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Join Aby Rinella and Yvette Hampton to talk about what is going on in the world of homeschooling. Be encouraged and get your questions answered as we talk about upcoming conference sessions, and what to expect in this time of public and private school closures due to Coronavirus (COVID-19). Aby and Yvette will also talk about the people and organizations who are working to protect homeschooling families during these uncertain times.
Join Yvette Hampton and Aby Rinella for more homeschooling encouragement every week on The Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast.
Read more on the Coronavirus situation causing school closures – COVID-19 – Homeschooling during Coronavirus School Closures
Automated Transcript (Spelling and grammar errors are guaranteed!)
(00:52):
Hello! Welcome back Aby.
(01:11):
Well, thanks for welcoming me back.
(01:13):
Yeah, you’re back with me. I’m great. I’m great. So we had no idea that we would be back this quickly, so they’re hearing a crazy right. Okay. I know it has been a month since they’ll really, yes. It’s been kind of an eventful month. Let’s be honest. It’s been an eventful month. So it was four weeks ago this week that we did the whole life, homegrown generation, family expo. Incredible. And it was amazing. And I, which was the best week ever? The best week of my entire life. No, it wasn’t actually it, it was one amazing week in my life, but the best week of my life was the week I got married in the weeks that I had my kids.
(01:54):
So yes, those are honestly the best weeks. But that week was great and it wasn’t great because I was greater. You were greater. Any of the speakers are great. It was great because of the things that God did during that week. It was just absolutely amazing to see the work of God that he’s done since. It’s amazing how much, since people have written in and said that God has continued to do the work that he did that week. Yes. Yet we continue to get messages almost daily from people saying that they’re still, you know, watching the sessions, cause a lot of people couldn’t watch live that week of course. So they’re going back and rewatching them. And then Garritt, he very quickly after the expo, he was able to put up all of the audio so people could download the audio and listen. Cause some people don’t have time to sit and watch, you know, 30 something hours of video. I mean, what do these people have kids or something, right. You saw instabilities. So they were able to download the audio. So the audio is all up and available for people, which is amazing. They can listen to everything and then their transcripts for several of them as well. So for them on the homegrown website. So all you have to do is log in and it’s all right there for you. Yes, yes. So, hi Lisa. Hi Connie. If you guys have questions, by the way, as we’re going throughout this evening, we have you and I just wanted to come and we’re going to kind of give you an update on the Homegrown Generation Family Expo and we want to offer some encouragement to you. We’ve got some scripture that we want to share with you and we’re glad to answer questions. So if you guys have questions, feel free to pop those up as well. And we will do our best to answer those. If I don’t know an answer, then Aby Rinella will know an answer. Make one up. I mean, no, we will at least point you in the right direction. I think we will, right?
(03:39):
Yes.
So anyway, so much fun to see you guys joining us. Thank you Debra. Mckayla, it’s so good to see you guys. Thank you for, for being with us tonight. So I, let’s, let’s start with just some scripture because that’s where we need to start anyway. You know, we’re in this crazy, crazy time. You know what? We didn’t introduce ourselves.
(04:02):
Oh, should we do that Aby?
(04:03):
I’m Aby Rinella. And you can find me at Aby Rinella any anywhere. Just Aby Rinella. There’s really not anything that much more exciting. Sorry.
Oh, you, you are much more, Aby Rinella.
(04:22):
I’m Yvette Hampton. I’m the host of The Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast, the Schoolhouse Rocked movie, the documentary that we’re working on and the Homegrown Generation Family Expo. And Aby is my cohost on all of this stuff, which is really fun. So yeah, we were both homeschool moms. We both love Jesus. We both love our husbands and we have a real heart for families, for children, for discipleship. And so God has really just United us as, as friends. And it’s really neat. Aby lives in Idaho and I am currently in Georgia. And so it’s neat that we get to serve the Lord together from different parts of the country. And God is good because we have the internet and we can do those things. Do yes. So, yes. Anyway, I have a couple of scriptures that I want to share and I’ll share some kind of throughout the evening, but I want to start with a few.
(05:14):
First, Psalm 20 is a Psalm that our family has been memorizing and really just focusing and reflecting on, I would actually encourage you to read the entire chapter. It’s not very long. But, but I’ll just share a few verses that really ministered to me. And I thought it would be an encouragement to all of you. And so Psalm 20 is all about trusting in the name of the Lord our God. And it says, “May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble. May the name of the God of Jacob protect you.” And then, verses six and seven say, “now I know that the Lord saves his anointed. He will answer him from his Holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand, some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the of the Lord our God.” I love that scripture.
(06:01):
I just feel like I want it plastered all over my house because that is where our trust is. It’s all in the Lord. It’s not in man. It’s not in the government. It’s not in our neighbors or in Costco or toilet paper and toilet paper. It’s in the Lord. Our trust is in the Lord. And so I love the encouragement that that brings. And then another one that I’ll shirt just for right now is, has been my life verse for many, many years. It actually became my life verse when I was trying to get pregnant early in our marriage. For those who, who are familiar with me and know our story, we were married 11 years before we were able to have our first baby and she is now 14. And God is so gracious to have given her to us and, and trusted her with us.
(06:45):
But through many, many years of infertility, my life first became Philippians 4:6,7. And it’s “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, present your requests to God and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” And he tells us not to be anxious about anything. He knows. He knows us, he knows our needs, he hears us, he sees us. And there is nothing happening right now that is a surprise to him. And I have found myself strangely you know, it’s been a weird week. I know for everybody. Monday morning we, we went to my, my daughter and I went to Walmart of course, cause and, and we actually just needed some groceries and so we just, we were like, well, let’s go see what we can get.
(07:34):
And the cereal aisle was so funny. There was basically jolly rancher cereal, lucky charms because they got an abundance of lucky charms for st Patrick’s day and Oreo cereal. And I’m like, Wheaties, Oh my goodness. And the rest of the aisle was empty. It was so weird. And your kids were like, yes, all the junk cereal that mom never lets me have, we got Wheaties we walked out with. But it was just so interesting and it’s just been such a weird week for everyone. And somehow the Lord has though, you know, we, our family has been kind of shaken by this as everyone has been. We have found so much joy and a few things, one knowing that the Lord is in control. But the other thing that I keep thinking is I, I, I can’t help but wonder if the Lord is using this to draw people to their needs. Without a doubt. We know he is. We know he is because the Bible tells us here’s all things, all things for good. That’s right. That’s absolutely is using this. Yes. So you know, just people are realizing hopefully their desperate need for a savior. And and that’s what we’re all about. You know, we talked about homeschooling and homeschooling is amazing because it, it gives us an opportunity to point our kids towards Jesus. But we’ve said it a million times. Aby, homeschooling is not the gospel. Jesus is the gospel.
(08:55):
He is the answer. He is the only hope that we have. Yes. So how, how is it way up in Idaho? Wow. Parts of the community. It’s good. I mean, we just got hit with, with the whole thing. We were kind of sitting back for a long time ago and hasn’t been here, hasn’t touched us, you know, but it has touched us. Everything shut down here, we’re totally shut down. I’m getting phone calls from people going, what do we do now? You know? And that’s what I want to share a little bit today is like what do we do now as a homeschool community? How, what can we do now for, in our own homes and what can we do now for others? Because, you know, we kind of sometimes feel like we’re untouchable out here in the West where no one knows where we are.
(09:40):
We’re like, we’re not California and we’re not Washington. We just kinda hide away. But that’s not true. It does. It touches everyone everywhere. And I will botch, I won’t even try to quote Corrie Ten Boom, but she said something along the lines of “you can’t hide from it. There’s no safer place than another. The only safe place is in the arms of God.” And that’s really where it is right now. I think everybody wants to hide from it, but the only safe place right now or in the arms of God and, and that’s right where we rest, you know, just as those verses said is we can find rest in those places. So so do you want to talk a little bit about maybe what, what us homeschool families can do? Cause I’ve kind of felt this week, like this is kind of what my life is every day.
(10:18):
Like if I didn’t have the news or the internet, I wouldn’t really know what was going on because I’m home every day with my kids. You know, you would show up at church on Sunday and be like, where’s, I know it would be like that, you know, like, here’s the church, here’s this [inaudible] there are no people, you know? And I mean, it is a misconception that homeschoolers never go anywhere. We know a lot of places. So now that we can’t go places, you know, that has been an effect on us. But I think in general, this, this isn’t a shock to us. You know, we’re home often, but I keep telling everybody this is, there’s some things cause this has been canceled and this has been canceled and this has been canceled. And I think there’s so many things that have not been canceled. Like, and we need to really think on those things.
(11:03):
Like Philippians 4 says. So like some things that aren’t canceled going out side, this is my mantra with everything. You can still go outside. They’re not telling you, you can’t go outside reading, singing, worshiping, talking to friends like we are right now. You know, none of that stuff has been canceled. And hope hope hasn’t been canceled. You know, God’s sovereign will has not been canceled. And so that’s what we just need to keep remembering is there’s so much we can do. And side note, I better see lots and lots of comments here. Have you guys seen all the incredible things that are happening right now? It’s like a homeschoolers dream come true. Museums, zoos were watching like the Cincinnati zoo stuff going on. So just think about those because you actually, the one who was telling me about all this stuff this morning and Aby, I was like, well, I don’t even know what you’re talking about right now.
(11:56):
I have been, I’ve been kind of just buried with some other things and I haven’t been paying attention to that whole world of stuff. And you were like, Oh, there’s all these opportunities. And I was like, tell me. Oh my goodness. Okay. So basically homeschool moms, you just have the next three weeks and maybe longer lesson planned for you because and I want to encourage you guys what I’ll, I’ll go through some of these things, but take advantage of these things because they’re not going to be forever and they haven’t been before. So it’s okay to put your daily task list down and do some of these incredible things. So just a few are, let’s see, the, the Cincinnati zoo just, and, and you guys can pop these up in the, in the comments. Other things that you found. I mean there’s no way we could go through them all, but like the Cincinnati zoo was doing a zoo tour, so every day there’s like an animal that they give you all the fun information, you get to see the animal and then they give you a quiz.
(12:45):
Answers in Genesis is doing live tours on their Facebook live page, like backstage passes to the arc. Really neat things on there. Lots of different museums are doing live things, so basically it’s, it’s unbelief. We would be here all night if I were to tell you, but if you go to HomeschoolFreedom.com, HomeschoolFreedom.com they have, that’s, that’s a website that’s kind of put together in conjunction with all the state organizations kind of come together. And that’s a website they do. They have made a really cool organize list that kind of has everything that’s out there. And if you find things that aren’t on their list, shoot, pop it into their comments on that website and they’ll stick it on there. So it is just a treasure trove of amazing things. So I’ve just had my kids be doing math in the morning and then we, I mean there’s so many art things different authors and illustrators are doing like live art classes for kids.
(13:38):
It’s, it’s amazing what’s out there right now. So we need to take advantage of that. Yeah. So cool. So segue for a minute into, you were, you were talking about HomeschoolFreedom.com. Yeah, HomeschoolFreedom.com is a website that is, that you can go to and you can find out all about your state homeschool organizations. And so I want to talk about that for just a moment because one of the reasons why we’re, we’re, we’re back on here. Actually, the main reason why we’re back on here is because two, two main reasons is because now all of these people who unexpectedly have their kids home with them, many of them aren’t sure what to do. You know, people are just like, okay, what my kids are home, I have to do this schooling thing with them at home. And I’m not exactly sure what this looks like or even how to do this. And I know that’s a really scary place for a lot of people to be, right? And so we want to come alongside those people and just offer encouragement to them. And so we, you know, as the Lord would have it, we just did this entire Homegrown Generation Family Expo. And we have tons of great sessions on there that people can go and watching and get encouragement in so many different ways from some of the most amazing speakers in the homeschool world,
(14:52):
But also kind of as part of, of what’s going on right now in, in our country and in the world, is that homeschool conventions are closing right now. And this is, this is heartbreaking. So I want to kind of unpack that because I don’t know if many people really understand the significance of what is happening with that. They might just think, well, you know, that’s a bummer. I can’t go to my homeschool convention that I was planning to go to. So Aby, I would love for you because you are on the board of directors for homeschool Idaho, which is your state organization, your state homeschool organization. And most States have state homeschool organizations. I think 47 or so of the 50 States have them. Right. And it’s so vitally important. It is critical you guys that we are supporting these organizations. And so Aby, I want to turn this part over to you for just a minute because I would love for you to talk about state organizations. I know we’ve talked about it before, but for those who maybe didn’t get to hear those as talk about it on, on some of the sessions, talk about w what they are, why they exist, and then how we need to be supporting them and why.
(16:00):
Okay, so state organizations, every almost all States have them. And if you need to find your state organization, the Schoolhouse Rocked website has links to all your state organizations. Also that website I just said, Homeschool Freedom should have links to all your state organizations. So basically your state organization is for you. These are nonprofit, these are organizations that are involved in the laws going on in your state. They’re basically there to keep your homeschool freedoms, to encourage homeschoolers to equip you. And they’re just there to serve you. These are not private, I mean, well, they’re there. They’re nonprofit organizations, so they are there to serve you. And what they do, most of them, they have state conventions. And that’s where you guys get to go and get encouraged. You get to go and, and see curriculums. You get to hear from amazing speakers, but at the same time, that is the funding for your state organization, which I like to say that’s the funding for you.
(16:59):
That’s the funding for your freedoms. So when we speak of homeschool or of state organizations, we’re talking about you and your freedoms. And so that should matter to you. It’s not just another, you know, business. So it is, it is crucial that every single homeschooler is involved in and supports their state organization because in a sense you’re supporting you. Like for example, in our state, in my lifetime, parents were being jailed and kids were being put in foster care just for homeschooling. And it is because our state organization and what they did to eight, four and now defend our freedom that we can through homeschool. So freedom isn’t free, it doesn’t just happen. It comes at a great cost. So if you are not involved in or supporting your state organization and each, each state is different and how you can support them.
(17:52):
And the greatest thing I can say is reach out to your state organization and say, how can I support you? One of the biggest ways is get to your States convention. There are so many online conventions popping up and obviously I’m very partial to the Homegrown Generation. It has some of the top speakers. It’s amazing, but no online convention, no online convention can replace the, the actual state convention that you go to and you’re physically there. And I feel like the more that we’re, the longer that we’re in quarantine, the more we realizing that this doesn’t replace face to face interaction. Right. But know that those conventions I’m there for you. But you’re also supporting the state, the state organization through those. So find your state organization, reach out to them. They all have Facebook pages, they all have websites, get involved. It’s really important so that we can stay free and that we can also have resources to share.
(18:45):
There’s a lot of families who unexpectedly have children home. And you know, it’s kind of our thing. This is what we do as homeschool families. It, it’s something we do is we have kids home and a lot of these families are struggling. They’re not used to it. They had no time to prepare. It’s not like they’ve picked out curriculum and they’ve, they’ve, they just kind of were thrown at home with their kids. And so it’s really important that we that we understand that this is hard for a lot of families, that we encourage them. I mean, my greatest heart right now is to encourage these parents to say, your kids are not a burden at home with you. They are blessing at home with you. And we can do that by being an example to them. And by giving them resources, you know, because all of a sudden if they’ve never had this and all of a sudden their kids are at home.
(19:30):
And we all know that when kids get bored, it really isn’t a blessing. Like, like we need to give them some resources. And my heart is, is that as families reconnect and as kids are home and as all these resources are being thrown at them, that they start to fall in love with it. And maybe just maybe some of them will see what an incredible blessing it is to have our children home with us to teach and train them up in the Lord. And let’s pray that they keep them home. Let’s pray that they keep them home. And in order to do that, we need these state organizations so that they’re aware of the laws in their state so that there are of how to homeschool and have the resources to homeschool well. So this is also a way that we can serve other families who are in a really tight pinch right now. And that’s what Jesus calls us to do.
(20:17):
Yup. Yup. I want to talk about that for a minute, about serving other families because I know that many people are in a situation right now where they, you know, they’re, they’re working and it seems like everyone is off work right now, but that’s certainly not the case. You know, some people are able to work from home, but many are not in many people are still having to go to work and their kids are now home and they’re not sure exactly what to do about that. And that for a mom, you know, when they have, when they’re used to the security of their kids being in school that’s a scary place for those parents to be, I can imagine. And so as the homeschool community, I really want to encourage us to, you know, we want to be wise about, you know, not exposing ourselves to you know, coronavirus but be wise about it.
(21:07):
You know, keep your house clean, keep your hands clean, you know, sanitize stuff, do what you need to do but don’t let that, don’t let allow that to keep you from serving others. And so we can still come alongside maybe our neighbor who has to work and maybe they don’t have a choice they have to go to work to provide for, for their family and just say, you know what, we’re used to homeschooling this is, this is our jam, this is what we do. How can we help you? Can you kids come over and hang out at our house for a few days? We’ll read some books together and, and you know, kind of let go maybe of the super strict structured or maybe keep that if you need to and just make them a part of it. But there’s so many ways that as a Christian community we can shine.
(21:47):
And that’s been our prayer as a family, as Lord, help our family to shine in a very dark world, right? A world that is so desperately in need of Jesus because there are so many ways that we can do that. So look for ways be intentional about serving those who are in your community, who maybe they just need to see what a great thing this homeschooling gig is. Because it really is a great thing. It’s not easy, but it is a wonderful opportunity for us to be able to disciple our children and to teach them the things, you know, our morals and our values and the things that are true of God’s word. And so, right. So there are a lot of opportunities that we have. We just have to look for them.
(22:27):
Yeah. And I want to encourage homeschool moms. I’ve seen a lot out there that’s like, well now you get to see what I do all day and there’s almost, we want to make sure, I think the greatest thing you can do is, you know, I think sometimes we can have attitude of I do this all day, every day. It’s not that hard. How are you having an issue? But we need to understand that they’re thrown into this. This isn’t something they’ve been doing forever. This isn’t something that they have a groove going, you know? And so I think the greatest thing you can do is text a friend whose kids are home and say, how’s it going? You know, I know that this can be hard. Hey, you know, the Cincinnati Zoo is, I’m not, I am not plugging, I don’t know. I don’t work for them.
(23:05):
I just, we’ve really enjoyed their stuff. Or, Oh, Hey, you know, this, this illustrator’s doing this. And just, just be understanding and be compassionate and, and share love with, with families that are going through this and, and understand that people are afraid. Because the only reason we don’t have to fear is because we have Christ. But the reality is as people are afraid. And so we have a really awesome armor opportunity to be the calm in the panic, not ignore the panic, not to be a calm in the panic and to, to be a peace in their fear and just check in on them. Just simply checking in on them. Sure. That speaks so loud for the homeschool community. Hey, you know what? We’re here.
(23:46):
You know, I’ve got some great books. Do you want me to share my books? You know, and I think like you said, we need to be wise, but at the same time we’re called to love others above protecting ourselves. And again, I’m not saying don’t, don’t be foolish. We need to be wise and we need to protect others by staying home if we’re told to stay home. But we also need to not lock ourselves up entirely and completely if it means it’s at the cost of other people. So reach out to people if, if we can ignite a passion, if we can, you know, give a great book. And a mom reads a great book with her kids and this thing is sparked inside of her and she falls in love with homeschooling. You know, she might start asking you questions, Hey, I’m kinda loving this.
(24:27):
Hey, I’m seeing a change in my kids. Tell me more about this homeschool thing. Yeah. Yup. And many, I think many parents will come to realize that they can do this. You know, cause a whole lot of parents who are home and they have the ability, they just don’t think that they can. I mean, that’s like they have the opportunity to homeschool. They just don’t think they have the ability to do. Right. So this may be a wake up call to them to realize, I really, I can do this. Right. I actually do have what it takes because as we talk about often on the podcast and as we did through the, the expo Mo, you know, pretty much every mom we’ve ever met feels like she’s inadequate. Totally. None of us feel like we’re enough. No. We all feel that none of us are enough.
(25:12):
None of us, none of us without the Lord. We are not and he will fill in the gaps. Totally. Another verse that I want to share a couple of verses is Isaiah one verse. Actually Isaiah 41 10, it says, look at, I haven’t been here that way. I was totally going to share it. Okay? That means everybody needs to get out. Their Bible right now needs to get out their Bible and read this. This is a great man to read with kids. This is a main, all a great, great verses to read with your kids. And I would do that actually you know, write, write these down and read these with your kids. But Isaiah 41 10 says, fear not for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
(25:51):
And I think one of the most important things we can do right now is to talk with our kids and let them talk with us. Hear them, listen to them. Ask them, you know, questions. How are you feeling about this? Because they, they’re seeing what’s going on. And even if they’re not expressing it, because sometimes they don’t know how to express it. This can, this can instill real fear in kids, in a real insecurity in them. And so I think we need to be really intentional in talking to our kids, right? Asking them, you know, are you afraid of anything? And if so, what are you afraid of and how can I make you pray with them? Read the word of God together. God’s word does not return void. And so pour the scripture over them. You know, so far we’ve read Isaiah 41 10 Psalm 20 Philippians four six and seven. And I know Aby, you’ve got a few others and we’ll, we’ll keep talking about some of those, but talk with them as a family and worship the Lord together. And I’m telling you, things will change. It will bring so much encouragement to them as you just continue to just pour the truth of God’s word over night.
(26:55):
Right? And I, my, the version that I pulled from this I love it says do not anxiously look about you, which is the do not be dismayed. And I feel like it’s our Peter moment. We could anxiously look about you about what’s going on. I mean if you just read the news it would be terrifying. But, but we’re taking our eyes off Jesus and we’re starting to sink. So put your eyes back on the Lord. He’s got this, I mean this isn’t a shocker, but I really want to reiterate what you said is talk to your kids. I remember when I was a kid I just always remember, no one ever talked to me about things, but I always remember like the communists are coming, right? Like, and I just, nobody ever talked about it, but there was just this scary vibe or other times in our life when things were happening.
(27:36):
Y two K, you know, we in nine 11, there are scary things that happened, but, but we got to talk about them and make them not scary. So don’t hide it from your kids. Cause the truth is they’re hearing, you know, they, they are hearing talk about it. But, but more than that, talk about Jesus in it. Like talk about the Lord in it. Because he is in it, you know, and, and how we can be, how we can be lights. You know, my kids were making rocks and they were painting on rocks. I miss you. And, and then they’re gonna go drop him off and indoor ding-dong ditch people’s houses and leave them at friend’s houses. Like there are things we can do. Bless families. There are things we can do. Take your favorite book and go drop it off on the doorstep of a mom that’s unexpectedly home with her children because she might not even know what to do. You know, and say, Hey, this is a great book that my kids loved reading with me. Do those things, those are allowed that they’re not awful. So, so do those things. Be the calm in the panic. Be creative, hake advantage of the amazing opportunities that are out there for us. I think that this is an exciting time because God is sovereign and this has been known all along to him. Nothing’s to him. Nope.
(28:57):
It is not a surprise to him. I mean he is, he is not sitting up in heaven on his throne going, man, I did not see that. Right?
(29:03):
Yeah. This is such a place. Corona what? [inaudible] You know, he
(29:10):
Knows and this is all part of his perfect plan. And so when we, when we, you know, again, discipleship, that’s what homeschooling is all about. That’s what Christian homeschooling is all about. It’s not just about the academics and when it is about the academics use those academics to point them towards Christ. But it’s all about discipleship. And so use this as an opportunity to teach our kids, yes, God is in control. We are not going to fear as a family. We are going to be on our knees and we are going to praise him. We’re going to worship him, are going to thank him for the many blessings. And then we’re going to pray for our neighbors, for our friends, for you know, our, our other family members and turn, turn your, your worry into praise and into Thanksgiving and, and it will really change things with your kids.
(29:59):
By the way, I said this earlier when we first jumped on, but if you guys have questions, please feel free to pop those up. And we, we are comments if you have thoughts that you want to share because we’re all in this, we’re in it together. Yes, yes. So let’s talk really quickly about Homegrown Generation Family Expo. So here’s where we are with this whole thing. We did the life event a month ago and it went great and now we were coming, we didn’t plan to come back this quickly, but last week we got several messages that started I think on Thursday and we had several people, I mean it was kind of crazy within a few days, just text us or call us or email us and say, you guys need to relaunch the homegrown generation family X. We’ll make it available so that people can cause people need encouragement and they need this as a whole lot of time on their hands because you know, conventions are getting canceled.
(30:49):
People now have their kids home. They’re not sure what to do. So you know, you, you know, help. So we said, okay, this is what we’re going to do. We prayed about it, we talked a lot about it. And so here’s the plan for Homegrown Generation Family Expo2020. We we’ve made available of course to, to everyone who’s registered, they have access to the whole recorded conference that we did a few weeks ago, which is just phenomenal. I mean, God just, he brought it that week. It was amazing with, with our speakers. And so anyone who’s registered can go and they can watch any of those sessions. They’re all on the website, HomegrownGeneration.com. Just log in and you can watch any of them at your leisure, which is great. But in addition to that, we are going to be coming out with some new sessions and we’re not doing a whole week of course like we did last time, but we’re going to do one or two sessions each week and they will be just like this just like we did during the whole live event is we’re gonna do live sessions where people can interact, they can ask questions, they can comment and just get that encouragement that they need.
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But we are gonna make those live and accessible to everybody. So the Homegrown Generation Facebook live event page that you’re probably watching this free right now. I know some might be watching through YouTube, but most will be watching through Facebook. That page has now been made public. All of the recorded sessions have been removed from there and are on the website. So you have to go on the website to watch those, which that’s pretty much where everyone’s watching them now anyway, the replays of them. So to, to rewatch them, you’ll have to go to the website, but in log in you have to log, have to login to get access. Sorry, that’s, that’s asked. I can’t find him. I know we get emails all the time still. So you do have to be logged in in order to watch those. But we are going to offer the live sessions to everybody.
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So the Facebook live though only while they’re live. So the Facebook live event page is going to, it’s just open to everybody in anybody. So if people want to go and watch them live and just get that encouragement and they can do that. Now you don’t have to be registered to get onto the Facebook page anymore. You only have to be registered to go and watch the replace. So once it goes live on the Facebook page once it’s over, then it’s over and then it will go. It will, you know, live at HomegrownGeneration.com and you can go back there if you’re registered and where you watch all of the sessions on there. So, so that’s how we’re doing that because we wanted to make it available to people. You’re watching it, you’re like, I really want my husband to see this.
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He’s gone. That’s why you need to register too. So you can watch them live. But it’s definitely to your benefit if you haven’t registered to register cause you can go back and watch them with other people. You go back and watch all the other ones. And so let your friends know. If you see one on Facebook live and it’s, it’s amazing, they’re going to be great. Then you can share with your friends, Hey, you can still go back and see this. Just go register. Yes, yes. Absolutely. So so that’s the deal there were, it’s going to be free live on the website are not on the website. It’ll be free and live through this page through the life event page, which it was not before, before you had to actually be registered for the event to watch any of the sessions life. Now we’ve just opened it up to everybody so they can watch it live.
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But then just to watch the replays and to watch the whole entire expo, you have to be registered, but registration is only $20 and you still can get your swag bag. And we actually have more swag bag stuff coming in now from new vendors. And we were, we also opened up the vendor hall because so many with so many conventions closing, I’m closing right now. There are all these vendors who have amazing resources for you. And so we opened up the vendor hall to to the vendors and, and we won’t have every single person in there. But we are going through those right now. They’re kind of going through a kind of an application process that we’re going through those right now and we’ll be putting several more people in the vendor hall. One of the things with conventions closing that’s really hard as so many people, many, many, many of the speakers and vendors who participate in the conventions, whether it’s state conventions or private conventions, like teach them diligently or great homeschool conventions these people speak and sell their curriculum that they’ve worked really hard on.
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And that’s how they make a living. Literally, this is how these people feed their families. And for the majority of them, the homeschool season, you know, the, the four months or so of homeschool convention season, that is their bread and butter for, for the year. I mean they sell things throughout the year, you know, through their websites and things like that. But convention season really is where that’s their ministry and that is, that is how they’re able to support their families. So I really want to encourage you guys to go to the vendor hall see who’s on there, check out their products. If you see speakers that have been part of the Homegrown Generation Family Expo, there are so many good ones on there. Check out their products. We talked about a ton of them during all the different sessions. I mean, there so many amazing things that are offered through these speakers.
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And so go and, and support support those people by purchasing their products. I mean that’s really what keeps the homeschool world moving is they provide resources for us. We purchased the resources, they’re able to continue speaking and encouraging and providing more resources and, and it just, you know, it’s this beautiful snowball effect and and so we really want to support the vendors and speakers as well. So please check them out at the vendor hall. We will be adding to it constantly over the next several weeks. So we will be going live with you once or twice a week and it will be myself and sometimes Aby who will be going live with different speakers. And so we, we would like to know from you, we’ve had several speakers who have contacted us that we’re going through those as well, but if there’s specific people you would like to hear from, let us know.
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Thank you for those who fill out the survey for the event. It was amazing. We got so many responses from that and you guys were just so gracious and it was really exciting to read those and you also let us know what other speakers you wanted to hear from. So we’re reaching out to those people as well and hopefully we’ll be able to get some of those thinking. We were, we asked that thinking that they would come back for 20, 21 but now that we’re going live again over the next few weeks, we’re going to try to get as many of those speakers as we can. And, and we’ll probably have back a couple of the speakers that were part of the first event. One of them, which is really exciting is Kristi Clover. So Kristi Clover will be, she’ll be coming on Monday. She will be live on this page.
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So make sure you tell your friends about it and share with them because again, this page is open to everybody. So Kristi Clover, she will be coming on and talking about getting started with homeschooling. She has a book called homeschool basics and she has really, I mean she kind of starts you from ground zero and this is how to homeschool and it’s not, you know, you have to use this curriculum, you have to use this method and this is exactly what your schedule needs to look like. She will just give you a really solid overview of this is this is how to get started, how to get the ball rolling with, with homeschooling or for those who are not homeschooling but have their kids home with them. Just giving some encouragement and resources to those parents as well.
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It’d be a good one to share with those parents that are saying, Hey, well, you know, unexpected and there the another resource I want to share because a lot of people are saying, so when someone asks me what do I do we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Someone already did it for us. There is, and I might botch this, but we will get it up in the, in the notes. But on the Schoolhouse Rocked blog on the website, if you go to the blog Garritt put out it’s like, it’s everything you need. You don’t have to rewrite anything. It’s all right there. And it’s just super easy to just share that with people that are interested. People saying, what’s this homeschool thing about how do I do it? You know, what are the laws? What do I, it’s all right there so that you need go find that and then you need to be here next week for when Kristi is here next week. So those are two really good things to share with people. They’re asking a lot of questions and aren’t sure.
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Yes, yes. So Kristi will be on Monday, this coming Monday, the 23rd at 5:00 PM Pacific time, 8:00 PM Eastern time, and then wherever you are in between. So that’ll be I think six, 6:00 PM your time. No. Yeah. Right. Yes. 6:00 PM your time, Aby. Right? Yeah. Cause you’re, you’re mountain time. Yeah. And so join us for that. Share with your friends about that. Cause again, this, it’s going to be open to everybody. Anyone can watch it live. And so, especially if you have neighbors and friends or family members who are trying to figure out what to do with their kids, this’ll be a great session for them to be able to watch. And Kristi will just bring some very practical resources and encouragement. And it looks like Garritt just popped up the, the link for for homeschool homeschooling in your state. Why we homeschool and homeschooling during Corona virus.
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Two of the things that we say when you very first start homeschooling, the two most important things to do is connect with your state organization to find out your homeschool laws and connect with HSLDA and become a member of both. Become a member of your state organization and become a member of HSLDA because that is the protection that you need. Oh, Rick Green would be great. Yes, I, I see that on there. He is fantastic. Rick green was actually, he was the speaker that we very first heard the very first year before we started homeschooling. We went to a homeschool convention. It was chia in California and this was back in the day when we said we had never homeschool. We wouldn’t do that. That’s really weird. And some friends invited us to homeschool convention and we heard Rick green speak as well as many other speakers and, and, and two days the Lord completely changed our hearts about homeschooling. And and now we’re doing this and talking about homeschooling. So Rick green is amazing. We have, we have had been able to connect with him and so yeah, he’s, he would be a great one. We, we will see if we can get him on and thank you for the suggestions on that. Yeah.
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I think that’s about all I have. How about you? Do you have any more share one more thing that I want to encourage everybody to look up and I didn’t have it ready to pop up, but you guys can you guys can Google it. I have to tell this funny Google story. My aunt, I don’t, she, she, I was just not watching this. She is in like Arizona. And she asked me one time, she was telling me about something and I said, well, where can I find that? And she said, well, do you get the Google in Idaho?
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We do get the Google. So you can use the Google to look at, if you look up C.S. Lewis, “How are we to live in an atomic age?” Look that up because a lot of people are saying, “how do we live in the coronavirus age?” Look, C.S. Lewis as a, I mean, he’s incredible and nothing is new under the sun. This isn’t the first rodeo. We are not the first generation that has been through something difficult or something we don’t understand. Or, you know, we’re not, we’re not the first ones. And he wrote during the atomic age, what are we supposed to do? You know, how are we supposed to live? So I just encourage you guys, and you could dissect that with your kids actually even, and instead of the atomic age, just think of what we’re going through now.
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It’s, it’s a really powerful thing. It’s a really encouraging thing. And then if we’re ready to close, let’s just close out with Isaiah 41 again. Yeah, let’s do it. I’m going to let you read it this time. All right. Do not fear. I’m going to say that again. Do not fear for I am with you. Do not anxiously look about you. For I am your God. I will strengthen you. Surely I will help you. Surely I will uphold you with my righteous hand. Write it down on an index card. Stick it everywhere in your house. Live it, and be a living, breathing example that you believe that. And you know that in your heart for your children because they,
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I’ll believe it too. Yep, that’s right. They will. If you believe it, they’ll believe it. I love that. I am going to share one more verse. It’s Psalm one 36 verse one and it’s give thanks to the Lord for he is good for his steadfast love and doors forever. And it does you guys, his love endures forever. He, he again, he knows us. He sees us, he knows our our fears, but we need to not be fearful. He knows every thought that we have and he is gonna provide for us and he is going to, he is going to pave the way. This is, this is all part of his perfect plan. And so go out and serve others or stay home, stay home and serve others. Be a light in this, this world who desperately needs Jesus and pray that this, the, the events of today will help bring people to their knees and that people would recognize their need for a savior because there is no other hope.
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Found an anything else we have, our hope is not in man or in the government or anything else. Our only hope is in Jesus. And so be that light and in this world and help others to see that and especially help your kids to see that because they need that hope and encouragement and go, go hug your babies. So join us again. We’ll be back Monday at five o’clock Pacific time, eight o’clock 8:00 PM Eastern time with Kristi Clover doing a whole session on how get started. And this is a great session, not just for new homeschoolers, but this is a great one for even veteran homeschoolers. If you just need kind of a reboot and just like, okay, I feel like we’re in a slump. This is a great going to be a great session and it will be live like all the others. So you’ll be able to interact and ask questions. And, and Kristi’s sharp. She’s got a six year old to an 18 year old. She’s got five kids and so she’s kind of been through the whole gamut so she will be fantastic. But she’s super fun and she’s super fun. Super fun, super smiley. But thank you guys. We are praying for you. Our family is praying for you and we are so thankful that you are here with us. And
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We love you guys are the heroes out there. I tell you, parents who are staying home every day and teaching and training your kids up in the Lord, you have no idea what the world is watching you and they’re seeing what you’re doing. So stay the course. Don’t, don’t get discouraged. You’re doing, you’re doing kingdom work. You are doing kingdom work, so stick with it.
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Stick with it. All right, we love you guys. We will see you back here on Monday. Have a great rest of your week. Bye bye.