speaker-0: Welcome to the Homeschool for the Win podcast, the podcast for homeschool families looking for real conversations, practical insights, and a fresh perspective on homeschooling. Hosted by homeschool consultant and homeschool mom, Jeanette McBee and Jose Lopez, a college and career readiness coach who works exclusively with homeschool families. In this podcast, we dive into the latest homeschooling trends, educational choices, and ways to help students discover their passions and future paths. all while building a supportive homeschool community. Whether you're just getting started or been homeschooling for years, join us on Homeschool for the Win and be a part of the conversation that informs, encourages and inspires your homeschool adventure. Well, hello, everyone. Welcome to Homeschool for the Win. We're super excited for you to be here. My name is Jose Lopez.

speaker-1: I'm Jeanette McBeu with homeschool help with Jeanette.

speaker-0: And we have an amazing guest with us today. And before we jump right into introducing our guests, I just want to just give a little tease on why we decided to ask our guests to be here. So when we talk about homeschooling, the immediate thing that I think of is, you know, what curriculum are we supposed to do? What extracurricular activities can we do? How can we socialize our kids? But there's something else out there. that we may not see an external force of who is advocating for homeschool families out there and that we may not even know it. And so for us, Janette and myself, we're from Iowa. And so we want to know who are those people that are advocating for us and who are those people that are our biggest cheerleaders? And so we wanted to invite Jeremy Voss to our podcast. Jeremy, welcome.

speaker-2: Thank you. Thank you. My pleasure to be here. I appreciate the invitation very much.

speaker-0: Yeah, we're excited just to learn as much as we can about what's happening in our state, what's happening in education, and just a ton of information that you can provide for us. And for our listeners out there who don't know who Jeremy is, Jeremy serves as a lobbyist and director of advocacy for homeschool Iowa in defending parental rights and education at the Iowa State Capitol. He owns Exit Factor of Des Moines, helping entrepreneurs build value and plan their business exits. And when he's not in the halls of legislature or working with business owners, he's living out his convictions as a husband, father and homeschooler. Again, Jeremy, hey, welcome again. And we're just excited that you're here.

speaker-2: Glad to be here. Thank you.

speaker-0: But before we get started, we want to do what our segment we call homeschool for the wind check in. And in this segment, we just want to get personal so that we all learn about each other. And so we're just going to ask a quick question. And so, Jeanette, I'll hand it to you. What's our question for this episode?

speaker-1: Yes, so since we have Jeremy Voss on here, I thought I would ask a question a little bit geared more towards homeschool dads. We do know that homeschooling is a partnership. It's a wonderful partnership, and we're so thankful for it. So with that, how do you think about encouraging your wife during the day? What does that look like for you?

speaker-0: love that reaction

speaker-1: I'm just I'm like, oh...

speaker-2: Okay, I know she's gonna watch this.

speaker-1: So I hope so. I hope she's cheering.

speaker-2: That's great question.

speaker-1: Honestly, ⁓ that has, so that's changed a in the past.

speaker-2: changed a lot in last 14 years that we've been homeschooling.

speaker-1: ⁓ So some pieces of it have changed.

speaker-2: of it haven't changed. when we first started homeschooling,

speaker-1: I was once in a in a

speaker-2: of three owners. Very, very fast growing, demanding company.

speaker-1: company. And so I had a

speaker-2: ⁓ a lot. was just, I just worked a lot. I worked all the time and I'm sure a lot of homeschool dads can relate to that.

speaker-1: that.

speaker-2: partially, we do, because that's what men are built to do.

speaker-1: ⁓ But so in that time and in the early phases of home, I think.

speaker-2: My support day in and day out needed to look like just just talking through stuff. had no idea

speaker-1: about you know the like

speaker-2: the curriculum selection. Are we doing this right? Am I doing this right? Are we going to screw these kids up?

speaker-1: the up. Right. That's a that's a real question. That's especially especially when your. Is. Government.

speaker-2: when your frame of reference, it's the government's, the government is the arbiter of education, right? So you think, am I doing it right? When you first start homeschooling. ⁓ I'm sure we'll get into that. I have opinions.

speaker-1: but we'll get to But as you are, so ⁓ that's on.

speaker-2: That was early on, like just being there to like support in that. Are we doing this right? we these decisions? I had to answer any questions about it. I didn't think so.

speaker-1: Are we making these? I was like, I'm not qualified. curriculum at least I didn't feel that way.

speaker-2: but we're talking through together.

speaker-1: and we deal.

speaker-2: with the things that are coming up.

speaker-1: And, ⁓ and.

speaker-2: you know, just those things that need to be talked through and dealt with.

speaker-1: ⁓ Has those things kind of subsided?

speaker-2: our children grew. We had a relative degree of confidence that they weren't going to be mal...

speaker-1: messed up ⁓ and my work then

speaker-2: Work changed as well. had about a 10 year stretch where I did a lot of travel, both internationally and all over the United States.

speaker-1: or in And what came from that was carving.

speaker-2: came from carping out Friday mornings, we could go out for breakfast, just the two of us. would usually get back from a trip on Thursday night. So Friday morning, we could, by that time we had enough child at home where we could be gone for a couple of hours.

speaker-1: when ⁓ and we leave we had an old And you know, yes.

speaker-2: They're gonna watch TV for a couple hours on Friday morning. Fine. No problem. know, as long as everybody's, ⁓ everybody's still alive, everybody's alive, that'll be fine.

speaker-1: ⁓ But I think in that time...

speaker-2: A large part of my support was

speaker-1: what my, again, keeping that routine and making that routine happen and just.

speaker-2: 15. just really leaning into talking about what was going on, what had gone on during the week. You know, that was like her first, a lot of times that was her first adult conversation since I left early.

speaker-1: Monday morning and and and that was

speaker-2: that was really really important and I don't mean to overstate my importance in this I just feel like this was that right

speaker-1: was a part of my role. so and so now I think

speaker-2: what it's turning into now because we now have one left one left home homeschooling.

speaker-1: We know ⁓ that we're we're ⁓

speaker-2: We have two that are grown in one that's done with high school, is in an internship. We have a old grandson as well, which is the absolute best thing.

speaker-1: own out of the house and ship and a little 18 month old ever. ⁓

speaker-2: So, looks like now...

speaker-1: What I think it looks like now is more of...

speaker-2: for her, I think it's

speaker-1: How does she become the... ⁓

speaker-2: This is gonna, she's gonna be mad at me, but that's fine. The homeschool groups, we've got a young, we're relatively old for to have a 12 year old.

speaker-1: Well, you know, in her in the group And so she's kind of becoming the main character in a way of the she's in.

speaker-2: of those, that group that she has wonderful blessing. It's a blessing for her. It's a blessing for the younger. So, you know, just, just being cognizant of that and supporting her aware of that. Where, where she needs to go and where her gifts are best utilized into, to, to this, this next season of life. So I don't know if that's a longer or shorter answer than, know,

speaker-1: bombs and that being. ⁓ in moving into Is that a,

speaker-0: Yeah, that's that's good. I mean, I love this question that you've given us, Jeanette, because I mean, I think that stands for all ⁓ homeschool dads is really that, you know, like you, Jeremy, I'm not in the house the entire time. ⁓ And so it's hard. It's sometimes I forget about that. ⁓ you are with our 11 and eight year old for ⁓ the entire day. And so when I come home and I'm like, ⁓ it makes sense that you want me to go take the kids to the park.

speaker-1: Great question.

speaker-0: for a couple hours. ⁓ that that makes sense because they they you have done everything with them. And so I think being just open to whatever type of support just like, hey, can I take them for two hours or can I ⁓ or if there's a day where we're dropping them both out at the same activity, can we go get coffee or what is it that really can support and just kind of help you with that is I 100 percent agree.

speaker-2: .

speaker-1: I love your guys' answers. I think those are wonderful. I know my husband has done the same thing. What I'm hearing is open communication, thinking about the context that your wife has been in for the day or the week and how you guys can support them and that. It's just so helpful because I know women look at what is our support system. Sometimes we don't look at our husbands. should be the first line of that support system. So thank you guys so much for sharing. really helps.

speaker-2: Yeah, of course.

speaker-0: Yeah, I think it's just awesome to just show that it's real, that we are homeschool parents and that we are going through hopefully the same thing that our listeners are going through as well. But Jeremy, we ask you to be here so we can ask you some questions and know a little bit more about you. And our first question for you is, for listeners who may not know, what does a homeschool lobbyist do and what does your work look like day to day at the Capitol?

speaker-2: That's question that I do answer a lot.

speaker-1: So actually. lot and ⁓ it's great.

speaker-2: I like to answer the question because honestly, before I started doing this, I had no idea. The capital was a black box to me. You throw some stuff at it.

speaker-1: I am ⁓ and you ⁓

speaker-2: for me it was really frustrating because you see things happen there that you don't like, right? That we don't like, that we know that

speaker-1: Well, can be, it can be. know isn't biblical and isn't...

speaker-2: biblical, God honoring. So there's a lot of frustration around it.

speaker-1: what the best way I can.

speaker-2: describe how a lobbyist works. let me, before I do that, say there's a, are mainly two different types of lobbyists that function in our political system. Honestly, there's a lot of associations with the word lobbyist, right? We oftentimes think of people that are

speaker-1: and and honestly there's lot of bad ⁓

speaker-2: handing out cash and influence. But the reality is, legislators don't have the ability to subject matter experts on all of the things they are being called on to make decisions about. So there were a little over 2,000 bills that have already been, that have already

speaker-1: and having influence that's un-reality that are less How to be. So I think been ⁓

speaker-2: proposed in the Iowa legislature this year alone. Right. They range from everything from homeschooling.

speaker-1: and can to, ⁓ you know, an NFC medium and all.

speaker-2: all these other ⁓ things that the government needs to or has to deal with.

speaker-1: and exists as a whole in

speaker-2: And so lobbyists large part function as the subject matter experts for the legislators.

speaker-1: Now, ⁓

speaker-2: we all have our own perspective on reality, right? So the lobbyist on the other side of

speaker-1: me ⁓

speaker-2: philosophically is going to answer a question very differently. Now I will. still be a function as subject matter experts for legislators. And I've had that happen. I have that weekly during the legislative session where I will get a call or text from a legislator that says, hey, what does this mean?

speaker-1: And I've had that happen almost weekly. ⁓ What's the difference between CPI and...

speaker-2: Component private instruction and independent private instruction.

speaker-1: ⁓ that's a, that's a

speaker-2: very, very normal thing. So big picture, a lobbyist really has a lot of a function of being a subject matter expert, whatever it is that they represent. Now, there are also lobbyists on the commercial side, right? So lobbyists that represent commercial interests, and then there are lobbyists that represent ideological interests. There are a few lobbyists that do both, that's pretty rare, but there are a couple of ⁓ guys out there that both the ideological side of an issue

speaker-1: on the way. do both.

speaker-2: and then also the commercial side of other issues.

speaker-1: But,

speaker-2: those are two fairly different functions.

speaker-1: because in one case, you're...

speaker-2: you're serving to advance a ⁓ cause based on financial gain. I think those lobbyists are necessary as well, but they function at a different level or a different place than someone who's an ideological lobbyist. ⁓ And so obviously, homeschool side is ⁓ the ideological side, right?

speaker-1: Not that that's bad.

speaker-2: ⁓ It's not a commercial venture whatsoever. That's one of the major challenges that we face is that what we're advocating for is we're actually advocating for a very difficult concept for a government to understand. So most other people that are out there advocating are advocating for, they want the government to do something for them. They want something out of the government. want something, they want something functionally.

speaker-1: So, and in fact, ⁓ look up and it's for what we're to be, ⁓

speaker-2: government and difficult for a lot of legislators to understand that passing is we don't want anything from you. We don't want anything. In fact, we don't want to have any

speaker-1: with you at all. Not all, right?

speaker-2: And there's nuance to this. It's a little bit of a difficult.

speaker-1: But on balance, it's difficult concept because the...

speaker-2: your average legislator is accustomed to hearing the things that people want to do for them and they want to be responsible.

speaker-1: about the that they want to have and they want to have ⁓ a

speaker-2: and they want to have be able to put their fingers on what's going on.

speaker-1: what's on and that's not how homeschool law and I.

speaker-2: Iowa is written and that's really not the big picture goal for home education. It's to be independent from that system, from that education system. Not everyone starting out from that place, but most people are. So now I'm going answer your question. What a day looks like as a lobbyist.

speaker-1: or it's to. ⁓ ⁓ is a lot of

speaker-2: standing around and talking with other lobbyists, waiting for a particular legislator or legislators.

speaker-1: and to pop out of a committee meeting to...

speaker-2: to move, you know, when they're moving between one place or another. We also, we also, sometimes we'll, we'll, things by text, right? People's phone, personal phone numbers. And that's the, by far the best way to, to, to communicate modern sense as far as putting people together. But a lot of it is still waiting. It's just waiting for them to be available.

speaker-1: Also, people set up meetings. You get... in the

speaker-2: States, the word lobbyist comes from... Actually, it comes from post-Civil War. I don't know if you guys have ever heard this. So, ⁓ War, General Grant was tired. He was elected, right, as president shortly after the Civil War. He was tired.

speaker-1: But after the civil, after the... ⁓ I think. And. Yeah, right.

speaker-0: imagine why.

speaker-2: and there was a hotel, I can't remember the name of the hotel, but there was a hotel just down the street from the White House and so

speaker-1: he would have his meetings in the morning and then as soon as he could

speaker-2: get out of those meetings, he would head down to the lobby of the hotel.

speaker-1: and, and, ⁓ have, and that was how, that's how.

speaker-2: whiskey and cigars. He preferred to spend the rest of his day. He was a huge cigar smoker, by the way. I've read... Grant, you ever get the chance to read the biographies on Grant, he's fascinating guy. But anyway, was his choice was whiskey and cigars at this, in the lobby of this hotel. It didn't take long for people to realize that if they wanted to talk to the president, all they had to do was hang out in the lobby of the hotel.

speaker-1: ⁓ but his, was his vice. And so that's.

speaker-2: Buy him whiskey and cigars. So that's kind of where lobbying started. The word lobbying actually comes from, but in the United States, that's really where it started was waiting in the lobby to talk to somebody of influence. That's where the word lobbyist comes from. So, piece of it, there's a lot of waiting.

speaker-1: It was back in England. And ⁓ so that's a big, but, but you also have to do, you also have to do the, ⁓

speaker-2: be paying attention to what's going on, what's being proposed, the legislation that's being proposed.

speaker-1: ⁓ Because you have to have that base of time.

speaker-2: that knowledge of what's going on at the time to know who you're waiting for and who you need to talk to. Sometimes serendipity just like, you know, drops the right person in your lap, but oftentimes it's a matter of knowing who you need to talk to as far as who is ⁓ running a particular bill, if you're in favor of or against a particular bill.

speaker-1: thing. ⁓ Who is a you want to understand in

speaker-2: who the players are, that bill and where it's going, right? So maybe you can't stop it today from the subcommittee. Maybe the subcommittee is going to pass it no matter what. But you can start planting the seeds for an amendment. The things that

speaker-1: ⁓ But that will negate you don't want in that bill when it hits the...

speaker-2: hits the floor of the House or when it hits the floor of the Senate, you can start talking to the chair committee that the sub is going to. There's a lot of different directions that you can go.

speaker-1: of the committee to pass it up to. ⁓ So as much of it as is standing.

speaker-2: around in the lobby, but you have to do your homework ahead of time to know that you're actually trying to talk to. We always try

speaker-1: I'm who it is that Um, try to talk to our, uh, our friend.

speaker-2: friendly lobbyists because friendly lobbyists are rowing in the same direction. We're always watching out for each other's interests. And so, you you'll walk in there and you'll see somebody, someone who who's a friendly lobbyist and be like, Hey, did you see this? I think might affect you or

speaker-1: ⁓ who are that

speaker-2: conversations like that, but they're targeted conversations based on based on what's going on. In Iowa in particular, there are several days of the week that are hotter than others for action like that. So Tuesday, Wednesday, typically in Iowa are the busiest day. By midday Thursday, everybody wants to go for the weekend, right? And Fridays typically is a gavel in gavel out. There's not much going on on Fridays. So again, it depends by the week.

speaker-1: ⁓ is home. ⁓ ⁓ It just it depends on the but ⁓

speaker-2: Usually it's couple, two pretty good, pretty good solid days where you push. There's the odd times where committee meeting goes until eight or nine o'clock or 10 o'clock at night.

speaker-1: And then that

speaker-2: And so sometimes you're involved with things like that as well. think that's pretty fair. And to be clear, this is definitely not a full time. For me, this is not a full time. Right? So Iowa's legislature meets the first hundred days. So they stopped getting paid this year on April 21. If they're done with their work, great. If not, they still have to finish their work and they just don't get paid.

speaker-1: ⁓ with those. I'm...gig. of the

speaker-2: So, another reason to like Iowa.

speaker-0: Well, I love what you're saying. mean, that's what we in Iowa need is a subject matter expert, especially there's a lot of things here in Iowa that I see online that people are just confused about. And so it's really cool to see how ⁓ We have someone out there who is doing the homework, who is advocating for those homeschool families. And so I'm glad that you mentioned that it does require some homework and some studying and understanding where the climate is of education. And it's not just, you know, talking and rubbing elbows. It's about the whole picture. Yeah, absolutely. So looking at this current legislation and

speaker-2: Yep.

speaker-0: just the overall direction of where things are going this year. What are some issues that homeschool families really need to be aware of right now? ⁓ That I know for me sometimes, like I want to be a part of the conversation, but I don't know all the pieces that are coming together either. And it's hard to get kind of a summary of what all is happening and what do I need to be praying about. and what do I need to be thinking about and who do I need to contact. So I guess the first part is like what is happening right now that we really need to be aware of.

speaker-2: So a little plug for homeschool Iowa. Go for it.

speaker-1: because the member at home

speaker-2: ship homeschool Iowa is cheap by the way it's $50 a year for a family so it's it's very inexpensive. Who is allows it to me like I get an I get paid enough to cover my expenses basically driving up to the Capitol and you know things like that is about about what what what it covers so I'm not complaining I'm just I'm just saying it's not like I'm

speaker-1: And that's, that's what allows us to be like. I'm not like I'm.

speaker-2: I'm rolling in a fat salary to do this. still want to, right? I've got my children in ten to home school, I a vested interest in the game and I'm happy to do it.

speaker-1: I've got in this. ⁓ But, also lets us.

speaker-2: A membership at homeschool Iowa also gives us lot of credibility to have more members. The more members we have, the more credibility we have with legislators.

speaker-1: ⁓ It also lets us like... ⁓

speaker-2: purchase things like, we have a subscription that we use, huge help in digesting 2,000 bills that get proposed every year. It would be impossible for

speaker-1: We use that. is a huge. these two that get. It would be great us to really read

speaker-2: and digest all of those bills over the course of a year. It'll be so easy to have something that we would never see until it was potentially even too late. know, tools, subscription that we use.

speaker-1: ⁓ easy ⁓ skate by us ⁓ like that that is that that help us to giant mass of ⁓ things like our our and and

speaker-2: filter through this, information. Things like that are really, really critical. That's what the membership costs. That's what the membership costs goes to help defray things like that subscription, which is not inexpensive.

speaker-1: ⁓ So the best way to stay...

speaker-2: involved stay up on what's going on. During the legislative session is through a homeschool Iowa membership because we I do I do an update every week every Friday you get an update and that has a great deal of detail about the bills I've read the bills that were

speaker-1: in Iowa. we're working on, what we're doing. ⁓

speaker-2: doing internally, sides, get a lot of insider information about what's going on. I don't have been in there and what you can be praying for and I should really go. I'm going to write that. I'm going to write that now. Really, that's, that's fantastic.

speaker-1: ⁓ a section on. That's a really good idea. That's a- that's-

speaker-0: I can't take credit for that. ⁓

speaker-2: I'll take it. will take it. That's great. Good way to is through that membership.

speaker-1: So that's a really great way to stay up to ⁓ So what's going on right now? We don't have any big...

speaker-2: threats in Iowa and no big threats to homeschool freedom in Iowa.

speaker-1: ⁓ What I will say is that I think that as the education savings accounts

speaker-2: Now we're coming into our fourth year in Iowa with ESAs. Those were started, that got signed into law in 2023. Right. And so the third year of the phase in is happening right now. 2027 will be year number four.

speaker-1: those. ⁓ the easy. And so that means that everyone will be eligible. And so what happens, I think, is that we're starting to see a little bit of a gap widen. And I think for a more... ⁓

speaker-2: Everyone eligible for an ESA. What we're starting to see happen, I think. You maybe asked me for more of a tactical answer of what's going on, and I'm jumping into more of the strategic side. can circle back to the tactical as well.

speaker-1: ⁓ But it's been...

speaker-2: It's really interesting to me this year that I'm starting to see that increase more and more between what the legislature is

speaker-1: gap between ⁓ doing with ESA, that thing ESA. ⁓

speaker-2: there's a lot more regulation, there's a lot more control.

speaker-1: And really honestly, I think it's in a way, I don't want to

speaker-2: I think in a way it's appropriate though.

speaker-1: because because

speaker-2: part of government's job is to steward well the resources that the government takes, right? The government takes resources from us and it's part of its job is to steward those resources well. So, it should have a level of say and should have a level of accountability for the money and how it's spent.

speaker-1: to Stuart. takes out take So the government. ⁓ No doubt about it.

speaker-2: about that whatsoever. but it's becoming more and more clear.

speaker-1: that even our friends

speaker-2: right, our friendly legislators, those that are very supportive of parental rights and very supportive of homeschooling.

speaker-1: And I touched on the

speaker-2: this a little bit earlier, but there's a growing disconnect, I think.

speaker-1: between ⁓ those that can control things.

speaker-2: folks like to able to put their hands on and from a legislative standpoint.

speaker-1: Even if even if that's a ledger

speaker-2: legislating good things, right? They're still adding code. They're still adding laws. They're still adding requirements.

speaker-1: and

speaker-2: where I think homeschooling really naturally needs to and wants to go is in the opposite direction, where parental responsibility, parental rights, parents choosing how to educate their kids before God.

speaker-1: Please. It's. It is. It is. they that is, ⁓ that's how I'm made. And so I'm seeing that as the ESA.

speaker-2: how those decisions are made. As become more and more prevalent and there's more and more spent in those areas and I don't want this to come across as being negative towards ESAs or education savings accounts in Iowa.

speaker-1: or money and don't. or by the Yeah, well, know. Turns outside of Iowa, though. Do I do speak

speaker-2: I know you have a and so I just realized that because I speak and interact with the national homeschooling ⁓ groups as well. And so it's important. So in Iowa, there's education savings accounts.

speaker-1: And that is the funding method that's used. But it's the state chooses to.

speaker-2: Cool choice. used in Iowa. So when we talk about E. You know, that has this different flavors in different states. Way that fund private schools. Basically, money follows the child. think that's going to continue. Challenge for us in some ways, I think that our legislators, our friendly legislators, those

speaker-1: to So that's what that's ESL And I think that that is a change in because that that that

speaker-2: want to support parental freedom and parental rights, I think that those legislators are also being able to make rules to provide some degree of control. Those things that are out there. so like our legislation right now, I think we still have a really good chance. I think part of the reason why we're getting some pushback is

speaker-1: that so accustomed to use and and to of over and. But is because what we're to say that.

speaker-2: wanting to do is we're wanting to say. that the government doesn't get to make rules about independent private instruction, right? The Department of Education doesn't get to make rules. That's the legislature's job and only the legislature's

speaker-1: job. ⁓

speaker-2: So there are that where I'm seeing that we're starting to have a strategy side. the boots on the ground. We're trying to remove some of the restrictions that are currently on home education, especially specifically on IPI. So right now there's some restrictions in code.

speaker-1: pieces like have that gap. ⁓ So that's the tactical side. And that you

speaker-2: can't have more than four unrelated students, right? And there's also a restriction that there can't be any compensation for that. ⁓

speaker-1: So. ⁓

speaker-0: It, you know why that was there to begin with.

speaker-2: Who's a concession? 2013.

speaker-1: So back in 20 back in

speaker-2: I think that when the current ⁓ code was written, I think it was a concession that

speaker-1: was added to

speaker-2: to assuage some fears that all of a sudden thousands and thousands of micro schools would pop up all over the state. wouldn't be able to control them. It's not their job and they're not allowed to control them anyway. I think that was a concession for those concerns back then. The reality is that it's not enforced.

speaker-1: Thanks And the Okay. ⁓ and ⁓

speaker-2: right? Because a lot of people send their kids to co-ops and those sorts of things and so but it's a liability because yeah an unfriendly an unfriendly

speaker-1: ⁓

speaker-2: Friendly legislature or an unfriendly executive branch could could take advantage of that So just trying to fix it trying to fix it before it gets out gets out there ⁓ homeschool sports Right now

speaker-1: There's a bill that's out right now. It's in the Senate. So there's been a athletic. I don't know all the

speaker-2: There's been a challenge with the Iowa High School Association. Details on that. I know that Senator Pike, Mike Pike is a

speaker-1: in homeschool dad and ⁓ and he had I think have been in

speaker-2: He's had all five of his kids, home school, organized home school sports. They've never been able to scrimmage a tiny little, even the smallest public schools because of the, because of rules with the Iowa High School Athletic Association. anyway, that's, that's home school Iowa support. Like I've been registered in support of it. I've testified in support of it.

speaker-1: And they even ⁓ ⁓ ⁓ under Pike's bill and, ⁓ ⁓

speaker-2: But that could be an interesting topic just ⁓ to dive into and figure out what's going on there. But my understanding of it is that the Iowa High School Athletic Association is a 501c3, but they have their charter. And so ⁓ the legislature would be able to ⁓ change those rules is by funding the charter ⁓ with that 501c3.

speaker-1: The through the state. That's how. amend ⁓ That's out there. There's a potential tax bill that's out there.

speaker-2: There's a credit, refundable tax credit, bill. Don't know that it's going to go anywhere this year.

speaker-1: ⁓ That one has been ⁓

speaker-2: That one's been an interesting one for us to watch because... that homeschool Iowa would typically support because it's basically a welfare program because it's refundable. So even if you didn't earn the money, you can still get it back. That's a place where homeschool Iowa has decided to land.

speaker-1: Fundable tax credit are not one... ⁓ And that's just ⁓ It's about what, you know, what we're...

speaker-2: It's one of those places where you just have to make a decision about what works and what's right. I don't think that one's going to go anywhere. The frustrating part with that one is that there's other ways to do it. We've really worked with a definitive FET is the one that proposed that one. Such good conversations with her. She's been very open to talking about it and how to.

speaker-1: lot there's and you ⁓ know represent And I've had. And and she. and how to amend that. ⁓ We did amendments to

speaker-2: We did get some really good amendments to that bill. I don't know that it's going to go anywhere. The legislature, they call that a fiscal note.

speaker-1: ⁓ because it has a it has a fiscal cost in And right now with

speaker-2: with what they think is going to be a potential budget shortfall.

speaker-1: Paul. ⁓

speaker-2: thing with fiscal notes this year is a little bit of a challenge to get through.

speaker-1: ⁓

speaker-2: bothers me because I think they're forgetting that where the money comes from, it's all our money in the first place. It's not. But that's how the process works. If there's a ⁓ cost to something like this, like a tax credit, then it's going to be that much more difficult to get through when the revenue estimating thinks that we're going to have a budget shortfall this year.

speaker-1: there's ⁓ how is that an extra when

speaker-2: So those changes that we wanted to make to the IP legislation or the IP code, those changes bill died in committee right before the first funnel. We're working on a couple of other options right now to keep those alive with some other bills and some amendments. So, I want to that all plays out. We're getting a lot of really good help from

speaker-1: API. ⁓ but ⁓ We'll see you.

speaker-2: from leadership in both the House and the Senate. We're getting really good help from Americans for Prosperity and some other groups. we have a lot of friends. That's wonderful. where we're at in Iowa right now, nationwide, a little bit of a different story. There are a lot of challenges happening right now.

speaker-1: And that's Yeah, that's where we're at. Bye. lot of, there's a lot, you know, in, know,

speaker-2: usual specs, Illinois, Virginia, know, those states where they've slid a little.

speaker-1: a little left. ⁓

speaker-2: Typically those are not so friendly to ⁓ home education.

speaker-0: Yeah. And you kind of touched on this because those are the current things that are happening. But in Iowa or you can even say the nation, you know, how would you describe the current climate around education policy and where does homeschooling fit within that landscape? ⁓

speaker-1: What I see around policy is I see a move

speaker-2: see nationally education. move towards homeschooling, right? think that continues to grow.

speaker-1: ⁓ heard like like love

speaker-2: her or not, heard Heidi St. John talk about this once and it really changed my thinking about

speaker-1: ⁓ about

speaker-2: about home education and where we're at.

speaker-1: right now.

speaker-2: She said, you know, the people who were working in the 90s, home educating before it was legal, in the 80s and 90s before it was legal, they were pioneers. They were running towards something. They were pushing towards the goal ⁓ of home discipleship.

speaker-1: Who

speaker-2: Once that freedom was won, then there's a lot of people in between there and we're in that group of like, or take advantage of it.

speaker-1: but we really, you know, it wasn't a, we weren't.

speaker-2: running towards something, we weren't running away from something. This was where we felt like we were called to do at the time. That's been a wonderful blessing for us and for our family.

speaker-1: He was just, it just. But we now have a lot of

speaker-2: people who are away from public schools towards homeschooling.

speaker-1: running away ⁓ And so what we had previous to the ⁓

speaker-2: previous generation, the one older than me. were pioneers.

speaker-1: And now what we have.

speaker-2: have is refugees. People that are refugees. It really changed my thinking when she said that. At the situation, there's a lot of truth. I think there's a lot of truth to that. There are a lot of people that are running away from

speaker-0: talked about like that before.

speaker-1: Okay, you from what they, what,

speaker-2: what they're perceiving and in my opinion, rightfully so, a significant problem in public school system. ⁓

speaker-1: as in ⁓ And so that changes the setup of in-home activities. And I

speaker-2: the makeup who's out there and who's homeschool community. I think that in large part what you're seeing, home education,

speaker-1: is you're seeing becoming more and more a part of society.

speaker-2: You hear about it a lot more, a lot more people are doing it.

speaker-1: it. ⁓

speaker-2: And I think there's going to be, if there isn't already a perception that this needs to be controlled.

speaker-1: because ⁓

speaker-2: Frankly, when there was just a few people doing it, was perceived as as fringe weirdos and it doesn't really matter, right? They're, it's a, it's it's it's a part of the population that we don't really care about.

speaker-1: it. It's such a small

speaker-2: Honestly, that's better for those of us that want to take it seriously.

speaker-1: and do. ⁓

speaker-2: do that work ourselves. I think nationally what we're starting to see is we're starting to see

speaker-1: see more and more and real question that wait a this is a thing

speaker-2: And this is a thing that's that's drawing kids public education system. And opinions about the purpose of the public education system. States and.

speaker-1: out of in the United States and ⁓

speaker-2: Those may or may not be particularly ⁓ popular or helpful right now. So we don't need to get into those. You you can spend five or 10 hours on YouTube and get all those, all sorts of different opinions about that.

speaker-1: That's you can end up. you ⁓ But the reality I think is that as this,

speaker-2: But the reality I think. More and more people choose this option. There are going to be greater and greater attempts.

speaker-1: at making it at and making it

speaker-2: regulation. ⁓

speaker-1: the freedom of homeless

speaker-2: home discipleship the way that we're called to do it.

speaker-1: That's what I see as kind of the over. ⁓

speaker-2: overarching theme. There are some particular groups that are pushing that agenda hard. know, there are particular groups out there that are really that have model legislation to put all sorts of new regulations ⁓ and new restrictions on home education.

speaker-1: Really. and ⁓

speaker-2: Don't hear me say that the sky is falling either.

speaker-1: But I definitely see that as more and as it

speaker-2: more people engage this especially financially damages public school.

speaker-1: that the the

speaker-2: The rhetoric keeps getting stronger and stronger against allowing home education.

speaker-1: ⁓

speaker-0: Yeah, I agree with you. ⁓ subscribe to, well, I'm a member of HSLDA. And ⁓ so I get their, what, quarterly or monthly? Yep.

speaker-2: magazine I can't remember if it's yeah I should know I'm

speaker-1: Yeah, I think you did your... Yeah.

speaker-0: But yeah, that's really what I'm seeing too, is that it's making more waves in our culture, in our society, and that is attached to our finances too. ⁓ And people have so many different ways of thinking about homeschooling, and a lot of them don't really know what it is, what it looks like, how it works, or the benefits of it. of children going through it. And so you have some people who are wanting to make decisions but don't really have all of the facts. And so I think it's really important for those of us who are doing the work at home, who are, you we just graduated our son and he is so thankful that he was homeschooled. And I think if there's more people like us saying something about it, that it would have, ⁓ that the waves would be a little bit friendlier. Yeah

speaker-2: So I think you already asked this question.

speaker-1: I And that was, what can you do at

speaker-2: like as a homeschool family who protect your freedom to homeschool. Well, tell anyone who will listen or anyone who's polite enough to not walk away from me when I'm talking to them.

speaker-1: to I will tell that ⁓ the absolute best thing you can do is

speaker-2: that you can as a homeschool family is get to know your legislator, your state legislator. this is a difficult for a lot of people, especially those like ⁓ I've always been interested in politics, right? Always been interested in politics. get all dander up about politics over the years and all that stuff. And it took me a long time to realize that

speaker-1: principle that is Follow politics. the the the if you really want change some things with

speaker-2: really want to change something in politics. Start with the people that are closest to you. The people on a national level, It's really easy to grab onto

speaker-1: That's it's the easy that because it's in the news. It's all over the place. You know, it's it's kind of like the big ⁓ a big

speaker-2: sport like Super Bowl or or whatever. The we like to hang our... big deal. So the president the presidential election is the big... the... national legislators is a big deal. They get all the attention.

speaker-1: It's this thing you like to have your hat on, it's the deal. deal and the House Senate, know, is this all but but the especially

speaker-2: especially in the United States, the vast majority of decisions affect us directly, mainly in our county and in our city and at our state level. The city and the county and the state are all intertwined in Iowa. so absolute best thing you can do to protect your freedom to homescreen, to get to know your legislator.

speaker-1: that affect us, our need, and our level. The school is to get to know them well enough to them.

speaker-2: to know well in advance some sort of a challenge or some sort of a problem that comes down. As there is a big controversial piece of legislation, everybody is yelling at your legislator. Everybody's yelling at him from every side. You are one of the one of thousands who are suddenly that they've never met who are you're suddenly yelling at them. You have no influence whatsoever.

speaker-1: because when And if you

speaker-2: You are just another, hey, was that person yelling for the thing or against the thing? Really? mean, that's what they can do is start making tally marks. It doesn't really change anything because you're not communicating with them. You're just yelling at them.

speaker-1: Okay. Was that per- That's all. right and and and them. I say yelling, you know what I mean. It's like we see

speaker-2: It's these things all the time where sign the petition, stop this or stop that. Really engagement. Cali mark on someone's wall and they may or may not pay attention to it. Personal relationships, bad legislation. ⁓

speaker-1: to And that's not, that's just a. But if you have a... So this is how... In Illinois has gotten stopped. This is how bad... In... ⁓ West... West... Yeah. West... West...

speaker-2: legislation. Virginia, which Virginia is very conservative. You wouldn't think this would happen. But in both of those cases, school families who had personal, like a personal phone level relationship with education committee or judiciary committee chairs

speaker-1: Yeah. It was home cell phone. who wants the

speaker-2: Once the bill got to the committee, they were like, wait a minute, I know homeschool families. They don't abuse their children. They're crazy Nazis. That's where the legislation is based on either,

speaker-1: They're not, they're not right and and and that is always ⁓

speaker-2: a charge of abuse or some other charge where it's deemed necessary, the government needs to pay attention to what's going on inside of people's homes.

speaker-1: that needs to

speaker-2: harmful legislation gets stopped because homeschool families that have personal relationships with people inside the legislature and the people inside the legislature are able to take back and go this isn't where we need to be every single time.

speaker-1: And forming is

speaker-2: those relationships far easier than you think. And it doesn't mean you have to drive to Des Moines. Again, is my thing I'll say to anybody who's polite enough to not walk away. Look, you're both polite enough to not walk away.

speaker-0: And that's that's the big question is like, well, how do I get started? What do I what can I do? Can I do I have to wait in the lobby of a hotel and offer someone cigars?

speaker-2: I mean if you'd like to talk to me.

speaker-1: It works every time.

speaker-2: ⁓ actually, just email me, that works too. No. But that's a great question.

speaker-1: So the best, the best.

speaker-2: possible way to get started with this is to follow your legislator on Facebook. They all have page. They disseminate information.

speaker-1: have Facebook pages, that is the way that they do And they have to hold regular town hall stories in your

speaker-2: Hold hold style meetings for town. just, they have. Legislative districts are small enough in Iowa that it's never more than a 30 or 35 minute drive to get to one of these events. You'll be shocked at the small number of people that actually show up.

speaker-1: do that. and and in Iowa

speaker-2: whatever you think of your legislator.

speaker-1: They have to, they have by default, and this

speaker-2: This is true in most other smaller states. Some of the larger states, I think, have professional legislators, but the vast majority of the small states in the U.S., the legislators are basically volunteers.

speaker-1: know, I think in Iowa they get $5,000 as pay.

speaker-2: 25 years a year or something like And they have, and their expenses and everything else comes out of that.

speaker-1: They get get stipend but but it certainly is not any. All. them. All.

speaker-2: thing approaching a full-time job. Right? So all of these people, every last one of them that are legislators, they have all said, I'm going to forgo four months of business or my pay to work in the legislature. so, so when they show

speaker-1: my bill to up to a exit. ⁓ It's ⁓

speaker-2: Around here, it's called issues. Right. held at a breakfast restaurant. But when they show up to one of these things, they're there to talk and they're there to listen.

speaker-1: and ask them.

speaker-2: The vast majority of them probably have never met or interacted with a homeschool family. So it's going to be extremely interesting conversation and they're there to talk.

speaker-1: So and even even folk ⁓

speaker-2: We're still all Iowa nice and still have a conversation. And when it comes right down to. If to put the effort into running for.

speaker-1: We can see. to if they've, if they're going to. that office.

speaker-2: going and spending the first three and a half, four months of the year in Des Moines. If they're willing to do that, they're going to be willing to talk to you and they're going to be willing, they're going to be happy to meet someone kind and has a smile on their face. says, Hey, thank you very much for taking the time.

speaker-1: It's a pain. who is trained. and to do what you do. ⁓

speaker-2: And I just want to thank you.

speaker-1: meet you and say thank you and get to know you and if you show up and ⁓

speaker-2: You sh** up on a regular basis? and show up in a positive way, they're gonna remember you.

speaker-1: possible.

speaker-2: If you really want to have any, volunteer for their campaign. Help them.

speaker-1: ⁓ That is

speaker-2: That makes a huge difference. And that's by the way, how you get their cell phone number is because you're, you know, you're on a, you're on a text string and you're helping with their campaign or you're helping them with something else, right? You're offering them some, some sort of assistance. There isn't a lot of money in Iowa politics. A few of the big, the, you know, the, the, big guys in the large cities need a lot of money. You know, most of these campaigns run on seven or eight grand, as opposed to, you know, as opposed to the hundreds of millions.

speaker-1: Yeah. And ⁓ millions in in in

speaker-2: national elections. they're not necessarily after money, they can they can get their funding. People

speaker-1: but it's ⁓ people to. ⁓

speaker-2: people to do mailers and write postcards.

speaker-1: and ⁓

speaker-2: You know, I wrote postcards for a friend of mine who was running.

speaker-1: or and yeah, I mean, it's just, a, but,

speaker-2: You know, it's a few hours. It makes a difference. 30 or 40 of those postcards and you get a few people together and do it and it makes a difference.

speaker-1: Those are the... ⁓

speaker-2: absolute best thing that you can do. You know, the same thing with school board members.

speaker-1: ⁓ and, and with ⁓ anybody that's in, ⁓

speaker-2: getting to know them and forming a relationship with them will always pay dividends. Maybe not immediately, but it'll always pay dividends.

speaker-1: We'll always, we'll always.

speaker-0: That's really good advice. mean, I can also see me bringing my family there too and making it a public service, like a lesson for our family to learn and for legislators to also meet with homeschool families to say, we're living this out and this is our opportunity to learn more about public service. So I think that's a great ⁓ insights that you provided.

speaker-2: Yes. If somebody wants to, I don't know you can put the, you can get ahold of me through the homeschool Iowa website.

speaker-0: Yeah, and that's what we're going to ask too, is how do we get in touch with you? what, put that in the show notes too, of how to get in contact with you through the homeschool Iowa and just if they have, if any of our audience members has any questions and how to reach out to you. Cause I mean, like I said from the beginning, when it comes to advocacy and who are going to help us to ⁓ really get our voice heard are going to be people like you Jeremy, who are advocating and who know the issues and know how to get to the right people to help support what we're what we're trying to do with our families. But with that, we appreciate you being on here. And like I said, we'll put in our show notes just your contact information so our audience can reach out to you if they have any questions. But Jeremy, thanks so much. And for everyone, thank you for ⁓ tuning into this episode. You can always contact us and in the comments, if you have any recommendations, suggestions or anything about this upcoming legislation, ⁓ let us know. We're happy to kind of see what everyone's interested in and Jeremy will be on the lookout too for the future to see, know, what out of everything that we've been interested in this upcoming session, what came true? What are things that we didn't see that are happening? Are we getting that NFL stadium? Who knows? yeah, so with that, we thank you for everyone and we'll see you all next time. Bye.

speaker-2: We're su-

speaker-1: I'm gonna