Homeschool vs Public & Private School (Special Guests Dalton Wilson & Mike Burkett) | S6 E1

Welcome back to the Point Taken Podcast. We are in season 6 and I cannot be unfixated by this blue ring around us.

We will not be changing it. That looks so cool. Is that coming through the camera? Yeah. You see it on the screen.

This is a new season. I forgot this was a new season. I was about to say just continue on, but we've taken a little break.

We got guests, I think every week, but y 'all really only care about seeing

Anna. She is the best personality for the podcast. Let's go. If I am lying, then at the business meeting in two

Sundays, you need to ask to have me removed as a pastor because that's one of the qualifications. So either you take it back or...

I'll take it back, but I don't agree. Pressure. So look guys, after all that intro that Lowell's going to edit out, we have

Anna here. Do not do that. We have Anna here who's our favorite. We got Dalton here who's normally running the camera, screwing things up and making

Lowell's life hard. And we got my boy Mike Burkett here. And we are here talking about schooling as a

Christian for your children. Excuse me. As a parent. As a parent. So what's the right route?

You know, public school, private school, home school. And the question's very prevalent here in the city we all grew up in, because I'm going to say it like it is, our public schools stink.

I mean, they... Coming from a public school teacher. So we got great perspectives here.

We have Dalton who's going to share some of his stuff, which is different from Mike's, which is different from mine, which is different from Anna's, and all from different angles.

As a parent, as a teacher, as a... So we're going to get into that. But we have a game first now that I've ruined most of the game time.

I'm going to let Anna take that over. That's okay. Part two. Guaranteed. Yeah. Yeah. Part two. Guaranteed. I just guaranteed.

Yeah. Thanks, pastor. It takes less work. It takes some work off of me, so that's fine.

I'll clock out a Sunday, you know. Yeah, right? Okay, so for would you rather, I have three questions, so we'll try to get through these.

If not, it's fine. Would you rather be covered in fur or covered in scales? Forever? Yeah. Fur.

100 % fur. Come on, man. I don't even eat fur. Oh, but you work in the summer, bro.

Oh, man. Scales ain't breathing either. Scales are like plastic. It's like wrapping in plastic.

Yeah, but the thing about fur too, you can like send the code out in the summer. I can shave fur down. You say scales, like it's like fish, fish or like crocodile.

Is that kind of scales? Oh, I was thinking of fish. I was thinking of like crocodile. I guess reptile. Well, yeah.

Well, still fur because I can buzz my fur down to nothing. I mean, yeah. Artie Baker is basically covered in fur.

Yeah. He survives. Artie survives just fine. I just picture that episode of SpongeBob whenever they shave

Sandy and like have her fur on her. Oh, Patrick does.

I hate that. Can we just mention Anna's notes on a paper towel? Yeah, I didn't have a piece of paper. That's awesome.

With nights, we do what we have to do. You know what I'm saying? You got an ink pen and something to write on.

What they do it back in the day. It was like back of pamphlets. I had to write something down on my hand the other day because I didn't have paper.

That didn't wash off until like this morning. We do what we got to do in Whitten. Would you rather have unlimited sushi or unlimited tacos for life?

Easy. Tacos. Tacos. Sushi. I'm going sushi. Sushi's nasty. I don't eat seafood.

I love sushi. If I never had to pay for it again. Here's the difference. What kind of sushi?

I love sushi and I'll still choose tacos because tacos are the sixth best food. I'm not saying I dislike tacos.

I love tacos, but like when I think about going out to get tacos, I'm just like, I just make those at home.

I would rather have unlimited sushi that I wouldn't have to pay for anymore. Think about this. In the morning, in the morning, you could get up and eat sushi.

At lunchtime, eat sushi and at dinnertime, eat sushi. It just says unlimited for life.

You can only eat sushi? No, no, no. Unlimited. I'm still tacos, but you're saying you can eat something different.

If money's not a thing, I put 17 ingredients on tacos. For like Chipotle or something?

What are you at Subway? No, at my house. Subway taco shop? 17. I'll take it all.

Add extra sauce. You probably think I just made that number and you want to challenge me.

No. I do. You counted the toppings. I did. You did.

I didn't challenge you because I know you did. The fact that you said it's the sixth best food so quickly is just insane.

It's definitely thought of this before. 100%. 100%. So you chose sushi, and I love sushi.

Sushi is one of the few foods, there's about five or six of them that I used to not like and now I do. I will kill some sushi.

I love sushi. That was my first meal after I had my first son in the hospital. My husband's like, what do you want? I said sushi.

But tacos are still superior. Dude. What is sushi?

Like 17th best? It's like the 16th best food in the world. I know.

I've done this scale. Why are you doing my voice like that? I don't sound like that. Come on, man.

You don't sound like that, but that's how I hear somebody that would do these little topic things. I will say most people like me, most folks that like sushi that are men like me are in a different part of town, but I am...

Preppy Mike. Yeah, Preppy Mike, man. My guy here is wearing sunglasses because they're his prescription glasses and he broke his other ones and he won't go get regular glasses.

Expensive. That's his excuse. I'm sitting here on the stage in Sunday morning worship, worshiping

Yahweh in heaven, and he looks at the screen at the world and squinting like a dork and he puts his glasses down and goes, amen.

I cannot see it. That's why I was like, you're like, can

I wear my sunglasses? I'm like, they're your prescriptions. I know what I feel like if I don't have mine. Not to mention it's pretty bright in here, so it does kind of work for this one.

Okay, so everyone was tacos except for me. Tacos, 100%. My whole family eats tacos. I mean,

I eat tacos too. It's like we had street tacos on Friday, but it's like I would much rather have sushi.

My guy is coming in with the practicality. He's thinking of paying for Jameson. Tacos will feed my whole family.

I'm thinking of date nights that I don't have to pay for. Like, that's what I'm going for. I'd rather pay for date nights. I got to feed my family every night.

We're going to tacos. He's won me over with the practicality. If I was anywhere in sushi, it's tacos. Tacos it is.

Meat and cheese only, that's great. It's more like a tortilla roll -up. Okay, last one and then we'll move on.

Would you rather be able to go to any theme park in the world for free for the rest of your life or eat for free at any drive -thru for the rest of your life?

The second one. Theme park. No, no, no, no, no. Stop. Think of money. Don't think of the fun.

Think about how many more times you go to the drive -thru than you do the theme park. You still have to pay to get to the theme park.

Dude, let me tell you something. I love theme parks. Like, I get more enjoyment of roller coasters than eating

Wendy's, but I go to Wendy's 20 times more than I go to Six Flags. So, money -wise, it makes way more sense to do drive -thru.

I don't know if money -wise because you'd probably spend about the same eating Wendy's 20 times and going to the amusement park once.

Yeah. So, I couldn't. I would do theme park too. If we're talking about Disney Universal, like,

I'm going that route. Disney is insane. I don't care. I would much rather not have to pay the ticket prices that are like $200 per person per day.

$200 per person per day. Watch this math. You following me on this? Yes. Okay. The average person who's not named

Josiah and hasn't memorized a menu to know how to eat for less than $10 spends on themselves $16 because they buy drinks, which is stupid.

$16 at Wendy's. Agreed? Sure. Double Baconator. Okay. Definitely.

Follow me on this. 16 times 20 is $320. Mm -hmm. I don't care. I'm just saying

I would much rather not go to the theme park. Do you know how much Disney is? You went to money. $8 ,000.

No, you don't. Yes, you do. Look it up. That's four days. That's the vacation. That's the flight. For four days, it's $8 ,000.

No, it isn't. You're talking hotels. No, it isn't. Yes. No, it isn't, bro. For four days. How do you know this? How many kids have you taken to the music park?

You want a better double steak? Stop it. Double steak, no onions? This man can't take himself to the music park.

We're not going to take your opinion in this. Theme park. Theme park. I've paid for Disney twice and I can...

First one was like almost $5 ,000 and the last one was almost $10 ,000. The trip. Thank you. The trip. That's what

I'm talking about. The trip. May I say that you went all out in certain areas? Only the park's free. On the second trip, we did.

In this question. He's not talking about... No, I understand. With all the money, you're not spending $8 ,000 just on the ticket.

I went to Disney. I did not spend that. I'm not saying just the tickets. When we went for a honeymoon, we did bare minimum and it was still almost $5 ,000.

Mine wasn't. I think I did a different bare minimum. I must have done a tiger minimum or a lion minimum.

You had a timeshare that you could do, right? Yeah. We had to pay for that.

I'm talking about just getting in the door. That's what I'm talking about. We don't go to eat fast food a lot.

Lowell and I were actually talking about this question. I said, we just don't go out to fast food. He's like, but if you have free drive -thru... Let's get the

Lowell mic. Come on, dude. Let's get the Lowell mic. Go ahead. Where I live, we don't have... Don't speak for him. No, I'm talking for what I'm saying.

Where we live... Don't you do not cut her off again. Don't you do it. Any good restaurants that have drive -thrus.

We got a Captain D's. I can't correct her. You said that. No. It's not true. No. We got a

Captain D's where we live and I'm like, who the heck is going to go to this Captain D's? I'm not going. The only... I will? No.

My neighbor works at Captain D's and he told me a secret about southern batter and country batter. It's a pretty funny story, but we're going to move on to this lesson, right?

Part two, I'll give you the country batter, seasoned batter, the punchline on that.

All right. Yeah. I'm definitely on team drive -thru. Yes. 100%.

Engineers on my side. I can get way more out of that than the theme park. I mean, I'll go more just because it's free.

Exactly. You know what I'm saying? I'm like, oh, I want a drink. But then I'd weigh like 500 pounds. I would get too fat doing that.

That's my other thing. No, trust me. That's a discipline issue. That's what I'm saying though.

Don't put that on me. I don't have to pay for groceries when I go through a drive -thru. I'd be fat. So how much would you do to get to the theme park that's free?

Come on now. But it's not free to get there. It's a vacation that we're talking about. No, but it's free. So you're going to do everything you can to get there.

Yeah. No, that's money. No, I'm doing it. If I don't have to pay a full price for a Disney vacation,

I'm doing it. But you're still only going to get to go once every two years. Yeah, that's fine. Never.

You would pay for it over and over again with fast food savings. How can someone be so amazing like you, but so illogical on something so stupid?

I don't know. You'll have to ask my husband. It's the long hair. She didn't say fast food specifically. She said drive -thru.

That is fast food. It's a drive -thru at Corky's. Not all drive -thru is Wendy's. You know what I'm saying?

Come on, man. Patty B's has a drive -thru. No, it doesn't. Corky's, that's a notch up.

Top's Barbecue. Thank you. Top's Barbecue. I spend 60 there a week. Come on.

Gosh. I have seven people in my family, bro. What do you mean? I want that CeCe's pizza drive -thru.

I'll take another plate, please. You know what

Lowell and I would do? We'd keep going circling and then sell it for $2 .50 at the person in the parking lot. Hey, what do you want since it's not free for you?

I'll give it to you for half the price. Now I'm going to Universal Studios on the neighbor. All right.

You go to Pandora's box. Can we do the same thing with tickets to Disney? I think we just broke this question.

Let's cut it off. I would scalp those tickets in a heartbeat. I'm just saying it's a lot of scalping.

Those families still got to pay to get there. I can sell fast food to anybody in this room tomorrow.

In four minutes, everybody in here would buy a half -off combo. I want you to try it.

You want a double cheeseburger with top barbecue for three bucks, bro? With three streets,

Sycamore View, Covington Pike, and Summer Avenue, I could make my month's rent in one day just with half price.

I mean, come on, dude. The supply house is with sacks. Yeah, right? Bojangles.

My son's calling Bojangles Jingle Bells because he's getting

Taco Bell and Bojangles confused. He's like, I want to go to Jingle Bells. They're side by side on Whitten.

It's hilarious. It's so funny. How long did it take you to figure that out? My wife figured it out. I was like, what's he talking about?

I'm putting the song on. He was like, no, he wants to eat Taco Bell and Bojangles.

I was like, that's Jingle Bells? That is so freaking cute. I love that. It works. All right, guys, so let's get in to what we're trying to talk about, and that is, as Christians, which we all are here, education.

How do we do that with our kids? Now, I think from the get, I just want to say one thing, and then

I think Anna wants everyone to give some experience of how they were educated. I want everyone to hear me on this.

This is something that people don't realize. It is not the government's job to educate your children.

Come on. It is your job. If you choose to use tools at your disposal, like a private school, like public school, that's your prerogative, and that's you using a tool to make it happen.

But it is not their job. It is your job. Just like it ain't your preacher's job or your children's ministry job to teach your kids about Jesus and get them baptized, that's your job.

That's your job. You can use the tools at your disposal, but at the end of the day, it's your job.

That's what the Bible teaches. So as we, just so everyone knows who's listening, that's the background we're all coming from, is at the end of the day, at the end of the day, no matter what

Anna or Mike or Josiah or Dalton choose to do with their current or future children in educating them, we are doing it from a mindset that it's our responsibility to teach them the things they need to know, not someone else's.

So there's that. So Anna, I guess you want to go first? Yeah, I'll go first. So I was raised in North Mississippi, which you don't have a lot of good public schools of where we were.

You don't say. Yeah. So I think there was literally like one school at the time.

That was good? No, that was there. That was just there. That's what

I was getting at. You had not many to choose from. Right. So that was the reason why my parents sent us to private school at this one school, and then we ended up going to another private school that was closer to where we were at the time.

And so I was in private school from kindergarten until 12th grade, and then I went to a private college, which was stupid expensive, but that was fun to pay back.

And I didn't even get a degree, so, you know. Skingle times. Totally. So we ended up doing that first through 12th.

I had Bible classes like all through school. We had chapel that we were required to go to, all of that.

We had like AP classes. I was never in that. I was in honors classes for English and some other stuff like that.

So that's kind of like I've always been in private school. Always. And so with my kids,

I don't know necessarily like school -wise what we would do besides homeschooling, just because of our location and not a lot of good options out where we are.

But so it's kind of like me in a nutshell. All right, Burkett. All right. I'm the public school guru here.

I've been to every school this side of the Mississippi all the way up till, you know,

Millington. So I wouldn't change where I came from because it made me who

I was today. Like all the trials and tribulations that I went through through school made me be able to withstand or put up with a lot more that I wouldn't be able to that some of my counterparts that have went to these schools or whatever, think are a big deal.

Not just the teaching of the school, but it's a camaraderie that everybody's going through the same problems.

Like you're broke, you're struggling to get your lights on, struggling to get your checks or whatever, and you still got to go to school.

So school was like a getaway from that. It was a guaranteed meal. It was a guaranteed friendship.

And then those people were relatable to you. Like I told y 'all earlier, I failed the third grade because we moved six to ten times, probably ten if I was to be really honest about it.

And I didn't know difference between adding or subtracting or multiplying. Third grade is where they do the math in public school.

So I would go to one school that'd be more advanced, and I'd just be mixing it all up. So my mom just held me back.

But for me growing up at public school, I wasn't a

Christian until later, and now that I have children, I would like the lessons to be more

Christian based for my offspring, because that's what

I wish I would have had that's been removed from public school since I've been there. It was the

Pledge of Allegiance, and God was part of school to an extent, but now it's completely been removed basically.

So I'm for public schools as for me growing up that way, but I'm on the fence about putting my kids through private school or keep them in public.

I'm in an area that our elementary school is good. Macon Hall has a good background. They teach good stuff, and my kids have good grades.

But the sixth grade is Mount Pisgah, and that's a no for me. A hard no. That's a big no.

So we've got to figure something out. So we've been looking at FCS, which is a private school, but in the same time

Arlington's opened up, and they're allowing people to come in because Lakeland's high school's opened, and they're wanting people to come in.

If you're not from Memphis, let me tell you, son, it is a battle zone. It is a war zone.

I could explain it, but I'm not going to. But it is a strange setup we have here on school systems and this and that in Shelby County, Memphis City.

I was about to say Lakeland and Arlington are their own. Yes, they are. They're their own municipal. So they can approve who comes in.

They won't provide you bus rides or a way to get there, and after school child care you got to pay for those things because they know that it's a farther drive or whatever.

But at the same time, if I do my research and I feel like Arlington is adequate for what

I want my child to have, I'm not against doing that. But at the same time, I will go to FCS like I'm trying to do and evaluate their program and their curriculum versus what

Arlington would teach and see if that's where I'm more interested for my kid's life path.

That's fair. Okay, so I guess

I kind of have experience in all three realms here. I was homeschooled until the ninth grade.

I was homeschooled all the way through. My mom homeschooled all five of us and she did an excellent job.

When I read the Bible, when I read in the

Bible in other languages, to say that I'm grateful to my mother, and I probably should do a better job of telling you this, is an understatement.

I mean, the way I learned, because I had one woman who poured her heart and soul into five students, whereas normally it's one teacher trying their best, some of them, trying their best with 35 kids in there.

And that's just one class. I'll get to that in a minute. So I did that until the ninth grade.

It was an adjustment for me, because in the ninth grade, I went to a private school. It was a Roman Catholic school, of which

I am not a Roman Catholic, and it was an all -boys school, and them dudes were buck wild. I worked with one of those guys.

There was good and bad things with that. There was culture shock there, some of which

I needed. So it was good and bad there. They all came from preppy middle schools.

We didn't have a laptop at home. We had one computer we all shared. The desktop. The only class that I was behind in was typing.

The tower. Hey, the only class I was behind in was typing. That's the class

I had to come early and stay late for. Well, it shows what your mom did for you. Right. Every other class,

I went in, and I looked around, and without any... We did this three years ago. Like, what am

I... Why are we going over this again? But typing was the one that they all left and smoked, you know, whatever.

And I'm sitting there, and I'm like, okay, hold on. How do I do this? Yeah. Q -E -R -T -Y. It's QWERTYUP, because I took that class.

It's QWERTYUP. That's where you rest your hand. Your general words a minute, you know what I mean? Fifty -six words per minute when

I graduated, but I couldn't do... I'm not twenty -six. I could text 150 right now. I got up to 70.

I'll be straight. And that's helped me with writing lessons now. But anyway, from there,

I went to a public university. I went to the University of Memphis. I loved that experience. I loved that experience.

And then I was a public school teacher for Memphis City Schools. He loved that experience. I was a public school teacher for Memphis City Schools for four years.

So homeschool, private school, public university, and public school teacher.

And I did that from 2016 to 2020. So I do have some experience in all. As far as my children, well, we are currently homeschooling.

I am... You're oldest, right? My oldest. She is learning at an incredibly rapid rate of which

I can... And this ain't a knock. It's just the reality. I can guarantee you, because I've seen it, she would not be learning at that rate in the other scenarios that are at my disposal right now.

At your disposal is what's really important, though. What do you mean? Because when I grew up, I didn't have the option to be homeschooled.

Oh, yeah. A single parent going to have to go to work. No, yeah. Look, let me tell you something.

My wife and I made that decision before we had our first child.

That's how we were going to set it up, knowing that we would have one income, but that this was worth it.

You prepared for it. Yeah. Yes, I did. And I've worked my butt off for it. Yeah. So that's what we're doing.

As far as will that be all the way through, probably not. Probably not.

But it's going to be for a while. I'll say that. So that's where we're at with that. So I have the perspective of two.

So I was homeschooled through 7th grade, and then I went to private school 8th through 12th.

Oh, my goodness. What is happening here? So homeschool. Don't touch the mic.

Get it? Because his name is. Yeah. So homeschool,

I really I can't. I'll be honest with you. I can't remember a lot of it. Because.

Was it that traumatizing for you? No, I loved it. I loved it. But the grades when you're homeschooled, the grades merge together.

Yeah. So. You mean the years? Like the years. Not what you're making. Like the. Yeah. Like the first, second, third.

It all merged together. You don't know when you're getting to the next grade or whatever. Did you have like summers off?

Did you have breaks? I did. Yeah, I did. But it's like it's still like we would start early sometimes.

Yeah. So we didn't start like when the regular school started. And sometimes one thing that I really loved about it is you could double up.

Like I say, oh, I just want to go. I want to have the day off. I can double up on it. And I am like I do encourage homeschool.

Like with if people ask me, like I'm all for it. But there are a couple of things that I don't like, like about it.

One, like I had my brother and sister when I was younger, like first to fourth.

And they left because they graduated. So then there was just me. And where I lived, there was no one.

So like I was like legitimately, I only had the people from my church. And there really wasn't a lot of people my age group.

So I did not have like any social interaction at all. And that is one thing like that really like it like was not good.

And that's one thing I hated. And my parents hated it. And that is the main reason I started going to private is because they saw that like my interaction was this really low.

And I was smart. Like I was advanced in all my classes. And when I got to private school, my grades were like higher than a lot of others because I was so advanced.

And because like, I could just double up and because I didn't like my mom could focus only on the one on one.

Yeah, it was one on one. You didn't have to worry about everybody in the class. Yeah, because they usually base the curriculum, not the curriculum, the speed of like the progression of the class on like this one of the slowest kids.

Yeah. So it's like, I mean, I was probably that kid in math, like I was never good at math.

And so my husband and I were talking about homeschooling our kids. I'm like, well, I can teach our kids math up to like third grade.

And then you're gonna have to take over because you might want to watch your mouth. Third grade math has gotten crazy. It's algebra, bro.

It's like x and y. It ain't like what I had. I'm gonna be real with you. This is public school math?

I might need to stick in public school. No wonder it's 80 % under the grade level.

This is crazy. Where's your book at? I need your book.

Like I need to read this lesson. Yeah. Back on the private school thing. Did you feel like you maintained that progression while in private school?

Like once you had to go with the flow of other students in that curriculum based on? I didn't. I didn't maintain the advancedness.

Okay. Like so I maintained like what my, I was like top of my class, sort of.

Like I was like fourth in my class. But like I wasn't advanced because like the teachers, like I was so used to one on one that like when everybody got into the mix, one, like I was super nervous because I knew nobody.

So it's just like you can noticeably see like the difference, but it still was like,

I still got great education. Like and you could also see that. Did you ever do co -ops and stuff when you were in homeschool?

I did. Did you feel like that didn't help? Well it was this, it was with people way older than me. Like it was in my brother's, like my brother's age group.

So there's no one my age. So how old are your brothers for the group, for the? He is. How much older he is than you?

24 right now. And you're what? 19. Oh so six years in that, in that area is a big difference.

Yeah. So I mean they were like, they were in upper high school. I was in like elementary. You failed third grade. Yeah. I did fail the third grade.

Let's just keep harping on that. Yeah. I think we could do this whole point taken on that right there alone.

I'm 16 in the fourth grade. Have you ever seen The Office with Michael Scott? He goes, you know what?

I eventually aced the third grade and I was the biggest kid in my class. 100 % of the time. You and I still weren't.

We were still the shortest. Give me another year and I'm still the shortest in the class. Same. But even though, even though like my event, like the advanced like knowledge kind of went away,

I still was having like a great like academic, like I was still learning a lot and my social, like my interaction and becoming friends and like learning how to deal with people and learning how to like take jokes.

Like that was my main thing because I was so like, like I was so. Sheltered. Sheltered.

Yeah. I like would get my feelings hurt over one little thing and like going to that school, even though it was like a small

Christian school, everybody's supposed to be Christian super. Yeah. No. Like I still like learned, like I would thought

I was getting bullied because they're messing with me. And that's one thing, like I am so grateful for that because I have learned and grown so much and like just matured because like I learned how to deal with that.

To go in front to a real school of ours. Yeah. Being homeschooled. Private school. Yeah. And I'm not like,

I'm not dishing on like homeschool because like I loved it, but with my kids,

I would rather private school because. The interaction. Because the interaction.

One, I was huge into sports, love sports. Homeschool, like you can have like rec sports and stuff.

It's a completely different. You're not in class with those students whom you're playing on a team with.

Yeah. And you're not constantly with them and growing in relationship. And that's one thing that I loved, like absolutely loved that.

And like I wouldn't want to take that from my kids. So like I personally, I plan on private school.

I mean, I'm at homeschool for a couple of years, but like private school for me is the way to go. Now, some private schools, no, it just depends.

But like I also grew a lot in biblical because I was like it was constant.

I had Bible class every day at chapel once a week. And like that was just a constant, like every single day thing.

We would pray every morning and all that stuff. So like I love homeschool and private school, but in my opinion,

I think private school, like that's what I would do with my kids. Okay. So Mike, for your experience with public school, how do you feel like that helped you?

Like why do you prefer public school for yourself versus your kids? Well, it's basically exact opposite of what

Dalton was saying. There wasn't no sheltering. You take it on the chin.

You learn how to take a joke or stand up for yourself. There's nobody there to defend you.

You have to grow up. The biggest thing is, well, where I grew up,

I was the only white kid in the school in my grade. So you had to prove yourself very fast, very quickly.

And it was either checking somebody, making fun of somebody, whatever, to know you wasn't going to put up with what they're dishing out.

That's what they're doing. They're chin checking you. They're like, we're going to see what he's about. What is he even doing here?

First of all, he don't belong. But as you grow in that same circle, they realize that my skin has nothing to do with anything.

We all are going through these same struggles at home. Like this is my getaway too.

But at the same time, I didn't have a problem learning. I feel like the curriculum when

I grew up was decent. I learned a lot. I was smart.

I didn't have a problem making good grades. It was just easy to me. It came easy. Like I was telling you earlier,

I would get in trouble for being a class clown. Because you would get bored. Bored and you want to be liked in those circles.

If you make people laugh or whatever, it makes you feel a false confident that you're building friendships or whatever.

But at the same time, for public schools, it made me who I am. But I think that's not just school in general.

I think that's the lifestyle. The school is just a reflection of what we're talking about today.

But for schooling purposes, like connecting with people, knowing how to interact with people, knowing how to interact with different age groups.

You're not in school with first graders. You got seventh graders. My school was K through eight.

So in third grade, you got an eighth grader on the bus messing with you sometimes. You got to learn how to deal with that and learn to adapt and overcome.

And for me, I think it's made me a stronger person going through the struggles of dealing with a lot of adversity in public school.

And going on Dalton's thing about he would prefer private school for his future kids and stuff.

Being in private school my entire life, I realized that I was almost sheltered in a way.

Even though I never did, but I knew which kids we could buy drugs from.

Drugs are not, what's the word? Sorry guys, my brain. Christian schools are not immune to drugs.

You can get that crap wherever. And so that was like some people's misconception. It's like, oh, well, there's no bad kids.

It's like, no, we have kids that sell drugs. We have kids that would literally come to school high, like driving in their cars and like hot boxing it, you know, like all this stuff.

And so I was just like, I was just always so sheltered anyway. And so like,

I had to learn things like, well, I didn't have to. I learned things at school that like I would never have known about without somebody else telling it.

But that's like, that's everywhere. But like, even when I left school of like not having that bubble of the shelter of like, oh, it's a

Christian school of like, oh, like God is present here. This is a Christ -centered school, you know, like we actually had a policy like Christian schools can have because they're not, you know, like worked by the government of no homosexuality.

And we had a gay kid at the school and it actually made the news at one point because like we were telling this kid he couldn't be gay.

It's just like, well, it's a private school, you know, you have like certain things that you can and can't do, whatever. Like you're not being paid for by the government.

But I feel like that's something I really struggled with was like getting out of that sheltered box.

And then now it's like, I never go anywhere besides home and church and Costco. When you speak on drugs, that's another big topic for me.

I grew up, it's like, weed is the only option. Yeah, that was it in school or like bars of Xanax.

Like that was later in high school. But see, growing up in school, weed was something that was prevalent, smoking, getting high like that.

But as I get older and start getting private school friends, that's when I get introduced to cocaine and Xanax.

I knew somebody on cocaine. And other things like that. So I didn't ever look at private schools as Christian schools, like God -centered.

They got the money. That's where the money's coming from. They got the rich people drugs.

But growing up where we came from, we don't do that. That stuff's wrong. You can smoke some weed or drink some beer or whatever, but you don't mess with cocaine.

You don't take pills. That was our mindset. And I wasn't introduced to those other drugs until I met a private school kid.

So it was like a culture shock. We would look at him like, you got money or whatever, but you ain't welcome here with that.

That ain't cool. We ain't about that. You need to go be with your private school friends. Well, and even like you said, with the culture shock of you explaining that school was an escape for you guys because you guys were all going through the same thing.

You knew you were going to get fed at school. I never worried about that. Yeah, it's just a different thing. Well, and that's something my husband and I have even talked about because he did public school all through school.

And he was on WIC. There was a time when he was living with his mom and she would be in an apartment and you pay the deposit and then you're moving a couple months later and you're doing all that stuff.

And so he was always back and forth. And for him to do so well in school was actually like a miracle because like you said, when you move so much, that one year you ended up failing because you were just so far behind.

And so just having that culture shock of like, I never had to. The only thing that was going on with our kids at school were parents were divorcing or parents were losing their jobs.

We didn't have parents to divorce. It was single parents, mom, you're living with your grandma, that kind of thing.

I knew like one kid like that in high school. And so it's just the culture shock was just so large.

And so that's why I was just so surprised by that. But I wanted to touch on that before we moved on. But you can go ahead. You have something to say.

We can see it in your face. I can see it. It looked like you had something to say. Your face is definitely saying I have something to say right now. Hurry up.

I was anticipating her coming to me next. I was just getting ready. It looked like it. It looked like it. So for me,

I think one thing we talked about culture shock, we have all experienced that we all just use that phrase.

One, I experienced that to several times, like when I went from homeschool to private school.

I'll tell you, I'll tell you some positives and negatives of all. I think first off, man, people are going to like this, but I got to say it like it is.

The school system is set up the way they're at and the hours it is to have parents both be able to go to work.

It's been like that since World War Two. That's why it's set up the way it is. To breed workers.

Yes. I think that is so wrong.

Children, especially boys, were not created to sit still for seven straight hours and then go to aftercare for three hours.

Yeah. That's not who we were created to be. That's not healthy. That's not healthy. So the reason, especially my daughter is like...

God bless her. Which one? Ava. Ava. Has more energy than the

Energizer bunny. Yeah. But let me tell you something. I love Ava. Oh, I do too, because she reminds me of me and my brother,

Jeremiah. But here's the thing. That's why, especially for little kids, if someone asked me,

Josiah, if I can only afford to have my wife homeschool them for four or five years, what's it going to be?

I'm going to say first through fifth grade. I'm going to say first through fifth grade. Here's why. They're not meant to sit still.

What they learn... They're going to prescribe them medicine too.

Let me tell you something. If you think I'm playing... It's not a joke. If you think I'm playing, a hundred percent.

You know how common that is right now? No, I'm saying... I work at a pediatric hospital. I was supposed to be on Ritalin. So let me tell you something.

What I'm getting at is that's not healthy.

That's not good. Now, I understand. Yeah. You've got to learn to sit still.

What it takes to teach a first grader what they need to learn in first grade can be done in two hours a day.

If you don't believe me, I can show you. I was about to say, is she in first grade? Proof's in the pudding. Or is she in kindergarten?

We do school with Ava on average 40 minutes a day. She is in kindergarten, but we've already started on the first grade stuff.

She's smart. 40 minutes a day. It's really because Rachel's awesome. It's not really... Now look, it comes a time where what

Dalton said is exactly right. What Mike said is exactly right. Let me tell you how my parents did it.

When we moved back to Memphis from Nashville, I was... It was 2005. So I was getting a little older, and my dad decided it was time to make sure

I went ahead and had that culture shock. We were moving back to his old city, so it was time to go ahead and get that over with.

Here's why I say I was prepared for it. It took me nine weeks, and that was a hard nine weeks for me.

I'll be straight. Those first nine weeks. My father, what he did, he didn't teach me all the ins and outs.

He said the three most important words he ever told me were, I love you. The second most three important words were, figure it out.

Those three words, figure it out. I was taught that at the house. Figure it out.

Well, I took that mentality, and I'm like, hold on. So I have to sit in here for seven hours and learn half as much as I used to.

That's what you need me to do. And then you're gonna give me work to take to the house after practice?

With a 50 pound backpack? After practice? And all these other kids have all these laptops and all these things, and I'm sitting here handwriting this stuff, and your response to me was, figure it out.

And that's what I did. Football was different from the SYS community school stuff.

I like that. Hey, figure it out. Now, it wasn't in a cold, figure it out,

I don't care. It was a, you can do this. I've bred you to figure it out, and I did. And I'm grateful for that experience.

What Mike said is true, though. Having just ended my tenure as a public school teacher,

I can assure you that it has gone downhill. What is taught and promoted as good is wrong, and what is good you're not allowed to say.

I mean, it's the craziest thing I've ever seen. I'm serious. It's the exact opposite of what

Anna was saying. The things that I got in trouble for as a teacher were... Disciplining your students?

Man, it'd be stuff like this. Man, I don't want to say too much, but I'll just say this.

We are raising a generation of people who are being taught that there's absolutely no consequences for your actions, and you should look for people doing the right thing to get one over on them to get them in trouble.

And it's just a backward system. Soft as Charmin. Dude. That's what you're raising.

You're raising kids to be thinner than a coffee filter. And here's what

I would argue. Mike is right in that one of the benefits of public school is you get thick skin.

My other additive is it's another way to get that thick skin where you don't have to go through that. Amen. And I'll be straight with you.

I think I got that. But that took some tough stuff, but that's part of growing up and maturing for all of us.

We all had to come up with that at some point. You had four brothers. Yeah. Your household, your dad.

What I'm saying is in general. And I think here's the answer, and this is the part people won't like, and then

I'll shut up and let someone else talk. The answer is a biblical family unit.

Come on. No, no. Look, I know it's going to hurt some feelings, but I got to say it like it is. When God said for this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother.

Don't get me started on in -law stuff. A man shall leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife, and the two will become one flesh.

When God said, fathers do not provoke your children to wrath, but raise them up and nurture them in the admonition of the

Lord. People don't understand what that verse means. I bet 90 % of Christians will quote that verse and say, parents, raise your children and nurture them in the admonition of the

Lord. It says fathers. You don't know what a wife is. Help mate.

Help mate. She is a tool in the toolbox for raising the children. And she is your best tool.

She is your crescent wrench. That's what she is. That's not an insult. That's a place of honor.

No, it's like this. It's the father's responsibility. Let me tell you something. The number 10 socket. Let me tell you something. Number 10 socket will fix any small engine.

Okay. Let me tell you something, man. Public school teacher, Memphis City Schools.

We had something called Power School. Told us all the demographics of our students. Let me tell you something, man.

Ready? Student one, guardians. Mother, grandmother, auntie.

Student two, mother, grandmother, auntie. Student three, mother, grandmother, uncle. You know what

I never saw? And I had 191 students. Saw about four fathers. You think

I'm joking when I say them numbers. I'm not. I know you're not joking. I believe it. God set it up a certain way and he wasn't playing.

He was not playing. Most of our issues in the school systems, we like to blame the school systems.

We got to look ourselves in the mirror and saying, are we set up as a family the way God said?

Am I as a father doing what I'm supposed to be doing? Don't get me started on this culture not cherishing fatherhood.

Don't get me started on that. But it starts there and when we take that responsibility on, it's

Mike's job to teach Jameson how to read, even if Mike never opens a book with him. That's the idea behind.

It's my job. It's my job to teach Ava, even though 90 % of the time

Rachel's sitting down with her. That's what we've got to come to and we got to quit blaming the government and the mayor and the superintendent when we got to look ourselves in the mirror.

And if we choose another way other than how God set up, we can't expect different results.

If you send your kids to Caesar and give them no way of knowing that they're in Rome, they're going to come back as Romans.

Come on. And I'm going to say it again. If you send your kids to Caesar, the government, and you have given them no tools to recognize who

Caesar is, they're going to come back as Romans and you're going to act surprised. That's the reality of the situation.

Well, and two, I think that a lot of parents who might want to, go ahead.

No, tell Josiah to shut up. No, I was going to watch you. Shut up. Some of the parents who might want to homeschool their kids can't afford to take one income.

It's a huge sacrifice. Yeah, tell me about it. Yeah, tell me about it. That was one thing that my husband and I really talked about when

I went back to work after our first son came. I did not want to go back to work. And we didn't think that we were going to be able to afford being on like a single income.

And we prayed about it and prayed about it. And I was back at work for seven months, well, like five, six months.

And I told my husband, I said, I'm like, I cannot do this anymore. I know that God has called us to, if we know that God has called us to stay at home with our kids, then why are we not doing it?

And so we took that leap of faith and like, you know, we made it work, you know, the first year and stuff.

And God has been very gracious and blessed us with many things over.

But it's like, we don't have the same. Not everyone has the same. Yeah. The same.

That's right. I can't think of words, y 'all. Please forgive me. Well, we don't have the same options. Let me fill it in for you.

It's three things to keep in mind with that. Number one, a hundred percent. You're right.

First off, I don't mean, I'm not talking about Mike. When some people say they can't afford it, it's a word

I want to say. Let's just say that's not true. Okay. Well, that's what we felt. Yeah. I've heard that. Number two, first thing you need to do, if someone says,

Josiah, I hear all that about the family unit. I've already screwed that up. What do I do now? Fix it. Okay.

What do I do now? That's a different attitude than someone who doesn't even recognize that anything they did was wrong that got them in that situation.

You know what I mean? Like you can have compassion and help someone in that situation, but until they in their heart recognize this is how

God was supposed to have it set up, and I've goofed that up a little bit. Some my fault, some not.

That's the reality. How do we move forward with that? Third thing is this. This is one of the main reasons

God made a church is to help for people like that who didn't do it right the first time and now trying to get it right in the background.

Let me tell you something. This church right here, there was a young man. Public school wasn't working out.

Didn't have money for private school. His momma couldn't quit working. You know what happened? Someone from this church volunteered to come up here every day with him and finish his schooling up.

I love both of them. Dude, me too. That's why God made the church as a support system.

Let me tell you something. It's very few things that I am not confident in any situation. Single mom, two kids, the school's teaching this and that you can be this.

Hey, boys, you can be a girl tomorrow and all this stuff. Let's do the pregnancy stuff with the boys and the girls since you can all get pregnant.

Bull crap. Let's put tampons in the boy's bathroom and the boys immediately throw them out. Okay. Let the 17 -year -old boy in the bathroom with the 13 -year -old girl.

I dare someone to tell me that didn't happen. We can find a solution.

Let me tell you something. Spending $40 ,000 a year to send your kids to a private school won't make them no Christian. If you think that makes them a

Christian, you've lost your mind. It's like sending your kids to church and expecting them to become Christians. It doesn't make your kid a

Christian. The solution in the scenarios that we were talking about, when someone's stuck, is first recognize where you erred and repent of that.

Then, this is why being in a covenant community, there is always an answer.

Always. Now, that might mean for a time. All right.

Here's how we're going to do this. We've got a plan. For the next two years, buddy, you're going to suck it up. You're going to be here.

But, in two years, we're going here. There's always a way to fix something. That's kind of how

I see it. Well, I think, too, we're not condemning people who send their kids to public school.

Heck no, we're not. Like I said, everyone has different opportunities. And not all schools are the same. Not all schools are the same.

Especially in Memphis. Right. Especially in Memphis. Especially in Memphis, bro. You drive five miles that way, you're like, oh my goodness.

I drive past three high schools to take my son to the school he's districted. You know why you do that? Because you know about them three high schools.

Yeah. No, they're actually decent, but they just got built. It's just kind of frustrating that I'm going 30 minutes past the school that's there when

I could just be right there. But, it's their little zone system. Yeah, the zoning system.

But, it's like you said, there are good public schools out there, like where my mom lives. They have great public schools.

But, at the same time, it's like, what are you teaching my kids? That was the main reason my husband and I decided to homeschool.

It's like, I'm not letting somebody tell my son that he's a girl. Absolutely not.

Absolutely not. Those are things that I did not have to deal with. Exactly. We didn't have to deal with that. That's why my vision -

Because it was different back in your day than it is your kids' day. So, my children, it's my duty, as I just said, is to raise my kids up how they should be led in a

Christian family as a spiritual leader of my household. If I'm not going to get that from the school that we're zoned to, it's my obligation to do whatever

I need to do to make that happen. Whether it's financial problems or work harder or reach for help,

I have to do that because that's what I'm called to do. I was thinking about the co -ops and stuff that Dalton did, even though it was all kids older than him.

There are other co -ops. If you're having the same issue like Dalton had - I've seen successful ones, yeah.

The one at this big old church over here is pretty good from what they're doing. They're teaching

Mandarin and AP Calculus. I was able to look on their schedule and I'm just like, oh my gosh,

I did not think that's what they were doing at co -ops. They're doing it in four hours and then they're done. It's amazing. I could see groups because we take our kids up to the playground up there a couple of times a week if that.

You can see at lunchtime, everyone has their little groups that they sit and have lunch with. You can still get that interaction.

That was one thing my brother and I have talked about. We talked about homeschooling our sons eventually.

Congratulations. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, that's right. We got one in the oven. Yeah, he's in here.

Have we announced that to the podcast yet? No, they just figured this out. Did you mean to do that? No, I don't -

Mike did it for you. Look at that. Boom! Oh, well, I thought that's what she was saying.

I'll be much bigger. I won't be able to sit this close to the table. Is that an innuendo? No, it's just I'm going to be fat with this baby in my belly.

Especially with another DJ. Not fat, big. Not fat, big. No, I was a little chunky. Thick. Not fat, thick.

Going back to that - With Rachel and I try to give her a hug. Two C's. Well, going back to the whole co -op thing -

Public school. One thing that my brother and I were talking about, he's like, I just don't want my kids to be that weird, because we all knew a weird homeschooled kid growing up.

We had one in our youth group and love him to this day, but he's still pretty awkward. But he was almost like Dalton, where his older siblings were like 10 years.

He was like an afterthought kind of thing. And so he was like 10 years younger than all of his siblings.

And then he would only see Donovan, my husband, and then another one of our friends at church.

Those were his friends. And so that's one thing. I'm like, well, I'm going to put our kids in sports.

If he wants to play sports, hopefully. I don't want him to be a little nerd. I'm just kidding. If he wants to be a nerd,

I'll let him be a nerd. But it's like, I want him to interact. I want him to play. I want him to learn teamwork. How to work with somebody.

Yeah, sports is bigger than just the sports. Yeah, it is. Right. It's camaraderie. It's camaraderie, yeah. And so it's like, you can make it what you want.

So we don't believe in participation trophies at public schools. Losers. You either win or lose, buddy.

They do now. Well, I'm talking about when I grew up. So one way, my parents,

I was exposed to all types of people long before I ever went to school or anything like that, because of the ministry.

At my house, dude... Y 'all had a ton of people living with you. Man, there's not a type of person you can think of.

So my parents did an excellent job in that regard. No, that's on me. Okay. In that regard, through that, that's why it wasn't as big of a culture shock for me as it was.

I want to say something about the weird kid thing you said. That one weird homeschool kid, yeah. That is prevalent in public schools quite a bit now.

A lot. We had some kids like that at preschool too. And people forget that. People think it's a homeschool thing. It's not. Let me tell you what that is.

It's easy to do it in homeschool. Here's what that is. I'm not talking about mental issues. Don't misunderstand what

I'm saying. Right. When someone's life is only ever centered around them. You're talking about like an only child.

It could be. In public schools now, we'll have so many individualized education programs, not just for legitimate things.

Anger. Let me tell you something. I'll look you in the... 17 years old, she had an

IEP, not for mental retardation. ADHD. Well, not for those things.

Not a 5044. What's an IEP? Individual Education Program. Oh, sorry. Public school.

For anger issues. If person

X stood up and said, you know, F you Coach Shipley.

That person you couldn't do. Three days ISS. If she did, she got to skip the assignment that day, walk to the principal and her caseworker, say how she was having a bad day.

Come back in the classroom that day and finish the day out and not have to do any work. And I had to give her 100 for it.

Oh, that pisses me off. That is ridiculous. I mean, it's like you had won an IEP program for yourself, correct?

I got an anger issue. I got a hunger issue. You know what you have to do to get it. Say I got an anger issue.

Have a doctor to fill it out. Have your mom fill it out for you. Because I filled them out. Have your mommy. Your mommy.

My kid has a very hard time dealing with teachers. We would have to do. When I worked at the pediatric office, we would have to do

IEPs or 504 plans. But most of the time when we got them, it was a medical thing.

It was autism or ADHD. What's 504? 504 is like wheelchairs.

I'll be in a classroom and there'll be seven kids with an IEP. And I'm never allowed to reveal for privacy reasons, right?

But two or three of them might be something like. Public school. Two or three things might be like autism or mental retardation.

Four of them will be behavioral. And the same credit. The same treatment.

And I'm just looking around. I'm like, you've got to be kidding me. That and that. When we make things so individualized.

Think about those words. Individual education program. In a public school.

Individual education program. That's why Mike said sports are such a big thing. Because it's teaching you that the team is bigger than you.

It's the group. The team is bigger than you. It's the team, sir. It's the team is bigger than you. Put your helmet on and go get to work. That's right, man.

That's right. Grab your gloves or whatever sport it is. Exactly. It's not about you. It's about us. So that's an excellent outline for that.

We have to teach our children. That it's not about them. It's not. They're not the center of attention.

The greater good of everybody. 100%. And there's a lot of ways to do that. But sports is definitely one of them.

Oh, for sure. Definitely. I agree. Yeah, sports are great. All right. Well, any other comments?

Concerns? I think it was a good discussion. I think. Do we actually need a part two to this?

Probably not. I just want to make it clear that I had good leaders in my household.

Like my mom did what she could do. Yeah. So when you talk about options, we just didn't have any.

Right. But as the older son, kind of like your dad told you, you figure it out.

And if that means you take one on your chin for your little brother, or you show him how to do this different.

That's beautiful. Or you move a certain way to show him how to move a certain way to get through said struggles.

Yeah. But it's all about what you're able to do as a parent.

Now, in a church family, which I didn't grow up in, my mom leaned on the public school system to help her get to work or get us to school.

You got to think public schools. Not only just, we didn't have a car. You know what I'm saying? So you get to go to the school bus and go to.

And there's lunch. Lunch. Breakfast. And listen, it was free lunch. Like there was options. You had free lunch, reduced lunch.

And then people that paid. All of ours were free. Well, when we grew up, if you were in a certain thing, food stamps, whatever, you had free lunch or reduced lunch.

Almost all in Memphis are free now. I know. Growing up, that wasn't. Did y 'all do breakfast at your school? Yes. It was 40 cents.

I still remember. It was 40 cents for lunch. Now it's almost all free and almost, not all, almost every

Memphis school breakfast and lunch. So in that saying, I just want to make it super clear that I'm proud of how

I came up. And my mom did what she could do. And like you said, it was on me to figure it out.

And I did. But it's also on me as a parent to figure out what's best for my children. So that doesn't mean the same thing

I went through has to be the same thing my kids go through. If I can protect them and let them not wear the scar tissue that I have and also provide the adversity that they need in their lives to be social, then that's what

I'm going to do. You don't have to get beat up or made fun of or whatever to get thick skin, but I'm not going to call her you either.

I think the key that we've tried and I think we've succeeded in conveying is to answer the question directly, public school, private school, homeschool, doesn't matter.

Your job is to educate your children. And those are all tools at your expense. And it's your job to figure out how to do that.

The simple biggest thing I want to make sure the thing is, if you think sending your kid to private school makes them a

Christian, you don't have to do anything about it, or makes them educated, you're a fool. If you think, man,

I've seen homeschool where the mom or the dad, whoever's doing it, is being lazy and just that's not going to work neither.

If you think sending the private school, public school, whatever, all I'm saying is those are all tools.

And if you are trusting to passively trust any of those, it's never going to work out the way it is.

It is your job, whatever tool you use. So for Mike's mom, if that's the one tool she had in her option, you are to use that tool while recognizing the responsibility is still on you.

That's the main thing that I was trying to get at today. I think we all did. That's perfect, yeah.

No, that's a good word. I enjoyed being here today. Good job, guys. It was fun. Mike, we loved having you.

Always. Well, we'll see how the views look, I guess. I'm sure they'll be fine. Everyone's like, Mike, I gotta click on this.

You got Titans and Grizzlies on. I'm a Memphis Titan. Come on, dude. A Memphis Titan, baby. You know, but it's the

Super Bowl. Memphis Titans, baby. Yeah, it's the Super Bowl. All about Taylor Swift today. I literally, listen, there's a kid on 49ers that went to Millington High School.

Who? Samuel something, I can't, he's a DB for the 49ers, so we're rooting for him to bring the

Lombardi back to Millington, Tennessee, where I graduated high school. Come on, man. Public school, you know what

I'm saying? So it's exciting, you know. We played sports there, football, wrestling, cheerleading, everything like that, so it'd be nice to see that in my little school town.

That'd be fun. Yeah. All right, very cool. Anna, anything else? Nope. What do y 'all do? What do y 'all do?

All right, so, no. Oh, oh, the deuces? Love it. Okay, that's exactly how we do it.

Right there, right? So, until next time. Deuces. Hey, Mike, you know the sun's not in here, right?