Shaun Newman Podcast - #464 - Shelby Boyd

Episode Date: July 14, 2023

Registered nurse, mom of 4 who now is homeschooling her kids. In her area of Flagstaff County they went from 3 families to finding 30+ with over 65 kids. We talk all things homeschooling. Let me know what you think Text me 587-217-8500 Substack:https://open.substack.com/pub/shaunnewmanpodcast Patreon: www.patreon.com/ShaunNewmanPodcast

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I'm talking about Shelby Boyd. So buckle up. Here we go. The Sean Newman podcast today, I'm joined by Shelby Boyd. So first off, thanks for making the trip in to do this and sit down with me. So how's Shelby doing this morning? Good. Yeah.

Yeah, it's a good morning. How far is Sedgwick from here? About two hours. Oh, yeah. So you got up in the morning early and hauled on it. Yeah, that's okay, though. How many kids do you got? Four.

Four. Four kids, yeah. So you were happy to get out of the house early. This is like a vacation. Yeah. Can I get groceries after alone? And I see you have like old Navy. Like I might do a bit of shopping.

It's funny. I snuck out of the house this morning at a quarter to five in the morning before the three kiddos got up. And I felt bad a little later on folks. I was like, ah, the wife probably woke up and was like, where did he disappear to this morning? I had a bunch of things to get taken care of so that I could get set for this. And anyways, I don't need to explain that.

But anytime I sneak out of the house and the three, I miss it because I'm like, breakfast time is like one of the funnest times of the day with the kids because they're our kids are at least kind of like not docile but they're like they're kind of you know like pulling on we go through this like little morning routine i love it like i love the kids in the morning so missing it sucks but in saying that i i assume a mom getting away from the four the brood uh yeah a little vacation you're you had this marked on the calendar then yeah it was not going to miss it no well today today for for the listeners, we're going to talk some homeschooling. But before we get there, I mean, everybody knows by now my way of kind of like getting somebody to talk about themselves and

kind of for me, for the audience, get to know a little bit about their background and things like that. I was hoping you just, I don't know, share a little bit of who you are and where you're from and will lead into homeschooling for sure and break down some of the, you know, questions people have of what you're doing, et cetera. But before we get there, sure. Tell me a little about Shelby. So I was actually born and raised in San Dirk. I never thought I ended up back there, but hey, I think is most of us to say that. My husband, I've been married for 10 years, and I'm actually registered nurse, and he works at the tank arm in the middle rate. So we have four kids in five years.

I've seen like a good idea at the time, but no, we love it. So my oldest is eight. Four kids in how many years? Five years. In five years. Yeah, there are 15 months and then about two years and two years. Like, yeah, it was, it's fun, but it is chaotic. And how old are they?

Now they're eight and then we'll be seven, five, and three this summer. So, yeah. Yeah, we're seven turning six here in July and then we'll be four in September. Oh, so you're similar. You just needed one more. We just needed the one more. It's funny, I don't need to get into personal, two personal details, but we can't have a fourth. We had some complications on our third, which I'm very thankful that my wife is fine,

and our third is a healthy boy. But it's funny, at one, I was done. At two, I was certainly done. At three, even after all the stuff we went through, for about four months, I was done. Oh, yeah, this is the greatest, isn't. And now I'm like, God, I can go for a fourth. It's weird how the kids work on you like that. Well, and that was, my husband was apparently done it too.

I somehow missed that conversation. I told him it was two or four. I liked even numbers. And so, yeah, we have four. But I was kind of how I was able to convince him, too, is you'll never regret one more. So what does he think now? Is it an absolute? Oh, no.

Well, it's both. It's chaos and it's good. Like, can't imagine life without them. But there are days where it's like, we do jokes sometimes like, man, we would be rocking parents to two kids. Like, we could just do this. And with four, sometimes it is a little. Well, you see a, you know, not to break somebody with lesser kids.

You're like, oh, yeah, you got problems, do you? Yeah. Interesting. Sometimes, yeah. Well, it's, it's even the, oh, I don't know if you've experienced this, but that, like, four to five year old stage, it's just so far, every single kid's hitting it, and it's just, it's like drama and like everything. They're flipping out over and melting down. And we just got out of that stage with my son, and then boom, my daughter hits it. And I'm like, gras. Like, it's just never ending. So things like that. Well, we were happy. We just got out of, with the youngest, we got out of pull-ups. So he's peeing and going to the bathroom, all himself on the, you know, on the potty.

But now he's regressed a little bit and he's been peeing the bed at night. So we've been like, I don't know how many times I got to watch the bed sheet. Like I just like, you know, you get past one thing and then they pull you right back in. Totally. Yeah, the attitude is noticeable. And that is, that tests your patience and your world power and everything else. It's interesting. You know, like, just when you think you got a kid die, here we go, and they threw you a new curveball.

It's one of the hardest and greatest jobs all in the same breath. Oh, absolutely. And I find that with having them close together, but the wide range, like we're still dealing with some toddler stuff. And yeah, we're entering the, like the school age stuff. So it's, every day there's something. But it's worth it. And you mentioned, I think, in there that you are a nurse? Yes, a registered nurse, yep.

And so are you still working or did you step? Minimal. Minimal. Yeah. So the homeschooling thing, were you homeschooling thing? Were you homeschooler before COVID or this came out of COVID? Out of COVID. Out of COVID.

Yeah. So you were, you know, like your oldest once again is eight, right? Yeah. So what is it? That's grade two? Yes. Okay. So, you know, going into it, you're like, ah, we're going to put our kids in the school system.

What area are you in? Well, Battle River. Battle River School Division. Yeah. Initially, actually, when our daughter had kind of some sensory issues, when she was a baby, very temperamental. And so I dove into research. I'm like, I'm going to help this kid.

And I went into a lot of child development and figured out that a lot of stuff was talking about how our school system for the early years kind of does opposite for our kids. Like asking them to sit still for six hours a day actually isn't what kids need at that age. They need to play. So when she was about 18 months, two years old,

and I'm discovering all this, I'm like, yep, I'm going to homeschool till grade three. Well, then we have four kids. And I do love working. And so I'm like, yeah, there's no way I'm homeschooling. We're not doing this. And so she did go to kindergarten when she was five, and that was fall of 2020. And I had mixed emotions.

It was, I mean, back then, the K to 3 didn't have to mask, but there was still, like, it wasn't school, like what I was used to. They could only play with their, you know, court on the playground and things like that. There wasn't activities. And even later on in the year, finding out, like I know, and I get that schools were trying to minimize the risk and the spread. whatnot, but she talked about how they were told to hold their breath in the hallway. And I was like, what? She said, oh, yeah, we have to hold our bubble, you know, because we don't get to wear masks.

And I'm like, ah, like, I didn't just feel really great about that. And she was actually a pretty anxious kid. So I was worried, like, oh, great, is she now going to be scared of germs and whatnot? And luckily, it didn't seem to phase her too much. But I know some parents said that their kids went through like a terrible phase of like they were so scared of sickness and getting people sick. And And there's even, I know a family who their daughter has some developmental delays, and she hasn't hugged or kissed them in three years ever since this began, just because it was, she, you know, hyperfocuses on stuff and it became, you don't touch people. And so now she doesn't even touch her own family.

And hearing stuff like that, I was like, ah, like, is this what I want to send my kid into? And then still with my oldest, she's a typical firstborn, fantastic rule follower. Don't have to worry about her at school. she succeeded, did well, loved academics, but she would hold it all in and then come home and absolutely melt down. And so it got to a point where it was like, we no longer get the best of our child. And she's only going two or three days a week and we're supposed to send her for five the next fall. And so I was already kind of on the fence about it. And then once they brought out some mandates, it was like, okay, like we didn't care to play the game anymore. Even with the, you know,

when there was outbreaks, now you're doing online schooling for two weeks. And we had young kids. And it just work. So we decided we would try it. It still was, I was managing, I was still working quite a bit at the time, but then the mandates came after me as well. So I ended up having some time off and ended up loving it. You know, that saying, they always say that you're replaceable at work, but you're not replaceable at home. And I knew that saying and would often repeat it, but it never really hit home until I was put off work. And I finally realized like, yeah, I'm replaceable at work, but I'm not at home. And so fully kind of stepped into being a mom, a wife, and homeschooling.

And I still work maybe one to two shifts a month, very casual when my husband's home or some night shifts. So weekends and nights, and that's about it. Hmm. Yeah. Yeah, the, man, I feel very fortunate with our kids because just a year behind your oldest, right? So like they just, I feel like they hit it at the right time. I feel like our, the school where my wife works.

Um, is everything perfect? No, nobody's ever perfect. But I felt like they did, I don't know, as superb a job is what they could under the given circumstances. Everybody now is like, well, they should have stopped and they should have no. And it's like, I don't know. Like, certainly if you go back, the amount of pressure put on different things and the fact that nobody on the school boards or anything was, was holding firm against a lot of things.

Uh, the way they, uh, they handled COVID, although not. perfect. I thought for school-age children, especially our children, I thought they were insulated as best as they could from some of the stuff that was going on. They tried for sure. And it's, it like pains me to no end to hear like the story of a girl not like hugging or giving the kids three like you're like that was no one's intention. No one expected that to come out of this. And you can't, I don't think anyone thought that it would. Some of the, some of the nefarious characters might have had some intention there. But, I mean, for the general population, I don't think that's what they were thinking.

100%. They were just like, fear does, you know, I'm a Dune fan, you know, fear's the mind killer. And the amount of fear that was pumped, you know, for, man, I was, I don't know, you know, I almost hate talking about it because you can get trapped back in of reminiscing about the days of past. You know, it's, you don't want to just forget about it. But the same time to just live in that, the memory of how much fear was. was chunked into that time, man, it was a lot of wild. And that is what we're here today.

You got me curious because I've been not avoiding the conversation. I guess I just haven't really been like, okay, homeschooling, let's go. And then you've reached out and I'm like, you know what? Let's do this. Let's see where this conversation leads and maybe I'll find something. Because I, you know, I always joke about this. As a kid, I remember thinking homeschooled kids were kind of like done. I'm like, why are they being homeschooled?

And I thought the same thing. But now, you know, like, it's become a very popular thing to do. Like the amount of people I know that are homeschooling right now is insane. And, you know, I probably got a whole list of questions I can ask, but I guess I want to hear the journey into it and kind of what's going on in your area. Sure. So, yeah, so when we did dip our toes into it in 2020, there was me and two other moms that I connected with right away and knew of. that we're homeschooling. And since then, two years later,

we've grown to 43 families in kind of our Flagstaff County. We do have a few that are outside of the county, like Balf, Viking and Amisk that drive to cohort with us. But yeah, 43 families and over 80 kids that we pool from to get together with. And we've been very, and I almost think this is maybe a small town thing too. Just growing up in a small town, we know that there's services missing.

And so people just pull together to make it work. And so, yeah, we get together weekly, minimum. Sometimes it's more than that. We've planned field trips. Like in June here, we went to the Reynolds Museum up by Wetaskoan, and they do some school programs. So we partake in that, and there was about, I think, 22 kids that came with us for that.

And then went to the splash park afterwards. We've met up at the beach. Just last week they did like a community. Yeah. And it's been like, and we're thinking of ways, like what are our kids, you know, maybe missing out on? and how can we provide that for them? And so I know for next year, we've already have more ideas.

Like there's a church south of town that has a gym attached to it. And we've been able to, we approach them and ask if we could, you know, come and do gym class with their kids once a month. And they're like, yeah, for sure. So we kind of plan on maybe teaching them some sports, just letting them get that gross motor play, especially in the winter when sometimes it's too cold to be running around outside. We've done Christmas concert, Halloween parties.

What else have we done? Homeschool swim is out of Killam in our area. We're looking at doing some homeschool ski lessons. Homeschool gymnastics is coming to Cedric next year. We're doing a book club right now. So we're reading the Wing Feather Saga and getting together and asking, you know, like questions, things like that. So when you look back at, you know, pre-homeschool to diving into it, what were the misconceptions you had about starting this? Because I assume you built a lot of things up.

in your brain and you're like, do we really want to do this? Do we really want to take this challenge on? Do we, do we, do we? Tell me about Shelby at the start and then some of the things you didn't realize as you walked into it. Sure. So definitely the weird kids was one that, yeah, I myself and especially when there was only three families in the beginning. I was like, I loved them and there were, there's about 10 kids altogether. But I'm like, there's no way we cannot have weird kids if there's just 10 of us, you know, at least a little bit weird. But then I realized socialization, like I think we socialize more. Like I've actually had to say no to different events during the week because then we're

never home and the house becomes a mess or we get behind in schoolwork. So that's been great. And then seeing we have like a wide range, a range of ages. So there's some people with toddlers all the way up to 15 year olds and seeing my kids interact with all of those ages is really neat. And I think something that may be the confines of the classroom limits a bit, you know, unless it's kind of those school spirit days, you're only. interacting with your age group or what's on the playground. As well, I wasn't sure I could do it.

I was worried about, and I same with my husband's biggest fear was, are we going to, you know, put our kids behind? Are they going to, we put them back in in a few years and we find out that, oh, crap, this was a disservice to them. But I've seen them excel. And it's actually been really awesome because my son, who's only grade one, turns out he's awesome at math and he's already multiplying, which is like kind of a grade three concept. And because we don't have the confines of we're sticking to the grade one curriculum, we can let him get ahead with math. You don't have any background in teaching, do you? None. How difficult? How difficult is it to teach your own kids when you, A, you're not, you don't have a teaching certificate? Right.

And then to just deal with your own children. Yes. That's one thing I hear a lot of parents say, I couldn't teach my own kids. You know, I actually think we forget that we teach them from the day they're born. Like, we're just naturally teaching them every day. And it doesn't have to always be bookwork. I've actually become, have realized how many teaching opportunities I was squashing as a parent without realizing it. Like once the kids and I were in our hot tub and my daughter asked, oh, mom, when I'm 25, how old are you going to be? And I started to instantly do the math myself to give her the answer. And then I thought, wait a minute, you can do this. And so we turned it into a big math equation where she figured out our age gap and then started adding that to figure out how old

I'd be. And then it became like this hour long game of just figuring out random ages of, you know, our whole family. And I'm like, oh, man, we just did a math lesson. And it was in our hot tub over ages, you know, doing some addition. So I think just realizing that and as well, I mean, yes, there are times like my son and I, we did struggle. Reading isn't his forte. And so we were budding heads at the beginning of the year. I kind of set a goal of I want you to be this proficient of a reader by the end of the year. So I'm really pushing reading and, oh, he's pushing back. So, I mean, that was something we had to work through, but we kind of figured out like what works for him. And I also too realize it's okay to relax a bit. I want him to be a

lifelong reader. And so just because he can read at five or six doesn't mean that he's going to be a lifelong reader. Research Act has actually shown that if we push it on kids who aren't ready and don't want it, they don't become lifelong readers. They do it just because they have to and then it's it's done with. So I'm a research guru. So leaning into the research and kind of just being okay with the flow of things has helped me kind of step into teaching. teaching my kids. Yeah, I'm just grasping opportunities. I did find curriculum that had like a teacher book. Like I wanted like a tell me what to say, what to do, and then a student book. Even our math program has like a DVD of a math teacher teaching the concepts and then I have

a teacher book that kind of helps me to explain it as well. So things like that because I'm not a teacher and I want to make sure I am giving them the best opportunity that they can have. So is this like, where are you sitting now? Are you like, oh, we're going to definitely homeschool all the way to high school? I know. Honestly, I think so. Like at first, my husband actually, too, is like, we're doing it year by year. And then he, I challenged him to look into some of the research.

And he came back and was like, hey, we can do it to junior high. I was like, whoa, what? Like, but then in my head also the junior high years, I'm like, ooh, that seems like a terrible time to send your kids back. Like, that seems to be like the worst time. So I think we have decided high school. Yeah, yeah. I'm trying not to budding. No, that's okay.

I'm like, man, one of the things I've always said that I wanted, you know, like, I don't know why all, I don't know why all people homeschool. But I know certainly in the beginning with COVID, it was like I don't want them exposed to some of these draconian things that are going on with children. And I'm like, I get that. And now it's a lot of the LGBT. Q 2 plus 2 SL plus community and and some of the stuff that's coming through in that and and people are just they're just done with it they're just you know it feels like a lot uh and i don't even

mean specific teachers or even specific schools i mean more like the government up the head of education is no longer listening yeah to what parents want it's and so a lot of people are pulling out of that and you know the the conversation my wife and i have always always had is like no matter what you do your kids are going to be exposed to different things all the time and they have you know you need a healthy home life to explain and have open discussion because they're going to like i get exposed to like crazy stuff all the time and i mean they're now age appropriate fair enough so one of the things i guess in a long roundabout way is like one of my knocks against homeschooling and maybe you can clear this up is i go i want them to be prepared

for the world. And the world, although is what is two plus two and reading and, and, you know, and all these different things, the real world is, is pretty murky at times, right? It is, there are some strange stuff going on and being exposed to that, although age appropriate, I will say that, um, I think is, is something that I want for my kids because they're going to have to, they're going to have to navigate it, just like I'm navigating at some point. Absolutely. And the other, other one is, is, I, I think of like how important athletics, You can look around the room and see how much hockey I played and everything else. Now, hockey isn't tied to a school by any stretch.

Although, I guess it is kind of being more and more, isn't it, folks? Anyways, I look at that and I go, is that a big loss for homeschoolers? Anyways. Yes, I actually wrote about both of those to talk about. So with the, that was a, actually a caution I have for homeschoolers is not to shelter. Don't homeschool your child out of fear to, you know, I agree. I am trying to, you know, control a bit of what my kids are exposed to, but age appropriate. We are having discussions about some of this stuff at home because it is that they are going to be exposed to it.

And I actually have found there's some research that shows that whoever exposes the child to it first becomes the expert. And so I look at it as I want to expose them first. Isn't that an interesting thought? Yeah. So like if your child hears sex on the playground, you know, from a friend, they're going to go back to that friend with their questions versus come home to the parent. is more likely what we see happening. So I want to be the one to expose it to my kids. And some stuff, like I've exposed some aspects of sex to my kids already.

We haven't gotten to the full on, but they know that dads have seeds, moms have eggs. They come together. You know, they haven't asked me how the seeds and eggs get there. But we've had those prep conversations so that, you know, the birds and the bees. Yeah. And I'm laying that groundwork so that I become the expert so that when they do have that question,

they come to me. And I do like that with homeschooling, there is more of that control because we're together most of the time. Well, and you're in, you know, teachers are in a position of authority. No different than a hockey coach is, right? You know, and so there's there's opportunities for people to abuse that or to inadvertently abuse it. Oh, for sure. I think a lot of the time, I like to think a lot of the time it is inadvertent or, you know, people have biases and don't realize it. But yeah, so I, but I do caution like there's actually, I'm in a ton of social media homeschool groups.

And there's been some parents who have, we're homeschooled themselves. And they have said, do not shelter your children because they were sheltered. And they said that they actually had a big grieving period when they did get into adulthood. Because they felt they were lied to by their parents that like, you know, they made so much of some innocent things seem so bad. And it was out of to protect their children. But once their kids got into the real world, they ended up hating their parents for a period of time. Yeah, which is tough. Yeah.

So it's, you know, you try and do the best for your kid. but I do agree. We can avoid these issues. We actually were talking about it just yesterday, a bunch of us homeschool moms. One of the moms mentioned that. I think it was at their church. There was a movie being played and it was more of a Christian movie. But there was a, I think, a kissing scene or something. And she was like, ah, like her kids are younger and like, we didn't need to have it in the movie and whatever. And I said, yeah, but at the same time, like, you were there and got to see it. And so now you get to have that conversation with your child, you know. So it's not a bad thing. We can't shelter them. I agree with that. I do think,

definitely more age appropriate, which is nice with homeschooling. We have a bit more of that control to. Control on what they're exposed to. Or even what their peers. Like you can't, like another thing too, I heard. It was actually a Birds and the Bees course I took. And it talked about how the age of. You took a course on birds.

I did. I did. I told you I'm like an education research nut. Like I want all the info. How did you get birds and the bees as a kid? Do you remember? Actually, I was missed. I'm a middle child of five.

Okay. And when my younger brother was, I were like five years apart, and my mom gave him like this book. And I'm like, what? A book? So apparently all my brothers got this book on the birds and the bees, and they were like 10. And I got missed somehow, but I'm a middle child.

I was 14 outfencing with my father and my older brother who was 17, my next oldest brother. And my dad was in his not awkward. I'll say it was awkward way, but it was now when I look back, it's this fond memory. Because the only bird, I was the youngest. And so by that time, they just figure, I assume that you get it, which is funny. And it is Meatloaf Paradise by the Dashboard Lights.

For the rest of time when I hear that song, I just, it's so great. Anyways, he's literally saying, you know, we're out fencing, and he's explained to my brother 17, you know, like, your mom's just, you know, there's a song by this meatloaf guy, you know, and he starts talking about the lyrics and what the lyrics mean. but he's doing it in a way that he's he's kind of leaving it to your interpretation like you should figure this out and the older I get and the more I listen to that song I'm like man is that a prophetic song right because he's basically you know he's trying to do whatever he can to get in the girls' pants right you know and when he finally does you know they're together for the rest of time and you can you can you know surmise that she got pregnant or whatever and now he's waiting for the end of time because anyways yeah it's it's you go listen to paradise by the listener should pause this and go listen to

Paradise by the Daspora lights because I mean like anyways I interrupted the birds and bees but I just I chuckle because that's it's funny there's a birds and bee course well and what does it say seeds and eggs and don't interdie introduce certain concepts until they're ready or no they talk about actually introducing them earlier than what parents want to really yes because same thing they say that kids are pretty smart as well I think as adults we're post puberty so we have hormones and all of that kids don't. And so to them, it's strictly anatomy and biology. It's just how the world works. So we add a lot of emotions to it that kids don't. But yeah, they talk about how they're going to be exposed, I think, especially in today's age. And the average age that a child is exposed to

pornography is eight years old. What? Yes. Yeah, whether it's by accident, you know, at a friend's house, on YouTube, even look at commercials nowadays. Like some things are pretty raunchy out there on, you know, we listen to YouTube music and even some of the music videos are a little. I'm not a fan of YouTube. Yeah. It's such a great platform for how easy and accessible things are, but it's too accessible for kids. Yeah. For kids, like they cannot, I mean, but there's very few places on the internet now where

you can put kids where it isn't. Totally. Like one wrong click and you're on a place. Like, yeah. I was thinking, you know, back as a farm kid, I kind of like, I was very sheltered from the anatomy talk from like all that stuff. I had to, you know. Did you know on farm animals?

Yeah, certainly. I guess that way. Okay, fair enough. Fair enough. It didn't apply it to humans, I guess. Which I don't think, yeah, kids probably don't. You know, like I just, when it came to sex, drugs and rock and roll, I would say I got more on rock and roll from dad being a pink Floyd fat and different things like. But like drugs, I remember in like grade seven, I missed a party.

And parents won't let me go to the party, which, you know, you're upset about. And the kids actually smoked grass, like literal grass. Oh, my, really? Yes. And I'm like, that's what age we grew up in, right? The porn, it was like, it was hidden in a bail. There was one magazine at a friend's house that's hilarious that everybody laughs about now because it was this old, I don't even know, playboy maybe, maybe.

Coley will have to tell me sometime. Hustler. Does it matter? Because it just wasn't accessible. Everybody jokes about the Sears magazine. Yeah. Right? The bra section.

It's like that's what kids had back then. And now it's such a different world. Well, now, I mean, well, I mean, you're looking at all the different devices and how accessible it is. It's it's utter insanity how easy it is. So to think eight years old, I mean, that scares me because my son's seven. I'm like, oh, no, right? But at the same time, a person should just prepare for that, right? Yeah. So they're kind of even say, like, even at three years old, start laying the foundation to, and more so talking about like animals first and pointing out, you know, the seeds and the eggs. And you kind of lay the groundwork to set it up to, you know, humans. And I do

have a friend who, she said her oldest, went to school at six or seven and learned a little bit about sex. Comes home asks her parents. So they're like, okay, so give us a week, had a, had a conversation, laid everything out for her. Great. Her other daughters, she waited until they were about 10 and she said that their reaction was much more emotional because they knew that they were that much closer to puberty and all of that. And so she kind of wondered like, well, maybe it is better to tell them when they're younger because it is very much anatomy when they're little, whereas when they do get older in the start of the hormones, I still, I don't know. And as a parent, that's probably one of the things I struggle with so much because it's like,

I'm uncomfortable with the topic, right? Yeah. So to like, and saying that, I get it, you know, I would rather talk to them than some outside figure talk to them about it personally. Like to me, then at least I get to control the conversation. And, and, you know, certainly hopefully, hopefully then you know what the conversation is, right? But it's still uncomfortable. And then you get to be the expert and your kid comes back to you with the questions.

Again, uncomfortable, but they get to come back to you. Interesting. I don't know how the heck we got on this topic. I was. I can't remember either. But yeah, but that's what this course talked about. Oh, and they talked about how the age of your family is as old as your oldest. So if you have a 16 year old and a five year old, your family is 16 years old.

And so that five year old is going to know a lot more. That's why they look. That's why they overlook the young ones because it's like, well, they already heard it from, you know, like, As a 14-year-old, I'm hearing with my 17. That actually makes a lot of sense. So then even if you're five-year-old's a firstborn, if they're sitting on the bus next to a five-year-old that has a 16-year-old sibling, oh, yeah, they're probably going to hear things that you don't want them to hear.

And so that's where this course kind of talks about. We need to kind of lay the groundwork. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah, that's an interesting, yeah, that's, hmm, you know, that's an interesting thought when it comes to kids because you forget how much they're exposed to, bus or just at school. in general, you know? My kid, my oldest is, is good friends with kids that are older than him. Totally. Yeah. And you're like, so now you're like, oh, what is he being exposed to? Probably a lot.

Yeah. And again, like you can't shelter them. But it is, I don't know, it's nice to try and keep their innocence as long as you can, I guess, in a way. But then, like you said, even if you do have a public school kid, if you have a good relationship at home, they hopefully will come back to you with their questions and stuff, right? Whereas if, if you're, you know, busying yourself as a parent, Sometimes we just fall into that trap. Like we live in a very busy society. And sometimes we forget to put in that work with our kids. Our phones are in our way, right?

And so we're not as accessible to them. But if we make ourselves available and have that relationship, there's still a way that you can go to school and you can have that with them. I've had this conversation lots with different people. But we live in a very, when you talk busy, distracted is what comes. Like everything distracts, right? Like the phone's constantly dinging the, et cetera, the, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

And kids are like sponges. I see how, like my daughter right now, and I don't know where she learned this from. I mean, once again, but I go, she's being exposed to older kids, so somewhere in there, or maybe it's a TV show, you know, I actually don't know the answer. But she's big on creating TikTok videos at five years old.

And I'm like, Mel and I look to each other, where did she get that from? I'm not on TikTok. My wife certainly isn't on TikTok. My daughter did the same when she was about five, and same thing. like, we don't do that. So I don't know where, but yeah, she started making videos of herself too.

And we didn't, you know, ever post anything. And it was just a video. But yeah. Like, and it was, she was like teaching people things. I'm like, oh, come back next week. I'm like, what? Yeah. Where is that from?

Yeah. I don't know. And it's so ingrained in pop culture now. I probably don't have to look that far to find the root of it. Yeah. And then when you say, you know, if you have a 16 and a 6 year old, your age of 16, it's like, well, then that's part of it. I think that that actually makes a ton of sense to me.

I'd mentioned sports. Yes. Yeah. So has that been, has that been a big struggle? That, well, and that's where my husband initially said that he wants them back in junior high.

So they have the option to do school sports and said, yes, good point. And there are a few ways around it. There actually is a homeschooler that I know of who is full on homeschooling and doing school sports. And so I guess for their school, how it worked out was they needed the players.

And so they were, they easily took her. She had to get her own insurance to be able to play on the school sports, because of course if you are with the school, you have insurance through the school. So that was an option. I know Battle River offers Battle River School Division offers an online option for homeschooling. So, or no, it's not online. It's like a homeschool option. So they send you like the kits of all the curriculum that you need. And because you're still registered with Battle River, you can apply for school sports and try out for them. And then there is also a shared ability program with homeschooling, which is schooling that isn't very talked about.

So you can actually decide how much public school your kid attends. You can say minimum 20% up to 80% and you do the rest of it at home. So you can say, I want my kid to go only mornings five days a week and you do the other, the afternoons at home. And so again, your kids registered with school so they can do school sports. Man, that'd be tough on a kid though, wouldn't it? I think, well, and I think too, even with, it'd be different with schedules because I, Some schools, yeah, maybe you have your math the same block every morning, but some, you know, they kind of switch it up.

Yeah. So if you decide you want your kid to do math in school, well, then you might be running around. I just even think from a parent-teacher relationship, right? Like the teacher gets them part of the time and you're, I don't know. Maybe I'm over playing. Maybe that would work really good. I don't know. But to me, I'm like, you're part in the school, you're part in the school. You're part not out of the school. It's, I don't know. That'd be to my mind. that'd be difficult. One of the things I've always admired about homeschoolers is no different than podcasting full time. If you want to go see the Rocky Mountains or you want to take a trip across Canada to give them some geography lesson, you just go. And everything is so flexible and malleable to what you want to create as long as they're getting proficiencies in all these different courses.

And, you know, one of the lovely things about podcasting, and listeners are going to hear this a lot in July. In July, for the month of July, I go to Minnesota with the family. Wife teaches, and the kids are young enough. They're not into, like, you know, crazy sports in the middle summer. We never see Mel's family, so we go back there, and I can podcast. It's one of the great opportunities of podcasting full-time, and with the technology of being able to stream everything. I can either do it in person like this, have the technology to do that, or I can just do it

online, right? And now I can go sit in the States for a little bit and enjoy my holidays with my in-law. and my wife and kids and not have to worry about it. And one of the things about homeschoolers is this ability to, I think, from the outside looking in, is it's just so flexible. You want to go teach him something, go do it. I mean, now you got a budget and everything else, but overall, like, that's one of the things. And if you add in where they're like, oh, in the mornings we're going to do school, I feel like it takes away one of the greatest things it has about homeschooling. I agree. I feel like more people who choose the shared responsibility program probably are maybe

kids who maybe have some regulating issues. And so like a full day at school is too much for them. So that's the option to just do a half day and then come home. I feel like it's situations I know of are more younger kids. Like in the earlier grades or same thing, they're just exhausted. So they only do a half day. But it is an option if parents, if maybe they feel like they want a home school, but they can't teach chem physics and, you know, biology. Well, you can send your kid for those subjects and do the rest at home. So it's, there's that. There's options. There's options. options is what you're saying. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, which is nice. But I, I think most of us, when I've asked our homeschool group, like, what do you love most about homeschooling? It is flexibility and freedom. You know, we get to choose when you school, where you school, how you school. You know, a matter of some of us, like one of my good friends is very type A. It's like she, they have a set time, a regiment. Yeah, and it works super well for their family.

I'm more flexible. And maybe partly because I have some younger kids that if my children are playing, fantastic together. I am not interrupting that moment. They can play it out and we can do school later on or when my youngest was still napping. I would often do homeschooling in the afternoon because then she's not terrorizing us. So there's yeah, that flexibility. Some stick to like a September to June kind of schedule. I choose to go year round. Others do like October till May. Yeah, how many days a week, how many hours? Like it's, there's really a lot of flexibility and freedom. What curriculums you choose. So it's, it's nice that way.

Hmm, that's, well, this entire thing is like a big, you know, like, the next thing that comes to mind is I'm like, can families afford it nowadays? Yeah, so that's the, like, because you, it's not like all of a sudden you start homeschooling your kids and all of a sudden you're getting a paycheck from the government for doing that, right? You do get a little bit of money. But what's a little bit of money? It's 900 bucks. Well, and there is, when you choose homeschooling, you can choose either unsupported or supported. So if you choose unsupported, you have to notify the Alberta Education Minister and you get no funding at all. If you choose to register, like you go through like a homeschool board.

So like we're with wisdom. I know fees another example. And they kind of liaison to the education minister for you. So they get 900 bucks and you get 900 bucks of funding. And right now it seems to be sufficient with younger kids. I've heard especially when you get into older children, it's not as, you know, once you get into the chemistries and the sciences, if they're doing online. courses that are teacher-led, all that's more expensive. You just think in today's world how quickly $900 gets eaten up.

Like, I mean, for a full year, that's a peanut. It's not even a peanut. It's the shell, you know? Yeah. It's so and then, you know, you think, like right now, how many families, and I know, I know people are like, but how important is it having the parents around the kids? I understand. Yeah.

But right now, especially with where, you know, inflation's at and all these different things pushing and pulling on society. the cost of living, the fact that July 1st, carbon tax, a second one, and all these things coming and on and on and on and goes. I don't need to get too far down it. You just go, has that been an issue for families to go down to one income?

Because I assume that's what's happening. No, there's working families that parents. The parents, how do they pull that off? So I know some nurses, because of course we have your schedules, right? So maybe only are you work weekends or a couple days during the week. So you just homeschool the days that you're home. Some parents, they work from home, so they're able to flex their hours.

So what you're saying then is, a normal school week is five days. Yes. Once you get past kindergarten, I should say. And what you're saying is you can actually do in the five days and less times. Compact it. There's a, like when I started grade one, there was a family who does from October until May. and they take December off and they only do an hour a day, three days a week. Say that one more time because my brain was a day, three days a week.

An hour a day, three days a week and... From October till May with December off. It's the beauty of homeschooling is it's way more efficient because it's one-on-one. Instead of dealing with a classroom and I'm sure my wife could talk easily about that because they're dealing with, and they're in the Northwest School Division, they're dealing with smaller class sizes than the rest of the province. but I mean like, you know, even if it's 14 to 1, you know, or whatever it is, you know, like I think they're, you know, or 18 to 1 or whatever the number is, folks, I, you know, I digress. But you get the point. It's one teacher trying to deal with 14 different issues of 14 different kids.

And when it's one to one, you just become that much more efficient. And so there was actually one mom who she homeschooled during COVID and then sent her kids back. And her oldest, I think, was grade 8. she after three weeks said, mom, I want to homeschool because she noticed all the wasted time. And she said, I can get done. You know, and of course, junior high, I think she was doing about two, three hours a day. But she's like, I can get done in two to three hours, what we're doing in school. And then I have the whole day, I can go to work.

I can horseback ride, meet up with friends. You know, you have that freedom to have your afternoons to do whatever you want. So knowing that you could be that efficient, do you plan on having your kids at like, you mentioned junior high, the plan is to put them back in for school sports and that different thing. But walking into grade seven then, do you plan to have them at like a grade 10 level? Are you like, no, let's keep them or it's got to be kid by kid? I think kid by kid because I am one. I know some people aren't as, because the same thing, you have kind of two streams when you choose homeschooling.

You can choose to follow the Alberta curriculum, you know, to a T and their objectives. Or you can kind of choose what's called the, I think it's Sola. Yes, Solos. So the homeschool education schedule of learning. outcomes. And so it's kind of like you just have to meet these outcomes by the end of your homeschool journey. So right now we're doing the solos, but I, I'm choosing still to kind of keep an eye on the Alberta education curriculum to kind of make sure we're on par. But like I said, my son's getting ahead. He's probably on par with language arts. My daughter's ahead in language

arts, but on par with other stuff. Social and sciences at this stage, we're not as strict about just because I find when I went through the curriculum, a lot of stuff was repeated. And social and sciences. So kind of, and I found, like, this was interesting too. So my son loves dinosaurs at about age three. And like that kid could rip off every single stat, name everything. And because he was so into it, he just divulged all of the information. And so I look at that with, you know, if I do some more science and social topics when the kids are interested, they're going to remember and retain so much more than hammering the information and forcing them to learn a little bit each year. So that's kind of the route we're taking as well. And I've

actually had some administrators and teachers say, yeah, that's perfect when it comes to social and sciences. It's, um, um, you know, when somebody gets interested in something like that, like that's, that's, uh, to recognize that early on is like, I don't know. I'm going to say really important because like as you get older and you're picking a career or an occupation or, you know, whatever hobby that you're going to try and grow into a business, et cetera, et cetera, if you can figure that out where it's like dinosaurs, I'm really into this. Yeah. You have a good chance of having like one of those happy lives that everybody stares at in a

Myers and goes, how did you figure that out? I've been, you know, I was taught this from an early age because, you know, when you look back at school, I was, I don't know what it was in high school. I was a good student up until about high school. And then, you know, whether it's social pressure, whether it's, I don't care, whether, I don't know, you're doing calculus and you're like, I don't know what the point of this is anymore. Regardless, I was like a 70-ish student.

I had a couple classes that were a little lower, a couple of classes that were a couple of higher. You get the point. I was right in the middle or below, whatever they call that. I got to college, and I always credit my wife with a little bit of a kick in the ass. But I also credit one of the professors, Professor Paul Shue, who's been on the podcast. Jeez, it's got to be years ago now, folks. But he was my history professor.

And he was, he, like, breathed new life. Like, I just, as soon as he started to, I was just like fast. fascinated and I changed my my entire like I thought I was going to be going into psychology and I just I'm gonna be I'm gonna go into history and I didn't know what you know I'm you know now I'm podcast I mean you know But like but but Searching out what you actually want to do is like really and really important so many of us just kind of You know like jump at the first opportunity and and and and then you know and and get good at it and never like adjust and and then pretty soon you're 20 years into a career and you feel like How can I ever leave this and everything else?

So, I mean, it's a long leap from kid and dinosaurs to that. But I think recognizing that. So when you're with a homeschool board as well, you get a facilitator who kind of helps you. You meet throughout the year twice in person and usually once over phone more if you need to. And they kind of just like evaluate your progress, make sure you're on track, offer any feedback. And she actually is a teacher and chose to homeschool her girls. And one of the things she brought up was she was like a grade one teacher, one to three, often grade and she said she noticed at the beginning of the year you'd get these very individual beings.

They were all so different and unique and by the end of the year they conform. You'd kind of end up with two major groups of kids. And it's just something that naturally happens when you're in, you're with the same group every single day, you know, five days a week, you kind of just naturally start conforming with where you fit in. And often I think all of us can relate to, yeah, there's generally two groups when you go through school. There's kind of the popular kids and then there's, you know, or maybe the sportsy ones.

and then there's kind of like the artsy-fartsy ones and you kind of just conform into a group and that's where you stay. It is funny, the social pressure. So I was watching, I think it was kindergarten, Shays and grade ones. It must have been kindergarten last year. They had like assembly and so the kids from their class

were all getting to say what they want to be when they grow up. And my son said a farmer. And I was so, but he's never said it before and half of his class said he wanted to. wanted farmer. And you're like, oh, well, like when you say, it's like, oh, because whether he wants to be a farmer or not, I'm totally cool. But at the same time, is that actually what you want to be or is that what your friends want to be? And, and you're, anyways, that's an interesting thought

as well. Yeah. So, and that's part of the thing, too, with as much as I've kind of changed to with yes, I think the weird kids that, you know, I was exposed to with homeschooling, it was also different back when I was being, in my time. We didn't have social media. There wasn't as many people homeschooling. schooling and so I think they were maybe a little weird because they were isolated. Not all, but some that I know. Whereas now there's so many more of us and I find I actually want my kids to stay weird. Like they're not, I wouldn't say they're super weird kid, but they have their quirks. I'm like, I want you to keep that.

I don't want you to conform just because you're being bugged at school for that. Like, I want you to have your quirks. Stay weird. Yeah. Home schooling. Stay weird. Stay weird. Or yes, W.

you stay weird. You mentioned you, I think you said you had three at the start, three families, two families, three families? Three families. There's three that we for sure were connected with, yeah. And now it's how many? 43. So like.

And there's more, like there's others that are inquiring and asking questions and have, you know, talked about they might homeschool down the road. So is that a pretty like, I don't know, wild experience to just see how many families just over and over and like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. It's been exciting. Really? Yes. I think because I assumed that it would be difficult to find people, I'd be alone and unsupported or I'd have to be driving to Edmonton to find people to cohort with and just to know that we can stay within our own county is it's been really cool. And it's awesome because it's, I also wanted my kids. I think my fear when there was only 10 of us in the beginning was even with I didn't like my kids having a best friend. Like when my son, my son did go to kindergarten as well and he was super bummed because he wasn't in the same class as his best friend. They ended up splitting the class. And I was like, yeah, but I'm okay with that. I want you to figure out who you are without your best friend and to find other friends.

You know, sometimes I find that when there's a best friend, they're doing everything together. And then if something happens, well, then they're a wreck because they have no one else to play with on the playground. And so, and as well, I want my kids to navigate relationships. That's an important thing I think even as adults, some of us suck at is we're not going to get along with everybody. We're going to butt heads with people. There's different personalities and temperaments.

but we need to know how to work together and how to figure that out. And that's been really awesome because actually my son had an experience where there was a kid he was budding heads with in our little group. And it's so silly because this kid is like super loving, a fantastic phenomenal little child. Like he just loves people and he loved Beckett, like just loved him with everything. But it was he would get in Beckett space a little bit. And so Beckett was kind of annoyed with that. And he started being kind of mean.

And, you know, whereas instead, he just needed to, like, communicate that he needs space. And, you know, can I, let's high five instead of hug or give me a few minutes. But he didn't figure that out. So instead, he was starting to be mean to this other child. But because we were homeschooling, I was able to kind of witness what was going on. And so we were able to navigate that. And we had conversations around, like, he could be being a total jerk to you. Like, he could be bullying you, calling you names, being mean, and he's just loving you.

Like, he's trying to be a good friend, you know, and eventually, Beckett realized, I just need some space. And so he started communicating, okay, please, I don't want to hug right now. And now they're actually best buddies. And I think, like, if that would have happened on the playground, I bet you to this day, he still would be hating this kid. And they would have, like, a total feud and just. Nemesis.

Yeah. Over, like, he wanted to give you a hug, you know? But it just, I think it's, as kids, we have to learn how to navigate those situations. And it's hard when there's no one around. It's pretty cool. Once again, Mel and I talk about this. lots, you know, about parents' involvement in their kids' lives and how busy everybody is. And, you know, well, I'm trying to unravel my thought here.

But essentially, like, it's cool to watch you talk so intimately about your child's development and, like, life because you're around it day by day by day. And it's, you know, it's funny. I say this all the time. It feels like it's such a. traditional thought to be around your kids over all the time and we all are so busy chasing well honestly trying to survive i don't have to say chasing uh like keeping up with the joneses or anything like i mean just go back to what i said earlier like today's world is you know it's getting more

expensive things are happening at an expedited rate and you know to keep up with just making ends meat you're going about as hard as you can go and uh more and more families there's tons of great families out there, but there's tons of families that are pushing about as hard as they can, and they don't know what's happening with their kids' lives, you know, and they are being exposed to a lot of ideas that I have a hard time, you know, like hearing about and dealing with and you're like, oh, man, like that, that's crazy. And you think it's not happening in our communities, except the more you hear, you're like, it is happening in our communities, right? Like, so it's cool to, it's cool to watch, or watch you talk about it. And that's kind of one challenge

I do have is I hear many people when you say that we assume it's not in our communities, because especially being small town, I've heard so many people be like, oh, well, that's not here, that's not here. And it is. We have, you know, some of those trends of children in junior high that are unsure of their gender and things like that, all of those types of things. And there's stuff in the curriculum. Like there was one parent who, she said COVID was a blessing because when kids got kicked home in, you know, March 2020 to June 2020, she was able to see what her kids were learning. And she felt it was very much biased towards in favor of socialism, Marxism, you know, things like that. And she didn't agree with that. She said, no, like, I remember when I was

learning about all of that in school, I felt it was presented in a very neutral way. Here's all the different types of systems. Here's examples of it. You know, we got to evaluate it, whatever. Whereas now it seems to be that there's more of this push. And I don't know if it's the curriculum in general. I don't have kids at age or if it is maybe just the teachers in general, depending on the classroom you're in. But yeah, like it's, so it's where I challenge parents. Like, if you do have concerns that, you know, there is stuff you don't want your kids learning

or you are worried about, make sure that you're a pain in the butt parent and get involved. Find out what they are learning. Well, John O'Brien and, for the kids' sake, a group here in town concerned citizens, you know, bringing different speakers. We had John O'Brien and Tanner Nadee,

who's been a guest that I don't think, or I think all the listeners remember quite well. and they just talked about the statesmanship of like you you can't be an asshole of your teacher you know. Oh for sure. Like build a relationship. Yeah, absolutely. Find out what's going on.

If something's bothering you, go talk to them. And it doesn't have to be this like, you're an idiot. It can just be like, listen, I'm concerned about this and find out what's going on. All the teachers I've ran into have said that they would welcome that. Oh, 100. I agree. Yeah, we want more parents to be involved in a healthy relationship way where we can try. and explain what we're seeing from our end, right?

Where it's healthy. And, you know, that's, that concerns me a bit that teachers don't feel like they're seeing enough of that, right? Where all they're getting is they get that. I think it's why teachers are burnt out because there isn't parent involvement or it's the wrong parent where you have that parent that their child can do no wrong, right? And the teacher's always the problem. So it's, I think if we need a bit more of that relationship to come back between parents and teachers.

You know, I noticed your, you're sure. says, um, uh, this mama prays, which, I, I'm,

I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, you know, like, you know,

when it comes to schools, they're trying. Well, I think they, they're no longer trying. I think they have. They're trying to remove, um,

I think, and I'll have a couple teachers text me and, and, and give me their thoughts, which is perfect. But like, uh,

it to me, from the outlook at where I'm sitting, remove religion. We don't want to, We don't want to talk about religion. We don't want to put any of that there. We want people to figure that out for themselves. That's for the parents.

You know, it's interesting to me. But is it religion or just Christianity? I know. And so to me, I'm like... Because I, like, there's new age principles that are taught in schools, like things like yoga, meditation.

Our kids are learning all that in schools openly. And that's a religion, new age spirituality. Muslims, I know in the past. I don't know much now, but I remember there was... some schools where they would allow them that time to have their prayer time and whatnot. Yet, you know, Christian kids wouldn't always be allowed the time to maybe have a Bible study that they wanted at lunchtime. So it's, I don't know, it seems to, maybe I'm wrong,

but it almost seems to be more of an attack on a specific religion versus just all of them. Yeah, I don't think you have to be too far of a tinfoil hat wearer to see that, to see every, you know, like, listen, you can have your thoughts on Christianity. It's totally fine. But when you walk into a school these days, when I was a kid, they talked about, I remember a bunch of things. I feel like, and maybe I'm wrong on this,

but certainly there was a time of the Lord's Prayer. There was a time of maybe even a cross on the wall. You forget just little things, right? And you walk into any school now, unless it's a Catholic school, I would assume, I think it's all gone. I think it's all gone, isn't it? Yeah, I think.

so. And, and I, so you go, so why is that? They don't. Well, and I personally think it's because, I mean, there's even, even you look at the family, like something like, uh, like Christianity specifically very much treasures the family and the family unit and, uh, the roles within the family and things like that. And I think that makes for a strong family. When you look at, you know, some of the statistics of families that have, you know, don't have a father. Like it's, they don't, those kids don't do as well, right? And, um, I think it's, um, I think it's, it's, yeah, when you don't have a strong family unit, the children aren't, like, it's just everything breaks down. And I think that gives, I don't know, nefarious people access to what they

want. So. Well, it's another thing that I, I don't know, you, you, you, obviously with 43 families, you tell me if I'm off on this. When COVID started, I found a lot of the people that were, that were voicing their concerns in the profession, so lawyers, doctors, et cetera, a lot of them homeschooled. Because they, you know, they were outside the system and they saw what the system is doing and they started speaking. And now I see a ton of people that are going to homeschooling are Christians. Yeah. I don't know if that's bang on or not.

But to me, it looks like Christianity, if you're a believer in the faith and you're active in it, you're like, what is going on here and why am I being and my kids need to understand the importance of what I believe. And that's why a lot of them are being pulled out because they're looking at some of the stuff coming in. down the pipe and they're like, I just disagree with everything that's being talked about. Even just there's no room for our values, right? So it's a and I, I even look at in society in general, there's been a shift. Um, how we describe truth. Like to me, it almost seems like truth is no longer objective. It's a your truth and my truth and truth is becoming very subjective. But then what's true? Like you have to have something that's an objective moral standard to compare truth to. Otherwise, nothing's true. Um, and then even the word tolerance. You know, like to me,

I always felt that tolerance was weak and agree to disagree, but we're going to tolerate each other and treat each other fairly, whereas now it's almost like to tolerate you have to accept and even celebrate. And it's like, whoa, like, so I find even the changing of definitions is concerning is, and I think a lot of, maybe a lot of Christians are realizing that too, that it's giving this gray area that if we want to teach our children our values, that's being challenged and almost being, well, being, being labeled a bigot or just it's not allowed you know and it's like and you can't even in a

respectful way speak up about it without you know being labeled stuff so it's it's kind of that it's tricky and I think a lot of people are seeing the writing on the wall and just feel safer maybe being at home and having that opportunity to have those conversations at home it's it's crazy how how far it's it's like even gone in the last five years let alone I'm sure somebody listens is like five years Yeah. Try like 25 years or whatever it is, you know. But it's pretty crazy. I don't know.

Like, it's funny if you, if you, you know, what is, what is the word I'm looking for here, folks? Like a rebel now is somebody who believes there's men and women. Believes in honestly marriage and having kids. Yeah. Yeah, the family unit. Believes in, like, Christianity is all of a sudden rebellion. It's like... It's so true.

It's kind of wild, isn't it? Like, we sat and listened to Brett Olin, bang, CEO of Bow Valley Credit Union. And he's been on the podcast, too, for folks, I think, you know, go back to the four 50s, I want to say, four-fiftys somewhere in there. Anyways, he was just saying, we just want to deal with your money. We don't want to deal with, we don't want to deal with,

We don't, we're not worried about whatever issue is going on in society. We're not worried about politics. We're just, we want to deal with your money. And I lean over my buddy. I'm like, and that's a political statement in itself right there. We just want to be, you know, we don't want to ram. And it's like, and that's where we're at in society. Yeah.

Like that that's a crazy idea, you know, like that sells. We just want to deal with your, we just want to do what we say we're going to do. We're not going to try and like push you into these boxes and try and force you to, you know, come along for the ride of whatever we believe in, you know, it's, it's a strange. I don't know. I say this all the time, whether it's La La Land or upside down or whatever, we're in a society right now that it's just, you know, well, what is, what do they say? Pride comes before the fall. And it's like, it feels like we're kind of there, you know, I don't know. Like, who knows? Yeah, no, I agree. Yeah, and I think it's, there is families in our group that aren't.

Actually, I wasn't a Christian when I first started homeschooling, interestingly enough. Really? Yes, interesting, yeah. So, um. So you've had. A journey. I've had a journey. Interesting. Interesting, yes.

But yeah, and I actually remember when I, and I actually, this came up in my memories, when I was asking in the homeschool group, I'd said, okay, I'm considering, but wisdom is the homeschool board. I'm with wisdom. It is like a faith-based school board. Sure.

They don't push it anything if you don't want it. And that was one of my concerns was I wasn't a Christian when we started. And so I said, don't be pushing that stuff on me. Yeah, I was like, I want to sign up. They're meeting what I want, but I don't want this pushed on me. And I mean, now two years later, it's a different story.

So what happened? I think I hit rock bottom and was searching for truth. And I found it. That's how I put it that way. What was your rock bottom then? The COVID mandates. I mean, for me, being a nurse, I put a lot of my identity in being a nurse. And I always thought I would love being a mom and being a stay-at-home mom.

And that was one thing my husband and I had always. planned was that when we have kids, I would, you know, we wanted our values instilled in our kids. And so I would work less, if not not work at all to raise the children. And when it came time for that, I struggled. I found out that, I mean, being a mom is a very rewarding and worthwhile, the most important job I will ever do. I will always stand by that. But it's a hard job. And especially when you're in the thick of it when they're little, it's pretty thankless job. They don't even know the word thank you for a long time. And whereas when I go to work, nursing is a very respected profession. Every day it was very rewarding. Whether I just was having a

conversation with a patient and holding their hand, holding someone's hand as they passed, bringing new life into this world in the labor and delivery room, you know, helping during a code. Every single day, there was something that you felt rewarded for. And then you also got a paycheck at the end. So very, and I had lots of people in my life that were very proud to say that I was a nurse. and so having all that stripped away, I suddenly was like, what, what am I? You know, and yeah, that really led me on. And then trying to figure out, too, what the heck was going on in the world. Identity crisis.

It was a big identity crisis, yeah. So, yeah, that kind of just led me on a journey between that and figuring out what the heck was going on in the world. Nothing was making sense to me. And yeah, I found Jesus in the end of it all. There's my moment. Didn't think it was going to go there, did you? No, I just, I just. I was saying this this morning at coffee

that if I if you go back I don't know for me I just you go back however many episodes you want to go it doesn't matter for sure 100 and any further back than that I mean like it just there was a time when the word Jesus felt like a swear to me

or like you know like I just you know like I don't want to bring that that was harder to say on a podcast than any of your F bombs down the line. It was just, isn't that a wild thought? Yeah. And I think of the,

the Bible in general. Because I've said this, I think I've said this multiple times now. I'm, I'm currently working through the New Testament. Okay. Right? So I'm just,

I'm sitting here going, this is what I'm doing. I pray every day because I think it's really important. Yeah. And I'm reading, I try to read a chapter a day. That's,

I'm not setting the, I'm not setting this crazy bar. I'm not sitting here going, you know, me and Tanner in a day had the argument of like, I'm aiming, you know, Jordan Peterson's aim at the best you can be. And a Christian would say aim at Jesus Christ. And they're kind of, you know, like Jesus Christ is perfection, right? I mean, that's saintly, you know, godly.

Which were sinners and we'll never attain. But so aim at, anyway, so we're talking similar things, me and him, except in different terminology, right? So I'm like, well, listen, I'm going to read the Bible. There's importance there. I bet you if you read the red letters of, you know, which is Jesus' words in the Bible. you could probably learn some things. So this is what I started. And then I quickly realized, like, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense

if you don't know the story. So then I'm like, okay, let's start it off. New Testament. Let's just see what happens. And the more I read, the more I notice the importance of prayer, and I kind of this conclusion in Ottawa, I'd seen some things there that just messed with my brain.

Like, I just scrambled it, and I was just like, something is strange. So I started, I just started praying daily. You know, nothing crazy, folks. Like, I mean, you know, I can't believe I'm talking about this, you know. So it's the journey of one's life. And so I just started praying daily. Simple, nothing too crazy.

Then you start reading the Bible, and then you realize, you know, it literally, I have to have this conversation with my mom. Hopefully she'll listen to this and then she'll pull me aside to, you know. But like, as a kid, I never understood why you pray a certain way. And it literally says in, and I can't remember, somebody's going to point this out to me. Is it John? is it, it's one of the early books. Yeah. It's either Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.

It doesn't matter. That it literally says you pray heavenly father and end in Jesus' name. It literally says when you're asking, it literally says, and I'm like, so why was I never told that? And maybe I was, and I just didn't listen to anything. Yeah, probably. There's many things I was told to and passed over. So I was saying this morning coffee. I just, that's all I'm doing.

It's all, you know, and what I've found in it is just a little bit of peace. And I go, it's pretty wild that that came out of that. And it's pretty wild that I feel awkward saying it because I'm like, you know, Sean, like, at the end of the day, what the heck does it matter what anyone else thinks? I mean, you've literally been talking about everything else, COVID and everything. You got slammed around for all that. So at this point, it's like, so what are you doing? I pray once a day, maybe multiple times, who knows? I read a chapter of the Bible and what's that done for you.

It's like, I don't know, makes me feel pretty calm about life, and it's opened some doors. And it's, you know, when things are really on my mind, I pray about it. And things seem to open up and, you know, it sounds like mystical of what I'm saying, and I don't mean to make it sound like that. It's just like, this is what's been happening. I don't know. And I'm like, and I'm sure my mom has been sitting there watching me go, like,

you really need to do this. And I've been going, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You really need to do this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and on and on and on. And here I am at 37. And things are just like, it's funny. For some people, they just clue into it at 20, 16, 12, I don't know.

Me, it's 37. Somebody else is going to be 52. Another is going to be 72. I don't know. I don't know how this works. I just, at the end of the day, it's become really important to me. So, you know, I'm going off on a side tag in here. No, it's good, though.

It's the shirt you wear when you walk in. And it's one of the things that I hope that I can, relay at some point to my children because, well, I just, you know, I found it at a later, late age, I guess, but like, I didn't understand it. I don't even know if I still understand it. I don't know if I'll ever understand it, but I can tell what is doing for my, my psyche and my life in general, which is pretty wild. And I had that too. I mean, of course, with the mandates losing my job and losing, like going through that identity crisis, um, my job was threatened. And so I hit rock bottom and and I went through that without you know my faith and that was probably the hardest thing

I've ever had to go through and after finding my faith I had my job threatened again and it was so much different that time I had so much peace about it this time and it was because I went through it with the Lord that time and so I agree that the the peace it brings is well then I'll I'll bring up the quote that I said a little while ago I'm in the middle of Romans right now know. And it's funny when you read something and I'm like, I can't believe that's in the Bible, you know? And every time I Google it, it isn't what I've read in the Bible I have, which bugs me, but you get the point. So here's what it says, Romans 5 versus 3 to 5. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance,

perseverance character and character hope. And I'm like, yeah, So when you talk about going through the gutter and what you find out of that, like to me, I read it and I'm going, oh, yeah, it makes, actually makes, kind of makes perfect sense. It's like written right there in the good book. It's like, yep. And I'm like, what other gems are going to find in this thing? Oh, so many gems.

You know, like everybody's like, oh, you got to race, well, not race through it. Everybody's like, oh, you got to get to this chapter. And you got to this eye. I'm like, I'm going one chapter at a time right now. And it's like, that's good. Well, it's like, it's a big Lord of the Rings fan, you know, like, I read all these, loved all these nonfiction books as a kid, right? Like, I just loved Lord of the Rings.

It was so well done. And I just witnessed this with my kid. It was, it was like the cutest awesome moment ever. So we got to switch and, you know, like Mario and things like that. Anyways, as a kid, Zelda was like, I loved it. So I was explaining to him, Zelda. And he's like, could we get it? Sure, actually.

like oh okay and like my kids don't they get a little little bit of game time on the weekends it's very structured when we have it so it's very little in my opinion you know and we finally completed the game after it must have been a year I think about that it took a long time and he was emotionally distraught because it had come to an end and I'm like huh yeah I get that and so I Tolkien for me when I finished Lord of the Rings I was just distraught because after you finished a book like that you're like man now what i now i got to go try and find a new one of those anyways the bible for me right now is kind of like you know this will sound strange but it's kind of like talking yeah i've i've read it a ton as a kid yeah and took nothing from it i mean below zero

and right now i'm like i can't believe that's in the bible can't believe that's in the bible i can't believe jesus said that i'm like huh what else am i going to find through here although at times romans right now is really irritating me because because at times it's really like slow. And you want some pace to it. But regardless, it's, you know, I just go like, it's like one of those things where I don't want to race through it because once it's done, I know people read the Bible all the time.

But then you lose all these, like, I'm like, what surprises around the next page? Because it seems to be like every third day at this point. You find another verse and you're like, huh, I just, so much wisdom in that. Yeah. And I read it in a different form from a different, person and they literally took it from the Bible. I mean, like, it's pretty clear to me. Yeah. And that was one thing, too. When I did, you know, find Jesus, I wanted evidence for my faith

too. And so I actually opened to a lot of apologetics and like evidence for the resurrection and all of that. And there's a ton. Even the like archaeological, archaeological evidence that supports the Bible. Like, and I mean, none of that's mainstream. But there's tons. And it's very interesting. So that's another rabbit hole you want to go down one day. Eventually. Eventually. Yeah, get through the Bible first. Well, it's funny. I, you know, I talk about the different iterations of the podcast, you know, like it started out very community focused, then sports, then COVID, then politics. And it's slowly taken on this shape where I'm not afraid of the religious conversation. I know some people don't enjoy it. I've heard that. And some people love it and want you to do more of it. And I'm like, yeah, I don't know. It just presents itself. That's the simple, I didn't look at, you know, I'm homeschooling.

Yeah. And then you walk, I'm like, well, we're going to talk about that at some point, right? It's just like, you know, it's funny. And as far as the journey goes for anyone, it's just, it's wild because I think one of the crazy things, you know, everybody points at all the harm COVID brought. And I look at it and I go, although true, there has been a mass migration back to what I can, consider traditional values, which is, in a sense, Christianity. Yeah. Right?

Like, I mean, and it's wild because I run into people all the time. Oh, yeah. It's true. I found Jesus in the middle of COVID and you're like, what a strange thing to say, except if you get it, you get it. It's, you know, it's, you're not the only one. It does not surprise me. Yeah.

And on and on these conversations go. And they just continue to happen. And it's almost, I don't know why I even think it's wild anymore. It's just, it is what, it's just another thing in the offshoot. It's, yeah, so it is wild. It's, we're rebels, like, rebels, like you said. You think you're a rebel? I, well, probably, yeah, but, yeah.

I mean, I got myself in trouble more than once during COVID. So, yes, I'm probably a rebel. What did you get in trouble for in the middle of COVID? Oh, I don't know if I, oh, boy. Well, just, I mean, not going against the grain, even with the mandates and things like that. Right. I'm a healthcare worker. I wasn't supposed to do that.

and yeah, just had my opinions about things and shared them. So can't have that either. What do you think of the, I know I'm pulling you off. That's okay. I should think of the time and go, is it before I get out my thought, is there anything on homeschooling you want to make sure people know? Because otherwise I'm going to do this little dance where I take you on a little journey again. Okay.

And so if there's something that I've skated over or you're like, I think people should know this, by all means, the floor is yours. Because I do want to make sure if there is people interested in it and they want to, you know, have resources or they, you know, any fears they have, you know, if there's a fear that I haven't brought up because certainly, you know, I think you've done a very, very good job. I think we've touched on most of it. One thing I did want to say is prepared to be judged and criticized. and even by people close to you that you wouldn't expect it from.

And I think it just because it is different and people don't understand it. And they do worry, oh, you're going to have the weird kids or they're going to miss out. And there is so much blessing in it if you allow it. And same with lots of people say that I can't do it. There's no way I could do it. And there totally is. The thing is I recommend not trying to make public school at home. You have the freedom to be flexible and make it what you want.

So do what works best for you and your family. find that and and be afraid to make mistakes and figure out something else and there's beauty in that. But yeah, and I think too, well, and one thing, I guess maybe this is my one little peave I want to just get it out there. So often I've had people ask my kids, oh, what did you learn today? And of course they say nothing. If you ask a public school kid the same question, what do they say? Nothing. Nothing.

Actually, it's the most infuriating thing of being a parent and being like, so what did you learn at school day? I don't know. You're like, what? And then if you get them around the right person, they pull out this huge story, you're like, why couldn't you tell me that? Isn't that a wild thing from a kid? Totally, yeah. But that's, and the same thing happens with homeschoolers.

People will be like, well, what did you learn today? Nothing. Then they go, oh, then they're judging me thinking I'm not teaching them anything. And I'm like, go ask a public school the same kid the same question and you'll get the same answer. So were you ready for that or was that a hard thing to adjust to? It was hard, yeah. I did not expect the, um, yeah the scrutiny the criticism the just even looking down and just even the elephant in the room a lot of

people just didn't want to bring it up it was like they knew we were homeschooling but it was like we're not going to talk about it because it was it was awkward to them so i'm i'm a pain in the butt and i you know i made sure it got brought up but um i kind of made them get uncomfortable and but it's and then too also there was some people who did ask questions but it maybe came off very kind of rude or judgy but then i realized hey they're asking questions like they could just you know go talk behind my back about, oh, she's decided to homeschool, but at least they're asking questions. And so then just giving them that grace and taking advantage of that situation and starting to talk about it. And but just overall, I think no matter what, people decide whether it is public

school, private school, homeschool, whatever you choose, we all want the best for our kids. And so just kind of keeping that in mind that it's the reason why people are homeschooling. There's a vast reason. We actually, you know, we had some people who, of course, were anti-mandate and restrictions and all this COVID stuff. But then there was people in our group who homeschooled because they were fearful of COVID and there wasn't enough being done in schools according to them. So that's why they chose to homeschool. Same with there's people who are atheists, people who are Christians.

There's a vast range of reasons why people do it. But we all just want the best for our kid is. Is the core value. Core value. Which I think, you know, all of humanity would probably agree with, right? We just want what's best for our kids. And we get stuck on who. Who's right?

Oh, for sure. Which view is the correct one? Because no one wants to make a mistake. And if someone else has it right, we might have it wrong, I guess. But yeah, and then I guess make sure I went through. Oh, one thing I do love about homeschooling is the sibling relationships. My older two have really great relationships with my younger kids that they totally wouldn't have if they were in school because they'd be gone five days a week.

And so my eight-year-old will play with our almost three-year-old, you know, for hours on end. and I don't think they would have had that same relationship if they were gone. So I love that and think that that's such a fruitful thing that's come out of it. Focusing on life skills, like my kids have a lot of responsibility. They do the laundry, the dishes, all that stuff, but they're home. They can do it. So I think that's awesome. And I think that'll better prepare them for real life, which there is some research that shows that

homeschool kids are better prepared for life. And there's actually universities who would prefer to have, accept a homeschool kid over a public school kid, just because they do find that they are better prepared for that transition. They're more likely to stick with it and graduate. I think it's about 10% higher. They are more likely to finish university compared to a public school kid. So just things like that are, but I mean, that's not always, like it's, you know, that's, yeah.

It's, you know, responsibility for kids. That's, that's, it's interesting, you know, like, so my wife hates cleaning toilets, okay? That's fair. And to me, and to me, I'm like, boys should have to do it. You guys are terribly dirty when it comes to, your aim can be off, sorry. And it's funny, certainly with the young ones that I agree, but I think I'm more particular around a toilet than most women, you know? Oh, good. Like, I just, I don't, I don't enjoy, like, I'm not sitting here saying I'm cleaning it every day, but I don't enjoy, like a, anyways, long.

So people are like, oh, clean a toilet. I'm like, it's like, it's a toilet, folks. It's not a big deal. And I got my seven-year-old excited to clean the toilet with me. And I'm like, oh, man, this is. It's a eight-year-old's favorite thing to do. I'm like, this is interesting. My daughter loves folding laundry with her mother.

I'm like, this is interesting. And then this recently we had, well, there was a, we helped facilitate. I shouldn't say we put on. We got asked to help facilitate an event in Lashburn with two doctors, coming through. And 271 chairs, I think we set up. Anyways, I got there early with the kids because I couldn't be there that night. So picked up the kids and said, hey, we're going to go set up a hall. And they're like, well, what's a hall? And I'm like, oh, well, okay. So then telling them and and then bring them in there. They're like, oh, my God. Well, it's almost like a big giant gymnasium

when there's nothing there. So, well, we got to set up chairs. And they helped me set up 271 chairs. They were over the moon about it. I'm like, this is also very interesting. Kids love to help. Yeah, and actually, I would say as a parent, you know, one of the things I've had to, like, retrain my brain on is, like, sometimes I don't want their help because I can just do it faster, it's easier, and it's, but I'm like, but what am I teaching them? Yeah. That, you know, somebody's going to do all the work, you know, and so, like, one of them is, like, unloading the dishwasher. My three-year-old loves it to death. Drives me nuts because he's, like, you know, licking the spree, and you just like, no, anyways, you get the point. Yep.

And yet, it's like, that's. cool that he wants to be a part of something so mundane that all of us adults look like I got to do this and I don't want to and kids just look at it with a different set of glasses essentially right they come into a different view and they just want to be a part of it the behavior in our home has improved since really do chores oh yeah and especially because they all feel a part of it yeah I think so they're they feel like they have a place in the family and I think my son was one night because they're only 15 months apart my oldest too and my oldest being a typical rule follower like you could ask her to do and she'd do it. She was super helpful right from the get-go. My son's just a typical second-born boy.

Like he's just, you know, very more wing it. And so we often gave all the responsibility to my oldest, not realizing how it harmed him. Like he noticed that he wasn't getting responsibility. And so he just naturally thought, well, I'm not helpful. I'm not good enough and this and that. And so with giving him more responsibility, his behaviors have improved in the home. Yeah. Which who would have thought? And we've even had some of our, we had some friends kids sleep over. And at first, they were like, we're like, okay, yeah, it's, you know, we've got to do our bedtime chores. And they're like, what?

And they were kind of annoyed. And then all of a sudden, the next morning, they were like, yeah, can we help you do the dishes? And we're like, sure. Like, but yeah, I think they just, you just feel part of the home when you get to do it with. Well, and it's, it's awkward. I could imagine that, well, best friend growing up, they always did the dishes

after, after a meal. And, and mom always did, like, so the, the boys never. had to do that. Right. Yep. And so going to their family and it was awkward. But as soon as you got over the awkward moment, doing the dishes was like totally cool. And it was like this, you know, like they hated it.

And it's weird that you say that because, yeah, it really, you're reminding me of some memories this morning that I hadn't really thought about for some time. That, yeah, like you almost get, you almost have to get your hands in the dishwater and get and pull your weight. And pulling your weight is like a really confidence building thing. I hadn't really thought about it that much. Yeah. Yeah.

So it actually, it's really good. I think I've touched on. Well, then here, this is where we'll end. We'll end with the Crude Master final question. Okay.

Which has been, I've been, due to Dale Wilker, shout out to Dale. I've changed it for a little while here. And it's, what's next for Shelby? And this could be homeschooling.

This could be life. This could be wherever you want it. And if there is a way that the audience or we can help, is there something we can do? Either way. What's next? What's next? I don't know. I think just trucking along.

I'm realizing that this is a short season that I'm in. Why? Why? I'll change it then. Why did you think it was so important to come talk about homeschool? I think because. I it was a struggle having um those judgments and in criticizing that um I wanted to maybe help people understand that more about it um and I know I know lots of people I've had many

people reach out to me in the past you know probably since March other families in the area being like hey I really want a homeschool but I don't think I can do it or I'm scared to jump into it you know what's it like and so I just I guess information for those families you know I'm I'm more than happy to answer people's questions when they do message me, but it makes me think of who's not asking, you know, that's out there. So yeah, I just wanted to get the information out to people that to know that this is a very doable lifestyle and it's very flexible. It's, you know, you can make it what you want. Do it for a period. Do it forever. What is your biggest, you know, I think you've painted a very good picture of like, this is doable. And it can be affordable if you,

you know, when you talk about the flexibility and working, you still work, you can still do a bunch of things. Oh, and I should note that there are people who do, especially in the city, there's like parent-led pods where they take turns teaching each other's kids. So then that way parents can still work because you just would drop your kids off at a parent's house and they're going to do the teaching that day or even teacher-led pods when you pay for a teacher. Pay for a teacher. And there's a couple of those in the area that I know about where a teacher is taken on, kind of like the one-room schoolhouse. Yeah. The idea of that. What's one thing, You know, you paint this picture of like, not that I'm trying to say that you make,

it's all sunshine and rainbows, right? It's easy. You'll get it and blah, blah. What's one of the things you struggle with and people moving into, let's say they're going to explore this idea? Like, just be careful because of X. I personally am very much a perfectionist, kind of all or nothing personality. And so I kept thinking that I'm going to find this right routine and it's just going to flow. and it's going to, we're going to have it.

It's going to be made. And I've realized that no, it's always going to be, I mean, of course it's always going to change. Look at children change. Every year it's changing. So just realizing to kind of let up and have a bit more flexibility with like, it's okay to adjust our plan throughout the year for the next year, even each day and just kind of going with the flow a bit more.

Well, I appreciate you coming in and doing this and sitting and having a chat. It's been enjoyable as, you know, as, you know, as, of never actually meeting you before, you know, sitting down and having a cut, just jumping straight into it, you know. So I appreciate you making the drive. And, well, once again, I don't know when we meet again. I'm sure it will happen. And I look forward to the next time we get to have a chat. Absolutely. And thanks so much for having me on. Hey, thanks for tuning in today, guys. I hope you enjoyed it. Today's episode has been brought to by Calrock Industries with new used and refurbished oil and gas equipment in stock. Calrock is your

best bet when it comes to finding equipment that fits your needs is within your budget and is ready as soon as you need it. They can even custom manufacture tanks and other equipment for your specific application. They're located here in Lloydminster, but I'm sure they can serve you wherever you are at. All you got to do is go to calrock.ca for more information. I also want to remind people that Patreon, I just started posting back on it. We're going to give her a go here for the next six months. So if you want to go down in the show notes, you can click on that. Feel free to support. Don't support. It's behind a paywall, so the money is coming back to the podcast.

And we got a little behind the scenes action happening there. So I love to see and hear your guys' comments on that. Either way, we'll catch up to you on the next episode.