S2EP14-Hannah Bailey-Family First: How Homeschooling Transformed Our Lives

Herb: 00:00:19

Today I have the pleasure of introducing Hannah Bailey. Hannah is a small town rural homesteader who homeschools her nine year old and five year old children as well as raising one year old twins.

Hannah and her husband Micah took a leap of faith in both our home full time. With Hannah working remotely and Micah as a full time student.

She's going to share how freeing homeschooling can be and emphasize the importance of recognizing how much you are doing and how and document your experience so you can build off the work you have done as well as provide yourself a safety net.

As each state has different requirements for homeschoolers, Hannah runs a free homeschooling Facebook group with resources for parents to utilize such as curriculum, extracurriculars, supplemental work, live calls and assets to support each parent's mission. Welcome Hannah. It is a pleasure to have you here. We're really, really looking forward to talking with you today.

Hannah Bailey: 00:01:12

I'm so excited. This is going to be so good. Lay it on me. Let's talk. What do we want to dive into first?

Kristina: 00:01:20

Well, one of the things we always like to ask is kind of your why.

What was that impetus, what was that start of why you decided to homeschool your children instead of having them go to the local public school or charter.

Herb: 00:01:32

School or something to tack onto that, did the homesteading start at the same time or were you already kind of homesteading as you decided to start homeschooling?

Hannah Bailey: 00:01:42

So originally I started homeschooling first and I dabbled in it when they, when my oldest was three because I, I knew that I wanted to homeschool and that was no question whatsoever. Financially, homesteading had to come second because like I share my free homeschool group.

There are so many resources to make it feasible in any financial status, economic status that anyone is in, as long as you have the faith and the, the perseverance really to dabble in it. And not just dabble. Once you start dabbling, you're like, man, I actually can do this.

And you start talking to the right people, you get a community around you, you realize the resources that are out there. It really doesn't matter that it's between 8 and 3pm it can literally be an hour to 3 hours or less.

It can be on the weekends, it can be in the summer. Again, this, you want to make sure it's by your state's requirements because my state requirements are different than yours.

So just being aware of that and then homesteading came along and that made it even easier because it's like oh, this counts as homeschooling. This counts as homeschooling. This is something that a lot of children don't learn, like dissections and pregnancies of animals.

And you're going through all of the animal sciences and gardening and life science, so that came second. But the original question kind of how.

Kristina: 00:03:03

We got here, why did you decide homeschooling? How did you know from the very beginning?

Hannah Bailey: 00:03:08

Yeah, I. And I would say it's by childhood trauma. My parents were not present. And so I thought, man, I don't want to be an absent parent.

Not that that made me in any way, shape or form a negative person. I think I lacked empathy for a lot of years until I became a mother, which has been really nice to soften up.

And a lot of people that have known me from childhood into adulthood, they're like, wow, I never thought that this would be the path that you take because your childhood was nothing like this. And nothing against my parents. They did their best, but my mother was not a mother. And that's just what it is. I wanted to be a mother.

I wanted to have a connection and a relationship that I witnessed other people having when I would spend every single day and weekends with other friends and just kind of ping pong between houses.

And I'm like, man, they're so loved and their parents are homemakers and they're making them home cooked meals and they're paying attention and they're present, they care. They're not just kind of putting you up on a pedestal on the important days like senior nights and trophy awards. Anything that is big. Right.

And to be there. So I wanted to be there for everything and be that best friend, but obviously still a parent that I never got to have.

Kristina: 00:04:22

Yeah, that is so important. And that's one of the things that we really talk about when we're coaching and working with families as well is like, what are your family values?

Why are you doing what you're doing? Are you going to move into a place that, you know, makes your connection and communication better with your children, those kinds of things.

And that's what we really want to make sure that people are hearing and seeing is like, yeah, this is a chance for you to build those close communication, that close relationship. Then maybe you were lacking, you know, like, you unfortunately.

Or maybe you had a great relationship with your family and you want to continue that with your own children.

Herb: 00:04:56

So.

Kristina: 00:04:56

So, yeah, homeschooling can be happening for so many different reasons.

Herb: 00:04:59

Yeah, I liked everything you just said, except for one little Thing that I would like to put in there is I don't think parents should be their children's best friends. So just that might be a semantic issue, but, you know, parents shouldn't be their friends.

They're supposed to be respected, they're supposed to be revered and follow the directions. So it's not necessarily the point of being your child's friend, friend.

And, and so, you know, to, to be someone that they can talk to, to be someone that they can rely on. Absolutely. But.

Hannah Bailey: 00:05:30

Right.

Herb: 00:05:30

Friends, you know, you, you need to be able to discipline your children. And friends don't discipline friends.

Hannah Bailey: 00:05:35

Oh, for sure. And I will say we do plenty of chores. That is a requirement. They are participants in this house. They help run the house.

I want to make sure that they don't have to learn in their late twenties how to maintain a household. Like I had to learn because it was not required of me.

Kristina: 00:05:49

Right.

Hannah Bailey: 00:05:49

Had no understanding whatsoever.

And so coming into adulthood and having four children, I'm like, oh my gosh, I have to learn so many things that I had no clue what to do, how to do it, how to make it and how to problem solve that my children now have the privilege and luxury.

Because you don't realize that learning how to cook is kind of a luxury because now you have all these creative skills that go into how you actually look and address things, not just with cooking, but everything else. You're like, oh yeah, I can like swap this out and that might work for something. And I just, I want more for them.

Not that I lacked anything of physical like items or accessibility to things, but I didn't have the void filled that you want of a family unit. And that's why. And I'm sure we're going to get into questions on that of my husband's home with us all the time.

Herb: 00:06:44

So. So I have another question on that. Is, so you said your children's have chores. Is that like a top down thing or are they involved in that?

How did you get them to. Is it like, no, mom says that you have to do these chores or how did you get them to start willingly do that and growing into that?

Or how is that dynamic? Because there's a lot of people who say, oh, I can't get my kids to do anything.

And it's like I have to like put the hammer down to get them to do their chores. How is, how is that dynamic?

Hannah Bailey: 00:07:14

Yeah, I am, I'm very, I lack authoritarianism. Micah and my husband, My husband and I both went into the military two different branches. So we wanted discipline and structure for ourselves.

And we also wanted stability to some degree so that we could financially go to school without debt for college reasons, and so we could get our home loan super affordable. You know, it was that trade off that we wanted. So I think that comes into it.

But I realized that that belief system was not, hey, you have to do it structured to a T. I am kind of relaxed in that regard. Unlike him, he's a little more authoritarian than I am. He definitely is a top down kind of person.

Everything will end up being stopped by him regardless. He is the end all answer. I respect that. If something that I say yes to and he says no to, it's no and that's fine. You know, the. I respect that 100%.

But when it comes to chores, I think it was his mom that kind of encouraged it because they would go over there and they wanted to help. And it's funny because she has, you know, weak knees. And so she would say, would you mind helping me? My knees xyz. And so it became fun for them.

And it was easy to incorporate here at home because they're like, oh, Grandma Annie showed us how to do this. Let me show you. And so I wanted to make sure that they realized you're participating because you are creating part of the mess. I'm not your maid.

And they actually enjoy doing dishes. I have. My oldest is really good at doing dishes and I would prefer she'd be the one that does it all the time. She is so attention to detail.

My husband is not good at dishes. I'm like, boy, you like your mom did those and it's very clear and you try your best.

And my 5 year old wants so badly to do it, to be like her older sister. So for us, it's been fun. They loathe laundry, but they'll knock it out. And they're really excited. You and I talked about this before coming on here.

They're excited to see us downsize clothes because they're like, oh my gosh, less chores. And I'm like, isn't this fun? Like we. The more that we take care of it and do it and tackle it, it's less to do.

So I think also there might be a little bit of anxiety behind it for me because when my dad comes to visit, I'm like, all right, guys, my dad's coming. And they've heard some criticisms from him. You know, he just wants better for us too.

And so they're like, oh, well, we need to do this because it'll make him happy. And I don't try and say, if you do this, that creates the outcome of joy and happiness.

I want you to feel fulfilled and know, like, you're taking care of your space, you're taking care of your health. And I explained to them why we do it. Not that it's a, hey, you have to no matter what. Or else.

But I do also tell them, hey, we're under scrutiny no matter what, because we homeschool people know you're home. With me, we have people in every state that are targeted for the tiniest things. And I do teach them real life situations.

I say, anyone could say, hey, they live on a farm. Like, the superintendent could inspect whatever it is that we want, and it could become a snowball of things.

So I'm just like, we just need to be on our P's and Q's and cross our T's and dot our eyes.

Kristina: 00:10:20

I love that. It sounds like a very good balance right. Between that intrinsic motivation. Oh, you're taking care of your things, you're helping out the family.

But then that also outside world point of view is like, yeah, every once in a while, there's a question or there's a concern, and we have to be able to be able to meet those questions or concerns, you know? So I love that balance there.

Hannah Bailey: 00:10:43

Yeah. And I think back to when I was in college, they would do random inspections, and it's like, you're.

If you go into the real world and you're not just going straight from my home to your spouse's home or whatever you guys decide for each other, you might have someone supervising over you. And I don't want you going into that world un unprepared and scared or feeling like you have no idea what to do.

Like, I think back to when I was in college and I had a hole in my wall and I filled it with toothpaste and it cleared inspection. I don't. You know, like, I was, like, dodged a bullet there. But those are just things.

It's like you panic and you feel like you don't know where to turn, and you don't feel like you learned anything. You feel lost. Yeah.

Kristina: 00:11:27

That is so awesome. Because, like, yeah, like you said, you know, you're teaching them that respect, that responsibility, taking care of business, those kinds of things.

And then also just, you know, the reaction or the communication, the relationship with your dad coming over, you know, that's a little bit different than the other mom that you were talking about, the grandma, you know, and how do the kids deal with that? But that's something that you're able to give them that perspective on, you know, every day with that.

You know, one of the things we try to teach our boys when we were raising them is like, here's our home rules. But guess what? When you go to grandma and grandpa's house, there's a little bit different rules, and that's okay.

And out of respect for them, because they're the grandparents, we're going to follow those rules as best we can kind of thing.

So it was just a really good life learning for the boys to make sure that they understood, you know, there's different things that happen in different places.

Herb: 00:12:18

Yeah.

And another part of your story that I really, really appreciate and hopefully that you can actually now, maybe, as I say, this is the sacrifice and the responsibility. So you said you both went into the military because, you know, you wanted to buy a house, you wanted to be able to go to college debt free.

And so you sacrificed earlier in your life to be able to get farther down the road.

And now there are sacrifices that you're making through the homeschooling and through the homesteading in order to bring your family closer together, and you're prioritizing in the responsibility of that sacrifice. And so that is just such an amazing part of your story.

And I wanted to point that out, that, hey, I saw that, I recognize that, and I hope you're recognizing that as well as an amazing thing to be teaching your children as well. It's not instant gratification. Sometimes you do have to make a plan. So, like, hey, in five years, I want to do this.

So for the next couple of years, I have to sacrifice here to make this happen.

Hannah Bailey: 00:14:55

Yeah, it's crazy how fast five years goes. You look at it. I mean, we just crossed over four years on our homestead, and I realize how much is still out there for us.

I'm like, man, we're just getting started. We have not even done anything yet, which is so incredible and exciting.

And having children that are now of age that can experience it and that will be all that they know and they get to participate. And my twins, this is all that they know. You know, we might move somewhere else, but that's.

They just know this lifestyle and they won't know anything different. And I'm very excited about that because I'm glad we sacrificed in our 20s for everything that's coming in our 30s.

Kristina: 00:15:36

That is awesome. So I want to jump into that homesteading a little bit, you know, a Lot of people like, oh, my gosh, little kids around animals might be dangerous.

It's messy, it's dirty, it's whatever, whatever. Talk to us about that. How do you kind of balance that? Oh, they're getting so dirty and, oh, they're learning so much.

Hannah Bailey: 00:15:54

Oh, it is so fun. So I would say the dirt is definitely spring mud through fall, it's not. And they really do not care to participate in the winter, which is fine.

I am like, you know what? Don't be tracking in any more snow and ice than necessary because my husband's boots are enough. But when it comes to.

To the respect of the animals, like, we have two horses, a pony and a donkey. We've had pigs. They've watched one of our bores completely tackle me, and I've had to just like, barrel flip him over with me.

They recognize and respect boundaries and the fences, and they understand I can't just walk behind a horse. I can't, you know, chase the. The working dogs because they're there to work. They're not here to play.

We have a dog that they can play with, and they do, but they understand and respect animals, and I think that that goes into communication with humans much better because they don't lack empathy like I did. I was not very good about expressing my emotions and communicating as a child because I was very closed off.

But I also didn't have adults to have conversations with on a regular basis.

It was, you go into school, you're quiet for about eight hours, and you only talk to your peers a handful of times, and you're in passing, and you just have to focus. And that's not a way to live. They get to have conversations with so many different people.

They get to witness, like, we have a door dasher coming today, and the only door dasher that comes out this way for our groceries. Because I'm like, I'm not taking four children out in this weather. It's like zero degrees.

And I'm not sending my husband because there are other things that need to be done.

So they get to witness, though, that we're supporting a small business owner, or not a small business owner, but someone who is a contractor worker in the middle of the day and how to tip. They get to put away groceries with us. They get to plan meals with us. So I.

We made granola bars last night, and they got to witness how I modified the recipes. When it comes to all of the things that feel overwhelming or there's animals here, there's a crisis.

We've had pigs that literally needed sutured when they were getting castrated. That was really cool because I had a sewing kit that was prepared for it. And he survived. He's three years old now.

It's just incredible to show them and say, we can do this. People for hundreds of years have done this before us, and we don't need society to put doubts in us.

And that's also what I'm trying to preserve them from, is you don't need to be in an environment that does nothing but instill doubt in you, that you never elevate yourself into the life that you want. And I think a lot of people are like, oh, well, you're so isolated. It's so quiet. And I'm like, that's the best part.

It's isolated and quiet, and no one can tell me different. I can focus on everything that's positive. I can focus on my family and the joy and what books my children are reading.

Like, my oldest was reading the Boxcar children up till 3am the other day, and I was like, oh, my gosh, you cannot be. You need sleep. And she goes, oh, yeah, I read like 400 pages. I read three of them and I'm done now. And I was like, okay.

But that's what homesteading is nice about, too, because there's really no routine, and we have to get up multiple times a night to stock the wood stove. And they know that. And so there's constant checks and they're aware and they'll face the consequences if they're losing a little bit of sleep.

You know, I'll be generous, though, and I'll say you can sleep in a little bit, but you're going to get up pretty close to the time you normally get up, because that was a decision that you made, and I respect that decision.

But you have to also respect the way that this house runs, because one day you're going to be an adult, and if you have a work schedule or another time commitment, you should show up.

Herb: 00:19:28

So you talked about being secluded and what other kind of socializations are you having for your kids? Are they, like, going out for music? Are there sports, parents? Is there stuff outside of the home that they get to go to? How do you fit that in?

Hannah Bailey: 00:19:45

I say we're too social.

And honestly, I actually send my husband to do most of the socializing because I put out a lot more than he does, and he's very good about not engaging in conversation. I could not refrain from it if I was out and about. And so he takes the girls to American Heritage Girls.

It's the Christian version of Girl Scouts, which is really nice. They just did a tour of the fire department a town over the other day. They have awana tonight at a church that's in a different town.

So they're seeing people in different areas that we have either come from or done business in or done a farmers markets at. They go all of our farmers markets in the. It starts in April and it ends in October. Now they extended it this last year, so that's nice.

And they're in 4H. They're in way too many clubs. But I keep thinking like, you know, I can't say I'm not doing stuff with them.

And we've done plenty of out outschool classes that are live. I really like outschool for the sole fact that they give you a transcript and it tells you if they attended or not.

And I'm sure we'll get into the conversation of documentation, things like that. But I definitely have them participate in a lot of things. Vbs. Trying to think what else we've done recently.

Oh, we do have a few different co ops, but I refrained from it for the last three months. The topics were just not things that I cared about when it came to like holidays that we don't participate in and things of that nature.

We're starting Life Skills in a couple of weeks. That will be a five or six week program. We're using the gather round curriculum for that.

And then we have book clubs, magic tree house, and all of these are in different towns. And I don't know why I'm like, yeah, we can totally do all of this. So, you know, we're just making our rounds with friends.

So there's a lot of socializing. I'm like, we should probably reel it in.

Kristina: 00:21:36

And that's one of the key things that, you know, we speak about with families. Is that balance, right?

Hannah Bailey: 00:21:40

Yes.

Kristina: 00:21:40

You want them to absolutely be socialized and interact with lots of different people. But if you're just being busy for busy sake, is that really a good thing for them as well? So yeah, all of those kind of balance and checks.

Herb: 00:21:53

Yeah. And people talk about how they don't get socialized outside of school.

But you talked about the trauma in school and about how they're only talking with the one grade and that's only at recess time when they have to go out through the halls and get bullied or whatever and then sit quietly for eight hours. But now you're doing all of these things and what I like to talk about is cooperative experiences.

So school is more of a competitive experience, but you go to 4H. While there is competition, they're also cooperating with each other in it. They're in a lot of these other things you're talking about.

It's cooperative enterprises with different age groups, not just all people at the same age being told to sit quietly for. For basically five, six hours a day.

Hannah Bailey: 00:22:35

And that's what our gather round does as well. They have everyone from age 5, and I think the oldest child is 12. So they're all in the same room.

And they all have specific workbooks that are curated to their age range and whether they're pre reader, early reader, elementary, upper elementary, which is really nice. So they go through this together. Some only have one to three pages, others have five to 10. But there's no difference.

They're doing the same outcome, they're the same project, the same whatever. And you recognize that they can all work together. And actually, it's great to watch the older children help the younger children.

And I, I would say that we would reel it back in if we didn't have things scheduled, like in the middle of the day. If Micah wasn't home and he wasn't remotely in school, then I would say it would be way too much.

But we, because we have that flexibility in the balance, he can knock out his own school earlier in the week and be present, which most dads don't get to be present. So I feel very blessed in that regard as well, because there are so many things that most parents don't get to participate in.

And they're asking their neighbor, hey, can you shuttle this kid to practice? And I'll pick them up. You know, those are things that we just don't experience.

And I think a lot of people are worried that, oh my gosh, how am I going to juggle it all? And how am I going to format a curriculum? How am I going to connect with people and make this smooth for me or teach my children?

And I keep thinking over and over and over weekly, I say, how is it that a school, a public school system specifically, is creating parents and adults that do not feel qualified to teach their children, but they are. Like, we're qualified to teach your children, though, but we're going to leave you doubting yourself for the rest of your life?

That just doesn't make any sense.

Kristina: 00:24:24

Yeah.

Herb: 00:24:25

You know, the part that doesn't make sense to me is so many of these parents think they're not qualified because they didn't do well in school. They don't read well, they don't do math well, they don't have the English skills.

And it's like, okay, so that should prove to you that the schools can't reach everybody, that they don't necessarily know what they're doing.

And so where you're at, it's like, you know, as you start to teach your children, maybe you'll pick up some of those things that you missed, and it'll increase you as well as your children. So that's. That's one of the myths that we break, is that the parents aren't qualified to teach their children.

But a lot of the times right now, what's happening in schools is what they're teaching their children is to conform, and they're not actually giving them the proper education because we have to be on this page on this day. Oh, you didn't make it. Well, you'll have to try and catch up on your own.

And then as they get far behind, they get left behind, and then it's like the teachers just push them through so that their stats don't. Don't get hurt. And it's like, so, yeah, there's. There's all sorts of that. And then. And then at the same time, they're like, oh, no, parents.

The kids have to be in school because we're the teachers. And it's like, that is. That is such a big myth right now, and it's great to hear somebody else saying, yeah, that's. That's not the way it should be.

Hannah Bailey: 00:25:41

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Kristina: 00:25:43

And that's one of the messages that I give, because I was one of those teachers. I. I was a teacher for 27 years. Right. And I walked away from the public school, and it's one of those things like, Yeah.

I didn't understand at the beginning of my teaching career what this homeschool thing was about and how it really worked out very well. Right.

And then as my career grew and I got to know families more and I did the whole online curriculum where I was coaching parents as well as teaching the kids, it bridged that gap. It's like, there is so much bigger world out there in this homeschool, and parents can do it.

Herb: 00:26:17

Yeah. Actually, part of one of the reasons she left is because she wasn't one of those teachers who was teaching to the test.

She wasn't one of those teachers that was. Yeah. So she started fighting. The system is like, no, my kids need to learn the mastery.

They need to be able to get this and so I'm sorry, I'm not on this page, but my kids aren't ready to be there. And that created a lot of problems with her in the school, with her administration. And that was also part of the reason she ended up leaving.

So, you know, while she did say, yeah, I was one of those teachers, she wasn't.

Kristina: 00:26:48

I wasn't one of those teachers. Well, let's jump into one of your other areas of expertise.

You've mentioned it here, is that you really kind of help parents, kind of think about those on the homeschool journey about documentation. Because we all know that every state has a little bit different rules. There's different levels.

There's the low level homeschooling or like, oh, just sign the paper and you're off and going right kind of thing. And then there's those that kind of check in once in a while or those testing once in a while.

And then there's those that are like way in depth, like you have to turn things in and you have a plan. You help people kind of document and make sure they're keeping track of that stuff.

Hannah Bailey: 00:27:26

Yeah. So Indiana is super relaxed. You don't even have to submit anything.

If you start from the beginning of homeschooling, you don't have to report anything. If you pull your child, obviously you do have to report it and give, give reasons why and they're going to try and convince you to stay.

So be aware of that. So I feel very lucky that it was embedded in my heart to say, don't send them at all. Don't even put them into the system.

And we have 180 days that is required. I 100% keep a calendar for myself and for any means necessary, I recommend registering with hslda, their legal defense and heritage defense.

We pay both of them monthly. Because I am very outspoken online about a lot of controversial topics. I sometimes get into politics and disrupt the local government.

But in that regard, I want to make sure that my children are preserved too, that my political stance and whatever it is that I speak out against does not come back to hurt them.

And I make sure that I document everything because I, like I said, people are terrible and not everyone, but there are people that don't get it and they won't try to get it. They won't try to understand. They will always think that someone is unqualified and they go on this, you know, personal vendetta.

But when you actually document it and you look at it from the scope of what can I build off of and if you're like me, you want to see accomplishment. You want to see tangible proof that you are doing something. You want to see progress.

Like I said, I have a huge clothing rack behind me right now that you can't see. I love to watch things come off the racks, just like I love to see books pile up. I feel very accomplished and fulfilled in doing that.

My children, especially my oldest, specifically because she loves accomplishment. I said she stayed up till 3am reading three books.

Like, she is that person who is going to do something so that she is like, I am very extrinsically motivated. My 5 year old is not. She is very emotional. She's constantly telling me her emotions and saying, like, you're the best mom.

Giving me validation, which I never had as a child, which is really wonderful to have as an adult. And I'm like, man, I'm doing the right things.

But to, you know, compound off of that, you want to make sure you're doing the right things because there it might be a possibility that the superintendent gets a report and says, oh, this homeschooling family is spouting off that they're doing xyz, But I don't think that they're actually educating their children.

And we see it all the time in Facebook groups that educational neglect comes up and then all of a sudden you have a DCS CPS case and they start investigating. And if you don't have anything to prove for it, you need to have a safety net.

That's basically what I'm trying to convey here is give yourself a safety net. Even if you are not someone that is like, I want to see a pile of things stack up. Please do it for your own safety going forward.

Just like it's recommended that you keep a logbook of what you're spending so you don't end up in debt and you don't end up in the negatives and you have gas in your tank and food in your fridge. Right?

We want to make sure that there's that safety net as well for your children because it is very easy for a court to say they're going to public school and that's it. There's no fight. You don't get a say. That's what it is. They find you unfit and you're lucky that you even have custody, which is really unfortunate.

you have people just like in: 2020

Not saying that that happens very often, but because most homeschool parents are very caring and very detailed with their children. They are almost helicopter parents, at least myself. And they make themselves very aware of what is coming the next day.

I, I would say that there are eclectic parents that are free will like wild schooling. However, I think there is some degree of structure just about everywhere.

It is very rare that you will find a parent that is not keeping detail of something to some degree. But be cautious with that and make sure that safety net is there in place. Everything can be uploaded to a Google Drive now. It's free.

Herb: 00:31:54

The hypocrisy of judges saying that the children are educationally neglected and sending them back to public schools when right now less than half of, less than half of graduating seniors can read at or above a sixth grade level. They don't have the math competencies. It's like we have so many children in Oregon that aren't even graduating like right now.

It's like, I think only like 30% of the, of the students in school don't graduate anymore. So. So a judge saying, oh no, they have to go back to public school. It's like the hypocrisy of that is just unbelievable at times.

Kristina: 00:32:31

And the other thing that popped in my mind when you were talking about these different documents and things is like if you move because you don't know when something might happen and if you have to move to a different state, that's going to change the way things are looked at sometimes.

So if you have those records to take with you, they can't say anything about, oh, you haven't been doing A, B or C because you have those records that you're taking with you, with you.

Hannah Bailey: 00:32:53

Yes, very good point. Especially military families. I see a lot of military homeschoolers and it's like you have to go off of your home base, wherever that is.

Some will keep their original state and their housing like with a family member or whatever and based off of that and they just continue to move and they just report if they have to. You know, there are, there are things that can be modified is the word I'll use to accommodate to your family specific needs.

But that is something that I, I recommend looking at. Hslda, I'm not a legal counsel by any means. I Do my best. But again, I take no liability.

Kristina: 00:33:32

Remind me that the acronym is Homeschool Defense Association. Yeah. Yep. And they're very reasonable because I've also referred parents to that. They're very reasonable for a membership.

And then if you're a homeschooling family and for some reason you do get in trouble, you have a lawyer right there. Ready to go. Yeah. Yes.

Hannah Bailey: 00:33:52

And I think they have military discounts too. I forget what our rate is, but it's something nice.

Kristina: 00:33:58

Yeah, exactly. Thank you. So do you have a form or something that you usually use or are you just saying, you know, just write things down?

Hannah Bailey: 00:34:05

Yeah. My calendar is by block for the next week, so it has Monday through Friday at the top. We obviously don't fill all of them out.

And then on the side you can put subjects, which is really nice. It was like an eight dollar on Amazon calendar. So nice. You can write some goals in it. It's all fillable.

I do write the day, the number of the, that we're on at the top of whatever day that we are on. So I think we're on like day 114 or something out of 180. So I try to give us a buffer.

I try to hit 200 days just to have that extra cushion in case it's like, oh, well, you didn't study math for six days in a row. I'm like, it doesn't matter, you don't have to do that.

Kristina: 00:34:46

Right.

Hannah Bailey: 00:34:47

Just giving myself options and making it fun. And I like, I said I'm, I like instant gratification. I like to see it and progress, to see all of the work that we've done and flip back.

Kristina: 00:35:00

So you have a nine year old and a five year old and they don't learn the same. You've already said. Yeah. So how do you kind of balance that? Because, you know, when you only have one child, it's pretty easy, right?

But when you get multiple children in there, are you spending like a lot more time because you have multiple children or what are you doing to kind of bridge that gap?

Hannah Bailey: 00:35:20

So no, my 9 year old is very self driven, self taught. I call her my little George Washington. I'm like, you are so good, I don't even have to worry about you.

And so she'll go to her quiet place, sit on her bed and do all of her schoolwork and bring it down, set it down. She loves workbooks and I love that she's very much like me and my 5 year old. You can repeat something over and over and over again.

And this proves that repetition and temporary memorization is trash because she will memorize it temporarily and then all of a sudden, boom, it's gone. So she's a visual, hands on learner. She cannot just write it down or have it auditory.

s,: 2000

And we're like, what did I. I'm like, what's the Pythagorean theorems? Sometimes I'm like, micah, what?

Herb: 00:36:19

So, okay, well, I wanted to answer that question. It has to do with right angles and A squared plus B squared is equal to C squared.

Hannah Bailey: 00:36:27

I said that to him the other day and he goes, that's not it. And I'm like, what? I was like, are you. This is why I homeschool the children. He's definitely a history buff and loves all the animal science stuff.

So I'm like, you just do all your woodworking and you hang out outside?

Herb: 00:36:41

Yeah, Newtonian. Newtonian math. So, yeah, I get it. It's.

Hannah Bailey: 00:36:45

He's.

Herb: 00:36:45

I, I had fun with numbers. I, I remember numbers. It's.

Kristina: 00:36:49

He, yeah, he was a number guy. That's always the reading person.

Hannah Bailey: 00:36:53

If my, if my husband gets in to sit down with our five year old, he will be huffing and like stressing out. And he's like, why are you not getting this? And I'm like, get up. I'll handle it. Like, this is not your job. This is my job.

I took this on because I love it. And all of a sudden she'll remember it and I'm like, you're stressing her out.

But it also proves, like, the dynamic of public school could be very stressful. And you want them to be comfortable to learn and understand what they're learning.

Herb: 00:37:21

Yeah, you know, just kind of talking about numbers for a little bit. Another dig kind of at public schools is I helped Christina with her math home with a lot of grading her papers.

And so, you know, I would get a stack of papers and, and I loved doing the math because I wouldn't even have to use a cheat sheet to be like, oh, that's wrong, and just go through. And then one day she brought me a stack of math papers and I'm looking at it and after like half an hour, I couldn't figure out what to do.

I couldn't do second grade math anymore. And it's like, I Have no idea what this is talking about or how it's related to math.

And it made, you know, it's like children shouldn't be learning this way.

Hannah Bailey: 00:37:58

books that are from the early: 2000

I'm like, I don't know if they're still printing them. Wherever you can find them, get them. Because my oldest doesn't need to put her work in the side. She just gets it. And I'm so proud of her.

But I'm thinking, oh my gosh, how am I going to teach the five year old when all these workbooks are done? Like, just read it and learn.

Kristina: 00:38:24

Yeah. And you know, he was referring a lot to Common Core. Oh, yeah, yeah. And Common Core math is a roundabout, wild, crazy thing.

And of course being the teacher and kind of down the middle is like, there are a few good things in Common Core because they really want the children to think about how they're getting the answer. But yeah, all the hoops they jump through is ridiculous.

Hannah Bailey: 00:38:45

Yeah, it's wild. I remember it came out probably three to five years after I graduated and I just remember hearing about, what do you mean?

You have to expand on this and then show every possible way that it can be solved. I thought, that's ridiculous. You got the answer, move on.

Herb: 00:39:01

Yeah, yeah. So I go into, I, you know, we talked about conspiracy theories.

I go into the conspiracy theories of the dumbing down of the American population because you can't control an educated population. And for there to be one world government, the one world government is not going to be called the United States of America.

So these globalists have to destroy America. So blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Education under attack though. What was that?

Hannah Bailey: 00:39:26

I have a book to recommend to you. The Lies My Teacher Told. I haven't started it yet. I just downloaded it in audible and it is the lies my teacher told.

So I'm eager to listen to it, to hear here because it is about the public school system and.

Kristina: 00:39:42

Yeah, yeah.

Herb: 00:39:44

You know, I think, I think it's more that the lies that the teachers believed because I don't think that the teachers were in on it because they really do. Most of them really do have the best interest because you don't go into teaching for money. You go into it because it's a passion.

But over that course of, of learning and having, then having to go through the school system and fight with the.

Kristina: 00:40:02

Administration and the administration top down, like you have to do this have to do, do this. Yeah.

Herb: 00:40:07

So it's not always the teachers. There are, there are bad teachers out there, but there are also some really great teachers who are just stuck in a system.

Hannah Bailey: 00:40:15

Yeah.

Herb: 00:40:15

So I, I, you know, I do have to preface that because she gets.

Hannah Bailey: 00:40:18

Angry at me for bashing i100 and Facebook friends with the majority of my high school teachers because they all retired shortly after I, we left. My class left. And they definitely don't agree with the way that things were going, which is nice to see them take a stand.

Kristina: 00:40:32

Yeah, exactly.

Herb: 00:40:33

Yeah. We found out just recently that one of her principals homeschooled his children while she was teaching in the school with the principal.

He homeschooled his kids?

Kristina: 00:40:45

Yeah.

It was really, just really interesting that that never really came up in any of the, you know, the staff meetings or anything because we were a very close knit faculty. Right. And the fact that it just never came up, I was just totally shocked. But, you know, more power to him.

I'm glad he did what was best for his family.

And that's our biggest, you know, thing that we want parents to know and hear from Vibrant Family education is that you need to be the empowered parent. You need to be the one that does the best for your children, depending on what it is. And for some kids, public school is absolutely perfect.

Other kids, you need to build supports around them and for other kids, get them out of there because it's not the best for them.

Herb: 00:41:28

Yeah. We interviewed a lady on our podcast just a couple of days ago, and her school is fantastic. They love the teachers.

The teachers are actually teaching the children really well. And so she's like, if it ever, if it ever is not that way, she's like, I'm ready to homeschool. Because it's like. But she's incredibly involved.

She goes to the teacher meetings as much as she goes to the school and deals with the, with the, with the school and with her children. Like, she can spend that time homeschooling as well. But right now the children love being in school. They're being taught very well.

Kristina: 00:42:00

And so she's building a nutrition business for busy mom. So, yeah, she's got a purpose and a mission.

Hannah Bailey: 00:42:06

Yeah, well, and she's present with the children at school, you know, and that's.

Herb: 00:42:09

The most important thing. Yeah, yeah.

Hannah Bailey: 00:42:11

Most, most parents don't get to be because it would cut into their time off and work just wouldn't allow for it.

So it is definitely very different, you know, having hands on, being accessible and being able to just say, hey, I can be at this meeting, I can be wherever. And again, most parents won't even take that time because they're like, oh, some other parent will fill in the gap.

Herb: 00:42:31

Yeah. And that's where we come back to sacrifice and priorities because so many.

And family values because so many people say, oh, my family is the most important thing. Well, let's look at your actions. Are your actions saying that your family is the most important thing?

Are you sacrificing, are you scheduling time to be and grow your family? Or are you delegating that out so that you have more me time because you're tired and people aren't ready for those convictions.

Kristina: 00:42:56

Right.

Herb: 00:42:56

So that's, that's, that's.

So when we find people who are like, no, I'm really committed to this, it's like, yes, that's, that's really who we want to work with because it's like they realize that, like you, how important the family is and how important it is for, for life to be able to get back to these grounded.

Hannah Bailey: 00:43:13

Right.

Kristina: 00:43:14

And that's where I actually wanted to kind of dive in. Next is that you said that you work from home and that your husband is full time in school.

And a lot of people say, how in the world can you work from home and not have a second income and be able to be present for your kids and do all of these things? Maybe I'm a single mom and I, you know, don't think I have time or I don't think I can. Can you give a few hints there?

Hannah Bailey: 00:43:38

Yeah, well, for starters, I don't make exceptions, excuses for anything. I have a lot of self accountability and ownership.

And I think that's what a lot of people lack is they don't want to take ownership for their actions of what got them into the situation that they're in. I would say we got very blessed when we bought this farm. It came with three pigs, like 30 chickens, a couple ducks or whatever.

You know, we had a starter pack. The. Unfortunately, the family that was also homeschooling had to downsize due to financial issues and everything.

And they've been very wonderful ever since. Like, we stayed in touch here and there, but we got that little leg up that most people wouldn't have.

I built my community though my following has been years in the making. So a lot of people have been there through the journey.

They're very quick to want to participate in my life and be helpful with like, oh, this is free. Here is this. I will say, while I do have a full time income. I do like to dabble in selling things on the side.

Like I resell clothes and I have friends that will give us all of their hand me downs. It's ridiculous. And I didn't realize how many we actually had until. Until it got overwhelming. My husband's like, you have a problem.

And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. I have a store and I can fix this. So when it comes to how we got everything, we repurpose as much as we absolutely can.

hen he got out of the Navy in: 2021

We were very blessed that he was one of three that got to keep his benefits and didn't have any issues kicked back on him. So he has a GI bill and the Navy, unlike some other branches, they allow. They pay for housing now. So like he does get a monthly allotment.

It's only one payment a month. However, it covers our mortgage. Also, like we. I've broken it down.

I'm a very much spreadsheets person nowadays and I did not used to be this way until last year when I said, hey, I'm gonna look at where our finances are going. And then four months into the year, I said, you can quit your job. So April will be one year. And he did not work from April till August.

And then we started getting payments in August. I wouldn't say it was hard because we had plenty of pigs to sell and barter. We do a lot of barter trade.

We have a great community that thrives in that regard. I think a lot of people are afraid to get started in that though. So you have to get creative if you want this to work and you want to be home.

You have to recognize where is your money going? What am I spending my money on? What is a want versus a need? Am I going to sacrifice? It really comes down to sacrifices.

And really is it a sacrifice if it's kind of creating a poor habit? Not really. That's a gain in my book. So you don't need to. I was literally tracking all of his gas station. That's when he was working.

And I'm like, you can save $500 by not driving into work every week and going to the gas station either. And I was like, what the heck? I was like, you literally don't even make any money working at this point. So come home. We'll figure it out.

And it's been great.

Kristina: 00:46:45

I love that. Absolutely love that.

Herb: 00:46:47

Yeah.

Kristina: 00:46:48

And, you know, that's part of that empowerment. You know, you can be the empowered parent. You can make those choices, you make those sacrifices.

And sacrifice so many times is used as kind of like a negative word, but it's not. It's one of those things that basically is you're willing to do something for the gain of something else. Right.

Hannah Bailey: 00:47:05

That's the sacrifice.

Kristina: 00:47:06

Yeah, exactly. This has been such a wonderful conversation, Hannah. This has been so wonderful.

Thank you for being here with us today and sharing all of these different kinds of things. Was there one thing that we didn't quite get to talk about that you were hoping to talk about?

Hannah Bailey: 00:47:20

No, I think this was great. I'm always happy and welcome to. Come on. If you ever welcome me back, I'll be like, let's talk about something else.

This is just something that I find really enjoying. Enjoying. Enjoyful. Joyful. Enjoying.

Kristina: 00:47:34

Enjoyable.

Hannah Bailey: 00:47:35

Enjoyable. Yeah. You know, I hear them talking out there, and I'm like, what the heck is going on?

Like, you know, you guys can't hear him, but I'm like, in the world. They're already, like, gabbing about stuff, so, yeah, perfect. Oh, my gosh. I can only imagine what I'm about to walk out to.

Kristina: 00:47:52

Right? Exactly.

Hannah Bailey: 00:47:53

I appreciate you, and we've had great conversation, and I really look forward to further conversation with you.

Kristina: 00:48:01

So we're adding some links and things into the show notes, but go ahead and say out loud, how can people get a hold of you if there's something that you said that sparks like, I need to ask Hannah more about this.

Hannah Bailey: 00:48:11

So I do have a link tree. I don't remember it off the top of my head. I believe it's link TR e. I don't know. Something sl Hannah Bailey. And you can just find me on Facebook.

Hannah Bailey. It should populate me because it. It just got verified, so it should show the current one and the top one. And I am very social.

I have homeschooling for free with Hannah Bailey. And that's a group. You do have to answer questions. I respect the group's integrity.

I don't want Facebook to block it and shut it down because people are being spam added. I will not let people in if they don't answer their questions.

I don't want people to just mass exodus because of that and being like, well, this isn't for me, so just Try and find me on Facebook. I'm very social. I'm slowly getting my Instagram going and threads. Apparently that's the new TikTok slash Twitter X whatever.

Now I'm super outdated on most social media. Facebook is where I'm at the most. I'm like, I want those connections.

I want the elderly type of connection where you're commenting on their picture and you're like, I'm going to call you so they get that notification.

Kristina: 00:49:17

Perfect. Well, thank you again, Hannah and audience. There we go. Lots of more tips and tricks and gold nuggets dropped into this episode for you.

Make sure you're picking them up, using them, taking them with you.

And make sure you're making great, empowered choices for you and your family, for your child's education, and make sure that you're thinking about what are things going to look like a few years down the road. Could I have changed something right now that would make a greater impact for me and my family?

So thank you for joining us today and I hope that you have a wonderful. I got lost. Go.

Herb: 00:49:54

Hey, thank you for being here today. It was a really great conversation.

Thank you for talking about sacrifice and doing that for your family and then sharing how joyful that can actually be and how that sacrifice can actually be a benefit and then for putting yourself out there.

You know that that can be so dangerous in this day and age and that you're doing it and again, you're showing how other people can do it, but also to protect themselves as well. That is such an amazing thing to bring out. So thank you for being here.

Thank you for doing what you're doing and thank you for being brave enough to share it out to the world.

Hannah Bailey: 00:50:29

Thank you.

Kristina: 00:50:31

All right, everybody, until next time, make sure you like and review and subscribe. Spread this around because we want everybody hear all these great things. Thanks for everything. Bye for now.

Herb: 00:50:41

Bye for now.