Submit your questions to MailBox Monday: podcast@thebusymom.com

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Yvette Hampton is the producer and host of the upcoming documentary, Schoolhouse Rocked: The Homeschool Revolution, being directed by her husband, Garritt Hampton. She is also host of the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast. As a mom who is concerned for the future of this generation and the future of our country, Yvette has a deep passion to see a culture shift by encouraging people through the truth of God’s Word. Her greatest joy in life is being a wife and mom!

In the fall of 2016, she and her family sold their home and almost all of their possessions, loaded up in an RV, and began traveling the country to film Schoolhouse Rocked. They have a passion for the homeschool community and are humbled and honored that the Lord has called them to tell the stories of the millions of families who have been impacted by the homeschool revolution.

To see the movie trailer and find out more visit schoolhouserocked.com. 

Connect with the Yvette Hampton: Schoolhouse Rocked | School House Rocked Movie Trailer | Facebook 

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TRANSCRIPTION:

Hey everybody, this is Heidi St, John. Welcome to the Heidi St, John podcast. I’m so glad you’ve joined me at my little corner of the Internet. Today is Friday, August 16th and this is episode number 806. 

I want to thank you guys for listening to the show. I know that we had a great time a couple of weeks ago, partying it down for the 800th episode of the show, and this is possible because of you guys. So we wanted to thank you—and please leave a review. Keep talking about the show. We really appreciate it. 

Today, I’ve got a guest on the show. This is meet my friend Friday and my friend Yvette Hampton is back on the show with me today. Yvette and her husband, Garrett, are the producers of Schoolhouse Rocked and Ian are back to school series today we’re going to talk about a topic near and dear to my heart, which is homeschooling. Anyone can homeschool—anyone. 

Stick around, I think you’re going to be encouraged.

All right you guys. So you know I’ve got a couple things coming up. I wanted to let you know I will be in Lee’s Summit next Saturday, August 24th for their women’s conference. I’ll be bringing my own version of encouragement to you. And this year the topic is Miracle Worker: The Life Changing Power of Following Jesus. And that’s going to happen on the 24th of August. You can register for it right now and it’s a better price than it is at the door. Please come and bring a friend, bring your Bible and get ready to be encouraged. On the 29th, just a few days after that, I will be at Valley Baptist Church to kick off their women’s ministry fall session. Super excited about that! And you can find that at HeidiStJohn.com/events. It’s not too late to register it for Valley Baptist Church Women’s Ministry Summit Kickoff Event on the 29th that’s in Bakersfield, California. And then the next event I’ll be at after that is in Fredericksburg, Virginia. I’ll be bringing my conference there. This is a great time to register. 

These events include lunch and we do worship. I’m telling you, it’s gonna change your life because the Word of God is life changing. If you guys have not joined me yet at MomStrong International, I would encourage you to do that. We’ve got a whole bunch of stuff coming up. A brand new study launches every single month. Right now we are right in the middle of our August study, but we’re going to be launching a brand new series in September. It’s a great time to get your kids involved in writing God’s Word. We want to encourage you, as I’ve been saying for many years at the podcast, just a few minutes in the Bible, every day, can change your life. It’s the gospel that changes us. I hope you guys will join us at MomStrongInternational.com

I want to take a few minutes and introduce my guest that’s actually been on the show with me before this. I love having people on here who are changing the culture, who are out there and really making a difference for The Kingdom. Yvette and her husband Garrett are doing that. They’ve been married for 25 years and they’ve got a couple of kids. They’ve spent some time with me at my little neck of the woods at the Homeschool Resource Center this summer in Vancouver. We are just thrilled by what God is doing. So I asked her if she can come on the show with me today and we’re going to talk about homeschooling. Yvette, welcome back. 

[Yvette] Thank you. Thank you. 

[Heidi] I’m glad that you’re here. How are you guys doing? 

[Yvette] We’re doing great. 

[Heidi] Yeah, you’re just hanging and raging  and doing all the things that you do, getting ready for homeschooling. Producing a movie. You know, the little things.

[Yvette] Yes we are. You know, little things. 

[Heidi] I love it. We have a lot of new listeners of the podcast since you were here last. By way of introduction, you guys have quite an interesting story to tell. You sold your home… what, in 2016? 

[Yvette] Yes. 

[Heidi] And then you traveled out to the east coast. 

[Yvette] Yes. 

[Heidi] And then you sold your trailer, and then you travel out to the west coast to see me. 

[Yvette] Interesting is right. 

[Heidi] Interesting is right. So what’s going on? Why, would you do that? 

[Yvette] Yeah, well, in 2016 we felt like the Lord had put it on our hearts to film this documentary on homeschooling and at the same time to sell our house and most of our possessions, load up in an RV and travel across the country  to film this documentary on homeschooling. So we did and we’ve been on the road for a few years now and it’s been a really exciting thing just to see how God’s hand has moved and miraculous ways.

 

[Heidi] The name of the documentary is Schoolhouse Rocked. You guys are talking about a revolution that’s happening around the country, particularly where education is concerned. People talk to me all the time—of course I’m out on the road speaking to homeschoolers, but also to people who are thinking about homeschooling: I see what’s happening in the schools, but I’m not really sure if I can do it at home. Are you seeing the sort of the same thing happening? People are just pulling their kids out of school? 

[Yvette] Yes, yes. All over the place. We have been now, I think somewhere around 34 states, and we have met homeschool families along the way in most of those states. And, across the board, it’s pretty much the same thing: Moms do not feel like they are capable or equipped to homeschool their kids. But it’s been the most exciting thing because we get to talk to moms like yourself who have been there and who have graduated kids, and who do come alongside of us moms and say— you can do this. If God’s calling you to it, He’s going to equip you with everything you need to be able to accomplish it. 

[Heidi] And that is the message. That if the Lord of Heaven’s armies is asking you to do this, then He’s already equipped you for the job. I tell people— man, if the Lord can ask Heidi St. John to homeschool, who cannot keep houseplants alive, and give her seven kids— than anyone can do it. Anyone can do it. I think sometimes we overthink it. Do you think? 

[Yvette] I think so, yes. Well, because it seems so scary because you look at what the school system is like on the outside and we feel like we need to bring that into our home to replicate it. It’s impossible to do that. When we can’t replicate that, we feel like we’re failing somehow. Yeah. Which is not the case of course. 

[Heidi] No. And I think the revolution that you guys are highlighting in Schoolhouse Rocked is: this is the revolutionary idea. The schools are actually doing it wrong. When parents can come home and actually foster a love of learning in their kids, amazing things happen. Kids are natural born learners. They come into the world ready to learn. We’ve said through No Child Left Behind, and the ridiculous thing known as Common Core—that our kids are all the same. So, what works for my kid is gonna work for your kid. You guys have two kids. Are they the same? 

[Yvette] Not at all. No. No. 

[Heidi] That’s a shocking fact. You never talked to parents who say— oh, my kid is exactly like this. All of our kids are exactly the same. And so let me get this cookie cutter curriculum and send them to the cookie cutter school and they’re going to come out and do a cookie cutter job. No, they’re individuals. 

[Yvette] Yes and you try to fit them all into the same box and it’s impossible to do that. They end up either being left behind or being bored out of their minds. It’s detrimental to kids. You talk about it being a revolution and the interesting thing is that it is a revolution today—but it’s only been in the last 160 years or so…

[Heidi] That’s right. 

[Yvette] …that we’ve put our children into these institutions called school. For years and years, parents homeschooled their kids, they taught their kids at home. 

[Heidi] And no one made fun of them for it. 

[Yvette] They were not socially awkward. 

[Heidi] I love my friend Sam Sorbo, and we were talking about this not too long ago and she was saying I’ve heard her say this many times, I think is just so powerful— when did we start to buy the lie that the minute your kid turns five, the school district comes in and says: oh, thank you, good job, we can take it from here. Thank you for teaching them to brush their teeth, and thank you for getting him potty trained. And in some cases we don’t even wait that long before we take them to the school—and then the school is supposed to do what we can’t do. The net result of that has been that it’s made parents feel a sort of inept. We just feel like we can’t do it and we’ve got to give them to somebody else. 

[Yvette] Right, right, right. And the thing is—it’s not even about the academics. We talked a lot about this and we’ve talked a lot about this in the movie. Homeschooling is important, academics are important because that’s what points our children towards Christ. But parenting is not about academics. It’s about discipling and training the hearts of our children. Homeschooling allows you to do that because when you’re putting them in a classroom with someone else to train them for 35 or 40 hours a week, you’re handing them off to someone else and expecting that person to do all of the training and discipling.

And not that parents whose kids are in school don’t have the opportunity to do that as well, it’s just you miss so much of the opportunity. 

[Heidi] Well, it’s less of an opportunity. 

[Yvette] Yes, for sure. 

[Heidi] It’s less of an opportunity because you, your kids are being discipled. And really that’s what education is— it’s discipleship. So whenever we talk about education, I like to frame it that way. When we have our kids in someone else’s care for eight hours every day, those eight hours. those children are being discipled by somebody else. And if that’s the case, then we better know what the worldview is of that teacher, what the worldview is of those that are around them. Because otherwise we’re just doing cleanup at the end of the day. 

[Yvette] And even if their worldview is biblical, their hand has been forced to teach them something that’s not. And I feel like it’s so much more work to have to undo that as a Christian parent. So why not just keep them home? And get to spend that time together, and the relationship that comes with homeschooling. I mean, there are just so many amazing benefits to having your children at home. 

[Heidi] When we talked to homeschoolers and people who are thinking about homeschooling, one of the first questions that always comes—I always hear this, it never fails and it’s not even the socialization question anymore because the socialization question to me is a moot point. The biggest question I still get from a mom is: she is afraid she’s going to feel overwhelmed. She’ll say— my kids don’t respond to me that way. I’m not their teacher. They need to go to a teacher to respect that teacher is giving them an assignment and they’re going to get it done. My kids don’t have that kind of respect for me. What do you say to that mom? 

[Yvette] Yeah. I’ve actually thought a lot about this because I have had that as well, where parents have said—my kids won’t listen to me, I can’t. My kids will drive me crazy if I have them home all day. And my answer to that is— well, that’s because you’re not the one training them. And if your kids are home with you, then you get to be the one to disciple and train their hearts and you will enjoy them. I love spending time with my kids. It’s not that they don’t drive me crazy sometimes or that I don’t have my days where I just need to get away from the house— but that’s very few and far between.

[Heidi] Get away from the country.

[Yvette] Get away from the country, which is our house. But it’s because my husband and I are there with them day after day and we are the ones who get to train and disciple them. So we train them the way that we want to train them. When you hand them off to someone else for training and discipleship, they’re going to be trained the way that person wants them to be.

[Heidi] And you can’t help it. I’ve heard people say— well, they’re not doing it intentionally. You’re right! Because it comes out of you, it’s your worldview. The Bible teaches us in Luke 6:40 that when a student is fully trained, he’ll be like teacher. I don’t know about you, but I’m thinking for goodness sake, when your kids are going away to colleges, universities….. I had a Dr. Pesta on a couple of weeks ago and he is incredible. He’s a very brilliant thinker and very ahead of the times in terms of what’s happening on college campuses and he has been for some time. But he’s saying parents can actually inoculate their kids against the junk that’s happening in the colleges and universities right now, which is rampant by just giving them a good foundation when they are in elementary school and high school. So then we’re teaching them to become critical thinkers. We’re teaching them to defend their faith. The Christian faith is actually defensible and they can make a defense. But when we’ve given them to somebody else for eight, 10 hours a day, for 12 years in a row and then they come out as somebody that we didn’t want them to be— we shouldn’t be surprised. 

[Yvette] Right. That’s right. One of our favorite interviews besides yours of course..

[Heidi] Riiiight, that’s right. I’ll give you 20 bucks later.

[Yvette] …is Israel Wayne. He just reiterates— no one knows your child as well as you do. No one loves them like you do. There are excellent administrators and teachers in both private and public school…

[Heidi] Yeah. 

[Yvette] Who genuinely love the kids, but they are incapable of loving each child the way they need to individually be loved as individuals. They just can’t, I mean they just don’t have the ability to do that because they’ve got 30 some odd kids in a classroom. So they can’t give each child the attention. And the love that they need. 

[Heidi] Yeah, that’s right. And I think this is such a fascinating point about Christ and His coming to the earth. He came for individuals, He sees us as individuals and He wants us to reconcile to Himself as individuals. What we’ve done in the United States in education is we see kids as a collective. So this is the collective I was telling my husband the other day, it kind of reminds me of Star Trek and I’m not really a Trekkie but I was a kid, and I remember the board to simulation and resistance is futile and all that stuff. And I keep thinking— this is the kind of education really in the United States right now, and we’ve taken all the joy and all the individualism out of it. We’re not teaching the humanities anymore. We’re not teaching a science. We’re not teaching our kids the trades anymore. 

Part of why we started the Homeschool Resource Center was to say— Hey, we’re going to bring back music and art. We’re going to teach kids how to change the oil in their car, and woodshop, and work with their hands. It’s not really happening [in schools] because the idea of education in the United States has changed so dramatically in the last 40 years that it’s almost unrecognizable. 

[Yvette] Well, it’s all about the agenda that they have. It’s not about building character. Even when we were kids in public school, they used to do characters building. 

[Heidi] Yep. 

[Yvette] And they’ve done away with that. Now it’s all about tolerance and it’s about social engineering. 

[Heidi] Yeah.

[Yvette] It’s really scary. We have such an opportunity with having our kids home to be able to develop their character and see what their weaknesses are, see what their strengths are. How did God make them?

[Heidi] And answer their questions.

[Yvette] And answer their questions in a way that’s biblical. 

[Heidi] Yeah. Yeah. I think so often, and this happens, sadly, I’m seeing it more and more as I travel for a living. Jay and I have opportunities every single weekend almost to interact with parents. And so many of these parents are pulling their kids out of public school and I meet them at a conference with thousands of other people. And the first thing they’ll do is come up and start crying and say— Hey, my kid was introduced to transgenderism in the third grade and by fifth he thought he should be a girl that he was a boy born in the wrong body. And the first thing I will do is take them back to the truth of God’s Word because Satan is a liar. He’s been deceiving us since he deceived Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. And his tactics have not changed. They’re the same. He tricks us through deception, through the lust of the eyes, through the darkness in our own hearts. And he plays on our weaknesses. And that’s what’s happening in the culture right now. 

Parents can actually stand up against it by simply pulling their kids out of the system and saying— no, these kids do not belong to the school system or to the state. They belonged to me. God said these are your children, you need to disciple them. When you guys started out thinking out— okay, we’re gonna… I know it didn’t start out on the big full scale thing that it is right now because you’re actually here in Vancouver finishing up for the movie.

[Yvette] Yes.

[Heidi] Right and we’ll talk about that in a second. But you have a vision to encourage homeschooling families. As you think about it in the context of Schoolhouse Rocked, what the movie might do when it gets into theaters and exposes people who may not have been exposed before to the idea that parents are the primary educators of their kids—what is it that you’re ultimately hoping to accomplish? 

[Yvette] Well, there are several things with the movie. For years and years we had said that we would never ever homeschool.

[Heidi] Accidental homeschoolers unite. 

[Yvette]That’s right. We had been married about 11 years, almost 11 years before our first daughter was born. And so we had a lot of time to talk about that and we said we would never do that to ourselves. We’d never do that to our kids. But the Lord changed our hearts. We went to a homeschool convention and God just said— this is what you’re going to do. One weekend alone at that convention, the scales fell from our eyes and we said— oh, homeschooling, it’s for normal people. I don’t know who I thought it was for, but we didn’t think it was for us. You said anyone can do it. Both Garrett and I hated school growing up. And when I say hate, I mean like despised it. I only went for the social aspect of it and he barely went. I really didn’t like it. 

[Heidi] I don’t think you’re alone in that.

[Yvette] So I thought, well, why would I want to do that to my kids? Of course now I look back and think—why would I want to put that in that same environment that I hated myself so much, and Garrett as well? 

With the movie, we want to really debunk all the misconceptions and negative stereotypes that people have of homeschooling. We want them to see what we saw going into that first convention of—first of all, we can do this. Like we said at the beginning of the podcast— if God’s calling you to this, you can do it. Anything that God calls you to, He’s going to equip you to be able to do.

[Heidi] Straight out out of His Word.

[Yvette] Yes. And so we want to encourage parents to be able to do it. Just, you can do it. And it does not look like school in a school house. 

[Heidi] It doesn’t need to. Thank goodness.

[Yvette] It doesn’t need to. No, it shouldn’t, as a matter of fact. It’s set up that way for a reason. So we want to just do away with all the misconceptions, negative stereotypes. We also want to give people a tool to really understand what homeschooling is about. So many people have parents or grandparents or aunts and uncles or neighbors who are saying— why would you homeschool? This is a terrible idea. And it’s because again, they just don’t understand what homeschooling is. 

We want to be able to provide a tool for those people to say— just watch this movie and you’ll understand why we want to homeschool. It’s to call parents to account of being able to bring your kids home, and love them, and train them, and build that relationship with them. You can have a great relationship with your kids. You can have a really great relationship with your kids when you’re with them. 

[Heidi] Yeah, it absolutely matters. I think what you’re doing is you’re equipping parents who maybe felt like they couldn’t make a good defense for why in their gut they know something’s wrong. I talk to parents all the time. They write to me at the podcast. There are a lot of people that listen to this that don’t homeschool their kids. And homeschooling is not the gospel. I don’t want to give this misconception that if you homeschool your kids— then everything’s going to be great, the laundry will fold itself, your kids are going to walk with the Lord, your marriage will be perfect. No, because we’re sinful people that live in a sinful world.

[Yvette] That’s right.

[Heidi] I do think there’s something so precious about recognizing that something is wrong and then saying to the Lord— Father, what can I do? What can I do? And really, homeschooling is a very viable, very doable solution. And you don’t have to have a lot of money to do it. People think— oh, my husband needs to have this fantastic job. A lot of us that homeschool—you and I are great examples—are not making a lot of money. They are single income homes, and these parents are making tremendous sacrifices. 

[Yvette] Yes. 

[Heidi] So we’re here to say the sacrifice is worth it. 

[Yvette] It is absolutely worth it. There’s nothing else that I’d rather be doing with my kids right now. And you know, we like you, we work from home as we have our family business, I guess you would call it—we’re making this documentary, but we do it as a family and our girls get to be a part of it and they get to help us with it. In the process of that, they have seen the hand of God move in ways that they would never have seen Him work. It’s been incredible for them to be part of that with us because we’re a team. We’re the Hampton team. It’s what we do.

[Heidi] I love it. I love it and you guys have great girls. I mean, I’ve been privileged to have them in my home and..

[Yvette] Thank you. 

[Heidi] You guys have a fantastic thing going on. 

[Yvette] Well, you too.

[Heidi] You are in Vancouver. 

[Yvette] Yes. 

[Heidi] What in the world would bring you all the way from the east coast out here to God’s country? 

[Yvette] The Lord. Honestly I can just say God has brought us out after much prayer. We interviewed you for the movie back about a year and a half ago. 

[Heidi] Yea, in Nashville. 

[Yvette] We were so struck by your interview and of course I listened to your podcast and read your books. So as we prayed through how the Lord would direct the narrative of the movie, He just made it clear that it was to be with Heidi St. John.

[Heidi] I’m thrilled because it’s fun to have you out here. 

[Yvette] It’s fun to be here.

[Heidi] And for you to see what’s going on at the Homeschool Resource Center.

[Yvette] It’s incredible.

[Heidi] And get a record out here in my studio rather than being on the phone, which is fantastic. 

[Yvette] Yes, it’s so much fun. So much fun. We’re here finishing up filming and it’s exciting. This has been through months and months of prayer and God has just miraculously provided for us to be here. So we just took a 10 day drive across the country to get here. 

[Heidi] It really is remarkable what the Lord is asking to do. You guys have a ways to go and you still need support to get this movie finished and to get all of the finishing touches post-production and all that. We were talking about this at dinner. Garrett was talking about how you guys need money for post-production. And I’m like— can you talk to the idiot (that’s me) who doesn’t know what that means? 

[Yvette] Sure.

[Heidi] Just for the listeners who are going—that’s such a cool idea. How can I help? Tell us what you need and how people can help. 

[Yvette] Sure. So once we’re done filming here, we move into post production like you said, and that is bringing in all of the other people who we need to help us finish it. Doing the music for the movie, doing the color for the movie, marketing the movie—because of course we can make the greatest movie in all the land that if nobody knows about it right then it doesn’t do anyone any good.

[Heidi] Yeah. 

[Yvette] So marketing and then we’re reaching for getting it actually into theaters. We’ve already been in contact with Fathom Events. They’re excited about it because homeschoolers are one of their biggest audiences. So they’re super excited about it. Of course that all takes support and money and God has provided for us along the way. I mean it’s been day to day. It’s been amazing too. 

[Heidi] Awesome. 

[Yvette] If people go to our website, there’s a big button right on the front page that says Support Schoolhouse Rocked, you can’t miss it.  People can support us that way. Some people support us with $10 at a time or some people do monthly support, others are able to give $5,000. I mean it just depends.

[Heidi] And if you’re listening and you can give 50,000 they’ll take it. 

[Yvette] Yes. It’s all God’s money anyway. 

[Heidi] That’s exactly right. Well, I am really excited to see what God does with your family and with Schoolhouse Rocked. And I just wanted to say thanks for coming on the show. 

[Yvette] Thank you for having us and our family is enjoying so much. Our girls are out there running around the resource center right now. It is amazing here. I cannot believe what God has done here. 

[Heidi] Yeah, it’s a pretty amazing thing and our story is a lot like yours. We’re learning as we go along that the Lord is faithful.

[Yvette] Walking by faith. 

[Heidi] He wants us to walk by faith. That’s how He does it in homeschooling is also a walk by faith and blessing it. 

[Yvette] He is. This morning I was reading Matthew 6:33 — seek first the Kingdom of God. He provides everything for us. Seek Him first. And that’s with homeschooling, with marriage, with parenting, with anything— seek Him first and He will provide everything else that you need. There’s no need to worry about what’s going to happen if you’re gonna have the right curriculum, if you’re going to have the time, if you’re gonna have the resources—God’s gonna provide it.

[Heidi] The patience!

[Yvette] Yes, that’s right. 

[Heidi] Yeah. Because you’re not, but God will give it to you. 

[Yvette] That’s right. Seek first The Kingdom.

[Heidi] Thank you so much. It’s been a joy to have you here. 

[Yvette] Thank you so much. 

[Heidi] For more information about Schoolhouse Rocked and the ministry that Garrett and Yvette Hampton are hoping to bring to the big screen, please go to the show notes today. I really hope you guys will consider supporting the movie. I can see the Lord is going to use it in a really big way.

For those of you who want more information about MomStrong, we are getting ready to launch a brand new study in September. It is a great time to jump on board and get into the habit of writing out the Word of God. 

One more thing before I go today, I want to let you guys know that I’m doing something really special on Monday the 19th. If you know anybody who’s considering homeschooling or is within the first three or four years of homeschooling and could just use a refresher course—we’re going to talk about learning styles, scheduling—we are going to talk about homeschooling. So I’m doing homeschooling for rookies at 11am PST on Monday the 19th. You can find more information about how to register for that in the show notes today. 

So before we go today we can’t end without announcing the winners of our giveaway from the 800th podcast celebration. So thanks to everybody who entered. If you hear your name, you can expect we’re going to be mailing out a package to you very soon. So Instagram winner was Kendra M. from Walnut Grove, North Carolina. The iTunes package winner is Melissa H. from Utah, and the MomStrong International winner is Siobhan B. We’re going to be mailing your packages out to you early next week. Thanks for listening, everybody. Congratulations, and I’ll see you back here on Monday!

Write to Heidi:
Heidi St. John
c/o Firmly Planted Family
11100 NE 34th Cir, Vancouver, WA 98682

Support this ministry by donating through E-giving. You can also send donations to: 1100 NE34th Cir, Vancouver, WA 98682