This Golden Hour

35. Samantha Shank and Learn in Color

• Timothy Eaton

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 In today’s episode, we get to spend time with Samantha Shank from Los Angeles, California. When she was only 14 years old, Samantha started her own business, Learn in Color. Now, after more than a decade, Learn in Color is an online educational platform for parents and teachers that has reached thousands of homes and classrooms. Her useful Math cheat sheets and educational movie guides are Samantha's best sellers. Samantha started university at age 16 and graduated in two and a half years. She also completed her Master's degree in Science Education rather quickly, and Samantha is a skilled graphic designer. When Samantha was in 3rd grade, she knew she wasn't being challenged and requested that her parents allow her to be homeschooled. She started homeschooling in 4th grade and went all the way through to university. Samantha was self-directed at a very early age and she loved the free time and flexibility that homeschooling afforded her so that she could pursue her own interests. She imagines homeschooling her own children one day, and Samantha counsels homeschooling families to simply let their children learn, and to not try to emulate how learning is done in schools.

Books and Resources
I am David
The Hiding Place
Your Complete Guide to Building a Memory Palace

Curriculum
Abeka Curriculum
Saxon Math
Teaching Textbooks
Math U See

Media
The Pursuit of Happyness
One Republic - "Life in Color"
Mindhunter (TV Series)

This Golden Hour
Free eBook Course
thisgoldenhour.org

Samantha Shank:

I think really let your children learn because you never know where it will end up. Who knew that my love of PowerPoint and making really cheesy lyric videos would end up being a career in design, which led to becoming a full time traveler. So it might be hard to see the big picture at the end of the day, But just trust yourself. Believe in yourself and know like, you know what's best for your children and don't be afraid to pivot.

Timmy Eaton:

Hi. I'm Tim Eaton, homeschool father of six and doctor of university successfully and completely without the school system. Edgy. 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 Samantha Shank from Los Angeles, California, but who is currently traveling in Hong Kong. When she was only fourteen years old, Samantha started her own business, Learn in Color. Now after more than a decade, Learn in Color is an online educational platform for parents and teachers that has reached thousands of homes and classrooms. Her useful math cheat sheets and educational movie guides are Samantha's bestsellers. Samantha started university at age sixteen and graduated in two and a half years. She also completed her master's degree in science education rather quickly, and Samantha is a skilled graphic designer. When Samantha was in third grade, she knew she wasn't being challenged and requested that her parents allow her to be homeschooled. She started homeschooling in fourth grade and went all the way through to university. Samantha was self directed at a very early age, and she loved the free time flexibility that homeschooling afforded her so that she could pursue her own interests. She imagines homeschooling her own children one day, And Samantha counsels homeschooling families to simply let their children learn and to not try to emulate how learning is done in schools. Welcome to this golden hour podcast. We're very excited to have with us today Samantha Schenk, who is currently in Hong Kong traveling, she is the founder of Learn in Color and started that business when she was fourteen years old. So we're gonna be excited to learn about that. She completed a bachelor's in two and a half years and her master's in science education in a quick time as well and with a focus on curriculum and instruction, and she's also a graphic designer. So you have an incredible background. We wanna hear about it. Can you give us just You can do you can go anywhere you want with this. Give us a bio to know you, family, life, whatever you wanna say, and then and then we'll go from there.

Samantha Shank:

Absolutely. I was in public school system for four years, and I told my parents I wasn't being challenged enough. And at the time, we couldn't Really afford private school, and my parents didn't know anything about homeschooling. But we're like, you know what? Let's give it a shot. If it works, Great. If it doesn't work, we'll just go back to school next year. Yeah. I ended up loving homeschooling, and it ended up being a really good fit for me. And my sisters I have four younger sisters now, but at the time, I only had two. And they said, wow. Samantha's being homeschooled, and she could send them to school really early. Let's be homeschooled too. So we were all homeschooled for various points of our life. I was the only one who ended up graduating from homeschooling. I finished high school early, ended up finishing Doing my undergrad early and then ultimately my master's recently. dUring that time, I ended up finding a love of World War two, and My passion for World War two led me to be wanting to become a Holocaust historian, and that ended up taking off in a really interesting way. And then from then on, I discovered blogging. I discovered I really liked to enjoy that, and I've been doing that ever since then. And then since then, I Didn't really have any plans when I was fourteen, fifteen, sixteen years old, but now my blog allows me to travel full time. So I moved from Indiana to Los Angeles, and I'm Currently backpacking Asia full time right now, living out of a thirty six liter backpack.

Timmy Eaton:

Wow. Holy cow. I gotta I have to take that one at a time. So first of all, you have no brothers? Is that what I heard? No. Okay. So Yeah. There's five

Samantha Shank:

girls. Yes. I had a male rabbit named Charlie at one point. Okay.

Timmy Eaton:

Oh, I have a son named Charlie, so that's awesome. Okay. And and I actually have I have five sister. So that's pretty interesting too. Oh, really? Oh my gosh. Yeah. But I have three brothers as well. So Oh, wow. So you have a really big family. Yeah. Yeah. I come from a big family. So so you grew up in Indiana. Is that right? So cool. And then how old were you when you made the shift from public school to homeschool?

Samantha Shank:

So I am adopted from China. Me and two of my four sisters are adopted from China. Mhmm. And then what was the next question? Just

Timmy Eaton:

Wendy. That's how I yeah. Yeah.

Samantha Shank:

Go ahead. Oh, that's how I ended up back in Indiana. That's a question I get a lot in California now. But then in fourth grade is when we officially started homeschooling me. And you

Timmy Eaton:

were the oldest of the group. Is that right? You were the oldest of the sisters. That's so cool that you, and you kinda took the initiative to do that? Like you said, let's try this.

Samantha Shank:

Yeah. So when I was in third grade, I was reading at a very advanced level. I was reading Chronicles on my own. I was reading at, high school level. I just really wasn't being challenged by the public school system. And I had a really great teacher for third grade. She was really inspiring, and she gave me a lot of attention. I remember me and another student like, this is third grade. She allowed us to do like, advanced geometry and a little bit of pre algebra Outside of the normal math class just because we she knew we'd be able to learn. And I knew we wouldn't be able to get that personalization everywhere else. That's why am like, hey. You know what? Let's try homeschooling. I really want to learn at my own pace, and Yeah. I

Timmy Eaton:

love what how did you know about the option? Like, how did you know about the option of homeschooling at that young age.

Samantha Shank:

I think we have people like we had friends that had homeschooled, and we were looking into alternative So we had really looked into private school, and I think I would have liked or enjoyed private school. That was what I was originally gunning for. Mhmm. But private school just wasn't out Wasn't in my family's budget at the time. And they didn't want to send me to private school and not my sisters because they don't want any intentions there. I totally understand that. And I have really looked and pressed harder than skipping a grade, and I had talked to my teachers and principals about it. They all said no, which I This

Timmy Eaton:

is exactly what you ended up doing anyway.

Samantha Shank:

Yeah. I have a lot to say about that, but that's a totally other topic. Yeah. But, yes my, Yeah. At the time, it seemed like the only option, and I'm, like, a huge advocate for gifted students. And I think that in some situations not all of them, But in some situations, homeschooling really is the best option for gifted students, especially.

Timmy Eaton:

Yeah. It's that flexibility and kind of customization, and you like you're proof of it. That you graduated early and uh, you know, it's up to the up to the individual. Tell us a little bit about what Your encounter was with the school administrators. Tell us a little bit. You don't have to get in too much detail, but I'm interested. What rubbed you wrong? What didn't you like? Or did you?

Samantha Shank:

Crystal knew me and my siblings all by name, so I don't No. That's not a bad thing. You don't have to No. I think it was interesting because My teachers didn't know how to handle me. tHat's the best way I know how to describe that. I remember there was a time I thought I was being kidnapped in kindergarten doing misunderstanding. A teacher, a large male teacher, had to grab my arm. I'm a little Asian person. I, of course, reigned and threw a fit because I thought he was kidnapping me, and why did you just grab this child by the arm? Another principal called my parents. They called me a spitfire, which my parents were not happy about and just little things like that. My sister got sent to the office because she told to be the teacher to stop yelling at the class. So in terms of our personalities, I think we just had constant run ins with the public school system. But I think a lot of it stemmed from boredom looking back at it. Mhmm. And in Indiana's public schools, there's a lot of poverty going around. We grew up with a lot of our fellow peers being on free and reduced lunches. And so I don't necessarily blame the public school system for that. I think that there's a lot of different layers attached to that. Yeah. But the really strong poverty, and a lot of the people in my the students in my class were well above grade were well under grade level. And obviously, if you have a, Like a classroom full of twenty students. Your priority is the younger students. But then you have the advanced students who are really bored in class, and they cause I said we can't do the poor, and they want nothing to do. And it's

Timmy Eaton:

like you said, it's like it's not anyone's fault. It's just like the it's the reality of the system, and It's really hard. Even as hard as they try and as good as teachers are and whatever, it's just hard. And so those complexities, I feel like that is one of the benefits of homeschooling is that you can at least have different options and and do things the way your family wants to. So tell us about homeschooling. Like, how did your parents like, where did they go for information, and what did they learn, and how did they do it? Give us some ideas.

Samantha Shank:

Yeah. So we started off using the Rebecca curriculum. That was what a friend recommended. That was, like, all we knew. Now I realize that how advanced the Becca is. I'm I it was just like when we were in public school when I was in public school in third grade in third grade, we were still learning the words I n a, a spelling word. And then all of a sudden Abeka has all these crazy spelling words like, although, and I'm like, what the heck? Yeah. It was like My love like, I enjoyed it, but it was definitely a shift in mindset, same with the math curriculum. In public school, we would be Heating the same thing for several different weeks, trying to keep up with all the students, which I totally understand. I'm not blaming the teachers for. However, in a back eye, it's okay. You are learning a new skill every day. And it was like, oh my goodness.

Timmy Eaton:

I think I've heard I've heard that a Becca is rigorous. We've never we never did that in our family, but I've heard from others. And It's out of is it out of Florida, I think. But, anyway, I think right?

Samantha Shank:

Yeah. Yeah. And I learned later that some of the textbooks are reprints of textbooks from the early nineteen hundreds, which says a lot because Yes. It's just when things were more rigorous back then. But I think that's We at the time, we learned to adjust it to our own schedule, and we learned to say, hey. We don't have to always emulate the public school system. And even if we finish seventy five to eighty percent of the curriculum, That's fine. We don't have to finish the entire thing. I really enjoyed the flexibility that homeschooling offered, especially with Rebecca. It had a really advanced curriculum, and there were certain times when we needed to Review something a little bit extra, or there were times when we felt confident in the material. And I really enjoyed being flexible and being able Well, to either skip something if we already knew it or if we needed extra time on it, we had that extra time, and we didn't have to bother someone else by having them wait up for us, or it's Not like we felt rushed or anything like that.

Timmy Eaton:

Yeah. Totally. So and then do you remember, because that was fourth grade when you started that. Yeah. And did you do Abeka all the way through graduation?

Samantha Shank:

We did Abeka so I did Abeka the majority of the time. So one of my sisters oh my gosh. I don't remember the years for everything. Yeah. My sisters were homeschooled for several years in middle Cool. And then that was when we started getting old enough to say, hey. I don't think this curriculum is working for us in the certain areas. I ended up switching to Saxon Math For high school. Yeah. And my sister ended up doing teaching textbooks for math u c. I don't remember which one. But I like the the flexibility we had as homeschoolers to say, Hey. If this isn't working for you, you can try something else. Yeah. And then in high school, I had a lot of flexibility, and I started designing my Curriculums. And that's what got me as a one in color. I've always been a big proponent of creativity and creating your own education.

Timmy Eaton:

That's awesome. No. I'm glad you like, so that's you know, I've been surprised that a lot of my the people that I've interviewed haven't mentioned, like a few have mentioned Saxon math, but not a ton. And nobody has mentioned teaching textbooks, which is what we do, and we've loved teaching textbooks. Oh, yeah. But to eat you said liked it. To each her own or to each his own. And I like that there's the flexibility of curriculum. That's one of the biggest attractions to homeschool. So why do you remember anything else about your your like, what was your parents' involvement in all that? Was it more were they was your mom facilitating Would you were they doing it kinda together? What was the how did they facilitate the learning, and how did they set it up and work with you and whatever? Yes. It was

Samantha Shank:

primarily my mom, but she worked basically full time. Both of my parents worked full time, so it's not like they were actively teaching In a way. My sisters and I joke we taught ourselves for several years just because they were working full time and it was easier. And then when my mom got pregnant with Her first biological child. Yeah. She was, like, focused on them, and then they ended up homeschooling little

Timmy Eaton:

ones. Yeah. Oh, cool. Cool. So so now would you is it's probably hard to to, draw causal connections, but do you feel like You and your sisters were just learners anyway, or was it maybe because they let you to have that independence that you were able to advance like that, or do you think it's a combination? What do you

Samantha Shank:

think? I have heavily studied psychology, and I would love had to have an In-depth nature versus nurture study on my family.

Timmy Eaton:

Awesome. Yes. Yeah.

Samantha Shank:

That's all I say

Timmy Eaton:

about that. Yeah. No. Yeah. That's interesting. That is and it's hard because it is. It's hard. I think sometimes it's hard, in the homeschooling research, for example, it's hard to say is this a result of being homeschooled, or is this a result of family involvement? And, either way, you see really positive results from the homeschool experience, not in every case, but in the majority, and statistically, it's high. What would you say were the biggest challenges or struggles that you had or that your family had as a result of the homeschool choice.

Samantha Shank:

I think at the beginning, it was just really overwhelming having to figure out everything on our own. Like I said, I was mainly the the ringleader of the whole homeschooling thing. I was in charge of larger curriculum every year. I was in charge of I was the one who wanted it, basically. My parents were pretty I forget the word. They didn't really care either way about what I decided. Like ambivalent? Ambivalent. Yes. And I realized that if I wanted to do this, and this was something that I had to do the majority of the effort for.

Timmy Eaton:

And that was right off the bat grade four?

Samantha Shank:

Kind of. Yeah. My parents put it oh my gosh. Oh, yeah. bAsically, my parents both work full time. They had a full time job, and then they have a vending machine business on top of that. So There was just a lot of chaos going on. There's just a lot with the family situation. But, yeah, I for me, because they primarily left me alone, I really like flexibility and offered. When I was really young, I would spend hours on PowerPoint and WordPress and Blogger back in the old days trying to figure out teaching myself basic coding, teaching myself PowerPoint design, like you mentioned. Wow.

Timmy Eaton:

And were your sisters doing that too, or is that just you?

Samantha Shank:

My sisters were doing similar things. I'm in their own separate interests. So one of my sisters is really into musicals, She writing. My other sister is in the gymnastics, and she's in school for PT or OT. I forget. She's gonna kill me for that. One of those. And yeah, we're all driven in our own separate ways. We're all very different, but we're all Similar in drive,

Timmy Eaton:

one thing I've observed is that when youth get to about freshman year, grade nine, they they tend to be very self directed through the high school years in the homeschool world. Yeah. But yours this is really early. You guys started really being self directed, and I don't know if it seems like it was a little bit this is just how it was because your parents are working or whatever, and then you guys were but you They must have had a sense of your capacity, though, because you guys were obviously capable at a young age, and then you've proven that throughout your whole life so far. You just get things done early. Yeah.

Samantha Shank:

We're really independent. Yeah. To be honest I'm not super close to my parents for a lot of reasons. So I think that the independence that came from us tended to be forced in some ways. I don't think it was necessarily a choice. Like, when people are stuck in situations, the options are fight, or freeze. Yeah. Yeah. My sisters and I are definitely fighters.

Timmy Eaton:

And you performed. Good for you guys. That's a what a good example to others to just plug ahead. What are the greatest benefits that you've seen and the way that you did your education?

Absolutely.

Samantha Shank:

The flexibility that it gave me. So I started my business when I was Fourteen years old. And around that same time, I joined a local entrepreneurship program. And during that time, I was able to Get involved with the local Chamber of Commerce. I gotta be a lot of really great businessmen around the area, especially during school hours when I typically be in the classroom. I got to speak at a lot of schools on entrepreneurship and teach a lot of kids. And I love that flexibility of being to go being able to go into a classroom and Talk about what I love and talk about the things that I was doing and showing kids hey. It's not just like your boring teacher. No offense to teachers. I'm talking to you about this. Here is an actual girl from the local community showing you that entrepreneurship is possible.

Timmy Eaton:

How did you know how to do that?

Samantha Shank:

I Got involved with the Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber of Commerce was, like, leading it all. I was just their spokesmodel. I ended up becoming really close, and we're still in contact. That's right. But even

Timmy Eaton:

that even running this entrepreneurship program. Even getting into the chamber of who's I who initiated that idea? Was that coming from your parents, or is that your did you initiate that?

Samantha Shank:

It was actually a friend of one of my sisters. She had taken this course, and she said, hey, Samantha. I know you're really entrepreneurial. I think you would like it, and so we enrolled in it. And I ended up Doing really well. So I love this program because it teaches you how to start a business as you're actually starting a business. And at the very end, they give you a Shark Tank type Hitch competition. And you're able to ask real business owners for money. And at the end, I won a thousand something dollars to start a previous project that I was working on. And I ended up getting really close with the leader of that program just because she was always looking for students to come speak because she's no one wants to hear me. They wanna hear The students. But all a lot of the times, the students were in school, so they didn't have that option. So

Timmy Eaton:

Wow. Yeah. That is so impressive. And so Tell us about the evolution of the business. Like, how, like, how did you know what you were gonna do? Like, where did your ideas come from? And then is that is that was is that when you were learning? You had said you had already been learning WordPress and other things, but then graphic design these are things you're doing at a young age. Like, how are you how did you do all this? So I've talked

Samantha Shank:

with a lot of gifted students, especially in the homeschool Here. And I think that's the one thing that's amazing about homeschooling is because you have a lot of free time on your hands, that gives the students It gives the students the flexibility to really pursue what they're interested in. And for me, I was naturally gravitating towards the things that I was naturally interested So I am not super interested in science. And instead of having to be forced to spend hours and hours on something that I know I don't really like or love or I'm not that passionate about I had hours and hours just to become curious. Your interest. Yeah. Yeah. And explore my interest. And I think that can manifest this way like, itself in a lot of different ways. I don't think that there's anyone way to do it. For me, I've always loved reading, especially about World War two. I discovered that in fourth grade, very young. But from then on, I'd always been interested in history. And so as I began reading about the World War two and the Holocaust I Came across more subjects. And then from then on, I was considering my careers. I had considered becoming a World War two historian. Yeah. At the time, I realized I had very limited job options for that. I was okay. Whatever. I'm not sure what I want here, but then I started a blog. It kind of it was in two thousand thirteen. It was random. I Need a creative outlet for all Yeah. Knowledge and study just because it sounds like cute in retrospect, but at the time, a lot of people were like, oh my This is really annoying. Like, when I would talk to other kids other fifth graders don't wanna hear about the holocaust necessarily. Fifth graders. That's so cool. I love it. I've I ran into that issue, though, with a lot of gifted kids. This is a really common gifted kid problem. Yes. They just have all these passions, and they have sometimes a difficult time controlling the social emotional factor and Just relating to their

Timmy Eaton:

peers. So that's interesting. So were your parents helpful in helping you, with those creative outlets? Because you were like You're like this pent up stuff going on in your head, and you need to get it out. And like you said, it that doesn't necessarily jive with the average fifth grader. So did your parents help facilitate that? And then maybe also comment on how could parents who have gifted children, provide that outlet or, that, that, some kind of facilitation. Yeah.

Samantha Shank:

My parents are still confused about what I do for a living. I get text from my mom every now and then saying good job. Have fun, honey. But, yeah, they're still confused about what I do for a living. And I think that is a good lesson. I'm talking to other parents of gifted kids. Sometimes their kids will take you down crazy rabbit holes, but I think what I've learned is really let your children learn. I think it can be really detrimental when the parent puts themselves and wants to be too overly involved just because it's not necessarily the child leading it. I know there's balance, and every child is gonna be different, so I hate giving that blanket advice. Yes. But what I've seen is kids will naturally gravitate towards the things they're interested in. So if you take them to this giant example of everything in the world that they have access to, what are they going to gravitate? And you might think, oh my gosh. They're interested about dinosaurs. Dinosaurs, they're not gonna find a job with that. And that's okay. What skills are they gonna be learning as they're researching dinosaurs? Yes. So a lot of my early research skills, I'm not gonna be learning I do use World War two in my everyday life, but I might not be actually using that in my everyday life. But I'm using those the skills I learned to find that information, I use that a lot in my algebra, and I use that a lot of my grad school. I know a lot of peers in my grad school because it was online struggled with that. I struggle with how to find information. And for me being an entrepreneur, I have no if you don't know something, Google it because I guarantee there's someone out there in the world that knows it. Recently, on this traveling journey, we've been running into issue after issue with currencies and language barriers and all of that. And just our Go to answer just Google it. You have to figure it out somehow because I think as an adult, especially if you're traveling or doing something outside of your comfort zone, people are not gonna be there to hold your hand, and I think the public school system really does our students the service by forcing them to learn.

Timmy Eaton:

I listen to this I listen to a particular podcast regularly, and it's a it's an entrepreneur an online, basically trainer and entrepreneur. And he just says constantly said, the system is not set up to help us with to help, you know create entrepreneurs. And so he says it a lot. Yeah. But you just when you come to those crossroads or those difficulties, You're not that intimidated because since you were in grade four or, before, you've been Yeah. You've been researching and finding things out, which is great, which is unbelievable. And maybe what you're pointing to is the it's not that you're learning World War two or about dinosaurs. It's that you know how to learn. And that's really the skill that you're picking up. And so maybe the lesson is pursue your curiosity no matter what it is, because by doing that, you're gleaning principles of learning that are gonna help you no matter what you end up doing. So how did you get into World War two? Why World War two and what I'm just curious about that and the and the Holocaust.

Samantha Shank:

Yeah. So in fourth grade I came across this book called I Am David by Anne Holm. Oh it's a book. Have you

Timmy Eaton:

read the book? Oh, yeah. We've read well, my wife has read it with the kids, and we've watched the show, and we love it. Yeah. My wife has read that to our kids. Our kids have read that, and they love it. Okay. No

Samantha Shank:

one knows what that book is, but that's my favorite book of all time. I'm

Timmy Eaton:

so sorry. It's amazing. It's amazing. Okay. It moves it moves them so much. It's a beautiful story. Have you seen the movie too?

Samantha Shank:

Yes. Anyway Yeah. So that's the movie book that launched my career. Yeah. For those of you who don't know the story is about a twelve year old boy who escaped from a concentration camp in the nineteen fifties. At the time, I had just gotten out a public school, and I did not have any semblance of world history. At the time, I thought because Denmark sounded like Denver, I thought the holocaust happened in Denver, Colorado. I was extremely confused for quite some time. I just remember trying to piece it together, and I'm like, what the heck? And then as I was learning about the nineteen fifties and post World War two, I eventually came across the holocaust. And at the time, I was really Confused. I was wondering why this happened how this happened, and if it could happen again. And then that's what began my research and love of We're we're too. Wow. I was reading all types of biographies, memoirs. I'm really thankful for really great librarians. I'm a big fan of librarians because they don't really believe in limiting students based on reading level or anything. They put whatever in my And that I was interested, which I really appreciated.

Timmy Eaton:

The only thing my only beef with librarians sometimes is they get frustrated with how many books homeschool kids check out. Oh, no.

Samantha Shank:

My librarians loved it. I heard the best librarians. They came to my graduation. Best librarians. That's

Timmy Eaton:

awesome. Very cool. Yeah. Have you read The Hiding Place as well, I assume? And Of course. Yeah. So good. And, anyway yeah. Carry on. Sorry.

Samantha Shank:

No. Yes. Because those are the stories that I really wanted to share with other people. There are so many stories like that, and I'm like, oh my gosh. Why don't people know about these stories? And so I started telling everybody I knew Got that. Which, again, as like a child, this is super obnoxious and annoying. So then that's a start of the vlog. One of my very first The blog series was called ten World War two heroes, where I'm just talking about my favorite people from World War two. And this is when

Timmy Eaton:

you're fourteen or just earlier?

Samantha Shank:

Yes. No. This was fourteen. Oh my god. I have the nerdiest if you go through my old post, they're so

Timmy Eaton:

There's nothing nerdy about that. That's so cool. And I love You know what I love about your website? And then carry on with what you were saying, but I love the movie suggestions you have. I'm always looking for edifying good movies, and there's some on there that I hadn't heard of. And so I'm excited to pursue those with my children. So thank you. Thank you. Go ahead, though. You're fourteen. You're blogging.

Samantha Shank:

But that's my very first post that took off on historical movies for kids. And I had a lot of people commenting on that and saying, hey. I've seen a lot of these movies, and I checked out some of the ones that I haven't seen. I really enjoyed them with my classroom, with my kids. And it was just crazy to go from oh my gosh. Shut up about this movie to, oh my gosh. Please keep talking about this movie. I want to use them for my children. Yeah. From then on, I just started writing about whatever hat what I was passionate about. At around that same time, I was part of this blogging group, and I found a lady Who was looking for help with her Pinterest account. And since I had a lot of success with Pinterest this was back when Pinterest was completely different than it was Is now. Yes. But I was able to successfully grow her social media account, and so she recommended me to other people. It was a lot cheaper than anywhere else I was a teenager. I had no life and no hobbies. I'm like, I have the time on my hands.

Timmy Eaton:

And the capacity, you had the ability.

Samantha Shank:

Yeah. So it ended up being mutually beneficial, and then that's how I got started in social media and graphic design. And then that is what paid for my college, ultimately. When I was, like, sixteen years old, I discovered beauty pageants. That's a whole other

Timmy Eaton:

thing. I did see that. I saw something on there that said miss Indiana. So I wondered. Yeah.

Samantha Shank:

Yeah. So pageants and hey. Yeah. Pageants in my business ended up paying for Cool. But pageants is one of those things. At the beginning, I don't seem like a pageant girl. I again, like I said, I'm living out of a backpack Right now I'm super low key. Don't wear a lot of makeup. But it turns out that my business actually ended up giving me a really big edge in competition because it was unique. It made me stand out, And that in turn helped me win scholarships and helped Yes. Work on my interview skills. And so it was just one of those things that even though it might not seem like it correlates, it ended up Kinda fitting really

Timmy Eaton:

well. It fits. It fits. Where it come from. Wow. That's so and then what about the graphic designing? Some Sometimes I feel like somebody in my of my generation asks your generation, and you're just kinda like you just kinda learn it. But how did you learn graphic design and in helping you this person with her social media. And how did you are you just digital native?

Samantha Shank:

Yes. Back really gravitating towards what your address is. There was a trend going around on TikTok. I don't know if you're familiar with Tumblr. It was this The teen girl blog platform back in early two thousand tens. And the trend was if you were a Tumblr blogger, what are you doing now? And a lot of those women are in social media right now or marketing. I never had a Tumblr blog, although it's very up my alley. But I love to see the progression of, okay, this really cringy Tumblr blog about Harry Potter or the hundred games Turning into a full on career as a professional graphic designer. Wow. So I think that those are just some of those pipelines that yes, it might seem like they're wasting a ton Time on Minecraft or something. But what appeals to them about Minecraft? What are they actually getting out of this? And taking those skills and pivoting them towards something Productive if it's just video games or something. What appeals to them about

Timmy Eaton:

that? So how were you that's so interest. So how were you balance I don't know if I don't know if I like the word balancing, but how were you navigating the world of your own business, Whatever you were doing, with your schoolwork, whatever that was, how are you doing that? Because you when did you start when did you start university? I was sixteen. You were sixteen. So you were fourteen out of business, so that's pretty busy. And then was it were you taking did you take entrance exams or that kind of stuff, or were you more just I had such a killer transcript and portfolio, any university would have been like, yeah. We like you.

Samantha Shank:

No. I I took the SATs. I didn't take the ACTs because I was not studying for that. But I took the ACT SATs. They had a good score. I don't remember. Yeah. What it was. But, yeah, I got into school. There are a lot of things I regret about my college Days and experiences, but I don't think graduating early was one of them. I think at the time, a lot of people discouraged me from it, but I was paying for my own school. I paid for Free cash. And I yeah. Everybody's like I don't know. And people are like you have a chance Pardon? You didn't you missed out on the authentic college experience. I'm like, yes. However, I'm able to live debt free in Los Angeles, which is an amazing city, my favorite city in the world, and I'm able to travel full time because I that. And then all of

Timmy Eaton:

the people put in

Samantha Shank:

exactly. And all I put in so much work on my business. I grew the majority of learning color during my college days from my freshman dorm while watching Law and Order SVU. Those are the days that I was working twelve hours ish. I don't know how I did not completely burn myself out. But that's where I created the vast majority of my products, and that's what allows me to live on passive income

Timmy Eaton:

right now. That is amazing and and good for you. Going back a little bit what so tell me a little bit about what were you involved in extracurricularly, and what tell describe your social life during the short high school years that you experienced.

Samantha Shank:

Definitely. I had a hard time making friends with people my age. That was true at public school. That was true at clubs and whatever I did. That's just A gifted child thing. And I think I don't know if this is good or bad. I don't know if I recommend this actually, but I did have unfiltered Internet access, I made a lot of Internet friends. I don't know if I necessarily recommend that but it ended up

Timmy Eaton:

But that was your world.

Samantha Shank:

Yeah. And I ended up meeting a lot of people with similar interests as me. And I think as I've gotten to be an adult especially since moving to California, I have found people that meet my Just because I have very specific and unique interests and I've been able to find people in those certain quarters. And growing up, I'm like, oh my gosh. I'm such a pariah. What the heck is wrong with me? But I think growing up, I've been able to meet those quirky individuals that like, with those interests. I was involved but like I said, my local chamber of commerce, I was involved in four h, which is a Midwestern thing. Yeah. I was involved with the journalist Love. It's the only one I think in the country as far as I know. But the journalist club is what taught me programs like Photoshop and InDesign, which I use every single day. I really got to know my instructors really well and, again, very good friends with them even till now. That's just another trend with, The gifted individuals is they tend to make friends with adults more easily than they do with kids. So so

Timmy Eaton:

the yeah. I know. I know that it is, which is probably which really is. If you if you take culture out of it, the out of the, traditional school system, you take the culture out, that is a more healthy socialization or a more positive one where you can communicate with all people. It's always strange when somebody can't communicate with their own peers, but that's only because culture has dictated that, and that's weird. So I don't know. I don't know. I don't know where people are gonna go with that. So wait. Couple things

Samantha Shank:

though. The school thing, it's only for a few years of your life. As an adult right now, it's not like I'm Ever just talking to someone in their early like their mid twenties. I'm talking to Yeah. A variety of people.

Timmy Eaton:

Wait. Wait. How old are you? I don't I can't have this conversation. So No. So so the so the learners what was it? The club? The journalist club?

Samantha Shank:

It was called Media Club.

Timmy Eaton:

It was three thirty. To that was unique to Indiana?

Samantha Shank:

Or Yeah. And that was unique to the city I'm in. I am I've been involved in other four h clubs, but I've never heard of anyone else doing that. So Elkhart, Indiana has the largest four h fair in the nation. Mhmm. And we write up our newsletter about it. So we learned techniques of journalism, we learned how to interview people. We learned how to lay out. We learned, like, how to write in a journalistic style. That's awesome. Yeah. And I love the kids I met through on there because if you're in this obscure writing club, you're probably a nerd to some degree considering it wasn't for popularity points. But I really enjoyed everybody I met through there. And I'm still at least back when I was in Indiana, I was really active as a volunteer because I love the club.

Timmy Eaton:

How did you get started with that, though? Like, how did you get how did you how are you aware of that? And the other thing is I didn't even know four h dipped into those type I always think of four h as like cows and yeah. You know what I mean? I didn't know there was a journalist part of it.

Samantha Shank:

It usually is, and that's the thing that surprises a lot of people. That's why I think as far as I know and that's what the club claimed to be is the only one in The US. Because the you typically connect with other branches. So for example, if you were in steer club or rabbit club, you're connecting with other rabbit clubs across A country, but maybe a club. It's its own little thing.

Timmy Eaton:

Cool. That's so awesome that you did that, though. That's, I mean so that so you had quite a did you do anything with music or sports or anything like that? Or did we

Samantha Shank:

I play piano. Yeah. I play piano. I am not athletic, but yeah. So I did not do anything with sport.

Timmy Eaton:

Wow. But how did you do piano? Did just lessons, or did you go did you pursue it? You still play type thing? Or

Samantha Shank:

I still play loosely, but Not fully, but, yeah, we did take lessons with the local teacher. Awesome. And then, yeah, my sister did gymnastics For most of her life. Yeah.

Timmy Eaton:

And what about your social life with your sisters? Did you guys hang a lot, and were you guys pretty close? Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And that's all five or just your the two that were closer to you? Or

Samantha Shank:

I'm definitely more closer with my two older ones, but I think it's just because of the age gap. Yes. Yeah.

Timmy Eaton:

Yeah. That makes sense. That makes sense.

Samantha Shank:

There's an eleven years age gap between me and The yeah. The little ones.

Timmy Eaton:

So Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that definitely poses again, you can socialize with them, but it's, there's a few differences there. Come Yeah.

Samantha Shank:

We're just talking about different things when I'm with them, obviously.

Timmy Eaton:

Yeah. Yeah. So I just had a couple of other Kind of questions about the your homeschool experience, and then I wanna shift a little bit more to your business if I can. Describe a typical day of your homeschooling. What like, literally get up to go to bed. What do you what is it what was it like? And let's think of maybe a little bit later, like, when you were getting close to doing your business and that kind of thing. Oh,

Samantha Shank:

gosh. My memory. My mom I just remember my mom was very big in the schedule, so it wasn't like We could just wake up whenever. My mom was like, you get your butt off at seven thirty. Yeah. You eat breakfast, and you get to the dinner table at nine o'clock. That was a big thing. We usually ate some type of breakfast whatever. So then I usually did school until about Twelve o'clock. Yeah. Then we had lunch usually. And then after that I usually have the day to do whatever I wanted. For me, that was memory reading. Yes. And then, yeah, for my sister or for my sister it was writing or doing gymnastics or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. And then as we progressed and started doing things outside of the school during school hours specifically. Because the things that we were doing that were for students, they were usually after school, so it didn't really matter. But when I started getting involved with Chamber of Commerce and we had things during school obviously, that Changed a little bit. But we try to keep the same basic schedule every day just because there was a lot of us.

Timmy Eaton:

And was your family the type that were, at in the evenings, were you guys up talking late and hanging out, or were you guys no bedtime?

Samantha Shank:

We had a bedtime. I don't remember. It was, like, nine or ten or something, but I feel like my sisters and I always talk. Yeah.

Timmy Eaton:

Or read. Or weren't you reading? Were you reading late into the night?

Samantha Shank:

Reading late on our phones, playing games or something, or just talking or yeah. Gotcha.

Timmy Eaton:

World War two Yeah. Readings. That Yes.

Samantha Shank:

I remember even in the morning getting up early and reading or whatever we wanted to do. Yeah.

Timmy Eaton:

So if you when you think of your future let's Say, you know, you've got a couple of kids, a few kids. Do you see yourself being a homeschool parent?

Samantha Shank:

Probably. I feel like my kids are probably gonna be really quirky. I think that homeschooling would be the best course of option. I also know a lot of families that basically road school or that travel full time, and I can definitely see myself. World

Timmy Eaton:

school. World schooling is like my I have a brother-in-law. My wife's brother and his wife. They, they do more traditional homeschooling when they're not traveling, but they do travel quite a bit. And then I just I, I don't have the I'm not in a position to do that, but I would love that, I think. I think it would just because you just by going, you're learning, the education Exactly. Whatever you're experiencing right now in Hong Kong and your travels that's an education. Yeah. That's cool to hear. I'm glad to hear you would you would At least consider that and based on your kids. And then the other question I had was, do you like, if you were talking to somebody who is new to homeschooling or considering it, Mhmm. What would be you know, because you've experienced it as a, a child. What would you What counsel, what advice would you give them to new people? The

Samantha Shank:

biggest advice I can give is let your children learn. Even if you think it's Sully, even if you think it's a waste of time, let them learn and explore those rabbit holes, and you don't always have to emulate the public school system. I think at the beginning stages, we were really Confused about what we're doing. We were like, oh my gosh. We have to follow-up this regular schedule. But looking at it now the things that I got most out of my time in homeschooling. It wasn't necessarily the times when I studied for a test and then memorized it and then forgot it all. That's not true memorization, or that's not true education. aNd so I think that, like, when you're looking at it now in ten years in a row what's going to matter? If your child wants to be an architect, Those math and science classes are gonna matter and then those skills that they're learning to become that good architect or engineer or something. And even if they're not I just think it's really about those skills that you're building along the way, not necessarily about what you're learning.

Timmy Eaton:

So good. I and it coming from you and just somebody who has experienced homeschooling, I didn't. I grew up in a very I grew up outside of Chicago, and it was, a very public school. It was good, but I, I just didn't grow up with that. And I've had I really learned this world, and so amazing. That's amazing. So let's shift a little bit if we can just to a few minutes at least on your business. Now I've read in a couple places that you have had a ton of traffic on your is it your blog? Or what is it that has gotten so many views?

Samantha Shank:

Yeah. It's been primarily my blog. Yeah. It's had yeah, seven million ish views over the past Decade. And I really So is that how long it's been

Timmy Eaton:

a decade?

Samantha Shank:

Yes. I just celebrated my ten year anniversary in Guatemala this year. Wow.

Timmy Eaton:

Congrats.

Samantha Shank:

But I think that's just one of the things I've learned over the years is when I talk to other people about my business, Especially when I was in like, seventeen, eighteen years old. It's a lot different now because I'm an adult. But back when I was not an adult one of their very first comments was, why are they buying resources from you? You're seventeen years old. And I'm like, you know what? I have never hid my age from any of my resources. Totally. But that was actually a selling point, and it ended up being to my advantage because they're like, okay. This is from a student, And we like the way she thinks, and we like her resources. So I was able to create those resources from a student perspective. And I think that really helped me out in business because I've learned that You need to use your position to your advantage. Instead of wishing that you were somebody else or wishing you had someone else's skills Yeah. Use whatever skill you have to your advantage. Because if you look hard enough, Chances are you're going to find them let's find something somewhere.

Timmy Eaton:

Yeah. So maybe give people a little explanation of what is learning color and then why that title.

Samantha Shank:

Yeah. So Learning Color creates educational resources for k through twelve primarily for middle school history that helps students learn beyond the textbooks. Learning color came from my love of history and from the one republic song life in color. I've had three rebrands, and it was the best I come up with at the time, and it was taken like, if you like, creating an online business is really hard because you have to get all the names matching. So it ended up working out really well With that. And, yeah, it just has stuck and fits me and the brand.

Timmy Eaton:

And Have you know what have you noticed? What is, like what are people is there a an obvious thing that people come to your to you for? What is it more than anything that people are buying or into what are they interested in mostly? So there are

Samantha Shank:

two different products that are that I've known for. The first is called the series of cheat sheets. The first cheat sheet I created when I was married to math. The

Timmy Eaton:

math cheat sheets or which? Yes. I

Samantha Shank:

created that in middle school or something, but I was tired of living through my textbook Trying to look for formulas, and I color coded them in my notebook. And then once I learned Excel, it became a game changer, and I'm like, we are creating this in an Excel spreadsheet. I love a good Excel spreadsheet. Yeah. And those have always done really well for me. And then my movie guide. I love movies. I love book. That's the way I've learned history. Even if it's not fully accurate, I'm always googling things and realizing, hey. What really happened? What didn't happen? I'm currently reading the book Mindhunter based on the Netflix show. Even though the show was a hundred percent accurate, it's really interesting to see from the source material and learn from that. Yeah. And I think that in terms of books and movies are always full of good life lessons too. And because you're more likely to remember the story. You're more likely to remember the history from that. For example, you're more likely to remember Corrie ten Boom's story in the hiding place than just some random World War two facts I'm spitting at you right now.

Timmy Eaton:

And that's I think I don't know how much you know about Charlotte Mason, but that's one of her Yeah. Her main tenants is living books, and That's a great example of that. And I love that too. Everybody knows that narrative helps you to Not only remember things, but to internalize things and to Yeah. Really look for lessons and, edification from it. You you said you use your business to share your homeschool experiences. How does that work?

Samantha Shank:

Yeah. I think, like originally, I was creating resources with solely a homeschool mindset. I they were very flexible. They had no answer keys. They had no like, spot for your name, which I didn't even think about. But since then, I was getting a lot of feedback from teachers. And I would say they're saying, hey. I really like this. However, There's too much color in this. It needs to be black and white because I can't print in color. It's too expensive. Yes. There needs to be an a spot for the student's name, just like little tweaks to that. And that's when I realized hey. This could actually benefit teachers too. It doesn't have to just benefit homeschoolers. And this is also something that I can make a viable career out of. I had gotten connected with a lot of amazing homeschool bloggers who took me another wing. Incredible people and role models, and they've helped me along the way whenever I had questions, whenever I doubts or just needed inspiration to say hey. These people are doing it successfully. Why can't I?

Timmy Eaton:

Do you have an idea of what the breakdown Down is of your audience. What percentage are homeschoolers or teachers or everyone else? There was that do you have any I used to.

Samantha Shank:

Yeah. I used to. It's gotten too big. So I am on a high no. I'm on a hiatus right now. IN the past year, I've just been focusing on travel myself and getting personal things together and industry shipping what I wanna do with life. But I think it ended up it was like a sixty forty breakdown with homeschool or public school system. Oh, is that right? Not checked in a very long time. So

Timmy Eaton:

How is it running right now? What's your involvement? You it's just kinda running itself type thing?

Samantha Shank:

So cool. I work maybe two or three hours a week at the moment. And then I do grab to sign the supplement by income. Wow. That

Timmy Eaton:

doesn't sound too

Samantha Shank:

bad. No. Yeah. I really thank you for that. And I think what's nice, Hong Kong's a little expensive, but I think people have this idea of me to oh my gosh. She's traveling all the time. She must be spending tons of money. But the way I'm traveling is very inexpensive. And in some of the countries I'm going to, they're actually cheaper than the United States. And Every single month I've traveled full time. It's been cheaper than living in Los Angeles.

Timmy Eaton:

So Oh, no kidding. I'm sure that's true. So I like I really liked you like in your mission, you talk about getting kids excited about education, and I really like that. And I you know, that's something you would anticipate somebody who's been homeschooled because they you know, that is a typical experience. And so do you wanna say anything about that? Why that's your mission? Or Yeah.

Samantha Shank:

Like I said, I think that when students like, relate to something or they enjoy it, they're more likely to memorize it. I remember there was I have a have you seen the movie, The Pursuit of

Timmy Eaton:

Happiness? Yes. With Will Smith and his son. Yes.

Samantha Shank:

So I have a movie guide for that. And one of the top reviews I've ever gotten was from somebody that worked in a juvenile correctional facility, and she said that her students watched that movie. And she said they usually struggle with work ethic, but after watching that, it actually got them thinking about their life and what they wanna do in the future and their work ethic. And I was completely amazed about how something like that would change their entire trajectory of life. Yeah. And so I think that when like, Students can relate to it more. They're like, oh my gosh. This actually means something outside of the classroom or outside of what I'm learning right now. I think that When people see algebra or complicated science or math equations or what the heck? Why am I doing this? It has no bearing on my future life. But just putting those pieces together Saying, hey. Although you might not use this in your life, here are the skills that you're getting from this, and you might actually need to know this in the future.

Timmy Eaton:

Yeah. And that kinda connects to another thing that's that you say on your website, which is about making learning easier for parents and kids. And I like that. Is there anything that points to particular specifically in how you present things or how you produce things? Or, like

Samantha Shank:

Yes. When I have spoken to schools, one of my favorite presentations is how to memorize the periodic table in the week. My blog is full of learning hacks. I am not a genius. I Awesome. There are so many learning hacks out there that you have to take advantage of, And I've done the scientific research. I have read all these books from people that are really smart, and I have distilled all of the information on my blog. For example, one thing I'm really a big fan of is color coding. So if I have to memorize a list of something, I will put that list in rainbow colors because I'm more likely to remember, okay, orange was x, z. Blue is x y z, and I can remember Yeah. Order easier. When I was by the time I got in college, I learned about this system Called the memory palace, and I was able to memorize things extremely quickly with the system. It's what the ancient Greeks used as well. All the memory you have used. I'm a huge proponent and fan of the system. Yeah. And that's what helped me memorize things that I think just sharing those tips and tricks and helping students realize what works for you. If Something else works for you, that's great. Just figuring out what works for you, and I'm here to give you all those

Timmy Eaton:

options. That's so cool. Again, people are the beneficiaries of all the the work and the study that you've done, and so that's again, thank you. So I love learning. One of the other yeah. Exactly. That's the secret. One of the things I was wondering is I as I have been on your site is just, like, How did you decide what subject matter? You have pretty core subjects, but then you've really gone into, noncore subjects yourself. Like, how did you decide on we know about history, but, like, when you go on your site, it's very core subjects. But then you branch out from there as well. How did you determine that?

Samantha Shank:

So I think it is important to remember that again, this has happened over a decade. If you saw my original site, It was very bare bones. It was bright green neon green and pink. Yeah. So this is a Ten year evolution for what it is now. But I primarily choose my subjects on, Like SEO, search engine optimization, what people are wanting, what people recommend, and things that I'm currently interested in that I know that there's a gap in the market for.

Timmy Eaton:

Oh, awesome. So good. Man, that I this has been awesome. I have really enjoyed the conversation. So many cool insights to glean from you. And maybe I'll just give you the final word and then definitely tell people where we can find your stuff and how to, connect with you. But what would be your parting words or advice or counsel to any of us? Especially my audience is, homeschool families, and probably a lot of them are, at different phases of the journey. So what would be your Yeah. Counsel or just parting at

Samantha Shank:

words? I think really let your children learn because you never know where it will end up. Who knew that my love of PowerPoint and making really cheesy lyric videos would end up being a career in design, which led to becoming a full time traveler. So it might be hard to see the big picture at the end of the day, But just trust yourself. Believe in yourself and know you know what's best for your children and don't be afraid to pivot.

Timmy Eaton:

Yes. Thank you. And where can we find you? Where can we get ahold of you? Your website is My website

Samantha Shank:

is learn in color dot and all my social media are on there. Learn in Color on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.

Timmy Eaton:

Awesome. Thank you again for your time. We really appreciate it. It's been a great conversation. Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you, Samantha. 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 in 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, Timmy Eaton. Until next time, remember to cherish this golden hour with your children and family.