Schooling From Home? We’ve Got The Help You Need! – With Sam Sorbo: Are you actually SACRIFICING more when you DON’T homeschool? Parents all around the country are experiencing the benefits of investing time in their children at home. Tune in today to hear Sam Sorbo share resources for those who have been thrust into homeschooling due to Coronavirus.

Air Date: 04/22/2020

Guest: Sam Sorbo

On-air Personalities: David Barton, Rick Green, and Tim Barton

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Transcription note:  As a courtesy for our listeners’ enjoyment, we are providing a transcription of this podcast. Transcription will be released shortly. However, as this is transcribed from a live talk show, words and sentence structure were not altered to fit grammatical, written norms in order to preserve the integrity of the actual dialogue between the speakers. Additionally, names may be misspelled or we might use an asterisk to indicate a missing word because of the difficulty in understanding the speaker at times. We apologize in advance.

Faith and the Culture

Rick:

You find your way to the intersection of faith and the culture. It’s WallBuilders Live, where we’re always talking about today’s hottest topics in policy and faith and the culture, all the different things that affect our lives, our families, our homes, our businesses, we look at all of those things from a biblical, historical and constitutional perspective. So needed right now, so important for us to step back and look at what’s happening to ourselves and to our nation, but look at it in the context of history, in the context of freedom and what it means to produce a good society where freedom can flourish, where people can be prosperous, where they can be free to worship as they choose, all the things we’ve enjoyed as Americans for so long. And so, we always take that biblical, historical and constitutional perspective.

We have David Barton, our founder here at WallBuilders and America’s premier historian. Tim Barton, national speaker and pastor and president of WallBuilders. And my name is Rick Green, I’m a former Texas legislator and America’s Constitution coach. You can find out more about all three of us at our website, wallbuilderslive.com. It’s also a great place to get archives of the program. If you’ve missed some programs in the past few months, they’re all available right there on the website. And now that you’re stuck at home, probably in most places across the country, you can actually get a ton of great information there and it’s a great time to be able to catch up on those programs.

This is what day 35 of the COVID crackdown, so people all over the country are literally stuck in their homes. We got overzealous governors and local leaders that have gone way too far with this thing, frankly become unconstitutional in many of their orders. But we all obviously, are taking this serious and most of us were self-quarantine as soon as we could anyway, if you could work from home, you did and we’re doing everything we can to save as many lives as possible. But also, we want to be rational about this and get America back to work. And so maybe you’re stuck at home right now and you’re trying to decide what to do with that time and how to redeem the time and make the most of it.

Visit All Our Online Sites

One of the things we want to encourage you to do, like I said, go to the website at wallbuilderslive.com and catch up on some of those programs, but also, we want you to become a force multiplier. This is a great time to share WallBuilders Live with other people that you know. Take some of those programs where we’ve covered these tough topics and we’ve given that biblical, historical and constitutional perspective, take that and share it with your friends and family through social media. A lot of people are spending more time on social media right now than ever, so it’s a great time to use that as a tool to educate them. So, you can share those things. 

You can go to our website wallbuilderslive.com and make a contribution today. That’s your way of coming alongside us and helping to amplify our voice so that we can reach more people with truth, oh, do we so need truth right now in our culture. You can be a part of that. Come alongside us, make that contribution at wallbuilderslive.com. We fully recognize these are difficult financial times, many people are concerned about what lies ahead as we do reopen the country and so we understand that, we totally get that. And we just ask that if you can, if you’re in a position where you can still contribute, we desperately need to get the voice of truth out there and we need to be able to broadcast this to as many people as possible. So please consider becoming a part of that today at wallbuilderslive.com.

Now, a little bit later in the program, actually, as soon as I come back from break, Sam Sorbo is going to be with us Now, many of you have seen Sam in movies. You’ve seen her husband, she’s literally married to Hercules, Kevin Sorbo. And she’s going to be on with us to talk about homeschooling right now.

Coronavirus Homeschooling

People that are schooling from home for the first time and the website I want to give you even before we go to break and come back with Sam is coronavirushomeschooling.com. And it’s a great website, set up to help people navigate this that have maybe never been in this position. But as we go to break, I want to speak both to those of you that are maybe schooling from home for the first time in your life and to those of you that are home schoolers that have done this for years, we have a tremendous opportunity for you. It starts on May 4th, Monday, May 4th and then every Monday, Wednesday, Friday afternoon.

We’re going to get together live and you’re going to have the chance to go with us across the nation to these really cool historical sites. We’re going to share our television program, ‘Chasing American Legends’, where we investigated history mysteries and legends and all kinds of cool stuff. And we have a lot of great guests that were on that program with us.

So, we’re going to air those programs and then we’re going to be on live discussing that with you and we’ll have the guests from each program. They’re with us live on the webinar. So, Brad Stein is going to be with us, Dr. Alveta King, David Barton, Tim Barton, all these folks that shared those programs with us. We’re even going to have special guests, you may be surprised were able to get him, George Washington, the Reverend Jonas Clark, they’re going to join us. So anyway, it’s going to be really fun. Check that out at patriotacademy.com. That’s the place you sign up, patriotacademy.com.

Click on the link for the crash course, the History and Government crash course. It’s going to take place Monday, Wednesday and Friday starting on May 4th. It is free to anyone that is a member of a state homeschool association. And if you’re not a member, you should be, because they’re going to help you navigate these waters. And then if you don’t have one close to you, or you just don’t want to join, then we have a way for you to still be a part of this as well. So, it’s for anyone and everyone, especially those that are schooling from home right now. But frankly, if you just want to enjoy some great history and some great diving into the Constitution, check it all out at patriotacademy.com We’ll be right back on WallBuilders Live.

Dangers of a Party Spirit

This is David Barton with another moment from America’s history. Over recent years, elections and politics in general have become increasingly partisan. One party is pitted against the others, each advances his own stereotypes. President George Washington believed this was detrimental to the nation. He declared, “Let me warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party. Its common and continual mixtures are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms. It Kindles the animosity of one party against another and governments purely elected, the spirit of party is a spirit not to be encouraged.”

Therefore, in this year’s elections do not allow political party to be a deciding factor. Vote for each candidate according to the principles and policies that he individually represents. For more information on God’s hand in American history, contact wall builders at 1808REBUILD.

Rick:

Welcome back WallBuilders Live, thanks for staying with us today. Sam Sorbo is with us, you’ve seen her on television and on movies and in interviews. She has produced and co-starred in several recent movies, ‘Let there be Light’ was huge couple years ago, Miracle in East Texas. She is literally married to Hercules and we are thrilled to have her on. Sam, thanks for coming on today.

Sam:

It is great to be here. I love what you guys do.

Rick:

Well, you have done a lot of different things and I don’t know if you believe this or not. But I think what you’re doing right now may have the most impact of all of your many projects. You’re helping all of these millions of people that have suddenly been thrust into schooling from home and you’re giving them great ideas on what to do, help them keep their sanity and also, at the same time, learn some great things while the kids are at home with them.

Welcome Sam Sorbo

Sam:

I love that you recognize that. First of all, Home Education has been a passion of mine for going on nearly a decade. And so, I’ve been doing this even before we became a nation of accidental homeschoolers. When COVID-19 first came down and they started sending kids home from school, I immediately started putting up videos to just come alongside parents and empower them. I felt a calling that my job is to empower parents to educate their children.

And let’s be clear, home schoolers are also under duress. Because just because we call ourselves homeschoolers doesn’t mean we school at home. And so, we’re all sort of, you know, stressing now, although it’s a lot easier for us because we’ve been educating our children for a long time.

And so, that’s why I joined up with Texas Homeschool Coalition. And they put together resources for parents that consist of basically daily lesson plan. So, K through 12, you can go to the site. First of all, the first thing you’ll see at the website is, don’t worry, you’ve got this, because we want to encourage parents. We want parents to understand, if you graduated at high school, you’re perfectly capable of educating a young person.

How Good Was Your Own Education?

And the fact that you don’t feel like you’re capable is where I come in to say, think about that if you don’t feel capable. What good is your education then? And if your education is that bad, why would you send your child to the same institutions that are arguably worse than they were when you attended. Right?

Rick:

That is so good, and that’s part of what I’m hoping comes out of this and we’re in the same boat. I mean, we homeschooled all four of our kids all the way through. We loved every minute of, well, maybe not every minute, we love 99% of it. And I think what people are going to find is, wow, this is kind of cool to get this much time with my kids. Think of the influence that parents are now going to get to have on their children that they haven’t been able to have in the past with that extra time and getting to choose the curriculum.

And you’re pointing out, it’s so much easier than people think it’s going to be because of the tools that are out there. There’s so much available to folks and that’s what you’re putting in their fingertips that they maybe you’re scared to do, they don’t know where to look, they’re thinking it’s going to be harder than it is and you’re handing it to them on a silver platter.

Shop Around

Sam:

Well, that’s what we’re all about. But the fact is that there are plenty of resources that are available, specifically right now online for free, because there are a lot of curriculum providers who are saying, hey, first of all, we want to help because there’s a national crisis. But secondly, maybe we’ll get some more customers in the long run, so, we’ll offer this stuff for free. So, I’m encouraging parents, shop around.

And for instance, a lot of schools are sending home the curriculum, they’re sending stuff for the parents to do with the kids. By all means, look closely at what the school sending home and you decide if that seems appropriate, if it’s reasonable, if it’s even good. And then the other thing saying is go to coronavirushomeschooling.com and get the downloadable content that we’re sending and do a comparison. Since when do you ever get to really compare and contrast, right?

Rick:

Right.

Sam:

We’re shoppers, we’re a nation of shoppers. Right? So, shop around, test-drive this, test-drive home education, kick the tires and see if it isn’t something that fits for your family. And I’ve already had emails from lots of families who are saying things like, I don’t think I’ll ever put my child back in school now that I see how easy this is and how much they’re enjoying spending time with their kids, how much they’re enjoying running the show and being able to determine what the kids are learning. And I got an email this morning from grandparent who’re like, these kids haven’t learned anything in school. Well, they’re learning now, you know.

A Wakeup Call

Rick:

What a wakeup call. And what a fun thing to get to learn with your kids, right? I mean, that’s part of what we got to do as homeschool parents, we learned things that we didn’t get back when we went to public school or however, we were educated or we just forgot over the years and it can actually be fun. There’s so many great curriculums out there and materials out there. I mean, we’re doing a deal with where we bring history to life and teach the Constitution from Independence Hall. And so, parents get to do that, they get to do it with their kids.

And I think you’re exactly right. I think people are going to discover something here, where homeschooling, it was already exploding across the country because a lot of the crazy stuff going on in schools these days, it was already exploding. I think this is just going to catapult it and folks are going to find that they can do this and they want to do this.

Sam:

Well, what WallBuilders has done over the years has just been phenomenal for buttressing the foundations of this nation. And the fact that we don’t teach founding principles in our schools anymore for the most part, but that we do teach socialism, it’s a travesty frankly. And so, I and to your earlier point, I would just say, this is the best kept secret, but it shouldn’t be a secret, but it is kind of that home education is as much about educating the parents as it is about educating the child.

It’s about relationship. It’s about the relationship that the parent can have with the child. But also, you know, if you feel in competence, that is a perfect place to begin. Because what you have the opportunity to do is to show the child, learning is not hard, learning is not scary, mommy is going to learn how to do this for you and you’re going to learn from what mommy teaches you. And so, what a fantastic place to be, so that you can be the, what I call the lead learner for your children. So, because here’s the thing. You want your children to grow in their unique ability. Right?

Teach How to Learn

So, you know, one of my kids is basically a rocket scientist, I’m not a rocket scientist. I can’t possibly teach him rocketry, but he can certainly learn it. All I need to do is teach them how to learn it. And so, I just need to lead them to the right YouTube pages, basically. I mean, these days with the internet, forget about it. The world is open to you. Why would you want to put it inside a box like a school institution?

Rick:

That is so good. How did you say that a while ago, lead learner, as the parent, you’re the lead learner, was that the phrase?

Sam:

That’s my phrase? Yes.

Rick:

Lead learner. Okay, I love that. I love that. And it’s so true. That’s what we found as a family. I mean, look, I’m a history, you know, coach and Constitution coach. And yet when I would do things with the kids, I would find stuff in that area even that I was supposed to expert on that I could learn from, you know, let alone in other areas that I’m terrible at and didn’t know much about. You’re so right about, we’re to leave… Okay, coronavirushomeschooling.com is the website, coronavirushomeschooling.com. We’ll do links today at wallbuilderslive.com.

Quick break, Sam Sorbo is our special guest. We’ll be right back you’re listening to WallBuilders Live.

One-Room Schoolhouse

Hey friends, this Rick Green from WallBuilders Live and I have had so many requests about, what in the world could we be studying at home right now you know I got the kids at home, they’re normally in school? Or if you homeschool, you’re looking for additional material. One-Room Schoolhouse. It is a great new series WallBuilders is putting out where you literally get a tour of the WallBuilders library as Tim Barton and Jonathan Ritchie bring history to life. There’s a couple of resources on this.

You go to YouTube and search for WallBuilders and look for a One-Room Schoolhouse. You can go to our Facebook page and get it right there on Facebook as we do it live each Monday and sometimes additional days from there. And then you can also just go to wallbuilders.com, scroll down to the bottom and we’ll be posting the videos as they come out. This is such a great way to learn and a great way for you to share with others. Gather the family around, watch the One-Room Schoolhouse and learn some great history. It’ll be vitally important to restoring our nation and bringing back these principles that made America great in the first place. Check it out [email protected].

Rick:

We’re back here on WallBuilders live. Sam Sorbo is our special guest today. We’re talking about all the folks schooling from home right now for the first time maybe in their lives and figuring out it’s kind of cool to get this much extra time with your kiddos. And now how do you maneuver that, how do you direct this, how do you get the right curriculum and all those things?

CoronavirusHomeschooling.com

So, check out, coronavirushomeschooling.com, coronavirushomeschooling.com and then also don’t forget you want to join us every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons, we’ll be live actually bringing your ‘Chasing American Legends’ Constitution class. We’re going to do History and Government in a crash course every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It starts may 4th, sign up, it’s a free class. We want to have you there, look forward to spending some time with you there.

Alright, Sam, let’s jump back into this. Well, you know, one of the things I said in one of my first videos on this whole quarantine and the Constitution thing, I said look what’s happening right now is millions of people are suddenly having massive respect for those homeschool moms that have been doing this day in and day out for years, sometimes for decades. And they’re realizing that these are unsung heroes in terms of raising up the next generation and doing this the right ways. I think that part of it is incredibly cool and I think it’s awesome that they’re finding how to do this themselves and they’re realizing that they can do it. We just got to give them the tools and give them the coaching…

Sam:

I just want to cut in briefly. Because like I used to tell people, yeah, I home educate and they would like, kowtow to me. You know, like, oh, praise for you, you’re doing this, you know. And I look at them and I go, you have no idea what you’re sacrificing when you drop your child off at the school door and it’s sad to me that you don’t even want to know.

They’re Your Kids

Like, you know, I wrote a book called ‘They’re Your Kids: An Inspirational Journey from Self-Doubter to Home School Advocate’ to convince parents but that education isn’t what it used to be and that is detrimental to children. But the way that we teach in our public schools today is actually detrimental to children and that homeschooling is actually easier than you think and more rewarding than you can dream.

And so now I think, parents, what I’m hoping is happening, is not that they’ve got a newfound respect, is that their respect is not rescinded, but that they understand that it’s actually not that difficult, but it’s actually…

Rick:

And that they can do it.

Sam:

And that they can do it, because and I’m hoping that we’ll see in a sense of revival in the United States a shift. Because what we’ve been doing to the children in schools is really nothing short of child abuse. I mean, to teach a child that they are purely an accident of nature and they have no purpose. Why we have teenagers who are battling depression and suicidal thoughts is no surprise to me.

Schools Basically Abusing Our Kids

If you teach a teenager that they have no purpose and then you remove them from the family so they’re no longer a member of a working unit, you know, so now we have families that are drawing together and they’re working together and they’re playing games together and maybe they’re cleaning house together. That’s something that we took on a little bit more recently, is getting people involved in, because we’re stuck with each other, so let’s get this thing done and overcoming our differences. And so, you know, there’s a silver lining in all of this that I’m very optimistic about.

Rick:

Well, I love what you just pointed out. And that is, you know, like you said, a lot of times people find that you’re homeschooling and they go, oh well, you’re making such sacrifice! In fact, there were a few years, I was homeschooled back when, you know, you didn’t answer the front door because it wasn’t legal in some states. And people would say that to my mom, they would say what a sacrifice. And she always stopped them and said, no, no, no, it’s an investment, I’m investing in the next generation. And maybe folks will see what you just said in terms of you’re actually sacrificing more when you don’t have your child at home and you don’t have the chance to spend all that time with them. That’s what my wife said.

I mean, when we did this from the beginning, it was all the main reason, not because I had been homeschooled for much of my education, my wife had not been homeschooled. But she said, when our oldest Trey, when he turned that age that everybody else was taking them to the public school for the first time, she said, I just couldn’t do it. I was like, why would I give them over for eight hours a day and miss out on all those moments and all those memories and all the opportunities to influence them?

True Faith

Sam:

Yeah. Kevin and I have a new book that just came out on Valentine’s Day called, ‘True Faith: Embracing Adversity to Live in God’s Light’. And part of the storytelling in the book is our story with infertility. And so yes, I was on the treadmill, my kid did, Top did preschool and then kindergarten and then we moved for the schools for first grade. And so, he did first grade and second grade, and it was hard for me. And then the second grade, they just… And we moved for the school, but these were the quote-unquote good schools and they were falling down on the job. Look, they can’t serve a unique individual. They serve a general populace in a very generalized way, but my child is unique. And the more I realized that, the more I realized I didn’t like what they were doing particularly. I was just like, well, let me try it myself. And Kevin looked at me cross eyed, he’s like, what are you thinking? And I said to him, I think that if I fail, it will still be more successful for our son than if I send him back to that institution.

And so, you know, you got to get really low. Well, people are really low right now because they’re forced into it. And I’m hoping that they will embrace it and say, you know what, we can get this done and that’s why Coronavirus Homeschooling is just we’re like cheerleaders, like there’s a whole. So, it’s one of the largest homeschool groups in the world and they’ve got a very vibrant Facebook page. If you have any questions, you can just log on to the Facebook page, ask away. We’ve got people who’ve been home educating for over 30 years, lots of knowledge there.

And let’s put it this way. And I know David would like this too. Our country was founded by home educated individuals who were entrepreneurs. We need to put entrepreneurship back into our education system. And that means in two ways. We ought to be teaching entrepreneurship, which we’re not, we’re teaching how to follow directions and how to live like a socialist, basically, that government is the answer. That’s what we’re teaching in our schools. 

Common Core

So, the second way is that parents themselves ought to be entrepreneurs when it comes to negotiating their child’s education. They should not be simply saying, well, my child should go to the public school because the public school teaches. Public schools are teaching common core, okay? Because what parents doesn’t want their child to be common? Please come on, it’s even in the name. Can we just take a step back and really think about this, they’re your children? Or as my title, of course, they’re your kids. And so, I say, let’s put entrepreneurship back in on two levels. One, for the kids. Two, for the parents. Three, let’s give the teachers a chance to be entrepreneurs. You teachers who are working inside a broken and a compromised education system and you know, it’s compromised, you’re not allowed to teach everything that you desire or in the way that you might want.

You know that there are some kids who are left behind and some kids who are too advanced but they’re not allowed to run free basically. So, you can hang out your shingle, this fall will be a great opportunity for you to hang out your shingle, start a new business and offer home education, like a one room schoolhouse for other people’s children.

Rick:

Wow! So good. So good. Okay, so a lot of things to drive home right now. The website, coronavirushomeschooling.com. So, whether you think you may want to do this in the long term or you just want to get through the next few weeks and finish out the school year, there’s so much available to you at this website. And Sam, you said it exactly right. I mean, these are people that have done it for decades and they’re there to help.

SamSorbo.com

They want to help all of these folks that are now thrust into this for the first time. So, the website coronavirushomeschooling.com. What a fantastic, fantastic opportunity. Sam, thanks for all that you do. Thanks for being a champion and bringing some common sense to this most important area. I mean, there’s nothing more important than the influence we’re going to have on our own kids and you bring so much common sense and so much wisdom.

Sam:

Well, I’m trying. Thank you so much. Go visit Samsorbo.com and sign up for my YouTube videos, please.

Rick:

Samsorbo.com, samsorbo.com and coronavirushomeschooling.com. We’ll have both of them today with easy links for folks to get over there. Let’s do it again soon, Sam. Thank you.

Sam:

Thank you. Bless you. Take care

Rick:

Stay with us. You’re listening to WallBuilders Live.

Constitution Crash-Course

Hey friends, Rick Green here and I want to invite you to join us live every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon for a crash course on history and the Constitution. We’re going to take you to some incredible places in American history and bring that history to life, tell you the story of America, rediscover the roots of what made America great in the first place.

And we’re going to have live conversations and questions with all the different folks that starred in ‘Chasing American Legends’. They’re going to join us throughout the series, David Barton will be there live on one of our programs, Tim Barton on another one. We’ve got Dr. Alveta Kean coming in, Brad Stein. It’s going to be a wonderful, wonderful time. You can sign up right now at patriotacademy.com. It is entirely free if you are a member of a state homeschool association anywhere in the country and if not, you need to join anyway. Right now, everybody is schooling from home, whether it’s yourself and your whole family or maybe just you by yourself, either way, get signed. And if you’re not a member of an association, we still have ways for you to sign up. But we’d love to have you join us for this. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon, it’s going to be a great time of history and government and learning what we can do to be citizens. It’ll bring history to life. It’s going to be fun and entertaining and it’s going to be live and we expect to see you there. Check it out at patriotacademy.com.

Schooling From Home? We’ve Got The Help You Need! – With Sam Sorbo

Rick:

We’re back on WallBuilders Live. Thanks for staying with us today. Special thanks to Sam Sorbo for joining us today as well. And once again that website where she’s got this incredible help for you in terms of finding curriculum, daily lessons, really, really well laid out simple and easy to use, coronavirushomeschooling.com. That’s coronavirushomeschooling.com. Check it out and you’ll get some great help there.

And then to all of our listeners, whether you’re schooling from home or you’re just interested in learning more during this time, redeeming this time and making the most of it, join us every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon. It’s going to be a one o’clock central time, so that’ll be 11 o’clock for those of you out there on the West Coast and then it’ll start at 2 o’clock for those on the East Coast. And we’re going to spend two hours together, it’s going to be live, we’re going to have a fantastic time. We’ll view together those ‘Chasing American Legends’ episodes where we, you know, rediscover some of the great things about American history and histories and mysteries out there and legends and all these different things and then we’ll dive deep into the Constitution as well.

So, it’s going to be a wonderful time. We’ll have live guests with us, you get to ask questions. Join us every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon and the place you go to join that is patriotacademy.com. Go to patriotacademy.com today and sign up for the crash course on History and Government.

Thanks so much for listening today. You’ve been listening to WallBuilders Live.