SR 904: Milestones, Memories, and Major News – Aby Rinella, Part 1

1
00:00:00,240 –> 00:00:03,457
Well, and the truth is, you and I aren’t experts on every topic. I mean,

2
00:00:03,481 –> 00:00:06,849
we’re not. And so it’s so fun to be on anything. Nothing

3
00:00:07,017 –> 00:00:10,809
except finding experts on the topic. Hey, everyone,

4
00:00:10,897 –> 00:00:14,441
this is Yvette Hampton. Welcome back to the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast.

5
00:00:14,553 –> 00:00:18,337
Happy Thanksgiving week. I am so excited that you guys are with

6
00:00:18,361 –> 00:00:21,841
us. And if you’re listening to this on Thanksgiving week,

7
00:00:21,953 –> 00:00:25,641
well, you get extra Schoolhouse Rocked bonus points. Because I know you

8
00:00:25,673 –> 00:00:29,341
have a million things to do this week getting ready maybe either to

9
00:00:29,373 –> 00:00:33,133
travel or maybe a family coming in, or maybe you. It’s just you and

10
00:00:33,149 –> 00:00:36,597
your family for Thanksgiving, which often is the case with us. We actually are.

11
00:00:36,741 –> 00:00:40,421
My in laws are coming. Well, they’re coming this week,

12
00:00:40,453 –> 00:00:43,733
which we’re recording this the week before Thanksgiving. And so they’ll be here for the

13
00:00:43,749 –> 00:00:47,381
week of Thanksgiving. And so we are super excited

14
00:00:47,453 –> 00:00:51,301
about that. And whatever you have going on for Thanksgiving, we are glad to

15
00:00:51,333 –> 00:00:54,989
be part of it. And I have Abinella with me today. Hi, Aby. Hey.

16
00:00:55,037 –> 00:00:58,805
How are you? I’m so good. So good. I am so excited.

17
00:00:58,965 –> 00:01:02,309
I’m so excited about this episode because we have a huge

18
00:01:02,357 –> 00:01:05,925
announcement for the Schoolhouse Rocked ministry. Like, it is

19
00:01:05,965 –> 00:01:09,585
big. It’s big. Well, I mean, yeah, it’s not like,

20
00:01:09,925 –> 00:01:13,253
biggest thing. I didn’t win the presidency or anything like that. No, that. That would

21
00:01:13,269 –> 00:01:16,301
be a big announcement, right? That would be a big announcement. But for Schoolhouse Rocked,

22
00:01:16,333 –> 00:01:20,005
we’ve got some big, exciting changes coming, and I’m really, really

23
00:01:20,045 –> 00:01:23,805
excited about it. So we’re going to talk about that this week, but we’ve got

24
00:01:23,885 –> 00:01:26,887
other things to talk about before we get to that and before we get to

25
00:01:26,911 –> 00:01:30,359
those other things, I first want to say thank you to our sponsor, BJU Press

26
00:01:30,407 –> 00:01:33,831
Homeschool. If you guys are looking for great Christian

27
00:01:33,903 –> 00:01:35,567
homeschool curriculum, check them

28
00:01:35,591 –> 00:01:39,295
out@bjupresshomeschool.com and maybe now

29
00:01:39,335 –> 00:01:43,055
you’re about halfway through the year and whatever you’re doing, maybe it’s not

30
00:01:43,095 –> 00:01:46,151
working so well for you and you just need something else. Or maybe you have

31
00:01:46,183 –> 00:01:49,631
finished a curriculum and you need something else. For math or language

32
00:01:49,663 –> 00:01:52,741
arts or history or science or whatever, check out

33
00:01:52,773 –> 00:01:56,237
bjupresshomeschool.com and if you’re not sure what you need,

34
00:01:56,381 –> 00:01:59,061
call them up. Talk to one of their consultants and they will help you. They

35
00:01:59,093 –> 00:02:02,505
are amazing. They teach everything from a strong

36
00:02:02,845 –> 00:02:06,365
biblical worldview. And we are so grateful for them and their sponsorship of

37
00:02:06,445 –> 00:02:09,745
this podcast. So check them

38
00:02:10,045 –> 00:02:13,685
out. Bjupresshomeschool.com. Well, Aby, happy Thanksgiving again. So,

39
00:02:13,725 –> 00:02:17,453
you know. Okay, we’re recording this the Monday before this

40
00:02:17,469 –> 00:02:21,051
launches. So it’s November 18th today and my birthday, just

41
00:02:21,083 –> 00:02:22,655
a few days, my 50th.

42
00:02:24,675 –> 00:02:28,499
That’s insane. It sounds so old. It used to sound so

43
00:02:28,507 –> 00:02:32,171
old. Like, I mean, it was old when we were, like, 20.

44
00:02:32,243 –> 00:02:36,011
That was ancient. But it doesn’t feel old now. No, it doesn’t.

45
00:02:36,083 –> 00:02:39,555
And I don’t. Which just means that we’re old. This means that we’re

46
00:02:39,595 –> 00:02:42,935
old. I was texting with Crystal,

47
00:02:43,555 –> 00:02:46,895
my friend, the other day, and I forget. I was texting her about something

48
00:02:47,215 –> 00:02:50,511
and I said, now is when we start the organ recital. Have you heard that

49
00:02:50,543 –> 00:02:54,391
joke about, you know. Yeah. Like, old people, as they start to get

50
00:02:54,423 –> 00:02:58,215
older, they start calling their friends and talking about all their different aches

51
00:02:58,255 –> 00:03:01,591
and pains and stuff and how their organs are all falling apart. So, yes, yes,

52
00:03:01,623 –> 00:03:05,359
yes. They call it an organ recital. So I’m like, now it begins.

53
00:03:05,487 –> 00:03:09,087
We start talking about all the things. This is. No,

54
00:03:09,151 –> 00:03:12,599
stop. People don’t want to listen to that. No, I know, but I’m not here

55
00:03:12,607 –> 00:03:16,369
to talk about that. I actually, I must say, I

56
00:03:16,497 –> 00:03:20,193
thought I would feel, like, physically feel much older at 50 than I

57
00:03:20,209 –> 00:03:23,585
do. And, yeah, I did. I don’t. Well, I’m not. I’m not

58
00:03:23,625 –> 00:03:27,377
50. Don’t get me wrong, people. I am not 50. You were still born

59
00:03:27,401 –> 00:03:31,001
in the 1900s, though, so. I was still born in the 1900s, but

60
00:03:31,033 –> 00:03:34,761
I’m not anywhere near 50. No, I mean,

61
00:03:34,793 –> 00:03:38,285
I will be 50, but the point is, I’m still older than.

62
00:03:39,905 –> 00:03:43,689
I’m older than young. I mean, I’m at the age where,

63
00:03:43,737 –> 00:03:47,349
when I was 20, I would still consider this old. Right? Yeah,

64
00:03:47,437 –> 00:03:50,605
I just would. But I used to think 30 was old. I mean, I remember

65
00:03:50,685 –> 00:03:54,333
when I would meet 30 year olds, I was like, Holy cow, 30. Like, that’s

66
00:03:54,349 –> 00:03:57,541
the end of the road. Oh, yeah. Like, once you hit 30, it’s all downhill

67
00:03:57,653 –> 00:04:01,453
for sure. Now, when I was 19, 30 was incredible. I know. When I

68
00:04:01,469 –> 00:04:04,349
was 19, I moved out on my own for the first time before Garritt and

69
00:04:04,357 –> 00:04:08,149
I got married. And my roommate was 31. And I remember thinking,

70
00:04:08,197 –> 00:04:11,941
man, she’s just so. Like, she has. She has arrived at life.

71
00:04:12,013 –> 00:04:15,557
Oh, my word. Isn’t it crazy? It is hilarious. It’s so much fun. I had

72
00:04:15,581 –> 00:04:19,369
to say, Happy 50th. Well, thank you. And, you know, Garritt, 50th

73
00:04:19,417 –> 00:04:22,737
birthday is the day before Thanksgiving. So I told him this morning, and I said,

74
00:04:22,761 –> 00:04:25,081
you know, I’m going to be a whole decade older than you. For the next

75
00:04:25,113 –> 00:04:28,785
week. You robbed the cradle. I know, I know. I’m really only

76
00:04:28,825 –> 00:04:32,377
six days older than him, but. Yeah, not even a whole week. So enough about

77
00:04:32,401 –> 00:04:36,193
that. Enough about 50. Enough. About 50. I am grateful for another

78
00:04:36,249 –> 00:04:40,065
year to be able to serve the Lord through this ministry and the amazing

79
00:04:40,105 –> 00:04:43,737
things that he has done. And so I do want to look back kind of

80
00:04:43,761 –> 00:04:47,401
over the past year and talk about some of the things God has

81
00:04:47,433 –> 00:04:50,885
done in the Schoolhouse Rock to ministry, because a lot has happened

82
00:04:51,205 –> 00:04:54,557
over the past year. And Aby, you’ve been a big part of all of

83
00:04:54,581 –> 00:04:58,213
that. I want to focus just for a minute on some

84
00:04:58,229 –> 00:05:01,917
of the podcast episodes because as I was thinking through the things

85
00:05:01,941 –> 00:05:05,261
that God has done with the ministry, of course, the

86
00:05:05,293 –> 00:05:08,805
podcast is kind of our main thing right now,

87
00:05:08,885 –> 00:05:12,541
obviously. And so I think we. Not. I think. I

88
00:05:12,573 –> 00:05:16,397
know. We have had our biggest, most listened to podcast. We’re going

89
00:05:16,421 –> 00:05:20,091
into season eight, and in seven seasons, this

90
00:05:20,123 –> 00:05:23,867
year was the most. We had our. Yes, we had our most listened

91
00:05:23,891 –> 00:05:27,715
to podcast ever in the history of the Schoolhouse Rocked ministry.

92
00:05:27,755 –> 00:05:31,019
Wow. Wow. And you know which one it is, Aby, because you were part of

93
00:05:31,027 –> 00:05:34,587
it. Yeah, I do. Because it was. It is

94
00:05:34,691 –> 00:05:38,059
still very, very relevant. I didn’t realize it was the most listened to

95
00:05:38,107 –> 00:05:41,931
ever. Yeah. Oh, it’s still going strong, though. Yes.

96
00:05:42,003 –> 00:05:45,707
Yeah. Yeah. So it was our school choice episode. Yes. Which

97
00:05:45,731 –> 00:05:49,393
was. So it actually wasn’t. Here’s what’s cool is we were like,

98
00:05:49,449 –> 00:05:52,977
oh, man, we’re going to get the letters. We’re going to get the. And it

99
00:05:53,001 –> 00:05:56,665
was like the most liked. I think, like, I think we got the most

100
00:05:56,785 –> 00:06:00,393
positive. I mean, it was all the things people wanted to hear. We got the

101
00:06:00,409 –> 00:06:04,081
most support, the most encouragement. It was. Yes.

102
00:06:04,273 –> 00:06:07,609
And it’s time, like, it needs to be listened to nonstop. And I think it

103
00:06:07,617 –> 00:06:11,457
was also. It is a resource. A lot of parents are like, this is

104
00:06:11,481 –> 00:06:14,441
a resource for me to send my legislators. This is a resource for me to

105
00:06:14,473 –> 00:06:18,121
educate myself so I can make a difference in my state. And I think that’s

106
00:06:18,153 –> 00:06:21,731
why it was so impactful. Well, a lot of reasons that it was so

107
00:06:21,763 –> 00:06:25,547
impactful. Well, I think it’s probably the most prayed over episode we’ve

108
00:06:25,571 –> 00:06:29,331
ever done, too. Yes. You know, we always pray about the episodes

109
00:06:29,363 –> 00:06:32,715
we’re going to do. And then we always pray together before with every single guest

110
00:06:32,755 –> 00:06:36,495
that ever comes on this podcast. Right. I always pray with my guest before.

111
00:06:36,795 –> 00:06:40,579
And if it’s a female guest, usually I pray once in a

112
00:06:40,587 –> 00:06:43,683
while. Like you prayed before we went on today. Once in A while. I’ll ask

113
00:06:43,699 –> 00:06:47,549
the guest to pray, but typically I pray, but if I have a male

114
00:06:47,597 –> 00:06:51,189
guest on, I always ask the male guest to pray over the podcast.

115
00:06:51,317 –> 00:06:54,853
And this one, we had prayed, like. For a long time. And in

116
00:06:54,869 –> 00:06:58,285
fact, it’s also the most probably researched

117
00:06:58,405 –> 00:07:01,805
episode that I spent a ton of time. But I actually have a whole team

118
00:07:01,845 –> 00:07:05,221
behind me that actually did a lot of it. But I just remember I was

119
00:07:05,253 –> 00:07:08,505
even. I even prayed about it before I brought it to you guys, because

120
00:07:08,885 –> 00:07:12,261
I know where you guys stand, and I know where I stand. And we had

121
00:07:12,293 –> 00:07:15,997
talked about that in the wings, like, all the time. But I remember when I

122
00:07:16,021 –> 00:07:19,497
pitched it, like, hey, could we actually. I was like, what are they going to

123
00:07:19,521 –> 00:07:23,241
say? Because it’s a. It’s a big stand to take on a

124
00:07:23,273 –> 00:07:26,985
platform as big as this. And it was like, there wasn’t even a

125
00:07:27,025 –> 00:07:30,457
breath of pause. Garritt was like, 100%. Absolutely.

126
00:07:30,601 –> 00:07:34,305
Because it’s important, because home, we. We can’t have a homeschool podcast

127
00:07:34,345 –> 00:07:37,833
without having homeschool freedom. Right. We can’t be homeschool parents

128
00:07:37,969 –> 00:07:41,641
without having homeschool freedom. And so it’s ultimately, aside from

129
00:07:41,673 –> 00:07:45,513
God and his Word, it is the very foundation of everything we do and everything

130
00:07:45,569 –> 00:07:49,287
we talk about. Yeah, absolutely. And I love that we followed

131
00:07:49,311 –> 00:07:52,695
up talking about school choice and what that looks like for us

132
00:07:52,815 –> 00:07:56,159
with affordable homeschooling. We did a whole week on how to afford

133
00:07:56,207 –> 00:07:59,871
homeschooling so we don’t have to take the government money. Exactly. Here are some

134
00:07:59,903 –> 00:08:03,703
other ways to Absolutely. Don’t have the funds, for sure. To

135
00:08:03,719 –> 00:08:06,903
be able to, you know, buy the expensive curriculum or do the expensive programs that

136
00:08:06,919 –> 00:08:10,639
you want to do. And so. Right. So those two episodes combined were, I

137
00:08:10,647 –> 00:08:14,451
mean, so well received. And we went into it kind of, you know, holding

138
00:08:14,483 –> 00:08:17,987
our breath, but trusting the Lord. And so I’m so grateful for that. It was

139
00:08:18,011 –> 00:08:20,459
awesome. And then it was huge on YouTube. But the other thing I want to

140
00:08:20,467 –> 00:08:23,035
say, quick, before we move from that, is as I look through the list of

141
00:08:23,075 –> 00:08:26,547
all the other episodes that were done over the year and

142
00:08:26,611 –> 00:08:30,347
years, I look through, and I’m just like, not a single thing that any

143
00:08:30,371 –> 00:08:34,067
of those other guests talked about requires government

144
00:08:34,131 –> 00:08:36,867
funding. Not a single one of those things requires a lot of money. Like I’m

145
00:08:36,891 –> 00:08:40,627
looking at this year, we talked about sibling relationships. We talk about teaching our

146
00:08:40,651 –> 00:08:44,095
kids logic. We talked about homeschooling boys. We talked about

147
00:08:44,195 –> 00:08:48,023
quiet times, mental health. Like, all these different things that were talked about over

148
00:08:48,039 –> 00:08:51,311
the. Not a single one of those things is it

149
00:08:51,343 –> 00:08:54,895
necessary to have any government funding. Every.

150
00:08:54,975 –> 00:08:58,391
Everything. The very foundation of homeschool. You don’t need that. And so that’s what’s cool,

151
00:08:58,423 –> 00:09:02,087
is to look at the history of homeschool, of Schoolhouse Rocked, and go, it’s

152
00:09:02,111 –> 00:09:05,887
not needed. And you can just tell by listening to all these incredibly wise

153
00:09:05,991 –> 00:09:09,783
godly guests that you have on. And it’s a non issue. Funding is

154
00:09:09,799 –> 00:09:13,419
a non issue. Because the things that really matter don’t cost money.

155
00:09:13,567 –> 00:09:17,291
That’s right. Yeah. God is faithful. So as. As we look

156
00:09:17,363 –> 00:09:21,059
back at other podcast episodes, you mentioned some of them. What were some of

157
00:09:21,067 –> 00:09:24,815
the others that you, Aby, have felt like were really

158
00:09:25,155 –> 00:09:28,995
impactful or, you know, that that moved. You, that were really hit.

159
00:09:29,035 –> 00:09:32,115
I mean, there were a lot of them, obviously, the Homeschooling Boys episode. I really

160
00:09:32,155 –> 00:09:35,907
love Durenda’s new book. And she came on and. Because it’s different. I mean,

161
00:09:35,931 –> 00:09:39,069
it really is. Homeschooling boys is very different. And so that was

162
00:09:39,227 –> 00:09:43,017
encouraging, you know, parenting Ginger Hubbard. Are you

163
00:09:43,041 –> 00:09:46,697
kidding me? Every time. She’s so great because she makes you feel like you’re not

164
00:09:46,721 –> 00:09:50,377
crazy, right? She makes you feel like, okay, we all make these

165
00:09:50,401 –> 00:09:53,849
mistakes, and here’s how to get out of them. I mean, there were just a

166
00:09:53,857 –> 00:09:56,337
lot I loved. I don’t know if we’re allowed to talk about this yet, but

167
00:09:56,361 –> 00:09:59,777
the series that we did, homeschooling through the years, of course I loved the

168
00:09:59,801 –> 00:10:02,405
homeschooling through the years and then the.

169
00:10:03,025 –> 00:10:06,801
The subject curriculum, homeschooling through that. And I think that’s probably

170
00:10:06,833 –> 00:10:09,745
helpful to a lot of the new moms. I kind of pick and chose because,

171
00:10:09,905 –> 00:10:12,685
you know, everybody needs to listen to math. How do we do math?

172
00:10:13,705 –> 00:10:17,081
I mean, there were so many good ones. You had Linda Hobart on for talking

173
00:10:17,113 –> 00:10:20,889
about history, for goodness sake. Like, I There. It was just

174
00:10:20,937 –> 00:10:24,697
really good. And then probably one that is always one

175
00:10:24,721 –> 00:10:28,505
of my favorite guests, because it’s one of my favorite things for homeschooling. And

176
00:10:28,545 –> 00:10:32,249
you’re probably gonna guess, but it’s. It’s Kim Sorgius with her Teaching

177
00:10:32,297 –> 00:10:35,865
the Bible. I. She’s always one of my favorite because I use her stuff. It’s

178
00:10:35,905 –> 00:10:39,581
so foundational to our homeschool. So. And I

179
00:10:39,613 –> 00:10:42,837
love that you had someone else to talk about Christmas, because you and I have

180
00:10:42,861 –> 00:10:46,541
done. Unless you’re gonna ask me to do a Christmas episode. No. Because we have

181
00:10:46,573 –> 00:10:50,285
done so many Christmas episodes. We’re like, what is there left to talk about?

182
00:10:50,405 –> 00:10:54,189
No, no. Our Christmas episode this year is gonna be

183
00:10:54,197 –> 00:10:58,021
with Rachael Carman. And I’m so excited about

184
00:10:58,053 –> 00:11:01,637
that. She’s amazing. And I’m trying to remember back. Was she on this year?

185
00:11:01,741 –> 00:11:05,109
Another time? I don’t know if she’s been on this year. She’s been on a

186
00:11:05,117 –> 00:11:07,125
lot. I feel like she had to have been on this year because I’ve had

187
00:11:07,125 –> 00:11:09,565
her on. Yeah, she is on. I feel like she’s. I’m certain she has been.

188
00:11:09,605 –> 00:11:12,393
She’s. Yeah, she has. Was part of our homeschooling through the years. Yeah, yeah, she

189
00:11:12,409 –> 00:11:16,177
was. She. She talked about the. Yeah. And she’s. She’s one of my very

190
00:11:16,201 –> 00:11:19,897
favorite people. In fact, she’s coming to my state this year to speak

191
00:11:19,921 –> 00:11:23,201
at our conventions. Twice in our northern convention, in our

192
00:11:23,233 –> 00:11:27,065
southern. So. Awesome. Yeah, yeah,

193
00:11:27,105 –> 00:11:29,753
yeah. You and I are very much in line with our favorites. We’ll talk more

194
00:11:29,769 –> 00:11:31,765
about that, but let’s take a break. We’ll be right back.

195
00:12:41,575 –> 00:12:45,327
We are back with Aby. Yeah, you. Before the break, we were

196
00:12:45,351 –> 00:12:48,823
talking about some of your favorite episodes. I have to say, I think

197
00:12:48,999 –> 00:12:52,767
my. I can nail it down to my two favorites were. Well, my

198
00:12:52,791 –> 00:12:56,263
favorite series was the Homeschooling through the Years series. I

199
00:12:56,359 –> 00:13:00,127
loved that series. It was so much fun to do. And then I went

200
00:13:00,151 –> 00:13:03,447
back and I listened to it after Garritt did all of the editing and published

201
00:13:03,511 –> 00:13:07,295
them. And I’ve said this so many times. It’s so funny

202
00:13:07,335 –> 00:13:11,071
because I record these episodes and then when I listen back, it’s

203
00:13:11,103 –> 00:13:14,439
almost like I’m hearing them for the first time. I do that, too. Isn’t that

204
00:13:14,447 –> 00:13:18,015
right? And I’m like, wow, he makes us sound really smart. Right? He does.

205
00:13:18,135 –> 00:13:21,791
That’s what I always tell him. Make me sound smart. But that one was

206
00:13:21,863 –> 00:13:24,275
super fun to do. And that one has

207
00:13:25,455 –> 00:13:29,255
really done very well because a lot of people have, you know, I mean, people

208
00:13:29,295 –> 00:13:32,983
have kids at every different stage of homeschooling. And so we did it all the

209
00:13:32,999 –> 00:13:36,775
way from the preschool years till the after years. And like,

210
00:13:36,815 –> 00:13:40,479
how. How do you navigate those years? And we didn’t talk about. We talked a

211
00:13:40,487 –> 00:13:43,007
little bit about curriculum and stuff, but it was more like, how do we navigate

212
00:13:43,031 –> 00:13:46,783
the middle school years? Totally with middle school hormones and. Exactly,

213
00:13:46,919 –> 00:13:50,343
man. Yeah, that was a good series. Yeah, it was fun. So I really enjoyed

214
00:13:50,359 –> 00:13:53,937
that. And then I really enjoyed the one I did with my friend Crystal, my

215
00:13:53,961 –> 00:13:57,569
bftr, my bestie for the restie. Your friend from California, Right? Yes.

216
00:13:57,617 –> 00:14:00,961
Yeah. Like an actual real life friend. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

217
00:14:01,073 –> 00:14:04,165
Yes. So she came out last December.

218
00:14:04,665 –> 00:14:08,289
And. Was it in December? Yeah, it was December because

219
00:14:08,337 –> 00:14:12,097
she came for Brooklyn’s birthday to surprise her. And so we got to

220
00:14:12,121 –> 00:14:15,953
record an episode together, and it was really a lot of fun. We’ve been

221
00:14:16,009 –> 00:14:19,763
friends for over 20 years, and. And that’s just fun to listen to that.

222
00:14:19,819 –> 00:14:23,123
Oh, and you know what another one we missed? That was what Another one that

223
00:14:23,139 –> 00:14:26,379
we hit the nail on the head and we didn’t, like. We didn’t hold

224
00:14:26,427 –> 00:14:30,095
back. And that was Hillary Morgan

225
00:14:30,675 –> 00:14:34,411
Ferrer. We kind of talked about Pride Month, and we talked about how navigating the

226
00:14:34,443 –> 00:14:38,099
insanity of all of this Alphabet soup, LGBT stuff. Yeah.

227
00:14:38,187 –> 00:14:41,843
With her. I mean, she was actually on twice this year, because she was.

228
00:14:42,019 –> 00:14:45,211
But that one was one that I really. In fact, last year, I had that

229
00:14:45,243 –> 00:14:47,999
on my heart. I was like, we need her to come on. And then, lo

230
00:14:48,007 –> 00:14:50,463
and behold, there was, like, a book she wrote about it. So I think that

231
00:14:50,479 –> 00:14:54,279
was a really. Yeah. She wrote the Mama Bear Apologetics Guide to Sexuality, which was

232
00:14:54,327 –> 00:14:58,087
so good. Amazing. And. And she’s fun to listen to. She’s fun to talk

233
00:14:58,111 –> 00:15:01,039
to. She’s fun. Yeah, she’s great. And you know what I like about her? I

234
00:15:01,047 –> 00:15:04,239
mean, not that I like this about her, but she has such a neat perspective.

235
00:15:04,287 –> 00:15:07,315
She actually does not have kids. And at first I was like,

236
00:15:07,895 –> 00:15:11,639
how can she? But you know what the Bible is? The Bible is the Bible,

237
00:15:11,687 –> 00:15:14,515
and the Word of God is the word of God. Yeah. And she can bring

238
00:15:14,555 –> 00:15:18,387
it. And she has such a unique way of then looking at logic and

239
00:15:18,411 –> 00:15:22,107
how to just handle the cultural things. And like she said, because she doesn’t have,

240
00:15:22,171 –> 00:15:25,891
you know, a hundred kids running around needing her, she has the time to

241
00:15:25,963 –> 00:15:29,291
really study and look into things that we all wish we had the time to

242
00:15:29,323 –> 00:15:32,467
do, and she does it for us. So I feel like when I listen to

243
00:15:32,491 –> 00:15:35,443
her, I’m getting an edge. Like, she’s done all the work, and now she can

244
00:15:35,459 –> 00:15:39,147
just educate me. And I really. I really like that. That was such a

245
00:15:39,171 –> 00:15:42,779
great episode. Schoolhouse Rocked doesn’t pull any punches. I mean, you guys,

246
00:15:42,867 –> 00:15:45,991
we’re just going to talk about what needs to be talked about, because it’s real

247
00:15:46,023 –> 00:15:49,247
life. Yeah. Yeah. And I love that the Lord

248
00:15:49,311 –> 00:15:52,951
provides the most amazing guests. You know, sometimes we go

249
00:15:52,983 –> 00:15:56,671
out and we have a particular guest or a particular subject

250
00:15:56,743 –> 00:16:00,463
that we want to talk about, and so we’ll try to find a guest to

251
00:16:00,639 –> 00:16:04,407
meet the needs of that subject. And then oftentimes people come to

252
00:16:04,431 –> 00:16:08,191
us. And I think we’ve talked about this before, but

253
00:16:08,303 –> 00:16:12,147
we go through a whole vetting process for every guest that comes

254
00:16:12,171 –> 00:16:15,843
on the podcast, they actually have to fill out a whole form. They have to

255
00:16:15,859 –> 00:16:19,483
agree to our statement of faith. They have to typically be

256
00:16:19,539 –> 00:16:23,123
homeschoolers or at least be very supportive of homeschoolers or former homeschoolers.

257
00:16:23,219 –> 00:16:26,179
Sometimes we’ll have people on who, you know, their kids are long grown and, you

258
00:16:26,187 –> 00:16:29,595
know, homeschooling wasn’t the thing back then, but they still speak to homeschool

259
00:16:29,635 –> 00:16:33,411
audiences. And so, you know, we’re very particular about

260
00:16:33,443 –> 00:16:36,415
who we have on. And there’s been people in the past that were like,

261
00:16:37,075 –> 00:16:40,115
maybe we shouldn’t have had that person on. You know, we’ll find out things about

262
00:16:40,155 –> 00:16:43,947
them. And. And we’ve actually removed a couple. I won’t say

263
00:16:43,971 –> 00:16:47,531
who, but there’s been a couple of episodes that we’ve actually removed from our

264
00:16:47,603 –> 00:16:51,227
playlist because we have found out things that we were not in

265
00:16:51,251 –> 00:16:54,179
agreement with and just said, no, you know, we don’t want them. Right. We don’t

266
00:16:54,187 –> 00:16:57,443
want their name being associated with Schoolhouse Rocked. But for the most part, we really

267
00:16:57,499 –> 00:17:00,535
pray through each of our guests and do our best

268
00:17:01,395 –> 00:17:04,731
to bring the most wise, godly counsel that we

269
00:17:04,763 –> 00:17:08,331
can bring to our audience. And so God’s been so

270
00:17:08,363 –> 00:17:11,795
faithful to provide amazing guests and so

271
00:17:12,455 –> 00:17:16,087
well. And the truth is, you and I aren’t experts on every topic. I mean,

272
00:17:16,111 –> 00:17:19,479
we’re not. And so it’s so fun to be on anything. Nothing

273
00:17:19,647 –> 00:17:23,487
except finding experts on the topics. And that’s what’s really fun, is to find the

274
00:17:23,511 –> 00:17:26,807
people that. That. That’s their wheelhouse, and they can talk about it. So, I mean,

275
00:17:26,831 –> 00:17:30,623
there were some incredible. A lot of fun episodes. Yeah. But, yeah, the school choice

276
00:17:30,679 –> 00:17:34,407
one blew everybody out of the water. And I still say you guys, go listen

277
00:17:34,431 –> 00:17:38,121
to that and take notes, educate yourself, and even share it with

278
00:17:38,153 –> 00:17:41,809
your legislators. Share it with people that are on the fence. I mean,

279
00:17:41,897 –> 00:17:45,441
it’s really a resource that we made for you. Yeah.

280
00:17:45,513 –> 00:17:49,257
Yeah, for sure. So, okay, we’re doing kind of a look back at the

281
00:17:49,281 –> 00:17:52,521
year. We have a couple minutes left. And so I want to talk about just

282
00:17:52,553 –> 00:17:55,137
a couple of other things that happened this year, and then we can talk more

283
00:17:55,161 –> 00:17:58,825
about it on Wednesday. But we had some other really big

284
00:17:58,865 –> 00:18:02,689
things that happened this year. So in May of this year, Garritt,

285
00:18:02,737 –> 00:18:06,433
my husband, launched the Thinking Dad podcast. And

286
00:18:06,609 –> 00:18:10,249
this was something that had been on his heart for a really long time. I

287
00:18:10,257 –> 00:18:13,729
mean, actually for years. And he had been praying about it and kind of waiting

288
00:18:13,777 –> 00:18:17,569
just for the right time. And so I have to tell you, I

289
00:18:17,577 –> 00:18:21,297
don’t know if We’ve talked about this, but it’s so funny. A whole bunch of

290
00:18:21,321 –> 00:18:24,441
things happened at one time, and we did not plan for all these things to

291
00:18:24,473 –> 00:18:27,713
happen at one time. But here’s what happened, and then we could talk a little

292
00:18:27,729 –> 00:18:31,139
bit more in depth about those particular things on Wednesday. But

293
00:18:31,307 –> 00:18:35,003
we were praying through the launch of the Thinking Dad podcast,

294
00:18:35,059 –> 00:18:38,443
and Garritt was, you know, the Lord was just bringing to his mind different guests

295
00:18:38,459 –> 00:18:41,667
that he’d like to have on, and he was reaching out to some different people,

296
00:18:41,731 –> 00:18:45,515
and so his guest list was growing, and he was super excited about that.

297
00:18:45,555 –> 00:18:48,707
Well, then we thought, well, if Garritt’s going to do a podcast, we need to

298
00:18:48,731 –> 00:18:52,291
redesign the studio, because we need to have a studio that’s a little bit more

299
00:18:52,323 –> 00:18:55,943
gender neutral for, you know, a man dad podcast and the

300
00:18:55,959 –> 00:18:59,783
Schoolhouse Rocked podcast, which we have dads who listen to the Schoolhouse Rocked podcast. But,

301
00:18:59,799 –> 00:19:03,143
of course, the majority of our listeners are moms. And

302
00:19:03,199 –> 00:19:06,991
so we did a whole redesign of the studio. I mean, like, we painted

303
00:19:07,023 –> 00:19:10,727
a whole wall. We did, like, completely redesigned it, of course, for those

304
00:19:10,751 –> 00:19:14,271
who watch on YouTube, if you go and look back at the

305
00:19:14,303 –> 00:19:17,287
studio a year ago and look at it now, you’ll see it’s completely different. So

306
00:19:17,311 –> 00:19:20,933
we did that. And then at the same time, the Lord had also put on

307
00:19:20,949 –> 00:19:24,653
Garritt’s heart to launch a network, a podcast network.

308
00:19:24,709 –> 00:19:28,065
And so we launched the Biblical Family Network.

309
00:19:28,765 –> 00:19:32,421
And somehow all of these things fell into line at the same

310
00:19:32,453 –> 00:19:36,221
time. Like, and when I say same time, I’m talking about within, like, a few

311
00:19:36,253 –> 00:19:40,029
weeks of each other. And this was around, you know,

312
00:19:40,197 –> 00:19:43,925
between, like, when we were putting all

313
00:19:43,965 –> 00:19:47,621
these things into the works. We were looking at this from,

314
00:19:47,653 –> 00:19:51,207
like, January until, well, May was when the Thinking dad

315
00:19:51,271 –> 00:19:55,063
launched, but I think it was either February

316
00:19:55,119 –> 00:19:58,687
or March. I can’t remember exactly. I think it was February that

317
00:19:58,831 –> 00:20:02,447
we started to put everything together and started to go

318
00:20:02,471 –> 00:20:05,795
into action on the Thinking dad, the new studio, the network.

319
00:20:06,135 –> 00:20:09,871
And it was one of those, like, what in the world have we gotten ourselves

320
00:20:09,903 –> 00:20:13,463
into? We don’t need to sleep, you know, let’s just redesign a

321
00:20:13,479 –> 00:20:16,639
studio and do a network, and, my goodness, plan a new podcast.

322
00:20:16,687 –> 00:20:20,509
And it was insane. And

323
00:20:20,557 –> 00:20:24,357
so the Lord got us through that time. It sounds kind

324
00:20:24,381 –> 00:20:28,101
of silly, but it was just a really, really overwhelming, busy

325
00:20:28,133 –> 00:20:31,477
day. That’s a lot to bite off at once. It was a ton to bite

326
00:20:31,501 –> 00:20:35,317
off at once. But it was really exciting because we were excited about each

327
00:20:35,341 –> 00:20:38,893
of those individual things. They’re all good things. They’re all good things. We’ll talk more

328
00:20:38,909 –> 00:20:41,373
about it. But we’re out of time for this episode already. I want to hear

329
00:20:41,389 –> 00:20:43,805
more about each of those things when we come back. Yeah, well, come back on

330
00:20:43,845 –> 00:20:47,421
Wednesday and we’ll talk more about that. And then, you guys, I’m so

331
00:20:47,453 –> 00:20:50,713
excited to talk to you about our big announcement and what we’ve got coming up

332
00:20:50,729 –> 00:20:54,001
in 2025. So stay tuned, stick with

333
00:20:54,033 –> 00:20:57,801
us, and happy Thanksgiving Monday. I’m

334
00:20:57,833 –> 00:21:01,409
excited that you guys are with us. If you guys have not

335
00:21:01,457 –> 00:21:05,241
watched the movie Schoolhouse Rocked, let me just say, if you have family coming

336
00:21:05,273 –> 00:21:08,961
over on Thanksgiving, that would be a free thing to do. Instead

337
00:21:08,993 –> 00:21:12,745
of football, I’m sure every husband and dad in

338
00:21:12,785 –> 00:21:16,193
your family would rather watch Schoolhouse Rocked instead of Thanksgiving

339
00:21:16,249 –> 00:21:19,865
football. And really, after Thanksgiving, you’re booked with Christmas

340
00:21:19,905 –> 00:21:23,269
movies. So you. To make sure that you get Schoolhouse Rocked

341
00:21:23,317 –> 00:21:27,077
watched before Friday, because then it’s. And then it’s Elf on Repeat.

342
00:21:27,141 –> 00:21:30,901
Well, I mean. No. Have you started watching Christmas movies yet?

343
00:21:30,933 –> 00:21:33,525
Oh, no, you’re not allowed to until after. Thank you. Please tell. I know you’re.

344
00:21:33,605 –> 00:21:37,341
Whatever. You’ve already watched them. Our house is already decorated. We already

345
00:21:37,373 –> 00:21:39,397
have all this stuff. We have this point of contention. Maybe we’ll talk about it

346
00:21:39,421 –> 00:21:43,065
on the next episode when I’ve cooled off a little. Okay, fine.

347
00:21:44,205 –> 00:21:47,397
All right, well, if you haven’t seen the movie yet, you can find it at

348
00:21:47,421 –> 00:21:51,197
our website, SchoolhouseRocked.com. we love you guys. Have a great

349
00:21:51,221 –> 00:21:54,625
rest of your day, and we will see you back here on Wednesday. Bye.