66. Sam Sorbo and The Broken Institutional System

In today’s episode, we get to spend time with Sam Sorbo. A successful Hollywood film actress, writer, and producer, Sam stepped back from her own career to immerse herself in the home education of her three young children for over a decade. Recognizing the brokenness of our institutional system led Sam to understand there is much more to education than academics. As a prolific author, podcast and radio host, international public speaker, and home education mentor, Sam is dedicated to teaching families how to educate differently. 

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Teach From Love 
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Transcript

Sam Sorbo: 0:00

And the other thing that I want to tell parents is why do you think you're so incapable? You live a whole life. And you've done a lot more than the kindergarten teacher or the first grade teacher who's just been teaching in a classroom for a year upon year. You've done so much more. You have so much more to share with your child than any single one of his or her teachers.

Timmy Eaton: 0:25

Hi, I'm Timmy Eaton, homeschool father of six and doctor of education. We've been homeschooling for more than 15 years and have watched our children go from birth to university successfully and completely without the school system. Homeschooling has grown tremendously in recent years and tons of parents are becoming interested in trying it out. But people have questions and concerns and misconceptions and lack the confidence to get started. New and seasoned homeschoolers are looking for more knowledge and peace and assurance to continue homeschooling. The guests and discussions on this podcast will empower anyone thinking of homeschooling to bring their kids home and start homeschooling. And homeschoolers at all stages of the journey will get what they need and want from these conversations. Thank you for joining us today and enjoy this episode of this Golden Hour Podcast as you exercise, drive, clean, or just chill. You're listening to this golden hour podcast. In today's episode, we get to spend time with Sam Sorbo, a successful Hollywood film actress, writer, and producer, sam stepped back from her own career to immerse herself in the home education of her three young children for over a decade. Recognizing the brokenness of our institutional system led Sam to understand there is much more to education than academics. As a prolific author, podcast, and radio host, international public speaker, and home education mentor, Sam is dedicated to teaching families how to educate differently. Welcome back to this golden hour podcast. Today we have with us Sam Sorbo, who is a homeschool mother of three and an award winning filmmaker, bestselling author, syndicated TV, radio, and host, high impact international speaker and education freedom advocate. And so that's a lot of things, to identify Sam Sorbo. Thank you for being with us.

Sam Sorbo: 2:17

Thanks for having me.

Timmy Eaton: 2:18

We appreciate that. And if you wouldn't mind, we'd love to have you give a brief bio of you and, anything you want to say about your upbringing and where you're at now and just anything you'd like.

Sam Sorbo: 2:27

I'll just go straight to the homeschooling because my passion is education and it always has been, frankly, when, even when I was in school, even though I hated school, I loved learning. So when I had my three kids I'll just say, I was an actress and I walked away from basically walked away from my career right before I got married because my husband was very ill, or my husband to be my fiance got very ill and so I just stepped away so that I could take care of him we got married and. He gradually got better, took him about three years to fully recover. And then we moved around a bit and I had three kids by the time I got back to LA and I was going to go back into auditioning. Um, It's probably after my third audition. So I traveled outside, I traveled away from the house for like the three hours that it took for the whole audition. And when I came back, my toddler, who was about a year and a half at that point, came up to me with her little finger. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And I'm like, what's that about? So I picked her up, I put her on my hip and she turned to my nanny and she said, bye bye.

Timmy Eaton: 3:33

And I

Sam Sorbo: 3:33

thought, oh, she wants me at home. And I just knew. That was important that I needed to make a decision right then and there, and that decision would be for her and my two boys and who apparently didn't want me around. No, I'm kidding. I made that decision and that eventually morphed into. home education because it prepared me to take on the burden, I would say, of educating my children later when I realized that the school really wasn't doing a job. So my son went through second grade and it was terrible. It just, and we moved for the schools, like we moved to the good school and I just wasn't happy. And so I finally said to Kevin, I think I could fail at homeschooling and he would still be better off. And so I started down that path and I'd love to say that I never looked back. I did. I put the kids back in school, a little hybrid Christian school for a couple of days a week. And after six weeks, that was an abysmal failure and I took them back out. And then. Since then, I've learned so much about how we get education entirely wrong. Entirely. I'm not even going to play with,

Timmy Eaton: 4:50

You're not missing words. They're

Sam Sorbo: 4:51

trying, they're not trying, they're not educating, they're perverting the whole construct. And it's a very sad thing and it's leading to mass ignorance, mass intolerance. Mass slavery. There you go.

Timmy Eaton: 5:09

Wow. So that's me in a

Sam Sorbo: 5:10

nutshell.

Timmy Eaton: 5:10

Yeah, no. So let's break that down a little bit. That was a great intro. I appreciate it. So like growing up, did you have any exposure to home education at all?

Sam Sorbo: 5:19

No.

Timmy Eaton: 5:20

So that was totally new to you as a mother who was trying to like weigh, what are the options out there for me?

Sam Sorbo: 5:25

It was entirely new to me.

Timmy Eaton: 5:27

And so what was your first exposure? But I was

Sam Sorbo: 5:28

intrigued. So I started doing some research. I just was intrigued. And so I had done a ton of research. I had met a bunch of by the time that I decided to, let me give it a shot. Let me see what's this all about. These people seem to like it. Let me see if I like it, that kind of thing.

Timmy Eaton: 5:45

Yeah. And from somebody who, it doesn't experience the, you had a little bit of a Hollywood life, how did you come across homeschoolers? Like I'm saying, is it often that somebody who's a Hollywood actress will hook up with homeschool families? Like, how did you come across them?

Sam Sorbo: 6:01

I didn't really hang out with a bunch of Hollywood people. That just wasn't my. My that wasn't my vibe. There are a lot of people in Hollywood, especially child actors who homeschool because they need a tutor on set. It's state mandated it's union mandated. So there are a lot of actors who homeschool and then there are. Other types of families who are drawn to homeschooling families whose Children have say a certain talent that they want to exploit, whether it be, skating and the child is maybe has a shot at the Olympics and so needs all of the time that they can find that they can muster to be on the ice. And so they would homeschool because why waste all that time in school is a tremendous waste of time. It's a tremendous distraction. It's it really trains the child to expect less from life. It's just awful. So there were a lot of people and then where we moved where we move for the good schools. It was also a hotbed of homeschoolers. I remember going into a store once and there was a gal there shopping with her kids. It was like restoration hardware or something like a store like that.

Timmy Eaton: 7:11

Yeah.

Sam Sorbo: 7:11

And she was shopping and I looked at her and I said, why are your kids Yeah, not in school. And she said, Oh, I homeschool. And I'm like, Oh, tell me more. That's interesting. What's that and she actually became a mentor for me. And we kept in touch over the years, even though we didn't really move in the same circles, even in the same homeschool circles we kept in touch over the years. It's a small community, basically. Once you're in, you're in like people know you and then you just get in. It's a very welcoming community. I will say by and large because we need, we know we need to grow our ranks. We know we need more people on our side. And so that's exciting. It was an exciting time. Yeah,

Timmy Eaton: 7:54

that's great. So when was this, when did you start, like, when did you start homeschooling?

Sam Sorbo: 7:57

2000.

Timmy Eaton: 7:59

Oh, okay. So yeah, so we're about similar then because my, our, we started about 16 years ago in our, and we've had two kids graduate now from homeschool and then we've got four more coming. So that's great. Yeah. Yeah.

Sam Sorbo: 8:11

Yeah. So I've had to graduate. My, my last one is graduating this year. She's just about to graduate.

Timmy Eaton: 8:17

Oh, excellent. And tell me a little bit about that. Just as as you said that did they take a diploma route or what kind of, how did they approach post secondary or just life after homeschool? How'd you guys do that?

Sam Sorbo: 8:29

So my son, so I was busy trying to figure out college for the kids because I went to college, but I'm a dropout. I'm a high school dropout and a college dropout. My husband's a college dropout. Most of my most successful friends are either college dropouts or never went to college. I'm looking at the stats and I'm going, yeah, I don't know if college is really the best choice. But my son came to me, my oldest, when he was 15 and he said, I know where I want to go to college. And I said, Oh, that's great. What do you want to study? Cause that should be our first question. Not where do you want to go to school? What do you want out of school? And he said I want to be an actor. And I said, Oh, you don't need a college degree to be an actor.

Timmy Eaton: 9:16

Yeah.

Sam Sorbo: 9:17

And he goes, I don't. Oh, no, I guess I don't. And then he started thinking about it and he got upset that he was hoodwinked into going and spending a ton of money for something that he didn't need.

Timmy Eaton: 9:28

Yeah.

Sam Sorbo: 9:29

And and so he fairly quickly just said, yeah that's not what I want. That's not on my radar now. Now he's a successful young actor, but he also his sort of side hustle, if you will, is he does social media management for companies and individuals who want to grow their social media presence and he's very good at it. And so that's his sort of bread and butter and the movies that he does, because he does predominantly Christian movies that don't pay a lot of money. So even if he were working all the time, he would still need a side hustle in a sense. But it's worked out very well for him. And then my second also wants to be an actor.

Timmy Eaton: 10:08

Yeah. And same story, I'm sure. And I love what You're highlighting there that in, in my conversations in these episodes and just with friends around here as, as recent as last night with our neighbors people are asking questions about the necessity of post secondary, depending on what somebody is pursuing that, I love how simple that was for you okay, what are you going to study? What is it that you're actually after?

Sam Sorbo: 10:30

So here's the thing, I can blow that up even more. Because people think if you want to be a doctor or a lawyer, you have to go to college. Nope. Sorry, no. In fact, if you don't go to college and you score well on the MCATs, there's not a medical school that would turn you down, especially if you're fully funded. And if you give, and the same thing about the LSATs, by the way, there are plenty, there, there are plenty of young people and by plenty, I mean, many who have done high school and sort of college kind of courses at the same time simultaneously and have gotten far enough to take the LSATs. And go straight into law school they, there, there are plenty of those, they're not super common, but there it's been done several times. So I'm just saying we have these, because we went to government schools, we learned that there are rules.

Timmy Eaton: 11:25

Yes. And

Sam Sorbo: 11:25

you have to fall between these lines and you have to tow the line and you have to, check the boxes and all of this stuff. And it's all not true. And the people who figure out, Oh, I can make my own rules or I can I can bend the rules a certain degree in whichever direction. Those are the people who become more successful than the rest of us. And we're sitting here going, how do you do that?

Timmy Eaton: 11:48

Yes.

Sam Sorbo: 11:48

Because we were still waiting for permission, because what's the first thing you learn to do in school? The first thing you learn to do in school is ask permission. Raise your hand if you want to ask a question. You're asking permission. You have to ask permission to go to the bathroom. So that's the training from day one of kindergarten. The training is you must ask permission.

Timmy Eaton: 12:11

So true.

Sam Sorbo: 12:12

And that's slavery.

Timmy Eaton: 12:14

The, I, so I just created this little ebook that I'm sending out to my audience about a lot of people use the term de schooling, which I think is a good term or unlearning or whatever you want to call it and this idea of I think what you're really highlighting is just freedom and that we have been trained to think that we have to ask permission or that we that we can't pursue our own path, but I love what you said. I've never actually. Talk to anybody yet about, MCATs and LSATs without a bachelor's degree. And so I love that you're even opening that up as a possibility for people. I have my own son who's interested in medicine. Yeah,

Sam Sorbo: 12:47

so we've been sold a bill of goods. And here's what's funny, and so I wrestle with this, right? Because we've got young people who are demanding the federal government take care of their loans. Bail me out. I borrowed too much money. I can't pay it back. Come bail me out. The problem is the government's actually responsible for them getting into that position in the first place. Because the government said we will educate you and then failed to do that. Did not teach them about credit. Did not teach them about taking loans. Did not teach them what education was for. Did not give them a purpose. Their only purpose was to make money and didn't even teach them how best to make money. So if you went to school for, mid French mid 1600s basket weaving or whatever and now you can't find a job. and pay off your student debt. Who put you in that predicament? The government that convinced you that you needed to go to college and spend the money to get that degree.

Timmy Eaton: 13:40

So I have, I saw this, you're again, you're making me think of lots of questions. I want to get to and maybe I'll ask you, I want to come back to just your beginning with homeschool and where you got information and how you did that and describe your evolution in homeschooling. But before I do that, because what's germane right now is your, the sentiments you're expressing about schooling and education, where did your passion, for like how messed up it is come from? Like, where did that come from for you?

Sam Sorbo: 14:05

My passion to save Children. I'm a mother. That's where it comes from. I'll tell you this. I had a little bit of an epiphany because so when you send your child away from you every day. And tacitly, you're telling the child, Hey, these people know better than I do. Cause I can't teach you. They can teach you so they know better. So you're undermining your authority in your own home when you do that. And I wrote an article about this for Breitbart way, way back when my kids were little, I don't know where I got that. I, I made it up out of whole cloth, but I was seeing it happen. And I was saying. These kids are rebellious because they're taken away from their parents. They're shoved into schools all day and they learn bad things about their parents. And so they're rebellious. Then the parents are frustrated with this attitude that's coming home from school. And so they're just happy to drop their kids off at school. So they don't have to deal with the attitude anymore. And the kids know that the parents just don't want to deal with them. And so it's this vicious cycle.

Timmy Eaton: 15:11

It's perpetual,

Sam Sorbo: 15:13

right? And it builds on itself. It's more than perpetual. It's like it's self defeating. And I was getting some attitude from my second grader when he was coming home from school. And it wasn't like it was a second grader. How much attitude can a second grader give you? But I was noticing it and I'm like, I do not like that. And that's why I said to Kevin, even if I fail at homeschooling, he'll still be better off because I'm not going to have that to deal with that, that nastiness that was coming home from the school. And part of the nastiness is just, it's built into the system. It's I'm a second grader, so I'm better than the first graders. And that's what I was. And by the way, like he was very popular. So the fifth graders all knew his name. And when he was in first grade, like he was just this popular guy. So I nipped that in the bud when I started home educating. But what I will say is if you fast forward several years, when my children were teenagers, my husband traveled a lot for work. And and I was doing a radio show, so I would often go to bed early and just work on my computer for a while before I would turn in because my show was at 6am, so I had to get up early, right?

Timmy Eaton: 16:18

Yes.

Sam Sorbo: 16:19

And so I would, we'd have dinner and then I'd excuse myself and on any given night, One of my kids as teenagers would come into my bedroom and sit on the end of my bed and just download their day. And I would very gently close my computer and put it to the side and make a mental note. It was going to be a little bit of a later night. And but that was precious to me.

Timmy Eaton: 16:42

Yes.

Sam Sorbo: 16:43

That relationship. And it's ongoing. My, my relationship with my children is Phenomenal, like I can't even because it's not something that we see in our culture today and we are taught by our culture. Oh, teenagers rebel. I call that a lie. Teenagers don't rebel if you don't give them that opportunity to want to be rebellious. And because that's what you're doing when you're sending your child away from you every day is you're putting in front of them this opportunity to desire to rebel. And my children never went through that. They never went, not even close. But more than that, our relationship is like this, and this is what I want for other families. And when I realized that the school would have willfully stolen that from me, I got angry. And so that's what's put me on this mission. Because I understand this theft. I understand that there's a grand larceny that is being perpetrated against the citizens of the United States by the schools. They're stealing the family. And where's it coming from?

Timmy Eaton: 17:52

Like, where did that come from? Because, a lot of times, these unsuspecting teachers like you were saying, could be well meaning people or whatever, but what's behind it? Like, where did, how did this, where did it come from? Okay, so two things.

Sam Sorbo: 18:03

Two things. First of all, it's built into the system. Unfortunately, that's the way the system's designed. The system is socialist by nature. Take money from everybody and give it to the select being families with children. That's a socialist system. There's nothing I can do about that. And I'm sorry about it, but that's the, that's just the way that it is. Secondarily, I think nefarious forces have discovered that the school is a great place to transmit information that they want to disseminate into the culture. They've also gone into Hollywood and the media and other places. And now they're actually, they're in the teachers unions, they're in our higher education, they're in our government nefarious forces that seek division among the people of the United States, and they've been very successful. And I'll refer you to this book, which I did not write, The Naked Communist. So I do a TV show every day at 7pm for those of your viewers who would like to tune in. On patriot dot TV, and I'm going to be talking about this book. This is the Communist Manifesto. It has 45 goals of the Communist Party. This was entered into the record, the congressional record by the author of this book, Cleon Scousen. These are their goals, and one of them is eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools. Another one is get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of the teachers associations. Oh, check, check, and check. Put the party line in textbooks. Check. It's in there. And so there is a fervent desire To accomplish nefarious ends via the schools, and also the schools are ripe for takeover. And so they have been, they've been hostile takeover of the schools. And we are completely unaware. And part of the reason that we have been so unaware is because the schools softened us. So that we wouldn't discern the truth. So that we wouldn't be able to identify these nefarious actors. And that's why now you have drag queen story time and transgender clubs in the schools and all of these very evil things. And you have parents that are incapable of calling them evil parents that are incapable of defending their daughters in their locker rooms and saying there should be no boys in the girls locker rooms. Are you kidding me? You can't claim to be a girl and walk into the locker room wearing your sweatshirt and carrying your phone, by the way. And this is happening in our schools, in our high schools today. And the dads of these girls are saying I don't know. If the school says that you have to change in front of a boy, then I guess you do.

Timmy Eaton: 20:55

Parents,

Sam Sorbo: 20:56

and I'll tell you where that comes from because we are, we were all separated from our parents because we were sent to school. No one's been parented for decades now. There's a lack of parenting, and in fact, I was just listening to an interview of Abigail Schreyer who wrote the first book on the trans transgender craze among girls. Oh, I can't remember the name of her first book. She's got another book that's coming out that talks about parenting and how parents don't know how to parent anymore. And, for instance, let me just say this, never get into an argument with your child. You have the power. Don't allow them to make you think you don't have the power, just exert your power. The shortest word it's not the shortest word, but almost the shortest word in the English language is no. I remember my two youngers wanted to quit piano. My older wanted to quit piano also. No, the two youngers wanted to quit piano and they worked out a deal between the two of them to talk to me together because I'm intimidating, and they're young. And so they turned around, we walked, we were walking into a building and they, oh, yeah, another thing, mom. So we decided that, we've learned a lot about music theory, like you said, we should and piano. And we just feel like we've really reached the end of our piano journey. And so we're, we're ready to stop taking piano. And I just looked at them and I could, I said, Oh, huh. No, No. And they, it's like they, they were like, they looked at each other

Timmy Eaton: 22:25

but we planned it so well.

Sam Sorbo: 22:27

We planned all of this. It never occurred to us that she was just going to say no. They thought they were going to get an argument. There's no argument. I don't have to argue. I've already won.

Timmy Eaton: 22:37

So Sam, how do you respond to the parent who says, cause I, it's really refreshing to hear you say that because I feel like this has been a topic we've been talking about quite a bit, my wife and I, and others that we have in fact, the way that I've said it is we're being parented by our children. And what I'm wondering is how do you respond to the parent who says, I agree with the principle of what you're teaching, but sometimes I just I know how imperfect I am. As a human and I want to be open to, the dialogue between my kids and I to come to things mutually, like, how do you respond to somebody who says, I'm not, I don't feel that confident just to be like, no yes, this is what's best for you. And this is how it's going to go.

Sam Sorbo: 23:18

Two things grow a pair and. Be open to to, be flexible, be open to being flexible, be open with your children. Hey, you know what? I made a mistake. That was dumb. I wasn't thinking straight and wow. I'm really sorry about that. I hope you can forgive me because I, that was the, yeah, I blew it with that decision that I made and you were right and I was wrong. And let me think. Why don't you come up with a way that I can make it up to you and we'll talk about that. Cool. Because humility goes a long way and you should have humility even with your kids. Yeah. And be

Timmy Eaton: 23:57

sincere about that humility. Yeah. That's great. Yes. Of course. Yeah. But

Sam Sorbo: 24:02

at the same time, you're the adult. Never forget. You're the adult. And you say to your kids. I'm making this decision because it's for your, it's for the best for you because I'm an adult and I know better than you do because you're young and I'm not.

Timmy Eaton: 24:19

And it's not even fair actually when you think about it logically just common sense. It's not even fair to put that decision making on somebody who has not fully formed their own brains. And one thing I always say with my kids, like this is a common thing. It's

Sam Sorbo: 24:31

called child abuse.

Timmy Eaton: 24:33

Yeah. Yeah. To put that on them. I was going to say one thing that we've said is and even if I am wrong with what we're doing we have come to this decision through a lot of thought, even prayer in cases and and so we have weighed this out. So if we are wrong, what you can be confident about is we were honestly trying to do what was best for you, even if it is wrong. And so with that, I feel like there's some grace there.

Sam Sorbo: 24:55

Fast forward to my oldest still plays the piano and sings. My middle child, who was the one who was leading the charge of quitting with his sister that one time, not only still plays the piano, he composes he's traveling Europe right now. And he went out of his way to buy a travel piano because he loves to play so much that when he overheard a mother say yeah, my daughter wanted to quit piano when she was 12, and I just didn't want to argue with her anymore, so I let her quit. He said, Mom, it hurt my heart. Because he remembers wanting to quit wanting desperately to quit. But here's the thing. What else does he have to do?

Timmy Eaton: 25:38

Yeah,

Sam Sorbo: 25:39

you're only young once you only get that free time like your life is free time That's what a child's life is. And so if the parent fills up A couple of hours during the day. And my kids didn't mind you. They didn't go eight hours a day to school,

Timmy Eaton: 25:56

right?

Sam Sorbo: 25:56

I can understand a child who goes to eight hours a day of school, then has homework and then is supposed to practice piano. I can understand a little bit of a why, but I tell you, the rebellion isn't against the piano. The rebellion is against all of the busy work that happens during the school hours and the busy work that is homework today. Okay. And that leads me to another point that I want to make to your viewers. Yeah, carry on. We've been convinced by our school moms that education is academic and it's not. That's a lie that you must focus on the academics and that's why you're in qualified. You're disqualified from teaching. You're unqualified to teach is because it's academic and you don't know stuff because you went through school, but you never learned because you were a bad student. And so we all feel like, oh, my gosh, I could never homeschool my kids because I don't remember math. But that's absurd. And so here's the joy in this. What you don't know is great because then that gives you the opportunity to learn it in front of your child and model learning. Excellent. So it's a blessing that you don't know. What you do know is good enough. It's enough. And It's not about the academics. It's about the relationship that you have with your child and teaching your child to be a responsible, loving adult human being, just like you. And believe me, that's all they want out of life. They want to be just like you for a time period, for a time certain. And then eventually they start to differentiate themselves and say, actually, I'm special this way and I'm going to go on this path. And then they differentiate from you. But for the first. 12, 13 years. They're just trying to be like you. 14, 15. At 15, a young boy's looking at his father if he's homeschooled, and he's saying, okay, so dad did all of these things right, but this is my specialty. This is where I want to go. And then from like 16, 17, 18, he's differentiating himself and moving into his own world, but still checking in with dad. That's the beauty of the home education. Scheme, if you will.

Timmy Eaton: 28:12

Yeah, it's well, and what I've said so much recently is that it's lifestyle. This is learning and lifestyle. And it is a choice. It's a lifestyle choice if you choose to homeschool. And I was going to ask you, I'm glad you addressed that. It is

Sam Sorbo: 28:23

the lifestyle choice. It's the lifestyle choice. It's the only choice you won't live to regret. Let's put it that way. It's the only choice you won't live to regret.

Timmy Eaton: 28:34

And why do you feel so strongly that way? You've said a lot before this to back that up. Because

Sam Sorbo: 28:38

there isn't a gravestone that says, I wish I spent more time at the office. The gravestone says in loving memory of he loved his kids. He was loved by his wife. The eulogies say that the eulogies don't say, wow he did some killer business deals and he only wished that he could have, done that other killer business deal or she, it's about relationship. That's, and this is what they've obfuscated. What the purpose of life is. They've obfuscated it and they've taught us that it's college prep and career readiness and it's earning money and it's not.

Timmy Eaton: 29:17

Yeah, that's a,

Sam Sorbo: 29:17

so home education is really just parenting.

Timmy Eaton: 29:21

Yes. That's

Sam Sorbo: 29:23

really, that's all it is. And and I've written books about it to help parents understand there's a paradigm shift because you're thinking school. I don't want you to think school anymore. In fact, there's a great clip that I don't know if you saw after the State of the Union, Tucker Carlson had he had his rebuttal and he brought on Alex Jones and Alex Jones said this one thing and I clipped it. I have a very short clip of it. He said, whatever Viacom, whatever Disney, whatever CNN tells you to do, if you do the opposite, you'll be just fine. And I clipped it and I sent it to Tucker and what I've been saying about school for decades, right? Because As long as you don't do what the schools do, you'll be fine. You know why? Learning happens organically. It's like they have to intervene to stop the child from learning, which is what they do in school. So as long as you're not doing that intervention to stop your child from learning, and as long as you don't put your children on electronics, don't do that, they will learn. You just get out of the way.

Timmy Eaton: 30:34

Oh, I love it. That's

Sam Sorbo: 30:35

the beauty of it.

Timmy Eaton: 30:36

That's well said. I appreciate that. Oh, that was so good. What if you did have, talk to a single mom who really wants to home educate, like she really wants to. And she's going, Sam, how do I do this? Because everything you're saying resonates. Like how do I do that? Because I'm, finances are tight. What do I do?

Sam Sorbo: 30:54

Finances are tight. You're going to have to make some sacrifices. It's worth it. It's just that's the best I can say about that. I actually have a single mom who works for me with her daughter. She comes to work with her daughter. Yeah, I'm a pretty good employer because that's my paradigm. She landed. But I have friends who are single parents. Who have home educated their kids all the way through turned out two beautiful young women who are, super successful in their own lives. And then this particular woman that I'm talking about went back, adopted two more little girls and did it again all the way through. You can do it. It is not an eight hour a day commitment. It is not a second job. Parenting is a job.

Timmy Eaton: 31:35

It's a full time job chosen

Sam Sorbo: 31:36

to be a parent. And you really should fulfill that calling as best you can. Now if. If it's a very young child and that child needs some sort of supervision all day, you're going to have to work out some ride shares type stuff, right? You're going to have to work out some stuff. Yeah. You're gonna have to get

Timmy Eaton: 31:55

family to help or.

Sam Sorbo: 31:57

You need to modify your job a bit to, to be able to provide, but also be able to take care of the child. There is a way to do it. I know that the schools came along and said, Don't worry about it. We'll take care of it for you, but they won't. They will turn your child against you. They will likely at this point, turn your child into somebody that the child is not and cause irreparable damage to the child. And I'll tell you this. I started homeschooling my oldest in third grade, my second one had done the public school kindergarten for a year, and so he was entering first grade homeschool with me, and my youngest one then went into the public school kindergarten, and she's now 18 when she was 17 and a half, say, maybe. No, when she was sorry, 16 and a half, she figured out, and I didn't know what I'd been battling all this time. She figured out that it was kindergarten that taught her that she was stupid. She learned she was stupid in a kindergarten classroom because she couldn't read her sight words and they all laughed at her and she thought, Oh, I guess I'm just stupid. And so every time I told her how bright she was and how clever she was, and she is, she's very bright and very clever in, in anomalous ways, It's freaky to me because her brain works completely differently than mine.

Timmy Eaton: 33:19

Yeah.

Sam Sorbo: 33:20

Every time I would tell her that, she thought I was lying. It's, I mean, it's ridiculous. But because when she was six in school, and even though she's now disdainful of school, and she understands school is, my kids, when they were little, we would drive past the school and they'd go, look, mommy, a child prison. They understood that school is terrible. It was a deep seated. Knowledge that she just took in. Oh, I'm stupid

Timmy Eaton: 33:49

at a formative year.

Sam Sorbo: 33:51

And it took her until she was 16 and a half to figure it out for herself. And she told me when she was almost 17 and I was like, what? And I, and it was just this completely innocuous. I'm sure I'm sure that I went and picked her up that day. And the cute little teacher, it was sweet, 22 year old, newly graduated, whatever. Who said, and she probably said to me, Oh, it was so cute. Your daughter, we did sight words today. And so she went up and she stumbled a little bit. It was really funny. It was fine. And maybe you should work on her sight words a little bit with her. Do you know what I mean? Like a nothing, bro. Yeah. That cemented for her until today. She's still, I know she's still like battling it in her head. She battles this sense of incompetence this, and that's a girl thing too. Oh, I'm just not capable that it is a girl thing, but maybe she has it, twice as heavy because in kindergarten they laughed. That was one class.

Timmy Eaton: 34:47

Yeah. You just don't

Sam Sorbo: 34:49

know that impression last

Timmy Eaton: 34:51

well, I had just a couple of more questions. If I could ask, I know you've got a very busy evening, one thing that I often ask is just about your counsel to newer struggling homeschool parents specifically and messages to moms who are feeling inadequate, which I feel like you did attend to right there. And some might say well, I feel like Sam's response was pretty insensitive that just, you've got to figure it out. But on the other hand, I could make the argument that, or it's really helping people to feel empowered that there is a way in that you don't always have to default to our conventional way, which has not, like you've been saying, produced results that are very desirable. And so maybe it was the most compassionate answer to say, figure it out. Do it because it's going to bless your family. It's going to bless your relationships with your children.

Sam Sorbo: 35:38

I will say that the empowerment message is you can figure it out, right? So figure it out. But the underlying message there is you've been taught that an expert has the answer for you. And I'm telling you, you don't need the experts. You are enough. So yes, that is my, that's my entire message. My gosh is empowering parents that they are, and God chose them for their children. Like This is a wholly ordained relationship. So for you to doubt it is for you to doubt God, really stop it. He doesn't like it. You shouldn't be doing it and it's not good for your kids. So yeah, it's a little bit insensitive. Obviously, Kevin makes a fine living, and so I never had to, worry about that. This is true, but you can do it. And yeah, you might have to tighten your belt, and you might have to give up your second car, or you might have to And it's worth it. And I don't know how to explain that to people who are so focused on money. Stop focusing on the money. And focus on your child and then figure out how to get it done. So the gal who works for me, it was funny because she didn't know how she was going to get it done, but she was just like, I gotta go get a job. And she found the perfect job and it's out there. So you can do it, but I can't, go into a situation to situation. It's going to be different.

Timmy Eaton: 37:05

Yeah. And I like what you're saying. You like, one thing that you pointed out was that there, there might be assumptions or conceptions of Oh, but it's, that's an eight hour thing. And it's you've made it very clear that parenting was a choice that is just, is all time full time and that the actual and the education is not mere academics. And that there's a lot of learning that takes place that isn't constructed in the traditional sense of a school. And so with all of that, that should liberate people to go, Oh, there's like a ton of ways to accomplish this principle of parenting and learning and preparing for one's future and developing character that is not confined to some institution.

Sam Sorbo: 37:44

And if you put your child first. Maybe involve your family, maybe involve your friends, maybe ask people for advice. Sure. Don't think that the expert, an expert is going to come and tell you exactly what to do. And by the way, like I'm a Product of that. The reason that I became an actress was because I was looking forward to somebody telling me what to wear, what to say, how to be right I was so insecure. I needed somebody to solve all of those problems for me. And unfortunately, what I realized is that acting is not escaping into being somebody else. Acting is actually being yourself only more so it's horrible. It's very hard, but I want to encourage parents put your Children first. If you put your Children first. you'll be first. It's a metaphysical equation that happens and it's phenomenal. And let me just mention my books cause I know you wanted to get to those and we're getting out of time. This is the first book that I wrote. I think I can't remember when it got published. That doesn't, Oh, 2016. So what is it? Eight years. This is the book I wrote on the heels of out that I could be successful at home education and it's basically why you should homeschool and how easy it is. That's the, that's the rundown of that one.

Timmy Eaton: 39:00

And let's say the title, just in case people are seeing it, it's there. Oh, I'm so sorry. It's called, they're your

Sam Sorbo: 39:04

kids.

Timmy Eaton: 39:05

Yeah. And I

Sam Sorbo: 39:06

emphasize your, because there are a lot of people out there who are trying to convince you they're not your kids, man. They don't belong to you. They belong to the state. And I really want to push back against that. I wrote the playbook for home learning. This is a workbook. It comes with 15 videos. So it's more expensive than just a regular book. And all of these things can be found on sorbo studios. com. The playbook for home learning is really this conversation broadened. To encompass parenting and everything so that it empowers the parents to say, Oh, so it's not just don't do everything in the school. It's do these things and that way I can get it done. And so it empowers the parents because that's really what I'm all about. I just want. I want the kids to be saved.

Timmy Eaton: 39:55

Restore family.

Sam Sorbo: 39:57

We can turn this whole thing around in a generation.

Timmy Eaton: 40:01

Amen.

Sam Sorbo: 40:02

If enough people will, and we don't even need a majority. We just need enough people. I will say, this nation greatest nation on the face of the planet. We've provided more prosperity across the globe than any other nation ever. In the fastest amount of time, like it's. This nation was an engine that was the most incredible thing founded by home educated individuals. They were self taught, they read books, they did amazing things, and they founded this nation. And if you think that school is going to provide anything like what those self taught individuals Got for themselves because they then you got another thing coming. Education is not the filling of a bucket. It is not data entry. It's the lighting of a fire, and it's it's a software download and parents. You are the curriculum. You your Children want to be like you. And the other thing that I want to tell parents is why do you think you're so incapable? You live a whole life. And you've done a lot more than the kindergarten teacher or the first grade teacher who's just been teaching in a classroom for a year upon year. You've done so much more. You have so much more to share with your child than any single one of his or her teachers.

Timmy Eaton: 41:22

Yeah. No, we abandon common sense. I just want to mention a couple of other of Sam's books, teach from love, a school year devotional for families and also words for warriors. And there's others on her site that I'll definitely refer to people and put it in the notes. But thank you so much for taking time. I, wow. Like I your confidence is yeah. I think it's a little bit contagious. Cause I just feel empowered after talking to them. I'm going to and what it makes me want to do is when I talk to moms and dads, About education is to go. No, dude, like you, you are enough. Like you really are because sometimes you feel like you're saying that as hot air, but no it's like true. It is true that you're enough for what your kids need. And I love that you said you are the curriculum. I think that's just so empowering to hear. from somebody who has done it. So thank you so much. Any last words before you, you leave us?

Sam Sorbo: 42:11

Follow me on Instagram, please. Sam underscore Sorbo and Twitter or X, I guess it's called now the, at the Sam Sorbo. And then go tune into my new TV show on patriot. tv.

Timmy Eaton: 42:23

Awesome. Thank you so much for taking time. We appreciate it. That was Sam Sorbo, everybody. Have a wonderful day and good luck with your show tonight.

Sam Sorbo: 42:31

Thank you.

Timmy Eaton: 42:34

That wraps up another edition of This Golden Hour podcast. If you haven't done so already, I would totally appreciate it if you would take a minute and give us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps out a lot. And if you've done that already, thank you much. Please consider sharing this show with friends and family members that you think would get something out of it. And thank you for listening and for your support. I'm your host, Tim Eaton. Until next time, remember to cherish this golden hour with your children and family.