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The Homeschool How To
I don't claim to know anything about homeschooling, so I set out on a journey to ask the people who do! Join me as I chat with homeschoolers to discuss; "why are people homeschooling," "what are all the ways people are using to homeschool today," and ultimately, "should I homeschool my kids?"
The Homeschool How To
#88: Unconventional Paths to Education with Rob Spehar
Step into the world of personalized education with us as we welcome Rob Spehar from the Spehar Initiative Podcast. Rob shares his family's transformative journey from traditional Montessori education to homeschooling during the pandemic, revealing the profound impact it had on their lives. Discover how Rob and his family crafted a nurturing, one-on-one learning environment for his daughters in their home in Niagara Falls, Canada. They focus on tailoring education to each child's pace and interests, highlighting the rewarding outcomes of this personalized approach.
Explore the critical role of parents in homeschooling, where the flexibility of this educational path allows for stronger family bonds and more significant parental involvement in children's social development. We discuss the pressures of a fast-paced society and how homeschooling provides a refreshing alternative to the rushed routines of traditional schooling.
From interactive educational activities like Technitutor and strategic games like chess to fostering entrepreneurial spirits in children, we touch on how these methods contribute to developing practical life skills and critical thinking. Delve into broader societal issues and the current state of education, as we discuss the importance of critical engagement and empowering children to navigate today's complex world.
Rob's Website- The Spehar Initiative
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Welcome to this week's episode of the Homeschool How-To. I'm Cheryl and I invite you to join me on my quest to find out why are people homeschooling, how do you do it, how does it differ from region to region, and should I homeschool my kids? Stick with me as I interview homeschooling families across the country to unfold the answers to each of these questions week by week. Welcome, and with us today I have Rob Spear with the Spear Initiative Podcast. Rob, thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 2:Hello Cheryl, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:So you had me on your podcast a couple of months ago. I uploaded that episode to my website, so, for anyone who wants to check that out, you can find the Sphere Initiative on all the streaming services that stream podcasts, or check out the homeschoolhowtocom, and that episode is on there. You are also a homeschooler, correct?
Speaker 2:Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1:All right. So how many kids do you have and what are their ages?
Speaker 2:I have two fantastic girls. I'm trying not to be biased, but it's hard to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they are 11 and eight years old. You know you can be biased because sometimes, like when I like talk about my son, I'm like, oh, he's such a little butthead right now. So if you got to that point where you're like they are wonderful, it means you did something right. And you can probably remember the days that you're just like, oh my gosh, how's this kid going to turn?
Speaker 2:out.
Speaker 1:Cause. But you know, what's funny is I? I think my son is like I don't know. He's a six year old boy, so it's like kind of pigheaded, doesn't want to listen, really wants to like show that he's in control. But over the weekend a mom had messaged me on Facebook and said you know, the kids were all playing. My son fell in the woods and his cousins left him, and your son stayed with him to make sure he was okay and I was like oh, so at least he is how I want him to be to other people.
Speaker 1:It's just not how I want him to be to me yet, so that's all that matters.
Speaker 2:That's awesome.
Speaker 1:What got you into homeschooling? Have you done it from the beginning?
Speaker 2:No, we didn't. Actually, we had them start off in Montessori and things seemed to be going well, but it was around 2020, just before the pandemic hit that we started rethinking things. Just before the pandemic hit that we started rethinking things. We were seeing things that weren't, I guess, up to my eldest daughter's standard. I'm going to say our eldest girl is Kiara, my youngest is Mackenzie I find it's easier to say their names than my eldest or youngest. So, Kiara, we noticed that things weren't really up to snuff where I guess her standard, where she should have been by our standards. Right, and there was a. There was a day that we had a parent teacher interview and you know the usual questions, answers showing us throughout the classroom, and then something that one of the teachers said was you know, some, some kids learn faster than others, and we kind of took a step back a little bit and looked at each other. It was like, okay, it was one of those we get each other. We'll circle back to this when we get home and talk in private, right? So when we got home, we started talking more and more about that and, you know, started looking at, you know some of the things that she's been doing and she's been doing great. You know she's been advancing well and you know doing her math, but I guess there was just something missing, right. So, not long after that, the scandemic hit and we ended up going online learning. You know how that went over, right, and that was pretty much. That really helped us make that decision to all. Right, you know what? We're going to educate them at home. At this point, we're going to give it a shot and since then, like we do not and I will emphasize this we do not regret that decision whatsoever.
Speaker 2:Sure, there was a transition period. Of course, it's something that you know. Growing up, we were, you know, in the school system. Now it's like, okay, now it's something totally different. How are we gonna figure this out? Well, we supported one another. We, you know, had different resources. We talked to other other families and then things just started snowballing from there, and I'm sure we'll get into a little bit later. You know how they are today. It's been a fantastic journey, the fact that we're one-on-one with them, which is like what should be for all families, between parents and their child. You know, it's been nothing short of fantastic.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's so awesome. Okay, so where are you located?
Speaker 2:I'm in Niagara Falls, Canada. Okay, oh, I didn't realize there was, so I've been to Niagara Falls.
Speaker 1:New York many times, but that's what you call it in Canada as well.
Speaker 2:It's Niagara Falls, Canada. Yep, when you go to Niagara Falls, New York you go look at the falls just you the little boat that brings you through the falls, that's cool, awesome, all right.
Speaker 1:You knew from the beginning that you you and your wife knew that you didn't want to public educate, do public school.
Speaker 2:Not from the get-go. You know, we did what everybody, every other parent did Okay, let's put them in school. But we wanted to give them what we thought was the best education, so we had them in private school Montessori and what is the difference between Montessori and like here we just have, like Catholic schools.
Speaker 1:I mean, I don't know why it's always Catholic versus, or maybe they call them Christian schools, but it's always like that religion right. It's not like you can have a non-religious private school. That I've noticed at least. Maybe it's, I just haven't looked for it but is Montessori that like taking the religion out of it but still making it private school?
Speaker 2:Montessori, the focus is on having the child find out what their interests are on their own. So there still is a curriculum, but it's not put together by the, by the public system public school, catholic school, however you want to call it. They have a set curriculum that they have to follow. They cannot deter from that. They gotta, they gotta, follow that to a t and by the end of the year they gotta go through that, that big manual, whatever they have, right? But Montessori was a little bit different, right? But there there was still things happening in the playground.
Speaker 2:You know one one story I'll I will share here. She told us this after we started the online home learning I guess she was being picked on in the, in the, in the playground, right? So of course she was by herself and she went to the teacher to ask for some assistance and she was basically told do it yourself, figure it out on your own, okay. So now think, as a child, in that moment, what is that child really looking for? Guidance? Not just my daughter, I'm sure there's other kids that have experienced this right. So they're looking for their mom or their dad.
Speaker 2:They're looking for comfort, guidance, safety. That's what they're looking for in that moment. So obviously we're not there. We didn't know until after the fact. So what she's experienced in that moment is going to stick with her for a long period of time, and the reason that is is I talk a lot about the natural learning ability. It is a window from ages zero to seven that every child has that they are really taking things in like a sponge From whatever environment they're in. They're looking, they're hearing, they're speaking, they're taking it all in right, and this is what's happening. So that experience is going to stick with her for a very, very long time, which is unfortunate.
Speaker 1:Now it's interesting that you bring this up and I've thought about this a lot. When I, you know, my son was in regular daycare back before, I kind of had my awakening to all of this and, yeah, I don't know what went on there. I don't think you really think about it as the parent until something happens, right, if you are aware of it. Now, when I switched to going to homeschooling playgroups, I would look around and be like, oh my gosh, that kid. I don't like how that kid's acting, or I don't like what I see, or I don't like how my son is acting to that kid. And I think in my head I was like, oh my God, is homeschooling the right thing? But here's the bigger picture of that is kids are going to be kids, even adults. They're not going to act perfectly either. I mean, look at the debate last night. I didn't even watch it, but I'm just saying look at, like these politicians, the way they act. Of course kids aren't going to act perfectly, right, no child is, whether they're homeschooled, private schooled, public schooled.
Speaker 1:But the difference is is that when you homeschool, a parent is there to witness it and then provide the attention needed to rectify the situation or make it better, right?
Speaker 1:So if I see my son hitting another child, I am there to say we don't do that, and then he can tell me whatever happened. Okay, but this is how I'd rather you react and talk about the situation. Um, if someone acts in a negative way to him that I don't like, you know I'm there, I can step in if I choose, or I can talk to the parent if I choose, or you know, so there, I can talk to my child if I choose. There's different ways to satisfy that situation versus like something happened at school and we may or may not know, like that's a really big piece of our responsibility taken out of our hands when we send them off and just hope these teachers were trained in their six years of education in college to know what to do. But they're not trained on that. They're not social workers. They're trained to teach our kids how to read, write, spell and follow orders.
Speaker 2:Exactly, exactly. And a lot of teachers aren't parents. So in those kinds of situations, what do you do? Yeah, so say, a child is getting picked on, beaten up on and they're told oh, don't say anything or I'm going to beat you up again tomorrow. So they're shutting up, they're silent and they go back in the classroom and it's sitting with them. It's just eating away at them and it's just constant. They don't have that guidance and support from their parents. If you look at it as a whole, what's the average time spent for a child in elementary school, in school, 8.30, 30.
Speaker 1:I don't know what it's like in the, in the united states 9 to 3 30, or so 9 to 3 30.
Speaker 2:So you're looking at about six, six and a half hours. You multiply that by five days a week, right. And then you look at the time spent in the home as a family. Yeah, you have your weekends, but you look in the mornings before they go to school. Then after you get your extracurriculars, you have your sports. You know winter's coming up, you know hockey is going to be a thing. How much of that one-on-one time is spent between a parent and their son or daughter? And you add up that time it is more out of the household than they are in the household with their parents.
Speaker 1:Yes, and when you think about having that time to talk about, maybe, a situation that arose on the playground that they're uncomfortable with and that's not going to, they're not going to walk in the door and, hi honey, how was your day? Good, I got beat up in the playground today. You know that's not how that conversation is going to go.
Speaker 1:It's going to take a lot of time to sit there and nurture the child till they feel comfortable, like hey mom, something happened or hey dad, I need to talk to you. They're not just going to come right out. So it does take that bonding time and quality time to get there.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I never really thought about that before, but that that's a great point, yeah and the and the bonding and quality time is is so important, just just kind of piggybacking what you were saying there, that support from from the parent. It's society has us go, go, go, go go. We we god forbid we make a home-cooked meal and and have a healthier option. No, we gotta go chick-fil-a or mcdonald's or tim hortons it's a thing here in canada coffee shop. Go to tim hortons, get something quick and you're, you're eating it and going and it's just just that rush, rush, rush mindset. It's like oh, got to get you to school. Bye, you know. A little kiss, maybe a little, you know, half hug. That's what society is really telling families now. Go, go, go. You got no time to focus on the family dynamic. Just put them in there and away you go.
Speaker 1:You're so right. I talk about that often too, because I was part of it. I rushed off to work every morning, drove in traffic for 45 minutes, walked 15 minutes to my building. You sit at your desk and kind of twiddle your thumbs looking around. Is it break time yet? Is it time to?
Speaker 2:I guess I can go to the bathroom. Go, get another cup of coffee.
Speaker 1:Is it lunchtime yet? It's like cattle being herded, and for what purpose Like. Even if you are busy in your day which I was not, being a government employee for 16 years I can't tell you if.
Speaker 2:I was ever busy.
Speaker 1:But even if you are busy, look at the end result. Like, what am I actually accomplishing? Is this actually like changing lives for the better? A lot of times probably not, when you're in government work at least. So it is crazy that it's like rush, rush, rush to go, sit in your cubicle and wait for eight hours to pass and then go home and rush to practice and rush to get dinner on the table and rush to get it cleaned up and rush to get everybody showered and in bed so that you can do it all again tomorrow, breaking from that cycle. It was really hard for me, but now I'm like I could not imagine going back to that. I just it's crazy.
Speaker 2:I know I want to paint a couple of pictures here. So one picture, and I'm sure all parents have experienced this. So picture yourself waking up in the morning and you slept in through your alarm and, oh my God, you got to rush. Go, go, go, get your kids up, got to get ready. Now you're not talking at a level like we are talking right now. You're elevating your voice now, right To the point you're yelling at your children let's go, let's go, come on, come on, we got to do this, we got to do that. I got our breakfast. I got no time for coffee. I come on, I got to go, got to go. Get them in the car. Speed and risk getting into an accident. Get into the school, drop them off, get to your job. Oh, okay, I made it. I made it to my job. Now I'm good to go now for the day, okay. So how is that going to affect your children?
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Speaker 2:Now our day painted another picture. Now we wake up in the morning I myself. I go downstairs. I wake up a little bit earlier before my wife and my kids wake up, so I go do a workout. I finish downstairs. I wake up a little bit earlier before my wife and my kids wake up, so I go do a workout. I finish that, I got my protein drink. Afterwards I sit, I read my book, I do my daily writing process and then my wife comes down, she does her thing. The kids come down, we sit together, we read. We do our TechnoTutor, which is a vocabulary builder. We really improve on that. We really improve on that. We really focus on that. We read together as a family. Where's the rushing in that? What is that doing for? For a child, just like okay, I do my own thing and they're learning things that will help them later in life.
Speaker 1:A thousand percent and it does so much for your anxiety Cause I grew up in that household that was rush, rush, rush, rush, rush. And then so I now have that just built in me, that we always have to rush, rush, rush. And my husband is the complete opposite. It's like he's never in a rush to do anything, which makes my anxiety so much higher so like with my kids I notice I'm like yelling at them.
Speaker 1:And then it's like, ok, why, like we don't have to Now, even if we're late to practice or something. I mean I'm like the coach is there giving his time, we can't be disrespectful, we have to get there. But it's like really in the end result, like why don't we just change what time we get ready for soccer for the next practice? Yelling at everyone is not going to change today.
Speaker 1:It's so true, and yeah, it takes a long time. You can't just snap out of it. It is a process, a whole journey to get rid of that portion of yourself. But it's worth it because I would imagine I'll add a few years onto my life with having a more lax-a-daisy approach to it. My children might not resent me as much if I stop yelling at them now and I was thinking earlier too because all of us well, I'll lead into how you guys home educate or unschool, sometimes it's called, but it's funny because when everybody starts homeschooling you get that sort of what curriculum am I going to use and is my child on par for what they're supposed to be at in the grade school?
Speaker 1:So if they're learning to you know, if they're six years old, do they know how to read? Are they learning to read? Yada, yada. We all, a lot of us, start out that way, rushing to replicate the school system at home and through talking to all the families I have on my podcast, I have let that go and I am now of the mindset like we do curriculums, but they're more like nature studies and math versus let's learn how to read now, because as long as I'm reading to him. We are having the love of reading and that's what's important.
Speaker 1:But it's funny because where I'm thinking like, oh geez, he is probably behind some of his peers who are in school learning to read at this age. This morning he was talking to my mother and telling her how his race car it's like a remote control vehicle he goes. Yeah, my race car just broke, he goes. But I took it apart and you know it's the drive shaft and the wheel bearings and I just have to get a par and put it back together and I'm sitting there going how the hell does he know all of?
Speaker 1:this he's six years old. So I'm like, ok, they are learning stuff. Like you said, zero to age seven. They are just soaking in everything. And it's because my husband, every time it breaks, my husband will take the car apart with him, talk about the parts they need, they fix it together and that's like just a different. That's something he's into and that's why he's learning it. But there will come a time when he gets directions for how, like, I'm going to need to know how to put this back together and I have to read the directions and, oh, maybe reading is important, and that's when it's going to be like, okay, mom, I want to learn how to read now for myself. So yeah, and that is sort of the kind of the more natural way to learn. And so why don't you tell me about how your family does that? Because you don't use a curriculum and you don't even call it unschooling. So what is that? What does that look like?
Speaker 2:We like to call it home education. You know, we took them out of school so we don't want to say homeschool because we all have to believe that school is the way to go. No, we're educating our children at home, right, and unschooling something about that just doesn't sound right. It's like you're undoing something. It's like, yeah, I understand the whole idea of it like you're undoing what the public system has has done, Right. But I think home education has a nice, a nicer connotation to it and, um, it's a little bit more relaxing when you, when you, when you say that, and yeah, we do not follow curriculum, and, like every parent who's begun that that journey, oh my God, what curriculum can I follow? Like, where do I get this? Do I have to register my child? Do I have to let them know this and that? And it's like, whoa, Okay, so we, we've done our own research. You know, yeah, Like I said before, it was a transition period. We had done our own research, understood what we had to do and realize that, okay, we're in a, we're in a good spot now, Right, so my wife, she's a stay-at-home mom which allows her to have that 100% one-on-one connection time with my girls, and I'm a personal mentor and I work from home. I work from anywhere in the world. That allows me to focus on the business and growing that and building a legacy for my family, right While educating other families on how to go about home educating their kids and how to start. So what we do is I already gave you a little picture just a very easy morning, no pressure, no stress, unless we're going to an airport or we're world schooling or doing something else. Okay, let's get going a little bit. We plan ahead and we teach them how to do that properly.
Speaker 2:And when they come downstairs, we as a family, we do what's called Technitutor. It is vocabulary builder program that we use half hour a day. It really builds the vocabulary for the child and the adults as well. You know, we all think that we all know what every word means, but when you actually break it down, not so much but as a child, to have that understanding at such a young age, what's going to, what's that going to do for them as they get older? Build confidence, communication skills, social skills that's another myth we can talk about, after social skills that's another myth we can talk about. After all, this is being built within them just by understanding vocabulary. So when they hear adults talking, they hear these words. They're not thinking is that what they're talking about? No, no, they know what they're talking about. It's because it becomes a part of them physically, right? So that's just one aspect of that, right.
Speaker 2:And then we read together. We read chapter books and there's reading, and then there's reading. Reading meaning you're just reading the words, just going through. You know the motions, Okay. Flip a page, Okay. Then there's reading, comprehending, understanding and processing all the words that you're reading, Because you know what books are like. They paint the picture for you, Right? So you're putting that together in your mind and that's what our kids are doing. So when they finish reading a chapter, we ask them okay, what did you learn? Tell us a little bit about it, because I don't know anything about that book. So educate us. Right.
Speaker 2:And all the extracurriculars. So they cook, they bake, they do laundry with my wife, they're they clean, they're understanding chores and how to maintain a home, and they do horseback riding as well. They love horses. If you ever sit down with them and want to learn about horses, listen to my kids, they will. They will educate you about everything the different, the different breeds, the different colors, different style of riding. It's like, wow, that's awesome, that's impressive. But by them doing that, they're understanding responsibility and how to take care of a living being a living thing. Horses are huge, right. So what it takes to maintain them, to brush them, to bathe them, to clean their hooves, to make sure that they're in the right environment outdoors, they're understanding that they're getting the social aspect because they are interacting with other kids some older, some younger, some their age but it's that camaraderie, it's that group dynamic that they are getting and anything really extra.
Speaker 2:So if I'm putting together a dresser I was putting one together a few months ago. You know Ikea, what that's like? Right, Make sure you look at all the instructions, make sure all the pieces are there. But Mackenzie, she was with me, side by side, looking at everything with her finger. You know the little man, how you've got to screw this piece into this piece.
Speaker 2:She was looking at all the little things and I'm a really big believer in the. Little things matter so much because little things will amount to bigger things, and this is one of them. She can use this moving forward as she gets older, to look at the little things, not just looking at things for what they are. Look beyond that, look past that. They love chess. We play chess together and I think that's a fantastic game to play with a child because it teaches them how to think ahead. Chess you have to think 5-10 moves ahead. The grandmasters think like 50-75 moves ahead, maybe even more right. So it's all these little things that you may not think that's big, but it is a big thing to them. The guess who game is another is another one.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's a little bit more on par of my. I mean, I can't. I come from upstate New York. We did not play chess. I am open to learning, but yes, guess who we have that.
Speaker 2:I played that as a child. But even that you're looking at the small details.
Speaker 1:Profiling Exactly.
Speaker 2:Profiling. I like that, but yeah, it's all those little things that they are learning to look at. If they're in the park looking at a stranger, they're looking at the details about who they're looking at, who they're talking to Ask the right questions.
Speaker 1:Game schooling is a thing and like with you saying that, comparing basically chess and guess who like in the same, but all games right. Like my son, over the summer we got him the game called Mancala, which is just like a little board board and then there's little pockets in this wooden board and you take gems, little uh like bead gems, things and you have to keep. You start with four in each one and basically whoever gets rid of their side first and having the most in their mancala. But it's the strategy of, like you said, a couple moves ahead. You have to think because, okay, if I landed my mancala here, am I going to leave my bucket open so that if they land they steal all of my gems across from it?
Speaker 1:And it seems like such a simple game but it's great for a child because there's not a lot involved. But you are thinking about those steps ahead as you get better and better at it and you love playing and having just something in your hand. You have the gems in your hand that you're moving one to two to three to four and you're moving them over. So you get in the hand-eye coordination, you're counting. I never really thought about that as being part of the educational process. It's just us kind of having fun after dinner or whatnot, but it is yeah, and there is a thing called game schooling. I just assumed it was more intricate games like chess. I didn't realize like.
Speaker 1:Guess who and Mancala could be part of that.
Speaker 2:I actually never heard of that. I'll be honest, game schooling is interesting. I'm going to actually look that up because you love having game time as a family. Scrabble is another one as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That really develops their vocabulary too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I didn't play that a lot as a kid, I'll start with Scrabble kids and I'll work my way up. That's how I do life these days. Start with the kid version, kid book and work my way up to the novel.
Speaker 2:Gotta start somewhere.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know I've been looking for a game schooler to have on the show and I'm just booked out so far ahead that I haven't really. I got to get that going because that would be so cool to talk to someone about the vocabulary part, the math part. How do you get the science? How do you get them all in while doing a game? It seems like a lot of fun. Okay, your kids are. You said they're 8 and 10?
Speaker 2:8 and 11.
Speaker 1:8 and 11. So everyone is worried about the socialization. And how do you guys do that? Do you get together with friends? Do you have co-ops or playgroups?
Speaker 2:If we could find. A lot of the co-op and playgroups have younger kids, so they're considerably younger than ours, right? So that doesn't really work well for them. But the social aspect of things, it's not a problem. You know, as my youngest she's going to be tween next year, you know. So we're already seeing how she wants to interact with more, with more people, especially, you know, with our like our like minds, right. Especially, you know, with our like our like minds, right. But, as I was saying before, with the horseback riding, they interact no problem with a lot of the kids there. A lot of them go to school, but it's just, it's a common ground with with the horses. But that leads into other things and we talk to parents as well and, you know, conversations happen, play dates happen, everybody has fun. It's a, it's a great time. There's no problem there. How would we define the social aspect of a child's life? Do they have to go to so many birthday parties? Do they have to do something all the freaking time, right?
Speaker 1:right, we have kids. So, like we were talking about before, kids are booked now all day long, like it is. It's crazy having that boredom time is good and time to bond with your siblings because I feel like that's really removed from today's society is the bonding time with siblings which is so important with your kids too, especially with the horses. That's like not an age specific thing, like my son's in soccer, so everybody on his soccer team is pretty much his age. But then we do another soccer game with just homeschoolers. That's just once a week. They just get together and play and that's all different ages. And we have a couple of play groups that we go to and you know they do little uh parks and playgrounds and sometimes a field trip but that has kids of all different ages and like that is the beauty of homeschooling too, cause they, like we don't go to work.
Speaker 1:I didn't sit in a cubicle with everybody that was my age, you know you have to talk to people that are older, people that are younger and know how to do that, so it is weird that we just put them in school because they were all born within the same 12 month period, when they have different interests and stuff like that. Getting to interact with different ages is so important and I would say that that's actually a detriment in the school system versus a positive, like they try to make it out to be.
Speaker 2:You look at everything when it comes to the school system at all levels, like you look at the classroom, you look at the school bus, you look at the school in general and the things that you got to do within that. So you get to the school, stand in line single file straight. You go into the classroom four walls maybe you'll have a window in there and you're sitting at a desk. You want to say something? Sit and raise your hand, do not speak Out of turn. You got to ask for permission. You go to the washroom, which is a natural thing for the human body. You know you have to expel stuff. You got to ask stuff.
Speaker 1:You gotta ask you go into cafeteria.
Speaker 2:It just seems like I don't know a prison cafeteria. Yeah, have you. You know what those look like. So the comparisons between those it's it's uncanny and a lot of people don't want to look at that yeah you know as much as we're talking about.
Speaker 2:You know the kids and being educated at home. I want to look at the parents as well. The parents are the drivers. You can talk to a child until they're blue in the face about something, about life, about everything you know, but if the parent is not on board, it's falling on deaf ears. Parents really have to see what is happening.
Speaker 1:Do your kids know what to do in an emergency? Do they know how to call 911 from a locked cell phone? Well, if you've been listening to my podcast for any length of time, you know that I have been working for the last year on a book that talks about exactly this. I was going through homeschooling curriculum with my son and realized that, although they would brush over certain things that my son would need to know in an emergency, nothing really delved into it, and definitely not on a repetitive basis. I started reaching out to teachers and asking them what schools do to prepare kids for emergencies and, other than skimming the surface, they said that they really feel that this information is the parent's responsibility to teach. But do parents know that? It's not like there's a handbook where we talk about who is responsible for what?
Speaker 1:So I set out on a journey to write a book about exactly this, and it is finally published. My illustrator, cheryl Krauthamil, is a retired NYPD officer, so she was the perfect fit for this book. We have hidden a 9, a 1, and a 1 in each illustration, so that you and your kids can have fun searching for these numbers while solidifying for your kids what these numbers look like. I've put the steps for how to reach 9-1-1 on various cell phones, even if they're locked, and what that call will go like and what information they will be looking for. My book will help your child practice their first and last name, mom and dad's first and last names, their address, what to do if there is a fire, it goes over stranger danger, internet, water and gun safety, and I have paired an activity book to go right along with it.
Speaker 1:To solidify these concepts, give yourself peace of mind and give your kids the confidence to handle the unexpected. By grabbing your copy of let's Talk Emergencies today, you can head on over to the link in my show's description or thehomeschoolhowtocom, and if you do purchase the copy, please, please, please, leave me a review on Amazon. The more reviews I have, the more the algorithm will push this book out there, so I would really appreciate it. Thank you so much for listening and for all of your support of the show.
Speaker 2:You know what is your child learning at school? Do you have any idea? They're like no, I don't know. I don't know what they're being taught. It's just like they have a curriculum they're learning and maybe do a test pass, fail, I don't know. I think in the united states is if you fail in elementary school, you don't advance. You still. You got to repeat the same year. But in canada, if you fail, you keep going, so you don't advance.
Speaker 1:You still, you got to repeat the same year. But in Canada, if you, fail, you keep going.
Speaker 2:So, whatever you're, whatever you got wrong in that previous grade, it's not corrected. So what do you think that's going to happen in the next year, and then the next year, and then the next year? Think of it as a foundation, a base. You're building a house and you're building, you know, a crumbled wall, cracked bricks and all that kind of stuff, and you're building on top of that. What's going to happen with the weight of the world? It's going to fall.
Speaker 1:And in America. So, with our, our election season going on right now, this has been like just so eyeopening for me because, you know, I did all my education in public school. I did four years of college, went to university, graduated with my bachelor's degree. I worked for 16 years for the government Right and, uh, you know, we recently had Biden was the democratic nominee because he was the incumbent. He's already been in the position for four years, so I guess that is just. He can be the one running, without a primary election, I suppose, and then the Republican side has to have the primary, but with him dropping out of the race, they just placed the vice president in the running position.
Speaker 1:This is so wrong and I'm just like this is so wrong and I'm just like the education system has failed America, because you spent 13 years, if you include kindergarten and plus a lot of people have four year degrees, so that is now 17 years getting educated by our public system and private. But it's all from the government anyway. It's all trickles down and people can't see that this is completely against our constitution and our laws. What have we learned in 17 years if we can't see this and stand up and say I mean for the tax of tea, we'll riot, but when something like this happens, we just stay silent. It's crazy to me. So it's like what are we learning in school? We're learning exactly what the government wants us to learn, so that we remain obedient servants to them you're.
Speaker 2:You're learning how to be quiet. Yeah, you're learning that if you were to speak up, you're going to get yelled at and say how dare you? I'm going to pick on you and bully you and put you down on social media. It was for adults as well. Like we live, we live in a world now where you cannot speak up. I saw this video, um, where this gentleman was talking about different movies. So you look at Star Wars you sided with the resistance because they stood up and went against the empire. You look at V for Vendetta, where he had a guy in a mask who rallied people behind him, stood up against the tyrannical government and made a difference.
Speaker 1:Hunger Games.
Speaker 2:Hunger Games is another one. Now it's happening in real life. It's real life, it's happening, but nope, nope, I'm not going to say anything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, there are people that do like you. Guys in Canada had the Truckers Rally, which was Truckers Convoy, which was so amazing to see, but then it was like, ok, now we can see that a government can shut off your bank account. This is what our electronic money is allowing them to do, and for that we should all revolt and say we are using, going back to gold and silver, and I don't know what that would I mean at all. I guess you'd really have to think about that. But it's just, there is.
Speaker 1:So you're right, there is so much going on right now and it's it's happening. It is happening and it seems like nobody's doing any, nobody's saying enough. There's podcasters here and there. There's a couple of people speaking up on social media, um, but yeah, they get silenced. Or they get Clintoned media, but yeah, they get silenced or they get Clintoned. You know it is, it's scary, it's a crazy time. How do you raise kids and prepare them for this? And you have two girls. I don't know what's scarier to raise men in this kind of world and say like you've got to stand up and do something, or women and hope they choose someone or stand up themselves. I don't know how do you do it.
Speaker 2:Well, you look at everything as a whole and I talked about it earlier how little things amount to bigger things. If you were to sit down and actually think about all the things that happened in the last four or five years and you write them down, then they might be little things on a global scale, but they are amounting to bigger things now. So I don't want to raise my girls in a state of fear. I don't want to come from that starting point. I want to educate them and understand this is what could happen. Right, this is the possibility of or I don't say possibility these are the consequences of people's actions. This is why this is happening. This is why this is happening. But you have the power, when I'm dead and gone, that you can continue this and educate others on how to change. Show others that you have a voice. We all have a voice. Everybody has a voice within them that has got to come up. We all have this potential, but it's silenced.
Speaker 2:You're talking about men in this world. Look at the men, the state of men in this world right now. Where are the men? As Chandler says in Friends, where are all the men? You know? Like they're being emasculated, they're being put down. This feminism movement is really being pushed forward. Oh, we don't need men. We don't need men, really Okay. What does that do for the psyche of men? And then I don't know, if you heard from, do you follow Megyn Kelly by chance?
Speaker 1:Yes, I used to listen to her podcast all the time when I had a job that I had 45 minutes to drive to there and back and eight hours to sit and listen to stuff.
Speaker 2:I listen to her all the time. Well, there's a video that she posted after the debate last night five-minute rant about what's going on, and she went off on Taylor Swift.
Speaker 1:What does Taylor Swift have to do with the debate?
Speaker 2:Well, she is pretty much endorsing Kamala Harris as president because of Tim Waltz. Not because of her, but because of Tim Waltz. Not because of her, but because of Tim Waltz and his stance on the LGBTQ plus ABC thing that's going on. She's pretty much endorsing for children to, you know, take all these drugs and and lop off their extremities to be whatever they want. In the younger generation, of course, you get Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift is like the be all end end-all of music right now, for some unknown reason, how is she still around?
Speaker 1:I mean, she's placed there and obviously media is paid for by the powers that be. They push what they want. It's so sad when you think about, you see videos of her just trying to make it as a young singer, folk singer, with playing her guitar and you know this country singer and now it's like everything is satanic.
Speaker 2:I will say this when you sign a contract with a record label, you sign your life away. You have to do whatever they ask you to do. It's a must. So she may not believe in everything that she's talking about, but she has to, because otherwise she's well, you're not gonna have your the life that you have right now you're so true or they'll kill you.
Speaker 1:You know that's happened. We've seen many actors, actresses that you know. You know. I mean even George Carlin I don't know how he died, actually, but he was very outspoken about the system. Or even you know, mel Gibson had come out to talk about how, like, hollywood is paid for with the blood of children and all of a sudden, next day it was like, oh, he's a drunk. Listen to this voicemail that his daughter released about him yelling. You know he's totally uncrit to this voicemail that his daughter released about him yelling, and you know he's totally uncr. Roseanne barr they took away her show. Um, there's a lot more behind that than what they let us see. So, yeah, they're anyone that does want to kind of break the mold of what their contract said that they're supposed to do and hollywood tells them to do. Um, they don't make it far. No, they don't. And and this is the thing, this is what my wife and I are trying to do.
Speaker 2:They don't make it far. No, they don't. And this is the thing. This is what my wife and I are trying to do. We're trying to educate everybody about what is happening in this world. You know we talk about a system. When I say system, I want you to look at everything as a whole. I want you to look at the medical system, the public education system, the banking system, the government, all of that. Look at that. Don't take it for what it is. Take the time to investigate things. Look a little bit deeper. And questions like that doesn't make sense. Why are they doing this? Why are they pushing that? Why are they shutting me up? I can't ask a question. That's weird, that's odd.
Speaker 2:Really, look at this, because, if not for yourself, look at it for your kids. Seriously, look at it for your kids. What kind of a future do you want as a family? Sit down and really look. Okay, what kind of a future do we want? Do we want a homestead? Do we want to travel the world? Do we want a million-dollar business? Do we want to be an influencer? What do you want as a family? What does that look like? And then ask yourself well, if I don't change things now. What will my life look like then?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's why I love getting into books like the Tuttle Twins, books that actually break the mold and kind of say, hey, this is how questioning things looks like and this is how democracy is supposed to be. Is this how it's run? And you kind of see you're learning, but through like the story. I don't know if you've heard of them at all. If you, your kids are into that that one I have. I have not heard of no oh yeah, you got to check them out.
Speaker 2:You'd love the Tuttle Twins.
Speaker 1:The Tuttle Twins?
Speaker 2:yes, I'll send you a link to them?
Speaker 1:Because yeah they were homeschooling dads that just kind of. One was a writer, one was the illustrator, and they got together years back and just started writing books that are like about the law, about economics, about free markets, about you know how socialism is bad, but why? And putting it in story form for a kid to, and your, your girls, are the right age for it. Mine are a little young, but my son even at six. He loves the narration, he loves the stories, he loves the illustrations to it. But, yeah, it's, it's so cool, just like I'm like, well, these concepts they never tell us in school to think like this. I know the one of them kind of goes into like the making of a pencil and all the different jobs that go into the making of a pencil and how not one person in the entire world knows how to make a pencil from beginning to end, because it's so many moving parts and it really just is like this.
Speaker 2:Wow, they don't get you thinking like that in school, like there's a lot of jobs out there and there's one still yet to be created Just little things like that. We need more of that stuff. Oh, absolutely. That's huge. I'll tell you another thing about my girls is they have that entrepreneurial spirit already within them. This started years ago where they love crafts and they started making these bracelets.
Speaker 2:We went to a group event in Orlando a few years ago and they made like 50 bracelets, right, and they went to go sell them. So picture 60, 70 people in a hotel suite just having a good time, just talking, sitting down, and these two little kids running around want to buy a bracelet, want to buy a bracelet. $5, $5 around want to buy a bracelet, want to buy a bracelet. Five dollars, five dollars found a bracelet. They sold them all and it was just something that sparked something within them. Let's do it again and every year we have that group event. They bring their bracelets, they're making money. They're talking about starting so to sell them online. Build a website. What 11 and 8 year old is talking about? Starting to sell them online. Build a website. What 11 and 8 year old is talking about? Building a website? Yeah, you might have the elite of the elitists kids asking about that. But kids in today's society, more likely than not they are not asking those kind of questions. Yeah, and a lot of times because they don't have the time.
Speaker 1:They're in school for so long or getting ready for school or doing their homework, or being shuffled off to their practices or whatever they're doing birthday parties, that they don't have the time to sit there and be bored and think of that stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and again it comes down to parents to support them. Say hey, what do you want? Ask a child what do you want. Ask a child what do you want. Of course they're going to be like I want candy or all these different things. But seriously, ask a child what they want, because right now we're putting them in school and they don't want to go to school. Some might, because they like the social aspect of it. But yeah, I guess the consensus would be like I don't want to go to school.
Speaker 1:But what of it? But yeah, the. I guess the consensus would be like I don't want to go to school. But what do you want? What do you want to be when you grow up?
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, and helping them, guide them to, uh, experience different things so that they know where they want to go, or what jobs even exist or what could be created, because you know, when I went to school, podcasting was not a thing not that it's really a job right now. It's like a hobby that might trickle in a couple bucks here and there, but you don't know what it could lead to. You know so, and I'm learning, so I think my kids just seeing me like learning and getting excited and creating that is so much right there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, absolutely. And yeah, my podcast is not the be all, end all. It is just, like you said, a hobby. It is a platform for me to bring in other people of authority and educate others about what we can do in this world when it comes to home education or building a business, or mindset and relationship mindset, all those little things.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so, Rob. As we close up, where can people find you if they want to check out the podcast or your mentor program?
Speaker 2:Okay, let me think here how many socials do I have? What? Hasn't been banned yet, oh banned, oh geez. No, I'm good for now, for now, for now. But the louder my voice gets, I'm sure someone's gonna hear me at some point. Uh, okay, so you can find me on youtube spahar initiative. You can find me on linkedin, rob spahar uh. Instagram, the spahar initiative. You can find me on facebook.
Speaker 1:Just my name rob spahar yeah, sorry I I think I mispronounced it in the beginning. I should have asked you no, don't worry about it call it spear all the time right, Because the P is so close to the H, but there's an E in the middle of them.
Speaker 2:Yes, what is that? What's the?
Speaker 1:nationality there.
Speaker 2:It's Croatian background.
Speaker 1:Oh, so cool, Okay, yes, yes, only two people in name.
Speaker 2:Nailed it, but yeah, that's uh, those are some of the uh, the socials. You can reach me at Speyhardinitiativecom on that. On the, on that site, you can find out more about what we're all about Well, me and my family, what we're trying to do. There's links to my podcast. Um, yeah, any more information? Just send me an email. Rossbehart at gmailcom.
Speaker 1:And I will put your website in the show's description so people could just pop right in there and get right to you Excellent. Easy, awesome. Rob thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Thank you, and this has been awesome.
Speaker 1:Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of the homeschool how to. If you've enjoyed what you heard and you'd like to contribute to the show, please consider leaving a small tip using the link in my show's description. Or, if you'd rather, please use the link in the description to share this podcast with a friend or on your favorite homeschool group Facebook page. Any effort to help us keep the podcast going is greatly appreciated. Thank you for tuning in and for your love of the next generation.