280
Thank you.
395
00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:46,040
And that's an important point because of course, both of us are in New Mexico, but we can have
396
00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:48,800
people watching from all over the place.
397
00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:54,720
So although the things that we're talking about may not be exactly the same where you
398
00:26:54,720 --> 00:27:01,160
live, if you know what the questions are to ask, you can find out what the requirements
399
00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:06,600
are for homeschooling in your area through your Department of Education.
400
00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:13,320
You can find out what the resources are for this type of hybrid approach.
401
00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:16,280
And what else do you think?
402
00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:20,880
What are some first steps a parent can take if they want to learn about homeschooling?
403
00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:22,880
And regardless of where they're located?
404
00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:27,840
Yeah, I think that one really good resource for parents anywhere is the Homeschool Legal
405
00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:28,840
Defense Association.
406
00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:32,080
And it's hslda.org.
407
00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:35,440
You can look at the homeschool laws for every state there.
408
00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:39,720
And that organization also does a lot of advocacy on protecting the rights of homeschoolers.
409
00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:43,200
They're protecting, for instance, some things right now where our state is trying to kind
410
00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:44,520
of encroach.
411
00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:49,440
And so that's a really good organization to look at to understand what's allowed in your
412
00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:55,400
state, how much oversight your state is going to require for you.
413
00:27:55,400 --> 00:28:02,160
I do think that for most parents, having a period of time where they themselves go back
414
00:28:02,160 --> 00:28:07,680
to school as it were on learning about education is an important part of having a good homeschool
415
00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:08,880
experience.
416
00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:15,680
And so in addition to that, many of the kids, if they have been in some sort of public school
417
00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:19,880
environment, they need some sort of a detox period before they're going to be ready to
418
00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:22,120
actually engage in homeschooling.
419
00:28:22,120 --> 00:28:28,280
Because a lot of them come away from public school with some really bad ingrained ideas,
420
00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:33,120
whether that is related to themselves not being able to learn well, or I hate math,
421
00:28:33,120 --> 00:28:36,960
or I hate reading, or any of that kind of stuff.
422
00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:40,640
Before you start homeschooling, you want to let that fade off and let them release all
423
00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:41,640
of that stress.
424
00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:47,640
And so there's a method called de-schooling, where you essentially are not trying to actively
425
00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:48,640
homeschool.
426
00:28:48,640 --> 00:28:53,960
And the general rule of thumb is for at least a month for every year of school that the
427
00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:55,320
kid has had.
428
00:28:55,320 --> 00:28:58,160
And sometimes that freaks parents out because it seems like it's too long and they're
429
00:28:58,160 --> 00:28:59,600
worried their kid's going to fall behind.
430
00:28:59,600 --> 00:29:00,600
But it's OK.
431
00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:06,320
You just got to kind of relax a little bit, trust the process, and let them get back to
432
00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:11,600
being curious again and wanting to understand things and wanting to learn and wanting to
433
00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:12,680
engage.
434
00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:18,520
And so during that de-schooling time, when the kids are hopefully having a lot of free
435
00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:25,160
time, a lot of play time, a lot of family games, field trips like museums and hiking
436
00:29:25,160 --> 00:29:26,520
and things like that.
437
00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:31,280
Probably not so much screen time because that can really kind of get them hooked into a
438
00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:35,520
whole other level of, OK, I just have to be entertained all the time.
439
00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:40,520
But while that's happening, the parent themselves, I would recommend, should read some books
440
00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:45,400
and learn some more about different approaches to homeschooling so they can see what fits,
441
00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:47,080
what feels good to them.
442
00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:52,200
I would highly recommend John Taylor Gatto's book, Dumbing Us Down, as a first step for
443
00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:56,320
parents to understand what was wrong at public school.
444
00:29:56,320 --> 00:29:58,800
And he was a public school teacher in New York State.
445
00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:03,240
He was public school teacher of the year for the whole state of New York.
446
00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:07,600
But he knows intimately what was wrong with the system there.
447
00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:11,120
And so I think it's a really good book to help parents understand where their kids are
448
00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:12,560
coming from.
449
00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:15,080
And then from there, they can jump off and read other books.
450
00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:18,840
Thomas Jefferson Education, I would personally recommend, but there's lots of other books
451
00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:19,840
too.
452
00:30:19,840 --> 00:30:23,120
There's another one actually called Free to Learn, and that's by that same developmental
453
00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:26,040
psychologist I recommended, Peter Gray.
454
00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:32,360
And it really helps parents learn about how important it is for kids to play and how much
455
00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:38,160
they learn through play and how biologically that is the mechanism for learning.
456
00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:43,680
And kids will naturally push their own limits and discover all sorts of things through play.
457
00:30:43,680 --> 00:30:48,520
So I think that's a really important part for parents to understand that because we
458
00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:51,760
have this idea in our head that learning looks like a certain thing.
459
00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:57,320
It looks like sitting behind a desk and doing such and such for six hours, and that's not
460
00:30:57,320 --> 00:30:58,320
the case.
461
00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:02,760
So we have to learn how to let go of that and how to embrace something else instead.
462
00:31:02,760 --> 00:31:03,920
Great.
463
00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:13,480
And these resources, we're going to put some links here on the video and also in notes
464
00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:18,960
so that you don't have to remember all that stuff that Sarah said.
465
00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:26,320
So if that all seemed very fast and furious, we're going to direct you to some web pages.
466
00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:33,440
And we have, Sarah has actually curated a lot of this information on the Ask Healthy
467
00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:40,800
Questions website, which is one of the websites for the groups that Sarah and I work with.
468
00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:50,600
And also it has links to these books and or lists of these books and curricula and some
469
00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:53,040
of these topics that we've talked about.
470
00:31:53,040 --> 00:31:56,560
So many things that that you can access going forward.
471
00:31:56,560 --> 00:32:02,200
So you don't need to worry too much about madly writing it all down right now.
472
00:32:02,200 --> 00:32:08,800
So one thing and just want to touch on this briefly, but because we breeze through it,
473
00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:12,360
it's being concerned that their kids are going to fall behind.
474
00:32:12,360 --> 00:32:21,720
What does this social science show about homeschoolers versus public schoolers or even private
475
00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:31,000
schoolers in terms of their test scores and other metrics for their success in education?
476
00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:34,800
It's kind of an interesting question because by and large, a lot of homeschoolers don't
477
00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:39,240
test or grade, I actually don't do testing or grading.
478
00:32:39,240 --> 00:32:41,480
I mean, there's mastery and then there's you don't know it.
479
00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:44,080
Those are basically only two categories.
480
00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:49,280
But you know, this is a question that a lot of parents wonder about and multiple studies
481
00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:55,600
have shown that homeschooled children outperform both public school and private school kids
482
00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:59,640
in standardized tests and in several other academic metrics.
483
00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:04,080
And then there was a recent study out of Harvard that actually found that homeschooled kids
484
00:33:04,080 --> 00:33:06,760
were a lot more healthy emotionally.
485
00:33:06,760 --> 00:33:12,760
They tend to be a lot more involved in volunteering and being empathetic and helping other people.
486
00:33:12,760 --> 00:33:19,640
And so I think between those two things, you've got educational benefits as well as emotional
487
00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:22,240
social benefits.
488
00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:27,280
And so I wouldn't I wouldn't be scared of those things.
489
00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:30,600
Those things pretty well are established at this point.
490
00:33:30,600 --> 00:33:34,200
The science is showing that homeschoolers do really well.
491
00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:39,360
As far as college admission, which is another big question that a lot of parents have, a
492
00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:42,640
lot of schools are actually actively seeking homeschoolers at this point.
493
00:33:42,640 --> 00:33:47,200
And it's because they think different and they tend to be more innovative.
494
00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:48,800
And this includes Ivy League schools.
495
00:33:48,800 --> 00:33:52,360
You know, Harvard, for instance, is one of the schools that actively seeks out homeschoolers.
496
00:33:52,360 --> 00:33:55,800
Their transcripts might look different, but that's OK.
497
00:33:55,800 --> 00:33:59,000
They're not expecting that they want these students who are actually coming from a little
498
00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:01,960
bit of a different perspective.
499
00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:03,760
That's exciting.
500
00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:10,720
Now this could feel like a high gradient to begin considering homeschooling.
501
00:34:10,720 --> 00:34:18,040
What advice would you have for parents who want to dip a toe into this and at this point,
502
00:34:18,040 --> 00:34:23,320
they don't feel they can take their children out of school and they want to protect their
503
00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:28,680
children in school and perhaps start looking at homeschooling?
504
00:34:28,680 --> 00:34:34,160
What advice would you have for the steps they can take for both of those endeavors?
505
00:34:34,160 --> 00:34:40,240
Well, as far as keeping your kids in school and making sure that everything is OK, the
506
00:34:40,240 --> 00:34:42,520
parents need to get really involved.
507
00:34:42,520 --> 00:34:44,920
They need to know what the local district policies are.
508
00:34:44,920 --> 00:34:51,040
You know, for instance, some policies in the local school district here where I live include
509
00:34:51,040 --> 00:34:54,560
that transgender children can use whichever bathroom they want to.
510
00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:58,080
And they can participate in sports, whichever ones they want to.
511
00:34:58,080 --> 00:35:03,280
So those are some of the policies, also policies on things like how do they handle bullying
512
00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:04,280
in your district?
513
00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:10,880
How do they handle issues in the classroom, behavioral things?
514
00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:16,400
And beyond that, I would encourage parents to get to know your teacher, your child's
515
00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:18,680
teacher every year.
516
00:35:18,680 --> 00:35:21,840
Because like Melanie mentioned before, I work with a bunch of teachers.
517
00:35:21,840 --> 00:35:25,480
We have over 200 of them around New Mexico who are concerned about the way things are
518
00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:27,400
going in schools right now.
519
00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:33,320
And there are teachers in the system who don't like what's happening and who are doing the
520
00:35:33,320 --> 00:35:36,800
best they can to provide a good environment despite what's going on.
521
00:35:36,800 --> 00:35:42,800
But there are also teachers who are completely on board with the things that concern a lot
522
00:35:42,800 --> 00:35:44,040
of parents right now.
523
00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:48,120
And so you need to figure out where your kid's teacher is at, where they fall on that spectrum,
524
00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:51,120
and whether they're going to allow you to be involved.
525
00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:52,440
Go look around in their classroom.
526
00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:55,480
You can tell a lot just by what's in the classroom.
527
00:35:55,480 --> 00:36:00,160
So I would encourage teacher involvement as well as the school board and local district
528
00:36:00,160 --> 00:36:03,680
policies if you want to make sure that your kid is going to be protected from specific
529
00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:07,280
things that might be harmful influences at school right now.
530
00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:10,280
And while you're doing that, start reading these homeschooling books.
531
00:36:10,280 --> 00:36:11,800
Read Dummy Us Down.
532
00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:13,800
Watch some podcasts.
533
00:36:13,800 --> 00:36:15,400
Get your feet wet.
534
00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:18,400
Maybe during the summer months you could experiment a little bit with it when your kids are not
535
00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:20,280
in school anyway.
536
00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:23,040
And see what it feels like.
537
00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:27,240
A lot of homeschoolers will find that the relationship between the parents and the children
538
00:36:27,240 --> 00:36:32,040
improves dramatically when they pull their kids out of school, when they actually get
539
00:36:32,040 --> 00:36:35,600
to instead of having a lot of interactions around them.
540
00:36:35,600 --> 00:36:37,640
It's time to get up and go to school.
541
00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:38,640
Where's your homework?
542
00:36:38,640 --> 00:36:39,640
Did you do your stuff?
543
00:36:39,640 --> 00:36:44,960
It can really change the dynamic to where they are fluidly living together and understanding
544
00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:47,000
each other and exploring together.
545
00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:49,440
And it can be really beautiful.
546
00:36:49,440 --> 00:36:53,800
So the summer months might be a good time to explore some of that and try to do some
547
00:36:53,800 --> 00:36:59,240
of the kind of de-schooling purposeful relationship building to see what it feels like.
548
00:36:59,240 --> 00:37:00,560
Great.
549
00:37:00,560 --> 00:37:07,600
And I know we have these resources that are relevant in New Mexico about parents giving
550
00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:14,080
notice to their children's school, about the involvement that they want to have, and the
551
00:37:14,080 --> 00:37:17,840
parental rights that they want to maintain with their children.
552
00:37:17,840 --> 00:37:24,040
And if this is something that happens to be a particular concern for a parent who's listening,
553
00:37:24,040 --> 00:37:29,800
there are also forms to fill out to get vaccine exemptions for children.
554
00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:37,720
So I'll put links to examples of this for New Mexico and then our listeners can research
555
00:37:37,720 --> 00:37:41,080
what's available in their own areas.
556
00:37:41,080 --> 00:37:50,200
So we're a little over time at such a big topic, any other burning items that you want
557
00:37:50,200 --> 00:37:53,960
to make sure that you leave parents with?
558
00:37:53,960 --> 00:37:54,960
Hmm.
559
00:37:54,960 --> 00:38:02,280
Well, I think the main thing is trust yourself and trust your kids.
560
00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:06,720
So if your gut instinct is telling you that something's not right, then it's probably
561
00:38:06,720 --> 00:38:08,000
not right.
562
00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:11,960
And you're the expert on your children, not the school, nobody else.
563
00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:13,040
You are.
564
00:38:13,040 --> 00:38:14,680
So go with that.
565
00:38:14,680 --> 00:38:16,520
Follow your intuition.
566
00:38:16,520 --> 00:38:20,600
And if you want to make it work, you can probably find a way to make it work.
567
00:38:20,600 --> 00:38:24,520
Some families will have to spend a little bit of time getting out of debt and doing some
568
00:38:24,520 --> 00:38:27,440
other things financially before they can make homeschooling work.
569
00:38:27,440 --> 00:38:29,120
That's okay.
570
00:38:29,120 --> 00:38:32,960
Take a little bit of time, do what you need to do, but follow your gut instinct so that
571
00:38:32,960 --> 00:38:36,040
in the end, you're raising your child.
572
00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:39,600
And you can protect your child and raise them up in the way that you want to.
573
00:38:39,600 --> 00:38:40,600
Great.
574
00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:41,920
Thank you so much.
575
00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:46,960
We've been speaking with Sarah Smith, who is a homeschooling expert, amazing grassroots
576
00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:52,080
organizer with the New Mexico Freedom's Alliance, the National Coalition for Health Integrity
577
00:38:52,080 --> 00:38:54,600
and Free People of the Southwest.
578
00:38:54,600 --> 00:38:58,320
And thank you for joining us on Parallel Times, Sarah.
579
00:38:58,320 --> 00:39:02,480
It's always a pleasure to speak with you, and I always learn more from speaking with
580
00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:03,640
you.
581
00:39:03,640 --> 00:39:08,160
So Parallel Times is a new information service.
582
00:39:08,160 --> 00:39:15,200
And so I hope you'll tune in again to learn more about topics of taking us into Parallel
583
00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:19,000
Society, a parallel healthy society.
584
00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:22,680
If you want a t-shirt with that, you can see I'm wearing one.
585
00:39:22,680 --> 00:39:26,760
They're now available on the paralleltimes.info website.
586
00:39:26,760 --> 00:39:31,720
And the back says, creating peaceful, powerful alternatives together.
587
00:39:31,720 --> 00:39:34,400
It's the motto for Parallel Times.
588
00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:35,920
So thank you for being with us today.
589
00:39:35,920 --> 00:39:37,360
Thank you again, Sarah.
590
00:39:37,360 --> 00:39:38,360
Thank you so much, Melanie.
591
00:39:38,360 --> 00:39:39,360
It's always great to talk to you.
592
00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:58,120
Thank you.